Receipt Image Capture for Automated Price Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face difficulties in learning about price reductions for purchased items and obtaining price guarantees, as they must manually contact merchants with proof, which is inconvenient and often unsuccessful due to limitations or defects in available proof, leading to reduced likelihood of seeking future refunds.
Innovation Solution
A system that captures electronic images of paper receipts, extracts data using OCR, generates a unique key for verification, and utilizes a price monitoring server to notify users of price changes, automatically requesting price adjustments from merchants through email, facilitating seamless price matching and adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If customers manually contact merchants with proof of lower prices, then price adjustments may be obtained, but the process is inconvenient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic price matching where the system itself performs the price verification and adjustment request processes. The price monitoring server automatically detects price changes, generates adjustment requests, and coordinates with merchants without requiring customer intervention, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and time investment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring prices and having adjustment requests pre-prepared and ready to send. When a price change is detected, the system immediately has the adjustment request formulated and can be sent without delay, eliminating the time customers would otherwise spend manually gathering proof and contacting merchants.
2Loss of information
If customers use email receipts with price tracker applications, then price change notifications are received, but this solution is unavailable for purchases without email receipts
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves universality by supporting multiple receipt formats including paper receipts, electronic receipts, and email receipts. The image capture and OCR technology can process various formats, making the price tracking service adaptable to all customers regardless of their preferred receipt format, thus resolving the contradiction between information coverage and format compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy of the receipt through image capture and OCR processing. This copy can be stored and processed by the system to extract transaction information, enabling price tracking for any receipt type that can be captured as an image, thereby extending adaptability beyond email-only solutions.
3Reliability
If merchants verify price adjustment requests manually, then fraud can be prevented, but the process becomes complex and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces manual mechanical verification processes with automated electronic verification. The price monitoring server automatically compares prices, validates transaction data through OCR extraction, and generates verification reports, substituting complex manual verification procedures with streamlined automated processes that maintain reliability while reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements automated feedback loops where price changes are detected, verification is automatically performed against stored transaction data, and adjustment requests are generated based on this feedback. This automated feedback mechanism maintains high verification accuracy while eliminating the need for complex manual verification systems.
4Ease of operation
If the system automatically monitors and requests price adjustments, then customer effort is minimized, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple functions into an integrated platform: image capture, OCR processing, price monitoring, verification, and adjustment request generation all occur within a single system. This consolidation simplifies the customer experience while managing complexity through integration rather than separate systems, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for generating a notification of a price change for a transaction and facilitating an associated price adjustment based on electronic image capture of a paper receipt. An image capture system captures an electronic image of a paper transaction receipt, which is transmitted to a data extraction processor that extracts transaction receipt data from the captured electronic image. A unique key is generated that is matched to a transaction record to generate a reliability score for the OCRed image and to authorize price matching. If the price monitoring server identifies that the price of a purchased transaction item has changed, the price monitoring server automatically generates a notification to the user indicating the price change and an email to the customer service department of the merchant from which the transaction item was purchased, requesting a price adjustment that is credited back to the payment instrument.