Patent ID: 8239295

Claim:
A system of handling electronic coupons, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform the operations of: accessing information indicating association of an electronic coupon with an account of a user, the account including information identifying a first retail entity and a second retail entity, wherein the second retail entity is different than the first retail entity; transmitting information indicating association of the electronic coupon with the user's account to a first computer system associated with the first retail entity, wherein receipt of the information indicating association of the electronic coupon by the first computer system causes the first computer system to associate the electronic coupon with the user such that the user may redeem the electronic coupon with the first retail entity upon presentation of a first user identifier; transmitting information indicating association of the electronic coupon with the user's account to a second computer system associated with the second retail entity, wherein the second computer system is different from the first computer system and receipt of the information indicating association of the electronic coupon by the second computer system causes the second computer system to associate the electronic coupon with the user such that the user may redeem the electronic coupon with the second retail entity upon presentation of a second user identifier; receiving, from the first computer system, information indicating that the user has redeemed the electronic coupon with the first retail entity; and in response to receiving, from the first computer system, the information indicating that the user has redeemed the electronic coupon with the first retail entity, transmitting cancellation information for the electronic coupon to the second computer system associated with the second retail entity, wherein receipt of the cancellation information by the second computer system causes the second computer system to cancel the redeemability of the electronic coupon by the user such that the user is prevented from redeeming the electronic coupon with the second retail entity.