URL-ENCODED INTERNET ACCESS CARD FOR RETRIEVING AND VIEWING E-MAIL AT A FUEL DISPENSER

摘要

An Internet-enabled fuel dispenser includes a card reader (64) adapted to retrieve a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) data element encoded on a card-typ e device (66) furnished by the customer. The URL data element defines the Internet address of a server (60) that hosts an e-mail messaging account preferably belonging to the customer. A client machine (52) at the dispenser position accesses the server (60) specified by the retrieved URL data elemen t and receives the e-mail messages downloaded by the server in response to the e- mail request. The customer views the downloaded e-mail messages on a display (12, 62) installed at the dispenser position. The dispenser position is provided with a suitable connection facility to make a networked connection to the Internet (14), which preferably includes the World Wide Web (56).