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Description  |
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The invention relates to installations designed to inform the users of a
bus network about waiting times for buses at the stops in the network.
More particularly, it relates to such installations that comprise: firstly,
means themselves including a central station for collecting data
identifying the instantaneous positions of various buses travelling along
the various lines of the network, means for generating electrical signals
on the basis of said data for the purpose of providing information about
said positions, and means for transmitting said signals over an
electromagnetic path; and also a plurality of portable receiver appliances
each including means for receiving the above signals and for selecting
from said signals those relating to the buses expected at a given stop of
a given line of the network, and means for making use of the signals
selected in this way for the purpose of displaying the waiting times for
said buses at said stop.
Such an installation has been described, for example, in the present
Applicant's French patent number 92 09042.
Such installations are highly advantageous for users holding the above
portable appliances since such users can find out when "next buses" are
expected at the bus stops that they intend to use for catching a bus,
thereby enabling them to organize their time immediately preceding the
catching of a bus at the desired bus stop in a manner that is more
efficient and more restful than would otherwise be the case.
An object of the present invention is to further improve such installations
in various respects.
In this context, it should be observed that the service constituted by
informing users of the network about waiting times for the buses that the
users seek to catch implies costs associated with equipment, operation,
updating, etc.
The undertaking managing the service may seek to recover its costs solely
when users acquire their portable receiver appliances.
Under some circumstances, that technique can give satisfaction.
However, it may also suffer from various drawbacks, in particular from the
following drawbacks:
the sale price of each appliance may be perceived by a potential user as
being rather high, thereby slowing down the rate at which such appliances
are issued and thus limiting the profitability of the installation; and
the above technique does not take any account of the length of time during
which each appliance is in use, and that is unfair, penalizing use over a
short period of time compared with use over a longer period of time.
The inventors have therefore had the idea of associating use of the
appliances in question with periods of time that are paid for on a
subscription basis.
This formula has the great advantage of enabling such portable appliances
to be made available to the public free of charge or almost free of
charge, with actual use of such appliances being authorized only during
appropriate subscription periods in return for the users paying fees pro
rata to the operating undertaking.
A particular object of the invention is to make it possible and indeed easy
to implement such an operating formula based on subscriptions that are
paid periodically.
To this end, according to the invention, portable receiver appliances of
the kind in question are essentially characterized in that they comprise:
an appliance identification circuit itself including a memory that lends
itself to recording a coded identification symbol and means enabling said
recorded symbol to be compared with symbols of the same type included in
the electromagnetic check signals received by the appliance and for making
execution of the checking performed by said signals contingent on correct
results of such comparisons; and
a circuit for checking the validity of the appliance, itself comprising a
memory lending itself to recording successive code symbols representing
expiry dates F and means for comparing the real dates R on which the
above-mentioned check signals are transmitted with each date F recorded
during a given period, and for making access of signals useful to the
operating circuits of the appliance contingent on correct results of said
comparisons.
In other words, the appliance is automatically rendered inoperative once
the date F has been exceeded, i.e. as soon as the subscription period for
which the user has paid the corresponding fee has been completed.
Naturally, the information installation further includes, in its central
station, means for generating and transmitting encoded controlling
electromagnetic signals serving firstly to be identified by the appliances
and secondly for comparing the real date R with the expiry dates F
recorded in said appliances.
In preferred embodiments, use is also made of one or more of the following
dispositions:
the memory for recording the expiry dates F is organized in such a manner
as to lend itself to replacing each expiry date with another date merely
on reception of appropriate electrical signals, the central station being
organized in such a manner as to generate and transmit such subscription
renewal signals; and
the portable appliance includes a display screen together with means for
displaying on said screen a message in the clear, i.e., in non-encoded
language indicating that a subscription has expired and possibly also the
consequences to be drawn therefrom as soon as the expiry date F recorded
in the appliance has been exceeded.
The invention relates not only to information installations of the kind in
question in general, but also to portable receiver appliances included in
such an installation.
In addition to the main dispositions explained above, the invention further
includes certain other dispositions that are preferably used
simultaneously therewith and that are explained in greater detail below.
There follows a description of a preferred embodiment of the invention that
is naturally given by way of non-limiting example and that is made with
reference to the accompanying drawing.
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing are highly diagrammatic representations of a
portable appliance of the invention shown respectively in a valid state
within a subscription period and in an invalid state after the
subscription has expired.
The idea is to inform users of buses in an urban network seeking to catch
such a bus at a given stop on a given line of said network about the real
waiting times for the "next buses" expected at said stop.
To this end, and as explained for example in the Applicant's French patent
No. 92 09042, portable appliances 1 are provided and made available to
users, which appliances are suitable for co-operating with a central
station CS which includes a generator G designed to generate information
signals S and to transmit them via a transmitting means or transmitter T
cyclically over an electromagnetic path, said signals relating to the real
instantaneous positions of respective buses B on the network based on
signals from the buses B received at the central station CS. Each of said
appliances includes an electrical power supply 2, user-actuatable
interrogation means suitable for identifying each stop at which it might
be desired to catch a bus, means suitable for receiving the
above-mentioned signals and for selecting therefrom at least those signals
that relate to the "next bus" expected at the identified stop, means
suitable for generating information associated with the waiting time for
said next bus at said stop, and means including a display screen 3 for
displaying said information.
The above-mentioned interrogation, reception, selection, and generating
means comprise, in particular, a reception antenna 4, a circuit 5
associated with said antenna for amplification, demodulation, and decoding
purposes, control keys 6, and memory and calculation means 7 that are
particularly light in weight and compact, in particular of the
microprocessor type.
In the embodiments proposed in the above-mentioned patent, the waiting time
for a bus can be determined and displayed at any moment, under the control
of the keys 6.
In the present embodiments, means are provided for making such operations
possible only during predetermined subscription periods that are paid-up,
and for automatically preventing such operations at other times.
In each appliance 1, such means comprise:
an appliance identification circuit 8 comprising a memory that lends itself
to recording an encoded identification symbol, means enabling said symbol
to be compared with symbols of the same kind that accompany certain
operational signals S or "check signals", and means for applying the
latter signals to the output 9 of said circuit 8 only when said comparison
indicates identity; and
a circuit 10 for checking the validity of the subscription period, which
circuit 10 is connected to the output 9 and includes a memory 11 that
lends itself to recording an encoded symbol representing an expiry date F,
means for comparing said encoded date with the real encoded date R on
which each received check signal is generated, which date accompanies said
signal or is determined by a clock carried by the appliance, and means for
causing any negative response to said comparison to prevent the operating
signals S gaining access to the circuit 7.
In the drawing, said means for preventing access are represented by a
barred circle 12 mounted on the conductor interconnecting the two
subassemblies 5 and 7.
At 14, there can be seen a conductor connecting the output of the circuit 5
directly to the checking circuit 10.
In addition, the central station of the installation includes means
suitable for generating the electromagnetic signals required for
operation, signals carrying appropriate codes corresponding to the
appliance identification signals, to the real dates R on which said
appliances are used, or at least to comparisons between such dates, as
generated in the appliances and the dates F recorded therein, and, in the
preferred embodiment described below, to the expiry and subscription
renewal dates.
It is also possible to cause said central station to include means for
recording the identification symbols of the various appliances 1 together
with the expiry dates associated with said appliances.
The installation operates as follows.
Assume that the paid-up subscription of the holder of the appliance 1
expires on Jul., 1, 1993 in the example of FIG. 1 and on Jun. 1, 1993 in
the example of FIG. 2, and that the appliance is actually being used on
Jun. 6, 1993.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the subscription period corresponding to
the appliance 1 has not expired.
Pressing appropriate buttons 6 therefore enables the user to obtain the
desired displays of bus waiting times on the screen 3.
The signals S then received by the antenna 4 and processed by the circuit 5
are indeed applied to the processing circuits 7 without being interrupted
at the "lock" 12.
The lock 12 is kept in its authorization position for the following two
reasons:
the check signals coming from the circuit 5, and then the circuit 8 after
identification by the appliance 1, are applied to the circuit 10, and the
time comparison then performed therein between the real date R and the
date of Jul. 1, 1993 that is recorded therein indicates that the appliance
is a valid state at the instant under consideration; and
independently of any identification of the appliance, the same time
verification can be performed in passing via the connection 14 by any of
the operating signals S that carry an appropriate identification of the
real date R.
In contrast, in the example of FIG. 2, the subscription period
corresponding to the appliance 1 has expired.
Under such circumstances, the operating signals leaving the circuit 5
cannot reach the circuit 7, since they are stopped by the "lock" 12.
The lock is actuated by the fact that the check signals after being applied
to the comparator circuit 10 via the circuit 8 or the connection 14 are
subjected in said circuit 10 to a negative checking result because the
date Jun. 1, 1993 recorded therein has been exceeded: this negative result
has the effect of putting the "lock" 12 in its closed position.
User presses on the buttons 6 can then lead to no useful result with
respect to the display on the screen 3.
In a preferred embodiment, the above-described locking-out of the appliance
by the lock 12 is accompanied by a suitable message being displayed in the
clear on the screen 3.
For example, the message may be generated by the circuit given the
reference 13 in the drawing.
The message may merely say "subscription expired".
It may be accompanied by instructions in the clear telling the user how to
renew the subscription.
In the following preferred embodiment, such renewal of a subscription can
be obtained very simply.
The user desiring to renew a subscription expresses that desire to any
appropriate person associated with the installation in any desirable
manner, e.g. by direct conversation at a ticket office or window, by
telephone, by means of an automatic remote terminal device such as that
known under the name "Minitel", etc., and simultaneously paying the price
that corresponds to the new period of subscription, with it being possible
to make the corresponding payment itself in any desirable manner, e.g. by
giving details of a credit card belonging to the user, by a standing order
on a bank account of the user, etc.
Under such circumstances, the person associated with the installation
causes the central station to generate and transmit electromagnetic
signals corresponding to the desired new period of subscription.
These signals, which include the new expiry date F' of the subscription
together with the identification number of the appliance to revalidated,
are sent and received in the manner described above by the circuits 4, 5,
8, and 10, and they are organized so as to replace the expired expiry date
F that used to be recorded in the memory 11 of the appliance 1 with the
new date F' that is later than the date of the subscription renewal
operation.
The appliance 1 is then valid again and the user can use it again
throughout the new subscription period.
As a result, and whatever embodiment is used, an installation is provided
that serves to inform the users of a bus network, with the structure and
the operation of the installation being sufficiently clear from the above.
Compared with presently known installations, the installation of the
invention has the advantage of reserving the privileges associated with
operation thereof to subscribers who have already paid an appropriate
subscription fee: this formula makes it possible, in particular, to issue
the portable receiver appliances of the installation on the basis of a
small unit acquisition price that may even be free, with the costs of the
undertaking that manages the installation subsequently being recovered
essentially by way of the subscriptions.
Naturally, and as already appears from the above, the invention is not
limited in any way to the applications and embodiments described in
detail: on the contrary, it covers any variants thereof, and in
particular:
variants in which the expiry date F corresponding to each appliance is not
recorded per se in the appliance, but is recorded in indirect form, e.g.
defined by the combination of a subscription starting date and a
subscription length running from the starting date;
variants in which subscription renewals obtained by replacing the expiry
date recorded in the memory 11 with a later date are performed by means of
signals that are not transmitted over an electromagnetic path, but over a
wire;
variants in which recordings and comparisons relating to the encoded
appliance identification signals and the encoded signals representing the
dates are grouped together rather than being separate as is assumed above
with reference to the circuits 8 and 10; and
variants in which special codes are allocated to signals for recording
repeat subscriptions and/or check signals in order to avoid any risk of
fraud.
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