WO2005015458A1 - Mobile telephone lottery purchase system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a system whereby any person can use a mobile telephone in order to make a lottery purchase. According to the invention, the customer uses his/her mobile telephone to call the inventive system and said system displays the next draw and the associated prizes on the screen. Subsequently, the customer must key in a code specific to the mobile telephone provider that is authorised to debit the cost of the purchase. The customer then keys in the number that he/she wishes to play and the system checks the availability of said number. If accepted by the customer, the system provides written confirmation of the number acquired and information relating to the draw. In addition, the system requests data from the customer relating to the owner and the number of the mobile telephone, the time of the call, the date of the draw and the prizes to be won. Furthermore, all of the aforementioned data are recorded and transmitted to the lottery body, while the mobile telephone provider debits the customer's account or prepaid balance.

Description

 LOTTERY PURCHASE SYSTEM THROUGH MOBILE TELEPHONY D E S C R I P C I Ó N

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a system for purchasing lottery numbers without tickets, through a mobile phone (cell phone, trunk or satellite), so that the system is based on carrying out a series of phases or operational steps where the user or owner of a mobile phone calls a customer service center previously advertised and identified, and which is nothing other than the system of the invention, so that it answers the call and notifies the date of the next raffle, the raffle prize (s), in addition to requesting the user of the telephone his / her secret code as a sign of authorization so that the mobile telephone provider debits it to his / her account or prepaid balance for the stipulated amount.

Likewise, the system asks you to type your selected number to participate in the next draw, and once verified by the system or customer service center, in order to see whether or not there are available fractions of the selected number, and after typing your Approval The system sends a written message confirming the purchase of the selected number, the date of the draw, a message that appears on the screen and cannot be deleted until 30 days after the draw has elapsed. The system's customer service center notifies the authorized lottery institution of all user information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally, in the lottery game there is a customer or buyer and a seller, being the one who provides the ticket to the buyer, who can select a number and request it from the seller so that they can give it to them. Since its inception, the lottery has been evolving, since in principle the Sales system consisted of selling a limited series of numbers printed on small pieces of paper, all controlled through a duly authorized institution that is in charge of regulating the activity of the game, whose job is to determine the series and quantities to print, the cost thereof, their distribution, the amount to be paid, the number of prizes to offer and the use of the profits resulting from the activity.

Currently, the way to buy lottery tickets is that the client must go to a place of sale, whether it be a kiosk, an establishment for that purpose, a street vendor, etc., acquire the ticket with prior payment and keep it until the time of draw.

In the event of being awarded, the ticket holder must go to the establishment where the ticket will be exchanged for money, or if the prize is large, a bank check may be issued by the lottery institution.

As is evident, this purchase and collection system presents serious problems and inconveniences, among which it is worth mentioning having to travel both to acquire the ticket and to collect it, as well as the risk of having to carry the money, so in case Loss of the prize ticket can be cashed by anyone since a lottery ticket is a bearer check. That is, the winning person is the one who presents the ticket to the institution or company authorized to make the payments or prizes effective, regardless of who presents the ticket.

There have been numerous contributions in this sector, including a system described in the American patent 09/629772, based on the authorization of a telephone line to participate in lottery games.

Similarly, in European patent 1220174 A1, a system is described in which a mobile phone, and a random number generator, are used to participate in an electronic lottery.

Also worth mentioning is Korean Patent 20403, which refers to a method and a system to buy and make effective lottery tickets through telephone cables or the Internet®. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The system that is recommended is not only aimed at the participation of a lottery game through a mobile phone or the purchase of one or more lottery numbers, but also what it aims to facilitate, speed up and provide security to customers lottery, to allow them at any time and from any point, just by having a mobile phone, to buy their lottery number without having to go out and buy a ticket, being able to select the number they want through their telephone provider mobile, which connects you to the state institution responsible for the lottery, which through a previously promoted and publicized customer service center, which materializes in the system of the invention, gives the customer all the information on the availability of the desired number, keeping all the information about the customer and the information about the purchased number, it remains on the screen for 30 days as after the draw was held in order to make the prize effective to the winners, although this period of time may be different.

Therefore, to make the purchase it is necessary to have a contract or prepaid mobile phone, which will be the means used to carry out the purchase process and at the same time will function as evidence or proof of claim for an award-winning number.

The system, called the customer service center, processes customer calls, verifying the availability of the number and fractions requested by the customer himself, and all the information regarding the customer, who has previously requested certain data. Obviously, the means used to carry out the game will be the mobile phone provider (s) of the company or companies authorized to play the lottery in the country. Regarding the process, it is carried out by means of the corresponding call by the client to the public attention center, or what is the same to the system, which answers the call made from the client's mobile phone, the latter being orally notified of the following information: next draw date, and prizes for the next draw. Once the data is known to the client, if he wishes to participate in the game, he must key in his message code as an authorization to that your mobile phone provider debits from your account or balance the amount of the commitment acquired, so that once the customer authorizes that debit, the system asks you to type the number or numbers and the fraction o. fractions thereof chosen, to participate in the next draw, the number or numbers being verified verbally by the system or customer service center, immediately informing them of the availability of the fractions, the number or numbers selected or if it has been previously registered by another client, so that if so, you can decide whether or not you want to participate with another number, at no additional cost to the tooth. Obviously, the cost to participate in the lottery game will increase as the client buys other numbers and their respective repeated fractions of the same number.

In any case, if the client agrees with the number approved by the system or customer service center, he must type the approval on his mobile phone, at which point the system immediately sends a written message to the client, confirming the chosen number and the fractions of the same to participate, as well as the date of the draw for which it is valid. This written message may not be deleted until after 30 days after the draw has elapsed, or another pre-established period of time.

In all these operations, the system automatically records the following data:

- Customer's mobile phone number. - Name of the owner of the mobile phone. - Call time. - Draw date for which the agreement has been concluded. - The number or numbers that the client has chosen and the number of fractions chosen to participate in the next draw. - Prize or prizes to which the client can choose.

All these data are notified by the system immediately to the government or private institution authorized to carry out the lottery, also issuing a report each frequent period of time that will facilitate the daily reimbursement to the lottery of all the amounts charged to the participating clients. Not surprisingly, the mobile phone company or companies may provide mobile phone services and may receive a percentage for each call received and number requested.

Finally, after each draw, the client's mobile phone receives a written message indicating the number or numbers awarded and the amount of the prizes. Therefore, according to the system of the invention, the mobile phone, by becoming the main element, plays the role of a ticket, so the system can be used by anyone who owns a mobile phone, unlike all systems purchase acquaintances. On the last sheet attached to this specification, an operation diagram of the lottery purchase system object of the invention is shown, in which diagram the correlative blocks 1 to 9 corresponding to the following operational phases are shown: The block 1 corresponds to the call operation by the client to the customer service center, or what is the same to the system of the invention.

Block 2 corresponds to the operation to which the system displays the data corresponding to the date of the next draw and to the prize or premise of said draw.

Block 3 corresponds to the operation in which the account types the chosen number and fractions of numbers and the next draw.

Block 4 corresponds to the operation in which the system or customer service center verifies the availability of the number and fractions selected by the customer. .

Block 5 corresponds to the operation in which the client chooses whether to continue in the game or if, on the contrary, he gives up, according to the data provided by the system in the previous operational phase. Block 6 corresponds to the operation in which the system or customer service center confirms the number and fraction reserved by the client and the valid date for the draw.

Block 7 corresponds to the operation in which the customer service center or system automatically registers the customer and draw data, data that cannot be deleted until 30 days after the draw or a predetermined date. Block 8 corresponds to the operation in which the customer service center or system notifies the lottery entity of all the above data, thus --or the daily reimbursements of the amounts collected.

Block 9 corresponds, finally, to the operation in which, after each draw, the lottery entity sends all customers a written message of the number or numbers awarded.

Obviously, the described system will be connected to the Internet®, the GPMS and / or any other means of connection, through the mobile phone, or to a network of those already available, entering the option for this purpose and being able to play or acquire lottery numbers or any other similar game, be it primitive lottery, bonoloto, pools, national lottery, ONCE coupon, etc., so that in any case the combination or ticket will be confirmed by a GPS message or similar, either by text or images, so that depending on the technology of the phone they can be saved or sent to other media via Mail or data transmission.

The charge of the bet or purchase as already mentioned may be made directly to the account or in the card itself of the mobile phone, even using the purchase systems currently designed for mobile phones, with the particularity that the prizes may be collected by Refunds on account or card, or exchanged for another bet, or exchanged in the traditional way, being able to additionally establish confirmation codes for verification and subsequent payment of prizes - In any case, the advantage of the system is the possibility of purchasing any type of lottery anywhere and at any time, and the possibility of cash the prize or exchange for another ticket.

Claims

R E 1 V I N D I C A C I Ó N E S 1 .- System buying lottery via mobile phone, which remain applicable to the purchase of the number of any lottery, whether national, primitive, bonoloto, football pools and the like lottery, characterized in that it consists in establishing a call, through a mobile phone, to a special lottery sale system, so that the system shows the client α owner of the mobile phone the next draw and prize or prizes thereof, then the client proceeds to type a special key to the authorized mobile phone provider to debit the cost of the purchase that is intended to be made, by requesting the customer by typing the number requested to participate, so that the system verifies the availability or not of that number, so that in case Yes, the customer types the approval, while in the negative case he chooses to select another number or to withdraw from the purchase; with the particularity that in the case of approving the selected number by the customer, the system provides written information corresponding to the number acquired and the lottery in question, recording in turn information regarding the customer and the purchase thereof , carrying out a notification to the lottery entity about the payment and the purchase made. 2 .- System purchase lottery via mobile phone, according to claim 1, wherein the information issued by the system to the customer, once accepted by this purchase, corresponding to a written message and the confirmation of the number chosen and the number of fractions purchased to participate, including the date of the draw for which it is valid, keeping said written message without being able to be deleted until after a preset period of time after the draw has elapsed. 3 .- System purchase lottery via mobile phone, according to previous claims, characterized in that the system automatically records the data on the mobile phone number of the client, on behalf of the owner of the mobile phone, or the call date of draw for which the agreement has been concluded, the number or numbers that the client has chosen, as well as the fractions thereof, and prize or prizes to which the client can opt. 4 .- buying lottery system through, - mobile telephony, according previous claims, characterized in that the system, in addition to providing the Lottery Institution with the amount corresponding to the amounts charged to the participants, notifies all the requested data of the client. 5 .- buying lottery system via mobile phone, according to previous claims, characterized in that after each draw lottery institution sends customers a written message to your screen indicating what the number or winning numbers and the amount of the awards. 6 ^a. - System of purchase of lottery through mobile telephony, according to previous claims, characterized in that in the same call by the client, he may choose one or several numbers and fractions thereof, to participate in each draw.