Techniques to create targeted lottery systems using electronic media interfaces
A system to encode lottery number onto magnetic strip cards used as fare cards for public transportation systems. The system is activated by user selection of a lottery option and increased payment at the time of the fare card purchase, or altered after purchase in a separate hardware system. A second unit determines those cards that will be selected for payout (e.g., winning cards). The system is designed to provide additional revenue to replace/reduce government subsidization of public transportation, by collecting additional revenues from that portion of the population that uses the transportation system and opts to participate in the lottery. Most services provided by an electronic media interface (e.g., fare card, credit card, ticket, computer modem, etc.) can be modified to provide this targeted lottery feature.
This application is a Divisional Application of prior application Ser. No. 09/296,864 filed Feb. 17, 1998, which was a Continuation-In-Part of prior application Ser. No. 08/619,984 filed Mar. 21, 1996.
BACKGROUNDLottery systems have become commonplace, as a result of changes in state laws, which has led to proliferation of outlets at which one can purchase lottery tickets. Currently, many state and local governments now offer lottery purchases via machines at freeway stops, commercial enterprises (e.g., local grocery stores, tobacco shops, etc.) as well as at state/local government sponsored outlets. The present lottery distribution systems lack specificity for targeting resources to users of state systems, such as transportation and health care for example; they depend on government allocation of general lottery revenues.
The present invention allows lottery revenues to be collected from the users of these state/local services, which typically are subsidized by tax revenues, and always in need of additional resources. With the advent of electronic fare collection systems, the opportunity to selectively access the user population now exists. The application of this new technology to provide additional resources to state and local services via lottery processes will be described in this patent application and associated claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe substance of the present invention is to allow a user-selected lottery option with minimal perturbations to the cost and efficiency of operation of currently established service delivery systems. This description will focus on modern metro-rail transportation, but this concentration is not intended to limit the scope of this invention.
The essential innovation is the selection and encoding of a random number sequence on the magnetic/electronic media (e.g., fare card). When the media is presented to a redemption device, the encoded random number can be checked against selected winning numbers to determine if a particular media article presented for redemption is a winning item. Depending upon the traffic volume, options for user-selected sequences can be provided, but will slow down the system throughput since the purchaser will require more time to manually select a number.
Another key feature of the present invention is the ability to work with existing systems with minimum modifications. Current magnetic strip fare card machines have the ability to encode time, location and monetary values as part of the process of automatically recording the change in fare card value based on the entry/exit locations and the time of the day (the Washington D.C. metro-rail system is a good example). A simple modification to the fare purchase hardware system can enable additional funds to be collected for a lottery option and a suitable code number to be written on the fare card magnetic strip. Redemption of the fare cards can be accomplished after exit at separate machines, at the traveler's convenience (so as not to delay travelers not using the lottery option).
This invention is not limited to magnetic fare card systems. Any system that requires a ticket or card can be adapted for lottery use. For example. parking lot tickets, credit cards, show tickets or any system that collects cash in exchange for a receipt can be modified according to this invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
One of the most suitable government systems for implementing a lottery option is the modern metro-rail system (such as those in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, Calif.). A description of the invention tailored to this type of transportation system is as follows.
In normal use, the card is inserted in a “turnstile” type machine at the entry and exit stations, and the appropriate fare is deducted and the fare card returned with the new credit balance, based on the entry and exit station and time of day (for rush hour/non-rush hour charges). One variant of the present invention involves a separate redemption machine(s) (located at all stations) which would accept fare cards after the user has exited the station “turnstile” machine. As shown in
An alternative configuration would not need a special selection modification, as shown in
Another variant of this invention can be used on credit card transactions, as shown in
A third configuration or variant can be set up when the entry device is a computer 30 on a network, as shown in
A specific implementation of the technology to support this lottery concept is provided as follows, using
Planned improvements in the DC metro-rail fare card system will make the lottery option easier, as shown in the bottom half of
The operation of the lottery machine, shown on the right in the figure, is similar to the previous description, except that the electronics communications to the central computer (9, 11) is already available to build into the lottery machine, since they are identical to those installed in the fare card machines 52. In addition, a lot more data storage capability exists on the “go card”, and the passenger does not have to enter an identification number, since one has been assigned to his card and his identity/address has been obtained at card purchase time. The passenger simply enters his lottery wager amount via the functions on the lottery machine, and his “ticket” is electronically registered in the central computer. A receipt is optional, and can be provided to prevent fraud if the card is lost prior to wagering.
For the “go card” system, the existing card data stays “all-digital”, and thus no A-to-D converters are necessary for input of existing fare card value, but only for sensing and adding of funds. Also, the “go card” has an identification number stored in its memory, so no lottery player identification input is necessary. It is possible to include this entire process into the normal fare card machines, but this could slow down the system by causing “bottlenecks” at machines caused by passengers deciding how to wager. Tests would be necessary to determine if the money saved by using a single machine outweighed the inconvenience to passengers.
Fare card machines for mass transit systems are described in the literature and patents of the Cubic Corporation Automatic Revenue Collection Group of San Diego, Calif.:
- PCT/US/92/08892 “Non Contact Fare Card”
- U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,684 March 1997 Kelly “Mass Transit Inductive Data Communications”.
- Other patents include:
- U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,124 May 1971 Flum “Automatic Fare Collecting System”
- U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,933 February 1976 Tanaka “Automatic Article Vending Machine”
- U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,042 November 1981 Oldenkamp “Magnetic Stripe Card Author”
- U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,416 July 1985 Bernstein “Transaction Terminal With Simplified Data Entry”. Slot machine technology is described in the following documents, including those assigned to current manufacturers—WMS Gaming Corporation and predecessor Bally Corporation:
- U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,465 October 1995 Durham “Method To Determine Payoffs In Reel-Type Slot Machines”
- U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,555 April 1993 Hamano “Electronic Gaming Machine”.
- U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,600 March 1987 “Video Slot Machine”.
Claims
1. A system to increase revenues paid to commercial product corporations by addition of electronic lottery processes and operations, which may collect additional revenues from customers for said lottery operations, above and beyond those paid for normal products or services, said invoices selected from the group of: tickets, credit card receipts, credit card bills, comprising:
- means for electronically identifying and redeeming customer invoices which contain modifications provided for additional wager and customer identification information for lottery to provide predetermined payouts to winning lottery customers;
- means to collect said additional revenues from customers of said lottery operations;
- means to ensure the security and integrity of said lottery processes and operations to prevent fraudulent use of invoicing media to obtain said payouts of lottery funds;
- wherein said commercial products corporations consist of large consumer retail corporations;
- and wherein the means for electronically identifying and redeeming customer invoices is chosen from the following group:
- a.) existing cash registers which add an additional marking to receipts at point of purchase;
- b.) existing receipts mailed from commercial corporations or financial institutions with said lottery payouts.
2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said commercial product corporations are consumer retail chains with cash register networks, which employ magnetic strip/manual entry credit card order machines, adapted to accept additional lottery funds by recording said funds and marking said credit card receipts for further processing to determine total funds available for payout to operate said lottery processes.
3. A system according to claim 1 where said commercial product corporations operate a large Internet marketing service which is adapted to accept additional lottery funds by marking said customer invoices with the value of said additional funds and an identification code of the customer, to operate said lottery processes; and
- wherein means for electronically identifying and redeeming customer invoices consists of adapting said marketing systems to add to the customer on-line bill the amount chosen for lottery processes, which is equivalent to use of the existing system for recording an additional purchase of merchandise, in this case the lottery option; and
- said means of redeeming includes mailing the invoice or electronic crediting of said customer's account.
4. A system according to claim 1 where the commercial product corporations are parking lots, theaters, and sports arenas and the invoices are the tickets sold at these venues, along with additional information written on the ticket to identify the amount of lottery funds added; and
- where the means for redeeming the customer invoice includes mailing the invoice or the use of an electronic ticket redemption machine.
5. A system according to claim 1 wherein said corporations include government-funded organizations.
6. A system according to claim 5 wherein said government-funded organizations include parking lots, sports arenas, theaters, and cultural organizations and the invoices are the tickets sold at these venues, along with additional information written on the ticket to identify the amount of lottery funds added: and
- where the means form redeeming the customer invoice includes mailing the invoice or the use of an electronic ticket redemption machine.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 28, 2005
Publication Date: May 18, 2006
Inventor: Neil Schoen (Gaithersburg, MD)
Application Number: 11/287,453
International Classification: A63F 9/24 (20060101);