Patent ID: 6026367
Filing Date: 2000-02-15
Classification: G06Q,G07B,G07F

Abstract:
A method of cash card billing with the aid of parking or pay meters when parking a vehicle, including a meter system which includes a plurality of pay meters each constituting an independent operative unit, wherein the meters are equipped with a cash card reader and wherein a person parking a vehicle finds a meter and with the aid of the cash card reader feeds-in to the pay meter information from the cash card including at least the cash card account number, said method comprising the steps of:a. reading the cash card account number in a first pay meter and storing the cash card account number and a parking commencement time in a memory in the first pay meter,b. issuing a parking ticket on which a transaction number, the cash card account number, and the parking commencement time are recorded in a machine-readable form,c. when terminating a parking period, reading the machine-readable information on the parking ticket in a second pay meter which can be any chosen pay meter in the pay meter system including the first pay meter,d. storing in a memory in the second pay meter the transaction number read by the second pay meter from the parking ticket together with the parking termination time, wherein the transaction number includes the cash card account number and the parking commencement time;e. transferring the memory contents of each pay meter to a memory of a central computer; andf. billing respective cash cards on the basis of the cash card account number, the parking commencement time, and the parking termination time stored in the memory of the pay meter last used by a person terminating a parking period.