Patent Application
20050061889
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to financial presentation instruments. More particularly, the present invention relates to financial presentation instruments with an integrated holder as well as methods and systems for displaying and packaging such instruments, preferably stored value, gift, or other pre-paid debit cards.
Stored value, gift, or other pre-paid metered accounts associated with debits cards are well-known for providing access to goods and services. For example, stored value or gift cards may be purchased from various merchants such as Target®, Wal-Mart®, Starbucks®, Sears®, Blockbuster®, and the like. Pre-paid debit cards are also frequently purchased for telephone services. The purchase and usage of pre-paid debit cards has continued to increase in recent years to the point that the sale of pre-paid debit cards today is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Pre-paid debit cards are often printed and issued with a predetermined balance and typically then sold as a retail item. An example of such a card is a pre-paid gift card which provides an individual with a set dollar amount for the purchase of goods from a particular merchant. The account is accessed and debited by using an account number provided on the gift card. A problem experienced in the sale of such pre-paid debit cards is that merchants buying these cards are subsequently more exposed to loss through shrinkage and theft. As such, the merchant typically stores such pre-paid debit cards under lock and key until the moment the cards are purchased. This in turn prevents stocking of such cards on store shelves freely accessible by prospective purchasers and increases merchant handling time and expenses. In addition, the merchant must maintain inventory stock of different values of these pre-paid debit cards well in advance of when the debit cards are actually sold as a retail item, thus restricting working capitol.
With these problems in mind, merchants have begun to display non-activated (i.e., zero balance) debit cards. In this way, the merchant can readily provide unfettered access of such cards to prospective purchasers and reduce handling time and costs as theft is no longer a concern since the non-activated debit cards have no intrinsic value. Further, merchants no longer carry a large initial expenditure since the merchant activates the debit card with a balance representing an amount a consumer wishes to attribute to the debit card at the time the debit card is actually purchased by the consumer.
Typically, such zero balance debit cards are displayed and/or packaged for sale in a retail store by affixing the card to a card carrier. The card is typically affixed to the card carrier by adhesives or by inserting corners of the card into openings within the card carrier. Further, a hole may optionally be cut into the card carrier so that the card carrier may be hung on a display in a retail store. Such card packaging is often cumbersome in that the merchant has to first remove the card from the packaging in which the card is displayed in order to activate the card at the time the debit card is actually sold. Further, the card packaging increases the operating costs and reduces the efficiency for selling such debit cards and does not always provide for secure retention of the debit card.
For these and other reasons, there is a need in the art to provide improved apparatus, methods, and systems for displaying and packaging financial presentation instruments, particularly stored value, gift, or other pre-paid debit cards. In light of the fact that the consumer must have the card activated at the time the card is purchased, it is desirable to provide improved apparatus and methods in which the merchant is able to activate the card without having to first remove the card from packaging in which the card is displayed. It is further desirable to reduce the operating costs and increase the efficiency for displaying such zero balance debit cards. It is still further desirable to provide improved systems and methods for securely packaging the pre-paid debit card after it has been activated. These and other shortcomings in the prior art are addressed by the present invention.
2. Description of the Background Art
Card display packaging is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,720,158, 5,918,909, 5,921,584, and 6,543,809. Credit card like structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,168, 6,471,127, 6,588,658, D-396,882, D-429,733, D-436,991, and D-457,556; U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2002/0027837, 2002/0185543, and 2003/0010828; and Canadian Patent No. 2,300,241.
The full disclosures of the each of the above references are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments of the present invention provide improved apparatus, methods, and systems for displaying and packaging financial presentation instruments, particularly stored value, gift, or other pre-paid debit cards. In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for displaying a financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder is provided. The method comprises providing a data card having an information storage medium and an aperture therethrough. The storage medium is adapted to store a unique identifier. A display hook is also provided. The data card is then suspended from the display hook through the at least one aperture. Hence, the present invention advantageously allows for convenient displaying and easy access to the data card for activation at the time the card is purchased by a consumer. In particular, the integrated holder on the data card itself allows the merchant to simply activate the card after it has been displayed rather than having to first remove the card from conventional packaging. Further, the integrated holder on the data card decreases the operating costs and increases the efficiency for selling such debit cards as no additional materials, packaging, or carriers other than the data card itself are needed for the presentation and display of such debit cards.
As discussed above, the data card will generally comprise a stored value, gift, or other pre-paid debit card. However, it will be appreciated that the present invention may include conventional debit cards and credit cards, e.g., ATM cards, bank cards, VISA®, Mastercard®, American Express®, etc. The data cards may be activated to any desired amount a consumer wishes to attribute to the debit card. For example, the data cards may be activated to a denomination of $5, $10, $15, $20, $50, $100, or any other desired denomination. The information storage medium will generally comprises a magnetic stripe or bar code that is adapted to store a unique identifier so that the debit account may be properly accessed, activated, and/or debited. The information storage medium could also comprise radio frequency identification, computer chips, or other magnetic, radio frequency, or electronic storage media that may be readable by existing card reader technology, such as conventional point of sale (“POS”) terminals.
The data card may comprise a large variety of shapes and sizes. Typically, the data card has a rectangular shape having standard credit card dimensions of approximately 2⅛ inches high, 3{fraction (3/38)} inches long, ⅛ of an inch corner radius, and 0.75 mm thick. The data card may alternatively have a circular shape similar to a compact disc or a DVD. Still further, the data card may comprise any desired shape or size that is capable of providing a magnetic stripe and an aperture therethrough. Likewise, the aperture may comprise a large variety of shapes and sizes as well as any number of holes depending on how the data card is to be displayed and/or packaged. For example, the aperture may comprise a circular, J-peg, semi-circular, oval, rectangle, square, or polygonal shape. The data card may further comprise an additional aperture therethrough for 2, 3, 4, etc. holes. In such an instance, it may be desirable to further provide an additional display hook(s) to suspend the data card from the additional aperture(s). The data card aperture will generally be located on a top portion, side portion, and/or central portion of the data card.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder comprises a data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier. The card further has at least a pair of apertures therethrough for suspending the data card from a display hook.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder comprises a data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier. The card further has at least one J-peg shaped aperture therethrough for suspending the data card from a display hook.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder comprises a rectangular shaped data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier. The card further has at least one aperture therethrough for suspending the data card from a display hook. The at least one aperture is located on a central portion of the data card.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder comprises a circular shaped data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier. The card further has at least one centrally spaced aperture therethrough for suspending the data card from a display hook. The circular shaped data card has only one flat bottom edge. The information storage medium is located on the flat bottom edge of the data card.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder comprises a data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier. The card further has at least one rectangular shaped aperture therethrough for suspending the data card from a display hook.
A system for packaging the financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder in a card carrier is also provided. The system comprises a data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier and at least one aperture therethrough. A card carrier having at least one post thereon is also included. The at least one aperture is insertable onto that at least one post so that the data card is securely retained and completely encased by the card carrier. The card carrier may comprise a conventional compact disc or DVD holder. Alternatively, the card carrier may simply comprise a folded paper card or box. The at least one post will preferably comprise a centrally spaced raised button such as those found in standard compact disc or DVD cases. In such an instance, the post diameter will be approximately {fraction (5/8)} of an inch. The aperture correspondingly comprises a centrally spaced circular shape that has a diameter of approximately {fraction (5/8)} of an inch. However, it will be appreciated that the post may comprise any desired shape or size capable of receiving the at least one aperture. For instance, the at least one post may comprise a circular, J-peg, semi-circular, oval, rectangle, or polygonal raised shape.
A method for delivering a financial presentation instrument with an integrated holder is further provided. The method comprises providing a data card having an information storage medium that is adapted to store a unique identifier and at least one aperture therethrough. A card carrier having at least post thereon is further provided. The at least one aperture is inserted onto the at least one post so that the data card is securely retained and completely encased by the card carrier. Such packaging is generally implemented subsequent to data card activation.
These and other embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail in conjunction with the text below and attached figures.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the detailed description and claims when considered in connection with the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. The drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, illustratively depict embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The present invention generally provides improved financial presentation instruments with an integrated holder as well as methods and systems for displaying and packaging such instruments, preferably stored value, gift, or other pre-paid debit cards. In light of the fact that a consumer must have the card activated at the time the card is purchased, the present invention provides improved apparatus and methods in which an issuing merchant is able to easily activate the card after it has been displayed without having to first remove the card from conventional packaging. The improved apparatus and methods of the present invention further reduce operating costs and increase the efficiency for displaying such zero balance debit cards. The present invention further provides improved systems and methods for securely packaging the pre-paid debit card after activation.
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It will be appreciated that the data card may comprise a variety of shapes and sizes depending on how the data card is to be displayed and/or packaged and as such is not limited to conventional standard size credit cards. The data card may comprise any desired shape or size that is capable of providing a magnetic stripe and an aperture therethrough for suspension upon a display hook. The data card may comprise any rectangular, circular, semi-circular, oval, rectangle, square or polygonal shape. In some instances, the design of the card may be indicative of a merchants business. For example, the shape of the data card may be in the form of a store front, shoes, athletic equipment (i.e., football, baseball, tennis racket), food products (i.e., pizza, donuts), beverage products, cars, animals, cartoon characters, consumers goods, etc.
Although certain preferred embodiments and methods have been disclosed herein, it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure to those skilled in the art that variations, modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents of such embodiments and methods may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims.
