Abstract:
A method of tracking consumer purchases from the safety first financial instrument and method of notifying consumer about product recall advisory based on the consumer purchase history tracked by the safety first financial instrument. When consumer purchases product using safety first financial instrument, the purchased product information is added to the consumer purchase database. The consumer is notified when a product recall notice is posted for the registered products in consumer database using multitude of communication channels. Invention also discloses method of notifying consumers on the product recall notice posted on used products.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates generally to product recall, and more particularly, to methods and techniques for tracking consumer purchases from the safety first financial instrument and communicating product advisory alerts to the consumer. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Product recall is employed when defect in the product is discovered typically after the product is shipped to the consumer. The manufacturers are obligated to report such findings to the consumer yet the manufacturers are limited in their ability to inform consumers about recall and other important information. 
         [0003]    Manufacturers typically rely on mailing recall and other product related information to the consumers. The process is not only expensive, time consuming and cumbersome but its inefficient. Manufacturers only have about 10 to 15 percent of consumer&#39;s information in its database as most of the sales have been conducted using multitude of retail and distribution channels. Further, manufacturers have limited or no information about the consumers that have bought the product resold in the market. Information is further limited on food and other consumable produces. 
         [0004]    One method that is currently practiced is to have consumers fill out a card with required information and mailed to the manufacturer or other designated entity. The process is time consuming and consumers don&#39;t typically go to the trouble of filling out such cards as the process is to be carried out manually by the end consumer. It is difficult to get consumers to give information unless manufacturer is willing to incentivize heavily. 
         [0005]    Other method currently practiced by the manufacturers is to offer on-line product registration over the internet. Typically purchasers never go through the trouble of registering their purchases even if it means forfeiting warranty, rebates and other incentives outlined by manufacturer. 
         [0006]    Other method currently practiced involves the transmittal of information to the consumer via mass media e.g. commercial radio, television, broadcast, etc. Such recall advertising can be complicated as the recipients that receive irrelevant recall and safety messages will start ignoring such warnings and eventually would ignore recall and safety messages that are relevant. 
         [0007]    There is a need for improved method and system for seamless tracking of consumer purchases and notifying the consumer in event of product related updates such as recall, safety notices, upgrades, and the like. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    A method of product recall system is disclosed. The product recall system includes method for tracking consumer purchase information from financial instrument, method of saving consumer purchase information in the consumer purchase database, method of receiving product related notice from manufacturer and other government and independent agencies, method of associating the received notice with the consumers that have purchased the product, and method of notifying the consumer about the product notice. 
         [0009]    An aspect of product recall system is disclosed. The product recall system includes means for tracking consumer purchase information from financial instrument, means of saving consumer purchase information in the consumer purchase database, means of receiving product related notice from manufacturer and other government and independent agencies, means of associating the received notice with the consumers that have purchase the product, and means of notifying the consumer about the product notice. 
         [0010]    Computer readable media is disclosed. The computer-readable media contains set of instructions for tracking consumer purchase information from financial instrument. The instructions include a routine to store consumer purchase information into consumer product database, a routine to receive and retrieve product related notice from manufacturer, government agencies and other independent organizations, a routine to associate the received notice with the consumers that have purchased the product, and routine of notifying the consumer about the product notice. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    Aspects of the present invention are illustrated by the way of example, and not by the way of limitation, in the accompanying drawings wherein: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating high level overview of a safety first product recall system. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating high level overview of integration of safety first product recall system into manufacturer  100 /retailer  102  sales and financial institutions  206 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating process for integrating safety first product recall system with payment and transaction processes. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating process for updating consumer product database. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating process of retrieving product notices  116 / 118  from manufacturer  100 /retailer  102  and government agencies  106 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating process of querying consumer product database. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    The detailed description is set forth below in connection with the appended drawings are intended as a description of various embodiments of the invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details of the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in the block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the invention. 
         [0019]      FIG. 1 . is a block diagram illustrating high level overview of safety first product recall system. The consumer(s)  110  purchase product(s)  108  from Manufacturer  100  or from online or in-store retail or distributor  102 . The consumer  110  makes payment  114  for the purchased product  108  using safety first financial instrument  104 . The safety first financial instrument  104  retrieves product  108  information from manufacturer  100  or retailer/distributor  102  using process  112 . The safety first financial instrument  104  saves the product  108  details in consumer product database. Manufacturer(s)  100  publishes product notice  116  to one or more government agencies  106 , and in some cases such product notice  116  can be published directly to the safety first financial instrument  104 . Further, the safety first financial instrument  104  continuously monitors  118  said government agencies  106  that maintain product notices  116  for any new notice posted by Manufacturer(s)  100 . The safety first financial instrument  104  compares the published notice  116  against the consumer product database. The safety first financial instrument  104  notifies consumers  110  when a product notice  116  is published for one or more products  108  purchased by consumer  110 . 
         [0020]    The personnel skilled in the art may realize that the safety first financial instrument  104  is a process that may be initiated by, with no loss of generality or specificity, in any combination of, but not limited to, credit card, debit card, check, mobile phone payment system, checkout cart, online shopping chart, online/offline payment processing gateway, bank, etc. 
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating high level overview of a safety first product recall system. The safety first financial instrument  104  may be a process that is embedded within Manufacturer  100 , Retailer/Distributor  102  software processes. The safety first financial instrument  104  may be a process that is embedded within the financial institution  206  software processes. It shall be apparent to the personnel skilled in the art that the safety first financial instrument  104  that is embedded within Manufacturer  100  or Retailer  102  software processes can alert consumer  110  about the product notices  116  that are associated with the products  108  sold by that Manufacturer  100  or Retailer  102 . Whereas the safety first financial instrument  104  that is embedded within the Financial Institution  206  can alert consumer  110  about the product notices  116  that are associated with any product  108  that is purchased from any Manufacturer  100  or Retailer  102 . Further, it shall be apparent that both the safety first financial instrument  104  can simultaneously exist in both Manufacturer  100 /Retailer  102  processes as well as the Financial Institution  206  processes and that the safety first financial instrument  104  process may be initiated by the payment processing request  200  and  202  by the Manufacturer  100 /Retailer  102 . 
         [0022]    The personnel skilled in the art may realize that the Financial Institution  206  may be, with no loss of generality or specificity, in any combination of, but not limited to, credit card company, bank, cellular phone service provider, etc. 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating process for integrating safety first financial instrument  104  with payment and transaction processes. The safety first financial instrument  104  process is initiated when payment or transaction processing request is received by Manufacturer  100  or Retailer  102  or the Financial Institution  206 . If the details  300  for purchase  108  are available to the safety first financial instrument  104 , the safety first financial instrument  104  checks  302  if there is any published product notice  116  on the purchased product  108 . If  304  there are no product notices  116  found for the purchased product  104 , the purchased product  116  details are added  306  to the consumer product database and the process is returned back to the normal processing else, the consumer  110  is notified  318  using one or more communication devices specified by the consumer  110 . If the purchase details  300  for the purchased product  108  is not available with the payment or transaction process, the safety first financial instrument  104  queries the seller&#39;s database  308  to retrieve the product details. If the product details  310  is found for the purchased product  110  from the seller&#39;s database, the processing is resumed from check for recall  302  process onwards else the safety first financial instrument  104  prompts the consumer  312  to provide purchase details  314 . On receiving product details  314 , the processing is resumed from check for recall  302  process onwards else if the safety first financial instrument  104  is unable to get purchase details  314 , it returns back for further downstream processing. It shall be apparent to the personnel skilled in the art that such processes can be an independent thread within the payment and transaction processing process as well as the program may terminate if there is no further downstream processing required. 
         [0024]    The personnel skilled in the art may realize that purchase details  300  for the purchased product  108  may include but is not limited to, and in any parts or combinations of, Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), Universal Product Code (UPC), European Article Number (EAN), Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), Australian Product Number (APN), Electronic Product Code (EPC), Manufacturer Name, Product Name, Batch Code, etc. 
         [0025]    The check for product recall  302  includes checking manufacturer  100 , government and independent agency databases for any published notices  116 / 118  on the purchased products  108 . Further any published notices  116 / 118  is communicated to the consumer  110  using notify consumer  318 , which involves contacting consumer  110  using one or more communication devices such as but not limited to, and in any combinations of, cell phone call, voice mail, telephone call, SMS message, pager message, email, fax, postal message, website update, RSS, etc. Further, such product notice  116 / 118  may include messages related to warranty, recall, upgrades, updates, advertisement, instructions, etc. 
         [0026]    Prompt consumer  312  requires consumer  110  provide purchase information. The consumer  110  may provide product details  108  using one or more communication devices such as cell phone, website, email, etc. It may be apparent to personnel skilled in the art that consumer  110  may scan the sales receipt and submit the details manually or automatically to safety first financial instrument  104 . Further, the consumer can take picture of the product  108  such as but not limited to, bar code and submit it to the safety first financial instrument  104  via cell phone, internet, email, etc. The safety first financial instrument  104  can then process the submitted information and derive the product  108  information from the submitted information for further processing. 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating process for updating consumer product database. The consumer  110  or the seller (manufacturer  100 /retailer  102 ) may provide information to the safety first financial instrument  104  offline. The received information  400  is checked for recall  402  and if  404  there is an existing product notice  116 / 118  posted for the purchased product  108 , the consumer  110  is notified  318  using one or more communication devices identified by the consumer  110 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating process of retrieving product notices  116 / 118  from manufacturer  100 /retailer  102  and government agencies/independent organizations  106 . The information for product notices  116 / 118  is monitored continuously and when a new product notice  116 / 118  is published, the safety first financial instrument  104  checks the published notice  116 / 118  against the consumer product database  500 . If  502  the consumer product database has matching entries corresponding to product notice  116 / 118 , the consumer  110  is notified  318  about the product notice  116 / 118  else the process terminates without any further actions  504 . 
         [0029]    The personnel skilled in the art may realize that the safety first financial instrument  104  may retrieve product notices  116 / 118 , with no loss of generality or specificity, in any combination of, but not limited to, OEM, Distributor, Retailer, Online Store, Online Database, TV, Radio, NHTSA, FDA, USEPA, USDA, Recall.gov, CPSC, Search Engine, etc. 
         [0030]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating process of querying consumer product database. The manufacturer  100 /retailer  102  may query the consumer product database  600  for products purchased  108 . Depending on the outcome of the matching process  602 , response  604 / 606  is provided back to the querying entity. It shall be apparent to the personnel skilled in the art, that such information may be used by manufacturer  100 /retailer  102  to directly contact the consumers  110  about the product defects and notices  116 . Further such information may be used to promote competing products as well as for providing product related updates and instructions. 
         [0031]    The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various embodiments described herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”