Abstract:
A system and methodology for using electronic computer systems for the management of electronically generated lottery tickets having a plurality of statuses whereas the lottery ticket is created as an electronic lottery ticket record, allowing one or more lottery tickets to be linked to a printed lottery ticket in a sold status, allowing one or more tickets to linked to a printed lottery ticket in a reserved status, and allowing unsold tickets previously linked to a printed ticket to be released and linked to new lottery ticket at a later time.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to lottery games in which a lottery ticket is used and more particularly to a lottery ticket game in which the printed lottery ticket contains one or more independent lottery ticket outcomes. One or more of these lottery ticket outcomes may be required as part of the ticket purchase, or optional as in the case of a bonus game or a continued play game. 
         [0002]    Governmental lotteries typically include ticket based games in which the outcome of the game is determined when the ticket is printed. In most cases the lottery publishes the player&#39;s odds of winning each prize on the ticket or on the lottery&#39;s web site. The odds of a player winning each of the prizes is based on the number tickets created having of each of the winning outcomes, along with the number of tickets created having no redemption value. For example, if one winning ticket is created out of a total of one million tickets, the odds of a player receiving the winning ticket is one in one million. 
         [0003]    Most lottery tickets provide a limited number of possible game outcomes and each lottery ticket usually only contains a single redemption value calculated for the ticket as a whole and not for individual games printed on the ticket. Although these tickets may contain one or more graphic images which are revealed separately and totaled to determine the redemption value of the ticket, the redemption value of the ticket is one of the limited number of possible outcomes. 
         [0004]    The lottery ticket may also provide the player with optional bonus or continuation games that allows the play to decide whether or not they want to participate in the optional game. This is common when the lottery ticket is used to provide the player with access to an electronic game that allows the player to reveal the outcome of each lottery ticket using an entertaining graphical display. 
         [0005]    Competition for players with other forms of gaming such as casinos and horse racing is tight and lotteries are often looking for ways to attract and keep players. One method is to provide lottery tickets having multiple independent lottery ticket games included on a single ticket. Including multiple independent lottery tickets on a single printed ticket allows the lottery to provide a wider range of winning outcomes providing for more exciting games. The creation of a wider range of game outcomes on a single ticket also makes it possible for government lotteries to expand the methods used to present the winning outcomes to include interesting electronic displays. 
         [0006]    A system and method for creating and printing each of the winning tickets along with each of the non-winning tickets is required in order to provide a game having the odds published by the governmental lottery. 
         [0007]    Prior to the present invention, there is no system and method for creating lottery tickets containing multiple independent lottery ticket games where the total redemption value of the ticket is based on the sum of all the independent game outputs and the player may also choose to play optional or additional games presented on the same lottery ticket. 
         [0008]    Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that provides for the creation and management of lottery tickets that are stored as electronic lottery tickets and may be printed as a group on a printed lottery ticket that provide the player with the opportunity to purchase multiple independent lottery ticket games printed on the same ticket. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a pictorial representation of a lottery ticket in which the present invention may be implemented is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a pictorial representation showing the relationship between lottery ticket data structures is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart depicting the creation of electronic lottery tickets is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart depicting the creation of printed lottery tickets is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart depicting the process of a player choosing to participate in a continuation game is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart depicting the process of a player redeeming a lottery ticket is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    Starting now with  FIG. 1 , a pictorial representation of a lottery ticket in which the present invention may be implemented is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A substrate  101  which may be printed using a computer printer or thermal receipt printer or printed on card stock using traditional printing methods is used to print a lottery ticket identified in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. An optional printed area  102  may be used by the lottery to provide game instructions to the player or identify other important information about the game. The optional printed area  102  may also contain a covering which may be removed by the player to reveal additional information including game results. A unique machine readable barcode  103  is printed on the substrate to identify the ticket to the lottery and any machine used to verify or validate the ticket. The machine readable barcode  103  is used as the unique identifier to represent the printed ticket throughout all aspects of the current invention. An optional internet access number  104  is printed on the ticket to allow a player to validate the ticket using a computer connected to the Internet. 
         [0016]    With reference now to  FIG. 2 , a pictorial representation showing the relationship between lottery ticket data structures depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A data structure containing electronic lottery tickets  201  contains one record for each electronic lottery ticket created in accordance with the current invention. Electronic lottery ticket records are created using the method described in  FIG. 3  and a created when a new game is created or when the number of electronic lottery tickets sold reaches a level where the lottery chooses to create new electronic lottery tickets. A data structure containing printed lottery tickets  202  contains one record for each lottery ticket printed to physical paper. The creation of printed lottery tickets as represented in  202  is done either as part of a large print run, in the case of pre-printed tickets, or at the point of sale device as in the case of lottery tickets used with electronic display machines. The one to many relationship  203  identifies that for each printed ticket represented in  202  there may be one or more electronic lottery tickets represented in  201 , but it is also possible for electronic lottery ticket records stored in  201  to not be linked to a printed lottery ticket in  202 . 
         [0017]    With reference now to  FIG. 3 , a flowchart depicting the creation of electronic lottery tickets depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The process starts with the system reading configuration information  301  related to the game in which electronic tickets are created. This information includes the minimum number of tickets that must be created as part of the process, a list of winning prize amounts that must be created, along with the number of each winning prize amount that must be created. The system uses a temporary data structure to create the electronic lottery ticket records, in case a computer error occurs requiring the process to be restarted. The system clears all records from the temporary data structure in Step  302 . The system next creates electronic lottery tickets having no redemption value in Step  303  into the temporary data structure. Each electronic lottery ticket is assigned a unique identifier that is defined internally to the system. The number of zero-value lottery tickets created is the minimum value read from the configuration information in Step  301 . Step  303  is the only step in which new electronic lottery tickets are inserted into the temporary data structure. In the next Step  304  a counter is initialized to track the creation of each of the winning prize amounts. This counter is used to determine whether all available prize amounts have been created during this process. In the next Step  305 , the counter is checked to determine if all of the prize amounts have been assigned. If all prize amounts have been created, the process moves to Step  314 , otherwise the process moves to Step  306 . In Step  306 , system memory is read to determine how many tickets with the prize amount being processed needs to be created. Step  307  initializes the counter required to ensure that the correct number of prizes have been created for the prize amount being processed. In Step  308 , the value of the second counter is compared with the number of winning tickets that must be created for the prize amount being processed to determine if all prizes for the current prize amount have been created. If the correct number prizes have been created, the process moves to Step  309  where the first counter is incremented and the process is moved back to Step  305  where the process of Step  305 ,  306 ,  307 , and  308  is continued until electronic lottery tickets have been created for each available prize. Back in Step  308 , if all lottery tickets for the current prize have not been created, the process moves to Step  310  where a random number is generated between 1 and the total number of electronic lottery tickets being created as part of this process. The system moves to the location in the temporary data structure represented by the random number generated in  310  and the lottery ticket is checked in Step  311  to determine if a prize has already been assigned to the ticket. If the electronic lottery ticket represented by the random number generated in Step  310  has already been assigned a winning value, the process moves back to Step  310  to generate a new random number. This process, Step  310  and Step  311 , is repeated until the electronic lottery ticket represented by the random number generated in Step  310  has not been assigned a winning value. Once Step  311  identifies a ticket that has not been assigned a winning value, the winning value for the prize currently being processed is assigned to the electronic lottery ticket in Step  312 . The process then moves to Step  313  where the counter representing the number of tickets created for the prize currently being processed is incremented, and the process moves back to Step  308  to determine whether all the winning tickets have been assigned for the current prize. The steps used to assign all of the winning tickets for the current prize value is repeated until Step  308  determines that all of the tickets for the current prize have been assigned. The process then increments the first counter in Step  309  and moves back to Step  305  to determine if all prizes have been assigned. If Step  305  determines that all prizes have been assigned for all prize values, the process moves to Step  314  where the system operator views the results of the entire process to ensure that the process was performed correctly. If the operator in Step  314  determines that the process has not been completed successfully, the process moves to Step  302  and the entire process is repeated. If the operator in Step  314  determines that the process was completed successfully, the process moves to Step  315  where the electronic lottery ticket records are moved from the temporary data structure to the production data structure and the process ends in Step  316 . 
         [0018]    With reference now to  FIG. 4 , a flowchart depicting the creation of printed lottery tickets depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the first Step  400 , the system reads the game configuration information to retrieve critical information used to assign electronic lottery tickets to printed lottery tickets. This information includes, the number of electronic lottery tickets assigned to the printed ticket as part of the initial lottery ticket purchase, the number of optional continuation games to be linked to the ticket, and the number of electronic lottery tickets that are reserved for each of the continuation games. In Step  401 , the record representing the printed lottery ticket being processed is created and inserted into the data structure representing printed lottery tickets. This step includes assigning the unique identifier that represents the printed lottery ticket and is printed on the lottery ticket as a machine readable barcode and shown in  FIG. 1  as  103 . In Step  402  a counter is initialized to track the number of electronic lottery tickets that have been linked to the printed lottery ticket for the initial purchased game represented on the printed lottery ticket. Step  403  compares the value of the counter with the number of electronic lottery tickets that are to be assigned to the printed lottery ticket as part of the initial purchased game. If the number of the counter is equal to the required number of lottery tickets, the process moves to Step  407 , otherwise the process moves to Step  404 . In Step  404 , a random number is generated between 1 and the number of unsold and unreserved electronic lottery tickets remaining for the game being processed. In Step  405 , the electronic lottery ticket represented by the random number generated in Step  404  is linked to the printed lottery ticket by assigning the unique ID representing the printed lottery ticket to a field on the data record identifying the printed lottery ticket. Step  405  also sets the status of the electronic lottery ticket to the value representing an electronic ticket that has been sold. Step  406  increments the counter representing the number of electronic lottery tickets assigned to the printed ticket prior to the process moving back to Step  403 . If the number of electronic lottery tickets assigned to the printed lottery ticket is equal to the number of required for the game, the process moves to Step  407  where the system determines if there are continuation or bonus games that require additional electronic lottery tickets to be attached to the printed lottery ticket. If Step  407  determines that there are no additional bonus or continuation games, the process moves to Step  408  and the process ends. If Step  407  determines that additional games exist, a counter is initialized to keep track of each of the continuation or bonus games that have been processed. In Step  410 , the counter is compared to the number of continuation or bonus games for the ticket to determine if all continuation games have been processed. If Step  410  determines that all continuation games have been processed, the process moves to Step  408  and the process ends. Otherwise, the process moves to Step  411  where a second counter is initialized to track the number of electronic lottery tickets that have been linked to the current continuation game being processed. Step  412  determines whether the number of electronic lottery tickets linked to the current continuation game matches the correct number of electronic lottery tickets, then the process moves to Step  416  where the counter tracking the number of continuation games is incremented and the process is moved back to Step  410 . If Step  412  determines that additional electronic lottery tickets must be attached to the current continuation game, the process moves to Step  413  where a random number between 1 and the number of unassigned electronic lottery tickets for the type of game being processed is generated. The process then moves to Step  414  where the lottery ticket is linked to both the printed ticket being processed and the continuation game being processed. Step  414  also sets the status field representing the status of the electronic lottery ticket to a value representing a reserved lottery ticket. The process next moves to Step  415  where the counter tracking the number of electronic lottery tickets linked to the current continuation game is incremented and the process moves back to Step  412  to determine if the process of assigning electronic lottery tickets to the current lottery game is complete. If Step  412  determines that the proper amount of electronic lottery tickets for the current continuation game have been linked to the printed lottery ticket, the process moves to Step  416  where the counter representing the current continuation game is incremented. The process moves to Step  410  to determine if the overall process of creating the printed lottery ticket and assigning electronic lottery ticket records to it is complete. The process ends at Step  408 . 
         [0019]    With reference now to  FIG. 5 , a flowchart depicting the process of a player choosing to participate in a continuation game depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Continuation or bonus games are optional to the player but linked to the printed lottery ticket to allow the player to decide whether they want to risk some of their current prize winning to play another game. When this happens, the data structures representing the printed lottery ticket and the reserved electronic lottery tickets must be updated to represent that a continuation game has been played. The process starts in Step  501  where the player chooses to participate in a continuation or bonus game. Next, in Step  502  information identifying the printed lottery ticket and the continuation game being played is transmitted to the computer system managing this process. In the next Step  503 , the system determines whether or not additional electronic lottery tickets are linked to the continuation game the player identified that they wish to play. If Step  503  determines that no additional electronic lottery tickets are linked to the continuation game identified by the player in Step  502 , a failure message is sent to the player in Step  504  and the process is terminated in Step  505 . If Step  503  determines that electronic lottery tickets have been reserved for the continuation game identified by player in Step  502 , the process moves to Step  507  where a sales record is created in a data structure to represent that the electronic lottery tickets have move to a status representing a sold lottery ticket. The next Step  508  sets the status of all electronic lottery tickets linked to both the printed lottery ticket and the continuation game identified by the player in Step  502  to the status representing a sold electronic lottery ticket. In Step  509 , the record representing the printed lottery ticket is updated to represent the additional continuation game as played. In Step  510 , a success message is sent to the player identifying that the process of activating the continuation game is complete. The process completes in Step  505 . 
         [0020]    With reference now to  FIG. 6 , a flowchart depicting the process of a player redeeming a lottery ticket depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The process starts in Step  601  with the player determining that they want to redeem the printed lottery ticket for its cash value. In Step  602 , the printed ticket number is sent to the electronic computer system managing the process to identify the ticket being redeemed. In Step  603 , the redemption value of the ticket is calculated using the rules established for the lottery game identified by the printed ticket. Step  604  identifies whether there are additional reserved electronic tickets attached to the printed lottery ticket that are part of continuation games that the player decided not to play. If Step  604  determines that there are additional reserved electronic lottery tickets linked to the printed lottery ticket, the process moves to Step  607  where the status of the reserved electronic lottery tickets linked to the printed ticket is set to the status representing an unsold lottery ticket. In Step  608  all electronic lottery tickets linked to the printed ticket that are in unsold status are unlinked from the printed lottery ticket by removing the printed lottery ticket identifier from the electronic lottery ticket records. The process then moves to Step  605  where the redemption value of the ticket calculated in Step  603  is transmitted to the location redeeming the printed lottery ticket. The process is then terminated in Step  606 . 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0021]    In view of the deficiencies described above, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a novel system and method to create and manage electronic lottery tickets which may be provided to the player as a single printed lottery ticket and which one or more of the electronic lottery tickets provided on the printed ticket may be optional to the player. 
         [0022]    Each lottery ticket game has a purchase price which defines the amount the player must pay in order to play the game. In a multiple ticket game, the player may have purchased more than one independent lottery tickets where the total purchase price of each of the independent tickets totals the total purchase price of the ticket. 
         [0023]    When a new lottery game is created or a batch of new tickets is added to the existing tickets for the game, a large number of tickets are created at the same time in order to maintain the correct odds of winning each prize. The set of new tickets is first created as electronic records in a computer database prior to the tickets being assigned to a printed ticket. The lottery tickets having winning outcomes are distributed randomly throughout the database providing each player with the same odds of winning a prize. A field on the electronic lottery ticket record contains the status of the electronic lottery ticket. When the electronic lottery ticket first created, the status of the ticket is unsold, which is represented in the status fields as a unique code. When an electronic lottery ticket is linked to a printed lottery ticket, a unique identifier representing the printed lottery ticket, which may be represented on the ticket as a machine readable barcode, is stored in a field on the electronic lottery ticket record. Additionally, the status of the electronic lottery ticket is either set to a value representing a ‘sold’ ticket, or a value representing a ‘reserved’ ticket, depending on whether playing the electronic lottery ticket is required or optional when the ticket is printed. 
         [0024]    When an electronic lottery ticket status is represented as a ‘reserved’ ticket, the redemption value of the electronic ticket is not included in the redemption value of the printed ticket. If the player chooses to play the optional ‘reserved’ ticket, the status of the ticket is changed to a value representing a ‘sold’ ticket prior to being included in the redemption value of the printed ticket. 
         [0025]    In order to create a printed ticket containing the outcomes of multiple electronic lottery tickets, game configuration values are used to determine how many electronic lottery tickets are included on each printed lottery ticket. Within the computerized database an additional table data structure is required to represent each printed lottery ticket. The unique identifier representing each record contained in the printed ticket data structure is represented on the printed lottery ticket either as a machine readable barcode, a numeric sequence, or both. Each record contained in the data table representing the printed ticket is related to multiple records contained in the electronic lottery ticket data table. When the printed lottery ticket is created and linked to multiple electronic lottery tickets, the configuration data representing the lottery game also determines the number of continuation games and additional electronic lottery tickets are set to a status representing a ‘reserved’ ticket and linked to both the printed lottery ticket and the identifier representing the continuation game. 
         [0026]    When a player purchases a printed ticket, the redemption value of the ticket is predetermined by totaling the outcomes of each of the electronic lottery tickets which are represented as a ‘sold’ status and linked to the printed ticket. If the player chooses to participate in a continuation game, the redemption value of the ticket may be reduced by a specified amount as part of the rules of the continuation game. If the redemption values of the printed lottery ticket is displayed using a electronic computer display, the player identifies to the lottery computer system whether or not they choose to play the continuation game. If the player chooses to play a continuation game, the electronic lottery tickets represented by a ‘reserved’ status, linked to the printed ticket, and identified by a continuation game identifier are set to a status representing a ‘sold’ ticket, and the outcomes related to the electronic lottery ticket are included in the redemption value of the printed lottery ticket. The migration of a electronic lottery ticket from a status representing a ‘reserved’ ticket to a status representing a ‘sold’ ticket may represent additional sales revenue to the lottery. Each time a ticket is changed to a status representing a ‘sold’ ticket, the electronic lottery ticket purchase price is added to a database structure representing the sales ledger for the lottery. This allows the lottery to record the play of a continuation game as a sale. 
         [0027]    When the player redeems a printed lottery ticket having a redemption value greater than zero, any electronic lottery ticket records linked to the ticking being redeemed that have a status represented as ‘reserved’, are released from the printed lottery ticket and set to a status representing an ‘unsold’ ticket. This allows the ‘unsold’ ticket to be linked to another printed ticket the next time tickets are printed and maintains the correct odds of winning each prize.