U.S. patent application number 11/608741 was filed with the patent office on 2007-04-26 for system and method of directly providing electronic receipts.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Scott D. Mastie, Joan L. Mitchell.
Application Number | 20070094088 11/608741 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33416323 |
Filed Date | 2007-04-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070094088 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mastie; Scott D. ; et
al. |
April 26, 2007 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DIRECTLY PROVIDING ELECTRONIC RECEIPTS
Abstract
A method and program product for providing paperless receipts
for conducting business transactions. Biometric data and product
specific identification information is collected with each purchase
and included with an electronic receipt generated for each
purchase. The collected product specific information may include
product serial numbers for some products, all products or product
valued above a minimum threshold cost. The biometric data may
include a digital image of each purchaser. The electronic receipt
may be passed directly to the customer.
Inventors: |
Mastie; Scott D.; (Longmont,
CO) ; Mitchell; Joan L.; (Longmont, CO) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAW OFFICE OF CHARLES W. PETERSON, JR. -- PRINTERS
11703 BOWMAN GREEN DR.
SUITE 100
RESTON
VA
20190
US
|
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION
Armonk
NY
|
Family ID: |
33416323 |
Appl. No.: |
11/608741 |
Filed: |
December 8, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10430824 |
May 6, 2003 |
|
|
|
11608741 |
Dec 8, 2006 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/24 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/12 20131203;
G07G 5/00 20130101; G06Q 40/02 20130101; G06Q 20/209 20130101; G06Q
20/047 20200501; G06Q 20/20 20130101; G06Q 20/203 20130101; G06Q
20/202 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/024 |
International
Class: |
G07G 1/12 20060101
G07G001/12 |
Claims
1. A method of conducting business transactions, said method
comprising the steps of: a) presenting items for purchase; b)
collecting identification data for purchase; c) generating an
electronic receipt for purchase of said items; and d) passing said
electronic receipt to personal storage.
2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (b) of collecting
identification data comprises collecting personal data for a person
presenting said item.
3. A method as in claim 2, wherein personal data comprises
biometric data for said person.
4. A method as in claim 2, wherein personal data comprises a
digital image of said person.
5. A method as in claim 2, wherein said electronic receipt includes
purchaser personal data collected when said electronic receipt was
generated.
6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (b) of collecting
identification data comprises retrieving a serial number from said
item.
7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (b) of collecting
identification data comprises identifying ones of said purchase
items above a threshold value, said serial numbers being collected
for said ones.
8. A method as in claim 1, wherein said generated electronic
receipt includes purchaser biometric data and one or more serial
numbers of purchased items.
9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (d) of passing said
electronic receipt comprises wirelessly transmitting said
electronic receipt to a handheld device.
10. A method as in claim 9, wherein said handheld device is a
personal digital assistant (PDA) and a paper receipt is generated
in step (c) with each said electronic receipt, said paper receipt
reflecting information contained in the said electronic
receipt.
11. A method of conducting business transactions, said method
comprising the steps of: a) presenting items for purchase; b)
collecting identification data for purchase; c) generating an
electronic receipt for purchase of said items; d) passing said
electronic receipt to personal storage; e) presenting one or more
of said items for return with said electronic receipt, presented
said items being accepted for return based on said electronic
receipt.
12. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step (b) of collecting
identification data respectively comprises collecting personal data
for a purchaser.
13. A method as in claim 12, wherein personal data comprises
biometric data for said purchaser.
14. A method as in claim 12, wherein personal data comprises a
digital image of said purchaser.
15. A method as in claim 12, wherein serial numbers are collected
for one or more purchase items in step (b).
16. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step (b) of collecting
identification data comprises identifying ones of said purchase
items above a threshold value, said serial numbers being collected
for said ones.
17. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step (d) of passing said
electronic receipt comprises wirelessly transmitting said
electronic receipt to a handheld device.
18. A method as in claim 17, wherein said handheld device is a
personal digital assistant (PDA) and a paper receipt is presented
in step (d) with passing each said electronic receipt, said paper
receipt reflecting information contained in the said electronic
receipt.
19. A computer program product for conducting business
transactions, said computer program product comprising a computer
usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, said
computer readable program code comprising: computer program code
means for recording information about goods for sale; computer
program code means for generating electronic receipts for each
purchase, said electronic receipts including selected recorded
information; and computer program code means for passing generated
said electronic receipts.
20. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 19, wherein said computer program code means for
recording information comprises computer program code means for
receiving biometric information about purchasers, received
purchaser biometric information being included on each said
electronic receipt.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention is a continuation in part of published
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Receipt Electronic
Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 6, 2003 and
published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567 A1; and
related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,706 B2 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030020US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Bill Authentication" to
Scott D. Mastie et al., issued Apr. 26, 2005; to published U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 10/446,204 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030019US1), entitled "Expense Accounting Data Management
Based on Electronic Expense Document" to Joan L. Mitchell et al.,
filed May 27, 2003 and published Dec. 2, 2004, publication No.
2004/0243489 A1; and to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/______
(Attorney Docket No. BLD920050044US1), entitled "System And Method
of Handling Product Returns" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed
coincident herewith; all assigned to the assignee of the present
invention and incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention generally relates to business
transactions and more particularly to in-store business
transactions and payment of such in-store business transactions and
self service transactions at electronic Point of Sale kiosks, such
as at automated gas pumps and the like.
[0004] 2. Background Description
[0005] Currently, retail stores typically produce a paper receipt
reflecting a purchase or purchases by each customer. Normally, a
point-of-sale terminal generates the paper receipt, which lists
each item purchased. Traditionally, the merchant passes the paper
receipt to the customer, which the customer must retain for any
allowed returns. These paper receipts provide documentation of the
purchases for example, for registering product rebates, for product
returns, for ownership transfers, and for warranty registration.
Anyone that has ever been involved in an Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) audit was required to produce paper receipts as proof of
legitimate expenditures. Employers typically require employees to
submit paper receipts to document expenses for re-imbursement or as
proof of chargeable expenses against an expense account. It is
important for employers to track expenditures in real time,
including expenditures incurred by individual employees.
[0006] Frequently, new businesses fail because of cash-flow
problems and under capitalization, often because a new business
person finds it difficult and time consuming to track business
expenses from paper receipts. A typical small business may maintain
expense information in some well known accounting/expense tracking
program. There are a number of commercially available accounting
software packages to assist small businesses in expense tracking.
Unfortunately, entering receipt information in any of these
off-the-shelf packages requires converting paper receipt
information to a suitable electronic format. Conversion may entail,
for example, either re-keying the physical receipt (if it is
legible and has not been lost), making a photocopy of the original
receipt and passing the photocopy to optical character recognition
(OCR), or in some those cases where it is available, downloading
the information from merchant websites. With larger business, as
each employee submit paper receipts, the employer may forward them
to an accounting department and/or to a tax accountant.
[0007] While this conversion may be a complicated, labor intensive
and time consuming for a business, it may be unreasonably
burdensome for an individual. It is hard to keep track of and
organize all of those paper receipts. Moreover, this is very time
consuming, and thus difficult to make it a priority. Further,
paper-based processes like this depend upon human collation and so,
are vulnerable to tracking, timelines, and audit-readiness
problems. At best keeping organized takes time away from other
things; and at worst, either from lost paper receipts and/or
failure to organize, can cost someone, e.g., from available tax
credits that are lost or from failing to be audit-ready when the
need arises.
[0008] Additionally, merchants normally require the original paper
receipt for refunds to discourage fraud. If a customer fails to
produce the receipt, at best, the customer may be allowed to
exchange the item for comparable merchandise or merchandise of the
same value. However, at Christmas time, especially, thieves target
cars with bags in sight. If the receipt is in the bag with the
merchandise, after breaking into the car and stealing the packages,
the thief has the merchandise and the receipt. The thief can make
the return and the customer is left with the bill and auto damage.
Consequently, retail clerks have begun asking if the purchaser
wants the receipt placed in the bag with the purchases or kept
separately. But if the receipt is separated from the merchandise,
it may not be easy to match the receipt with the merchandise,
especially if the receipt includes inadequate or skimpy purchase
documentation, or is partially or completely illegible due to poor
printing quality, sun exposure, or other forms of wear and
tear.
[0009] Thus, there is a need to improve purchase documentation
while reducing purchase tracking effort and discouraging theft;
and, more particularly, there is a need to improve expense and
purchase tracking for businesses and individuals while reducing the
effort required for accurately recording expenses and purchases
without encouraging fraudulent returns or theft.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] It is therefore a purpose of the invention to eliminate the
need for paper receipts;
[0011] It is another purpose of this invention to reduce the
incidence of fraudulent returns in retail sales;
[0012] It is yet another purpose of the invention to eliminate the
need for paper receipts, while allowing returns for goods that were
purchased without providing paper receipts, while reducing the
incidence of fraudulent returns in retail sales.
[0013] The present invention is related to a method and program
product for providing paperless receipts for conducting business
transactions. Biometric data and product specific identification
information is collected with each purchase and included with an
electronic receipt generated for each purchase. The collected
product specific information may include product serial numbers for
some products, all products or product valued above a minimum
threshold cost. The biometric data may include a digital image of
each purchaser. The electronic receipt may be passed directly to
the customer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will
be better understood from the following detailed description of a
preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the
drawings, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS)
terminal electronic receipt generation/electronic return
environment, for transacting business at POS terminals.
[0016] FIG. 2 shows an example of generating electronic receipts
for use in electronic returns according to a preferred embodiment
of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Turning now to the drawings, and more particularly, FIG. 1
shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS) terminal
electronic personal receipt generation environment 10, customer
location (i.e., identified with a client business) 12 and
point-of-sale terminal 14 (hereinafter "POS terminal 14"), such as
described in published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824
(Attorney Docket No. BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale
Electronic Receipt Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed
May 6, 2003, published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567
A1, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and
incorporated herein by reference. Customer locations 12 (e.g., a
wallet carried by a customer) include, for example, cash 16, a
check 18, a credit card 20 and/or a smart card 22, or any other
suitable well known payment mechanism(s) for paying for
merchandise, e.g., gift certificates or store credits. Further,
each customer location 12 includes some from of personal storage,
such as a thumb drive, a personal digital assistant (PDA) 24, an
Apple iPod or the like. Each customer location 12 may also
communicate with POS terminal 14 using PDA 24 or any other suitable
handheld computer or communication system, with an appropriate
communication port (not shown), e.g., infrared (IR) or radio
frequency identification (RFID). POS terminal 14 conducts each
sales transaction and generates an electronic receipt 26 for each
and, optionally, a conventional paper receipt 28. POS terminal 14
can also be a self-service electronic Point of Sale kiosk.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
instead of paper receipts purchasers receive detailed personal
electronic receipts as original receipts.
[0018] As used herein for example only, a customer, shopper or
purchaser (used interchangeably) at a customer location 12 may be
identified with a private or public concern and is conducting a
transaction with a merchant or other business concern. The private
concern may be, for example an individual, a business or other
organization. Thus, a customer/purchaser may be a member of the
household, a business employee or a member of a private
organization or a government employee. Similarly, although
typically, the merchant may be located, for example, at a retail
place of business, the business concern 30 may be any business or
non-profit private or public organization that issues receipts for
money collected, e.g., in exchange for purchases. The POS 14 is
located with the business concern 30, e.g., on the premises of a
department or grocery store or, any place of business that normally
requires proof of purchase for returns.
[0019] Further, each POS terminal 14 may include an imager 40, a
check/currency inserter 42, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, web
cam or IR cam) 44, a thumb reader 45, a receipt instruction
receiver 46 with a receipt destination retriever 62, an electronic
receipt generator (ERG) 48 with an authenticating data generator
(ADG) 50, a transmitter 52 and any other components (OC) 54. Imager
40 converts cash (paper currency or bills) 16, and/or checks 18
into images 58 that may be inserted by check/currency inserter 42
into a paper receipt, 28 an electronic receipt 26 or both for
recordation. Electronic receipt generation and storage is also
described, for example, in published U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 10/446,204 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030019US1) entitled
"Expense Accounting Data Management Based on Electronic Expense
Document" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 27, 2003, published
Dec. 2, 2004, publication No. 2004/0243489 A1, assigned to the
assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by
reference. Also, the POS terminal 14 may include a typical PDA
cradle, a wireless connection capability (e.g., infrared or WiFi),
for connecting to a PDA 24, a cell phone, a handheld computer, a
handheld game unit, a pager, or any suitable unit with personal
storage. Further, the POS terminal 14 may include appropriate
encryption or compression capability.
[0020] According to a preferred embodiment of the present
invention, however, personal electronic receipts are delivered to
the purchaser coincident with each purchase. These personal
electronic receipts may be accompanied by purchaser biometric data,
e.g., a digital photo, thumbprint, or an IR signature. Optionally,
paper receipts may be presented with each personal electronic
receipts reflecting the information (e.g., purchaser biometric
data) contained in the personal electronic receipt. Once delivered,
the electronic receipts may be retrieved from personal storage
(e.g., in PDA 24, another handheld device), or recalled merely
based on accompanying biometric/other data. Since the electronic
receipt captures all of this unique information, paper receipts are
unnecessary for most ordinary uses. Further, this unique
information may be compared with security/authentication and
similar biometric data collected with returns, for electronic
returns based solely on electronic receipts. Electronic returns are
described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/______ (Attorney
Docket No. BLD920050044US1), entitled "System and Method of
Handling Product Returns" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed
coincident herewith, assigned to the assignee of the present
invention and incorporated herein by reference.
Security/authentication and similar biometric data may include, for
example, a digital picture or thumbprint may be taken of each
purchaser and of each person returning merchandise, e.g., by camera
44, such as a surveillance camera or a thumb reader 45.
[0021] Receipt instruction receiver (RIR) 46 may include a
destination retriever (DR) 62 and receive receipt instructions (RI)
60. Each receipt instruction 60 includes a Receipt Destination
Identifier (RDI) 64 and a content instruction (CI) 66. A receipt
instruction 60 reflects communicated customer preferences, e.g.,
provided verbally and manually entered to POS terminal 14 or
electronically generated. Electronically generated customer
preferences may be gathered, for example, from an electronic
payment from, e.g., a credit card 20, a smart card 22, a PDA 24 or
any other suitable electronic payment mechanism. Each RDI 64
expressly or implicitly indicates where to send a corresponding
electronic receipt. An RDI 64 may expressly state a receipt
destination 65 as, for example, a personalized web page, a mailing
address, an e-mail address, e.g., for a non-volatile storage.
Customer identification may imply a receipt destination 65 stored
in a receipt destination database 68, e.g., by business name, by
credit card number, by smart card identification, or by PDA based
IR communications.
[0022] So, with each purchase the destination retriever 62
retrieves implied destinations from receipt destination database
68. The electronic receipt generator 48 generates an electronic
receipt 26 for each transaction, e.g., including date and time;
merchant; issuing agent; and merchant address. Electronic receipts
may be in a standard format, e.g., electronic data interchange
(EDI) format or a personalized electronic receipts 26 based on
content instruction 66, e.g., indicated in a content database 70.
Authentication data generator 50 can provide transaction
authentication data 72 for confirming that an electronic receipt 26
has not been altered. For example, authentication data 72 may
include receipt contents, date, time, a merchant identification or,
biometric data collected from the purchaser. The authentication
data 72 may be stored at a merchant system 74 for access by receipt
destination 65 with each receipt 26 or transmitted separately to
receipt destination 65. The transmitter 52 communicates electronic
receipts 26 and authentication data 72 to receipt destinations 65
and/or merchant system 74.
[0023] The POS terminal 14 may include other components 54, such as
for example, a keyboard, a central processing unit (CPU), a
monitor, a bar code scanner, a telecommunications system, a credit
card authentication system, a smart card authentication system, a
PDA communications system, RFID detection modules and/or a cash
drawer. The receipt destination 65 may include an expense
accounting system 80 such as a customer/employer expense reporting
system, a customer personal expense tracking system (e.g.,
Quicken.RTM., Microsoft Money.RTM., TurboTax.RTM. or a spreadsheet
application) and/or a customer accountant expense tracking system.
Also, the expense account system 80 may include an expense
categorizer (EC) 82 categorizing each electronic receipt 26 into an
expense category, e.g., clothing, food, or entertainment. A tax
data collector (TDC) 84 gathers tax related data in electronic
receipts 26, e.g., sales tax, deductible expenses, deductible
donations, and medical expenses. A tax authority (TA) 86 (e.g., the
US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a state tax department, or
foreign equivalent thereof) may provide tax related information or,
tax related information may be otherwise provided. Also, the
receipt destination 65 may include appropriate receipt storage 88
for long term archiving.
[0024] Preferably, along with transmitting electronic receipts to a
designated receipt destination 65, each customer 12 receives an
electronic version of a retail receipt simultaneously with
completing a transaction, i.e., by default the RDI 64 includes the
customer in destination and the system 10 transmits a personal
electronic receipt to the customer 12 upon completing a
transaction. Each personal electronic receipt includes, preferably,
line-item level details and may include additional information such
as a third-party authentication identifier. Also, customer
biometric information may be collected with each purchase and
included in the receipt details that are communicated as a personal
electronic receipt to the customer. A camera image, e.g., from a
surveillance camera 44 may be included with the receipt data and
provided with the personal electronic receipt. The personal
electronic receipts may be provided indirectly from receipt
storage, or directly, over a real-time data feed. If provided
directly, the POS terminal 14 transmits personal electronic
receipts (including details of the transaction and other collected
data, e.g., an image of a check used for payment) to the customers
12, where personal electronic receipts are loaded into the
customer's personal storage, e.g., in a PDA, cell phone, or other
handheld device. This transmission may be over an IR port, a
physical cradle connection, a wireless communication connection, or
other suitable connection port.
[0025] As noted hereinabove, these personal electronic receipts can
be used in electronic returns. Further, each personal electronic
receipt may include image verification data from the transaction,
such as a simplified or scanned version of a check that was
presented. Also, tax information may be included automatically in
the personal electronic receipt. Sub-total items, such as sales tax
paid, or items in deductible expense categories, may be tallied
automatically, e.g., by the PDA 24 or the TDC 84. Then, the entire
transaction may be automatically filed in an appropriate category
in personal storage for later recall and distribution.
[0026] Alternately, since not everyone is expected to have personal
storage, in-store hard copy receipts may be generated and personal
electronic receipts are indirectly passed to the customer 12. The
merchant may have a shared kiosk located near an exit, for example,
that is primarily for downloading personal electronic receipts in
real-time to the customer's personal storage, including downloading
images and detailed electronic receipt data. This kiosk may include
a bar code reader, for example, that reads a unique barcode from
printed receipts. Customers can present paper receipts and quickly
receive a personal electronic receipt from the kiosk. This kiosk
allows elimination of older point-of-sale terminal
modifications/upgrades and may be compatible with all handheld
devices.
[0027] FIG. 2 shows an example of steps 100 in generating personal
electronic receipts that begins in step 102 by a customer
presenting goods for purchase. As noted hereinabove, biometric data
may be collected in step 104 to accompany each personal electronic
receipt, including for example, the purchaser's digital photo,
thumbprint, or IR signature. Also, in step 106 information is
collected on the goods being purchased. Thus, each personal
electronic receipt may include itemized serial numbers (S/Ns), if
known, listed with each item. So, if the merchandise is tagged with
RFIDs or a unique barcode scannable with a typical barcode scanner,
for example, the scan may include respective S/N for listing on the
personal electronic receipt. When, for example, the merchandise is
not tagged, such detail may be optional, e.g., included/required
only for merchandise value above a threshold price or for tracking
high quantity purchases of items such as over the counter
medications. So, in step 108 in this variation, after scanning for
a basic purchase, a secondary scan may be required for any item
that exceeded the threshold, e.g., items above $100. In this second
scan in step 110 the POS terminal 14 collects the unique S/N of the
device or the clerk enters the S/N with the purchase price, to
capture the unique S/N in the personal electronic receipt generated
in step 112. This personal electronic receipt may aid any future
warranty claim and may be required for an electronic return. In
step 114 the personal electronic receipt is passed to the
purchaser, e.g., transmitted by IR, Bluetooth or WiFi to the
customer's personal storage, e.g., PDA 24. These personal
electronic receipts may be used to return goods, based solely on
the personal electronic receipt. Also, since the personal
electronic receipt is an itemized list of purchased items, the
purchaser may electronically transfer ownership with the right to
return to someone else. For example, an errand-running agency may
simply and conveniently relinquish personal electronic receipts to
their principals with transfer of the purchased goods.
[0028] Tax information may be automatically collected from the
personal electronic receipts. Further, sub-items such as sales tax
paid, or deductible expense categories, may be tallied
automatically within the PDA. Each entire transaction may be
automatically filed in personal storage grouped in an appropriate
category to facilitate later recall and distribution. Also, the
personal electronic receipts may include appropriate image data
from the transaction, e.g., a simplified version of a check as
presented for the purchase.
[0029] Preferably, information is bidirectionally exchanged with
customer gear (such as PDA 24) indicate a preferred personal
storage format (e.g., ASCII flatfile, Spanish-Language ASCII,
bitmap, Excel.RTM. from Mircrosoft.RTM.), and the POS terminal
deliver the personal electronic receipt data in that format.
Further, merchants may advertise available formats with customers
selecting from amongst the available formats and downloading the
information in the desired format. Further, preferably detailed
personal electronic receipts are available for all handheld devices
with available storage including cell phones, PDAs, and handheld
computer games. Once downloaded the personal electronic receipts
may be transferred, subsequently to other computers, e.g., a
laptop. Moreover, although a handheld device is the most convenient
delivery point, immediate delivery need not be solely to such
handheld devices. For example, state of the art automobiles have
on-board computing power and personal electronic receipts may be
broadcast (in a secure and encrypted manner) to such an automobile.
Moreover, the automobile may analyze received personal electronic
receipts in otherwise idle computer cycles (e.g., while the engine
is not running) and make the analysis results instantly available.
Also, with a company car, the communication system may send the
analysis results and collected personal electronic receipts to the
company's accountant.
[0030] Advantageously, a preferred system immediately delivers a
personal electronic retail receipt to each purchaser. So,
purchasers are no longer forced to sign-on later, possibly to
multiple sites, to obtain a current electronic record of purchases.
The line-item level details are loaded directly into the customer's
PDA, cell phone, or other handheld device from the point-of-sale
terminal, providing an excellent level of customer support, and
providing an excellent level of customer support via point-of-sale
devices. Since customers have personal electronic receipts, it is
no longer for the customers to sign-on at, e.g., to a web site or,
possibly, to multiple sites, to obtain a current electronic record
of purchases made. In addition, the immediately available
electronic record can be used to give real-time analysis of cash
flow or budgets and to handle returns.
[0031] Personal electronic receipts and returns based on those
receipts are convenient for both the merchant and the customer,
facilitating fraud detection, making it relatively easy to identify
suspicious activity, e.g., where the original purchaser has
reported a theft. Also, often enough, customers may mistakenly
return the wrong item to the wrong store, e.g., due to a memory
lapse or confusion. This is avoided by the robust receipt
information in personal electronic receipts, e.g., the merchant and
the serial number of purchased items. Thus, merchants may allow
(line-item) returns of merchandise based on the personal electronic
receipt rather than insisting on a paper receipt, while reducing
lost income to the merchant from fraudulent returns, while
customers have better experiences with the improved return and
exchange process.
[0032] While the invention has been described in terms of preferred
embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the
invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and
scope of the appended claims. It is intended that all such
variations and modifications fall within the scope of the appended
claims. Examples and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as
illustrative rather than restrictive.
* * * * *