System and method for providing sellers' offerings

Abstract

Apparatus' and methods are disclosed for distributing sellers' offerings within an advertising system in which a seller generates a profile containing a list of offerings for mobile buyers and wherein mobile buyer's devices display the seller's offerings based on the buyer's preferred purchases or vendors. At least some of the buyer's preferred profile entries are associated with a geographic area. A mobile network is used to connect the mobile buyers and the sellers. The network further includes a brand sponsor that offers branded content through the network and the seller's offering processes. Branded content may be displayed based on a bidding process. Buyers mobile devices may include a bypass function to allow the display of the branded content on the buyer's mobile device even of that branded content does not meet the criteria of the buyer' preferred offerings.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-based notification system for distributing sellers' offerings within said notification system to buyers within said notification system, said computer-based notification system including a computer-based mobile network, said computer-based notification system comprising:
 at least one computer-based sales promotion device employed by a seller within said notification system, said sales promotion device coupled to said computer-based mobile network, said sales promotion device including a processor and an associated memory for storing instructions executed by said processor, said sales promotion device having an ad panel operating under software application control, said sales promotion device including a local database accessible by said ad panel software, said seller activating a user interface on said sales promotion device to store seller profile data elements in said local database, said seller profile data elements including ads displayed by said ad panel software and to be displayed within said notification system, said seller profile data elements also including a geographic area serviced by said seller;   at least one brand seller, said brand seller having a sales promotion device employed by said brand seller within said notification system, said brand seller sales promotion device coupled to said computer-based mobile network, said brand seller sales promotion device including a processor and an associated memory for storing instructions executed by said processor, said brand seller sales promotion device having an ad panel operating under software application control, said brand seller sales promotion device including a local database accessible by said ad panel software, said brand seller activating a user interface on said sales promotion device to store brand seller profile data elements in said local database, said brand seller profile data elements including a brand offering and a brand seller geographic area;   at least one computer-based mobile device employed by a buyer within said notification system, said buyer mobile device coupled to said computer-based mobile network, said mobile device having an ad server including a processor and an associated memory for storing instructions executed by said processor, said mobile device including a local database accessible by said ad server, said buyer activating a user interface on said buyer mobile device to store buyer profile data elements in said local database, said buyer profile data elements including buyer-specified advertising content and a buyer-specified geographic area; and   wherein said computer-based mobile network includes a location determining network coupled to said mobile network, said location determining network providing said buyer mobile device with a physical geographic location, said brand seller transmitting said brand offering and said brand seller geographic area to said at least one sales promotion device over said computer-based mobile network, said at least one sales promotion device matching said brand seller geographic area with said geographic area serviced by said seller, said at least one sales promotion device storing said brand offering as an ad in said sellers local database using said ad panel software, said ad server on said buyer mobile device transmitting a request for seller's offerings to said mobile network based on said determined physical geographic location and said buyer-specified geographic area, said mobile network returning a list of seller's offerings including ads and said brand offering based on said transmitted request, said ad server matching said returned seller's offerings to said buyer-specified advertising content and displaying said matched returned list seller's offerings on said user interface on said mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said brand offering is one of a company's goods or services. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  including a plurality of said brand sellers and associated brand seller promotion devices, said brand offering being transmitted to said at least one sales promotion device and said matching being made after a bidding process among said plurality of brand sellers is conducted by said notification system. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3  wherein said buyer-specified advertising content includes at least one of a seller, a product, or a service, said buyer profile data elements comprising offerings preferred by said buyer, said ad server of said computer-based mobile device filtering said seller offerings so as to display only those that match said buyer preferred offerings. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4  wherein said ad server including a bypass feature that is capable of being activated so that said seller's offerings omitted from display by said filter are also displayed on user device, said brand offering matched based on said bidding process and transmitted to said buyer mobile device being displayed within a visible area of said user interface on said buyer mobile device along with said filtered preferred offerings. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said at least one computer-based sales promotion device is a mobile device, said location determining network providing said at least one computer-based sales promotion device with a physical geographic location, said sales promotion device employed by said seller updating said geographic area being serviced by said seller said specific seller profile data elements vendor notification is one of an advertisement, a circular, a promotion, an event, a destination place or a brand. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein said sales promotion device is a mobile device, including but not limited to: a handheld electronic device, a tablet, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a phablet, a laptop, or a notebook computer. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  said geographic area serviced by said seller is determined by a geocode data element within said local database accessible by said sales promotion device, said geocode being one of: a GPS coordinate, a street address, a country, a city, a state, a district, a zip code, a parcel id, a public location, or a transportation location. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of said sales promotion devices and buyer mobile devices and said computer-based mobile network includes peer-to-peer network connections such that said plurality of said sales promotion devices and buyer mobile devices communicate directly with one another. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said brand offering includes an expiration period data element, said returned seller's offering including said expiration period data element, said brand offering expiring on said buyer mobile device based on said expiration period data element.