U.S. patent application number 10/258063 was filed with the patent office on 2003-09-04 for method of operating a ticketing system.
Invention is credited to Boyd, Leslie Fergus.
Application Number | 20030164400 10/258063 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26244129 |
Filed Date | 2003-09-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030164400 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Boyd, Leslie Fergus |
September 4, 2003 |
Method of operating a ticketing system
Abstract
A method of operating a ticketing system comprises generating
data representing ticket information and transmitting the same for
reception by a mobile station over a mobile communications network
link. Data from the mobile station can then be used to verify a
transaction.
Inventors: |
Boyd, Leslie Fergus;
(Surrey, GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STERNE, KESSLER, GOLDSTEIN & FOX PLLC
1100 NEW YORK AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON
DC
20005
US
|
Family ID: |
26244129 |
Appl. No.: |
10/258063 |
Filed: |
March 21, 2003 |
PCT Filed: |
April 18, 2001 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/GB01/01782 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
235/382 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/02 20130101;
G06Q 20/3274 20130101; G06Q 20/045 20130101; G07C 9/27 20200101;
H04W 88/02 20130101; G06Q 20/04 20130101; G06K 2019/06281 20130101;
G07B 15/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
235/382 |
International
Class: |
G06K 005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 18, 2000 |
GB |
0009599.2 |
May 8, 2000 |
GB |
0011085.8 |
Claims
1. A method of operating a ticketing system for users, the method
comprising: generating data which represents ticket information to
allow said ticket data to be used by a user of the system;
transmitting said ticket data such that said data is received by a
mobile station over a mobile communications network link; receiving
said ticket data from said user or from said mobile station; and
using said ticket data received from said user or from said mobile
station to verify a transaction with said user.
2. A method according to claim 1, comprising storing system data in
said system corresponding to said ticket data, and subsequently
accessing said system data when said ticket data is received from
said user or said mobile station.
3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, the method comprising
sending the data in a text message format to the mobile
station.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the text message is an
SMS message.
5. A method according to any preceding claim, comprising receiving
said ticket data by reading said data from a display on the mobile
station using an optical reader.
6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the optical reader is a
bar-code or pin code reader.
7. A method according to any preceding claim, the method further
comprising: storing the ticket after generation in a storage device
accessible via said mobile communications network; and transmitting
the ticket data over the mobile communications network link on
request.
8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the ticket data is
transmitted in browser-readable format.
9. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6 comprising
transmitting the ticket data over the mobile communications network
link without request.
10. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the ticket
information relates to a transport service.
11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the ticket data is
received from said user or said mobile station at a location at
which access to a transport service is provided.
12. A method according to any preceding claim the method
comprising: transmitting said ticket data in one presentation
format; and receiving said ticket data in a second different
presentation format.
13. A method of operating a ticketing system for users, the method
comprising: generating data which represents ticket information to
allow said ticket data to be used by a user of the system;
transmitting said ticket data such that said data is received by a
store over a communications network link, to allow said data to be
written from the store to a portable electronic device; receiving
said ticket data from said portable electronic device; and using
said ticket data received from said portable electronic device to
verify a transaction with said user.
14. A method according to claim 13, wherein said portable
electronic device is a personal digital assistant or a mobile
station.
15. A method of using a mobile station as a ticket, the method
comprising: receiving at said mobile station data transmitted over
a mobile communications network, said data representing ticket
information; and making said data received by said mobile station
available for use in verifying a transaction.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the transaction
involves the use of a transport service.
17. Apparatus for receiving data sent over a communications
network, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving the data in
a first presentation format, which is not specially adapted to be
machine readable; means for converting the data from said first
presentation format into a second presentation format which is
specially adapted to be machine readable; and means for displaying
data in said second presentation formation.
18. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a
mobile station.
19. Apparatus according to claim 17 or 18, wherein said converting
means comprises a removable data storage module carrying a
programme for converting the data form said first presentation
format into said second presentation format.
20. Apparatus according to claim 17, 18 or 19, wherein the second
presentation format is an optical code format.
21. Apparatus according to any of claims 17 to 20, wherein the
first presentation format is a text message format.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a method of operating a ticketing
system. In particular but not exclusively the invention relates to
a method of operating a ticketing system for a transport
service.
[0002] Ticketing and check-in procedures of public transport
providers are on the whole, implemented with paper documentation.
Using the example of an airline journey, a passenger either through
a travel agent or the airline books and pays for a journey and is
issued with a paper ticket and/or boarding pass as proof of
carriage. The ticket/boarding pass contains information identifying
the passenger and the journey. The information on the
ticket/boarding pass is verified at the airport by an airline
employee before the passenger is allowed to board the flight.
Commonly, an airline employee using a computer, which is connected
to a database on which the passenger's reservation details are
stored, manually verifies the information on the ticket/boarding
pass. There are several problems with this process. For instance,
manual verification can be slow and hence inconvenient to the
passenger. Furthermore, the process relies on pre-printed paper
tickets, which are tedious to deal with, and prone to being
lost.
[0003] Some effort has been made to automate the check-in procedure
at airports. For instance, some airlines now issue tickets or
boarding passes, which have ticket information, stored on a
magnetic swipe strip. This information is verified at the airport
pre-boarding by swiping the card through a swipe reader, which
automatically reads the information on the strip. Whereas, the use
of swipe strips and swipe readers does speed up the check-in
process it is not without its disadvantages. In particular, swipe
card readers and also the printers needed to print the
ticket/boarding pass with the necessary swipe stripe are expensive
to install and cumbersome to use.
[0004] The present invention aims to alleviate these problems.
[0005] According to the invention there is provided a method of
operating a ticketing system for users, the method comprising:
generating data which represents ticket information to allow said
ticket data to be used by a user of the system; transmitting said
ticket data such that said data is received by a mobile station
over a mobile communications network link; receiving said ticket
data from said user or from said mobile station; and using said
ticket data received from said user or from said mobile station to
verify a transaction with said user.
[0006] According to the invention there is also provided a method
of operating a ticketing system for users, the method comprising:
generating data which represents ticket information to allow said
ticket data to be used by a user of the system; transmitting said
ticket data such that said data is received by a computer over a
communications network link, to allow said data to be written to a
portable electronic device; receiving said ticket data from said
portable electronic device; and using said ticket data received
from said portable electronic device to verify a transaction with
said user.
[0007] According to the invention there is also provided a method
of using a mobile station as a ticket, the method comprising:
receiving at said mobile station data transmitted over a mobile
communications network, said data representing ticket information;
and making said data received by said mobile station available for
use in verifying a transaction.
[0008] According to the invention there is also provided apparatus
for receiving data sent over a communications network, the
apparatus comprising: means for receiving the data in a first
presentation format, which is not specially adapted to be machine
readable; means for converting the data from said first
presentation format into a second presentation format which is
specially adapted to be machine readable; and means for displaying
data in said second presentation formation.
[0009] The above and further features of the invention are set
forth with particularity in the appended claims and together with
advantages thereof will become clearer from consideration of the
following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the
invention given with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0010] In the drawings:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a
system embodying the invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a
telecommunications mobile station.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a procedure carried
out in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating another procedure
carried out in an embodiment of the present invention.
[0015] FIG. 5a is a diagram of a bar-code.
[0016] FIG. 5b is a diagram of a 2-D dot-code.
[0017] FIG. 6 is an illustration of a mobile station display
screen.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system embodying the
invention. For the purposes of illustration only, the embodiment is
described with reference to an airline ticketing system.
[0019] A flight reservation centre 1 is connected to an airline
computer system 2 and also to a message generator 3. Ticket details
of a booking made for a passenger at the reservation centre 1 are
stored on the computer system 2. Furthermore, a message containing
the ticket details is generated by the message generator 3 and sent
over communications link 4 to a mobile station 5 of a passenger.
The mobile station 5 has a display screen (not illustrated) and is
arranged to present the ticket details as an optical code, for
example a bar-code on the screen, for scanning at the airport by an
optical code reader 6 as part of the check-in procedure. The
optical code reader 6 is connected to the computer system 2 and
validates the ticket details read from the mobile station 5 by
comparing the details with those stored on the computer system 2.
If validation is successful the passenger is authorised to continue
the journey.
[0020] The system will now be described in more detail.
[0021] A passenger wishing to reserve a flight does so by
contacting the reservation centre 1. Typically, the flight
reservation centre I is the booking centre of a particular airline
or private company (e.g. a travel agency) acting for an airline.
Reservations can be made in any number of standard ways, for
example by attending the reservation centre 1 in person, by mail,
by phone or over the Internet.
[0022] When a flight reservation is made, the reservation centre 1
creates a computer record containing the relevant booking details.
For example, this record may comprise some or all the following
information:
[0023] Customer name
[0024] Flight number
[0025] Departure airport and terminal
[0026] Departure time
[0027] Gate number
[0028] Seat allocation number
[0029] Destination airport/city
[0030] Arrival time.
[0031] The reservation centre 1 also creates for each booking a
unique identification code commonly known in the airline industry
as a Passenger Name Record (PNR) which can be used to identify and
retrieve the computer record of the booking. As is known in the art
each PNR is coded as a unique set of six alphanumeric characters
for example, TQR 8LR.
[0032] Previously, in known booking systems, the PNR has been
printed on the paper tickets or boarding passes issued to a
passenger by the airline. As part of the check-in or boarding
procedure at the airport, the PNR shown on the ticket or boarding
pass is entered into the airline computer reservation system which
then retrieves the computer record of the booking details
associated with the PNR. The information from the computer record
can then be checked against that shown on the ticket before the
passenger is authorised to continue with the journey.
[0033] In this embodiment of the invention, rather than printing
the PNR code onto a ticket or boarding pass with which a passenger
is then issued the PNR code is sent direct to a mobile station 5
associated with the passenger. As will be described in more detail
below the mobile station holding the PNR code can be used as an
electronic ticket apparatus for the check-in and boarding
procedures at the airport thereby negating the need for paper
tickets.
[0034] Once created, the PNR relating to a booking and also the
associated booking details are stored on the airline computer
system 2. In addition to this, the PNR and preferably some or all
of the associated booking details are sent to message generating
unit 3 for transmission over the communications network 4 to the
mobile station 5. For illustration purposes only the communications
network 4 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications) digital cellular radio network. To transmit the PNR
code and the booking details to the mobile station 5 the short
message service (SMS) data transfer mechanism is employed. The SMS
data transfer mechanism is a data transfer teleservice defined in,
inter alia, GSM Technical Specification 03.40.
[0035] The generating unit 3, preferably a suitably programmed
computer system, is used to generate a correctly formatted SMS
message including the PNR and any of the above mentioned booking
details that are to be sent to the passenger with the PNR. The SMS
message also comprises a header, or flag, which identifies the
message as one, which contains booking or ticket information. Once
generated the SMS message is sent over the communications network 4
to the destination address of the mobile station 5 of the
passenger, the relevant mobile telephone number of the passenger
having been provided to the reservation centre 1 at the time of the
booking. The SMS message can be sent to the passenger at any time
between the time of booking and the beginning of the check-in
procedure at the airport. It is envisaged that the passenger will
be able to contact the SMS generating means 3 and request that the
message is sent at a time convenient to the passenger.
[0036] Referring to FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings there is
shown in more detail the mobile station 5 to which the SMS message
is sent and which is arranged to process the message. Only those
components of the mobile station S necessary to describe the
invention are illustrated
[0037] The mobile station 5 comprises a receive/transmit aerial 6,
a processor circuit 7 for controlling the operation of the station
5, a memory 8 for storing data, a display 9 capable of displaying
bit map images and an input device (keypad) 10.
[0038] The mobile station 5 is provided with a SIM 11 (Subscriber
Identity Module). SIMs which contain the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and other such user information are well
known in the art. The SIM 11 is further provided with a stored
application program (e.g. a SIM application tool kit program) for
processing SMS messages which contain ticket information, and
controlling the displaying of such messages by the mobile station
5.
[0039] FIG. 3 illustrates a procedure carried out by the phone
under the control of the application programme when receiving an
SMS message containing ticket information. After the phone receives
the SMS message the phone checks using the flag in the SMS message
that the SMS message contains booking information, step 22. If the
SMS message does contain booking information the message is stored
in a special directory reserved for booking messages, which may be
located either in the phone memory 8 or in memory provided on the
SIM 11, step 23. Normal SMS messages not containing ticket
information are stored in a normal SMS directory, step 24.
[0040] FIG. 4 illustrates a procedure by which the PNR code
contained in the SMS message may be converted into an optical code
format, for example a bar-code and displayed for verification on
the mobile station's display 9. First, the passenger is prompted,
for example by a particular icon on the display 9 of the mobile
station 5 which indicates that an SMS ticket message is ready to be
displayed, step 31.
[0041] The application programme is arranged to instruct the mobile
phone to provide a selectable menu option including a display
ticket information option step, 33 with which the passenger can
request via the keypad 10 that the PNR code be displayed.
[0042] In response to this selection the application programme
causes the PNR code to be retrieved from storage, step 33 and then
converted, from the text format in which it is received by the
mobile station 5 into a bit map bar-code format, step 34. Once the
PNR code is converted into bar-code format the application
programme commands the phone to display the optical code on the
display screen 10, step 35. Referring back to FIG. 1, when the
passenger wishes to check-in for or board a flight the PNR code is
displayed as a bar-code on the mobile station's display thereby
allowing a checking agent at the airport to perform the check-in
procedure by scanning the bar-code with bar-code reader 6. Bar-code
readers are known in the art and have the advantage of being
reliable and relatively easy to use. The bar-code reader 6 is
connected to the airline reservation computer 2 and if the PNR code
read by the reader 6 is checked successfully against the relevant
reservation details stored on the airline computer system 2 the
passenger is allowed to continue the journey.
[0043] It can thus be seen that the check-in/boarding procedure is
simplified, made quicker and generally more convenient both for the
passenger and the airline. The need for the airline to issue paper
documentation is reduced and conveniently all the ticket
information required for the passenger to make the journey is held
on the passenger's mobile station. In effect the mobile station
acts as an electronic ticket device which provides proof of
carriage for the passenger.
[0044] Two suitable optical code formats into which the PNR can be
converted for display are illustrated in FIG. 5. Each of these
optical codes has a presentation format which is specially adapted
for reading by a machine (whereas other presentation formats, such
as text, are not specially adapted in said manner). In FIG. 5a the
optical code 40 is a standard bar-code. Such bar-codes can
represent around 40 characters which is more than sufficient to be
able to represent a 6 character PNR code. In FIG. 5b the optical
code 41 is a 2-D dot-code. Such 2-D dot-codes are able to represent
up to 2000 characters. Therefore, in addition to the PNR, the
application programme may be arranged to encode in the optical code
other ticket information contained in the original SMS message. In
principle, all of the ticket information listed on page 4 may be
included in the message and encoded for display in a 2-D dot-code
such as the one illustrated in FIG. 5b.
[0045] Advantageously, the original SMS message may also include a
hidden security code for encoding into the optical code to render
counterfeiting of PNR optical codes more difficult.
[0046] Mobile phones having screen displays capable of displaying
optical codes as bit map images with high enough resolution for
reliable scanning are known, for instance, the Nokia 7110 which has
a monochrome screen with a resolution of 96*65 pixels.
[0047] In addition to converting the PNR code into optical code
format and commanding the mobile station to display the optical
code, the application programme may also perform other processes
with the PNR code or any other booking information received in the
SMS message. For instance, referring to FIG. 6 of the drawings, the
application programme may be arranged to command the phone 50 to
display on the screen 51 the PNR code in text format 52 as well as
in bar-code format 53. Displaying the PNR in text format allows a
checking agent to manually check the PNR in instances where the
automatic reading of the optical code fails.
[0048] Furthermore, the programme may be arranged to command the
phone 50 to display as text any other booking information contained
in the SMS message, for instance, the passenger's reserved seat
number or the relevant flight number. As an example, the mobile
station illustrated in FIG. 6 in addition to being instructed to
display the PNR code in bar-code format 53 and the PNR in text
format 52, the station has also been instructed to display in text
the seat number 54 that has been allocated to the passenger.
[0049] It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to
embodiments in which the ticket information is sent to the mobile
station as a text message using SMS. The message may also be sent
in other message formats, for instance as a pager message. In a
further embodiment (not illustrated) the ticket information is
received by a mobile station using Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP) technology. WAP enabled phones are known in the art and have
a micro web browser capable of displaying specially written web
pages downloaded to the station from a web site via a mobile
communications network. In this embodiment, at the time or soon
after the booking is made, the resultant PNR code and the booking
information associated therewith are listed on a web page personal
to the passenger and which is located on a secure web site
co-ordinated by the airline. The passenger is provided with a
password which allows access to the web page. When the passenger
wishes to check-in at the airport the passenger launches the WAP
browser of the mobile station and access's the personal web page.
The passenger then selects to display the PNR code and if required
the booking information associated with the PNR code. As with the
embodiment described above the mobile station is arranged to
display the PNR code as an optical code for reading by an optical
code reader. In this embodiment the PNR code may be included in the
web page in optical code format and received for display by the
mobile station directly in this format. Alternatively, the PNR code
may be received by the mobile station in text format and converted
at the phone into optical code format for display. In an
alternative arrangement the PNR and the associated booking details
are sent to a computer associated with the passenger for example
the passenger's home PC. The information may be sent to the
computer in any number of known ways. For example, the details may
be sent to the computer as an e-mail or alternatively the details
may be listed on a secure web set to which the passenger is given
access. Once stored on the computer the details are then downloaded
on to the memory of a Digital Personal Assistant, a mobile station
or any other portable electronic device that may be taken to the
airport and which can present the ticket information in a manner
that allows the information to be verified.
[0050] In the above-described embodiments the ticket information is
displayed as a bar code or a dot-code. However, it is envisaged
that alternative machine- readable formats in which the information
may be displayed will be apparent to the skilled person.
[0051] Although in the above described embodiments the ticket
information held on the mobile station or other such device is
verified by means of an optical scanner, it is envisaged that other
verification mechanisms may be employed. For example, at the
airport the information may be transmitted from a mobile station or
other device on which it is held to a suitable verification device
by means of a communications cable, an infra-red link or a wireless
radio-link for example using the so called Bluetooth universal
radio interface. Advantageously if a radio interface such as
Bluetooth is used for transmitting the ticket information from a
mobile station (or other device) to the verification device then
the mobile station and the verification device can be arranged so
that the information is automatically transmitted in response to
the mobile station being brought within a predetermined distance of
the verification device. This obviates the need for user
interaction and could for instance allow a user to pass a check-in
point provided with a verification device without having to stop
for the ticket information to be transmitted to the verification
device.
[0052] Finally, although the invention has been described in detail
with respect to a ticketing system for a transport service, it will
be appreciated that the invention may also be used in respect of
other activities that require ticket based authorisation, for
example attending the theatre or attending sporting events.
[0053] Having thus described the present invention by reference to
preferred embodiments, it is to be well understood that the
embodiments in question are exemplary only and that modifications
and variations such as will occur to those possessed of appropriate
knowledge and skills may be made without departure from the spirit
and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and
equivalents thereof.
* * * * *