Methods, systems, apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable media are described for using a vehicle as a payment device. Various aspects may include receiving a selection of a stored financial card or financial account at a vehicle head unit. The selected financial card or financial account may be transmitted to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal for making a payment by transmitting a tokenized card number to the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted over a very short-range communication link to ensure that the transmission is secure. For example, electronic circuitry may be attached to the exterior of the vehicle, where the electronic circuitry may be within a threshold distance (e.g. one inch, three inches, six inches, one foot, three feet, etc.) of the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted from the vehicle head unit to the electronic circuitry and then to the POS terminal.

A curbside management system and method for managing curbside use by connected and/or autonomous vehicles that includes one or more computing devices that execute instructions. One or more processors integrate at least a navigation component, an asset verification component, and a curbside management component, configured to generate recommended curbside access destinations for a vehicle associated with the customer and one of which is selected as the final curbside destination for the vehicle.

A printing device includes: a communication interface communicable with a server capable of offering a specific printing service under a contract with the printing device; and a controller configured to control transition of an operation mode of the printing device from a non-contract mode without any contract with the server to a contract mode where the printing device is recognized as a contract-covered device eligible for executing specific printing under the contract. In response to receiving a command from the server to execute the transition to the contract mode, the controller is configured to perform: a determination process to determine whether the transition to the contract mode is to be executed; and a mode control process to maintain the non-contract mode without executing the transition to the contract mode against the transition command when the transition to the contract mode is determined not to be executed in the determination process.

A smart street parking management system includes a smart street parking meter a smart cloud parking management server connected to the smart street parking meter through a wireless networking technology and configured to regularly receive parking information of a vehicle parked on a smart street parking grid and status information of the smart street parking meter uploaded by the smart street parking meter. The status information of the smart street parking meter includes an empty-space status of the street parking grid detected by the smart street parking meter and a battery status of a rechargeable battery of the smart street parking meter. The parking information of the vehicle includes the plate number of the vehicle, the parking fee of the vehicle, and a payment status of the parking fee of the vehicle.

A personal blockchain is generated as a cloud-based software service in a blockchain environment. The personal blockchain immutably archives usage of any device, perhaps as requested by a user. However, some of the usage may be authorized for public disclosure, while other usage may be designated as private and restricted from public disclosure. The public disclosure may permit public ledgering by still other blockchains, thus providing two-way public/private ledgering for improved record keeping. Private usage, though, may only be documented by the personal blockchain.

Transaction-enabled systems and methods for royalty apportionment and stacking are disclosed. An example system may include a plurality of royalty generating elements (a royalty stack) each related to a corresponding one or more of a plurality of intellectual property (IP) assets (an aggregate stack of IP). The system may further include a royalty apportionment wrapper to interpret IP licensing terms and apportion royalties to a plurality of owning entities corresponding to the aggregate stack of IP in response to the IP licensing terms and a smart contract wrapper. The smart contract wrapper is configured to access a distributed ledger, interpret an IP description value and IP addition request, to add an IP asset to the aggregate stack of IP, and to adjust the royalty stack.

An apparatus (1100) for generating an itinerary a travelling object has travelled comprising an input unit configured to receive location information data (3001 . . . 300n) from a mobile computer (1200) of said travelling object; an itinerary generation unit (1113) which is configured to generate itinerary history data (1105) including a plurality of itinerary subsection information data 6001 . . . 600n); and an output unit (1115) which is configured to output at least one itinerary of the travelling object based on the itinerary subsection information data (6001 . . . 600n) and based on a weight value to the mobile computer (1200).

In one aspect, an interactive system is disclosed that includes a first sex toy including a sensor that is configured to be engaged by a first user. Manipulation of the first sex toy is detected by the sensor and triggers the interactive system to provide compensation to a second user. In another aspect, a wristband sensor is provided that is configured to attach to a first user's body and the sensor is configured to send signals to a central server which determines compensation for a second user.

A method for addressing a shopper's eligibility for frictionless checkout may include identifying at least one shopper in a retail store designated as not eligible for frictionless checkout; in response to the identification of the at least one shopper designated as not eligible for frictionless checkout, automatically identifying an ineligibility condition associated with the at least one shopper's designation as not eligible for frictionless checkout; determining one or more actions for resolving the ineligibility condition; causing implementation of the one or more actions for resolving the ineligibility condition; receiving an indication of successful completion of the one or more actions; and in response to receipt of the indication of successful completion of the one more actions, generating a status indicator indicating that the at least one shopper is eligible for frictionless checkout and storing the generated status indicator in a memory.

An electric vehicle charger includes a power supply and a controller. The power supply is for supplying electric power over a charging connection to an electric vehicle. The charging connection employs charging conductors to supply electric power from the power supply to the electric vehicle for charging. The power supply is adapted to send data to and receive data from the electric vehicle over the charging conductors according to a power-line communications protocol. The controller coupled to the power supply to control supply of electric power to the electric vehicle, The controller is adapted to, prior to initiating supply of electric power by the power supply to the electric vehicle for charging, communicate with the electric vehicle to identify a payment method associated with the electric vehicle and with the payment network to authorize the payment method for payment for electric power supplied to the electric vehicle for charging.