Geo-located Digital Coupon Management with Hardware ID Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Digital coupons lack effective control over issuance and redemption, making it difficult to verify validity and prevent unauthorized use, especially in a digital environment.
Innovation Solution
A system that geo-locates digital coupons at issuance and redemption using unique hardware IDs and security tokens, verifying device locations through HTML 5 protocols and asymmetric encryption, ensuring secure and unique promotional offers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If digital coupons are issued without geo-location control, then ease of operation is improved, but security and reliability deteriorate due to unauthorized copying and redemption
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary geo-location verification and device identification before issuing the digital coupon. The server determines the user's location using HTML5 geolocation API and validates it against the coupon's geographic restrictions before generation, preventing unauthorized issuance at the source rather than detecting violations later.
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary between the user device and the coupon redemption system. It generates unique security tokens for each device, maintains a database of issued coupons with their associated device identifiers, and verifies both the coupon validity and device location during redemption, mediating the trust relationship.
2Reliability
If geo-location verification is implemented at issuance and redemption, then security is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The user device performs self-service geo-location verification using the HTML5 Geolocation API, which is natively supported in modern browsers. The device autonomously determines its own location and provides it to the server, eliminating the need for additional specialized hardware or complex client-side verification mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses universal HTML5 web standards that are already widely supported across different devices and browsers. The geolocation, storage, and communication functionalities leverage existing multi-functional web APIs, avoiding the need for device-specific implementations or proprietary protocols.
3Reliability
If unique hardware IDs and security tokens are used for each device, then reliability and traceability are improved, but loss of information increases due to stricter verification requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of coupon identification from generic to device-specific by incorporating unique hardware identifiers and generated security tokens. This parameter transformation enables precise traceability of each coupon to its issuing device while maintaining backward compatibility through the use of standard web storage mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy of the coupon data stored both on the user device (in localStorage) and on the server database. This redundant copying ensures data persistence and enables verification without losing information, as the server maintains the authoritative record while the device holds a verified copy.
4Productivity
If centralized database storage of hardware IDs and coupons is implemented, then productivity and management efficiency are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the coupon issuance, verification, and redemption management functions into a single centralized server database. This consolidation improves productivity by providing unified control over all digital coupons, enabling real-time tracking of issuance and redemption, and simplifying administrative management through a single point of control.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized server acts as an intermediary that mediates all interactions between user devices and the coupon system. It handles device registration, coupon generation, validity verification, and redemption processing, reducing the complexity burden on individual devices while maintaining centralized control and improved management efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
The solution described herein provides a system for issuing and redeeming digital coupons. This includes receiving a request for a digital coupon from a user device including a unique hardware identifier (ID). Then sending a first localization request and receiving, a first location of the user device. In response, generating a software object representing the digital coupon and including a security token, sending the software object to the user device, updating a status of the digital coupon as issued in a database, storing the unique hardware ID in the database, and associating the unique hardware ID with the digital coupon. Receiving a request to redeem the digital coupon from the user device. In response, sending a second localization request, receiving a second location of the user device, providing a redemption code, and updating the status of the digital coupon as redeemed.