System, method and computer readable medium for billing based on a duration of a service period

• US 8,195,506 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Traffic Solutions Consolidated LLC
• Original Assignee: Rent A Toll Ltd
• Inventors: Robinson, Benjamin P., Lemon, Debbie, Balachandran, Sarath K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boyce, Akiba Robinson
• Application Number:
  US11/580,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299721A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,062 Days
• Field of Search: 705/13, 705/1, 705/418, 705/1.1
• US Class Current: 705/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00

Abstract

A system, method, and computer readable medium for billing based on a duration of a service period, comprises sending fleet data from a third party entity to a toll authority via a toll rental entity, matching toll data with the fleet data by the toll authority, if the toll data matches the fleet data: charging an account by the toll authority and sending the matched data to the toll rental entity, determining, by the toll rental entity, if the sent matched data is related to an opt-in for duration based tolling or an opt-out for duration based tolling, if the sent matched data is related to an opt-in for duration based tolling, charging the third party entity for the duration based tolling, and if the sent matched data is related to an opt-out for duration based tolling, applying at least one of: a fee for the duration based tolling, a toll usage amount, a service fee for the duration based tolling, and a service fee for the toll usage.

Claims

1. A method for duration based billing comprising:

creating a prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account between a toll authority and a toll rental entity;

forwarding, by a computer associated with a third party entity to a computer associated with the toll authority via a computer associated with the toll rental entity, third-party-operated fleet data;

providing, to a plurality of third party entity customers, an unlimited toll utilization service option for a fixed subscription fee;

receiving, by the third party entity, a single payment corresponding to the fixed subscription fee from the plurality of third party entity customers accepting the unlimited toll utilization service option;

receiving, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a plurality of rental agreements associated with the plurality of third party entity customers;

determining, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, opt-in rental agreements from the plurality of rental agreements, wherein the opt-in rental agreements comprise the unlimited toll utilization service option, wherein the unlimited toll utilization service option allows the plurality of third party entity customers that have accepted the unlimited toll utilization service option to utilize the toll authorities unlimited times for a duration of the opt-in rental agreement for the single payment;

forwarding, to the computer associated with the toll authority from the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a pre-payment via the prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account for future toll transaction for vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data, wherein the pre-payment comprises a payment for future toll transaction on an individual transaction basis;

collecting, by the computer associated with the toll authority, toll data, wherein the toll data comprises at least one of toll transaction time and vehicle license plate number;

receiving, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, the toll data collected by the computer associated with the toll authority;

determining, by the toll rental entity, if the toll data is related to vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements; and

responsive to a determination that the toll data is related to the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements, billing the third party entity for toll usage for the duration of the opt-in rental agreement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the third-party-operated fleet data comprises:

a license plate number;

a license plate state;

a license state type;

a vehicle identification number;

a vehicle owner information;

a vehicle make;

a vehicle model; and

a vehicle color.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the duration of the opt-in rental agreement comprises:

seconds;

minutes;

hours;

days;

months; and

years.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein no vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data include a transponder.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the unlimited toll utilization service option comprises:

a duration based toll service;

a pre-authorized toll service;

a pre-authorized duration based toll service;

an unlimited toll service; and

a location based toll service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the toll data is not related to the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements, billing either the third party entity customer or the third party entity for at least one of;

a fee for the unlimited toll utilization service;

a toll usage amount;

a service fee for the unlimited toll utilization service; and

a service fee for the toll usage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of billing the third party entity further comprises applying, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a billing rule.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said applying comprises breaking the opt-in rental agreements into at least one duration group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one duration group is created based on a time of toll usage.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of billing the third party entity is based upon the at least one duration group.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of billing the third party entity comprises charging the fixed fee for unlimited toll usage for the duration of the opt-in rental agreement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the single payment covers unlimited toll usage by the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements for the duration of the opt-in rental agreement.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of rental agreements includes at least one of:

a start date and a start time; and

an end date and an end time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the toll data includes information related to vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data based on at least one of:

a reading of the license plate numbers of the vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the third party entity comprises at least one of:

a rent-a-car entity;

an entity that rents vehicles comprising license plates;

an entity that leases vehicles; and

an entity that loans vehicles.

16. An article of manufacture for duration based billing, the article of manufacture comprising:

at least one computer readable medium;

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

creating a prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account between a toll authority and a toll rental entity;

forwarding, by a computer associated with a third party entity to a computer associated with the toll authority via a computer associated with the toll rental entity, third-party-operated fleet data;

providing, to a plurality of third party entity customers, an unlimited toll utilization service option for a fixed subscription fee;

receiving, by the third party entity, a single payment corresponding to the fixed subscription fee from the plurality of third party entity customers accepting the unlimited toll utilization service option;

receiving, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a plurality of rental agreements associated with the plurality of third party entity customers;

determining, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, opt-in rental agreements from the plurality of rental agreements, wherein the opt-in rental agreements comprise the unlimited toll utilization service option, wherein the unlimited toll utilization service option allows the plurality of third party entity customers that have accepted the unlimited toll utilization service option to utilize the toll authorities unlimited times for a duration of the opt-in rental agreement for the single payment;

forwarding, to the computer associated with the toll authority from the computer associated with the toll rental entity, a pre-payment via the prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account for future toll transaction for vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data, wherein the pre-payment comprises a payment for future toll transaction on an individual transaction basis;

collecting, by the computer associated with the toll authority, toll data, wherein the toll data comprises at least one of toll transaction time and vehicle license plate number;

receiving, by the computer associated with the toll rental entity, the toll data collected by the computer associated with the toll authority;

determining, by the toll rental entity, if the toll data is related to vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements; and

responsive to a determination that the toll data is related to the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements, billing the third party entity for toll usage for the duration of the opt-in rental agreement.

17. A system for duration based billing comprising:

a toll authority computer operable to receive third-party-operated fleet data from a third party entity computer;

a toll rental entity computer operable to create a prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account with the toll authority computer;

wherein the third party entity computer provides, to a plurality of third party entity customers, an unlimited toll utilization service option for a fixed subscription fee and receives a single payment corresponding to the fixed subscription fee from the plurality of third party entity customers accepting the unlimited toll utilization service option;

wherein the toll rental entity computer receives a plurality of rental agreements associated with the plurality of third party entity customers and determines opt-in rental agreements from the plurality of rental agreements, wherein the opt-in rental agreements comprise the unlimited toll utilization service option, wherein the unlimited toll utilization service option allows the plurality of third party entity customers that have accepted the unlimited toll utilization service option to utilize the toll authorities unlimited times for a duration of the opt-in rental agreement for the single payment;

wherein the toll rental entity computer forwards, to the toll authority computer, a pre-payment via the prepaid third-party-operated fleet subscription account for future toll transaction for vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data, wherein the pre-payment comprises a payment for future toll transaction on an individual transaction basis;

wherein the toll authority computer collects toll data, wherein the toll data comprises at least one of toll transaction time and vehicle license plate number and forwards the toll data to the toll rental entity computer;

wherein the toll rental entity computer determines if the toll data is related to vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements; and

responsive to a determination that the toll data is related to the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements, the toll rental entity computer bills the third party entity for toll usage for the duration of the opt-in rental agreement.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to a determination that the toll data is not related to the vehicles associated with the opt-in rental agreements, the toll rental entity computer bills either the third party entity customer or the third party entity for at least one of;

a fee for the unlimited toll utilization service;

a toll usage amount;

a service fee for the unlimited toll utilization service; and

a service fee for the toll usage.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein no vehicles associated with the third-party-operated fleet data include a transponder.