Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
i5~
FIELD OF T~E INVENTION
This invention relates to performance -tickets
and the manner in which they are printed for use in
appara-tus which is capable of validatlng the performance
-tickets.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
. .
Due to significant advances in photocopying and
other printing techniques, it is possible to make in an
unauthorized manner a ticket which is at least visually
identical to the original. These counterfeit tickets
can be sold by coun-terfeiters at performances which has
resulted in subs-tantial losses by the operators of the
performances.
In the field of counterfeit detection, numerous
techniques have been developed to prevent counterfeiting
of credit cards and equipment has been developed for
detecting counterfeit credit cards. Examples of
transaction cards having visible and invisible encoded
information are disclosed in United States patents
3,601,913, 3,683,413, 4/066~873 and ~,092,526. The
latter patent discloses visually readable numbers
imprinted into the plastic card and also a band of
magnetically encoded information. ~arious processes are
used in applying the magnetically encoded information to
the card in a manner which is difficult for the
counterfeiter to detect and, therefore, difficult to
reproduce on a counterfeit card. For example in United
States patent ~,092,526, radiant energy reflectors are
used in conjunction with the magnetizable strip
containing magnetically recorded data, where the
reflectors are only visible under infrared radiation.
This arrangement necessitates expensive equipment to
detect the encoded information and to reproduce a card
having the encoded information.
None of the above approaches, however, have been
used in the field of performance tickets to prevent
counterfeiting thereof. The performance ticket
apparatus for reading information from the ticket and
the process of printing the ticket, according to this
invention, pxovides a system which from a cost
standpoint minimizes or eliminates the counterfeiting of
performance tickets. In the credit card business, where
the potential unauthorized use of a credit card may be
in the thousands of dollars, the use of more
sophisticated equipment in attempting to break a code on
a credit card is warranted, whereas a performance ticket
has a limited value and thereby determines the
sophistication of equipment which could be used in
counterfeiting the ticket.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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A performance ticket, accorcling to an aspect of
the invention, has visible information printed thereon
which indicates data such as the nature of the
performance, the date of the performance and the time of
the performance. The ticket has a stub portion which is
severable from the ticket. The ticket has on an area
apart from the stub portion a first machine readable
code which is visible to the patron t and a second
machine readable code which is invisible to the patron.
The visible and invisible machine readable codes are
oriented in the same direction. The visible machine
readable code encodes at least portions of the
- information which is consistent from ticke-t to ticket
for a particular performance and the invisible machine
readable code encodes additonal information unique to
the performance.
The apparatus, according to an aspect of this
invention for reading the performance ticket, comprises
means for receiving the performance ticket, means Eor
machine reading the first and second codes on the ticket
and means for aligning the first and second machine
readable codes with the code reader means. Transport
means is provided for effecting relative movement
between the ticket and the code reader means for machine
reading the codes. Programmable memory means stores the
information of the first and second codesO Means
compares the machine read codes to the stored codes in
the memory means. Means indicates a valid ticket by
determining a match or an inval.id ticket by determining
a non-match of the machine read and stored codes and
means removes a stub portion from the ticket in response
to the comparator means determining a valid ticket and
returns the stub to the patron.
According to an aspect of the invention, the
performance ticket is printed by selecting a ticket
media which has a sur~ace oE high reflectivity suitable
for use with visible machine readable code format.
Information is printed on the ticket which i5 readable
by the patron and defines data such as the performance
nature, date, time and seating. A first machine
readable code is printed on a ticket which encodes at
least the information which is consistent for tickets of
a particular performance and is visible to the patron.
A second machine readable code is printed in the same
direction as the first code with visible magnetic ink
and which encodes additional in~ormation unique to the
performance. The second code is masked with a
non~magnetic ink to provide a color patch on the ticket
thereby rendering the second code invisible to the
patron.
sRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Preferred embodiments of the invention are shown
in the drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a performance
ticket printed in accordance with this invention;
Figure la is a perspective view of the rear
portion of the ticket of .~igure 1 having machine
readable information encoded thereon;
Figure 2 schematically illustrates the apparatus
according to this invention for reading the ticket of
Figure l;
Figure 3 exemplifles the information which may
be encoded in a visible machine readable code;
Figure 3a exemplifies an alternate approach for
encoding information in the visible machine readable
code;
Figure ~ is block diagram showing the apparatus
for printing the tic~ets;
Figure 5 shows an upper section of the ticket
with machine readable codes printed thereon;
Figure 6 is a perspective view of portions of
the apparatus of Figure 2 which manipulate and read the
performance ticket;
Figure 7 is a block diagram showing the
components of the apparatus of Figure 2, and
Figures ~a and 8b are logic diagrams for the
computerized control o~ the apparatus of Figure 2;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THF PREFERRED E BODIMENTS
A standard type of performance ticket is shown
in Figure 1. The performance ticket 10 has a ticket
15 portion 12 and a stub portion 14 as defined by line 16~
which may be perforations or a dotted line. The ticket
portion 12 has printed thereon standard information 18
which is visually readable by the patron and includes
data such as performance nature, date, time, price and
seating. Similarly, on the stub 14 is visually readable
information 20 setting out relevant portions of the
information concerning the performance.
According to this invention, additional machine
readable information is printed on the rear face of the
ticket, as shown in Figure la, to thwart counterfeiting
and, by the apparatus of this invention, determine
counterfeit tickets. Prlnted on the ticket rear face 13
are machine readable codes 24 and 26. The machine
readable code 24 encodes the information 18. As shown
in Figure 3a, code 24 encodes the year, month and day,
performance and the section, row and seat. At the
be~inning and end of each code 24 are the standard
start, check sum and stop codes which control the
machine reading of the codes. According to a pre~erred
embodiment of the invention, the code 24 is adapted to
encode alphanumeric characters in the standard density
"Code 39" in accordance with the Material Handling
Institute Incorproated format. It is appreciated,
however, that code 24 may be printed in other machine
readable forma-ts, such as optical character recognition
characters and magnetic ink characters. It is also
appreciated that for simpler, economic applications, the
encoded information may be an eight digit number as
shown in Figure 3. The informa-tion 1~ may be encoded by
a plurality of numbers to facilitate the printing and
reading oE the code~
~ n additional code 26 is provided on the ticket
portion 12, which appears as a color patch, where the
machine readable code therein is invisible to the
patron. The additional information encoded by code 26
is unique to the performance or other circumstance
related to the performance, such as the performance
operator identification or the day for all performances
thereon. Various techniques according to this invention
can be used for masking a machine readable code.
According to a preferred embodiment of this invention,
the machine readable code i5 printed on the ticket rear
face 13 in magnetic ink. The coded information in
magnetic ink is covered with a non-magnetic ink of the
same color as the magnetic ink to provide the color
patch 30. It is appreciated that other ink colors may
be used as long as the non-magnetic ink color used is
opaque and covers the magnetic ink to render it
invisible to the patron. Thus the patron on inspecting
the ticket would have no idea as to the purpose of the
color patch 30 and for the counterfeiter, sophisticated
equipment is required to determine what the code 26 may
be. In view of the normal price of performance tickets,
the costs of such sophisticated equipment for breaking
the code of the perEormance ticket would far outweight
any expected gains from selling a limited number of
counterfeit tickets for any particular performance.
Figure 2 shows schematically the equipment which
is used to accept tickets of the type of Figure 1,
determine if they are valid tickets and permit entry of
the patron. A ticket taker unit 32 is located near a
turnstile 34 which is norma]ly locked and prevents
patrons from passing therethrough. It is appreciated
~ ~ ~ L~
that ~atin~ would be provided about the turnstile 34 so
as to control passage through the turnstile. ~he ticket
taker unit 32 is located in advance o~ the turnstile,
where the patron inserts ticket 10 into the ticket taker
unit thxough slot 36. The ticket taker unit 32 has
devices for reading the codes 24 and 26 on the rear of
the ticket. The ticket taker unit 32 has prcvided
therein or has access to a programmable memor~ in which
the encoded information o~ code 24 and code 26 are
programmed into the programmable memory. The ticket
taker unit reads the codes 24 and 26 and upon matching
of the read information of codes 24 and 26 with the
stored information, the match indicates that the ticket
is for the correct per~ormance and has the correct
invisible machine readable code. The ticket taker unit
then severs the stub portion 14 from the ticket and
returns it to the patron and releases the turnstile 34
to allow the turnstile bars 38 to rotate and allow the
patron to passO Optionally the encoded information of
code 2~ may be read and transferred to an of~line
computer for performance analysis purposes.
Various forms of visual devices and audible
devices may be used to indicate the status of the t:icket
inserted into the ticket taker unit. On the unit 32,
there is a green light 40 and a yellow light 42.
display panel 44 is located remote of the ticket taker
unit 32 and is in communication therewith via cable 46.
The dlspla~ unit has a green ]ight 48, a yellow light 50
and a red light 52. In the event that the ticket taker
unit 32 determines a valid ticket, a signal is sent vla
cable 37 to release the lock mechanism in turnstile 34
to allow the bar portion 38 to rotate. ~ second signal
is sent via cable 46 to actuate green light 48. In the
event that the ticket ta~er unit is unable to read one
or more of codes 24 and 26 due to that portion of the
ticket being damaged, then the yellow lights 42 and 50
flash on the ticket taker unit 32 and on the remote
display panel 44. This alerts the operator o~ the
particular ticket taker unit, to proceed to the
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turnstile and check out the ticket and determine whe-ther
or not the patron should pass.
In the event that the code reader of the ticket
taker unit cannot locate on the ticket a magnetic code,
then this indicates a counterfeit ticket. Such
determination sounds an audible alarm 54 on the unit and
actuates a flashing red light S2 of the remote display
panel 44. This alerts the security people to a
counterfeit ticket at the turnstiles. Optionally, such
determination can activate remote cameras to take
photographs of people in the area where the counterfeit
ticket has been inserted. This may assist the operators
in apprehendin~ the person who has inserted the
counterfeit ticket and in turn, track down the source of
the counterfeit ticket.
The information encoded in the invisible code 26
i5 normally changed for each performance, so that the
code is in one way or another unique to the performance.
Thus before each performance, or before the performances
for a particular day, the ticket taker unit 32 has its
programmable memory altered to store the correct data
corresponding to the information encoded on the
invisible portion of the performance ticket. According
to a preferrecl embodiment of the invention, a handheld
master programmer unit 56 is connected by interface
2~ cable 58 to the ticket taker unit 32 at junction 57.
The handheld programmer unit 56 has a keyboard 60 with
visual display 62. The particular code 26 for the
performance or performances of a particular day, which
will be found on all tickets for the corresponding
performance or performances, is entered into the
programmable memory of the ticket taker unit 32 by way
o~ the keyboard 60. The information encoded in the
invisible code 26 may be alphanumeric or simply numeric
of two of more characters which has perhaps a unique
performance operator code or performance/game code. The
particular code 24 for each performance is also entered
into the programmable memory. The information stored is
usually the performance identification, the day and the
time. ~lthough it would be impractical to enter all
information on seating, i-t may be desirable to enter
into the memory o-f the unit 32 a range for the
appropriate seating for a particular performance and
thereby control seatlng in this manner~ Visual readout
on monitor 62 indicates the codes entered to allow the
user to ensure that the proper codes have been entered
into the memory of ticket taker unit 32. Upon
vertification of correct data loading by a double check,
the interfaced cable is removed to permit programming of
the next ticket taker unit with the handheld programmer
56.
The ticket taker unit 32 may be connected via
interface cable 63 to an offline computer 64. This may
be a permanent hook up to the offline computer where,
instead of the handheld programming unit 56, -the memory
for the ticket taker unit can be programmed by the
offline computer to enter on a day-to-day,
performance-to-performance basis the data encoded by the
by vislble code 24 and invisible code 26 on the program
ticket. In addition, the information read from the code
24 may be transmitted via dataline 62 to the memory of
offline computer 64. This allows the larger offline
computer memory to store data concerning the attendance
at the performance by way of noting the types of
information of code 24 as shown in Figure 3a. ~epending
upon the degree of sophistication in the system, it may
also be possible to compare the code concerning section,
row and seat in the information of code 24 to the
information stored in the offline computer 64, so that
if a ticket has already been passed with the same
section, row and seat, this provides a further
indication that the ticket may be counterfeit.
Turning to Figure 4, a sheet of paper stock 66
is fed beneath a printer 68. Printer 68 prints the
visually readable information 18 and 20 on each ticket
10 of Figure 1. To economize on the printing operation,
the printer 68 prints six tickets across the width of
the paper stock as indicated at 7~, after the ticket
sheet has emerged from the bar code reader 72. The
printer 68 is controlled by print controller 7~ via
cable 76. The information to be printed on each ticket
including the specific section, row and seat is
determined by controller 74. Via interface cable 78,
information is input to the con-troller for the bar code
printer 80 regarding the information to be encoded in
codes 2~ and 26. The controller 82 controls the bar
code printer 80 via cable 84~ The bar code printer has
the facility to prin-t in one pass on six adjacent
tickets each of the codes 24 and 26. The prin-ter 80
also includes the facility to mask the code 26 with a
non-magnetic ink to provide the color patch 30. The
series of adjacent tickets then pass through the bar
15 code reader 72, where the codes 24 and 26 on each
freshly printed ticket are read. The read information
i5 input via cable 86 to the controller 82 for
comparison to the information which was instructed to be
printed, and providing the information read is correct,
the tickets are passed on for scoring along lines 88 so
that the tickets may be severed from the web 66.
The paper stock used will be a high quality
paper with sufficient heat reslstance to retain its
integrity following the printing operation of the bar
code by a laser printer which provides the needed
capabilities for printing information as in Figure 3a.
The information of Figure 3 may be printed with standard
mechanical or lithography techniques. Similarly with
the magnetic bar code, it may also be printed by
conventional lithography or similar techniques~
Additional considerations in selecting the paper are
surface reflectivity, radiation pattern, transparency,
paper bleed and durability which properties are well
known by those skilled in this art.
In printing the bar code, it is appreciated that
several considerations are also required, as will be
understood by those skiled in the art, such as ink voids
and specs, ink spread and shrink, ink smearing, ink
non-uniformity, bar/space width tolerances, and edge
roughness of each printed bar. An addi-tional critical
parameter to be considered in the printing operation is
the print contrast signal which is a function of
reflectivity of the media and the reflectivity of the
ink. A print contrast signal of greater than 65~ is
required for reliable machine reading.
Similar considerations are required in printing
the magnetic bar code which may be of the standard
density "Code 39" insofar as concerning ink voids and
specks, ink spread and shrink, ink smearing, ink
non-uniformity, bar/space width tolerances and edge
roughness.
As shown in Figure 5, ~the upper portion of
ticket rear face 13 has the visible bar code 24 and the
visible portion of the magnetic bar code 26. A11 of the
codes printed are oriented in the same direction so that
they will all be read in directions which may be the
same or parallel to one another and read in the same or
opposite directions. In order to mask the code 26 to
render it invisible to the patron, the area 90 is
covered with a non-magnetic ink optionally of the same
color as the magnetic ink used to print code 26. This
provides a color patch 30, as shown in Fiyure 1, which
thereby camouflages the magnetic code 26. It is
appreciated that the code 26 may also be printed in
other characters such as numeric and alphabetic
characters commonly used on printed cheques and the
like~
Turning to Figure 6, components within the
ticket taker unit 32 are shown. The ticket 10, after
insertion through the slot 36 oE the reading unit, is
moved along between guide rails 92 and 94 by opposing
feed rollers 96 and 98. Sensors (not shown) are
positioned in front of the fe~d rollers 96 and 9$ to
actuate them upon sensing the insertion of a ticket
through the slot 36 to feed the ticket along the guide
rails 92 and 94. The ticket 10 continues to be fed in
the direction of arrow 100 until it meets platform 102
with stop 104. Stop 104 includes a sensor to indicate
s~
that the upper edge 106 of the ticket, as shown in
Figure 5, abuts the stop portion 104 tu halt feeding of
the ticke-t by positive drive rollers 96, 98O Upon
sensing the upper edge 106 of the ticket, an electrical
solenoid 108 is actuated to clamp the ticket on platform
102 by clamp plate 110 movlng in the direction of arrow
112. The ticket is now secured above the devices 114
for reading the machine readable code on the rear face
13 of the ticket. The reading device 114 includes a
reading sensor or wand 116 for reading the magnetically
encoded information in code 26. A second sensor or wand
118 is provided for optically reading the visible
machine readable code 24. The sensors are mounted on a
transport 120 which has depending arms 122 which
slidably engage a support 124. A link arm 126
15 interconnects the transport 120 to drive wheel 128.
Rotation of the drive wheel in the direction of arrow
130 causes reciprocation of the transport 120 in the
direction of arrow 132.
After the ticket is clamped, the drive wheel 128
20 is actuated to transport the sensors 116 and 118 across
the machine readable codes 24 and 26. Depending upon
the type of decoder used, it is possible to use a single
decoder with both sensor heads 116 and 118. The
magnetic sensor head 116 can read the code 26 as the
sensor head is moved in a first direction along the
codes. With appropriate spacing between the optical
head and magnetic head and sufficient travel of the
transport mechanism 120, the optical reader head 118 can
read the optical code 24 Oll its return pass over the
encoded information. Thus with one rotation of the
wheel 128, both codes can be read to expedite the
reading process.
Upon validating the ticket, the knife 134 is
actuated to sever the stub portion 14 from the ticket.
The stub portion 14~ as shown in dot at 14a, falls in
the direction of arrow 136 down the trough portion 138
for presentation to the patron. A sensor may be
provided to determine when the patron has removed the
12
stub so as to release the turnstile bars 38. The patron
with the ticket stub in hand, is then permitted to pass
the turnstile. The -turnstile includes a latching
arrangement which locks up the bars as soon as the
patron has passed therethrough, so that the next patron
in line must have his ticket validated before passing
through the turnstile 34.
It should be noted that the guide rails 92 and
94 serve to align the machine readable codes on the
underside of the ticket with the reading mechanism 114
to ensure a proper read. As the reading heads 116 and
118 are passed over the codes, the readin~ heads send
impulses representative of the information read from the
codes via the cables 115 and 116 to a memory bank. The
wheel 128 is driven at a speed, as will be understood by
those skilled in the art, to ensure that the wands are
moved in a manner to permit reading of the information.
The suggested range within which the wands may be moved
may vary from five to forty centimeters per second. The
wands may be moved either at a constant velocity or at a
varying speed. The machine reading wand 118 may be of
the standard type which is commonly used in the reading
of visual bar codes, such as the high resolution digital
bar code wand HEDS~3203 (trademark) manufactured by
Hewlett Packard. The code reading sensor 116 is of the
type commonly used for sensing magnetic bar codes which
use sensing elements, such as cassette tape recorder
read/write heads, Hall effect sensors or other similar
devices; for example the type used to read the magnetic
characters on printed cheques. The transport mechanism
is designed to always return to its zero position and
remain in a stand-by mode awaiting further instructions
from the control pro~ram. Should the controller
determine that another scan on the same ticket is
required, the transport mechanism 114 will be actuated
again and upon completing the scan will be retracted to
the home position. After validation of the ticket, the
clamp 110 is released and the portion 12 of the ticket
13
having the machine readable code is removed by rollers
96, 98 and deposited within the -ticket taker unit.
Turning to Figure 7, a block diagram of the
components in the ticket taker unit 32 shows the use of
a single chip programmable microcomputer 140 to control
the operation of the code reading devices, the drives
therefor, the cutter, turnstile status indicator and
alarms. The unit is powered by power supply 142 which
by arrow 144 indicates that the various units requiring
power are connected thereto. The microcomputer 140 has
interconnected thereto by data interfaces a read only
memory 146 and random access memory 148. The read only
memory 146 contains the program for the microcomputer
140 in selecting the various sequences in validating a
ticket, cutting the stub portion therefrom and releasing
the turnstile; or in the event of an invalid ticket,
sounding the appropriate alarms. In addition, further
programming information may be provided in the read only
memory to control transmission and receipt of data
through the interface circuits 150 which process and
transmit information to and from a master processing
unit or a lar~e mainframe computer via cable 151.
The random access memory 148 stores the
information which is coded in codes 24 and 26. It also
stores the information which is read by the machine
reader 100 ancl by way of a comparison routine directed
by the program for the microcomputer 140, the read
information is compared to the stored information in the
process of valida-ting the ticket in a manner to be
discussed with respect to the logic diagrams of Figure
8.
The optical reader (118~ is connected via cable
115 to the decoder circuit 152 which in turn is
connected to the microcomputer by cab]e 154. The
decoder circuits act as a data interpreter or translator
of the serial time data read by the moving wands. The
decoder converts this serial data into binary code data
which is then formated into a specific communication
protocol for transmission to the microcomputer 140 and
S~
14
momentarily stored in RAM 148. The magnetic reader 116
transmits data via a transmission line to the decoder
152. Assuming that the same code format is used for the
visibl.e and invisible codes, the decoder circuits 152
can be adapted to decode both sets o:E signals arriving
from transmission lines 115 and 117 and package them for
transmission to the microcomputer 140. The
microcomputer is connected to the sensor on stop 104 to
actuate the stepper motor drive 156 which controls
movement of the stepper motor 158 via transmission line
161. The stepper motor 158 in turn drives the transport
device 114. Simultaneously, signals are transmitted to
the optical and magnetlc readers to ready them for
reading the machine readable codes, as the stepper motor
158 moves the transport device 114 across the upper
sur:Eace of the codes.
Upon the microcomputer validating the ticket, a
signa]. is sent via cable 160 to the cutter driver 162 to
actuate the the cutter motor 164 via line 163 in slicing
the stub portion 14 from the ticket. According to the
next step in the program of the read only memory, the
turnstile relay driver 166 is actuated to withdraw the
turnstile relay 168 via line 37 which unlatches the
turnstile bars.
An additional component is the status indicator
driver 170 which is actuated by the microcomputer. The
driver drives the green light 48 of the display panel 44
via line 167 to the relay and line 46 to the light.
In the event of a ticket which cannot be
properly read, the program in the read only memory
directs the microcomputer to actuate the status
indicator driver 170 to illuminate amber light 50
indicating presumably a damaged ticket or the like which
will not permit a complete reading of the information on
the ticket. On the other hand, in the event of an
invalid ticket, the read only memory directs the
microcomputer to actuate the alarm and indicator driver
174 to illuminate red light 52 on the display panel. At
the same time, it actuates the sonic alarm 176. As
previously mentioned, there may be in addition a remote
camera which can be actuated by the siynal in line 172
to commence photographing in the area about the
turnstile whlch has discovered the invalid or
counterfeit performance ticket.
To assist in understanding the logic sequence
for the microcomputer in directing the various
components, the logic diagrams of Figures 8a and 8b
provide the sequence of the program in the read only
memory 146. In the ticket taker unit, the presence of a
ticket at 178 is determined by actuating the sensor on
stop 96 and the indicators are cleared and clamping of
the ticket is actuated in accordance with instruction
180. An additional instruction is provided at 182 to
read the bar codes 24 and 26 by actuating the stepper
motor 158 and ~ueried at 184 if the read was successful.
If the read is successful, the comparator of the
microcomputer, in accordance with the program, compares
the read data to the stored data -to determine if the
data is correct at sequence step 186. If the data is
correct, the microcomputer determines if there is an
offline computer present at step 188. If so, the valid
data is transEerred via the interface in accordance with
step 190~ If no offline computer is present, the
sequence moves to the next instruction at 192 to
activate the pass indicator ~6 and release the turnstile
relay 168. The remaining instruction at 194 is to cut
the ticket stub and release the ticket. In this routine
at decision 184 if the read is not successful, the
program routine advances to determine at decision 196 if
an offline computer ls present and if so, in accordance
with instruction 198, the invalid data is transferred.
The next instruction at 200 is to activate the fail
indicator driver 174 to sound the sonic alarm and
display the indicator 176 and in turn in accordance with
instruction 202, release the ticket.
As previously explained, the invisible code may
be provided by way of magnetic ink which is masked with
a non-magntic ink of the same color. The magnetic ink
s~3
16
rnay include gama Fe2O3 particles which are dispersed in
a suitable organic binder for printing on the tickets.
A conventional magnetic read head may be used with
suitable electronic circuitry in reading the magnetized
information at high speeds to detect the coded indicia
on the ticket. The information of the invisible code
may be of the numeric or alphnumeric type which is
unique to the customer and/or the performance being
held. For example, for each performance there may be a
special code which is only applicable to that particular
performance. Thus the invisible code along with visible
code will be changed from performance to performance.
The manual programming unit loads the RAM 148 with the
particulars of the coded information in machine readable
codes 24 and 26. The information is loaded into the RAM
15 148 in accordance with the program in ROM 146 so that
the comparator sequence for the microcomputer 140
compares the coded information read by the optical and
magnetic readers sequentially to the corresponding
stored information in determining if the ticket is
valid. In situations where the invisible code is
changed from performance to performance, then after each
per~ormance the handheld programming unit 56 is
connected to each ticket taker unit to reprogram its
random access memory so that it is loaded with the
~5 correct information for the next performance.
It is appreciated that if a mainframe computer
is present, it may be used to program the microcomputer
RAM 148 without requiring the use of the manual handheld
programming unit 56.
According to this invention, there is provided a
specially printed performance ticket and system for
reading the ticket to detect counterfeit tickets. This
is accomplished by using a hidden or invisible code on
the ticket which will be unique to the specific customer
or event. The invisible code used is of a type which is
difficult to reproduce and would require elaborate and
expensive equipment to reproduce, which acts as a
deterrent to counterfeiting in view of the low price of
17
each ticket. The visible code may be printed in a dense
format to exacting specifications, thus making it
dlfficult by photocopying methods to duplicate this
portion of the ticket as the deterioration in quality
inherent in the photocopying process may render the code
unreadable.
The ticket taker unit may be set up so that
within 1.5 seconds after insertion of the ticket, the
unit has successfully read both codes on the first
attempt. IL the unit cannot successfully read the code,
it will terminate reading attempts five seconds
following ticket insertion and declare either the ticket
as being counterfeit or damaged for inability to read.
Although various preferred embodiments of the
invention have been described herein in detail, it will
be understood by those skilled in the art that
variations may be made thereto without departing from
the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended
claims.
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