Copyright @ Françoise Herrmann
Forget piggy banks, this is the age of electronic piggy-wallets™, and of Wollo™, the family-friendly, digital cryptocurrency. Pink piggy-wallets™ that are part of the Pigzbe™ financial assistant system for kids, unveiled today at CES 2019(1).
The Pigzbe™ app enables parents to transfer funds to their kids' Pigzbe™ accounts with notification alerts. Using the app, parents can send gifts, set allowance amounts with scheduled deposit days, set up reward deposits for certain chores and specific tasks, invite family and friends into the circle of funding, and send funds from anywhere in the world.
Kids, 6 years and up, learn about money through play. They are alerted via a beeping LED indicator ("W" for Wollo™) when funds are deposited to their accounts. The Pigzbe™ app then coaches them via animations about fund management: their earnings, savings and the amounts they spend. The app also supports personal messages from those who fund the account. Kids can easily convert WOLO™ currency into any world currency, watch their savings accumulate and then use their funds for purchasing items (with mom and dad approval).
The piggy-wallet™ device, with its beeping LED notifications indicator, is designed to please parents, because it does not offer additional screen time. The app is the only screen component, accessible on a separate mobile device when consulted.
This invention is recited in the US patent application US20170055655, titled System and method for managing funds with a toy. The patent discloses a fund management system with a notification system, embodied in a toy. The invention aims to remedy a perceived problematic situation in which children use toy piggy banks, and prefer the toy piggy bank, compared to a real bank, where their accounts are largely hidden and abstract entities, beyond their immediate control.
The disclosed components of the fund management system include the physical (piggy-wallet™) toy device equipped with a beeping LED notification system that alerts the user when deposits are made to the account. The piggy-wallet ™ toy is further equipped with Bluetooth™wireless communication means so that the piggy toy can communicate with a mobile device, where a server-stored application is downloaded, enabling to fund the piggy-wallet™ account. The piggy-wallet™ account might, in fact, include any sort of linked account (e.g.; bank, Paypal®, Itunes®, Bitcoin, Google Play® or other).
The app enables the performance of various separate fund management functions. On the one hand, the app enables parents to send money, schedule deposits, or to reward various tasks. On the other hand, the app enables children to visualize the activity of their account, with or without their parents, beyond being just alerted of the transactions taking place, using the piggy toy device. The app might also be shared with a circle of friends and family, enabling them to participate in funding a child’s piggy-wallet™ account.
At the end of the day, the Pigzbe™ system aims to develop financial literacy for children, with the assumption that financially literate children will make financially capable adults.
The abstract of this invention is included below, together with one of the patent drawings showing an embodiment of the Pigzbe™ system, including the financial assistant device appearing in the shape of a piggy (100), the mobile device (200), the server (300) and another potential device, such as a computer (400), for accessing, funding and/or viewing the piggy-wallet™ account. An image of the marketed, less figurative, piggy-wallet™ is included above, together with an image of the Pigzbe™ app running on an Ipad.
A system for managing a fund account includes providing a device such as a device resembling a traditional piggy bank which receives data signals when transactions are made within the fund account. The device preferably includes a visual indicator such as light-emitting diodes to indicate that such a transaction has been made. The device may also include an audible indicator to indicate that transactions have been made. The device preferably also displays savings goals and the status of the fund account in reaching that goal. A communication device such as a cellular phone may communicate with the device and send it such data signals, as well as communicate with a server to receive data signals when there is activity within the fund account. [Abstract US20170055655]
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(1) As a reminder, CES is one of the largest Consumer Electronics Shows in the world, where for the past 50 years such breakthrough technologies as VCRs, HDTVs, BlueRays, Smart connected appliances and VR (virtual reality) applications have been unveiled for the first time, and introduced to the market. This year, in Las Vegas, Nevada, CES 2019 is showcasing 4500 companies, hailing from 150 countries. Approximately 180,000 people are expected to attend the two-day conference (Jan 8-10), which brings together business leaders and forward thinkers worldwide, for participation in more than 250 sessions. The show features 24 product categories, on more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space.
References
CES 2019
Pigzbe™
Pigzbe™ Whitepaper - April 12,2018
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