Abstract:
According to one embodiment, a system and methods that provides computer-aided discovery, collection, storage, organization, tracking, monitoring, notification, integration, presentation, analysis, and augmentation or otherwise processing of Rebate Marketing Promotion information. Additionally, the system and methods provides a means for computers to communicate over a network with other computers to process Rebate Marketing Promotion information, by means of discovery, collection, organization, storing, augmenting, presentation of promotion information stored in a database, presentation of the promotional information to consumers, organizations, and third-parties, allow tracking, notification, and monitoring of promotional information to alert consumers, organizations, and third-parties to changes of the database, analysis of the database to provide additional information about or relating to usage of the database. 
     As a result, Rebate Marketing Promotion Assistant substantially assists consumers, organizations, and third-parties in Rebate Marketing Promotion utilization, which capitalizes on Rebate Marketing Promotion information intelligence.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims benefit of co-pending U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/698,865, filed Sep. 10, 2012, which is hereby incorporated herein 
     
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    None 
       SEQUENCE LISTING 
       [0003]    None 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0004]    Merchants, retailers, and manufacturers often engage in marketing efforts to promote their products and services. One of these marketing efforts are to offer consumers, organizations, and third-parties discounted products and services allowing them to stay competitive and increase sales revenues. The process of these marketing efforts are called Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
         [0005]    Consumers, organizations, and third-parties learn about Rebate Marketing Promotions through widespread communication networks, channels, and devices. Additionally, each merchant, retailer, and manufacturer has structured and communicated their Rebate Marketing Promotions in different ways to gain competitive advantages. 
         [0006]    Considering the above, there previously wasn&#39;t an easy and efficient way to collect, store, organize, track, monitor, alert, analyze, redeem, verify and validate, augment, and process Rebate Marketing Promotions from one or more merchants, retailers, and manufacturers, using one or more networks, channels, and devices, following different promotional structures and protocols. For example, if a consumer or business wanted to take advantage of a Rebate Marketing Promotion they would have to, subject to the requirements and protocols of the Rebate Marketing Promotion:
       1. Learn about the promotional program and research additional information not directly provided by the promotion   2. Collect necessary documentation, proof, or evidence required by the promotion   3. Make necessary copies of the collected documentation and store copies of the documentation for later reference   4. Submit original documentation with additional information collected by the research effort   5. Set alerts (or reminders) for long submittal responses, if promotional documentation contains expected response information   6. Track, monitor, analyze the status of the submittal   7. Analyze, verify, and validate the submittal response according to the promotional and stored documentation.       
 
         [0014]    The prior example is multiplied in complexity if a consumer or business wanted to take advantage of more than one Rebate Marketing Promotion from different retailers, merchants, and manufacturers. Also, missing a step or requirement of a Rebate Marketing Promotion could result in immediate rejection of a submittal. For example, if
       1. Requirements or protocols of a promotion are difficult and time consuming to understand or follow   2. Additional information required is difficult to research and hard to find   3. Necessary documentation, proof, or evidence is accidentally forgotten during the submittal   4. Not all copies of documentation were made for later reference   5. Alerts (or reminders) were not given in the promotion or they were difficult to understand   6. Tracking and monitoring is manual and not provided by the promotion   7. Verification of validation of submittal response is difficult to understand or the response isn&#39;t communicated effectively   8. No information is given about overall participation in more than one promotion of a consumer or business       
 
       Advantages 
       [0023]    Accordingly, several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: discovery of Rebate Marketing Promotions from one or more sources; organization and augmentation of collected Rebate Marketing Promotions contained within a database; storage and presentation of organized and augmented Rebate Marketing Promotions within the database; tracking, monitoring, and registration of notifications and alerts to changes of the database; analysis of the database to provide additional information about or relating to Rebate Marketing Promotions; integration of the database and redemption protocols for verification and validation of Rebate Marketing Promotions submittal results. 
         [0024]    Other advantages of one or more aspects will be apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0025]    In accordance with one embodiment, a system and methods that aid consumers, organizations, and third parties in utilizing Rebate Marketing Promotions information. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS FIGURES 
         [0026]      FIG. 1  shows a system for processing Rebate Marketing Promotion information. 
           [0027]      FIGS. 2A and 2B  shows an authoritative system for providing, consuming, storing, and processing Rebate Marketing Promotion information. 
           [0028]      FIG. 3  shows a system for consuming Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
           [0029]      FIG. 4  shows a system for providing Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  shows a table for storing Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  shows a table for storing consumers, organizations, and third-parties. 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  shows a table for storing Rebate Marketing Promotions Retailers. 
           [0033]      FIG. 8  shows a table for storing Rebate Marketing Promotions Categories. 
           [0034]      FIG. 9  shows a table for storing Rebate Marketing Promotions Manufacturers. 
           [0035]      FIG. 10  shows a table for storing Rebate Marketing Promotions Brands. 
           [0036]      FIG. 11  shows a table for storing Tracked Rebate Marketing Promotions for consumers, organizations, and third-parties. 
           [0037]      FIG. 12  shows a table for Tracked Manufacturers, Brands, and Categories for consumers, organizations, and third-parties. 
           [0038]      FIG. 13  shows a table for storing Consumer and Business System Activities. 
           [0039]      FIG. 14  shows a flowchart of a method that discovers, reconciles, and publishes Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
           [0040]      FIG. 15  shows a flowchart of a method that scans for new or updated Rebate Marketing Promotions and organizes them for future processing. 
           [0041]      FIG. 16  shows a flowchart of a method that exports a scanned Rebate Marketing Promotions Package to reconcile and import for future processing. 
           [0042]      FIG. 17  shows a flowchart of a method that archives similar and publishes Rebate Marketing Promotions. 
           [0043]      FIG. 18  show a flowchart of a method that processes a collection of Regular Rebate Marketing Promotions lifecycle events. 
           [0044]      FIG. 19  shows a flowchart of a method that tracks, monitors, and notifies consumers, organizations, and third-parties of Regular Rebate Marketing Promotions life cycle events. 
           [0045]      FIG. 20  show a flowchart of a method that processes a collection of Reward Rebate Marketing Promotions lifecycle events. 
           [0046]      FIG. 21  shows a flowchart of a method that tracks, monitors, and notifies consumers, organizations, and third-parties of Reward Rebate Marketing Promotions lifecycle events. 
           [0047]      FIG. 22  shows a flowchart of a method that stores Rebate Marketing Promotion interests by consumers, organizations, and third-parties. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0048]    One embodiment of the Rebate Marketing Promotions Assistant (“Assistant System”)  100  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The Assistant System  200  is connected to an Information Transfer Medium  300  that can send and retrieve information to and from Consumer Devices  400  and Content Provider Devices  600 . The Assistant System  200  is comprised of an Information Transfer Interface  210 , Display  220 , Input peripheral  230 , Program  800  Instruction Processor  240 , and Storage  250  devices, illustrated in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . The Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  can send and receive Rebate Marketing Promotion information to and from Consumer Devices  400  and Content Provider Devices  600 . The Assistant System  200  Display  220  and Input peripheral  230  devices allow an operator to control the configuration of Assistant System  200 . The Assistant System  200  instruction Processor  240  executes Assistant System  200  Program  800  instructions stored in Storage  250  device, Assistant System  200  stores Program  800 , Promotion Database  900 , Consumer Database  1000 , Retailer Database  1100 , Category Database  1200 , Manufacturer Database  1300 , Brand Database  1400 , Tracking Database  1500 , and Statistics Database  1600  in Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device. 
         [0049]      FIG. 3  illustrates a Consumer Device  400  comprised of an Information Transfer Interface  410 , Display  420 , input peripheral  430 , Instruction Processor  440 , and Storage  450  device. Consumer Devices  400  are connected to an Information Transfer Medium  300  that can send and receive Rebate Marketing Promotion information to the Assistant System  200 , Consumer Devices  400  have Display  420 , Input peripheral  430 , and instruction Processor  440  devices that allow Consumers to view Rebate Marketing Promotion information and interact with Assistant System  200 . Consumer Devices  400  store identifying information on Storage  450  device used by the Assistant System  200  to identify an individual Consumer Devices  400 . 
         [0050]      FIG. 4  illustrates a Content Provider Device  600  comprised of an Information Transfer Interface  610 , Display  620 , Input peripheral  630 , Instruction Processor  640 , and Storage  650  device. Content Provider Devices  600  are connected to an Information Transfer Medium  300  that can send Rebate Marketing Promotion information to the Assistant System  200 , Content Provider Devices  600  have Display  620 , Input peripheral  630 , and Instruction Processor  640  devices that allow the Assistant System  200  to receive Rebate Marketing Promotion information. Content Provider Devices  600  store Rebate Marketing Promotion information on Storage  650  device. 
         [0051]      FIGS. 5 through 13  illustrate Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device structures for a Promotion Database  900 , Consumer Database  1000 , Retailer Database  1100 , Category Database  1200 , Manufacture Database  1300 , Brand Database  1400 , Tracking Database  1500 , and Statistics Database  1600 , which contains Rebate Marketing Promotion information that allows the Assistant System  200  to associate, present, layout, arrange, store, track, categorize, organize, store, and process statistical and associated and related information sent to and from Consumer Devices  400  and Content Provider Devices  600 . 
         [0052]      FIG. 14  illustrates Rebate Marketing Promotion Publishing method  1700  stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 . Discover Promotions  1800  uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  and Instruction Processor  240  to read and process new and updated Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Content Provider Devices  600  Information Transfer Interface  610  device and persists discovered Rebate Marketing Promotion information for future processing using Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device. Reconcile Promotions  1900  method uses Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and Instruction Processor  240  to package Rebate Marketing Promotion information for addition, augmentation, and removal of discovered Rebate Marketing Promotion information by Assistant System  200  operator using Assistant System  200  Display  200 , Input  230  peripheral, Information Transfer Interface  210 , and Storage  250  device and uses Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240 , Display  200 , Input  230  peripheral, Information Transfer Interface  210 , and Storage  250  device to unpack and persist reconciled Rebate Marketing Promotion information for future processing. Publish Promotions  2000  method uses Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and Instruction Processor  240  to archive previous versions of updated Rebate Marketing Promotion information and publish new and updated Rebate Marketing Promotion information providing Rebate Marketing Promotion information available to Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interlace  410  and Content Provider Devices  600  Information Transfer Interface  610  by writing Rebate Marketing Promotion information to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 . 
         [0053]      FIG. 15  illustrates Discover Promotions  1800  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 . Discover Promotions  1800  method uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  to connect and read (scan) Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Content Provider Devices  600  Information Transfer interface  610  temporarily storing scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information in Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device. Discover Promotions  1800  method iterates over temporarily scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information using Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240  to compare existing Rebate Marketing Promotion information stored in Promotion Database  900  skipping future processing of temporarily stored Rebate Marketing Promotion information given an exact match. Otherwise, Discover Promotions  1800  method uses Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240  to compare the similarities of scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information to existing Rebate Marketing, Promotions information stored in Promotion Database  900  resulting in either temporary storage of unaltered scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information in Storage  250  device or, given existing Rebate Marketing Promotion information was found to be similar to scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information, Instruction Processor  240  uses existing Rebate Marketing Promotion information stored in Storage  250  device to supplement scanned Rebate Marketing Promotion information and temporarily storing results in Storage  250  device for further processing. 
         [0054]      FIG. 16  illustrates Reconcile Promotion  1900  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 , Reconcile Promotion  1900  method uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 , Display  220  device, Input  230  peripherals, Instruction Processor  240 , and Storage  250  device to allow an Assistant System  200  operator to export (download) a promotion package representing the contents of temporarily stored Rebate Marketing Promotion information in Storage  250  device Promotions Database  900  and associated Rebate Marketing Promotion information; for example, redemption forms, questionnaires, and graphics, and so on. Given an exported promotion package an Assistant System  200  operator has the opportunity to add, remove, and augment Rebate Marketing Promotion information to the exported package and import (upload) using Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 , Display  220  device, Input  230  peripherals, and Instruction Processor  240  temporarily storing results in Storage  250  device for further processing. 
         [0055]      FIG. 17  illustrates Publish Promotions  2000  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by instruction Processor  240 . Publish Promotions  2000  method uses Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device to unpack, parse, and iterate reconciled promotion information to compare the reconciled promotion information to existing Rebate Marketing Promotion information stored in Storage  250  device and either, archive existing Rebate Marketing Promotion information stored in Storage  250  device, given a comparison is a match, or directly store reconciled promotion information in Storage  250  device Promotions Database  900 , Retailer Database  1100 , Category Database  1200 , Manufacturer Database  1300 , and Brand Database  1400 , thereby publishing Rebate Marketing Promotion information. Published Rebate Marketing Promotion information is made available to Consumer Devices  400  and Content Provider Devices  600  by reading from Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 . 
         [0056]      FIG. 18  illustrates iterate Tracked Regular Promotions  2100  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 . Iterate Tracked Regular Promotions method reads Rebate Marketing Promotion stored in Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  and for each read Rebate Marketing Promotion uses Instruction Processor  240  to perform Track Regular Promotions  2200  method stored in Storage  250  device. 
         [0057]      FIG. 19  illustrates Track Regular Promotions  2200  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 , Assistant System  200  allows Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  to read Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  using Information Transfer Interface  210  to display read Rebate Marketing Promotion information on Consumer Devices  400  Display  440  using Consumer Devices  400  Instruction Processor  410 . Assistant System  200  allows Consumer Devices  400  to track regular Rebate Marketing Promotions through a predefined industry standard Rebate Marketing Promotion lifecycle by writing a predefined command to Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  read by Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 , triggering verification of Consumer Devices  400  identity using Assistant System  200  instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Consumer Database  1000 , verification of Rebate Marketing Promotion information from command previously read and parsed command using Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900 , resulting in the storage of tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion and associated verified Consumer in Storage  250  device Tracking Database  1500 . Track Regular Promotions  2200  method iterates tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotions using Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  comparing and determining the corresponding Rebate Marketing Promotion lifecycle phase and triggering an associated action needed to alert, or notify, the Consumer using Consumer Devices  400  by writing a command to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer interface  210  read by Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  and displayed by Consumer Devices  400  Display  420 . Track Regular Promotions  2200  method determines if the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has been submitted by Consumer using Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  to write a command to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  420 , processed by Assistant System  200  instruction Processor  220 , and stored in Storage  250  device Tracking Database  1500 . Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has not been submitted Track Regular Promotions  2200  method determines if the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion is soon to expire using Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240 . Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion is not soon to expire no action is taken by Track Regular Promotions  2200  method. Given the Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion is soon to expire Track Regular Promotions  2200  method uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  to write a command to Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  420  alerting, or notifying, Consumer, using Consumer Devices  400  Display  420 , of nearing Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion expiration. Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has been submitted Track Regular Promotions  2200  method determines if the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has been received by Consumer using Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer interface  410  to write a command to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  220 , processed by Instruction Processor  240 , and stored in Storage  250  device Tracking Database  1500 . Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has been received no action is taken by Track Regular Promotions  2200  method. Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion has not been received Track Regular Promotions  2200  method determines if the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion fulfillment date is nearing using Assistant System  200  Instruction Processor  240 . Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion fulfillment date is not near no action is taken by Track Regular Promotions  2200  method. Given the tracked Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion fulfillment date is near Track Regular Promotions  2200  method uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  to write a command to Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  420  alerting, or notifying, Consumer, using Consumer Devices  400  Display  420 , of nearing Regular Rebate Marketing Promotion fulfillment date. 
         [0058]      FIG. 20  illustrates Iterate Tracked Reward Promotions  2300  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by instruction Processor  240 , Iterate Tracked Reward Promotions  2300  method reads Rebate Marketing Promotion stored in Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  and for each read Rebate Marketing Promotion uses Instruction Processor  2411  to perform Track Reward Promotions  2400  method stored in Storage  250  device. 
         [0059]      FIG. 21  illustrates Track Reward Promotions  2400  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by instruction Processor  240 , Assistant System  200  allows Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  to read Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  using Information Transfer Interface  210  to display read Rebate Marketing Promotion information on Consumer Devices  400  Display  440  using Consumer Devices  400  Instruction Processor  410 . Assistant System  200  allows Consumer Devices  400  to track reward Rebate Marketing Promotions through a predefined industry standard Rebate Marketing Promotion lifecycle by writing a command to Consumer Devices  400  information Transfer Interface  410  read by Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210 , triggering verification of Consumer Devices  400  identity using instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Consumer Database  1000 , verification of Rebate Marketing Promotion information from command previously read and parsed command using Instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900 , resulting in the storage of tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion and associated verified Consumer in Storage  250  device Tracking Database  1500 . Track Reward Promotions  2200  method iterates tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotions using Instruction Processor  240  and Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  comparing and determining the corresponding Rebate Marketing Promotion lifecycle phase and triggering an associated action needed to alert, or notify, the Consumer using Consumer Devices  400  by writing a command to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  read by Consumer Devices  400  information Transfer Interface  410  and displayed by Consumer Devices  400  Display  420 . Track Reward Promotions  2400  method determines if the tracked Reward Rebate. Marketing Promotion has been used by Consumer using Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  to write a command to Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  420 , processed by Instruction Processor  420 , and stored in Storage  250  device Tracking Database  1500 . Given the tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion has been used the no action is taken by Track Reward Promotions  2400  method. Given the tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion has not been used Track Reward Promotions  2400  method uses Instruction Processor  240  to determine if the tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion is soon to expire. Given the tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion is not soon to expire no action is taken by Track Reward Promotions  2400 . Given the tracked Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion is soon to expire Track Reward Promotions  2400  method uses Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  to write a command to Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  420  alerting, or notifying, Consumer, using Consumer Devices  400  Display  420 , of nearing Reward Rebate Marketing Promotion expiration date. 
         [0060]      FIG. 22  illustrates Rebate Marketing Promotion Interest  2500  method stored by Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and processed by Instruction Processor  240 . Interest  2500  method allows Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer Interface  410  and Content Provider Devices  6110  Information Transfer Device  610  to read Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  using Information Transfer Interface  210  to display read Rebate Marketing Promotion information on Consumer Devices  400  Display  440  using Consumer Devices  400  instruction Processor  410  and Content Provider Devices  600  using Content Provider Devices  600  Instruction Process or  610  and Display  640 . Interest  2509  method stores using Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Statistics Database  1600  and Instruction Processor  240 , interests in Rebate Marketing Promotion information when Consumer Devices  400  information Transfer interface  410  and Content Provider Devices  600  Information Transfer Interface  610  reads Rebate Marketing Promotion information from Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device Promotion Database  900  using Information Transfer Interface  210 . Interest  2500  method allows Rebate Marketing Promotion information statistics to be calculated using Assistant System  200  Storage  250  device and Instruction Processor  240  and the results read by Consumer Devices  400  Information Transfer interface  410  and Content Provider Devices  600  Information Transfer Interface  610  using Assistant System  200  Information Transfer Interface  210  and displayed on Consumer Devices  400  Display  420  and Content Provider Devices  600  Display  620 . 
       CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE 
       [0061]    Accordingly, it has been shown that the Rebate Marketing Promotion Assistant provides a central resource to discover, collect, store, augment, and organize Rebate Marketing Promotion information in a database for consumers, organizations, and third-parties to access. Additionally, the Rebate Marketing Promotion Assistant provides a central resource for consumers, organizations, and third-parties to track, monitor, and receive notifications of predefined industry standard Rebate Marketing Promotion lifecycle events, receive notifications of changes to the Rebate Marketing Promotion Assistant database, and tools to analyze aspects of database usage. 
         [0062]    As a result, Rebate Marketing Promotion Assistant substantially assists consumers, organizations, and third-parties in Rebate Marketing Promotion utilization, which capitalizes on Rebate Marketing Promotion information intelligence. 
         [0063]    The description above should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments. The scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.