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  System and method of handling product returnsUSPTO Application #: 20070094087Title: System and method of handling product returns Abstract: A method and program product for conducting business transactions, transferring product ownership and handling product returns with paperless receipts. Biometric data and product or transaction specific identification information is included with electronic receipts generated for each purchase. The same information may be collected when a product is presented for a return and refund that is based on an electronic or paper receipt. The information collected at the return is compared against the same information in the electronic receipt, automating the return-handling process and reducing the frequency of fraudulent returns. (end of abstract) Agent: Law Office Of Charles W. Peterson, Jr. -- Printers - Reston, VA, US Inventors: Joan L. Mitchell, Scott D. Mastie USPTO Applicaton #: 20070094087 - Class: 705022000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, Or Cost/price Determination, Automated Electrical Financial Or Business Practice Or Management Arrangement, Including Point Of Sale Terminal Or Electronic Cash Register, Inventory Monitoring The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070094087. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present invention is a continuation in part of published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Receipt Electronic Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 6, 2003 and published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567 A1; and related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,706 B2 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030020US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Bill Authentication" to Scott D. Mastie et al., issued Apr. 26, 2005; to published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/446,204 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030019US1), entitled "Expense Accounting Data Management Based on Electronic Expense Document" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 27, 2003 and published Dec. 2, 2004, publication No. 2004/0243489 A1; and to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/______ (Attorney Docket No. BLD920050045US1), entitled "System And Method of Directly Providing Electronic Receipts" to Scott D. Mastie et al., filed coincident herewith; all assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention generally relates to business transactions and more particularly to returning goods purchased as in-store business transactions and through self service transactions at electronic Point of Sale kiosks and the like. [0004] 2. Background Description [0005] Currently, retail stores typically produce a paper receipt reflecting a purchase or purchases by each customer. Normally, a point-of-sale terminal generates the paper receipt, which lists each item purchased. Traditionally, the merchant passes the paper receipt to the customer, which the customer must retain for any allowed returns. Customers frequently discard or misplace paper receipts and, in the case of gifts, may never receive a gift receipt. However, merchants normally require the original paper receipt to return items for refund. Consequently, if a customer fails to produce the receipt, at best, the customer may be allowed to exchange the item for comparable merchandise or merchandise of the same value. [0006] One reason merchants require original receipts is that during the Christmas season, especially, thieves target cars with bags in sight. Without a receipt, a thief cannot return stolen goods. If, however, the receipt is in a bag with merchandise, after breaking into the car and stealing the packages, the thief has the merchandise and the receipt. The thief can make the return and the customer is left with auto damage and the bill. Consequently, retail clerks have begun asking if purchasers want their receipts placed in the bag with their purchases or kept separately. In a further effort to discourage thieves, some merchants insist on only refunding money to the credit card account used originally for purchasing returned items. This can be awkward for gifts, for example, where a newlywed couple/recipient may prefer immediate, unannounced access to the purchase money without notifying the gift-giver of having returned the gift. [0007] Thus, there is a need to allow customers to return goods even without a paper receipt, and more particularly, to allow someone with valid possession of purchased merchandise to make such returns while preventing fraudulent returns and while discouraging theft. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] It is therefore a purpose of the invention to eliminate the need for paper receipts; [0009] It is another purpose of this invention to reduce the incidence of fraudulent returns in retail sales; [0010] It is yet another purpose of the invention to eliminate the need for paper receipts, while allowing returns for purchased goods without requiring paper receipts, while reducing the incidence of fraudulent returns in retail sales. [0011] The present invention is related to a method and program product for conducting business transactions, transferring product ownership and handling product returns with paperless receipts. Biometric data and product specific identification information may be included with electronic receipts generated for each purchase. The same information is collected when a product is presented for a return and refund that is based on an electronic receipt. The information collected at the return is compared against the same information in the electronic receipt. As long as the information matches, the return is accepted. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0012] The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which: [0013] FIG. 1 shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS) terminal electronic receipt generation/electronic return environment, for transacting business at POS terminals. [0014] FIGS. 2A-B show an example of generating electronic receipts for use in electronic returns according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0015] Turning now to the drawings, and more particularly, FIG. 1 shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS) terminal electronic receipt generation/electronic return environment 10, customer location (i.e., identified with a client business) 12 and point-of-sale terminal 14 (hereinafter "POS terminal 14"), such as described in published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Electronic Receipt Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 6, 2003, published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567 A1, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. Customer locations 12 (e.g., a wallet carried by a customer) include, for example, cash 16, a check 18, a credit card 20 and/or a smart card 22, or any other suitable well known payment mechanism(s) for paying for merchandise, e.g., gift certificates or store credits. Each customer location 12 may also communicate with POS terminal 14 using a personal digital assistant (PDA) 24 or any other suitable handheld computer or communication system, with personal storage and an appropriate communication port (not shown), e.g., infrared (IR) or radio frequency identification (RFID). POS terminal 14 may be a self-service electronic POS kiosk and is equipped to conduct each sales transaction, generates an electronic receipt 26 for each and, optionally, provide a conventional paper receipt 28. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, purchasers may return purchases based solely on electronic receipts, even when the original paper receipt has been destroyed, lost or is otherwise no longer available. [0016] As used herein for example only, a customer, shopper or purchaser (used interchangeably) at a customer location 12 may be identified with a private or public concern and is conducting a transaction with a merchant or other business concern. The private concern may be, for example an individual, a business or other organization or business. Thus, a customer/purchaser may be a member of the household, a business employee or a member of a private organization or a government employee. Similarly, although a typical merchant may be located, for example, at a retail place of business, the business concern 30 may be any business or non-profit private or public organization that issues receipts for collected money, e.g., in exchange for purchases. Preferably, the POS terminals 14 are located with the business concern 30, e.g., on the premises of a department or grocery store or, any place of business that normally requires proof of purchase for returns. Further, POS terminal 14 kiosks may include dedicated or self-service kiosks such as, for example, a Wedding Registry kiosk, a Bridal Shower kiosk, a New Baby kiosk, a Bar Mitzvah kiosk, or any other kiosk set up for a special family or person event. [0017] Further, each POS terminal 14 may include an imager 40, a check/currency inserter 42, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, web cam or IR cam) 44, a thumb reader 45, a receipt instruction receiver 46 with a receipt destination retriever 62, an electronic receipt generator (ERG) 48 with an authenticating data generator (ADG) 50, a transmitter 52 and any other components (OC) 54. Imager 40 converts cash (paper currency or bills) 16, and/or checks 18 into images 58 that may be inserted by check/currency inserter 42 into a paper receipt, 28 an electronic receipt 26 or both for recordation. Electronic receipt generation and storage is also described, for example, in published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/446,204 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030019US1) entitled "Expense Accounting Data Management Based on Electronic Expense Document" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 27, 2003, published Dec. 2, 2004, publication No. 2004/0243489 A1, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. [0018] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, personal electronic receipts may be accompanied by purchaser biometric data, e.g., a digital photo, thumbprint, or an IR signature. These personal electronic receipts are delivered to the purchaser coincident with purchases, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/______ (Attorney Docket No. BLD920050045US1), entitled "System And Method of Directly Providing Electronic Receipts" to Scott D. Mastie et al., filed coincident herewith, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. Once delivered, the personal electronic receipts may be retrieved from electronic storage, e.g., in PDA/other handheld device, or recalled merely based on accompanying biometric/other data. Since all of this unique information is captured in the electronic receipt, paper receipts are unnecessary for most users. Further, for added security/authentication similar biometric data may accompany any electronic returns that are based solely on electronic receipts. For example, a digital picture or thumbprint may be taken of each person returning merchandise, e.g., by camera 44, or a thumb reader 45. [0019] Receipt instruction receiver (RIR) 46 may include a destination retriever (DR) 62 and receive receipt instructions (RI) 60. Each receipt instruction 60 includes a Receipt Destination Identifier (RDI) 64 and a content instruction (CI) 66. A receipt instruction 60 reflects communicated customer preferences, e.g., provided verbally and manually entered to POS terminal 14 or electronically generated. Electronically generated customer preferences may be gathered, for example, from an electronic payment from, e.g., a credit card 20, a smart card 22, a PDA 24 or any other suitable electronic payment mechanism. Each RDI 64 expressly or implicitly indicates where to send a corresponding electronic receipt. An RDI 64 may expressly state a receipt destination 65 as, for example, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a mailing address, an e-mail address, e.g., for a non-volatile storage. Customer identification may imply a receipt destination 65 stored in a receipt destination database 68, e.g., by business name, by credit card number, by smart card identification, or by PDA based IR communications. Continue reading... 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