What the filing covers
Visual markers on roadway, parking, curb, charging, and gate infrastructure that carry a cryptographically authenticated payload an autonomous vehicle reads, verifies, contextually cross-checks, classifies, and uses to gate motion-control, parking, charging, routing, access, and settlement actions. I filed this because reading a sign and trusting its instruction are different tasks. AVIM carries a cryptographically authenticated payload on a visual infrastructure marker. The vehicle reads, classifies, verifies and checks it in context before acting. I connect those checks with physical and transaction actions such as routing, parking, charging, access and settlement.
Why it matters now
A machine-readable instruction can look convincing while its authority remains unresolved. The vehicle needs to assess what the marker means in its location. That matters when the instruction affects motion, entry or payment. Authentication and contextual checks belong before the action governed by the marker.
A real-world example
Imagine an autonomous vehicle reading a marker at a parking entrance. The marker carries an instruction associated with that infrastructure. The vehicle can read it, but still needs to verify the authenticated payload and check the context. The action follows those checks rather than the appearance of the instruction alone.
I focus on that sequence because a marker sits at the boundary between information and physical activity. A parking or charging instruction can lead to movement or a transaction. The vehicle therefore needs a basis for using the information at that place, for that action.
Consider a curb instruction in the same way. The readable message is only part of the decision. Classification, authentication and contextual cross-checking connect the marker with the action it governs. That keeps trust in the infrastructure instruction separate from the simple ability to recognize its content.
Where it applies
This work applies to roadway, parking, curb, charging and gate infrastructure. Park Graph is the associated platform. I focus on infrastructure information that a vehicle uses to govern physical activity or settlement.
For a property operator, I would ask what instruction the marker carries and which action depends on it. I would then separate the readability of the marker from its authentication and context. Those are distinct questions even when they concern the same sign.
AVIM concerns trusted information at infrastructure. ASCAV concerns the vehicle's entitlement to use a designated space. A dual-layer marker connects camera and LiDAR observations. Counterfeit payment-code detection compares payment activity with independent vehicle-presence evidence. Each addresses a different trust problem around a physical location.
Used in: Park Graph
Status
U.S. provisional patent application, filed May 5, 2026; Status: Patent Pending; Sole inventor: Ross D. Blankenship; Assignee: Wins Parking LLC.
Provisional applications establish a priority date; they are not examined.