Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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" AN OFFICIAL LOTTERY ENTRY OFFSET METHOD AND SYSTEM "
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic point of sale and Internet
promotional
methods and systems. In particular the present invention comprises a method of
generating entries in consumer prize draws as a reward for customer purchases
and
loyalty at various member merchants.
Description of the Prior Art
Product manufacturers, distributors and merchants have for many years used
sales
promotions involving financial incentives such as discounted prices to
encourage
customers to purchase their products.
Over time these incentives have expanded to include gift vouchers, loyalty
points,
airmiles and other tokens as rewards for consumers taking purchase actions
desired by
product manufacturers and merchants.
More recently entries in lotteries, sweepstakes or other types of prize draws
have been
offered as an indirect financial incentive to make purchases. In general this
method of
sales promotion consists in using sales systems, which record customer sales
data, under
the control of one or more merchants and a sales promotion computer system
comprising the steps of:
(a) generating and storing random numbers comprising prize draw entries in the
sales
promotion computer system;
(b) loading awards records on the promotion system consisting of sales
criteria which
define customer award entidement;
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(c) comparing customer transaction data received from a sales system with the
award
records at the promotion computer system to determine if the customer is
entitled to
an award, and if so;
(d) printing on a document associated with each transaction one or more of the
numbers;
(e) the printed numbers constituting a ticket in a prize draw to be drawn on a
periodic
basis with prizes awarded to ticket holders having an entry number or numbers
which are the same as or are a defined sub-set of the numbers drawn.
While there are variations as to the exact way that promotion and loyalty
programs in
which entries in prize draws are issued as rewards operate, all use entries
and prizes
generated within and internal to the program.
In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications,
other
external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the
purpose of
providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless
specifically stated
= otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as
an admission
that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are
prior art, or
form part of the common general knowledge in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide a method and/or system
for
promotional lotteries, sweepstakes or proze draws which will at least provide
the industry
or the public with a useful choice.
According to one aspect the invention comprises methods and systems that
derive or
generate Promotional Prize Draw Entries for Promotional Prize Draws from
entries in
government or state operated lotteries and sweepstakes, hereinafter termed
Official
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Lottery Entries and Official Lotteries, via the application of any combination
of
mathematical techniques and computing technology.
According to a further aspect the invention comprises methods and systems that
issues
an Official Lottery Entry to a customer as their consumer reward when they
have
accumulated a predefined level of Promotional Prize Draw Entry entitlements.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a method or
system which
lenables Promotional Prize Draw Entries to be linked to an original parent
Official
Entry in any ratio or relationship, to be separately identifiable as such and
to be entitled
to the full amount or a share of any prizes won by the original linked
Official Entries in
the Official Lottery.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a method of
generating
Promotional Prize Draw Entries from officially operated Official Lottery
entries and
using these to operate Promotional Prize Draws in conjunction with sales
promotion
computer systems that support operation of Promotional Prize Draws via sales
systems
which record customer sales data, operated by one or more product suppliers or
merchants, the method comprising the steps of:
acquiring Official Lottery Entries from an Official Lottery;
generating from the acquired Official Lottery Entries, Promotion Prize Draw
Entries and linking these to the Official Lottery Entries from which they are
derived;
distributing the Promotion Prize Draw Entries to a sales promotion computer
system for issue when sales transactions supplied by a sales system to the
sales
promotion computer system meet the criteria of any sales promotion for award
of
customer Promotion Prize Draw Entries;
receiving the results of the the Official Lottery prize draw and matching any
prize-winning Official Lottery Entries to a linked Promotion Prize Draw
Entries; and
allocating any prizes won by the Official Lottery Entries to the linked
Promotion
Prize Draw Entries.
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According to a further aspect the method includes the further steps of:
receiving from the sales promotion system details of sales transactions,
related
customers and Promotion Prize Draw Entries issued and storing these details
and entries
for participation in a subsequent Prize Draw;
accepting queries from customers with Promotion Prize Draw Entries as to
whether their entries have won a prize; and
processing claims and payouts of winning prizes.
According to a further aspect the method includes the further steps of:
processing accounting details associated with each prize draw including all
reimbursement for Official Lottery Entries used to generate Promotional prize
draw
entries, reimbursement of sales outlets making any winning prize draw entry
payouts, and
reimbursement of any service fees associated with participation in prize
draws.
According to a further aspect the method includes the further steps of:
calculating a number of Promotion Prize Draw Entries required to be generated
from Official Lottery Entries and to be available for issue as rewards in a
Promotional
Prize Draw;
calculating an affordable cost of Promotion Prize Draw Entries.
According to a further aspect the method includes the further steps of:
determining a number of Official Lottery Entries to acquire taking into
account
an affordable cost of Promotion Prize Draw Entries and the cost of Official
Lottery
Entries.
According to a further aspect the method includes:
periodically determining a number of Official Lottery Entries to acquire in
blocks
sufficient to meet demand for Promotion Prize Draw Entries for the period,
taking into
account an affordable cost of Promotion Prize Draw Entries.
According to a further aspect the method includes:
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randomising the order of the generated Promotion Prize Draw Entries prior to
distribution to the sales promotion computer system.
According to a further aspect the method includes generating Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries from acquired the Official Lottery Entries by:
adding another number sequence suffix to the Official Lottery Entry to derive
the
required number of the Promotional Prize Draw Entries.
According to a further aspect the method includes generating Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries from acquired the Official Lottery Entries by:
passing the Official Lottery Entries through a predetermined algorithmn using
variable parameters such that a known number of Promotional Prize Draw Entries
each
of which that can be reproduced using the original Official Lottery Entry and
in the
reverse direction each of which can be processed to derive the original
Official Lottery
Entry.
According to a further aspect the method includes generating Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries from acquired the Official Lottery Entries by:
linking the Official Lottery Entries to randomly generated Promotion Prize
Draw
= 20 Entries and storing the links in a database techniques or similar.
According to a further aspect the method includes allocating any prizes won by
the
Official Lottery Entries to the linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries by:
linking the value of any official lottery' prize draw prizes to the respective
winning
official lottery entries;
matching each prize-winning Official Lottery Entries with its linked Promotion
Prize
Draw Entries;
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allocating the prize so won by the Official Lottery Entry to one or more of
the
linked promotion prize draw entries using a predefined allocation method.
According to a further aspect the predefined allocaton method comprises:
allocating the prize to a single_linked Promotional Prize Draw Entry generated
from it, by using part of the winning Official Lottery Entry number direcdy or
via an
algorithm to identify one of the linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries to which
the prize
is to be allocated.
According to a further aspect the predefined allocaton method comprises
allocating the
prize to a single linked Promotional Prize Draw Entry, by conducting a further
random
draw from one or more component digits of Promotion Prize Draw Entries linked
to
winning acquired Official Lottery Entries in order to identify the linked
Promotion Prize
Draw Entries to which the prize is to be allocated.
According to a further aspect the predefined allocaton method comprises
spreading the
prize by a predetermined method amongst some or all of the linked Promotion
Prize
Draw Entries.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in apparatus for
generating
Promotional Prize Draw Entries from officially operated Official Lottery
entries and
using these to operate Promotional Prize Draws in conjunction with sales
promotion
computer systems that support operation of Promotional Prize Draws via sales
systems
which record customer sales data, operated by one or more product suppliers or
= 25 merchants, the apparatus comprising at least one computer
programmed to perform the
methods set forth above.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a computer
program product,
comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code
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embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed
to
implement the methods set forth above.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a system for
generating
Promotional Prize Draw Entries from officially operated Official Lottery
entries and
using these to operate Promotional Prize Draws, the system comprising a
promotional
prize draw management system, and sales promotion computer systems that
support
operation of Promotional Prize Draws via sales systems which record customer
sales
data, operated by one or more product suppliers or merchants, wherein the
promotional
prize draw management system is programmed to perform methods as set forth
above,
and the sales promotion computer system is programmed to:
receive records of promotion prize draw entries issued by the promotional draw
management system; and
issue promotion prize draw entries to customers when sales transactions
supplied
by a sales system to the sales promotion computer system meet the criteria of
a sales
promotion.
According to a further aspect the sales promotion system is programmed to:
transmit details of sales transactions, related customers and Promotion Prize
Draw Entries issued to the promotional prize draw management system;
and the promotional prize draw management system is programmed to:
receive details of sales transactions, related customers and Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries issued and store these details and entries for participation in a
subsequent Prize
Draw;
accept queries from customers With Promotion Prize Draw Entries as to whether
their entries have won a prize; and
process claims and payouts of winning prizes.
According to a further aspect the sales promotion system interacts with a
sales system
comprising point of sale (POS) systems under the control of one or more
merchants and
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the sales promotion computer system comprises a host and a plurality of remote
controllers each associated with at least one respective POS system.
According to a futther aspect the sales promotion system interacts with a
sales system=
comprising EFTPOS payment processing systems which capture customer sales data
in
outlets operated by one or more product suppliers or merchants.
According to a further aspect the sales promotion system interacts with a
sales system
which records customer sales through a website accessible from a web device
operated
by the customer and a promotion prize draw entry is printable by a printer
associated
with the web device.
According to a further aspect the sales promotion system interacts with a
sales system
which records customer sales through a corporate merchant and wherein the
customer is
another business and a promotion prize draw entry is printable by the
corporate
merchant and included with transaction receipts
= According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a method
of generating
Promotional Prize Draw Entries from officially operated Official Lottery
Entries by
defining Promotional Prize Draw Entry entidements in a promotional prize draw
management system and issuing these entidements to customers in conjunction
with a
sales promotion computer system that supports operation of Promotional Prize
Draws
via sales systems, which record customer sales data, operated by one or more
product
suppliers or merchants, with customers accumulating Promotional Prize Draw
Entry
= entidements and when the number of such entidements so accumulated equals a
defined
level, for an Official Lottery Entry to be issued to them as their consumer
reward, the
method comprising the steps of:
setting a required number of Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements that a
customer must have accumulated to qualify for an Official Lottery Entry;
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distributing details of Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements to the sales
promotion computer system for issue to customers when sales transactions
supplied by
the the sales system to the sales promotion computer system meet the criteria
of any
sales promotion for award of customer Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements;
receiving from the sales promotion system details of sales transactions along
with
related customers. and Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements issued to them
storing these Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements for allocation of an
Official Lottery Entry when qualification criteria have been met;
from time to time evaluating the number of Promotion Prize Draw Entry
entitlements accumulated by customers participating in promotions for which
Promotion
Prize Draw Entry entitlements have been issued to them and awarding them the
appropriate number of Official Lottery Entries earned by virtue of the number
of
Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements accumulated versus Official Lottery
Entry
award criteria.the Official Lottery Entries awarded comprise actual entries in
Official
Lotteries that participate in Official Lottery prize draws in the normal way
applicable to
the relevant Official Lottery and customers to whom they have been awarded are
able to
check their entries and claim any prizes that their entries win using the
normal facilities
and processes applicable for the Official Lotteries in which they have been
issued
Official Lottery Entries.
According to a further aspect the method includes:
calculating in the the promotional prize draw management system an affordable
cost of
Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements;
taking into account an affordable cost of Promotion Prize Draw Entry
entitlements,
calculating the affordable ratio of Official Lottery Entries to Promotion
Prize Draw
Entry entitlements and using this ratio to set the required number of
promotion prize
draw entry entitlements that a customer must have accumulated to qualify for
an Official
Lottery Entry
According to a further aspect the method includes:
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processing in the promotional prize draw management system accounting details
associated with Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements issue and consequent
Official
Lottery Entry award including reimbursement for Official Lottery Entries
issued to
customers, collection from promotion sponsors of issue fees and any other fees
associated with issue and processing of Promotion Prize Draw Entry
entitlements,
reimbursement of any service fees associated with participation in prize draws
and the
like.
According to a further aspect the method includes:
calculating the number of Official Lottery Entries required to match the
required
number of Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements;
acquiring the required number of Official Lottery Entries;
generating from the acquired Official Lottery Entries the required Promotion
Prize Draw Entry entitlements;
randomising in the the promotional prize draw management system the order of
the Official Lottery Entries and Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements;
distributing Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements to the sales promotion
computer system for issue to customers when.sales transactions supplied by the
the sales
system to the sales promotion computer system meet the criteria of any sales
promotion
for award of customer Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in apparatus for
generating
Promotional Prize Draw Entries from officially operated Official Lottery
Entries by .
defining Promotional Prize Draw Entry entidements in a promotional prize draw
management system and issuing these entidements to customers in conjunction
with a
sales promotion computer system that supports operation of Promotional Prize
Draws
via sales systems, which record customer sales data, operated by one or more
product
suppliers or merchants, with customers accumulating Promotional Prize Draw
Entry
entidements and when the number of such entidements so accumulated equals a
defined
level, for an Official Lottery Entry to be issued to them as their consumer
reward, the
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apparatus comprising at least one computer programmed to perform the methods
set
forth above.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a computer
program product,
comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code
embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed
to
implement a method of generating Promotional Prize Draw Entries from
officially
operated Official Lottery Entries by defining Promotional Prize Draw Entry
entitlements
in a promotional prize draw management system and issuing these entitlements
to
customers in conjunction with a sales promotion computer system that supports
operation of Promotional Prize Draws via sales systems, which record customer
sales
data, operated by one or more product suppliers or merchants, with customers
accumulating Promotional Prize Draw Entry entitlements and when the number of
such
entitlements so accumulated equals a defined level, for an Official Lottery
Entry to be
issued to them as their consumer reward, the method being as set forth above.
According to a still further aspect the invention consists in a system
including a
promotional prize draw management system generating Promotional Prize Draw
Entries
from officially operated Official Lottery Entries and a sales promotion
computer system
issuing these entidements to customers via sales systems, with customers
accumulating
Promotional Prize Draw Entry entitlements and when the number of such
entidements
so accumulated equals a defined level, for an Official Lottery Entry to be
issued to them
as their consumer reward, the promotional prize draw management system
including a
compuer programmed to perform the methods set forth above;
and the sales promotion computer system includes a computer programmed to
perform the method comprising:
receiving details of Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements from the
promotional prize draw management system,
issuing Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements to customers when sales
transactions supplied by the the sales system to the sales promotion computer
system
meet the criteria of any sales promotion for award of customer;
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sending details of sales transactions along with related customers and
Promotion
Prize Draw Entry entitlements issued to them to the promotion prize draw
management
system.
In this specification hereinafter "lottery" is defined as a means of promoting
sales and
service by issuing numbered tickets and giving prizes to the holders of
numbers drawn at
random, and includes sweepstakes and prize draws.
To those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, many changes in
construction
and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will
suggest
themselves without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the
appended
claims. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative
and are not
intended to be in any sense limiting.
The term "comprising is used in the specification and claims, means
"consisting at least
in part of. When interpreting a statement in this specification and claims
that includes
"comprising", features other than that or those prefaced by the term may also
be present.
Related terms such as "comprise" and "comprises" are to be interpreted in the
same
manner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Figure 1 is a chart showing the components and application -architecture of
the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This invention relates to a method and system which links participant entries
into any
official government, other statutory body operated or other legally authorised
Or .
sanctioned lotteries, sweepstakes and wagering operations such as horse racing
wagering
and the like, all hereafter referred to as Official Lotteries, to entries into
other unofficial
lotteries or gaming events and events involving chances to win prizes,
including but not
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limited to free to enter, promotional, metaverse, or other non-pay to enter or
charitable
sweepstakes or lotteries, hereafter referred to as Promotional Prize Draws.
The purpose of such linking is to enable Promotional Prize Draws to generate
their
participant entries based on participant entries in Official Lotteries hence
enabling them
to leverage the Official Lotteries draw processes and prize pools by providing
their
participants with the ability to win large prizes such as are offered to
participants in
Official Lotteries. In this respect the Promotional Prize Draw partially
shadows the
Official Lottery. When an entry into an Official Lottery wins a prize, the
prize is shared
by or allocated to the entry or entries into the Promotional Prize Draw that
are linked to
it via the present invention.
For the purposes of this specification a participant entry into a Lottery or
Promotional
Prize Draw is defined as an entity that provides at least one chance to win
one of the
prizes offered by the Lottery or Promotional Prize Draw, for example but not
limited to
in the case of a lottery an entry would be a line of numbers on a lottery
ticket, or in the
case of a sweepstake, a numbered ticket.
The present invention uses a combination of mathematical techniques and
computer
technology to link one or more entries in a Promotional Prize Draw to an
actual entry
into an Official Lottery. Also to issue these Promotional Prize Draw Entries
to
consumers as desired and to use the draw processes of the Official Lottery to
determine
any winning Promotional Prize Draw Entries. When an entry in an Official
Lottery that
is linked via the present invention to entries in a Promotional Prize Draw
wins a prize,
the prize is shared by or allocated to one of the entries in a Promotional
Prize Draw that
are linked to it.
Alternatively the system issues Promotional Prize Draw Entry entidements to
customers
who accumulate them and when the number of such entitlements so accumulated
equals
a defined level, issues the customer an Official Lottery Entry as their
consumer reward.
The following is a general description of the method and system comprising the
invention. However there are many different ways that the method can be
applied to
==
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achieve the desired result but all would involve the common process of entries
into an
Official Lottery being linked in some way to entries or entitlement to entries
in a
Promotional Prize Draw as a way to provide the prizes for the Promotional
Prize Draw.
Referring now to Figure 1, major system components of the invention include a
Promotional Prize Draw Management System A, an Official Lottery Computer
System B,
a Sales Promotion System C and Sales Systems D.
The official lottery computer system B may be of known type and does not
constitute the
invention herein. For example this may be any computer system that implements
and
administers an official lottery, sweepstake or draw. The system components and
functional operation described as comprising parts of system B are
illustrative only.
In this system components the functions may be implemented partially or
entirely in
software executed on general purpose or single purpose computers. However some
parts
of these functions may be performed physically or mentally outside of the
implementing
computer system. For example, typical lottery or sweepstake may involve a draw
or
event implemented in the physical space. Similarly, entry sales and prize
payouts may be
made physically at appropriate retail locations.
According to one embodiment the systems A to D interact entirely without human
physical intervention. That is each system includes interfaces which exchange
data to
complete all interactions. The nature of these interactions becomes clear in
the
description of the complete system.
Each system or components of each system may be implemented in software
executed
on general purpose or special purpose computing platforms.
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Figure 1 illustrates the system according to specific functional blocks
whereby the
interaction between functional blocks is represented by flow lines. These flow
lines
represent communication of data between the functional blocks. Communication
of data
may, for example, be by way of storage and retrieval from commonly accessible
memory,
or by communication between interfaces implemented in the functional blocks.
Each
interface could, for example, package and send outgoing data, receive and
parse incoming
data, or both. Where appropriate the interface may implement encryption of
data.
Each functional block may be implemented in stand alone software programs, or
as
routines within integrated software programs. The software programs of each
system
may be executed on a single computing platform or distributed across multiple
computing platforms. Each software program, or parts of each software program
may be
stored on computer readable media, such as RAM, ROM, hard disk storage or
removable
disk storage, for distribution or for loading by the computer prior to
execution.
Whereever possible the functions illustrated in Figure 1 and interactions
between
functions ilustrated by the flow lines in Figure 1 may be implemented as
computer
executable programs.
In the following description, unless the context requires otherwise, an action
described
passively should be interpreted as being the result of an action performed by
a computer
executing a computer program in accordance with the relevant related
functional block
that would be taking the action. For simplicity the system is described in
terms of the
functions performed by each functional block.
Persons skilled in programming computers will understand how to implement each
described function in a suitable computer program on the basis of these
descriptions.
Depending on commercial arrangements the Promotional Prize Draw Management
System A may be located at one of:
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1. the premises of the Official Lottery operator;
2. the premises of the Sales Promotion System operator, or:
3. the premises of an independent Promotional Prize Draw services provider.
The Official Lottery Computer System B except for the Retail Sales Outlets 16
is located
at the premises and/or data centre of an Official Lottery Operator. The Sales
Promotion
System Central Host and Central Interfaces are located at the data centre
premises of a
Sales Promotion operator or service provider, and the Regional Interfaces
Servers may be
located along with this central data centre or in a remote regional data
centre. The
Merchant Interfaces Servers and the Sales Systems are located at Merchant
sales outlets,
which may be at retail premises or in the case of Corporate Merchants and
Internet
Merchants, at their data centre or other central premises. Known data
communications
techniques are used to connect the components of these systems as required for
data
transfer and the like.
Using known sales promotion systems, customers completing transactions at
Internet
Merchants or via POS or EFTPOS units located at Retail outlets may qualify for
a
reward which may comprise a discount, a voucher, award of loyalty points or in
the
context of the present invention, an entry or entitlement to an entry, both
hereinafter
referred to as an entry, into a prize draw of some sort. Qualification for
these rewards is
based on customer transactions meeting criteria such as spending a defined
minimum
value or purchasing certain products currently on promotion.
Similarly for Corporate Merchants such as power utility or telephone companies
who bill
for goods or services provided in a billing cycle for example monthly,
customers may
qualify for rewards during a billing process as a result of the value of goods
or services
purchased meeting a defined value or including required product items and
quantities.
In the case of rewards comprising entries in Prize Draws, these are typically
printed on a
Prize Draw Ticket in the case of sale at a retail outlet, printed on a
customers account in
the case of a Corporate Merchant, or stored and/or forwarded electronically to
Internet
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Merchant Customers. Customers with an identification number stored on a
Customer
Identification Token or the like that is presented at the time of their
transaction could
also have their Prize Draw Entries stored and/or forwarded to them to check
electronically as desired. Note that for Prize Draw Entries comprising Prize
Draw Entry
entitlements (accumulated and redeemed from time to time for actual Official
Lottery
Entries when sufficient entidements have been accumulated), a Customer
Identification
Token must be presented to enable the entidement to be recorded for the
customer and
hence to be included in a subsequent process to issue Official Lottery Entries
when
qualifying criteria are met.
After the Prize Draw has been completed, customers may check their entries via
a variety
of techniques to see if they have won a prize and if so, they can claim it by
presenting
their ticket or Customer Identification Token at a payout location.
In the context of the above summary of Sales Promotion Systems and Sales
Systems the
present invention is a method and system for providing the Prize Draw Entries
that
comprise the Prize Draw Entry reward and that are issued as described above.
In the
invention these prize draws are derived from entries in lotteries run by
officially licensed,
authorised or sanctioned lotteries or other types of prize draws including
sweepstakes
and the like.
Referring to Figure 1, the Prize Draw Host 1 controls overall operation of the
Promotional Prize Draw Management System component of the present invention
including prize draw setup 2, prize draw entries calculation and management 3,
entries
acquisition 4, offset entry creation and randomisation 5, entry distribution
6, issued entry
analysis and end of draw processes 7, prize draw and prize allocation 8, prize
claim and
payout 9, accounting system 10 and data warehouse 11. Any use of promotional
prize
draw entries in a prize draw under the present invention is ultimately
controlled by the
prize draw host 1.
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When a sales promotion system operator wishes to use promotion prize draw
entries
created by the present invention the prize draw setup process 2 obtains
details of the
desired prize draw from the sales promotion operator referred to hereinafter
as
Promotion Program Parameters and uses these to setup the prize draw as
required. -
Promotion Program Parameters include desired prize values, the desired odds of
winning, the estimated number of Promotion Prize Draw Entries required to be
available
for issue as rewards and an affordable Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost.
The affordable Promotion Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost is the price that
can be
afforded to be paid to the Official Lottery operator for entries in their
official lottery that
is being used via the present invention to create Promotion Prize Draw
Entries. The
affordable Promotion Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost is derived in one
aspect for
example firstly by the sales promotion system operator taking the total fee
that is able to
be charged to the promotion sponsors (i.e. that the sponsors of a sales
promotion are
willing to pay) for a Prize Draw Entry, called for example the Prize Draw
Entry issue
cost and deducting their operational costs of running the prize draw
promotion.
Operational costs might include the cost of setup and distribution of the
promotion, a
share of distribution system hardware costs, communications costs, management
overheads, profit margins and the Like. These operational costs are deducted
from the
Prize Draw Entry issue cost to arrive at the affordable Promotion Prize Draw
Entry
purchase cost.
From this affordable Promotion Prize Draw Entry purchase cost the costs and
fees of
the Promotional Prize Draw management system operator are deducted in turn to
arrive
at the affordable Promotion Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost, being the cost
that it is
affordable to pay for each entry derived via the present invention from an
Official
Lottery Entry.
The parameters established in Prize Draw Setup 2 are used in the Entries
Calculation and
Management module 3 firstly to calculate the affordable ratio of Official
Lottery Entries
to Promotion Prize Draw Entries. This is primarily based on the ratio of the
affordable
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Promotion Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost calculated in a preceding process
to the
cost of an Official Lottery Entry. The cost of an Official Lottery Entry is
the price that
an Official Lottery operator wishes to charge for each Official Lottery Entry
supplied for
use in generating Promotion Prize Draw Entries via the present invention. For
example
if the affordable Promotion Prize Draw Entry acquisition cost is 6 cents and
the cost of
an Official Lottery Entry is 90 cents, then 15 Promotion Prize Draw Entries
could be
affordably linked to one Official Lottery Entry and the affordable ratio would
be 1:15.
Secondly the Entries Calculation and Management module 3 when required
calculates the
number of Official Lottery Entries to be purchased in order to provide the
estimated
number of Promotion Prize Draw Entries required for the proposed Promotion
Prize
Draw. This is done using the total estimated number of Promotion Prize Draw
Entries
required for the promotion program and the affordable ratio of Promotion Prize
Draw
-
Entries to Official Lottery Entries calculated in the preceding process.
Management of
Promotion Prize Draw Entries is also carried out in the Entries Calculation
and
Management 3 module. This comprises monitoring entries distributed to the
Sales
promotion System Operator and initiating processes to acquire more entries if
required
to meet higher that anticipated demand.
The first step in the Entries Acquisition module 4 is selecting an Official
Lottery that
both provides the Prize level desired for the Promotion Prize Draw and that is
also able =
to supply the number of entries in this Official Lottery (Official Lottery
Entries) that are
needed to fulfil the needs of the Promotion Prize Draw as calculated in the-
preceding
step. Using the selected Official Lottery, acquisition of the number of
Official Lottery
Entries needed to yield the required number =of Promotion Prize Draw Entries
is carried
out. Preferably these Official Lottery Entries would be purchased and
transferred
electronically from an Official Lottery computer system to the Promotion
Program
computer system. The acquisition method would include a "top-up" process
whereby if
demand for Promotion Prize Draw Entries exceeds estimated usage, additional
Official
Lottery Entries can be acquired as necessary.
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An alternative to acquiring the required Official Lottery Entries in one block
is to
monitor demand for Promotion Prize Draw Entries as a promotion program
proceeds
and as required periodically acquire and transfer to the promotional prize
draw
management system sufficient Official Lottery Entries in blocks sized to meet
demand
anticipated for the next period. This method both minimises processing
resources and
storage for handling large numbers of Entries associated with large Promotion
Programs
as well as minimising, risk of oversupply of purchased Official Lottery
Entries should
actual Promotion Prize Draw Entries not meet predicted demand.
The Entries Acquisition module 4 also carries out acquisition of Official
Lottery Entries
required to be issued to for customers the variant of the invention that
enables customers
to accumulate Prize Draw Entry entitlements which when sufficient such
entitlements
have been accumulated can then be exchanged for Official Lottery Entries. This
acquisition process is requested by the issued entry analysis and end of draw
processes
module 7 and is further described below.
The Offset Entry Creation and Randomisation module 5 firstly where required
generates
the required Promotion Prize Draw Entries from the acquired Official Lottery
Entries.
This is done by running the acquired Official Lottery Entries through a
computational
process that uses them along with other variables including the parameters
derived by
preceding modules to generate the required number of Promotion Prize Draw
Entries in
the desired format. Each Promotion Prize Draw Entry so generated will be,
linked to the
Official Lottery Entry from which it is generated. There are several ways in
the invention
in which this can be done, using relational database techniques and/or
mathematical
and/or derivative techniques. For example (but without limiting the scope of
the
invention) the required number of Promotion Prize Draw Entries could be
generated by:
b. adding another number sequence suffix to the Official Lottery Entry;
c. passing the Official Lottery Entries through a known algorithmn using
variable
parameters as desired;
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d. linking the Official Lottery Entries to randomly generated Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries.
Following entry generation, the order of the generated Promotion Prize Draw
Entries is
randomised. This is required to ensure that generated Prize Draw Entries are
distributed
in a truly random way such that the chance of winning a prize from any
original Official
Lottery Entry is evenly spread amongst customers =receiving Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries derived from it. The result of the processes described for the Offset
Entry
Creation and Randomisation module 5 is a file of randomised Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries ready to be distributed to the Sales Promotion System C as required
for issue via
the Sales System D to qualifying customers. ,
Distribution of Promotion Prize Draw Entries to the sales promotion computer
system
C is actually carried out by the Entry Distribution module 6. When a promotion
sponsor
being a retailer, product supplier, product wholesaler, corporate merchant and
the like
wishes to run a promotion for example to promote sales and for which the
reward is a
Promotion Prize Draw Entry, the details of this promotion are set up and
implemented
via Promotion Setup 21. Details of the promotion include the period of
operation, the
merchant outlets at which the promotion is to be offered to customers, the
conditions
that must be met by customers when making purchases or the like to qualify for
the
promotion reward, as well as the reward being a Promotion Prize Draw Entry
itself. The
Prize Draw Entry Acquisition module 22 then makes requests for a supply of the
desired
Promotion Prize Draw Entries from the Entry Distribution module 6 in response
to an
instruction from the Promotion Setup module 21. Blocks of Promotion Prize Draw
Entries from the Entry Distribution module 6 are supplied to Prize Draw Entry
=
Acquisition module 22 as required.
The Prize Draw Entry Acquisition module 22 then supplies all details of the
promotion
= including the acquired Promotion Prize Draw Entries to the Promotion and
Prize Draw
Entry Distribution module 23 for distribution via the Central Interface module
28 to
Regional Interface Servers 29 or Merchant Interface Servers 30 to the Sales
System for
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issue to qualifying customers. Alternatively in another aspect of the present
invention the
Entry Distribution module 6 could distribute Promotion Prize Draw Entries
directly on
request to Regional Interface Servers 29 or Merchant Interface Servers 30 for
issue to
qualifying customers.
Note that for the variant of the invention whereby instead of an actual
Promotion Prize
Draw Entry customers are awarded Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements which
when sufficient such entitlements have been accumulated can then be exchanged
for
Official Lottery Entries, there may be no Promotional Prize Draw Entries used
and in
this case only the generic details of the promotion including the period of
operation, the
merchant oudets at which the promotion is to be offered to customers, the
conditions
that must be met by customers when making purchases or the like to qualify for
the
promotion reward and the like are distributed by Prize Draw Entry Distribution
module
23
Whichever of the above options is used, the Sales Promotion System C working
in
combination with the Sales System D use known technology and systems to issue
Promotion Prize Draw Entries to qualifying customers. This process is
described further
below.
Continuing with the description of the present invention, the preferred form
provides
the regional interface servers 29 or merchant interface servers 30 as a means
of
distributing Promotional Prize Draw Entries to Sales System transaction
processing
components. Larger merchant outlets may be provided with a merchant interface
server
30 for each outlet. This enables fast response times to requests for Promotion
Prize _
Draw Entries. In this form of the present Invention, customers make purchases
at POS
stations 35 which at the appropriate time, usually at the end of the
transaction, forward
transaction details to an associated merchant interface server 30 which has
previously
been supplied with details of the promotion as well as a supply of Promotion
Prize Draw
Entries if required. The Merchant Interface Server 30 analyses these
transaction details to
see if any of the conditions for qualification for issue of a Promotion Prize
Draw have
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been met. If so, either Promotion Prize Draw Entries or Promotion Prize Draw
Entry
entitlements are issued by the Merchant Interface Server 30 to the POS Station
35 for
issue to the customer via a printed ticket or electronic means such as loading
it onto a
customer card or recording them in the transaction details for recording of
entry issue or
entitlement in a central database.
In another embodiment of the present invention, customers make purchases and
details
of these including payment details are supplied to EFTPOS stations 36 which at
the
appropriate time, usually at the end of the transaction, forward transaction
details to an
associated merchant interface server 30 which has previously been supplied
with details
of the promotion as well as a supply of Promotion Prize Draw Entries as
required. The
Merchant Interface Server 30 analyses these transaction details to see if any
of the
conditions for qualification for issue of a Promotion Prize Draw have been
met. If so,
either Promotion Prize Draw Entries or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements
are
issued by the Merchant Interface Server 30 to the EFTPOS Station 36 for issue
to the
customer via a printed ticket or electronic means such as loading it onto a
customer card
or recording them in the transaction details for recording of entidement in a
central
database.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, at smaller merchant
locations
customers make purchases at POS stations 33 which at the appropriate time,
usually at
the end of the transaction, forward transaction details to an associated
regional interface
server 29 which has previously been supplied with details of the promotion as
well as a
supply of Promotion Prize Draw Entries as required. The Regional Interface
Server 29
analyses these transaction details to see if any of the conditions for
qualification for issue
of a Promotion Prize Draw have been met. If so, either Promotion Prize Draw
Entries
or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements are issued by the Regional Interface
Server
29 to the POS Station 33 for issue to the customer via a printed ticket or
electronic
means such as loading it onto a customer card or recording them in the
transaction
details for recording of entidement in a central database.
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In a further embodiment of the present invention, at smaller merchant
locations
customers make purchases and details of these including payment details are
supplied to
EFTPOS stations 34 -which at the appropriate time, usually at the end of the
transaction,
forward transaction details to an associated regional interface server 29
which has
previously been supplied with details of the promotion as well as a supply of
Promotion
Prize Draw Entries as required. The Regional Interface Server 29 analyses
these
transaction details to see if any of the conditions for qualification for
issue of a
Promotion Prize Draw have been met. If so, either Promotion Prize Draw Entries
or
Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements are issued by the Regional Interface
Server 29
to the EFTPOS Station 34 for issue to the customer via a printed ticket or
electronic
means such as loading it onto a customer card or recording them in the
transaction
details for recording of entitlement in a central database.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, customers make purchases at
Internet
Merchants sites 32 which at the appropriate time, usually at the end of the
transaction,
forward transaction details to an associated regional interface server 29
which has
previously been supplied with details of the promotion as well as a supply of
Promotion
Prize Draw Entries as required. The Regional Interface Server 29 analyses
these
transaction details to see if any of the " conditions for qualification for
issue of a
Promotion Prize Draw have been met. If so, either Promotion Prize Draw Entries
or
Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements are issued by the Regional Interface
Server 29
to the Internet Merchants sites 32 for issue to the customer via a printed
ticket or
electronic means such as loading it onto a customer card or recording them in
the
transaction details for recording of entitlement in a central database.
In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, customers may have made
purchases from Corporate Merchants 31 details of which during a process in
which they
are invoiced for these purchases, usually at the end of the transaction, are
forwarded to
an associated regional interface server 29 which has previously been supplied
with details
of the promotion as well as a supply of Promotion Prize Draw Entries as
required. The
Regional Interface Server 29 analyses these transaction details to see if any
of the
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conditions for qualification for issue of a Promotion Prize Draw have been
met. If so,
either Promotion Prize Draw Entries or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements
are
issued by the Regional Interface Server 29 to the Corporate Merchants 31 for
issue to the
customer via a printed ticket included with their invoice or via electronic
means such as
recording them in the transaction details for recording of entitlement in a
central
database.
Continuing with the description of the present invention, after completion of
transaction
processing including analysis of transaction details to see if any of the
conditions for
qualification for issue of a Promotion Prize Draw have been met, details of
the
transaction including any associated Promotion Prize Draw Entries or Promotion
Prize
Draw Entry entidements issued to their associated customers as appropriate by
any of
the Sales System D customer interfaces 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 are recorded
in their
associated Regional Interface Server 29 or Merchant Interface Server 30.
Periodically these transaction details including any associated Promotion
Prize Draw
Entries or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements are sent by the Regional
Interface
Server 29 and the Merchant Interface Server 30 as appropriate via the Central
Interface
Server 28 to the Issued Entries and Transaction Detail Logging Module 24 of
the Sales
Promotion System C which copies them in turn to the Issued Entry Analysis and
End of
Draw Processes module 7 of the Promotional Prize Draw Management System A.
Details sent and received include full details where possible down to line
item level of
sales transactions along with where available details from any related
customer
identification tokens presented with the transaction as well as any Promotion
Prize Draw
Entries or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements qualified for by and
awarded to the
transaction. These details are stored in the data warehouses 11 and 26 in
particular details
of Promotion Prize Draw Entries or Promotion Prize Draw Entry entidements
awarded
are held in a log file accessible to the Prize Draw and Prize Allocation
module 8 for
participation in a subsequent Prize Draw carried out by this module.
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Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements generated under the present invention
as
rewards will be added by the Issued Entry Analysis and End of Draw Processes
module
7 to any previously accumulated Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements for
customers
and when sufficient such entitlements as determined by qualification criteria
associated
with the entitlements have been accumulated these will be exchanged for
Official Lottery
Entries. When such an exchange of Promotion Prize Draw Entry entitlements for
Official Lottery Entries is required, a request will be made to the entries
acquisition
module 4 which will either issue the required Official Lottery Entries from a
stock of
previously acquired Official Lottery Entries or acquire them from the
corporate sales
module 15 of the Official Lottery Computer System B.
Official Lottery Entries awarded as described above comprise actual entries in
Official
Lotteries that participate in Official Lottery prize draws in the normal way
applicable to
the relevant Official Lottery and customers to whom they have been awarded are
able to
check their entries and claim any prizes that their entries win using the
normal facilities
and processes applicable for the Official Lotteries in which they have been
issued
Official Lottery Entries.
Promotions that have Promotion Prize Draw Entries generated under the present
invention as rewards will end before the end of the Official Lottery from
which their
Promotion Prize Draw Entries are derived. This is in order that Promotion
Prize Draw
Entries can participate in the prize draw of the Official Lottery from which
their
Promotion Prize Draw Entries are derived. After the end of such an Official
Lottery the
prize draw for it is conducted in the normal fashion for it applicable to the
relevant
Official Lottery and any prizes won by entries in it are allocated via the
Prize Draw and
Prize Allocation module 8.
After the Prize Draw and Prize Allocation module 8 of the Promotion Prize Draw
management System has received the results of the Official Lottery prize draw
from the
Prize Draw and Prize Allocation module 18, using the linkage known under the
invention between the Promotion Prize Draw Entries and the Official Lottery
Entries
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from which they were generated, the Prize Draw and Prize Allocation module 8
matches
any Official Lottery Entry acquired for use to generate Promotion Prize Draw
Entries
that has won a prize to the appropriate linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries.
Bearing in
mind that there are likely multiple linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries for
each prize-
winning Official Lottery Entry, the prize so won by any Official Lottery Entry
must be
allocated using some predefined method to the linked Promotion Prize Draw
Entries.
This may be done using one of several techniques in the invention, for example
without
limiting the scope of the invention by one of the following methods:
a. where any prize won by an Official Lottery Entry is to be allocated to a
single linked
Promotional Prize Draw Entry, using part of the winning Official Lottery Entry
number directly or via an algorithm to identify one of the linked Promotion
Prize
Draw Entries to which the prize is to be allocated;
b. alternatively also where any prize won is to be allocated to a single
linked
Promotional Prize Draw Entry, by conducting a further draw from one or more
component digits of Promotion Prize Draw Entries linked to winning Official
Lottery Entries in order to identify the linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries
to
which the prize is to be allocated;
c. In some instances if desired and where the prize is significant, spreading
the prize by
a predetermined procedure amongst some or all of the linked Promotion Prize
Draw
Entries.
In the present invention any appropriate and acceptable techniques for
allocating prizes
won by Official Lottery Entries to linked Promotion Prize Draw Entries may be
used.
Once the results of the prize allocation process are known, details of the
winning
Promotion Prize Draw Entries are published and supplied to the Promotion
Redemption, Prize Claim and Payout module 25 of the Sales Promotion System C.
Customers with Promotion Prize Draw Entries in any prize draw may check their
entries
to see if they have won a prize by any of the known methods implemented for
this
purpose. This will use known methods but whatever method is used to check for
winning Prize Draw Entries, queries are forwarded possibly via preliminary
checking for
winning entries in Promotion Redemption, Prize Claim and Payout module 25 to
the
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Prize Claim and Payout module 9 which confirms whether their entries have won
a prize
and if so it checks if already claimed and if not advises the Promotion
Redemption, Prize
Claim and Payout module 25 that it is authorised to effect payout of any
prizes won.
For any prizes paid out as described above the Prize Claim and Payout module 9
makes a
claim for payout in turn from the Prize Claim and Payout module 19 of the
Official
Lottery Computer System B. As an alternative to this individual claim approach
the Prize
Claim and Payout module 9 may claim all prizes won by Official Lottery Entries
acquired
by the Entries Acquisition module 4 in the Official Lottery immediately after
the Official
Lottery prize draw and hold these for subsequent payout when claimed by the
holders of
relevant prize winning Promotion Prize Draw Entries.
Payout of prizes won is effected for minor prizes by known systems for payout
via any of
the customer interface points 31 ¨ 36 of the Sales System D. For payout of
major prizes,
these being prizes in value greater than a level defined as comprising an
acceptable
security risk to payout remotely, for example prizes over a value of $100,
claimants are
requested to make their claim via a specialised claims process controlled by
staff of the
Promotion Prize Draw Management System operators who check the validity of any
claim before it is paid 'out.
In the present invention fees and charges can be associated with any step of
Promotion
s Prize Draw Entry issue, claim and payout and these are recorded as they are
incurred by
the accounts system modules 10, 20 and 27. These modules abstract and
consolidate the
fees and charges on a periodic basis and exchange accounts information as
necessary to
effect settlement of all moneys due between all participants in each Promotion
Prize
Draw.
Via a combination of the new functionality provided by the invention as
outlined above,
the invention significantly simplifies the set up and operation of Promotional
Prize
Draws that comprise the reward mechanism for consumer and other Loyalty Reward
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Programs, charity fundraising programs and the like, as well as improving
their appeal
and practicality, all by enabling Official Lottery prize pools and prize draw
processes to
be used as prize pools and prize draws for the Loyalty Reward Program.
While the descriptions and examples described in the foregoing illustrate the
scope of the
invention, these are not intended to be all-encompassing and it is stressed
that the full
scope of the invention comprises a method of enabling the use of entries in
Official
Lotteries via any combination of the application of mathematical techniques
and
computing technology to comprise entries in or to generate derived entries to
be used in
Promotional Prize Draws such that the resultant Promotional Prize Draw entries
are
linked to their original parent Official entry, be separately identifiable as
such and be
entitled to the full amount or a share of any prizes won by the original
linked entries in
the Official Lottery and Gaming Event.
Awarding entries comprising chances to win prizes in a free-to-enter
promotional prize
draw are desirable mechanisms to reward consumers for loyalty and for
complying with
the conditions of a consumer promotion. Naturally for this consumer reward
mechanism, the larger the potential prize, the higher the perceived value of
the free to
enter reward. Also the certainty that a prize pool is actually funded by a
recognized
organization can be an important factor in the perceived value placed on this
type of
reward.
However the operators of retail promotion programs offering entries in
informal lotteries
or gaming events are often unable to guarantee high prizes at the outset of
any particular
promotion program, due to an inability to predict how much revenue will be
generated
by the program to fund the prizes. Prizes in informal lotteries or gaming
events are
typically funded by a combination of fixed sponsorships and/or revenue gained
from a
small charge being applied to each entry awarded as a consumer reward. This
charge is
paid by the sponsor of a promotion to the promotion program organizer who
applies
part of revenue gained from all such charges to fund program prizes and part
to fund the
program costs. A wide range of factors affects the success of any individual
promotion,
hence the numbers of consumer rewards issued. Consequendy the sponsored
revenue
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30
generated cannot be predicted accurately. Thus the funding of informal lottery
prize
pools is difficult to assure in advance.
In this situation the ability to link entries in a program promotional prize
draw to entries
in an official lottery is of real value in that it enables informal lottery
promotion
programs to offer chances of winning larger, assured prizes at a known and
affordable
cost. Using the method comprising this invention the number of entries into an
official
lottery required to provide the linked entries awarded in a promotional prize
draw can be
calculated and purchases of them made and managed at a known and affordable
cost.
