Hierarchical Processing of Tolling Options for Telematics Services
First Claim
1. A method for processing a hierarchy of tolling options for the provision of a telematics service to a user of a telematics unit, the method comprising:
- receiving, at the telematics unit, a request from the user to provide a telematics service to the user;
receiving, at the telematics unit, account information regarding the account of a subscriber to the telematics service;
determining, at the telematics unit, at least one available tolling option based on the account information of the subscriber and based on a hierarchy of tolling options;
selecting, at the telematics unit, a first tolling option from the hierarchy of tolling options; and
providing, at the telematics unit, the requested service based on the selected first tolling option.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The described method and system provide a system and method for efficiently and effectively processing the hierarchical selecting and switching between tolling options associated with a telematics service and tolling a subscriber'"'"'s account accordingly such that the provision of telematics service to a user of the telematics unit is uninterrupted if possible and the optimal tolling option is utilized. Many different types of telematics services exists, and each telematics service may have a corresponding set of tolling options, including various telematics-based (internal) and network-based (external) tolling options, prepaid and postpaid tolling options, as well as other types of tolling options. The disclosed invention allows the telematics service system to select an optimal tolling option and switch between tolling options without interrupting the provision of service based on a hierarchy of tolling options corresponding to the telematics service requested by the user.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for processing a hierarchy of tolling options for the provision of a telematics service to a user of a telematics unit, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the telematics unit, a request from the user to provide a telematics service to the user; receiving, at the telematics unit, account information regarding the account of a subscriber to the telematics service; determining, at the telematics unit, at least one available tolling option based on the account information of the subscriber and based on a hierarchy of tolling options; selecting, at the telematics unit, a first tolling option from the hierarchy of tolling options; and providing, at the telematics unit, the requested service based on the selected first tolling option. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for processing a hierarchy of tolling options for the provision of a telematics service to a user of a telematics unit, the method comprising:
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storing, at a call center, account information regarding the account of a subscriber to the telematics service; generating, at the call center, a hierarchy of tolling options; transmitting, at the call center, the account information regarding the subscriber'"'"'s account and the hierarchy of tolling options to the telematics unit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for processing a hierarchy of tolling options for the provision of a telematics service, the system comprising:
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a vehicle equipped with a telematics unit; and the telematics unit, adapted to send and receive information to and from a call center and a network service provider, to select between available tolling options based on a hierarchy of tolling options, to process telematics-based tolling, and to provide telematics services to a user of the telematics unit. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification