Transferring toll data from a third party operated transport to a user account

• US 7,774,228 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Traffic Solutions Consolidated LLC
• Original Assignee: Rent A Toll Ltd
• Inventors: Robinson, Benjamin P., Balachandran, Sarath K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson Boyce; Akiba K
• Application Number:
  US11/640,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20080147491A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/6, 705/13, 340/5.2, 340/901, 340/501
• US Class Current: 705/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00

Abstract

A system, method, and computer readable medium for transferring toll data from a third party operated transport to a user account comprises, performing a verification of the user account, receiving a service request to transfer tolls incurred by the third party operated transport, receiving toll data, and sending information related to the user account if the toll data and the service request match.

Claims

1. A method for transferring toll usage information from a third party operated transport to a transport operator'"'"'s existing user account associated with a first toll authority, comprising:

transferring, from a computer associated with a third party entity via a computer associated with a toll rental entity, third party operated fleet data to a computer associated with a second toll authority;

receiving, by a computer associated with the toll rental entity, a service request and the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account information from the computer associated with the third party entity;

receiving, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, the toll usage information from the computer associated with the second toll authority;

determining, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, if the service request matches the toll usage information;

responsive to a determination that the service request matches the toll usage information, transferring, from the computer associated with the toll rental entity to the computer associated with the second toll authority, the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account information and the matched toll usage information; and

charging, by the computer associated with the second toll authority, the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account a fee for toll usage by the third party operated transport.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request comprises:

rental information related to the third party operated transport;

an identifier of the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account; and

the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the service request includes at least one of:

a rental agreement number for the third party operated transport;

a toll fee device identifier;

a start date of the service;

a start time of the service;

an end date of the service; and

an end time of the service.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifier of the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account includes at least one of:

a user'"'"'s name;

the user'"'"'s account number;

the user'"'"'s transponder;

the user'"'"'s address;

the user'"'"'s driver license number;

the user'"'"'s driver license state;

the user'"'"'s credit card number;

the user'"'"'s debit card number;

the user'"'"'s electronic account number;

the user'"'"'s insurance information;

the user'"'"'s email address; and

the user'"'"'s phone number.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the rental information related to the third party operated transport includes at least one of:

an owner of the transport;

a user of the transport;

a license plate number of the transport;

a vehicle identification number of the transport;

a type of the transport;

a color of the transport;

a year of manufacture of the transport; and

a condition of the transport.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the rental information related to the third party operated transport is related to at least one of:

a service period; and

a rental period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the service period is at least one of:

seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the rental period is at least one of:

a duration based transport rental service;

a pre-authorized transport rental service;

a pre-authorized, duration based transport rental service;

an unlimited transport rental service; and

a location based transport rental service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account is related to the first toll authority.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the toll usage information comprises at least one of:

a toll amount incurred by the third party operated transport;

a time the toll amount was incurred;

a toll location;

a toll date;

a direction of travel by the third party operated transport;

a location of the third party operated transport;

information related to the third party operated transport;

information related to a license plate of the third party operated transport;

a location of toll facility; and

a location of toll lane.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising:

responsive to a determination that the service request does not matches the toll usage information, sending, from the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a payment corresponding to unsubscribed toll usage to the computer associated with the second toll authority.

12. The method of claim 11 comprising:

collecting, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a fee corresponding to the unsubscribed toll usage via the computer associated with the third party entity.

13. The method of claim 11 comprising:

collecting, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a fee corresponding to the unsubscribed toll usage via an unsubscribed transport operator.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account is not related to the second toll authority.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a verification of the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the verification of the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account and the service request occur in at least one of:

parallel;

serially; and

in any order.

17. An article of manufacture for transferring toll usage information from a third party operated transport to a transport operator'"'"'s existing user account associated with a first toll authority, the article of manufacture comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium;

processor instructions contained on the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, the processor instructions configured to be readable from the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium by at least one processor and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate as to perform the following steps;

transferring third party operated fleet data to a second toll authority;

receiving a service request and the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account information by a toll rental entity;

receiving the toll usage information by the toll rental entity;

determining via the toll rental entity whether the service request matches the toll usage information;

responsive to a determination that the service request matches the toll usage information, transferring, from the toll rental entity to the second toll authority, the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account information and the matched toll usage information; and

charging, by the second toll authority, the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account a fee for toll usage by the third party operated transport.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the processor instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to operate as to perform the following steps:

responsive to a determination that the service request does not match the toll usage information, sending, from the toll rental entity, a payment corresponding to unsubscribed toll usage to the second toll authority.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the processor instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to operate as to perform the following steps:

collecting a fee corresponding to the unsubscribed toll usage via the third party entity.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the processor instructions are configured to cause the at least one processor to operate as to perform the following steps:

collecting a fee corresponding to the unsubscribed toll usage via an unsubscribed transport operator.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account is not related to the second toll authority.

22. A system for transferring toll usage information from a third party operated transport to a transport operator'"'"'s existing user account associated with a first toll authority comprising:

a third party computer operable to transfer third party operated fleet data to a second toll authority;

a toll rental computer communicably coupled to the third party computer and the second toll authority and operable to receive a service request and the transport operator'"'"'s existing account information;

wherein the toll rental computer is operable to receive the toll usage information from the second toll authority and determine if the service request matches the toll usage information;

responsive to a determination that the service request matches the toll usage information, the toll rental computer is operable to transfer the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account information and the matched toll usage information to the second toll authority; and

wherein the second toll authority is operable to charge the transport operator'"'"'s existing user account a fee for toll usage by the third party operated transport.