The present disclosure relates to products having multi-purpose indicators and related systems that enable activation, validation, purchase, use, and/or redemption of such products by multiple different devices and systems.
Instant lottery tickets have substantial variations in the structures, configurations, and arrangements of the individual components of inventory control or identifying numbers for such instant lottery tickets. These variations occur on a jurisdictional basis and on a manufacturer basis. This wide variety of the structures, configurations, and arrangements of the individual components of the inventory control or identifying numbers for instant lottery tickets limits the types of systems that can be used to activate, validate, sell, manage, and redeem such instant lottery tickets.
Today, many instant lottery tickets have inventory control or identifying numbers in the form of two barcodes that are visible on the back of each ticket and include: a UPC (or EAN) barcode and a lottery specific barcode. Having a plurality of barcodes with their respective encapsulated data can require multiple barcode readings to capture the inherent data and results in more labor costs and potential errors. For example, the deciding which barcode to scan automatically increases the time of a transaction for an employee who is new to an organization.
In various embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a product including a substrate having a front surface and a back surface and a multi-purpose indicator on one of the front surface and the back surface. The multi-purpose indicator includes a product identifier indicator set, a barcode type indicator set, a specification version indicator set, a jurisdiction identifier indicator set, an UPC/EAN indicator set, a game/promotion number indicator set, a pulse number indicator set, a book number indicator set, a ticket number indicator set, and a check digits indicator set.
In various other embodiments, the present disclosure relates to an instant lottery ticket product including a substrate having a front surface and a back surface, the front surface of including a predefined scratch-off area, variable lottery game indicia printed on the predefined scratch-off area, a scratch-off-coating covering the variable lottery game indicia, and a multi-purpose indicator in a machine-readable format on the back surface of the substrate. The multi-purpose indicator includes a product identifier indicator set, a barcode type indicator set, a specification version indicator set, a jurisdiction identifier indicator set, an UPC/EAN indicator set, a game/promotion number indicator set, a pulse number indicator set, a book number indicator set, a ticket number indicator set, and a check digits indicator set.
In various other embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a product including a substrate having a front surface and a back surface, and a multi-purpose indicator on one of the front surface and the back surface. The multi-purpose indicator includes a product identifier indicator set, a barcode type indicator set, a specification version indicator set, a jurisdiction identifier indicator set, an UPC/EAN indicator set, a game/promotion number indicator set, a pulse number indicator set, a book number indicator set, a ticket number indicator set, and a check digits indicator set. For this product, one of the jurisdiction identifier indicator set, the game/promotion number indicator set, the book number indicator set, and the ticket number indicator set are not relevant to the product.
Additional features are described in, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.
In various embodiments, the present disclosure relates generally to products having multi-purpose indicators and related systems that enable activation, validation, purchase, use, and/or redemption of products by multiple different devices and systems. The multi-purpose indicators additionally eliminate the need to: either physically scan multiple codes (such as multiple barcodes) on such products using one system or scan one code (such as one barcode) on such products using multiple systems. In various embodiments, the products can be instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, gift cards, or other similar products.
For ease of understanding the present disclosure, instant lottery tickets are employed herein as a primary example of a product; however, it should be appreciated that the present disclosure is not meant to be limited by such examples. Additionally, for a better understanding of the present disclosure, example known products in the form of instant lottery tickets (and related instant lottery ticket books and instant lottery ticket systems) are first described herein.
Various known instant lottery tickets are single game instant lottery tickets. An example single game instant lottery ticket is illustrated in
Various known known instant lottery tickets are multi-game instant lottery tickets. One example multi-game instant lottery ticket is illustrated in
Instant lottery tickets are typically arranged during manufacture (which includes after complete printing) in instant lottery ticket books of a static quantity that typically varies by price point for storage, for organization, for sorting, for picking, and for shipping to instant lottery ticket seller (such as instant lottery ticket retailers). Examples of different instant lottery ticket books (not labeled) are shown in
Logistical tracking and activation of such instant lottery tickets are accomplished by grouping tickets together in books such as shown in
As further shown in
The validation file contains the validation codes for all instant lottery tickets for a lottery game. The validation codes provide pointers to the prize values (if any) of the instant lottery tickets on the instant lottery ticket system. The validation codes are inaccessible on un-played or unsold instant lottery tickets due to a portion of the code being covered by SOC. In some versions, the validation code is also embodied in a barcode hidden under the SOC such that it cannot be scanned until the instant lottery ticket is scratched to expose the barcode, and in other versions there is some validation file information in addition to the inventory control information in the ticket back barcode 102 in an encrypted format. Therefore, the security of the system is derived from the validation file being unassociated with the ship file as well as the physical un-played ticket's inventory control information. Both the ship and validation files are generated by the ticket manufacturer before the tickets are shipped to a lottery. Lottery logistical and validation systems require the ship and validation files to be loaded on the lottery system prior to instant tickets being shipped to retailers and placed on sale. Once loaded onto the system, the basic validation file typically cannot be altered (other than flagged additions—e.g., redeemed, stolen, etc.) thereby ensuring the integrity of the instant ticket game and its predetermined payout.
One issue with the above-described lottery system and instant lottery tickets is that there are substantial variations in the structures, configurations, and arrangements of the individual components of the inventory control numbers and barcodes for such instant lottery tickets. These variations most often occur on a jurisdictional basis and can occur on a manufacturer basis. This wide variety of the structures, configurations, and arrangements of the individual components of the inventory control numbers and barcodes for instant lottery tickets limits the types of systems that can be used to activate, validate, sell, use, and redeem such instant lottery tickets. For example, the above-described example instant lottery ticket books must be activated by dedicated lottery terminals prior to sale of any of the instant lottery tickets in such instant lottery ticket books. This limits the locations that such instant lottery tickets can be sold to the locations that have specific lottery terminals.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide products (such as instant lottery tickets) with multi-purpose indicators that have a more unified universal structure, configuration, and/or arrangement for a variety of different products (such as but not limited to for instant lottery tickets) that enable the products (such as instant lottery tickets) to be tracked and sold using a wider variety of different systems such as but not limited to distributor tacking systems and retailer or wholesaler point of sale (“POS”) systems. This substantially expands the locations that such different products (such as instant lottery tickets) can be sold, redeemed, and otherwise employed.
More specifically,
As mentioned above, the product can be an instant lottery ticket, a pull-tab, a coupon, or a gift card. In the example embodiments of
In this example embodiment, the first indicator set is a product identifier indicator set. In this example, the product identifier indicator set represents an identification of one of a plurality of different products such as an instant lottery ticket, a coupon, a gift card, or a pull-tab. In this example, the product identifier indicator set includes a single product identifier indicator. The product identifier indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily determine the type of product being processed. Based on this identification of the product type, the system processing the product can easily determine which of the respective indicator sets (described below) are relevant or more relevant for that specific product type. For example, certain of the indicator sets are relevant for an instant lottery ticket but not relevant for a coupon. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the second indicator set is a barcode type indicator set. In this example, the barcode type indicator set represents one of a plurality of different types of codes such as a sales code, a redemption code (or a portion thereof), or a not applicable code. In this example, the barcode type indicator set includes a single barcode type indicator. The barcode type indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily identify or determine the high-level transaction that needs to be performed. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the third indicator set is a specification version indicator set. In this example, the specification version indicator set represents one of a plurality of different types of versions of the multi-purpose indicator. It should be appreciated that other versions of the multi-purpose indicator can be implemented. This indicator will thus enable different systems to determine which version of the multi-purpose indicator is being employed and interpret the data correctly based on the specific version of the multi-purpose indicator. In this example, the specification version indicator set includes two specification indicators. The specification version indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily identify or determine how the data in this multi-purpose indicator should be processed. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the fourth indicator set is a jurisdiction identifier (ID) indicator set. In this example, the jurisdiction identifier indicator set represents one of a plurality of different jurisdictions (such a one of a plurality of states or a plurality of different countries) from which the product originated or was first sold or distributed. In this example, the jurisdiction identifier indicator set includes three jurisdiction identifier indicators. In this example, states are the different jurisdictions, and each different state has a different indicator (e.g., 021=Texas). The jurisdiction identifier indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily identify or determine the jurisdiction from which the product first originated or was first sold or distributed. This jurisdiction indicator can be used by the processing system to know where to send the information contained in the multi-purpose indicator. The present disclosure contemplates that multi-jurisdictional products such as instant lottery tickets have unique jurisdiction identifiers. It should be appreciated that the quantity of indicators of this jurisdictional indicator can be increased if the actual quantity of jurisdictions for any one product extends beyond 999 jurisdictions. This indicator set is relevant for instant lottery tickets and pull-tabs and may be relevant for coupons and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the fifth indicator set is a UPC/EAN indicator set. In this example, the UPC/EAN indicator set represents one of a plurality of different instant ticket games. In this example, the UPC/EAN indicator set includes thirteen UPC/EAN identifier indicators. The UPC/EAN indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily determine the cost or price of the product such as the cost or price of the instant lottery ticket (similar to a price lookup for other goods). An example UPC/EAN indicator set is 817522023673 that represents a Texas Cash Spectacular ticket from game #2367. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
It should be appreciated that for recording retail sales the two primary barcode formats used are UPC and EAN. UPC stands for Universal Product Code (aka: UPC-A) and EAN stands for European Article Number (aka: EAN-13 or International Article Number). The UPC format is used primarily in the United States and Canada, and the EAN format is primarily used elsewhere around the world. The UPC format is 12 digits and the EAN format is 13 digits. The UPC was the original format for product barcodes in the 1970s. As demand for barcodes in Europe, Asia, and Australia grew, country codes were added to the front of the barcode number increasing the number of digits to 13 digits (which is why the EAN barcode includes one additional digit). The United States and Canada have a country code of zero that is not printed as part of the barcode nor is it entered in US and Canadian POS systems. Thus, a 12-digit UPC code can be converted to a 13-digit EAN by adding the country code of 0 to the beginning of the code. The fifth indicator set of the multi-purpose indicator of this example embodiment thus includes thirteen digits to account for both of these different types of codes.
In this example embodiment, the sixth indicator set is a game/promotion number indicator set. In this example, the game/promotion number indicator set represents one of a plurality of different games or promotions that identify one product from another product (such as one instant lottery ticket game or coupon from another instant lottery game or coupon). In this example, the game/promotion number identifier indicator set includes five game number indicators. In this example, the game number is 00236. The game/promotion number indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or coupon) to quickly and easily determine the game or promotion of or associated with the product. This indicator set is relevant for instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, and coupons. This indicator can also be used to identify one gift card from another gift card in terms of product/company or financial value.
In this example embodiment, the seventh indicator set is a pulse number indicator set. Pulse used to describe the same physical item that has a different look. For example, in the instant lottery ticket industry, it would be used to describe a game where the first third of the total quantity of tickets in the game have one graphic appearance and the second and third portions of the tickets in the game have a different look. While tickets from each portion of the game would look different, the play symbols, prizes, and underlying prize structure for the game are consistent throughout all of the tickets in the game. Producing a game using different pluses makes tickets from the second or third pulse appear to be a new printing of tickets. For the gift card industry, a pulse can be used to identify different gift cards of the same value for a specific retail company or brand that have a different graphic appearance such as a “Happy Birthday” graphic, a “Happy Graduation” graphic, or a “Thank You!” graphic.
In this example, the pulse number indicator set represents one of a plurality of different pulses that the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) can be for or associated with. In this example, the pulse number identifier indicator set includes two pulse number indicators. In this example, the pulse number is 01. The pulse number indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily identify or determine the specific pulse associated with a specific instant lottery ticket. This indicator set is relevant for instant tickets and can be relevant for coupons, pull-tabs, gift cards, and other products.
In this example embodiment, the eighth indicator set is a pack number indicator set. In some jurisdictions the word “book” is used interchangeably with pack to identify a specific grouping of instant tickets within an instant ticket game from another specific grouping of instant tickets in the same instant ticket game. In this example, the book number indicator set represents one of a plurality of different books that the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) can be part of (e.g., different book units of the product). In this example, the book number indicator set includes seven book number indicators. In this example, the book number is 0123456. The book number indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) to quickly and easily determine the book that the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) is part of. It enables a system to process a group of instant tickets as an “entity” rather than having to process each individual ticket in the book separately. This indicator set is relevant for instant lottery tickets and pull-tabs and may be relevant for coupons and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the ninth indicator set is a ticket number indicator set. In this example, the ticket number indicator set represents one of a plurality of different products (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) of the identified book. In this example, the ticket number indicator set includes three ticket number indicators. In this example, the ticket number is 003. The ticket number indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) to quickly and easily determine the product (such as the instant lottery ticket or unit) of the identified book. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
In this example embodiment, the tenth indicator set is a check digits indicator set. In this example, the check digits indicator set represents the results of a mathematical calculation that confirms the validity of all or a portion of the data of the indicator sets. In this example, the check digits indicator set includes two check digit indicators. The check digits indicator set enables the system processing the product (such as the instant lottery ticket) to quickly and easily verify the data of the rest of the indicators or indicator sets of the multi-purpose indicator. The check digits indicator set can be determined in any suitable manner based on the prior 37 indicators in the prior nine indicator sets. This indicator set is relevant for all products including instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift cards.
The multi-purpose indicators on the substrate of the products enables individual products such as individual instant lottery tickets to be activated or validated or books of products to be activated or processed using a wider variety of different systems such as but not limited to distributor systems, retailer or wholesaler POS systems, and other similar systems, which substantially expands the locations that such products such as instant lottery tickets, pull-tabs, coupons, and gift card can be activated, validated, sold, used, redeemed, and otherwise employed. For example, the multi-purpose indicators on the substrates of the instant lottery tickets enable the instant lottery tickets to be activated, sold, and redeemed at grocery store check-out lanes having POS systems. Likewise, the multi-purpose indicators on the substrates of gift cards enable the gift cards to be activated, sold, and redeemed at lottery ticket terminals.
In various embodiments, the individual stations of the POS systems can either locally interpret or parse the multi-purpose indicators on such products or can send the obtained data strings from the multi-purpose indicators to a central server where the central server interprets or parses the data string and sends back instructions signal to the individual stations. For example, a retail chain's POS system can record a transaction in chain's POS system and parse and send certain indicator data to a lottery system or a gift-card activation system. Because the multi-purpose indicators are contained in a single barcode, a retail clerk only needs to scan a single barcode to provide the processing system with all the information that would previously be present in at least two barcodes.
Employing products (such as instant lottery tickets) with the multi-purpose indicators of the present disclosure enables the above-described example instant lottery tickets that are provided in books that previously needed to be activated on the book level as described above to be activated on the ticket level such as by POS systems communicating with a lottery system. This is because the multi-purpose indicator enables a retail POS system to identify the item, determine it is an instant ticket (in this case) and to send the appropriate information to the appropriate lottery system since one of the multiple indicators identifies the jurisdiction.
Employing products (such as instant lottery tickets) with the multi-purpose indicators of the present disclosure enables the above-described example instant lottery tickets to be validated and redeemed on the ticket level such as by POS systems. The multi-purpose indicator (such as in the form of a barcode) enables a retail clerk to be able to scan the indicator such (as the barcode) to enable the system to determine based upon the data in the indicator (such as the barcode) that addition data found in the play area under the scratch-off coating must be entered into the POS system to provide all the information necessary to validate a ticket.
The multi-purpose indicators are readable by multiple different systems such as, but not limited to, POS systems (and particularly by flat scanners and/or handheld barcode readers of such systems), lottery terminals (such as by via handheld barcode readers and/or built-in barcode readers), and warehouse or manufacturing facility scanners (such as barcode scanners). In various embodiments, the systems such as the POS systems can read (such as by scanning) the multi-purpose indicator of a product and parse the different indicator sets to determine the relevant information needed for processing that specific type of product to perform a specific activity). In various embodiments, the systems such as the POS systems will also use certain of the indicator sets (such as the first product identifier indicator set, the fifth indicator set, and the tenth check digits indicator set) and will selectively use other of the indicator sets based on the first product identifier indicator set that identifies the specific type of product.
Turning now to
It should be appreciated from the above that various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a product including a substrate having a front surface and a back surface, and a multi-purpose indicator on one of the front surface and the back surface, the multi-purpose indicator comprising: a product identifier indicator set, a barcode type indicator set, a specification version indicator set, a jurisdiction identifier indicator set, an UPC/EAN indicator set, a game/promotion number indicator set, a pulse number indicator set, a book number indicator set, a ticket number indicator set, and a check digits indicator set. In various such embodiments, depending on the specific type of the product (i.e., depending on whether the product is an instant lottery ticket, a gift card, a coupon, or a pull-tab) one or more of the jurisdiction identifier indicator set, the UPC/EAN indicator set, the game/promotion number indicator set, the pulse number indicator set, the book number indicator set, and the ticket number indicator set can be not relevant to the product. In other words, even though multi-purpose indicator for a product will include all of these sets, one or more of these can sets can be irrelevant for that specific product. For example, for an instant lottery ticket, the pulse number indicator set may not be relevant to the specific instant lottery ticket. For example, for a coupon, the book number indicator set may not be relevant to the coupon. For example, for a gift card, the jurisdiction indicator set, or the pulse number indicator set may not be relevant to the gift card.
It should be appreciated that various embodiments the multi-purpose indicator (such as the barcode) enables instant lottery ticket validation. Typically, all or a portion of the information required to enable an instant ticket to be verified as a winning instant ticket (i.e., validated) is printed on the front surface of the lottery ticket and is covered with the SOC coating to protect the integrity of the information. Lotteries typically require that this information to stay hidden under the SOC until a person buys the ticket and plays the game. This information is typically printed in the form of a barcode and a portion can be printed in a human-readable form. Once the player has removed the relevant portion of the SOC from the lottery ticket to play the game, the player may expose the validation barcode to enable verification in a lottery ticket checking device, a mobile phone with a specific application, or to facilitate validation by a retail clerk.
Configuring this information with other indicators as described above as part of a multi-purpose indicator (such as a barcode) increases the quantity of locations that can be authorized to provide pay-outs for winning lottery tickets on behalf of a lottery. This eliminates the need for the transaction to occur using a dedicated lottery terminal. For example, this can enable a winning instant ticket to be validated in a checkout lane at a grocery store rather than being limited to a service desk where the lottery terminal is located at such a store.
In this example embodiment, the first, second, third, and fourth identifier indicator sets are the same as the above-described identifier indicator sets and are thus not described herein for brevity except that the UPC identifier indicator set in this example does not includes a check digit.
In this example embodiment, the fifth identifier indicator set is a PAN/VAN identifier indicator set. In this example, the PAN/VAN identifier indicator set represents a primary account number/virtual account number used to uniquely identify an account and also provide data for routing of transactions associated with that account. In this gift card example, the PAN/VAN indicator set includes nineteen PAN/VAN identifier indicators. The 19 digits include an 8-9-digit IIN (issuer identification number), followed by a unique 9-10-digit account number, and then a single check digit. The PAN/VAN identifier indicator set enables the system processing the gift card to quickly and easily identify or determine the gift card and the source of the gift card. It should be appreciated that the quantity of identifier indicators of this PAN/VAN identifier indicator set can be increased if needed.
In this example embodiment, the first, second, and third indicator sets are the same as the above-described indicator sets and are thus not described herein for brevity.
In this example embodiment, the fourth indicator set is a manufacturer indicator set. In this example, the manufacturer indicator set represents one of a plurality of different manufacturers from which the coupon originated. In this example, the manufacturer indicator set includes seven manufacturer identifier indicators. The manufacturer identifier indicator set enables the system processing the coupon to quickly and easily identify or determine the manufacturer from which the coupon first originated or was first sold or distributed. This manufacturer indicator can be used by the processing system to know where to send the information contained in the multi-purpose indicator. It should be appreciated that the quantity of indicators of this manufacturer indicator can be increased if the actual quantity of manufacturers extends beyond 9,999,999 manufacturers. In this example embodiment, the fifth indicator set is a product indicator set. In this example, the product indicator set represents one of a plurality of different products which the coupon is for. In this example, the product indicator set includes six product identifier indicators. The product indicator set enables the system processing the coupon to quickly and easily determine the identification of the product that the coupon is associated with.
Various changes and modifications to the present embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended technical scope. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.