Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2002-03-12
Stamber, Eric W. (Department: 2162)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
active
06356877
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for automated payment of the fee for the attachment of an advertising medium to a vehicle.
The commercial attachment of advertising media to vehicles has been known for a long time. Advertising sheets are frequently attached, for example, to large surfaces of public transportation vehicles such as buses, street cars, commuter trains, subways, or taxis. The businesses which are advertised on these sheets pay a certain fee for this to the operators of the public transportation vehicles or taxi companies. This fee can be paid, for example, at certain time intervals.
In order to assure that the advertising medium is properly attached to the vehicle, an employee of the advertising company or a business authorized to do so performs visual inspections of the vehicle from time to time. This monitoring process incurs considerable costs due to the high cost of personnel. In order to maintain a justifiable relationship between the costs, which are incurred by the attachment of the advertising medium and the visual inspections, and the economic effect achieved by the advertisement, the visual inspections have up to now only been performed at relatively long time intervals.
With regard to the general technological field, the following references are of interest:
WO-A-94/28526 has disclosed supplying data to vehicles, for example at filling stations, which are then communicated to the passengers of the vehicle when they resume their travel.
DE-A-44 33 569 has disclosed that customers in a supermarket or the like are first shown which products are being offered at a discount on a display/input device and then, through the corresponding actuation of a keypad of the display/input device, the products that they are interested in can be selected. However, the discount is only given if it is later determined at the cash register that the relevant product has also actually been purchased.
Finally, DE-U-93 20 892 has disclosed a utilization control system for ski lifts and aerial cableways which carries out a contact-free inspection as to whether a person has the right to enter the ski lift or aerial cableway.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a device that automatically inspects the attachment of an advertising medium to a vehicle and automatically pays the vehicle owner or vehicle driver, such as by applying a credit towards a purchase or in some other manner, if the advertising medium is properly placed on the vehicle.
The foregoing object is attained according to the invention by means of a device for automated payment of the fee for the attachment of at least one advertising medium to a vehicle, which includes a first communication device disposed at a control point and a second communication device disposed on the advertising medium, wherein the second communication device supplies data for the first communication device by means of which the presence of the advertising medium on the vehicle can be verified, as well as a device for issuing a credit as payment for the attachment of the advertising medium to the vehicle depending on the result of the presence check. The automatic inspection of the proper placement of the advertising medium on the vehicle takes place through the communication of the two communication devices. If the results of the inspection are positive, then a credit is automatically issued as payment for the attachment of the advertising medium to the vehicle.
One of the advantages of the automatically executed inspection according to the invention as to the proper placement of the advertising medium on the vehicle as well as the automatic payment to the vehicle owner can naturally be viewed in terms of the reduction in cost which goes along with the complete elimination of human labor. This permits the time intervals between two subsequent inspections to be shortened so that a large quantity of vehicles, among others private vehicles as well, can now be considered for the attachment of advertising media and a national advertising program can be efficiently mounted. An increased efficiency of the inspection and billing process, the prevention of human error, and the prevention of intentionally false actions in inspection and billing can be mentioned as additional advantages. Finally, it should also be emphasized that there is the possibility of a simple incorporation of the invention into existing IT systems.
In order to be able to assure the shortest possible inspection intervals even if the length of the time interval between two succeeding inspections is not stipulated, places that are frequently visited by vehicles anyway can be considered as control points. This is the case with filling stations and/or toll booths, for example.
If the credit is calculated directly into the amount to be paid at the filling station and/or toll booth, then the driver of the vehicle can be offered a further incentive to visit the control point frequently. Basically, however, it is likewise possible to issue the credit in the form of a credit receipt which can then be redeemed at a subsequent stop at the control point or at other locations, for example stores and the like. Finally, another possibility is to issue the credit by means of a corresponding entry on a read/write storage medium such as a chip card or magnetic strip card. In this case, the credit can be redeemed at any location that accepts this card as a method of payment. However, the read/write storage medium can also be fixed to the vehicle or the advertising medium and can, for example, simply permit the crediting of amounts to be paid at this control point or other comparable ones. It should be emphasized at this point that the first communication device and the device for issuing the credit can be embodied as one functional unit.
The first communication device and the second communication device can be designed for a unidirectional communication as well as for a bidirectional communication. In the case of unidirectional communication, the second communication device simply supplies data which can then be detected by the first communication device. To this end, the second communication device can include for example at least one bar code disposed on the advertising medium, while the first communication device has a bar code reading device for detecting the at least one bar code. The bar code can contain all data necessary for issuing the credit. If a number of bar codes are distributed over the surface of the advertising medium, then in addition to checking for the mere presence of the advertising medium on the vehicle, the first communication device can also check the integrity of the advertising medium. In this instance, for example, the advertising medium can be viewed as intact if the first communication device detects and confirms the presence of all of the originally provided bar codes.
In order to increase the reliability of the process it can be advantageous if the vehicle owner or vehicle driver does not know and cannot tell where the data supplied by the second communication device is disposed on the surface of the advertising medium. In this case, provision can be made that the first communication device includes a camera and an image processing unit and/or pattern recognition unit for detecting at least one surface feature of the advertising medium and this surface feature constitutes the second communication device.
By disposing several of such surface features in various locations spaced apart from one another on the surface of the advertising medium, it becomes possible in turn to check the integrity of the advertising medium.
As mentioned above, the communication between the two communication devices can also be bidirectional communication. To this end, the first communication device can “ask” the second communication device for the necessary data, whereupon the second communication device actively transmits this data to the first communication device. For example, the first communication device can inc
Schulden Christoph J.
Von Bonin S. Quintus F. F.
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Champagne Donald L.
Stamber Eric W.
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