Transit best fare system and method
AssigneeCubic Corporation
InventorDavid W. Andrews
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mass transit system of a transit authority automatically determines and applies the lowest possible transit fare to a patron's account, thereby releasing the patron from decisions leading to the most cost effective fare instrument for his or her transit pattern. A fair fare system and method utilizes the transit authority's existing hardware infrastructure, i.e., mainframe, vendors, gates, smart card and Point of Issue (POI) devices, with additional processing mechanisms for determining the best fare over rolling time periods. Because a relatively large storage capacity of the fare instrument is required, smart cards are employed for use with the fare fair system.
Claims17
A system for implementing a best fare for a patron utilizing a smart card for access to mass transit devices, the system comprising:
- a mass transit central computer;
- a best fare data base connected to the mass transit central computer, the best fair data base for storing a plurality of price point tables for the mass transit devices;
- a value load list processor for downloading at least one of the plurality of price point tables to the mass transit devices;
- the mass transit devices comprising:
- a smart card reader for reading from and writing to a smart card, the smart card for storing fare transaction data and a monetary value of a purchased fare pass;
- a best fare processor in communication with the mass transit central computer, the best fare processor for analyzing transaction data stored on the smart card to a plurality of price points of a price point table of the plurality of price point tables, the best fare processor having means for determining a start date and an end date for the purchased fare pass when the fare transaction data and monetary value meet a price point of the plurality of price points of the price point table.
A method for implementing a best fare for a patron utilizing a smart card for access to mass transit devices, the method comprising the steps of:
- storing a plurality of fare transactions and a monetary value of a purchased fare pass on the smart card;
- downloading at least one price point tables to the mass transit devices;
- reading the fare transactions and the monetary value from the smart card;
- comparing the fare transactions and the monetary value to a plurality of price points of the at least one price point table;
- determining a start date and an end date for the purchased fare pass when the fare transactions and monetary value meet a price point of the plurality of price points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.