Mobile ticketing

• US 9,881,260 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2013
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: moovel North America, LLC (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Original Assignee: moovel North America, LLC (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Inventors: Parker, Nathaniel, Gray, Michael Lewis, Rotter, Matthew Skip, Elliott, Issac, Babb, Zachery, Griffith, Kurt, Peter, Alex, Schauss, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Maguire, Lindsay M
• Application Number:
  US14/045,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20140095227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: 705 5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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: G09B 29/007 using computer methods

Abstract

Embodiments of a transit ticket system are provided. The transit ticket system may include a mobile computing device configured to (i) download a mobile ticketing application from a ticket management server, the mobile ticketing application including a graphical data sheet, a ticket dictionary, and ticket strings, (ii) receive ticket rendering instructions from the ticket management server in response to completion of a ticket purchase process via the mobile computing device, and (iii) render for display an active ticket on the mobile computing device with data stored on the mobile computing device based on the ticket rendering instructions, the graphical data sheet, ticket dictionary, and ticket strings in response to an activation input command.

Claims

1. A ticket management system comprising:

one or more visually validated ticketing servers for communicating with at least one mobile computing devices, the visually validated ticketing servers being configured to;

generate a plurality of graphical objects and screen positions data associated with one or more graphical objects of the plurality of graphical objects, wherein the plurality of graphical objects and the screen positions data are generated based on ticket designs configured by a transit agency;

generate ticket strings including at least one of;

(i) an animation instruction, (ii) color data, (iii) transparency data, and (iv) scale data, wherein the ticket strings are associated with one or more graphical objects of the plurality of graphical objects and generated based on at least a subset of the ticket designs that are determined to be active based on a ticket-design schedule configured by the transit agency;

receive transaction data associated with a mobile computing device and representing a completed ticket purchase for use by the mobile computing device;

prior to receiving the transaction data, transmit the plurality of graphical objects to the mobile computing device;

transmit the ticket strings and the screen positions data to the mobile computing device; and

after receiving the transaction data, transmit a ticket rendering instruction to the mobile computing device, wherein the ticket rendering instruction identifies at least a subset of the plurality of graphical objects that are associated with the ticket,

wherein the mobile computing device, in response to a ticket activation command received by the mobile computing device, is caused to;

dynamically render the subset of the plurality of graphical objects identified in the ticket rendering instruction at screen positions included in the screen positions data, the dynamic rendering of the subset of the plurality of graphical objects including at least one of;

(i) animating one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the animation instruction,

(ii) applying colors to one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the color data,

(iii) configuring degrees of transparency to one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the transparency data, and

(iv) scaling one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the scale data, and

display the rendered subset of the plurality of graphical objects.

2. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of graphical objects are associated with at least two types of tickets.

3. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the visually validated ticketing servers are further configured to automatically transmit updates of one or more of:

the plurality of graphical objects, the screen positions data, and the ticket strings at predetermined time intervals to the mobile computing device independent of the ticket purchase process.

4. The ticket management system of claim 3, wherein the updates include at least one of adding, overwriting, and deleting at least a portion of the plurality of graphical objects, the screen positions data, and/or the ticket strings.

5. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the purchase process includes exchange of payment data with the ticket management system.

6. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of graphical objects includes includes an animated graphical object.

7. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the subset of the plurality of graphical objects that are associated with the ticket and identified in the ticket rendering instruction are layered for display.

8. The ticket management system of claim 1, wherein the screen positions data is generated based on a device type of the mobile computing device.

9. A method for managing a ticket management system , comprising:

generating a plurality of graphical objects and screen positions data associated with one or more graphical objects of the plurality of graphical objects, wherein the plurality of graphical objects and the screen positions data are generated based on ticket designs configured by a transit agency;

generating ticket strings including at least one of;

(i) an animation instruction, (ii) color data, (iii) transparency data, and (iv) scale data, wherein the ticket strings are associated with one or more graphical objects and generated based on ticket designs that are determined to be valid based on a ticket-design schedule configured by the transit agency;

receiving transaction data associated with a mobile computing device and representing a completed ticket purchase for use by the mobile computing device;

prior to receiving the transaction data, transmitting the plurality of graphical objects to the mobile computing device

transmitting the ticket strings objects and the screen positions data to the mobile computing device;

after receiving the transaction data, transmitting a ticket rendering instruction to the mobile computing device, wherein the ticket rendering instruction identifies at least a subset of the plurality of graphical objects that are associated with the ticket,

wherein the mobile computing device, in response to a ticket activation command received by the mobile computing device, is caused to;

dynamically render the subset of the plurality of graphical objects identified in the ticket rendering instruction at screen positions included in the screen positions data, the dynamic rendering of the subset of the plurality of graphical objects including at least one of;

(i) animating one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the animation instruction,

(ii) applying colors to one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the color data,

(iii) configuring degrees of transparency to one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the transparency data, and

(iv) scaling one or more graphical objects in the subset of the plurality of graphical objects based on the scale data, and

display the rendered subset of the plurality of graphical objects.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, automatically transmitting updates of one or more of:

the plurality of graphical objects, the screen positions data, and the ticket strings at predetermined time intervals to the mobile computing device independent of the ticket purchase process.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein automatically transmitting updates includes at least one of adding, overwriting, and deleting at least a portion of the plurality of graphical objects, the screen positions data, and/or the ticket strings.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of graphical objects are associated with at least two types of tickets.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the screen positions data is generated based on a device type of the mobile computing device.