Ticketing Scheme

A method of sealing an IPE in an ITSO scheme comprising:

• generating the fields of an ITSO Product Entity (‘IPE’) at a ticket retailer device;
• and constructing and sealing the IPE by means of one of a plurality of ITSO Secure Application Modules (‘ISAMs’) at a location remote from the retailer device from which the IPEs are derived;
• each ticket retailer device being connected to an ISAM over the Internet or other network by control means operable to select an available ISAM from the plurality of ISAMs for the duration of a sealing transaction initiated by that ticket retailer device.

An ITSO scheme in which validation of an IPE is carried out by one of a plurality of ISAMs at a location remote from validation devices from which IPEs are derived for validation;

• each validation device being connected to an ISAM over the Internet or other network by control means operable to select an available ISAM from the plurality of ISAMs for the duration of a validation transaction initiated by that validation device.

A scheme for issuing prescriptions for drugs wherein prescription information is transmitted by a doctor or other prescription writer to create an ITSO Product Entity (‘IPE’) sealed by one of a plurality of ITSO Secure Application Modules (‘ISAMs’) at a location remote from retailer devices at which the IPEs are generated;

• each retailer device being connected to an ISAM over the Internet or other network by control means operable to select an available ISAM from the array for the duration of a sealing transaction initiated by that retailer device.

A scheme for validating prescriptions for drugs wherein prescription information is presented at a validation device to create an ITSO Product Entity (‘IPE’) and is validated by one of a plurality of ITSO Secure Application Modules (‘ISAMs’) at a location remote from the validation device at which the IPE is presented for validation;

• each validation device being connected to an ISAM over the Internet or other network by control means operable to select an available ISAM from the array for the duration of a validation transaction initiated by that validation device.

A method of issuing prescriptions for drugs comprising:

• generating an ITSO Product Entity (‘IPE’) representing prescription information from a retailer device;
• and sealing the IPE by means of one of a plurality of ITSO Secure Application Modules (‘ISAMs’) at a location remote from the retailer device at which the IPE is generated;
• each retailer device being connected to an ISAM over the Internet or other network by control means operable to select an available ISAM from the plurality of ISAMs for the duration of a sealing transaction initiated by that retailer device.

A system for sealing or validation of ITSO product entities (IPEs) comprising interfaces for receiving requests for sealing or validation, an IPE handler for handling requests for sealing or validation and a plurality of ITSO secure access modules (ISAMs) arranged to receive the sealing or validation requests, wherein the interface and IPE handler are arranged to present the sealing or validation requests to one or a group of ISAMs based upon control logic.