Patent ID: 8055534

Claim:
A method for awarding benefits as a function of vehicle occupancy, the method comprising: communicating via a wireless transponder with each of a plurality of machine-readable media devices located within a vehicle, wherein each of the machine-readable media devices have a unique identification indicia associated with each of a plurality of passengers within the vehicle; continuously counting in real-time a current number of occupants within the vehicle while the vehicle travels along a vehicle infrastructure by counting a number of the machine-readable media devices currently communicating with the wireless transponder; associating each of a plurality of benefit award rates with a plurality of different occupant counts, wherein higher occupant counts are associated with higher benefit award rates; awarding a variable benefit to each of the passengers within the vehicle without requiring the passengers to preregister with an awarding entity and as a function of an amount of use of the vehicle infrastructure by the vehicle and of the continuously counted real-time current number of occupants within the vehicle by: awarding a first leg benefit as a function of a first leg portion of the amount of use of the vehicle infrastructure by the vehicle having a constant first value for the continuously counted real-time current number of occupants within the vehicle and of the selected and applied one of the benefit award rates associated with the constant first value; awarding a second leg benefit that is higher than the first leg benefit as a function of a remainder portion of the amount of use of the vehicle infrastructure by the vehicle having a constant second leg value for the continuously counted real-time current number of occupants within the vehicle that is higher than the constant first leg value, and of a selected and applied one of the benefit award rates associated with the constant second value that is higher than the selected and applied one of the benefit award rates associated with the constant first value; notifying each of the passengers within the vehicle of the awarded first and second leg benefits; and increasing in real-time individual amounts of the variable benefit awarded to each of the passengers in proportion to an increase in the continuously counted real-time current number of occupants within the vehicle during the amount of use of the vehicle infrastructure by the vehicle.