Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Patent
1989-06-23
1992-06-23
Pitts, Harold
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
235382, 235384, G06K 500
Patent
active
051245353
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is concerned with a device for machine communication in examining and changing of data in data carriers exhibiting a memory, especially in the identification of persons, in checking the right to entry etc., at at least one control station. Such devices are used for various purposes, for example, at ski lifts for checking or devaluating tickets, in parking garages to permit entering and exiting.
Up until now, primarily cards with magnetic stripes and punch cards were used for the identification of persons or for entry control, that is to say, passive data carries. These must be inserted into a slot of a reading device at the control station which leads to a relatively large expenditure of time and inconvenience for the user.
Active data carriers are known in which the data carrier itself contains electronic components, such as computers, displays, etc. Examples of this are EP-B-19280 (ID card and electrical contact surfaces), EP-A-142013 (Data carriers with inductive data transfer and destruction of the data upon mechanical intervention), EP-A-168836 (Data card for cash dispensers with optical data transfer), EP-A-196028 (Value card with electrical contact surfaces), and, WO-A-86/04705 (Telephone value card with inductive data transfer). The data carriers which are expensive as compared with magnetic stripe or punch cards cannot be used for general purposes of the type mentioned in the beginning especially because of their high cost. In mass use for admission of limited cost, for example, for single tickets at ski lifts, they would not be accepted by the public. For this reason, the control devices up to now have been indispensable. Because, however, control through active data carriers would considerably increase the productivity of every control station, it is the goal of the invention to create a control system without the disadvantages mentioned above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This is achieved according to the invention insofar as the control station exhibits a first control device for communicating with active data carriers which contain a microcomputer and a second control device for controlling passive data carriers in which the data are stored in, for example, magnetic or optical form.
The device according to the invention therefore allows for an efficient combination of both control systems, reduces waiting time and increases comfort for all users.
The data to be controlled are in an initializing station stored into the data carriers and checked by the control station. Active data carriers can be used repeatedly by erasing and through the input of new data. Thus they can be used as yearly cards, permanent ID cards for repeating events and so forth, whereby simply the expiration date has to be checked by the control station, which date has to be newly stored after expiration for reuse. Such a data carrier could also be handed out upon deposit, or could be bought back again after its use.
These data carriers are particularly economical for season tickets or yearly passes for large scale use because the generating costs represent only an acceptable percentage of the embodied value.
In contrast, for services of limited value, for which deposit or buy-back does not provide any advantages, for example, single admission tickets, single fares, short term parking garage tickets, etc., the usual passive data carriers, which can be discarded after devaluation by the second control device, can be used. Both control devices of the control station exhibit preferably parallel outputs to which a conversion unit is connected, to which peripheral devices, for example, a signal lamp, a barrier, a turnstile, or a central computer for the settlement of accounts, etc., are connected to the conversion unit.
A preferred execution, which allows for a considerable acceleration of the control of active data carriers provides for the first control device of the control station to have a transmitter-receiver unit for communication at a distance with an approached data carrier exhib
REFERENCES:
patent: 3866874 (1974-04-01), Ehrat
patent: 4325146 (1982-04-01), Krigh
patent: 44325146 (1982-04-01), Lennington
patent: 4476468 (1984-10-01), Goldman
patent: 4501958 (1985-02-01), Glize
patent: 4853524 (1989-08-01), Yamaguchi
Kocznar Wolfram
Wallerstorfer Kurt
Pitts Harold
Skidata Computer Gesellschaft m.b.H.
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