US 5,442,567 · Granted 1995-08-15

Apparatus and method for electronically dispensing personalized greeting cards and gifts

A vending machine which allows a customer to design and personalize a greeting card also allows the customer to integrate an electronically vendable gift along with or directly onto the card. A stand-alone kiosk includes a credit card verifier, an alphanumeric keyboard, a video screen, a color printer printing on blank or partially printed card stock, and a gift calculator and vender, all controlled by a CPU. Examples of gifts available through the machine include chances at telephone games, such as SPELLIT, gift certificates, long distance toll free return telephone calls, lottery tickets, and, where sports gaming is legal, bets on the gift recipient's favorite sports team. Any or all of these gifts can be printed directly onto the personalized card.

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