Apparatus for Accrediting Event Participants

Abstract

The present invention relates to the accreditation of participants to an event. Participants are invited to register, allowing an accreditation system ( 300 ) to collect information ( 325 and 320 ) from each of the participants. The accreditation system produces a non-valid pass for each of the participants, and the non-valid passes are issued to the participants. Upon arrival of a participant at, or proximate an event venue, the non-valid pass is validated. The validated pass typically serves as an identification and access control device to be worn by participants. Additionally, for foreign participants and before arrival of those participants, the accreditation system ( 300 ) sends a bulk visa request to an Immigration Authority ( 310 ), allowing the validated pass to serve as a visa.

1 - 10 . (canceled) 
   
   
       11 . Apparatus for accrediting participants to an event, said apparatus comprising:
 means for collecting information from each of said participants;   means for recording the information in an accreditation system;   producing means for producing a non-valid pass for each of said participants;   issuing means for issuing the respective non-valid passes to said participants; and   validating means for validating said non-valid pass for such a participant upon the participant's arrival at, or proximate an event venue, thereby accrediting said participant, wherein the non-valid pass is issued prior to the participant's arrival and the participant presents the non-valid pass for validation upon such arrival, or else the non-valid pass is issued to the participant upon such participant's arrival so that the non-valid, issued pass can then be validated, and wherein the validating means of the non-valid, issued pass includes:   means for updating the accreditation status of the participant in the accreditation system; and   means for laminating the pass in a security pouch, wherein the laminated pass includes a photograph of the participant to provide a physical form of validation, so that the participant is granted access to the event responsive to identifying the pass in the security pouch as worn by the participant, and wherein the pass is for access to the event and not for access to repeated instances of the event.   
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 for foreign participants and before arrival of said participants, means for sending a bulk visa request to an Immigration Authority; and   means for receiving a visa status from said Immigration Authority, allowing said validated pass to serve as a visa.   
   
   
       13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 means for ascribing an accreditation class to each of said participants; and   means for ascribing privileges to each of said accreditation classes.   
   
   
       14 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein said apparatus is a distributed system comprising interconnected servers and workstations. 
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the non-valid passes issued to the participants are issued by an organiser of the event, wherein the participant non-valid passes form a first portion of a valid pass and the participants include support staff associated with organisations supporting the event;
 wherein the producing means is further for producing support organisation non-valid passes, wherein such a support organisation non-valid pass forms a second portion of a valid pass; and   wherein the issuing means is further for issuing the support organisation non-valid passes by the event organizer for distribution by said support organisations to selected ones of the participants associated with the respective support organisations, wherein the support organisation non-valid passes and the participant non-valid passes are issued in differing quantities, the quantity of support organisation non-valid passes being smaller than that of the participant non-valid passes, and wherein the validating means uses both the first and second portions of the pass.