EP0033234A2

EP0033234A2 - Improvements in or relating to time related fee determination systems

Info

Publication number: EP0033234A2
Application number: EP81300307A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Anthony Sedgwick
Original assignee: EMI Ltd
Current assignee: EMI Ltd
Priority date: 1980-01-25
Filing date: 1981-01-23
Publication date: 1981-08-05
Also published as: EP0033234A3

Abstract

In automatic car parking systems it has been known to provide at entry a ticket which is encoded with the time of entry. This requires encoding at the entrance gates. This invention proposes providing tickets carrying a serial number and not the time. The time is instead held in a store 2 in association with the coded number. At exit the serial number read by a ticket reader 4 and is used to call up the entrance time. The two times are compared by circuits (7-10) to calcu- latethefee due and this is collected at an appropriate cash unit (₅). It is applicable to other time-related services in addition to or instead of car parking. Where several services are combined payment may be effected individually or by a single payment. The same ticket may be used to gain entry to non-time-related services and the fee therefor collected with the time-related fee.

Description

This invention relates to systems for automatically determining and preferably for collecting a fee for a service where the fee is related to elapsed time. It is particularly although not exclusively related to the determination of a vehicle parking fee based on the time for which a vehicle has been parked.
Parking systems for vehicles, generally private cars, using automatic ticket machines are now well established. In the usual arrangement a driver receives a ticket from an automatic dispensing machine at entry; the taking of the ticket from the machine conveniently operating an entry barrier so as to allow entry at a known time. In order to determine the fee required the time of entry is recorded on the ticket at issuance. This is preferably in a machine readable form, such as magnetic recording or by a pattern of perforations but may be alternatively or in addition in human readable form. The latter may be in an encoded form which can be read but not understood by the driver or may be in plain and comprehensible form.
At exit the ticket is presented either to an automatic machine or to an attendant. In either case the time of entry is read from the ticket using suitable means for the system in use and compared with the time of presentation to determine the fee due. Then on complete payment of the fee, exit is allowed.
In a development of this system the payment may be made on foot prior to rejoining the car. In this case when payment has been made the automatic machine revalidates the ticket or provides a new ticket valid for exit within a predetermined period and the driver presents this ticket to a machine or an attendant at the exit gate.
It is an object of this invention to provide an alternative to such systems, capable of being implemented in certain circumstances at lower cost.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of automatic fee determination for a time-related service in which a ticket, carrying a pre-recorded individual machine readable code, is issued and the time of commencement of the service or a time related thereto is automatically stored and on re-presentation of the ticket to a ticket-reading machine at the termination of the service the stored time and presentation time are automatically compared to determine the fee due.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided an automatic fee determination system for one or more time-related services including means for issuing a ticket, carrying a pre-recorded individual machine-readable code, means for storing the time of commencement of each service in association with the code; ticket reading means for reading said code at termination of each service; and means for using the code to associate the time of commencement and time of termination of the service and for comparing said times to determine the fee due for said service.
In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily understood it will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of which,

Figure 1 shows in block diagram form an embodiment of a system in accordance with the invention,
Figure 2 shows a modification of the system of Figure 1 and,
Figure 3 is a flow diagram of the procedure for implementing two alternative embodiments of the invention.

The invention will be described in terms of its principal embodiment, namely automatic ticket equipment for car parks. However it will be understood that, as for other such equipment, it may be adapted for a reduced automation if desired and further that it may be adapted to other revenue collection for time related services. The word ticket should be construed to include a voucher or similar suitable for other services and the word "service" should be broadly construed to include any service or activity requiring payment related to an elapsed time.
Considering all of the prior art fee computing systems, including that described hereinbefore, it can be seen that a common feature is the recording on the ticket, as originally issued, of the time of issue. As mentioned, this may be human-readable or may be machine-readable but it must be recorded on. the ticket at the time of issue if the fee is to be properly computed. Thus each of the ticket issuing machines, of which there may be several at a large car park, must include a device for recording on the ticket. Such recording equipment is relatively expensive so that duplication at each ticket issuing gate increases the cost of the overall system considerably.
It is therefore proposed to reduce the expense of such systems by eliminating the recording of information on the ticket by the ticket issuing machine. Instead it is proposed to hold the time of entry information at a central store of the equipment controlling the system, together with an identification code for the particular ticket. Then at exit the identification code can be used to call for the entry time. This system in particular lends itself to implementation by systems which are microprocessor controlled.
In a preferred embodiment the tickets are preprinted with machine readable code. This may include an invariant part with information denoting for example the equipment operator and location. However at least part of the code will be effectively unique to an individual ticket, probably in the form of a serial number. If desired the invariant and serial parts of the coded information may be interspersed in predetermined manner to aid in reducing fraud. It will be understood that this provides a novel car park ticket.
The ticket is issued at the gate to the driver to be admitted, in substantially the usual manner. However nothing need be recorded on the ticket although the time and date may be printed on in readable form for reference purposes only. Instead the machine readable code is read from the ticket as it is issued and is transferred to a memory where it is recorded together with information indicating the time of issue. The memory will preferably be in a central control unit.
When the ticket is presented for payment, either to a human attendant or to a machine, the code is again read and presented to the central control unit. The central control unit checks the invariant code, if used, to ensure that the ticket is genuine and the serial code to ensure that the number is current and to withdraw from the memory the information indicative of time of entry. It then computes the fee required on a current charge schedule and displays it on a "fee due" display. If the gate is automatic it then allows exit when the correct fee is paid. It may, of course, merely display the entry time or elapsed time to an attendant who then determines and collects the required fee.
The system is compatible with the pay-on-foot system since the payment machine can re-issue the same (or a new) ticket, the time of payment being recorded. A further machine at the exit gate can then further re-read the code so that the central control can tell if the time elapsed since payment is equal to or less than a limit acceptable to the operator and allow exit if it is.
Alternatively the exit ticket reader may display an excess fee, calculated by the circuits which computed the main fee but on the basis of the elapsed time between payment and attempted exit (perhaps minus the preset allowed exit period). The exit ticket reader may be configured to except the excess fee directly and allow exit. However it may be convenient for the exit gate to refer the customer to re-present the ticket to the payment machine when the system will compute and charge an excess and restart the allowed exit period. In this case a car park should be designed to allow a driver to remove his car from an exit gate without obstructing other vehicles waiting to exit.
It may be more convenient to charge a fixed excess fee allowing for an overstay of up to (say) one hour and to call the attendant in the rare event that the excess time might be longer.
A more flexible embodiment may allow a customer the choice of "pay-on-foot" or payment at the exit gate with the fee rates for the latter being slightly higher.
The ticket may finally be returned, to the driver or perhaps to an attendant, but is is preferred that it be retained in a sealed container after being printed with the time of payment and fee paid, thus allowing security and accounting checks to be made as desired. The central control, or probably the attended or unattended payment units, may also permanently store information about the transaction, for example by floppy disc, cassette tape, paper tape or printed output.
A block diagrammatic circuit for the system is shown in Figure 1. Ticket dispensers 1, which are conventional except that they do not need to include equipment for recording information on the ticket, supply the ticket code to a memory store 2. They also instruct gates 1a to open when the ticket is taken. Store 2, which may be a random access memory, holds this information until required together with the time of the transaction or another time or code related thereto.
A payment machine includes a ticket reader part 4, display part 5 and payment coin machine part 6, all of conventional type. The ticket reader 4 provides the ticket code to store 2 which consequently supplies the corresponding entry time to subtracting circuit 7. Circuit 7 also receives the current time from a system clock 8 and subtracts from it the entry (ticket issue) time to give the elapsed (parking) time. These circuits 7 can be straightforwardly provided in conventional form. For example a time code need not be in hours and minutes but just in minutes which merely need to be subtracted or else it is simple to multiply an hours code by 60 and add it to the minutes code prior to subtraction. The time may alternatively be recorded in units of 3.75 (say) minutes and the computation required is then a subtraction of two quantities of such units.
Subtractor 7 includes fee computation circuits 9. These merely comprise an address generator which interrogates a tariff information store 10 at an address appropriate to the elapsed time in time units and receives in return a predetermined fee stored at the appropriate location.
The charge coding may be complex as long term parkers, for example, may be subsidised or penalised depending on the nature of the car park, or there may be different charges at different times of day or even week. The due fee thus taken from store 10 is then displayed at 5. Coin machine 6(or of course a cashier), on receiving the correct payment in this embodiment causes the ticket reader 4 to return the ticket and to transfer the ticket code on which payment has been made to store 2. However it could directly operate an exit gate.
In this embodiment, which is for payment on foot, an exit gate 11 and ticket reader 12 are provided. Reader 12 receives the ticket and provides the.code to store 2 which supplies the corresponding payment time to a subtracting circuit 13, similar to circuit 7. Circuit 13 determines, by subtraction from the current time from clock 8, the time elapsed between payment and presentation at the exit gate. This elapsed time, typically 15 minutes, is compared in a comparator 14 with an acceptable elapsed time held in a store 15. If it is equal or less, gate 11 is instructed to allow exit. If it is greater then reader 12 can be instructed to reject the ticket or an attendant can be called or both.
It should be noted that car parking is often paid for in large units of time so that a motorist who has parked for more than, say, two hours may be required to pay for three or even four hours. It would clearly be inequitable to levy an excess charge on a motorist who had not used all the time for which he had paid.
In one embodiment, therefore, the store 2 holds, at payment, the time at which the period for which payment has actually been made will expire. This is compared with the actual exit time and exit is always allowed if there is paid time remaining. The last allowable exit time can be on the basis of the expiry of the time for which payment has been made or the allowable free time after payment, whichever is the later.
Figure 2 shows the reconfiguration required for part of Figure 1 to allow the exit ticket reader to collect an excess fee in an automatic system.
For that purpose the exit ticket reader 12 is associated with a display 17 and coin unit 18, in substantially the same arrangement as units 4, 5 and 6. The excess time instruction is recirculated to the memory store 2 whereby, in the same manner as previously described, the circuits 7 - 10 determine the excess fee due and inform units 17 and 18. When coin unit 18 receives the required fee it instructs gate 11 directly to allow exit.
The circuit is shown in an expanded form with individual blocks to be more clearly understood but it will be apparent that certain functions may be combined in the same equipment. For example subtracting circuits 7 and 13 may be the same circuit and all storage may be performed by one store. Preferably all components within the broken line 16 in Figure 1 are provided by a suitably programmed microprocessor. Other forms of circuit may be used without departing from the principles_of the invention.
In order to aid understanding of the foregoing or to allow the implementation of alternative schemes in accordance with the invention, Figure 3 shows a flow diagram, which is considered to be self explanatory, embracing two alternative embodiments of the invention.
Where references have been made to entry times into the car park and ticket issue times it should be understood that in certain configurations these may not be the same and the time recorded need not be either of these times but will be a time or a code representing a time related to ticket issue or entry in a known manner to provide a basis for charging.
Furthermore the charging for the time related activity in accordance with this invention may be combined with charging for other activities using the same ticket. For example at a leisure centre car park the ticket issued -may be used to gain entry at, say, a swimming pool and squash courts. The gates at these activities will read the code number on the ticket, exactly as the car park ticket-readers do, and inform the memory store 2 that the relevant activity has been used.
On exit from the car park the store 2 will not only request the fee circuits 7 - 10 to calculate the time related (car park) fee but also for the outstanding activity fees and payments for all will be requested at one time to secure exit. This reduces the need to collect separate fees and consequent risk of error or fraud.
The invention may be used to pay for more than one time related activity with one ticket. For example if the swimming pool or squash court fees are based on time of.usage the ticket will be read at entry and exit thereto. If desired payment may be demanded at exit from each activity or collectively at exit from the car park or at exit from the centre on foot by non-drivers.
All of these alternatives are made possible by the fact that the ticket carries only its single code, all other information being held by memory store 2.

Claims

1. A method of automatic fee determination for a time-related service in which a ticket, carrying a pre-recorded individual machine readable code, is issued and the time of commencement of the service or a time related thereto is automatically stored and on re-presentation of the ticket to a ticket reading machine at the termination of the service the stored time and preseritation time are automatically compared to determine-the fee due.

2. A method according to Claim 1 in which the time related service is vehicle-parking.

3. A method according to either Claim 1 or Claim 2 for automatic fee determination for one or more further time-related services in which the said ticket is presented at a ticket reading machine for recording said code at commencement of the further service and is further presented at termination for fee determination and in which the fee for each time related service is collected at termination thereof.

4. A method according to either Claim 1 or Claim 2 for automatic fee determination for one or more further time-related activities in which--the said ticket is presented at a ticket reading machine for recording said code at commencement of the further service and is further presented at termination for fee determination and in which the fee for all time related services is collected at or after the termination of the last to be terminated.

5. A method according to any preceding claim in which the said ticket is also presented-to a ticket reading machine for use of a non-time-related service or activity and in which use of said service or activity is automatically stored in association with said code.

6. A method according to Claim 5 in which the fee due for said non-time-related service or activity is automatically added to the fee due for one or more of said time related services at determination thereof.

7. An automatic fee determination system for one or more time-related services including: means for issuing a ticket, carrying a pre-recorded individual machine-readable code; means for storing the time of commencement of each service in association with the code; ticket reading means for reading the code at termination of each service; and means for using the code to associate the time of commencement and time of termination of the service and for comparing said times to determine the fee due for said service.

8. A system according to Claim 7 including means for collecting the respective fee due at termination.of each service.

9. A system according to Claim 7 for a plurality of time related services including means for collecting fees due for said services at the termination of the last thereof to be terminated.

10. A system according to any of Claims 7 - including ticket reading means for reading said code at commencement of one or more non-time-related services or activities and means for using the code to associate the fee due for the non-time-related service or activity with that due for the time-related service.