Method and system of usage charging by presentation of a personalized electronic storage device at an access point to a facility
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorRobert Harris
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of usage charging at any one of multiple access points to a facility involves the presentation by a user of a personalized electronic storage device, such as a smartcard, at an access point. A history of previous usage is stored on the storage device and compared at the access point with a locally stored tariff table of differential prices for different combinations of usage. An appropriate charge is then indicated to the user and, upon payment, permission to use the facility is granted and recorded in the usage history. The charge for an instance of use is variable according to the tariff table in dependence on the previous usage history.
Claims20
In a multiple access point facility having a plurality of reading means at respective ones of said access points for reading a personalized electronic storage device when presented by a user at an access point, a method of usage charging comprising the steps of:
- recording the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility on the storage device to form a usage history for the user;
- in response to presentation of the electronic storage device to a reading means, comparing at the point of access the stored usage history with a locally stored tariff table of differential prices for different combinations of instances of use including single and multiple instances of use within different predetermined periods of time;
- determining any appropriate charge according to the result of the comparison and indicating the same to the user;
- granting permission to use the facility, upon payment of any such required charge;
- and
- adding a further record of the time and type of use permitted to the usage history on the storage device.
A system of usage charging at any one of a plurality of access points to a facility comprising:
- a personalised electronic storage device for holding user information;
- a plurality of reading means at respective ones of said access points for reading such a personalised electronic storage device when presented by a user at an access point;
- usage recording means for recording the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility on the storage device to form a usage history for the user;
- comparing means responsive to presentation of the electronic storage device to one of said reading means to compare at the point of access the stored usage history with a locally stored tariff table of differential prices for different combinations of instances of use including single and multiple instances of use within different predetermined periods of time;
- charging means for determining any appropriate charge according to the result of the comparison and indicating the same to the user;
- authorisation means for granting permission to use the facility, upon payment of any such required charge, said usage recording means being responsive to said granting of permission to add a record of the time and type of use permitted to the usage history on the storage device.
A smart card for use in a system of usage charging at any one of a plurality of access points to a facility, such system having a plurality of reading and recording means at respective ones of said access points for reading information from and recording information on said smart card and means for granting access to the facility, said smart card comprising:
- a first memory area for storing a usage history of the time and type of each instance of predetermined types of use of the facility by the smart card user;
- a second memory area for storing a tariff table of differential access prices for different combinations of instances of use including single and multiple instances of use within different predetermined periods of time;
- a third memory area for storing a monetary value;
- charge determination means responsive to presentation of the card to any of the system reading and recording means to compare the stored usage history with the stored tariff table to determine any appropriate charge;
- means for adjusting the stored monetary value appropriately;
- and
- means for recording a permission to use the facility on the card, the system being responsive to the recorded permission to grant access to the facility.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.