CA2489418A1 - Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile - Google Patents

Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile Download PDF

Info

Publication number
CA2489418A1
CA2489418A1 CA002489418A CA2489418A CA2489418A1 CA 2489418 A1 CA2489418 A1 CA 2489418A1 CA 002489418 A CA002489418 A CA 002489418A CA 2489418 A CA2489418 A CA 2489418A CA 2489418 A1 CA2489418 A1 CA 2489418A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
customer
price
storage media
information
merchant
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA002489418A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Paul Sidlo
Walter H. Dunn
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
EMN8 Inc
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of CA2489418A1 publication Critical patent/CA2489418A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/20—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
    • G06Q20/204—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
    • G06F21/101—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM] by binding digital rights to specific entities
    • G06F21/1014—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM] by binding digital rights to specific entities to tokens
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
    • G06F21/107—License processing; Key processing
    • G06F21/1078—Logging; Metering
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
    • G06F21/109—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM] by using specially-adapted hardware at the client
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/30—Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
    • G06F21/31—User authentication
    • G06F21/34—User authentication involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F21/30—Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals
    • G06F21/31—User authentication
    • G06F21/34—User authentication involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
    • G06F21/35—User authentication involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards communicating wirelessly
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0637—Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/20—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/20—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
    • G06Q20/202—Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
    • G06Q30/0623—Item investigation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
    • G06Q30/0623—Item investigation
    • G06Q30/0625—Directed, with specific intent or strategy
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
    • G06Q30/0633—Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G06Q30/0601—Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
    • G06Q30/0641—Shopping interfaces
    • G06Q30/0643—Graphical representation of items or shoppers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F7/00—Mechanisms actuated by objects other than coins to free or to actuate vending, hiring, coin or paper currency dispensing or refunding apparatus
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F27/00—Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2101—Auditing as a secondary aspect
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2115—Third party
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2117—User registration
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2119—Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2121—Chip on media, e.g. a disk or tape with a chip embedded in its case
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2135—Metering
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F2221/00—Indexing scheme relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/21—Indexing scheme relating to G06F21/00 and subgroups addressing additional information or applications relating to security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
    • G06F2221/2151—Time stamp

Abstract

A customer-operated ordering system and method that automatically sets the price of an item offered to a customer to purchase based on a stored profile of that customer. The system may include an input device, output device, customer profile storage media, sales price storage media, price rules storage media and a processing system.

Description

CUSTOMER-OPERATED ORDERING SYSTEM THAT SETS PRICES
BASED ON CUSTOMER PROFILE
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
(0001] Field of the Invention (0002] This application relates to ordering systems and, more particularly, to ordering systems that are operated by a customer.
(0003] Description of Related Art (0004] The traditional selection and ordering process presents challenges to both the merchant and the customer.
(0005] The merchant must often incur significant costs to train personnel and to have them present to communicate with the customer during the selection and ordering process. It is also often challenging for the merchant to control the presentation that his personnel make to the customer, a challenge sometimes compounded by the skill level of the personnel and a high turnover rate.
(0006] The customer, on the other hand, is often hesitant to speak with a salesperson. The customer may be apprehensive of difficulties in accurately communicating his preferences and purchase decisions. He may also be concerned over having his personal choices evaluated by someone else.
(0007] The traditional ordering process also sometimes makes it difficult to encourage customer loyalty. The traditional process is often impersonal, sometimes making it difficult to recognize a loyal customer. The need to keep the process simple also sometimes makes it difficult to reward the loyal customer, even when he or she is recognized.
(0008] Traditional sales systems also often fail to take advantage of the opportunity to promote or sell products or services of a different merchant, thereby overlooking other potential avenues of revenue.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
(0009] A customer-operated ordering system may include an input device, an output device, a customer profile storage media configured to store customer profiles about a plurality of customers, a sales price storage media configured to LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 store sales prices, a price rules storage media configured to store price rules that are based on customer profiles, and a processing system.
[0010] The processing system may be configured to communicate with the input device, the output device, the customer profile storage media, the sales price storage media and the price rules storage media. The processing system may obtain the identity of the customer from the input device, query the customer profile storage media for a customer profile of the customer based on the obtained identify, query the price rules storage media for price rules associated with the obtained customer profile, query the sales price storage media for sales prices, and deliver sales prices to the output device that are in accordance with the obtained price rules.
[0011] The customer-operated ordering system may be configured for the customer to select and consummate a sale himself. The input device may be configured to be operated by the customer during the selection and consummation process. The output device may be configured for the output to be delivered to the customer during the selection and consummation process.
[0012] Certain customer profiles may include information about prior purchases made by the customers. The information may include the identity of the products or services that were purchased, the type of the products or services that were purchased, the sales prices of the products or services that were purchased, and/or the number of the products or services that were purchased.
[0013] Certain customer profiles may include information about the number of prior visits by the customers, information about prior contacts that the customers had with the merchant, information about prior contacts that the customers had with a person other than the merchant or the status held by the customers within loyalty or other rewards programs operated by persons other than the merchant, and/or demographic information about the customers.
[0014] Certain price rules may only affect the price of some of the items that the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell and may be based on information about prior purchases made by the customers. The information about prior purchases may include the identity of the products or services that were purchased, the type of the products or services that were purchased, the sales LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 prices of the products or services that were purchased, the number of the products or services that were purchased, and/or the number of prior visits by the customers.
[0015] Certain price rules may be based on information about prior contacts that the customers had with the merchant, information about prior contacts that the customers had with a person other than the merchant or their status within a loyalty or other rewards program operated by a person other than the merchant, and/or demographic information about the customers.
[0016] A customer-operated ordering process may include obtaining the identity of a customer from an input device, querying a customer profile storage media containing customer profiles about a plurality of customers for a customer profile of the customer based on the obtained identify, querying a price rules storage media containing price rules that are based on customer profiles for price rules associated with the obtained customer profile, querying a sales price storage media containing sales prices,.and delivering sales prices to an output device that are in accordance with the obtained price rules.
[0017] A customer-operated ordering system may include a processing system that automatically sets the price of an item offered to a customer to purchase based on a stored profile of that customer.
[0018] A customer-operated ordering process may include setting the price of an item offered to a customer based on a stored profile of that customer.
[0019] An ordering system may include a processing system that automatically sets the price of an item offered to a customer to purchase based on a stored profile of that customer.
[0020] An ordering process may include setting the price of an item offered to a customer based on a stored profile of that customer.
[0021] These as well as still further features, benefits and objects will now become clear upon an examination of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments and the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] F~~. 1 is a block diagram of a customer-operated ordering system.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -3-[0023] F~~. 2 is a diagram of one schema for customer profiles data that may be stored in the customer profile storage media 105.
[0024] Fig. 3 is a diagram of one schema for sales prices data that may be stored in the sales price storage media 107.
[0025] Fig. 4 is a diagram of one schema for price rules data that may be stored in the price rules storage media 109.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
[0026] FiC. 1 is a block diagram of a customer-operated ordering system. The system includes an input device 101, an output device 103, a customer profile storage media 105, a sales price storage media 107 and a price rules storage media 109.
[0027] The input device 101 may include a touch screen, keyboard, mouse, panel buttons, joystick, card reader, proximity detector, TV-type remote control, RFID tag reader, microphone, or any other type of known or hereinafter invented input device, as well as any combination of such devices. The input device 101 may also include a wireless connection to a remote input device, such as a laptop, mobile phone or PDA. The input device 101 may be configured to be operated by the customer as the customer selects and consummates a sale.
[0028] The output device 103 may include a display and/or a sound transducer.
The output device may be configured such that the customer may directly view the display and/or hear the sound.
[0029] The display may operate in the graphics mode and may include an electroluminous display, such as a CRT, plasma display, LCD or even LEDs. The display may also include a front or rear projector.
[0030] The sound transducer may include a loudspeaker or headphones.
[0031] The output device 103 may also include a remote connection to a remote output device, such as a wireless connection to a laptop or cellular device, or a connection over the telephone line. The output device 103 may also include any other type of known or later invented output device, as well as any combination of such devices.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -4'-[0032] The customer profile storage media 105 may contain customer profile information, as described in more detail below in connection with Fig 2. The sales price storage media 107 may contain sales prices, as explained in more detail below in connection with Fig. 3. The price rules storage media 109 may contain rules about prices, as described in more detail below in connection with F~~.
4.
Access to all of this data may be managed and regulated by one or more database management systems.
[0033] The customer profile, sales price and price rules storage media 105, and 109, respectively, may include magnetic media, such as hard disk and floppies, optical media, such as CDs or DVDs, or electronic media, such as a ROM or memory stick. Each media could be a single device or multiple devices.
All of the various storage media could be a single storage media, large enough to store all of the various information that is needed. Each media could also be any other type of storage device now known or later developed, or any combination of these. Each media may be configured to be loaded and updated locally and/or remotely.
[0034] The customer-operated ordering system in F~~. 1 may also include a processing system 111. The processing system 111 may communicate with and ultimately control each of the other components in the customer-operated ordering system, such as the input device 101, output device 103, and the customer profile, sales price and price rules storage media 105, 107 and 109, respectively.
[0035] The processing system 111 may consist of a single microprocessor or several microprocessors. It may include associated interface, memory and communication devices. It may include one or more complete computer and/or network systems. It may include both hardware and software, all in accordance with well-known design techniques.
[0036] In one mode of operation, the processing system 111 obtains information identifying the customer that is using the input device 101 and the output device 103. It may do this through information that is supplied by the input device 101.
[0037] For example, a customer might type in his name or customer number on a keyboard that is part of the input device 101. The customer may also or instead insert a card into a card reader that is part of the input device 101 that contains LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -5-customer-identifying information. The customer may also or instead carry some other type of identifying information that the input device 101 can detect, such as an RFID tag. If needed in the particular application, the processing system may first deliver a message to the customer through the output device 103, alerting the customer of the need to enter identifying information in the input device 101.
[0038] The processing system 111 in this configuration may next query the customer profile storage media 105 to locate a customer profile that matches the customer that has been identified.
[0039] If no matching profile is located, the processing system 111 may direct that the customer be given the "regular" prices from the sales price storage media 107. It might instead consult the price rules 109 for the appropriate prices) rule to apply. It may instead or in addition send a message to the customer over the output device 103 asking the customer to enter desired profile information into the input device 101.
[0040] If the processing system 111 does locate a matching profile in the customer profile storage media 105, it may extract that profile and query the price rules storage media 109 for the price rules that match the obtained profile.
[0041] If no matching price rule is found, the processing system may proceed to offer the customer the "regular" prices from the sales price storage media 107 or query the price rules storage media for default instructions.
[0042] If one or more matching price rules are found, the processing system may implement those price rules. One such implementation would be to consult the sales price storage media 107 for sales prices. The prices might be the "regular" prices, which the processing system 111 would then adjust based on the price rules that were obtained. Alternatively, or in addition, the price rules may dictate that the processing system 111 seek certain classes of prices from the sales price storage media 107, as explained in more detail below in connection with a discussion of the sales price storage media in F~~. 3 and the price rules in F~~. 4, in which event the processing system 111 might query the sales price storage media 107 for those classes of prices.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 '6-[0043] After obtaining the specified classes of prices from the sales price storage media 107 or after adjusting the sales prices that are obtained from the sales price storage media 107, all in accordance with the price rules from the price rules storage media 109, the processing system 111 may then deliver these prices to the output device 103 for the customer to receive.
[0044] Of course, it is to be understood that only the prices of certain items may be sought or calculated and delivered to the output device 103. These may be of items that the customer has expressed interest in during the course of his communication with the customer ordering system. In addition or instead, these might be of selected items that the processing system has been programmed to provide automatically, such as prices of daily specials.
[0045] In certain situations, the customer profile may elicit more than a single price rule in connection with a single item. In this event, the processing system 111 may need to harmonize these differences. One approach might be for the processing system 111 to provide the customer with the highest price that a rule dictates, the lowest price, or the average of the prices dictated by the rules.
Another approach might be to include a price rule within the price rules storage media 109 that specifies how conflicts in price rules should be resolved.
[0046] The net effect is that the customer receives prices that are a function of the customer's profile, in accordance with the price rules.
[0047] Fig. 2 is a diagram of one schema for customer profile data that may be stored in the customer profile storage media 105. As shown in Fig. 2, the customer profile data may include a Customer ID field 201 and a Profile field on the customer, including a Prior Purchases field 205, a Prior Contacts With Merchant field 207, a Prior Contacts With Third Party field 209, one or more Demographics fields 211 and other profiling information field 213.
[0048] The Customer ID field 201 may be any of the well-known types, as well as any new types that are later invented. In F~~. 2, the Customer ID field 201 is shown as simply the name of the customer, such as John Doe in'record 215. Of course, it is to be understood that other forms of ID could be used, such as a customer code.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -7-[0049] The Prior Purchases field 205 may signify the number of purchases that the customer previously made, such as the "7" indicated in record 215. The Prior Purchases field 205 may also or instead specify information concerning the identity, types and/or sales prices of products or services that were previously purchased, as well as the total number of prior purchases and/or the total dollar volume of prior purchases.
[0050] The Prior Contacts With Merchant field 207 may indicate the number of contacts that the customer has previously had with the merchant, such as the "10"
indicated in record 215. These could be a tally of personal visits, phone calls, etc.
[0051] The Prior Contacts With Third Party field 209 may be used to track contacts that the customer may have had with a third party merchant, such as the "8" indicated in record 215. It may instead or in addition be used to record the status that the customer holds within a third party's loyalty or rewards program with which the merchant has some relationship, including any agreement for cross-promotional activities with that third party's loyalty or rewards program. This information can later be used in connection with the price rules (discussed below) as part of a cross-selling or cross-promotional campaign.
[0052] The Customer Profile field 203 may also include one or more Demographics fields 211 about the customer, such as the "72 years old" entry in record 215. Of course, other demographics, such as residence location, sex or marital status, could also be used.
[0053] Other profile information could also be stored in record 215 in connection with remaining field 213.
[0054] The customer profiles that are stored in the customer profile storage media 105 can contain as many or as few fields of information as are desired.
Although often discussed in the singular above, each of the fields discussed above could, in fact, be representative of several fields.
[0055] F~~. 3 is a diagram of one schema for sales price data that may be stored in the sales price storage media 107. As shown in Fig. 3, an Item ID field 301 may include an identification of the items that may be shown to the customer for purchase on the output device 103, such as the "Jumbo Burger" shown in record LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -$-303. The ID may take the form of the name of the item, such as is shown in the record 303, a code for the item, or any other form.
[0056] A Price field 305 that is associated with the Item ID field 301 may also be stored in the sales price storage media 107. In this example, various classes of prices are shown for each item, such as a Regular price field 307, a Class 1 price field 307, and a Class 2 price field 309.
[0057] As will later be demonstrated, certain price rules may include formulas for calculating discounts to be applied to the regular prices stored in the Regular price field 307. Other price rules may designate that a price in a specified class field in the sales price storage media 107 be used, such as the prices from the Class 1 field 309. The use of price classes makes it easy for prices to be changed on an individual item-by-item basis, without having to change the price rules.
Either or both approaches can be used in a single system.
(0058] F~~. 4 is a diagram of one schema for price rules data that may be stored in the price rules storage media 109. As shown in Fig. 4, each price rule record, such as price rule records 401, 403 and 405, may include a Customer Profile field 407 and an associated Price Rule field 409.
[0059] The customer profile field 407 may consist of a logical, Boolean expression that refers to one or more of the Profile fields 203 in the customer profiles that are stored in the customer profile storage media 105. In record 401, for example, the Customer Profile 407 tests for whether the Prior Purchases field 205 in the customer profile is greater than $1,000. The customer profile in record 403, on the other hand, tests for whether the Customer Age field, which may be one of the Demographics fields 211, is greater than 60. The Customer Profile in record 405 tests for whether the Prior Contacts With Third Party field 209 is greater than 10.
[0060] Of course, other and more complex expressions could be created. A
greater or lesser number of price rules records could also be provided.
[0061] Associated with each Customer Profile 407 may be a Price Rule 409. In connection with record 401, when the Prior Purchases exceed $1,000, the Price Rule 409 dictates that a 10% discount should be provided on non-beverages.
This LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -9-demonstrates that meeting a particular aspect of a customer profile may only result in the price of certain products being adjusted, not all products.
[0062] In record 403, a profile showing an Age greater than 60 will cause the Class 2 prices to be selected from the sales price storage media 107. This demonstrates how a price rule may make cause a particular class of prices within the sales price storage media 107 to be utilized. As previously indicated, this facilitates adjusting prices on an item-by-item basis. It also facilitates the use of a single price class in connection with multiple customer profile criteria.
[0063] Record 405 illustrates a Customer Profile 407 that tests when a customer has had more than 10 prior contacts with a third party. If this criteria is met, the Price Rule 409 is applied to offer the customer an order of french fries at one-half puce.
[0064] The customer-operated ordering system may be configured for the customer to select and consummate the sale himself. The input device 101 may be configured for the customer to operate directly. Similarly, the output device 103 may be configured for the customer to see and/or hear directly.
[0065] The customer-operated ordering system may allow the customer to select and consummate a sale of one or more products and/or services. The products may include retail products. The service may include tickets to events.
[0066] The products or services may be ones that are provided by the merchant at whose location the customer-operated ordering system is located. It may also be products or services from a third-party merchant, i.e., not the merchant at whose location the customer-operated ordering system is present.
[0067] All or some of the components of the customer-operated ordering system may be in a stand-alone kiosk or may be part of another structure, such as an order desk. The kiosk and/or other components may, as indicated above, be located on the premises of the merchant that is selling the products or services. It may be at a public location, as part of a drive-through, at a concession stand, at a public transportation stop, at a ticketed venue, or at any other location.
[006] Although having been thus-far described as being a "customer operated"
system, it is to be understood that the system could instead or in addition be operated by someone other than the customer, such as the salesperson.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 [0069] The customer-operated ordering system may also be part of a larger system containing several customer-operated ordering systems. Some of these may be at different locations, such as the various locations of a franchise.
The various customer-operated ordering systems may be centrally managed or managed through regional offices which, in turn, may be centrally managed. The data that is placed in the customer profile, sales price and price rules storage media 105, 107 and 109, respectively, may originate locally at the merchant or other organization on whose premises the customer-operated ordering system is present, or may originate remotely from a regional or main office, or may originate at one location and be modified or updated by a system at a different location.
[0070] The customer-operated ordering system may also be integrated as an add-on to a business's existing point-of-sale computer system. Through appropriate and known database communication techniques, existing databases can be used as the source of at least some of the data in the customer profile, sales price and/or price rules storage media 105, 107 and 109, respectively.
All or some of the components of the customer-operated ordering system may be shared with the existing system into which the customer-operated ordering system is integrated. All that might need to be added is appropriate software, data and, perhaps, the input devices 101 and output devices 103.
[0071] The customer-operated ordering system may have a broad variety of other components and/or functions. For example, the system may include a payment acceptance device that would accept payment and/or a cash dispenser that would dispense cash (including change), all as needed in connection with the transaction. The system might also include a device that prints and delivers promotional messages. The output device 103, in cooperation with the processing system 111 and other systems, might also deliver graphic presentations to the customer that include rich and possibly interactive multimedia content in a manner that would keep the customer's attention throughout the selection and consummation process. The ordering system could also include a device that issues admission tickets, which could be purchased as part of the ordering process or given as part of a promotion or reward. The ordering system could also be multilingual and function with different currencies, the particular one of which might be selected by the customer. The ordering system might also operate in LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 real-time, meaning that the output the customer receives on the output device follows very quickly the input that the customer might deliver to the input device 101.
[0072] Other embodiments and further details about customer ordering systems are set forth in the following patent applications to which this application claims priority, namely U.S. Provisional Application 60/388,220, filed June 12, 2002, entitled "Customer-Operated Ordering System and Method"; U.S. Provisional Application 60,392,758, filed July 1, 2002, entitled "Real Time Engine with Detail"; and U.S. Utility Patent Application serial number 10/ , entitled "Point of Sale Computer System Delivering Composited Two- and Three-Dimensional Images," filed on June 3, 2003, attorney docket number 63859-024.
This application is also related to U.S. application serial number 10/
attorney docket number 63859-027, entitled "Customer-Operated Ordering System and Method That Issues Admission Tickets But Does Not Dispense Products," filed June 12, 2003; and U.S. application serial number 10l attorney docket number 63859-028, entitled "Customer-Operated Ordering System and Method That Accepts Coupons With Interactive Multimedia Content,"
filed on June 12, 2003. The content of all five of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. Each of these represents further variations of the customer-operated ordering system of this application.
[0073] The descriptions that have now been provided are of the illustrative embodiments and should enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the technology that is set forth in the claims below without undue experimentation. Numerous modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles set forth in this discussion may be applied to other embodiments, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the technology that is set forth and covered solely by the claims below.
LAS99 1295331-2.063859.0026 -12-

Claims (28)

WE CLAIM:
1. A customer-operated ordering system comprising:
an input device;
an output device;
customer profile storage media configured to store customer profiles about a plurality of customers;
sales price storage media configured to store sales prices;
price rules storage media configured to store price rules that are based on customer profiles;
a processing system configured to:
communicate with the input device, the output device, the customer profile storage media, the sales price storage media and the price rules storage media;
obtain the identity of the customer from the input device;
query the customer profile storage media for a customer profile of the customer based on the obtained identify;
query the price rules storage media for price rules associated with the obtained customer profile;
query the sales price storage media for sales prices;
and deliver sales prices to the output device that are in accordance with the obtained price rules.
2. The system of Claim 1 wherein:
the customer-operated ordering system is configured for the customer to select and consummate a sale himself;
the input device is configured to be operated by the customer during the selection and consummation process; and the output device is configured for the output to be delivered to the customer during the selection and consummation process.
3. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain customer profiles include information about prior purchases made by the customers.
4. The system of Claim 3 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the identity of the products or services that were purchased.
5. The system of Claim 3 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the type of the products or services that were purchased.
6. The system of Claim 3 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the sales prices of the products or services that were purchased.
7. The system of Claim 3 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the number of the products or services that were purchased.
8. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain customer profiles include information about the number of prior visits by the customers.
9. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell items from a merchant and wherein certain customer profiles include information about prior contacts that the customers had with that merchant.
10. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell items from a merchant and wherein certain customer profiles include information about prior contacts that the customers had with a person other than that merchant.
11. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell items from a merchant and wherein certain customer profiles include information about the status of the customer within a loyalty or rewards program of a party other than the merchant.
12. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain customer profiles include demographic information about the customers.
13. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain price rules affect the price of only some of the items that the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell.
14. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain price rules are based on information about prior purchases made by the customers.
15. The system of Claim 14 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the identity of the products or services that were purchased.
16. The system of Claim 14 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the type of the products or services that were purchased.
17. The system of Claim 14 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the sales prices of the products or services that were purchased.
18. The system of Claim 14 wherein the information about prior purchases includes the number of the products or services that were purchased.
19. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain price rules are based on information about the number of prior visits by the customers.
20. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sale items from a merchant and wherein certain price rules are based on information about prior contacts that the customers had with that merchant.
21. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sale items from a merchant and wherein certain price rules are based on information about prior contacts that the customers had with a person other than that merchant.
22. The system of Claim 1 wherein the customer-operated ordering system offers to sell items from a merchant and wherein certain price rules are based in information about the status of the customer within a loyalty or rewards program of a party other than the merchant.
23. The system of Claim 1 wherein certain price rules are based on demographic information about the customers.
24. A customer-operated ordering process comprising:
obtaining the identity of a customer from an input device;
querying a customer profile storage media containing customer profiles about a plurality of customers for a customer profile of the customer based on the obtained identify;
querying a price rules storage media containing price rules that are based on customer profiles for price rules associated with the obtained customer profile;
querying a sales price storage media containing sales prices; and delivering sales prices to an output device that are in accordance with the obtained price rules.
25. A customer-operated ordering system including a processing system that automatically sets the price of an item offered to a customer to purchase based on a stored profile of that customer.
26. A customer-operated ordering process including setting the price of an item offered to a customer based on a stored profile of that customer.
27. An ordering system including a processing system that automatically sets the price of an item offered to a customer to purchase based on a stored profile of that customer.
28. An ordering process including setting the price of an item offered to a customer based on a stored profile of that customer.
CA002489418A 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile Abandoned CA2489418A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (7)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US38822002P 2002-06-12 2002-06-12
US60/388,220 2002-06-12
US39275802P 2002-07-01 2002-07-01
US60/392,758 2002-07-01
US10/454,010 US20030225633A1 (en) 2002-06-04 2003-06-03 Point of sale computer system delivering composited two- and three-dimensional images
US10/454,010 2003-06-03
PCT/US2003/018770 WO2003107132A2 (en) 2002-06-01 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2489418A1 true CA2489418A1 (en) 2003-12-24

Family

ID=29740832

Family Applications (3)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002489417A Abandoned CA2489417A1 (en) 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system and method that issues admission tickets but does not dispense products
CA002489418A Abandoned CA2489418A1 (en) 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile
CA002489422A Abandoned CA2489422A1 (en) 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system and method that accepts coupons with interactive multimedia presentation

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002489417A Abandoned CA2489417A1 (en) 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system and method that issues admission tickets but does not dispense products

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002489422A Abandoned CA2489422A1 (en) 2002-06-12 2003-06-12 Customer-operated ordering system and method that accepts coupons with interactive multimedia presentation

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (8) US20030225633A1 (en)
EP (1) EP1552361A4 (en)
JP (3) JP2006501537A (en)
AU (3) AU2003243596A1 (en)
CA (3) CA2489417A1 (en)
WO (3) WO2003107136A2 (en)

Families Citing this family (32)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2003050608A2 (en) * 2001-12-13 2003-06-19 Walt Disney Parks And Resorts Image capture system
US20030225633A1 (en) 2002-06-04 2003-12-04 Emn8, Inc. Point of sale computer system delivering composited two- and three-dimensional images
US20040249724A1 (en) * 2003-06-04 2004-12-09 Gosewehr Steven Roy Interactive ordering system for food service utilizing animated guide
US7346556B2 (en) * 2003-08-29 2008-03-18 Yahoo! Inc. System and method for performing purchase transactions utilizing a broadcast-based device
US20050172148A1 (en) * 2004-02-04 2005-08-04 I/O Controls Corporation Wireless point-of-sale transaction system and method
AU2004316032B2 (en) * 2004-02-25 2011-09-08 Accenture Global Services Limited RFID protected media system and method
US20050246275A1 (en) * 2004-04-30 2005-11-03 Nelson John R Real-time FBO management method & system
DE102004059602A1 (en) * 2004-12-09 2006-06-22 Itw Gema Ag Powder coating booth or substructure for it
US9129289B2 (en) * 2005-10-03 2015-09-08 Drew Vaughn Systems and methods for providing remote ordering capabilities
US20070225987A1 (en) * 2006-03-22 2007-09-27 Gerold David B Real estate exchange
US8090092B2 (en) * 2006-05-02 2012-01-03 Skype Limited Dialling phone numbers
US20070274510A1 (en) 2006-05-02 2007-11-29 Kalmstrom Peter A Phone number recognition
US9542690B2 (en) * 2006-07-18 2017-01-10 American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. System and method for providing international coupon-less discounts
US10348708B2 (en) 2006-12-07 2019-07-09 Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. Short-range device interactions for facilitating partial uses of clustered access rights
CA2670829C (en) 2006-12-07 2016-11-15 Ticketmaster L.L.C. Methods and systems for access control using a networked turnstile
US8622308B1 (en) 2007-12-31 2014-01-07 Jpmorgan Chase Bank, N.A. System and method for processing transactions using a multi-account transactions device
US8490050B2 (en) * 2008-04-17 2013-07-16 Microsoft Corporation Automatic generation of user interfaces
GB0907922D0 (en) * 2009-05-07 2009-06-24 Skype Ltd Communication system and method
US8239280B1 (en) 2009-09-21 2012-08-07 Igor Feinberg Method, medium, and system for adjusting purchasing power values
JP4966356B2 (en) * 2009-10-14 2012-07-04 三菱電機株式会社 Air conditioner remote control device
US8436826B2 (en) * 2010-04-02 2013-05-07 Tumcw Inc. Two-way touch-screen based communication system
US9754247B2 (en) * 2010-12-06 2017-09-05 Ncr Corporation Standardizing point of sale services and leveraging instances of the PLU data
JP5485954B2 (en) * 2011-09-06 2014-05-07 東芝テック株式会社 Store system and program
US20130110666A1 (en) * 2011-10-28 2013-05-02 Adidas Ag Interactive retail system
US10402879B2 (en) 2011-12-30 2019-09-03 Adidas Ag Offering a customized collection of products
US9690368B2 (en) 2011-12-30 2017-06-27 Adidas Ag Customization based on physiological data
US9373120B2 (en) 2012-07-20 2016-06-21 Bank Of America Corporation Reverse couponing
US10216631B1 (en) 2013-09-05 2019-02-26 United Services Automobile Association (Usaa) Revising cache expiration
US10521892B2 (en) * 2016-08-31 2019-12-31 Adobe Inc. Image lighting transfer via multi-dimensional histogram matching
US10332331B2 (en) 2016-10-14 2019-06-25 Pepsico, Inc. Modular vending machine
CN107807837A (en) * 2017-11-13 2018-03-16 宁夏大学 Grape wine Chinese and English display systems
US11443260B1 (en) 2019-10-07 2022-09-13 Dbd Design Inc. System for managing an integrated drive-through restaurant and carwash facility providing estimated wait times via a graphical user interface

Family Cites Families (88)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4282575A (en) * 1979-08-10 1981-08-04 The Wurlitzer Company Control system for vending machine
US4579213A (en) * 1982-09-30 1986-04-01 Drewry Photocolor Corporation Apparatus for an automated vending machine for arbitrarily priced articles
US4654800A (en) * 1984-02-20 1987-03-31 Kabushikikaisha Nippon Coinco Control and monitoring apparatus for vending machines
US4814592A (en) * 1986-05-29 1989-03-21 Videomat Associates Apparatus and method for storing and retrieving articles
US4839505A (en) * 1986-05-29 1989-06-13 Videomat Associates Apparatus and method for storing and retrieving articles
US4896791A (en) * 1987-01-20 1990-01-30 The Savings Spot, Ltd. Coupon dispensing system
US5687322A (en) * 1989-05-01 1997-11-11 Credit Verification Corporation Method and system for selective incentive point-of-sale marketing in response to customer shopping histories
US5644723A (en) * 1989-05-01 1997-07-01 Credit Verification Corporation Method and system for selective incentive point-of-sale marketing in response to customer shopping histories
US5235509A (en) * 1989-06-28 1993-08-10 Management Information Support, Inc. Customer self-ordering system using information displayed on a screen
US5353219A (en) * 1989-06-28 1994-10-04 Management Information Support, Inc. Suggestive selling in a customer self-ordering system
US5267171A (en) * 1990-03-29 1993-11-30 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Computer software vending machine
US5091713A (en) * 1990-05-10 1992-02-25 Universal Automated Systems, Inc. Inventory, cash, security, and maintenance control apparatus and method for a plurality of remote vending machines
US5069876A (en) 1990-05-24 1991-12-03 Candace Oshinsky Combined scent and audio point of sale display unit
JPH0712154Y2 (en) * 1990-09-26 1995-03-22 池田物産株式会社 Seat slide device
CA2035767C (en) * 1991-02-06 1995-07-18 Douglas Huegel Automatic ticket dispensing system
AU649934B2 (en) * 1991-03-05 1994-06-02 Gift Certificate Center, Inc., The Method and apparatus for generating gift certificates
US5832457A (en) * 1991-05-06 1998-11-03 Catalina Marketing International, Inc. Method and apparatus for selective distribution of discount coupons based on prior customer behavior
WO1993007594A1 (en) * 1991-10-11 1993-04-15 Verifone, Inc. Dispensing machine with data card scanner apparatus and enhanced features
US5502636A (en) * 1992-01-31 1996-03-26 R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company Personalized coupon generating and processing system
US6292786B1 (en) * 1992-05-19 2001-09-18 Incentech, Inc. Method and system for generating incentives based on substantially real-time product purchase information
US5408417A (en) * 1992-05-28 1995-04-18 Wilder; Wilford B. Automated ticket sales and dispensing system
US5528735A (en) * 1993-03-23 1996-06-18 Silicon Graphics Inc. Method and apparatus for displaying data within a three-dimensional information landscape
US5414741A (en) * 1993-10-14 1995-05-09 Litton Systems, Inc. Low phase noise oscillator frequency control apparatus and method
AU1333895A (en) * 1993-11-30 1995-06-19 Raymond R. Burke Computer system for allowing a consumer to purchase packaged goods at home
CA2185689A1 (en) * 1994-03-17 1995-09-21 William J. Veeneman Machine-readable indicia certificate dispensing device
US5450938A (en) * 1994-05-02 1995-09-19 Xcp, Inc. Card or cash actuated vending machine assembly
US5497141A (en) 1994-05-12 1996-03-05 Timecorp Systems, Inc. Automated labor alert and remote messaging system
US6226365B1 (en) * 1997-08-29 2001-05-01 Anip, Inc. Method and system for global communications network management and display of market-price information
US5602730A (en) 1994-12-07 1997-02-11 Altoc Corporation Restaurant management system
US5774868A (en) * 1994-12-23 1998-06-30 International Business And Machines Corporation Automatic sales promotion selection system and method
US5482139A (en) * 1995-02-16 1996-01-09 M.A. Rivalto Inc. Automated drive-up vending facility
US5806071A (en) 1995-08-21 1998-09-08 Info America, Inc. Process and system for configuring information for presentation at an interactive electronic device
US5797515A (en) * 1995-10-18 1998-08-25 Adds, Inc. Method for controlling a drug dispensing system
US5673309A (en) * 1995-11-17 1997-09-30 Avery Dennison Corporation ATM phone card system
JPH09167182A (en) 1995-12-14 1997-06-24 Nippon Syst Design Kk System and device for managing customer
US6152591A (en) * 1996-03-04 2000-11-28 Dresser Industries, Inc. Interactive graphics display system for a fuel dispenser
US5995942A (en) * 1996-03-13 1999-11-30 Tactical Retailing Solutions Store-level marketing system
US6014638A (en) * 1996-05-29 2000-01-11 America Online, Inc. System for customizing computer displays in accordance with user preferences
US6070147A (en) * 1996-07-02 2000-05-30 Tecmark Services, Inc. Customer identification and marketing analysis systems
US6240396B1 (en) * 1996-09-04 2001-05-29 Priceline.Com Incorporated Conditional purchase offer management system for event tickets
US7496519B2 (en) * 2002-05-10 2009-02-24 U.S. Bank National Association Automated transaction processing system and approach
US6088681A (en) 1997-02-11 2000-07-11 Coleman; James Hamilton Restaurant management system
US6161059A (en) * 1998-09-14 2000-12-12 Walker Digital, Llc Vending machine method and apparatus for encouraging participation in a marketing effort
US6324520B1 (en) * 1997-10-09 2001-11-27 Walker Digital, Llc Method and apparatus for collecting and applying vending machine demand information
US6341268B2 (en) * 1997-03-21 2002-01-22 Walker Digital, Llc System and method providing a restaurant menu dynamically generated based on revenue management information
US6397193B1 (en) * 1997-08-26 2002-05-28 Walker Digital, Llc Method and apparatus for automatically vending a combination of products
US5895457A (en) * 1997-06-03 1999-04-20 Gary-Williams Energy Corporation Automated filling station with change dispenser
AU1275999A (en) * 1997-10-23 1999-05-10 Bruce R. Korman Multi-transaction coin machine
US5988346A (en) * 1997-11-10 1999-11-23 Tedesco; Daniel E. Method and apparatus for establishing and managing vending machine subscriptions
JP2001525571A (en) * 1997-12-02 2001-12-11 キャッシュ・テクノロジーズ・インコーポレイテッド Multipurpose trading network method
US20010014868A1 (en) * 1997-12-05 2001-08-16 Frederick Herz System for the automatic determination of customized prices and promotions
US6332154B2 (en) * 1998-09-11 2001-12-18 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. Method and apparatus for providing media-independent self-help modules within a multimedia communication-center customer interface
US6356794B1 (en) * 1998-03-13 2002-03-12 Interlott Technologies, Inc. Item dispensing system network
US6401074B1 (en) * 1998-06-12 2002-06-04 Access Retail transaction promotion system
US20010021950A1 (en) * 1998-07-10 2001-09-13 Michael Hawley Method and apparatus for controlling access to a computer network using tangible media
US6059142A (en) * 1998-10-15 2000-05-09 Inland Finance Company Apparatus and method for vending multiple products
US6386323B1 (en) * 1998-11-13 2002-05-14 Diebold, Incorporated Cash dispensing method and system for merchandise delivery facility
US6367516B1 (en) * 1998-12-22 2002-04-09 Tokheim Corporation Method of providing automated remote control of the operation of multiple refueling stations
US6317835B1 (en) 1998-12-23 2001-11-13 Radiant Systems, Inc. Method and system for entry of encrypted and non-encrypted information on a touch screen
JP2000293740A (en) 1999-02-05 2000-10-20 Hitachi Ltd Ic card processor, automatic vending machine, and vending method
US6401009B1 (en) * 1999-02-16 2002-06-04 Suzette M. Chandonnet Sundry article vending apparatus
US6513019B2 (en) * 1999-02-16 2003-01-28 Financial Technologies International, Inc. Financial consolidation and communication platform
US6070717A (en) 1999-04-09 2000-06-06 Superior Merchandise Company Inc. Point of sale display box and kit
US6317650B1 (en) * 1999-04-29 2001-11-13 Softcard Systems, Inc. System and method employing portable cards to monitor a commercial system
US6397126B1 (en) * 1999-05-11 2002-05-28 Kim Marie Nelson Interfaced dispensing machines and remote automated payment and inventory management system
US20020120627A1 (en) 1999-07-07 2002-08-29 Mankoff Jeffrey W. Virtual document organizer system and method
US6296184B1 (en) 1999-11-02 2001-10-02 Ncr Corporation Apparatus and method for operating a checkout system having a security scale for providing security during an assisted checkout transaction
US7257536B1 (en) 1999-11-23 2007-08-14 Radiant Systems, Inc. Audio request interaction system
US6587849B1 (en) * 1999-12-10 2003-07-01 Art Technology Group, Inc. Method and system for constructing personalized result sets
JP2001283055A (en) 2000-03-31 2001-10-12 Plat'home Kk Electronic commercial transaction system and its method
US20020077929A1 (en) * 2000-05-05 2002-06-20 Knorr Yolanda Denise Event driven shopping method utilizing electronic e-commerce order pending
WO2001088654A2 (en) * 2000-05-18 2001-11-22 Visionix Ltd. Spectacles fitting system and fitting methods
JP2002063092A (en) * 2000-06-09 2002-02-28 Tomy Co Ltd Information-providing system, information-providing device, server, toy, information-providing method, and storage medium
AU2001271526A1 (en) * 2000-06-28 2002-01-08 International Trade Management, Inc. Partner relationship management system
FR2811843B1 (en) * 2000-07-13 2002-12-06 France Telecom ACTIVATION OF AN INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA TERMINAL
US6577609B2 (en) * 2000-09-29 2003-06-10 Symbol Technologies, Inc. Local addressing of mobile units in a WLAN with multicast packet addressing
US6792401B1 (en) * 2000-10-31 2004-09-14 Diamond Visionics Company Internet-based modeling kiosk and method for fitting and selling prescription eyeglasses
US20020072968A1 (en) * 2000-12-12 2002-06-13 Gorelick Richard B. System and method for incentivizing online sales
FI20002901A (en) * 2000-12-29 2002-06-30 Nokia Corp Procedure and device for marketing a product and a premium function
US20020143619A1 (en) * 2001-03-29 2002-10-03 Laurie Stephen P. System and method for winning discounts
US6854010B1 (en) 2001-04-05 2005-02-08 Bluecube Software, Inc. Multi-location management system
US7165721B2 (en) 2001-08-14 2007-01-23 Ikan Technologies Inc. Networked disposal and sample provisioning apparatus
US20030110497A1 (en) * 2001-12-11 2003-06-12 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Micro-auction on television using multiple rewards to benefit the viewer of commercials
US20030171995A1 (en) * 2002-03-07 2003-09-11 Rockwell Electronic Commerce Technologies, L.L.C. Method and system for transacting and negotiating business over a communication network using an infomediary computer
US20030225633A1 (en) 2002-06-04 2003-12-04 Emn8, Inc. Point of sale computer system delivering composited two- and three-dimensional images
US6940393B2 (en) 2002-06-24 2005-09-06 Nimesa Corporation System and method for improved queuing, service-time, and capacity in drive-through operations
US6959833B1 (en) 2003-05-27 2005-11-01 Nextep Trash bin system
EP2233126B1 (en) 2007-12-19 2012-08-15 Shiseido Company, Ltd. Process for producing powdery cosmetic preparation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2003107132A2 (en) 2003-12-24
CA2489417A1 (en) 2003-12-24
AU2003243596A8 (en) 2003-12-31
US20030225633A1 (en) 2003-12-04
CA2489422A1 (en) 2003-12-24
US8438065B2 (en) 2013-05-07
AU2003251516A8 (en) 2003-12-31
WO2003107131A2 (en) 2003-12-24
WO2003107131A3 (en) 2005-02-17
US20110010274A1 (en) 2011-01-13
AU2003276708A8 (en) 2003-12-31
WO2003107132A3 (en) 2005-02-03
US20040030573A1 (en) 2004-02-12
EP1552361A2 (en) 2005-07-13
US20060178945A1 (en) 2006-08-10
AU2003276708A1 (en) 2003-12-31
WO2003107136A3 (en) 2004-05-13
WO2003107136A2 (en) 2003-12-24
JP2006508418A (en) 2006-03-09
US20040015414A1 (en) 2004-01-22
JP2006508419A (en) 2006-03-09
US8234171B2 (en) 2012-07-31
JP2006501537A (en) 2006-01-12
AU2003251516A1 (en) 2003-12-31
US7801763B2 (en) 2010-09-21
US20070005439A1 (en) 2007-01-04
US9600813B2 (en) 2017-03-21
EP1552361A4 (en) 2009-10-21
US20130246201A1 (en) 2013-09-19
AU2003243596A1 (en) 2003-12-31
US20120296750A1 (en) 2012-11-22

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US20070005439A1 (en) Customer-operated ordering system that sets prices based on customer profile
US9870585B2 (en) Interactive seat beacon with customization
US7083081B2 (en) Electronic card and ticket and methods for their use
US7283650B1 (en) Method and system for printing of automatically captured facial images augmented with promotional content
AU2006242972B2 (en) Systems and methods for managing and displaying dynamic and static content
US20210133790A1 (en) Marketing Based Privacy Credits Using Conventional and Distributed Ledger Technology
US20080255960A1 (en) Managing retail transactions
WO2001074137A2 (en) System and method for managing excess capacity for events of natural expiration via wireless devices
US20130297403A1 (en) Marketing based discounts and local heat clouds
US20020198799A1 (en) Investment system
JP6399986B2 (en) Information provision system
US20040024642A1 (en) Customer-operated ordering system and method that accepts coupons with interactive multimedia content
WO2001020527A1 (en) Retail location shopping assistance method and apparatus
JP2002203283A (en) Point managing system
US20090123004A1 (en) Method and system for automated volume adjustments for a marketing system
Gutenberg et al. A Further Empirical Investigation into the Semantic Meaning of Advertising Price References
JP2003016330A (en) Preferential treatment system and method for member
US20070168248A1 (en) Sales promotion device
JP7432039B2 (en) Information processing method and terminal
JP2006106965A (en) Sale management system
US20100274595A1 (en) Ticket Management System and Method using Pre-Sales Keys
JP2002049739A (en) Method and device for storing consumer information, and storage medium
US20170091826A1 (en) Time-related System for Promoting Sales
KR20090000653A (en) Apparatus and method for campaign operation of affiliation store using card company system
JP2009048523A (en) Pos terminal and method for counting customers using the same

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
EEER Examination request
FZDE Discontinued