Method and apparatus for sharing toll charges among several toll service subscribers
First Claim
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1. A method for determining a toll for use of a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane by a vehicle, comprising:
- determining, by a toll service subscriber device of a toll service subscriber in the vehicle, a number of occupants in the vehicle;
transmitting, by the toll service subscriber device over a cellular radio telephony link, the number of occupants to a toil service to which the toll service subscriber subscribes;
receiving, over the cellular radio telephony link at the toll service subscriber device, in response to transmitting the number of occupants to the toll service, a unique coded identifier generated by the toll service that indicates the number occupants and that is associated with an account of the to service subscriber of the toll service subscriber device;
transmitting the unique coded identifier over a near field communication link by the toll service subscriber device to a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag device associated with the toll service subscriber; and
the RFID tag device transmitting the unique coded identifier to a tag reader of a toll agency via a RFID interface of the RFID tag device in response to a reader signal being received by the RFD tag device upon the vehicle passing through a toll station;
wherein the toil agency discounts a toll amount to a discounted toll amount based on the number of occupants of the vehicle as indicated by the unique coded identifier.
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Abstract
A method for apportioning a vehicular toll among toll service subscribers in a vehicle can include determining a number of occupants in the vehicle in order to determine a toll amount, and dividing the toll amount among the toll service subscribers in the vehicle. The method can also detect the number of occupants and/or toll service subscribers in the vehicle automatically, or by prompting toll service subscribers to enter the number of occupants.
55 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A method for determining a toll for use of a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane by a vehicle, comprising:
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determining, by a toll service subscriber device of a toll service subscriber in the vehicle, a number of occupants in the vehicle; transmitting, by the toll service subscriber device over a cellular radio telephony link, the number of occupants to a toil service to which the toll service subscriber subscribes; receiving, over the cellular radio telephony link at the toll service subscriber device, in response to transmitting the number of occupants to the toll service, a unique coded identifier generated by the toll service that indicates the number occupants and that is associated with an account of the to service subscriber of the toll service subscriber device; transmitting the unique coded identifier over a near field communication link by the toll service subscriber device to a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag device associated with the toll service subscriber; and the RFID tag device transmitting the unique coded identifier to a tag reader of a toll agency via a RFID interface of the RFID tag device in response to a reader signal being received by the RFD tag device upon the vehicle passing through a toll station; wherein the toil agency discounts a toll amount to a discounted toll amount based on the number of occupants of the vehicle as indicated by the unique coded identifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification