Patent ID: 7440846

Claim:
A vehicle information collection system for receiving vehicle information of a plurality of vehicles by way of a communication network and storing said vehicle information, said vehicle information collection system comprising: a vehicle information collection device for collecting vehicle information from vehicles by way of a communication network, said vehicle information collection device transmitting to other devices that are connected by way of said communication network vehicle information according to categories that these other devices require; a point-issuing device connected to said vehicle information collection device by way of said communication network for conferring points to vehicles according to said vehicle information, said point-issuing device including: (a) communication means for receiving indication by way of said communication network that said vehicle information collection device has received vehicle information from a vehicle; and (b) point-issuing means for conferring points to a vehicle according to the amount and/or the category and/or the value of vehicle information that has been received by way of the communication means; and an on-board device including a vehicle information management means for collecting vehicle information and automatically outputting the vehicle information, without initial user selection of whether to provide the vehicle information, based on predetermined conditions, and an on-board communication means for transmitting vehicle information that has been collected by said vehicle information management means to said vehicle information collection device by way of said communication network, wherein: said on-board device further includes a point storage means, and said on-board communication means receives points from said point-issuing device by way of said communication network and supplies the received points to said point storage means; and said point-issuing device further includes a point storage unit for storing points that have been issued for each vehicle or for each user.