Mass transit bus fare box
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A classifying farebox unit that accepts, processes and validates coins, classifies bills by denomination, and processes magnetic and smart card fare media, comprising:
- a housing;
a magnetic processor unit located in the housing for processing magnetic tickets;
a smart card processor unit located in the housing for processing smart cards;
a bill classifying unit for classifying bills in different denominations; and
a coin processing unit to singulate coins.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A classifying farebox houses a bill unit which quickly accepts bills and coins from a patron, determines most probably currency denomination, and deposits the currency in a windowed area of the farebox for driver verification. Since the classifying farebox determines denomination, the driver does not need to make any entry of deposited fare value to support the fare product. However, via the window, the driver has the opportunity to look at the bills to determine if patrons have inserted fraudulent bills.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A classifying farebox unit that accepts, processes and validates coins, classifies bills by denomination, and processes magnetic and smart card fare media, comprising:
-
a housing;
a magnetic processor unit located in the housing for processing magnetic tickets;
a smart card processor unit located in the housing for processing smart cards;
a bill classifying unit for classifying bills in different denominations; and
a coin processing unit to singulate coins. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A farebox system, comprising:
-
a classifying farebox unit that accepts, processes and validates coins, classifies bills by denomination, and processes magnetic and smart card fare media, wherein the classifying farebox unit comprises;
a housing;
a magnetic processor unit located in the housing for processing magnetic tickets;
a smart card processor unit located in the housing for processing smart cards;
a bill classifying unit for classifying bills in different denominations;
a coin processing unit to singulate coins; and
an inspection window for visual identification of currency inserted into the classifying farebox unit; and
a central computer system for communicating with the classifying farebox unit regarding revenue collection and other data relating to the classifying farebox unit. - View Dependent Claims (24)
-
-
25. The method of accepting, processing, and validating media used in a mass transportation system, comprising the steps of:
-
determining the type of media inserted into a classifying farebox, if the media is at least one coin, determining the validity of the coin by either inductive coin sensor, measuring the coin diameter, or visual identification of the driver;
if the media is at least one bill, determining the validity of the bill by either measuring the length of the bill, or visual identification of the driver;
if the media is a ticket, determining the validity of the ticket and deducting the fare from the ticket; and
advancing the media to either a cash box or a ticket container. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
Specification