JP2003141582A - Registration system and method for application for discount on toll - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To promote the popularization of onboard equipment by affording an incentive for purchasing the same through favoring owners with a discount on toll. SOLUTION: The system has an onboard equipment on specific information storing unit 19 for storing equipment management numbers 22, a discount application submission information storing unit 20 for registering the presence/absence of an application for discount for each equipment, a discount application receiving unit 26 for receiving from the owner the equipment management number and the credit card number necessary for the owner to enjoy the discount, a discount application approving unit 27 for registering a discount application involving equipment whose management number is registered in the storing unit 19 but no application for discount is found in the storing unit 20, and a settlement method storing unit 21 for storing the credit card number for the equipment with the discount application therefor registered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a so-called toll road automatic toll collection system (hereinafter referred to as "ETC system" (Elec
tronic Toll Collection), a system for discounting toll road tolls for in-vehicle equipment purchasers to give an incentive to purchase in-vehicle equipment (hereinafter referred to as "on-vehicle equipment") And method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ETC system has begun to be introduced as a toll road toll system. The ETC system is used when a vehicle passes through a toll road toll collection gate.
It is a system that receives information necessary for payment of tolls from vehicles by using two-way wireless communication. This ETC
According to the system, unlike the current toll collection system,
There is no need to stop the vehicle for the purpose of collecting tolls. For this reason, the problem of toll gate congestion on the toll road can be solved, and various advantages such as the need for constructing complicated toll road entrance / exit roads are eliminated, and it is attracting attention.

In this ETC system, for example, when a vehicle equipped with an on-vehicle device passes through a toll gate, two-way wireless communication is performed between a roadside device installed in front of a passage gate and the on-vehicle device, and the on-vehicle device is installed. It is configured to settle the usage charge based on the vehicle information stored in the vehicle information and the user information stored in the IC card.

[0004]

By the way, the cost of this vehicle-mounted device is as high as tens of thousands of yen, and the user has to bear the cost required for installation on the vehicle and for the predetermined setup. Therefore, at present, it is difficult to obligate all vehicles to be equipped with an on-vehicle device, which is an obstacle to the spread of the ETC system.

The present invention provides a toll road toll discount application registration system which can provide an in-vehicle device owner with an incentive to purchase an on-vehicle device by discounting the toll charge on the toll road to promote the spread of the on-vehicle device. And its method.

Another object of the present invention is to effectively prevent the use of the discount service by unauthorized means such as duplicate application when a toll discount application is received from the vehicle-mounted device owner. is there.

[0007]

According to a first main aspect of the present invention, there is provided an on-vehicle device unique information storage section for storing unique information of an on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, wherein Onboard device specific information storage for communicating with the toll road automatic toll collection system and paying the toll on the toll road by a predetermined payment method, and the toll road discount for each of the onboard devices Receives toll discount application information storage area that registers the presence / absence of application for application, and receives from the owner of each vehicle-mounted device the intention to apply for the toll discount, the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device, and the information about the payment method to which the toll discount is applied. The charge discount application receiving section and the onboard unit specific information storage section store the specific information of the onboard unit related to the charge discount application, and the discount application application information storage section applies to the charge discount application for the onboard unit. of If there is no registration yet, a charge discount application determining unit that registers a discount application for the onboard device in the discount application information storage unit, and the payment method for the onboard device that has registered the charge discount application And a discount application target payment method storage unit for storing the information of 1.

According to such a configuration, it is possible to register information about a payment method such as a credit card for the vehicle-mounted device for which the application for the charge discount application has been registered. Thus, when the information about the payment method is received from the vehicle passing through the toll road, the discounted payment of the toll can be performed based on whether or not the information about the payment method is registered. Therefore, it is possible to perform discount settlement processing of toll road tolls with a very simple structure.

Further, according to the above configuration, when the toll discount application is received from the owner of the vehicle-mounted device, the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device relating to the application is registered and the discount application is still registered. You can register for a discount application, provided that you have not already done so. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent duplicate registration of the settlement means for the vehicle-mounted device.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle information storage unit for storing the vehicle information of the vehicle received at the time of setting up the vehicle-mounted device in association with the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device. Further, the charge discount application receiving unit also receives from the owner of the vehicle-mounted device the individual vehicle information of the vehicle in which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted, and the charge discount application determining unit receives the received vehicle-mounted device. When the device-specific information and the individual vehicle information match, a discount application application for the vehicle-mounted device is registered in the discount application information storage unit.

According to such a configuration, the discount application is registered when both the individual vehicle information of the vehicle and the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device match, so that the security of application registration can be further improved. You can

(Claim 3) According to another embodiment of the present invention, is the payment method registered in the discount object payment method storage unit in response to an inquiry from the automatic toll collection system for each toll road? It further has a settlement method registration presence / absence notifying unit for notifying.

According to this structure, when an inquiry is made from the automatic toll collection system for the toll road with respect to the vehicle which has the vehicle-mounted device and has passed the toll road, the toll vehicle is applied with the toll discount. The automatic fee collection system is notified whether you are applying. Thereby, the automatic fee collection system can calculate the charge amount based on whether the passing vehicle has applied for the discount application.

(Claims 4 and 5) According to another embodiment of the present invention, the discount application target settlement method storage unit stores a discount available limit amount for a settlement method, and the present system further comprises: For the payment method referred to by the automatic toll collection system for each of the toll roads, there is a discountable maximum amount updating unit for updating the discountable maximum amount by subtracting the toll charge of the toll road from the discountable maximum amount. . Here, when the settlement method is a prepaid method, it is preferable that the discountable limit amount is a usable balance of the prepaid method.

According to this structure, when the automatic toll collection system makes an inquiry about a payment method, the toll road toll can be subtracted from the discount limit stored for each payment method. The limit can be updated at any time.

(Claim 6) According to another embodiment of the present invention, there are a plurality of toll roads, and the discount application target settlement method storage unit sets the discount available limit amount to attribute information of each toll road. Is stored in association with.

According to such a configuration, when the toll discount is set for each of the plurality of toll roads,
You can get a discount on the tolls on each toll road by applying once.

(Claim 7) According to a second main aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted device unique information storing step of storing unique information of a vehicle-mounted device mounted in a vehicle, wherein each vehicle-mounted device is charged. Onboard device specific information storage step for communicating with the automatic road toll collection system and paying the toll on the toll road by a predetermined settlement method, and applying the toll road discount for each of the onboard devices Toll discount application information registration process to register the presence / absence of application, fee to receive from the owner of each vehicle-mounted device the intention to apply for the fee discount, unique information of the vehicle-mounted device, and information on the payment method to which the discount is applied In the discount application receiving step and the in-vehicle device unique information storing step, the in-vehicle device unique information related to the charge discount application is registered, and in the discount application request information storing step If the application for gold discount application has not been registered yet, the rate discount application determination process for registering the application for discount application for the vehicle-mounted device and the payment method for the vehicle-mounted device for which the application for application of the price discount application is registered are performed. A toll road toll discount application registration method, which comprises a discount application target payment method storing step of storing information.

With such a configuration, it is possible to provide a toll road toll discount application registration method that can be suitably obtained by using the toll road toll discount application registration system according to the first aspect.

Other features and remarkable effects of the present invention will be more clearly understood by referring to the following description of the embodiments of the invention and the attached drawings.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, an outline of an ETC system to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an on-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle 2, and reference numeral 3 is an automatic toll collection system for charging the toll of the vehicle 2 traveling on a toll road. .

The vehicle-mounted device 1 is a communication device for performing bidirectional wireless communication with the roadside device 5 of the tollgate 4 via an antenna (not shown) to settle the toll.
Information necessary for charging a toll by wireless communication, that is, vehicle type information (billing category information) and a communication key are installed in the vehicle-mounted device 1 by a predetermined method (for example, an IC card for setup) by a predetermined setup. It As a result, the vehicle-mounted device 1 is activated and becomes ready for use as a communication device for collecting toll charges as described above. When the toll payment is settled by using the vehicle-mounted device 1, the user inserts a credit card (a so-called credit card) that the user wants to use for the payment.
Insert into and drive.

A vehicle 2 equipped with such an on-vehicle device 1 is
As shown in FIG. 1, when passing through the toll gate 4 for ETC charging, the automatic toll collection system 3 causes the roadside device 5 to operate.
The vehicle type information and the credit card number of the vehicle are received from the vehicle-mounted device 1 through. When the automatic fee collection system 3 determines that the received information is not fraudulent and that payment by a credit card is possible, the bar 7 of the tollgate 4 is opened to allow the vehicle 2 to pass. Then, the toll is calculated based on the received vehicle type information, and the charging process for the credit card is performed. Further, the automatic toll collection system 3 refers to the toll discount application registration system 8 according to the present invention as to whether or not the credit card number is registered as a discount application, and performs registration when the toll fee is charged. If so, the discounted amount will be charged.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the application processing for applying the toll discount by the toll discount application registration system 8 will be briefly described. In this figure, reference numeral 9 indicates an owner of the vehicle-mounted device, and reference numeral 10 indicates a vehicle-mounted device that collectively manages information of the vehicle-mounted device 1 for setting up the vehicle-mounted device 1 and application registration for application of a toll discount. It is a vessel information management center. The vehicle-mounted device information management center 10 is provided with a toll discount application registration system 8 and a vehicle-mounted device authentication system 11 for setting up the vehicle-mounted device 1. Since the process of setting up the vehicle-mounted device 1 is well known in the art, description thereof will be omitted.

The onboard equipment owner 9 notifies the toll discount application registration system 8 of the unique information of the onboard equipment 1 and the credit card number if the onboard equipment owner 9 wants to receive a toll road discount application. Apply for a rate discount. This application may be received by mail, FAX, or on a homepage established by the vehicle-mounted device information management center 10. It is also possible to apply for the discount application at the same time as setting up the vehicle-mounted device 1.

The toll discount application registration system 8 that has received the application associates the credit card number associated with the application with the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device 1 when the discount is not applied to the vehicle-mounted device 1 relating to the application. To register. Thereby, it is possible to determine and answer the inquiry from the automatic fee collection system 3 whether the discount application is registered for the credit card number of the inquiry.

The toll discount application registration system 8 according to the present invention is configured as follows in order to manage the toll discount application as described above. In the following, an example will be described in which the credit card is used as a payment method for paying a toll and the toll is discounted at a uniform discount rate within a predetermined period from the application date of the discount application.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the system 8 includes a data storage unit 17 and a program storage unit 18 on a bus 16 to which a CPU 12, a RAM 13, a communication device 14 such as a modem and an input / output device 15 are connected. Be equipped with.

First, the data storage unit 17 stores an in-vehicle device unique information storage unit 19 for storing unique information of the in-vehicle device 1 mounted on the vehicle 2, and a toll road discount application for each in-vehicle device 1. It is provided with a discount application information storage unit 20 for registering the presence or absence, and a discount application payment method storage unit 21 for storing the credit card number of the vehicle-mounted device 1 for which the charge discount application is registered.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle-mounted device unique information storage unit 19 stores the vehicle-mounted device management number 2 as the vehicle-mounted device unique information.
2 is stored. This on-board unit management number 22
Is a number given by the vehicle-mounted device authentication system 11 and is a unique number for the vehicle-mounted device 1 that has been set up. Instead of or in addition to the vehicle-mounted device management number 22, a vehicle-mounted device serial number which is a unique number given by the manufacturer of the vehicle-mounted device 1 may be stored.

The on-vehicle device unique information storage section 19 is
The vehicle information 23 of the vehicle 2 on which the vehicle-mounted device 1 is mounted is also stored. The individual vehicle information 23 is information on the vehicle 2 required for charging the toll, and is based on the vehicle width, vehicle length, number of axles, displacement, etc. described in the vehicle verification and such information. The vehicle type information (charge classification information) determined by the vehicle-mounted device information management center 10 is included. This car information 23
Stores the information received by the vehicle-mounted device authentication system 11 when the vehicle-mounted device 1 is set up.

The discount application information storage unit 20 stores information concerning the application from the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 received by the charge discount application receiving unit 26, which will be described later. Specifically, the bibliographic items of the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 and the vehicle-mounted device management number 22 are included. Further, in this embodiment, since the discount of the toll is limited to a predetermined period (3 months, 1 year, etc.) from the application date, the discount application information storage unit 20 is applied by the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 The date when the application was received (application date) is also stored.

The discount application settlement method storage unit 21 is
It stores the credit card number for which the registration of the discount application is approved and the fee discount period calculated based on the application date. Since the credit card number is registered for each vehicle-mounted device 1, the same credit card may be registered for the vehicle-mounted device management numbers 22 of a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices 1, for example. In this case, the predetermined period is only calculated separately from the date of application for each on-board unit management number 24, and there is no problem in continuing to receive the discount with the credit card as long as it is within the respective charge discount period. Absent.

Next, the program storage unit 18 is stored in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the main program 25, a charge discount application receiving unit 26 that receives a charge discount application intention from the vehicle-mounted device owner 9, the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device 1 and the credit card number, and a predetermined condition are satisfied. On the condition that the discount application is applied to the on-vehicle device 1 related to the application, the charge discount application determining unit 27 and the charge discount application that calculates the deadline for applying the charge discount based on the application date. From the deadline calculation unit 28 and the automatic toll collection system 3 for the toll road, the credit card applies to the discount application payment method storage unit 2
1 payment method registration presence / absence inquiry reception unit 29 that receives an inquiry as to whether the credit card is registered in 1. and a payment method registration presence / absence notification that notifies whether the credit card is registered in the discount application target payment method storage unit 21 according to the inquiry. And a section 30.

The charge discount application determining unit 27 has the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device 1 relating to the charge discount application registered in the vehicle-mounted device unique information storage unit 19, and the discount application request information storage unit 20. On the condition that the charge discount application for the vehicle-mounted device 1 has not been registered yet, the discount application for the vehicle-mounted device 1 is registered in the discount application target settlement method storage unit 21. By imposing these conditions, duplicate application for one vehicle-mounted device 1 can be avoided. If the application for the charge discount is applied at the same time as the application for the setup of the vehicle-mounted device 1, the setup process is performed first, and the vehicle-mounted device management number 22 or the like is registered in the vehicle-mounted device specific information storage unit 19. To determine the above conditions.

The charge discount application deadline calculation unit 28 calculates the deadline for the charge discount application based on the application date for the credit card number registered as the discount application and makes the discount application settlement. It is registered in the method storage unit 21.

When the settlement method registration presence / absence notifying unit 30 receives the inquiry about the credit card number from the automatic fee collection system 3, is the credit card number registered in the discount application settlement method storage unit 21? Also, it is determined whether or not the deadline for applying the charge discount has passed, and the answer is given to the automatic charge receiving system 3.

Each of the above-mentioned components is actually constituted by a certain area secured in a computer system and a storage medium such as a hard disk provided therein and a computer software program installed in this area. Then, these constituent elements are configured to execute the respective functions of the present invention by being appropriately called by the RAM 13 and the like and executed by the CPU 12.

The detailed functions of the system 8 will be described below along with the actual operation with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. It should be noted that S1 to S11 in these figures are reference numerals indicating the processing order and correspond to steps S1 to S11 in the following description.

First, with reference to FIG. 4, a process of processing a charge discount application will be described.

First, the fee discount application receiving section 26
Mail the application for the charge discount from the in-vehicle device owner 9, FA
Accept via X, Internet, etc. (step S1).
At this time, the vehicle-mounted device management number 22 and the vehicle information 23 are received.

Then, the charge discount application judgment unit 27
OBE-specific information received at the time of application (OBE management number 2
2) and the individual vehicle information 23 are determined whether they match the information registered in the vehicle-mounted device specific information storage unit 19 at the time of setting up the vehicle-mounted device 1 (steps S2 and S3).

If all of these pieces of information match,
Then, based on the vehicle-mounted device management number 22, it is determined whether or not a discount application for the vehicle-mounted device 1 to be applied is registered in the discount application information storage unit 20 (step S4).

If the application has not yet been registered for the vehicle-mounted device 1 relating to the application, it is judged that the application is valid, and the charge discount application deadline calculation unit 28 determines the credit card based on the application date. The charge discount application deadline is calculated (step S5).

Finally, the credit card number for the application and the charge discount application deadline are stored in the discount application payment method storage unit 21 and the process is terminated (step S).
6).

Next, referring to FIG. 5, the processing steps for applying the discount of the toll will be described.

First, the settlement method registration presence / absence inquiry receiving section 2
9 receives an inquiry about the credit card number of the vehicle 2 that has passed from the automatic toll collection system 3 (step S7).

Next, the settlement method registration presence / absence notifying unit 30
However, for the credit card number received in step S7, it is determined whether or not a discount application is stored in the discount application information storage section 20 (step S).
8).

When the application is registered, the settlement method registration presence / absence notifying unit 30 determines whether or not the charge discount application deadline stored in the discount application application information storage unit 20 has passed ( Step S9).

When the rate discount application deadline has not passed, the settlement method registration presence / absence notifying unit 30 notifies the automatic fee collection system 3 that the credit card referred to is subject to the rate discount. The lever processing is terminated (step S10). The automatic toll collection system 3 that has received the notification of the target of the toll discount discounts the toll at a predetermined discount rate and performs billing processing for the credit card.

On the other hand, if the application has not been registered or the time limit for applying the charge discount has passed, it is notified that the credit card involved in the inquiry is not the target of the charge discount (step S11). In this case, the automatic toll collection system 3 charges the credit card without discounting the toll.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that detailed description or illustration of the same components as those in the above-described embodiment will be omitted.

In this embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the information of the credit card number to which the charge discount is applied is held in the automatic toll collection system 42 provided on the side of the toll road operator, and the toll of the toll is reduced. Whether or not the discount can be applied is determined by the automatic fee collection system 42.

That is, when the toll discount application judging unit 27 provided in the toll discount application registering system 8 judges to register the toll discount application, the process shown in FIG.
The payment method notification unit indicated by 1 directly transmits the credit card number related to the application to the automatic fee collection system 42.

The automatic fee collection system 42 receives the discount application settlement method storage unit 43 for receiving and storing the received credit card number and the credit card number received from the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the vehicle 2 traveling on the toll road.
The discount application is the payment method storage unit 43 for the discount.
The payment method registration presence / absence determining unit 44 that determines whether the information is stored in the store, and the discount information storage unit 45 that stores information such as the discount amount set by the road company that manages the toll road (discount limit amount for each company). It has and.

According to this structure, the automatic toll collection system 42 can determine whether to apply the toll discount without making an inquiry to the toll discount application registration system 40. Can be done.

(Third Embodiment) Next, the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9.
Note that detailed description or illustration of the same parts as those in the above-described embodiments will be omitted.

In the first and second embodiments,
Although the payment method is a credit card, the payment method of the present invention is not limited to this. It can be applied to various payment methods such as a prepaid method, a debit method, and a cash method. In the third embodiment, a case where a prepaid method is applied as a payment method will be described.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a prepaid amount 46 of a predetermined amount is collected from the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 at the time of applying for a rate discount, and the prepaid amount 47 is a predetermined discount amount 47.
The toll discount is provided within the range of the usable limit amount 48, which is obtained by adding. In the example of FIG. 7, the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 is configured to be able to select one from a plurality of usable limit amounts 48, and the discount amount 47 (rate) is the usable limit amount 48 (advance payment 46 ) Is set to increase as the price increases.

In order to manage the above-mentioned usable limit 48, the toll discount application registration system 40 of this embodiment is used.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, the available limit amount 48 is stored in the discount application target payment method storage unit 21, and the use limit is set every time the inquiry from the automatic fee collection system 50 is answered. An available limit update unit 49 for updating the available limit 48 is provided. Further, the automatic charge collection system 50 accesses the discount applicable payment method storage unit 21 when charging a toll and inquires whether a required amount is prepaid or not.
Is equipped with.

The processing steps in the case of applying the toll discount in such a configuration will be briefly described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the automatic toll collection system 50 receives an ID for identifying the vehicle-mounted device 1 or the user and the information necessary for billing from the vehicle-mounted device 1 of the vehicle 2 traveling on the toll road (step S12) and receives it. The toll is calculated based on the information (step S13). In addition, the payment method inquiry unit 51 causes the usable limit amount 4 required for payment of the toll as a discount target based on the received ID 4
Inquiries are made to the toll discount application registration system 8 to see if there is any 8 (step S14). At this time, the step S1
The toll charge calculated in 3 will also be notified.

Upon receipt of the inquiry, the toll discount application registration system 8 judges whether the application for toll discount application has been registered for the inquired ID (step S15), and if it is registered, it can be sufficiently used. It is determined whether there is a limit 48 (step S16). If there is a sufficient usable limit amount 48, the fact is answered to the automatic fee collection system 50 (step S17). Further, the available limit update unit 49 subtracts the toll from the available limit 48 to update the available limit 48 and stores it in the discount application settlement method storage unit 21 (step S18). .

On the other hand, in step S15, the I
If it is determined that the application for application of the charge discount is not registered for D or if the available limit 48 is insufficient for the toll payment in step S16, the same credit card as in the first embodiment is used. Charge processing is performed (step S19).

According to such a configuration, since a predetermined discount amount 47 is added to the usable limit amount 48 in advance (see FIG. 7), the discount period and the discount rate each time the toll is charged. There is no need to individually judge

In the third embodiment, the credit card number may be used as the ID for determining whether the payment is prepaid. Alternatively, the user ID assigned to this credit card may be used. With this configuration, it is possible to combine the first and second embodiments.

Specifically, when applying for a rate discount, the vehicle-mounted device owner 9 registers the credit card number and the user ID number in the discount application target settlement method storage unit 21.
If the prepayment has been made, the toll charge is settled using the available limit 48. If the available limit 48 is insufficient, the entire toll or insufficient amount is credited. You can pay by card payment. In addition, in this credit card settlement, the toll discount may be obtained by satisfying the conditions of the first embodiment.

Further, in the third embodiment, it is possible to manage the available limit 48 for each road operator. That is, the maximum discount limit is set for each road operator. In order to deal with this, in the third embodiment, the discount application target settlement method storage unit 21 is configured to be able to store the attribute of the used road operator in association with the available limit amount. .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified without changing the gist of the invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the automatic toll collection system and the toll discount application registration system have been described as being in different places and being managed by different persons, but one system in the same place is described. May be

Furthermore, the method of discounting the charge is not limited to that in each of the above embodiments. For example, a pay-as-you-go system in which a discount rate is set according to the number of times of use of a toll road as shown in FIG. 10 can be adopted. Further, the method of limiting the period is not limited to the above method, and the discount service can be ended at the same end regardless of the start time of use.

Among the toll roads managed by the same manager, the toll discount application areas (Kanto, Tohoku, etc.) and applicable toll roads (Tomei Expressway, etc.) based on the entrance and exit It may be possible to try to eliminate the local traffic congestion.

Further, regarding the discount application of the toll charge when different road operators are in charge of continuous toll roads, the discount of any road operator is applied depending on the entrance or exit of the vehicle 2. Alternatively, it is preferable to predetermine the distribution ratio of the toll and store it in the discount information storage unit, for example.

[0075]

As described above, according to the present invention,
To provide a toll road toll discount application registration system and method that can give the in-vehicle device owner an incentive to purchase an on-vehicle device by discounting the toll road toll and promote the spread of the on-vehicle device. You can

When a toll discount application is received from the vehicle-mounted device owner, it is possible to effectively prevent the discount service from being used by an unauthorized means such as a duplicate application for one vehicle-mounted device. It is possible to provide a system and a method capable of doing so.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an ETC system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a system outline of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a toll discount application registration system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of registering a charge discount application.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing steps when an inquiry about the presence or absence of registration is received.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a table diagram for explaining a discountable maximum amount.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing steps in which the automatic toll collection system applies a toll discount in the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a table showing an example of a charge discount according to the cumulative number of times of use.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... On-board device 2 ... Vehicle 3, 42, 50 ... Automatic toll collection system 4 toll gate 5 ... Roadside machine 7 ... bar 8, 40 ... Toll discount application registration system 9 ... Owner of vehicle-mounted device 10 ... In-vehicle device information management center 11 ... In-vehicle device authentication system 12 ... CPU 13 ... RAM 14 ... communication device 15 ... I / O device 16 ... bus 17 ... Data storage unit 18 ... Program storage section 19 ... In-vehicle device unique information storage section 20 ... Discount application information storage 21, 43 ... Discount method payment method storage unit 23 ... Car information 25 ... Main program 26. Charge discount application receiving section 27 ... Charge discount application judgment unit 28 ... Charge discount application deadline calculation unit 29 ... Payment method registration presence / absence inquiry reception section 30 ... Payment method registration presence / absence notification section 44 ... Payment method registration presence / absence determining unit 45 ... Discount information storage 46 ... Advance payment 47 ... Discounted amount 48 ... Available limit 49 ... Available limit update unit 51 ... Payment method inquiry section

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Shinji Kamata             11-7 Nibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Foundation             Within Road System Advancement Promotion Organization (72) Inventor Yuichi Baba             11-7 Nibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Foundation             Within Road System Advancement Promotion Organization

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An in-vehicle device unique information storage unit for storing unique information of an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, wherein the on-vehicle device communicates with an automatic toll collection system of each toll road, and a predetermined payment method is used. An onboard device-specific information storage unit for paying a toll charge on the toll road; and a toll road discount application information storage unit for registering whether or not there is a toll road discount application for each onboard unit. , A charge discount application receiving section that receives the intention of a charge discount application from the owner of each vehicle-mounted device, information specific to the vehicle-mounted device and information on the payment method to which the charge discount is applied, and the charge stored in the vehicle-mounted device specific information storage unit. If the specific information of the vehicle-mounted device related to the discount application is registered, and the discount application application information for the vehicle-mounted device is not yet registered in the discount application information storage section, the discount application information is stored. A charge discount application determining unit that registers a discount application for the on-board unit, and a payment method storage unit that stores information about the payment method for the on-board unit that has registered the charge discount application. A toll road toll discount application registration system characterized by having. 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a vehicle information storage unit that stores vehicle information of a vehicle received at the time of setting up the vehicle-mounted device in association with unique information of the vehicle-mounted device. The discount application receiving unit also receives from the owner of the vehicle-mounted device the individual vehicle information of the vehicle in which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted. A toll road toll discount application registration system, wherein a discount application application for the vehicle-mounted device is registered in the discount application information storage unit when the individual vehicle information matches. 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the payment method registration for notifying whether the payment method is registered in the discount target payment method storage unit in response to an inquiry from the automatic toll collection system for each toll road. A system further comprising a presence / absence notifying unit. 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the discount application target payment method storage unit stores a discount available limit amount for a payment method, and the system further includes an automatic charge for each of the toll roads. Regarding the settlement method inquired by the collection system, a system having a discountable limit update unit for updating the discountable limit by subtracting the toll of the toll road from the discountable limit. 5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the settlement method is a prepaid method, and the discountable limit amount is an available balance of the prepaid method. 6. The system according to claim 4, wherein there are a plurality of toll roads, and the discount application target settlement method storage unit stores the discount available limit amount in association with attribute information of each toll road. A system characterized by being. 7. A vehicle-mounted device unique information storing step of storing unique information of a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle, wherein the vehicle-mounted device communicates with an automatic toll collection system of each toll road, and a predetermined payment method is used. An onboard device-specific information storage step for paying a toll charge on the toll road; and a toll road discount application information storage step for registering whether or not there is a toll road discount application for each onboard device. , A charge discount application receiving step of receiving an indication of a charge discount application from the owner of each vehicle-mounted device, information specific to the vehicle-mounted device and information of a payment method to which the charge discount is applied; When the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device related to the discount application is registered, and the charge discount application for the vehicle-mounted device has not yet been registered in the discount application information storage step. And a charge discount application determination step of registering a discount application for the vehicle-mounted device, and a discount application payment method storing step of storing information on the payment method of the vehicle-mounted device for which the price discount application is registered. A toll road discount application registration method characterized by having. 8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising a vehicle information storage step of storing the vehicle information of the vehicle received at the time of setting up the vehicle-mounted device in association with the unique information of the vehicle-mounted device. The discount application receiving step is also for receiving from the owner of the vehicle-mounted device the individual vehicle information of the vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted. A method for registering a toll road toll discount application, characterized in that when the individual vehicle information matches, a discount application for the vehicle-mounted device is registered. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein in response to an inquiry from an automatic toll collection system for each of the toll roads, a payment method registration for notifying whether the payment method is registered in the discount target payment method storing step. A method further comprising a presence / absence notifying step. 10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the discount application target payment method storing step stores a discount available limit amount for the payment method, and the system further comprises an automatic charge for each of the toll roads. Regarding the settlement method inquired by the collection system, a method comprising a discountable maximum amount updating step of updating the discountable maximum amount by subtracting the toll of the toll road from the discountable maximum amount. 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the settlement method is a prepaid method, and the discountable limit amount is an available balance of the prepaid method. 12. The method according to claim 10, wherein there are a plurality of toll roads, and the discount application target settlement method storing step stores the discount available limit amount in association with attribute information of each toll road. A method characterized by being.