Fine print builder

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed to improve generation of fine print for promotions. The method includes receiving identifying information that identifies one or more locations and either a product or service, transmitting the identifying information, and receiving, based on the identifying information, information including a set of relevant fine print clause data structures. The method further includes displaying, by a user interface, one or more fine print clauses from the relevant fine print clause data structures and generating, using a processor, a configured fine print data structure based on the displayed fine print clauses and input received via the user interface. Finally, the method includes transmitting the configured fine print data structure. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

1 .- 57 . (canceled) 
     
     
         58 . A method for generating a fine print clause data structure, the method comprising:
 identifying one or more potential free-text fine print clauses from a historical set of previously offered promotions;   extracting, by a processor, the one or more potential free-text fine print clauses from the historical set of previously offered promotions;   based on the extracted one or more potential free-text fine print clauses, identifying a common free-text fine print clause not available in existing fine print data structures; and   programmatically generating, by the processor, a fine print clause data structure based on the common free-text fine print clause, wherein the fine print clause data structure comprises at least a field with the common free-text fine print clause, and wherein the fine print clause data structure is configurable to generate a fine print string for a promotion based on at least the common free-text fine print clause.   
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein identifying one or more potential free-text fine print clauses from a historical set of previously offered promotions comprises:
 querying a historical database to retrieve the historical set of previously offered promotions, wherein each of the previously offered promotions comprises fine print associated with the corresponding previously offered promotion and wherein the fine print comprises a free-text entry portion;   searching at least the free-text entry portion of the associated fine print of the historical set of previously offered promotions for one or more potential free-text print clauses; and   flagging each previously offered promotion of the historical set of previously offered promotions that contains at least one potential free-text print clause.   
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein the fine print associated with the corresponding previously offered promotion comprises legal and contractual parameters that outline a term, timing, and constraints for how and when the corresponding previously offered promotion was redeemable. 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein extracting the one or more potential free-text fine print clauses from the historical set of previously offered promotions comprises:
 parsing, into constituent elements, each of the previously offered promotions of the historical set of previously offered promotions; and   analyzing the parsed constituent elements to identify one or more grammatical phrases comprising fine print clauses.   
     
     
         62 . The method of  claim 61  further comprising assigning each identified grammatical phrase to a clause type. 
     
     
         63 . The method of  claim 62 , wherein the clause type is selected from one or more of a quantity clause type or an expiration clause type. 
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 61  further comprising assigning each fine print clause of the identified one or more grammatical phrases to a particular good or service type. 
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein identifying a common free-text fine print clause not available in existing fine print data structures comprises analyzing the one or more potential free-text fine print clauses for text patterns. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein identifying a common free-text fine print clause not available in existing fine print data structures comprises analyzing the one or more potential free-text fine print clauses for frequent words. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising:
 associating each fine print clause data structure with one or more locations and either a product or service of each previously offered promotion that includes the fine print clause data structure.   
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 67 , wherein associating each fine print clause data structure with one or more locations comprises:
 for each fine print clause data structure, analyzing each previously offered promotion from which the common free-text fine print clause was extracted to identify one or more location indicators.   
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the identified one or more location indicators comprise one or more locations of a merchant who offered the previously offered promotion. 
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the identified one or more location indicators comprise one or more locations of a user who redeemed the previously offered promotion. 
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising:
 generating a mapping data structure, wherein the mapping data structure is configured to be queried to identify the fine print data clause structures.   
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising
 for each fine print clause data structure, updating one or more fields of the fine print clause data structure to indicate default presentation instructions regarding whether its associated fine print clause is required for a promotion, selected for inclusion in the promotion, or should be shown to a user for selection.   
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising:
 monitoring one or more new promotions for instances of the common free-text fine print clause in a free-text entry portion of the one or more new promotions.   
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising:
 determining a performance impact of the common free-text fine print clause on promotion performance of each previously offered promotion from which the common free-text fine print clause was extracted.   
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 74 , wherein determining a performance impact of the common free-text fine print clause on promotion performance of each previously offered promotion from which the common free-text fine print clause was extracted comprises:
 evaluating promotion performance of each of the previously offered promotions from which the common free-text fine print clause was extracted; and   applying a multivariable linear regression model to calculate the performance impact of the common free-text fine print clause on promotion performance.   
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 75 , further comprising:
 storing the performance impact in a field of the fine print clause data structure.   
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein the fine print clause data structure comprises a configurable text data structure, the configurable text data structure providing user configuration of at least a portion of the common free-text fine print clause.