A computer-based method for allocating funds in pre-established accounts for use by customers, by creating for each customer a customer account file containing a record of funds deposited for the customer, and limiting how the funds in each customer account file may be spent on audio and video entertainment in the form of goods and services in response to command instructions from the fund depositor, wherein the limit on the funds is a limit on transaction amount or a limit according to content on the audio or video entertainment on which the funds may be spent. Computer-based systems implementing the inventive method are also disclosed.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/478,051 filed Jan. 15, 2000, which, in turn, is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/876,929 filed Jun. 16, 1997, which in turn, which issued on Mar. 28, 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,360, and which, in turn, is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/585,173 filed Apr. 16, 1996 now abandoned. This application also claims benefit of Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/244,800 filed Nov. 1, 2000. The disclosures of all four applications are incorporated herein by reference.
