Patent Application
20170178417
The present invention relates generally to an electronic payment system, and more particularly to a system for monitoring and enforcement of an automated fee payment in an infrastructure.
Urban road congestion represents a major and growing problem in most global cities—with a worldwide associated cost estimated in hundreds of billions of dollars per year. Many cities in the world have introduced static road toll systems, but they are expensive to install and maintain infrastructures, difficult to upgrade as sensing & communication technology progresses, and inflexible in their application.
A typical electronic toll collection (ETC) system includes four subsystems called automatic vehicle classification (AVC), violation enforcement system (VES), automatic vehicle identification (AVI), and transaction processing which includes a back office and integration. It relies on a stationary infrastructure.
Bitcoin is a digital store of value and payment system. The system is peer-to-peer; users can transact directly without needing an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a distributed ledger. Bitcoin has been proposed as a standard protocol to handle road tolling transactions.
In one aspect, a method for monitoring and enforcing an automated fee payment in an infrastructure is provided. The method is implemented by a computer. In the method, a mobile device on a vehicle of a verifier monitors a record of a transaction of a payment on a distributed ledger, wherein the payment is paid for using a service of the infrastructure and paid by a mobile device on a vehicle of an infrastructure user. In the method, the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier captures information of the transaction of the payment and the vehicle of the infrastructure user, wherein the information is broadcasted by the mobile device on the vehicle of the infrastructure user. In the method, the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier determines whether there is a valid transaction of the payment for the service. In the method, the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier sends a violation record to an offense reporting address of an infrastructure provider, in response to determining that there is no valid transaction of the payment for the service.
In another aspect, a computer program product for monitoring and enforcing an automated fee payment in an infrastructure is provided. The computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith. The program code is executable to: monitor, by a mobile device on a vehicle of a verifier, a record of a transaction of a payment on a distributed ledger, wherein the payment is paid for using a service of the infrastructure and paid by a mobile device on a vehicle of an infrastructure user; capture, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, information of the transaction of the payment and the vehicle of the infrastructure user, wherein the information is broadcasted by the mobile device on the vehicle of the infrastructure user; determine, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, whether there is a valid transaction of the payment for the service; and send, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, a violation record to an offense reporting address of an infrastructure provider, in response to determining that there is no valid transaction of the payment for the service.
In yet another aspect, a computer system for monitoring and enforcing an automated fee payment in an infrastructure is provided. The computer system comprises one or more processors, one or more computer readable tangible storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more computer readable tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors. The program instructions are executable to monitor, by a mobile device on a vehicle of a verifier, a record of a transaction of a payment on a distributed ledger, wherein the payment is paid for using a service of the infrastructure and paid by a mobile device on a vehicle of an infrastructure user. The program instructions are executable to capture, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, information of the transaction of the payment and the vehicle of the infrastructure user, wherein the information is broadcasted by the mobile device on the vehicle of the infrastructure user. The program instructions are executable to determine, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, whether there is a valid transaction of the payment for the service. The program instructions are executable to send, by the mobile device on the vehicle of the verifier, a violation record to an offense reporting address of an infrastructure provider, in response to determining that there is no valid transaction of the payment for the service.
The embodiments of the present invention employ advances in vehicle instrumentation (including sensing and communication) and distributed ledger technology (for example Bitcoin), and combine them into a system that enables the automation of road tolling and other fee payment. The system is novel, privacy preserving, and cost-efficient.
The embodiments of the present invention disclose a novel system enabling real-time and dynamically adaptive tolling and other fee collection (e.g., for parking fee collection). The system is without the installation of dedicated physical and/or trusted infrastructure. Payment for toll road or parking space usage is conducted via an e-currency and verified by verifiers (such as police cars) via computerized vision using cameras and a network connection.
The embodiments of the present invention disclose a system that has interactions among three entities: an infrastructure provider (e.g., a city), an infrastructure user (e.g., a car driver), and a verifier (e.g., police). The infrastructure provider implements and/or interfaces with a distributed ledger (for example Bitcoin's block chain) where financial transactions can be executed and recorded. Distributed verification of transactions is not necessary (for example, the city can provide a public ledger), but it is certainly useful to establish trust. The infrastructure provider sets up different addresses where payments for different services are to be received. Examples of such services include express lanes using dynamic tolls and demand-responsive parking. The infrastructure user (e.g., a car driver) generates a plurality of one-time addresses that are not traceable to the infrastructure user's identity and funds the plurality of one-time addresses with some money. Non-traceability can be, for example, accomplished via hierarchic deterministic wallets derivable from a seed. Funding the plurality of one-time addresses can then be completed via a mixing service to avoid tracing via the transaction history.
When infrastructure user's vehicle 312 uses a specific service (e.g., using an express lane of a road or using a parking spot), a payment for the service is executed and recorded on distributed ledger 212. For example, the transaction shown in
Verifier's vehicle 311 monitors and downloads payment transactions on distributed ledger 212. Verifier's vehicle 311 parses for a valid transaction that has happened after the last fee schedule update, but before the current time. For a transaction to be labeled as valid, it must contain a message of the hash of the license plate number (LPN) and the random number (RN) for this transaction, and it also must contain the fee paid correspond to the service consumed.
In the example shown
In one embodiment shown in
Functions of mobile device 413 of infrastructure user's vehicle 312 includes but not limit to determining a current location, creating a map of the current location of infrastructure user's vehicle 312, sending a payment to distributed ledger 212, broadcasting information of infrastructure user's vehicle 312 such as the license plate number (LPN) and information of the payment transaction such as the one-time random numbers (RN). In one embodiment shown in
After steps 603 and 604, mobile device 412 on verifier's vehicle 311, at step 605, determines whether there is violation evidence. At this step 605 (decision block 605), mobile device 412 on verifier's vehicle 311 determines whether a valid transaction of infrastructure user's vehicle 312 is found on distributed ledger 212. In response to determining that there is no violation evidence or a valid transaction of infrastructure user's vehicle 312 is found on distributed ledger 212 (NO branch of decision block 605), the steps are ended. In response to determining that there is violation evidence or a valid transaction of infrastructure user's vehicle 312 is not found on distributed ledger 212 (YES branch of decision block 605), mobile device 412 on verifier's vehicle 311 executes steps 606 and 607. At step 606, mobile device 412 on verifier's vehicle 311 sends a violation record with a hash of the violation evidence to an offense reporting address of the infrastructure provider. At step 607, mobile device 412 on verifier's vehicle 311 sends violation evidence to evidence database 411. The violation evidence may include an image or a short video sequence of an offending situation.
Referring to
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device, such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language, or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture, including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the FIGs illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the FIGs. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
