1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to payment for device rentals and, more particularly, to payment for devices having self-contained audio-visual presentations for rent to passengers of conveyances such as commercial airline flights.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rental of entertainment devices having self-contained audio-visual presentations to be used by passengers during a commercial airline flight can provide individually tailored current entertainment and other services to the passengers during the commercial flight. Unfortunately, conventional methods of payment have not addressed methods usable to obtain payment for such self-contained in-flight entertainment device rentals.
The present invention resides in a payment method for in-flight entertainment device rentals having self-contained audio-visual presentations. Aspects generally are performed on-board a commercial aircraft and include electronically swiping an identification card indicating attendant and commercial airline flight, electronically swiping a financial card to collection identification information for payment of rental of a self-contained in-flight entertainment device, distributing the self-contained in-flight entertainment device to a passenger, noting an identification of the self-contained in-flight entertainment device, and recording an association between the identification of the self-contained in-flight entertainment device and information associated with the passenger. Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
A payment method of in-flight entertainment device (IFED) rentals having self-contained audiovisual presentations is disclosed herein. A self-contained IFED has internal storage configured to contain current releases of movies and other audiovisual presentations. According to implementations of the present method, the self-contained IFED can be rented by passengers of commercial airline flights for viewing of such movies and other audiovisual presentations during the flight. Use of the self-contained IFED provides a selection of audiovisual presentations from which the passengers renting the self-contained IFED can choose. This individualizes the selection opportunity provided to each passenger by the self-contained IFED and increases the potential for enjoyment by the passengers compared with conventional systems that display one audiovisual presentation to a large group of passengers with the passengers having no input on the particular audiovisual property being presented.
As shown in
A representative aircraft 26, shown in
A protective pouch 34 with a closure flap 36 is sized to snugly contain one of the self-contained IFEDs 14 as shown in
An IFED carrying case 44, shown in
A wireless card swipe unit 46 has a control section 48 and a swipe input section 50 as shown in
A method 60 of payment during distribution for rental of the self-contained IFEDs 14 to the passengers 10 on the aircraft 26 is shown in
Identification of the particular one of the self-contained IFEDs 14 being distributed (rented) to the passenger 10 is noted (step 66) through several possible means. Selection of a menu item through use of the roller-knob 54 can generally note that one of the self-contained IFEDs 14 is being rented. In some implementations, the flight attendant swipes the IFED identification card 40 attached to the protective pouch 34 containing the self-contained IFED 14 being distributed to the passenger 10 and the card swipe unit 46 reads and stores the identification of the particular self-contained IFED being rented and associates it with the passenger identification and payment information.
Another way of noting which of the self-contained IFEDs 14 was rented to a particular passenger 10 is for the flight attendant to mark an identification number of the self-contained IFED appearing on the self-contained IFED or its protective pouch 34 on a clear plastic sheet (typically, affixed to the carrying case 44) having a map of the seating arrangement of the plane. Also, the flight attendant can put a paper copy of a financial card transaction receipt into the slot of the carrying case 44 previously occupied by the particular self-contained IFED 14 being distributed (rented). This creates a record of the passenger renting the self-contained IFED using the passenger-seat identification correlated with the identification of particular self-contained IFED rented. Making an association of which self-contained I FED 14 was rented by a particular one of the passengers 10 is helpful in case a rented self-contained IFED is not returned and later determined to be missing. This association is accomplished and recorded (step 68), either electronically through the card swipe unit 46 or manually such as through the plastic seating map/transaction receipt methods discussed above.
The self-contained IFED 14 is then given to the passenger 10 to use on the flight (step 70). If more passengers are requesting self-contained IFEDs 14 (“YES” branch of decision step 72), then the method 60 returns to step 64, otherwise (“NO” branch of decision step 72), the method ends.
A method 80 of collection of the rented self-contained IFEDs 14, typically near the end of the flight is shown in
After attempting to collect all the self-contained IFEDs 14 from the passengers 10 of the aircrafts 26, or at least those for whom the flight attendant is responsible, if the electronic or manual records previously made in steps 66 and 68 indicate that one or more of the self-contained IFEDs are missing (“YES” condition of decision step 88), the missing one or more self-contained IFEDs are identified and associated passengers are billed for the missing self-contained IFEDs. This is done using the association of the passenger name or the passenger-seat identification correlated with the identification of the particular missing self-contained IFED using the rental records created in step 68. When all such billing for missing self-contained IFEDs 14 is done (“NO” condition of decision step 88), the method 80 ends.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.