Patent Publication Number: US-2020302468-A1

Title: System and Method Including a Distributed Ledger Data Structure for Authenticating and Clearing Coupons

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       FIG. 1  provides a block diagram representation of a prior art system for coupon redemption authentication and payment. As shown in  FIG. 1 , manufacturers  10  will issue coupons  12  that are used by consumers  14  while shopping at a store  16 . The store  16  will redeem the coupons  12  in exchange for discounts  18  provided to the consumer. A current problem with printed coupons is that there is an ability to create counterfeit printed coupons  20  that the consumer redeems at the store  16  and receives unauthorized discounts  18  for the purchases made at the store. In the prior art coupon authentication, redemption and payment system, the retailer  16  utilizes a third-party retailer clearing house  22  to receive the redeemed coupons  24  from the store  16  on a weekly basis. The retailer clearing house  22  scans all the coupons again and will prepare an invoice by manufacturer  10  and send to the manufacturer agent  28 . Manufacturer agent  28 , then invoices the manufacturer  10  and makes the payment to retailer clearing house  22  or store  16  of the amount of discount provided to consumers  14  along with coupon handling fee. Furthermore, much of the retailer clearing house&#39;s operations are manual and time intensive. 
     The retailer&#39;s clearing house  22  will then coordinate with an agent of the manufacturer  28  to receive the “valid coupon data”. The retailer clearing house  22  will scan the received coupons and authenticate the redeemed coupons based upon coupon validation data. For valid coupons, the invoice is sent to manufacturer agent  28 . For invalid/counterfeit coupons, the retailer clearinghouse  22  mails the coupons to manufacturer agent  28  and is further analyzed by manufacturer agent  28  and the details are added as a separate line item in invoice for manufacturer  10 . Manufacturer approves the invoice and payment is made to manufacturer agent  28  and then the manufacturer agent  28  reimburses the retailer&#39;s clearing house money  32  to compensate for the validated and redeemed coupons. The manufacturer&#39;s agent  28  will provide back to the manufacturer a report  34  of the redeemed coupon transactions for that particular time period. 
     There are various problems and issues with this prior art coupon redemption authentication and payment systems, such as the one shown in  FIG. 1 . Currently, there is no or little coupon validation being performed at the retailer&#39;s point of sale (“POS”). Furthermore, the authentication of the printed coupons typically requires manual processes and are highly resource and process intensive. Consequently, because the coupon authentication (especially with respect to printed coupons) is manually intensive, it is also prone to human error. Payments in this prior art system may take-more than four weeks to occur. This is due to the fact that the physical printed coupons are aggregated and shipped to the clearing houses and are then scanned again to reconcile and invoice the manufacturers. This system also requires coupon handling and overhead to cover the collection, transportation and disposal of the printed coupons and the various copies of the printed coupons. For example, some retailers are paid several cents a coupon by the manufacturers as handling fees. This costs manufacturers millions of dollars per year. 
     SUMMARY 
     The current disclosure provides an undisputable coupon processing system, and associated methods, that gives full transparency to coupon redemptions enabling faster payments while eliminating fraud. The system and associated methods utilize a distributed ledger data structure (which may be in the form of a blockchain data structure) for authenticating and clearing printed and digital/electronically created coupons. 
     In a first aspect according to the current disclosure a system of authenticating and clearing coupons is provided. Such system may include: (a) a central platform accessible by retailer computer system(s) and manufacturer computer system(s), where the central platform contains coupon authentication table(s) updated by the manufacturer computer system(s) and accessible by the retailer computer system(s), and the central platform contains coupon transaction ledger(s) updated by the retailer computer system(s) and accessible by the manufacturer computer system(s); and (b) a blockchain transactions ledger including blockchain nodes memorializing modifications made to the coupon authentication table(s) and the coupon transaction ledger(s) in the central platform. 
     In a detailed embodiment, the central platform contains a plurality of coupon transaction ledgers, where each coupon transaction ledger is owned by a respective manufacturer. Alternatively, or in addition, the central platform contains a plurality of coupon authentication tables, where each coupon authentication table is owned by a respective retailer. Alternatively, or in addition, the central platform includes smart contract(s) triggering coupon redemption payments from the manufacturer(s) to the retailer(s) based upon changes made to the coupon transaction ledger. Alternatively, or in addition, the central platform includes smart contract(s) controlling ownership of the coupon transaction ledger(s) by the manufacturer(s) and controlling ownership of the coupon authentication table(s) by the retailer(s). Alternatively, or in addition, the system further includes hashing algorithms for use in authenticating access to the coupon transaction ledger by retailers. Alternatively, or in addition, the system further includes hashing algorithms for use in authenticating access to the coupon authentication tables by manufacturers. 
     In a second aspect, a method for authenticating coupons includes the steps of: (1) providing coupon authentication table(s) accessible by a manufacturer and accessible by a retailer; (2) providing coupon transaction ledger(s) accessible by the retailer and accessible by the manufacturer; (3) updating the coupon authentication table(s) based upon coupon authentication data provided by the manufacturer; (4) updating the coupon transaction ledger(s) based upon coupon redemption data provided by the retailer; and (5) recording information pertaining to the step of updating the coupon authentication table(s) on a blockchain data structure. In a further detailed embodiment, the method further includes a step of (6) recording information pertaining to the step of updating the coupon transaction ledger(s) on a blockchain data structure. 
     In a detailed embodiment of the method, a plurality of coupon authentication tables are provided for a respective plurality of retailers and a plurality of coupon transaction ledgers are provided for a respective plurality of manufacturers. Alternatively, or in addition, the method further includes a step of a smart contract triggering payment from a manufacturer to a retailer based upon information in the coupon transaction ledger(s). 
     In another detailed embodiment of the method, the coupon authentication table(s) and the coupon transaction ledger(s) are provided on a central server. In a further detailed embodiment, the method further includes a step of transmitting the coupon authentication table(s) from the central server to a computer system owned by a retailer. In a further detailed embodiment, the method further includes a step of a retailer authenticating coupons received at the retailer&#39;s point of sale by comparing coupon information received at the retailer&#39;s point of sale against authentication information in the coupon authentication table(s) stored on the computer system owned by the retailer. 
     In another detailed embodiment of the method, the step of updating the coupon authentication table(s) based upon coupon authentication data provided by the manufacturer includes a step of generating a hash value, a digital signature or an authentication key associated with the coupon authentication data. In a further detailed embodiment, the hash value, digital signature or authentication key is included with the information stored on the blockchain data structure. 
     In yet another detailed embodiment of the method, the step of updating the coupon transaction ledger(s) based upon coupon redemption data provided by the retailer includes a step of generating a hash value, a digital signature or an authentication key associated with the coupon redemption data. In a further detailed embodiment, the hash value, digital signature or authentication key is included with the information stored on the blockchain data structure. 
     In a third aspect a distributed ledger for coupon authentication is provided. In this aspect, the distributed ledger has (a) a plurality of retailer nodes, and (b) a plurality of manufacturer nodes. Each of the plurality of retailer nodes and the plurality of manufacturer nodes contain a respective copy of a coupon authentication ledger that comprises of valid coupon offers and valid digital coupons in the form of coupon authentication table. The plurality of retailer/manufacturer nodes also contain a coupon transaction ledger. The distributed ledger includes a first rule set for, upon receiving new coupon authentication check data from at least one manufacturer, updating the coupon authentication check table and transmitting the updated coupon authentication check table to at least the plurality of retailer nodes. And the distributed ledger includes a second rule set for, upon receiving coupon redemption information from at least one retailer, updating the printed coupon transaction ledger and transmitting the updated coupon transaction ledger to at least one of the plurality of manufacturer nodes. 
     The coupon ledger information resident on manufacturer nodes may be unique to individual manufacturers such that each manufacturer node will have only that manufacturer specific offers and data. Manufacturers can choose which retailer nodes can receive that data as part of configuring the Nodes. The coupon offer data and also other data from manufacturer is distributed to the subscribed retailer nodes that are local to retailer network. Coupons are authenticated against the authentication table on the retailer node based on a comparison of the specific manufacturer ID in the coupon and the resulting manufacturer&#39;s coupon authentication/offer data. Coupon redemption transactions are updated in the transaction ledger in the retailer node. Only the specific manufacturer transaction data is synched with the manufacturer node and updated in the shared ledger. 
     At least a subset of the plurality of retailer nodes may be resident on servers owned or controlled by the respective retailers, and at least a subset of the plurality of manufacturer nodes are resident on servers owned or controlled by the respective manufacturers. Alternatively, or in addition, the first or second rule set includes rules for the timing of updating the coupon authentication check table and/or the coupon transaction ledger. Alternatively, or in addition, the coupon transaction ledger includes coupon redemption information indicating coupons that have been redeemed by one or more retailers, and includes coupon payment information indicating payments made from retailers to consumers for redeemed coupons. Smart contracts may be set up based on retailer payment terms to automatically trigger payments from manufacturer to the retailers. 
     These and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims and the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram representation of a prior art coupon authentication and redemption system; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram representation of an embodiment of a coupon authentication and redemption system according to the current disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram representation of the embodiment of  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram representation of another embodiment of a coupon authentication and redemption system according to the current disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 2  shows an example embodiment of the undisputable coupon processing system  50  (and associated methods) of the present disclosure that gives full transparency to coupon redemptions enabling faster payments while eliminating fraud. The system utilizes a distributed ledger data structure  52  (which is preferably in the form of a blockchain data structure) for authenticating and clearing printed and digital/electronically created coupons. The distributed ledger  52  has a plurality of retailer nodes  54  and a plurality of manufacturer nodes  56 . Each of the plurality of retailer nodes and the plurality of manufacturer nodes contain a respective copy of a coupon authentication ledger  58  that comprises valid coupon offers and valid digital coupons in the form of a coupon authentication table  60 . The plurality of retailer/manufacturer nodes  54 / 56  also contain a coupon transaction ledger  62 . 
     The distributed ledger  52  may be controlled by rule sets. For example, a first rule set is included for, upon receiving new printed coupon authentication check data  64  from at least one manufacturer  10 , updating the coupon authentication check table and transmitting the updated coupon authentication check table to the retailer nodes  54 . This updating of the retailer node coupon authentication check table  64  may be performed on a periodic basis or may be performed upon satisfaction of various rules in the first rule set. The distributed ledger  52  may also include a second rule set for, upon receiving coupon redemption information  66  from at least one retailer  16 , updating the coupon transaction ledger  62  and transmitting the updated coupon transaction ledger to at least one of the plurality of the manufacturer nodes  56 . Again, the timing of the updating of the transaction ledger  62  with the manufacturer nodes may be periodic or may depend upon various rules in the second rule set. 
     The coupon ledger information resident on the manufacturer nodes  56  may be unique to the individual manufacturers such that each manufacturer node  56  will only have that manufacturer&#39;s specific offers and data. Manufacturers  10  can choose which retailer nodes can receive that data as part of configuring the nodes and/or as part of the rule sets. Coupon offer data as well as other data from the manufacturer may be distributed to the subscribed retailer nodes  54  that are local to a retailer network. Coupons are authenticated against the authentication table  60  on the retailer node  54  based on, for example, a comparison of specific manufacturers&#39; IDs in the coupon and the resulting manufacturers&#39; coupon authentication/offer data. Coupon redemption transactions are updated in the transaction ledger  62  in the retailer node  54 . Only the specific manufacturer transaction data is synced with the manufacturer node  56  and updated in the shared ledger. 
     Upon receiving by the manufacturer, the updated manufacturer transaction data on its respective transaction node  56  the manufacturer  10  will directly reimburse the retailer  16  by a direct payment  68 . 
     At least a subset of the plurality of retailer nodes  54  may be resident on servers owned or controlled by the respective retailers  16 , and at least a subset of the plurality of manufacturer nodes  56  may be resident on servers owned or controlled by the respective manufacturers  10 . 
     The first or second rule set may include rules for the timing of updating the coupon authentication check table  60  and/or the coupon transaction ledger  62 . 
     The coupon transaction ledger  62  may include coupon redemption information indicating coupons that have been redeemed by one or more retailers, and may include coupon payment information indicating payments made from retailers to consumers for redeemed coupons. Smart contracts may be setup based on retailer payment terms to automatically trigger payments  68  from manufacturer  10  to the retailers  16 . 
     New coupon offers can be sent automatically from the manufacturer  10  to the coupon redemption, authentication and payment network  50 . The network quickly and automatically reviews the coupon transactions and facilitates the payments  68  that are made directly by the manufacturer  10  to the retailer  16 . The retailers  16  utilizing the coupon redemption, authentication and payment system  50  are able to validate the coupons in real time because the updated authentication check tables  64  are resident on nodes  54  owned or controlled by the retailers. Consequently, the cashier having real time access to the updated coupon authentication table  64  is able to provide discounts only for validated coupons at the point of sale. Additionally, the redemptions of these coupons can be also placed on the ledger  62  substantially in real time. 
     The benefits of such a system to manufacturers are numerous. For example, the current system  50  can eliminates counterfeit coupon redemptions; reduces the need for third party clearing houses to manage the back office reconciliation of coupons and payments; distributes offer and family code detail seamlessly; and provides a trusted system that is transparent to retailers and manufacturers, thereby simplifying any necessary audits. 
     In addition, the system benefits retailers. For example, retailers are able to receive coupon payments many times faster than in the prior art. Manufacturers can set up payment conditions (mutually agreed with retailers) that will trigger payments as soon as conditions are met. The system  50  reduces or eliminates the need to audit physical coupons; reduces the overhead of handling physical coupons; and allows technology partners to scale the solution to other manufacturers. 
       FIG. 3  provides a block diagram representation of a method for practicing aspects of the current disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 3 , manufacturer  10  having a manufacturer block chain node  56  will authorize a publisher  70  to print coupons  72  that will be redeemed by the consumers  14  at a retailer  16 . The retailer  16 , also having a retailer block chain node  54  resident on its data systems  74 , will consult the coupon authentication check table resident on the block chain node  54  in real time to determine whether the coupons offered for redemption by the consumer  14  are authentic and authorized. Thereafter, only the authentic and authorized coupons as authorized by the coupon authentication check data will be redeemed and the transaction information for that redemption will be recorded on the coupon transaction ledger that is also resident on the retailer&#39;s block chain node  54 . Based upon a preset timetable or upon triggering by a rule set, the distributed ledger  52  will update the transaction ledger on the manufacturer&#39;s block chain node  56  with the transaction ledger data received from the retailer&#39;s block chain node. Upon receiving this updated transaction ledger information on its block chain node  56 , the retailer can commence payment  68  back to the retailer to reimburse for the discounts provided to the consumers through the use of the authenticated and validated coupons. Additionally, when new coupons are sent to publication, the manufacturer can register these new coupons in the manufacturer&#39;s version of the coupon authentication table resident on its block chain node  56 . Thereafter, either based upon a periodic schedule or based upon being triggered by certain rule sets, the distributed ledger  52  will update the coupon authentication tables based upon this new information provided by the manufacturer  10  on the block chain nodes  54  of the relevant retailers. 
     The distributed ledger(s) (or shared ledger(s))  52  is spread across several nodes  54 / 56  of the data structure, where each node replicates  54 / 56  and saves identical copies of the ledger(s)  58  (or necessary portions of the ledger specific to the retailer/manufacturer). The retailer nodes  54  are preferably resident on or controlled by retailer (coupon acceptor) systems/servers  74 , while manufacturer nodes  56  are preferably resident on manufacturer (coupon issuer) systems/servers. The rule sets may reside on a reconciler node on the data structure  52 . The reconciler node may be responsible, on a periodic basis, for reconciling changes made to the ledgers  58  on each of the individual nodes  54 / 56 , and then updating the identical copies on the retailer/manufacturer nodes  54 / 56 . 
     Utilization of blockchain (versus centralized storage, for example) can help protect the system  50  against system failure, fraud, and other security risks. These decentralized and distributed systems can store and relay large volumes of information, without the potential downfalls of large, centralized servers. With the blockchain&#39;s smart contracts and immutable ledger powering authentication, redemption and payment of the coupons, embodiments of the current disclosure can minimize friction and costs typically associated with the prior art systems. With blockchain, the coupon redemptions and associated transactions are permanently recorded. 
       FIG. 4  provides another exemplary embodiment of the current disclosure. In this embodiment, a central platform  170  may reside over the blockchain distributed ledger data structure  152 . The central platform  170  may contain the coupon authentication table(s)  160  in database  161  maintained and updated by the manufacturers  10  respectively for each of the retailers  16 . The central platform  170  also contains the coupon transaction ledger(s)  162  in database  163 . The embodiment of  FIG. 4  may use the blockchain distributed ledger  152  as an immutable ledger for authenticating and tracking any and all access and revisions to the coupon authentication table(s)  160  and coupon transaction ledger(s)  162 . The records are immutable and can be used by the manufacturers  10  and/or retailers  16  to audit for any tampering of data. 
     The central platform  170  may be any appropriate form of a computerized platform. For example, the central platform  170  comprise a single computer or server, a series of computers or servers and/or may be cloud-based. Additionally, the central platform  170  may include dedicated databases or may utilize external or could-based databases. The “central” designation is not intended to have a geographic or locational connotation, only that it is accessible by both the manufacturers  10  and the retailers  16  either directly or indirectly. Similarly, the coupon authentication table(s) described herein do not necessarily need to be in the form of any specific table structure. The word “table” is utilized in a sense to indicate that information is provided and structured in a way to allow retailers, for example, to identify whether coupons offered at the point-of-sale are authorized. Similarly, the coupon transaction ledger(s) described herein do not necessarily need to be in the form of any specific ledger structure. The word “ledger” is used in a sense to indicate that information is provided and structured in a way to allow manufacturers, for example, to identify the authorized coupons that have been redeemed so that, for example, appropriate payments  68  back to the retailers may be accurately calculated. Similarly, the database(s) described herein do not require any specific database structure or arrangement, only that data may be stored, organized and accessed according to the functional descriptions provided herein. 
     As part of this embodiment, the manufacturers  10  may leverage hashing algorithms to generate hashes of coupon authentication information (positive offer coupon data)  172  and may update the central platform  170  with the hash or digital signature and the positive offer coupon data  172  using APIs. Manufacturers  10  will assign ownership of the coupon authentication data to the retailer(s)  16 . The central platform  170  may update the coupon authentication table(s)  160  and will then add a block in the distributed ledger  152  with the hash, digital signatures, ownership and time stamp information. The manufacturer  10  may be able to assign an owner (a specific retailer  16 ) for the data block in the database  161  and only that data is available for designated retailer(s)  16  to extract. The database  161  may host the coupon authentication table(s) and the associated hash and digital signatures. 
     Only the assigned owners (Retailer(s)  16 ) may pull the coupon authentication data  174  from the central platform  170 , and the coupon authentication data  174  will then be distributed to the retailer&#39;s local systems  176  and used to authenticate coupons at the point of sale terminals  178 . The logs of coupon transactions (valid coupons, mis-redemptions, counterfeits rejections) may be captured in a redemption data file in the retailer&#39;s local systems  176 . The data may be hashed at the at the retailer system  176  using hashing algorithm and signed by the retailer systems  176 . The retailer  16  may update the redemption data  180  along with hash and digital signatures in the central platform  170  using APIs. The redemption data  180  may also include ownership data so only the manufacturer who is tagged as the owner will have access to that data in database  163 . When the appropriate coupon transaction ledger(s)  162  are updated in database  163 , the central platform may add a block to the blockchain with hash, digital signature and associated time stamp(s). 
     Smart contracts in the central platform  170  can trigger payments  68  to retailers by leveraging the integration provided by the manufacturers  10  into their payment systems  182 . Central platform  170  may reconcile the transactions from redemption data  180  and will enable manufacturers  10  to initiate payments  68  via payment instructions  182  from the central platform  170 . Reconciliation may be done by the central server  170  based on smart contracts for the redemption data ownership. Smart contracts in the central platform  170  can also assign ownership of data records (e.g., ownership of certain coupon authentication information to certain retailers  16  and/or ownership of certain coupon redemption information to certain manufacturers  10 ) so that only the owners of such information have access to the data. 
     The embodiment of  FIG. 4  may manage the security to ensure that only owner of the respective data can view the data and also assign subscribers who can access the data. Retailers will be able to read their owned coupon authentication table  160  data from the central platform  170  using published APIs and will then store the coupon authentication information locally to their systems  176 . This allows the retailer systems  176  to validate coupons received at point-of-sale terminals  177  locally. The embodiment of  FIG. 4  also provides APIs for the retailer systems  176  to write back the transactions data (redemption data  180 ) to the central platform  10  and blockchain ledger  152  using valid authentication keys. The entries to the blockchain ledger  152  cannot be modified without the consensus of all participants. Also, storage of access/revisions to the coupon authentication table(s)  160  and coupon transaction ledger(s)  162  in the blockchain ledger  152  allows for the ability of the manufacturer(s)  10  and/or retailer(s)  16  audit the blockchain ledger  152  at any time using their appropriate hash keys to validate the authenticity of the revisions and transactions. 
     Having described the inventions in reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as reflected in the following claims. Furthermore, while the current disclosure described various objects and advantages of the various inventions described herein, it is not necessary to meet all or any of such objects and advantages since other objects and advantages may be present even though they may not have been expressly discussed herein. Likewise, it will be understood the diagrams of  FIGS. 2, 3 and 4  are primarily functional diagrams and the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by various physical structures and arrangements as known in the art. Likewise, it will be understood that “manufacturers” as described herein need not necessarily manufacture products—they only need to be responsible for issuing coupons on commercial products; and it will be understood that “retailers” are the entities at which customers/users will attempt to redeem such coupons. 
     Every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such invention. Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern.