System for marketing leisure activity services through prepaid tickets
First Claim
1. A method for provision of prepaid services, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing service specific tickets, each ticket possessing a substantially unique product identifier and representing an initial value to be remitted for use of a desired service, each said ticket to be valid for incremental quantity of services at any one of a plurality of service providers;
(b) upon purchase of a ticket by a customer, activating said ticket by a seller thereof, said activating including validation of the unique product identifier of the ticket; and
(c) enabling a variable rate redemption of the ticket for service provided by one of the plurality of service providers, by;
allowing a ticket-holder to select one of the service providers among the plurality of service providers for redemption in exchange for a unit use of a desired service from said selected service provider;
upon presentation of the ticket by the ticket-holder to the selected service provider, debiting a price set by the selected service provider for the desired service, wherein price debited for said service by at least certain of said service providers being able to be different from price debited by others of said service providers for the same said service, such that the ticket is redeemable at a variable rate among the plurality of service providers for said same service; and
effecting payment at the price debited for said service by said selected service provider.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One-time-use tickets containing a unique identification code that allow for prepayment of entertainment or personal services are distributed and sold. When a ticket is sold, it is activated by the seller notifying a ticket information manager of its sale, at which time the ticket'"'"'s unique identification code is recorded by the ticket information manager. Part of the sale price is transferred by the vendor to an account maintained by a ticketing program manager. Ticket-holders present the ticket for redemption of the particular service from an agreed service provider. The service provider verifies the ticket'"'"'s validity by checking with the ticket information manager that the ticket'"'"'s unique identification code is valid and that the ticket has been activated. While the purchase price of the ticket is fixed, service providers will receive their agreed payment price from the ticketing program manager'"'"'s account when a ticket user redeems a ticket regardless of whether that price is higher or lower than the ticket purchase price.
22 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for provision of prepaid services, comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing service specific tickets, each ticket possessing a substantially unique product identifier and representing an initial value to be remitted for use of a desired service, each said ticket to be valid for incremental quantity of services at any one of a plurality of service providers;
(b) upon purchase of a ticket by a customer, activating said ticket by a seller thereof, said activating including validation of the unique product identifier of the ticket; and
(c) enabling a variable rate redemption of the ticket for service provided by one of the plurality of service providers, by;
allowing a ticket-holder to select one of the service providers among the plurality of service providers for redemption in exchange for a unit use of a desired service from said selected service provider;
upon presentation of the ticket by the ticket-holder to the selected service provider, debiting a price set by the selected service provider for the desired service, wherein price debited for said service by at least certain of said service providers being able to be different from price debited by others of said service providers for the same said service, such that the ticket is redeemable at a variable rate among the plurality of service providers for said same service; and
effecting payment at the price debited for said service by said selected service provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A prepaid services account management system, comprising:
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(a) means for providing and validating service specific tickets usable in a merchant payment network, each ticket having a respective unique product identifier and an initial value remittable for use of a desired service, different tickets being redeemable for different services and ticket validation being based on at least respective unique product identifiers;
(b) inclusion listing means for identifying among all service providers that are authorized participants in the merchant payment network, a subset of participants that are authorized service providers for at least one service, wherein for tickets redeemable for a same service, each ticket is redeemable at a variable rate among the authorized service providers for said same service; and
(c) processor means for;
(i) communicating to the validating means the unique product identifier of a ticket received from a service provider, the processor means signaling refusal if the validating means indicates that the ticket is not properly redeemable as presented; and
(ii) crediting the service provider at a variable rate for redemption of the ticket for a respective service, wherein price debited for said service by at least certain of the service providers is different from price debited by others of said service providers for the same service, such that the ticket is redeemed at a variable rate among the plurality of service providers for said same service, wherein the service provider is selected by a ticket-holder among said subset of participants of the inclusion list. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification