System and Method for Toll Transactions Utilizing a Distributed Ledger

• US 20190180519A1
• Filed: 12/09/2017
• Published: 06/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hausman Properties LLC
• Original Assignee: Hausman Properties LLC
• Inventors: Hausman, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 10,699,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to implementing an electronic toll data collection management system in a decentralized computing network that employs a distributed ledger. An electronic toll data collection management system may comprise a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes are connected to each other over a communication network. Each node may have access to a copy of a distributed ledger, wherein the plurality of nodes is configured to utilize blockchain protocols to verify and record a transaction occurring within the distributed ledger. Data may be recorded as a block, wherein a blockchain is formed by the addition of blocks. Each block may be encrypted and linked to a previous block, wherein a consensus must be reached to update the distributed ledger with the addition of a new block

Claims

1. An electronic toll data collection management system, comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes comprise a processor, a memory unit, and a bus, wherein the plurality of nodes are connected to each other over a communication network, wherein each of the plurality of nodes has access to a copy of a distributed ledger, wherein the processor of each of the plurality of nodes is configured to;

utilize blockchain protocols to verify and record a transaction occurring within the distributed ledger, wherein data is recorded as a block, wherein a blockchain is formed by the addition of blocks, wherein each block is encrypted by a mathematical formula that produces a hash value, wherein each block is linked to a previous block by the hash value of the previous block, wherein a consensus must be reached to update the distributed ledger with the addition of a new block.

2. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter and a receiver.

3. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 2, wherein the transmitter transmits data as electromagnetic waves to the receiver, wherein the receiver processes the electromagnetic waves as electrical currents, where the receiver sends the electrical currents to a computing system, and wherein the computing system broadcasts the electrical currents as data to the distributed ledger.

4. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 3, wherein the transmitted data is vehicle make and model, vehicle registration number, year of vehicle manufacture, license plate number, driver'"'"'s license number, operator contact information, billing information for the operator, operator permanent address, and/or combinations thereof.

5. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of nodes verify the transmitted data by a protocol employing proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, or proof of-authority to reach consensus.

6. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of nodes update the distributed ledger by adding a new block containing the verified data to the blockchain.

7. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 1, wherein there is limited access based on the operating entity of each node.

8. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes use smart contracts for transactions.

9. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 8, wherein the smart contracts are self-executing.

10. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 1, wherein the distributed ledger includes multiple blockchains.

11. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 10, wherein the multiple blockchains are categorized based on input data for the blocks.

12. The electronic toll data collection management system of claim 1, wherein the mathematical formula is a hash function, wherein the has function produces the hash value, wherein the hash value is a bit string with a fixed length.

13. A method of identifying an operator of a vehicle, comprising:

capturing, by a camera, an image of the vehicle as it passes through a toll collection point;

flagging the image, by a computing system;

broadcasting, by the computing system, the flagged image as data to a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes comprise a processor, a memory unit, and a bus, wherein the plurality of nodes are connected to each other over a communication network, wherein each of the plurality of nodes has access to a copy of a distributed ledger, wherein the plurality of nodes utilize blockchain protocols to verify and record a transaction occurring within the distributed ledger;

verifying the broadcasted data;

encrypting a new block; and

adding the new block to a blockchain.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of nodes update their respective copies of the distributed ledger after the addition of the new block.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising a first node and a second node, wherein the first node operates under a regulating company of a toll road, wherein the second node operates under a government agency.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first node enters into a smart contract with the second node.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising parsing through the blockchain to locate the block containing the data from the flagged image, de-encrypting the block, and extracting the data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second node searches an external database with the extracted data to find matching data, wherein the second node broadcasts the matching data to the plurality of nodes, wherein the first node accesses the matching data within the distributed ledger.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the second node searches a second blockchain with the extracted data to find matching data, wherein the second node broadcasts the matching data to the plurality of nodes, wherein the first node accesses the matching data within the distributed ledger.

20. An electronic toll data collection management system, comprising:

a plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes comprise a processor, a memory unit, and a bus, wherein the plurality of nodes are connected to each other over a communication network, wherein each of the plurality of nodes has access to a copy of a distributed ledger, wherein the processor of each of the plurality of nodes is configured to;

utilize blockchain protocols to verify and record a transaction occurring within the distributed ledger, wherein data is recorded as a block, wherein the data is vehicle make and model, vehicle registration number, year of vehicle manufacture, license plate number, driver'"'"'s license number, operator contact information, billing information for the operator, operator permanent address, or combinations thereof, wherein a blockchain is formed by the addition of blocks, wherein each block is encrypted by a mathematical formula that produces a hash value, wherein each block is linked to a previous block by the hash value of the previous block, wherein a consensus must be reached to update the distributed ledger with the addition of a new block.