Method and system for determining and assigning wins in prize contests

Abstract

A system for assigning wins in a prize contest comprises a supplier of media, which comprises a printing machine that is adapted to print on a medium a series of codes for taking part in a contest and a data collection center, which is identified by a data communications address printed on the medium and comprises memory means which store at least one time-dependent winning criterion, and comprises means for receiving a data communications request for participation on the part of a user and for receiving from the user one of the participation codes, the data collection center further comprising win assigning means, which are adapted to check whether the participation code reported by the user matches one of the participation codes and whether the connection time when said request was received complies with at least one time-dependent winning criterion.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for determining and assigning wins in prize contests. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Consumer goods manufacturers and commercial organizations, such as in particular supermarkets or shopping centers, have been promoting prize contests based on the recognition of codes for a long time. [0003] The working logic of these contests is based on creating a preset number of mutually different identification codes, each of which is assigned uniquely to an item of a consumer product or to a copy of a printed medium such as for example a card, a brochure, a magazine or others, distributed in manners and numbers that are random or preset according to preset criteria, such as for example the assignment of a certain number of cards depending on the amount spent. [0004] The identification codes are printed directly on the packages of the items of the consumer products or on the printed media together with the rules for taking part in the contest...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018] Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a method that allows commercial organizations to run, at their points of sale, prize contests of the code-recognition type also by using checkout receipts or other printed media for repetitive printing (for example flexographic printing) normally used in performing their activities, without having to resort to the use of auxiliary and specifically dedicated printed communication and distribution material.

[0019] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method that allows to run prize contests of the code-recognition type that are secure, i.e. immune to fraud based on the entry of false identification codes.

[0020] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method that allows, according to preset criteria, to distribute wins in the points of sale of different geographical areas or of a same geographical area.

[0021] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method that allows to assign all the prizes offered.

Problems solved by technology

One of the main problems observed in holding these prize contests based on code recognition, usually organized by commercial organizations at their points of sale and not linked to the purchase of a specific consumer product, consists in that in order to report the identification codes it is necessary to resort to the use of dedicated communication or printed distribution media, such as for example cards, tickets, brochures or others, and to the distribution thereof to the public constituted by consumers.

For example, existing systems and methods do not use conventional checkout receipts, which necessarily have to be given to customers, as reporting and printing means for the distribution of identification codes.

Flexographic plates allow at best to print cyclically the same sequence of characters but not a continuously different sequence; in particular, they do not allow to print a sequence of identification codes that are all mutually different and are printed on the same roll of paper and on other rolls of paper.

Therefore, it is not possible to use checkout receipts or any other flexographic printing medium to communicate and distribute the identification codes, and it is inevitably necessary to resort to auxiliary and specifically dedicated printed communication and distribution media, such as cards, tickets, brochures or the like.

The use of these last media consequently entails a series of disadvantages affecting the commercial organizations that set up such a contest, including the fact that these auxiliary printed communication and distribution media have significant additional supply costs and the fact that their distribution, generally entrusted to checkout operators, slows the clearing of the queues of consumers at checkouts.

Another disadvantage linked to the use of auxiliary printed communication and distribution media is the waste of paper material.

Another problem observed in running prize contests based on code recognition in general consists in that they are vulnerable to fraud performed by attempts to enter false identification codes, i.e. identification codes that are not associated with a purchased item or with a received card but are generated randomly.

Yet another problem that is observed in running prize contests based on code recognition in general consists in that they do not ensure that all the prizes offered are assigned.

Storage of the prizes that are not distributed causes an additional management and bureaucratic burden for manufacturers or for commercial organizations, especially if, due to legal provisions, the uncollected prizes must be donated to preset organizations by following a complex procedure.

Another problem that is observed in running prize contests based on code recognition in general consists in that it is not possible to follow preset criteria for distributing the winning identification codes or more specifically the prizes in the various points of sale of various geographical areas or of a same geographical area.

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