Opt-in collector system and method

Abstract

A method delivers a purchase discount to a communications device, such as a cellular phone. The communications device is capable of capturing and sending over a telecommunications network a token representing a purchasable item associated with the purchase discount. The method includes receiving the token by a server computer from the communications device over the telecommunications network, looking-up in an eligibility database by the server computer at least a portion of the token, obtaining at least one eligibility record from the step of looking-up in the eligibility database, looking-up in a discount database by the server computer at least a portion of the at least one eligibility record, obtaining at least one discount artifact from the step of looking-up in the discount database, sending a discount coupon corresponding to the at least one discount artifact by the server computer over the telecommunications network to the communications device, the discount coupon representing the purchase discount, and discounting price of the purchasable item associated with the purchase discount upon presentation of the discount coupon via the communications device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of delivering a prescription drug discount via a cellular message on a cellular carrier network, comprising the steps of:
 receiving a message artifact of a prescription token by a server computer at the destination address, the prescription token comprises at least data representing one instructor, including a prescription drug identity, a prescription drug patient identity, a cell phone number related to the prescription drug patient identity, and at least one destination locator for a server computer communicatively connected to the cellular carrier network;   parsing the message artifact by the server computer;   generating the prescription token by the server computer after the step of parsing;   looking-up at least a portion of the prescription token in an eligibility database connected to the server computer, the eligibility database comprises at least one eligibility record related to the at least the portion of the prescription token;   retrieving the at least one eligibility record from the step of looking-up at least a portion of the prescription token;   looking-up at least a portion of the at least one eligibility record in a discount database, the discount database comprises at least one discount artifact related to the prescription drug identity of the at least one instructor;   retrieving the at least one discount artifact of the discount database from the step of looking-up the at least a portion of the at least one eligibility record;   processing the at least one discount artifact by the server computer to generate a discount coupon;   sending the discount coupon by the server computer for receipt by a cellular communication device over a cellular carrier network;   receiving the discount coupon, together with a drug prescription per the prescription drug identity of the at least one instructor, by a pharmacy gateway by the cellular communication device;   communicating the drug prescription, together with the prescription drug patient identity of the at least one instructor, to a benefit processor by the server computer;   determining a coverage benefit by the benefit processor based on the drug prescription and the prescription drug patient identity;   communicating the coverage benefit to the pharmacy gateway;   communicating an eligibility update notification to the server computer by the benefit processor, after the step of communicating the coverage benefit to the pharmacy gateway;   receiving the eligibility update notification by the server computer;   updating the at least one eligibility record of the eligibility database via the server computer, in response to the eligibility update notification;   processing the eligibility update notification to derive a prescription refill date related to the at least one eligibility record; and   storing the prescription refill date in the eligibility record.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 if the step of looking-up the at least a portion of the prescription token fails because the at least one eligibility record is not in the eligibility database, prior to the step of retrieving the at least one eligibility record, generating at least one eligibility record by the eligibility database based on the prescription token.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of updating comprises the step of processing the eligibility update notification by the benefit processor to revise the eligibility record. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the coverage benefit is selected from the group consisting of: an insured coverage and a non-insured coverage; and
 further comprising the steps of:
 if an insured coverage is the coverage benefit, determining by the pharmacy gateway a first discount per the coverage benefit and the discount coupon, for the drug prescription; and 
 if a non-insured coverage is the coverage benefit, determining by the pharmacy gateway a second discount per solely the discount coupon, for the drug prescription. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising the steps of:
 wherein the eligibility database comprises a plurality of eligibility records, and each of the eligibility records of the plurality, respectively, comprise the prescription drug identity, the drug patient identity, the prescription refill date, and the cell number relationally linked to the drug patient identity;   filtering the plurality of the eligibility records of the eligibility database at a date in time, based on the date in time and relation to the prescription refill date of each of the eligibility records;   retrieving a subset of the plurality, each of the eligibility records of the subset, respectively, comprise the prescription drug identity, the prescription refill date relative to the date in time, and the cell number relationally linked to the respective drug patient identity and the prescription drug identity;   looking-up the prescription drug identity of the subset in the discount database to obtain a discount coupon for each respective one of the prescription drug identity of the subset;   retrieving a respective one of the discount coupon for each respective one of the prescription drug identity of the subset;   sending the respective one of the discount coupon to the cell number relationally linked to the respective drug patient identity and the respective drug identity in the subset of the eligibility records;   repeating the step of sending the respective one of the discount coupon for respective ones of the cell number of each of the eligibility records of the subset;   repeating, for all of the respective ones of the prescription drug identity, the steps of retrieving a subset, looking-up the prescription drug identity, retrieving the discount coupon, and sending the discount coupon.   
     
     
         6 . A system for delivering a prescription drug discount to a cell phone via a cellular message of a carrier network, the prescription drug discount relates to a prescription script, comprising:
 a server computer communicatively connected to the cell phone via the carrier network;   a prescription token related to the prescription script, received by the server computer;   an eligibility database and a discount database of the server computer, the server computer controls the eligibility database and the discount database in response to receiving the prescription token;   a discount coupon of the discount database, communicated by the server computer to the cell phone at the phone number via the carrier network, in response to receiving the prescription token;   a pharmacy gateway communicatively connected to the cell phone, to receive the discount coupon from the cell phone and the prescription script;   a benefit processor communicatively connected to the pharmacy gateway and the server computer, comprising:
 a database; 
 a benefit artifact of the database relationally associated to the discount coupon and the prescription script; 
 a first communicator connected to the benefit artifact, for communicating the benefit artifact to the pharmacy gateway; and 
 a second communicator connected to the benefit artifact, for communicating the benefit artifact to the server computer; 
   wherein the server computer updates the eligibility database in response to receiving the benefit artifact from the second communicator of the benefit processor.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a follow-up coupon of the discount database, communicated by the server computer to the cell phone at the phone number via the carrier network, in response to receiving the prescription token.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a memory of the cell phone connected to the radio and the processor;   wherein the follow-up coupon is stored in the memory in response to receiving the follow-up coupon by the cell phone.