Reverse Proxy for Omni-Channel Purchase History Consolidation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers face difficulties in accessing a consolidated view of their purchase history across different retail channels, requiring them to search through receipts, emails, or contact customer service for transaction details.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based application that allows consumers to retrieve their omni-channel purchase history in real-time or near real-time using any device, consolidating purchases from brick-and-mortar and online channels by employing a reverse proxy with OData services to access back-end systems securely.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If consumers use traditional methods (searching receipts, emails, or contacting customer service) to access purchase history, then they can obtain transaction details, but the process is time-consuming and inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a reverse proxy server as an intermediary component between the consumer's device and the back-end system. This reverse proxy receives requests from consumers, translates them into appropriate OData service calls, and returns the purchase history data. This intermediary layer simplifies the consumer's interaction to a single click while handling the complexity of data retrieval from multiple retail channels, directly resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and time loss.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system consolidates purchase history from multiple retail channels, then consumers get a comprehensive view, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The reverse proxy server is designed with universal functionality to handle requests from any consumer device and translate them into appropriate OData service calls for different retail channels. It provides a single unified interface that adapts to various data sources (brick-and-mortar and online channels) without requiring separate systems for each channel, thus achieving multi-channel consolidation while maintaining relatively simple system architecture.
3Reliability
If the system provides real-time access to purchase information, then data availability is improved, but security risks from direct back-end access increase
Solution Approach 1:
The reverse proxy server acts as a security intermediary between external consumers and the internal back-end system. It receives and processes requests from consumers, translating them into secure OData service calls that access the back-end system through controlled interfaces. This intermediary layer enables real-time data availability while preventing direct access to the back-end system, thereby blocking malicious traces and security threats.
4Loss of information
If consumers need to access purchase information from different retail channels, then data completeness is improved, but the difficulty of accessing consolidated data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data from multiple retail channels (brick-and-mortar and online) into a single consolidated purchase history view accessible through one unified interface. The reverse proxy server combines requests for data from different channels and returns a comprehensive result set, eliminating the need for consumers to separately access each channel's system and significantly reducing the difficulty of accessing complete purchase history.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques of implementing providing real-time availability of omni-channel sales data are disclosed. In some example embodiments, purchase information comprising information of purchases made by a consumer via a plurality of retail channels is received by a back-end system. The purchase information can be stored on the back-end system. A request to access the stored purchase information can be received from the consumer on a computing device. The request can comprise an identification of a virtual host and an identification of a service to invoke on the back-end system to retrieve the purchase information stored on the back-end system. An identification of an internal host can be determined based on the identification of the virtual host. The identification of the internal host can identify the back-end system. The purchase information can be retrieved from the back-end system using the identification of the internal host and the identification of the service.