| 摘要 |
This application relates to a ticket authentication system. Preferred embodiments are applied to lottery tickets. At a remote device (e.g. a sales terminal) a user is presented with a chart which maps a plurality of graphic, non-alphanumeric symbols 48 to reference numbers 50 or grid positions. The user selects one or more of the symbols to be his symbol key and submits the reference numbers / grid positions corresponding to the selected symbols to the remote device. The user also enters transaction-specific information such as lottery numbers, and the date of the transaction. All of this data is transmitted in encrypted form to a central server, which returns an authentication identifier which is printed on the users ticket. On redemption, the user is authenticated using both the authentication identifier and the symbol key. The chart is varied periodically and therefore the central server must use the date of the initial transaction to correctly translate between reference numbers / grid positions and the symbol key. The system uses anonymous tickets. |
