WO2009027607A2 - Method and system for providing services - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a system for providing services to a user equipped with a mobile terminal (3), the method comprising the following steps in the following order: the step of receiving, according to a first protocol (9) in the mobile terminal (3), a so-called location identifier (7) of a device (8) providing services and located in a place where the user (1) with the terminal (3) is situated; the step of transmitting (10) from the terminal (3) to a server (5), using a second telecommunication protocol, the location identifier together with a mobile terminal identifier; the step of establishing a correspondence in the server (5) between the location identifier and the terminal identifier; and the step of providing the service based on the established correspondence, the first protocol being different from the second protocol.

Description

 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING SERVICES

The present invention is in the field of reservation and the provision of services, and finds a particularly advantageous but non-limiting application in a paperless dematerialization system for shows, museums, travel, or any other type of event.

Currently, the most traditional ticketing system is for a potential buyer to go to a point of sale to buy an entry for any event. The proof of this purchase is then in the form of a paper ticket. Such a system has the major disadvantage of requiring a user to move to a point of sale, and then the conservation of the physical ticket to the day of the event.

To remedy this, we have seen in recent years the growing development of electronic ticketing systems, which consist of ordering a ticket by telephone, the Internet or by any other means. As part of the use of these systems, generally, a user makes the transaction purchase or lease remotely, and then simply remove his ticket to a terminal, or print at home, for example by connecting to a website. Such systems therefore have the advantage of avoiding a potential buyer to move to make his purchase, since it can be done remotely. This improvement, however, has limitations in that it always requires for a certain period of time, the possession of a physical ticket, which the user may misplace.

Another solution is to receive, directly on his mobile phone, a bar code representing the entrance ticket. This reception is performed, for example, in the form of a multimedia message, of MMS type. Thus, the day of an event for which a user has purchased a ticket, it is sufficient for him to present himself at the entrance of the concerned place with his mobile phone, where a person provided with a barcode reader will read the mobile phone screen, to validate the user input. Although having a significant improvement over existing systems, the latter system may have certain drawbacks, such as the unintentional erasure of the electronic ticket by the user, or confusion in the case where the user has ordered several tickets in same period, and where the mobile phone would contain several barcodes.

The present invention therefore aims to remedy, at least in part, the aforementioned drawbacks, by proposing a method for reserving and providing services to a user equipped with a mobile terminal, comprising in the following order the steps: - the step of receiving according to a first protocol, in the mobile terminal, an identifier, called location, of a service provider device located in a place where the user with the terminal is located,

the step of transmitting from the terminal to a server, using a second protocol, the location identifier, accompanied by an identifier of the mobile terminal

the step of establishing a correspondence, in the server, between the location identifier and the identifier of the terminal, and

the step of delivering the service according to the established correspondence. the first protocol being distinct from the second protocol.

The term mobile terminal refers to any communicating device such as a mobile phone, a PDA communicating type device, or a laptop with an Internet connection. All of the features described in the following description are generally applicable to any type of terminal, and are not restricted to a particular type of phone.

The service provider device is, for example, a window located at the entrance of a place hosting an event.

The delivery step of the service is then to let the user in the place, so that he can attend the event.

In the remainder of the description, the following terms will be used: a transaction designates an exchange between a user and an interface allowing the establishment of a right of a user with respect to a service provider location, this interface being, for example, an Internet shopping or rental portal for booking a service, - a correlation means all the data relating to the user and the transaction, associated in a database,

a correspondence designates the relation established by the server between a user and a place, from the correlation and data received concerning this user and this place, and

- the expression "reservation of a service" corresponds broadly to the claim of a right of the user in relation to a place or an object. Thus, this expression can be understood, in the classic sense, as the free or paid reservation of a place for an event, but also as the registration of an authorization to enter a place. For example, a company can create a server and give its employees access to parts of the premises based on their responsibilities. In this case, the reservation of a service corresponds to the registration of the infrastructures in which a user has the right to enter, and the method of providing services consists in letting the authorized persons who come to the entrance of a piece. Depending on the type of mobile terminal and the type of identifier used, the first protocol used by the mobile terminal to detect the location identifier may be chosen from the following protocols:

an optical protocol, in the case where the identifier is a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional bar code, and where the detection of this barcode by the mobile terminal consists of a photographic take, or a digitization of the code to bars by a video camera,

- a short-distance radio communication protocol, of the Bluetooth type,

a radio frequency identification protocol, of the RFID type. In this case, the identifier is a radio-tag, that is to say an electronic tag provided with an antenna for transmitting an identification frequency, and any other short-distance communications protocol.

An identifier of the mobile terminal is generally a number making it possible to identify either the equipment itself, for example the IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity), or the subscription card used in this terminal, for example the number of the mobile phone. terminal call within the framework of a telecommunications network, or an ISDN type number.

The second protocol, used for the transmission of the location identifier and the user identifier to the server, is, for example, a telecommunications protocol, or an Internet protocol. Thus, the transmission of the identifiers to the server can be carried out by one of the following means:

sending a text or multimedia message, of the SMS or MMS type via a GSM or UMTS telecommunications protocol, in the case of a mobile terminal having a connection

Internet, establishing a connection to an Internet page whose address (URL) is indicated by the location identifier, - transmission of the identifiers via a WAP technology. Thus, a method according to the invention allows a user to buy a ticket for an event, and to access this event without having to worry about the possession of a physical ticket.

For this purpose, in certain embodiments, the method comprises the following preliminary steps:

the step, for a user, of performing a transaction aimed at the reservation of a service, for example via a portal of purchase or rental on the Internet, and

the step of recording, in a database of the server, a correlation between the reserved service, the place or an identifier of the place of the service, and the user or an identifier of the user.

In this case, to establish the correspondence in the server between the location identifier and the identifier of the terminal, the method comprises the step of verifying the existence, in the database, of a valid correlation between the place or its identifier and the user or his identifier.

In addition, the method then comprises the step, before issuing the service, of transmitting to the mobile terminal or to the service provider device, a validation message confirming or informing the existence of this valid correlation. This validation message is, depending on the achievements, transmitted to the mobile phone and / or to a receiver located at the scene of the event.

Indeed, for the final confirmation phase of the ticket, several solutions can be envisaged:

the server sends a multimedia message, for example containing a bar code, to the user's telephone, and this barcode is read by a person at the entrance of the place and provided with a reader bar code,

the server sends a text message, for example containing a series of letters and / or digits forming a confirmation code, the server sends a message directly to a receiver at the scene of the event, indicating that the person at the location of the event entry actually bought a ticket for the event.

These different solutions can be used independently of each other, or coupled to increase the level of security of the process. Thus, in one embodiment, the server simultaneously sends, at the phone of the user and to a receiver at the scene of the event, a message containing a confirmation code. The comparison of the two codes then allows additional verification of the authenticity of the transaction. In some embodiments, the method includes the step, prior to transmitting the validation message, of verifying the validity of the correlation based on timestamp data.

Indeed, certain types of tickets, for example a ticket for a museum, can be valid for any day and time, and in this case the simple knowledge of the place and the user is enough to confirm the existence of a valid correlation. In other cases, for example for an entry to a concert or a play, the ticket purchased by a user is a specific representation. The date and time should then be taken into account to determine whether the user is allowed to enter, in order to prevent users from being allowed to enter a representation other than the one for which they have reserved.

In the present description, the term "location identifier" designates an identifier of the service provider device, that is to say for example an entrance window.

Thus, a physical place can be associated with several different identifiers, corresponding to several windows, or several entries. In this case, it is useful that the method comprises a step of determining, in the server, the location of the user from the location identifier and a database stored in the server.

This feature finds a particularly advantageous application in the case where the physical location is such that it can accommodate events for which the pricing can be either constant or variable depending on the place purchased. In this context, we can cite the example of a stadium that sometimes hosts games for which the entrance fee varies depending on the stand, but also concerts for which all seats are at the same price.

In this case, it is useful to have a different identifier at each door, or at each platform and, from this identifier of power determine the door to which the user is located, but also the physical location in general.

Moreover, it may also be useful, in some embodiments, to identify the user of the mobile phone from the identifier of the terminal and a database stored in the server. An application of this characteristic will be further detailed with the aid of figures.

In addition, in certain embodiments, the method comprises the step of including data indicating the number of persons involved in the transaction, during the transmission of the validation message.

Such data is necessary when the service provider offers users the possibility, during the pre-reservation stage, of making a reservation for several persons.

In one embodiment, the method comprises a final step of transmitting a consumption message of the transaction from the service providing device to the server.

On receipt of this consumption message from the transaction, the server performs, in certain cases, one or the other of the following operations: - no operation, in the case, for example, where the transaction concerned is in the frame a subscription,

- erase the correlation recorded in the database,

- maintaining the correlation but updating a field indicating the validity of the transaction.

The last action can find a particularly advantageous application in the case of regular events, or tickets that are not associated with timestamp data.

Indeed, in the case, for example, of a ticket to a museum, it is possible that a user is required to regularly buy the same ticket, it may be useful to keep a record of the correlation in the database and only change a validity field when the user buys a ticket, then consumes it, then buys a new one. In another application, the method can also be used to perform simultaneously the purchase of a service by a user and the provision of this service.

Thus, in one embodiment, the method comprises the following steps:

the step of receiving according to a first protocol, in the mobile terminal, an identifier, called a location, of a service provider device located in a location where the user equipped with the terminal is located; transmitting to a server, using a second telecommunications protocol, the location identifier, accompanied by an identifier of the mobile terminal, - the step of transmitting to the server a reservation instruction of a service associated with the identified place, - the step, for the server, to establish a correspondence between the location identifier and the identifier of the terminal, and - the step of issuing the service according to the established correspondence.

The first transmission protocol is distinct from the second protocol.

This embodiment will be referred to as a quick purchase method.

In the context of an advantageous implementation of this invention, the terminal is provided with a dedicated application, which allows the interface between the mobile terminal and the server.

This application makes it possible to manage different steps of the method corresponding to the exchange of messages between the mobile terminal and the server.

Thus, depending on the configurations, the method comprises one or more of the following steps:

the step of transmitting, simultaneously with the transmission of the identifiers, a request in order to obtain a list of services available in the identified location,

the step of receiving from the server such a list, the step for the user to choose a service from the list, which choice will be transmitted to the server as part of the instruction message.

the step for the terminal of transmitting a payment order of the service to the server.

This method thus advantageously overcomes all the disadvantages that may appear for the payment of certain services.

Indeed, in an embodiment comprising the step of transmitting a payment order, this order may take several forms: an order to debit an account associated with the user and recorded in a database of the server, this account having been previously credited by the user, - a micro-payment, ie a payment by sending a text message type SMS. In addition, this method comprises, in certain embodiments, one or more of all the steps described in the present application.

The invention also relates to a server comprising one or more of the following elements:

a database comprising data associating one or more location identifiers with one or more physical locations,

a database comprising personal data relating to one or more users,

a database comprising data relating to events,

a database comprising data relating to user transactions,

means for receiving data sent by a mobile terminal; means for receiving data sent by a service provider device;

means for searching stored databases,

means for transmitting a validation message from searched data in a database, and means for modifying data in a database.

The invention also relates to a system for locating and identifying a user, the system comprising: a mobile telephone terminal, belonging to the user, and provided with the following means: means for detecting an identifier of the place in which the user is located, o means of transmission of this identifier accompanied by an identifier of the mobile phone,

a server conforming to the server previously described. Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will become apparent with the description of some of these embodiments, this description being given without limitation, with the aid of the figures in which:

FIG. 1 represents a ticket purchase step by a user, prior to the implementation of a method according to the invention, and

- Figure 2 shows the implementation of a method according to the invention.

In an electronic ticket purchase process, a potential buyer 1 accesses a virtual ticket purchase portal. This access is effected, for example, via a computer 2 connected to the Internet, or via a mobile phone 3 having WAP or GPRS connection functionalities. It specifies here that the terms buyer and user refer to the same person throughout the description.

Through the purchase portal, the buyer performs all the classic ticket purchasing operations, namely:

- choice of event, - choice of date and time,

- communication of his contact details, and

- payment of the ticket.

In addition, through the purchase portal, the user can create and credit a monetary account, which can be used in connection with the use of a quick purchase process. When communicating the coordinates, the buyer is asked, to enable the implementation of a method according to the invention, to indicate a characteristic identifier of a mobile terminal belonging to it. This identifier is, for example, the phone number of his mobile phone, or the IMEI equipment number.

Some terminal identifiers, especially this IMEI number, are not easy to remember for a user. Consequently, for questions of ergonomics of the reservation service, it will generally be proposed to the user, at his first use, to create a profile in which he will indicate all his coordinates. This profile will be identified by a user name and a password, for example chosen by the user.

All these data will be stored in one or more databases 4 stored in a server 5, which makes it possible, during the implementation of the method of providing services, to identify the user from the identifier of the terminal mobile, and to determine the transactions made by that user, through his profile.

In order to reinforce the security of the method, in one embodiment, the characteristic identifier of the mobile terminal is transmitted to the server without ever appearing explicitly for the user.

For example, when creating a user profile, the server generates an intermediate code associated with the user profile. The mobile terminal then detects this intermediate code and transmits to the server a message containing both the intermediate code and the characteristic identifier of the terminal, unknown to the user.

On receipt of this message, the server establishes a correspondence between the intermediate code and the created user profile, and records the identifier of the terminal in the user profile.

This implementation advantageously avoids any piracy of the system since no one knows the characteristic identifier of the terminal.

In addition, the intermediate code is ephemeral, since it can only be used once. This intermediate code is, for example, a barcode photographed or scanned by the mobile terminal. If the user makes a purchase or reservation via the Internet portal, once the payment is made, and therefore once the transaction is validated, the server 5 stores in the database 4 a correlation representing the transaction, namely the place or an identifier of the place, the user, and possibly the date and time of the meeting for which the user has purchased a ticket.

As described above, the database can also contain correspondence tables between identifiers and a place. Indeed, in certain situations, it may be useful to have several identifiers for the same place. Thus, some venues can accommodate both events for which all seats are at the same price and events for which the rates vary according to the placement. Thus, thanks to the database, it is relatively easy to adapt the identification process to the situation, since it is not necessary to physically modify the identifiers of the place, it is sufficient to modify the matches in the database. of data.

At the level of the user, this ticket purchase system is very light, since it does not require any withdrawal, printing or storing of tickets. The user must only present himself at the entrance of the concerned place provided with the mobile terminal of which he provided an identifier during the transaction of purchase of the ticket.

Figure 2 illustrates an implementation of a method according to the invention.

A user 1, equipped with a mobile terminal 3, is in front of a physical place 6 in which a service delivery device 8 is installed. The device for providing services is, for example, an entrance wicket allowing access to the interior of the physical place.

The physical location includes an identifier 7 of the service providing device, for example a bar code, a radio tag, or a Bluetooth transmitter.

As previously mentioned in the description of the invention, the same physical location 6 may have several identifiers, corresponding for example to different doors.

When the user 2 is located near the identifier 7, for example at a distance of less than 3 meters, the mobile terminal 3 detects the identifier 7. This detection corresponds, for example, to the reception of a radio message 9 transmitted by the identifier, in the case where the latter is a radio-tag.

In some cases, the detection may require active participation of the user, in one of the following forms:

activation of a dedicated application, installed on the mobile terminal, and making it possible to process a received radio signal, taking a picture via the terminal, in the case where the identifier is a bar code in two or three dimensions. The mobile terminal then transmits, in a message 10, the detected location identifier 7 accompanied by an identifier of the mobile telephone, to the server 5.

This transmission can be carried out by various means such as SMS text message sending, MMS multimedia message sending, transmission via an Internet page to which the mobile terminal connects.

For example, if the identifier is a barcode, the transmission may consist in sending a multimedia message comprising, in addition to the identifier of the mobile terminal, a photograph of the barcode. According to certain configurations, the terminal may contain a dedicated application capable of determining, in the terminal, the location identifier from a photograph of a barcode. In this case, the transmission of the identifier can be carried out in the form of a text message comprising a series of numbers or letters. The server 5 then processes the information contained in the message 10, in order to confirm or invalidate the presence of a valid correlation in a database 4.

Thus, depending on the configurations and implementations of the system, the server accomplishes one or more of the following operations:

determination, from a database, of the physical location in which the user is located, from the location identifier,

- identification of the user, from a database and a user identifier, search for a valid correlation between the user and the physical location or the service provider device, creation of a correspondence based on this valid correlation, confirmation of the validity of the correlation from data of timestamp.

According to the different configurations of implementation of the system according to the invention, the server may comprise a single database comprising all the data, or several separate databases, which the server accesses independently.

If the server actually matches the user to the location, then it sends a validation message to confirm the existence of a valid transaction.

This message can be sent either to the service providing device 8 (message 11), to the mobile terminal 3 (message 12), or to both.

This message may be in the form of a text, or a number, or a barcode, allowing the service providing device to effectively provide the service to the user, for example to let it enter in the place.

The message may include various information, among which: a number of reserved places, one or more seat numbers, a type of entry, for example VIP entry or normal entry.

In some cases, it may be useful for the service providing device to return a consumer message of the transaction to the server, indicating that the service has been delivered to the user.

It is possible to configure the server so that, upon receiving this message 13, it performs one or more of the following actions: erase the corresponding correlation from its database,

- increment a field corresponding to the number of uses of the transaction,

- modify a field indicating the validity or the invalidity of the transaction. Thus, depending on the configuration of the server, it is possible to adopt several strategies for managing transaction records.

Claims

A method of providing services to a user (1) with a mobile terminal (3), the method comprising in sequence the following steps: the step of receiving according to a first protocol (9), in the mobile terminal (3), an identifier (7), called location, of a service provider device (8) located in a location (6) where is the user (1) equipped with the terminal (3), the step of transmitting (10) the terminal (3) to a server (5), using a second telecommunications protocol, the location identifier, accompanied by an identifier of the mobile terminal, the step of establishing a correspondence, in the server (5), between the location identifier and the identifier of the terminal, and the step of delivering the service according to the established correspondence. the first protocol being distinct from the second protocol. 2. Method according to claim 1 comprising the following preliminary steps: the step for a user to perform a transaction for the reservation of a service, the step of recording, in a database (4) of the server (5), a correlation between the reserved service, the place or an identifier of the service location, and the user or a user identifier . 3. Method according to claim 2 comprising the step, to establish the correspondence, to verify the existence in the database of a valid correlation between the place or its identifier and the user or his identifier, and comprising in in addition to the step, before issuing the service, of transmitting to the mobile terminal or to the service provider device, a validation message (11, 13) confirming or invalidating the existence of this valid correlation. 4. The method of claim 3 comprising the step, before the transmission of the validation message, to check the validity of the correspondence based on time stamp data. 5. The method of claim 3 or 4 including the step, when during the previous step the user makes a reservation for several people, to include data indicating the number of people involved in the transaction during the transmission. the validation message. 6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising the step, in the server, of determining the location of the user (1) from the location identifier (7) and a stored database. in the server. 7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising the step of identifying the user (1) of the mobile terminal (3) from the identifier of the terminal and a database stored in the server. 8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first protocol, used by the mobile terminal to detect the location identifier is selected from among the following protocols: an optical protocol, a short-distance radio communications protocol, of type Bluetooth, and a radio frequency identification protocol, RFID type. 9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, the transmission to the server is carried out by one of the following means: sending a text or multimedia message, of the SMS or MMS type, via a GSM or UMTS type of telecommunications protocol, - establishing a connection to an Internet page whose URL is indicated by the location identifier, - transmission via a WAP technology. 10. Method according to one of the preceding claims comprising the final step of transmitting, after delivery of the service, a consumption message of the transaction, to the server. 11. A method of providing services to a user having a mobile terminal, the method comprising in sequence the following steps: the step of receiving according to a first protocol, in the mobile terminal, an identifier, called location, of a service provider device located in a place where the user with the terminal is located, the step of transmitting to a server, using a second telecommunications protocol, the location identifier, accompanied by an identifier of the mobile terminal, the step of transmitting to the server a reservation instruction of a service associated with the identified location, the step, for the server, of establishing a correspondence between the location identifier and the identifier of the terminal, and the step of delivering the service according to the established correspondence, the first transmission protocol is distinct from the second protocol. 12. Server, in particular for use in a service delivery system, comprising one or more of the following: a database comprising data associating one or more location identifiers with one or more physical locations, a database comprising personal data relating to one or more users, a database comprising data relating to events, a database comprising data relating to user transactions, means for receiving data sent by a user; mobile terminal, means for receiving data sent by a service provider device, means for searching stored databases, means for transmitting a validation message from searched data in a database, and means for modifying data in a database. 13. A user's location and identification system, the system comprising: a mobile telephone terminal, belonging to the user, and provided with the following means: means for detecting an identifier of the location in which the user is located; means for transmitting this identifier accompanied by a mobile phone ID, a server according to claim 12