M-Lottery LCO presentation
Operational scope
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A simple interface for cell phone users to
conveniently purchase lottery tickets through the
phone
Over 50% of Americans participate in lotteries – a
huge market exists
Meant for individuals, to be used in a personal
capacity (“for fun”)
Typical scenario is someone purchasing tickets
while stuck in traffic on the way home from work
System is limited to purchasing lottery tickets only
System requirements
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QuickPick – have the server choose numbers
automatically
Choose numbers – choose the numbers
yourself
View tickets – show prior ticket status
Setup – to change password, set billing
Redeem – when a ticket wins, this option tells
the user how to redeem
A servlet will need to handle incoming requests
with a database and interface to a lottery (likely
through proxy purchasers)
Unique identifier assigned when midlet is
installed, and password chosen
System and Architecture
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Midlet with a series of menus is straightforward
Servlet has a simple text database to store
ticket information as well as userids and
passwords, expandable to a “real” database
later
Interface between servlet and midlet is through
standard HTTP methods; midlet has an
associated “action” for each menu type as well
as a start action when it first starts up
Server has a rigidly defined response template
for each command
Difficulty occurs in passing information to the
real lottery system – most feasible way to do
this would likely be proxy purchasers (humans)
Lifecycle plan
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Every lottery ticket purchaser and cell
phone user is a potential customer
We target the lazy ones – also called the
“efficient” ones
Ease of use and guarantee of legitimacy
are keys to making it work
Support will need to be provided by the
developers, the cell phone provider, the
lottery system, and lawmakers in allowing
such a product for it to maintain a place in
the market.
All this should be possible assuming this
product is legal.
Feasibility Rationale
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System would work, assuming the users
can be convinced it is a better alternative
to convenience stores, which it is, due to
convenience – advertisements or
promotions could hammer this home
In this class, some parts of this project
would need to be simulated – no one
would want to buy actual tickets, or enter
real credit card information, for instance
This simulation aspect may not agree
with the philosophy of the course
If it does agree, we recommend the
project be continued