System and method for personalizing and dispensing value-bearing instruments
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for dispensing personalized value-bearing instruments, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a user-operated station for dispensing the value-bearing instruments;
b. selectively providing a plurality of user-selectable instrument stores, a first instrument store including a plurality of blank instruments and at least a second instrument store including a plurality of merchant-specific instruments;
c. receiving funds from a user at said user-operated station;
d. storing an indication of said funds on a data store inseparably coupled to said value-bearing instrument selected from one of said instrument stores;
e. providing a user interface at said user-operated station for personalizing an indicia carrier inseparably coupled to said value-bearing instrument;
f. providing on said user interface a plurality of user-selectable graphic authoring procedures;
g. executing at least one of said user-selectable graphic authoring procedures to formulate an original graphic arrangement;
h. printing said graphic arrangement on said indicia carrier; and
,j. dispensing said value-bearing instrument to said user subsequent to said graphic arrangement being printed on said indicia carrier.
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Abstract
To personalize a value-bearing instrument, such as a gift card (100), a user-operated station (200) is provided. The user provides funds to the gift card (100) via a fund receiving module (287). The user then selects a set of merchants for which the funds are to be used via a user-interface. The user then authors a graphic arrangement on a template (233) presented on a display (230) of the user interface. When the graphic arrangement is to the user'"'"'s liking, it is printed on an indicia carrier (105) by an instrument printer (215). The completed gift card is dispensed to the user via an instrument dispenser (220).
68 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for dispensing personalized value-bearing instruments, the method comprising the steps of:
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a. providing a user-operated station for dispensing the value-bearing instruments; b. selectively providing a plurality of user-selectable instrument stores, a first instrument store including a plurality of blank instruments and at least a second instrument store including a plurality of merchant-specific instruments; c. receiving funds from a user at said user-operated station; d. storing an indication of said funds on a data store inseparably coupled to said value-bearing instrument selected from one of said instrument stores; e. providing a user interface at said user-operated station for personalizing an indicia carrier inseparably coupled to said value-bearing instrument; f. providing on said user interface a plurality of user-selectable graphic authoring procedures; g. executing at least one of said user-selectable graphic authoring procedures to formulate an original graphic arrangement; h. printing said graphic arrangement on said indicia carrier; and
,j. dispensing said value-bearing instrument to said user subsequent to said graphic arrangement being printed on said indicia carrier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for personalizing a value-bearing instrument at a user-operated station, the method comprising the steps of:
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a. selectively providing a plurality of user-selectable instrument stores, a first instrument store including a plurality of blank instruments and at least a second instrument store including a plurality of merchant-specific instruments; b. providing the value-bearing instrument selected from one of said instrument stores with; an indicia carrier; and
,a data store inseparable from said indicia carrier; c. providing the user-operated station with; a user interface; a funds receiving module; a plurality of graphic generating modules; an indicia printer; and
,a data access module for accessing and altering data on said data store; d. receiving via said funds receiving module funds from a user at the user-operated station; e. storing via said data access module an indication of said funds on said data store; f. presenting on said user interface a graphical representation of said indicia carrier; g. generating an original graphic from said plurality of graphic generating modules; h. laying out said graphic on said graphical representation of said indicia carrier responsive to user input via said user interface; i. repeating steps (g) and (h) until a desired graphic arrangement on said graphical representation of said indicia carrier is achieved; j. printing with said indicia printer said graphic arrangement on said indicia carrier; and
,k. dispensing the value-bearing instrument to said user. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for personalizing a value-bearing instrument at a user-operated station, the system comprising:
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a plurality of user-selectable instrument stores, a first instrument store including a plurality of blank instruments and at least a second instrument store including a plurality of merchant-specific instruments; on the value-bearing instrument selected from one of said instrument stores; an indicia carrier; and
,a data store, wherein said indicia carrier and said data store are both inseparable from the value-bearing instrument; on the user-operated station; a user interface operable to author a graphic arrangement on an indication of said indicia carrier presented to the user thereon; a funds receiving module operable to receive funds from a user; a plurality of user-selectable graphic generating modules, each operable to retrieve a graphic from a graphic source and to subsequently add said graphic to said graphic arrangement; an indicia printer operable to print said graphic arrangement on said indicia carrier; and
,a data access module operable to access and alter data on said data store. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification