Secure Electronic Coupons

Coupons are well-known and widely used in the market place to attract new customers looking for deals and to keep loyal customers. Generally speaking, coupons for loyal customers have more discount than coupons for new customers. In order to differentiate between new and loyal customers, we invented two schemes that allow firms to issue different types of e-coupons through a wireless network. The first scheme is used to generate e-coupons that are not assigned to specific customers. Thus, an unused e-coupon can be used by any customer. This scheme is more suitable for attracting new customers. The other scheme is used to generate e-coupons that are assigned to specific customers. Thus, unused e-coupons cannot be used by other customers. This second scheme is more suitable for keeping loyal customers. Both of the proposed schemes are designed for mobile electronic commerce and reduces the cost for processing coupons.