Method of billing for parking facilities by means of pay meters

Claim 1

A method of cash card billing with the aid of meters when parking a vehicle, said method comprising the step of: a. providing a meter system which includes a plurality of meters, each constituting an independent operative unit, wherein the meters each include a cash card reader; b. inserting into the cash card reader of a first meter a cash card including at least a cash card account number; c. issuing a from the first meter at the commencement of a parking period a parking ticket subsequent to reading the cash card, said parking ticket including a meter-readable transaction number; d. storing in the first meter the cash card account number and a parking commencement time, and a first transaction number as a first transaction in a memory associated with the first meter, wherein the first transaction number is unique at least for a given predetermined time period; e. at the end of a parking period, inserting the parking ticket in a second meter which may be any chosen meter in the meter system, including the first meter; f. reading in the second meter the parking ticket first transaction number; g. storing in a memory associated with the second meter the first transaction number read from the parking ticket together with the time at which the ticket was read to provide a parking termination time and a second transaction having a second transaction number; h. transferring information contained in the memories associated with the first meter and the second meter to a memory of a central computer; i. combining in the central computer the respective transactions of the first and the second meters with the aid of the transaction numbers; and j. charging the cash card account number with a parking cost based on the vehicle parking commencement time and the parking termination time.

Claim 2

A method of cash card billing with the aid of meters when parking a vehicle, said method comprising the step of: a. providing a meter system which includes a plurality of meters, each constituting an independent operative unit, wherein the meters each include a cash card reader; b. inserting into the cash card reader of a first meter a cash card including at least a cash card account number; c. issuing a from the first meter at the commencement of a parking period a parking ticket subsequent to reading the cash card, said parking ticket including a meter-readable transaction number; d. storing in the first meter the cash card account number and a parking commencement time, and a first transaction number as a first transaction in a memory associated with the first meter, wherein the first transaction number is unique at least for a given predetermined time period; e. at the end of a parking period, inserting the parking ticket in a second meter which may be any chosen meter in the meter system, including the first meter; f. reading in the second meter the parking ticket first transaction number; g. storing in a memory associated with the second meter the first transaction number read from the parking ticket together with the time at which the ticket was read to provide a parking termination time and a second transaction having a second transaction number; h. transferring information contained in the memories associated with the first meter and the second meter to a memory of a central computer; i. combining in the central computer the respective transactions of the first and the second meters with the aid of the transaction numbers; and j. charging the cash card account number with a parking cost based on the vehicle parking commencement time and the parking termination time.