CONTEST
Competed$5,000
This contest is closed.
Problem
Patexia seeks prior art for a system that purportedly assists online shoppers by automatically finding and applying coupon or discount codes to reduce the cost of their online purchases. The system interfaces with a third party (e.g.: retailer) website to find and apply coupon or discount codes to the user’s shopping cart. The system may use a browser extension such that the shopper views the application of the discount code(s) (and the discount received when the code(s) have been applied) in a modified browser window. The system can check multiple discount codes and apply the discount code that it determines offers the greatest price discount.
Questions
# | Question | Value |
---|---|---|
1 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before March 16, 2017 or an application, program, or other system or product in use or on sale in the U.S. before March 16, 2017? | T/F |
2 | Is the reference either a US patent filed, a foreign patent published, or a non-patent document published before Nov 8, 2012 or an application, program, or other system or product in use or on sale in the U.S. before Nov 8, 2012? | 10 |
3 | Does the reference use browser software to transmit digital codes (such as, but not limited to, coupon codes) to third party websites to cause numerical values to change on the third-party websites? | 10 |
4 | Does the reference alter the third-party website by dynamically generating and displaying a graphical trigger (such as a button) for the user? | 20 |
5 | Does the reference identify a data entry interface (such as a textbox input) on the webpage to input the digital code(s)? | 20 |
6 | Does the reference input the digital code(s) into the data entry interface when the user selects the graphical trigger? | 10 |
7 | Does the reference determine which of the digital codes cause a change in a value (such as a price) on the third-party website, and determine the amount of the change? | 10 |
8 | Does the reference determine which of the digital codes causes the greatest amount of change in a numerical value on the website? | 10 |
9 | Does the reference apply the digital code that causes the greatest amount of change in the numerical value on the website? | 10 |
Additional Notes
Prior Art Search
This is a Prior Art Search contest aimed at determining if a patent idea was known and publicly available before a patent was filed.
- +5 bonus points will be awarded for non-patent literature
- +5 bonus points will be awarded for foreign language references.
- +10 bonus points will be awarded for submitting information related to any real-life system, application, program or product used or sold in the United States
This contest will close on Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 11:59 PM PT.
Please review the Contest Rules. For more information on how to submit to this Contest type, please read the Intro to Prior Art Search page.