Using validity events to control the use of coupons containing barcodes in mobile devices that display the barcodes for reading by barcode readers
US8430300B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 19, 2007 |
| Grant date | Apr 30, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 18, 2028 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06Q30/02
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Technique for ensuring that a device that contains coupons with barcodes will not output a barcode belonging to an invalid coupon to a barcode reading system. The technique avoids validation of the coupon at the time the barcode is provided to the barcode reading system. In the technique, the mobile device responds to a validity event that may affect the validity of a given coupon by inhibiting the provision of the given coupon's barcode to the barcode reading system until the coupon has been validated on the basis of validity information available in the device that is outputting the barcode, and then again permitting the given coupon's barcode to be output to the barcode reading system. In applications of the technique, the coupon may be used n times, the coupon may be shared, or the coupon may become valid after a set of actions have occurred.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.