Personalized advertisement and checkout system and method

Abstract

A personalized advertisement and checkout system and method for generating personalized merchant advertisements to specific device users includes a communications network, an advertisement system, at least one merchant administrator operable by a respective merchant user, at least one partner system and at least one user device operable by a respective device user. Each of the advertisement system, the merchant administrator, the partner system and the user device includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor. Each of the merchant administrator and the user device includes a display and a user interface, the user interface of the merchant administrator receiving input from the respective merchant user and the user interface of the user device receiving input from the respective device user. The advertisement system ranks merchant campaigns entered by the merchant users and generates a list of merchant offer advertisements that is displayed on the user device.

1 . A computerized checkout system for generating personalized advertisements, the system comprising:
 a communications network;   an advertisement system operably coupled to the communications network, the advertisement system having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor;   at least one merchant administrator operable by a respective merchant user, the merchant administrator being operably connected to the advertisement system via the communications network, the merchant administrator having a processor, a memory, a display and a user interface for receiving input from the respective merchant user to create one or more merchant campaigns, each merchant campaign comprising a plurality of campaign elements input by the respective merchant user, each of the memory, the display and the user interface being in communication with the processor;   at least one partner system, the partner system being operably connected to the advertisement system via the communications network, the partner system having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor; and   at least one user device operable by a respective device user, the user device being operably connected to the partner system via the communications network, the user device having a processor, a memory, a display and a user interface for receiving input from the respective device user, each of the memory, the display and the user interface being in communication with the processor;   wherein the one or more merchant campaigns are communicated to the advertisement system and at least one of transiently stored and non-transiently stored in the memory thereof;   wherein the memory of the advertisement system contains program instructions generating at least one list of merchant offer advertisements from the one or more merchant campaigns stored in the memory of the advertisement system, each merchant offer advertisement corresponding to a merchant offer from the respective merchant user set forth in the merchant campaign;   wherein the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements is displayed on the display of the user device;   wherein the user interface of the user device receives input from the respective device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements on the list of merchant offer advertisements displayed on the user device; and   wherein, in response to the received input from the device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements, the advertisement system causes each merchant offer corresponding to the selected merchant offer advertisement to be communicated to the respective device user on the display of the user device.   
     
     
         2 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , wherein the campaign elements comprise at least one of target user demographics, bid amounts, budget amounts, merchant offer inventory and promotional merchant offer inventory. 
     
     
         3 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 2 , wherein the target user demographics comprise at least one of name, age, gender, geographic location, account balance, purchasing habits and interests of the device user. 
     
     
         4 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 2 , wherein the bid amounts comprise at least one of the merchant user's cost per acquisition bid (“CPA”), the merchant user's cost per retention bid (“CPR”) and the merchant user's cost per impression bid (“CPI”). 
     
     
         5 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , which further comprises:
 a partner application stored in the memory of the respective user device, the partner application being executable by the processor of the respective user device;   a partner application host operatively coupled to the partner system and operably connected to the partner application via the communications network;   a checkout widget embedded in the partner application, the checkout widget being operable by the respective device user via the user interface of the user device; and   a checkout widget host operably coupled to the advertisement system and operably connected to the checkout widget;   wherein the checkout widget host communicates the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements to the checkout widget;   wherein the checkout widget displays the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements on the display of the user device;   wherein the checkout widget receives input from the respective device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements on the list of merchant offer advertisements displayed on the user device; and   wherein the checkout widget communicates the merchant offer advertisements selected by the device user to the checkout widget host.   
     
     
         6 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , wherein the merchant administrator includes a campaign application, the campaign application being at least one of transiently and non-transiently stored in the memory of the merchant administrator and being executable by the processor thereof;
 wherein the advertisement system includes a campaign application host operably connected to the campaign application via the communications network;   wherein the campaign application receives input from the respective merchant user through the user interface of the respective merchant administrator to create the one or more merchant campaigns; and   wherein the campaign application communicates the one or more merchant campaigns input by the respective user to the campaign application host.   
     
     
         7 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , which further comprises:
 at least one partner system funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one partner system funds account maintaining funds belonging to the respective device user;   at least one merchant administrator funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one merchant administrator funds account maintaining funds belonging to the respective merchant user;   at least one advertisement system funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one advertisement system funds account maintaining funds belonging to the advertisement system; and   at least one transaction module, the at least one transaction module being operably connected to each of the at least one partner system funds account, the at least one merchant administrator funds account and the at least one advertisement system funds account;   wherein the transaction module selectively transfers funds between two or more of the at least one partner system funds account, the at least one merchant administrator funds account and the at least one advertisement system funds account.   
     
     
         8 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , wherein the merchant offer is a gift card. 
     
     
         9 . The computerized checkout system according to  claim 1 , wherein the program instructions contained in the memory of the advertisement system for generating the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements comprise one or more program instructions for performing one or more of the steps of:
 (a) determining whether the respective device user is a new device user or a previously acquired device user, each device user having respective user demographics;   (b) assigning each new device user to one of a plurality of target user demographic groups, each target user demographic group of the plurality of target user demographic groups having respective user demographic information elements;   (c) ranking each merchant campaign for inclusion in the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements; and   (d) displaying the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements on the display of the user device;   wherein the step of ranking each merchant campaign for inclusion in the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements comprises the sub-step of comparing the campaign elements of each merchant campaign to at least one of the user demographics of the respective device user and the respective user demographic information elements of each of the plurality of target user demographic groups;   wherein the step of assigning the respective user to one of a plurality of target user demographic groups comprises the sub-step of comparing the user demographics of the respective device user to the user demographic information elements of the plurality of target user demographic groups;   wherein the step of generating the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements comprises the sub-step of generating at least one list of merchant offer advertisements for each previously acquired device user and generating at least one list of merchant offer advertisements for each target user demographic group of the plurality of target user demographic groups; and   wherein the step of displaying the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements on the display of the user device comprises one of the sub-steps of displaying one of the generated list of merchant offer advertisements for the previously acquired device user and displaying the generated list of merchant offer advertisements for the assigned target user demographic group of the new device user.   
     
     
         10 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system, the checkout system comprising a communications network, an advertisement system, at least one merchant administrator operable by a respective merchant user, at least one partner system and at least one user device operable by a respective device user, the respective device user having user demographic elements, each of the advertisement system, the merchant administrator, the partner system and the user device being operably coupled to the communications network, the communications network facilitating communication between two or more of the advertisement system, the merchant administrator, the partner system and the user device, wherein each of the advertisement system, the merchant administrator, the partner system and the user device includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, wherein each of the merchant administrator and the user device includes a display and a user interface, the user interface of the merchant administrator receiving input from the respective merchant user and the user interface of the user device receiving input from the respective device user, the method for generating personalized advertisements comprising the steps of:
 entering at least one merchant campaign into the user interface of the merchant administrator, the at least one merchant campaign having a plurality of campaign elements;   ranking by the processor of the advertisement system each merchant campaign for inclusion in at least one list of merchant offer advertisements, each merchant offer advertisement in the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements corresponding to a merchant offer from the respective merchant user set forth in the merchant campaign;   generating by the processor of the advertisement system the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements based on the ranking of each merchant campaign;   displaying the list of merchant offer advertisements on the display of the user device;   receiving an input on the user interface of the user device from the respective device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements on the displayed list of merchant offer advertisements; and   selectively communicating by the processor of the advertisement system the merchant offer corresponding to each selected merchant offer advertisement to the respective device user by displaying the merchant offer on the display of the user device.   
     
     
         11 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , which further comprises the steps of:
 determining by the processor of the advertisement system whether the respective device user is a new device user or a previously acquired device user; and   assigning by the processor of the advertisement system each new device user to one of a plurality of target user demographic groups, each target user demographic group of the plurality of target user demographic groups having respective user demographic information elements;   wherein the step of assigning each new device user to one of a plurality of target user demographic groups comprises the sub-step of comparing by the processor of the advertisement system the user demographics of the new device user to the user demographic information elements of each of the plurality of target user demographic groups;   wherein the step of ranking each merchant campaign for inclusion in the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements comprises at least one of the sub-steps of comparing by the processor of the advertisement system the campaign elements of each merchant campaign to the user demographics of the previously acquired device user and comparing by the processor of the advertisement system the campaign elements of each merchant campaign to the user demographic information elements of each of the plurality of target user demographic groups;   wherein the step of generating the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements based on the ranking of each merchant campaign comprises the sub-steps of generating by the processor of the advertisement system at least one list of merchant offer advertisements for each previously acquired device user and generating at least one list of merchant offer advertisements for each target user demographic group of the plurality of target user demographic groups;   wherein the step of displaying the list of merchant offer advertisements on the display of the user device comprises one of the sub-steps of displaying the generated list of merchant offer advertisements for the previously acquired device user and displaying the generated list of merchant offer advertisements for the target user demographic group assigned to the new device user.   
     
     
         12 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , which further comprises the steps of:
 storing each generated list of merchant offer advertisements at least one of transiently and non-transiently in the memory of the advertisement system; and   retrieving by the processor of the advertisement system at least one generated list of merchant offer advertisements from the memory of the advertisement system.   
     
     
         13 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , which further comprises the step of:
 filtering and grooming by the processor of the advertisement system the generated list of merchant offer advertisements.   
     
     
         14 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , wherein the steps of ranking each merchant campaign for inclusion in at least one list of merchant offer advertisements and generating the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements based on the ranking of each merchant campaign are performed continuously by the processor of the advertisement system. 
     
     
         15 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , wherein the step of entering the at least one merchant campaign into the user interface of the merchant administrator comprises one or more of the sub-steps of:
 (a) entering the merchant offers;   (b) entering creatives;   (c) entering promotional offers;   (d) entering target user demographic information;   (e) entering bid amounts; and   entering budget amounts.   
     
     
         16 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , which further comprises the steps of:
 storing by the processor of the advertisement system each entered merchant campaign at least one of transiently stored and non-transiently in the memory of the advertisement system; and   retrieving by the processor of the advertisement system at least one merchant campaign from the memory of the advertisement system.   
     
     
         17 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , wherein the checkout system further comprises 1) at least one partner system funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one partner system funds account maintaining funds belonging to the respective device user, 2) at least one merchant administrator funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one merchant administrator funds account maintaining funds belonging to the respective merchant user, and 3) at least one advertisement system funds account operably coupled to the communications network, the at least one advertisement system funds account maintaining funds belonging to the advertisement system, wherein each merchant offer advertisement specifies the amount of funds required to purchase the corresponding merchant offer; and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:
 comparing by the processor of the advertisement system the respective device user's fund balance in the partner system funds account to the amount of funds required to purchase a respective merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user; and   determining by the processor of the advertisement system whether the respective device user's fund balance in the partner system funds account is one of greater than or equal to the amount of funds required to purchase the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user and less than the amount required to purchase the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user.   
     
     
         18 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 17 , wherein the step of selectively communicating the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user comprises one of the sub-steps of:
 communicating by the processor of the advertisement system the merchant offer corresponding to each selected merchant offer advertisement after the sub-step of determining that the respective user's fund balance in the partner system funds account is greater than or equal to the amount of funds required to purchase the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user; and   communicating by the processor of the advertisement system an error message to the user device of the respective device user by displaying the error message on the display of the user device after the sub-step of determining that the respective user's fund balance in the partner system funds account is less than the amount of funds required to purchase the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user.   
     
     
         19 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 17 , which further comprises the steps of:
 transferring by one of the processor of the advertisement system and the processor of the partner system the amount of funds required to purchase the merchant offer corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user from the partner system funds account to the merchant administrator funds account; and   transferring by one of the processor of the merchant administrator and the processor of the advertisement system at least a portion of the one or more bid amounts of each merchant campaign corresponding to each merchant offer advertisement selected by the respective device user to at least one of the partner system funds account and the advertisement system funds account.   
     
     
         20 . A method for generating personalized advertisements with a checkout system as defined by  claim 10 , which further comprises the step of performing a transaction review by the processor of the partner system, wherein the step of performing a transaction review is conducted prior to the step of selectively communicating the merchant offer corresponding to each selected merchant offer advertisement to the respective device user by displaying the merchant offer on the display of the user device. 
     
     
         21 . A computerized checkout system for generating personalized advertisements, the system comprising:
 a communications network;   an advertisement system operably coupled to the communications network, the advertisement system having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor;   at least one merchant administrator operable by a respective merchant user, the merchant administrator being operably connected to the advertisement system via the communications network, the merchant administrator having a processor, a memory, a display and a user interface for receiving input from the respective merchant user to create one or more merchant campaigns, each merchant campaign comprising a plurality of campaign elements input by the respective merchant user, each of the memory, the display and the user interface being in communication with the processor;   at least one partner system, the partner system being operably connected to the advertisement system via the communications network, the partner system having a processor and a memory in communication with the processor; and   at least one user device operable by a respective device user, the user device being operably connected to the partner system via the communications network, the user device having a processor, a memory, a display and a user interface for receiving input from the respective device user, each of the memory, the display and the user interface being in communication with the processor;   wherein the one or more merchant campaigns are communicated to the advertisement system and at least one of transiently stored and non-transiently stored in the memory thereof;   wherein the memory of the advertisement system contains program instructions generating at least one list of merchant offer advertisements from the one or more merchant campaigns stored in the memory of the advertisement system, each merchant offer advertisement corresponding to a merchant offer from the respective merchant user set forth in the merchant campaign;   wherein the at least one list of merchant offer advertisements is displayed on the display of the user device;   wherein the user interface of the user device receives input from the respective device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements on the list of merchant offer advertisements displayed on the user device; and   wherein, in response to the received input from the device user corresponding to the device user's selection of one or more of the merchant offer advertisements, the advertisement system causes the merchant offer corresponding to the selected merchant offer advertisement to be communicated to one or more of the user device, the partner system and the advertisement system.   
     
     
         22 - 41 . (canceled)