Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q30/00—Commerce
  • G06Q30/04—Billing or invoicing
• • G06Q50/40—
• • 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

• the present invention relates to a method for signaling consumer consumptions carried out by a user in the context of a service, a method and system for signaling consumed consumptions, and an automated vehicle rental installation implementing such a method and / or system. rental or purchasing service. It also relates to a system implementing such a method and an installation implementing such a method or such a system.
• the field of the invention is the field of consumptions made by a user with which is associated a user account which is incremented at each consumption, and for which a payment is made periodically, such as for example consumptions made in the context of 'a subscription.
• Such consumption is notably achieved in the field of automated rental of vehicles, and in this case, each consumption corresponds to a rental of a vehicle for a variable period.
• Automated vehicle leasing is a growing field. Agglomerations wishing to reduce the number of vehicles on their territory set up automated vehicle rental systems.
• An object of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks.
• Another object of the invention is to propose a method and a signaling system to a user of the consumptions that he has made simpler, more efficient and more ergonomic, to enable the user to best manage his consumption in all. circumstances ..
• the invention proposes to achieve at least one of the aforementioned aims by a consumption signaling method performed in the context of a service in which a user performs a plurality of consumptions, an account of the user, stored in association with an identifier of said user, being incremented by the amount corresponding to each consumption, said method comprising the following steps:
• the method according to the invention makes it possible to signal to the user the amount he will have to pay as and when his consumption without the latter needs to consult a dedicated website.
• the data the amount of its consumption is directly emitted to an e-mail address belonging to it which may be an e-mail address of any type.
• the method according to the invention thus makes it possible to keep the user informed of the amount of his consumption in a more efficient way, easier for the user and more ergonomic.
• the method according to the invention allows the user to choose the electronic address to which he wishes to be informed.
• the method according to the invention also makes it possible to keep the user informed of the amount of his consumption in a more flexible and more flexible manner than the methods and systems of the state of the art.
• the user can be informed at any time of the status of these consumptions and is not annoyed if a large payment is debited on his account. He can thus monitor his consumption and avoid considerably exceeding his fixed price or the budget he had set for himself.
• the data relating to the amount of consumption may comprise:
• the message sent to the user can also include these two data.
• the emission step can be performed after each consumption.
• the user is informed about his account after each consumption.
• the transmission step can be performed at the request of the user, for example a request issued just before the user prepares to make a new consumption request.
• the user is informed of the amount of his consumption when he wishes.
• the method according to the invention may further comprise a step of comparing the amount of the account with a predetermined threshold amount.
• the issuing step can be carried out, alternatively or additionally, if said amount of the account is greater than said threshold amount.
• This amount can be a budget that the user has set himself or a threshold amount set by the operator offering the service.
• the threshold amount can be parameterizable by the user.
• Such a parameterization can be achieved either at the request of the user or directly through a user interface allowing a user to access his customer account, for example through a website or at a site level Physics of the operator offering the service
• the digital address of the user can comprise:
• a mobile telephone number the data relating to the amount then being transmitted in particular via a GPRS type mobile telephone network, for example by SMS,
• Such a digital address can be modified, deleted or added at the level of a physical site of the operator or remotely through a website of the operator or through a mobile application, at any time.
• the digital address can be filled in by the user before the first consumption, for example during a subscription step to a rental service or a service of sale. Then the digital address can be stored in a database (remote or not) and extracted from the database, for example a database of a service management server. It is then filled once by the user and extracted at each new consumption, in particular following the identification of the user.
• the method according to the invention may further comprise, before at least one consumption step, a step of identifying the user by reading an identifier of the user from an identification means, the step of obtaining the digital address comprising an extraction of a digital address previously stored in said identification means.
• Such identification means may be an RFID identification means, barcode, magnetic tape.
• the method according to the invention may further comprise:
• the payment data may be an electronic invoice, keeping the user informed of the exact amount that will be debited from his account or the exact amount that has just been debited from his account. This step is preferably performed before a step of issuing a payment request to a bank server.
• the method according to the invention can, in a particular case, be applied to the automated rental of vehicles in which a status is associated with a vehicle, said status depending on the rented state or not of said vehicle.
• the step of issuing a data relating to the amount can be performed when the status associated with a vehicle rented by a user changes, for example when the status associated with the vehicle rented by the user changes status " in the course of renting "with the status" available ".
• a system for signaling consumptions made in the context of a service in which a user performs a plurality of consumptions, an account of the user, stored in association with an identifier of said user. , being incremented by the amount corresponding to each consumption, said system comprising:
• At least one transmission means after at least one consumption, at said digital address of at least one datum relating to the amount consumed by the user.
• the storage means and the transmission means may be arranged at a central site, remote physical sites where consumption is carried out or initiated.
• the transmission means may comprise a communication module through a mobile telephone network, and / or the Internet.
• an automated vehicle rental facility comprising a plurality of rental sites, said installation comprising a management system according to the invention or means for implementing the steps of the method according to the invention. the invention.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an automated vehicle rental facility according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation in the form of a diagram of one embodiment of a method according to the invention.
• the examples described below relate to an automated rental of electric cars on several rental sites.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an automated rental facility for electric vehicles implementing the reservation method according to the invention.
• the installation 100 represented in FIG. 1 comprises a central site 102 connected to several sites - or stations - 104i-104 n , said to be leased through a wireless communication network 106, for example GPRS, or a wired network, for example of the DSL or LAN type.
• a wireless communication network 106 for example GPRS, or a wired network, for example of the DSL or LAN type.
• each site 104 is connected to the central site 102 via two separate networks, which allows a continuous connection even if one of the networks is faulty.
• Each rental site 104 includes a rental terminal 110 for the rental of a vehicle and a plurality of charging terminals 112-116, each charging terminal 112-116 being provided for charging a vehicle equipped with an electric battery to a location of parking.
• the central site 102 can be connected directly to each of the terminals of a rental site 104 through the network 106 or only to the subscription terminal 108 or only to the rental terminal 110.
• At least two terminals of a rental site are connected to each other through a wired connection (not shown).
• the central site 102 includes a central management server 118, a calculation and analysis module 120 and a communication module 122.
• the central site 102 further comprises a database 124 in which are registered in association with each identifier of user a customer account and at least one digital address such as a mobile phone number, an email address, a fax number, a social network address, etc.
• the "user file” will be called the set of all the data relating to a user.
• the central site 102 is therefore in communication with one or more users 126 through a communication network 128 which may be the communication network 106 or a different network.
• a user 126 provided with a personal apparatus 130 can:
• - connect to the central site, for example via a web page or a user interface or via a telephone application to modify a parameter of its user record, for example a threshold amount or E-mail,
• FIGURE 2 is a schematic representation in the form of a diagram of an embodiment of a method according to the invention.
• a user makes consumption corresponding each to a rental of an electric vehicle.
• This method can be implemented by the installation of FIG.
• the user presents himself at a rental terminal, for example the rental terminal 110 of FIG. 1, to rent a vehicle. It has a means of identification such as an RFID card in which is stored an identifier of the user, and possibly an email address.
• a rental terminal for example the rental terminal 110 of FIG. 1
• It has a means of identification such as an RFID card in which is stored an identifier of the user, and possibly an email address.
• step 202 the user presents his identification means to the rental terminal which reads the identifier entered in the identification means.
• step 204 the method verifies that the user is not already in the process of leasing a vehicle.
• the process is stopped at step 206 and the user is informed.
• the rental terminal assigns a vehicle for renting the user at step 208.
• This allocation is accompanied in particular by the association of a user identifier with the identifier. of the assigned vehicle.
• the status of the vehicle also changes to "being rented" (it was previously "available").
• the amount of a rental account dedicated to the user is incremented by the amount relating to the rental according to a predetermined scale in step 210.
• the incrementation is carried out depending on the rental time, during the rental or at the end of it.
• the rental scale is for example a predetermined amount for a predetermined period, for example Vi hour.
• a counter associated with this vehicle is set on the way.
• the corresponding amount is incremented on the user's account.
• the account is incremented by the predetermined amount at the beginning of the lease and again when it reaches 30 minutes of rental.
• the account can be incremented at the end of the rental, from the same scale and the determination of the total rental time from the start time and the end time of the rental.
• step 212 When the user returns the vehicle, in step 212, he goes to a charging terminal, for example the charging terminal 112-116 of FIG. 1, and identifies with it with his means of charging. identification.
• a central server connected to the rental terminal and the charging terminal determines with the aid of its database that the user wishes to return the vehicle with which it is associated.
• the central site transmits, to a user's digital address, stored in association with its identifier in a database of the central server, for example in its user file, signaling data comprising a data item. concerning the amount of the last consumption and, possibly, data concerning the total amount of the account associated with the user.
• the transmission can be carried out in the form of SMS to a telephone number of the user or by email to an email address thereof.
• the digital address may be an address entered at the time of subscription of a subscription by the user and extracted from a database of a remote site, including the central site, or a numeric address stored in the means of identification and extracted from the identification means in step 202 for example, and then stored with the identifier of the user.
• the server then tests whether the user's account exceeds a threshold amount in step 216.
• step 218 If not, the process is completed in step 218.
• a virtual invoice including the amount of the payment that will be requested is issued to the user's digital address at step 220.
• a request for payment of the amount specified in the virtual invoice is issued in step 222 to a bank server linked to a means of payment of the user.
• the user's account is updated at step 224 based on the outcome of the payment.
• the method according to the invention can in particular be carried out only for consumptions for which a request for prior warning of the user has been received.
• a request may be made during the request for assignment of a vehicle, for example in response to a query of the rental terminal during the vehicle allocation process.
• the invention is also not limited to car rental services. It may in particular be carried out for one or more of the following services, and more generally for any system to which a user has the possibility to subscribe and with which he has the opportunity to perform actions and / or recurring payments:

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=47089054

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (1)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2011
  • 2011-09-30 FR FR1158881A patent/FR2980893A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
• 2012
  • 2012-09-27 WO PCT/FR2012/052180 patent/WO2013045841A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2012-09-27 EP EP12779103.6A patent/EP2761562A1/de not_active Ceased
• 2015
  • 2015-01-28 HK HK15100938.8A patent/HK1200575A1/xx unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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