CN117063211A - Automated computing method and toll collection system for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing through a toll station - Google Patents

Abstract

The field to which the disclosure pertains is vehicle verification in road tollgates, which may also be designated as a tolling system. The present disclosure includes an automated computing method for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing through a toll booth, the method comprising two detection modes of the vehicle, receiving a wireless beacon with unique information associated with the toll booth through optics and a mobile device and then connecting with a remote backend server. A wireless beacon is a simple type of message that does not require a mobile device to establish a connection with a fixed wireless device. Such a feature is particularly relevant in applications of the present disclosure because it greatly improves the efficiency with which a mobile device receives unique information associated with a toll station. The present disclosure further includes a corresponding system.

Description

Automated computing method and toll collection system for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing through a toll station

Technical Field

The field to which the disclosure pertains is vehicle verification in road tollgates, which may also be designated as a tolling system.

Background

Solutions exist in the prior art in which vehicles passing through a road toll station are identified by means of artificial vision, i.e. comprising cameras. The automatic analysis of the image captured by the camera and the license plate of the vehicle allows the license plate number of the vehicle to be determined, thereby identifying the vehicle.

These systems are typically supplemented with an application specific device containing a unique identifier that is detected by a wireless reader associated with the toll booth as the vehicle passes through the toll booth. Such application specific devices are typically coupled to the windshield of the vehicle to ensure that the reader is able to detect its presence.

The premise of these systems is that the vehicle user registers with the highway operator, who directly collects tolls and runs the toll system. If the vehicle is not registered at the highway operator, a fine or charge corresponding to the charge and additional management costs is issued to the owner of the vehicle containing the license plate number detected by the artificial vision system, and the corresponding image captured by the camera may be digitally stored.

The advantage of these systems is that the users of the toll road can be directly identified by the owner of the toll system, i.e. the highway operator (where the users are directly registered). On the other hand, the process of accessing the system may prevent some users from registering because of the requirements of the mentioned application specific devices.

A further addition to the application specific devices includes systems in which users of vehicles passing through a toll station subscribe to services from other third party companies besides the highway operator.

Such third party companies receive payments issued by highway operators in relation to detected license numbers and then charge their subscribers. The subscriber/user registers with the third party as the owner of the vehicle with such license plate number. The third party company then charges a premium for its services.

These third party based systems have the advantage that no application specific devices or registration at the highway operator is required. However, they are much more complex, involve more entities, and are prone to fraud due to possible vulnerabilities in the registration information to third parties.

Furthermore, these systems are entirely based on artificial vision, which means that they are more prone to corresponding problems, including the inability to clearly read the license plate number, whether due to poor conditions of the license plate, high speed of the vehicle or environmental conditions.

The present solution innovatively overcomes such problems in a non-obvious way.

Disclosure of Invention

In one aspect of the disclosure, an automated computing method is provided.

In an embodiment, the present disclosure includes an automated computing method for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing in a toll station, the automated computing method comprising the steps of:

periodically, a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station transmits a wireless beacon comprising unique information associated with the toll station,

the mobile device receives the wireless beacon, the mobile device is associated with the vehicle,

the mobile device sends an authentication message to the remote backend server, the authentication message comprising unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

-as the vehicle passes through the toll booth, the optical device associated with the toll booth obtaining at least one image of the vehicle, the optical device being positioned in proximity of the stationary wireless apparatus, and

it is determined whether such a vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with unique information received by the remote backend server based on at least one image of the vehicle, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth.

Two types of detection thus occur. The detection is provided locally by an optical device that obtains at least one image of the vehicle. Thus, the vehicle is identified where the toll system can be provided, and a toll is to be collected. In addition, a mobile device associated with the vehicle receives the wireless beacon sent by the fixed wireless device and transmits or sends a verification message to the remote backend server. The remote backend server is associated with the fixed wireless device and the optical apparatus such that a correspondence between information from the image obtained by the optical apparatus and information received at the remote backend server is provided. The information received at the remote back-end server contains both the unique information (and thus unique identification) of the mobile device associated with the vehicle and the unique information (and thus unique identification) associated with the toll booth. Thus, two types of detection occur, and when a correspondence between the two is provided, it is determined that the vehicle is effective to pass through the toll booth.

In an embodiment of the automated method, the valid traffic may be regarded as traffic of vehicles that have been previously registered in the database.

In another embodiment of the automated method, the effective passage may be considered as the passage of the vehicle without being penalized.

In the context of the present disclosure, the passage of a vehicle through a toll booth may mean the passage in the vicinity of the toll booth such that the respective means of the toll booth: the fixed wireless device and the optical apparatus are each capable of emitting a wireless beacon that is received by the mobile device and capturing an image that contains and is capable of identifying a vehicle associated with the mobile device.

By providing mobile devices capable of receiving wireless beacons from fixed wireless devices associated with a toll gate, the methods of the present disclosure allow for extending the range of suitable mobile devices to devices such as smartphones or tablet computers that have wider user accessibility than application specific devices.

Furthermore, the wireless beacon sent by the fixed wireless device is a simple type of message that does not require the mobile device to establish a connection with the fixed wireless device. Such a feature is particularly relevant in applications of the present disclosure because it greatly improves the efficiency with which a mobile device receives unique information associated with a toll booth.

Furthermore, since the authentication message is sent directly by the mobile device to the remote backend server, this i) eliminates the need to send the authentication message through the fixed wireless device, thereby further reducing the need to establish a connection between the two, and ii) may even be that the mobile device is temporarily unable to send the authentication message, for example because no means is provided when passing through a toll gate, leaving such sending to be done later. Thus, the method of the present disclosure allows operation in an offline (with respect to the mobile device) mode.

In an embodiment, the authentication message is issued by the mobile device to the remote backend over the cellular wireless network. Thus, in such embodiments, considering case ii) above, it is possible that at the location of the fixed wireless device, typically in the case of a remote location, no cellular wireless network is provided, the user/owner of the mobile device has a cellular wireless network plan with limited data usage and such limitations have been reached, or simply the mobile device has turned off the cellular wireless network means associated with the mobile device. In either case, the method of the present disclosure allows for the issuing of the authentication message at a later stage.

The optical device is positioned near the fixed wireless device and is therefore considered to operate with respect to the same toll station. This therefore makes the identification in the optical arrangement and the fixed wireless device related to the same vehicle in the same toll station, which is particularly relevant not only in single toll station solutions, but also in case multiple toll stations in a tunneled road or open road toll station are provided.

In an embodiment, the optical device comprises at least one digital camera. The digital camera may take any form known in the art as long as it is capable of obtaining at least one image of the vehicle.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a charging system is provided.

In an embodiment, a charging system of the present disclosure provides for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing in a toll station, and includes:

a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station configured to periodically transmit a wireless beacon, the wireless beacon including unique information associated with the toll station,

a remote back-end server configured to receive an authentication message from a mobile device associated with the vehicle, the authentication message including unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

-an optical device associated with the toll station configured to obtain at least one image of the vehicle as it passes through the toll station, the optical device being positioned in proximity to the stationary wireless device, and

the system includes a computing device further configured to determine, based on at least one image of the vehicle, whether such vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with unique information received by the remote backend server, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth.

The system of the present disclosure provides the same advantages as described above with respect to the method of the present disclosure.

Drawings

Fig. 1-a diagram of an embodiment of the method (100) of the present disclosure, the embodiment of the method (100) comprising the steps of:

periodically transmitting a wireless beacon by a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station, the wireless beacon including unique information (110) associated with the toll station,

the mobile device receives the wireless beacon, the mobile device is associated with a vehicle (120),

the mobile device issuing a verification message to the remote backend server, the verification message comprising unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with the respective vehicle (130),

-as the vehicle passes through the toll booth, an optical device associated with the toll booth obtaining at least one image of the vehicle, the optical device being positioned in proximity to the stationary wireless apparatus (140), and

it is determined whether such a vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server based on at least one image of the vehicle, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth (150).

Detailed Description

More general and advantageous configurations of the present disclosure are described in the summary of the disclosure. According to other advantageous and/or preferred embodiments of the implementation of the present disclosure, such configurations are described in detail below.

Several embodiments of the methods of the present disclosure are described subsequently.

In an embodiment, a first license number of the vehicle is determined from the obtained at least one image of the vehicle, and a second license number is determined from unique information associated with the respective vehicle sent to the remote back-end server, and the first license number is compared with the second license number to determine whether the vehicle passes through the toll booth.

This provides a simplified solution to determine whether a vehicle actually passing through the toll station and identified by the optical means is in fact a known vehicle and whether it is valid through the toll station. Furthermore, especially in the case where the vehicle passes through the toll booth at a speed higher than that expected by the artificial vision based system, there may be an error in identifying the license plate number from the at least one image. Other errors in license plate number identification may be associated with poor conditions of the license plate or environmental conditions such as fog, snow, ice, rain or excessive sunlight. In artificial vision based systems known in the art, such situations are typically addressed by manual verification of the image. By providing a second reliable way of determining the vehicle license number (second license number), the present solution improves the reliability of the method and does not require such high cost verification. In addition, in the case where the license plate number recognition problem is the most serious, even after manual modification, a situation where the license plate is illegible may occur.

In an embodiment, the comparison between the first license number and the second license number comprises determining a similarity between the first license number and the second license number, the similarity comprising determining a difference between alphanumeric characters in the same location of the first license number and the second license number.

The above solution is provided for reliably achieving an automatic determination of the correct license plate number in case of a discrepancy. To accommodate possible flaws in license number identification processes using optical means, the method of the present disclosure allows the verification process to be completed even in the case where the first license number and the second license number are not identical, i.e. in the case where there is no 100% match between the license number obtained from at least one image (first) and the license number obtained from the remote backend server (second). For example, if the difference between the first license number and the second license number is only one character, such as an alphanumeric character, the verification cycle may still be closed. The similarity or threshold may be adjusted according to the desired risk tolerance. This may be accommodated by the highway operator implementing the methods of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, the reference similarity or threshold between two license numbers may be determined by calculation by determining the difference between the string associated with the first license number and the string associated with the second license number in the levenstein distance method.

Thus, in an embodiment, and in case the first license number and the second license number are different and the similarity is above a predetermined threshold, the value of the second license number is changed to be equal to the first license number. It therefore includes a simplified way to determine which is the accepted/valid license number.

In an embodiment, the authentication message is sent to the remote backend over the cellular wireless network, or when the mobile device re-accesses the cellular wireless network or the wireless local area network in the event that the mobile device fails to access the cellular wireless network while the associated vehicle passes through the toll station.

As previously described, the methods of the present disclosure may be provided such that an authentication message is sent to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network.

Furthermore, as previously described, the methods of the present disclosure allow a mobile device to go offline as it passes through a toll booth associated with an optical apparatus and a fixed wireless device, i.e., the mobile device cannot access a cellular wireless network when an associated vehicle passes through the toll booth. It thus allows to issue a verification message at a later stage when the mobile device regains access. Such access may be provided through a cellular wireless network or a wireless local area network. It is possible that the user/owner of the mobile device has a cellular radio network plan with limited data usage and such limitations have been reached. Thus, alternatively, the remote backend server may still receive the authentication message over the wireless local area network.

In several alternative or cumulative embodiments, the cellular wireless network includes or is compatible with the 2.5GGPRS protocol, the 2.75G EDGE protocol, the 3G protocol, the 4G protocol, or the 5G protocol. In embodiments, the cellular wireless network may be compatible with other equivalent protocols.

In several alternative or cumulative embodiments, the wireless local area network includes or is compatible with IEEE 802.11, preferably Bluetooth, wi-Fi, or Bluetooth low energy, or includes or is compatible with IEEE 802.15.4 protocols. In embodiments, the wireless local area network may be compatible with other equivalent protocols.

In an embodiment, when it is determined that the unique information received by the remote backend server does not correspond to information obtained from at least one image of a vehicle, it is determined in a registration database whether the information obtained from the at least one image of a vehicle corresponds to a known registered user. This allows the associated user to still be identified in the event that the vehicle identified by the image obtained by the optical device is inconsistent with the unique information received by the remote backend server.

In a corresponding embodiment, when a known registered user is determined, an automatic notification is issued to the associated address, the automatic notification containing information about payment at a toll booth associated with the optical device.

In an embodiment, the mobile device is configured to leave the entry detection mode from the low power mode upon receiving a notification associated with the zone. This allows saving the battery of a mobile device running on a battery, which is particularly relevant in mobile solutions, as is the case in the present disclosure, because it avoids the mobile device from constantly waiting to receive beacons from the fixed wireless device. This change from the low power mode to the so-called detection mode may be referred to as a wake-up action of the mobile device.

In an embodiment, a notification associated with the zone is issued when a message conforming to the iBeacon protocol is received.

In further embodiments, the iBeacon protocol compliant message is transmitted by an upwind fixture positioned such that the vehicle passes near the upwind fixture before passing near the stationary wireless device. Thus, the upwind stationary device may be installed upwind of stationary wireless devices on a toll road, which is considered to be a normal traffic circulation through such a road. Thus, considering that the vehicle and corresponding mobile device are moving along such normal traffic flow, the vehicle and corresponding mobile device will pass through the upwind fixture before passing through the stationary wireless device and corresponding optics. Thus, the solution allows the mobile device to leave the low power mode and enter a detection mode in which the mobile device is able to receive wireless beacons from the stationary wireless device. This solution allows the mobile device to be in a low power mode, in which the receive mode is not always on.

In an alternative embodiment, a notification associated with the zone is issued when the mobile device determines that its current location is within a predefined area associated with the toll station. Such solutions are location based, allowing the mobile device to operate autonomously in its wake-up action. Furthermore, the method of the present disclosure may further comprise a so-called geofence, i.e. a predefined area/virtual zone associated with the toll station, which the mobile device recognizes as being in the vicinity of the toll station, resulting in a change to the detection mode.

In several alternative embodiments, the current location of the mobile device is determined by a radio navigation satellite service, preferably Global Positioning System (GPS), GALILEO (GALILEO), global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), beiDou (BeiDou) or NavIC. In embodiments, the radio navigation satellite service may be compatible with other equivalent protocols.

In an embodiment, no communication protocol connection is established between the mobile device and the fixed wireless device. This allows the mobile device to more reliably obtain the unique information associated with the toll station, as it allows much shorter messages, beacons, to be sent out by the fixed wireless device and thus received by the mobile device. The establishment of a connection will require a higher layer using a communication protocol, which is more prone to error given that the vehicle is moving. Furthermore, the establishment of a connection requires more time (also due to the need to exchange long frames between devices), which may not be available for higher speed vehicles/mobile devices.

In an embodiment, the vehicle is an automotive vehicle or a motor vehicle, and the toll booth is associated with a road entrance.

In an embodiment, a method includes a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a respective plurality of optical apparatuses, each associated with a different one of a plurality of toll booths in a tunneled road or open road toll booth, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with the respective toll booth that is different from unique information associated with the respective toll booth of other fixed wireless devices. It thus allows to determine that a vehicle passes through a plurality of toll booths, and each toll booths respectively identifies the vehicle passing through it. In particular, each toll station has associated optics that allow for determining whether a vehicle is passing through such a toll station. Since the authentication message can be sent to the remote backend server regardless of the actual time and location of the mobile device (this disclosure even covers offline mode), if correspondence occurs, a valid pass of the vehicle can still be identified.

Several embodiments of the system of the present disclosure are described subsequently.

In one or more embodiments, the system of the present disclosure is configured to implement the method of the present disclosure in any one of its embodiments.

In an embodiment of the system, the computing device is further configured to i) determine a first license plate number of the vehicle from the obtained at least one image of the vehicle, and ii) determine a second license plate number from unique information associated with the respective vehicle received by the remote back-end server,

the computing device is further configured to compare the first license number with the second license number to determine whether the vehicle is valid for passage through the toll booth.

This provides a simple solution for determining whether a vehicle actually passing through the toll station and identified by the optical means is in fact a known vehicle and whether it is valid through the toll station. Furthermore, especially in the case where the vehicle passes through the toll booth at a speed higher than that expected by the artificial vision based system, there may be an error in identifying the license plate number from the at least one image. Other errors in license plate number identification may be caused by poor conditions of the license plate or environmental conditions such as fog, snow, ice, rain or excessive sunlight. In artificial vision based systems known in the art, such situations are typically addressed by manual verification of the image. By providing a second reliable way of determining the vehicle license number (second license number), the present solution improves the reliability of the method and does not require such high cost verification.

In another embodiment of the system, the computing device is further configured such that the comparison between the first license number and the second license number comprises determining a similarity between the first license number and the second license number, the similarity comprising determining a difference between alphanumeric characters in the same location of the first license number and the second license number.

In an embodiment, the computing device may be further configured to determine the reference similarity or threshold between the two license numbers by determining a difference between a string associated with the first license number and a string associated with the second license number in a levenstein distance method.

The above solution is provided for reliably achieving an automatic determination of the correct license plate number in case of a discrepancy. To accommodate possible flaws in license number identification processes using optical means, the method of the present disclosure allows ending the verification even in case the first license number and the second license number are not identical, i.e. in case there is no 100% match between the license number obtained from the at least one image (first) and the license number obtained from the remote backend server (second). For example, if the difference between the first license number and the second license number is only one character, such as an alphanumeric character, the verification cycle may still be closed. The similarity or threshold may be adjusted according to the desired risk tolerance. This may be accommodated by the highway operator implementing the methods of the present disclosure.

Thus, in an embodiment of the system, the computing means is further configured to change the value of the second license number to be equal to the first license number in case the first license number and the second license number are different and the similarity is higher than a predetermined threshold.

In an embodiment of the system, it further comprises a registration database, and the computing device is further configured to, upon determining that the unique information received by the remote backend server does not correspond to information obtained from at least one image of the vehicle, further determine in the registration database whether the information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle corresponds to a known registered user. This allows the associated user to still be identified in the event that the vehicle identified by the image obtained by the optical device is inconsistent with the unique information received by the remote backend server.

In an embodiment of the system, the computing device is further configured to, when the known registered user is determined, issue an automatic notification to an address associated with the known registered user, the automatic notification containing information about payment of a toll booth associated with the optical device.

In an embodiment of the system, the system further comprises an upwind fixture configured to issue a message conforming to the iBeacon protocol, wherein such message conforms to the iBeacon protocol such that upon receipt of the message, the message allows the mobile device to leave from the low power mode into the detection mode. Thus, the solution allows the mobile device to leave the low power mode and enter a detection mode in which the mobile device is able to receive wireless beacons from the stationary wireless device. This solution allows the mobile device to be in a low power mode, in which the receive mode is not always on.

In an embodiment of the system, the system further comprises a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a respective plurality of optical arrangements, each of such fixed wireless devices and respective optical arrangements being configured to be associated with a different one of a plurality of toll booths in a tunneled road or open road toll booth, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with the respective toll booth that is different from the unique information associated with the respective toll booth of the other fixed wireless devices. It thus allows to determine that a vehicle passes through a plurality of toll booths, and each toll booths respectively identifies the vehicle passing through it.

In another aspect, the present disclosure may include a second embodiment of an automated computing method for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing in a toll station, the second embodiment of the automated computing method comprising the steps of:

optionally, the mobile device associated with the vehicle leaves the entry detection mode from the low power mode upon receiving a notification associated with the zone,

the mobile device establishes a connection with a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station, the fixed wireless device is configured with unique information associated with the toll station,

the mobile device then transmits a wireless message to the fixed wireless device associated with the toll station, the message including unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

upon receipt of the wireless message, the fixed wireless device issues a verification message to the remote backend server, the verification message including unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

when the vehicle passes through the toll booth, the optical device associated with the toll booth obtains at least one image of the vehicle, the optical device being positioned in proximity of the fixed wireless device, and

based on at least one image of the vehicle, it is determined whether such vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth.

Two types of detection thus occur. The detection is provided locally by an optical device that obtains at least one image of the vehicle. Thus, the vehicle is identified where the toll system can be provided, and a toll is to be collected. In addition, a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth receives messages sent by the mobile device and transmits or sends authentication messages to the remote backend server. The remote backend server is associated with the fixed wireless device and the optical apparatus such that a correspondence between information from the image obtained by the optical apparatus and information received at the remote backend server is provided. The information received at the remote back-end server contains both the unique information (and thus unique identification) of the mobile device associated with the vehicle and the unique information (and thus unique identification) associated with the toll booth. Thus, two types of detection occur, and when a correspondence between the two is provided, it is determined that the vehicle is effective to pass through the toll booth.

In an embodiment, a valid pass may be considered a pass of a vehicle that has been previously registered in the database.

In another embodiment, an effective pass may be considered a pass of the vehicle without being penalized.

In the context of the present disclosure, the passage of a vehicle through a toll booth may mean the passage in the vicinity of the toll booth such that the respective means of the toll booth: the fixed wireless device and the optical apparatus are each capable of receiving wireless messages sent by the mobile device and capturing images containing and capable of identifying a vehicle associated with the mobile device.

By providing a mobile device capable of sending out wireless messages received by a fixed wireless device associated with a toll booth, the second method of the present disclosure allows the range of suitable mobile devices to be extended to devices such as smartphones or tablets that have wider accessibility to users than application specific devices.

Furthermore, the wireless messages sent by the mobile device are simple types of messages, which still require the mobile device to establish a connection with the fixed wireless device. Such a feature is particularly relevant in applications of the present disclosure because it greatly improves the efficiency of a mobile device to receive unique information associated with a toll booth when a vehicle associated with the mobile device travels at a speed that allows the stationary wireless device to successfully receive wireless messages.

Furthermore, since the authentication message is sent directly by the fixed wireless device to the remote backend server, this allows the mobile device to be unable to connect over another type of network (such as a cellular network), for example, because no such means is provided. Thus, the method of the present disclosure allows operation in an offline (with respect to the mobile device) mode.

In an embodiment, the authentication message is sent by the fixed wireless device to the remote backend via an appropriate network protocol, such as a cable connection or a cellular wireless network. It is thus possible that the mobile device cannot access a wireless network such as a cellular wireless network, which is particularly suitable for remote locations or situations where the user/owner of the mobile device has a cellular wireless network plan with limited data usage and has reached such a limit, or simply that the mobile device has turned off the cellular wireless network means associated with the mobile device. In either case, the second method of the present disclosure allows for the issuance of authentication messages at a later stage.

The optical device is positioned near the fixed wireless device and is therefore considered to operate with respect to the same toll station.

In an embodiment, the optical device comprises at least one digital camera.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a second embodiment of a charging system is provided.

In an embodiment, the charging system of the present disclosure provides for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing in a toll station, and includes:

a remote back-end server that,

-a fixed wireless device associated with a toll station and configured to

Receiving a wireless message from the mobile device, the wireless message including unique information associated with the vehicle,

upon receipt of the wireless message, issuing an authentication message directed to the remote backend server, the authentication message comprising unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

-an optical device associated with the toll station configured to obtain at least one image of the vehicle as it passes through the toll station, the optical device being positioned in proximity to the stationary wireless device, and

the system includes a computing device further configured to determine, based on at least one image of a vehicle, whether such vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth.

The second system of the present disclosure provides the same advantages as described above with respect to the method of the present disclosure.

Although the present disclosure is described primarily in terms of methods and systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure also relates to various devices or apparatuses, such as mobile devices, fixed wireless devices, optical apparatuses, backend servers, and/or computing devices, such as a computer or a set of computers, that implement or embody the methods and systems. Such devices or means may be connected by a wireless or wired communication network.

The mobile device, fixed wireless device, optical apparatus, and/or backend server include components, whether by hardware components (e.g., memory and/or processor), software, or any combination thereof, that perform at least some of the example features and characteristics of the described methods.

An article of manufacture, such as a pre-recorded storage device or other similar computer readable medium, for use with a mobile device, a stationary wireless device, an optical apparatus, and/or a back-end server, including program instructions recorded thereon, or a computer data signal computer carrying readable program instructions, may direct the device to facilitate the implementation of the methods described herein. It should be understood that such devices, articles of manufacture, and computer data signals are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

"computer-readable medium" refers to any medium that can store instructions for use by or execution by a computer or other computing device, including read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or flash memory, random Access Memory (RAM), portable floppy diskette, hard Disk Drive (HDD), solid state memory device (e.g., NAND flash memory or Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM)), and/or optical disks such as Compact Disks (CD), digital Versatile Disks (DVD), or Blu-ray ^TM An optical disc.

It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the present disclosure should not be limited to the embodiments described herein, and that many variations are possible within the scope of the present disclosure.

Of course, the preferred embodiments shown above may be combined in different possible forms, and repetition of all these combinations is avoided herein.

Claims (24)

1. An automated computing method for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing through a toll station, the automated computing method comprising the steps of:

periodically transmitting a wireless beacon by a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station, the wireless beacon including unique information associated with the toll station,

a mobile device receiving the wireless beacon, the mobile device being associated with a vehicle,

the mobile device issuing a verification message to a remote backend server, the verification message comprising the unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with a respective vehicle,

-when a vehicle passes through a toll station, an optical device associated with the toll station obtaining at least one image of the vehicle, the optical device being positioned in proximity of the stationary wireless device, and

determining whether such a vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server based on the at least one image of the vehicle, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through a toll booth.

2. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein a first license number of the vehicle is determined from the obtained at least one image of the vehicle and a second license number is determined from unique information associated with the respective vehicle sent to the remote backend server, the first license number being compared with the second license number to determine whether the vehicle passes a toll booth or not.

3. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the comparison between the first license number and the second license number comprises determining a similarity between the first license number and the second license number, the similarity comprising determining a difference between alphanumeric characters of the same location of the first license number and the second license number.

4. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein in case the first license number and the second license number are different and the similarity is higher than a predetermined threshold, the value of the second license number is changed to be equal to the first license number.

5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the authentication message is issued to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network, or when the mobile device is unable to access the cellular wireless network while the associated vehicle is passing in a toll station, the authentication message is issued when the mobile device re-accesses the cellular wireless network or wireless local area network.

6. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the cellular wireless network comprises 2.5G GPRS, 2.75G EDGE, 3G, 4G or 5G and/or the wireless local area network comprises an IEEE 802.11 compliant protocol, preferably bluetooth, wi-Fi or bluetooth low energy, or an IEEE 802.15.4 compliant protocol.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein when it is determined that the unique information received by the remote backend server does not correspond to information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle, determining in a registration database whether the information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle corresponds to a known registered user.

8. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein when a known registered user is determined, an automatic notification is issued to the associated address, said automatic notification containing information about the payment of the toll booth associated with the optical device.

9. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the mobile device is configured to leave from a low power mode into a detection mode upon receipt of a notification associated with a zone.

10. Method according to the preceding claim, wherein a notification associated with a zone is issued when a message conforming to the iBeacon protocol is received.

11. The method of the preceding claim, wherein the message conforming to the iBeacon protocol is transmitted by an upwind fixture positioned such that the vehicle passes in proximity of the upwind fixture before passing in proximity of the stationary wireless device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification associated with the zone is issued when the mobile device determines that the current location of the mobile device is within a predefined area associated with the toll booth.

13. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the current location of the mobile device is determined by radio-navigation satellite services, preferably Global Positioning System (GPS), GALILEO, GLONASS, beidou or NavIC.

14. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein no communication protocol connection is established between the mobile device and the fixed wireless device.

15. The method of any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle is an automotive vehicle or a motor vehicle and the toll booth is associated with a roadway entry.

16. The method of any of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a respective plurality of optical apparatuses, each associated with a different one of a plurality of toll booths in a tunneled road or open road toll booth, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with the respective toll booth that is different from unique information associated with the respective toll booth of other fixed wireless devices.

17. A tolling system for determining the effectiveness of a vehicle passing through a tolling station, the tolling system comprising:

a fixed wireless device associated with the toll station, the fixed wireless device configured to periodically transmit a wireless beacon comprising unique information associated with the toll station,

a remote back-end server configured to receive a verification message from a mobile device associated with the vehicle, the verification message including unique information associated with the toll station and unique information associated with the respective vehicle,

-an optical device associated with the toll booth, the optical device being configured to obtain at least one image of a vehicle as it passes through the toll booth, the optical device being positioned in proximity to the stationary wireless apparatus and

the system includes a computing device further configured to determine, based on the at least one image of the vehicle, whether such vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server, thereby determining whether the vehicle is valid through a toll booth.

18. The system of the preceding claim, wherein the computing device is further configured to: i) Determining a first license number of the vehicle from the obtained at least one image of the vehicle, and ii) determining a second license number from the unique information associated with the respective vehicle received by the remote back-end server,

the computing device is further configured to compare the first license number with the second license number to determine whether the vehicle is valid through the toll booth.

19. The system of the preceding claim, wherein the computing device is further configured such that the comparison between the first license plate number and the second license plate number comprises determining a similarity between the first license plate number and the second license plate number, the similarity comprising determining a difference between alphanumeric characters of the same location of the first license plate number and the second license plate number.

20. System according to the preceding claim, wherein the computing device is further configured to change the value of the second license number to be equal to the first license number in case the first license number and the second license number are different and the similarity is higher than a predetermined threshold.

21. The system of any of claims 17 to 20, wherein the system further comprises a registration database, and the computing device is further configured to, when it is determined that the unique information received by the remote backend server does not correspond to information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle, further determine in the registration database whether the information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle corresponds to a known registered user.

22. The system of the preceding claim, wherein the computing device is further configured to, when a known registered user is determined, issue an automatic notification to an address associated with the known registered user, the automatic notification containing information about payment of a toll booth associated with an optical device.

23. The system of the preceding claim, wherein the system further comprises an upwind fixture configured to issue a message conforming to an iBeacon protocol, wherein such message conforming to the iBeacon protocol allows the mobile device to leave from a low power mode into a detection mode upon receipt of the message.

24. The system of any of claims 17-23, wherein the system further comprises a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a respective plurality of optical arrangements, each of such fixed wireless devices and respective optical arrangements configured to be associated with a different one of a plurality of toll booths in a tunneled or open road toll booth, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with the respective toll booth that is different from unique information associated with the respective toll booth of other fixed wireless devices.