Abstract:
A system and method for at least partially satisfying an advertising obligation is provided where a voucher is conveyed or sold to a consumer, the voucher is redeemed with a vendor, and the vendor further redeems the used voucher with an organizer in exchange for credit towards an advertising obligation. Aspects of the system and method are carried out online, with or without an intermediary on behalf of the organizer.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Presently, many business arrangements include agreements requiring that one or more parties to the agreement make advertising and/or marketing contributions to another party for the purpose of promoting sales and services of which either of both parties to the agreement will be a beneficiary. 
         [0003]    One example of such an arrangement involves a shopping center landlord and one or more tenants. It is not uncommon for a lease agreement to require that one or more tenants contribute to a joint advertising fund for the shopping center. 
         [0004]    An agreement between a franchisor and a franchisee is also likely to include a provision whereby the franchisee is contractually obligated to contribute to an advertising fund and/or participate in a marketing plan required or maintained by the franchisor. 
         [0005]    Additionally, contributions towards an advertising fund are often required in the case of company stores (Firestone or Pizza Hut) and for membership in some trade organizations. 
         [0006]    Contributions by one or more parties to an advertising fund or marketing plan may be desirable to promote traffic to physical stores and/or to Internet websites. 
         [0007]    The common economic circumstances of both parties to an agreement requiring contribution to a shared advertising/marketing fund make the effective expenditure of advertising and marketing funds and the most efficient satisfaction of marketing obligations mutually desirable. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In accordance with one embodiment of the present inventive system and method, a computer implemented method is provided for satisfying at least a portion of an advertising contribution obligation owed to an organizer, including the steps of conveying a voucher to a consumer, accepting the voucher from the consumer as at least partial payment for a transaction between the consumer and a retailer, and accepting the voucher from the retailer as at least partial payment towards the advertising contribution obligation. According to another embodiment of the inventive method, the transaction between the retailer and the consumer is performed online. Further disclosed is a variation where the transaction between the retailer and the consumer is performed at a physical retail location. According to another variation of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online is performed by an intermediary on behalf of the organizer. Also disclosed is where the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online further includes the step of associating a customer profile with the voucher. Further shown is where the step of accepting the voucher from the consumer further comprises reading the customer profile. According to yet another variation, the step of conveying a voucher to a consumer is carried out electronically. In another embodiment, the step of conveying a voucher to a consumer is carried out by physical delivery of the voucher. According to another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of reading the customer profile also associates a record of the consumer&#39;s purchase preferences with the customer profile. 
         [0009]    In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, provided is a computer readable medium having stored thereon, a set of instructions for performing a method of satisfying at least a portion of a shared advertising obligation owed by a vendor to an organizer, the method including the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer online, where at least a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the voucher are received by the organizer, receiving the voucher from the vendor where the voucher has been redeemed by the consumer in a transaction with the vendor, and providing the vendor with at least partial credit towards satisfaction of the shared advertising obligation, the credit being at least partially based on the redeemed voucher. Another embodiment of the inventive method features the step of validating the vouchers received from the vendor. Further still, a variation of the present invention is disclosed where the step of providing the vendor with at least partial credit is performed on a periodic basis. According to another aspect of the present inventive system and method, the step of receiving the voucher from the vendor is performed electronically. According to yet another aspect of the present inventive system and method, the transaction between the vendor and the consumer is performed online. Further according to still another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online is performed by an intermediary on behalf of the organizer. 
         [0010]    In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, provided is an organizer operated, computer readable medium having stored thereon, a set of instructions for performing a method of at least partially satisfying an advertising obligation owed by a vendor to an organizer, including the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer online, where proceeds from the sale of the voucher are received by the organizer and where the voucher is redeemable with the vendor, redeeming the voucher, accepting the voucher from the vendor where the voucher has been redeemed by the vendor in a sale transaction with the consumer, and providing the vendor with a credit amount towards satisfaction of the advertising obligation for the voucher. Another embodiment of the inventive method includes the step of delivering the voucher to the consumer electronically. Another aspect of the inventive method includes a computer readable medium where the step of redeeming the voucher further includes validating the voucher. Yet another embodiment of the inventive method includes the step of redeeming the voucher further includes validating the voucher and reporting the voucher as redeemed. 
         [0011]    In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, a computer implemented method for satisfying an advertising obligation owed by a vendor to an organizer is provided which includes the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer online, where the voucher is redeemable with the vendor, validating the voucher at a vendor point of sale, reporting the voucher as redeemed, and crediting the vendor with a predefined amount towards satisfaction of the advertising obligation for each of the validated vouchers. Another aspect of the present inventive system and method includes the step of notifying the vendor of the amount credited towards the shared advertising obligation. Also provided is a variation in which the step of validating the voucher is performed by scanning the voucher with an electronic reader. Also shown according to an embodiment is where the step of validating the voucher is performed by scanning the voucher and electronically verifying the voucher against a list of valid vouchers. Further included is the step of reporting the voucher as redeemed includes the step of updating a list of valid vouchers. Additionally shown is where the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online further includes the step of associating a customer profile with the voucher. Further shown is an embodiment of a computer implemented method where the step of validating the voucher further includes the step of verifying the customer profile information associated with the voucher. 
         [0012]    In another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online is performed by an intermediary. In yet another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of crediting the vendor is performed on a periodic basis. In still another embodiment of the inventive method, further includes the step of notifying the vendor of the amount credited towards the advertising obligation. In yet another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of validating the voucher is performed by scanning the voucher with an electronic reader. In still another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of validating the voucher is performed by scanning the voucher and electronically verifying the voucher against a list of valid vouchers. According to another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of validating the voucher is performed online by the consumer interacting with an Internet site. Further still, according to another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of reporting the voucher as redeemed includes the step of updating a list of valid vouchers. According to another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online further includes the step of associating a customer profile with the voucher. Additionally, according to another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of validating the voucher further includes the step of verifying the customer profile information associated with the voucher. 
         [0013]    In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, a computer implemented method for raising funds to satisfy an advertising obligation owed to an organizer is provided where the method includes the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer in a transaction with an intermediary, where the organizer receives a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the voucher, redeeming the voucher as at least partial payment in a sales transaction between the consumer and a retailer, accepting the redeemed voucher from the retailer, and crediting the retailer by a predetermined amount towards satisfaction of the advertising obligation for the redeemed voucher. According to still another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer is performed online. In yet another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of crediting the retailer is performed on a periodic basis. In still another embodiment of the inventive method, the organizer is one of the group consisting of: franchiser, landlord, school, property manager, trade group, company store, and any entity operating pursuant to Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States of America. 
         [0014]    In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, a computer readable medium is provided where the computer readable medium includes a stored set of instructions for performing a method of satisfying at least a portion of a shared advertising obligation owed by a vendor to an organizer, the method including the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer online, where the sale is by an intermediary on behalf of the organizer, receiving the voucher from the vendor where the voucher has been redeemed by the consumer in a transaction with the vendor, and providing the vendor with at least partial credit towards satisfaction of the shared advertising obligation, such credit being at least partially based on the redeemed voucher. 
         [0015]    Another embodiment of the inventive method, further includes the step of validating the voucher received from the vendor. According to still another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of providing the vendor with at least partial credit is performed on a periodic basis. In an additional embodiment of the inventive method, the step of receiving the voucher from the vendor is performed electronically. In another embodiment of the inventive method, the transaction between the vendor and the consumer is performed online. 
         [0016]    In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, an intermediary operated, computer readable medium is provided where the computer readable medium includes stored instructions for performing a method of at least partially satisfying an advertising obligation owed by a vendor to an organizer, the method including the steps of selling a voucher to a consumer online, where the voucher is redeemable with the vendor, redeeming the voucher by the vendor from the consumer in a sale transaction, accepting the voucher by the organizer from the vendor, and providing by the organizer to the vendor a credit towards satisfaction of the advertising obligation of the vendor to the organizer, where the credit is at least partially based on the redeemed voucher. 
         [0017]    According to another embodiment of the inventive method, further includes the step of delivering the voucher to the consumer electronically. In yet another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online is performed by the organizer. In another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of selling a voucher to a consumer online is performed by the intermediary on behalf of the organizer. In still another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of redeeming the voucher further includes validating the voucher. According to yet another embodiment of the inventive method, the step of redeeming the voucher further includes validating the voucher and reporting the voucher as redeemed. 
         [0018]    There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
         [0019]    In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0020]    As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
         [0021]    Further features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates from reading the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1  is an illustration of a distributed network according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a method according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 4  is an illustration of a voucher according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 5  is an alternate illustration of a voucher according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 6  is an illustration of a customer loyalty card, which may be used in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention and inventive method. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0028]    The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. For purposes of clarity in illustrating the characteristics of the present invention, proportional relationships of the elements have not necessarily been maintained in the Figures. 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  provides an illustration of a distributed network  100  environment in which an embodiment of the present inventive system and method may be practiced. A distributed network  100  may be implemented as an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, wireless networks, the public service telephone network (PSTN), or any other medium capable of transmitting or receiving digital information. The distributed network  100  contains a network  101 . The network  101  is the medium used to provide communications links between network connected devices and may include switches, routers, hubs, wired connections, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables. Devices connected to the network  101  may include a computer  110 , portable notebook computer  112 , smartphone  114 , PDA (personal digital assistant)  116 , and server  118  with a data repository  120 . Devices connected to the network may also contain a processor and memory for data storage. 
         [0030]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in  FIG. 1  may vary depending on the implementation of an embodiment present invention. For example, other devices, such as NAS (network attached storage) devices and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention. 
         [0031]    A “client” should be broadly construed to mean any device connected to a network, or any device used to request or get a information. The client includes a browser such as a web browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome. The client browser further includes XML compatibility and support for application plug-ins or helper applications. The term “server” should be broadly construed to mean a computer, computer platform, an adjunct to a computer or platform, or any component thereof used to send a document or a file to a client. One of skill in the art will appreciate that according to some embodiments of the present invention, server  118  may include various capabilities and provide functions including that of a web server, E-mail hosting, application hosting, and database hosting, some or all of which may be implemented in various ways, including as three separate processes running on multiple server computer systems, as processes or threads running on a single computer system, as processes running in virtual machines, and as multiple distributed processes running on multiple computer systems distributed throughout the network. 
         [0032]    The term “computer” should be broadly construed to mean a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format. “PDA” and “Smartphone” should be broadly construed to include information appliances, tablet devices, handhelds and any programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format such as an Android OS based device, Palm, Windows Mobile, an iPad, or iPhone both from Apple, Inc. Smartphones may include complete operating system software providing a platform for application developers and may include features such as a camera, infrared transceiver, RFID transceiver, or other multiple types of wireless functionality. 
         [0033]    Turning to  FIG. 2 ,  200  shows a block diagram illustrating a method according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, organizer  202 , vendor  204 , and consumer  206  are in communication over a distributed network as shown in  FIG. 1 . Vendor  204 , by virtue of an agreement (preferably written), is obligated to contribute to a shared advertising fund to organizer  202 . Organizer  202  conveys a voucher  210  to consumer  206  online. As shown, consumer  206  uses smartphone  208  to purchase the voucher  210  from the organizer  202 . As shown, consumer  206  pays organizer  202  for the voucher  210  directly. Voucher  210  is redeemable by consumer  206  for use in a transaction with vendor  204  in exchange for goods and/or services  212 . Vendor  204  turns the voucher  210 -R (now redeemed) into organizer  202  in exchange for credit  214  towards vendor&#39;s  204  advertising fund contribution requirement. 
         [0034]    According to some embodiments of the present inventive method, voucher  210  is conveyed to consumer  206  in electronic form, online. According to other embodiments of the inventive method, the voucher  210  is conveyed to the consumer  206  via a physical medium such as a printed coupon, advertisement, or handout. It will appreciated by one of skill in the art that according to some embodiments of the present inventive system and method, the organizer  202  conveys the voucher  210  to the consumer  206  at little or no cost to the consumer  206 . 
         [0035]    Advertising should be broadly construed to include marketing and promotion in general. Organizer  202  may include a landlord, shopping center management, franchisor, trade group, professional association, any entity operating pursuant to Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States of America, and the like. Vendor  204  may include a tenant, retailer, service provider, professional or trade group member, student, contributor, or the like. 
         [0036]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram  300  illustrating an alternate method according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown, organizer  302 , vendor  304 , consumer  306 , and intermediary  316  are in communication over a distributed network such as that shown in  FIG. 1 . Vendor  304 , by virtue of an agreement (preferably written), is obligated to contribute to a shared advertising fund to organizer  302 . Organizer  302 , via intermediary  316 , conveys a voucher  310  to consumer  306  online. As shown, consumer  306  uses smartphone  308  to purchase the voucher  310  from the intermediary  316 . As shown, consumer  306  pays the intermediary  316  for the voucher  310  directly and intermediary  316  pays at least a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the voucher  310  to organizer  302 . 
         [0037]    One of skill in the art will appreciate that according to other embodiments of the inventive method, voucher  310  is conveyed to the consumer  306  via a physical medium such as a printed coupon, advertisement, or handout in addition to being conveyed to the consumer  306  electronically. It will further be appreciated by one of skill in the art that according to some embodiments of the inventive system and method, voucher  310  is conveyed to the consumer  306  at little or no cost to the consumer  306 . 
         [0038]    Voucher  310  is redeemable by consumer  306  for use in a transaction with vendor  304  in exchange for goods and/or services  312 . According to some embodiments of the present inventive system and method, vendor  304  authenticates the voucher to confirm that it is valid. As shown, vendor  304  validates the voucher  310 -V (now verified or validated) and accepts it as at least partial payment from the consumer  306  for goods and/or services  312 . Vendor  304  turns the voucher  310 -R (now redeemed) into organizer  302  in exchange for credit  314  towards vendor&#39;s  304  advertising fund contribution requirement. 
         [0039]    The process of authentication/validation may be carried out by the vendor  304  using any number of known methods and may do so at a point of sale. Additionally, according to some embodiments of the inventive method, the organizer  302  validates each redeemed voucher independently of whether or not the vendor  304  validated the voucher  310 , prior to the organizer  302  providing the vendor  304  with at least partial credit towards satisfaction of at least of a portion of the advertising obligation. According to another embodiment of the present inventive system and method, the step of authentication is accomplished by generating a series of unique voucher serial numbers that a Vendor can electronically or manually enter into its point of sale system when a voucher is presented to the Vendor to determine that said voucher has not been previously used. Either the organizer or the Vendor can generate the unique serial numbers. 
         [0040]    Intermediary  316  should be broadly construed to include any media whereby a coupon or voucher (whether electronic or physical) is conveyed to a consumer. Such media includes both electronic and physical media, such as, without limitation, online advertising websites, sellers of online advertising, online discount websites, online newsletters, and physical newspapers and magazines advertisements, direct mail advertisements, and the like. 
         [0041]      FIG. 4  is an illustration of a voucher  400  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, voucher  400  is a printed item with a monetary value  402  displayed in one or more locations, a logo  404 , a QR code  406  and a barcode  408 . It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that voucher as used herein should be broadly construed and analogous to a gift certificate, gift card, “mall bucks” and the like. As shown, voucher  400  includes both a QR code  406 , and barcode  408 , however, according to some embodiments of the present inventive method, voucher  400  may include either or both of these features. It will be further appreciated by one of skill in the art that in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present inventive system and method that voucher  400  may not include either QR code  406  or barcode  408 . 
         [0042]    It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that any form of mobile tags, action codes and QR codes (for “Quick Response”), two-dimensional bar codes may be used in accordance with the present inventive system and method. An advantage of using such a code is that the voucher could be scanned and authenticated using a smartphone, camera phone, or connectable visual camera. According to some embodiments, other machine readable codes are used such as a magnetic stripe, smart chip, RFID, near field communications (NFC) or other machine readable code. 
         [0043]      FIG. 5  is an alternate illustration of a voucher  500  displayed on smartphone  502  screen  504  according to one embodiment of the present invention. Voucher  500  includes a value  506 , logo  508 , and a barcode  510 . As mentioned with respect to  FIG. 4 , one of skill in the art will appreciate that other machine readable codes or tags may be used. Additionally, according to some embodiments of the present inventive method, a combination of a visual machine readable code could be used in conjunction with a non visual code such as a Bluetooth crypto key, infrared code, near field communications code, wifi or the like for authentication purposes. 
         [0044]      FIG. 6  is an illustration of a customer loyalty card  600  which may be used according to one embodiment of the present invention and inventive method. As depicted, customer loyalty card  600  includes the names of the issuer  602 , a convenient keychain opening  604 , and a barcode  608 . 
         [0045]    One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that processes in accordance with the teachings of the present invention are capable of being performed and distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. 
         [0046]    The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.