WO2012087291A1

WO2012087291A1 - Methods and systems for obtaining item data

Info

Publication number: WO2012087291A1
Application number: PCT/US2010/061472
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chandra H. Kamalakantha; Brian Thompson
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Priority date: 2010-12-21
Filing date: 2010-12-21
Publication date: 2012-06-28

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of obtaining item data relating to purchases made by a customer during a retail transaction. The method comprises obtaining a digitized image of a retailer issued receipt, the receipt identifying purchases in a textual format, processing the digitized image to obtain computer readable data of information represented on the retailer issued receipt, determining, from the obtained computer readable data, item data relating to purchases identified on the receipt, obtaining a customer identifier identifying the customer's participation in a loyalty program system, and forwarding the obtained item data to a distribution system for onward distribution to the identified loyalty program system.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR OBTAINING STEM DATA BACKGROUND

[0001 ] For many years customer loyalty programs have been used by retailers in an attempt to retain customers. Typically individual retailers run their own loyalty programs which reward customers for shopping with them, with the aim of discouraging their customers from shopping with competitor retailers. Retailers allocate a loyalty program identifier to customers participating in their loyalty program. Whenever making purchases the customers provide their loyalty program identifier to the retailer and the retailer determines a number of loyalty points to be added to the customer's loyalty program account based on the purchases made. The retailer may then offer discounts or other benefits to the customers based on the number of loyalty points in the customer's loyalty program account.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

[0002] Examples and embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0003] Figure 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0004] Figure 2 is a simplified flow diagram outlining operation of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0005] Figure 3a is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0008] Figure 3b is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0007] Figure 3c is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention; [0008] Figure 4 is a simplified flow diagram outlining operation of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0009] Figure 5a is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[00010] Figure 5b is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[0001 1 ] Figure 5c is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention;

[00012] Figure 8 is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an example of the present invention; and

[00013] Figure 7 is a simplified flow diagram outlining operation of a system according to an example of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00014] Current loyalty programs are typically created and managed by individual retailers or groups of affiliated retailers. Accordingly, the information relating to the purchases made by each customer are generally used by the retailer for use only in their own loyalty program.

[00015] Examples of the present invention, however, provide systems and methods that enable information relating to customer purchases made with a retailer to be used with multiple loyalty programs. This enables new models of customer loyalty programs to be created. Such systems and methods may, in some examples, enable a customer to participate in both a retailer loyalty program and in one or more vendor loyalty programs. In this way, this may help a retailer improve customer loyalty through customer participation in the retailer loyalty program, and at the same time may help improve loyalty to a vendor through participation in a vendor loyalty program. As used herein, the term vendor is intended to cover any vendor, manufacturer, supplier, importer, company, organization, or entity, etc. providing any item, goods, product, or service to a retailer for purchase by a customer. In the following description the terms items, goods, products, and services are used interchangeably.

[00016] Referring now to Figure 1 there is shown a simplified block diagram of a system 100 according to one example of the present invention. Further reference is made to the simplified flow diagram of Figure 2 which outlines example operations performed by elements of the system 100 in accordance with an example of the present invention. In at least one example the system 100 may form part of a retail system.

[00017] The system 100 comprises a purchase and loyalty program identifier (PLPI) module 102 that is used to identify (202), or to obtain, details of one or more purchases made by a customer during a shopping transaction. It is also used to obtain (204) a loyalty program identifier identifying a loyalty program system with which the customer participates.

[00018] At 206 the PLPS module 102 sends (206) the obtained loyalty program identifier and purchase details to a loyalty program broker, or distribution system, 104.

[00019] The loyalty program broker 104 processes the purchase details and distributes (208), as appropriate, at least some of the purchase details to appropriate ones of the available loyalty program systems 106a to 106n. The loyalty program systems 106a to 106n may be remote from the loyalty program broker 104, for example, and accessible via a suitable network (not shown). Each determined loyalty program system then processes the received item details in an appropriate manner. In one example each loyalty program system comprises a computer system.

[00020] Referring now to Figure 3a, there is shown a loyalty program broker 104 in greater detail, according to an example of the present invention. The loyalty program broker 104 comprises an item data processor 302, a retailer item database 304, a retailer to vendor mapping database 306 and a loyalty program distributor 308. [00021 ] In one example, shown In Figure 3b, the loyalty program broker 104 may comprise a microprocessor 352 coupled, via a communication bus 358, to a memory 354 and an input output interface 358. The memory 354 stores item data processor instructions 302' and loyalty program distributor instructions 308'. The instructions 302' and 308' are processor understandable instructions that, when executed by the processor 352, provide the functionality of the item data processor 302 and loyalty program distributor 308 as described further below. The input/output module 356 provides access to the retailer item database 304 and the retailer to vendor mapping database 308.

[00022] in one example, shown in Figure 3c, the purchase and loyalty program identifier module 102 may be implemented using a microprocessor 382 coupled, via a communication bus 388, to a memory 384 and an input/output interface 388. The memory 384 stores purchase and loyalty program identifier instructions 102'. The instructions 102' are processor understandable instructions that, when executed by the processor 382, provide the functionality of the purchase and loyalty program identifier module 102 as described further below. In one example the memory 384 may suitably be a tangible machine-readable medium.

[00023] Operation of the loyalty program broker 104 according to an example of the present invention is also described with additional reference to Figure 4.

[00024] The item data processor 302 receives (402), or otherwise obtains, item purchase data relating to item purchases made by a customer. In one example the item purchase data comprises retailer item code data or retailer stocktaking unit (SKU) data. The item data processor 302 also receives (404), or otherwise obtains, an identifier identifying the customer having made the purchases. In one example the identifier may be customer loyalty program identifier. An example of received purchase data is shown below in Table 1 .

TABLE 1 - EXAMPLE ITEM PURCHASE DATA

[00025] At 406 the item data processor 302 determines whether the received item purchase data may be transmitted to an available loyalty program system without requiring the data to be mapped or transformed. This may be the case, for example, where the loyalty program broker 104 is provided by and used by a retailer, and wherein one of the available loyalty program systems is the retailers own loyalty program system.

[00026] in one example, the PLPI module"! 02 may be a retailer point-of-sale (POS) terminal, in which case the item purchase data 302 may not require mapping or transformation prior to it being transmitted to a retailer loyalty program system 106a. If no mapping is required, the item data processor 302 forwards the item purchase data to the loyalty program distributor 308 which in turn transmits (408) the purchase data to the identified loyalty program system without performing any mapping or transformation on the item purchase data.

[00027] The loyalty program broker 104 may also be used to send item purchase data to other loyalty program systems, such as vendor loyalty program systems, 106b to 106n. In this case mapping or transformation of the received item purchases data may be required, as described further below. [00028] At 410 the item data processor 302 determines the vendor of each purchased item. The vendor information may be obtained, for example, by performing a lookup in a retailer item database 304, Table 2 below shows example purchase data with identified vendor data.

TABLE 2 - EXAMPLE ITEM PURCHASE DATA WITH VENDOR DATA

[00029] If a vendor does not operate a loyalty program, or if the loyalty broker 104 is not configured to send purchase data to a particular loyalty program the retailer to vendor mapping data database 306 may, in some examples, not contain any mapping data for that vendor. Accordingly, purchased items from such a vendor will be unable to be mapped to a vendor item code. In at least some examples such data may be removed from the item purchase details.

[00030] At 412 the item data processor 302 performs, for each purchased item, a mapping from the retailer item code to a corresponding vendor item code. The mapping is performed through use of a retailer to vendor mapping database 306. The data in the mapping database 308 may be compiled by the retailer in order allow the retailer to forward item purchase information to one or more participating vendors. In the present example a single retailer to vendor mapping database 306 is shown that includes mapping data for different vendors. In other examples, however, separate databases may be used to store mapping data for just a single vendor. Although shown as a database, in other examples the mapping database may be accessed remotely, through a web interface, through a mapping service, or in any other suitable manner.

[00031 ] The reason for performing the mapping is that retailers typically use internal retailer item codes or retailer SKUs which are different from the corresponding vendor item codes of vendor SKUs. Accordingly, retailer SKUs may not be accepted by vendor loyalty program systems.

[00032] This process continues (414) until ail the item purchase data has been processed.

[00033] Table 3 shows an example of mapped item purchase data.

TABLE 3 - EXAMPLE MAPPED ITEM PURCHASE DATA

[00034] At 416 the mapped item purchase data, such as shown in Table 3, is passed to the loyalty program distributor 308 which determines which mapped item data to transmit to which loyalty program system.

[00035] For example, a vendor V loyalty program may only accept item purchase data for goods made or supplied by that vendor, whereas a vendor W loyalty program may accept item purchase data for goods made or supplied by vendor !/V and vendor V, Details of which loyalty programs accept item purchase data from which vendors may be stored in a suitable memory or data store (not shown) in the loyalty broker 104.

[00036] At 418 the loyalty program distributor 308 transmits the mapped item purchase data to the appropriate loyalty program system or systems. For example, details of all purchased items identified as being from vendor Hewlett Packard may be sent to loyalty program system 108b, whereas details of all purchased items identified as being from vendor Microsoft may be sent to loyalty program system 106n.

[00037] in a further example one or more vendor rules may be available, for example either locally or remotely, which define qualifying items for which the loyalty program distributor 308 is to send to a particular vendor loyalty system. In this way, only qualifying items are sent to the appropriate vendor loyalty systems.

[00038] As shown in Figure 5a, in one example the PLP! module 102 may be a point-of-sales (POS) type-terminal. The POS terminal 102 may comprise a checkout terminal 502 which operates to record customer purchases made during a shopping transaction. The POS terminal 102 may obtain details of customer purchases by scanning or reading a bar code, RF!D tag, or other similar computer readable code on each item. The barcode is associated with a retailer item code or retailer stocktaking unit (SKU) in the retailer item database 304. The retailer item code may be an internal item identification code defined by the retailer, such as a retailer stocktaking unit (SKU) code.

[00039] The POS terminal 102 may obtain information identifying a customer's participation in one or more customer loyalty programs, for example, by scanning or reading an identifier on one or more customer loyalty cards held by the customer.

[00040] in a further example, the POS terminal 102 obtains information identifying a customer's participation in one or more loyalty programs by determining whether there is one or more customer loyalty program identifier associated with the read customer !oyaity card. Such an association may be stored in a loyalty program identifier database (not shown). In a further example, the POS terminal 102 obtains information identifying only a customer's participation in a vendor loyalty program, for example if the customer does not participate in, or does not wish to participate in, the retailer loyalty program.

[00041 ] If, following a purchase, a customer returns an item to the retailer for an exchange or a refund, the POS terminal 102 forwards the retailer item details and loyalty program identifier(s) to the loyalty program broker 104 which processes the details of the returned item, for example, as described above with reference to Figure 4. In this way the appropriate customer loyalty program system or systems can be informed that an item has been returned and appropriate accounting updates may be made to the customer's loyalty program account. In this way, fraud may be prevented by preventing a customer from obtaining loyalty points for purchased items which are subsequently returned to the retailer.

[00042] In some cases a retailer may not be able to provide loyalty program systems 106a to 106n with details of items purchased by their customers. This may be the case, for example, if the retailer POS terminal 102 is not capable of identifying one or more customer vendor loyalty program identifiers, or if the retailer does not wish to share purchase data with vendors.

[00043] Accordingly, in one example, as shown in Figure 5b, a PLPI module 102 may be provided as a kiosk or terminal placed, for example, in proximity to the retailer. In this example the PLPI module 102 has a receipt scanner, imaging device, or digitizer, 510 that is used by a user to obtain a digital image of a printed receipt issued by the retailer during a previous shopping checkout transaction. The PLPI module 102 additionally has a user interface 512 through which the user can provide one or more loyalty program identifiers. The user interface 512 may include, for example, a keyboard, a touch-sensitive screen, a loyalty program card reader, or the like.

[00044] A receipt processor 514 performs optical character recognition, or oiher similar processing techniques, on the digitized receipt to transform the printed item purchase information on the receipt into a computer readable format. If necessary, a retail item identifier module 516 maps the information obtained from the receipt into retailer item codes, for example, through access to a retailer item database 304. This may be useful, for example, if the item details printed on the receipt are not retailer SKU codes. This is often the case since printed receipts generally describe items in a human understandable format, and generally do not include the retailer item code or SKU. In this example the retailer item database 304 may be provided on a retailer network or information infrastructure. In another example, however, a local retailer item database may be internal to the PLPI 102.

[00045] In one example the retail item identifier 518 may verify that the item purchase information obtained from the receipt processor 514 corresponds to actual retailer item codes, for example in the case that the printed receipt does include a retailer item code or SKU code.

[00046] The PLPI module 102 then transmits the identified customer loyalty program identifier(s) and the associated item purchase data to the loyalty program broker 104 for onward transmission to an appropriate loyalty program system.

[00047] In one example the receipt processor 514 obtains a receipt or transaction identifier printed on the receipt and uses this identifier to prevent the same receipt from being used processed more than once. This may be achieved, for example, by storing receipt identifiers of all receipts successfully processed by the PLPI module 102 and checking whether a receipt currently being processed has been processed previously.

[00048] In a further example the retailer receipt may be printed using magnetic inks which may be read by the PLPI module 102 without requiring a digital image of the receipt to be obtained.

[00049] In a further example the user interface 512 may be used to obtain a receipt or transaction identifier printed on the receipt. In this example, the retail item identifier may be able to directly obtain retailer item codes for each purchased item on the receipt by directly accessing a retailer transaction database (not shown). The retailer transaction database may associate a transaction identifier printed on a retailer receipt with retailer item codes of purchases made during the identified transaction.

[00050] Figure 5c shows yet a further example that may be used, for example, with on-line or remote retailers. In this example, the PLPI module 102 includes a number of interfaces 520 to 528 through which a digital image of a retailer receipt may be provided. In further examples, only one interface may be provided. In yet further examples, combinations of difference ones of the interfaces may be provided.

[00051 ] For example, a web interface 520 may be used by a user to upload a digital image of a retailer receipt, an email interface 522 may be used by a user to email a digital image of a retailer receipt, a multi-media messaging (MMS) interface 524 may be used by a user to send a digital image of a retailer receipt from a mobile telephone, a fax interface 526 may be used by user to send a facsimile image of a retailer receipt, and an interactive voice response (!VR) interface may be used by a user to verbally send information printed on a retailer receipt.

[00052] In some circumstances a retailer may be unwilling, or unable, to provide a vendor loyalty broker, such as vendor Ioyalty broker 104 with details of items purchased by a customer. Figure 8, however, illustrates an example of a system including a PLPI 600 that enables a vendor Ioyalty program system to receive details of customer purchases even without the interaction of the retailer or without use of retailer infrastructure.

[00053] In the example shown in Figure 8 the PLP! module 800 includes a receipt digitizer 510 for obtaining (702) a digitized image of a customer receipt. Further operation of the system of Figure 6 is described with additional reference to the flow diagram of Figure 7.

[00054] The PLPI module 800 includes a receipt processor 514 for performing opiical character recognition on a digitized image of a customer receipt. In other examples other interfaces for receiving or obtaining a digitized image of a retailer receipt, such as those previously described above, may be used. The receipt processor 514 obtains (704), from the digitized image of the customer receipt, a computer readable description of each item listed on the receipt.

[00055] Using the obtained retailer item description a vendor item identifier 602 then attempts to determine (706) an equivalent vendor item code for each identified item. The vendor item identifier module 602 uses a vendor item database 604 that contains details of vendor items. In some examples the vendor item database may comprise item details of multiple vendors. The vendor item database may comprise, in at least some examples, at least one of: vendor SKU codes; item descriptions; and item pricing data.

[00056] The vendor item identifier 602 may use various methods for obtaining an equivalent vendor code from an obtained retailer item description. In one example, if the retail item description includes a description or abbreviated description of an item, the vendor item identifier 602 may perform a search of the vendor item database 604 in order to determine the closest matching vendor item that corresponds thereto. The vendor item identifier 602 may then obtain the corresponding vendor item code for onward transmission to the corresponding the vendor loyalty program system. In some examples the price indicated on the customer receipt may be additionally used in identifying a corresponding vendor item code.

[00057] In some examples the PLPI module 600 may also include a user interface 606 that may, in some examples, comprise a display element and a user input element. If, for example, the vendor item identifier 602 is unable to definitively identify a unique vendor item corresponding to the obtained retailer item description the vendor item identifier 602 displays a choice of possible corresponding vendor items on the user interface 606. The user may then indicate, via the user interface 606, which of the displayed choices corresponds to their purchase. [00058] Once a vendor item identifier has been identified by the vendor item identifier 602 for each item on the customer receipt the vendor item identifiers may be passed to a loyalty program broker 104, for onward transmission to an appropriate retailer loyalty program system, as described above.

[00059] It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention can be realized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage such as, for example, a storage device like a ROM, whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, RAM, memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a CD, DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape. It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are examples of machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a program or programs that, when executed, implement examples of the present invention. Still further, examples of the present invention may be conveyed electronically via any medium such as a communication signal carried over a wired or wireless connection and examples suitably encompass the same.

[00080] Ail of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

[00081 ] Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

Claims

CLAI S 1 . A method of obtaining item data relating to purchases made by a customer during a retail transaction, the method comprising:

obtaining a digitized image of a retailer issued receipt, the receipt identifying purchases in a textual format;

processing the digitized image to obtain computer readable data of information represented on the retailer issued receipt;

determining, from the obtained computer readable data, item data relating to purchases identified on the receipt;

obtaining a customer identifier identifying the customer's participation in a loyalty program system; and

forwarding the obtained item data to a distribution system for onward distribution to the identified loyalty program system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining from the obtained computer readable data includes obtaining computer readable data of a transaction identifier on the retailer issued receipt, the method further comprising obtaining, from a retailer transaction database, retail item data for purchases made during the identified transaction, 3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining from the obtained computer readable data includes obtaining computer readable data of product descriptions on the retailer issued receipt, the method further comprising searching a vendor item database to determine vendor item data corresponding to a product description on the retailer issued receipt, 4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining from the obtained computer readable data includes obtaining computer readable data of product descriptions on the retailer issued receipt, the method further comprising searching a retailer item data database to determine retailer item data corresponding to a product description on the retailer issued receipt.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining a digitized image of a retailer receipt includes receiving the digitized image from any one of: an image scanner, a digital camera, an email client, a web interface, a facsimile machine, and a mobile telephone. 8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

identifying the vendor of purchased items;

obtaining vendor item data corresponding to the retailer item data for the items; and

sending to a loyalty program system associated with the received customer identifier vendor item data corresponding to the associated loyalty program system, 7. Apparatus for obtaining item data relating to purchases made by a customer during a retail transaction, comprising:

a receipt processor for receiving a digital image of a retailer receipt, the receipt identifying purchases using printed text, and for obtaining computer readable data corresponding to the printed text;

an item identification module to obtain item data corresponding to the purchases identified by the printed text;

a user interface to obtain a customer identifier identifying a loyalty program system; and

a distribution module to forward the obtained item data and customer identifier to a distribution system for onward distribution to the identified loyalty program system. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the item identification module is arranged to: search a retailer item database, using the obtained computer readable data, to obtain corresponding retailer item data.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising: a vendor item identifier module for searching a vendor item database, using the obtained computer readable data, to obtain corresponding vendor item data. 10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receipt processor is arranged to obtain computer readable data corresponding to a transaction identifier printed on the retailer receipt, and further comprises an item identification module to obtain retail item data corresponding to the transaction identifier from a retailer transaction database. 1 1 . The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the distribution system comprises:

an item data processor to:

identify, for different ones of the identified purchased items, the vendor of those items; and to

obtain, for items identified, corresponding vendor item data; and a loyalty program distributor to send, to the loyalty program system, the received customer loyalty program identifier and vendor item data associated with the loyalty program. 12. The apparatus of claim 1 1 , further comprising a database including retailer item data and associated vendor item data, and wherein the item data processor obtains corresponding vendor item data through use of the database.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the user interface is arranged to obtain a customer identifier identifying one of a plurality of loyalty program systems, and wherein the distribution module is adapted to, where it is determined that the received identifier identifies a retailer loyalty system, to distribute the obtained retailer item data to the retailer loyalty system. 14. A tangible, machine-readable medium that stores machine-readable instructions executable by a processor to obtain item data relating to purchases made by a customer during a retail transaction, the tangible, machine-readable medium comprising:

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, receive a digitized image of a retailer issued receipt that describes purchases using printed text;

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, obtain, from the digitized image, computer readable data of information printed on the retailer issued receipt;

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, determine, from the obtained computer readable data, item data relating to purchases identified on the receipt;

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, receive a customer identifier; and

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, forward the obtained item data and customer identifier for onward distribution to the loyalty program system.