Abstract:
A system provides for a centralized service adding an electronic media player to a floral delivery order. A prerecorded song, still or moving image can be customizably loaded on to the player. As well, audio, still, and moving images can be uploaded by the person placing the order with a centralized service. The order is relayed to a local florist for delivery. Local merchants can register offers with the centralized service to be presented as options for the orderer. Some offers such as discount offers, can defray the expense of the media player to the orderer. Other offers, gift certificates, for example, could be chosen that would add to the cost of the overall delivered package.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The technology presented herein is within the field of on-line ordering of personalized items and targeted advertising. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Ordering flowers to be delivered to another person at a remote location is well known and has been done by telegraph, telephone, email, and by other internet methods. Generally a floral arrangement is chosen and possibly a card with a personalized greeting is also ordered. To supplement this basic service it is known to have a “singing telegram” delivery person and some have suggested essentially an automated singing telegram implemented as a musical vase or other audio delivery mechanisms. Unfortunately these services are not widely offered, possibly due to the added cost of a single-use high quality audio player. Also, it could possibly be due to the low quality of an audio player. A low quality audio player (like that in some musical greeting cards) can negatively affect the experience of receiving flowers. Delivering a favorite song, a photo, or other personalization could enhance the experience of receiving flowers if done in a manner of a reasonable cost to the purchaser. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    In various embodiments of systems, devices, and methods of this disclosure, a small electronic apparatus can be delivered along with a delivered gift item. The apparatus can be small and water-resistant and can be attached to a vase or directly to a bouquet of flowers. Some devices can have an MP3 audio player containing a single song. Others may have a small still or video image player. The cost of the devices and songs can be offset in some embodiments by incorporating local advertising into a gift ordering system. 
         [0004]    In some embodiments the person doing the ordering is offered the opportunity to include discount coupons to businesses local to the recipient. Accepting these could lower the orderer&#39;s cost for the gift and music player due to underwriting by the local businesses. In some cases the orderer might add a gift certificate to a local business, possibly at an increase in cost. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic diagram of the operations of ordering and delivering flowers plus ancillary, personalized items; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart of the steps taken by a central flower ordering system; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of the steps taken by the person doing the ordering; 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the steps taken by a local florist. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    In one embodiment portrayed in  FIG. 1 , a central floral ordering system  200  is in communication with several other systems and people at a variety of physical locations. Orderers  100  communicate  101  with the floral ordering system over the internet. In turn the ordering system communicates  300  with geographically dispersed local florists  310 . The local florists manage the requested deliveries to the locations&#39; of the recipients  320   320 ′. 
         [0010]    Also in this overall scheme are local retail businesses  110 . They communicate  111  with the central floral ordering system  200 . This communication involves placing two types of offers on that system. One type is a discount or rebate to the orderers intending to have items delivered to recipients proximate to a respective local business. In return for including an advertisement, a discount coupon with the floral delivery, the local business defrays part of the cost of the order. 
         [0011]    An additional type of offer a local merchant could place on the central ordering system can be a gift certificate. In that case, the orderer would most likely have an additional cost rather than a reduced cost. 
         [0012]    Another aspect to this overall system is a media server  210 . While ordering flowers, a purchaser can also chose from several optional personalized content to be hand delivered. One is a small electronic player that can hold a single song. It can be integral to a vase or it can be a unit that is attachable to a vase or directly to a bouquet of flowers. A player might also have a screen that can show a still or a moving image selected or uploaded by the purchaser. Other options can include a printed message. 
         [0013]    The actions taken by the central ordering system are outlined in the flowchart of  FIG. 2 . To an interactive user, the system would present floral choices S 100 . Also presented are complimenting personalized items including a song, a professional image or video clip and the option of uploading an image or video clip. S 101 . A concern of the orderer may be that including an electronic player would increase cost to the orderer. These teachings provide for underwriting part of that increased cost via advertising. Therefore the system also can present the option of a discount coupon or other promotional message from a business local to the recipient along with the flowers and song S 101 . 
         [0014]    If music is desired S 102 , selections can be presented S 103 . The selection might be customized for the time of year, the type of flowers being ordered, or on another basis. In a similar manner an image may be selected S 104  and if requested, chosen from a stock database, or uploaded by the orderer. Another step is presenting the option of including a commercial message, offer, or gift certificate S 106 . If chosen, the options available in the locale of the recipient are presented S 107 . 
         [0015]    When all options have been presented the ordering system processes the order S 108  and transmits the relevant information to a local florist. This may include a code for a song that the local florist uses to communicate directly  301  with a media server  210 . Alternatively it might include a digital file of the song along with the other order information sent by a path  300  over the internet. 
         [0016]    As performed by the user or order-placing individual, the steps involved are those of  FIG. 3 . The user goes through the various screens and decisions S 200  S 201  S 202  presented by an interface module, leading up to deciding to include a local business offer or not S 203 . If so, the options may include getting a discount by including some offers S 204  S 205  and paying an additional amount for choosing other options S 206  S 207 . When completed, the user finalizes their order and pays S 208 . This can be accomplished by a transaction module. 
         [0017]    A participating local florist receives orders S 300  from the central floral system as shown in the flowchart of  FIG. 4 . If the order includes a song or a digital image S 301 , the florist places S 302  a small media player in an interface cradle connected to their computer. As an integral part of receiving the order, the chosen song or image is downloaded into that media player. A song or professionally produced image can come from the floral system  200  or can come directly S 303  from a media server  210  as diagramed in the flowchart of  FIG. 4 . The media server may be a facility of the rights-holder for that material or a server of an intermediary. The media might be transferred to the player wirelessly using Bluetooth, WiFi, or other suitable technology. 
         [0018]    In addition, the order may include an offer from a local merchant S 304 . Physically, that may be embodied as a file sent with the order that is printed out S 305  by the florist or might be something locally provided and stocked by the florist. One possibility is a media player with a specific imprinted or digital message. A gift certificate might be in the form of a digital image, message, audio or video content  105  loaded onto a media player rather than a paper certificate. In that case, the gift recipient redeems the “gift certificate” by presenting the media player containing the offer. The local establishment might accept (and cancel) the certificate by deleting it from the player. This could be done by pushing a small button or might be done wirelessly. 
         [0019]    Also, the orderer may have composed a personal message to be printed out by the florist and included in the delivery. The florist shop assembles the floral item or other gift and the selected supplementary items and delivers S 306  them to the recipient&#39;s location  320   320 ′. The group of items to be delivered to a recipient can be called a gift set. 
         [0020]    Although the above described example systems used a floral delivery service, the teachings herein are applicable broadly to locally delivered gift items. Some examples are candy, edible arrangement, fruit basket, and wine. 
         [0021]    The various illustrative program modules and steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic  120  hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. The various illustrative program modules and steps have been described generally in terms of their functionality. Whether the functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends in part upon the hardware constraints imposed on the system. Hardware and software may be interchangeable depending on such constraints. As examples,  125  the various illustrative program modules and steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, a conventional programmable software module and  130  a processor, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The processor may be a microprocessor, CPU, controller, microcontroller, programmable logic device, array of logic elements, or state machine. The software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD, DVD  135  or any other form of tangible storage medium known in the art. An exemplary processor may be coupled to the storage medium so as to read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. 
         [0022]    In further embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the  140  foregoing methods can be implemented by the execution of a program embodied on a computer readable medium. The medium may comprise, for example, RAM accessible by, or residing within the device. Whether contained in RAM, a diskette, or other secondary storage media, the program modules may be stored on a variety of machine- readable data storage media, such as a conventional “hard drive”,  145  magnetic tape, electronic read-only memory (e.g., ROM or EEPROM), flash memory, an optical storage device (e.g., CD, DVD, digital optical tape), or other suitable data storage media. 
         [0023]    This description, figures and examples are intended to be non-limiting and to teach the principles and use of the invention. The claims below, in contrast, set out  150  its metes and bounds. In the claims, the words “a” and “an” are to be taken to mean “at least one” even if some claim wording explicitly calls for “at least one” or “one or more”. 
         [0024]    Those skilled in the art will be aware of materials, techniques and equipment suitable to produce the various example embodiments presented as well as  155  variations on those examples. This teaching is presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments and versions help to explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art  160  to understand it. Various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular application contemplated are expected. 
         [0025]    In the following claims, the words “a” and “an” should be taken to mean “at least one” in all cases, even if the wording “at least one” appears in one or more claims explicitly. The scope of the invention is set out in the claims below.