Toll Refund System Using Multi-Vehicle Delay Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for determining refunds for exceptional delays in tolls paid for traveling road infrastructure sections do not accurately differentiate between delays caused by the operator's responsibility and those caused by other factors, leading to potential over-refunds.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a user terminal and management server that calculates a refundable delay as the minimum of actual travel delay and average delay incurred by other vehicles, reducing the risk of refunds for delays not attributed to the operator's responsibility, by determining refunds based on the length of the road infrastructure section and the refundable delay.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the refund is calculated based on the actual travel delay alone, then the driver receives compensation for the full delay experienced, but the operator may over-refund for delays not caused by their responsibility
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from multiple data sources (geolocation data from other vehicles, road infrastructure data, traffic data) to continuously refine and verify the cause of delay before issuing refunds. This feedback mechanism ensures that refunds are only paid when the delay is confirmed to be operator-caused, eliminating over-refunds while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary verification system that acts as a mediator between the driver's delay experience and the refund decision. This intermediary analyzes geolocation data, road infrastructure status, and traffic conditions to objectively determine whether the delay was caused by operator responsibilities, preventing both over-refunds and under-refunds.
2Measurement precision
If the operator verifies each delay cause individually for every refund request, then refund accuracy improves, but the processing time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously collecting and analyzing geolocation data, road infrastructure status, and traffic conditions before refund requests are even submitted. This pre-verification process stores the cause of delay information in advance, so when a refund request arrives, the verification is already complete or can be quickly confirmed, reducing both complexity and processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses geolocation data from multiple vehicles as copies of the road condition information. Instead of individually verifying each driver's delay experience, the system references the geolocation trajectories of other vehicles that traversed the same road section during the same period, using these copies to confirm whether delays were operator-caused, significantly simplifying the verification process.
3Reliability
If the system collects geolocation data from multiple vehicles to verify delay causes, then refund accuracy improves, but the data processing requirements and system resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The geolocation data collection system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it tracks individual vehicle positions for toll calculation, monitors road conditions for safety applications, and verifies delay causes for refund processing. By making the data collection universal and multi-functional, the system avoids duplicate data gathering efforts, reducing energy consumption while maintaining high refund determination reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
It is disclosed a system for providing a refund for a toll paid for travelling a road infrastructure section by a vehicle. The length of the road infrastructure section is determined and a refundable delay is determined as the minimum of: (i) a travel delay calculated as the difference between an actual time taken by the vehicle to travel the road infrastructure section and a nominal time for travelling the road infrastructure section and (ii) an average delay incurred by a plurality of vehicles in transit along the road infrastructure section during a period at least partially overlapping with the time window during which the vehicle travelled the road infrastructure section. The refund is determined finally on the basis of the length of the road infrastructure section and the refundable delay, and a payment order for said determined refund is generated.