AUTOMATIC TICKET/CREDIT CARD CHECK-IN SYSTEM

• US 3,622,995 A
• Filed: 03/21/1969
• Issued: 11/23/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Original Assignee: Carl W. Marquis, Howard R. Nonken, James E. Hopkins, Uselma Clarke S. Dilks
• Inventors: Dilks, Uselma Clarke S., Hopkins, James E., Marquis, Carl W., Nonken, Howard R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cohen, Howard
• Application Number:
  US04/809,277
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• Field of Search: 340/149,149A,153,147 194/4 235/61.7,61.9 179/2CA
• US Class Current: 235/382
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration

Abstract

Data processing systems for automatic, on-line checking of numbered reservations and/or the control of credit card purchases, without referencing any data on the ticket or credit card itself. Such systems include a central processor, a remotely addressable central data store for reservation and customer account information, and remote terminal input apparatus, printer apparatus and ticket or card number reader apparatus. The remote terminal input apparatus includes ticket, credit card and freight bill number readers, in addition to keyboard input apparatus for on-line access to numbered reservations or accounts. One such system also includes automatic boarding pass issue apparatus responsive to the central processor system and pass-operated boarding gate apparatus.

Claims

1. An automatic reservation check-in system comprising:

a data processing system having memory means for storing information relating to a plurality of reservations for accommodations to be provided at different times, means responsive to a request for a reservation for issuing a ticket bearing a code number identifying reservation information, input means for providing reservation information to said processing system for storage in said memory means in relation to said identifying reservation code number, automatic check-in means for comparing reservation code numbers presented thereto with the code numbers of stored reservations relating to similar accommodations, and means responsive to the detection of correspondence between a reservation code number presented to the check-in means and a stored reservation for automatically controlling the grant of the reserved accommodation.

2. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 1 wherein the data processing system further comprises means for providing different lists of numbered reservations for accommodations to be provided for the same class and the check-in means identifies the class of the reservation number presented.

3. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 1 wherein the reservation code number appears on a ticket in a machine-readable font and the automatic check-in means comprises ticket number reader apparatus.

4. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 1 wherein the reservation code number appears in magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) font and contains information relating to the identity of the issuing system and a serial field which is arbitrary with respect to the reserved accommodation to which it is assigned by the system.

5. An automatic reservation check-in system comprising:

a data processing system having means for storing information relating to a plurality of reservations for different dated accommodations and means for identifying reservations for accommodations to be provided at the same time, means responsive to a request for a reservation for issuing a code number identifying reservation information, input means for entering into the information storage means a plurality of different reservations each together with a unique ticket reservation code, automatic check-in means for sensing and comparing reservation code numbers, when presented, with that of stored reservation for accommodations to be provided at that time, and means for indicating correspondence between a stored reservation and a reservation code number presented.

6. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 5 wherein said code issuing means issues a ticket code number which is arbitrary with respect to the reserved accommodation and is serial in part.

7. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 5 wherein the data processing system further comprises means for providing different lists of numbered reservations for accommodations to be provided for the same class and the check-in means identifies the class of the reservation number presented.

8. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 5 wherein the reservation code number appears on a ticket in a machine-readable font and the automatic check-in means comprises ticket number reader apparatus.

9. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 5 wherein the reservation code number appears in magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) font and contains information relating to the identity of the issuing system and a serial field which is arbitrary with respect to the reserved accommodation to which it is assigned by the system.

10. An automatic reservation check-in system comprising:

addressable memory means for storing information relating to a plurality of different reservations for accommodations, means responsive to a request for a reservation for issuing a code number identifying reservation information, input means for entering reservation information into said memory means for storage in relation to said identifying reservation code for each such reservation, means for automatically checking reservation codes against the reservations stored in the memory means when the codes are presented for use of a specific accommodation, and means responsive to the reservation checking means for validating the grant of the reserved accommodation corresponding to the reservation code presented.

11. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 10 wherein the reservation code number appears on a ticket in a machine-readable font and the automatic check-in means comprises ticket number reader apparatus.

12. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 10 wherein the reservation code number appears in magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) font and contains information relating to the identity of the issuing system and a serial field which is arbitrary with respect to the reserved accommodation to which it is assigned by the system.

13. An automatic reservation check-in system comprising:

a data processing system having means for storing information relating to a plurality of different numbered reservations for accommodations and processing means programmed to identify a particular reservation, responsive to signals representing a corresponding reservation number, means responsive to a request for a reservation for issuing a code number identifying reservation information, input means for providing to the storage means reservation information to be stored in relation to said identifying reservation number, and automatic check-in means responsive to reservation code numbers presented thereto and providing corresponding signal representations to said programmed reservation identification means of the processing system to control the grant of the reserved accommodations identified by the reservation code numbers presented.

14. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 13 wherein the data processing system further comprises means for providing different lists of numbered reservations for accommodations to be provided for the same class and the check-in means identifies the class of the reservation number presented.

15. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 13 wherein the reservation code number appears on a ticket in a machine-readable font and the automatic check-in means comprises ticket number reader apparatus.

16. The automatic reservation check-in system of claim 13 wherein the reservation code number appears in magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) font and contains information relating to the identity of the issuing system and a serial field which is arbitrary with respect to the reserved accommodation to which it is assigned by the system.