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Payment installation for a transport network

  • US 5,637,848 A
  • Filed: 01/04/1996
  • Issued: 06/10/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An installation for enabling users of a bus network to pay sums corresponding to trips taken by users travelling on buses over the bus network, the installation comprising portable appliances for receiving electromagnetic signals and for displaying waiting times for a bus to be caught relative to at least one stop along the bus network, said portable appliance being made available to users in return for payment, and each of the said portable appliances further including means for recording validity data corresponding to the payment made, and means responsive to remotely transmitted signals for enabling accessing of said validity data, said installation further comprising at least one access control unit located close to a passage providing entry to the bus network, said access control unit including validation means responsive to presentation by user of a said portable appliance of said validity data for authorizing a given trip over the bus network, and for remotely checking whether said validity data is valid based on accessing of said validity data, each said portable appliance further comprising coded identification means for said portable appliance and coded means for renewing validity data remotely into said portable appliance in response to receiving suitable electromagnetic signals, and said installation further comprising, at a central station which is common to the entire bus network, means for transmitting said suitable electromagnetic signals to the portable appliances to be renewed, said suitable signals being generated in such a manner as to enable said suitable signals to be automatically selectable by said portable appliances and to provide remote renewing of the validity data in said portable appliances, said central station further comprising means for generating and transmitting to the portable appliances electromagnetic signals that convey data relating to said waiting times for a bus to be caught, and said portable appliances further including user-actuable interrogation means for identifying each stop at which a bus is desired to be caught, means for receiving said signals that convey data relating to said waiting times and for selecting therefrom signals relating at least to the next bus expected at an identified bus stop, means for generating information relating to the waiting times of said next bus at said identified bus stop, and means, including a display screen, for displaying said information.

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