System and method for transportation check-in

• US 20100078475A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mikhak, Amir M., Lin, Gloria
• Granted Patent: US 8,215,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/366 Check-in counters
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 Travel agencies
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence

Abstract

There is provided a method and system for transportation check-in (e.g., ticketing and identification) via near field communication (NFC) using a handheld electronic device, such as a cellular phone or a personal media player. The handheld device may store and transmit travel reservations and traveler identifications using a travel management application. Various methods may be employed to acquire the reservation and identification information on the handheld device. For example, travel reservations may be made via the management application or may be retrieved from an email, a website, another NFC-enabled device, or a carrier-provided confirmation number. User identification may be acquired by scanning a radio frequency identification tag embedded in a government-issued I.D. In another embodiment, an I.D. number may be entered via the travel management application, and the user'"'"'s identification information may be downloaded from the issuing authority.

Claims

1. A method for transportation ticketing check-in, comprising:

prompting a traveler to place a handheld device within range of a near field communication (NFC) reader;

retrieving ticketing and traveler identification information from the handheld device via the NFC reader; and

verifying the traveler'"'"'s identity using the retrieved traveler identification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the traveler'"'"'s identity comprises comparing a photograph retrieved from the handheld device to the traveler.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the traveler'"'"'s identity comprises downloading a photograph of the traveler from a database using an identification code retrieved from the handheld device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the traveler'"'"'s identity comprises:

downloading a fingerprint from a database using an identification code retrieved from the handheld device; and

comparing the downloaded fingerprint to a scanned fingerprint provided by the traveler at check-in.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the traveler'"'"'s identity comprises:

downloading a first retinal scan from a database using an identification code retrieved from the handheld device; and

comparing the downloaded first retinal scan to a second retinal scan provided by the traveler at check-in.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

prompting the traveler to place the handheld device within range of the NFC reader again after successfully checking in; and

updating the ticketing information on the handheld device to indicate that the traveler checked in successfully.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein updating the ticketing information comprises storing information about checked luggage on the handheld device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ticketing information comprises a reservation for a flight, car rental, cruise, train, bus, or a combination thereof.

9. A handheld electronic device comprising tangible, machine-readable media, comprising code executable to perform the steps of:

scanning via near field communication (NFC) for an identification having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag;

importing identification data from the RFID tag to the handheld electronic device; and

transmitting the identification data from the handheld electronic device via NFC to enable check-in to a travel reservation.

10. The handheld electronic device of claim 9, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the step of associating the imported identification data with a nickname on the handheld device.

11. The handheld electronic device of claim 9, comprising a cellular phone, a personal media player, or a combination thereof.

12. A handheld electronic device comprising tangible, machine-readable media, comprising code executable to perform the steps of:

receiving a unique identifier;

requesting identification information associated with the unique identifier from an identification issuer;

storing the identification information received from the identification issuer on the handheld electronic device; and

transmitting the identification data from the handheld electronic device via near field communication (NFC) to enable check-in to a travel reservation.

13. The handheld electronic device of claim 12, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the steps of:

requesting and receiving identification information associated with multiple unique identifiers; and

associating each identification information with a nickname on the handheld electronic device.

14. The handheld electronic device of claim 12, comprising a cellular phone, a personal media player, or a combination thereof.

15. A handheld electronic device comprising tangible, machine-readable media, comprising code executable to perform the steps of:

storing a travel reservation for a mode of transportation on the handheld electronic device;

accessing the travel reservation via a travel management application on the handheld electronic device;

transmitting the travel reservation from the handheld electronic device to a check-in kiosk via near field communication (NFC);

receiving check-in details from the check-in kiosk to the handheld electronic device via NFC; and

transmitting the check-in details from the handheld electronic device to a gate kiosk via NFC to gain entrance to the mode of transportation.

16. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the step of booking the travel reservation via the travel management application.

17. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the steps of:

scanning an email account on the handheld electronic device for an email containing the travel reservation; and

importing the travel reservation information from the email into the travel management application.

18. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the steps of:

accessing the travel reservation from a website; and

importing the travel reservation information from the website into the travel management application.

19. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the steps of:

receiving the travel reservation via NFC from another NFC-enabled electronic device; and

importing the travel reservation information from the other NFC-enabled electronic device into the travel management application.

20. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, wherein the tangible, machine-readable media comprises code executable to perform the step of retrieving the travel reservation via the travel management application using a carrier-provided confirmation number.