Prepaid entertainment card and methods and systems for using prepaid entertainment card
OwnerEdward Earl Sorieinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A prepaid entertainment card includes a card body. The card body includes first, second, and third codes. The first code encodes a card type, the second code encodes a monetary amount to be applied to paid television programming and the third code encodes a card identification. Such a card may be used by television programming providers to collect revenue for providing television programming to subscribers in advance of providing at least some of the programming to the subscribers.
Claims29
A prepaid entertainment card for allowing subscribers to pay for television programming in advance, the prepaid entertainment card comprising:
- (a) a card body;
- (b) a first code located in or on the card body for identifying a type of television programming associated with the card;
- (c) a second code located in or on the card body including an encoded dollar amount for allowing an existing pay television subscriber to selectively purchase additional television programming for which additional payment is required;
- and
- (d) a third code located in or on the card body for uniquely identifying the card.
A system for using prepaid entertainment cards to pay for television programming provided to a subscriber, the system comprising:
- (a) a prepaid entertainment card status database for storing status information regarding at least one prepaid entertainment card storing an encoded dollar amount allowing an existing pay television subscriber to selectively purchase additional television programming for which additional payment is required, the status information including a card registration indicator for indicating whether the card has been registered and an activation indicator for indicating whether the card has been activated;
- and
- (b) a prepaid entertainment card status application for updating the registration indicator in the prepaid entertainment card database based on a registration message received from a point-of-sale device.
A method for activating a prepaid entertainment card, the method comprising:
- (a) accessing a prepaid entertainment card status database to determine whether a prepaid entertainment card including an encoded dollar amount for allowing an existing pay television subscriber to selectively purchase additional television programming for which additional payment is required has been registered;
- (b) in response to determining that the prepaid entertainment card has been registered, determining whether the prepaid entertainment card has been activated;
- and
- (c) in response to determining that the prepaid entertainment card has not been activated, activating the prepaid entertainment card.
A method for doing business based on a prepaid entertainment card, the method comprising:
- (a) distributing a plurality of prepaid entertainment cards including encoded dollar amounts for allowing existing pay television subscribers to selectively purchase additional television programming for which additional payment is required to a plurality of consumers;
- (b) collecting revenue for distributing the prepaid entertainment cards based on the encoded dollar amount associated with each of the prepaid entertainment cards;
- and
- (c) applying the encoded dollar amounts of the entertainment cards to subscriber accounts in response to subscriber activation requests.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.