20110302023 | METHOD FOR ISSUING AND REDEEMING AN ELECTRONIC COUPON - A method for issuing and redeeming an electronic coupon is provided. An electronic coupon is created by a central server, the coupon including information about a discount or a credit, and one or more conditions. The coupon is assigned to a customer identifier. A coupon query is transferred, which includes the customer identifier, from a point-of-sale computer to the central server. Coupon data is transferred from the central server to the point-of-sale computer. The described method reduces the transaction time for redeeming and issuing personalized coupons. In particular, the coupon data for multiple coupons is transferred with an assigned coupon identifier before the payment process from the central server to the point-of-sale computer, and stored in a local memory. In the payment process, the central computer transfers the coupon identifiers assigned to the customer identifier. The point-of-sale computer retrieves the coupon data from the local memory, using the coupon identifier. | 12-08-2011 |