Abstract:
A merchant sales terminal sends a consolidated receipt record of a customer&#39;s transaction to a consolidated receipt system in a server database for access by consumer, advertiser, and data miner/researcher. The receipt record is transferred via the internet immediately after the transaction is approved and authorized, to the online server system know as the consolidated receipt system. Here consumers can access their purchase records including merchant name, total amount, and goods/services bought. Furthermore, here also data miners can research sales of a given product/type of product/brand or sales of a merchant/industry/sector/etc.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
       [0001]    This application claims priority on Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/902,286, titled “Apparatus And Method For Consolidated Receipt System For Data Sent From Merchant Sales Terminal To Storage And Access Database” filed on Nov. 10, 2003, by Tara Chand Singhal. The contents of the Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/902,286 are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    A consolidated receipt system, in which, a function in a merchant sales terminal sends a consolidated receipt record of a customer&#39;s purchase transaction to a consolidated receipt system for later access by consumers, advertisers, and data miner/research companies. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    There are now-a-days much paper printed in the form of sales receipts after a transaction in the store. Customers take these papers and either throw them away or save them for possible returns/exchanges of goods/services bought. This is, it is believed, cumbersome for the customer as well as burdens the customer with disorganization and difficulty in finding a sales or transaction receipt at the time of return of the goods that have been bought. 
         [0004]    Given this current scenario, with these inefficiencies and disorganizations it ultimately hurts consumers and merchants alike. It hurts the consumers in the headache of keeping small pieces of paper and not remembering what they bought in the store. It hurts the merchants for loss of repeat business from customers based on lack of customers being informed and lack of targeted advertising to customer. 
         [0005]    It is the objective of the embodiments herein to provide for improved purchase receipt access and storage system that would help different entities, be they a consumer, a merchant, an advertiser, or data miner for market intelligence. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The embodiments herein relate to improvements in a merchant sales terminal, specifically in sales transaction receipts, using a consolidate receipt system of the embodiments herein. 
         [0007]    The consolidated receipt system (CRS) of the embodiments herein, provides for receipt, storage, and access of sales transaction receipts. The sales receipts are generated in a merchant sales terminal after a consumer has made a purchase in a store with a bankcard at a merchant&#39;s sales terminal and are then are automatically sent to the CRS and received and stored therein. 
         [0008]    The sales receipts are modified by the sales terminal for this purpose of sending them to the CRS and for storage therein and for accomplishing the intended purpose of CRS as detailed later herein. In summary, CRS would be used by consumers, merchants, and data miners in different ways and for different reasons. Some of these ways relate to easier and more convenient data mining. They may also relate to new avenues for advertising. 
         [0009]    The CRS and its interfaces may best be understood by comparing how the current sales terminal function and generate and print transaction/sales receipts. Prior art  FIG. 1 , shows a merchant sales terminal  10  with a display and keyboard  14 . 
         [0010]      FIG. 1 , shows function A  15  for a purchase transaction including scanning goods being purchased with a barcode scanner  13 , and function B  16  for a payment via a bankcard that includes swiping a credit card through a bankcard reader  12 , sending payment authorization request record to a bankcard authorization network  18 , and finally printing a sales receipt via printer  17  which has a list of items bought and a record of payment transaction. 
         [0011]    The prior art printed sales receipt is inefficient to carry around for the consumer and presents problems of being lost and forgotten with no way to retrieve the information contained in it. 
         [0012]    Further, with the current information security procedures, being mandated by the bankcard industry, the merchants are not allowed to keep customer information from the bankcard and thus merchants loose the ability to learn from their purchasing habits. 
         [0013]    As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the embodiments described herein provide for a consolidated receipt system  24  that provides for a merchant sales terminal  11  with a consolidated receipt function (CRF)  20  operating in the sales terminal  11 . 
         [0014]    The CRF  20  sends a sales transaction receipt record of the embodiment described herein to a consolidated receipt system  24  of the embodiments described herein for easy access of sales transaction data by consumers, merchants, advertisers, and data miners. 
         [0015]    These and other aspects of the embodiments herein are further described in detail with the help of the accompanying drawings and the description, where similar numbers are used to identify similar features of the embodiments. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]    Some of the novel features of the embodiments will be best understood from the accompanying drawings, taken in conjunction with the accompanying description, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which: 
           [0017]      FIG. 1  is a prior art sales terminal of how a purchase transaction is processed at a merchant&#39;s sales terminal. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a schematic of how a purchase transaction would be processed with embodiments of the current invention, which includes a third party consolidated receipt system. 
           [0019]      FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a function diagram of a consolidated receipt function in a merchant sales terminal. 
           [0020]      FIG. 3B  illustrates a function diagram of a consolidated receipt function in a merchant sales terminal. 
           [0021]      FIG. 4A  illustrates an embodiment of interfaces of a consolidated receipt function in a consolidated receipt system server. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4B  illustrates a block diagram of a third party system for CRS 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is an illustration of customer id of the embodiments herein that is derived from a bankcard data. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6A  is a sales transaction database  26  that is present in CRS  24 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 6B  is a merchant database  28  that is present in CRS  24 . 
           [0026]      FIG. 7  is a method diagram of the embodiments of a CRS  24 . 
           [0027]      FIGS. 8A and 8B  are simplified illustration of search queries and their results from a merchant and or a data miner 
           [0028]      FIG. 9  is simplified illustration of web-based consumer interface with the CRS for search queries from a retail customer. 
           [0029]      FIGS. 10A and 10B  are simplified illustration of consumer interface with the search queries from a retail customer to CRS. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0030]    As illustrated with the help of  FIG. 2 , consolidated receipt system  10  has a sales terminal  19  of the embodiments herein. The sales terminal  19  has a consolidated receipt function (CRF)  20  that interfaces  21  with a consolidated receipt system server  24  and its consolidated receipt function  22  over a global computer and communication network (not shown). 
         [0031]    CRF  20  in sales terminal  19  working in conjunction with the CRF  22  in CRS servers  24 , for a sales transaction at the merchant sales terminal  19 , provides a convenient record keeping of purchases made and goods/services bought by a customer of a merchant at the merchant sales terminal  19 . The merchant sales terminal  19  may be a physical terminal in a store or an online terminal of an online merchant, or a mobile terminal such as that of a smart phone or tablet computer. 
         [0032]    The CRS function  20  in the merchant sales terminal  19  creates a record of the sales transaction according to the format as described later herein and sends to CRS  24 . 
         [0033]    The CRS  10  makes it possible for consumers to view their purchase transaction history, as well as for merchants and third party advertisers to post advertisements and coupons, as well as for data miners to collect statistical data of merchants/industries/sectors and products/types of products sold. 
         [0034]    Not keeping records of this information means loss of valuable data for consumers, merchants, and data miners. Thus maintaining these records is of interest and value to every party involved. 
         [0035]    This information is contained in a CRS server  24  online server database  25  in an organized fashion with any number of search fields and queries possible for extracting the desired information. 
         [0036]    These and other aspects of the embodiments are described herein where the headings are provided for reader convenience. 
       CRF  20  in Sales Terminal  19   
       [0037]    As illustrated with the help of  FIGS. 2 ,  3 A and  3 B, the function  20  in the merchant sales terminal  19  is triggered by a completed sales transaction as indicated by a bankcard approval record received from the card authorization network  18 . 
         [0038]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the function  20  creates a data record  34  which includes meta data  34 A of date/time, merchant id, merchant name, merchant address, customer identifier  32 , and $ amount as well as item data  34 B, that is each item bought and its corresponding price. The item data  34 B may include UPC code for the product, a description as well as the price of that item at which it had been sold. An interface  21  between the merchant sales terminal  19  and CRS server  24  then sends a record of this information to the CRS server  24 . 
       Consolidated Receipt System (CRS) Server  24   
       [0039]    CRS server  24  is illustrated with the help of  FIGS. 4A and 4B .  FIG. 4A  illustrates the functions, databases and interfaces of CRS server  24 .  FIG. 4B  illustrates the CRS server  24  on the global computer network. 
         [0040]    The CRS server  24  is a server with CPU, memory and data storage that is interfaced with the global computer network also known as Internet. The CRS server  24  has one or more database servers that may be co-located or located in different locations. Multiple database servers may serve different regions of the USA or different countries. 
         [0041]    The server  24  has the processing and storage ability to receive large volume of data from merchants all over the USA as well as globally that includes sales transaction records of sales transactions that are paid via a bankcard, irrespective of the type of bankcard. And be able to store such data in perpetuity. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 4A , the CRS server  24  has a CRS function  22 , a merchant interface  22 A, a customer interface  22 B, and a data research interface  22 C. CRS server  24  managed database server, as an illustration, has three different databases  26 ,  27 , and  28 . There may be more or other databases and these are not ruled out. 
         [0043]    As illustrated in  FIG. 4B , CRS server  24  ad its database server  25  is a third party system that is owned and operated by a business entity that is independent of the merchants and the card-issuing banks. 
         [0044]    CRS server  24  hosts the CRS function  22  and sales transaction database  26  and merchant database  28 . In addition CRS  24  also hosts a SKU product code and item description database  27 . 
         [0045]    CRS server  24  is based on prior art features of such a server system customized to the unique functions and applications of the CRS  24  as described herein. CRS server  24  is capable of receiving and storing a high volume of sales transaction data records from merchant anywhere is the USA. 
         [0046]    As a simplified example, if there are one million merchants in the USA and each merchant engages in one million transactions on an annual basis, then the CRS server  24  is capable of receiving one billion sales records annually. Prior art provides servers, application software, database software and database servers that are capable of receiving and storing such large volume of sales transactions on an annual basis. 
         [0047]    The transaction data  26  is stored along with the merchant data  28  in the CRS  24 . Database  27  is used to map SKU product codes to item description and vice versa for some search queries, for example from merchants and consumers. 
         [0048]    The CRS function  22  in CRS  24  includes receiving the record, storing the record, allowing customers to interface with CRS  24 , allowing merchants to interface with CRS  24 , and allowing advertisers and data miners to interface with CRS  24 . CRS Function  22  allows a merchant to interface with CRS  24 , a customer to interface with CRS  24 , or an advertiser/data miner to interface with CRS  24 . 
       Merchant Interface  22 A 
       [0049]    As illustrated in  FIG. 4A , there are two different interfaces that may be applicable to merchants. What has been described is a one way interface to CRS  24  from sales terminals  19 . In addition there may be a separate interface (not shown) for merchants themselves for them to access consolidated sales data for their own sales. As illustrated later with the help of  FIGS. 8A and 8B , the (not shown) merchant interface may be used by a merchant to search the CRS  24  databases. 
         [0050]      FIG. 8A  provides simplified illustrations of different search queries and  FIG. 8B  provides simplified illustration of search query results from the CRS  24 . Search queries by way of simplified illustration, may include: 
         [0051]    Query1: 
         [0052]    Search fields: 
         [0053]    Region; Product code; Time period 
         [0054]    Query: Number of items sold 
         [0055]    Query 1 Result: 
         [0056]    Region: Southern Ca 
         [0057]    Product Code: SKU334448929 
         [0058]    (Dial Bathroom soap) 
         [0059]    Time period: last three months 
         [0060]    Items Sold: 247788 
         [0061]    Query 2: 
         [0062]    Search fields: 
         [0063]    Region; merchant id; product code; time period 
         [0064]    Query: number of products sold 
         [0065]    Query 2 Results: 
         [0066]    Region: Southern Ca 
         [0067]    Merchant Id: Safeway 
         [0068]    Product Code: SKU334448929 
         [0069]    (Dial Bathroom soap) 
         [0070]    Time period: last three months 
         [0071]    Items Sold: 44457 
         [0072]    Query 3: 
         [0073]    Search fields: 
         [0074]    Region; product code; time period 
         [0075]    Query: lowest price, highest price, average price and 
         [0076]    Quantity of products sold at each of these prices 
         [0077]    Query 3 Results: 
         [0078]    Region: Southern Ca 
         [0079]    Product Code: SKU334448929 
         [0080]    (Dial Bathroom soap) 
         [0081]    Time period: last three months 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Price: 
                 Items Sold: 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Lowest Price: $3.22 
                 44457 
               
               
                   
                 Highest Price: $3.82 
                 3346 
               
               
                   
                 Average Price: $3.57 
                 33346 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
       Customer Interface  22 B 
       [0082]    A customer via this interface is able to interface with CRS  24  to access, search, and retrieve his personal sales transaction data. The search and retrieval may be organized by merchant, date range, and items that he may have purchased over a period of time. Other types of searches are possible and not ruled out. The interface is a traditional prior art based web interface. The retrieval of sales transaction information may include merchant data such as merchant name, logo, and tagline from merchant database  28 . 
         [0083]    A customer may choose to search for a single sales transaction and print it and may use it as a record of a purchase from a merchant for a return or exchange with the merchant. Such a receipt has all the required information that a merchant may need for processing a return/exchange transaction. 
         [0084]      FIG. 9  provides a simplified illustration of a web-based consumer interface  50  to the CRS  10 . The web-based interface  50  provides for a title  52  and legend stating the purpose of the interface  50 . This may additionally include privacy policies. 
         [0085]    A space  56  for entry of customer id  32  as had been illustrated earlier with the help of  FIG. 5  is provided. A space  58  is provided for forming a search query. The search query space  58  provide for one or more of search fields that may include time window  60 , region  62 , merchant  64  and product category  66 . 
         [0086]    Then the query  68  is provided which can be a free form search query using any of the fields above. The query is using one or more search fields to query sales data that would be relevant to a consumer. Some illustrative examples of such queries are illustrated with the help of  FIGS. 10A and 10B . 
         [0087]    After the query  68  has been stated, search button  70  is activated to search the CRS databases for this data and is displayed in a webpage. 
         [0088]      FIGS. 10A and 10B  provide simplified illustrations of different search queries, from the CRS  24 , that a retail customer may likely use. As a simplified illustration: Query1: How much money I spent last year on bathroom products; Which Store I went most often to buy food products; Query3: In which Store I spent the most for consumer electronics last year; and Query4: Find detailed sales receipts for merchant X for the last three months. 
         [0089]    There may be many different types of queries and the above provides only a simplified illustration of the ability for a consumer to form search queries for sales data that may be relevant to him/her. The queries are driven by the customer Id  32 . There may be more than one customer Id as each customer ID is bankcard based. 
       Data Research Interface  22 C 
       [0090]    A data research entity via this interface is able to interface with CRS  24  to access, search, and retrieve analytical data. This search and retrieval may be organized by classes of merchants, date ranges, products, and types of products that have been sold. Other types of searches are possible and not ruled out. The interface is a traditional prior art based web interface. 
         [0091]    This data research interface  22 C may also be used to conduct historical research related to purchase habits of people that may be used by sociologists. Some searches may take long time and may be conducted in off-time. 
       Sales Transaction Database  26  in CRS  24   
       [0092]    As illustrated in  FIG. 6A , the sales transaction database in CRS  24  stores record of sales transactions. A record  34  of such a sales transaction may include Meta data  34 A and item data  34 B. 
         [0093]    The meta data  42  may include merchant id  42 A, a customer id  42 B, date/time  42 C and total amount  42 D. The merchant id. Merchant id is a 9 digit number that is assigned to the merchant for bankcard processing by the bankcard industry. In the merchant database  26 , the merchant id maps to the merchant name, logo, and tagline. These items may be provided by the merchant and for this purpose the merchant is provided access to the CRS  20 . Alternatively others may provide such information. 
         [0094]    The item data  44  may include for an item  44 A, UPC code  45 A, item description  45 B and dollar amount  45 C. 
       Product Code Database  27  in CRS  24   
       [0095]    A product code database  27  is maintained in the CRS  24  and maps product codes to product item description as well as item description to product code and may be organized by product categories making it easier to search and retrieve product code data. The product codes have been standardized by the industry organization and may be called SKU codes. The database  27  in CRS  24  serves the purpose of mapping codes to item descriptions. 
       Merchant Database  28  in CRS  24   
       [0096]    As illustrated in  FIG. 6B , the merchant data  28  in the CRS  24  may include the merchant id  42 A. Merchant id is a 9 digit number that is assigned to the merchant for bankcard processing by the bankcard industry. In the merchant database  28 , the merchant id  42 A maps to the merchant name  48 , address  48 A, logo  48 B and a tagline  48 C. These items may be provided by the merchant and for this purpose the merchant is provided access to the CRS  20 . Alternatively others may provide such information. 
       Customer Identifier  32   
       [0097]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , a bankcard  30  that may be a credit card or debit card has a customer name  30 A, bank code  30 B, expiration date  30 C, and last four digits  30 D of bank card number. 
         [0098]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the customer id  32  is created by the CRF function  20  in the sales terminal  19  for each sales transaction at the time of the sales transaction itself. That is the customer id is not pre-stored in the merchant sales terminal. Customer id  32  is created as some combination of a customer name and partial card number and these are extracted from the bankcard that was used for the payment transaction. It is believed that the customer id  32  does not provide privacy information on the customer. When the payment is made by cash, the CRF does not operate. 
         [0099]    The customer id  32  may include some combination of customer name, bank code  30 B, expiration date  30 C, and last four digits of bank card  30 D. 
       Method of Operation 
       [0100]    As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , a method of operation in a sales terminal  19  may have the following steps where all the steps may not be used or used in the order specified: 
         [0101]    At step  100 , creating a customer identifier from bankcard data. 
         [0102]    At step  102 , creating meta data for the sales transaction. 
         [0103]    At step  104 , creating list of itemized sales data. 
         [0104]    At step  106 , creating a consolidated receipt record (CRR)  35  using data items in steps  100 ,  102  and  104 . 
         [0105]    At step  108 , sending CRR  35  record to CRS  24 . 
         [0106]    A merchant sales terminal for use with a third party consolidated receipt system (CRS) has the sales terminal that has a computing device that is interfaced with a bankcard scanner, product bar code scanner, a printer, and an interface to a card authorization network for processing payment transactions pursuant to sales transaction at the sales terminal. 
         [0107]    The computing device of the sales terminal has a consolidated receipt function (CRF) that on completion of processing of payment transactions pursuant to sales transaction creates consolidated receipt records (CRR), each CRR has (i) meta data and (ii) itemized sales items, the meta data has at least a merchant id, a date and time, a payment amount, and a customer identifier. 
         [0108]    The CRF interfaces with a one-way interface to a server on a global network of computers to send and sends the CRR to the third party consolidated receipt system (CRS). 
         [0109]    The customer identifier is created for each sales transaction by the sales terminal for inclusion in the CRR and the customer identifier is created with a customer data that is already present on a bankcard itself. The customer identifier is created and includes a customer name appended with one or more of (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard. Alternatively, the customer identifier is created and includes a customer name initials appended with one or more of (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard. 
         [0110]    A customer-specific sales transaction record identifier generated in a sales terminal has a sales terminal that accepts bankcards for payment transactions. The terminal has a function to create a customer-specific sales transaction identifier for each sales transaction using elements from data present on a bankcard, including at least the customer name and some combination of 4 digits including bank code, expiration date, and last 4 digits that uniquely identify a sales transaction record, when coupled with other meta data. The function uses the identifier to identify a sales transaction record for the purpose of tagging such record for storage in a third party system. 
         [0111]    The transaction identifier is created with each sales transaction for inclusion in the CRR and the customer id is created with a customer data that is already present on the bankcard itself. The transaction identifier is created and includes a customer name appended with one or more of (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard in any sequence. 
         [0112]    Alternatively, the transaction identifier is created and includes a customer name initials appended with one or more of (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard. Yet Alternatively, the transaction identifier is created and includes a customer name initials appended with at least (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard. 
         [0113]    A consolidated receipt system (CRS) on a global computer network has a high capacity processing and storage system. The CRS has a receiving only interface from merchants&#39; sales systems for receiving only a consolidated receipt record (CRR) with a meta data and an itemized content, the meta data has at least a merchant id, a date and time and payment amount, and a customer id for a completed sales transaction and storing the CRR in a database of the CRS, the database provides search and sort capabilities. 
         [0114]    The CRS has an interface with customers for searching and reviewing their consolidated sales transaction data. The CRS has an interface with data research companies for creating data analytics. The CRS has an interface with merchants for creating merchant specific data analytics. 
         [0115]    The CRS has a sales terminal resident in a computing device has a consolidated receipt function (CRF) that on completion of a payment transaction as in (a) creates a consolidated receipt record (CRR) with a meta data and itemized content, the meta data has at least a merchant id, a date and time and payment amount, and a customer identifier. 
         [0116]    The CRF interfaces with on a one way interface and sends the CRR to a third party consolidated receipt system (CRS), a server on a global network of computers. 
         [0117]    The CRS have a receiving only interface from merchants&#39; sales systems for receiving only a consolidated receipt record (CRR) with a meta data and an itemized content, the meta data has at least a merchant id, a date and time and payment amount, and a customer id for a completed sales transaction. 
         [0118]    The customer id is created with each sales transaction for inclusion in the CRR with a modification of the data that is present on the bankcard itself, and includes a customer name appended with one or more of (i) last four digits of bankcard (ii) four digits of expiration date, and (iii) first four digits of bankcard. 
         [0119]    The consolidated receipt system (CRS) is a high capacity storage system that provides database search and sort capabilities. 
         [0120]    In summary, Consolidated Receipt System  0  provides a sales terminal  19  with a Consolidated Receipt Function  20 , a server  24  with Consolidated Receipt Function  22  in the server  24 . The sales terminal  19  has a consolidated receipt function (CRF)  20  that on completion of a payment transaction creates a consolidated receipt record (CRR)  35  with a meta data and itemized content. The meta data has at least a merchant id, a date and time and payment amount, and a customer id. The CRF  20  interfaces with a one way interface to CRS  24  and sends the CRR  34  to a third party consolidated receipt system (CRS)  24 , a server on a global network of computers. 
         [0121]    The hardware, software and communication network technology underlying server  24  and database server  25  is considered prior art except for the purpose and application specifically used in the embodiments herein. Further the software technology underlying software of the embodiments herein, is considered prior art except for the specific purpose, function, and interfaces of the embodiments herein. 
         [0122]    While the particular embodiments, as illustrated herein and disclosed in detail are fully capable of obtaining the objective and providing the advantages herein before stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as described in the appended claims.