Granted Patent B2

US 12,367,714 · App. 18/375,927 · Granted Jul 22, 2025

Inventors: Cathi Chinn (Phoenix, AZ); Stephen C. Young (Phoenix, AZ)

Assignee: VM Consolidated, Inc.

G07B15/063

Abstract

Claims (35)

1. A method for dynamically enrolling a vehicle with a tolling authority, comprising:

detecting, by a vehicle processor, that the vehicle has entered onto a proximity corridor area associated with a toll road managed by the tolling authority;

transmitting, by the vehicle processor, a vehicle toll service enrollment request message to a remote toll managed services server (TMSS) associated with the tolling authority in response to said detecting that the vehicle has entered onto the proximity corridor area;

receiving, by the vehicle processor, a vehicle enrollment message from the TMSS after the TMSS determines that the vehicle is not enrolled with the tolling authority; and

displaying, by the vehicle processor, a vehicle registration invitation message on a vehicle display which invites an operator of the vehicle to enroll the vehicle with the tolling authority in response to said receiving the vehicle enrollment message from the TMSS, where the vehicle registration invitation message comprises a single-click enrollment option for enrolling the vehicle with the tolling authority;

receiving, by the vehicle processor, a selection of an element associated with the single-click enrollment option on the vehicle display which causes the vehicle processor to automatically populate a vehicle registration message with a unique identifier for the vehicle and a digital wallet identifier for automated billing associated with charges incurred by the vehicle within the proximity corridor area, and

transmitting, by the vehicle processor, the vehicle registration message to automatically register the vehicle with the tolling authority.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle toll service enrollment request message, the vehicle enrollment message, and the vehicle registration invitation message are sent over a wireless connection between the vehicle to the TMSS.

3. The method of claim 1 , where detecting that the vehicle has entered onto the proximity corridor area comprises collecting vehicle location data from an in-vehicle global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor and comparing the vehicle location data to a virtual geofence map defining the proximity corridor area.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the vehicle toll service enrollment request message comprises transmitting the unique identifier for the vehicle that is retrieved from vehicle data stored on the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the vehicle processor transmits a registration payment message which includes a digital wallet identifier for automated billing associated with tolls incurred by the vehicle within the proximity corridor area.

6. The method of claim 1 , where the vehicle processor is further configured to:

transmit a first message to the TMSS with location data indicating the vehicle has entered onto a toll area associated with the TMSS;

collect toll-related data for the vehicle while operating in the toll area by executing a tolling application program on the vehicle processor;

transmit a second message to the TMSS with the toll-related data;

receive a third message from the TMSS with a toll charge; and

display the toll charge at a display on the vehicle.

7. A method for dynamically enrolling a vehicle with a vehicle charging authority system, comprising:

receiving, by a backend server of a vehicle charging authority service (VCAS), a vehicle service enrollment request message, wherein the vehicle service enrollment request message comprises data associated with a vehicle that has entered a proximity corridor area associated with the VCAS;

determining, by the backend server of the VCAS, that the vehicle is not registered with the VCAS;

transmitting, by the backend server of the VCAS, a vehicle registration invitation message which notifies an operator of the vehicle that the vehicle is not registered with the VCAS and invites the operator of the vehicle to enroll the vehicle with the VCAS, where the vehicle registration invitation message is displayed on a vehicle display and comprises a single-click enrollment option for enrolling the vehicle with the VCAS;

receiving, by the backend server of the VCAS, a vehicle registration message to register the vehicle with the VCAS where the vehicle registration message is automatically populated with a unique identifier for the vehicle and a digital wallet identifier for automated billing associated with charges incurred by the vehicle within the proximity corridor area in response to a selection on the vehicle display of an element associated with the single-click enrollment option by the operator of the vehicle; and

enrolling, by the backend server of the VCAS, the vehicle with the VCAS using information contained in the vehicle registration message.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the VCAS is a toll managed services server (TMSS) having tolling authority over one or more tollways located in the proximity corridor area.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the VCAS is a road usage charging (RUC) managed services server (RMSS) having road use charging authority over one or more RUC zones located in the proximity corridor area.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the backend server of the VCAS receives the vehicle service enrollment request message and the vehicle registration message over a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network connecting the vehicle to the backend server of the VCAS.

11. The method of claim 7 , where the vehicle detects entry into the proximity corridor area by collecting vehicle location data from an in-vehicle global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor and comparing the vehicle location data to a virtual geofence map defining the proximity corridor area.

12. The method of claim 7 , where the vehicle service enrollment request message comprises the unique identifier for the vehicle that is retrieved from vehicle data stored on the vehicle.

13. A vehicle enrollment management system, comprising:

a vehicle comprising a processor connected over an in-vehicle network to retrieve in-vehicle data from a vehicle data storage and one or more in-vehicle sensors, where the vehicle is wirelessly coupled to communicate with a vehicle enrollment authority computer that is operable to dynamically enroll a vehicle with a vehicle charging authority service (VCAS),

wherein the vehicle processor transmits a vehicle service enrollment request message indicating the vehicle has entered into a proximity corridor area associated with the VCAS;

wherein the vehicle processor receives, from the vehicle enrollment authority computer, a vehicle registration invitation message after the vehicle enrollment authority computer determines that the vehicle is not registered with the VCAS;

wherein the vehicle processor is configured to display the vehicle registration invitation message at a vehicle display to invite the operator of the vehicle to enroll the vehicle with the VCAS with a single-click enrollment option for enrolling the vehicle with the VCAS;

wherein the vehicle processor receives a selection on the vehicle display of an element associated with the single-click enrollment option by the operator of the vehicle which causes the vehicle processor to automatically populate a vehicle registration message with a unique identifier for the vehicle and a digital wallet identifier for automated billing associated with charges incurred by the vehicle within the proximity corridor area; and

wherein the vehicle processor is configured to send the vehicle registration message to automatically register the vehicle with the VCAS.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (12)