NL2030776B1

NL2030776B1 - Method of, and system for, effortless check-in for a transaction-based transportation vehicle.

Info

Publication number: NL2030776B1
Application number: NL2030776A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Joannes Wilhelmus Van Herp Petrus; Pietryga Jeroen; Adriaan Evert Rood Arno
Original assignee: Mobyyou B V
Priority date: 2022-01-28
Filing date: 2022-01-28
Publication date: 2023-08-08

Abstract

The present invention relates to authorizing a check-in into a transactionbased transportation vehicle with a mobile User Equipment, UE, wherein in accordance with the present disclosure which, in a first aspect thereof the transactionbased transportation vehicle comprises a network node comprising a Radio Frequency, RF, communication module for communication with the mobile UE, the method comprising the steps of: determining whether the mobile UE is within proximity of the network node, wherein the proximity is defined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determining if the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold; authorizing the check-in when the mobile UE is determined to be within the proximity of the network node, characterized in that an accuracy of the proximity determination is enriched by a further step of determining a supplementary proximity, wherein the supplementary proximity is based on one or more proximity parameter.

Description

Title: Method of, and system for, effortless check-in for a transaction-based transportation vehicle.

Description:

The present invention relates, in general, to a method of, and a system for, performing an effortless check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle.

Transaction-based transportation vehicles are vehicles such as cars, bicycles, motor cycles or other motorized vehicles like buses, trains, trams which are private or public and which are typically used for a private, shared or public type of transportation in which a user intents to use the vehicle for a certain route and/or time and in which there is some sort of transaction involved, e.g. ticket based, financial payment, or the like.

Users using such type of transaction-based transportation vehicle need a type of check-in to be authorized for the ride. Conventionally, these authorizations are ticket based and involve buying a physical and/or digital ticket at a ticket office or in the vehicle. A more modern type of check-in may involve the use of mobile User

Equipment, UE, such as mobile (smart)phones, tablet, smart wearables or dedicated hardware. Such mobile UE are suitable to display digital tickets or to perform transactions, for which they are equipped with several communication modules.

The known check-in methods which involve mobile UE in transaction- based transportation vehicles requires the user of the mobile UE to perform certain actions by which the transaction is authorized by the user. These actions may involve unlocking the mobile UE, unlocking an application running on the mobile UE, or performing certain actions within an application on the mobile UE.

As the amount of, and different types of a transaction-based transportation vehicles increases rapidly, so does the amount of users using these vehicles. This, combined with the ever increasing demand for more user-friendly, but safe, types of transactions for the vehicles, these known methods of check-in are considered non-

optimal and especially not effortless. In accordance with the present disclosure, effortless check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicles is defined as a type of check-in, in which the effort from the user is as low as possible, and ideally in which no additional actions from the user are required except for the having the mobile UE on or near the body at the time check-in.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of checking-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle, and more in particular, it has for one of its objects to provide an improved method of checking-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle, which is effortless, with a high accuracy, low number of false check-ins, and respecting high level of security and privacy.

The object is solved by the method of authorizing a check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle with a mobile User Equipment, UE, wherein in accordance with the present disclosure which, in a first aspect thereof the transaction-based transportation vehicle comprises a network node comprising a

Radio Frequency, RF, communication module for communication with the mobile UE, the method comprising the steps of: - determining whether the mobile UE is within proximity of the network node, wherein the proximity is defined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determining if the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold; - authorizing the check-in when the mobile UE is determined to be within the proximity of the network node, characterized in that an accuracy of the proximity determination is enriched by a further step of determining a supplementary proximity, wherein the supplementary proximity is based on one or more proximity parameter.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a transaction-based transportation vehicle is considered to mean any type of vehicle such as wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses), railed vehicles (trains, trams, metro's), watercraft (ships, boats, underwater vehicles), amphibious vehicles

(screw-propelled vehicles, hovercraft), aircraft (airplanes, helicopters, aerostats) and even spacecrafts, for which the user, being the driver or the passenger, is not the (sole) owner and for which there is some sort of transaction, e.g. a financial payment, to allow the user to make use of the vehicle.

This, within the context of the present disclosure, in order for the user to be allowed to use the vehicle for transportation, not automatically mean that there is also a financial payment involved in the transaction. The transaction may also relate to a (virtual) credit or token based transaction system or an electronic transaction based on a monetary, or non-monetary based (digital) currency. The transaction may also be reserved for a particular group of individuals which for some reason are authorized for the transaction and thereby allowed to use the transportation without any monetary or non-monetary (digital) currency. An example thereof is a (limited) list of user which are authorized to use a certain type or types of transportation vehicles based in geographical region, job description, income, or legal status, e.g. free train rides for residents from rural areas, civil servants, social welfare individuals, or diplomats. Within the context of the present disclosure the method of, and system for performing an effortless check-in into any of these types of vehicles is considered to cover any of these differentiations in which a particular person ar group is authorized through the transaction, with or without financial transaction, to access and use the vehicle to which the user checked-in.

There are a large variety of check-in methods known which may involve both a financial transaction or merely a check-in by a authorization of the individual.

Any of these check-in methods, as for example widely used within public transportation such as in trains and busses, are based on performing a financial transaction with for example widely used contactless smart card systems, payment cards, or with mobile user equipment, also referred to as mobile UE, such as mobile (smart) phones, tablets and smart wearables. Any of these transaction methods require a certain amount of effort of the user to perform the transaction, i.e. the (smart/payment) card or mobile phone should be ready for use, taken out of the pocket or bag of the user, held against, near or swiped across a contactless network node, and for smart phone or other mobile

UE, certain actions are also required within the UE, e.g. a dedicated application should be active, started, and certain procedures should be followed within the application and/or within the operating system of the UE.

Although these actions and procedures for these known (smart/payment) cards and mobile UE solutions provide several advantages over conventional check- in methods with physical tickets, as these require a ticket office, cash or bank- controlled financial transactions, ticket scanning, etc. the use of these known solutions the amount of effort required for the user still allows room for improvement.

Automatic check-in, which within the context of the present disclosure is defined as check-in into such transaction-based transportation vehicles in which the user does not require such actions and manual input or other control of the mobile UE, e.g. smartphone, but in which the mobile UE initiates and executes the transaction for a true contactless and effortless check-in while the mobile UE remains in the pocket or bag of the user.

The challenges of such type of effortless and true contactless check-in is that the user control is absent and thus that there is no further or extra verification of the transaction as in conventional transactions upon check-in. In such conventional transactions the mobile UE may be able to determine if the device is within a certain predefined reach of the network node, e.g. within 1 meter, to detect if the user is near an entrance gate of a bus or train, but in absence of any verification of the use, e.g. by running an certain application on the UE of performing verification steps within that application or on the operating system of the UE, there is a relative high chance of incorrect transactions or check-ins. If a user with a mobile UE for example walks by, and is within the 1 meter range of the network node, but does not actually pass the network node, the system will initiate and execute the transaction but the user never used or intended to use that bus or train. Such unintentional transactions are highly undesirable and should be prevented at all cost. That however may require additional verification steps which reduce the users ease of use and are therefore not considered true effortless.

The inventors of the present disclosure had the insight that a true effortless check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle can be achieved when the vehicle is equipped with at least one network node, which network node comprises a Radio Frequency, RF, communication module. The communication 5 module is arranged for wireless communication with a communication module of the mobile UE. This communication module may involve any known type of communication protocols or definitions such as WiFi, wireless personal area networks like

Bluetooth(Low Energy), ultra-wideband, NRC, cellular network protocols, or combination thereof. Preferably however these involve Bluetooth LE communication as any mobile UE is equipped with such communication means, and the protocol allows for the implementation of the presented method, as well as having a sufficient range and suitable power consumption.

The RF communication module, e.g. Bluetooth LE module of the network node may thus communicate with the mobile UE, e.g. smartphone of the user (being a passenger or a temporary driver) of the vehicle. Conventionally, the module may transmit a Bluetooth signal in which the network node is operative as a Bluetooth beacon. A single beacon however may be insufficient for exact measuring of the position of the mobile UE and thus may result in faulty check-in, e.g. in the event that a user with a mobile UE walk nearby the network node without actually entering the vehicle. Especially in crowded locations such as near bus stops, at train stations in when multiple of such vehicles are very close to each other like at a parking for rental bikes or motors, the risk of incorrect check-ins is significant. To increase the accuracy of the check-in the inventors had the insight that additional measures should be taken in which a further measurement or determination of the proximity of the mobile UE near the network node should be taken into account. To this end, the proposed method involves increasing the accuracy of the proximity determination by enriching it with a further step of determining a supplementary proximity, wherein the supplementary proximity is based on one or more proximity parameter.

Hence, the initial proximity is determined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determining if the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold. This may be done by a traditional type of proximity measurement with a

Bluetooth LE beacon in which the network node operates as the beacon, and in which the mobile UE may perform the comparison with the reference signal to determine an absolute or relative distance, which corresponds with the proximity, or preferably in which the mobile UE transmits a beacon signal over a wireless communication channel such as over Bluetooth LE, and in which the network node operates as a device or router in which may measure signal strength, compare it with a reference and thereby determine proximity.

When the mobile UE acts as Bluetooth LE beacon or any other type of mobile communication beacon, the network node only has signal strength data from one communication channel between the mobile UE and the node. Taken into account a certain tolerance in the ratio between the actual distance and the signal strength, e.g. due to the environment, objects therein, presence of other RF communication signals and reflections and/or interference due to the foregoing, in combination with the fact that in such single channel communication only a circular distance may be determined as direction is hard or impossible to determine, one can imagine that the risk of incorrect check-ins leaves room for improvement. By adding an extra network node an extra communication channel is added and since the position between these to nodes is known, e.g. both are positioned at known positions in the vehicle, the extra network node provides a proximity parameter to enrich the initial proximity determination and thereby improve accuracy significantly.

In the examples below several alternatives for improving the initial proximity are presented in which these provide one or more proximity parameters in similar manner.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises location data from a check-in network node corresponding to the transaction-based transportation vehicle

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data from the transaction-based transportation vehicle.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the mobile UE.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transportation vehicle obtained by the network node.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transportation vehicle obtained by a stand-alone vehicle tracker device.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transportation vehicle obtained from a vehicle bus, and in particular a controller area network bus of the transaction-based transportation vehicle.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises current location data from the network node.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises a comparison of current location data from the transaction-based transportation vehicle with current location data from the mobile UE.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises a comparison of current location data from the mobile UE with current location data from a further mobile UE communicating with the network node.

In an example, the location data is obtained from a global positioning system sensor.

In an example, the location data is obtained from a RF communication module, and in particular a WiFi communication module, a wireless personal area network communication module, ultra-wideband communication module, near field communication module.

In an example, the proximity parameter comprises vehicle sensor data of the transaction-based transportation vehicle obtained from a vehicle bus, and in particular a controller area network bus of the transaction-based transportation vehicle, and wherein the vehicle sensor data in particular comprises one or more of the group of. open-closed status of doors of the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, brake status of the vehicle.

In an example, the transaction-based transportation vehicle further comprises a further network node comprising a RF communication module for communicating with the mobile UE.

In an example, the mobile UE comprises a wireless personal area network module and wherein the RF communication module of the network node comprises a wireless personal area network module, and wherein the mobile UE is controlled to operate as a wireless personal area network beacon.

In an example, the steps of determining and authorizing are performed by the network node of the transaction-based transportation vehicle.

In an example, the network node of the transaction-based transportation vehicle is arranged for communication with a remote server for obtaining user credentials of the user of the mobile UE.

In a second aspect there is provided an authorization system for authorizing a check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle with a mobile

User Equipment, UE, wherein the transaction-based transportation vehicle comprises a network node comprising a Radio Frequency, RF, communication module for communication with the mobile UE, the system being arranged for: - determining whether the mobile UE is within proximity of the network node, wherein the proximity is defined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determining if the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold;

- authorizing the check-in when the mobile UE is determined to be within the proximity of the network node, characterized in that an accuracy of the proximity determination is increased by a further step of supplementary proximity determining, wherein the supplementary proximity determining comprises obtaining a further proximity parameter.

It will be understood that the above mentioned examples, considerations, advantages and aspects apply to all of the embodiments of the method for effortless check-in as described, and which apply mutatis mutandis, to the embodiments of the other aspect of the present disclosure of the system for effortless check-in.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention in the present disclosure, reference may be made to examples shown in the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale and related elements may be omitted, or in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated, so as to emphasize and clearly illustrate the novel features described herein. In addition, system components can be variously arranged, as known in the art. Further, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Fig. 1 shows the steps of method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure;

Fig. 2 shows the system according to a second aspect of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 shows the system according to a further example of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 and 2 illustrate a method of (fig. 1) and a system for (fig. 2) authorizing a check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle. A transaction- based transportation vehicle is in accordance with the present disclosure considered to mean any type of vehicle such as wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses), railed vehicles (trains, trams, metro’s), watercraft (ships, boats, underwater vehicles), amphibious vehicles (screw-propelled vehicles, hovercraft), aircraft (airplanes, helicopters, aerostats) and even spacecrafts, for which the user, being the driver or the passenger, is not the (sole) owner and for which there is some sort of transaction, e.g. a financial payment, to allow the user to make use of the vehicle.

Hence, the user, which is not the sole owner of the vehicle, when using the vehicle, should be given clearance or authorization by the owner or an entity assigned by the owner which is made responsible for the authorization, which for example may apply in cases of car and bike rental, or in the exploitation of public transport. The transaction may involve a financial transaction, but this is not mandatory, as the user and owner or exploitation entity may have an agreement on the basis of which no financial transaction is required. If a financial transaction is involved, it may be effected by a bank payment, cash payment, or digital payment such as coupons, virtual valuta or a token based system.

The method 101 and system 201 according to the present disclosure provide an effortless check-in and accordingly also check-out system for users which are enrolled for such effortless check-in on forehand of the use in the vehicle. Hence, any user with a mobile User Equipment, UE, which is arranged for Radio Frequency,

RF communication with the network node in the vehicle may use the effortless check- in and check-out system according to the present. The use thereof may require an enrolment into the application and system. This may comprise the step of registering the user and the mobile UE which is intended to be used for the check-in, in preferably a dedicated software application running on the mobile UE of the user. The registration may include a step of selecting a username, password, optionally address details and bank account information or other known or dedicated financial payment information to ensure that a financial transaction can be executed if applicable and if for example the use of a particular transaction-based vehicle may requires.

Although known methods and systems which make use of general purpose smartcard, bankcards, credit cards, or dedicated smartcards (e.g. often used in public transportation) payment) or make use of mobile UEs such as smartphones provide several advantages over conventional check-in methods with physical tickets, as these require a ticket office, cash or bank-controlled financial transactions, ticket scanning, etc. the use of these known methods and systems the amount of effort required for the user still allows room for improvement.

The method 101 and system 201 according to the present disclosure provides a true effortless check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle. To this end the vehicle is equipped with at least one network node but preferably two or more, which network node comprises as mentioned a Radio Frequency, RF, communication module. The communication module is arranged for wireless communication with a communication module of the mobile UE. This communication module may involve any known type of communication protocols or definitions such as WiFi, wireless personal area networks like Bluetooth(Low Energy), ultra-wideband,

NRC, cellular network protocols, or combination thereof. Preferably however these involve Bluetooth LE communication as any mobile UE is equipped with such communication means, and the protocol allows for the implementation of the presented method, as well as having a sufficient range and suitable power consumption.

In accordance with the above, the effortless check-in and mutatis mutandis check-out is embodied by a method 101 as shown in fig. 1 having at least three steps 110, 120, 130 which authorize a check-in into a transaction-based transportation vehicle with a mobile User Equipment, UE, wherein the transaction- based transportation vehicle comprises a network node comprising a Radio

Frequency, RF, communication module for communication with the mobile UE. By way of example, in a preferred embodiment, the mobile UE is a smartphone, the network node a router, and the RF communication module a Bluetooth LE module, which in the examples described below with be referred to as such.

In the first step of the method it is determined if smartphone is within proximity of the router. The proximity is defined by measuring a signal strength, e.g. an Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI, value between the smartphone and the router. This may be embodied by the router to simulate a Bluetooth beacon, and the smartphone determining the signal strength and thus proximity, but this is more preferably the other way round in which the smartphone is operated as a beacon and the router measure the signal strength. Alternatively, both can be combined or steps swapped, e.g. in which the router measured signal strength, but sends the value back to the smartphone for performing the step of determining proximity thereof.

When the proximity is determined in can be established, at least with a certain amount of accuracy, if both devices, i.e. smartphone and router, are within a predefined range by comparing the signal strength with a reference signal strength threshold.

When it is determined, as mentioned, either by the smartphone or by the router, or by both, that both are within proximity, the second step 120 of increasing the accuracy of the proximity is performed. This is done by enriching the proximity data by a further step of determining a supplementary proximity, wherein the supplementary proximity is based on one or more proximity parameter such as a second router to smartphone distance, and/or data obtained from the vehicle such as traveling speed, status of the doors of the vehicle, etc.. The supplementary proximity may however also be defined by user or multiple information such as if smartphone and router move in the same direction, have a proximity within a certain range for a certain amount of time, or if multiple user stay within proximity range for a certain amount of time, in which the latter may be highly suitable for public transportation type of vehicles which transport multiple users at the same time.

Finally, when the initial and supplementary proximity steps 120 are performed, and it has been determined that the smartphone is within the vehicle, the check-in may be authorized in the final step 130, i.e. by executing the transaction.

In fig. 2 the system according to the present disclosure is shown by way of illustration. The system 201 in the example shown relates to a public transportation vehicle, e.g. a bus 210. The bus 210 provides a service of transporting the user from one location to the other, if the users accept the policy of the vehicle owner or operator and if the users are authorized for such use, e.g. by performing an electronic authorization for registered users in accordance with the steps illustrated in figure 1.

The bus 210 has two routers 241 and 242. These routers are arranged for

RF communication and in particular for Bluetooth LE. The routers locations within the bus are known in the configuration and their position in respect of each other also.

Having multiple routers within the bus may allow for trilateration to estimate the position of the users 221, 222, 223 with a high level of accuracy. In order to be sure that the users are authorized for effortless check-in the router and/or the smartphones of the users 221, 222, 223 may communicate with a remote server. The server provided information of those user which have enrolled. To this end, the smartphone may add a token representing the user, the user credentials or authorisation, into the

Bluetooth communication protocol and particular the Bluetooth LE advertising message. The router may receive these advertising messages and may determine the proximity of the smartphone based on the signal strength, but also if the user is an authorized user, authorized to use the effortless check-in, based in the token in the advertising message.

As shown in fig. 2 the routers 241, 242 may distinguish which of the smartphones users 221, 222, 223 are enrolled and thus authorized to use the vehicle by an effortless check-in method, and which smartphone users are not. And of those authorized, the routers 241, 242, may determine which smartphone user are in the vehicle 221, and which are outside the vehicle 222, 223, by way of the initial proximity determination and the supplementary proximity by the examples as mentioned above.

In fig. 3 an alternative embodiment of the system according to the present disclosure is shown. In this embodiment the authorization system 301 is also arranged for authorizing a check-in and accordingly a check-out into and from a transaction- based transportation vehicle 210, in this example a bus 210, with a mobile User

Equipment, UE, in this example a smartphone 221, wherein the transaction-based transportation vehicle 210 comprises a network node such as a router 241 and multiple

Bluetooth nodes. The router is arranged for wireless communication with a backend server or remote server 230, e.g. over a cellular network, and may be wireless or wired connected with the multiple nodes 251, 252, 253, 254, in the vehicle, e.g. over a wireless personal area network or wireless local area network, or a UTP connection.

In the example shown in Fig. 3, by way of example and as mere illustration, four

Bluetooth network nodes are shown. The invention, in all aspects, examples and embodiments thereof, also relates to less and to more network nodes and nodes based on other network protocols, e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or more nodes, arranged for

Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, WiFi, Ultrawide-band, etc. The skilled person will appreciate which personal, local or other types of networks and number of nodes are applicable.

The nodes 251, 252, 253, 254, are thus in any example arranged for communication with the smartphone 221, and the system 301 is arranged for: - determining whether the smartphone 221 is within proximity of the vehicle 210, thereby defining if the proximity is such, that it can be determined that the smartphone 221 and thus user, is within the vehicle, 210. The proximity is defined by measuring a signal strength between any of the RF communication modules, in this example thus several Bluetooth nodes 251, 252, 253, 254, and the smartphone 221, and determining, e.g. by the router 241, if the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold. Once that is done, the user, by way of the smartphone, can be authorized to check-in when the smartphone is thus determined to be within the proximity of any of these network node, and more particular the combination thereof, and from which thus it can be concluded that the smartphone 221 is within the vehicle 210. The accuracy of the proximity determination is increased by the step of supplementary proximity determining, wherein the supplementary proximity determining comprises obtaining a further proximity parameter, in the example shown, obtained from several measurements from several or at least one additional Bluetooth node 251, 252, 253, 254. In the examples described in relation to the first aspect, other additional or alternative proximity parameters are described, which mutatis mutandis apply to the example of Fig. 3.

While the invention may be embodied in various forms, there are shown in the drawings, and will hereinafter be described, some exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated.

Embodiments according to the present invention may preferably be implemented on dedicated hardware or on general purpose hardware, parallelized hardware or any other suitable hardware that allows sufficient flexibility for implementing RF communication with mobile phones or other (handheld) devices.

Dedicated integrated System On a Chip, SOC, modules may be employed, or off-shelf RF communication modules such as Bluetooth hardware. The hardware may be controlled through general purpose operating systems, for example based on dedicated software platforms or more general purpose based open or closed- source operating systems such as, but not limited to, Windows based OS’s, Linux or

Unix based OS’s or hardware platform dependent OS's.

The software running the method may be implemented in the dedicated

RF communication module hardware devices, and in case of the above mentioned OS based systems, these may run as separate applications on the OS, in which the programming language in which these are programmed may depend on the support thereof by the OS. Preferably the applications are programmed in programming languages which are cross-platform compatible such as Python or JAVA based programming languages. In case of dedicated hardware with dedicated OS or OS-like hardware control, the method may be implemented directly into the OS or OS-like software, or, if applicable, the OS may be arranged to support known programming languages such as the ones mentioned above.

Of course, the skilled person will understand that this specific technology mentioned is just presented as an example, and that many other technology could also be chosen to support the implementation of embodiments according to the present invention.

Other variations to the disclosed examples can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed disclosure, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items or method steps recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as optical storage medium or a solid- state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not construed as limiting scope thereof. Similar reference signs denote similar or equivalent functionality.

The present disclosure is not limited to the examples as disclosed above, and can be modified and enhanced by those skilled in the art beyond the scope of the present disclosure as disclosed in the appended claims without having to apply inventive skills and for use in any data communication, data exchange and data processing environment.

Claims

CONCLUSIONS

A method of authorizing a check-in operation with a mobile User Equipment, UE, in a transaction-based transport vehicle, the transaction-based transport vehicle comprising a network node comprising a radio frequency, RF communication module for communicating with the mobile UE , the method comprising the steps of: - determining whether the mobile UE is in proximity to the network node, the proximity being defined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determining whether the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold; - authorizing the check-in when the mobile UE is determined to be in proximity to the network node, characterized in that the accuracy of the proximity determination is enriched by a further step of determining additional proximity, the additional proximity is based on one or more proximity parameter.

The method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the proximity parameter includes location data of a check-in network node corresponding to the transaction-based transport vehicle.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transport vehicle.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter includes current location data of the mobile UE.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transport vehicle obtained by the network node.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transport vehicle obtained by a self-contained vehicle tracking device.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the transaction-based transport vehicle obtained from a vehicle bus, in particular a controller area network bus of the transaction-based transport vehicle.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises current location data of the network node.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises a comparison of the current location data of the transaction-based transport vehicle with the current location data of the mobile UE .

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises a comparison of the current location data of the mobile UE with the current location data of a further mobile UE that communicates with said network node.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the location data is obtained from a global positioning system sensor.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the location data is obtained from an RF communication module, in particular a WiFi communication module, a wireless personal area network communication module , ultra-wideband communication module, near field communication module.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the proximity parameter comprises vehicle sensor data of the transaction-based transport vehicle obtained from a vehicle bus, in particular a controller area network bus of said transaction-based transport vehicle, and wherein said vehicle sensor data includes in particular one or more of the group of: open-closed status of doors of said vehicle, speed of said vehicle, braking status of said vehicle.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the transaction-based transport vehicle further comprises a further network node comprising an RF communication module for communicating with the mobile UE .

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the mobile UE comprises a wireless personal area network module and wherein the RF communications module of the network node comprises a wireless personal area network module . area network module, and wherein the mobile UE is controlled to operate as a wireless personal area network beacon.

A method of authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any preceding claim, wherein the steps of determining and authorizing are performed by the network node of the transaction-based transport vehicle.

A method for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the network node of the transaction-based transport vehicle is adapted to communicate with an external server for obtaining user credentials from the user of the mobile UE.

18. An authorization system for authorizing a check-in operation in a transaction-based transport vehicle having a mobile User Equipment, UE, the transaction-based transport vehicle comprising a network node comprising a radio frequency, RF communication module for communication with said mobile UE, where the system is configured to: determine whether the mobile UE is in proximity to the network node, the proximity being defined by measuring a signal strength between the RF communication module of the network node and the mobile UE, and determine whether the measured signal exceeds a predefined reference signal strength threshold; - authorizing the check-in when the mobile UE is determined to be within proximity of the network node, characterized in that the accuracy of the proximity determination is increased by a further step of additional proximity determination, the additional proximity determination involving obtaining a further proximity parameter.