Method and means for collecting highway tolls

A system especially adapted for facilitating the collection of tolls on highways, includes the provision of exteriorly visible bar codes or other machine-readable customer account identifications, on vehicles using toll roads. Issuance of the account identification elements enables the customer to pass assigned scanning locations where the elements are machine-read, and verified at a computerized station serving a selected number of scanning locations. Through a computerized network, the scanned data is ultimately transmitted to credit-issuing companies, for billing to the customers who have used the machine-readable elements. The system permits a vehicle to continue past the scan point without stopping, thus offering maximum convenience to motorists, speeding up the flow of traffic, and reducing the number of personnel required at highway toll plazas.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the face of ever-increasing traffic loads on heavily traveled toll 
roads, the supervisory highway authorities have been hard put to maintain 
a smooth flow of traffic, particularly in areas of maximum congestion such 
as toll plazas. Here, it is customary to require a substantial number of 
personnel, this being true even with an increasing use of "exact change" 
lanes. The inconvenience to travelers is substantial, quite apart from the 
expense incurred by the authorities in issuing tickets and/or collecting 
tolls from motorists as they enter and leave the toll road, or pass given 
toll collection points located along the length of the highway. 
In its broader sense, the present invention is a method of and a means for 
permitting tolls to be automatically charged on toll roads, toll bridges, 
toll tunnels, and other areas which require the collection of a fee for 
vehicle use therein. In a more specific sense, the invention is a method 
of automatically charging tolls in the required amount, without requiring 
stoppage of a vehicle as it passes a given charge point, and a 
computerized system for implementing this desirable aim. 
It is known, in the prior art, to permit one to be automatically charged 
with a toll as his vehicle passes a given point on a highway or other 
area, the use of which requires payment of a toll or similar fee. However, 
deficiencies in the prior art arrangement have been noted. For example, it 
has been proposed to equip vehicles with transponders operative upon 
sensors mounted in the road (British Pat. No. 1,219,123) in association 
with a pulse counter pre-set according to the amount of an advance deposit 
account established by the motorist. 
It has also been proposed, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,522, to mount a scanning 
device adapted to read bar codes on freight cars, with a view to 
maintaining up-to-date information as to the location of the cars. 
It is, of course, also known to provide cameras at toll plazas, which will 
photograph the license plates of vehicles that pass through the plazas 
without paying tolls. 
All of these methods of identifying vehicles as they pass given points, and 
in some instances establishing the amounts of the tolls required for 
vehicle use, have nevertheless failed to accomplish certain very important 
objects. 
For example, the widespread use of credit cards, and the proliferation of 
so-called "credit card companies" issuing cards that can be used to make 
purchases of an almost limitless variety, clearly makes it desirable to 
offer a credit-type toll system that will permit one to automatically and 
with maximum convenience, charge tolls in the proper amounts, and be 
billed by the credit grantor on a regular monthly statement. 
Another important object of the present invention, designed to overcome the 
deficiencies of the prior art systems, is to not only automatically charge 
a toll against a vehicle passing a given toll charge point, but also 
transmit the account identification made at that point, through a computer 
system in which, fully automatically, the identification will ultimately 
be transmitted to the billing authority of the particular grantor of the 
credit card used by the motorist, and will be automatically billed as part 
of the regular, periodic billings addressed to the customer for purchases 
made on the credit extended by the grantor. 
Another object of the present invention, intended to overcome the 
deficiencies in the prior art systems, is to offer a system which will 
speed up the flow of traffic through toll plazas, where traffic often 
becomes choked during periods of heavy use of the facility, often creating 
long traffic jams with consequent irritation and very importantly, a great 
waste of fuel. 
Another object of importance is to provide appreciable reductions in the 
normal expenses required by highway or tunnel toll authorities in the 
maintenance of toll booths. Even with "exact change" lanes, the present 
system requires that toll plazas be staffed with a large number of 
employees, thus making it obviously desirable that a fully automatic 
system for extending credit to motorists be provided, in which the toll 
will be charged automatically and without requiring the present of 
employees of the toll-levying authority. 
Another important object, especially for business users, is to 
automatically provide, for the motorist, a receipt and permanent record of 
the transaction to facilitate charging of the toll as a business expense. 
To this end, the invention is so designed as to provide automatic 
recordation of tolls charged on credit, not only for individual motorists, 
but also for the operators of fleets of trucks, limousines, or other 
business vehicles. Fleet operators are enabled, in accordance with the 
invention, to have a complete record of the exact times and amounts of 
recorded tolls. They are thus provided not only with an automatic and 
accurate record of the toll incurred by operation of the vehicles in the 
fleet, but also are given the capability of monitoring driving times of 
their vehicle operators, for example. Utilizing the system comprising the 
present invention also permits fleet operators to maintain accurate 
records relating to other aspects of vehicle fleet operation, including 
the number of trips taken by individual vehicles, vehicle location on the 
highway system, and exact toll recording times. 
Another object is to provide further advantages to vehicle drivers or 
owners, for example elimination of the requirement for stopping of a 
vehicle to pay a toll, and passage of a vehicle through a toll station at 
close to a normal driving speed. 
Another object is to provide advantages to a vehicle owner or driver, by 
eliminating or minimizing congestion at toll plazas, and to increase 
economical fuel usage by minimizing stop-and-go driving. 
Still another object is to promote driver convenience by eliminating the 
necessity of one's endeavoring to locate coins or bills to pay tolls on 
approaching toll plazas. 
Another object is to provide advantages for the authority operating the 
turnpike, bridge, tunnel or the like, and responsible for collecting the 
tolls, by not only reducing the number of toll booth operators as 
discussed above, but also, reducing the total amount of cash handled and 
in this way promote better security. 
Another object is to provide, for a vehicle owner or driver, a complete 
record usable in justification of business travel expenses, for such 
purposes as supporting tax returns and obtaining reimbursement for the 
expenses incurred. 
Another object is to facilitate the calculation and granting of "commuter 
discounts", e.g., monthly rates and the like. 
Another object is to provide further advantages for a toll road authority, 
by smoothing traffic flow and permitting vehicles to proceed through the 
toll station at close to normal highway speeds. 
Yet another object is to provide an advantage for a toll road authority or 
the like, in that funds will be transferred to the authority directly to 
the bank used by them, through electronic fund transfer on a regular 
basis. 
It is also an object to promote advantages to the credit-extending and 
billing authorities, by increasing their total billing volume. 
Another object is to reduce the amount of cash flow through the toll 
system, so that the cash that must be counted and picked up at toll 
plazas, or elsewhere in the system, and transported in armored vehicles, 
can be greatly reduced. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Summarized briefly, the present invention comprises a method of and a means 
for automatically extending credit to, and thereafter billing, customers 
of credit grantors, for example nationally known credit card companies. To 
this end, the invention contemplates the installation, at a toll booth 
plaza, of machines of the type adapted to read account identification 
cards or similar elements. In accordance with the invention, it is 
proposed to provide, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, bar 
code decals, stickers, or the like, mounted upon a window or other 
suitable location on a vehicle, and representing the specific account 
identification assigned to the customer of a credit card company. The 
position of the coded element on the vehicle permits it to be read by the 
machine at the toll booth plaza, as the vehicle passes the machine, even 
at close to highway speeds. 
In accordance with the invention, the data recorded by the machine is 
automatically transmitted to the computer of a station serving a specified 
grouping of vehicle-scanning locations. Here, verification of the validity 
of the account is provided. If credit has been denied, and the vehicle is 
still within the control of the system, appropriate action may be taken to 
block its exit. For example, on turnpikes on which there is an appreciable 
time lapse between entry and exit, the verification process can be 
completed before an attempt to exit the turnpike can be attempted. This 
could if desired permit physical blocking of the exit attempt. Or, 
perhaps, a small computer located at the entry gate can be programmed to 
check only a relatively small "bad list" of numbers and this can be 
checked rapidly enough to deny the driver passage beyond the entry gate. 
Also, habitual offenders using the same check point regularly can be 
observed and apprehended. 
From the station, the information is input to a central computer receiving 
information from similar stations throughout the jurisdiction of the 
toll-collecting authority. From this location, the central computer 
transmits automatically, to a central collection point, full data as to 
individual toll charges, times, locations, and account identification. The 
collection point for data transmitted by the central computer receives 
similar information from toll highway authorities or the like throughout 
the country, and separates the information in its own computer for 
transmission, automatically, to the individual credit card companies 
involved, where the information is fed into their computers and 
automatically billed to their credit card customers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawing in detail, in order to facilitate an understanding 
of the invention and the components of the system embodied therein, it is 
appropriate to provide certain definitions of terms used herein. 
As used herein, "account identification" means a bar code, or a numeric, 
alphanumeric or alphabetic series, or any other readable intelligence or 
indicia identifying a particular customer of a credit grantor from all 
other customers of that or other grantors. 
The term "scanning locations" means highway toll booths, parking area 
exits, or any point where movement of the vehicle past it means that the 
vehicle will incur, or has incurred, a charge for such passage. 
The term "credit grantor" means credit card companies, banks, governmental 
or quasi-governmental authorities, that extend credit permitting customers 
to charge purchases made from subscribing businesses. 
The term "data" means, broadly, information as to a credit customer, 
whether a business or an individual person to whom credit has been 
extended, the customer's billing address, credit limits, account 
identification, the amount of the toll or other vehicular expense that has 
been charged, and the date, time, and place where the charge was incurred, 
together with any other information found necessary or desirable by the 
toll collection authority or the credit grantor. 
In the drawing, the reference numeral 10 has been applied to toll stations 
or booths, each of which, as is well known, is located in controlling 
relation to traffic passing through an adjacent lane of a toll plaza of a 
road, highway, bridge, or other area where tolls are levied by a 
supervisory authority. 
In accordance with the invention, there are mounted, at the individual 
stations, scanning machines 12, individual to the respective lanes and 
disposed in position to read account identification elements 14 carried by 
vehicles V passing through the lanes. The elements 14, in a preferred 
embodiment, are stickers or decals containing bar codes, similar to those 
commonly applied to food items sold in supermarkets. Preferably, the 
element is applied to the car in such a fashion as to be non-removable 
unless destroyed in the process of removal. The bar code would be 
individual to and provides an account identification of the credit card 
holder, being translatable into the owner's account number. 
The machine-readable element 14, when scanned by machine 12, transmits the 
data obtained from scanning of the account identification element 14, over 
a communication link 16 (e.g., a telephone line), to a station reader 
controller 18. A computer at this location, which serves an entire group 
of scanners 10, verifies the account, if it is deemed a matter of policy 
that such verification at this point is economically feasible. It may 
indeed be true that such verification, at least at this point, can be 
dispensed with in the same way that verification of credit, at the point 
of purchase, is typically dispensed with if the amount being charged is 
below a specified sum, e.g., $50. Hereinafter, a procedure that can if 
desired be followed when an account is found not entitled to credit will 
be discussed in detail. For the moment, it will be assumed that the 
account has been properly verified, found valid, and entitled to credit. 
In these circumstances, the computer at the station 18 transmits, by a 
telecommunications link or other suitable communications line 19, the data 
accumulated by the several scanners 10 to a central computer 20. 
Other toll stations 22, similar to the station 18, are geographically 
removed from station 18 and from each other. They also transmit, to the 
central computer 20 of the toll road authority, data obtained from the 
scanners served thereby, over telecommunications links or other connecting 
lines 23. 
At each station 18 or 22, local storage is provided as at 24, of the data 
received from the scanners 10 served by the station. This storage includes 
disc packs 26 and/or hard copy 28. The provision of local storage at each 
station 18 is optional, according to administrative determinations made by 
the toll road authority. 
At the central computer 20, there is also provided means for storage of 
data, in the form of disc packs 27 and hard copy 29. This information can 
be accumulated and categorized by toll booth, hours, shifts, or by the 
day, and provides a data base for traffic studies and analysis. 
At this point, it may be noted that a central computer 20 would exist at 
headquarters, or at any other location deemed suitable, of each officially 
established toll collection authority. For example, it is customary to 
establish a commission or other quasi-governmental authority, for 
administering a single toll highway system within a particular state. 
Accordingly, assuming the use of the FIG. 1 system on a national basis, 
there would be a central computer for each independent toll collection 
authority, whatever form that authority may take in a particular state or 
country. 
This being so, it is important that the data received at the central 
computers of the several, independent toll collection authorities, be 
transmitted to a collection point established to serve the independently 
operating toll collection authorities, by receiving information from all 
of said authorities, separating such information according to the 
individual credit card companies that have extended credit customers using 
the toll facilities of the various collection authorities, and thereafter 
transmitting the data to the several credit card companies for billing to 
their customers. 
To this end, the central data collection entity 30 receives the data via 
telecommunications links 31, from the central computers 20 of the various 
reporting toll road authorities. At the collection point 30, facilities 
for record storage are again provided, in the form of disc packs 32 and 
hard copy 34. 
Since each computer 20 will be transmitting data that must ultimately be 
fed to various, individual credit card companies, a main frame computer is 
provided at the central data collection agency 30. This computer receives 
data from all the central computers 20, and classifies or separates this 
data according to the data to be transmitted to credit card company A, or 
B, or C, or D. 
The data, when so separated, is transmitted to the computers of companies 
A, B, C, and D over telecommunications links 38, 40, 42, 44 respectively. 
These computers either constitute or feed computers of the billing 
authorities of companies A, B, C, and D, and bill the customers 
automatically, listing the toll charges along with other purchases made by 
the customers on the regular monthly statements sent to the customers. The 
billings 50 are sent to the customers' addresses designated at 52, and 
payments made as at 54 by the customers are returned by mail or by 
electronic credit as at 56 to the several credit card companies. The 
companies also are responsible, as shown at 57, for transmitting to the 
body of customers 52 the code elements 14. 
The companies A, B, C, and D, comprising the credit grantors, are also 
responsible for disbursing to the several toll road authorities the 
amounts represented by tolls charged on credit through said authorities. 
The disbursements made by the credit companies are shown at 46, and are 
transmitted back to the several toll collection authorities as at 48, 
either by mail, or by electronic money transfer. Disbursements are also 
made, through the mail or electronic credits shown at 48, to the central 
data collection agency 30 for the services rendered by it to the credit 
card companies. 
This constitutes the normal operation of the toll credit-extending and 
billing system. In some instances, however, it may be that a vehicle is 
bearing a sticker or account identification element 14, that is not 
entitled to credit. The detection of this situation can be made by a 
computer, located either at the station 18 or at the scanner itself, 
assuming, of course, that prompt detection has been found desirable as a 
matter of policy. It is more likely, however, that considering the expense 
of detecting and stopping "credit cheats" and the effect thereof on smooth 
traffic flow and smooth operation of the system, the vehicle may be 
allowed passage but the number may thereafter go on a so-called "bad list" 
of perhaps 1,000 numbers to facilitate locating and even stopping of the 
vehicle should re-use of the highway facility be attempted at a later date 
by its owner or operator. 
Assuming that a vehicle known to be bearing a "bad number" is found to be 
entering the highway facility, this intelligence can be transmitted almost 
instantaneously to mechanisms for blocking passage of the vehicle and/or 
videotaping the vehicle's license number. 
This portion of the system may, thus, include elevatable gates 58, one of 
which would be disposed at each scanning location in position to block the 
vehicle V whose account identification element is found to be on the "bad 
list". The mechanism for lowering the gate operates on a signal from the 
computer at station 18, or possibly at the location of the scanner 12, 
through lines 60. 
There may also be provided a stop-and-go traffic signal 64, also connected 
to the computer at the station 18 or to an associated scanner 12, and 
activated through line 62 either to signal the vehicle that it may pass, 
or alternatively, show a red signal indicating that the vehicle is to stop 
and await a personal check of the situation made by an employee of the 
toll collection authority. 
Videotape recorders are shown at 68, and are activated through lines 66 
from the account-verifying computer. Assuming that the element 14 on a 
particular vehicle V has been found to be on the "bad list" and hence 
unworthy of credit, recorder 68 located in position to photograph the 
vehicle is activated to record a picture of the vehicle and in particular 
the license number thereof. Of course, any one or more of the traffic 
control devices 58, 64, 68 can be used at each traffic lane where a 
scanner 12 has been installed. 
In FIG. 2, the invention is shown as adapted to a parking lot or parking 
building. It is still possible, in such an instance, to use scanners 12 
and elements 14 affixed to the vehicles. Alternatively, since in this 
instance traffic moves very slowly out of the parking lot or building, and 
indeed must come to a stop before leaving, it may be desired to use, 
instead of scanner 12, a machine 70 having slot 72 receiving the account 
identification element 14. In this instance the vehicle V comes to a stop 
beside the machine, and the driver positions the element 14 in the slot 
72, and withdraws the element after it has been read by the machine. The 
data read by the machine is transmitted via line 16 to station 18, after 
which the full procedure hereinbefore described with reference to FIG. 1, 
is carried out. 
In the instance of a parking lot or a parking building, it may be desired 
that gate 58 be operated on the passage of each and every vehicle. In this 
event, gate 58 might be normally maintained in a lowered position. Line 60 
would connect the gate to the computer, and each time the computer 
indicates that the vehicle is entitled to credit, the gate would be 
signaled by the computer to lift to permit the passage of the vehicle. If 
the vehicle number is on the limited "bad list" requiring denial of 
credit, the gate remains lowered. Again, a videotape recorder 68 may or 
may not be used in combination with the gate. Normally, in the arrangement 
shown in FIG. 2, the recorder 68 would be operated only if credit is 
denied. 
Of course, in the form of the invention shown in FIG. 1, it may be desired, 
for the purpose of safety and for the purpose of assuring proper control 
of traffic, to deliberately require that the vehicle V slow down as it 
approaches scanner 12. In this event, the toll authority may decide to 
require that a gate 58 be maintained, normally, in blocking position in 
each lane where a scanner 12 is installed, lifting only if verification of 
a valid bar code element 14, by reason of its absence from the numerically 
limited list of "bad numbers", is made. 
Existing toll booths can be readily modified by having the scanner mounted 
on or adjacent the same, thus permitting the invention to be incorporated 
in existing traffic lanes, at toll plazas already in use. 
It may also be noted that there are various methods of collecting tolls. On 
some toll roads, at periodic intervals predetermined amounts are required. 
In this event, the computer mechanism need make no calculation of the 
toll, since it is established in advance and is automatically charged each 
time a vehicle passes the scanner. This will be true, for example, at 
tunnels and bridges, in most instances. 
At other toll collection locations, however, as for example the toll booths 
at the end of a toll road having a plurality of exits, a separate 
calculation must be made for each vehicle passing the scanner. This can be 
readily dealt with by having a scanner at each location at which vehicles 
enter the highway. Such a scanner would record the time of entry of the 
vehicle onto the highway, and the location. The data so obtained would be 
transmitted to the computer at station 18. Thereafter, when the vehicle 
leaves the highway, as it passes scanner 12 located at the exit selected 
by the driver, that scanner will take note of the exit and transmit the 
data relating to the exit of the vehicle, to the same computer which 
received the information as to the vehicle's entry upon the highway. The 
computer, as for example at station 18, takes note of the data relating to 
the vehicle's entry and exit, and calculates the toll, transmitting the 
calculation as part of the data fed by the station 18 to the central 
computer 20. 
While particular embodiments of this invention have been shown in the 
drawings and described above, it will be apparent, that many changes may 
be made in the form, arrangement and positioning of the various elements 
of the combination. In consideration thereof it should be understood that 
preferred embodiments of this invention disclosed herein are intended to 
be illustrative only and not intended to limit the scope of the invention.