Linking a transaction with merchant in a vicinity to an interaction with an advertisement during online activity of a resident of the vicinity

Abstract

The present invention is a system, data access management utility and a method of generating links between local merchants and community programs, whereby the merchant may provide incentives to customers in relation to community programs. The present invention may track community programs, as well as both online and offline customer transactions between participants that make use of the incentive. The present invention may include as participants, customers, merchants, community organizations, intermediaries, and other groups or individuals. Participants may have participant identifiers, which may be linked to a payment source. Data may be collected about all participants, either expressly, or from offline or online transactions between participants utilizing a participant identifier, and said data may be stored in a data storage area. All data in the data storage area may be utilized by logic tool, which may provide information, such as details of consumer behavior and analytic reporting. Matches between transactions and members and/or member activities may be identified by the system, and a level of certainty that the match is accurate may be determined.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-network implemented method for promoting one or more merchants of a marketing program to one or more members of the marketing program, each of the one or more merchants having a corresponding merchant profile that includes a geographical location and each of the one or more members having a corresponding member profile that includes a geographical location, wherein the one or more member profiles and the one or more merchant profiles of the marketing program are stored on a data storage device, each of the one or more member profiles including a participant identifier of the corresponding member, the method comprising:
 monitoring, receiving, and storing in the data storage device, electronic signals representing data related to online user activity of the one or more members, the online user activity including at least one of browsing activity and searching activity on one or more client devices, wherein the stored data related to the online user activity of the one or more members is indexed by the participant identifier of the corresponding member of the one or more members;   detecting an occurrence of a transaction associated with a merchant of the one or more merchants;   receiving or accessing data associated with the transaction;   determining a participant identifier of the one or more members from the data associated with the transaction;   determining a length of elapsed time between the occurrence of the transaction and the occurrence of the online user activity of the one or more members;   triggering, as a result of detecting the occurrence of the transaction associated with the participant identifier, a determination of whether:
 the transaction is linked to any online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier; and 
 the respective geographical locations of the one or more members and the merchant of the one or more merchants are in the same vicinity; 
 and 
 if so, then:
 determining with a level of certainty whether the transaction is linked to the online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier, wherein the determined level of certainty varies based on:
 the length of the elapsed time; 
 the data related to the online user activity; and 
 the data associated with the transaction; 
 
 and 
 based on the determined level of certainty and the data related to the online user activity, generating one or more incentives. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the vicinity is selected from, the group consisting of a city block, a neighbourhood, a city, a street, a community park area, a county, a province, a state, a country, and a predetermined geographical region. 
     
     
         3 . The method as defined in  claim 2 , wherein:
 the one or more incentives comprises applying a benefit to a community program;   the benefit is donation to the community program; and   the community program corresponds to a community having a geographical location in the vicinity.   
     
     
         4 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the data related to the online user activity of the one or more members is selected from the group consisting of clicking, copying, tagging, pasting, marking, storing, highlighting of information, adding to a wish list, and extracting information. 
     
     
         5 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating and communicating a post-transaction survey to the one or more members after the detection of the transaction with the merchant; and   using the result of the post-transaction survey to compute the determined level of certainty.   
     
     
         6 . A method comprising a plurality of steps each being performed by hardware executing software, wherein the steps include:
 receiving electronic signals representing data related to online user activity of one or more members, the online user activity including at least one of browsing activity and searching activity on one or more client devices, wherein the online user activity of the one or more members is indexed by a participant identifier of the corresponding member of the one or more members;   detecting an occurrence of a transaction associated with a merchant of one or more merchants, wherein
 each of the one or more merchants has a corresponding merchant profile that includes a geographical location; and 
 each of the one or more members has a corresponding member profile that includes a geographical location and the participant identifier; 
   receiving or accessing data associated with the transaction;   determining a participant identifier of the one or more members from the data associated with the transaction;   determining a length of elapsed time between the occurrence of the transaction and the occurrence of the online user activity of the one or more members;   triggering, as a result of detecting the occurrence of the transaction associated with the participant identifier, a determination of whether:
 the transaction is linked to any online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier; and 
 the respective geographical locations of the one or more members and the merchant of the one or more merchants are in the same vicinity; 
 and 
 if so, then:
 determining with a level of certainty whether the transaction is linked to the online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier, wherein the determined level of certainty varies based on:
 the length of the elapsed time; 
 the data related to the online user activity; and 
 the data associated with the transaction; 
 
 and 
 based on the determined level of certainty and the data related to the online user activity, generating one or more incentives. 
 
   
     
     
         7 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the vicinity is selected from, the group consisting of a city block, a neighbourhood, a city, a street, a community park area, a county, a province, a state, a country, and a predetermined geographical region. 
     
     
         8 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the vicinity is selected from, the group consisting of a city block, a neighbourhood, a city, a street, a community park area, a county, a province, a state, a country, and a predetermined geographical region. 
     
     
         9 . The method as defined in  claim 7 , wherein:
 the one or more incentives comprises applying a benefit to a community program;   the benefit is donation to the community program; and   the community program corresponds to a community having a geographical location in the vicinity.   
     
     
         10 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the data related to the online user activity of the one or more members is selected from the group consisting of clicking, copying, tagging, pasting, marking, storing, highlighting of information, adding to a wish list, and extracting information. 
     
     
         11 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the steps further comprise:
 generating and communicating a post-transaction survey to the one or more members after the detection of the transaction with the merchant; and   using the result of the post-transaction survey to compute the determined level of certainty.   
     
     
         12 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein at least one merchant incentive is generated based on the data related to the online user activity and communicated to the one or more members prior to the detection of the occurrence of the transaction with the merchant. 
     
     
         13 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the steps further comprise determining whether a subsequent transaction associated with the participant identifier of the one or more members occurs as a result of the one or more incentives. 
     
     
         14 . The method as defined in  claim 6 , wherein if and when the length of the elapsed time exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the level of certainty is determined to be low or zero. 
     
     
         15 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing the software that is configured, when executed, to cause the hardware to perform the method as recited in  claim 6 . 
     
     
         16 . A computer-network implemented method for promoting one or more merchants of a marketing program to one or more members of the marketing program, each of the one or more merchants having a corresponding merchant profile that includes a geographical location and each of the one or more members having a corresponding member profile that includes a geographical location, wherein the one or more member profiles and the one or more merchant profiles of the marketing program are stored on a data storage device, each of the one or more member profiles comprising a participant identifier of the corresponding member, the method comprising:
 monitoring, receiving, and storing in the data storage device, electronic signals representing data related to browsing and searching activity of the one or more members occurring on a mobile computing device, wherein the stored data related to the online user activity of the one or more members is indexed by the participant identifier of the corresponding member of the one or more members and includes an indication that the browsing and searching activity occurred on the mobile computing device;   detecting an occurrence of a transaction associated with a merchant of the one or more merchants, and receiving or accessing data associated with the transaction;   determining a participant identifier of the one or more members from the data associated with the transaction;   determining, using a transaction linking utility configured by a processor, a length of elapsed time between the occurrence of the transaction and the occurrence of the online user activity of the one or more members and the occurrence of the browsing and searching activity of the one or more members occurring on the mobile computing device;   triggering, as a result of detecting the occurrence of the transaction associated with the participant identifier, using the transaction linking utility, a determination of whether:
 the transaction is linked to any online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier; and 
 the respective geographical locations of the one or more members and the merchant of the one or more merchants are in the same vicinity; 
 and 
 if so, then:
 determining, using the transaction linking utility, with a level of certainty whether the transaction is linked to the online user activity of the one or more members with the participant identifier, wherein the determined level of certainty varies based on:
 the length of the elapsed time; 
 the data related to the online user activity; 
 the data associated with the transaction; and 
 the indication that the browsing and searching activity occurred on the mobile computing device; 
 
 based on the determined level of certainty and the data related to the online user activity, generating one or more incentives; 
 and 
 transmitting the one or more electronic incentives to the mobile computing device, the electronic incentive comprising a unique reward identifier or electronic bar code. 
 
   
     
     
         17 . The method as defined in  claim 16 , wherein the vicinity is selected from, the group consisting of a city block, a neighbourhood, a city, a street, a community park area, a county, a province, a state, a country, and a predetermined geographical region. 
     
     
         18 . The method as defined in  claim 17 , wherein:
 the one or more incentives comprises applying a benefit to a community program;   the benefit is donation to the community program; and   the community program corresponds to a community having a geographical location in the vicinity.   
     
     
         19 . The method as defined in  claim 16 , wherein the data related to the online user activity of the one or more members is selected from the group consisting of clicking, copying, tagging, pasting, marking, storing, highlighting of information, adding to a wish list, and extracting information. 
     
     
         20 . The method as defined in  claim 16 , further comprising:
 generating and communicating a post-transaction survey to the one or more members after the detection of the transaction with the merchant; and   using the result of the post-transaction survey to compute the determined level of certainty.