Abstract:
Method and system for incentivizing student achievement and teacher performance by maintaining a database of students and their attributes, providing teachers access to update the attributes, and permitting businesses to offer attribute-related incentives to the students and teachers, but only when the student qualifies for the incentive based on their attributes or the teacher qualifies for the incentive based on the attributes of their students. Each student interacts with an incentive database to obtain a list of the available incentives. Each business interacts with the database and upon providing an identification of a student seeking an incentive, receives an indication of whether the student qualifies for an offered incentive. If so, the student is able to use the incentive.

Description:
CLAIM TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/056,318 filed Sep. 26, 2014 and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/138,946 filed Mar. 26, 2015, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for providing a commerce discount card. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for providing a commerce discount card and incentive program that are directly connected to a student&#39;s grade point average (GPA). 
         [0003]    Existing known commerce discount cards either do not track anything and only provide an incentive for shopping at an issuing and/or participating business or track expenditures and purchases at issuing and/or participating businesses. This does not permit the use of such commerce discount cards to incentivize non-shopping behaviors including, but not limited to, school attendance, school performance, community and/or extracurricular activity participation, good citizenship and/or other laudable or desirable behaviors. 
         [0004]    Existing incentive schemes for encouraging laudable or desirable behaviors such as, without restriction, school attendance, school performance, good citizenship, and/or community and/or extracurricular activity participation, are often limited in scope and/or incentive, allowing the program to only incentivize particular grades when grades are issued or when the activity terminates. Further, currently known incentive programs do not return other benefits to the schools or organizations participating. Such incentive programs typically issue a monetary or merchandise reward (e.g. a pizza) as a reward for particular grade thresholds (e.g. a pizza for at least one “A” grade or a specified amount of money for each grade greater than a “C” received by a student). Existing incentive programs generally do not enable a community and/or specific businesses in the community to provide specific and/or granular incentives for grade improvement, total grade average and/or other criteria. 
         [0005]    The present invention solves these problems and provides a new system that allows tailored incentives and promotions that encourage academic performance, provide marketing opportunities to businesses, and/or return money to participating schools. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    In one embodiment of the present invention, systems and methods are provided for providing a commerce discount card. 
         [0007]    In another embodiment of the present invention, systems and methods are provided for a combined incentive and marketing program. 
         [0008]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the systems and methods include user savings and/or investment accounts. 
         [0009]    In all embodiments of the invention, the discount card, incentive and marketing program and/or savings and/or investment accounts are linked to user attributes which may be, inter alia, a student&#39;s grade point average, attendance, participation and/or any other attribute connected to or reflecting academic, scholastic, and/or community participation, effort, and/or achievement. 
         [0010]    In one method for incentivizing student achievement in accordance with the invention, a database of students and their attributes is maintained, teachers are provided with access to an online system for providing input on the student attributes, the database is updated on the input from the teachers, and businesses are permitted to offer incentives to the students. Each student may only utilize an incentive based on a specific attribute specified by the business, the specific attribute being based on the attribute of the student, e.g., a business specifies an incentive based on GPA and the student&#39;s GPA is maintained in the database. Then, a database of incentives provided by the businesses is maintained, each student can interact with the incentive database using the online system and as a result of the interaction, obtain a list of the available incentives. Each business interacts with the student attribute database using the online system and provides an identification of a student seeking an incentive from the business in response to the provided identification, receives, in the affirmative or negative, a response as to whether a particular student seeking an incentive has the specific attribute for a particular incentive offered by the business. 
         [0011]    The method may also entail determining a fee to collect from each business based on interaction of the business with the online system and then collecting the determined fee from the business. The fee may be collected from the business providing incentives, i.e., based on the incentive provided regardless of whether they are utilized, for example, as a percentage of the value of the incentive. The fee may additionally or alternatively be collected from the businesses based on the use of the incentives by the students. 
         [0012]    In one embodiment, each student is provided with an identification or identifying device and each business is provided with a secured data link device capable of interfacing with the identification device and connecting to the online system. As such, responding to the business entails interfacing or interacting the particular student&#39;s identification device with the business&#39;s secured data link device, and as result of this interfacing, the response relating to available incentives offered by the business for which the student qualifies is provided to the business, e.g., on a display screen of the secured data link device and/or otherwise visually and/or orally conveyed to the business and/or student. This available incentive is thus displayed on a presentation device to the business, or vocalized using an incentive presentation device. 
         [0013]    As to the availability of teacher incentives, the method entails maintaining a database of teachers and their teacher attributes, and permitting each business to offer at least one teacher incentive to the teachers, each teacher may only utilize a teacher incentive based on a specific teacher attribute specified by the business which might, but is not required to, relate to the performance of their students, A database of teacher incentives provided by the businesses is maintained and a list of the teacher incentives may be provided to the teachers through the online system. When the teachers interact with the business, via use of a teach identification system and business&#39;s secured data link device, a response is provided to the business, e.g., in the affirmative or negative, whether a particular teacher has the specific attribute for a particular incentive. 
         [0014]    In another embodiment, a first group of students is designated as mentor candidates based on their attributes, a second group of students is designated as mentee candidates based on their attributes, and, using a processor, at least one mentor candidate is matched with at least one mentee candidate. Attributes of the mentor candidates may be altered based on changes in the attributes of the mentee candidates matched therewith, e.g., grade improvement. 
         [0015]    A student incentive system in accordance with the invention includes a student database containing a plurality of student records, each student records comprising a student identifier and at least two student attributes, an incentive database containing a plurality of incentive offers, each incentive offer comprising an incentive offered by a business and an attribute required for the incentive, and an online system comprising a first interface providing access to the student database, a second interface providing access to the incentive database, and a verification interface that, when provided an incentive offer and a student identifier, determines using the first and second interfaces, if the student identified by the student identifier has the attribute required for the incentive of the incentive offer. 
         [0016]    business offering at least one incentive; 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the incentive system in accordance with the invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a database entry of student attributes in accordance with the invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a front view of a preferred embodiment of a card issued to a participating student in accordance with the invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of the one method of operation of the incentive system in accordance with the invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of portion of the incentive system relating to financial institutions in accordance with the invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a mentorship system in accordance with the invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the mentorship system in accordance with the invention; and 
           [0025]      FIG. 8  is a flow chart of a method of operation of the incentive systems in accordance with the invention that additionally provides incentives to teachers. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    Where a term is provided in the singular, the inventors also contemplate aspects of the invention described by the plural of that term. As used in this specification and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, e.g., “a server” may include a plurality of servers. Thus, for example, a reference to “a method” includes one or more methods, and/or steps of the type described herein and/or which will become apparent to those persons skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure. 
         [0027]    Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods, constructs and materials are now described. All publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Where there are discrepancies in terms and definitions used in references that are incorporated by reference, the terms used in this application shall have the definitions given herein. 
         [0028]    Disclosed herein is a real time GPA incentive system (the “incentive system”), and methods for implementing and operating the incentive system, that is directly connected to a plurality of attributes of a plurality of students including, without restriction, each student&#39;s grades within the school that student is attending. As part of the incentive system, students are offered incentives such as, without restriction, discounts, bonuses, goods and services, monetary payments, and/or access to other benefits from businesses including retailers, banks and financial institutions, transportation companies, and any other business or concern choosing to participate. 
         [0029]    The incentive system may be implemented on a school level, a district level, a state level, and/or nationally. Herein, the term “school” is used to refer to the participating entity and “teacher” is used to refer to instructors, but the participating entity may be any educational institution including postsecondary, professional, and/or trade education institutions and may be any number of such institutions, such as a school district implementing the incentive system in all schools in the district or a national school network implementing the incentive system in all schools in the network. 
         [0030]    The incentive system is intended to help all children and young adults understand the value of working hard while in school and the rewards that come with it, not only for their future, but for the present while they are students; help a stagnant and sluggish economy grow rapidly; and/or help the nation&#39;s academic reputation which has declined dramatically over the years compared to the rest of the world. 
         [0031]    Additional benefits of the present invention include: students are empowered, self-motivated and incentivized to work harder in school to keep their grades up; merchants, banks and the economy benefit greatly from the increase in sales year round, simply by offering the incentive to millions of elementary, high school, undergraduate and graduate students registered with the program; registered students can earn scholarship funds based on their consistent and continued participation in the incentive program and academic success. 
         [0032]    In a first embodiment, as depicted in  FIG. 1 , an incentive system in accordance with the invention is generally designated  10  and comprises a central database  20  of student identifiers  30  and student attributes  40  linked to each identifier. Central database  20  does not have to be a single database and when used herein represents one or more data storage components that may be co-located or located at different locations and interconnected to, in combination, form the central database  20 . Student identifiers  30  refer to registered students  100  and may be, without restriction, the name of the student  100 , and/or an identification number assigned by a participating school  210  or other organization to the student  100 . Each student identifier  30  is unique to a registered student  100  and uniquely identifies that student  100 . Student attributes  40 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , may be any information about the student  100  stored in the central database  20  and may include, without restriction, past grades  50 , present grades  60 , attendance records  70 , biographic information  80 , demographic information  90 , and/or information regarding extracurricular and athletic participation by the student  100 . The student attributes  40  of each student  100  are linked to that student&#39;s student identifier  30 . 
         [0033]    Student attributes  40  may be updated when the student  100  receives new grades  60  or otherwise changes the attribute  40 . Such update may be performed directly by a registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  or may be automatic and/or triggered by a connection  130  to a school database  140 . Connection  130  may be continuously active, active on a preset schedule or activated based on an update to school database  140 . Connection  130  may be, without restriction, a direct connection, a connection via an internet protocol, preferably http, or any other connection capable of transferring data between school database  140  and central database  20 . Generally, the connection  130  represents connecting means for connecting the participating school  210  to the central database  20 , such connecting means being any known structure for connecting two electronic components together for data transfer. Updates may be entered directly into central database  20  by a registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  or may be entered into the school database  140  and transferred to the central database  20  via the connection  130 . 
         [0034]    One or more participating schools  210  and respective school databases  140  may be connected to one central database  20  and/or more than one central database  20  may be operated, to provide redundancy or otherwise improve the functionality of incentive program  10 . 
         [0035]    When a participating school  210  joins or implements the incentive system  10 , a school database  140  is created and linked with the central database  20 . The school database  140  may be located at the same data storage facility as the central database  20 , or separate therefrom. The school database  140  is created along with at least one registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  (see  FIG. 1 ). A registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  may add additional registered teacher s  110  or administrators  120 . A registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  may also add a list of eligible students  95  to the school database  140 . Eligible students  95  may then register as participating students  100 . Participating students  100  are herein referred to as students  100  or participating students  100 . Eligible student  95  refers to a student at a participating school  210  that has not yet registered in the incentive system  10 . 
         [0036]    A registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  may enter student attributes  40  of an eligible student  95  and may assign a student identifier  30  to an eligible student  95 . Alternatively, the incentive system  10  may notify an appropriate registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  when an eligible student  95  registers as a participating student  100  and prompt the registered teacher  110  or administrator  120  to enter the student attributes  40  of the now-participating student  100  in the school database  140 . Additionally, the incentive program  10  may generate a student identifier  30  for a student  100  upon registration if a student identifier  30  was not entered for the eligible student  95 . 
         [0037]    Upon registration, each student  100  receives a program token  150  containing their student identifier  30 . The program token  150  may be any object or software embodied in an object or a graphic representation printed on an object (bar code, QR code) capable of carrying a student identifier  30 , including, without restriction, a card with an identifying number and/or a magnetic strip as in a standard credit or debit card, a card with an RFID chip or smart chip, a smartphone app, or a card or fob including any of the foregoing and/or a machine-readable and/or human-readable visual representation, storage, and/or other medium storing, encoding and/or representing the student identifier  30 . Said program token  150  is preferably a card with a magnetic stripe and is referred to herein as a card  150  (see  FIG. 3 ), but this usage does not imply that the incentive program  10  is restricted to use with a card. Other program tokens  150  contemplated for use in the present invention include, without restriction, QR codes either printed or stored on a student  100 &#39;s mobile device, NFC or RFID identifiers stored on a special-purpose device or stored on a student  100 &#39;s mobile device, and account numbers that can be memorized, stored in a mobile device, printed or written on a membership card, and/or otherwise retained by a student  100  and made to correspond with a student identifier  30 . 
         [0038]    A business choosing to participate in the incentive program  10  is registered as a participating business  160  (see  FIG. 1 ). Participating businesses  160  may define or create one or more particular incentives  170  offered to students  100 . Such incentives  170  may be, without restriction, discounts, rebates, monetary awards, contest entries, free and/or discounted goods and/or services, charitable donations, promotional items, access to limited-stock items, and/or any other type of incentive the participating business  160  chooses to offer in connection with the incentive system  10 . 
         [0039]    Participating businesses  160  may choose to restrict and/or offer particular incentives  170  based on one or more student attributes  40 . For example, a business  160  may choose to offer a graduated discount to students  100  based on an average of their present grades  60 , offering a 5% discount on goods or services to a student  100  with an average grade  60 , on a 4.0 GPA scale, of greater than or equal to 3.0 and less than 3.5, a 10% discount to a student  100  with an average grade  60 , on a 4.0 GPA scale, of greater than or equal to 3.5 and less than 4.0, and a 15% discount to a student  100  with an average grade  60 , on a 4.0 GPA scale, of greater than or equal to 4.0 Participating businesses  160  may designate such incentives  170  based on any combination(s) of student attributes  40 , and possibly other attributes including but not limited to the time of day, weather, season, semester, etc. 
         [0040]    A participating business  160  is equipped with a secured data link device  180  configured to identify the student  100  based on the program token  150  and equipped with a communication system  190 , capable of connecting to the central database  20 . The communication system  190  may be, without restriction, a modem, wireless radio or any other system capable of connecting remotely to the central database  20 . In a preferred embodiment, the communication system  190  utilizes an encrypted connection  195  via the internet or other wired or wireless network. In one embodiment, a secured data link  180  device is provided to each participating business  160  and interacts with the program token  150 , e.g., optically or magnetically reads the data on the card. 
         [0041]    In addition to the foregoing, the system includes an online interface  200 . The online interface  200  may be a web interface, a mobile app interface and/or any other interface capable of allowing students  100 , registered teachers  110 , registered administrators  120 , and/or participating businesses  160  to access relevant portions of the central database  20 . The online interface  200  permits students  100  to check their current student attributes  40 ; registered teachers  110  and/or registered administrators  120  to add new students  100  and/or update student attributes  40 ; and participating businesses  160  to create new incentives  170 , update or modify existing incentives  170  and/or check the status and success of existing and/or past incentives  170 . Additionally, the online interface  200  may allow registered teachers  110 , registered administrators  120  and/or participating businesses  160  to make and/or receive payments of fees  165 , funds, and/or awards tied to the incentive program  10 . 
         [0042]    In a preferred method of operation of incentive system  10 , an operating organization  250  operates one or more central databases  20 , and servers that manage the central databases  20 , and coordinates with one or more participating schools  210 , and one or more participating businesses  160 . The term participating school is used herein to mean an educational or community organization of any size and serving any population. For example, a participating school  210  may be, without restriction, an elementary school, a high school, a community college, a university, an adult education program, a school district comprised of two or more schools, or a county, state, regional and/or national organization comprised of two or more schools. Each participating school  210  designates at least one teacher  110  and/or administrator  120 . Such designated teachers  110  and administrators  120  are also referred to herein as registered teachers  110  and registered administrators  120 . A participating school  210  also provides the operating organization  250  with names of students  100  attending or otherwise affiliated with the participating school  210 . Participating school  210  may also provide a student identifier  30  tied to each student  100 , student biographical data  270  for each student  100 , and/or student attributes  40  for each student  100 . Student identifiers  30  may be generated by the operating organization  250  for each student  100 , student biographical data  270  may be entered at a later time by the student  100  or by registered teachers  110  and/or registered administrators  120 , and/or student attributes  40  for each student  100  may be entered at a later time by the student  100  or by registered teachers  110  and/or registered administrators  120 . Registered teachers  110  and/or registered administrators  120  may update student attributes  40  at any time, and student attributes  40  are stored in the central database  20  and updated promptly after such updates are submitted. 
         [0043]    Students  100  may register for the incentive program  10  using the online interface  200 . Upon registration, a student  100  creates an account and username  280  which may be the same as their student identifier  30 . The student  100  is matched against the list of students provided by a participating school  210  and paired with any student attributes  40  and/or biographical data  270  entered by registered teachers  110  and/or registered administrators  120 . The student identifier  30  is linked to student attributes  40  and/or biographical data  270  contained in the central database  20 . 
         [0044]    To access incentives  170  provided by the incentive system  10 , each student  100  presents their program token  150  at a participating business  160  (see  FIG. 4 ). The participating business  160  then interfaces the program token  150  with the secured data link device  180 . The student identifier  30  is then transmitted to the central database  20 , which transmits back which, if any, incentive(s)  170  offered by the participating business  160  the student  100  is eligible for based on the student&#39;s attribute(s)  40 . A student  100  may be eligible for a first incentive  171 , a second incentive  172 , other incentives  170 , any combination of incentives  170 , or no incentive. The participating business  160  then grants the student  100  one or more incentives  170  that the student  100  is eligible for. 
         [0045]    Certain embodiments of the incentive system  10  may include participation by one or more financial institution(s)  220  (see  FIG. 5 ). Such financial institutions  220  may be, without restriction, credit card issuers, credit card processors, banks, credit unions, community banks, internet payment providers such as PayPal® or Square®, and/or digital currency processors such as Bitcoin service providers or depositories. 
         [0046]    Financial institutions  220  may participate in the incentive system  10  in multiple ways. In one embodiment, the financial institution  220  offers a credit account  230  and/or deposit account  240  to participating students  100 . The financial institution  220  may offer incentives  170  linked to these accounts, such as reduced interest rates or increased limits on a credit account  230  or bonus payments or increased interest rates on a deposit account  240 . For example, the financial institution  220  may offer a monetary payment deposited directly in the deposit account  240  to any student  100  with an average grade  60  above a pre-determined threshold. The financial institution  220  may offer other incentives  170  such as improved interest rates or terms on college tuition loans. 
         [0047]    When there is a participating financial institution  220 , it may be, but is not required to be, the processor of any fees  165  collected from participating businesses  160 . It may also be, but is not required to be, the depository of any funds collected for distribution to participating schools  210  and/or as scholarships. 
         [0048]    Optionally, the incentive system  10  may further include charging the participating business  160  a fee  165  for participation in the incentive program  10  (see  FIG. 5 ). Such a fee  165  may be assessed on a transaction basis or a membership basis. If assessed on a transaction basis, it may be assessed at a flat rate per transaction or on a percentage basis for each transaction. Similarly, if the fee  165  is assessed on a membership basis, the amount of the fee  165  may vary based on the number of transactions, amount of transactions, or size of a participating business  160 . The fee  165  may be divided among the operating organization  250 , the student&#39;s school  210 , one or more financial institutions (such as participating financial institutions  220 ) and/or other organizations participating in and/or enabling the incentive system  10 . The particular division of the fee  165  is customized based on the needs of the community in which the incentive system  10  operates and agreement among the participating schools  210  and businesses  160 . Each participating business  160  may arrange for a specific fee  165  and different divisions of the fee  165  among recipients of the fee  165 . For example, in a preferred embodiment of the incentive program  10 , the fee  165  is divided so that 50% of the fee  165  is paid to the participating school  210  and 50% is retained by the operating organization  250 . In another embodiment of the incentive program  10 , a portion of the fee is deposited in a scholarship fund, this fund being either earmarked for the student  100  making the transaction resulting in the fee and/or for distribution among participating students  100 . 
         [0049]    Additionally, some embodiments of the incentive program  10  include a mentorship program  300  (see  FIGS. 6 and 7 ). The mentorship program  300  connects at least one mentor student  310  with at least one mentee student  320 . Each mentor student  310  is a registered student  100  and may be of any age. Each mentee student  320  is a registered student  100  and may be of any age. Students  100  qualify to be mentor students  310  and/or mentee students  320  based on their student attributes  40 . Any student may be either or both a mentor student  310  and a mentee student  320 . For example, in one embodiment of the mentorship program  300 , a student  100  is qualified to be a mentor student  310  in a particular academic subject if their grade  60  in this subject is an A or better or a mentee student  320  if their grade  60  in this subject is a C or worse. In such an embodiment, a student  100  receiving an A in a first subject and a C in a second subject would qualify as a mentor student  310  in the first subject and as a mentee student in the second subject. 
         [0050]    In embodiments including a mentorship program  300 , the online interface  200  includes a mentor matching system  330  that matches students  100  qualified to be mentor students  310  with students  100  qualified to be mentee students  320 , using a computer with a processor that is configured to match using desired qualities or characteristics or two students seeking to be matched. The mentor matching system  330  may further match students  100  based on their student attributes  40 . As depicted in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the mentorship program includes mentor students  310  and mentee students  320 , with the direction of the arrows between mentor students  310  and mentee students  320  showing the mentorship relationship. Note that  FIG. 7  includes students who are both mentor students  310  and mentee students  320 , denoted as  310 / 320 , as well as mentorship relationships where multiple mentor students  310  mentor one mentee student  320  and where a single mentor student  310  mentors multiple mentee students. The mentor matching system  330  may further include communications means  340  for use by students  100  to allow one or more mentor students  310  to communicate with mentee students  320 . Such communications means  340  may include, without restriction, text chat systems, voice over IP (VOIP) systems, video chat systems and/or bulletin board systems. Generally, communication means are structure that enable two people to communicate with one another. 
         [0051]    Participating businesses  160  and/or participating schools  210  may offer incentives  170  to student mentors  310  and student mentees  320 . In particular, a preferred embodiment of the mentorship system  300  provides incentives  170  to student mentors  310  who mentor student mentees  320  who thereafter show improvement in one or more student attributes  40 , specifically grades  60 . 
         [0052]    In addition to allowing participating businesses  160  and/or participating schools  210  to provide incentives  170  to students  100 , the incentive system  10  may allow participating businesses  160  and/or participating schools  210  to provide incentives  170  to registered teachers  110  (see  FIG. 8 ). Such incentives  170  may be based on the student attributes  40  of students  100  instructed by the teacher  110  or may be based on teacher attributes  290 . Such teacher attributes  290  may include values derived from student attributes  40  or may include such values as, without restriction, the time the teacher  110  takes to grade student work, additional tutoring undertaken by the teacher  110  or other desirable acts or attributes of the teacher  110 . The teacher attributes  290  may be stored in the central database  20  or in the school database  140 , or possibly in a separate teacher attribute database. The administrators  120  may access this database and provide information about the teachers  110 . Similarly, the businesses  160  may be provided with parameters of the teacher attributes to enable them to determine incentives to offer to the teachers  110 . The manner in which the teachers  110  would receive incentives form the participating businesses  160  is the same as the students  100 , i.e., using teacher identifying device, similar to the program token  150 , but coded for the teachers. The businesses would interface with the teacher database to determine teacher incentives when the teacher identifying devices are presented. 
         [0053]    Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses may become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by this specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.