Patent ID: 8195506

Claim:
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.