Electronic delivery of admission tickets direct to a purchaser
Electronic delivery of counterfeit-resistant documents exchangeable for value such as admission tickets, gift certificates, coupons, vouchers, etc. directly to the person who ordered the documents over an open communications network such at the Internet. A first party orders a document from a second party, and the second party electronically delivers the ordered, counterfeit-resistant document to a device designated by the first party. For example, the document may be electronically ordered using a PC, and a printer coupled to the PC may print the document. In one embodiment, the first party transmits unsolicited offers over the open communications network The document may be made counterfeit resistant by assigning unique information to each document of a given type, e.g., admission tickets, and checking the uniqueness of a document and whether the unique information was previously read prior to allowing it to be exchanged for value.
1. A system by which counterfeit resistant documents are made available over the Internet, comprising:
at least one computer programmed to:
(a) transmit over the Internet an offer of at least one particular document that has not been solicited, wherein transmission of the offer by the at least one computer is not in response to the at least one computer receiving a specific request for the transmission;
(b) receive over the Internet a request for a particular document in the offer transmitted by the at least one computer that has not been solicited;
(c) associate at least unique information with the requested particular document;
(d) at least temporarily store at least the unique information associated with the requested particular document; and
(e) transmit over the Internet information including the unique information associated with the requested particular document, the transmitted information being capable of being printed on a medium suitable for functioning as the requested particular document, wherein transmitted information is suitable for rendering the requested particular document counterfeit resistant.
2. The system according to claim 1 wherein at least the transmitted unique information is coded in a machine readable format which can be printed in a scanable bar code on the medium.
3. The system according to claim 2 comprising machine reading apparatus which machine reads at least the unique information from a medium printed with the bar code.
4. The system according to claim 3 comprising at least one computer programmed to determine in real time from machine read information whether the unique information is valid or has been read before.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer provides a web site from which the information including the unique information is provided for transmission over the Internet.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the document comprises an admission ticket, and wherein the information comprises information relating to at least the event or activity to which the ticket provides admission, the date of the event or activity, and the venue for the event or activity.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the document comprises a gift certificate, and wherein the information relating to the document comprises the amount of the gift certificate and how or where the gift certificate can be redeemed.
8. A method for making counterfeit resistant documents available over the Internet, the method comprising:
at least one computer at least:
(a) transmitting over the Internet an offer of at least one particular document that has not been solicited, wherein transmission of the offer by the at least one computer is not in response to the at least one computer receiving a specific request for the transmission;
(b) receiving over the Internet a request for a particular document in the offer transmitted by the at least one computer that has not been solicited;
(c) associating at least unique information with the requested particular document;
(d) at least temporarily storing at least the unique information associated with the requested particular document; and
(e) transmitting over the Internet information including the unique information associated with the requested particular document, the transmitted information being capable of being printed on a medium suitable for functioning as the requested particular document, wherein transmitted information is suitable for rendering the requested particular document counterfeit resistant.
9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the step of transmitting information including the unique information comprises transmitting at least the transmitted unique information coded in a machine readable format which can be printed in a scanable bar code on the medium.
10. The method according to claim 9 comprising machine reading at least the unique information from a medium printed with the bar code.
11. The method according to claim 10 comprising determining by at least one computer in real time from machine read information whether the unique information is valid or has been read before.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of transmitting information including the unique information comprises transmitting information relating to an event ticket including an event or activity to which the ticket provides admission, the date of the event or activity, and the venue for the event or activity.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of transmitting information including the unique information comprises transmitting information relating to a gift certificate including an amount of the gift certificate and how or where the gift certificate can be redeemed.