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US 8,712,836 B2Granted
Point-of-sale server and method
AssigneeMidnight Blue Remote Access LLC
InventorsDavid W. Deaton, Rodney G. Gabriel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for use in marketing includes detecting, at the point-of-sale, a plurality of Uniform Product Codes associated with respective items purchased by a customer. The method also includes transmitting, on a substantially real-time basis, the plurality of Uniform Product Codes over the Internet to a remote computer connected to the Internet.
Claims22
A method for processing point-of-sale information, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a computing device, from a point-of-sale terminal, an identifier associated with an item that has not yet been purchased by a customer;
- determining, by the computing device, point-of-sale information associated with the item based on a purchasing history, wherein the point-of-sale information includes:
- a price at which the item was previously purchased at a particular point-of-sale terminal,
- information identifying the item that was previously purchased and the particular point-of-sale terminal, and
- information identifying a previously applied incentive that was applied to the price;
- providing, by the computing device, the point-of-sale information associated with the item to a remote computer associated with a supplier of the item on a substantially real-time basis;
- providing, by the computing device, to the remote computer associated with the supplier of the item, purchasing information of a similar item associated with a competing supplier received from at least one store;
- receiving, by the computing device, an incentive from the remote computer associated with the supplier on a substantially real-time basis, wherein the incentive is determined based on at least the point-of-sale information associated with the item and the purchasing information of the similar item associated with the competing supplier received from the at least one store;
- and
- providing, by the computing device, the incentive to the point-of-sale terminal.
7 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to:
- receive, from a point-of-sale terminal, an identifier associated with an item that has not yet been purchased by a customer;
- determine point-of-sale information associated with the item based on a purchasing history, wherein the point-of-sale information includes:
- a price at which the item was previously purchased at a particular point-of-sale terminal,
- information identifying the item that was previously purchased and the particular point-of-sale terminal, and
- information identifying a previously applied incentive that was applied to the price;
- provide the point-of-sale information associated with the item to a remote computer associated with a supplier of the item on a substantially real-time basis;
- provide to the remote computer associated with the supplier of the item, purchasing information of a similar item associated with a competing supplier received from at least one store;
- receive, an incentive from the remote computer associated with the supplier on a substantially real-time basis, wherein the incentive is determined based on at least the point-of-sale information associated with the item and the purchasing information of the similar item associated with the competing supplier received from the at least one store;
- and
- provide the incentive to the point-of-sale terminal.
10 more elements
An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations including:
- receiving, from a point-of-sale terminal, an identifier associated with an item that has not yet been purchased by a customer;
- determining point-of-sale information associated with the item based on a purchasing history, wherein the point-of-sale information includes:
- a price at which the item was previously purchased at a particular point-of-sale terminal,
- information identifying the item that was previously purchased and the particular point-of-sale terminal, and
- information identifying a previously applied incentive that was applied to the price;
- providing the point-of-sale information associated with the item to a remote computer associated with a supplier of the item on a substantially real-time basis;
- providing to the remote computer associated with the supplier of the item, purchasing information of a similar item associated with a competing supplier received from at least one store;
- receiving an incentive from the remote computer associated with the supplier on a substantially real-time basis, wherein the incentive is determined based on at least the point-of-sale information associated with the item and the purchasing information of the similar item associated with the competing supplier received from the at least one store;
- and
- providing the incentive to the point-of-sale terminal.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.