Facilitating consumer payments and redemptions of deal offers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10373186-B1
Application number	US-201313842813-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Jun 18, 2012
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable storage media for facilitating payments for consumer transactions and redemption of deal offerings. In providing such functionality, the system can be configured to, for example, receive payment for one or more products, determine a deal voucher's current value and cause the redemption of the deal voucher.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A method for facilitating a transaction conducted over a network by one or more servers connected with a merchant system over the network such that despite not being presented with vouchers to apply, during the transaction, two process are applied such that both (i) vouchers previously purchased and not yet presented are applied and (ii) vouchers not yet purchased are identified and offered for purchase are applied, the method comprising, by the one or more servers:
receiving payment transaction data indicating a product from the merchant system via the network;
receiving payment account identifier data identifying a payment account to be used for the transaction from the merchant system via the network;
preceding receiving an authorization to complete the transaction:
transmitting the payment account identifier data to a promotional system; receiving an indication of a determination that an applicable deal was previously purchased using a payment account indicated by the payment account identifier data and that the applicable deal was not presented during the transaction; receiving information indicative of the applicable deal; and applying the applicable deal to the transaction;
additionally, receiving configuration data defining an availability of one or more vouchers that (i) are being marketed by a promotional system or a merchant associated with the merchant system and (ii) have not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data;
based on the availability of the one or more vouchers that are being marketed by a promotional system or a merchant associated with the merchant system and have not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data, determining which of the one or more vouchers should be offered during the transaction from the merchant system via the network;
in response to receiving the payment account identifier and determining that the configuration data defines that the vouchers that have not been purchased by the payment account should be offered during the course of the transaction, determining whether the product is associated with a voucher that has not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data;
in response to determining that the product is associated with the voucher that has not been purchased by the payment account, retrieving deal voucher data for the voucher from one or more databases;
transmitting an offer for the voucher to the merchant system based on the deal voucher data;
in response to transmitting the offer for the voucher, receiving an indication to purchase the deal voucher with the payment account identified by the payment account identifier from the merchant system; and
in response to receiving the indication to purchase the deal voucher:
determining, from the deal voucher data, a current monetary value of the voucher;
transmitting the current monetary value of the voucher to the merchant system;
receiving an amount overage value from the merchant system;
facilitating settlement of a payment for the amount overage value using the payment account; and
transmitting a payment settlement indication to the merchant system representing the settlement of the payment.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising crediting a merchant account based on the payment settlement for the amount overage value.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the deal voucher data to indicate redemption of the voucher.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining a consumer email address from the deal voucher data;
generating a message including payment settlement data indicating the settlement of the payment and the deal voucher data; and
transmitting the message to the consumer email address.

5. A method for facilitating a transaction conducted over a network by a point-of-sale (POS) device connected with a remote system via the network such that despite not being presented with vouchers to apply, during the transaction, two process are applied such that both (i) vouchers previously purchased and not yet presented are applied and (ii) vouchers not yet purchased are identified and offered for purchase are applied, comprising, by the POS device:
receiving payment transaction data, including a product price total of a product;
transmitting the payment transaction data to the remote system via the network;
transmitting payment account identifier data identifying a payment account to be used for the transaction to the remote system via the network;
preceding receiving an authorization to complete the transaction:
transmitting the payment account identifier data to a promotional system; receiving an indication of a determination that an applicable deal was previously purchased using a payment account indicated by the payment account identifier data and that the applicable deal was not presented during the transaction; receiving information indicative of the applicable deal; and applying the applicable deal to the transaction;
additionally, transmitting configuration data defining an availability of one or more vouchers that (i) are being marketed by a promotional system or a merchant associated with the merchant system and (ii) have not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data;
based on the availability of the one or more vouchers that are being marketed by a promotional system or a merchant associated with the merchant system and have not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data, determining which of the one or more vouchers should be offered during the course of the transaction to the remote system via the network;
receiving deal voucher data from the remote system via the network defining a voucher for the product when the voucher has not been purchased by a payment account identified by the payment account identifier data and when the configuration data defines that the vouchers that have not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data should be offered during the course of the transaction;
in response to transmitting the payment transaction data and payment account identifier data, receiving the deal voucher data from the remote system via the network defining a voucher for the product when the voucher has not been purchased by the payment account identified by the payment account identifier data, wherein the deal voucher data a monetary discount value currently associated with the deal voucher data;
in response to receiving the deal voucher data, generating an offer for the voucher and presenting the offer to a user interface of the POS device;
receiving an indication to purchase the voucher; and
in response to receiving the indication purchase the voucher:
generating an amount overage value by subtracting the monetary discount value from the product price total;
transmitting the amount overage value to the remote system; and
receiving an indication of a payment settlement for the amount overage value.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the monetary discount value currently associated with the deal voucher data is less than a discount value previously associated with the deal voucher.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the monetary discount value currently associated with the deal voucher data is greater than a discount value to be associated with the deal voucher in the future.

8. An apparatus for facilitating a transaction conducted over a network, the apparatus connected with a merchant system over the network such that despite not being presented with vouchers to apply, during the transaction

Assignees

• Groupon Inc

Inventors

• Kim Ben
• Puckett Joshua
• Zaytsev Andrey
• Alston Gene
• Park Richard
• Mcconnell Thomas Joseph

Classifications

• G06Q30/0268

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0238

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0222 Primary

  During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions · CPC title

• G06Q30/0215 Primary

  Including financial accounts · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title