Time period distribution of offer codes

1. An affiliate-network system comprising:

one or more processors;

non-transitory tangible computer-readable memory storing instructions that when executed by one or more of the one or more processors effectuate operations comprising:

receiving, via a network, from user computing devices, at an affiliate-network system, a plurality of requests for specifications of user interfaces to be displayed on the user computing devices, wherein:

different ones of the user computing devices have different display capabilities,

respective ones of the plurality of requests are associated with respective indications of respective display capabilities of a respective one of the user computing devices,

the requests are caused by the user computing devices executing instructions sent to the user computing devices from a publisher server among a plurality of publisher servers of a plurality of publishers configured to cause user computing devices to request specifications of user interfaces from the affiliate network system,

the plurality of requests identify the specifications of user interfaces with the same uniform resource identifier, and

at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities are in headers of the plurality of requests;

configuring, with the affiliate-network system, a plurality of different specifications of user interfaces that accommodate the different display capabilities of the user computing devices based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities, wherein:

configuring comprises modulating length of text in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities,

configuring comprises modulating image resolution in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities, and

configuring comprises modulating font size in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities; and

sending, with the affiliate-network system, via the network, to the user computing devices, the configured plurality of different specifications of user interfaces, such that different user computing devices with different display capabilities are caused to display different user interfaces that accommodate the different display capabilities responsive to the same uniform resource identifier (URI) appearing in the instructions sent from the publisher server, wherein the operations comprise:

determining, for at least one of the requests, that the request header does not include at least one of: a screen size expressed in resolution or absolute geometric dimensions, a window size expressed in pixels or geometric dimensions, color capabilities, three-dimensional capabilities, and user agent information including an identifier of a web browser, an operating system, a listing of accepted media types, supported character sets, encodings, or languages; and

in response to the determination, sending instructions to the corresponding one of the user computing devices that, when executed by the corresponding one of the user computing devices, cause the corresponding one of the user computing devices to send, to the affiliate-network system, at least two of the following:

a window size, a screen resolution, an i-frame size, or a div-box size, within which the responsive content will be displayed.

2. The affiliate network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the operations comprise:

obtaining one or more offer codes from a merchant, each offer code associated with a start date and an expiration date;

the plurality of requests are requests for user interfaces by which offer codes are accessible from a respective plurality of consumer user device, each request occurring at a respective time; and

for each of the plurality of requests:

selecting an offer code from the one or more offer codes based on the start date, the expiration date, and the respective time the request was received; and

sending the selected offer code to the requesting consumer user device of the respective plurality of consumer user devices;

the one or more offer codes are associated with a single offer.

3. The affiliate-network system of claim 2 , the operations comprising:

sending the consumer in-store redemption data documenting that the consumer is in possession of the offer for presentation to the merchant at a physical location of the merchant, the data identifying a publisher that presented the offer to the consumer to credit the publisher;

receiving transaction data from the merchant indicating that the consumer redeemed the offer, the transaction data including the select single-use offer code; and

determining compensation for the publisher based on the transaction data.

4. The affiliate-network system of claim 2 , wherein each request of the plurality of requests is responsive to the traversal of a geofence by a respective consumer user device, the geofence defining a perimeter around a geographic area.

5. The affiliate-network system of claim 4 , wherein the merchant is located in the geographic area.

6. The affiliate-network system of claim 4 , wherein the geographic area is a shopping mall.

7. The affiliate-network system of claim 2 , comprising, for each of the plurality of requests:

sending text to the consumer user device that indicates the expiration date of the selected offer code.

8. The affiliate-network system of claim 2 , wherein the selected offer code sent to the selected one of the respective plurality of consumer user devices is associated with a device identifier of the requesting consumer user device.

9. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the same URI is a publisher-specific URI that causes the affiliate-network system to send specifications of user interfaces that are customized for the publisher and are embedded in publisher provided web pages on the user computing devices; and

the affiliate-network system tracks user interaction with the specified user interfaces.

10. The affiliate-network system of claim 9 , wherein:

the affiliate-network system is operative to configure the specified user interfaces to afford access to different offer codes at different times responsive to the same URI.

11. The affiliate-network system of claim 9 , wherein:

the specifications of user interfaces that are customized for the publisher are customized by determining colors and images of the user interfaces based on a publisher template; and

the publisher template is selected from among a plurality of publisher templates based on a publisher identifier parsed from the same URI by the affiliate-network system.

12. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the operations comprise steps for dynamically adjusting terms of offers.

13. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein:

the operations comprise steps for dynamically formatting offer content.

14. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein:

a first one of the user computing devices is a mobile computing device;

a second one of the user computing devices is a desktop computing device; and

the configured specification of a user interface for the mobile computing device specifies a different image resolution, a different font, and a different length of text than a configured specification of a user interface for the desktop computing device.

15. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein the indications of display capabilities include a screen size, a window size expressed in pixels dimensions, color capabilities, or three-dimensional capabilities.

16. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein the specifications of user interfaces are configured based on templates.

17. The affiliate-network system of claim 16 , wherein at least some of the templates are dynamically generated according to the display capabilities.

18. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein display capabilities upon which user interface specifications are configured include a size of a document-object model element of a webpage of the publisher that caused the requests.

19. The affiliate-network system of claim 1 , wherein display capabilities upon which user interface specifications are configured include a size of a window on at least one of the user computing devices.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, with one or more processors, via a network, from user computing devices, at an affiliate-network system, a plurality of requests for specifications of user interfaces to be displayed on the user computing devices, wherein:

different ones of the user computing devices have different display capabilities,

respective ones of the plurality of requests are associated with respective indications of respective display capabilities of a respective one of the user computing devices,

the requests are caused by the user computing devices executing instructions sent to the user computing devices from a publisher server among a plurality of publisher servers of a plurality of publishers configured to cause user computing devices to request specifications of user interfaces from the affiliate network system,

the plurality of requests identify the specifications of user interfaces with the same uniform resource identifier, and

at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities are in headers of the plurality of requests;

configuring, with one or more processors, with the affiliate-network system, a plurality of different specifications of user interfaces that accommodate the different display capabilities of the user computing devices based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities, wherein:

configuring comprises modulating length of text in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities,

configuring comprises modulating image resolution in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities, and

configuring comprises modulating font size in the configured specifications of user interfaces based on at least some of the indications of respective display capabilities; and

sending, with one or more processors, with the affiliate-network system, via the network, to the user computing devices, the configured plurality of different specifications of user interfaces, such that different user computing devices with different display capabilities are caused to display different user interfaces that accommodate the different display capabilities responsive to the same uniform resource identifier appearing in the instructions sent from the publisher server, wherein the method further comprises:

determining, for at least one of the requests, that the request header does not include at least one of: a screen size expressed in resolution or absolute geometric dimensions, a window size expressed in pixels or geometric dimensions, color capabilities, three-dimensional capabilities, and user agent information including an identifier of a web browser, an operating system, a listing of accepted media types, supported character sets, encodings, or languages; and

in response to the determination, sending instructions to the corresponding one of the user computing devices that, when executed by the corresponding one of the user computing devices, cause the corresponding one of the user computing devices to send, to the affiliate-network system, at least two of the following: a window size, a screen resolution, an i-frame size, or a div-box size, within which the responsive content will be displayed.

21. The method of claim 20 , comprising:

obtaining, at the affiliate-network system, a plurality of offer codes associated with a merchant, each offer code associated with a distribution time period, the affiliate network system comprising one or more processors;

receiving, at the affiliate network system, a first request from a first consumer user device at a first time;

selecting a first offer code from the plurality of offer codes if the first time occurs during the a first distribution period;

sending over a network, during the first distribution time period, the first offer code to the first consumer user device;

receiving, at the affiliate-network system, a second request from a second consumer user device at a second time;

selecting a second offer code from the plurality of offer codes if the second time occurs during a second distribution time period; and

sending over a network, during the second distribution time period, the second offer code to the second consumer user device,

wherein the first distribution time period overlaps the second distribution time period.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first distribution time period is defined by a first start date and a first expiration date associated with the first offer code and the second distribution time period is defined by a second start date and a second expiration date associated with the second offer code.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein first distribution period and the second distribution period each comprise at least one hour.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein each offer code of the plurality of offer codes is associated with a different offer.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the merchant is located in a geographic area.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein sending the first offer code to the first consumer user device comprises sending the first offer code when the first consumer user device is located in the geographic area.

27. The method of claim 21 , comprising obtaining transaction data from the merchant, the transaction data including a transaction having redemption of the first offer code.

28. The method of claim 21 , comprising:

associating the first offer code with a first device identifier identifying the first consumer user device; and

associating the second offer code with a second device identifier identifying the second consumer user device.

29. The method of claim 20 , wherein:

the same URI is a publisher-specific URI that causes the affiliate-network system to send specifications of user interfaces that are customized for the publisher and are embedded in publisher provided web pages on the user computing devices; and

the affiliate-network system tracks user interaction with the specified user interfaces.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein:

the affiliate-network system is operative to configure the specified user interfaces to afford access to different offer codes at different times responsive to the same URI.

31. The method of claim 29 , wherein:

the specifications of user interfaces that are customized for the publisher are customized by determining colors and images of the user interfaces based on a publisher template; and

the publisher template is selected from among a plurality of publisher templates based on a publisher identifier parsed from the same URI by the affiliate-network system.

32. The method of claim 20 , comprising:

steps for dynamically adjusting terms of offers.

33. The method of claim 20 , comprising:

steps for dynamically formatting offer content.

34. The method of claim 20 , wherein:

a first one of the user computing devices is a mobile computing device;

a second one of the user computing devices is a desktop computing device; and

the configured specification of a user interface for the mobile computing device specifies a different image resolution, a different font, and a different length of text than a configured specification of a user interface for the desktop computing device.

35. The method of claim 20 , wherein the indications of display capabilities include a screen size, a window size expressed in pixels dimensions, color capabilities, or three-dimensional capabilities.

36. The method of claim 20 , wherein the specifications of user interfaces are configured based on templates.

37. The method of claim 36 , wherein at least some of the templates are dynamically generated according to the display capabilities.

38. The method of claim 20 , wherein display capabilities upon which user interface specifications are configured include a size of a document-object model element of a webpage of the publisher that caused the requests.

39. The method of claim 20 , wherein display capabilities upon which user interface specifications are configured include a size of a window on at least one of the user computing devices.