RU2402066C2 - Information collection method - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: information technology.

SUBSTANCE: in the method, voting premises are partition off by turnstiles. In first premises, voters are given information codes in form of a ticket which allows passage through the turnstile to the second premises and use of an automatic information collection device. Voting is done by selecting through the automatic information collection device using a code selector assigned to each candidate. The number of voters is recorded twice: by the turnstile and by the automatic information collection device which are connected to separate computer systems. The total number of codes entered for each candidate is recorded and used as the vote result.

EFFECT: faster operation and accurate counting of votes owing to obtaining the vote result right after completion.

3 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The method of collecting information relates to the means of collecting and counting the number of sources of information and their analysis, for example, in determining the results of voting, in particular for counting votes in elections to one or another elected body.

Known methods for collecting information, see, for example, "Method and system for collecting information" described in application No. 2003102377 from 06.20.04. Also known is the "Method of collecting and analyzing information about the parameters of the work" (see RF patent No. 2163730, 2001).

The GAS “Vybory” system is known, in which a scanner is used that automatically reads information from ballots during voting while lowering them into the ballot box, taking into account marks made by voters, records the results of counting on magnetic and paper (tape) media after the end of voting and only preliminary. The described method did not provide sufficient automation of the process of collecting and processing information using a scanner, since the use of paper ballots was preserved, requiring human resources and time to process the voting results.

There is also known a method, taken as a prototype as having the closest to the proposed combination of essential features. See patent US 5189288 A from 02.23.1993.

The disadvantage of this method is that the collection of information codes and their analysis is carried out with the collection of ballots using additional devices, such as a printer. Its use does not exclude the possibility of an uncontrolled error and the occurrence of disputes following the results of voting.

The proposed method is devoid of this disadvantage.

The technical result of the proposal is to register the voting results at the point of collection of information by two independent information channels. The voting results are thus duplicated. This difference excludes the possibility of “throwing in” ballots, since ballots exist in the form of files programmed and not extracted from the voting machine, and are not printed by the printer. This difference of the proposed method also eliminates the possibility of disagreement in assessing the voting results.

The essence of the proposed method is illustrated by one of the examples of its implementation and three figures.

Figure 1 presents a view of a ticket card (KB) issued by the ticket office of the railway and used as a means of implementing the proposed method.

Figure 2 presents a view of a receipt issued by "instant payment systems" and also intended for the implementation of the proposed method as a receipt with a carrier of the voting result.

Figure 3 presents a sequence diagram of the steps when implementing the proposed method.

The proposed method provides, as shown in the example of its implementation described below, that a place for voting, for example, a polling station, is divided into two rooms by automatic turnstiles. An election commission is placed in one (first) room, and its members give the voter a ticket card (abbreviated as KB, see figure 1) to enter through the entrance turnstile (there may be several) in the second room, where there are secret voting booths. At the same time, a KB ticket card is taken out by a member of the election commission from a cash register machine, such as those installed in ticket offices for issuing tickets (Fig. 1) for traveling on suburban trains of the Moscow Railway. The design bureau is removed from the cash register, for example, by a member of the election commission who has voter lists at their disposal by dialing the voter number indicated on the voting list in the same way as the cashier at the railway station does. From the photograph (figure 1) it is clear that the issuance of a ticket, and in our case, a design bureau, is easily carried out by entering, for example, in the "payment" column (shown by the arrow, figure 1) the desired number or in the column of the destination station.

In these tickets (Fig. 1), which open the turnstile for access to the train platform to the train and are used as a KB ticket card to implement the proposed method of collecting information, not only permission to pass through the entrance turnstile from the first to the second room is encoded, but also permission to turn on the automatic data collection machine (ASI for short) installed in the booth for secret voting in the second room. The resolution is encoded in KB line, for example, as the destination station (figure 1, arrow pos.2). From the characteristics of the railway ticketing system, it follows that it can be applied to implement the proposed method. The automatic voting machine, ASI for short, is an automatic machine used both in the railway ticket issuing system and, for example, in banking "instant payment systems" through ATM terminals to pay for utilities.

In the voting process, the voter, who is also the source of information (hereinafter abbreviated as AI), entering the booth for secret voting, sees on the ASI monitor a list of candidates with codes. The code may simply be a serial number in a list. The AI indicates with the buttons or by touching the inscription on the display the selected last name of the ASI candidate (and not the amount of the service charge - see receipts in figure 2) in the same way as in street vending machines. As in the used street vending machines, ASI issues an AI receipt (also referred to in our example as a receipt indicated by the letter B in FIG. 2). A receipt of the QC information code and permission for the voted AI to exit the premises through the exit turnstile are entered on receipt B. Voted AI on receipt B leaves the second premises for voting through the exit turnstile (see figure 3). The exit turnstile counted from the receipt B the KK code, fixing who the AI voted for, and entered the summed sequence number of the turnstile opening. Information from the turnstile in a known electronic way (using, for example, the electronic system of Auto-pay, figure 2) transmits these signals to the Central Election Commission - the point of collection of information - at the moment when the AI passes through the turnstile. To simplify the description, you can designate the system of the collection point for information in abbreviated form - SSI (figure 3).

Having passed through the exit turnstile, the voter may not save the receipt B, from which information has already been withdrawn and sent to the destination: who this AI voted for, how many votes his candidate received.

Thus, the SSI receives information about the results of voting in real time with full information at the time of the passage of the last voter (AI) through the exit turnstile.

In the proposed method, the voting information is received through two independent channels, as shown in figure 3: one from the ASI machine and the entrance turnstile, and the other from the ASI machine and the output turnstile. The number of voters is also summed up through other channels: from the cash register that issued the design bureau. The connection of turnstiles with ASI may be different; it is only necessary to form two independent information channels, each of which would contain QC and the number of voting AIs.

With the correct operation of the polling stations, the information received through one and the other channel must match.

Thus, the technical result of the proposed method has been achieved: monitoring the voting process, eliminating paper ballots from the process, using known information systems and their equipment for voting, obtaining voting results by the time it ends, and controlling errors in collecting information with transferring the voting results to the point SSI.

Since the proposed method is implemented by existing information equipment, it is not difficult for the voter, does not require the use of equipment unknown to him. As can be seen in FIG. 1, a ticket card (KB) is just a piece of paper 4.5 × 6.3 cm in size (an enlarged image is given in FIG. 1). The type of design bureau is known to everyone who uses the railway. On the design bureau arrows indicate lines that are easily entered by the cashier-operator: instead of lines 1, 2, 3 (Fig. 1), the cashier, in our example, a member of the precinct election commission, can easily enter the design bureau necessary for this vote or similar collection process information information.

As can be seen in figure 2, the receipt (B) is also a piece of paper with a size of not more than 7 × 15 cm (option c), into which a line with permission to enter the second room is entered. Receipt B in figure 2 (option c) has the property to perform additional actions, in particular, open the output turnstile by programmable code. Option (a) provides for verification of the entered QC code: this system can check whether this AI is included in the voting list. Here, the “receipt” column indicated the last digits of the number under which this AI was included in the list for voting and whether it was in the list of issued bureaus.

The described procedure (with an explanation in FIG. 3) for the implementation of the proposed method does not mean the use of exactly the same means as described above with the storage media shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The proposed method corresponds only to the described procedure for collecting information (FIG. 3); the means for its implementation and the form of programming of information codes of IR may vary depending on the purpose of the election and the convenience of using the SSI. For example, to elect the head of a commercial company, booths for ASI will not be required (they may not be available during federal elections, since the code set in the machines is quite secretive). Instead of paper train tickets, magnetic cards used in the metro can be used, and instead of an “instant payment system”, an ATM system of various financial organizations can be used. Instead of two turnstiles, you can use one combined for entry and exit.

The greatest effect can be obtained if the vote counting at the elections will be taken over by one of the existing systems of "instant payments", for example SDM-Bank (figure 2, c). To do this, place her machines in polling stations and use them as ASI. Voting takes place with the help of these machines, the receipt of which serves as a pass for passing through the exit turnstile.

Information on the data collection process can be broadcast openly on monitors installed at the polling station and in monitoring organizations located in one place or another, for example, in another city or another country. Also, in another country, ASIs can be established that allow voting by temporarily located AIs - citizens of the country where these elections are held.

Demonstration of information collection can be carried out in order to ensure certain legislative requirements not only continuously, but also at set intervals.

The inclusion in the process of collecting information of the existing systems for issuing train tickets and “instant payments” on the terms of a temporary lease of existing equipment will minimize material costs in collecting information in the elections. Neither capacity for collecting ballots, nor printers for printing, nor an additional computer network connecting them with its periodic updating, nor numerous attendants, emptying the ballot boxes and counting ballots, are required. And the result of voting is controlled and cannot cause protest disputes.

Claims (3)

1. A method of collecting information, for example, to determine the results of voting, in particular, to elected bodies, which consists in placing lists of voters on the premises, according to which voting information is provided to the participants, sent after voting to the information collection point , characterized in that the room is divided into first and second using at least one turnstile for entry and exit, and in the first room information codes are issued in the form of card tickets with permission n the passage through the turnstile to the second room and the use of an information gathering machine (ASI), which is installed in the second room, and using the ASI, provide voting by selecting the code located in the ASI assigned to each elected candidate, and provide for the issuance of a receipt to the voter with the code entered into it, assigned to each elected candidate, and permission to exit the second room through the turnstile, and also record the number of passes of voters through the turnstile at the entrance and exit and the number of in the codes assigned to each elected candidate by connecting to an information collection point through information channels, and the number of codes submitted for each elected candidate is summarized and the amount is fixed as a result of voting when each person votes through the turnstile. 2. The method of collecting information according to claim 1, characterized in that the number of passages through the turnstiles and the number of codes assigned to each elected candidate entered in the ASI information collection machine are shown on a display that is accessible for viewing. 3. The method of collecting information according to claim 1, characterized in that the number of passages through the turnstiles and the number of codes assigned to each elected candidate assigned to the ASI are transmitted by two channels, each of which includes the number of codes submitted for each candidate and the number of votes having passed through at least one turnstile.

Images