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Magician Harry Houdini patented a "Diver's Suit" enabling the wearer to "quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7072850 | Method and apparatus for processing a supplementary product sale at a point-of-sale terminal Upsells are made accessible to customers so customers may select upsells as they select items in their purchase. Each upsell has an associated rounding code. For example, the rounding code may be determinable from a bar code printed on an adhesive label that is affi... | 07/04/2006 |
| 6937990 | System for syndication of insurance A system is described for facilitating a syndicated sale of an insurance policy. The system employs a processor and a storage device connected to the processor, and a data receiving device and data output device connected to the processor. The processor executes a p... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6908382 | Method and apparatus for operating lotteries and for generating and processing lottery entries A system and process for generating, distributing, and processing lottery tickets guaranteed to win a drawing-based prize. Tickets are appropriately priced, and are validated at point of sale by a central server in which the ticket information is stored. Subsequent ... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6898570 | Billing statement customer acquistion system A customer acquisition system is disclosed that allows an offeror service provider to acquire new customers by making acquisition offers to customers through the billing statements of other businesses (“billing statement issuers”). An “acquisition offer” is ... | 05/24/2005 |
| RE38733 | Method and apparatus for motivating players to return to a casino using premiums A method of motivating players to return to a casino includes receiving a request to convert a predetermined value of casino currency to cash. Upon the receipt of the request, a premium value is calculated based at least in part on the predetermined value. Subsequen... | 05/10/2005 |
| 6876978 | Method and apparatus for generating a coupon A POS terminal generates a purchase price of a purchase, and generates a rounded price. The rounded price may be, for example, the lowest whole number greater than the purchase price. The POS terminal then calculates a round-up amount (change due the customer) as th... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6847965 | Method and apparatus for maintaining a customer database using license plate scanning An apparatus is provided for generating an image of a license plate and determining license plate characters from the image. Then, a database is searched to determine if there is a customer record that corresponds to the license plate characters. If so, the customer... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6805290 | Process and product for enforcing purchase agreements Systems and methods are provided for establishing online a buyer price for a first plurality of products. The buyer price being lower than a retail price of the first plurality of products, the first plurality of products to be picked up during a subsequent transact... | 10/19/2004 |
| 6694300 | Method and apparatus for providing supplementary product sales to a customer at a customer terminal A system for providing supplementary product sales is provided in which a central controller, which may be operated by a credit card issuer, receives a purchase from a card authorization terminal. The purchase includes at least one purchase parameter, suc... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6658390 | System and method for reselling a previously sold product A seller, having previously sold a product to an original purchaser subject to a buyout-provision condition, determines if the buyout-provision condition is satisfied. If the buy-out provision condition is satisfied, the seller retakes the product from th... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6658323 | Vending machine apparatus for encouraging participation in a marketing effort A vending machine method and apparatus are disclosed for encouraging vending machine customers to review a marketing promotion or to participate in a survey while making a purchase. Customers are immediately rewarded for providing responses about the mark... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6634550 | Game presentation in a retail establishment A game presentation such as a virtual slot machine is displayed by a display device associated with a point of sale (POS) terminal. The game presentation includes images of products for which product identifying codes are entered at the POS terminal. The ... | 10/21/2003 |
| 6601036 | System and method for dynamic assembly of packages in retail environments A system and method for managing the sale of a group of products at a single price based on sales performance data of the products is presented. The method and apparatus include offering a plurality of products by identifying products that are complementa... | 07/29/2003 |
| 6598024 | Method and system for processing supplementary product sales at a point-of-sale terminal A POS terminal determines an upsell to offer in exchange for the change due to a customer in connection with a purchase. The point-of-sale terminal preferably maintains a database of at least one upsell price and a corresponding upsell to offer a customer... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6582304 | System and method for performing lottery ticket transactions utilizing point-of-sale terminals A system and method for performing integrated lottery ticket and merchandise transactions using a point-of-sale terminal that generates a single sales receipt containing all pertinent lottery ticket and merchandise transaction information. The lottery tic... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6542874 | Method and apparatus for selling subscriptions to periodicals in a retail environment A retail subscription system receives one or more subscription cards indicating that subscriptions to periodicals were sold. The retail subscription system verifies the subscriptions by reference to its own databases and to codes on the subscription cards... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6529602 | Method and apparatus for the secure storage of audio signals A method and apparatus for recording audio so that the recording can be authenticated as to both content and time of recording is provided. The system may be implemented as a central server that is accessed via one or more telephone lines, or as a stand-a... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6527638 | Secure improved remote gaming system A remote gaming system whereby a player can gamble against a wagering establishment or state-run lottery from a remote location on a personal computer or portable computer device where it is unnecessary to establish an on-line connection with a host compu... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6507822 | Method and apparatus for managing the sale of aging products A store controller stores a series of prices for a product and respective effective periods during which the prices are effective. A customer submits an offer to buy the product at an "offer price" that is one of the series of prices. The offer also has a... | 01/14/2003 |
| 6487291 | Method and apparatus for valve-based queuing of telephone calls A priority call queuing system allows the called site to exercise control over the position in a phone queue of an incoming call, based upon an economic value assigned to the incoming call. When the incoming call is received, an interactive voice response... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6477513 | Method and apparatus for executing cryptographically-enabled letters of credit A method and apparatus for executing electronic transactions using cryptographically-enabled accounts stores cryptographically-enabled account information and instructions, receives a cryptographically-encoded permission certificate, and processes the rec... | 11/05/2002 |
| 6470322 | Method and apparatus for selling subscriptions to periodicals in a retail environment A system comprises a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, a POS controller, a retail subscription system. The POS terminal allows a cashier to enter subscription sales data into the POS controller. The POS controller maintains databases on available subscription... | 10/22/2002 |
| 6449616 | Methods and apparatus for distributing supplemental information related to printed articles A method for readers of standard-length articles in magazines, newspapers, or similar printed media to purchase supplemental information on portions of information in the articles from publishers that print the articles, operators of electronic databases ... | 09/10/2002 |
| 6445309 | Method and apparatus for distributing products to vehicle occupants A method and apparatus are disclosed for dispensing a product at a toll station. In accordance with the present invention, a first method is disclosed for distributing a product at a toll station. The method includes receiving an account identifier to ide... | 09/03/2002 |
| 6430537 | Method and apparatus for priority-based jukebox queuing A method and apparatus are described for managing a request queue for a jukebox system. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is disclosed for managing a queue of a jukebox. The method includes the step of arranging a set of service i... | 08/06/2002 |
| 6421651 | Method and apparatus for priority-based jukebox queuing A method and apparatus are described for managing a request queue for a jukebox system. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is disclosed for managing a queue of a jukebox. The method includes the step of arranging a set of service i... | 07/16/2002 |
| 6415264 | System and method for determining a posting payment amount Information is received about a post for an item to be sold. The information may include, for example, the class and type of item being sold, the reputation of a seller, a floor price below which the item will not be sold, a condition of the item and peri... | 07/02/2002 |
| 6390917 | Slot machine advertising/sales system and method A network server provides control functions for gambling devices of the type which provide intermittent monetary payments to players at a point-of-play. The point-of-play includes an interactive display device for displaying messages to the player and for... | 05/21/2002 |
| 6379247 | Method and system for awarding frequent flyer miles for casino table games A method and system for rewarding complimentary rewards, such as frequent flyer miles, are disclosed. The system includes a plurality of reward counters and a controller coupled thereto. Each reward counter includes an input device capable of receiving in... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6377963 | Method and system for attaching customized indexes to periodicals The present invention solves the problems of the prior art by providing customized content-sensitive indexes, created for each reader from previously supplied user profiles. Information is provided in advance by the user for the creation of a sophisticate... | 04/23/2002 |
| 6374240 | Method and apparatus for maintaining a customer database using license plate scanning An apparatus is provided for generating an image of a license plate and determining license plate characters from the image. Then, a database is searched to determine if there is a customer record that corresponds to the license plate characters. If so, t... | 04/16/2002 |
| 6368215 | Method and apparatus for awarding and redeeming prepaid telephone time A slot card issued by a slot club, or a membership card in another incentive award program, that is also capable of being used as phone calling card is provided. Free calling time is credited to the member's card account in response to the playing of the ... | 04/09/2002 |
| 6364765 | Electronic amusement device offering secondary game of chance and method for operating same An electronic amusement device and a method for operating the device are disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a slot machine server controls a secondary game of chance played at a client slot machine. The server receives a player identifie... | 04/02/2002 |
| 6361437 | Remote gaming device A method and system for remote play of a gaming device, such as a slot machine. A player enters play preferences at a remote wagering terminal. The remote wagering terminal transmits the play preferences to a slot network server that stores the play prefe... | 03/26/2002 |
| 6361441 | Method and apparatus for team play of slot machines Slot machines for enabling team play by a plurality of slot machine players are disclosed. The game results of each team player are combined in a predefined manner to obtain a team game result. The game results of each player may be combined on a "per-spi... | 03/26/2002 |
| 6360209 | Credit card billing method and system An improved credit card billing method and system is disclosed which permits multiple items purchased as part of a single transaction or order to be separately billed on a credit card in accordance with a payment schedule designed to minimize inquiries re... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6349295 | Method and apparatus for performing supplemental searches over a network A method and apparatus are disclosed for cooperating with a first software program to perform a supplemental search over the Internet or another public network. A supplemental search is performed in the background to obtain desired information, while the ... | 02/19/2002 |
| 6343988 | Systems and methods wherein a gambling result is based on a user input A method and apparatus for using player input codes (e.g., numeric, biometric or physical) to affect the outcomes of electronic gambling devices, such as slot machines. The player inserts money into the slot machine and enters an input, e.g., a lucky numb... | 02/05/2002 |
| 6341268 | System and method providing a restaurant menu dynamically generated based on revenue management information A price associated with a menu item is automatically determined based at least partly on revenue management information. A request for a menu is received and a menu, including the automatically determined price, is generated in response to the request.... | 01/22/2002 |
| 6338049 | User-generated traveler's checks A system and method for issuing travelers checks at a user's home or business using the purchaser's own computer system to allow the user to obtain travelers checks at any time, in any denominations and without having to travel to an issuer location. User... | 01/08/2002 |
