Method and system for interactively providing product related information on demand and providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase

Claim 2

1 . A method of providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase over a network based on personalized identification information provided by a consumer and stored at a first server, the first server also having stored thereat a plurality of product identification numbers which are used to identify articles of commerce, each article of commerce bearing an indicia on which one product identification number is encoded, the method comprising the steps of: providing a code symbol reader, operably connected to the first server of the network, for scanning the indicia on the product, the indicia being associated with the product identification number, the code symbol reader including a personalized identifier to identify the consumer; reading at least a portion of the indicia on the article of commerce using the code symbol reader; retrieving from the first server the product identification number associated with the indicia on the article of commerce; processing the at least one personalized identifier of the consumer and retrieving from the first server the personalized identification information provided by the consumer; displaying at least one of pricing information, purchasing options, and product information for the article of commerce; and offering personalized transactional benefits for the purchase of the article of commerce based on the personalized identification information provided by the consumer.

Claim 3

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the code symbol reader is a bar code reader associated with a cellular phone.

Claim 4

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product identification number is a Universal Product Code.

Claim 5

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the personalized identification information includes a listing of all affinity programs that the consumer is enrolled in and includes a listing of associated identification numbers for each program.

Claim 6

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the personalized identification information includes a database of past purchases of the consumer.

Claim 7

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein offering personalized transactional benefits involves the steps of: determining whether the consumer is entitled to a discount towards the purchase of the read product based on membership in one or more of the affinity programs; and if the consumer belongs to one or more qualifying affinity programs, then offering the consumer at the code symbol reader location an option to purchase the read product at a reduced price through a second server of the network.

Claim 8

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product information includes comparative information in the form of a side-by-side comparison between the product read by the code symbol reader and other products which are classified alike.

Claim 9

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the products are classified according to the product identification numbers.

Claim 10

9 . The method of claim 4 , further including the steps of: providing the consumer with an option to redeem a membership benefit associated with one affinity program; equating the membership benefit with a currency value; and making partial or complete payment of the product by applying the currency value toward a purchase price of the product.

Claim 11

10 . The method of claim 4 , further including the steps of: providing the consumer with an option to redeem a membership benefit associated with one affinity program; and making a partial or complete payment of the product by redeeming a predetermined amount of the membership benefit.

Claim 12

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the membership benefit is frequent flyer miles associated with one of the affinity programs.

Claim 13

12 . The method of claim 1 , further including the steps of: providing the consumer with a reminder menu for reminding the consumer that a recurring purchase is upcoming within a predetermined period of time; entering recurring product information by selecting a read option on the menu and then scanning the indicia on the product; entering a time interval between purchases of the recurring product; entering a reminder period at which time at least one of a visual and audio reminder will be displayed on the code symbol reader; and displaying the reminder when the reminder period is reached.

Claim 14

13 . The method of claim 1 , further including the steps of: entering personalized commentary into the personalized identification information after reading the indicia of the one product; offering the consumer the option to view the personalized commentary after the one product is later read by the code symbol reader.

Claim 15

14 . A method of providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase over a network based on personalized identification information provided by a consumer and stored in a database at a first server of the network, the first server also storing a plurality of identification numbers which are used to identify one of the articles of commerce and services, each one the articles of commerce and articles associated with the services bearing an indicia on which one identification number is encoded, the method comprising the steps of: providing a code symbol reader, operably connected to the first server of the network, for scanning the indicia on one of the products and service articles, the indicia being associated with the identification number, the code symbol reader including a personal identifier to identify the consumer to the first server; reading at least a portion of the indicia directly from one of the articles of commerce and service articles using the code symbol reader; transmitting the personal identifier to the first server from the code symbol reader; retrieving from the database at the first server the identification number associated with the indicia; processing the at least one personal identifier of the consumer at the first server and retrieving from the database the personalized identification information provided by the consumer; classifying the read product or service based on at least the identification number as belonging to a first group; gathering from one or more other servers information related to the first group; displaying at the code symbol reader location options for purchasing the product or service and comparative information including a comparison between the product or service and one or more other members of the first group; and offering personalized transactional benefits to the consumer from the first server based on the personalized identification information provided by the consumer and stored in the database at the first server.

Claim 16

14 . A method of providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase over a network based on personalized identification information provided by a consumer and stored in a database at a first server of the network, the first server also storing a plurality of identification numbers which are used to identify one of the articles of commerce and services, each one the articles of commerce and articles associated with the services bearing an indicia on which one identification number is encoded, the method comprising the steps of: providing a code symbol reader, operably connected to the first server of the network, for scanning the indicia on one of the products and service articles, the indicia being associated with the identification number, the code symbol reader including a personal identifier to identify the consumer to the first server; reading at least a portion of the indicia directly from one of the articles of commerce and service articles using the code symbol reader; transmitting the personal identifier to the first server from the code symbol reader; retrieving from the database at the first server the identification number associated with the indicia; processing the at least one personal identifier of the consumer at the first server and retrieving from the database the personalized identification information provided by the consumer; classifying the read product or service based on at least the identification number as belonging to a first group; gathering from one or more other servers information related to the first group; displaying at the code symbol reader location options for purchasing the product or service and comparative information including a comparison between the product or service and one or more other members of the first group; and offering personalized transactional benefits to the consumer from the first server based on the personalized identification information provided by the consumer and stored in the database at the first server.

Claim 17

15 . The method of claim 14 , further including the steps of: comparing the read product or service with a database of past purchases made by the consumer through the first server; indicating to the consumer whether the read product or service has been previously purchased by the consumer.

Claim 18

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the database of past purchases is classified into groups based upon at least the identification number and the method further includes the steps of: searching the first group of the database to see if the consumer has made any prior purchases within the first group, the first group containing the read product or service; and displaying to the consumer any past purchases made within the first group.

Claim 19

17 . The method of claim 16 , further including the step of: displaying current pricing information for all products or services of the first group previously purchased through the first server.

Claim 20

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the code symbol reader is a bar code reader associated with a cellular phone.

Claim 21

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the product identification number is a Universal Product Code.

Claim 22

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the personalized identification information includes a listing of all affinity programs that the consumer is enrolled in and includes a listing of associated identification numbers for each program.

Claim 23

21 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the personalized identification information includes a listing of past purchases of the consumer transacted through the first server.

Claim 24

22 . The method of claim 14 , wherein offering personalized transactional benefits involves the steps of: determining whether the consumer is entitled to a discount towards the purchase of the scanned product based on membership in one or more of the affinity groups; and if the consumer belongs to one or more qualifying affinity groups, then offering the consumer at a location of the code symbol reader an option to purchase the scanned product at a reduced price through a predetermined server of the network.

Claim 25

23 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the product information includes comparative information in the form of a side-by-side comparison between the scanned product and other products which are classified alike.

Claim 26

24 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the products are classified according to the product identification numbers.

Claim 27

25 . The method of claim 20 , further including the steps of: providing the consumer with an option to redeem a membership benefit associated with one affinity program; equating the membership benefit with a currency value; and making partial or complete payment of the read product by applying the currency value toward a purchase price of the product.

Claim 28

26 . The method of claim 14 , further including the steps of: providing the consumer with a reminder menu for reminding the consumer that a recurring purchase is upcoming within a predetermined period of time; entering recurring product information by selecting a read option on the menu and then scanning the indicia on the product; entering a time interval between purchases of the recurring product; entering a reminder period at which time at least one of a visual and audio reminder will be displayed on the code symbol reader; and displaying the reminder when the reminder period is reached.

Claim 29

27 . The method of claim 14 , further including the steps of: entering personalized commentary into the personalized identification information after reading the indicia of the one product; and offering the consumer the option to view the personalized commentary after the one product is later read by the code symbol reader.

Claim 30

28 . The method of claim 14 , wherein providing options for purchasing the product or service includes the steps of: determining the locality of the consumer; providing pricing information for purchase of the read product or service at at least one establishment located in the consumer's locality; and providing on-line pricing information for purchase of the read product or service through one or more servers of the network.

Claim 31

29 . The method of claim 28 , further including the step of: offering a cash price for the purchase of the product or service at the at least one establishment in the consumer's locality.

Claim 32

30 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the service article comprises printed matter having the indicia formed thereon.

Claim 33

31 . A method of providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase based on personalized identification information provided by a consumer and stored at a first server of a network, the first server also having stored thereat a plurality of identification numbers which are used to identify one of products and services, each one of the products and articles associated with the services bearing an indicia on which one identification number is encoded, the method comprising the steps of: providing a code symbol reader, operably connected to the first server of the network, for scanning the indicia on one of the products and service articles, the indicia being associated with the identification number, the code symbol reader including a personal identifier to identify the consumer to the first server; reading at least a portion of the indicia directly from one of the products and service articles using the code symbol reader; transmitting the personal identifier to the first server from the code symbol reader; retrieving from the database at the first server the identification number associated with the read indicia; processing the at least one personal identifier of the consumer at the first server and retrieving from the database the personalized identification information provided by the consumer; determining whether the consumer belongs to an aggregate buying group; linking the consumer with an aggregate buying server if the consumer belongs to the aggregate buying group; determining at the aggregate buying server whether the read product or service has an active bid status and permitting the consumer to join other members in placing a bid for a predetermined amount of the product or the performance of the service, the aggregate buying server being in communication with other servers which provide purchasing of the product or service; entering the bid through the code symbol reader and transmitting the bid to the aggregate buying server where it is processed; confirming at the code symbol reader that the bid has been transmitted and the consumer has become a member of an aggregate buying group; notifying the consumer through the code symbol reader when a purchase is made by the aggregate buying group; and if the consumer is not a member of the aggregate buying group or the read product or service does not have an active bid status, then: classifying the read article or service based on at least the identification number as belonging to a first group; gathering from one or more other servers information related to the first group; displaying at the code symbol reader options for purchasing the scanned article or service and comparative information including a comparison between the scanned product or service and one or more other members of the first group; and offering personalized transactional benefits to the consumer from the first server based on the personalized identification information provided by the consumer and stored in the database at the first server.

Claim 34

31 . A method of providing personalized transactional benefits at a point of purchase based on personalized identification information provided by a consumer and stored at a first server of a network, the first server also having stored thereat a plurality of identification numbers which are used to identify one of products and services, each one of the products and articles associated with the services bearing an indicia on which one identification number is encoded, the method comprising the steps of: providing a code symbol reader, operably connected to the first server of the network, for scanning the indicia on one of the products and service articles, the indicia being associated with the identification number, the code symbol reader including a personal identifier to identify the consumer to the first server; reading at least a portion of the indicia directly from one of the products and service articles using the code symbol reader; transmitting the personal identifier to the first server from the code symbol reader; retrieving from the database at the first server the identification number associated with the read indicia; processing the at least one personal identifier of the consumer at the first server and retrieving from the database the personalized identification information provided by the consumer; determining whether the consumer belongs to an aggregate buying group; linking the consumer with an aggregate buying server if the consumer belongs to the aggregate buying group; determining at the aggregate buying server whether the read product or service has an active bid status and permitting the consumer to join other members in placing a bid for a predetermined amount of the product or the performance of the service, the aggregate buying server being in communication with other servers which provide purchasing of the product or service; entering the bid through the code symbol reader and transmitting the bid to the aggregate buying server where it is processed; confirming at the code symbol reader that the bid has been transmitted and the consumer has become a member of an aggregate buying group; notifying the consumer through the code symbol reader when a purchase is made by the aggregate buying group; and if the consumer is not a member of the aggregate buying group or the read product or service does not have an active bid status, then: classifying the read article or service based on at least the identification number as belonging to a first group; gathering from one or more other servers information related to the first group; displaying at the code symbol reader options for purchasing the scanned article or service and comparative information including a comparison between the scanned product or service and one or more other members of the first group; and offering personalized transactional benefits to the consumer from the first server based on the personalized identification information provided by the consumer and stored in the database at the first server.