Patent ID: 8768505

Claim:
A system for providing a pre-paid product to an authorized customer using a unique container, comprising: a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for providing validation of the unique container and the authorized customer; a sales module that acquires a container ID for the unique container and generates a credential ID for the authorized customer receiving the unique container, wherein the credential ID is related to the container ID, but is separate element carriable by the customer independently of the container, and wherein the sales module activates the unique container and stores the container ID for the unique container and the related credential ID for the authorized customer in the storage medium; and a dispensing module that receives a request from a remote dispensing device for validation of the unique container to receive the prepaid product, wherein the dispensing module compares a received request container ID and a received request credential ID in the request to the stored container ID and the stored credential ID in the storage medium, respectively, and authorizes the dispensing of the prepaid product only if the received request container ID matches the stored container ID and the received request credential ID and the stored credential ID, wherein the match of the request credential ID and the stored credential ID validates the authorized customer, wherein the match of the request container ID and the stored container ID validates the container, and wherein the dispensing module authorizes the dispensing of the prepaid product only if the authorized customer presents the container ID to validate the container and also presents the credential ID to validate the authorized customer.