Granted Patent B2

US 11,631,142 · App. 17/020,518 · Granted Apr 18, 2023

Inventor: Philip Rodoni (Decatur, GA)

G06Q40/10G01C21/3469G06Q50/26G06Q50/30

Abstract

Claims (38)

1. A system for reducing fuel tax costs, the system comprising:

a non-transitory memory;

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to execute instructions to perform operations comprising:

receive data related to a real time location of one or more service vehicles during operation from an electronic receiver configured to triangulate the real time location of the one or more service vehicles based on signals received from three or more satellites, and collect real time amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles during operation, pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles;

determine, based on the data related to the location of the one or more service vehicles during operation and the data related to the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles during operation, a portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by each of the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways;

determine a fuel tax paid on the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles;

determine a portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back based on the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways;

cause an indication of the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back to be displayed on a provider portal;

automatically apply for the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back;

determine based on data related to real time location, the pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles an updated route to operate a lower amount of time on public roadways; and

update the provider portal with the updated route.

2. The system of claim 1 , further including at least one fuel sensor coupled to the one or more processors, the at least one fuel sensor being configured to generate a fuel signal indicative of the amounts of fuel consumed by a first service vehicle of the one or more service vehicles, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the amounts of fuel consumed by the first service vehicle based at least in part on the fuel signal.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein: a first locating device of the one or more locating devices and the at least one fuel sensor are located onboard the service vehicle.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to detect using the at least one fuel sensor, an amount of fuel being onloaded, a grade of the fuel, and fuel consumption rate.

5. The system of claim 1 , further including a government agency portal, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive information regarding fuel tax regulations via the government agency portal.

6. The system of claim 1 , further including an input device located onboard a first service vehicle of the one or more service vehicles and configured to receive manual input indicative of observed operation of the first service vehicle, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine when the first service vehicle is not operating on public roadways based further on the manual input.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the one or more processors are configured to:

sum all of the portions of the amounts of fuel consumed by each of the one or more service vehicles when not operating on public roadways; and

automatically apply for corresponding credits at a scheduled time.

8. A method for reducing fuel tax costs, the method including one or more processors and memory configured to execute instructions comprising: receiving data related to a real time location of one or more service vehicles during operation from an electronic receiver configured to triangulate the real time location of the one or more service vehicles based on signals received from three or more satellites, and collecting real time amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles, pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles; determining, based on the data related to the location of the one or more service vehicles during operation and the data related to the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles during operation, a portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by each of the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways; determining a fuel tax paid on the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles; determining a portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back based on the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways; displaying an indication of the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back to be displayed on a provider portal; automatically applying for the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back; determining based on data related to real time location, the pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles an updated route to operate a lower amount of time on public roadways; and update the provider portal with the updated route.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining when the one or more service vehicles are not operating on public roadways includes referencing location signals from a locating device with stored maps used to determine when the one or more service vehicles are not operating on public roadways.

10. The method of claim 8 , further including automatically calculating the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back based on one or more of fuel tax regulatory information, vehicle location data, travel paths, schedules of stops of the one or more service vehicles, and fuel onloading information.

11. The method of claim 10 , further including determining the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles based at least in part on a fuel signal indicative of the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles.

12. The method of claim 9 , further including receiving information regarding fuel tax regulations via a government agency portal.

13. The method of claim 8 , further including receiving manual input indicative of observed operation of a first service vehicle of the one or more service vehicles, wherein determining the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the first service vehicle when the first service vehicle is not traveling on public roadways includes determining the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the first service vehicle when the first service vehicle is not operating on public roadways based further on the manual input.

14. The method of claim 8 , the method further includes:

summing all of the portions of the amounts of fuel consumed by each of the one or more service vehicles for a specified period of time; and

automatically applying for corresponding credits at a scheduled time.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable programming instructions for reducing fuel tax costs comprising:

receiving data related to a real time location of one or more service vehicles during operation from an electronic receiver configured to triangulate the real time location of the one or more service vehicles based on signals received from three or more satellites, and collecting real time amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles, pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles;

determining, based on the data related to the real time location of the one or more service vehicles during operation and the data related to the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles during operation, a portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by each of the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways; and

determining a fuel tax paid on the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles;

determining a portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back based on the portion of the amounts of fuel consumed by the one or more service vehicles when the one or more service vehicles are not located on public roadways;

displaying an indication of the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back to be displayed on a provider portal;

automatically applying for the portion of the fuel tax that should be credited back;

determining based on data related to real time location, the pickup schedules of the one or more service vehicles, and transportation routes of the one or more service vehicles an updated route to operate a lower amount of time on public roadways; and

providing the updated route to the provider portal.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (3)