METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHARING THE JOURNEY COSTS OF A MOTOR VEHICLE BETWEEN A NUMBER OF USERS

DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a method for sharing between a number of users the cost of each journey made by a motor vehicle and to an apparatus for implementing said method.

The ever growing number of motor vehicles in circulation in the cities and on the access roads to said cities is leading to a growing traffic congestion (at least in some hours of the day), to a higher concentrations of pollutants in the air, to an increasingly high running costs for the motor vehicle, etc.

To solve these problems by reducing the number of motor vehicles in circulation, there is a spread of the so-called "car-sharing", in which a number of users use the same motor vehicle at the same time and share the expenses, usually in an empirical manner that does not take into account the actual use of the motor vehicle by each user.

Another increasingly widespread phenomenon is that of the company vehicles assigned to the employees, who can also use them for personal use: for this (possible) private use the companies charge the employees a sum, often a flat-rate sum, which is normally determined empirically and in any case without taking into account the actual personal use of the vehicle by each employee.

Object of the present invention are a method and an apparatus adapted to overcome the limits presented by the currently used criteria for sharing of expenses; said objects are achieved by means of a method comprising at least the functional steps indicated in claims 13 and 23, implemented by means of an apparatus that has at least the characterising elements illustrated in claim 1.

Further advantageous characteristics of the method and of the apparatus form the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The invention will now be described with reference to a purely exemplifying (and therefore non limiting) embodiment thereof, illustrated in the appended figures, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a block diagram of an apparatus according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows diagrammatically a block diagram of a peripheral unit;

- Figure 3 shows diagrammatically a flow chart able to illustrate the operation of the logic unit of a peripheral unit;

- Figures 4 to 6 show diagrammatically, in greater detail, some of the functional steps of the flow chart of Figure 3;

- Figure 7 shows diagrammatically a flow chart able to illustrate the operation of the logic unit of the central unit. In the appended figures corresponding elements will be identified by means of the same reference numerals.

In the present exemplifying description the users will be managed differently according to whether they are the vehicle driver or an user ("guest") who uses the vehicle and participates in sharing of the cost of each journey: the driver and the guests can be accompanied by one or more persons, who will be taken into account in the division of journey costs.

The users (driver and guest) are provided with a "card" (issued by a service centre which manages the cost measurement and sharing system and which invoices the users at preset intervals) which allows the management system to identify them to allocate to each one of them the costs, if any, falling to them; the card can be a prepaid card or can contain details of a current account opened with the service centre.

Obviously a user is considered a "driver" if he uses one or more set vehicles, a "guest" if he travels in other vehicles managed by the same service centre.

In the present description, a guest is always expected to pay (for himself and for any other persons accompanying him) his part of the journey cost, whereas the driver pays his part of the journey cost, for himself and for any other persons accompanying him, only if he not is the owner of the vehicle (for example because it is a company car used by an employee) and if he is using it for a personal use.

If the driver is the owner of the vehicle he does not pay his part of the journey cost, receives what is due from the guests and pays the running costs of the vehicle and a fee to the service centre.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a block diagram of an apparatus 1 , produced according to the invention, which comprises at least, in combination with each other:

- a plurality of peripheral units 2, each of which is installed on a motor vehicle and is able to acquire information from the motor vehicle and from the users, to process the information acquired and to transmit the processed information to a central unit 4 through transmission means 3;

- the transmission means 3, adapted to connect the peripheral units 2 to the central unit 4 in a two-way manner; - the central unit 4, adapted to communicate with the peripheral units 2 through the transmission means 3, to receive the processed information from the peripheral units 2, to further process them and to share the journey costs of the motor vehicle between a number of users.

The peripheral units 2 will be better described with reference to the block diagram of Figure 2 and to the flow charts of Figures 3 to 6.

The central unit 4, functioning of which will be better described with reference to the flow chart of Figure 7, is managed by the service centre and comprises at least a logic unit ULC, a plurality of auxiliary units UA (working memories and/or bulk memories, printer, data links, etc.) and, advantageously, a transceiver unit situated between the logic unit ULC and the two-way transmission means 3 and omitted in Figure 1 for simplicity of the graphic representation.

The two-way transmission means 3 will not be described herein because they are per se known and in any case outside the scope of the invention.

Figure 2 shows diagrammatically a block diagram of a peripheral unit 2, which comprises at least, in combination with each other: - means 21 adapted to read the data from a "card" presented by a user and, if required, to update at least one of said items of data; the reading means 21 (consisting, for example of a terminal similar to that used for the "Viacard" system) will not be described herein because they are per se known;

- means 22 adapted to interface with the user to ask the user for data and to acquire the data requested; the interface means 22 can comprise a screen and a keyboard or a touchscreen and will not be described herein because they are per known;

- a plurality of sensors 23 to read data (for example, the kilometres travelled) from the motor vehicle; the sensors 23 will not be described herein because they are per se known;

- a logic unit 24 adapted to communicate with the reading means 21 , with the interface means 22 and with the sensors 23, to process the data thus acquired and to communicate with the central unit 4 through the two-way transmission means 3.

Advantageously, the peripheral unit 2 further comprises at least a working memory 25 and a bulk memory 26 (in which the codes that identify the vehicle, its owner etc. can be stored) adapted to communicate with the logic unit 24, and a transceiver unit 27 situated between the logic unit 24 and the two-way transmission means 3; furthermore, if the card is a prepaid card, the reading means 21 are able to update the balance on said card.

Figure 3 shows diagrammatically a flow chart able to illustrate the operation of the logic unit 24 of the peripheral unit 2.

After an initialisation step (step 30), when the logic unit 24 acquires from the reading means 21 the information that a card has been presented, it verifies (step 31) if a new journey is commencing, otherwise it returns to rest.

For this purpose the logic unit 24 questions the user through the interface means 22 and receives the user's reply through the means 22.

Subsequently, the logic unit 24 verifies (for example by comparing the vehicle owner's code stored in the bulk memory 26 with that of the driver acquired from the relative card) that the driver is the owner of the vehicle (step 32), stores this item of data and verifies (through the interface means 22) if he is travelling along a toll segment (step 36); otherwise it verifies (step 34) that the user is using the vehicle for work and if he is travelling along a toll segment (step 36).

If the user is not using the vehicle for work (step 34), the logic unit 24 stores this item of data, acquires the driver's data (step 35) and verifies if he is travelling along a toll segment (step 36); if he is travelling along a toll segment (step 36), the logic unit 24 manages this segment (step 37) and verifies if a guest enters the vehicle (step 38); otherwise it verifies immediately if a guest enters the vehicle (step 38).

If a guest enters the vehicle (step 38), the logic unit 24 acquires the guest (step 335), increases the guest counter (made in a per se known manner) by one (step 317) and verifies (step 39) if a guest exits the vehicle; otherwise (step 39) it verifies immediately if a guest exits the vehicle.

If a guest exits the vehicle (step 39), the logic unit 24 manages his exit (step 310) and verifies (step 31 1) if all the guests have exited the vehicle; otherwise it verifies immediately (step 31 1) if all the guests have exited.

If all the guests have not exited the vehicle, the logic unit 24 verifies if the vehicle is travelling along a toll segment (step 36); otherwise it verifies with the user (step 318) - through the interface means 22 - if, after having set down all the guests, the driver is travelling along a further toll segment.

If the driver travels along a further toll segment, the logic unit 21 manages it (step 319) before verifying with the user if the journey has ended (step 312); otherwise it verifies immediately with the user (through the interface means 22) that the journey has ended (step 312).

The functional steps performed by the logic unit 24 to acquire a user (driver and/or guest), to manage a toll segment and to manage the exit of a guest are described, by way of non limiting example, by the flow charts of figures 4 to 6, which show diagrammatically, in greater detail, the functional steps 35, 37, 310, 319 and 335 of the flow chart of figure 3.

If the journey has ended (step 312), the logic unit 24 checks in the bulk memory 26 (step 313) that the driver is the owner of the vehicle, generates (step 314) a message to be sent to the central unit 4 through the transmission means 3, sends it to the central unit 4 (step 315) and goes back to rest (step 316).

Having verified in the bulk memory 26 that the driver is not the vehicle owner (step 313) and that he has a prepaid cart (step 320), the logic unit 24 calculates the amount due from the driver, updates the balance of said card (step 321) and generates the message to be sent to the central unit 4 (step 314); otherwise it immediately generates the message to be sent to the central unit 4 (step 314).

Preferably, before returning to rest (step 315) the logic unit 24 awaits the acknowledgment of receipt of the message sent.

By way of non limiting example, the message sent to the central unit 4 contains at least the code of the vehicle and of the driver, the date and the hour, the kilometres travelled and, if the driver has a current account, any amount to be charged; the message can additionally comprise further information such as, for example, the tolls for any toll segments, the number of persons, if any, accompanying the driver, the total number of persons who have used the vehicle, etc.

Again by way of non limiting example, any amount to be charged to the driver can be calculated by multiplying the cost per kilometre by the kilometres travelled, by adding the tolls for any toll segments and by multiplying the total by the ratio between the number of persons charged to the driver (including the driver) and the number of persons present in the vehicle.

If the number of persons present in the vehicle changes during the journey due to the presence of guests (and of anyone accompanying them) who enter and/or exit the vehicle during the journey, the above mentioned sum can be calculated segment by segment and the partial amounts thus obtained can be summed.

Figure 4 shows, by way of non-limiting example, the functional steps performed by the logic unit 24 to acquire a user (driver and/or guest; steps 35 and 335, Figure 3).

The logic unit 24 verifies (step 41) that the user's card is a prepaid card and that it is authorised (step 42) and acquires the number of persons accompanying the user (step 45); otherwise it verifies with the central unit 4 (step 43), in a per se known manner, that the user is authorised to use the vehicle as driver or as guest and acquires the number of people accompanying the user (step 45).

If the user's prepaid card is not authorised (step 42), for example because the balance is too low, or if the user for any reason is not authorised to use the vehicle (step 43), the logic unit 24 signals this (step 44), for example by blocking the vehicle (if the user is not authorised) or by signalling to the driver that he will not be able to recover the costs chargeable to the guest.

Having acquired the number of people accompanying the user (step 45), the logic unit 24 creates a temporary file linked to the user (step 46), stores therein the number of people accompanying the user and the kilometres at the start of the journey (step 47) and returns to step 36 or 317.

Figure 5 shows, by way of non-limiting example, the functional steps performed by the logic unit 24 to manage the exit of a guest (step 37, Figure 3).

Having identified the guest by his card (step 50), the logic unit 24 enters (step 51) into the file linked to the guest (step 46, Figure 4) the charge for any toll segment (step 66,

Figure 6) and, when the guest exits (step 52), acquires the kilometres at the end of the journey (step 53), verifies (step 54) that the guest's card is a prepaid card, calculates (step

55) the amount owed by the guest according to the data contained in the relevant file, updates the balance on the guest's card (step 56) and creates a message to be sent to the central unit 4 (step 57); otherwise the logic unit 24 immediately creates the message to be sent to the central unit 4 (step 57).

Having created the message, the logic unit 24 sends it to the central unit 4 (step 58) or stores it (step 59) and decreases the guest counter by one (step 510).

Figure 6 shows, by way of non-limiting example, the functional steps performed by the logic unit 24 to manage a toll segment (steps 36 and 318, Figure 3).

The logic unit 24 receives from the user (through the interface means 22) the information that a toll segment is beginning (step 60) and acquires the start-of-segment kilometres

(step 61), receives from the user (through the interface means 22) the information that the toll segment is finished (step 62) and acquires the end-of-segment kilometres (step 63) and the toll for that segment (step 64), verifies (step 65) if there are guests on board the vehicle, calculates (step 66) the amount owed by the guest and stores it in the file linked to the guest (step 51 , Figure 5); otherwise the logic unit 24 verifies if a new guest enters

(step 38, Figure 3).

By way of non-limiting example, the amount to be charged to the guest can be calculated by multiplying the toll for the toll segment by the ratio between the number of people (including the guest) to be charged and the number of people present on board the vehicle.

Figure 7 shows diagrammatically a flow chart suitable to illustrate the operation of the logic unit ULC of the central unit 4.

After an initialisation step (step 70), when the logic unit ULC receives (step 71) a message from a peripheral unit 2, it (possibly) acknowledges receipt thereof and verifies (step 73) if the card cited in the message received is a prepaid card: if it is a prepaid card the logic unit ULC credits the vehicle owner (step 74) with the amount indicated in the message before preparing to manage a new message (step 71); otherwise the logic unit ULC calculates the amount to be charged/credited (step 75), credits it to the vehicle owner (step 76) and debits it (step 77) to the guest before preparing to manage a new message (step 71).

A driver who uses the vehicle for personal use is managed as if he were a guest.

Before preparing to manage a new message (step 71 ) the logic unit ULC advantageously verifies (step 78) if it is necessary to perform a periodic reporting and, if necessary, does so (step 79).

By the term "periodic reporting" is meant processing, possibly printing, and sending a statement of account to each client (vehicle owner, driver, guest), issuing any invoices/credit notes, producing statistics for the service management, etc.

Furthermore, the logic unit ULC debits to the vehicle owner and credits to the manager of the central unit 4 (steps 710 and 71 1) an amount (as a fixed sum or as a percentage of the amount credited to the vehicle owner, step 74 or 76) at each transaction or at the time of the next periodic report, together with any fee.

If the messages concerning all the users (driver and any guests) are assembled by the peripheral unit 2 in a single message sent to the central unit 4 at the end of the journey, the logic unit ULC of the central unit (possibly) acknowledges receipt thereof, extracts in a per se known manner (step 72) the messages concerning each user from the message received, (preferably) stores them and manages them as previously indicated (steps 73- 77, 710, 711).

Advantageously, in this case also, the logic unit ULC, before preparing to manage a new message (step 71), verifies (step 78) if it is necessary to make a periodic report and, if necessary, does so (step 79).

Without departing from the scope of the invention, a person skilled in the art can make to the method and to the apparatus previously described all the modifications and the improvements suggested by the normal experience and/or by the natural evolution of the art.