US 12,136,102 B1
Coupon clearinghouse with blockchain
Benjamin Weiss, Chicago, IL (US)
Assigned to WALGREEN CO., Deerfield, IL (US)
Filed by WALGREEN CO., Deerfield, IL (US)
Filed on Dec. 8, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/545,238.
Application 17/545,238 is a continuation of application No. 15/954,895, filed on Apr. 17, 2018.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06Q 30/02 (2023.01); G06Q 30/0207 (2023.01); H04L 9/30 (2006.01)
CPC G06Q 30/0239 (2013.01) [H04L 9/30 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for manipulating and accessing a blockchain containing coupon authentication information for coupon processing services to process a coupon maintained by a network of nodes including a first node and a second node, each of the first node and the second node maintaining a copy of the blockchain, the method comprising:
generating, by a processor of the first node communicatively coupled to the network, a first coupon transaction that includes a smart coupon contract, wherein the smart coupon contract comprises executable code, defined by the first node, that permits the first node to manage and/or process usage of the coupon, wherein the executable code is configured to (i) receive input data from a second transaction that invokes the executable code and (ii) process the input data against one or more functions included in the smart coupon contract to determine a state of the second coupon transaction; and
broadcasting, by the processor, the first coupon transaction to the second node communicatively coupled to the network, the second node configured to apply a set of consensus rules to validate the smart coupon contract included in the first coupon transaction prior to adding the first coupon transaction onto the blockchain, wherein the consensus rules include at least solving a cryptographic puzzle involving the hash of the block of the first coupon transaction, causing any one of the network of nodes to execute the smart coupon contract against the input data after the first coupon transaction is validated and added onto the blockchain;
receiving, by the processor, the second coupon transaction that includes the input data and an assigned address at which the smart coupon contract is stored; and
determining, by the processor, the state of the second transaction by invoking execution of the smart coupon contract indicated at the assigned address against the input data included in the second coupon transaction.