United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,724,520 Goheen 45 Date of Patent: Mar
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IIIUSOO5724520A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,724,520 Goheen 45 Date of Patent: Mar. 3, 1998 54 ELECTRONICTICKETING AND "Airline Tickets Not Ready to Bow Out Just Yet" Business RESERVATION SYSTEMAND METHOD Travel News, Jul. 12, 1993 p. 12. 75 Inventor: Joel R. Goheen, Boca Raton, Fla. ATT Units Developing "Smart Card' ATMs-Reuter News wire (Dec. 9, 1992). (73) Assignee: Anthony W. Pugliese, Boca Raton, Fla. (21) Appl. No.: 342,658 Primary Examiner-Gail O. Hayes Assistant Examiner-George N. Stevens (22 Filed: Nov. 21, 1994 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Malin, Haley, DiMaggio & Related U.S. Application Data Crosby 63 Continuation of Ser, No. 74,072, Jun. 8, 1993, abandoned. 57 ABSTRACT (51) int. Cl. ....................... G06F 17/60 52 U.S. C. .................... ... 395/205: 395/201 A method and system of issuing an electronic authorization (58) Field of Search .................................... 364/401. 402, and validation for pre-scheduled activities such as airline 364/407: 235/275, 380,381.382 reservations to eliminate paper tickets. The passenger makes the reservation and allows a reservation operation center to 56) References Cited charge the passengers credit card company. A reservation U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS number is issued in the computer. The passenger utilizes a plastic I.D. card that accesses computer for validation pur 4,298.793 11/1981 Melis et al. poses. An automatic teller machine, at the airport, allows the 4,449,186 5/1984 Kelly et al. 4,794530 12/1988 Yukiura et al. passenger to receive specific flight information, departure 4,818,854 4/1989 Davies et al. gate information and the like by the insertion of the I.D. 4,896.209 /1990 Matsuzak et al. card. A mobile airline communications system at the depar 4.931,932 6/1990 Dalnekoff et al., 5.247,160 9/1993 Zicker. ture gate includes a cellular telephone network connected to 5,253,166 10/1993 Dettelbach et al. a lap top computer and a magnetic card reader that provides validation of the reservation and payment to an airline FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS employee at the departure which allows the passenger to 60-146360 8/1985 Japan. board the aircraft. The system may be utilized for hotel OTHER PUBLICATIONS reservations, car rentals and other types of pre-scheduled, pre-payable activities that require authorization and valida Henderson, Dana K., "Automated Ticketing is it Finally Here". Air Transport World, V25, N8, p. 58. tion at each scheduled activity. "Airlines Eye Mag Stripe Vote", Tour & Travel News May 7, 1990, p. 29. 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets FLCHT RESERVATIONS odoocoogoosa of ooooooo to do no loc U.S. Patent Mar. 3, 1998 Sheet 1 of 3 5,724,520 (Q) @ KONBOWTRAWHL/H30NGSSVd U.S. Patent Mar. 3, 1998 Sheet 2 of 3 5,724,520 0&V0/MBIVOITWA U.S. Patent Mar. 3, 1998 Sheet 3 of 3 5,724,520 09 3NOHdBT3|| }}}}OMIEN 067 5,724.520 1 2 self-ticketing system. This system essentially continues the ELECTRONICTCKETING AND paper problem and is used for vending airline tickets. U.S. RESERVATION SYSTEMAND METHOD Pat. No. 4,298.793, issued to Melis et al. on Nov. 3, 1981, This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. shows a portable element, like a card, that stores and 5 provides reservation system information. None of these 08//074.072 filed Jun. 8, 1993 abandoned. systems focus particularly at validating a particular indi BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION vidual as to the fact that individual reservations have been made, individual payment has been made, and this indi 1. Field of the Invention vidual should be able to traverse through the system without The present invention relates to a system and method of 10 being mired in endless paper and waiting in lines. With the providing an electronic reservation and individual validation above problems causing much delay and loss of efficiency for various activities, including boarding a common carrier, due to the amount of clerical work involved in keeping an and more particularly, relates to a method and system to accurate account of the great numbers of paper tickets provide an electronic individual activities reservation and issued, the present invention was developed. validation, eliminating tickets and other paper receipts. A 15 plastic card may also be employed with an encoded mag SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION netic strip to identify the cardholder in lieu of a paper carbon ticket for fast and efficient check-in, boarding and access to The present invention is directed to a communication common carriers, hotels. and other activities. system and method to electronically, continuously validate an individual as to reservations and payment with respect to 2. Description of the Prior Art 20 various preplanned activities, such as airline travel, hotel Since the first days of common carriers such as commer stays, and car rental. The system connects a main computer cial airlines flight, the airlines have been burdened with the system storing basic information to mobile lap top indi job of making reservations and writing or printing out vidual computers at remote sites in order to exchange passenger tickets on paper. Although the airline ticket of personal database validation information for an individual today is printed on a special paper with a style difficult to 25 and preplanned activities. Reservations and payment infor counterfeit, the reservation and ticketing process has essen mation includes both sales control and holder validity at the tially remained the same. A passenger, either through the critical sites. Each mobile computer includes a card reader airline or ticket agent, pays for passage and a corresponding to expedite pass through of the individual at each process paper ticket is issued. This paper ticket is then surrendered check point. to persons at the departure gate upon entry onto the aircraft. 30 Likewise, in other industries, such as the hotel industry, the Using the airlines as an example, the present invention reservations system also includes check-in processing. method and system is now described. Typically, the common paperwork, and the issuance of keys to particular individuals carrier reservation process starts with a would be passenger traveling. contacting the airline via a travel agent or contacting the The fundamental problem is validating that a particular 35 airline directly through a toll free 800 telephone number. individual has reserved and prepaid for particular activities The airline reservation operator, who answers the call, or services, and that the particular individual continues to be provides flight availability information. Once the passenger valid throughout an activity process. whether making a elects to reserve passage, reservation information is reservation for an airline trip, boarding the aircraft, or obtained. This reservation information is basically the pas checking into a hotel and going to a particular room. There senger's personal identification (name and telephone are inherent problems in this process. Using the airlines as number) and the form of payment used. If a passenger elects an example, these include the burdens of making individual to pay by credit card, the airline main computer is designed reservations and payment, always having to have the correct and includes software to automatically seek and determine type and style paper ticket on hand for ticket printing, and authorization from the credit card company. If the passenger the inability for these tickets to be reused if mistakes occur 45 desires to make payment using the credit card method, the or flight changes are necessary which happen often. Further, airline main computer will transfer the funds and store the if a ticket is lost or a passenger misses a flight, an added passenger reservation information and assign an authorized dilemma occurs in that new tickets must be drawn up. reservation number. A cash or check payment at a travel Although a written record is usually available for the airline agency, once verified, will also result in a reservation and passenger, this process creates an added burden since the 50 number in the main computer. airline ticket agent must perform the task of checking and Upon the first, initial reservation, the passenger is issued determining the new and previous flight information for an identification plastic card and with a card number. The each new ticket. Moreover, the flight attendant at the depar plastic card is used for passenger identification and valida ture gate must gather and hold each ticket upon passenger tion. The card number only is encoded onto a magnetic strip boarding. Often, tickets get lost or are mixed with other 55 at the back of the plastic identification card. The card is flights, which requires tedious work and wasted time in mailed to the passenger with an itinerary and instruction locating, interpreting, and arranging the misplaced tickets. pamphlet attached. The instruction pamphlet informs the Even after tickets are collected at the gate, manual sorting is passenger of the proper use of the identification card upon often necessary to determine which passengers have boarded arrival at the airport. The identification card can be used the correct flight and which flights were at capacity and, again and again for different flights. therefore, profitable. The key problem is validating the At the airport, the passenger proceeds to a special iden reservation and payment of the individual throughout the tification card automatic teller machine (ATM). One or more process without slowing the process at particular check of these ATM are preferably placed throughout a designated points such as aircraft boarding. Similar problems exist in airline terminal. After identifying the machine, a passenger the hotel industry and the car rental industry. 65 passes or swipes the identification card through a magnetic Ticketing systems are known in the prior art.