I. Project Background
There are over ten million college and secondary technical school students who will go back home during summer and winter holidays each year. According to relevant governmental rules, college students and secondary technical school students whose homes are not located at the same place as the school and who are not employed may buy train tickets at half price against their student card. This is one of the favors offered by the government to students who go back home during summer and winter holidays.
However, in the past years, many criminal gangs illegally take advantage of this policy by massively making and selling fake student cards in order to buy half-price train tickets. Such illegal activities are rapidly expanding, which causes the government and railway authorities to suffer huge economic losses. In 2002, in order to maintain the normal social order and protect the legal interests of college and secondary technical school students, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Education and other relevant authorities demanded the use of high-tech means to firmly crack down such illegal activities.
Out of the many candidate solutions, experts and administrative authorities finally selected the “RFID Technology for Digitalization and Anti-counterfeiting of Student Cards” from KH. In 2003, the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Education and the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Transport jointly issued an official document (JIAO YU TING [2003] NO.1), promoting the application of the "Student Train Ticket Concession Card” at all colleges and universities in China. In 2006, the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Education, the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Transport and the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued an official document (JIAO ZHI CHENG TING [2006] NO.4), promoting the application of the "Student Train Ticket Concession Card” at all secondary technical schools in China.
II. Brief Introduction to the “Student Train Ticket Concession Card”
The “Student Train Ticket Concession Card” is designed and produced using the RFID technology and provides the following functions and characteristics:
- For any student card, it is digitalized and anti-counterfeiting. Information, e.g. college/university/school name, student name, student number, starting place, etc., may be written into the card. In addition, it also can record such information as the number of times for which the student is entitled to buy tickets, the number of times for which the student has purchased tickets, etc.
- One “Student Train Ticket Concession Card” is only valid for one student card and cannot be reused for a different student card. Once pasted to a student card, the concession card will get damaged if torn off. This not only ensures the combination of the student card and the concession card, but also avoids the possibility of counterfeiting and faking.
- It provides a long service life. An e-label is a passive element whose internal IC power supply is provided by a recognizer through a radio frequency, so it supplies power to the internal IC chip only at the time of working. This ensures that the e-label is in a non-working status for most of the time, so the e-label has a long service life and can read-write information for many times. Data in the concession card may be kept for over 10 years.
- Data stored in the concession card is highly secure. In addition to the intrinsic encryption of the concession card, we also apply the data encryption and authentication technologies. We use the “one password for one card” encryption technology which ensures that every concession card has a unique key.
- It is easy to operate. When using the concession card, the operator can very easily finish such operations as reading-writing information about the student, recharging, buying ticket, returning ticket, etc., thus avoiding the cumbersome work relating to the use of any other anti-counterfeiting means.
III. Components of the Student Train Ticket Concession Card System
The “Student Train Ticket Concession Card” system consists of three parts – student concession card, recognizer and management software.
- Student Train Ticket Concession Card
The “Student Train Ticket Concession Card” is produced using the e-label technology. It provides such characteristics as one-time pasting, long service life, high data security, etc.
- Recognizer
There are mainly two types of recognizers for concession cards, i.e. desktop recognizers and handheld recognizers. Either type is capable of identifying whether or not a concession card is true or not. A desktop recognizer is capable of not only being connected to a computer, but also writing the basic information of a student card into the concession card and, without being connected to a computer, recharging for a limited number of times, ticket buying, ticket returning, etc.
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| Desktop recognizer |
handheld recognizer |
A desktop recognizer can be used at schools, train stations and train ticket sales agents. When used at a school, it provides such functions as reading-writing information about the student, number of times for which the concession card has been used for buying tickets, recharging (for a limited number of times), etc. When used at a train station, it provides such functions as ticket buying (decreasing the number of times for which the concession card can be used for buying ticket in future) and ticket returning (increasing the number of times for which the concession card can be used for buying ticket in future), etc. When used at a train station, it only can only be used for decreasing the number of times for which the concession card can be used for buying ticket in future.
A handheld recognizer is used for identifying whether a student train ticket concession card is true or not. It is mainly used at train stations and on trains to alert if student cards are true or not through its signal light and buzzer. Small and powered by two AAA batteries, it is easy to carry and can very easily identify if a concession card is true or not.
- Management software
The management software is based on database and network technologies and, when supported by the desktop recognizer, can write information about how many tickets a student has bought into the concession card. In addition, it also provides writing, reading, query and statistics functions.
Up to now, this system is still in use. It is the second biggest e-label application project in China, the biggest one being the second-generation ID card project. About 6,000,000 additional concession cards will be issued each year.
Student Train Ticket Concession Card http://www.stcard.cn