Portable parking meter device and method of operating same

Claim 1

A parking meter device, comprising, in combination, a portable registering device and an exchangeable card to be used in connection therewith for a plurality of parkings and parking authorities, said card comprising means for storing and transmitting to said registering device data defining a parking time purchased with said card and not yet used, said registering device comprising means for selecting and registering therein, for each of said parkings, signals identifying a designated parking authority which is to be credited with a parking fee for a parking and a tariff associated with a parking lot, means for measuring an elapsed parking time, means for multiplying said elapsed parking time by said tariff to calculate a parking payment to be credited to said designated authority for said parking, means for transmitting to said card information defining said designated authority and said parking payment, said card comprising means for storing said information for future use, and further comprising apparatus for reading the information stored in the card and for determining from said information and for each of said parkings the designated authority and the parking payment to be credited to said authority.