Systems and methods for electronic ticket validation using proximity detection

• US 9,881,433 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2015
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Mobility, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Bytemark Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Bergdale, Micah, Grasser, Matthew, Ihm, Nicholas, Valyer, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Application Number:
  US14/638,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20150213660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 340 561, 340 565, 340 57, 340 574, 340 564, 340 58- 586
• 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 9/10 Movable barriers with registering means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/21 having a variable access code
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/29 the pass containing active electronic elements, e.g. smartcards

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring permission to be in a location comprising: a secured area having at least one entry point with a mechanical gate having an open and closed position; at least two wireless proximity sensors attached to a portion of (or the area adjacent to) the mechanical gate; a token device in communication with the wireless proximity sensors that determine a location of the token device relative to one of the wireless proximity sensors to provide a detection data point and a set of detection data points for the group of detection data points; and a system computing device that calculates the shared proximity of the token device. If the token device contains a valid ticket and the shared proximity of the token device is within a predetermined area the system computing device will cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring permission for persons to be in a location, said system comprising:

a secured area having at least one entry point, wherein each of the entry points have a mechanical gate with an open position and a closed position;

at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors attached to at least one of a portion of the mechanical gate and an area adjacent to a portion of the mechanical gate;

a token device in communication with the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors and a system computing device, wherein each of the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors are used by the system computing device to determine a relative location of the token device relative to one of the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors according to signal strength to provide a detection data point for each of the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors and a set of detection data points for the group of detection data points;

wherein the system computing device calculates the shared proximity of the token device according to the set of detection data points and determines that the token device contains a valid ticket or does not contain a valid ticket, wherein the token device contains a valid ticket and the system computing device determines the shared proximity of the token device is within a predetermined area the system computing device will cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position.

2. A system as in claim 1, wherein the system computing device causes the mechanical gate to go to a closed position upon determining that the shared proximity of the token device is outside a predetermined area.

3. A system as in claim 1, wherein the system computing device calculates the shared proximity of the token device according to triangulation of the set of detection data points.

4. A system as in claim 1, wherein the system computing device calculates the shared proximity of the token device according to geometric calculations of the set of detection data points.

5. A system as in claim 1, wherein the system computing device calculates the shared proximity of the token device according to a sensor sensitivity profile.

6. A system as in claim 1, wherein the system computing device calculates the shared proximity of the token device according to a sensor sensitivity profile that has a predetermined range of shapes from a signal of a predetermined set of strengths at each of the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors and determines that the shared proximity of the token device is within the predetermined area to cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position only when the sensor sensitivity profile is in the predetermined range of shapes.

7. A system as in claim 1, further comprising at least one light beam in the mechanical gate, wherein the at least one light beam must be tripped, the token device must contain a valid ticket and the system computing device must determine the shared proximity of the token device to be within a predetermined area for mechanical gate to go to the open position.

8. The system as in claim 1, further comprising an additional ticket validation, wherein there must be the additional ticket validation, the token device must contain a valid ticket and the system computing device must determine the shared proximity of the token device to be within a predetermined area for mechanical gate to go to the open position.

9. The system as in claim 8, wherein the additional ticket validation is selected from the group consisting of visual validation, fingerprint scanning, sound sampling, facial recognition, a light beam, Bluetooth LE, wireless proximity analysis, GPS, geo-fencing, automated license plate reading, fingerprint scanning, facial recognition, unique alphanumeric ID entry via a keyboard, numeric keypad.

10. A system as in claim 7, wherein the shared proximity of the token device is determined according to one detection data point in the set of detection data points and the at least one light beam.

11. A system as in claim 1, wherein the token device is determined to contain a valid ticket by having a stored ticket token that is transmitted to the system computing device.

12. A system as in claim 11, wherein the stored ticket token is transmitted to the system computing device over a secure data channel.

13. A system as in claim 11, wherein the stored ticket token is generated by the system computing device using at least one of the token device International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, token device Unique Device identifier (UDID) and the token device serial number.

14. A system as in claim 1, further comprising an activated ticket indicator for valid tickets that activated.

15. A system as in claim 1, wherein the token device is selected from the group consisting of a mobile phone, smartphone, computing device, luggage tag, lanyard, card, physical ticket, shipping label with barcode, NFC, RFID, UDID, Bluetooth ID.

16. A system as in claim 1, further comprising a secure data channel between the token device and the computing device, wherein the computing device determines that the token device contains a valid ticket or does not contain a valid ticket by fetching a stored ticket token on the token device and transmitting the stored ticket token from the token device to the computing device over the secure data channel.

17. A system as in claim 1, further comprising a ticketing verification system in communication with the token device, wherein the ticketing verification system provides the token device with a valid ticket and wherein the system computing device determines that the token device contains a valid ticket from the ticketing verification system to cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position.

18. A method of validating a ticket and monitoring permission for persons to be in a location, the method comprising:

providing a secured area having at least one entry point, wherein each of the entry points have a mechanical gate with an open position and a closed position;

providing at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors attached to at least one of a portion of the mechanical gate and an area adjacent to a portion of the mechanical gate;

providing a token device in communication with the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors and a system computing device;

determining a relative location of the token device relative to one of the at least two bluetooth low energy wireless proximity sensors according to signal strength to provide a detection data point for each of the at least two wireless proximity sensors and a set of detection data points for the group of detection data points;

calculating, by the system computing device, the shared proximity of the token device according to the set of detection data points;

determining whether the token device contains a valid ticket or does not contain a valid ticket;

directing, by the system computing device, the mechanical gate to go to open position upon determination that the token device contains a valid ticket and the shared proximity of the token device is within a predetermined area.

19. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

determining that the shared proximity of the token device is outside a predetermined area and directing, by the system computing device, the mechanical gate to go to closed position.

20. A method as in claim 18, wherein the step of calculating, by system computing device, the shared proximity of the token device is according to triangulation of the set of detection data points.

21. A method as in claim 18, wherein the step of calculating, by system computing device, the shared proximity of the token device is according to geometric calculations of the set of detection data points.

22. A method as in claim 18, wherein the step of calculating, by system computing device, the shared proximity of the token device is according to a sensor sensitivity profile.

23. A method as in claim 18, wherein the step of calculating, by system computing device, the shared proximity of the token device is according to a sensor sensitivity profile that has a predetermined range of shapes from a signal of a predetermined set of strengths at each of the at least two wireless proximity sensors and the system computing device determines that the shared proximity of the token device is within the predetermined area to cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position only when the sensor sensitivity profile is in the predetermined range of shapes.

24. A method as in claim 18, further comprising at least one light beam in the mechanical gate, wherein the at least one light beam must be tripped, the token device must contain a valid ticket and the system computing device must determine the shared proximity of the token device to be within a predetermined area for mechanical gate to go to the open position.

25. The method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

determining an additional ticket validation, wherein there must be the additional ticket validation, the token device must contain a valid ticket and the system computing device must determine the shared proximity of the token device to be within a predetermined area for mechanical gate to go to the open position.

26. The method as in claim 25, wherein the additional ticket validation is selected from the group consisting of visual validation, fingerprint scanning, sound sampling, facial recognition, a light beam, Bluetooth LE, wireless proximity analysis, GPS, geo-fencing, automated license plate reading, fingerprint scanning, facial recognition, unique alphanumeric ID entry via a keyboard, numeric keypad.

27. A method as in claim 24, wherein the shared proximity of the token device is determined according to one detection data point in the set of detection data points and the at least one light beam.

28. A method as in claim 18, wherein the token device is determined to contain a valid ticket by having a stored ticket token that is transmitted to the system computing device.

29. A method as in claim 28, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the stored ticket token to the system computing device over a secure data channel.

30. A method as in claim 28, wherein the stored ticket token is generated by the system computing device using at least one of the token device International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, token device Unique Device Identifier (UDID) and the token device serial number.

31. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

requiring a ticket to be activated to be a valid ticket; and

causing an activated ticket indicator to be displayed for a valid ticket.

32. A method as in claim 18, wherein the token device is selected from the group consisting of a mobile phone, smartphone, computing device, luggage tag, lanyard, card, physical ticket, shipping label with barcode, NFC, RFID, UDID, Bluetooth ID.

33. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

establishing a secure data channel between the token device and the computing device;

determining, by the computing device, that the token device contains a valid ticket or does not contain a valid ticket by fetching a stored ticket token on the token device; and

transmitting the stored ticket token from the token device to the computing device over the secure data channel.

34. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

providing a ticketing verification system in communication with the token device, wherein the ticketing verification system provides the token device with a valid ticket and wherein the system computing device determines that the token device contains a valid ticket from the ticketing verification system to cause the mechanical gate to go to the open position.