Patent ID: 6880751
Filing Date: 2005-04-19
Classification: G06Q,G07F

Abstract:
1. A method for issuing a coupon through an automatic transaction apparatus that performs a predetermined transaction interactively with a user, the method comprising: storing coupon descriptors and output medium identifiers in an associative manner, each of the coupon descriptors containing different coupon information and each of the output medium identifiers specifying at least one of a plurality of recording media used for coupons; storing security class identifiers in association with the coupon descriptors, each of the security class identifiers specifying security checks to be performed before the user receives a service to which the coupon entitles the user and storing use condition identifiers specifying conditions for use of coupons; selecting one of the coupon descriptors as instructed by the user; identifying which recording medium to use as an output medium for the selected coupon descriptor by consulting the output medium identifier associated with the selected coupon descriptor; and outputting the coupon information in the selected coupon descriptor to the identified recording medium, thereby issuing a coupon to the user; and where said outputting includes outputting the security class identifier and the use condition identifiers corresponding to the selected coupon descriptor to the recording medium with the coupon information.