Patent ID: 6992586
Filing Date: 2006-01-31
Classification: G06K,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of conducting a promotional contest to determine, from among a number of individuals, a winner or winners of the contest, said method comprising: (a) providing at least one portal operable to establish a field and to detect, and produce a signal in response to, the presence of a field-disturbing element therein, (b) providing a plurality of packages including at least one each of packages that respectively have and lack a field-disturbing element and are indistinguishable from each other by external human sensory inspection, (c) distributing packages of said plurality to different individuals in such manner that distribution of a package having a field-disturbing element is a random event, and (d) operating said one portal at a location at which individuals to whom said packages have been distributed introduce said packages to said field, whereby, when a package having a field-disturbing element is introduced to the field by an individual, the portal produces a signal indicating that said last-mentioned individual is a winner of the contest.