System and method to promote the consumption of products within an establishment

Abstract

A system and method to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment. The system provides and integrated system to track the consumption of sponsored products, control the various entertainment devices in the establishment, and to interact with customers. The system promotes the consumption of one or more sponsored products by rewarding the consumption of sponsored products with prizes, gifts, and opportunities to participate in games of chance.

1 . A system to promote the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment, the system comprising: 
 at least one announcement device for communicating general information to customers within the establishment;    a plurality of entertainment devices, said entertainment devices being any electronic, electric, mechanical, or electromechanical device offered by an establishment to provide entertainment or environmental comfort to customers;    at least one terminal for interacting with customers, the terminal comprising means for accepting input from a customer and means for presenting information to the customer;    a billing module for controlling fees charged to the sponsor of the one or more products or brands of products;    an advertisement module, in communicative contact with the billing module, for controlling the sequence, timing, and duration of advertisements displayed or announced on said announcement device;    an accounting system, in communicative contact with the billing module, for documenting and tracking the purchase of sponsored products;    an entertainment module, in communicative contact with the plurality of entertainment devices, for controlling the availability, access, sequence, scheduling, and duration of use of said entertainment devices;    a game module for controlling the scheduling of and participation in games of chance and selection of zero or more winners of said games of chance;    a ticket module for controlling the creation game tickets; and    a manager server in communicative contact with said at least one announcement device, said plurality of entertainment devices, said at least one terminal, said accounting system, said advertisement module, said ticket module, and said game module, said manager server managing communication between and among said at least once announcement device, said plurality of entertainment devices, said at least one terminal, said accounting system, said advertisement module, said ticket module, and said game module.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said manager server, said terminal, said accounting system, said advertisement module, said ticket module, and said game module reside on a single appliance.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a promotion profile repository in communicative contact with said accounting module, said promotion profile repository including data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields organized by sponsor, said data element fields including one or more identity fields for the sponsors involved in a promotional or commercial campaign and one or more identity fields for the products or brands sponsored by said sponsor.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 3  wherein said data fields of said promotion profile repository further includes one or more fields for the rewards associated with a promotion, said rewards selected from a percentage discount on a subsequent product, a prize, an opportunity to participate in a lottery-type game, an opportunity to control the operation of an entertainment device, an opportunity to download digital media to a portable device, or any other reward which would encourage a customer to purchase a sponsored product.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a ticket repository in communicative contact with said ticket module, said ticket repository including ticket data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields and organized by a unique code associated with said opportunity ticket, said data elements fields including a unique code, the date and time that said opportunity ticket was generated, and an identifier which relates said opportunity ticket a particular promotion stored in said promotion profile repository.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising an advertisement repository in communicative contact with said advertisement module, said advertisement repository including advertisement data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields and organized by sponsor, said data element fields including one or more sponsors associated with the advertisement, one or more scheduling fields, one or more advertisement content fields, and one or more status fields.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a game profile repository in communicative contact with said game module, the game repository including game data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields and organized chronologically by the game schedule, said data element fields including one or more data fields to uniquely identify game of chance, one or more scheduling fields, and the sponsor associated with said game of chance.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising an entertainment device profile repository in communicative contact with said entertainment module, said entertainment device profile repository including entertainment device data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields, said data element fields including one or more identity fields to uniquely identify an entertainment device of said establishment, an availability state field indicating the current availability state of said entertainment device, and one or more sponsors associated with said entertainment device.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a digital entertainment repository in communicative contact with said entertainment module, said digital entertainment repository including entertainment data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields, said data element fields including one or more contents fields for the digital files indicating the contents of the digital file to be executed in an entertainment device, one or more identity fields for the sponsors associated with said digital files, one or more identity fields for indicating said entertainment devices on which the digital entertainment may be played, and one or more status fields to store the current status of said entertainment device.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a billing account repository in communicative contact with said billing module, said billing account repository including billing data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields and organized by sponsor, said data element fields including one or more sponsors and one or more billing record fields.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a game ticket repository in communicative contact with said game module, said game ticket repository including game ticket data corresponding to a plurality of data element fields and organized by a ticket number, said data element fields including the sponsor of the product purchased, a code associated with the ticket, the expiration date and time of said ticket, and an identifier field for a game of chance or game of skill with which said ticket is associated.  
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said entertainment devices comprise one or more of a music player, video player, a television, a light show, an air-conditioner, a display or screen, an audio system, a video game player, or a computer.  
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said terminal is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant, or a cellular telephone.  
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said means for said terminal to accept input from a customer is selected from a keyboard, a touch screen, a bar code reader, a video scanner, a video camera, a microphone, a Personal Digital Assistant port, an infra-red device, or a Bluetooth device.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein said terminal further includes a printer.  
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 14  wherein said terminal further includes a digital interface to exchange digital content with an electronic device of said customer.  
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 1  further including a kiosk in electronic communication with said manager server to allow customers to interact with the system, said kiosk comprising a display and a means for allowing a customer to input information.  
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said means for the kiosk to accept input from a customer is selected from a keyboard, a touch screen, a bar code reader, a video scanner, a video camera, a microphone, a Personal Digital Assistant port, an infra-red device, or Bluetooth device.  
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 17  wherein said kiosk further includes a printer.  
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said announcement devices may be one or more of a display screen, a television monitor, a light emitting diode display, a laser display, a speaker, or any other electronic means by which information may be shared with customers in an establishment.  
   
   
       21 . A method of promoting the consumption of one or more sponsored products or brands of products within an establishment, the method comprising the steps of: 
 configuring a promotion profile repository with the identity of one or more products involved in a promotional campaign and the sponsor or sponsors thereof;    granting a customer the right to receive an award from said system;    providing a terminal through which the customer may access an awards system, said terminal comprising means for accepting input from the customer and means for presenting information to the customer and said access to the terminal being validated by the customer's unique identifier;    presenting a menu of available award options on said terminal to said customer;    allowing said customer to choose one or more of said presented available award options;    transmitting said customer's one or more choices of award options to a manager server;    recording the selection of said one or more award options in a billing repository to permit charging of said selected award option to said sponsor of said promotional campaign;    fulfilling said customer's choice of award options; and    displaying a confirmation message to said customer on said terminal.    
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the step of granting said customer the right to receive an award from the system comprises the step of selling a unique identifier to said customer.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 21  wherein said means for said terminal to accept input from a customer is selected from a keyboard, a touch screen, a bar code reader, a video scanner, a video camera, a microphone, a Personal Digital Assistant port, an infra-red device, a cellular telephone, or a Bluetooth-enabled device.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 21  wherein said terminal is selected from a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant, or a kiosk.  
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the step of granting said customer the right to receive an award from the system comprises the steps of: 
 selling a product to a customer;    determining whether said product purchased by said customer is the subject of a sponsored promotional campaign by searching for said product in said promotion profile repository;    reporting the sale of said sponsored product to an accounting system;    issuing a unique identifier to said customer, the unique identifier being related with the purchase of the product.    
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 25  wherein said unique identifier is printed on a paper ticket and presented to the customer.  
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 26  wherein said unique identifier is printed on a paper ticket in barcode format.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 25  wherein said unique identifier issued to said customer expires after a pre-determined period of time.  
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 25  further including the step of storing said issued unique identifier in a ticket repository.  
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the validation of said customer's unique identifier comprises the steps of: 
 searching for said unique identifier in said ticket repository;    verifying that said unique identifier exists in said ticket repository; and    verifying that any predetermined lapse time has not expired.    
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising the step of displaying an advertisement message, graphic, or video on said terminal subsequent to said customer's entry of a valid unique identifier.  
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 31  wherein said advertisement displayed is related to said sponsor of said purchased product by the customer.  
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 31  further comprising the step of logging the display of said advertisement in a billing repository to permit charging for said advertisement to said sponsor.  
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the step of presenting a menu of available award options on said terminal to said customer comprises the steps of: 
 retrieving a list of the available award options;    constructing a menu containing said list of available award options; and    displaying said menu on said terminal.    
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 21  wherein one award option in said menu of award options is the participation by said customer in a game of chance or game of skill.  
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 35  further comprising the steps of: 
 presenting a list of available games of chance to said customer on said terminal;    allowing said customer to choose one of said presented available games;    transmitting said customer's selection of said one of said presented games of chance to a game module.    
   
   
       37 . The method of  claim 36  wherein each of said available games are one of a raffle or lottery, bingo, electronic slot machine, electronic card game, or other interactive game of chance or skill.  
   
   
       38 . The method of  claim 37  wherein the chosen available game is a lottery, further comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving the rules for said lottery game from a game profile repository;    displaying on said terminal a list of codes, symbols, or characters which may be used to form an entry code for said selected lottery game;    accepting input from the customer to form the customer's entry code into said lottery game;    validating said entry code to ensure compliance with said rules of said lottery game; and    associating said selected entry code with said unique identifier into a game ticket, scheduling said game ticket for participation in a lottery game, and storing said game ticket in a game ticket repository.    
   
   
       39 . The method of  claim 38  further including the step of printing a confirmation ticket for the customer, the confirmation ticket comprising the customer's unique identifier and selected entry code.  
   
   
       40 . The method of  claim 38  wherein said entry code is automatically generated for the customer using a random-number generator.  
   
   
       41 . The method of  claim 38  further comprising the steps of: 
 determining if the time for a scheduled lottery has arrived;    retrieving all game tickets from said game ticket repository which are associated with said scheduled lottery;    selecting a winning code for said scheduled lottery; and    broadcasting said winning code to said announcement devices.    
   
   
       42 . The method of  claim 41  wherein said winning code is generated randomly in compliance with the rules of said scheduled lottery.  
   
   
       43 . The method of  claim 41  wherein said winning code is selected from among said game tickets associated with said scheduled lottery.  
   
   
       44 . The method of  claim 21  wherein one of said award options is the temporary control of one or more of a plurality of entertainment devices, said entertainment devices being any electronic, electric, mechanical, or electromechanical device offered by an establishment to provide entertainment or environmental comfort to customers.  
   
   
       45 . The method of  claim 44  wherein each of said entertainment devices is one of a CD music player, a MP3 music player, a video player, a television, a light show, an audio system, a video game player, a computer, an air conditioner, or any other device which can be operated to affect the environment of the establishment.  
   
   
       46 . The method of  claim 44  further including the steps of: 
 retrieving from an entertainment device profile a list of available entertainment devices which can be controlled by said customer;    displaying said list of the available entertainment devices on said terminal;    allowing said customer to select one or more of said entertainment devices from said list;    transmitting a list of said selected entertainment devices to an entertainment tracking module;    retrieving a profile of values, for each of said selected entertainment devices, which may be controlled by said customer;    displaying said profile of controllable values for each of said selected entertainment devices on said terminal;    allowing said customer to update said profile of controllable values for each of said selected entertainment devices; and    transmitting said updated profile of controllable values for each of said selected entertainment device to said entertainment tracking module.    
   
   
       47 . The method of  claim 46  further including the steps of: 
 determining if a particular entertainment device's profile is scheduled to be updated;    retrieving the updated settings for said entertainment device; and    applying said updated settings to said entertainment device.    
   
   
       48 . The method of  claim 46  wherein said controllable values for an entertainment device is one or more of changing the sequence of play of music or video, selecting a particular song or video to be played, turning on or off a particular music or video player for a period of time; changing the genre of music being played; increasing or decreasing the volume of a music or video source; changing the channel on a television set; starting, stopping, or changing a light show; increasing or decreasing the temperature of the establishment; displaying a text message; or playing a game at a terminal or a custom game station.  
   
   
       49 . The method of  claim 21  wherein said customer may choose one of among multiple languages in which to interact with said system.  
   
   
       50 . The method of  claim 21  wherein one of said award options is download of digital content to a portable electronic device of said customer from a digital entertainment repository.  
   
   
       51 . The method of  claim 50  wherein said digital content is selected from one of MP3 files, video files, ring tones, or video games.