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  System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer networkUSPTO Application #: 20060229946Title: System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer network Abstract: A system and method for delivering purchasing incentives and a variety of other retail shopping aids through a computer network, such as by E-mail over the Interne or the World Wide Web. Customers (10) of retail stores can establish a bi-directional communication link with the system, log in (16) to the system, and then elect to browse among available purchasing incentive offers (18, 22), or elect to explore other shopping aids, such as a shopping list generator (26), a recipe center (30), or simply elect to claim a product rebate or to receive product information. If the customer elects to have product information or rebate information delivered, only minimal customer identification is required. For purchase incentives redeemable at retail stores, the customer must provide identification information and must also designate a retailer (12) at which the purchasing incentive can be exercised. For receipt of focused incentives based the customer's past shopping behavior, the customer must also supply a unique customer id., such as a check cashing card number or credit card number, used for in-store purchases. For delivery of a product sample, the customer's name and address must be supplied. The system merges this customer-supplied information (270) with other purchase incentive data (272) and creates a printable graphical image of the purchasing incentive (282) for transmission to the customer. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the purchase incentive is not transmitted directly to the customer. Instead, the terms of the incentive are transmitted electronically to the retail store (310) designated by the customer, who receives either a token (316) to present at the store or an advisory message. In yet another embodiment of the invention, incentives may be targeted to specific consumers based on a consumer purchase history (502), and transmitted to consumers' computers (510) using electronic mail addresses stored in a consumer database (506), or using a “personal page” in the computer network, established for each consenting consumer. (end of abstract) Agent: NeifeldIPLaw, PC - Alexandria, VA, US Inventors: Michael C. Scroggie, Michael E. Kacaba, David A. Rochon, David M. Diamond USPTO Applicaton #: 20060229946 - Class: 705014000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, Or Cost/price Determination, Automated Electrical Financial Or Business Practice Or Management Arrangement, Distribution Or Redemption Of Coupon, Or Incentive Or Promotion Program The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060229946. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates generally to systems for providing incentives to customers to shop in retail stores and, more particularly, to systems for delivering customer incentives and other shopping aids via a computer network. Various approaches have been widely used to deliver purchasing incentives, usually in the form of printed discount coupons, to customers of retail stores. Coupons have been distributed to customers by mail, either in a random manner or in a more demographically focused manner. Coupons have also been delivered to customers in retail stores, either from kiosks or at the check-out stand in response to the customer's purchase of some preselected item or items. The latter technique is well documented in prior patents assigned to the same assignee as the present application; e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,212, "Method and Apparatus for Dispensing Discount Coupons." [0002] In recent years, an increasing number of retail store customers also own personal computers and, of these, many have access to computer network services that provide connections to the Internet and the World Wide Web. Although some computer sites connected to the World Wide Web have begun to offer "online" shopping services, and some services have proposed to deliver discount coupons through a computer network, the full potential of online delivery of incentives has not been realized prior to the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention resides in a system and method for the distribution, via a computer network, of incentives and other related shopping aids useful to retail customers. Importantly, the incentives are distributed in such a way that they may be redeemed only at a specific retailer selected by each customer. [0004] Briefly, and in general terms, the method of the invention comprises a sequence of steps performed at a central site in cooperation with a communication device at a customer site. The steps include logging in a remotely located customer using identity data and geographic region data transmitted by the customer over a communication network: transmitting back to the registered customer a plurality of incentive offers, the incentive offers being exercisable in the customer's geographic region; and then receiving incentive offer selection data from the customer over the communication network, the offer selection data including the designation of a retailer at which selected offer or offers may be exercised. In response to the customer selection data, the method performs the steps of generating a purchasing incentive containing (in encoded form) the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer; and transmitting at least one incentive to the customer over the communication network, for subsequent printing by the customer. For security reasons, the transmitted incentive may be encoded with the identity of the retailer selected by the customer, and preferably also contains a customer identification code. [0005] An important element of the invention is that it permits the customer to plan his or her shopping and shopping-related activities more efficiently. To this end, the method also includes the step of communicating with the customer concerning the use of shopping aids other than incentives or coupons. In one aspect of the invention, this communicating step includes transmitting a list of products available for purchase, receiving customer selections from the list of products, and then transmitting a shopping list to the customer. Thus the customer may browse through a list or index of available products, preferably organized by store department, and then make selections by marking appropriate entries on a computer screen, such as by positioning a mouse pointer on the desired items and clicking a mouse button. [0006] Another aspect of the invention includes the steps of transmitting meal planning information, including a list of recipes, to the customer, receiving a customer selection of one or more recipe, transmitting back to the customer a shopping list that includes ingredient products needed in each selected recipe, and possibly transmitting to the customer at least one purchase incentive pertaining to an ingredient product used in a selected recipe. While shopping for products with purchasing incentive offers, or while preparing a shopping list, the customer may also use this feature to obtain the details of any recipe that is found to be of interest. The system of the invention transmits the recipe in two separate portions: (a) a complete copy of the recipe in traditional format, including a list of ingredients, and preparation and serving instructions, and (b) the list of ingredients in shopping list form, which the customer may take to the store. The latter portion of the recipe is added to the customer's shopping list automatically and the system transmits a purchase incentive or coupon if an incentive offer is associated with any of the recipe ingredients. The system also provides other meal planning information such as meal calorie and fat content, vegetarian meal ideas and recipes, recipes for meals that can be prepared in under thirty minutes, and so forth. [0007] The purchasing incentive offers in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention are derived from two sources: product manufacturers and retailers. The manufacturers' incentives are presented to the customer in the form of a convenient index that the customer can browse through and select from. Similarly, retail supermarkets provide the source of another set of special offers, organized by store. [0008] Another important aspect of the invention is the manner in which incentives or coupons are generated in the system of the invention. Specifically the step of generating a purchase incentive includes converting numeric and textual information provided by the customer to graphical form: converting other numeric and textual information to graphical form: and merging the converted information with other graphical information defining the incentive, to form a composite graphical incentive image for transmission to the customer. [0009] In one embodiment of the invention the step of transmitting at least one incentive includes transmitting only an advisory message to the customer, and transmitting the terms of the incentive directly to the retail store selected by the customer, for use by the customer on a subsequent visit to the store. In a related embodiment, the step of transmitting at least one incentive includes transmitting only an incentive token to the customer, and transmitting the terms of the incentive directly to the retail store selected by the customer, for use by the customer, who brings the token to the store on a subsequent visit, and receives the discount or other benefit defined by the incentive offer. [0010] The invention may also be defined in terms of a method for distributing purchasing incentives and other shopping aids to customers over a communication network, the method comprising the steps of: (1) registering as a customer by providing at least an individual identification, a postal region code, and retail store selection; (2) transmitting from a central site and receiving at a remote customer site, a plurality of incentive offers, each of which is exercisable based on the customer's postal region; (3) selecting at the customer site one or more of the incentive offers and transmitting these selections back to the central site; (4) generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retail store selected by the customer and the identity of the customer; and (5) transmitting at least one incentive to the customer. [0011] The invention may also be defined in terms of a system for distributing purchasing incentives to retail customers, the system comprising a communication network establishing bi-directional communication between a central site and each of a plurality of customer devices; a file at the central site containing a plurality of incentive offers; and a computer located at the central site, for coordinating bi-directional communication with the customers over the communication network. The computer at the central site includes means for registering customer information at the central site, based on information transmitted from any of the customer devices to the central site computer, over the communication network, the customer information including geographical region data and identification data; means for retrieving incentive offers from the file of incentive offers, based on the customer's geographical region, and transmitting the retrieved offers to the customer over the communication network; means for receiving customer selections made from the incentive offers transmitted to the customer, and for receiving a customer designation of a retailer at which the selected incentives are to be exercised, means for generating at least one purchasing incentive containing in encoded form the identity of the retailer designated by the customer and the identity of the customer; and means for transmitting the generated purchasing incentive to the customer over the communication network. [0012] More specifically, the system further comprises another file at the central site containing a list of products available for purchase: and the computer at the central site further includes means, responsive to a customer request, for transmitting the list of products to the customer, receiving customer selections from the list, and transmitting a shopping list back to the customer. The system may further comprise another file at the central site containing meal planning information available for customer use; and the computer at the central site further includes means, responsive to a customer request, for transmitting meal planning information including a list of recipes to the customer, receiving customer selections from the list, and transmitting complete recipes back to the customer, together with an ingredients shopping list and any associated purchasing incentives. [0013] In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the means for retrieving incentive offers and transmitting them to the customer includes a manufacturer offer file containing purchasing incentive offers currently proposed by manufacturers of products for sale to customers, and also includes a retailer offer file containing purchasing incentive offers currently proposed by retailers of products for sale to customers. [0014] In one form of the invention, the generated purchasing incentive is transmitted to the customer in the form of an advisory message only, and the computer further includes means for transmitting the terms of a purchasing incentive directly to the retail store designated by the customer, who may then exercise the incentive upon visiting the designated store. In a related form of the invention, the generated purchasing incentive is transmitted to the customer in the form of an encoded token, and the computer further includes means for transmitting the terms of the purchasing incentive directly to the retail store designated by the customer, who may then exercise the incentive upon visiting the designated store and presenting the token. [0015] Implementation of the invention in the form of a network site, such as a World Wide Web site, represents a significant departure from prior, conventional uses of Web sites for commercial purposes. Instead of being administered by or for a single commercial entity, the Web site through which customers communicate in accordance with the present invention is a cooperative site involving both retailers and manufacturers, to provide customers with a variety of information, planning aids, and shopping incentives from multiple sources. [0016] A difficulty with conventional incentive distribution methods is that different retail marketing areas have different weekly cycles on which incentives and discounts are based. In one area, retailers may advertise weekly specials beginning on Thursdays in preparation for weekend buying, while in another area they may advertise weekly specials in a Sunday newspaper supplement. Manufacturers may offer special deals that are completely unsynchronized with these local retailer cycles, based, for example, on a calendar week starting on some other day. In the cooperative site on which the present invention is implemented, all the advertised incentives, whether coming from retailers or manufacturers, can be timed to comply with the advertising cycle of the local retail region. [0017] Another aspect of the invention allows the customer to receive more focused incentives if he or she elects to supply a customer identifying number (customer id.) normally used in the purchase of items at the retail store. The customer id. may be a check-cashing card number or other customer loyalty card number, or may be some other form of identification used to pay for purchases. Because the store can track the purchasing history of each customer who consistency uses the same customer id. when paying for the purchases, a customer who supplies this customer id. to the on-line system of the present invention may then receive more targeted incentives based on his or her prior purchasing history. For example, the customer may receive an incentive for his or her favorite brand of toothpaste, based on a prior purchase of the same toothpaste some weeks earlier. If the customer elects not to provide the customer id. to the on-line system, these more targeted incentives will not be available to that customer. [0018] It will be appreciated from the foregoing summary that the present invention represents a significant advance in the field of retail marketing using computer networks. In particular, the system of the invention provides a highly secure incentive distribution scheme because each incentive or coupon may identify the retailer at which the coupon may be used, and also preferably identifies the customer to whom the coupon was issued. The invention also provides a variety of other planning aids to customers using computers before visiting a supermarket. These aids include the generation of a shopping list for the customer, the distribution of selected recipes, together with ingredients lists and incentives, if any are available for the ingredients, and the distribution of product information or rebate forms. Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0019] FIG. 1 is a an overall process flow diagram of the system of the invention; [0020] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the log-in process used by a customer in accordance with the invention; [0021] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a restriction process used to restrict access to only authorized customers in a selected geographic region; Continue reading... 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