Trading system

Equipment for use in a trading system in which a bonus is given to a customer selected comprises a plurality of stores, such as counters, which are fed successively so that they are filled successively depending on the feeding rate and the capacities of the counters. When a store is filled, feeding is stopped and the bonus appropriate to the filled store is made available to a subsequent customer initiating a transaction. The filled store is emptied and feeding to the stores is resumed until another store is filled and the appropriate bonus is paid. A modification may include a random selector which scans the stores and makes the bonus available if a full store is selected. Means may be provided to display the running bonus and the customer point at which the bonus is payable.

This invention relates to equipment for operating a trading system in which 
bonus prizes are given to customers of a petrol station or supermarket. 
Trading systems are known in which, when the total of a plurality of 
individual transactions reaches a predetermined magnitude of number or 
value, a bonus is allocated to a customer making or about to make a 
further transaction. The transaction may for example be the dispensing of 
petrol from a petrol pump or the payment for purchases at a market. 
Equipment for such trading systems is described in British Pat. No. 
1,338,083 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,576. 
The present invention provides equipment for a trading system allocating a 
bonus to customers, the equipment including means providing signals 
representing bonus payments and for distributing said signals to a 
plurality of stores, the signals being provided at a predetermined overall 
rate as measured over an extended period of time, and means operative to 
indicate the payment of a bonus when a store is filled to a predetermined 
amount. The bonus payments may be trading stamps or other valuable 
consideration and the stores may be counters operated by electronic pulses 
comprising said signals representing bonus payments from an oscillator 
which distributes pulses to the counters successively, either at a uniform 
rate or a rate depending on the magnitude of the bonuses represented by 
the counters. 
An understanding of the basic operation of the equipment will be clear from 
consideration of the following analogy. A ping pong ball generator 
produces ping pong balls comprising said signals representing bonus 
payments at as preferred a constant rate which is set by the mangement. 
There are five buckets of different sizes that will taken 300, 500, 700, 
1000 and 5000 ping pong balls respectively. A single chute from the ping 
pong ball generator is directed at each bucket in turn for a fixed period 
of time. Thus all buckets receive balls at the same rate. As soon as any 
bucket is full, the ping pong generator stops. The other buckets will 
remain partly filled. The full bucket can then be emptied and the bonus 
represented by the ping pong balls therein paid out. The sequence is then 
continued until another bucket becomes full when the bonus applicable to 
that bucket becomes available. Thus the frequency of a bonus win is 
inversely proportional to the rate at which the ping pong ball generator 
is set. If, for example, this rate is set at 4000 balls per hour, each 
bucket would fill at 800 balls per hour and the 300 bucket would fill 
every 3/8 hour, the 500 bucket every 5/8 hour, the 700 bucket every 7/8 
hour, the 1000 bucket every 11/4 hours and the 5000 bucket every 61/4 
hours. 
In the equipment of the present invention, the oscillator is equivalent to 
the ping pong ball generator and the stores or counters are equivalent to 
the buckets, assuming a constant rate of pulse generation. As, however, 
the counters are of equal capacity, the rate of input to each counter is 
adjusted depending on the magnitude of the bonus represented by that 
counter. 
Said distribution means may operate in a random manner; or alternatively in 
a predetermined manner so as to provide pseudo-random payments. Said 
stores may be filled at a set rate and as soon as one is filled, the 
remaining stores are filled at the set rate until all are filled. 
Alternatively there may be provided a constant rate per store. When a 
store is filled, the supply stops, and a reduced proportional total rate 
is maintained for the remainder. The supply may cease if and when all 
stores are full. 
The automatic allocation of a full store to a bonus payment is not a 
necessary restriction. Alternatively, a win signal may be provided by 
suitable means, causing the hunt for a full store or a random selection of 
any store, whether full or not. Selection of a full store would indicate a 
prize, whereas the selection of a partly full store would negative the 
display of a win and the system would be restored awaiting the next win 
hunt signal. The chance of a win selection thus increases as each store 
becomes full. 
The equipment could be operated in debit instead of credit. Thus a prize is 
paid after random selection at the first prize hunt, the balance being 
restored later. When a satisfactory balance has been restored, then 
another random selection takes place and the time elapse will be 
proportional to the amount required to be paid back. 
When a bonus is ready to be allocated, the signal providing means may as be 
preferred inhibited or alternatively may continue to operate. 
Where the signal providing means is inhibited upon allocation of a bonus, a 
reset means is provided to enable the signal providing means subsequent to 
payment of the bonus to a customer by an operator. The delay in resetting 
may cause a reduction in the rate at which bonus signals are provided; 
however, such reduction may be controlled to within acceptable limits so 
that over an extended period of time, the rate of bonus signals is 
predetermined. An automatic reset may be provided after a predetermined 
delay. 
For convenience the invention will be described in relation to its use in 
connection with the dispensing of petrol from a petrol pump, but it will 
be understood that the invention is applicable to various other methods of 
conducting transactions, such for example as the operation of a till. 
Where a number of petrol pumps are associated with the equipment, means may 
be provided for randomly selecting a particular pump at which the bonus is 
payable. 
Equipment according to the invention may include means for displaying on 
the petrol station forecourt and at the cashier's console, the number of 
the winning pump, the magnitude of the bonus and other relevant 
information. An audible indication may also be given on a bonus being 
obtained. A totalizer in the console records the size of the bonus, while 
on the forecourt flashing lights and a win tone indicate that a bonus 
prize has been won. When the customer has received the bonus, then the 
operator depresses a reset button and the displays are blanked, also 
allowing the pulses to be fed to the counters again. 
In a modification, a random selector is provided to scan all the counters 
and choose one irrespective of whether it is full or not. If the counter 
selected happens to be full, the payout is made; if not, there is no 
payment although some other counter may be full. The process may continue 
until at some subsequent transaction the selector selects a full counter. 
Scanning of the stores may occur in response to the start of petrol flow, 
or at intervals while petrol flow is taking place. 
Other modifications are that a predetermined program of total bonus flow is 
maintained into the other non-full counters after one or more is full, 
providing an increasing chance of a win in slack times. Alternatively, the 
machine can be arranged so that as a counter is full, the input to that 
counter is stopped and the total payout thus be progressively reduced as 
each becomes full. When all counters were full in any case, the payout 
would cease, until the next payout had been taken up. 
Another alternative arrangement of operation provides that a single `large 
store` is provided into which all the payout flows at a constant rate. The 
outlet from this store is via the directions of a random selector which 
for example would provide `segments` with similar payout provisions. 
Sensed and operated in the same way, the payout would not now select 
automatically the `full store` but choose any `store` and if this was 
full, then make a payout. 
The equipment may include a sensing device which having sensed that all 
stores were full, or that a large store was capable of paying out an 
immediate sequence of payouts due to lack of use over a period, then a 
time delay mechanism comes into operation to segregate the payouts over a 
period. 
Provision could also be made to pre-load the `store` or stores at the start 
of business by an override providing the appropriate signals or by a 
storage system to hold information, say overnight, for the commencement of 
trade on re-opening.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the 
accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a block diagram of 
equipment according to the invention. 
In this embodiment which will be described as providing bonuses in the form 
of trading stamps, a main oscillator 1 provides electronic pulses at an 
output rate determined by a first decimal rate multiplier 2 controlled by 
a stamp rate setting device 3. The device 3 under the control of the 
management determines the rate of the overall bonus, for example 8000, 
4000, 2000, 1000, or 500 stamps per hour. 
The pulses from the oscillator 1 are divided by 256 in a divider 4 and fed 
to a 1-of-5 selector 5 which supplies the input through gates 7a, 7b, 7c, 
7d, 7e to each of five bonus counters 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, l 8e in turn. The 
modified pulse train from the selector 5 is fed through a bonus rate 
setter 9 to a second decimal rate multiplier 10, where the output rate is 
again modified depending on the bonus counter which is enabled. This 
output is fed through a gate 11 to the appropriate gate 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, or 
7e of the enabled counter 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, or 8e. The counters are then fed 
at a rate inversely proportional to the bonus to be stored therein. For 
example, the counter 8a, for a bonus of 300 stamps will have the highest 
input rate and the counter 8 e for 5000 stamps will have the lowest input 
rate. 
When a counter is full, this is detected by a bonus ready detector 14 which 
feeds a winning nozzle detector 12. The nozzles 13 of say eight pumps are 
connected electronically to the detector 12 so that when a selected nozzle 
is lifted, a signal is sent back through the gate 11 to inhibit pulses 
from the oscillator 1 and initiate the pay out of bonus to the user of the 
selected pump. 
The winning nozzle detector is connected to gates 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d and 
15e which are connected to the bonus counters 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d and 8e 
respectively and the outputs from these gates are fed to forecourt display 
relay drive circuits 16, which in turn operate a forecourt display 17. 
This display may show on a bonus display 18 the bonus which has been made 
available and the winning pump on a pump number display 19. Flashing 
beacons 20 and a speaker 21 are also operated. This display equipment is 
fed from the winning nozzle detector 12 through drive circuits 22, 23 and 
24. 
At the console in the cashier's kiosk, there is provided a winning pump 
number display 25 and a winning bonus display 26. Bonus totalizing 
circuitry 27 in parallel with the bonus display 25 totalizing the amount 
of bonus paid out. 
When the bonus has been paid to the customer the appropriate counter is 
emptied. A reset button is operated and the sequence recommences and 
continues until another counter is filled. The next counter to be filled 
depends on the capacity of the counters and the extent to which they were 
filled when payment of the preceding bonus was paid. 
The reset button is enabled a predetermined time after display of the bonus 
win, to prevent misuse of the reset button. In addition, to prevent 
misuse, means provided to ensure bonus allocations will not be made unless 
a nozzle has been lifted from the pump for more than a predetermined time, 
e.g., fifteen seconds. 
Display of the win on the forecourt may be delayed for a determined time. k 
Modifications to the system may be envisaged. Thus for example, a full 
store may be allocated to one of a plurality of pumps selected at random. 
The rate at which bonuses are allocated may be displayed to give customers 
an idea of the magnitude and chances of a bonus being won. 
The equipment according to the present invention may be incorporated in a 
computer system in which case the stores are provided by the read/write 
memory of the system. The computer system may comprise a number of 
terminals interfacing to a host computer system, as is common in computer 
trading systems.