Boarding Pass Encoding for Airport Business Rules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Boarding passes are limited to accessing secured airport regions and boarding flights, failing to utilize their encoded information for additional functions such as applying business rules or serving as electronic currency within airport terminals.
Innovation Solution
A system that reads and processes information from a boarding pass's encoded region to apply business rules, including crediting or debiting a stored value account, enabling its use as e-currency within both secured and unsecured airport regions, and integrating with existing infrastructure like barcode readers and SVA Systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If boarding passes are used only for flight access and boarding, then security validation is simplified, but the encoded information remains underutilized
Solution Approach 1:
The boarding pass is transformed from a single-function access control tool into a multi-functional device that serves as both security credentials and electronic currency. The encoded information on the boarding pass is leveraged to enable transactions, loyalty program participation, and access to airport services beyond flight boarding, allowing one object to perform multiple functions simultaneously
2Adaptability or versatility
If boarding passes are integrated with stored value accounts and business rules, then additional services are enabled, but integration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automated business rule evaluation and execution without requiring manual intervention or complex real-time terminal integration. The boarding pass information is read and processed through pre-configured business rules that automatically determine transactions, loyalty point accrual, and service access, allowing the system to serve itself through automated decision-making logic
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that sits between the boarding pass reading infrastructure and the stored value account system. This intermediary evaluates business rules based on boarding pass information and mediates transactions, loyalty point calculations, and service authorizations, simplifying the overall integration architecture by decoupling direct system-to-system connections
3Ease of operation
If boarding passes serve as e-currency in airport terminals, then traveler benefits increase, but system integration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The boarding pass serves dual purposes as both security credentials for flight access and electronic currency for airport terminal transactions. The same encoded information on the boarding pass is used to authenticate the traveler's identity for security purposes and to identify the account holder for commercial transactions, eliminating the need for separate payment devices or tickets
Data Source
AI summary
A capability is provided for using boarding passes to apply business rules for travelers. The information encoded in a region of a boarding pass of a traveler is read or otherwise accessed. The information from the encoded region of the boarding pass is propagated toward a system configured for determining whether to apply a business rule for the traveler. The system receives the information from the encoded region of a boarding pass of the traveler, and determines whether to apply a business rule for the traveler using at least a portion of the information from the encoded region of the boarding pass. The system, upon identifying a business rule to apply for the traveler, initiates a process for applying the business rule for the traveler. A business rule may indicate that an account of the traveler is to be credited or debited. A business rule may indicate that the traveler is entitled to remuneration, such as money, coupons, vouchers, discounts, offers, loyalty points, and the like.