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  Method and apparatus for conducting or facilitating a promotionUSPTO Application #: 20060229945Title: Method and apparatus for conducting or facilitating a promotion Abstract: A method and apparatus for conducting a promotion and for distributing promotions to potential users provide a merchant or promotion organizer flexibility in the way they conduct the promotion as well as an ability to change one or more aspects of the promotion during the operation of the promotion. One or more outcomes are generated by a controller and provided to a user. In addition, one or more codes which allow the outcomes to be revealed or unlocked are generated by the controller and provided to an intermediary. In exchange for completing or satisfying a qualifying action or criteria, the user may receive a code from the intermediary. The user can then unlock an outcome to reveal a prize, benefit, symbol, value, etc., associated with the unlocked outcome. The user may provide a redemption request to either the controller or the intermediary based on the unlocked outcome to receive a benefit or prize associated with the unlocked outcome. (end of abstract)
Agent: Walker Digital - Stamford, CT, US Inventors: Jay S. Walker, Geoffrey M. Gelman, James A. Jorasch, Peter Kim, Timothy A. Palmer, Keith Bemer, Andrew P. Golden, Scott B. Allison USPTO Applicaton #: 20060229945 - Class: 705014000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, Or Cost/price Determination, Automated Electrical Financial Or Business Practice Or Management Arrangement, Distribution Or Redemption Of Coupon, Or Incentive Or Promotion Program The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060229945. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for conducting a promotion and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for distributing promotions to potential participants and for allowing the promotion participants to receive benefits associated with the promotions. [0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0004] Merchants and manufacturers often use promotions to entice people to try or purchase products, shop or conduct transactions in certain stores, or to make people aware of products, store locations, sales, etc. Unfortunately, many such promotions suffer from a number of drawbacks. For example, promotions for which paper coupons, flyers, invitations, promotion entry forms, promotion rules, etc., must be printed may incur significant printing and distribution costs. Furthermore, knowing how many paper coupons, flyers, invitations, promotion entry forms, promotion rules, etc., to print may be difficult to predict, thereby often causing a merchant or manufacturer conducting the promotion to print too many or too few of the necessary items. [0005] Additional problems for print based promotions may result when a merchant or manufacturer conducting the promotion desires to change a rule, benefit, prize, entry criteria, redemption criteria, or other aspect of the promotion once the promotion has started, or at least after the merchant or manufacturer has printed or distributed the printed items necessary for the promotion. Merchants and manufacturers may desire to change one or more aspects of a promotion while the promotion is on-going so as to encourage more people to participate in the promotion, to correct or change any inconsistencies or errors in the promotion or promotion related materials, etc. [0006] Many promotions are based on a randomized distribution of prizes among promotion tickets or coupons. That is, a person may be given or sold one or more coupons or coupon numbers. If the person's coupon or coupon number is deemed to be a "winning" coupon, the person may win a prize associated with the winning coupon. For example, a classic lottery allows a person to pick or receive a set of numbers associated with a lottery ticket. If the person's numbers are chosen, the person generally wins a monetary prize. Such a lottery promotion is typically conducted by a government regulated lottery organization, which contracts with merchants to sell lottery tickets to consumers. The merchants have little control over the price of the lottery tickets, the prizes or benefits associated with winning lottery tickets, the advertising of the lottery promotion, or any conditions that a consumer must satisfy before purchasing a lottery ticket. Therefore, merchants have little ability to tailor such promotions to their products or market niches, customer demographics, inventory levels, etc. [0007] Thus, despite the state of the art methods and systems for conducting lotteries and other promotions, there remains a need for a method and apparatus for conducting a promotion that overcomes the problems associated with print oriented promotions while providing a merchant or promotion organizer flexibility in the operation of the promotion as well as the ability to change one or more aspects of the promotion during the operation of the promotion. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for conducting or enabling a promotion and to provide a method and apparatus for distributing promotions or portions of promotions to potential users. The method and apparatus of the present invention provides a merchant or promotion organizer flexibility in the way they conduct or operate the promotion as well as an ability to change one or more aspects of the promotion during the operation of the promotion. Such benefits can be achieved while reducing, or even eliminating in some cases, the costs and other shortcomings associated with print based promotions. [0009] Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention shall be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The objects and the advantages may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. [0010] To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method for conducting a promotion includes generating an outcome, generating an unlock code associated with the outcome, providing an indication of the outcome, providing an indication of the unlock code, and providing an indication of a benefit associated with the outcome. In general, when created, an outcome is "locked" or otherwise hidden or covered so that any prize, value, symbol or other benefit associated with the outcome may only be viewed, displayed or otherwise determined after the outcome is "unlocked" or otherwise revealed with an unlock code. [0011] Outcomes and/or unlock codes may be generated and/or provided by a controller or other central source. The controller or central source may be operated by, for or on behalf of a lottery organization or other organization desiring to operate or conduct a promotion. [0012] Either or both of an outcome and an unlock code may be provided to a user, user device, intermediary and/or intermediary device. Typically, an intermediary may be, include, or function on behalf of a merchant, a group of merchants (e.g., a shopping mall), a franchisee, etc. that desires to operate a promotion or participate in a promotion. In some embodiments, a controller may provide an outcome to a user or user device and an unlock code capable of unlocking the outcome to an intermediary or intermediary device, or vice versa. The user may then receive the unlock code for the outcome from the intermediary or intermediary device. [0013] In some embodiments, a qualifying action may be associated with either the outcome or the unlock code. The benefit associated with the outcome may not be provided until after the qualifying action is completed. Completion or satisfaction of the qualifying action may need to be verified in some embodiments or implementations. In other embodiments, the outcome, unlock code, benefit and/or qualifying action may have an expiration date associated with them or they may otherwise be terminated from further use. [0014] After a user or user device unlocks an outcome, the user or user device may provide a redemption request or other indication to the controller. The redemption request may inform the controller of the unlocking of the outcome, request that the user be provided with a benefit (e.g., a free dinner at a restaurant, a discount coupon, a car, five hundred dollars, a free lottery ticket, a free outcome, a free unlock code, a cruise, etc.) associated with the outcome, request another outcome or unlock code, etc. In some embodiments, an intermediary or intermediary device may provide the redemption request. [0015] There may be a one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relationship between outcomes and unlock codes. Thus, an outcome may be unlockable by one and only one unlock code or by many unlock codes. In addition, an unlock code may be able to unlock only one outcome or many outcomes. In some embodiments, an unlock code may be capable of unlocking many outcomes, but the unlock code may not be reused after it is used to unlock a first one of the many outcomes. [0016] To further achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a system for conducting a promotion includes a memory, a communication port, and a processor connected to the memory and the communication port, said processor being operative to generate an outcome, generate an unlock code associated with the outcome, provide an indication of the outcome, provide an indication of the unlock code; and provide an indication of a benefit associated with the outcome. [0017] Also to achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a computer readable medium for use in a promotion system, the computer readable medium storing a computer program including computer readable means for producing an outcome, computer readable means for producing a reveal code associated with the outcome, computer readable means for sending an indication of the outcome, computer readable means for sending an indication of the reveal code, and computer readable means for sending an indication of a benefit associated with the outcome. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0018] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the descriptions serve to explain the principles of the invention. [0019] In the Drawings: [0020] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of system components for an embodiment of an apparatus usable with the method of the present invention; [0021] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with the present invention as conducted by the controller of FIG. 1; Continue reading... Full patent description for Method and apparatus for conducting or facilitating a promotion Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method and apparatus for conducting or facilitating a promotion patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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