Abstract:
The invention concerns a system for issuing and managing offence tickets comprising a portable input device provided to the policeman for recording therein data concerning the contravening vehicle, a ticket medium to be issued to the vehicle owner and adapted to be inserted in the input device for recording therein input data from the input device, and an accession device provided with a display screen and means for inserting the tickets medium to enable the vehicle owner to access data concerning the offence displayed on the screen. The ticket medium consists of an unalterable tamper-resistant smart card and clipping means enabling the policeman to clip the card on the wiper arm, such that the card is not damaged by rain and cannot be easily removed after it has been clipped.

Description:
This application is a U.S. national stage of International Application PCT/FR98/02509 filed Nov. 24, 1998. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention concerns the establishment and the payment of offence tickets issued by policemen in charge of ticketing vehicles parked illegally on public thoroughfares or guilty of other traffic offences, and relates particularly to an automated system for issuing and managing these offence tickets. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Currently, in France, the ticketing of vehicles on public thoroughfares by a police officer or traffic warden is carried out by manually filling in the date, time and parking location, as well as vehicle-related information such as the license number, make, etc. Once completed, the ticket is placed under the vehicle&#39;s windshield wiper. When in possession of this document, the owner of the ticketed vehicle pays the fine by buying a fine stamp in a tobacconist&#39;s shop. The stamp is then pasted on the ticket and sent to the Public Treasury. 
     Actually, this system presents several disadvantages. Specifically, the police officer who issued the ticket is faced with a tedious and time-consuming task as he must fill in, by hand and in duplicate, all of the information on the ticket and in the ticket book. This takes a considerable amount of time and is not particularly efficient. Furthermore, the administrative processing of the tickets is very difficult to manage. 
     Another major disadvantage stems from the fact that the ticket is placed under the vehicle&#39;s windshield wiper. If it rains once the ticket is placed on the vehicle&#39;s windshield, it becomes wet or even soaked, difficult to handle and often altered, making it unusable for the payment operation. In addition, as the tickets are simply placed under the windshield wiper, they are sometimes removed as a joke or removed by dishonest motorists who place the ticket under the windshield wiper of their own vehicle in an attempt to avoid having a police officer place a ticket on it thinking that the vehicle has already been ticketed. In such cases, the ticketed motorist is not aware that he/she received a ticket and will thus have to pay a higher fine when claimed at a later date, thereby increasing the already high volume of disputed tickets. 
     An offence ticket processing system described in patent application FR-A-2.665.779 enables a certain number of the above-mentioned disadvantages to be solved. This system consists of a portable self-contained terminal featuring an alphanumeric keyboard, a screen and a printer capable of printing a barcode on the traffic ticket entered by the police officer using the keyboard. A microcomputer in the police station is connected to the portable terminals via a connecting cable for the purpose of collecting and processing the information gathered by the police officer. A payment terminal, also located in the police station, features a ticket reader enabling the vehicle owner to pay his/her fine. 
     Unfortunately, insofar as the system described in document FR-A-2.665.779 still uses tickets made of paper or other alterable material, the disadvantage of having the ticket ruined by rain still exists, particularly as the alteration of one or more bars of the barcode is all that would be necessary to make it unusable in case of rain. 
     In the same manner, this type of ticket can still be easily removed from the ticketed vehicle and placed on another vehicle. Another disadvantage inherent to this type of system is due to the use of a printer which is either bulky and heavy or miniaturized and thus not very reliable. In all cases, the printer is liable to breakdown as it operates in an environment subjected to inclement weather. Finally, the barcodes can be easily falsified by an offender who wants to add or remove bars, thus making way to unacceptable forging possibilities in this sensitive application field, the implementation of which must be based on total security and reliability. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This is why an object of the invention is to provide a system for issuing and managing offence tickets which uses an unalterable tamper-resistant smart card type electronic support for recording the offence ticket data. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a system for issuing and managing offence tickets using a support which can be clipped onto the violating vehicle&#39;s windshield wiper so as to discourage anyone other than the vehicle owner from removing said support. 
     The invention is thus a system for issuing and managing offence tickets comprising a portable input device provided to the police officer in charge of ticketing a contravening vehicle for recording therein data concerning the vehicle, a ticket medium to be issued to the vehicle owner and adapted to be inserted in the input device for recording therein input data relative to the vehicle, entered by the police officer using the portable input device, and a viewing device provided with a display screen and means for inserting the ticket medium to enable the vehicle owner to access data concerning the offence displayed on the screen. The ticket medium consists of an unalterable tamper-resistant smart card in which the information entered by the police officer is recorded and clipping means enabling the police officer to clip the card on the wiper arm, such that the card is not damaged by rain and cannot be easily removed after it has been clipped. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The purposes, objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram which schematically represents all of the elements of the system for issuing and managing offence tickets according to the invention, 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart representing the operations to be performed in the system according to the invention, as shown in  FIG. 1 , 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  represent an initial embodiment of the electronic ticket card used in the system according to the invention, 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  represent a second embodiment of the electronic ticket card used in the system according to the invention and, 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  represent a third embodiment of the electronic ticket card used in the system according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As depicted diagrammatically in  FIG. 1 , the police officer (or traffic warden)  10  is equipped with an input device  12  enabling him/her to issue a contravening vehicle  16  a ticket card  14  which is a clippable electronic card of smart card type, this unalterable tamper-resistant card comprising the essential element of the system for issuing and managing offence tickets according to the invention. The input device  12  is in the form of a small hand-held unit, for example 20 cm long, 10 cm wide and 3 cm thick. It is equipped with a hermetic alphanumeric keyboard, a screen with two lines having 16 characters each, a card on which the electronic components are mounted, a rechargeable battery, a date/time stamping function and a smart card reader/recorder for the card type  14 . It enables complex security algorithms to be computed in complementarity with those of the card  14 , and corresponding certificates to be written. 
     The offense ticket medium  14  is a plastic smart card which is rendered unalterable and tamper-resistant by the use of complex algorithms and the storage of information in tamperproof zones, in which it is possible to record or read data. Preferably, the card is disposable, non-reusable, fully protected, especially from being copied. Providing these features is the only means of ensuring totally secure data processing. 
     The operation of the system according to the invention illustrated in  FIG. 1  is depicted by the flow diagram represented in FIG.  2 . Firstly, the data is entered ( 30 ) by the police officer or traffic warden who inputs the information by means of the keyboard of the portable input device  12 . This information includes the vehicle type, make, the license number, the date, time, the type and nature of the offence, the fine, his/her identification number and the offence ticket number. 
     This information is then recorded ( 32 ) on the card  14  which the police officer inserts into the reader of the input device  12 . Once the recording operation is completed, he/she removes the card from the portable input device  12  and clips it on the windshield wiper of the contravening vehicle ( 34 ) by a clipping means as described below. 
     At the end of his/her duty period, the police officer or the traffic warden returns to the police station where he/she connects ( 36 ) his/her portable input device  12  to a data acquisition terminal  20  which could be a simple docking station where the connection is established when the input device is placed on it. When the connection is established, the data entered by the police officer at the time of entering the information relative to the offence tickets is automatically transmitted ( 38 ) to a collection center where it is stored in a follow-up file for a certain period of time (preferably 3 or 4 days). Access to this follow-up file is only authorized to duly empowered individuals, such as police commissioners for example. In this manner, a police commissioner may be lenient on an offender and remove the offence from the follow-up file during this storage period. 
     Once the storage period in the follow-up file has terminated, the information is automatically transmitted ( 40 ) to a processing unit  24 . It should be noted that several processing units may exist. 
     Upon returning to the vehicle, the vehicle owner recovers the card  14  by unclipping it from the windshield wiper and consults it ( 42 ) by means of a viewing device  18  which may be located in a tobacconist&#39;s shop or in a tax office. Such a device includes a display screen on which all of the information concerning the offence is displayed as soon as the ticket card is inserted into the slot provided for this purpose. It should be noted that the viewing devices may also be consultation terminals installed in strategic locations such as service stations, supermarkets, parking lots, etc. 
     A viewing device  18  may also be used to allow the offender, or any other person in possession of the ticket card, to pay the fine. In the case where this payment may be made ( 44 ), the person responsible for collecting the payment at the tobacconist&#39;s shop or tax office records ( 46 ) this payment in the viewing (and payment) device  18  and a receipt is issued to the person making the payment. It should be noted that if the viewing device is a payment terminal, payment can only be made by bank card. In the case where the viewing device does not also serve as a payment terminal, payment may be made by either purchasing a fine stamp which is pasted on the ticket card before being sent ( 48 ) by mail to the collection center, or by sending a check and the offence ticket or any other appropriate means of payment. 
     The fines collected with a viewing (and payment) device  18  are preferably transmitted to the collection center at night when the place of payment is closed. In this last case, each payment, whether made by one of the viewing and payment devices or by sending the ticket card with its fine stamp or check, removes the offence from the follow-up file  22  if payment is made during the storage period, or is transferred to the processing unit  24  concerned at the end of this period. In addition to receiving fine payments, it should be noted that the role of the processing unit  24  is to send out reminders and apply late fees for payment delays and to handle information requests and appeals. 
     In order to prevent it from being removed too easily from the windshield of the contravening vehicle, the ticket card is equipped with a clipping means described below. 
     According to an initial embodiment, which is not restrictive, illustrated in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the ticket card  14  includes an opening  50  having a slot  52  continuing down its side. A special cut-out  54  is made at the outside end of this slot on the edge of the card. 
     The card is clipped by pressing the special cut-out  54  against the wiper arm  55 . The cut-out makes separating the slot  52  easier and facilitates the installation by pivoting the card on the wiper arm until the arm is fully within the orifice  50 . The type of material used to make these cards enables its deformation characteristics to be used in attaching it to the wiper arm  55 . The stiffness of the material provides efficient means of clipping the card onto the wiper arm. 
     According to a second embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 4A and 4B , the card  14  is prolonged by a tab  56 . An opening  58  and a slot  60  are cut in this card. A frangible zone  62  is created on the tab through a perforated line  64  having special notches  66  at each end enabling the tab portion  56  to be separated from the rest of the card when a certain amount of force is applied. The end of tab features a rounded penetration head  68  preceded by two flat sections  70  used to block the tab. The head  68  is larger that the diameter of the orifice  58 . The width of the tab in front of the blocking flat sections  70  is slightly less than the diameter of the orifice  58 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4B , the rounded head  68  has returned to the same plane as the rest of the card. The respective dimensions of each component part of the assembly enabled this operation. The head was only able to enter the orifice  58  owing to the slot  60 . The assembly is locked in place by the two flat sections  70 . In this manner, as the tab  56  has been previously placed around the wiper arm  55 , the assembly becomes solidly attached to the latter. To remove the ticket card from the arm  55 , one simply has to pull on the card. The two special notches direct the traction force toward the perforations  64  causing the tab  56  to tear and separate from the rest of the card and thus preventing its future reuse. According to a third embodiment illustrated by  FIGS. 5A and 5B , the card  14  includes a downward-pointing V-shaped slot  72 , thereby creating a flap  74  which is slightly mobile owing to the card&#39;s plastic material. This card is prolonged by a tab  76 . It is terminated by a variable-shaped head  78 , either rounded or pointed, and equipped with two blocking flat sections  80 . As described in the previous case, a frangible zone  82  is created. The card is attached by inserting the head  78  underneath the mobile flap  74  owing to the special downward-pointing V-shaped slot  72  which enables this maneuver. Locking takes place automatically by pulling on the tab  76 . The tab is separated from the rest of the card at the frangible zone  82  which includes the means preventing the card from being reused consisting of notches  84  and perforations  86 .