FR2884014A1 - Goods e.g. beverage, or service e.g. reservation of location in parking area, accessing method for computer system, involves transmitting geographic position of portable device to transactional server that identifies automaton near device - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves coupling a portable device with a geographic localization system that is adapted to provide a geographic position of the device. The position of the device is transmitted to a transactional server (SERV) when a user wishes to utilize a service proposed by an automaton (AUT). The automaton that is near the device is identified using the server, and a management command is send to the identified automaton, where the automaton is located already. The command orders the acceptance or the refusal of the utilization of the service by the user. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a transactional server adapted to communicate with an automaton delivering goods or a service (2) a computer program adapted to be implemented on a transactional server.

Description

Access to a good or service delivered by an automaton

  The invention relates to access to a good or service delivered by a controller by means of a portable device.

  The automaton in question is a data processing device, that is to say able to process information. This automaton is able to deliver goods and / or services on request of a user.

  This controller also has means for communicating with a telecommunications network. It is managed by a transactional server; the telecommunication network between the PLC and the transactional server may be arbitrary; this network can be wired (ADSL, Internet, etc.) or not wired (WiFi, GRPS, UMTS, etc.). The choice of the type of network is essentially due to its capacity in terms of desired throughput.

  The portable device is a data processing device; this portable device comprises means for communicating with the transactional server. It can be indifferently a mobile phone, a laptop, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), etc. The example chosen to illustrate the invention will be the mobile phone. The telecommunication network that is interposed between the portable device and the transactional server is wireless, of the GSM (global system for mobile communication) type, WiFi (wireless fidelity), GPRS (general packet radio service), UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) etc. The link between the transactional server and the portable device can be direct. The link can also be indirect, the automaton interposed between the server and the phone.

  The network chosen to illustrate the invention is the GSM network.

  State of the art Current PLCs are able to offer a good or a service on request of a user. For this purpose, the user initiates a transaction by selecting a good or a service offered by the automaton by means of a portable device. A service is for example the booking of a parking space. A good is for example a drink, food, etc. The user then sends the transactional server a message containing the identification number of the PLC. This message is indifferently a Short Message Service (SMS) message, or a voice call, or an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) type message, or any other type of message.

  Upon receipt of the message, the transactional server verifies the rights of the user (access rights, ..) on the good or service that delivers this controller. If the rights of the user are sufficient, the transactional server accepts the transaction and accordingly transmits a management command to the PLC authorizing the user to obtain the good or the service. If the rights of the user are not sufficient, the good or service is not delivered to the user.

  This type of system unfortunately has drawbacks.

  In fact, when a user wishes to obtain a good or service, the identification number of the automaton must always be transmitted to the transactional server. This requires from the user first of all the knowledge of this identifier, and then the entry of this identifier on its portable device to be then transmitted to the transactional server. These steps are restrictive for the user and constitute a brake on the use of automata for the purchase of a good or service by means of a portable device.

  On the other hand, these steps require the operator of the PLC labeling the identifier on each machine. This labeling leads to a significant logistics especially when the fleet of automata concerned is important.

  An object of the invention is to facilitate the use of PLCs by users.

  For this purpose, the invention relates to a method of access to a good or a service delivered by PLC by means of a portable device, said controller communicating with a transactional server able to authorize or not the use of the service by a user the portable device, said transactional server being able to send to the controller management commands ordering acceptance or refusal of use of the service by the user, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: - a step preliminary coupling of said portable device with a geographical location system, said geographical location system being able to provide the geographical position of the portable device; when the user wishes to use a service proposed by a PLC, a step of transmitting the position of the portable device to the transactional server; a step of identifying the closest automaton in distance from the position of the portable device, said automaton having been previously located; a step of sending to the PLC closest to management commands.

  Thus, thanks to the invention, the location of the portable device is transmitted to a server capable of identifying the nearest PLC in distance from the portable device through a reference base which stores all the automata and their respective position. The user no longer has to know the identifier of the machine, enter it on his mobile device and send it by message to the transactional server. The use of the PLC is therefore greatly simplified.

  The invention also relates to the transactional server capable of communicating with a PLC delivering a good or a service delivered on request from a portable device, said controller communicating with a transactional server able to authorize or not the use of the service by a user the portable device, said transactional server being able to send to the controller management commands ordering acceptance or refusal of use of the service by the user, characterized in that it comprises a reception step of the position of the portable device; a step of identifying the nearest PLC in distance from the position of the portable device; said automaton having been previously located; a step of sending to the PLC closest to management commands.

  Finally, the invention also relates to the computer program adapted to be implemented on a transactional server as defined above, said program comprising code instructions which, when the program is executed on the server performs the steps following: a step of receiving the position of the portable device; a step of identifying the nearest automaton in distance from the position of the portable device, said automaton having been previously located; a step of sending to the PLC closest to management commands.

  The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The figures: FIG. 1 is a synoptic view of a computer system on which the invention can be applied.

  Figure 2 is an algorithm illustrating the various steps of an embodiment of the invention.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT EXPRESSING THE INVENTION FIG. 1 represents a computer system SYS in which the invention can be implemented. This figure shows an AUT controller, a mobile phone MOB, a user UT, a transactional server SERV.

  The AUT automaton is able to deliver a good or a service; in the illustrated example, the AUT automaton delivers a service relating to the reservation of a parking space; this automaton comprises physical and software resources necessary for processing a request for access to a good or a service. This controller also has communication means for communicating with a telecommunication network (long distance or short distance).

  The mobile phone MOB is able to communicate with a telecommunication network, for example the GSM network.

  The user UT uses the mobile phone MOB; in the illustrated example, the user is a natural person, however software could have been used to illustrate the invention. Such software, generally called embedded software, is used in particular when human intervention is not necessary; a known application using such software is the toll; for this type of application, the portable device detects a toll and initiates a transaction automatically without the intervention of the user. A user will therefore include any physical person and any software capable of operating the mobile phone MOB.

  The transactional server SERV is able to allow the mobile phone to access the service. This server has means of communication with the AUT PLC. In our illustrated example, the SER server also has communication means for communicating directly with the mobile phone MOB. In our exemplary embodiment, the transactional server communicates with the PLC through an ADSL type network and with the telephone by means of a GSM type network. The server transmits management commands to the controller. The role of the management orders is to request the delivery of the good or service, or the refusal of delivery of the good or service.

  According to the invention, the mobile phone MOB is coupled to a means capable of delivering geographical location data concerning it. In our example embodiment, this means belongs to the operator from whom the user has subscribed a geographical location service. The operator provided on request location data.

  In the exemplary embodiment, this telecommunication operator OP uses a geographic location technique known to those skilled in the art, for example the so-called triangulation technique. Other means of providing location other than those provided by telecommunication operators could have been used.

  In general, any technique providing good location accuracy can be used for the implementation of the invention. The choice of a location technique will also depend on the intended application. Some applications for which several automata are close on a given territory will require precise precision close to the meter. Conversely, other applications for which the PLCs are several meters apart will require less precision.

  In our example embodiment, the AUT PLC is remote-capable, ie the SERV transaction server can manage the AUT PLC remotely and request the issuance, by means of management commands, by the AUT PLC. of good or service to an authorized UT user. For this, the transactional server transmits the management commands to the AUT controller to allow or deny access to the good or service.

  According to the invention, the machine delivering the service relating to the parking reservation is located thanks to the location of the mobile phone.

  For this purpose, the transactional server SERV recovers from the operator OP the geographical position of the telephone wishing to use the service.

  Preferably, the server SERV also manages a database BDD storing all the automata delivering the services on a given territory; The given territory may be a car park or a set of car parks of a given city or country. Preferably an update of this database is performed after any modification (deletion, addition) of a PLC on the territory in question.

  In this way, the server having knowledge of all the automata and their respective position, the position of the mobile phone, is able to determine which controller is the closest in distance from the mobile phone.

  By virtue of this geographical location technique, the transactional server 15 can obtain the location of the AUT automaton before which the UT user initiating the transaction is located.

  Referring now to Figure 2 which shows an algorithm illustrating the steps of the method of the invention applied to the timestamp on a parking lot. In this embodiment, the controller delivers only one service.

  The different steps of the method are preceded by prior steps namely: a preliminary step of coupling said portable device with a geographical location system, said geographical location system being able to provide the geographical position of the portable device; Step 1 In a first step ET1, the user UT is in front of a parking meter and wants to pay for his parking space.

  Step 2 During a second step ET2, in our exemplary embodiment, the user UT transmits a message, for example an SMS type message, to the transactional server SERV which identifies the user by means of his telephone number MSISDN (Mobile ISDN Number Station, ISDN: Integrated Digital Services Network), or an Alias. An alias is an identifier passed in replacement of the user's MSISDN, in order to guarantee the anonymity of the user when using a service.

  If the PLC in question offers several services, the user can indicate in his SMS message the service he wishes to use. On the other hand, if the AUT controller manages only one service (example: parking access management only), it is not necessary to specify the service name.

  Preferably, during this step, the mobile communicates directly with the server SERV. In this way, the mobile and the automaton do not interact with each other. Thus the mobile or the controller does not need to be equipped with hardware and software, for example bluetooth type, to communicate with each other.

  Step 3 Upon receipt of the SMS, in a third step ET3, the transactional server SERV identifies the mobile phone MOB in question.

  Step 4 Following identification of the mobile phone MOB, the transactional server SERV contacts, during a fourth step ET4, the operator OP to obtain the geographical location data of the MOB telephone.

  This information can also be from the initiative of the mobile phone MOB.

  In this case, the phone requests its geographical position from the OP operator. On receipt of its position, the MOB phone transmits its position to the SERV server.

  Step 5 In our example embodiment, during a fifth step ET5, the operator OP responds to the server SERV if the user has subscribed the location service.

  If so, the operator transmits the geographical position of the mobile phone to the SERV server. A variant could consist for the operator to offer several localization techniques to choose according to the degree of location accuracy desired by the SERV server.

  If not, the operator informs, for example, the server SERV that he can not provide a location due to lack of subscription to the service by the user UT.

  Step 6 If the user has subscribed to the location service, in our exemplary embodiment, the transactional server SERV interrogates, in a sixth step ET6, a database BDD providing the list of automatic pay and display machines AUT to obtain the identifier the AUT time stamp machine near the location of the phone.

  Step 7 Once the UT user has been identified, if necessary the identified service, and when the AUT automaton is identified, the transactional server SERV verifies, in our exemplary embodiment, the rights of the user UT for the use of the service.

  Fees may be based on a payment made in advance; a credit balance; a right of access granted beforehand.

  This authorization can be requested from a bank server managed by a bank, or from an authorization server storing various rights attached to the user. Among these rights, we can find the right for a disabled user to park on a parking space provided exclusively for my disabled.

  Step 7a If the authorization is accepted, the user UT can use the parking space. In this case, the transactional server SERV sends in a step 7a an action request to the AUT automaton. The action may consist for example in the opening of a security fence closing the entrance to the parking.

  Step 7b If permission is denied, the UT user is not allowed to use the parking slot. Step 7b illustrates the end of the transaction.

  Step 8 If the authorization is accepted in step 7a, during an eighth AND step 8, the AUT automaton controls the opening of the safety barrier for the entry of the vehicle belonging to the user UT.

  Note that the direction of execution steps 5, 6, 7, 7a, 7b is indifferent.

  It can be seen that, in addition to the main advantage provided by the invention, namely to prevent a user from knowing the identifier of the machine, to enter it on his portable device and send it by message to transactional server, the invention offers other advantages.

  For example, it has been seen that the step ET6 is preceded by the location of at least one automaton (AUT), and that the automaton and its location is stored in a database (BDD). In this way, obtaining the location of the automata is achieved a limited number of times. The storage of this information makes it possible to use the database BDD during a subsequent use of the service.

  We have also seen that this database BDD is updated as often as possible so as to obtain a satisfactory result of localization of a PLC. This update will avoid situations in which the server does not identify the PLC in front of which the user is located. Preferably, this identification step (ET6) is performed at each modification (addition, deletion) of location of a PLC.

Claims (1)

12 Claims   1. A method for accessing a good or a service delivered by AUT automaton by means of a portable device, said AUT automaton communicating with a transactional server SERV able to authorize or not the use of the service by a user UT of the portable device , said transactional server SERV being able to send to the PLC AUT management commands ordering the acceptance or refusal of use of the service by the user UT, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: a prior step coupling said portable device with a geographical location system, said geographical location system being able to provide the geographical position of the portable device; when the user UT wishes to use a service offered by an AUT machine, a step of transmitting (ET5) the position of the portable device to the transactional server SERV; an identification step (ET6) of the AUT automaton closest in distance from the position of the portable device, said automaton having been previously located; a sending step (ET7a) to the AUT automaton closest to 20 management commands.   2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the automaton and its location is stored in a database (BDD).   3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the identification step (ET6) is performed at each location change of an automaton.   4. Transactional server capable of communicating with a PLC delivering a good or a service delivered on request from a portable device, said AUT automaton communicating with a transactional server SERV able to authorize or not the use of the service by a user UT of the portable device, said transactional server SERV being able to send to the PLC AUT management commands ordering the acceptance or refusal of use of the service by the user UT, characterized in that it comprises - means for receiving a request to access the AUT PLC from the portable device MOB; means for obtaining the position of the portable device MOB via locating means; means for identifying the closest AUT automaton in distance from the position of the portable device, said automaton having been previously located; 5. A computer program adapted to be implemented on a transactional server as defined in claim 4, said program comprising code instructions which, when the program is executed on the server performs the following steps: a step of receiving the position of the portable device; an identification step (ET6) of the AUT automaton closest in distance from the position of the portable device, said automaton having been previously located; - a sending step (ET7a) to the AUT automaton closest to management commands.