JPH01173279A - Automatic ticket examination machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allocate a seat at a flight gate by providing a seat table, allocating the seat by accepting a ticket for which no seat is designated, and issuing a flight ticket on which the seat is recorded. CONSTITUTION:The seat table is stored in the floppy disk device of an automatic ticket examination machine. Data showing whether the seat is vacant or filled, etc., is stored in a memory area corresponding to respective seat. When the flight ticket is inserted, the data of the ticket is read, and the validity of the ticket is judged by a CPU. When the ticket is valid, the seat table is retrieved, and seat designation is performed by allocating the seat, then, an allocated seat is erased. After that, the issuing processing of the flight ticket is performed according to the format of the flight ticket, and the flight ticket is issued. The above operation is repeated until all of the seats are filled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to an automatic ticket gate for checking tickets for passengers of passenger transportation means such as aircraft.

(b1 Summary of the Invention The automatic ticket gate according to the present invention is equipped with a seat table for a means of passenger transportation that accepts boarding, and a seat assignment means that accepts tickets with no seat assignments and assigns seats. This allows for specification.

(C1 Conventional technology) In passenger transportation means such as airplanes where all seats are reserved seats, passengers wishing to board must receive seat assignments. Conventionally, at airports, each airline has a check-in counter. This is where boarding passes were issued to customers.

Customers received their boarding passes at the check-in counter, passed through the security gate, went to the boarding gate, checked the ticket gate, and boarded the aircraft.

(d1 Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in recent years, flights such as so-called air shuttles that allow you to board immediately through simple procedures have been proposed, and it is no longer necessary to go to a check-in counter to board such flights. This is a hassle for passengers, and since there are many such flights, there is a problem in that it increases the work of the counter staff.Furthermore, flights have to close the gate 10 minutes before departure and take off. However, at many airports, there is a considerable distance from the reservation counter to the boarding gate, and it takes a considerable amount of time for passengers who have received their boarding passes at the counter to board, resulting in delays in the departure of the aircraft. Sometimes I put it away.

The present invention aims to solve the above problems by providing an automatic ticket gate that can allocate seats at the boarding gate.

(e) Means for Solving the Problems The automatic ticket gate of the present invention has a seat table for a means of passenger transportation that accepts boarding, accepts a ticket for which a seat is not reserved, and selects a seat by referring to the seat table. The present invention is characterized by providing a seat allocation means for allocating a seat and issuing a boarding pass recording the seat.

(F1 action) The automatic ticket gate of the present invention accepts a ticket without a seat reservation, allocates a seat, erases this seat from the seat table, and releases a boarding pass with a designated seat.In this way, the automatic ticket gate Since seats can be automatically assigned by the aircraft, passengers can go directly to the boarding gate and the work of the check-in counter staff can be reduced.(g) Embodiment Figure 2 is an embodiment of the present invention. This is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic ticket gate.The automatic ticket gate 1 is a device installed at the boarding gate of an aircraft, and is a device that accepts airline tickets from passengers passing through the gate and releases boarding passes.The device An insertion port 2 is provided on the upper front surface, and an ejection port 13 is provided on the upper surface of the rear part of the device.A ticket conveyance path 3 is formed between the insertion port 2 and the ejection port 13 by rollers, bells 1, etc. has been done.

A reading magnetic head 4° cutter 6 is provided in the front half of the ticket conveyance path 3. The reading magnetic head 4 reads the magnetic data of the inserted airline ticket, and the cutter 6 is for cutting and separating a continuous ticket consisting of an airline ticket and a boarding pass when they are inserted. At the center of the ticket conveyance path 3, a collection conveyance path 3b branches off due to a flapper 5, and a payout conveyance path 3a merges. The collection conveyance path 3b is connected to a collection box 7 for collecting airline tickets. Further, the feeding path 3a is connected to a boarding pass stocker 8, and the boarding pass fed out by the feeding roller 9 joins the ticket feeding path 3. A writing magnetic head 10 for magnetically storing seat designation data on the boarding pass and a thermal printer head 11 for printing seat designation data on the surface of the boarding pass are provided in the rear half of the ticket conveyance path 3. A platen roller 12 is provided opposite the thermal printer head 11.

When a ticket containing only an airline ticket is inserted, the reading magnetic head 4 reads this data, and then a flapper 5 is driven to collect the airline ticket into a collection box 7. At the same time, one boarding pass is taken out from the boarding pass stocker 8, and the writing magnetic head 10
．． A thermal printer head 11 encodes and prints predetermined boarding pass data and emits it.

Further, when the continuous ticket is inserted, the reading magnetic head 4 reads this data, the cutter 6 separates the airline ticket and the boarding pass, and the flapper 5 is driven to collect only the airline ticket into the collection box 7. do. The boarding pass is conveyed as it is through the ticket conveyance path 3 and then passed through the writing magnetic head 10. Thermal printer head 1
1 encodes and prints the predetermined boarding pass data and releases it.

Further, when an integrated ticket consisting of an airline ticket and a boarding pass in one ticket piece is inserted, this data is read by the reading magnetic head 4 and the ticket is conveyed as it is along the ticket conveyance path 3. This ticket includes a writing magnetic head 10 and a thermal printer head 1.
In step 1, predetermined boarding pass data is encoded and printed and released as a boarding pass.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control section of the automatic ticket gate. The microcomputer 20 that controls the operation of the device is a CPU.
and memory. The memory stores control processes and the like, as well as temporarily stores data on inserted airline tickets and the like. This microcomputer 20 has
The ticket conveyance path 3, the flapper 5. A conveying section 22 including a feeding roller 9, a reading magnetic head 4. A magnetic data processing unit 23 that includes a writing magnetic head 10 and reads and writes magnetic data on airline tickets and boarding passes, a printing unit 24 that includes a thermal printer head 11 and prints boarding pass data, and a continuous ticket that includes a cutter 6. A boarding pass dispensing section 26 that includes a dispensing roller 9 and dispensing the boarding pass from the boarding pass stocker 8 is connected thereto. Further, the microcomputer 20 is connected to a host computer 30 of the airport company via a modem 2I. This post computer 30 sends data such as the seat table of the aircraft to which boarding is to be accepted.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a seat table set in the automatic ticket gate. Seating arrangements are determined depending on the type of aircraft that accepts boarding, and respective seat tables are stored in the Freonbi disk device 15. This seating table has 10 seats A-J horizontally and 1-10 seats vertically.
There are 30 rows of seats. Data such as whether the seat is vacant or boarded is stored in the memory area corresponding to each seat.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the automatic ticket gate. Insertion of an airline ticket is accepted at nl, and when the airline ticket is inserted at I, the data of the ticket is read and it is determined whether or not it is a valid ticket (n2). If the ticket is valid, the seat table is searched, a vacant seat is assigned, the seat is designated, and the assigned seat is erased (n3). Thereafter, a boarding pass is issued according to the format of the inserted airline ticket (single ticket, continuous ticket, headband) (n4), and the boarding pass is released (n5).

The operations from n1 onward are repeated until it is determined that the seats are full (n6). Furthermore, if the inserted ticket is not valid, the ticket is released (n7) and the process returns to nl.

Alternatively, a seat table may be provided in the host computer, and the data may be sent to the host computer each time an airline ticket is inserted, so that the post computer can specify the seat.

n3 to n5 correspond to the seat allocation means of the present invention.

(h) Effects of the Invention As described above, the automatic ticket gate of this invention can accept tickets without a seat reservation and assign a seat, so passengers can reserve a seat even if they do not receive a boarding pass at the check-in counter. Accepting boarding of a means of passenger transportation (aircraft, etc.)
can be used. This reduces the work required by staff at check-in counters, simplifies passenger procedures, and improves customer service.Furthermore, since seats can be assigned at the boarding gate, it is possible to reduce the amount of work required by staff at check-in counters. It can also save time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of an automatic ticket gate according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the automatic ticket gate, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control section of the automatic ticket gate, and FIG. The figure is a diagram showing an example of a seat table set in the automatic ticket gate. 8- Boarding pass stocker, 10- Magnetic head for writing, 11-
thermal printer head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Seat assignment means that has a seat table for a means of passenger transportation that accepts boarding, accepts a ticket without a designated seat, allocates a seat by referring to the seat table, and releases a boarding pass that records the seat. An automatic ticket gate characterized by being provided with.