EP0033234A2 - Systèmes pour la détermination de la somme à payer dépendant du temps écoulé - Google Patents

Systèmes pour la détermination de la somme à payer dépendant du temps écoulé Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0033234A2
EP0033234A2 EP81300307A EP81300307A EP0033234A2 EP 0033234 A2 EP0033234 A2 EP 0033234A2 EP 81300307 A EP81300307 A EP 81300307A EP 81300307 A EP81300307 A EP 81300307A EP 0033234 A2 EP0033234 A2 EP 0033234A2
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
time
ticket
fee
service
code
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP81300307A
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0033234A3 (fr
Inventor
Anthony Sedgwick
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
EMI Ltd
Original Assignee
EMI Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by EMI Ltd filed Critical EMI Ltd
Publication of EP0033234A2 publication Critical patent/EP0033234A2/fr
Publication of EP0033234A3 publication Critical patent/EP0033234A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/24—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for parking meters
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B15/00—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points
    • G07B15/02—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems

Definitions

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • the payment may be made on foot prior to rejoining the car.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • FIG. 1 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • coin unit 18 receives the required fee it instructs gate 11 directly to allow exit.
  • circuits 7 and 13 may be the same circuit and all storage may be performed by one store.
  • 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.
  • Figure 3 shows a flow diagram, which is considered to be self explanatory, embracing two alternative embodiments of the invention.
  • the charging for the time related activity in accordance with this invention may be combined with charging for other activities using the same ticket.
  • 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.
  • the store 2 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.
EP81300307A 1980-01-25 1981-01-23 Systèmes pour la détermination de la somme à payer dépendant du temps écoulé Withdrawn EP0033234A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8002633 1980-01-25
GB8002633 1980-01-25

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0033234A2 true EP0033234A2 (fr) 1981-08-05
EP0033234A3 EP0033234A3 (fr) 1981-08-12

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP81300307A Withdrawn EP0033234A3 (fr) 1980-01-25 1981-01-23 Systèmes pour la détermination de la somme à payer dépendant du temps écoulé

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EP (1) EP0033234A3 (fr)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2523338A1 (fr) * 1982-03-08 1983-09-16 Ballmoos Ag Von Installation pour la surveillance de parcs de stationnement de vehicules, a encaissement automatique
GB2172730A (en) * 1985-03-22 1986-09-24 Ballmoos Ag Von Automatic cash-collecting monitoring installation
GB2175427A (en) * 1985-05-17 1986-11-26 Electronics World Ltd Coin-operated machines
EP0367725A2 (fr) * 1988-11-02 1990-05-09 Jürg Oberhänsli Méthode et dispositif pour améliorer la sécurité contre les vols dans un parking muni de système de surveillance
EP0793195A1 (fr) * 1996-02-29 1997-09-03 Scheidt & Bachmann Gmbh Procédé pour contrÔler et surveiller la délivrance de tickets d'autorisation

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE2019805A1 (de) * 1969-04-25 1970-11-05 Schaerer Charles Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur automatischen Abfertigung der Benutzer einer gebuehronpflichtigen,fuer den Publikumsverkeht bestimmten Anlage
US3541308A (en) * 1968-03-28 1970-11-17 Ibm Automated parking facility
FR2078269A5 (fr) * 1970-02-07 1971-11-05 Rcs Registratori Cassa
US3816707A (en) * 1971-05-14 1974-06-11 Cincinnati Time Recorder Co Embossed card reader

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3541308A (en) * 1968-03-28 1970-11-17 Ibm Automated parking facility
DE2019805A1 (de) * 1969-04-25 1970-11-05 Schaerer Charles Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur automatischen Abfertigung der Benutzer einer gebuehronpflichtigen,fuer den Publikumsverkeht bestimmten Anlage
FR2078269A5 (fr) * 1970-02-07 1971-11-05 Rcs Registratori Cassa
US3816707A (en) * 1971-05-14 1974-06-11 Cincinnati Time Recorder Co Embossed card reader

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2523338A1 (fr) * 1982-03-08 1983-09-16 Ballmoos Ag Von Installation pour la surveillance de parcs de stationnement de vehicules, a encaissement automatique
GB2172730A (en) * 1985-03-22 1986-09-24 Ballmoos Ag Von Automatic cash-collecting monitoring installation
FR2579347A1 (fr) * 1985-03-22 1986-09-26 Ballmoos Ag Von Installation de surveillance a encaissement automatique
AT401437B (de) * 1985-03-22 1996-09-25 Ballmoos Ag Von Selbstkassierende überwachungsanlage
GB2175427A (en) * 1985-05-17 1986-11-26 Electronics World Ltd Coin-operated machines
EP0367725A2 (fr) * 1988-11-02 1990-05-09 Jürg Oberhänsli Méthode et dispositif pour améliorer la sécurité contre les vols dans un parking muni de système de surveillance
EP0367725A3 (fr) * 1988-11-02 1991-10-09 Jürg Oberhänsli Méthode et dispositif pour améliorer la sécurité contre les vols dans un parking muni de système de surveillance
EP0793195A1 (fr) * 1996-02-29 1997-09-03 Scheidt & Bachmann Gmbh Procédé pour contrÔler et surveiller la délivrance de tickets d'autorisation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0033234A3 (fr) 1981-08-12

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