Retail sales customer marketing system with electronic coupon processing

Abstract

A sales incentive system utilizing a portable handheld optical code reader for use by a consumer for scanning bar code symbols corresponding to product items to be purchased, including a memory for storing symbol data of items scanned by the reader a computer receives the stored data associated with the scanned items from the memory of the reader, and selectively generates coupon information based upon sales offers for specific products currently available based upon an analysis of the stored data by the computer. A printer may be coupled to the computer for printing at the consumer's location a set of coupons corresponding to the coupon information transferred from the computer to the consumer's location.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method for using a bar code reader to facilitate a sales transaction using a paper coupon comprising: 
 providing a scanner to a consumer;    scanning bar code symbols on products to be purchased by said consumer to generate a shopping list;    transferring the shopping list to a coupon information processing unit;    processing the shopping list by the processing unit to determine the set of coupons for specific products to provide to the consumer; and    printing a set of paper coupons for the consumer's use in purchasing such products.    
     
     
         2 . A sales incentive system comprising: 
 a portable handheld optical code reader for use by a consumer for scanning bar code symbols corresponding to product items to be purchased, including a memory for storing symbol data of items scanned by the reader;    a computer for receiving the stored data associated with the scanned items from the memory of the reader, and selectively generating coupon information based upon sales offers for specific products currently available based upon an analysis of the stored data by the computer; and    a printer coupled to said computer for printing at the consumer's location a set of coupons corresponding to the coupon information transferred from the computer to the consumer's location.    
     
     
         3 . A cellular telephone comprising 
 a cellular telephone communication handset;    a bar code reader in the handset for reading a bar code symbol disposed in the vicinity of the handset; and    means for determining the location of the handset with respect to the aisles or other positional indicators in a retail establishment.    
     
     
         4 . A method of reading a bar code on a target comprising 
 taking a picture of the target including the bar code symbol with a digital camera by the user;    processing the image into a digital data packet including the bar code image data;    transferring the digital data packet over a computer network to a remote server;    performing a decode on the bar code image data at the server;    transmitting an acknowledgement of a decode to the user over the network; and    storing the decoded data at the server.