Granted Patent B2

US 10,071,848 · App. 15/394,012 · Granted Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

Claims (18)

1. A lottery ticket dispenser array, comprising:

a plurality of separate bins, each bin defined by a housing having a front side that faces a purchaser in operational use of the dispenser array, an opposite back side having a dispensing slot defined therein, and an internal space for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets, wherein the lottery tickets are sequentially numbered and each lottery tickets contains a code printed thereon that includes the lottery ticket number;

each bin having an electronic drive mechanism that dispenses the lottery tickets therefrom;

each bin comprising a scanner disposed to read the code as the lottery tickets are dispensed from the bin;

a control system in communication with each scanner;

each bin comprising a first electronic display at the front side thereof;

for each bin, the control system specifically configured for receipt of a scan signal from the scanner and, at the end of a ticket dispense cycle, to determine the lottery ticket number of a next lottery ticket to be dispensed from the bin and to transmit the next lottery number to the first electronic display in a human-readable alpha-numeric form; and

wherein the first electronic display is configured to display to potential purchasers the lottery ticket number in the human-readable alpha-numeric form for the next lottery ticket to be dispensed from the bin.

2. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein each bin further comprises a second electronic display at the front side thereof, the control system specifically configured to determine a remaining number of the lottery tickets remaining in the bin at the end of the ticket dispense cycle and to transmit the remaining number to the second electronic display for display to potential purchasers.

3. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein the control system is common to all of the bins in the array.

4. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein the control system is an individual control system for each bin.

5. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein the control system is in communication with a central lottery provider server system.

6. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein each bin comprises a bottom base portion, the first electronic display mounted in the bottom base portion.

7. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 6 , wherein the back side of the bin comprises a pivotal door that opens to the internal space for loading of the stack of lottery tickets into the bin, the pivotal door mounted above the bottom base portion.

8. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 7 , wherein the scanner and electronic drive mechanism are mounted on the pivotal door.

9. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 1 , wherein each bin further comprises a third electronic display configured at the back side of the bin and in communication with the control system, the third electronic display configured to give alert signals to a retailer operating the dispenser as a function of remaining tickets in the bin.

10. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 9 , wherein each bin comprises a bottom base portion, the third electronic display mounted in the bottom base portion.

11. The lottery ticket dispenser as in claim 9 , wherein the back side of the bin comprises a wall, the third electronic display mounted to the wall.

Assignments (9)