NL2004982C2

NL2004982C2 - System for providing a lottery game.

Info

Publication number: NL2004982C2
Application number: NL2004982A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Nick Green
Original assignee: Pin & Win B V
Priority date: 2010-06-28
Filing date: 2010-06-28
Publication date: 2011-12-29
Also published as: CA2803915A1; AU2011271797A1; AU2011101728A4; EP2585991A1; WO2012002810A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for providing a lottery game, various components of such system and methods performed by those components and the system. It is advantageous to provide lottery entry through a terminal with which also other transactions are being paid. To match lottery entry requests from different types of payment terminals and multiple different lottery services located on different servers, a lottery brokerage server is provided.

Description

System for providing a lottery game FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of systems and methods for providing a lottery game. 5 Aspects of the invention relate to brokerage of lottery games and a terminal for instruction payments and prosing lottery games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Lottery tickets are usually presented and bought as a product in itself, provided using a 10 dedicated infrastructure. A separate terminal is provided at a retailer location, contacting a dedicated server.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is convenient to offer entry in lottery games in combination with purchase of other 15 items, for example when checking out from a shop or a restaurant or hotel.

The invention provides in a first aspect a terminal for instructing payment transactions comprising: a visual communication unit; an input unit for entering confirmation of requesting entry of the user to a lottery game; a remote communication unit; and a 2 0 processing unit for controlling operations of elements of the terminal; wherein the processing unit is arranged to: display a first transaction amount for goods or services taken by a customer by means of the visual communication unit; propose entry in a lottery game to the customer by means of the visual communication unit; upon receiving a confirmation of requesting entry of the user to a lottery game by means of the input 25 unit, display a second transaction amount being the first amount plus an amount for entry in the lottery game; control the remote communication unit to send out an instruction for executing payment of the second amount to a banking server; communicate the request of entry in a lottery game to a lottery server; and receive lottery information sent by the lottery server in response to the request; upon receiving 30 the lottery information, display at least part of the lottery information to the customer by means of the visual communication unit.

By proposing entry in a lottery game together with the purchase of other items like goods and/or services, a customer may be more inclined to enter a lottery game. In this 35 way, the turnover of a retailer can be increased. Furthermore, costs are reduced by providing a single terminal for instructing payment and enabling entry in a lottery game.

2

The invention provides in a second aspect a lottery brokerage server comprising: a communication unit; a storage unit; and a processing unit for controlling elements of the lottery brokerage server; wherein the communication unit is arranged to communicate with a customer terminal for receiving lottery entry requests and with a lottery server for 5 sending lottery entry requests, wherein the storage unit has validation data stored on it and wherein the processing unit is arranged to: extract identification data from a customer lottery entry request received from the customer terminal; if the identification data corresponds to at least part of the validation data, control the communication unit to send a server lottery entry request to the lottery server, the server lottery entry 10 request corresponding to the first lottery entry request; in response to receiving server lottery entry information sent by the lottery server in response to receiving the server lottery entry request, sending customer lottery information to the terminal, the customer lottery information corresponding to the server lottery information.

15 Lottery games may be provided by different lottery operators, each having different interfaces and requirements for receiving lottery entry requests. On the other hand, terminals for instructing payments may be provided by various suppliers and those terminals may have different interfaces, depending on the suppliers. This may yield compatibility issues that need to be resolved. By resolving providing the lottery 2 0 brokerage server, such compatibility issues are handled in only one location.

In an embodiment of the lottery server according to the invention, the processing unit is further arranged to extract geographical data from the customer lottery entry request; the storage unit has a lookup table stored in it and the processing unit is arranged to: 25 identify a country of origin of a first lottery entry request received from the customer terminal; look up in the lookup table a lottery server that operable for the country of origin; and control the communication unit to send a second lottery entry request to the lottery server looked up previously, the second lottery entry request corresponding to the first lottery entry request.

30

Legislation on lottery entries varies to a large extent per jurisdiction. One lottery brokerage server may be provided to communicate with transaction terminals and lottery operators in multiple countries. To properly relay lottery entry requests from customers to lottery servers, the country of origin is an important factor to be taken into 35 account.

3

The invention provides in a third aspect a system for providing a lottery game comprising: the terminal according to claim 1; the lottery brokerage server according to claim 8; and a lottery server operatively to the lottery brokerage server; wherein the terminal is arranged to communicate with the lottery server via the lottery brokerage 5 server.

The invention provides in a fourth aspect a method of operating a terminal for instructing payment transactions comprising: display a first transaction amount for goods or services taken by a customer by means of the visual communication unit; propose entry 10 in a lottery game to the customer by means of the visual communication unit; upon receiving a confirmation of requesting entry of the user to a lottery game from the customer, display a second transaction amount being the first amount plus an amount for entry in the lottery game; send out an instruction for executing payment of the second amount to a banking server; communicate the request of entry in a lottery game 15 to a lottery server; receive lottery information sent by the lottery server in response to the request; and upon receiving the lottery information, display at least part of the lottery information to the customer by means of the visual communication unit.

The invention provides in a fifth aspect a method of operating a lottery brokerage server 2 0 comprising: identify a country of origin of a first lottery entry request received from the customer terminal; look up in a lookup table a lottery server that operable for the country of origin; send a second lottery entry request to the lottery server looked up in the previous step, the second lottery entry request corresponding to the first lottery entry request; in response to receiving first lottery entry information sent by the lottery server 2 5 in response to receiving the second lottery entry request, sending second lottery information to the terminal, the second lottery information corresponding to the first lottery information.

3 0 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 shows a lottery system 100 as an embodiment of the system according to the invention. The lottery system 100 comprises a payment terminal 102 that is operatively 35 connected to a so-called EPoS or Electronic Point of Sale terminal 104 that will be referred to as point of sale terminal 104. The payment terminal 102 comprises a banking card reader, either a credit card or a debit card, an input unit like a keypad and 4 a display for displaying payment details. Through the payment terminal 102, a customer is enabled to identify himself or herself by means of a banking card and to authorise payment of a transaction amount to a retailer. The payment terminal 102 is coupled to the point of sale terminal 104 via a wired or wireless connection or integrated 5 in one apparatus. Further specific features of the payment terminal 102 will later be discussed in further detail.

The point of sale terminal 104 is an advanced version of a cash register. It can be coupled to a barcode reader for reading barcodes on products, allowing convenient 10 registration of goods purchased. The total amount of the purchase is provided to the customer via a display on the point of sale terminal and/or the display on the payment terminal. The point of sale terminal 104 is in this embodiment coupled to a retailer server 106.

15 The retailer server 106 is in this embodiment used to handle further communications between the retailer and other parties. A bank is one of those parties to arrange payment from the customer to the retailer, but a supplier would also be one of those parties. The retailer server 106 may also serve as a stock administration system, where the sale of goods is automatically taken up in the stock administration of for example a 2 0 supermarket. If stocks of a product drop below a certain threshold, the retailer server 106 can automatically send out an order for that product to replenish stock. The retailer server 106 is also connected to a lottery brokerage server 130 for handling purchase of lottery tickets by means of the point of sale terminal 104.

25 The lottery system 100 further comprises a wireless payment terminal 112. The wireless payment terminal 112 is a simplified version of a combination of the payment terminal 102, the point of sale terminal 104 and the retailer server 106. The wireless payment terminal 112 does not have a stock keeping application or an electronic cash register application; the amount to be settled is entered by the retailer and subsequently 30 confirmed by the customer, after the customer has been identified by means of a banking card. Subsequently, a payment instruction is send out to the bank of the customer.

The wireless payment terminal 112 is via a gateway 114 connected to the lottery 35 brokerage server 130. The wireless payment terminal 112 communicates in this embodiment to the gateway 114 via a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) 5 connection. The gateway 114 in turn couples the wireless payment terminal 112 to the lottery brokerage server 130.

The lottery system 100 further comprises a lottery server 150 that is connected to the 5 lottery brokerage server 130. The lottery server 150 issues lottery information to the lottery brokerage server 130 upon receiving a lottery entry request of the lottery brokerage server 130. The lottery information may be numbers for entry in a draw. These numbers are to be generated by the lottery server 150. Additionally or alternatively, the lottery information may be information whether a customer has won a 10 prize. In this alternative, the lottery server runs a routine upon receiving a lottery entry request, which routine directly yield whether the request is a winning request or not.

Figure 1 further discloses a banking server 160 that is operatively connected to the retailer server 106, the gateway 114 and the lottery brokerage server 130. The banking 15 server 160 manages accounts of clients like the customer and the retailer. Additionally, the banking server 160 manages transaction between the several accounts of its clients. In this embodiment, only one banking server 160 is shown for only one bank. A person skilled in the art will readily appreciate that in practice, there are far more banks, each with one or more servers for receiving transaction instructions issues by 2 0 customers through payment terminals as discussed above. The word bank should be interpreted broadly in this case; is also includes credit card companies and the like.

It is noted that the connections between the various servers and terminals discussed in this description are not necessarily direct and hard (physical) connections. In most 25 cases, the connections will be constituted by communications between the various elements over an internet protocol (l/P) or X25 protocol.

As discussed, the connections between the various terminals and servers are provided over one single network like the internet, over a PSTN network, a .X25 network.

3 0 Alternatively, network or connections may be provided over multiple networks using one or more different communication protocols. In both cases, the network connections may be provided over virtual private networks (VPNs). So the connections drawn in Figure 1 may be provided over one single (physical) network or multiple networks, either physical or virtual.

Using virtual private networks, a first virtual private network may be created where one or more point of sale terminals like point of sale terminal 104 shown by Figure 1 and 35 6 multiple wireless payment terminals like the wireless payment terminal 112 shown by Figure 1 can communicate with the lottery brokerage server 130. Additionally, a second virtual private network may be created to where one or more point of sale terminals like point of sale terminal 104 shown by Figure 1 and one or more wireless 5 payment terminals like the wireless payment terminal 112 shown by Figure 1 can communicate with multiple banking servers like the banking server 160 shown by Figure 1. Furthermore, a third virtual private network may be created where the lottery brokerage server 130 can communicate with multiple lottery servers like the lottery server 150 shown by Figure 1. Servers - or clients, for that matter - not being part of 10 such virtual private networks cannot connect to servers that are part of such virtual private networks, keeping communications sent over the network private. Typically, virtual private networks can be set up when required and closed in case not required anymore. Virtual private networks are dynamic networks.

15 The point of sale terminal 104, connected to the payment terminal 102, is firstly arranged to instruct transfer of money upon purchase of goods and services by a customer from a retailer. The total cost of goods and/or services is calculated by means of the point of sale terminal 104, acting as an electronic till. Subsequently, the total amount is shown to the customer for settlement, preferably by means of a credit or debit 2 0 card. Upon receiving identification of the customers card, either by magnetic strip, contact chip or contactless chip like RFID, and confirmation of the payment by the customer, the point of sale terminal 104 sends an instruction to the banking server 160 to settle the payment, via the retailer server 106. The wireless payment terminal 112 acts in a similar way, where the amount to be settled is usually directly entered in the 2 5 terminal.

Figure 2 discloses the wireless payment terminal 112 in more detail. It has been noted that the most of the functionality of the wireless payment terminal 112 is also provided by a combination of the payment terminal 102, the point of sale terminal 104 and the 3 0 retailer server 106. Therefore, only the wireless payment terminal 112 will be discussed in further detail.

The wireless payment terminal 112 comprises a microprocessor 202 as a processing unit for controlling the various elements of the payment terminal 112. The wireless 35 payment terminal 112 further comprises a memory 204 as a storage unit for storing data, a keypad 206 as an input unit, a card reader 208, also acting as an input unit, a display 210 acting as a visual communication unit, a printer 212 also acting as a visual 7 communication unit and a communication processor 214 coupled to an antenna 216, acting as a remote communication unit.

The card reader 208 is enabled to read data from a magnetic strip on a banking card or 5 from an integrated circuit integrated in a banking card, either by means of electrical contacts or contactless, for example by means of RFID (radio frequency identification). Alternatively, the card reader 208 is only able to read data from a banking card by a subset of these technologies. The display 210 is preferably embodied as an LCD (liquid crystal display) display and more in particular a dot-matrix LCD display where 10 alphanumerical characters are build up from coarse pixels. In this way, information can be visualised to the customer and/or the retailer. The printer 212 is enabled to print tickets with information relevant to the customer and the retailer. Also in this way, information can be visualised to the customer and/or the retailer.

15 The communication processor 214 comprises a baseband processing part and an RF (radio frequency) processing part. The communication processor 214 decodes information to be transmitted to for example the banking server 160 and subsequently mixes the data with a radio-frequency signal carrier to create a signal suitable to be transmitted by means of the antenna 216.

20

Alternatively, the remote communication unit can be embodied with another communication unit that is arranged to send data over a wired network like a telephone line or another wired network using for example the X25 network protocol or the l/P network protocol. These protocols may be used either over the telephone line or 25 another network. It will be apparent that in this alternative, a payment terminal is not constituted that is not wireless. As a wireless payment terminal is preferred, a standalone payment terminal, so a payment terminal that is not coupled to a point of sale terminal, will be referred to as a wireless payment terminal in the rest of the description. In any case, it will be apparent that the scope of the invention and embodiments thereof 30 are not limited to either wired or wireless connections between the several components.

Figure 3 shows the lottery brokerage server 130 in further detail. The lottery brokerage server 130 comprises a microprocessor 302 as a processing unit for controlling the various elements of the lottery brokerage server 130. The lottery brokerage server 130 35 further comprises a mass memory 304 for storing data relevant to the lottery brokerage server 130 and a communication processor 306 coupled to an antenna 308 as a communication unit. In this embodiment, the communication unit is provided as a 8 wireless communication unit. In other embodiments, the communication unit is a wired communication unit to communicate over one or more networks using one or more network protocols. The lottery brokerage server 130 may comprise multiple communication units for communication over multiple networks, either multiple physical 5 networks, multiple open networks, multiple virtual private networks, multiple proprietary networks or other networks.

Operation of the lottery system 100 and the various elements thereof will now be disclosed by means of a flowchart 400 shown by Figure 4 A, Figure 4 B and Figure 4 C.

10 An indication of the steps of the flowchart 400 is provided in the table below._

Ref. No. Step_ 402__Payment request by retailer_ 404__Receive card_ 406__Present total transaction amount_ 408__Propose lottery entry_ 410__Confirmation of lottery entry received?_ 412__Receive number of entries to lottery_ 414__Number confirmed?_ 416__Present new total transaction amount_ 418__Confirmation of payment?_ 420__Send payment instruction to banking server 160_ 422__Receive payment instruction_ 424__Process payment instruction_ 426 Send response to payment instruction to wireless payment terminal __112_ 428__Receive response_ 430__Print payment receipt_ 432__Lottery entry confirmed?_ 434__End of process_ 436__Send lottery entry request to lottery brokerage server 130_ 438__Receive lottery entry request_ 440__Extract identification information from entry request___ 442__Look up identification information in validation data_ 444__Identification data verified?_ 446__Send an error message to the wireless payment terminal 112_ 448__Receive error message_ 9 450__Display error message on display_ 452__Extract country identifier from entry request_ 454__Look up country information_ 456__Identify lottery server specific to country_ 458__Send entry request to lottery server specific to country_ 460 Receive entry request__ 462__Process entry request, generate lottery information_ 464__Send the lottery information to lottery brokerage server 130_ 466__Receive the lottery information_ 468__Process the lottery information_ 470__Does the lottery information indicate a winning entry?_ 472__Instruct pay-out_ 474__Send information to the wireless payment terminal 112_ 476__Receive the lottery information_ 478 Present the lottery information, end of process

The process starts with the retailer asking the customer for settlement for the goods or services purchased in step 402. Subsequently, the wireless payment terminal 112 receives and reads a banking card of the customer in step 404. In step 406, the payment terminal 112 presents the transaction amount to the customer via the disply 5 210. This may be preceded by the retailer entering the transaction amount in the wireless payment terminal 112 in case this is not done automatically.

Subsequently, entry in one or more lottery games is proposed in step 408, via the display 210. Upon confirmation of the entry in the lottery game, which is checked in step 10 410, the wireless transaction terminal prompts for the number of entries in the lottery game in step 412. In step 414, the wireless transaction terminal 112 asks for confirmation of the number of entries. Upon confirmation of the number of entries, the total amount of the settlement, including the amount for entry in the lottery game, is provided to the customer in step 416. In case the customer does not wish to participate 15 in a lottery game, the process branches to step 416 from step 410.

Subsequently, the customer is prompted to confirm payment of the total amount to the retailer in step 418. In case the customer does refuses to confirm the amount to be settled, the process branches back to step 404. In case the customer confirms payment 2 0 of the total amount prompted on the display 210 of the wireless transaction terminal 10 112, the wireless transaction terminal 112 sends out a payment instruction for transfer of the total amount confirmed to the banking server 160 in step 420.

Upon receiving a payment instruction in step 422, the banking server 160 processes the 5 payment instruction in step 424. Though represented as a single step here, the processing implies multiple steps, including indentifying accounts, checking the balance of the account from which money is debited whether the requested transaction can be executed and the actual transferring of the requested amount. Furthermore, contact with only one banking server 160 is discussed. As already noted, multiple servers of multiple 10 banks may be involved here, where operations between those servers of different banks are controlled by another server. In this embodiment, only one banking server 160 is discussed for reasons of clarity.

After executing the transaction or after verifying whether the transaction can take place, 15 the banking server 160 sends out in step 426 a response message to the wireless transaction terminal 112 indicating either success or failure for executing the payment instruction.

The response message is in step 428 received by the wireless transaction terminal 112. 2 0 Upon receipt of the response message, a payment receipt is printed by the printer 212 in step 430. The payment receipt provides among other information on whether the payment instruction has been executed successfully or unsuccessfully.

After printing of the payment receipt, two checks are made. In a first check in step 432, 2 5 it is verified whether the customer indicated to enter in a lottery game. If this is not the case, the process ends in terminal 434. If this is the case, a second check verifies whether the payment has been executed successfully. If this is not the case, the process ends in terminal 434. The order of the first check and the second check is not relevant. If the payment has been executed successfully and the customer has 30 indicated that he or she wants to enter in a lottery game, the wireless payment terminal 112 sends in step 436 a lottery entry request to the lottery brokerage server 130.

The lottery entry request is received by the lottery brokerage server 130 receives in step 438 the lottery entry request. In step 440, identification data is extracted from the lottery 35 entry request. Such identification data comprises an identifier for identifying a retailer, a wireless payment terminal, or for identifying a retailer server (in case the retailer uses an electronic point of sale terminal instead of a stand-alone payment terminal), or a 11

Card Acceptor Number, a customer identification like the number of a credit card or other banking card, the name of the customer, the country from which the terminal is operated, or a combination of two or more of the previous or other or more information.

5

Subsequently, in step 442, validation data stored in the mass memory 304 of the lottery brokerage server 130 is looked up to verify that the origin of the lottery entry request is correct. Preferred identifiers for doing this are a terminal identifier and/or the Card Acceptor Number and/or a relation between both.

10

In step 444 is checked whether the lottery entry request can indeed be validated, so whether the origin of the lottery entry request is known and accepted. Additionally, it may be checked whether the lottery entry request is in the correct format. If this is not the case, the lottery brokerage server 130 sends an error message to the wireless 15 transaction terminal 112 in step 446, which is received by the wireless transaction terminal 112 in step 448 and displayed on the display 210 in step 450 upon which the process is terminated. It is stipulated that sending this error message is optional. In case it is not possible to validate the lottery entry request, there may be an issue of fraud, in which case it may not always be prudent to notify the other side that fraud has 2 0 been detected.

In case the lottery entry request has been validated, regional information is extracted from the lottery entry request in step 452. In particular, the country where the wireless payment terminal 112 is used is extracted. Following this, information on the identified 25 country is looked up in a country lookup table or other searchable data medium stored on the mass memory 304 of the lottery brokerage server 130 in step 454. Upon finding the identified country in the country lookup table, a lottery server specific to that country is identified in step 456. In a significant amount of countries, lotteries are state monopolies. In that case, only one lottery server per country can be contacted. In case 30 multiple lottery operators have business in a country, a lottery server may be picked based on the lottery game selected by the customer.

Upon finding the correct lottery server, the lottery brokerage server sends a further lottery entry request to the lottery server 150 in step 458. This further lottery entry 35 request sent to the lottery server 150 corresponds to the lottery entry request sent out earlier by the wireless transaction terminal 112. In particular, the further lottery entry request sent out by the lottery brokerage server 130 to the lottery server 150 comprises 12 an entry request to the game indicated earlier by the customer, plus the number of entries. The further lottery entry request sent out by the lottery brokerage server 130 to the lottery server 150 does not necessarily comprise information on the customer, the retailer, the wireless transaction terminal 112 or other information identifying the origin 5 of the lottery entry request. However, information is provided by the lottery brokerage server 130 to properly identify the further lottery entry request and communications from the lottery server 150 related to that further lottery entry request.

Upon receiving the lottery entry request in step 460, the lottery server 150 processes 10 the further lottery entry request. The processing of the further lottery entry request depends on the type of game for which entry is requested. A game may be played with or without a pre-determined identifier per entry request. The pre-determined identifier may be provided by the customer, like a bank account number, but is can also be a number related to a sequence with which entries are received by the lottery server 150. 15 An example of the latter is that every millionth or every hundredth customer entering in the game receives a prize. Alternatively, for example the 2345th, the 37643th and the 98734th customers receive a prize - or entries at other random sequence numbers.

Without a pre-determined identifier being available, an identifier may be provided on the 2 0 fly, like a random generated number. This random generated number subsequently can indicate whether the entry into the lottery game is a winning entry or not, based on predetermined criteria like which randomly generated number is a winning number or above what threshold a randomly generated number is a winning number - or a losing number for that matter. Alternatively, one or more numbers are randomly generated for 2 5 being sent back the customer. Whether this game entry is a winning entry can at a later moment be determined by means of a draw.

The information generated is either compiled or not and sent to the lottery brokerage server 130 in step 464. A method of compiling is providing only information whether the 30 game entry was a winning or losing entry. The lottery information sent is received back by the lottery brokerage server 130 in step 466. Upon receipt of the lottery information, the lottery information is processed in step 468. Processing the lottery information preferably comprises checking for which wireless payment terminal 112 the received lottery information is intended, for which customer the information is intended or to 35 which banking card the information is related.

13

In step 470, the lottery information is checked on whether the information indicates that the lottery entry was a winning entry. In case the entry is indeed a winning entry, the process branches to step 472 to instruct pay out of a winning amount. The pay out of the winning amount is sent to the banking server 160. Alternatively, the 5 instruction for pay out is sent by the retailer or the lottery server 150. In cases where there is no direct relation between the retailer and the lottery operator, the lottery brokerage server 130 is preferred to perform this action as the lottery brokerage server 130 has a relation with both the retailer and the lottery operator.

10 After processing of the lottery information and, in case the lottery information comprises information that the entry is a winning entry, after instructing pay out of a winning entry, further lottery information is sent to the wireless payment terminal 112 in step 474. The further lottery information sent out by the lottery brokerage server 130 corresponds to the lottery information sent by the lottery server 150 that relates to the same entry. In 15 case the lottery entry was a winning entry, the further lottery information also comprises information that the entry was a winning entry. In case the lottery entry was a request for receiving random numbers, the further lottery information comprises random numbers.

2 0 Upon receipt of the further lottery information by the wireless payment terminal 112 in step 476, a lottery ticket with at least a part of the further lottery information is printed by the printer 212 in the final step 478 of the flowchart 500. The lottery ticket may provide information whether the entry was a winning or losing entry, in case of a winning entry an indication of the amount won or a discount coupon with a purchase or in case an 25 entry in a future draw is requested, one or more entry numbers to the draw. Additionally or alternatively, the further lottery information is displayed on the display 210.

In the embodiments disclosed thus far, the point of sale terminal 114 and the wireless payment terminal 112 contact the banking server 160 and the lottery brokerage server 30 130 directly. This requires the retailer server 106 and the wireless payment terminal 112 to be able to do so. As the transfer of information relates to transfer of money, contacting entities other than banking entities may not be allowed in certain cases. And even directly contacting banks, card issuers or other financial institutions may not be allowed or possible under regulations in force in certain countries. In such cases, the 35 retailer server 106 and the wireless payment terminal 112 can only contact a central processing server.

14

Figure 5 shows the lottery system 100 disclosed before, with a payment processing gateway server 502 coupled to the retailer terminal 106 and the gateway 114 on one side and the lottery brokerage server 130 and the banking server 160 on the other side. Though the various servers and terminals may be coupled to one and the 5 same global network like the internet, setting up a logical connection between servers and terminals on the left side of the payment processing gateway server 502 and the servers on the right side of the payment processing gateway server 502 is not possible for security reasons. The payment processing gateway server 502 serves as a gateway between servers and terminals on both sides.

10

In one scenario, the payment processing gateway server 502 forms part of an existing infrastructure for communication of payment instructions from payment terminals to banking servers, where the lottery system 100 is coupled to. In this scenario, it is preferred to introduce the lottery system 100 in the existing infrastructure with the least 15 amount of modifications to the existing infrastructure. In such an existing infrastructure, transaction instruction messages include an identifier of the banking card and/or the banking server where the account is located from which money is to be debited. In this scenario, lottery related messages take the same form as 'normal' transaction instruction message, with an identifier indicating the lottery brokerage server 130 as the 2 0 appropriate banking server. In the payload of the lottery entry message, a lottery entry request is provided instead of a transaction instruction.

In this scenario, upon receiving a lottery entry request from the point of sale terminal 104, the retailer server 106 sends a lottery entry request message to the lottery 25 brokerage server 130 via the payment processing gateway server 502. The payment processing gateway server 502 recognises the lottery entry request message as a transaction instruction message, with the lottery brokerage server 130 as destination. Upon recognition of this, the payment processing gateway server 502 routes the lottery entry request message to the lottery brokerage server, where the lottery entry request 30 message is processed upon receipt according to the method discussed before.

Return messages from the lottery brokerage server 130 carrying for example lottery information are packaged as return messages that the banking server 160 would send to the retailer server 106 or the wireless transaction terminal 112 in order to be 35 recognised and correctly routed by the payment processing gateway server 502.

15

This implementation of the lottery system 100, with payment processing gateway server 502, requires only minor modifications to the existing infrastructure. The lottery brokerage server 130 and the payment processing gateway server 502 should be arranged to be coupled and exchange information and a routing table of the payment 5 processing gateway server 502 should be modified to be able to properly route messages to the lottery brokerage server 130.

Another advantage of this set up is that transaction instruction messages and lottery entry request messages can be sent to the payment processing gateway server 502 in 10 one communication session, so only one communication is required to be set up. This in contrast to the system discussed by means of Figure 1, where first a session with the banking server 160 is to be set up and closed after communication and a second session with the lottery brokerage server 130 is to be set up and closed after communication.

15

Furthermore, as already indicated, the mass memories of the various servers may store executable code for properly programming the microprocessors of those servers to execute several parts of the process as discussed with reference to Figure 4 and variations thereof. In other words, the invention and embodiments thereof may also be 2 0 provided as a computer programme product. Alternatively, the various servers are provided as hardwired units, dedicatedly manufactured to each execute their part of the process as discussed with reference to Figure 4 and variations thereof.

Expressions such as "comprise", "include", "incorporate", "contain", "is" and "have" are 2 5 to be construed in a non-exclusive manner when interpreting the description and its associated claims, namely construed to allow for other items or components which are not explicitly defined also to be present. Reference to the singular is also to be construed in be a reference to the plural and vice versa.

30 In the description above, it will be understood that when an element such as layer, region or substrate is referred to as being Oh to r öhtoanother element, the element is either directly on the other element, or intervening elements may also be present.

Furthermore, the invention may also be embodied with less components than provided 35 in the embodiments described here, wherein one component carries out multiple functions. Just as well may the invention be embodied using more elements than depicted in the Figures, wherein functions carried out by one component in the 16 embodiment provided are distributed over multiple components. . In particular, where only one server or one terminal is presented to perform a dedicated function, like the lottery brokerage server 130, multiple servers may be provided to perform the dedicated function, either in parallel or as a back up to one another or in any other way.

5

It is stipulated that the reference signs in the claims do not limit the scope of the claims, but are merely inserted to enhance the legibility of the claims.

In summary, the invention relates to a system for providing a lottery game, various 10 components of such system and methods performed by those components and the system. It is advantageous to provide lottery entry through a terminal with which also other transactions are being paid. To match lottery entry requests from different types of payment terminals and multiple different lottery services located on different servers, a lottery brokerage server is provided.

Claims

A terminal for giving payment instructions comprising: a) a visualization unit for visual communication; B) an input unit for receiving and confirming the customer's participation in a lottery; c) a communication unit; d) a processing unit for controlling the operation of elements of the terminal; 10 wherein the processing unit is arranged to: e) display, by means of the visualization unit, a first transaction amount for goods or services that the customer wishes to purchase; f) using the visualization unit to propose to the customer to participate in a lottery; G) on receiving confirmation of participation from the customer by showing a second transaction amount by means of the input unit which corresponds to the first transaction amount plus an amount for participation in the lottery; h) control the communication unit such that it: i) an instruction sent to a bank server for payment of the second amount; ii) sends a request to participate in a lottery to a lottery server, the request including the account information; and iii) receive lottery information which lottery information is sent by the lottery manager in response to a request to participate; I) when receiving the lottery information, shows at least a part of the lottery information to the customer by means of the visualization unit.

The terminal of claim 1, wherein the visualization unit comprises at least one of the following: a) a printer; b) and a screen.

The terminal of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to insert a terminal identification code into the request to participate in a lottery. 35

The terminal of claim 3, wherein the country where the terminal is located can be identified by means of the terminal identification code.

Wherein the communication unit is arranged to receive a communication from the terminal and the processing unit is arranged to: c) determine whether the communication from the terminal is a lottery instruction or a payment instruction; d) when determining that the communication is a lottery instruction, instruct the communication unit to forward the communication to the mediation server; and e) when determining that the communication is a payment instruction, instruct the communication unit to forward the communication to a bank.

The terminal of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to derive at least one of the following data from the lottery information: a) that the customer has won a prize; b) that the customer has not won a prize; C) a string of characters representing participation in a draw.

6. terminal as claimed in claim 5, wherein the processing unit is further adapted to control the communication unit for an instruction to a further bank server for performing payment of a prize amount to an account which is identified by account information of the customer.

The terminal of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is arranged to instruct the communication unit to send the request to participate in a lottery to the lottery manager via a mediation server. 15

A lottery mediation server comprising: a) a communication unit; b) a storage unit for storing validation data; c) a processing unit for controlling the operation of elements of the mediation server; Wherein the communication unit is adapted to communicate with a client terminal to receive client requests for participation in a lottery, the client requests included account information from a client, and to communicate with a lottery manager to send server requests to participate in a lottery, and wherein the processing unit is adapted to: d) extract data including the account information from the customer from a customer request for participation in a lottery, which customer request is received from a customer terminal; e) if the identification data corresponds to at least a part of the validation data, control the communication unit to send a server request to participate in a lottery to a lottery server, the server request to participate in a lottery corresponding to the customer request to participate in a lottery; f) in response to receipt of server lottery information sent by the lottery 35 server in response to receipt of the server request to participate in a lottery, send customer lottery information to the customer terminal, which customer lottery information matches the server lottery information; and g) if the server lottery information indicates that the customer request for participation in the lottery has resulted in winning a prize, instructing a bank server through the communication unit to pay a prize amount to a customer's account, which account is identified by account information. 5

A lottery mediation server according to claim 8, wherein: a) the processing unit is further adapted to extract geographic data from the customer request to participate in a lottery; b) a file with information with at least one lottery server is stored in the storage unit; And wherein the processing unit is further arranged to: c) identify a country of origin of the customer request to participate in a lottery on the basis of the extracted geographical data; d) look up in the file a lottery server that is operational for the country of origin; and e) controlling the communication unit to send a server request to participate in a lottery to the lottery server that has been previously searched, which server request to participate in a lottery matches the customer request to participate in a lottery. 20

10. Lottery mediation server according to claim 8, wherein an information file with at least one lottery server is stored in the storage unit and the processing unit is further arranged to: a) extract lottery game information from the customer request for participation in the lottery ; b) identify a lottery game server, which lottery game server is related to the lottery game information; and c) control the communication unit to send the server request to participate in a lottery to the identified lottery server. 30

A lottery offering system, comprising: a) the terminal of claim 1; b) the mediation server according to claim 8; and c) a lottery server operatively linked to the mediation server;

35 The terminal is adapted to communicate with the lottery server via the mediation server.

The system of claim 11, further comprising a transaction routing server comprising: a) a communication unit; and b) a processing unit;

13. Method of managing a terminal for giving payment instructions, comprising: a) displaying a first transaction amount for goods or services that the customer wants to purchase by means of a visualization unit; b) propose to the client through a visualization unit to participate in a lottery; C) receiving confirmation of participation from the customer and receiving identification information including account information from the customer through the input unit; d) in response to receiving confirmation of participation, show a second transaction amount corresponding to the first transaction amount plus a second amount for participation in the lottery; d) send an instruction to a bank for payment of the second amount; e) send a request to participate in a lottery to a lottery server, the request including the account information; f) receive lottery information which lottery information is sent by lottery manager 30 in response to a request to participate; g) when receiving the lottery information, show at least part of the lottery information to the customer through the visualization unit.

14. Method for managing a lottery mediation server comprising: a) receiving a customer request from a customer terminal for participation in a lottery; b) extracting identification data including a customer's account information from the customer request; c) if the identification data corresponds to at least a part of the validation data, control the communication unit to send a server request to participate in a lottery to a lottery server, the server request to participate in a lottery corresponding to the customer request to participate in a 5 lottery; d) in response to receipt of server lottery information sent by the lottery server in response to receipt of the server request to participate in a lottery, send customer lottery information to the customer terminal, which customer lottery information matches the server lottery information; and e) if the server lottery information indicates that the customer request for participation in the lottery has resulted in winning a prize, instructing a bank server to pay a prize amount to a customer's account through the communications unit, which account is identified by account information.

The method of claim 14, further comprising: a) extracting geographic data from the customer request to participate in a lottery; c) identify a country of origin of the customer request to identify participation in a lottery based on the extracted geographic data; d) look up in a file a lottery server that is operational for the country of origin; and e) send a server request to participate in a lottery to the lottery server that has been looked up previously, which server request to participate in a lottery 25 corresponds to the customer request to participate in a lottery.