Patent ID: 7587332

Claim:
A method for processing credit for a contactless stored value card associated with a transportation system, the method comprising: uniquely recognizing the contactless stored value card at a ticket vending machine, wherein the contactless stored value card comprises a semiconductor chip; receiving compensation from a user, wherein the compensation is for a credit, wherein the credit comprises: a monetary amount, an amount of usage, and/or a period where usage is available; determining with the ticket vending machine that the credit was not properly recorded to increase the stored value on the contactless stored value card; reporting to a central control system of the transportation system from the ticket vending machine that the credit was not loaded to the contactless stored value card; determining with a processor of the transportation system a plurality of locations, which is a subset of possible locations that can load the credit to the contactless stored value card; sending from the central control system to the plurality of locations an indication that the contactless stored value card should be loaded with the credit, wherein: a location is part of the plurality of locations, and each of the plurality of locations comprises a contactless stored value card writer configured to automatically load credits to the contactless stored value card; increasing the plurality of locations to include additional possible locations should the contactless stored value card not be encountered after a predetermined period of time; receiving at the location of the transportation system an indication that the credit should be loaded if the contactless stored value card is encountered at the location, wherein: the ticket vending machine is a crediting location and the location is an access point of the transportation system; and the contactless stored value card is configured to record the credit that affects any stored value associated with the contactless stored value card; uniquely recognizing the contactless stored value card at the location, wherein: the contactless stored value card stores information securely, and the information includes the credit; automatically loading the credit onto the contactless stored value card at the location, wherein: the stored value of the contactless stored value card increases due to the automatically loading, and the automatically loading the credit is performed offline without querying the central control system; determining if the credit was previously loaded onto the contactless stored value card; and avoiding the automatically loading of the credit based upon the outcome from the determining if the credit was previously loaded.