WO2003046843A2 - Method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like - Google Patents

Method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003046843A2
WO2003046843A2 PCT/EP2002/013381 EP0213381W WO03046843A2 WO 2003046843 A2 WO2003046843 A2 WO 2003046843A2 EP 0213381 W EP0213381 W EP 0213381W WO 03046843 A2 WO03046843 A2 WO 03046843A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
user
time
day
card
facility
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2002/013381
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2003046843A3 (en
Inventor
Nicola Ippolito
Bernard Goirand
Original Assignee
Alfi S.R.L.
Transmontagne
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alfi S.R.L., Transmontagne filed Critical Alfi S.R.L.
Priority to AU2002358550A priority Critical patent/AU2002358550A1/en
Publication of WO2003046843A2 publication Critical patent/WO2003046843A2/en
Publication of WO2003046843A3 publication Critical patent/WO2003046843A3/en

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Classifications

    • 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 customized use of skiing facilities and the hke that allows the user to use such facilities so as to optimize the expense incurred.
  • the use of the card with preset duration on the part of users is highly influenced by the weather characteristics of the day in which the user has decided to ski and also by the physical condition of the user on that specific day. If the weather conditions are such that the user can use only part of the skiing day, wasting instead the remaining part due to bad weather, for example, the purchased daily card provides no way to obtain an automatic refund for the hours when the user actually did not ski due to reasons beyond his control.
  • the user may, for personal reasons, wish to ski for only part of the day, for example the early hours of the morning; in this case, too, the purchase of the daily card does not allow to recoup any time not spent skiing, therefore entailing a fixed cost for the user regardless of how the skiing day actually goes.
  • the aim of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to actually pay for the time for which he has skied, therefore eliminating the drawback of having a prepaid daily card, which as such entails a fixed cost regardless of the conditions of that day.
  • an object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to have customized charging of the time actually spent skiing and on the other hand allows the skiing resort to secure users who otherwise would not have traveled there on a given day.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to have a customized card for using said facilities.
  • a further object of the present invention is to provide a card that implements the method for optimized use of the facilities.
  • a still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of facilities that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide, and at competitive costs.
  • the method according to the present invention provides for the following steps.
  • the method according to the invention can be implemented by using a card (smart card) provided with a transponder for communicating with an access control and enabling unit located at the entrance of a facility.
  • a card smart card
  • a transponder for communicating with an access control and enabling unit located at the entrance of a facility.
  • the card contains a memory medium, which contains information that is read and evaluated by the access control and enabling unit in order to determine whether the cardholder has or not the right to access the service being offered.
  • the information contained in the card can be considered as a true admission ticket.
  • a card can contain more than one ticket.
  • the access control and enabling unit provided at the entrance of the facility is a device suitable to process a ticket contained in the card.
  • Said device consists of a unit for reading/writing the memory medium of the card, a microprocessor-based processing unit, and a unit that confirms the authorization of the user to transit or denies it (for example acoustic warnings, visual warnings, mechanical barriers) according to the data of the ticket that is present in the card and according to specific configuration parameters.
  • the ticket When the user transits, the ticket is processed, the data contained therein is possibly updated, the information indicating that processing has occurred is recorded, and a positive indication is given that the transaction has occurred (for example an acoustic or luminous confirmation, a release of the mechanical barrier) in order to allow the user to use the service.
  • a positive indication is given that the transaction has occurred (for example an acoustic or luminous confirmation, a release of the mechanical barrier) in order to allow the user to use the service.
  • the ticket contains fixed data, i.e., a subset of ticket information that does not change during the life cycle of the ticket.
  • the data can indicate, for example, information related to the issuer of the ticket, its nominal value and the area or services for which the ticket is valid.
  • the ticket furthermore contains variable data, i.e., a subset of ticket information that can be changed during ticket processing when authorization for transit is requested at the transit gate for access to the facility.
  • variable data can indicate information regarding the residual credit, the date and time of use, the number of days of use, and the like.
  • the ticket can be a debit ticket, i.e., a ticket that has a preset prepaid value that decreases as the services are used.
  • the ticket can be a credit ticket, i.e., a ticket that accumulates a credit, paid by settling a final balance, which increases as the services are used.
  • variable data furthermore comprise a subset of information regarding nominated remaining or residual credit, i.e., the value associated with the ticket, which varies during its use.
  • nominated remaining or residual credit i.e., the value associated with the ticket, which varies during its use.
  • nominated remaining or residual credit i.e., the value associated with the ticket, which varies during its use.
  • the value associated with the ticket In the case of a debit ticket, it represents the value still available to spend, whereas in the case of a credit ticket it represents the expense accrued up to the time of last use.
  • a code is associated with each ticket and identifies the type of customer, for example child, senior citizen, adult, student, et cetera, and a rate to be applied to the ticket holder is therefore associated with the customer type.
  • This customer type identification code is part of the fixed data contained in the ticket.
  • the fixed data moreover, comprise a code that identifies univocally the issuer of the ticket, which accordingly has received a monetary consideration for the sale of the ticket.
  • the access control and enabling unit further comprises tables of values that parameterize the behavior of the system, i.e., the specified parameters indicate for example the value of the credit required to access the service for each customer type.
  • the data contained in the access control and enabling unit further comprise the admission fee, i.e., the flat charge for the first transit of the user in a day.
  • This value can vary depending on the type of customer, the time of day and the number of days for which the ticket has already been used, and depends on the scheduled daily rate, which is a code that indicates the price reduction or discount band to be applied to the tickets on the day when the user visits the facility.
  • the maximum allowed expense instead indicates the maximum value of expense that can be charged to each type of customer in a given period of use. Once the maximum expense has been reached, the credit is no longer changed up to a preset time of day, i.e., the expiration of the daily ticket in the case of the skiing facility. This maximum expense can be correlated to the daily rate.
  • the expiry of the daily ticket is the time of day that is reached without further expense when the maximum allowed expense has been spent during the day.
  • the time for which the user uses the facilities is divided into time units, and each time unit has a duration of minutes of use of the service, which corresponds to an expense incurred.
  • time unit For each time unit, therefore, these is an expense to be deducted from/added to the remaining credit of the ticket, which corresponds to the purchase, by transit, of a time unit on the part of the ticket holder.
  • the price of a time unit can depend on the type of customer.
  • admission fee is charged in any case, and a minimum purchase of time units is made, i.e., a given number of time units that can depend on the type of customer is purchased.
  • consecutive time limit i.e., the amount of time elapsed between two consecutive transits of a ticket through the access gate of the facility in the same day, below which the time not actually used is still charged to the ticket and therefore to the user.
  • the method according to the invention therefore entails the transit of a user provided with said ticket (i.e., with the card) through the entrance gate of a facihty, and during this first step the admission fee is charged immediately; said admission fee can be fixed or correlated to the weather conditions of the day or to the type of customer or can be a combination of said factors.
  • the user then starts to use the services of the facilities in the resort for which his ticket is valid, and in the case of a prepaid ticket a sum is deducted for each time unit for which the facilities are used; said sum can be parameterized on the type of customer and/or on the weather conditions of the resort on that given day.
  • an hour of use of the facilities can have a lower value than the same hour used in ideal weather conditions.
  • the customer by having at his disposal a credit stored on the card, i.e., a certain amount of planned expense, can actually ski for the period of time he wishes, without having to waste the residual credit, since said credit can be used on any subsequent day with hourly rates that may be different.
  • the ticket sold to the customer can have a sort of "open" account, to which the time actually used is charged, and can be billed to the customer, with the corresponding itemization, on preset dates.
  • the residual credit that the user may have at the end of a day of skiing can be used both in a subsequent skiing day and to pay for participating services, such as meals, equipment hiring, skiing schools et cetera, thus turning the skiing resort into a true tourist village.
  • the daily rate preset for a given skiing date can vary as a consequence of a change in the weather conditions, and a customer who has started his skiing day with a higher applied rate will be refunded the excess consumed value during his subsequent transit through a gate of the resort.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates the reading cycle of the card owned by the user.
  • a first step 1 the value evaluated on the card is present or not; if it is, step 2, the ticket is read from the card, the ticket is evaluated, step 3, and if the result of the evaluation is negative there follows a step 4 in which the, ticket is rejected or changed; if the result is instead positive, there follows a step 5 in which the ticket is updated, and a clearance signal is sent, step 6, to enable the mechanical release of the gate for access to the facility.
  • Figure 2 illustrates the step of ticket evaluation.
  • step 7 the correctness of the fixed data of the ticket is evaluated, step 7; if the result is positive, an evaluation is made, step 8, to determine whether the day of validity of the ticket and the expiry time of the ticket are valid for the current day; if the result is negative, there follows a step 9 for refunding the admission fee, followed by a "new day” step, a step 11 for using the time unit, a step for checking the maximum expense, and a step 13 for value assignment.
  • the step 9 for refunding the admission fee comprises a step 14 in which there is a variable that indicates the used value, which is set to zero, followed by a step 15 in which the ticket is checked for prior use, followed by a step 16, if the ticket has already been used, which checks whether the first transit of the user through the gate of the facility was performed at a higher rate than the one currently valid.
  • the step 16 is followed, if the result is positive, by a step 17 in which the sum actually paid and the sum that should have been paid with the current rate are evaluated.
  • the step 17 is followed by the step 18, which checks whether the amount actually paid is greater or smaller than the amount that should have been paid with the currently applicable rate.
  • step 19 If the result of the step 18 is negative, the procedure ends, step 19; if it is positive, there follows the step 20, in which the residual credit is determined by the value of the residual credit plus the difference between what the user actually paid and what he should have actually paid, and the "used" variable is equal to the value of the "used" variable in step 14 minus the difference between the sum actually paid by the user and the sum he should have paid.
  • Figure 4 illustrates the step 10 for evaluating a new skiing day for the user.
  • the routine begins with a step 22, which evaluates whether the day of use/validity of the ticket is equal to the date and time read from the clock of the system. If the result is positive, a step 23 follows in which the code of the day's rate at the first transit of the day is defined for the current date, read from the clock of the system, the count of the days of use is increased by one, the expiry time of day is determined from the current time of day plus the duration of the individual time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user, depending on the type of customer, and the "time cursor" variable is set to the value of the current time of day.
  • the step 23 is followed by a step 24, which evaluates the value of the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user during transit through the gate of the facihty following the first transit, and if said total duration is greater than the current time of day, a step 25 follows which calculates the daily expense, followed by a step 26 for calculating any residual credit, followed by a step 27 which updates the "used" variable, adding the value of the expense. Finally, a step 24, which evaluates the value of the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user during transit through the gate of the facihty following the first transit, and if said total duration is greater than the current time of day, a step 25 follows which calculates the daily expense, followed by a step 26 for calculating any residual credit, followed by a step 27 which updates the "used" variable, adding the value of the expense. Finally, a step 24, which evaluates the value of the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user
  • step 24 yields a positive result, i.e., if the "time cursor" variable is smaller than the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user
  • a step 30 follows in which the "expense" variable is set equal to the value of the expense plus the price of each time unit, depending on the type of customer and of the current time of day.
  • the step 30 is followed by the step 31, in which the "time cursor" variable is incremented by the duration of the unit time; then control returns from the step 31 to the step 24.
  • Figure 5 illustrates the routine 11 for verifying the usage of time units.
  • the routine begins with a step 40, in which the current time of day is compared with the ticket expiry time of day, and if the current time of day is later than the expiry time of day, the routine ends, step 41; otherwise it continues with a step 42, which evaluates whether the difference between the current time of day and the expiry time of day is greater than, or equal to, the limit of allowed consecutive hours. If the result is positive, a step 43 follows in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the current time of day plus the duration of the time unit, followed by a step 44 in which the "expense" variable is set equal to the "expense” variable plus the price of the time unit (depending on the type of customer). This is followed by a step 45 for ending the routine. In the step 42, if the result is negative, the step 46 follows which counts all the elapsed time units instead of counting a single time unit as done in the step 43.
  • the step 46 is followed by a step 47 which checks whether the expiry time of day is earlier than the current time of day; if the result is negative, a step 48 follows in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the current time of day and then one proceeds with the step 45.
  • the step 47 is followed by a step 49, in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the expiry time of day plus the duration of the time unit; this is followed by the step 50, in which the expense is set equal to the expense plus the price of the time unit, which depends on the type of customer and on the current date and time.
  • step 51 follows in which the current date and time are set equal to the current date and time plus the duration of the time unit.
  • Figure 6 illustrates the value assignment step 13, which comprises a first step 55 which checks whether the credit is lower than the expense; if it is, a step 56 follows in which the credit can exceed the previous credit minus the expense incurred, and this is followed by the step 57, in which the credit is updated.
  • the step 58 defines the daily expense to which the expense incurred at that moment is added.
  • Figure 7 illustrates the routine 12 for checking the maximum expense incurred by the user.
  • This routine starts with a step 60 which checks whether the expense incurred by the user is greater than, or equal to, the maximum expense allowed for the ticket of the user. If the result is negative, the routine termination step 61 follows, and therefore from the step 12 it is possible to return to the step 8 and the user can therefore continue to use the facilities. Otherwise, step 62, the "expense" variable is set equal to the maximum expense, minus the admission fee price and the daily expense. Finally, this is followed by the step 63, in which the expiry time of day of the ticket is set equal to the expiry of the daily ticket.
  • the following identifiers are used for the flowcharts described above.
  • the ticket has a preset credit (or an "open" account).
  • the service provider secures a minimum profit by applying, at the first transit, an admission fee and/or by applying a minimum charge of time units.
  • the rate applied for the current day can be changed at any time by the service provider. . A customer who begins the day with a higher applied rate will be refunded the excess used value at the next transit (i.e., real-time communication of the change of rate applied to all gates is not necessary).
  • the ticket must contain at least the following information (in addition to the fixed data that determine whether the ticket can use the provided services regardless of the existing credit):

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  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Finance (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Devices For Checking Fares Or Tickets At Control Points (AREA)
  • Radar Systems Or Details Thereof (AREA)

Abstract

A method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like, comprising the steps of: detecting transit of a user, provided with a card equipped with a corresponding transponder, through a gate of a facility provided with an access control and enabling unit; reading data of the card of the user and checking the validity of the data; charging to the user an admission fee for his first transit at the access control and enabling unit; counting the actual time for which the user uses the facility; charging the actual utilization time of the facility to the card of the user.

Description

METHOD FOR CUSTOMIZED USE OF SKIING FACILITIES AND THE
LIKE
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for customized use of skiing facilities and the hke that allows the user to use such facilities so as to optimize the expense incurred. Background of the Invention
As is known, users of skiing resorts who travel to mountain places, in order to utilize such facilities, currently purchase a ticket that has a preset duration and allows them to ski on a network of facilities that can sometimes extend even to facilities of skiing resorts that have a participation agreement with the resort where the user purchased the ticket or daily card.
However, it is evident that the use of the card with preset duration on the part of users is highly influenced by the weather characteristics of the day in which the user has decided to ski and also by the physical condition of the user on that specific day. If the weather conditions are such that the user can use only part of the skiing day, wasting instead the remaining part due to bad weather, for example, the purchased daily card provides no way to obtain an automatic refund for the hours when the user actually did not ski due to reasons beyond his control.
In the same way, regardless of the weather conditions, the user may, for personal reasons, wish to ski for only part of the day, for example the early hours of the morning; in this case, too, the purchase of the daily card does not allow to recoup any time not spent skiing, therefore entailing a fixed cost for the user regardless of how the skiing day actually goes.
All this affects considerably the choices that the user makes when he decides to have a skiing day; for example, it affects the choice of the resort or the choice not to travel at all to the mountain resort if the weather conditions are not highly promising. In this manner, on the one hand the user renounces most of the time the possibility to ski for a few hours in optimum conditions, and on the other hand the skiing resort loses a considerable number of users who, for example on a given day when the weather conditions are not promising, decide not to travel to reach the pistes. Disclosure of the Invention
The aim of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to actually pay for the time for which he has skied, therefore eliminating the drawback of having a prepaid daily card, which as such entails a fixed cost regardless of the conditions of that day.
Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to have customized charging of the time actually spent skiing and on the other hand allows the skiing resort to secure users who otherwise would not have traveled there on a given day.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of skiing facilities that allows the user to have a customized card for using said facilities.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a card that implements the method for optimized use of the facilities.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for optimized use of facilities that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide, and at competitive costs.
This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like, characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
— detecting transit of a user, provided with a card equipped with a corresponding transponder, through a gate of a facility provided with an access control and enabling unit; -- reading data of the card of said user and checking the validity of said data;
~ charging to said user an admission fee for his first transit at said access control and enabling unit;
~ counting the actual time for which said user uses the facility; ~ charging said actual utilization time of the facility to the card of said user. Brief description of the drawings
Further characteristics and advantages will become apparent from the description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments of the method according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figures 1 to 7 are flowcharts of the method according to the present invention. Ways to carrying out the Invention
With reference to the figures, the method according to the present invention provides for the following steps.
First of all, the method according to the invention can be implemented by using a card (smart card) provided with a transponder for communicating with an access control and enabling unit located at the entrance of a facility.
The card contains a memory medium, which contains information that is read and evaluated by the access control and enabling unit in order to determine whether the cardholder has or not the right to access the service being offered.
Substantially, the information contained in the card can be considered as a true admission ticket. A card can contain more than one ticket. The access control and enabling unit provided at the entrance of the facility is a device suitable to process a ticket contained in the card. Said device consists of a unit for reading/writing the memory medium of the card, a microprocessor-based processing unit, and a unit that confirms the authorization of the user to transit or denies it (for example acoustic warnings, visual warnings, mechanical barriers) according to the data of the ticket that is present in the card and according to specific configuration parameters.
When the user transits, the ticket is processed, the data contained therein is possibly updated, the information indicating that processing has occurred is recorded, and a positive indication is given that the transaction has occurred (for example an acoustic or luminous confirmation, a release of the mechanical barrier) in order to allow the user to use the service.
The ticket contains fixed data, i.e., a subset of ticket information that does not change during the life cycle of the ticket. The data can indicate, for example, information related to the issuer of the ticket, its nominal value and the area or services for which the ticket is valid.
The ticket furthermore contains variable data, i.e., a subset of ticket information that can be changed during ticket processing when authorization for transit is requested at the transit gate for access to the facility. For example, said variable data can indicate information regarding the residual credit, the date and time of use, the number of days of use, and the like.
The ticket can be a debit ticket, i.e., a ticket that has a preset prepaid value that decreases as the services are used. Alternatively, the ticket can be a credit ticket, i.e., a ticket that accumulates a credit, paid by settling a final balance, which increases as the services are used.
The variable data furthermore comprise a subset of information regarding nominated remaining or residual credit, i.e., the value associated with the ticket, which varies during its use. In the case of a debit ticket, it represents the value still available to spend, whereas in the case of a credit ticket it represents the expense accrued up to the time of last use.
Moreover, a code is associated with each ticket and identifies the type of customer, for example child, senior citizen, adult, student, et cetera, and a rate to be applied to the ticket holder is therefore associated with the customer type. This customer type identification code is part of the fixed data contained in the ticket. The fixed data, moreover, comprise a code that identifies univocally the issuer of the ticket, which accordingly has received a monetary consideration for the sale of the ticket.
The access control and enabling unit further comprises tables of values that parameterize the behavior of the system, i.e., the specified parameters indicate for example the value of the credit required to access the service for each customer type.
The data contained in the access control and enabling unit further comprise the admission fee, i.e., the flat charge for the first transit of the user in a day. This value can vary depending on the type of customer, the time of day and the number of days for which the ticket has already been used, and depends on the scheduled daily rate, which is a code that indicates the price reduction or discount band to be applied to the tickets on the day when the user visits the facility. The maximum allowed expense instead indicates the maximum value of expense that can be charged to each type of customer in a given period of use. Once the maximum expense has been reached, the credit is no longer changed up to a preset time of day, i.e., the expiration of the daily ticket in the case of the skiing facility. This maximum expense can be correlated to the daily rate.
The expiry of the daily ticket is the time of day that is reached without further expense when the maximum allowed expense has been spent during the day.
The time for which the user uses the facilities is divided into time units, and each time unit has a duration of minutes of use of the service, which corresponds to an expense incurred.
For each time unit, therefore, these is an expense to be deducted from/added to the remaining credit of the ticket, which corresponds to the purchase, by transit, of a time unit on the part of the ticket holder. The price of a time unit can depend on the type of customer. Upon the first transit of the customer, said admission fee is charged in any case, and a minimum purchase of time units is made, i.e., a given number of time units that can depend on the type of customer is purchased.
Finally, there is a consecutive time limit, i.e., the amount of time elapsed between two consecutive transits of a ticket through the access gate of the facility in the same day, below which the time not actually used is still charged to the ticket and therefore to the user.
The method according to the invention therefore entails the transit of a user provided with said ticket (i.e., with the card) through the entrance gate of a facihty, and during this first step the admission fee is charged immediately; said admission fee can be fixed or correlated to the weather conditions of the day or to the type of customer or can be a combination of said factors.
The user then starts to use the services of the facilities in the resort for which his ticket is valid, and in the case of a prepaid ticket a sum is deducted for each time unit for which the facilities are used; said sum can be parameterized on the type of customer and/or on the weather conditions of the resort on that given day.
Therefore, if the conditions are not ideal, an hour of use of the facilities can have a lower value than the same hour used in ideal weather conditions.
In this manner, the customer, by having at his disposal a credit stored on the card, i.e., a certain amount of planned expense, can actually ski for the period of time he wishes, without having to waste the residual credit, since said credit can be used on any subsequent day with hourly rates that may be different.
As an alternative, the ticket sold to the customer can have a sort of "open" account, to which the time actually used is charged, and can be billed to the customer, with the corresponding itemization, on preset dates.
The residual credit that the user may have at the end of a day of skiing can be used both in a subsequent skiing day and to pay for participating services, such as meals, equipment hiring, skiing schools et cetera, thus turning the skiing resort into a true tourist village.
The daily rate preset for a given skiing date can vary as a consequence of a change in the weather conditions, and a customer who has started his skiing day with a higher applied rate will be refunded the excess consumed value during his subsequent transit through a gate of the resort.
The method according to the invention is shown schematically in Figures 1 to 7, which illustrates the reading cycle of the card owned by the user. In a first step 1, the value evaluated on the card is present or not; if it is, step 2, the ticket is read from the card, the ticket is evaluated, step 3, and if the result of the evaluation is negative there follows a step 4 in which the, ticket is rejected or changed; if the result is instead positive, there follows a step 5 in which the ticket is updated, and a clearance signal is sent, step 6, to enable the mechanical release of the gate for access to the facility. Figure 2 illustrates the step of ticket evaluation. During this step, the correctness of the fixed data of the ticket is evaluated, step 7; if the result is positive, an evaluation is made, step 8, to determine whether the day of validity of the ticket and the expiry time of the ticket are valid for the current day; if the result is negative, there follows a step 9 for refunding the admission fee, followed by a "new day" step, a step 11 for using the time unit, a step for checking the maximum expense, and a step 13 for value assignment.
These steps 9 to 13 are shown in detail in Figures 3 to 7 respectively. The step 9 for refunding the admission fee comprises a step 14 in which there is a variable that indicates the used value, which is set to zero, followed by a step 15 in which the ticket is checked for prior use, followed by a step 16, if the ticket has already been used, which checks whether the first transit of the user through the gate of the facility was performed at a higher rate than the one currently valid. The step 16 is followed, if the result is positive, by a step 17 in which the sum actually paid and the sum that should have been paid with the current rate are evaluated. The step 17 is followed by the step 18, which checks whether the amount actually paid is greater or smaller than the amount that should have been paid with the currently applicable rate. If the result of the step 18 is negative, the procedure ends, step 19; if it is positive, there follows the step 20, in which the residual credit is determined by the value of the residual credit plus the difference between what the user actually paid and what he should have actually paid, and the "used" variable is equal to the value of the "used" variable in step 14 minus the difference between the sum actually paid by the user and the sum he should have paid.
Figure 4 illustrates the step 10 for evaluating a new skiing day for the user. The routine begins with a step 22, which evaluates whether the day of use/validity of the ticket is equal to the date and time read from the clock of the system. If the result is positive, a step 23 follows in which the code of the day's rate at the first transit of the day is defined for the current date, read from the clock of the system, the count of the days of use is increased by one, the expiry time of day is determined from the current time of day plus the duration of the individual time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user, depending on the type of customer, and the "time cursor" variable is set to the value of the current time of day. The step 23 is followed by a step 24, which evaluates the value of the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user during transit through the gate of the facihty following the first transit, and if said total duration is greater than the current time of day, a step 25 follows which calculates the daily expense, followed by a step 26 for calculating any residual credit, followed by a step 27 which updates the "used" variable, adding the value of the expense. Finally, a step
28 follows in which the residual credit is set equal to the "credit" variable.
If the step 24 yields a positive result, i.e., if the "time cursor" variable is smaller than the duration of each time unit multiplied by the minimum number of time units purchased by the user, a step 30 follows in which the "expense" variable is set equal to the value of the expense plus the price of each time unit, depending on the type of customer and of the current time of day. The step 30 is followed by the step 31, in which the "time cursor" variable is incremented by the duration of the unit time; then control returns from the step 31 to the step 24.
Figure 5 illustrates the routine 11 for verifying the usage of time units. The routine begins with a step 40, in which the current time of day is compared with the ticket expiry time of day, and if the current time of day is later than the expiry time of day, the routine ends, step 41; otherwise it continues with a step 42, which evaluates whether the difference between the current time of day and the expiry time of day is greater than, or equal to, the limit of allowed consecutive hours. If the result is positive, a step 43 follows in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the current time of day plus the duration of the time unit, followed by a step 44 in which the "expense" variable is set equal to the "expense" variable plus the price of the time unit (depending on the type of customer). This is followed by a step 45 for ending the routine. In the step 42, if the result is negative, the step 46 follows which counts all the elapsed time units instead of counting a single time unit as done in the step 43.
The step 46 is followed by a step 47 which checks whether the expiry time of day is earlier than the current time of day; if the result is negative, a step 48 follows in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the current time of day and then one proceeds with the step 45.
The step 47 is followed by a step 49, in which the expiry time of day is set equal to the expiry time of day plus the duration of the time unit; this is followed by the step 50, in which the expense is set equal to the expense plus the price of the time unit, which depends on the type of customer and on the current date and time.
Finally, the step 51 follows in which the current date and time are set equal to the current date and time plus the duration of the time unit.
Figure 6 illustrates the value assignment step 13, which comprises a first step 55 which checks whether the credit is lower than the expense; if it is, a step 56 follows in which the credit can exceed the previous credit minus the expense incurred, and this is followed by the step 57, in which the credit is updated. The step 58 defines the daily expense to which the expense incurred at that moment is added. Finally, Figure 7 illustrates the routine 12 for checking the maximum expense incurred by the user.
This routine starts with a step 60 which checks whether the expense incurred by the user is greater than, or equal to, the maximum expense allowed for the ticket of the user. If the result is negative, the routine termination step 61 follows, and therefore from the step 12 it is possible to return to the step 8 and the user can therefore continue to use the facilities. Otherwise, step 62, the "expense" variable is set equal to the maximum expense, minus the admission fee price and the daily expense. Finally, this is followed by the step 63, in which the expiry time of day of the ticket is set equal to the expiry of the daily ticket. The following identifiers are used for the flowcharts described above.
Variable Description Stored on the ticket VResidualCredit Credit
WalidityDay Day of use/validity
VExpiryTOD Expiry time of day
VAccumulatedDays Count of days of use
VReductionRate Daily rate code at first transit of the day VEntranceTimeBand Time of day of first entrance
VDailyExpense Expense incurred during the day
Stored in the gate TToday Current date read from system clock TNow Hours, minutes, seconds read from system clock System configuration CTimeUnitDuration CConsecutiveHourLimit CFeePrice Value of access fee
CMaximumExpense Maximum daily expense
CDailyExpiry CTimeUnitPrice CReductionRate Temporary variables
Used, expense, time_cursor, fee_a, fee_b.
Substantially, therefore, the user has available a ticket that allows him to use the facilities at will with the following advantages.
1. The ticket has a preset credit (or an "open" account).
2. The credit, spent a little at a time, entitles the customer to use a service for a preset amount of time without additional expense and data update operations.
3. The service provider secures a minimum profit by applying, at the first transit, an admission fee and/or by applying a minimum charge of time units.
4. Within the same day, the time periods when no transits through the gates were made can be charged in any case to the user. 5. The rates applied vary according to the type of customer and to the preset rate of the day (without however being limited to these two variables). The problem of promotional and reduced rates is shifted from the time when the ticket is sold (background art) to when the user actually uses the services (innovation). 6. The customer is protected, differently from ordinary tickets of the points/prepaid type, since there is a maximum expense limit for a single day.
7. The customer does not have to decide in advance for how long he will use the services provided on a day.
8. The rate applied for the current day can be changed at any time by the service provider.. A customer who begins the day with a higher applied rate will be refunded the excess used value at the next transit (i.e., real-time communication of the change of rate applied to all gates is not necessary).
9. The more loyal customer can obtain expense facilitations - the larger the number of days of use covered with the same ticket, the more the applied rate (or the admission fee or the maximum expense) can be reduced.
10. It is not necessary to "stop the clock" at a gate to stop the expense, as in the example of car parks. The service expires automatically after a preset time, without having to exit.
In order to achieve the above performance, the ticket must contain at least the following information (in addition to the fixed data that determine whether the ticket can use the provided services regardless of the existing credit):
~ Credit
— Day of use/validity — Expiry time of day or time of day of last charge
~ Count of days of use
— Expense incurred during the day, not including the admission fee ~ Value of admission fee paid during the day
— Code of the rate of the day at the first transit of the day or ~ Credit
~ Day of use/validity
— Expiry time of day or time of day of last charge
~ Count of days of use — Number of time units purchased during the day
~ Time of day of first transit
~ Code of the rate of the day at the first transit of the day
Some of this information can be represented in an alternative manner, since it is possible to obtain one parameter by calculating it from others. For example, knowing the time of day of the first transit is equivalent to knowing the admission fee that has been paid, together with the code of the rate of the day. Moreover, the sum spent during the day can also be recalculated from the number of time units purchased, since the entrance time of day, the cost of each time unit and the admission fee are known. Moreover, the system works in a fully similar manner if the ticket bears the expiry time of day (i.e., the time of day after which a new expense charging operation will be performed) or the time of day of the last charging operation performed. These parameters are interdependent, since the duration of a time unit is a known constant (time of day of last operation + duration of time unit = time of day of next operation). Therefore the mentioned representations are fully equivalent.
In practice it has been found that the method according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, since it allows the user a customized use of skiing facilities and the like. The method thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. All the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.
The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2001A002533 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. A method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like, characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
— detecting transit of a user, provided with a card equipped with a corresponding transponder, through a gate of a facility provided with an access control and enabling unit;
— reading data of the card of said user and checking the validity of said data;
~ charging to said user an admission fee for his transit at said access control and enabling unit;
— counting the actual time for which said user uses the facility;
~ charging said actual utilization time of the facility to the card of said user.
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises the steps of applying a differentiated rate according to the type of user and/or the type of weather conditions of the day when the user uses the facilities.
3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the step of counting the time of actual use of said facility on the basis of a preset rate of the day, which can be modified during said day.
4. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises the step of charging a maximum limit of daily expense for said user.
5. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises the step of determining a maximum time of use of said facility on the part of said user.
6. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a step of dividing the time of use of said facility into time units, which can be purchased by the user, and in determining a minimum number of time units that must be bought by said user.
7. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a step of providing said user with a card with a ticket having a predefined credit.
8. The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a step of providing said user with a card with a ticket having an open account.
9. A system for controlling and enabling access to a skiing facility, characterized in that it comprises a card provided with a transponder that is suitable to contain information meant to be read and evaluated in order to determine whether the holder of said card is enabled to access said facility, at least one unit for reading/writing said card, at least one microprocessor- based processing unit, and at least one unit suitable to authorize or deny permission to transit based on the information of said card and on configuration parameters.
PCT/EP2002/013381 2001-11-30 2002-11-27 Method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like WO2003046843A2 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2002358550A AU2002358550A1 (en) 2001-11-30 2002-11-27 Method for customized use of skiing facilities and the like

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITMI20012533 ITMI20012533A1 (en) 2001-11-30 2001-11-30 PERSONALIZED FRUITION PROCESS OF SKI AND SIMILAR INSTALLATIONS
ITMI01A002533 2001-11-30

Publications (2)

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WO2003046843A2 true WO2003046843A2 (en) 2003-06-05
WO2003046843A3 WO2003046843A3 (en) 2004-01-15

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Cited By (1)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102004053527A1 (en) * 2004-11-05 2006-06-08 Weinmann, Karlheinz, Dr. Payment method, based on a payment card, for use of a number of services from a range of possible services, in which an individualized card is read using a networked system and then used to call up an individual pricing structure

Citations (5)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1996001459A1 (en) * 1994-07-01 1996-01-18 Skidata Computer Gesellschaft M.B.H. Controlling device
WO1997040475A1 (en) * 1996-04-19 1997-10-30 Geoffrey Stringer Hunter Electronically controlled access/monitoring system
FR2782211A1 (en) * 1998-08-06 2000-02-11 Gerard Michot MULTIFORM INFORMATION EXCHANGE SYSTEM
DE10015732A1 (en) * 2000-03-29 2001-10-11 Skidata Ag Access and cost charging system uses information on a smart card transmitted by tele communications link
US6310581B1 (en) * 1998-07-15 2001-10-30 Skidata Ag Passage control device for non-contacting data carriers

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1996001459A1 (en) * 1994-07-01 1996-01-18 Skidata Computer Gesellschaft M.B.H. Controlling device
WO1997040475A1 (en) * 1996-04-19 1997-10-30 Geoffrey Stringer Hunter Electronically controlled access/monitoring system
US6310581B1 (en) * 1998-07-15 2001-10-30 Skidata Ag Passage control device for non-contacting data carriers
FR2782211A1 (en) * 1998-08-06 2000-02-11 Gerard Michot MULTIFORM INFORMATION EXCHANGE SYSTEM
DE10015732A1 (en) * 2000-03-29 2001-10-11 Skidata Ag Access and cost charging system uses information on a smart card transmitted by tele communications link

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102004053527A1 (en) * 2004-11-05 2006-06-08 Weinmann, Karlheinz, Dr. Payment method, based on a payment card, for use of a number of services from a range of possible services, in which an individualized card is read using a networked system and then used to call up an individual pricing structure

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ITMI20012533A1 (en) 2003-05-30
AU2002358550A8 (en) 2003-06-10
WO2003046843A3 (en) 2004-01-15
AU2002358550A1 (en) 2003-06-10

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