JP2003528361A - System and method for evaluating information about a transaction that determines a grant application - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY A system and method are provided for processing a transaction in which a customer purchases an item. An indication is received that the customer is interested in purchasing the item. Evaluate information about the transaction, such as information about customers, merchants, and / or items to determine a grant application. The grant application is associated with a benefit from the grant provider to be applied to the transaction. The grant application may be sent to the customer and a response to the grant application may be received from the customer. If the response received indicates receipt of the grant application, the benefit applies to the transaction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application describes US Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 143,396 filed Jul. 12, 1999.
To claim the benefits of the issue, "Method and Apparatus for F
aciting Electronic Commerce Thro
Uugh Providing Cross-Benefits During
This is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 219,267 filed Dec. 23, 1998, entitled "a Transaction." The contents of all of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present application is entitled "Method and Apparatus for Provi.
ding Cross-Benefits Based on a Custom
No. 09 / 282,747, filed March 31, 1999, entitled "Mer Activity", entitled "Method and Apparatus."
for Providing Cross-Benefits via a
No. 09 / 274,281 filed March 22, 1999, entitled "Central Authority", "Method and Appa."
ratus for Providing Cross Benefits a
No. Penalties ", filed May 28, 1999, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 322,351," Method and Apparatus. "
for Printing a Billing Statement to
Provide Supplementary Product Sales
US patent application Ser. No. 08 / 982,14 filed December 1, 1997
9 Continuation Continuation Application "Billing Statement Custom
May 1999, entitled "er Acquisition System"
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 100,684, filed on the 9th, "Method and
Appratus for a Cryptographically As
sisted Commercial Network System Des
Ignored to Facility Buyer-Driven Con
US Patent Application No. 08 / 707,660, which was filed on September 4, 1996 and issued on August 11, 1998 as US Pat. Is "Co
nditional Purchase Offer Management
Filed July 8, 1997, entitled "System," U.S. Patent Application No. 08/8
89,319, a partial continuation application of "Conditional Purcha
se Offerer (CPO) Management System For P
filed September 4, 1997, US application 08/92
No. 3,683, which is a continuation-in-part application “System and Method f
or Facilitating Acceptance of Condition
19 named “Ional Purchase Offers (CPOs)”
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 943,483, filed October 3, 1997, "Metho
d and System for Processing Suppleme
nary Product Sales at a Point-of-Sa
'Terminal', which is a continuation-in-part of US patent application Ser. No. 08 / 920,116 filed Aug. 26, 1997, "Method and A."
preparation for Providing Supplementary
Product Sales to a Customer at a Cu
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 994,426, filed December 19, 1997, entitled "Stomer Terminal," and "Pre-Sale Data."
1 named "Broadcast System and Method"
No. 09 / 221,099, filed Dec. 28, 998.
The contents of all of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD This invention relates to transactions in which a customer purchases an item. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods for evaluating information about transactions to determine grant offers.

Background With the increasing number of customers shopping online (eg, via the World Wide Web), electronic commerce is becoming increasingly accepted. However, electronic commerce suffers from many of the same problems associated with traditional commerce. For example, there is significant competition between stores to attract and retain customers, which prevents them from increasing their profits by raising prices. Price competition is becoming more intense on the Internet, and it is expected that the willingness of customers to "look around the store" to determine the prices applied by different merchants will increase.

A customer does not purchase an item, even if he or she has selected a particular merchant, if the price of the item is higher than the amount he is willing to (or can) pay. One way to encourage customers to purchase an item via the World Wide Web or otherwise is to reduce the price of the item. Unfortunately, lowering the price of items also reduces merchant profits, which cannot be offset by higher sales.

Instead of directly reducing the price of an item, it is known that merchants can apply to their customers for promotional merchandise to facilitate the purchase of that item. For example, a merchant may advertise a promotional item, "Buy one and get another." Similarly, a merchant will receive 10% when a customer opens a credit card account that is affiliated with that merchant.
You can get discounts and advertise.

It is also known that multiple merchants can work together to apply for a promotional item. For example, the first merchant advertises that if the customer purchases the first item from the first merchant, the second item can be purchased from the second merchant at a discounted price or free. You can

[0008] It is also known that a product for sales promotion is provided at the time of sale. For example, the merchant's website may display a "banner advertisement" that allows the customer to visit another website to make a second purchase.

However, all of the above techniques have serious problems. For example, a merchant's promotional product is subscribed to a potential customer before the customer indicates that they are interested in a particular item (eg, by advertising the promotional product on a radio station). In this case, the merchant must pay to deliver information about the promotional item to other customers who are not interested in the promotional item, which in turn reduces the customer acquisition cost. Will increase. Further, merchants may not be able to use information about a particular transaction (eg, demographic information about a customer purchasing an item or information about an item) to properly select or modify a promotional item.

US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 219,267 discloses a system in which a merchant server of a first merchant receives an indication of an item for a customer to purchase via a website. This instruction may be, for example, a signal indicating that the customer is "clearing" his virtual shopping cart containing items on the Web. In response, the Merchant Server supplies a redemption application from a second Merchant, which is sometimes referred to as some sort of mutual benefit or grant application. If the customer indicates receipt of the offer, the offer applies to the item or items being purchased. For example, the total amount paid for the item may be reduced or the item may be offered to the customer free of charge. Instead, the customer agrees to participate in the transaction with the second merchant. For example, a customer may replace a service provider (eg,
You may agree to replace your long distance service provider) or initiate a new service contract (eg, apply for a new credit card through a second merchant).

However, there is a need for additional systems and methods for facilitating electronic commerce, such as systems and methods for determining grant applications to be offered to customers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To alleviate the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention introduces a system and method for processing a transaction in which a customer purchases an item.

In one embodiment of the invention, an indication is received that the customer is interested in purchasing the item. Information about the transaction is evaluated to determine the grant application, and the grant application is associated with benefits from the grant provider that apply to the transaction.

Another embodiment of the invention provides (i) means for receiving an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item, and (ii) information about the transaction for determining the grant application. To provide a means to evaluate.

With these and other advantages and features of the invention that will be apparent herein, the nature of the invention is described in the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims, and the specification. It will be more clearly understood with reference to the several drawings attached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is directed to systems and methods for evaluating information regarding transactions to determine grant applications. Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIG.
1 is a schematic block diagram of a transaction / system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transaction / system 100 includes a merchant device 20 in communication with the customer device 10 and a grant provider device 30. As used herein, a device (such as customer device 10, merchant device 20, and / or grant provider device 30) is
For example, a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), public switched telephone network (PSTN), or the Internet,
Internet protocols such as intranets or extranets (
It is possible to communicate via a communication network such as an IP) network. Further, as used herein, communication includes any communication enabled by wireline or wireless technology. Note that although FIG. 1A shows a single customer device 10, any number of customer devices 10 may be included in the trading / system 100. Similarly, any of the other devices shown herein may be included in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

In one embodiment of the invention, customer device 10 communicates with a remote web-based merchant device 20 (eg, server) via the Internet. While some embodiments of the present invention are shown with respect to information exchanged using websites, otherwise, in other embodiments of the present invention, the information may be, for example, telephone, interactive voice response. Equipment (IVRU), facsimile machine, mail, e-mail, WEBTV (
Interface, cable network interface, or wireless communication system.

The customer device 10 is, for example, a personal computer (PC), a portable computing device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wired telephone or a wireless telephone, a unidirectional pager or a bidirectional pager, a kiosk, and an automatic cash transfer. Machine (AT
M), or any other suitable communication device. According to one embodiment of the invention,
The customer device is a point-of-sale point-of-sale (POS) terminal, a device located at the POS terminal, or a device communicating with the POS terminal.

In general, customer device 10 may be any device capable of performing the method according to the present invention. It should be noted that customer device 10, merchant device 20, and / or grant provider device 30 can be combined into a single device (eg, a kiosk located in a merchant store).

As will be described below, the transaction and system 100 can be used to process transactions in which a customer purchases an item. As used herein, an "item" is anything that a customer can purchase (eg, goods or services).
That is. Tickets, consumer electronics, electronically delivered information, technical support services, groceries, etc. are examples of items that customers can purchase.

According to one embodiment of the invention, merchant device 20 receives from customer device 10 an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item. For example, a customer may access a web page associated with a merchant. When referring to an item that the customer wishes to purchase, the customer can place the item in a "virtual shopping cart" to indicate an interest in purchasing the item.

According to one embodiment of the invention, information about the transaction is evaluated to determine the grant application. As used herein, a "grant application" is any application associated with a benefit from a grant provider to be applied to a transaction. For example, a grant provider (eg, customer and non-merchant party) may apply to apply $ 50 for the purchase of an item. In general, benefits may be of any value to the customer (eg, bonus items, higher quality items, longer warranty,
And / or lower interest rates). Note that according to one embodiment, multiple different grant applications can be determined.

Information regarding transactions used to determine a grant application may include, for example:
Information about customers, information about items, information about grant providers, and / or information about previous transactions can be included. The assessment can be performed, for example, by the merchant device 20 or the grant provider device 30. For example, when the customer indicates that he is interested in purchasing a television, the merchant device 20 may provide the grant provider device 30 with information regarding the transaction. In this case, the grant provider device 30 evaluates the information and evaluates one or more appropriate grant applications (eg, "TVs that are interested in subscribing to and purchasing satellite television services. Can be provided to the merchant device 20.

This grant application can be sent from the merchant device 20 to the customer device 10. For example, a grant application can be sent via a web page or email message. Customer device 10 then sends a response to the grant application to merchant device 20. If the response indicates that the customer has received the grant application, the benefit is applied to the transaction. For example, a grant provider may apply $ 50 for a customer to purchase an item.

Grant applications can be conditional on the performance of tasks by the customer. For example, a grant provider may apply to apply $ 50 on ticket purchases only when a customer applies to open an account with a particular credit card. In this case, a penalty may be imposed if the customer who receives the grant application does not perform the task. For example, if a customer receives a grant application that $ 50 applies to the purchase of television instead of subscribing to cable television services for three months, the customer may receive a payment identifier (eg, credit・ Card number can be provided. If a customer ceases to use this service after two months, you can impose an appropriate penalty (eg, $ 33, $ 50 using that customer's credit card number,
Or you can charge a fee of $ 60).

The customer device 10 directly connects the grant provider device 3 (as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1A).
Note that 0 can be communicated. For example, if a customer applies for a new credit card, the subsidy provider may apply for payment for the customer's book purchases. In this case, credit card application information (eg, customer name, address, and social security number) may be sent directly from customer device 10 to grant provider device 30.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram outlining a trading / system 150 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1B, central controller 40 is in communication with customer device 10, merchant device 20, grant provider device 30, and credit reporting device 50. According to this embodiment, the central controller 40 can evaluate information about the transaction to determine the appropriate grant application.

For example, central controller 40 may receive an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item (eg, by receiving the indication from customer device 10 or merchant device 20). Central controller 40 may then evaluate information about the customer and information about one or more grant providers to determine the grant application. For example, central controller 40 may receive a credit report from credit reporting device 50 based on the credit card number associated with the customer (eg, after receiving authorization from the customer to do so). The central controller 40 can then use the information in the credit report, such as the credit rating associated with the customer, to determine the appropriate grant application.

Further, the central controller 40 can receive information about the customer acquisition rate by the subsidy provider from the subsidy provider device 30. Based on this information, the central controller 40 determines the grant application and submits the grant application to the customer device 1
Can be sent to 0. According to another embodiment, the central controller 40 is
Information about the grant application can be sent to the merchant device 20, while the merchant device 20 sends the grant application to the customer device 10.

The grant application may be stored, for example, in information stored on the customer device 10 (eg, information stored in a cookie file on the customer's PC, or on the customer's PDA or smart card). It is noted that the information can be determined based on the information stored in the central controller 40, the information stored in the central controller 40, the information stored in the merchant device 20, and / or the information stored in the grant provider device 30. I want to.

Merchant Device FIG. 2 is a diagram of a merchant device 20 illustrating the device shown in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment of the invention. It should be noted that the central controller 40 of FIG. 1B may also include similar elements and may perform functions similar to those described herein in connection with merchant device 20.

The merchant device 20 comprises a processor 210, such as one or more INTEL Pentium® processors, which is configured to communicate through a communication network (not shown in FIG. 2). Connected to 220. The communication port 220 may include, for example, a plurality of customer devices 10, a grant provider device 30, a central controller 40, and / or a credit reporting device 5.
It can be used to communicate with 0.

The processor 210 is also connected to the storage device 230. Storage 230 may comprise any suitable information storage device, including magnetic storage devices (eg, magnetic tape and hard disk drives), optical storage devices, and random access memory (RAM). And a combination of semiconductor memory devices such as read only memory (ROM) devices.

The storage device 230 stores a program 215 for controlling the processor 210. Processor 210 executes the instructions of program 215, thereby operating in accordance with the present invention. Processor 210 receives, for example, an indication that a customer is interested in purchasing an item and evaluates information associated with the transaction to determine a grant application.

The program 215 can be stored in a compressed, uncompiled format and / or encrypted format. Program 215 further includes program elements that may be needed, such as an operating system, database management system, and "device drivers" that processor 210 uses to interface with peripheral devices. Appropriate device drivers and other necessary program elements are known to those skilled in the art and are not described in detail here.

Processor 210 and storage 230 may be, for example, (i) collectively located in a single computer or other computing device, or (ii) in separate devices coupled through a communication channel. Please note that In one embodiment, the merchant device 20 comprises one or more computers connected to a remote database server.

For use in the present invention, information may be provided, for example, (i) even if the merchant device 20 “receives” from the customer device 10 or the grant provider device 30, or (ii) software within the merchant device 20. An application or module can be retrieved from another software application, module, or other source.
May be “received”.

As shown in FIG. 2, the storage device 230 also stores the following. Grant database 300 (described in connection with FIG. 3), customer database 400 (described in connection with FIG. 4), item database 500 (described in connection with FIG. 5)
, Grant provider database 600 (discussed in connection with FIG. 6), and previous transaction database 700 (discussed in connection with FIG. 7). The schematic diagrams presented herein, and the accompanying database description, are exemplary and any number of other database configurations may be used in addition to the configuration proposed in the figures.

Next, an example of a database that can be used in the transaction / system 100, 150 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7.

Grant Database Referring to FIG. 3, a table illustrates one embodiment of a grant database 300 that may be stored in the merchant device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The table includes items that identify grant applications that can be offered to customers who are interested in purchasing an item. The table also includes fields 302, 304 for each item.
, 306, 308, 310, 312 are defined. These fields include grant identifier 302, grant content 304, grant evaluation criteria 306, grant task 308.
, Grant grant 310, and grant provider identifier 312. The information in the grant database 300 can be created and updated based on information received from one or more grant providers, for example.

Grant identifier 302 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a particular grant application that may be provided to a customer who is interested in purchasing an item.
Grant identifier 302 is an identifier stored in the received grant 408 field and rejected grant 410 field in customer database 400, and / or the subscribed grant 708 field and received grant 710 of transaction / database 700. It can be associated with an identifier stored in the field.
For each grant application, the grant database 300 also stores grant content 304 that describes the application. The grant content 304 may include, for example, any textual, visual, and / or audio information provided to the customer to describe the grant application.

In addition, each grant application is based on the grant evaluation standard 306 and the grant task 3.
08 is also associated. In accordance with the present invention, grant criteria 306 indicates one or more conditions that must be met in order to provide a customer with a grant application. Grant task 308 indicates the task (s) that the customer must perform in response to the grant application.

Each grant application is also associated with a grant benefit 310, which indicates the benefit provided to a customer receiving the grant application, and a grant provider identifier 312. Grant provider identifier 312 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with the vendor who provides the benefit to the customer, and may be associated with grant provider identifier 602 stored in grant provider database 600.

For example, a grant application having a grant identifier 302 of “S1001” is requested to a customer, “If you apply for a CAPITAL ONE (registered trademark) credit card now, you will receive a credit of $ 50 for shopping.” "!" As indicated in Grant Criteria 306, this grant application is currently
It is provided only to customers who are not ONE® cardholders. In order for the customer to receive this grant benefit 310 (eg, $ 50 worth of credits), the customer must complete the CAPITAL ONE® credit card application, as shown in grant task 308.

As another example, for a grant application having the grant identifier 302 of “S1005”, the customer can find out how to go to “www.subsidypro.com/854321” and just do this shopping. "!" An indication of such a grant application may be provided, for example, as part of the customer's credit card billing statement (eg, next to the indication on the statement indicating the customer's purchase of an item). . In this case, the customer has indicated an interest in purchasing the item by paying for the item using the credit card. According to another embodiment, the display of the grant application may be displayed in the alternative to the above method, for example, through a bill for telephone charges (eg, in connection with call charges for the "900" service) or through a bank account statement ( May be provided (eg, in connection with a debit card purchase). Grant criteria 306 may include information associated with a customer's credit card account, such as the merchant's identifier (eg, associated with the merchant the customer purchased the item from) and / or the customer's credit rating. Please note that. It should also be noted that the URL included in the display of the grant application may include an identifier (ie, “854321”) associated with the customer and / or the particular grant application. Also, the display of the grant application does not show the actual grant application,
Thereby, after the customer receives the indication of the grant application, the grant provider will
Also note that the tasks or benefits associated with the grant application can be adjusted.

Customer Database Referring to FIG. 4, a table illustrates one embodiment of a customer database 400 that may be stored in the merchant device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The table includes items that identify customers who may be interested in purchasing the item. The table also includes fields 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 41 for each item.
2 is defined. These fields include customer identifier 402, customer address 404, customer status 406, received grant 408, rejected grant 41.
0, and customer demographic information 412 is shown. The information in customer database 400 may be, for example, information received from one or more customers (eg, when a customer registers with a merchant, completes a transaction, and / or responds to a grant application). It can be created and updated based on.

Customer identifier 402 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a customer who is interested in purchasing an item, and may be associated with customer identifier 704 stored in transaction / database 700.

The customer database 400 includes, for each customer, a customer address 404 (eg, home or work address, email address, internet protocol, etc.).
Memorize the address or telephone number). Customer address 404 is used in providing grant applications to customers who live in a geographic area (eg, customers who live in an area with ZIP code 06897). Customer status 406 indicates how often the customer purchases from the merchant. For example, the customer may be a “frequently purchased” customer, a “new” customer, a “not recently purchased” customer, or
It may be a customer who has not purchased items from that merchant for a long period of time (“not purchased for a long time”). In this way, grant applications can be offered to specific types of customers. For example, by offering a high-value grant application only to customers associated with a "new" customer status 406, the customer is rewarded for enrolling in or doing business with that merchant, You can be prompted to complete the transaction. According to another embodiment, frequent customers may be rewarded for their loyalty.

Customer database 400 also stores identifiers corresponding to one or more received grants 408 and denied grants 410 associated with the customer.
The information in these fields can be based on the grant identifier 302 stored in the grant database 300 and is also used to indicate which grant application (if any) was received or rejected by the customer. can do. For example, a customer having a customer identifier 402 of “C101” may apply for a grant application “S10
01 "and refuses the grant application" S1004 ". This information can be used, for example, to provide a customer with only grant applications that the customer has not previously received or rejected.

Similarly, this information can also be used to determine the type of grant application to offer to the customer. For example, a customer customarily receives a grant application associated with a task at home (eg, listening to a telesales presentation, or joining an online focus group) and performs at home. Suppose that you typically reject a grant application that is associated with a task that cannot be done (eg, test drive a car, visit a consumer electronics store, etc.). In this case, grant 408 received and grant 41 rejected
By using 0, it can be determined that the customer should be offered a grant application associated with a task that can be done at home.

Customer database 400 also stores customer demographic information 412 associated with the customer. The customer demographic information 412 may be, for example, the customer's gender, age,
And interests (eg, “1” indicates interest in sports, etc.). This information can be used, for example, to enable the customer to receive a grant application that is more likely to be received. Similarly, other types of demographic information, as well as other types of information associated with customers, can be stored in the customer database 400 and used for the purposes described above. For example, the psychographic information associated with the customer (eg, trends, values, lifestyle and personal opinion) may also be used to determine grant applications.

Item Database Referring to FIG. 5, a tabular representation of one embodiment of an item database 500 that may be stored in the merchant device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The table includes items that identify items that the customer may be interested in purchasing.
The table also defines fields 502, 504, 506, 508 for each item. These fields include item identifier 502, item description 504,
Item category 506 and item price 508 are shown. The information in the item database 500 can be created and updated based on inventory information associated with the merchant, for example.

Item identifier 502 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with an item that the customer may be interested in purchasing, and may be associated with item identifier 706 stored in transaction / database 700. Item description 504 describes the item, and item category 506 indicates, for example, the product type (eg, "TV" or "computer") associated with the item. According to one embodiment of the present invention, this information can be used, for example, to provide the customer with an appropriate grant application (eg, if the customer is interested in purchasing a computer, the Internet. Providing grant applications related to services). Item price 508 indicates the original value associated with the item (eg, retail price prior to the application of subsidy benefits). This information can also be used to provide the appropriate subsidy to the customer (eg, a customer who is interested in purchasing a lower priced item can receive a first subsidy application and can Customers who are interested in purchasing expensive items may receive a second grant application).

Grant Provider Database Referring to FIG. 6, a table illustrates one embodiment of a grant provider database 600 that may be stored in the merchant device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The table includes items that identify the parties that provide the grant in connection with the transaction. The table also defines fields 602, 604, 606 for each item. These fields include Grant Provider Identifier 602, Grant Provider Description 6
04 and the customer acquisition rate 606 are shown. Grant Provider Database 600
The information therein can be created and updated, for example, based on the information received from one or more grant providers.

Grant provider identifier 602 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a vendor that may provide a grant benefit to a customer, and may be a grant provider identifier 312 stored in grant database 600. May be associated. The information in the grant provider description field 604 is information that describes the grant provider.

Customer acquisition rate 606 can indicate, for example, the rate at which the subsidy provider acquires new customers (eg, acquisition rate is “low”, “average”, “high”). This information can be used to determine which grant application should be offered to the customer. For example, if the customer acquisition rate 606 of a specific subsidy provider is “low”, the first
If the customer acquisition rate 606 is “high”, the second application is provided to the customer.
Grant application (eg, a grant with a lower value perk) can be provided to the customer. The customer acquisition rate 606 may also be associated with the rate at which the grant provider acquires new customers through the grant application (eg, the rate at which the customer receives the grant application).
It should be noted that the grant provider may alternatively be associated with an overall rate of acquiring new customers (eg, including customers who were not acquired through the grant application). According to another embodiment, a customer acquisition policy (eg, “less aggressive” or “more aggressive”) may be used instead of or in addition to the customer acquisition rate 606. . According to another embodiment, the customer acquisition rate 606 indicates a specific rate of actually acquiring customers (eg, “17 customers per hour”).

Previous Transactions / Database Referring to FIG. 7, a tabular representation of one embodiment of the previous transactions / database 700 that may be stored in the merchant device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The table includes items that identify the transactions associated with the transaction / system 100. The table also includes fields 702, 704, 706, 708, 71 for each item.
Define 0. These fields include transaction identifier 702, customer identifier 704,
Item identifier 706, subscribed grant 708, received grant 710, and time and date 712 are shown. The information in the previous transaction / database 700 can be created and updated, for example, when a customer completes a transaction (eg, the customer has purchased an item).

Transaction identifier 702 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a particular transaction. Customer identifier 704 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a particular customer, and may be associated with customer identifier 402 stored in customer database 400.
Item identifier 706 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with a particular item and may be associated with item identifier 502 stored in item database 500. For example, as shown in the first item of FIG. 7, a transaction having a transaction identifier 702 of “T101” is executed by a customer having a customer identifier 704 of “C102”.
An item having an item identifier 706 of "I-101" (that is, a Sony (registered trademark) 25-inch screen television as shown in the item description 504 of FIG. 5) is purchased.

The subscribed grant 708 can be used, for example, to store the grant identifier 302 of the grant that was applied during the transaction. Similarly, the received grant 710 can be used to store the grant identifier 302 of the grant received by the customer during the transaction. For example, in a transaction in which the transaction identifier 702 is "T101", the customer is given an "S
1001 "and" S1004 "subsidies are applied, and the customer is" S1001 "
Has received a grant. Note that the customer may not receive any of the grants 708 that they have applied for (shown in the third item of FIG. 7). Further, in some embodiments, multiple grants may be applied to and received by the customer. The time and date 712 indicates when the transaction started or completed.

Methods that may be used with trading systems 100, 150 according to various embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail in connection with FIGS. 8-10.

Transaction / System Method FIG. 8 illustrates a method 8 of processing a transaction that a customer makes a purchase according to an embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a flowchart showing 00. The flow chart of FIG. 8, like other flow charts dealt with herein, does not indicate that the order of steps is fixed, and embodiments of the present invention may be performed in any practical order. It can be carried out.

At 802, an indication is received that the customer is interested in purchasing the item.
For example, an order for an item may be received from a customer via a communication network such as the Internet. Similarly, the instructions reflect that the customer is ready to provide payment for the item (eg, provide its credit card number, etc.). One system for receiving such instructions is "Me
how and System for Placing a Purcha
se Order via a Communications Network
It is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,960,411 entitled "k". According to one embodiment, when a customer "puts" an item into his "virtual shopping cart," instructions are received via a web page. According to another embodiment, the instruction is for the customer to price the item including a customer-defined price.
(offer) is reflected.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item may simply consist of the indication that the customer is accessing information about the item. The instruction may be, for example, that the customer browsed a web page related to the item for a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds). The instruction may also be, for example, an attempt by a customer to obtain an item (eg, apply for a lottery, participate in a skill competing game, etc.).

According to another embodiment of the invention, the indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item may consist of an input from an input device associated with the customer. The customer may, for example, move the mouse pointer over the image of the item, or use an input device to read the Uniform Goods Code (UPC) bar code associated with the item. As another example, a customer may use a keyboard to enter a search term (eg, "TV"), which term may act as an instruction as described above.

According to another embodiment, the indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item may consist of information stored on the customer device, such as information stored on the customer's PDA.

According to another embodiment, it is possible to use an indication that the customer is no longer interested in purchasing the item. For example, a customer may cancel an order after going through the steps of purchasing an item. Similarly, the instructions can also reflect that the customer does not purchase the item at its original price. Therefore, the indication that the customer is interested in buying the item is actually not interested in buying the item at a particular time (eg, because the price at that time is too high). Note that this may be an instruction.

According to other embodiments, this indication may reflect that the customer is interested in purchasing another item or is trying to purchase that item from another merchant. For example, if a customer is in the process of purchasing a camera manufactured by a first manufacturer, it may also be interested in the customer purchasing a similar camera manufactured by a second manufacturer. Can be seen as an instruction.

In the case of an auction, the indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item can consist of a bid for that item. According to another embodiment, the instructions may consist of an indication that the second customer is interested in purchasing the item. For example, a first customer spends $ 50 to purchase a portable music player. If a second customer charges $ 60 for the item, a grant application (eg, "Doing this task will add $ 20 to your bid") will be provided to the first customer. become.

The instructions received at 802 can be received via, for example, a web page, telephone, IVRU, POS terminal, ATM, PDA, handheld customer device, email message, and / or kiosk.

At 804, the information associated with the transaction is evaluated to determine a grant application, which is associated with a benefit from the grant provider that applies to the transaction. The grant provider can be a second merchant, for example, if the customer has indicated an interest in purchasing an item from the first merchant. Note that multiple grant applications may be determined, as described below in connection with FIG.

Benefits may, for example, consist of the amount of the grant applied to the original price associated with the item (eg “reduces $ 50 from retail price”) or “minimum offered in your area”. 20% discount from the price. "). In addition, the privilege is another item provided to the customer instead of the original item (for example, a higher quality item), or another item provided to the customer in addition to the original item (for example, a free peripheral device). ) Is okay. According to another embodiment, the reward may be any of the more favorable trading conditions. For example, the extension of the guarantee period or the reduction of the interest rate can be used as a privilege. The reward may be applied immediately to the transaction or in some other manner (eg, by providing subsequent payments multiple times or by discounting subsequent usage fees the customer should pay). Note that it is good.

According to one embodiment of the invention, benefits are associated with performing tasks by customers. For example, applications for grants include telephone services, internet services, banking services, credit card account services, insurance services, securities trading services, satellite television services, and / or cable services.
Customers may be required to subscribe to or subscribe to services such as television services. The task can also, for example, purchase another item, access a web page, visit a merchant, dial a phone number, and / or provide an answer to a question (
For example, answering all surveys).

A more detailed description of the evaluation performed at 804 is provided in connection with FIGS. 9 and 10.

At 806, the grant application is provided to the customer, such as by sending the application to the customer via the communication network. Grant applications can be provided by sending the application via, for example, a web page, telephone, IVRU, POS terminal, ATM, PDA, handheld customer device, email message, and / or kiosk. According to one embodiment, a POS terminal may be used to communicate information describing the content of an application to an employee, who may verbally communicate the application to the customer. It should be noted that upon receiving an indication through the communication network that the customer is interested in purchasing the item, the grant application can be sent through the same communication network or through another communication network. At 808, a response to the grant application is received from the customer (eg, the customer may or may not accept the application). If, at 810, the received response indicates that the grant application has been received, then at 812, the privilege is applied to the transaction. At 810, if the response received does not indicate receipt of the grant application, then the transaction is not redeemed. At 814, the transaction is complete.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method 900 of determining a grant application, according to one embodiment of the invention. Note that only a portion of the evaluations described here may be used to determine the grant application.

At 902, the information associated with the customer is evaluated to determine the grant application. The information associated with the customer may be, for example, an address associated with the customer, demographic information associated with the customer, psychographic information associated with the customer, and a credit grade associated with the customer. By way of example, it is possible to provide a particular grant application only to customers over the age of 35 living in a particular geographical area. Such a decision can be based on information stored in customer database 400, for example. According to another embodiment, the information associated with the customer may be a way of indicating that the customer is interested in purchasing the item. For example,
A particular grant application may be provided to customers who want to win the item by lottery or lottery, not to those who try to purchase the item, and so on.

Information associated with a customer may include an association of the customer with the grant provider or some other party. For example, if a customer agrees to open an Internet Services account with a first provider, a request to apply $ 50 for a purchase may be sent to a customer who already has an account with the first provider. Not done. Similarly, this offer is currently being offered by a second provider (eg, the first provider).
May be provided only to customers who are using certain competitors of their providers). As an example, central controller 40 can detect that customer device 10 is communicating through a second provider (eg, based on an IP address associated with the customer). In the case of a subsidy submitted by a telephone service provider, information based on the customer's telephone number or connection may be used as well (eg, whether the customer is using a particular cellular service). Or not, or whether you have a particular long-distance plan).

The information associated with a customer may also include an application previously provided to the customer, an application previously received by the customer, and / or an application previously rejected by the customer.
It may include information associated with at least one previous transaction. For example, a customer who previously refused to apply for a $ 10 award grant (eg,
Database 700), which in turn may receive a $ 20 award grant application.

At 904, the information associated with the item is evaluated to determine a grant application. Information associated with an item includes, for example, the original value of the item, the category of the item (eg, television), the grade of the item (eg, high definition television), the manufacturer of the item, and / or the feature of the item. (Eg television remote control). For example, an item with an original price of $ 5 may be provided with a first grant application and an item with an original value of $ 2,000 may be provided with another grant application.

At 906, information associated with one or more suitable grant providers is evaluated to determine grant applications. For example, if the customer acquisition rate associated with a grant provider falls below a predetermined level, additional grant applications will be available.

At 908, other transaction information is evaluated to determine a grant application. For example,
The amount that the customer is willing to offer in exchange for the item (eg customer defined price)
Can be evaluated. A customer has a minimum auction price of $ 60 (
That is, suppose that $ 50 is added to an item associated with a price below which the item will not be sold. In this case, a grant application with a benefit of $ 15 may be determined to be suitable for this transaction. Note that it is not necessary to disclose the actual amount of the grant application to the customer (for example, "Your bid is less than or equal to the minimum price for this item, but if you switch to an internet service provider, the minimum Adjust the bid to exceed the price. ").

The time and / or date associated with the transaction, such as the time and date 712 stored in the previous transaction / database 700, may also be evaluated to determine a grant application. For example, a particular grant application may be offered only during off-peak hours (eg midnight) and not during crowded shopping periods (eg holiday shopping periods).

Evaluations made in accordance with the present invention include, for example, equipment associated with a customer, equipment associated with a merchant selling items to a customer, equipment associated with a grant provider, and / or a central controller. The stored information can be used. For example, information stored in a cookie file on the customer's PC can be used to determine a grant application. In addition, the information described above,
Grant database 300, customer database 400, item database 5
00, grant provider database 600, and / or previous transactions / database 700.

In the evaluation performed in the present invention, information received from the customer such as survey information received from the customer can be used. Information may be received from a grant provider or any other vendor. For example, using credit reporting information from the credit reporting device 50 (eg, whether the customer's credit card is properly paid for membership, etc.),
The application for the grant can be decided.

At 910, it is determined whether to provide the grant application to the customer based on the evaluations described herein. If you do not provide a grant application at 910, the process is 9
It ends at 14.

In addition to determining whether to provide the customer with a grant application, at 912, determine the type or amount of benefits associated with the grant application. This decision may be based, for example, on the same information that was used to decide whether to provide the grant application. For example, the merchant device 20 may determine that the customer should have recently stopped purchasing an item (eg, may be currently purchasing an item from another merchant) and should increase the perk. . afterwards,
The transaction may continue as described in connection with element 806 of FIG.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method 1000 of determining a grant application in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart showing The method described in connection with FIG. 10 may be performed in addition to the method described in connection with FIGS. 8 and 9, for example. According to this embodiment, at 1002, it can be determined that a transaction is eligible for multiple grant applications.
If desired, all grant applications may be displayed to the customer. In this case, the customer may choose not to receive any of the grant applications, one or more of them.

However, instead of the merchant device 20 or the central controller 40
May determine which of the applicable grant applications should be provided to the customer.
In this case, 1004 for the merchant, 1006 for the customer, 1
At 008, the grant providers can be evaluated for the profitability of each grant application. For example, consider the case of a transaction in which a first or second grant application can be provided to a customer. The merchant device may receive $ 10 if the customer receives the first grant application and $ 15 if the customer receives the second grant application. In this case, the merchant device 2
0 decides to provide the customer with a second grant application (eg, because the second grant application is considered more rewarding to the customer or merchant).

This selection may be based on the prior receipt of each potential grant application at 1010. For example, a first grant application (eg, applying $ 5 to the original price in exchange for a customer answering a short survey) has been received by 90% of past customers, while a second Applying for a grant (for example, applying $ 20 to the original price in exchange for a customer to test drive a car at a sales agent)
% Has been received. In this case, the first application is provided to the customer.

At 1012, one or more grant applications are selected and provided to the customer.
The transaction may then continue as described in connection with element 806 of FIG.

Other Embodiments The following are some examples illustrating various embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these examples do not define all possible embodiments and that the invention is applicable to many other embodiments. Moreover, while the following examples are briefly described for clarity, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate what apparatus and methods described above may be adapted to suit these and other embodiments and applications, where appropriate. You will understand how to make any changes.

As an example, assume that a customer enrolls in an online book merchant. Upon registration, the customer provides the merchant with demographic information and credit card information (eg, credit card number). This information can be stored, for example, on the merchant device 20 or the customer device 10 (eg, using a cookie file). The customer then indicates (e.g., by clicking on the "Buy This Book Now" icon) that he wants to buy the $ 45 book from the merchant.

In response to this instruction, the merchant evaluates the customer's demographic information, the original value of the book (ie, $ 45), and the customer's credit card information. Based on this rating, merchants tell their customers that they can get the book for free if they apply for a new credit card. The customer agrees with it. Note that this may require the customer to complete an online credit card application. The retailer then ships the book to the customer without charging the customer's credit card. The merchant associated with the new credit card offers the online book retailer $ 50 in exchange for receiving the credit card application.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the merchant may instead charge the customer $ 45 in exchange for the book. In this case, the merchant associated with the new credit card will provide $ 45 directly to the customer and $ 5 directly to the merchant. Note that the merchant may instead offer the customer multiple payments. For example, if a customer receives a book in exchange for using a particular internet service for three months, that internet service (ie, a grantor) will pay $ 15 per month ($ 45 total) to the customer. To provide.

According to another embodiment, the benefit offered to the customer may actually exceed the original price of the item purchased. In the example above, the merchant associated with the new credit card may apply for a $ 100 application as opposed to a customer purchasing a $ 45 book. In this case, the customer may receive a $ 55 incremental increment or may choose to book further (either as part of this transaction or in a later transaction with that merchant). Alternatively, the customer may be allowed to select an item from another merchant. According to another embodiment, the merchant may retain the difference between the perk and the original price of the item.

According to one embodiment, the grant application is provided to the customer at the POS terminal. For example, a customer visiting a grocery store may be notified that if they agree to transfer their credit card balance to a particular credit card within two weeks, they will be eligible for a $ 100 grant. it can. If the customer does not purchase the $ 100 grocery item during this transaction, the balance is automatically applied to the next transaction. Similarly, it is possible to install a kiosk in the grocery store and have the customer visit the kiosk to get information about available grant applications.

According to another embodiment, a grant application may be associated with multiple different grant providers to require the customer to perform multiple tasks. For example, a customer receives the following application: "(i) subscribe to a particular cable TV service for one year, (ii) apply for a new credit card, (iii) monthly cable TV charges. You'll get this TV for free if you charge your new credit card directly. " In this case, both the cable television service provider and the credit card issuer will bear the benefits that the customer receives (ie, the free television).

According to another embodiment, the customer may be a member of a “grant group”. In this case, the information associated with the group can be used to determine grant applications and benefits for members. For example, a customer may indicate that he was referred to a merchant by a third party (eg, by providing an identifier associated with that third party).
. This information can be used to determine the benefits to offer to customers and / or third parties.

The present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments for purposes of illustration only. Those skilled in the art will appreciate from this description that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein, but can be practiced with modifications and variations that are limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Will be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A   1 is a schematic block diagram of a transaction / system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B   FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a transaction / system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2]   FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a merchant device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a tabular description of a portion of a grant database according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a tabular description of a portion of a customer database according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a tabular description of a portion of an item database according to one embodiment of the invention.

[Figure 6]   6 is a tabular description of a portion of a grant provider according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 7]   6 is a tabular description of a portion of a prior transaction according to one embodiment of the invention.

[Figure 8]   6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing a transaction according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a grant application according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a grant application according to another embodiment of the invention.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE ), OA (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, KE, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CN, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DZ, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU , ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, MD, MG, MG, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, UA, UG, US, UZ, VN, YU, ZW (72) Invention Tewry, Steven, Sea USA Connecticut, Stanford, River Place 15 (72) Inventor Pax, John, M, Jr. United States New York, Hawthorne, Frankford Street 21 (72) Inventor Bemer, Keith United States New York, New York Ku, East Seventh Fifth Street No. 2 E 517 (72) Inventor Jorash, James, Aia States Connecticut, Stumpf Odo, Forest Street 25, [continuation of the summary] A compartment 5 Gee

Claims (52)

[Claims] 1. A method for processing a transaction for a customer to purchase an item, wherein the customer receives an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item, and information regarding the transaction to determine a grant application. Evaluating the grant application, wherein the grant application relates to benefits from the grant provider that should be applied to the transaction. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a grant application to the customer and receiving a response from the customer to the grant application. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising applying the benefit to the transaction if the response received indicates receipt of the grant application. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving an order for an item from a customer. 5. The receiving is performed via a web page, and
The method of claim 1 including receiving an indication that the item is in a virtual shopping cart associated with the customer. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving an indication that a customer is accessing information about the item. 7. The receiving includes: information stored in a customer device; an instruction from an input device associated with the customer; an instruction that the customer is browsing information about the item; Instructions that you have completed viewing information about a given period of time, that the customer is providing payment for the item, search terms, price requests, that the customer is no longer interested in the item, Will not buy the item at its original price, an attempt to acquire the item, an indication that the customer is interested in buying another item, and a customer is purchasing an item from another merchant. Yes, the bid for the item, the offer to buy the item, and the customer-defined price for the item. And the application, including, at least 1 of the indication that the second of the customer is interested in purchasing the item
The method of claim 1, comprising receiving one. 8. The receiving includes: (i) a web page, (ii) a telephone, (iii) an interactive voice response device, (iv) a store point of sale information terminal, and (v)
) Implemented via at least one of: an automated teller machine, (vi) a personal digital assistant, (vii) a portable customer device, (viii) an email message, and (ix) a kiosk. The method described in. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing comprises assessing information about a customer. 10. Information about a customer includes: (i) an address associated with the customer, (ii) demographic information associated with the customer, (iii) psychographic information associated with the customer, and (iv) ) The credit rating associated with the customer,
10. The method of claim 9, including (v) including at least one of a type of received indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the information about the customer includes the customer's relationship with the grant provider. 12. The information about the customer includes the relationship between the customer and a third party.
The method described in. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the information about the customer includes information about at least one of the previous transactions. 14. Information regarding a customer relates to at least one of (i) a previous application provided to the customer, (ii) a previous application received by the customer, and (iii) a previous application rejected by the customer. The method of claim 9 including information. 15. The evaluation comprises:   The method of claim 1, comprising evaluating information about the item. 16. Information related to an item includes (i) the original value of the item and (i)
16. The method of claim 15, comprising at least one of i) a category of items, (iii) a class of items, (iv) a manufacturer of items, and (v) features of the items. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing comprises assessing an amount of money the customer is willing to pay in exchange for the item. 18. The amount the customer is going to deliver is (i) the bid and (
18. The method of claim 17, which is based on one of (ii) an offer that includes a buyer-defined price and (iii) a retail price associated with the item. 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing comprises assessing information about a grant provider. 20. The information about the grant provider includes a customer acquisition rate.
The method described in. 21. The rating is associated with (i) a device associated with the customer, (ii) a device associated with the merchant selling the item to the customer, and (iii) a grant provider. The method of claim 1, comprising evaluating the information stored by the stored device and (iv) at least one of the central controllers. 22. The evaluation includes: (i) grant database, (ii) customer database, (iii) item database, (iv) grant provider database, and (v) previous transaction. The method of claim 1 including evaluating information stored in at least one of the databases. 23. The evaluating comprises:   The method of claim 1 including evaluating information received from a customer. 24. The method of claim 2, wherein the information received from the customer comprises survey information. 25. The evaluating comprises:   The method of claim 1, comprising evaluating information received from a grant provider. 26. The evaluating comprises:   The method of claim 1 including evaluating information received from a third party. 27. Information received from a third party includes (i) credit report information and (i)
27. The method of claim 26, including i) at least one credit rating associated with the customer. 28. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating comprises: (i) evaluating information regarding at least one of a time associated with the transaction and (ii) a date associated with the transaction. . 29. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing comprises determining whether a grant application is provided to a customer. 30. The evaluating comprises:   The method of claim 1, comprising determining an amount associated with a reward. 31. The assessing comprises: (i) a device associated with the customer; (ii) a device associated with the merchant selling the item to the customer;
iii) The method of claim 1, implemented by at least one of: (iii) a device associated with the grant provider; and (iv) a central controller. 32. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating comprises selecting at least one grant application from a plurality of potential grant applications. 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the selecting is based on the profitability of each potential grant application. 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the profitability includes the profitability of each potential grant application to the customer. 35. The profitability includes the profitability of each of (i) a merchant selling an item to a customer and (ii) a potential grant application to at least one of the grant providers. The method described in. 36. The method of claim 32, wherein the selecting is based on each previous receipt of a potential grant application. 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the previous receipt is associated with (i) a customer and (ii) at least one of a group of customers. 38. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward consists of a grant amount applied to the original value associated with the item. 39. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward includes another item to be provided to the customer instead of the item. 40. The method of claim 1, wherein the benefit includes another item in addition to the item to be provided to the customer. 41. The method of claim 1, wherein the award comprises improved trading conditions. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the transaction terms comprise at least one of (i) guarantee terms and (ii) interest rate terms. 43. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is between the customer and the first merchant and the grant provider comprises the second merchant. 44. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward is associated with performing a task by a customer. 45. The method of claim 44, wherein the task comprises at least one of (i) applying for service and (ii) subscribing to service. 46. Services are: (i) telephone service, (ii) internet service, (iii) banking service, and (iv) credit service.
Card account service, (v) insurance service, (vi) securities trading service, (vii) satellite television service, and (viii) cable
The method of claim 45, comprising at least one television service. 47. The task comprises: (i) purchasing another item, and (ii)
45. The method of claim 44, comprising at least one of accessing a web page, (iii) visiting a merchant, (iv) dialing a telephone number, and (v) answering a question. . 48. A system for processing a transaction, comprising: a processor, in communication with the processor, receiving instructions that a customer is interested in purchasing an item, and determining a grant application. A grant application from which the grant application should be applied to the transaction, the storage device storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to perform evaluating information regarding the transaction. System associated with the perks of. 49. In a medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to carry out a method of processing a transaction in which a customer purchases an item, the method comprising: a customer purchasing an item. Receiving an indication that you are interested in, and evaluating information about the transaction to determine the grant application,
A medium that includes grant applications associated with benefits from the grant provider that should be applied to the transaction. 50. A method for purchasing an item, comprising showing an interest in purchasing an item and receiving a grant application in response to the instruction, wherein the grant application comprises: ) Based on the evaluation of the information associated with the purchase, (ii) be associated with benefits from the grant provider that should be applied to the purchase in exchange for performing the task, and to receive the grant application. How to include. 51. A method for processing a transaction for a customer to purchase an item, the method comprising: providing an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item in exchange for payment of an amount based on an original price over a communication network. Receiving through and evaluating information about the transaction to determine the grant application,
The grant application is associated with the grant amount from the grant provider that should be applied to the original price in exchange for the customer performing the task, and the grant application is sent to the customer via the communication network. Sending, receiving a response from the customer to the grant application via the communication network, and arranging that the customer pay the amount based on the original price less the grant amount. A method that includes providing an item to a customer. 52. The information comprises at least one of (i) a customer and (ii) an item.
52. The method of claim 51, including information associated with one.