SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING AND VALIDATING INCENTIVES BASED ON MULTI-PERSON VEHICLE OCCUPANCY

• US 20140180773A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zafiroglu, Alexandra, Healey, Jennifer
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,084 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence

Abstract

System and methods for determining a number of vehicle occupants based at least in part on sensor data gathered by one or more in-vehicle sensors are disclosed. The number of vehicle occupants may be determined, at least in part, by an in-vehicle system associated with the vehicle. Vehicle occupancy information indicative of the number of vehicle occupants may be transmitted to facilitate identification of one or more incentives based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information. The incentive(s) may include a reduction in a fee associated with operation of the vehicle such as a discounted toll amount, an elimination of a fee, an incentive payment, a discount associated with a product or service offering, and so forth. A tolling system ma be provided for receiving the vehicle occupancy information and determining a toll amount based at least in part on the received information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer processors associated with a vehicle, sensor data from one or more sensors;

determining, by the one or more computer processors, a number of one or more occupants of the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data; and

facilitating by the one or more computer processors, transmission of vehicle occupancy information indicative of the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle, wherein one or more incentives are identified based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more incentives comprise a reduction in a fee associated with operation of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the fee comprises a standard toll amount associated with the operation of the vehicle and the reduction comprises a discount by which the standard toll amount is adjusted, and wherein an amount of the discount increases as the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle increases.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating transmission of the vehicle occupancy information comprises:

directing, by the one or more computer processors, a transmitter associated with the vehicle to transmit the vehicle occupancy information to a receiver associated with a tolling infrastructure.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the vehicle occupancy information is transmitted in accordance with a dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) standard.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating transmission of the vehicle occupancy information comprises:

storing, by the one or more computer processors, the vehicle occupancy information on a reprogrammable electronic tolling tag,

wherein the vehicle occupancy information is transmitted by the reprogrammable electronic tolling tag to an interrogator associated with a tolling infrastructure responsive to an interrogation signal received from the interrogator.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more computer processors, an updated number of one or more occupants of the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data and responsive to receipt of an indication that a vehicle occupancy determination condition is satisfied.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle occupancy determination condition comprises one of:

i) opening or closing a door of the vehicle,

ii) opening or closing a window of the vehicle,

iii) a speed of the vehicle being below a predetermined threshold, or

iv) use of an ignition of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is received from a plurality of sensors, wherein determining the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle comprises analyzing a first portion of the sensor data to assess an accuracy of a vehicle occupancy indicated by a second portion of the sensor data, and wherein the first portion of the sensor data is received from at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors and the second portion of the sensor data is received from at least one other sensor of the plurality of sensors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the one or more computer processors, the vehicle occupancy information for presentation to at beast one of the one or more occupants of the vehicle;

receiving, by the one or more computer processors, input indicating that the vehicle occupancy information is inaccurate; and

re-determining, by the one or more computer processors, the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle responsive to the input.

11. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that upon execution by at least one processor configures the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving sensor data from one or more sensors;

determining a number of one or more occupants of the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data; and

directing transmission of vehicle occupancy information indicative of the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle to a tolling infrastructure for assessment of a toll amount based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein directing transmission of the vehicle occupancy information comprises at least one of:

directing a transmitter associated with the vehicle to broadcast a signal indicative of the vehicle occupancy information to a receiver associated with the tolling infrastructure, or

storing the vehicle occupancy information on a reprogrammable electronic tolling tag, wherein the vehicle occupancy information is transmitted by the reprogrammable electronic tolling tag to an interrogator associated with the tolling infrastructure responsive to an interrogation signal received from the interrogator.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the toll amount is further assessed based at least in part on static information associated with the vehicle.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim the operations further comprising:

directing, by the one or more computer processors, transmission of a vehicle identifier to the tolling infrastructure,

wherein the toll amount is assessed to a tolling account associated with a vehicle identified by the vehicle identifier.

15. A system associated with a vehicle, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive sensor data from one or more sensing devices;

determine a number of one or more occupants of the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data; and

facilitate transmission of vehicle occupancy information indicative of the number of one or more occupants of the vehicle, wherein one or more incentives are identified based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle occupancy information is transmitted to a tolling system, and wherein the one or more incentives comprise a reduction in a fee associated with operation of the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle occupancy information comprises historical vehicle occupancy information indicative of one or more vehicle occupancy parameters associated with operation of the vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more vehicle occupancy parameters comprise a parameter indicative of a respective amount of vehicle travel time associated with each potential number of occupants of the vehicle.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more incentives comprise a discount associated with a product or service offering, wherein the discount is determined based at least in part on the historical vehicle occupancy information.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a tolling system comprising one or more computers, vehicle occupancy information indicative of a number of one or more vehicle occupants associated with a vehicle;

determining, by the tolling system, a toll amount based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information; and

assessing, by the tolling system, the toll amount to a tolling account associated with the vehicle.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the tolling system further comprises tolling infrastructure, further comprising:

receiving, by a receiver associated with the tolling infrastructure from a transmitter associated with the vehicle, a signal indicative of the vehicle occupancy information; and

transmitting by the tolling infrastructure to the one or more computers, the vehicle occupancy information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the receiver associated with the tolling infrastructure comprises one of:

(i) a receiver configured to receive the signal in accordance with a wireless communications protocol, or

(ii) a radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogator.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the receiver associated with the tolling infrastructure comprises the RFID interrogator and the transmitter associated with the vehicle comprises a reprogrammable electronic tolling tag, further comprising:

transmitting, by the RFID interrogator, an interrogation signal to the reprogrammable electronic tolling tag,

wherein the signal indicative of the vehicle occupancy information is received from the reprogrammable electronic tolling tag responsive to the interrogation signal.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the toll amount comprises a fee assessed for operation of the vehicle on at least a portion of a roadway.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein determining the toll amount comprises:

determining, by the tolling system, an amount of a toll discount based at least in part on the number of vehicle occupants; and

determining, by the tolling system, the toll amount by adjusting a standard toll amount based at least in part on the amount of the toll discount.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the vehicle occupancy information is received by the tolling system from a portion of a tolling infrastructure associated with the tolling system, and wherein the standard toll amount is associated with the portion of the tolling infrastructure.

27. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that upon execution by at least one processor configures the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving vehicle occupancy information indicative of a number of one or more vehicle occupants of a vehicle; and

determining a toll amount based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information.

28. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 27, wherein determining the toll comprises:

determining a standard toll amount associated with use of at least a portion of a vehicle transport infrastructure;

determining an amount of a toll discount based at least in part on the number of one or more vehicle occupants; and

determining the toll amount by adjusting the standard toll amount by the amount of the toll discount.

29. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 28, wherein the amount of the toll discount is positively correlated with the number of one or more vehicle occupants.

30. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive vehicle occupancy information indicative of a number of one or more vehicle occupants associated with a vehicle for a period of time; and

identify one or more incentives based at least in part on the vehicle occupancy information.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the one or more incentives comprise a discounted toll amount, and wherein an amount of a discount associated with the discounted toll amount is determined based at least in part on the number of one or more vehicle occupants.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the vehicle occupancy information comprises historical vehicle occupancy information indicative of one or more vehicle occupancy parameters associated with operation of the vehicle over the period of time.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the one or more vehicle occupancy parameters comprise a parameter indicative of a respective portion of the period of time during which each potential number of vehicle occupants is associated with the vehicle.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the one or more vehicle occupancy parameters comprise a plurality of vehicle occupancy parameters, and wherein the plurality of vehicle occupancy parameters further comprise at least one of:

(i) a parameter indicative of a distance traveled by the vehicle during the period of time, or

(ii) a parameter indicative of an average speed of the vehicle during the period of time.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the one or more incentives comprise a discount associated with a product or service offering, wherein an amount of the discount is determined based at least in part on the historical vehicle occupancy information.