The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 12, 2013
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2011
James F. Kramer, Foster City, CA (US);
Paul C. Ning, Foster City, CA (US);
James F. Kramer, Foster City, CA (US);
Paul C. Ning, Foster City, CA (US);
Groupon, Inc., Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
Product vendors are provided with a system for performing a marketing campaign to mobile communication device users, providing offers as instruments, such as digital coupons, to a selected group of users of the mobile communication devices and validating the integrity of the instruments. The invention has two phases: the selection of the components of the instrument from a menu provided by a social networking organization; and validating the instrument upon redemption from the product vendor. In the first phase, the product vendor selects elements from the menu relevant to the campaign, such as timing, nature of the offer, targeting of the recipients, etc. In the second phase, the instrument is encoded as to the marketing campaign and an arbitrary designation which initiates a pattern as the instrument is redeemed. The product vendor inspects the instrument to ensure that the encoding is correct during the redemption process.