SYSTEM FOR ACCEPTING VALUE FROM CLOSED GROUPS
First Claim
1. A system for facilitating a sequence of events, each event comprising a multiplicity of purchases made by a large, a priori known population, specific to that event, during a short, a priori known time interval at a known site, the population specific to an individual event comprising a multiplicity of a priori known users, the system comprising:
- an on-site event attendee data bank recording an ID and a pre-paid balance value for each individual user within the multiplicity of known users expected to attend an individual event;
a data bank loader operative to set up for each individual event by loading into the event attendee data bank, IDs and pre-paid balance values, for users expected to attend said individual event;
a multiplicity of portable receptacles issued to the multiplicity of known users respectively, each individual receptacle storing a user ID and a pre-paid balance value for a corresponding individual one of the known users;
a first plurality of e-cash filling stations incrementing the pre-paid balance values of individual users in the on-site data bank, to reflect pre-payments made thereby; and
a second plurality of mobile service provider workstations operative to read individual ones of said multiplicity of portable receptacles, to access the on-site data bank according to the user ID of each individual portable receptacle, to enter into a transaction having a value with an individual user if the user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value accessed from the on-site data bank is positive, and to decrement the transaction'"'"'s value from the individual user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value in the on-site data bank.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for facilitating a sequence of events each comprising a multiplicity of purchases made by known users, the system comprising an on-site data bank recording an ID and a pre-paid balance value for each user expected to attend, a loader operative to set up for each event by loading into the data bank, IDs and pre-paid balance values, for users expected to attend, portable receptacles issued to each user and storing his ID and balance, e-cash filling stations incrementing the balance in the data bank, to reflect pre-payments made thereby, and mobile service provider workstations operative to read portable receptacles, to access the data bank according to the user ID of each portable receptacle, to enter into a transaction with a user if his balance accessed from the data bank is positive, and to decrement the transaction'"'"'s value from his balance in the data bank.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system for facilitating a sequence of events, each event comprising a multiplicity of purchases made by a large, a priori known population, specific to that event, during a short, a priori known time interval at a known site, the population specific to an individual event comprising a multiplicity of a priori known users, the system comprising:
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an on-site event attendee data bank recording an ID and a pre-paid balance value for each individual user within the multiplicity of known users expected to attend an individual event; a data bank loader operative to set up for each individual event by loading into the event attendee data bank, IDs and pre-paid balance values, for users expected to attend said individual event; a multiplicity of portable receptacles issued to the multiplicity of known users respectively, each individual receptacle storing a user ID and a pre-paid balance value for a corresponding individual one of the known users; a first plurality of e-cash filling stations incrementing the pre-paid balance values of individual users in the on-site data bank, to reflect pre-payments made thereby; and a second plurality of mobile service provider workstations operative to read individual ones of said multiplicity of portable receptacles, to access the on-site data bank according to the user ID of each individual portable receptacle, to enter into a transaction having a value with an individual user if the user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value accessed from the on-site data bank is positive, and to decrement the transaction'"'"'s value from the individual user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value in the on-site data bank. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18)
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7. A system for managing a consumer group comprising a multiplicity of consumers, the system comprising:
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a multiplicity of membership cards borne by the multiplicity of consumers, wherein at least some of said multiplicity of membership cards includes a pre-paid payment scheme; and a membership managing functionality for interacting with said multiplicity of membership cards including functionality for managing said pre-paid payment scheme. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. An electronic members'"'"' purchasing system enabling a population of members to effect purchases, the system comprising:
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a multiplicity of vouchers each bearing a unique voucher ID; a plurality of communication devices each including an interface for receiving said voucher IDs, the plurality of communication devices being respectively associated with a plurality of electronic accounts; a plurality of membership cards associated with the plurality of electronic accounts respectively; and a voucher management functionality operative to store a plurality of account balances corresponding to said plurality of electronic accounts, to receive a voucher ID from an individual one of said plurality of communication devices, to decrement a corresponding one of said accounts to reflect sale information; and
to provide account balance information upon presentation of a relevant membership card. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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19. A computer-controlled process for facilitating a sequence of events, each event comprising a multiplicity of purchases made by a large, a priori known population, specific to that event, during a short, a priori known time interval at a known site, the population specific to an individual event comprising a multiplicity of a priori known users, the system comprising:
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at an on-site event attendee data bank, recording an ID and a pre-paid balance value for each individual user within the multiplicity of known users expected to attend an individual event; setting up for each individual event by loading into the event attendee data bank, IDs and pre-paid balance values, for users expected to attend said individual event; issuing a multiplicity of portable receptacles to the multiplicity of known users respectively, each individual receptacle storing a user ID and a pre-paid balance value for a corresponding individual one of the known users; using a first plurality of e-cash filling stations to increment the pre-paid balance values of individual users in the on-site data bank, to reflect pre-payments made thereby; and at a second plurality of mobile service provider workstations operative to read individual ones of said multiplicity of portable receptacles, accessing the on-site data bank according to the user ID of each individual portable receptacle, to enter into a transaction having a value with an individual user if the user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value accessed from the on-site data bank is positive, and to decrement the transaction'"'"'s value from the individual user'"'"'s pre-paid balance value in the on-site data bank.
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Specification