METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DEFINING, DISTRIBUTING, AND REDEEMING SMS AND MMS COUPONS
A method and apparatus is disclosed that allows advertisers to define and distribute Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) coupons to consumers, and for consumers to redeem the received coupons, where such SMS and MMS coupons are used by businesses to promote their products and services to consumers.
1 . A method, comprising:
via a computing device, displaying an advertisement in public media, wherein the advertisement includes
a Short Messaging Service (SMS) dialing number,
a coupon code, and
advertising content that describes a product, a service, and/or a promotion;
receiving at a processing server an SMS text message from a consumer via an SMS and/or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) enabled device, wherein the SMS text message includes the coupon code;
finding in a database that is associated with the processing server an SMS coupon message or an MMS coupon message that matches the coupon code, wherein the SMS coupon message or the MMS coupon message includes additional information, wherein the additional information comprises any of a promotion code or an authentication code;
sending the matching SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message from the processing server to the consumer via the SMS and/or MMS enabled device;
receiving an SMS coupon or an MMS coupon corresponding to the SMS coupon message of the MMS coupon message from the consumer at a store;
receiving the additional information from any of the consumer or the SMS coupon or the MMS coupon;
verifying the additional information; and
providing the product, service and/or promotion to the consumer based on the verified additional information.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coupon code is unique.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication code comprises a globally unique serial number.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the store comprises any of a brick-and-mortar store or an online store.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the public media comprises any of digital signs, televisions, billboards, newspapers, magazines, other printed media, and Internet web pages.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertising content comprises any of text, graphics, and/or audio instructions.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
tracking by the processing server the sending of the matching SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
charging an advertiser based on the sent matching SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
routing the received SMS text message to the processing server based on the SMS dialing number, when the consumer sends the SMS text message to the SMS dialing number.
10 . A system, comprising:
a processing server;
a database that is associated with the processing server, wherein the database is configured to store an advertisement and an associated Short Messaging Service (SMS) coupon or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) coupon input through a web interface by an advertiser, wherein a coupon code and an SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message are specified by the advertiser for the SMS coupon or the MMS coupon; and
a mechanism for displaying the advertisement in public media, wherein the advertisement includes
an SMS dialing number,
the coupon code, and
advertising content that describes a product, a service, and/or a promotion,
wherein the processing server is configured to
receive an SMS text message from a consumer via an SMS and/or MMS enabled device, wherein the SMS text message includes the coupon code,
find in the database the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message that matches the coupon code, wherein the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message includes additional information, wherein the additional information comprises any of a promotion code or an authentication code, and
send the matching SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message to the consumer via the SMS and/or MMS enabled device; and
wherein the system is configured to verify an SMS coupon or MMS coupon received from the consumer through a store, wherein the SMS coupon or MMS coupon corresponds to the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message, and wherein the verification is based on the validity of the additional information.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the database is configured to check and ensure the uniqueness of the coupon code.
12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the authentication code comprises a globally unique serial number.
13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the store comprises any of a brick-and-mortar store or an online store.
14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the public media comprises any of digital signs, televisions, billboards, newspapers, magazines, other printed media, and Internet web pages.
15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the advertising content comprises any of text, graphics, and/or audio instructions.
16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processing server is further configured to track the sent matching SMS/MMS coupon message.
17 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising:
a mechanism for charging an advertiser based on the sent matching SMS/MMS coupon message.
18 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising:
a mechanism for routing the received SMS text message to the processing server based on the SMS dialing number, when the consumer sends the SMS text message to the SMS dialing number.
19 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the public media comprises a digital sign, and wherein the mechanism for displaying the advertisement is configured to electronically transmit and display the advertisement on the digital sign in real time.
20 . A method for redeeming coupons with respect to a system having a processing server and a database associated therewith, the method comprising:
receiving a Short Messaging Service (SMS) coupon or a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) coupon at a store from a consumer, wherein the SMS coupon or MMS coupon is associated with an SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message received by the consumer through an SMS and/or MMS enabled device, wherein the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message includes additional information, wherein the additional information comprises any of a promotion code or an authentication code, wherein the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message is responsive to
a reception at the processing server of an SMS text message from the consumer via the SMS and/or MMS enabled device, wherein the SMS text message includes a coupon code associated with an advertisement, and
a finding by the processing server through the database of the SMS coupon message or MMS coupon message that matches the coupon code;
receiving the additional information from any of the consumer or the SMS coupon or MMS coupon;
verifying the authenticity of the SMS coupon or MMS coupon by checking the additional information against the database; and
providing a promotion to the consumer for an obtained product or service, based on the verification.
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the coupon code is unique.
22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the authentication code comprises a globally unique serial number.
23 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the store comprises any of a brick-and-mortar store or an online store.
24 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the advertisement is displayed in public media.
25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the public media comprises any of digital signs, televisions, billboards, newspapers, magazines, other printed media, and Internet web pages.
26 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the advertisement includes advertising content.
27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the advertising content comprises any of text, graphics, and/or audio instructions.