GB2169121A

GB2169121A - Collection meter for cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards

Info

Publication number: GB2169121A
Application number: GB08530130A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Arnold Eberli; Rolf Erismann; Peter Wullschleger
Original assignee: Landis and Gyr AG; LGZ Landis and Gyr Zug AG
Current assignee: Siemens Building Technologies AG; Landis and Gyr AG
Priority date: 1984-12-20
Filing date: 1985-12-06
Publication date: 1986-07-02
Also published as: NL8503470A; CH664226A5; DE3543067A1; GB8530130D0; GB2169121B; BE903928A; FR2575312B1; FR2575312A1

Abstract

A collection meter comprises a reading head (2) for reading prepaid value cards (1), a value cancellation head (3), a control means (4), a non-volatile memory (8) with a credit register (9), a display device (6), an electricity meter (15) and a cut-off switch (16). In a first mode of operation of the collection meter, the validity of the value card (1) is checked and displayed at the display device (6), the value of the value card (1) is cancelled and the credit register (9) is incremented by a unit of value. In a second mode of operation, the validity of the value card (1) is also checked and displayed, but the value of the value card (1) is not cancelled and the credit register (9) is not incremented. This permits checking of the validity and authenticity of the value cards (1) and the operability of the collection meter. Either a service card or a switch can be used to switch over the mode of operation. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICAtlON Collection meter for cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards The present invention relates to a collection meter for the cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards on which at least one unit of value is stored.

A meter using prepaid value cards is disclosed in the Journal "Neues aus der Tech nik," 1.2.1977, page 3. Operation of such a meter in the proper manner depends on both the meter and the cards used being in a satisfactory condition. In the event of a complaint from a customer to the effect that the cards that the customer is using are not being accepted by the meter, it was hitherto necessary for the meter to be dismantled and checked in the factory. If it was then found that the meter was operating correctly, the defect had to be sought in the cards used by the customer, and it was necessary to prove to the customer either that the cards were forged or had become useless as a result of improper handling.

According to the invention there is provided a collection meter for the cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards on which at least one unit of value is stored, the meter comprising a receiving slot for receiving a value card, a reading head for reading out information stored on the value card, a value cancellation head for cancelling the unit of value, and a control means connected to the reading head, the value cancellation head, an electricity meter and a cut-off switch, wherein the control means is connected to a credit register and to a display device and can be switched from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation and is operable such that in both modes of operation the validity of the value card inserted into the receiving slot is checked on the basis of the information stored thereon and is displayed by the display means, that in the first mode of operation the credit register is incremented by a value corresponding to the unit of value and the unit of value is cancelled, and that in the second mode of operation the credit register is not incremented and the cancellation head is inoperative.

A collection meter according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is capable of checking both the meter and also the cards, directly at the location of installation of the meter.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a basic circuit diagram of a collection meter according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows a value card usable in the meter of Fig. 1; Figure 3 shows a service card usable in the meter of Fig. 1; Figure 4 shows an emergency credit card usable in the meter of Fig. 1; and Figure 5 shows a diagram explaining the operation of the circuit of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, a prepaid value card 1 is shown on which one or more units of value is or are stored for example in the form of markings which are encoded by optical-diffraction means. The housing of the meter has a receiving slot (not shown) for receiving such a card 1. A reading head 2 is provided for reading out the information stored on the card 1, while a value cancellation head 3 is provided for cancelling the units of value. A control device 4, preferably a microcomputer, is connected to the reading head 2, the cancellation head 3, a push button 5, an optical display device 6 and an acoustic display member 7.

Associated with the control means 4 is a nonvolatile memory 8 which comprises a credit register 9, an emergency credit register 10, at least one tariff register 11, a basic charge register 12, a memory cell i3 and a further memory cell 14. An electricity meter 1 5 measures the electrical energy supplied and delivers what are referred to as fixed-amount pulses to the control means 4; the frequency of the fixed-amount pulses is proportional to the electrical power of the electrical consumer measured by the electricity meter 15. Disposed in the circuit of the electricity meter 15 is a shut-off switch 16 which is controlled by the control means 4 and which switches on or switches off the supply of power.

Fig. 2 shows a value card 1 on which a code A is recorded for example in the form of markings which are readable by optical-diffraction means. The code A identifies the card as a value card and represents a single unit of value. Such value cards 1 can be obtained by the user of the collection meter, in return for payment.

Fig. 3 shows a service card 17 which differs from the value card 1 in that the markings which are effective by optical-diffraction means form the code B. Finally, Fig. 4 shows an emergency credit card 1 8 with the code C.

Service cards 18 and emergency credit cards 18 are only issued to persons authorised in that respect, for example servicing personnel, and are not available to the public.

The reading head 2 of the meter is of such a design that it can check the authenticity of the information stored on the inserted card 1, 17 or 18 and can read out and recognise the code A, B or C. The technology of such information storage and read-out means is known and is therefore not described in detail herein.

When the meter is handed over to the user thereof, the credit register 9 is generally empty and the applicable tariff is stored in the tariff register 11. When the user inserts a valid value card 1 into the receiving slot and the reading head 2 recognises the code A, the optical display device 6 provides a display showing that the value card 1 has been accepted and the acoustic display member 7 produces a short buzzing sound. In a first mode of operation of the control means 4, it energises the value cancellation head 3 whereby the unit of value on the card 1 is erased for example thermally whereby the value of the value card 1 is cancelled. The control means 4 also increments the credit register 9 by one unit of value. The cancelled value card 1 can now be removed again from the receiving slot. The content of the credit register 9 is displayed on the display device 6.The above-depicted procedure may be reported as frequently as may be desired, by introducing a further valid value card 1.

As will be shown hereinafter, the content of the credit register 9 may be made up of a credit which is introduced hy cancelling the value of value cards 1, and an emergency credit which is awarded to the user. The content of the credit register 9 is always referred to as the credit hereinafter, for the sake of simplicity.

As soon as the content of the credit register 9 is positive and thus a given credit is available, the control means 4 energises the switch 16, the switch 16 c,oses the circuit to the electrical consumers (not shown) and electrical power can be consumed. As already mentioned, the electricity meter 15 measures the electrical power supplied and produces fixed-amount pulses which pass to the control means 4 and which decrement the credit register 9 in proportion to the power supplied and in proportion to the applicable tariff. If the content of the credit register 9 falls to a value zero, the switch 16 opens and the consumption of power is blocked.

The control means 4 may be switched over to a second mode of operation which serves on the one hand to check value cards 1 in respect of authenticity and validity and on the other hand to check the collection meter in respect of operability. In that second mode of operation, as in the first mode of operation, the authenticity and validity of the inserted value card 1 is first checked on the basis of the information stored thereon, the code A is read out and, if the checking operation is successful, acceptance of the value card 1 is displayed optically and/or acoustically. Thereafter however the value cancellation head 3 remains inoperative and the credit card 9 is not incremented. The display of acceptance of the value card 1 shows that on the one hand the value card 1 is valid and on the other hand the collection meter is operable insofar as it can accept a valid value card 1.

The control means 4 may be switched over from one mode of operation to the other, for example by means of a switch which is to be actuated manually but which is not shown in the drawing. It is particularly advantageous for the control means 4 to be switched over from the first mode of operation to the second mode of operation by means of the service card 17, and for the control means 4 to be fitted with a timer (not shown) for automatically returning it to the first mode of operation. If a service card 17 is inserted into the receiving slot instead of a value card 1 and if the reading head 2 recognises the code B, then the control means 4 automatically switches over into its second mode of operation, that is to say, the value cancellation head 3 is rendered inoperative and the credit register 9 is not incremented.After that, the service card 17 can be removed and a value card 1 can be inserted for checking purposes. The timer is reset whenever a card 1 or 17 is inserted. If no card 1 or 17 is inserted within a predetermined period of time, the timer switches the control means 4 into the first mode of operation in which inserted valid value cards 1 can again be cancelled.

If a service card 17 is inserted into the receiving slot, the reading head 2 recognises the code B and the control means 4 is thus switched over into the second mode of operation, the content of the credit register 9, the emergency credit register 10, the tariff register 11 and the basic charge register 12 can be altered by means of a programming device which is to be connected to the control means 4. The push button 5 can serve as the programming device. First brief actuation of the push button 5 causes the content of the first register which can be accessed, for example the credit register 9, to appear at the display device 6. If the push button 5 is again actuated briefly, the display device 6 shows the content of the emergency credit register, and so forth.If the push button is pressed for longer than for example one second, then the first digit 6a of the display begins to flash; by repeated brief actuation of the push button, that digit of the respective register 9, 10, 11 or 12 can be programmed. The further digits 6b, 6c . . are programmed in the same fashion.

A less time-consuming method of programming the registers 9 to 12 can be performed by means of a portable programming apparatus 19. The programming apparatus 19 is advantageously equipped with a microcomputer which controls the programming procedure, and it has a transmitter-receiver 20 which, together with a transmitter-receiver 21 connected to the control means 4 of the collection meter, forms an optical-electrical interface 22.

In the event that the credit stored in the credit register 9 is running low, the user does not at that time have any valid value cards 1 but nonetheless would like to continue to have a supply of power, an emergency credit is available but generally on one occasion only, the level of such emergency credit being for example five units of value and being stored in the emergency credit register 10.

That enmergency credit can only be triggered off when the credit stored in the credit register 9 has fallen below a limit value of for example five units of value. A display element 6d of the display device 6 serves to display the availability of the emergency credit. The emergency credit can be triggered off by actuating an emergency credit triggering element, in the illustrated embodiment by pressing the push button 5.

Triggering of the emergency credit has the effect that the display element 6d is extinguished and the credit register 9 is incremented by the content of the emergency credit register 10. The memory cell 13 is also set and thereby triggering of the emergency credit is stored in such a way that that information cannot become lost. While, when the emergency credit has not been triggered, the content of the credit register 9 is displayed at the display device 6 in a permanent fashion, the digits 6a to 6c now flash, that is to say, when the emergency credit has been taken the content of the credit register 9 is displayed in an intermittent mode.That clearly shows the user that the digits 6a to 6c no longer display the effective credit, that is to say, the credit introduced by virtue of the value cards 1, but instead they display a notional credit which is made up of the sum of the effective credit and the emergency credit.

If now the push button 5 is actuated, the display device shows the content of the credit register 9, reduced by the amount of the emergency credit, that is to say, the display device displays the effective credit which may still be positive (credit) or which may already be negative (debit). A display element 6e serves to display the sign of the credit amount. When the notional credit drops to zero, the switch 16 opens and the power supply is cut off.

The emergency credit, once it has been brought into use, can be restored by cancelling the value of a sufficient number of valid value cards 1, thus, in the specific embodiment described herein, by cancelling five value cards; in that way, the memory cell 13 is erased again and the flashing display of the notional credit changes to a continuous display of the effective credit.

Reference will now be made to Fig. 5 which shows the content of the credit register 9 in dependence on time, to provide for understanding the mode of operation of the abovedescribed collection meter in greater depth.

Up to the time t1, the content of the credit register 9 is zero. The character E indicates that emergency credit is available, as is indicated by the display element 6d (Fig. 1). At time t1, six value cards 1 are successively introduced into the collection meter and the value thereof is cancelled. The content of the credit register 9 is now six units of value. In the period t to t7, power is continuously consumed and the credit register 9 is decremented accordingly. In the period t, to t2, emergency credit is unavailable as the credit is higher than the selected limit value of five units of value. At time t2, the credit falls below that limit value and emergency credit is then available.At time t3, a value card 1 is introduced and the value thereof is cancelled, whereby the content of the credit register 9 is incremented by one unit of value. At time t4, the emergency credit is triggered and the credit register 9 is incremented by the amount of five units of value, which is stored in the emergency credit register 10. In the period t4 to t7, the display device shows the flashing display in respect of the notional credit, which is indicated by the character b in Fig. 5. The effective credit (character o in Fig. 5) can also be displayed by pressing the push button 5 in the period t4 to t7. At time t5, the effective cedit becomes negative, which is indicated by the display element 6e. Cancellation of a value card 1 at time t6 is insufficient to pay the energency credit which has been used.At time t7, the notional credit reaches the value zero, the display device 6 shows a debit of five units of value and the switch 16 is opened until at time t8, the emergency credit is paid, the switch 16 is closed again and emergency credit is again available.

The emergency credit card 1 8 is used to programme the collection meter in such a way that the energency credit can be triggered more than once, for example three times.

When a person who is authorised in this respect inserts an emergency credit card 18 into the collection meter and the reading head 2 recognises the code C, the memory cell 14 is set. Thst causes a permanent change in the mode of operation of the collection meter in such a way that the memory cell 13 is not already set when the emergency credit is triggered off for the first time, but instead it is set only at the third successive triggering of an emergency credit, each consisting of five units of value. After multiple emergency credit of that kind has been triggered off, the debit must be paid back by cancellation of value cards 1 before emergency credit is made available again.

If the collection meter is to levy a basic or standing charge which is independent of the actual amount of power consumed and which is for example two units of value per month, then that charge is written into the standing charge register 12 when the collection meter is programmed. A clock which is integrated into the control means 4 periodically decrements the credit register 9, for example every two hours, by an amount which is determined by the content of the standing charge register 12.

Advantageously, integrated into the control means 4 is a tariff time switch which causes a change in tariff at times which can be preprogrammed by means of the push button 5 or the programming device 19. Instead of a tariff time switch, it is also possible for a receiver for the wireless reception of tariff signais to be connected to the control means 4.

Claims

1. A collection meter for the cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards on which at least one unit of value is stored, the meter comprising a receiving slot for receiving a value card, a reading head for reading out information stored on the value card, a value cancellation head for cancelling the unit of value, and a control means connected to the reading head, the value cancellation head, an electricity meter and a cutoff switch, wherein the control means is connected to a credit register and to a display device and can be switched from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation and is operable such that in both modes of operation the validity of the value card inserted into the receiving slot is checked on the basis of the information stored thereon and is displayed by the display means, that in the first mode of operation the credit register is incremented by a value corresponding to the unit of value and the unit of value is cancelled, and that in the second mode of operation the credit register is not incremented and the cancellation head is inoperative.

2. A meter according to claim 1, wherein a first code stored on the value card and a second code stored on a service card can be read selectively by the same reading head and the control means can be switched into the second mode of operation when the second code is detected and can be switched back into the first mode of operation by a timer.

3. A meter according to claim 1, wherein the mode of operation of the control means can be switched by means of a manually actuable switch.

4. A meter according to claim 2, wherein the control means is connected to an emergency credit register, at least one tariff register, a basic charge register and a programming means, and the contents of the registers can be altered by means of the programming means when the second code is detected.

5. A meter according to claim 4, wherein the programming means comprises a portable programming apparatus which can be connected to the control means by way of an optical-electrical interface.

6. A meter according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an emergency credit triggering element is connected to the control means, and the control means is operable upon actuation of the emergency credit triggering element to increment the credit register by the content of the emergency credit register, and wherein the meter comprises a memory cell which is set when the emergency credit is triggered and which is erased again when the emergency credit is paid by cancellation of value cards, the display device having a display element for displaying the availability of emergency credit.

7. A meter according to claim 6, wherein a third code which is stored on an emergency credit card can be read by the reading head, and the control means is such that when the third code is detected a further memory cell is set and thereby an emergency credit is available for a plurality of times.

8. A meter according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the control means is operable, when emergency credit is available, to cause the display device uninterruptedly to display the content of the credit register, when emergency credit is triggered, to cause the display device intermittently to display the content of the credit register, and when emergency credit is triggered and the emergency credit triggering element is actuated, to cause the display device to display the content of the credit register reduced by the amount of the emergency credit.

9. A meter according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the credit register is decremented by a predetermined amount at predetermined intervals of time.

10. A meter according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control means is a microcomputer with an integrated tariff timeswitch.

11. A meter according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control means is connected to a receiver for wirelessly receiving tariff signals.

12. A collection meter for the cashless supply of electrical power by means of prepaid value cards on which at least one unit of value is stored, the meter being substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing.