Use of multiple sensory inputs for determining vehicle occupancy in tolling applications
AssigneeGeotoll, Inc.
InventorsJaime Andres Borras, Wyatt Drake Geist
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mobile device runs a tolling application program that, in part, can perform several vehicle occupant detection processes in order to verify the number of occupants in a vehicle. When the number of occupants is verified, then (when the number is more than one) discounts on tolls can be applied to toll transactions. In order to avoid the effect of false positive detections, several occupant sensing modalities are used and the results of each are evaluated to ensure that the correct number of occupants has been determined.
Claims18
A method for determining and verifying occupants of a vehicle by a mobile device operating a tolling application program in order to discount toll charges, the method comprising:
- prompting, by the mobile device, responsive to the tolling application program, a user of the mobile device to enter a number of vehicle occupants;
- receiving, at the mobile device, responsive to the prompting, an input indicative of the number of vehicle occupants;
- the mobile device, responsive to the tolling application program, verifying the number of vehicle occupant by performing at least two verification processes, including:
- detecting, by the mobile device, other mobile devices using a local range wireless network interface;
- receiving and analyzing a human speech sample in which several people speak to identify a number of different speakers;
- and
- capturing and analyzing an image to identify human faces in the image.
A method for verifying a number of occupants in a vehicle, comprising:
- receiving an input at a mobile device indicating a selected number of occupants;
- operating a camera of the mobile device to capture a view of the camera;
- verifying the selected number of occupants using a facial recognition process to:
- automatically present a camera interface on the mobile device;
- in response to a user input at the camera interface, capturing an image with the camera;
- processing the image to identify human faces in the image;
- and
- counting a number of human faces identified;
- comparing the number of human faces identified in the image with the selected number of occupants;
- and
- either confirming the number of occupants when the number of human faces in the image matches the selected number of occupants, or presenting a discrepancy interface indicating that the selected number of occupants could not be verified when he number of human faces in the image does not match the selected number of occupants.
A method for verifying a number of occupants in a vehicle for toll payment, comprising:
- presenting, on a mobile device, an interface screen prompting a user to enter a number of occupants of the vehicle;
- receiving from the user at the mobile device, an input indicating a number;
- the mobile device using at least two occupant sensing processes to detect a number of occupants in the vehicle;
- comparing the results of each of the at least two occupant sensing processes;
- when the results of the at least two occupant sensing processes agree with number provided in the input from the user, the mobile device transmitting a message to a backend server of a toll service indicating the number of occupants and that the number was verified by the mobile device;
- and
- when the results of the each of the at least two occupant sensing processes do not agree with the number provided in the input from the user, the mobile device presenting an interface screen in which the user can either have at least one of the at least two occupant sensing processes repeated or self-confirm the number of occupants.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.