ELECTRONIC SYSTEM EMPLOYING PLURAL PROCESSING STATIONS FOR ISSUING AIRLINE BOARDING PASSES WHILE EFFECTING SEAT ASSIGNMENTS, AND GENERALLY FOR PARCELLING ELEMENTS OF AN ORDERED SET

• US 3,750,103 A
• Filed: 12/30/1970
• Issued: 07/31/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: David R. Angus, William Reid Smith-Vaniz
• Original Assignee: David R. Angus, William Reid Smith-Vaniz
• Inventors: Angus, David R., Smith-Vaniz, William Reid
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitts, Harold I.
• Application Number:
  US05/102,629
• Time in Patent Office: 944 Days
• Field of Search: 340/153R,286R
• US Class Current: 340/4.6
• 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: G08B 5/221 Local indication of seats occupied in a facility, e.g. in a theatre

Abstract

A digital, electronic system for issuing airline boarding passes, while effecting aircraft seat assignments, employs a central processor unit connected via a plurality of system busses to a plurality of parallel connected keyboard units each having a boarding pass enscribing alpha-numeric printer associated therewith. The central processor includes a circulating memory for storing information characterizing the availability of seats for the particular aircraft in service, while the keyboard units include a lamp matrix for displaying seat availability in a section (zone) of the aircraft selected by a passenger. The central processor sequentially and cyclically polls all on line keyboard units, accommodating all proper seat requests while maintaining real time supervision over the memory contents and the keyboard units. Seat assignments are automatically printed, together with other pertinent information, on a boarding pass when a seat is selected.

Claims

1. In combination in a digital electrical system for issuing airline boarding passes and for effecting seat assignments in an aircraft, said aircraft seats being identified by a zone designation, a row within a zone, and a seat within a row, comprising a central processor, at least one console, plural conductor system buss means connecting said processor with each of said consoles, each of said consoles including a matrix array of lamps, a plurality of zone selector switches, a plurality of row selector switches, a plurality of seat selector switches, and a mode selector switch, console selector means for sequentially and cyclically selecting each of said consoles, a mode register, means for encoding the mode selector switch position at a selected console, means for inserting said mode switch encoding signals in said mode register, zone, row and seat registers in said central processor, means for inserting signals representative of siad zone and seat switches assemblies in said console in said zone, row and seat registers, respectively, a circulating memory for storing and cyclically presenting at output terminals thereof signals indicative of the availability of all aircraft seats, a system oscillator and counter for identifying the information present at said circulating memory output, and means responsive to an aircraft zone identified by said zone switch means for illuminating said lamp matrix array in accordance with said stored availability information in an aircraft zone selected by said zone selector switches.

2. A combination as in claim 1 wherein said lamp illumination means comprises means for decoding the seat availability information stored in said circulating memory, means for gating the decoded seat availability information corresponding to the selected zone of the aircraft to produce a lamp video signal, and means for illuminating said lamps at the console in accordance with said video information.

3. A combination as in claim 1 further comprising a digital printer at each console, said printer including a plurality of printing modules including modules each associated with a different one of said zone, row and seat selector switches, and means for positioning said associated print modules to a state corresponding to that dictated by said associated switch means.

4. A combination as in claim 3 further comprising comparator means for producing a comparison output signal responsive to a coincidence between selected outputs of said counter and said zone, row and seat switches, and means responsive to a comparison signal, to a particulr setting of said mode selector switch in a selected console and to availability information stored in said circulating memory for causing said printer to print.

5. A combination as in claim 4 further comprising means responsive to each print signal for changing the availability information in said circulating memory at a location corresponding to the seat identified by said counter to an unavailable state.

6. In combination in a digital electronic boarding system for allotting seats in an enclosure wherein said seats are subdivided into zones each corresponding to a different section of the enclosure, a central processor, at least one keyboard unit, buss means connecting each keyboard unit with said central processor, each of aid keyboard units including plural seat availability display elements, and a plurality of zone selector switches, a memory included in said central processor for storing availability information characterizing said seats in said enclosure, and means for illuminating said display elements in accordance with the availability information stored in said memory corresponding to the seating zone defined by said zone selector switches.

7. A combination as in claim 6 further comprising a digital printer associated with each of said keyboard units, a printing module associated with said zone selector switches at each of said keyboard units, and mans for continuously maintaining said print module in a state signaled by said zone switches.

8. A combination as in claim 7 wherein each of said zone selector switches includes an output contact pair, and said print module includes a commutator and plural discrete connection positions each electrically connected to the contact pair associated with a different one of said zone selector switches.

9. A combination as in claim 6 wherein each of said keyboard units further comprise a plurality of row switches for defining a row within seating zone selected by said zone selector switches associated therewith.

10. A combination as in cliam 9 wherein each of said keyboard units further includes a plurality of seat selector switches.

11. A combination as in claim 6 wherein said central processor includes means for sequentially and cyclically polling each keyboard unit for operatively connecting the selected keyboard unit for bilateral communication with said central processor via said buss means.

12. A combination as in claim 6 wherein said display element illuminating means comprises means for generating a serial video digit stream comprising availability information for each seat within the zone of the enclosure selected by said zone switches, means for generating a serial clock byte stream, counting and decoding means at each of said keyboard units responsive to said clock pulse stream for sequentially selecting each of said keyboard unit display elements, and means for selectively activating the display element selected by said counting and decoding means in accordance with said video signal.

13. A combination as in claim 12, further comprisng counter menas for sequentially and cyclically polling said keyboard units, and means responSive to said polling means for selectively producing intermittent illumination of selected keyboard display elements.

14. A combination as in claim 13, wherein said intermittent illuminating means comprises divider means for passing selected seat availability signals to said video digit stream only during selected polling cycles.

15. A combination as in claim 14, further comprising row and seat selector switches at each said keyboard units, means for sequentially and cyclically polling each of said keyboard units, said central processor including means responsive to particular activated ones of said zone, row, and seat switches at a polled keyboard unit for interrogating said memory to determine the availability of the seat identified by said switches, and means responsive to said seat being available for allotting said seat.

16. A combination as in claim 15, wherein said central processor further comprises means responsive to a seat being allotted by said seat allotting means for changing the status of said allotted seat in said memory to an unavailable status.

17. A combination as in claim 16, further comprising means for writing seat availability information into said memory.

18. A combination as in claim 17, wherein said seat availability writing means comprises a mode switch at each of said keyboard units, a plurality of availablity code registers at said central processor, and means responsive to the particular position of said mode switch at a polled keyboard unit for gating the contents of a selected one of said availability code registers to said memory, said memory address receiving said grated availability code information being defined by switching means at said polled console.

19. A combination as in claim 17, wherein said writing means comprises information storage means connected to said central processor via said bus means.

20. A combination as in claim 6, wherein each of said consoles further comprises a plurality of row selector switches, wherein said memory includes an information field for each row for identifying a keyboard unit selecting that row, and means responsive to an activated combination of said zone and row selector switches for writing the identity of the keyboard unit including said switches into said corresponding identification field in said memory.

21. A combination as in claim 20, wherein said central processor includes means responsive to one of said keyboard information fields identifying a keyboard unit and said zone and row switches at the identified keyboard unit no longer selecting said row for clearing said keyboard unit identification field.