Patent ID: 7472828

Claim:
A system for managing the production of tickets in accordance with a ticket order, said system comprising: (a) a ticketing services bureau comprising a server, the server being adapted to receive the ticket order, store the ticket order as printer-neutral data which does not directly take into account the characteristics of any particular printing platform and generate an on-screen ticket proof in accordance therewith, (b) a client connected to the server via an electronic network, wherein said client can retrieve the on-screen ticket proof from the server and dynamically modify the on-screen ticket proof as deemed necessary so as to yield an approved on-screen ticket proof, and (c) a plurality of print centers which together include at least two distinct printing platforms, each printing platform having unique format and layout requirements, each of the plurality of printer centers being independently connected to the server via an electronic network, (d) wherein the server assigns a designated printing platform to the ticket order, selects a designated print center with access to the designated printing platform to print tickets in accordance with the ticket order, converts the accepted on-screen ticket proof into a production-ready output file in the format and layout required by the designated printing platform, and releases the output file to the designated print center for execution of the ticket order.