Financial certificates, system and process
First Claim
1. A process comprising:
- a first step whereby, at an initial point in time and at a first location, an individual obtains a value certificate in exchange for an initial amount of dollar funds;
the value certificate entitling the owner thereof to receive, at a subsequent point in time and at a second location, in exchange for his value certificate, either a pre-defined amount of dollar funds or a pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from among a pre-defined selection of goods and/or services;
the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services being defined as that amount of goods and/or services that could be purchased from the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services by the initial amount of dollar funds at the initial point in time;
the pre-defined amount of dollar funds being equal to the amount of dollar funds required, at the subsequent point in time, to purchase the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from among the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services; and
a second step whereby, at the subsequent point in time and at the second location, the owner of the value certificate does in fact exchange the value certificate either for the predefined amount of dollar funds or for the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A financial and/or a commercial enterprise, such as a mutual funds operator and/or a general merchandise/product sales establishment, prices its various financial and/or commercial goods in certain basic pricing units and sells uniquely coded certificates denominated in such pricing units; which pricing units are of such nature as to be substantially unaffected by inflation. Then, at any later time the holder of such a certificate is entitled to exchange this certificate for financial and/or commercial goods equivalent in total pricing units to the denomination specified on the certificate, regardless of any intervening changes in dollar pricing of the various items of financial and/or commercial goods. Since the purchaser of a certificate helps pay for the inventory of financial and/or commercial goods underlying the certificates, each holder of such a certificate periodically receives an interest payment in the form of a pre-established probabilistic chance to win additional certificates.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A process comprising:
-
a first step whereby, at an initial point in time and at a first location, an individual obtains a value certificate in exchange for an initial amount of dollar funds;
the value certificate entitling the owner thereof to receive, at a subsequent point in time and at a second location, in exchange for his value certificate, either a pre-defined amount of dollar funds or a pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from among a pre-defined selection of goods and/or services;
the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services being defined as that amount of goods and/or services that could be purchased from the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services by the initial amount of dollar funds at the initial point in time;
the pre-defined amount of dollar funds being equal to the amount of dollar funds required, at the subsequent point in time, to purchase the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from among the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services; anda second step whereby, at the subsequent point in time and at the second location, the owner of the value certificate does in fact exchange the value certificate either for the predefined amount of dollar funds or for the pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from the pre-defined selection of goods and/or services. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. An arrangement comprising:
-
first means operative to issue, to each of numerous persons, value certificates in exchange for dollar funds;
each individual value certificate being denominated in a specific number of value units;
each value unit representing a pre-defined amount of purchasing power; andsecond means operative to supply goods and/or services to persons in exchange for value certificates;
the amount of goods and/or services provided to a given person in exchange for a given value certificate being proportional to the given value certificate'"'"'s denomination in value units and therefore substantially independent of the time at which the given value certificate be exchanged for such goods and/or services;
the given value certificate being redeemable by the first means in an amount of dollar funds equal in purchasing power to that of the amount of dollar funds having been initially paid for the given value certificate.
-
-
10. An arrangement comprising:
-
first means operative to issue, to each of numerous persons, value certificates in exchange for dollar funds;
each individual value certificate being denominated in a specific number of value units;
each value unit representing entitlement to a pre-defined amount of goods and/or services from a pre-defined basket of goods and/or services; andsecond means operative at any of plural different points in time to supply goods and/or services to persons in exchange for value certificates;
the amount of goods and/or services obtainable by a given person at a given point in time in exchange for a given value certificate being proportional to the given value certificate'"'"'s denomination in value units and therefore substantially independent of the time-location of the given point in time;
the given value certificate being exchangeable by the first means in an amount of dollar funds equal in purchasing power to that of the amount of dollar funds having been initially paid for the given value certificate.
-
Specification