Method and apparatus for the anonymous targeted delivery, application and management of electronic coupons and promotions

A consumer-access platform network securely and economically providing diverse promotional offers to targeted consumers, said network comprising:

• a registration authentication engine for a registration database, said authentication engine providing anonymous registration authentication data for each registered consumer, a respective anonymous registration ID for each registered consumer, and an anonymous persona for each registered consumer to the database, said registration authentication engine being adapted to authenticate the registration of a registered consumer by determining that the registration authentication data supplied to the network from a network location having a respective location ID is registration authentication data that is in the registration database;
• a registration ID engine adapted to receive registration authentication data from a location in the platform network having a respective location ID when a consumer registers with the platform network, said registration ID engine being adapted to assign a registration ID to said registration authentication data;
• and
• a persona engine adapted to receive consumer survey data over a highly-secure connection from a location having the respective location ID of the location where said registration authentication data was entered, said persona engine being adapted to assign an anonymous persona determined by said consumer survey data to said registration ID,
• a subscriber point-of-sale engine, said subscriber point-of-sale engine being adapted to provide registration authentication data input by a registered consumer to through the on-premises computer network to said promotional computer network registration authentication database engine so as to authenticate said consumer's registration,
• a subscriber promotional offer database engine for a subscriber promotional offer database, said subscriber promotional offer database having subscriber promotional offer data for each subscriber promotional offer, said promotional offer data for each subscriber promotional offer including at least one anonymous persona that is eligible to receive said subscriber promotional offer, the offer ID of said promotional offer, data identifying at least one item offered by said promotional offer, and the value of said promotional offer for each item offered,
• said subscriber promotional offer database engine being adapted to provide an offer for which an anonymous persona of said authenticated registered consumer is eligible to the platform network when said anonymous persona of said authenticated registered consumer is supplied to said subscriber promotional offer database engine by said registration authentication database engine, and said subscriber point-of-sale engine providing data for each subscriber promotional offer item sold by said subscriber point-of-sale engine to said platform network offer monitoring database, said data including offer item volume, the location ID, value of the promotional offer for each item sold, and the registration IDs of the customers to whom each promotional offer item was sold to said platform network sales database, said platform network providing live, format-agnostic access to the data in said platform network databases.

A method of providing promotional offers to anonymous targeted consumers using a platform network, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a consumer survey display to a consumer using a secured connection to the platform network;
• verifying the registration of the consumer if registration authentication data entered by the consumer in response to the consumer survey is registered;
• providing consumer survey data entered by the consumer using the consumer survey display to the platform network using a highly secure connection;
• if the registration of the consumer entering the registration authentication data was not verified, assigning an anonymous registration ID to the registration authentication data entered by the consumer, otherwise, use the use the stored anonymous registration ID that was verified;
• if the registration of the consumer entering the registration authentication data was not verified, assigning an anonymous persona to the consumer survey data entered by the consumer, otherwise update the persona stored for the verified registration ID;
• providing the registration authentication data entered by the consumer, and a registration ID and an anonymous persona assigned to the consumer to a platform registration authentication database, whereby the unregistered consumer is registered if the registration authentication data was not verified;
• and
• displaying an offer for which a persona of the registered consumer is eligible.

The method of claim 15 for providing promotional offers to anonymous targeted consumers using a platform network having an anonymous persona, a registration ID and anonymous registration authentication data stored for a registered consumer, further comprising the steps of:

• receiving anonymous registration authentication data entered into the platform network by a registered consumer at a location having a location ID;
• verifying that the platform has an anonymous persona stored for anonymous registration authentication data;
• enabling the sale of an offer item specified in an offer protocol at a location having the same location ID as the entry of registration authentication data, when a persona of the registered consumer matches a persona in the offer protocol for that offer item;
• and
• executing the enabled sale of the offer item.

A method of providing promotional offers to anonymous targeted consumers using a platform network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving anonymous registration authentication data entered into the platform network by a registered consumer at a location having a location ID;
• verifying that the platform has an anonymous persona stored for that anonymous registration authentication data;
• determining that the location of the entry of anonymous registration authentication data made by the registered consumer has a location ID that is included in a subscriber network that is not eligible to receive offers from the platform network;
• and
• providing the anonymous persona stored for that anonymous registration authentication data to the location having the same location ID as the entry of anonymous registration authentication data made by the registered consumer.

A method of implementing a consumer-access platform for targeted promotional offers for a new subscriber, comprising the steps of:

• installing a platform API in the subscriber's point of sale engine that provides live offer data from the subscriber's point of sale engine to the platform's offer sales monitoring engine that uses the live sales data to expedite sponsors' reimbursements to the subscriber;
• providing a highly secure connection to registration displays so as to enable consumers to securely register with the platform, which enables the platform to analyze offer sales made to more registered consumers;
• converting customer purchases into temporary profiles with profile numbers, and submitting subscriber's offer inventory data to supplement analysis of registered consumers' purchases for improved inventory planning and fraud control;
• and
• implementing live offer integrity alerts and submitting subscriber's promotional offers to integrate the subscriber with the platform.