Dispensing lottery tickets
First Claim
1. A method of supplying lottery tickets comprising:
- providing a plurality of dispensing containers each arranged to receive from a set of lottery tickets a plurality of lottery tickets of the set in a row for dispensing each in turn;
providing a control unit;
the control unit being arranged for operation by an authorised service person for controlling the filling of selected containers with respective selected tickets for dispensing;
providing a reader of machine readable data for supplying machine read data to the control unit;
providing for each set of lottery tickets stored in a respective container a lottery game set-up substrate separate and distinct from the lottery tickets and having printed thereon information relating to the tickets of the respective set;
providing for each container a storage and display holder associated with the respective container for receiving and displaying the separate game set-up substrate;
and, when a container requires additional or replacement tickets, providing a quantity of tickets for insertion into the container and inputting information into the control unit for the container into which tickets are to be inserted and for the respective quantity of tickets;
wherein at least some of the information is input into the control unit by providing said at least some of the information in machine readable data on the game setup substrate and moving one of the game set-up substrate and the reader relative to the other for reading the information on the substrate by the reader.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The input of information into the control unit of a lottery ticket dispensing machine, for filling of dispensing containers of the machine with different game tickets, defining a game number for a game provided on the tickets, a price of the ticket, a total number of the tickets making up the quantity of tickets and a length of the tickets from a leading edge of each ticket to a trailing edge thereof is simplified so as to avoid requiring the service person to enter the information on a key pad as numerical values. This is effected by providing the information in machine readable form on the tickets themselves or on a game set up card associated with the tickets so that the information can be scanned into the control unit by a reader. Alternatively, the information can be provided in a simplified coded form for simple input by the service person into a key pad of the control unit. In a further alternative the control unit is arranged to communicate with a central data source which provides the information from the game number manually input by the service person.
38 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of supplying lottery tickets comprising:
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providing a plurality of dispensing containers each arranged to receive from a set of lottery tickets a plurality of lottery tickets of the set in a row for dispensing each in turn;
providing a control unit;
the control unit being arranged for operation by an authorised service person for controlling the filling of selected containers with respective selected tickets for dispensing;
providing a reader of machine readable data for supplying machine read data to the control unit;
providing for each set of lottery tickets stored in a respective container a lottery game set-up substrate separate and distinct from the lottery tickets and having printed thereon information relating to the tickets of the respective set;
providing for each container a storage and display holder associated with the respective container for receiving and displaying the separate game set-up substrate;
and, when a container requires additional or replacement tickets, providing a quantity of tickets for insertion into the container and inputting information into the control unit for the container into which tickets are to be inserted and for the respective quantity of tickets;
wherein at least some of the information is input into the control unit by providing said at least some of the information in machine readable data on the game setup substrate and moving one of the game set-up substrate and the reader relative to the other for reading the information on the substrate by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. Apparatus for supplying lottery tickets comprising:
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a plurality of dispensing containers each arranged to receive from a set of lottery tickets a plurality of lottery tickets of the set in row for dispensing each in turn;
a control unit;
the control unit being arranged for operation by an authorised service person for controlling the filling of selected containers with respective selected tickets for dispensing;
a reader of machine readable data for supplying machine read data to the control unit;
and a plurality of substrate mounting holders mounted at locations for receiving and displaying, to an authorized service person, a respective game setup substrate separate and distinct from the lottery tickets, each holder being associated with a respective container so as to display the setup substrate in association with the container at a location separate from the tickets in the container;
the reader and the control unit being arranged to read machine readable data providing information relating to the tickets;
whereby at least some of the information is input into the control unit by providing said at least some of the information in machine readable data on the game setup substrate and moving one of the game set-up substrate and the reader relative to the other for reading the information on the substrate by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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12. The apparatus according to 10 wherein the storage and display holder for each container is provided on the respective container.
Specification