System and method for providing electronic toll collection to users of wireless mobile devices

• US 8,587,454 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capitalized Assets Limited
• Original Assignee: Rich Dearworth
• Inventors: Dearworth, Rich
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US12/621,178
• Time in Patent Office: 1,462 Days
• Field of Search: 340/928, 340/905, 340/933, 340/935, 340/988, 340/991, 340/993, 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/539.23, 340/5.1, 340/5.2, 340/995.2, 340/995.22, 455/456.1, 701/117, 701/467, 701/517
• US Class Current: 340/928
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G

Abstract

Electronic toll collection for a motorist and/or subscriber having a wireless mobile device that links the device to (a) specific vehicle(s) and billing account(s) with a service provider(s), third party(s) and or toll authority(s). When a motorist having the mobile device in the vehicle approaches and passes a “virtual” toll location(s) and/or “virtual” toll barriers(s) and/or “virtual” toll boundary(s) having a given toll a central server determines whether the motorist and/or subscriber has activated an electronic ETC service associated with the mobile device, and sends a charge transaction from the central server to a service provider(s), third party(s) and/or directly to the toll authority(s) system. After every transaction, a confirmation (which may be SMS or text, vibration, voice, audible alert, email, etc.) is sent to the mobile device and/or subscriber indicating the amount paid and the status of the account.

Claims

1. A method of processing electronic toll collection (ETC) for a motorist and/or subscriber having a wireless mobile device linked to a vehicle and/or billing account, using a wireless service, the method comprising:

receiving a service activation request from the motorist and/or subscriber via the mobile device;

updating a motorist and/or subscriber database record to indicate that wireless ETC service has been activated for the motorist and/or subscriber;

establishing a plurality of waypoints and/or Wi-Fi hotspots to define “

virtual”

toll locations and/or “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or “

virtual”

toll boundary(s) having a given toll(s) that is to be paid by the motorist and/or subscriber;

sensing that the motorist and/or subscriber is within range of and/or is passing a “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll barrier (s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll boundary(s);

sending a charge transaction to an ETC system, the charge transaction indicating a toll to be paid by the motorist and/or subscriber as a consequence of the motorist and/or subscriber passing the “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or the “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or the “

virtual”

toll boundary(s); and

generating a billing record for the motorist and/or subscriber indicating that said toll is to be billed to the motorist and/or subscriber.

2. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a communication from the motorist and/or subscriber via the mobile device;

determining a motorist and/or subscriber'"'"'s subscription status based upon the communication;

updating the motorist and/or subscriber subscription status; and

notifying the ETC system of the motorist and/or subscriber'"'"'s subscription status.

3. The method defined in claim 2, wherein the communication is an activate (subscribe) or deactivate (unsubscribe) request and is initiated

via a telephonic connection,

via a text messaging connection using a feature activation code, or

via an Internet connection.

4. A method of processing electronic toll collection (ETC) for a motorist and/or subscriber having a wireless mobile device linked to a vehicle and/or billing account, using a wireless service, the method comprising:

receiving a service activation communication from the motorist and/or subscriber via the mobile device;

determining the motorist and/or subscriber subscription status based upon the activation communication;

updating the motorist and/or subscriber database record to indicate that wireless ETC service has been activated for the motorist and/or subscriber;

notifying an ETC system of the motorist and/or subscriber'"'"'s subscription status;

establishing a plurality of waypoints and/or Wi-Fi hotspots to define “

virtual”

toll locations and/or “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or “

virtual”

toll boundary(s) having a given toll(s) that is to be paid by the motorist and/or subscriber;

sensing that the motorist and/or subscriber is within range of and/or is passing a “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll boundary(s);

sending a charge transaction to the ETC system, the charge transaction indicating a toll to be paid by the motorist and/or subscriber as a consequence of the motorist and/or subscriber passing the “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or the “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or the “

virtual”

toll boundary(s); and

generating a billing record for the motorist and/or subscriber indicating that said toll is to be billed to the motorist and/or subscriber.

5. The method defined in claim 4, wherein the service activation request is initiated via a telephone connection, via a text messaging connection using a feature activation code or via an Internet connection.

6. A system for processing ETC for a motorist and/or subscriber having a wireless mobile device linked to a specific vehicle and/or billing account with a wireless service provider(s), 3^rd party(s) and/or toll authority(s), the system comprising:

means for using waypoints and/or Wi-Fi hotspots to define a “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll boundary(s);

means for sensing that the motorist and/or subscriber having a mobile device is within range of and/or is passing a “

virtual”

toll location(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll barrier(s) and/or a “

virtual”

toll boundary(s) having a given toll(s) that is to be paid by the motorist and/or subscriber;

means for determining at a CS whether the motorist and/or subscriber has activated a wireless ETC service associated with the mobile device;

means for evaluating via the CS whether the subscriber has pre-selected being billed by the wireless service provider, a third party and/or the toll authority for the account, where it has been determined that the service has been activated by the motorist and/or subscriber;

means for sending a charge transaction from the CS to an ETC system, the charge transaction indicating that the toll has not been paid by the motorist and/or subscriber; and

means for generating a billing record for the motorist and/or subscriber at the CS and sending a non-charge transaction from the CS to an ETC system, the non-charge transaction indicating that the toll has been billed to the motorist and/or subscriber by the wireless service provider, third party and/or toll authority.

7. The system defined in claim 6, further comprising:

means for receiving at the CS a communication from the motorist and/or subscriber via the mobile device;

means for determining at the CS a motorist and/or subscriber'"'"'s subscription status based upon the communication;

means for updating via the CS a subscriber database to indicate the subscriber'"'"'s subscription status; and

means for notifying the ETC system of the subscriber'"'"'s subscription status.

8. The system defined in claim 6, further comprising:

means for receiving at the CS a service activation request from the motorist and/or subscriber via the mobile device; and

means for updating a subscriber database to indicate that the wireless ETC service has been activated for the subscriber.

9. The system defined in claim 7, further comprising:

means for receiving at the CS a service activation request from the subscriber via the communication device; and

means for updating the subscriber database to indicate that the wireless ETC service has been activated for the subscriber.

10. A toll fee tracking system comprising:

a toll authority adapted to collect data associated with at least one mobile device;

a mobile device electronic toll collection (MDETC) entity adapted to communicate with said toll authority and a third party entity;

wherein at least some of the collected data is transferred from the toll authority to the MDETC entity responsive to a request for data-transfer permission from the MDETC entity to the toll authority; and

wherein said MDETC entity may forward at least some of said transferred data to a third party entity.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said toll authority comprises:

toll gates equipped with toll fee tracking device readers;

at least one processor, wherein said at least one processor includes a bi-directional data communications link; and

at least one database.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said MDETC entity comprises:

a toll authority interface adapted to communicate with said toll authority;

at least one database; and

a third party entity interface adapted to communicate with said third party entity.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said third party entity comprises:

at least one mobile device system;

at least one invoice unit; and

at least one processor.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said MDETC entity comprises a stand alone unit.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said MDETC entity comprises a server(s) and/or virtual cloud server(s).

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said communication between said toll authority and said MDETC entity comprises pulling said data from said toll authority.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein said communication between said toll authority and said MDETC entity comprises pushing said data to said MDETC entity.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said communication between said toll authority and said MDETC entity occurs in real-time.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein said communication between said toll authority and said MDETC entity occurs at predefined regular intervals.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein said communication between said MDETC entity and said third party entity comprises pushing said data to said third party entity.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said communication between said MDETC entity and said third party entity occurs in real-time.

22. The system of claim 10, wherein said MDETC entity is adapted to be integrated within said third party entity.

23. The system of claim 10, wherein said data includes vehicle-class-identifiers, lane traffic activity, toll fee tracking device identification data, transaction time, transaction date, toll gate identification, vehicle travel direction, and toll fee data.

24. The system of claim 10, wherein said at least one toll fee mobile device comprises a radio frequency integrated device (RFID) transponder.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said RFID transponder comprises transponder identification data.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said transponder identification data identifies a MDETC entity account with a toll authority account.

27. A method for toll fee tracking, the method comprising;

providing, to a vehicle operator, an automatic toll payment service option;

collecting, at a toll authority, data associated with at least one toll fee mobile device;

storing said data in at least one database of said toll authority;

transferring, from the toll authority to an MDETC entity via a toll authority interface, at least some of the collected and stored data in an MDETC entity database responsive to a request for data-transfer permission from the MDETC entity to the toll authority via the toll authority interface;

forwarding, from the MDETC entity to a third party entity via a third party entity interface, at least some of the transferred data; and

charging, via at least one mobile device system of the third party entity, the vehicle operator and/or subscriber a fee corresponding to toll usage and applicable service charges based upon the forwarded data.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said toll authority comprises:

toll gates equipped with toll fee tracking device readers;

at least one processor, wherein said at least one processor includes a bi-directional data communications link; and

at least one database.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said MDETC entity comprises:

the toll authority interface adapted to communicate with said toll authority;

at least one database; and

the third party entity interface adapted to communicate with said third party entity.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein said third party entity comprises:

at least one mobile device system;

at least one invoice unit; and

at least one processor.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein said MDETC entity comprises a stand alone unit.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein said step of communicating between said toll authority and said MDETC entity comprises pulling said data from said toll authority.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein said step of communicating between said toll authority and said MDETC entity comprises pushing said data to said MDETC entity.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said step of communicating occurs in real-time.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein said step of communicating occurs at predefined regular intervals.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein said MDETC entity is adapted to be integrated within said third party entity.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said data includes vehicle-class-identifiers, lane traffic activity, toll fee mobile device identification data, and toll fee data.

38. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one toll fee mobile devices comprises a radio frequency integrated device (RFID) transponder.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein the option comprises accepting the automatic toll payment service.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of accepting causes the toll fee mobile device to enter an active state.

41. The method of claim 27, wherein the option comprises denying the automatic toll payment service.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of denying causes the toll fee mobile device to enter an inactive state.

43. An MDETC entity server(s) and/or virtual cloud server(s) for communicating data between a toll authority and a third party entity, the server comprising:

a first interface for communicating with said toll authority;

at least one database;

a second interface for communicating with said third party entity;

wherein the MDETC entity server(s) transmits a request message via the first interface to a toll authority processor to obtain toll fee tracking data;

wherein the toll authority processor receives the request from the first interface and grants permission for the data to be pulled by the MDETC entity server(s) via the first interface;

wherein said MDETC entity server(s) pulls the data from said toll authority via the first interface;

wherein the MDETC entity server is adapted to analyze the data and calculate an amount to be charged to a vehicle operator associated with a particular toll fee mobile device and forwards the data to said third party entity via the second interface; and

wherein upon return of a vehicle by the vehicle operator to the third party entity, the third party entity performs bill handling and is further adapted to charge, via at least one mobile device system of the third party entity, the vehicle operator a fee corresponding to toll usage and applicable service charges based upon the forwarded data and charges associated with a use of the vehicle of the third party entity.