Parking management and billing

Abstract

A parking management system including a server, a plurality of mobile parking management devices mounted in cars, an plurality of parking area parking control devices mounted in a parking areas, and a plurality of portable parking control devices used by parking attendants, all communicating via one or more wireless networks. Upon request, the server provides a mobile parking management device with information pertaining to parking availability and to commercial establishments offering parking payment refunds. Upon request a commercial establishments sends a parking payment refund to the server. Upon request the server bills the account associated with the mobile parking management device according to the parking fee and period of parking.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile authentication device comprising:
 a processor;   at least one of a memory module and a storage module communicatively coupled to said processor;   a communication module communicatively coupled to said processor and operative to connect said processor to a computing device; and   a biometric authentication sensor;   wherein said at least one of a memory module and a storage module includes a software program operative to perform at least one of:
 if, simultaneously, an encrypted file, a decryption key and a user identification code are provided to software program, and a user is authenticated by said biometric authentication sensor to be associated with the user identification code, the software program decrypts said encrypted file and present it via said communication module for downloading into a computing device; and 
 if, simultaneously, a file and a user identification code are provided to software program, and a user is authenticated by said biometric authentication sensor to be associated with the user identification code, said software program encrypts said file and provides it, with a decryption key, at via communication module, for downloading into a computing device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  wherein said biometric authentication sensor comprises at least one of: fingerprint sensor, iris recognition, and face recognition. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  wherein said communication module comprises at least one of: USB, WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, NFC, secure NFC, RFID, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  wherein said processor comprises a smart card chip. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  wherein said computing device comprises at least one of a computer, and a mobile device. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  wherein said file is processed by said computing device for an application comprising at least one of:
 physical access control; 
 computer access control; 
 attendance monitoring; 
 electronic purse; 
 electronic payments; 
 traffic management; 
 toll road payments; 
 parking payments; and 
 payment using a pre-paid account. 
 
     
     
         7 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 1  additionally comprising:
 a mechanical key part including a mechanical key code. 
 
     
     
         8 . The mobile authentication device according to  claim 7  wherein said mechanical code is operative to enable the user to operate a mechanical lock. 
     
     
         9 . A method for user authentication, the method comprising
 providing a mobile authentication device comprising:
 a processor; 
 at least one of a memory module and a storage module communicatively coupled to said processor; 
 a communication module communicatively coupled to said processor and operative to connect said processor to a computing device; and 
 a biometric authentication sensor; 
   providing a software program, resident in said at least one of a memory module and a storage module, and executable by said processor;   connecting said communication module to a computing device; and   performing, by said software program, at least one of:
 if, simultaneously, an encrypted file, a decryption key and a user identification code are provided to software program, and a user is authenticated by said biometric authentication sensor to be associated with the user identification code, the software program decrypts said encrypted file and present it via said communication module for downloading into a computing device; and 
 if, simultaneously, a file and a user identification code are provided to software program, and a user is authenticated by said biometric authentication sensor to be associated with the user identification code, said software program encrypts said file and provides it, with a decryption key, at via communication module, for downloading into a computing device.