# US 12,112,346 B2 · Systems and methods for dual pricing

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- Number: US 12,112,346 B2
- Document ID: US12112346B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/166,782
- Filed: 2021-02-03
- Published: 2021-08-05
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2020-02-05
- Applicants: Jerry Cain
- Inventors: Jerry Cain
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12112346B2

## CPC

- G06Q 30/0206: {Price or cost determination based on market factors}
- G06K 1/121: {by printing code marks (applying code marks to labels B65C9/46; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26)}
- G06K 19/06028: {using bar codes}
- G06Q 20/201: {Price look-up processing, e.g. updating}
- G06Q 20/202: {Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR}
- G06Q 20/387: {Payment using discounts or coupons (relating to marketing G06Q30/02)}
- G06Q 20/405: {Establishing or using transaction specific rules}
- G06Q 30/0185: {Product, service or business identity fraud}
- G06Q 30/0623: {by investigating goods or services}
- G06K 7/1413: {1D bar codes}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS

## Abstract

A system for and method of generating alternative pricing is provided. A user accesses an online portal to set a pricing scheme for products. The user inputs a credit card price for one or more products along with a desired cash discount rate or amount. The invention can then generate a second price for each product and check said prices for compliance against one or more rules and regulations set by credit card issuers, state governments, and/or federal governments. Some embodiments of the invention include notifying the user of non-compliance and automatically providing iterative pricing checks to find the best compliant price. The invention can also generate a reference or point-of-sale code which can be utilized by a consumer to view a final resulting price list.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for generating two prices for one or more products, the method comprising:
setting a first pricing structure, said first pricing structure comprising said one or more products, each product associated with a respective price;
setting a first price constraint;
generating a first price for said one or more products based on said first pricing structure and said first price constraint;
setting a second price constraint;
setting a second pricing structure prior to commencement of a consumer transaction, wherein said first pricing structure, first price constraint, and second price constraint are used to generate the second pricing structure comprising applying a discount rate to or removing the discount rate from the first pricing structure using a software discounting application;
validating said second pricing structure against one or more rules to check for compliance, wherein compliance is achieved when said second pricing structure complies with said one or more rules;
wherein said one or more rules comprise one or more rules proscribing a merchant from adding credit card fees at a point of purchase; and
generating a second price for said one or more products based on said second pricing structure and said second price constraint;
wherein a customer selects between said first price and said second price for payment to complete said consumer transaction.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the respective price is a standard price used for credit card purchases.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the second pricing structure is generated by applying the discount rate using the software discounting application.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the software discounting application comprises a computational algorithm comprising the discount rate and the first price.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the computational algorithm comprises an equation consisting of dividing the first price by one plus the discount rate.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the respective price is a discounted price used for cash purchases.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the second pricing structure is generated by removing the discount rate using the software discounting application.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the software discounting application comprises a computational algorithm comprising the discount rate and the first price.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the computational algorithm comprises an equation consisting of multiplying the discounted price by one minus the discount rate.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising printing a product label for each product and placing said product label on or proximate to said product, wherein:
the product label comprises the first price and the second price; or
the product label comprises an electronic link or barcode that, when scanned by a customer, displays the first price and the second price a price on a customer interface.

### Claim 11

A distributed network system for generating two prices for a product, the system comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU) comprising:
a database comprising price information for each product of a plurality of products, and
a software application comprising a computational algorithm that calculates a second price for each product of said plurality of products prior to commencement of a consumer transaction, said algorithm comprising a first variable consisting of a rate factor and a second variable consisting of a first price, and wherein said software application is configured such that a customer selects between said first price and said second price for a product for completion of said consumer transaction,
wherein said algorithm is further configured to validate the calculation of said second price against one or more rules to check for compliance, wherein compliance is achieved when said second price complies with one or more rules proscribing a merchant from adding credit card fees at a point of purchase;
a first user interface device configured to provide access to a first user interface;
a second user interface device configured to provide access to a second user interface;
a printer;
a product label comprising a price listing, an electronic link, or a barcode configured to display the first price and the second price; and
a point of sale (POS) device,
wherein the first user interface, the second user interface, and the CPU are connected via a data transmission medium.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the CPU is located on a cloud-based server.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the first user interface, the second user interface, and the CPU mutually communicate over any one or more of a wide area network (WAN), an internet, a cloud internet area network (IAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and a local area network (LAN).

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the data transmission medium comprises any one or more of a telecommunication circuit, an ethernet circuit, wireless fidelity (WiFi), a microwave circuit, and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein a first user is a system administrator.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The system of claim 15, wherein a second user is a merchant.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein each of the first user interface device and the second user interface device is a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a tablet device.

### Claim 18 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11 further comprising a third user interface device, wherein a third user is a customer.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The system of claim 18, wherein the third user interface device comprises a portable computer with a camera configured for capturing an image of the barcode and opening a web page comprising product information comprising the second price and the first price.