JPH0818498A - On-vehicle communication device and communication system between the on-vehicle and device and on-road one - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminate the vehicle which information is given to or received from even in the case where there are plural ones in a communication area. CONSTITUTION:A bar code displayed on the earth is read by a bar code reader and the lane information of the lane on which the self vehicle travels is recognized by a lane information recognition device 70. The lane information is inputted to a signal processing circuit 46 where the vehicle number stored in a storage circuit 48 as well as lane information and the data signal including data such as ID are sent through a transmission circuit 50. Thus, whether or not the accepted radiowave signal is sent from the vehicle which travels on the lane by detecting the lane information included in the accepted radiowave signal on the road device which accepts the radio wave from the on-vehicle car.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted communication device and a road-to-vehicle communication system, and more particularly to a vehicle-mounted communication for exchanging information between a vehicle and a roadside device that manages information for the vehicle. The present invention relates to a device and a road-vehicle communication system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicle traveling on a toll road is charged according to its vehicle type and the distance traveled on the toll road. On this toll road, operators who collect tolls must be provided at the entrance and exit gates, hand the toll ticket at the entrance gate of the toll road, and collect the toll converted at the toll road gate. Or it is common to collect a fixed fee at the entrance gate. Therefore, it is indispensable to always have an operator at the gate of the toll road day and night, the number of gates fluctuates according to the number of operators, and traffic congestion occurs at exits of few operators. In addition, at the gates of toll roads, vehicles must be stopped in order to send and receive toll tickets and pay fees, causing traffic congestion when many vehicles concentrate at entrances and exits.

In order to solve this, it is desired to put the communication system into practice by unmanning the operator and mechanizing the payment. As an example, a communication device using radio waves (hereinafter, referred to as an in-vehicle device) is provided in a vehicle, and a communication device (hereinafter, referred to as a road device) connected to an antenna for transmitting and receiving radio waves on the road side is provided. However, there is a road-vehicle communication system in which information is wirelessly transmitted and received between an on-vehicle device and a road device.

In the road-vehicle communication system as described above, since information is communicated by radio waves, a communicable range (hereinafter referred to as a communication area) is ensured in order to secure communication time so that communication can be performed while the vehicle is traveling. Needs to be increased.

However, a plurality of vehicles may be concentrated at a gate such as an exit of a toll road. Therefore, there may be a plurality of vehicles in the communication area, and the information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted devices of these vehicles may interfere with each other and be received by the roadside device. In addition, the information transmitted from the roadside device may be received by the onboard devices of a plurality of vehicles.

As described above, in order to identify the vehicle to which information is transmitted and received among the plurality of vehicles existing in the communication area, the array antenna having a plurality of communication areas of different positions and the same size is used. To detect the vehicle speed and acceleration of the vehicle that is the target of information transfer in the lane,
There is a toll collection system as a road-vehicle communication system that sequentially scans the communication area of an array antenna according to the movement of a vehicle in a lane to prevent interference with a following vehicle (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-315284).

[0007]

However, there are often a plurality of gates at the exits of toll roads and the like, and a plurality of lanes heading to the respective gates are arranged substantially parallel and adjacent to each other near the gate. Therefore, in the conventional road-vehicle communication system, interference between the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle existing in one lane can be prevented, but when a plurality of vehicles travel in adjacent lanes, Information transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device interferes and is received by the roadside device.
Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether or not the received information is the information on the vehicle in the lane on which the vehicle to which the information is to be transferred is traveling.

In view of the above facts, the present invention provides a vehicle-mounted communication device and a road which can discriminate a vehicle to which information is transmitted and received even when a plurality of vehicles exist in the communication area. The purpose is to obtain an inter-vehicle communication system.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 transmits information by a radio signal between a vehicle traveling in a predetermined lane and a roadside device installed on the road. An in-vehicle communication device used for a road-to-vehicle communication system, which transmits and receives, as lane information, lane recognition means for recognizing a lane in which the own vehicle travels, and information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means. And a transmitting means for performing the transmission.

A roadside-vehicle communication system according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a roadside machine having a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle traveling in a predetermined lane by a radio signal,
At least one vehicle-mounted communication device including lane recognition means for recognizing a lane in which the own vehicle travels, and transmission means for transmitting information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means as lane information, It is configured to include.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roadside-vehicle communication system, a roadside machine having a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle by a radio signal corresponding to each of a plurality of predetermined lanes, At least one vehicle-mounted communication device including lane recognition means for recognizing a lane in which the vehicle travels, and transmission means for transmitting information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means as lane information. It is composed of.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the road-vehicle communication system according to the second or third aspect, code information representing the lane is displayed in the lane or in the vicinity of the lane, and the lane recognition is performed. The means is characterized by recognizing the lane in which the own vehicle travels by reading the code information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the road-vehicle communication system according to the second or third aspect, the lane is formed in a shape representing the lane, and the lane recognizing means has a shape of the lane. The feature is that the lane in which the own vehicle travels is recognized by detecting the.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a road-vehicle communication system having a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle by a radio wave signal having a predetermined communication frequency corresponding to each of a plurality of predetermined lanes. A roadside machine, a lane recognition means for recognizing the lane in which the own vehicle travels, a setting means for setting the communication frequency of the radio signal to a predetermined communication frequency corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means, At least one vehicle-mounted communication device including a transmission unit that transmits a radio wave signal having the communication frequency set by the setting unit.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the road-vehicle communication system according to the sixth aspect, regarding different lanes adjacent to each other among the plurality of lanes, different code information predetermined in the respective lanes or in the vicinity of the respective lanes. Is displayed or each lane is formed in a predetermined different shape, and the lane recognition means reads the code information or detects the shape of the lane to detect the own vehicle of the plurality of lanes. The feature is that it recognizes whether the lane in which the vehicle is traveling is an even lane or an odd lane.

The road-to-vehicle communication system according to the invention of claim 8 is a plurality of roadside antennas installed corresponding to each of a plurality of lanes and having communication areas for exchanging information with each vehicle by radio signals. And determine whether the radio signal received by each roadside antenna is a radio signal from a vehicle traveling in a lane corresponding to each roadside antenna, using radio signals received by the adjacent roadside antennas at substantially the same time. It is configured to include a roadside device including a determining unit, and at least one vehicle-mounted communication device including a transmitting unit that transmits the information by a radio wave signal.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the road-vehicle communication system according to the eighth aspect, the discriminating means travels in a lane corresponding to each roadside antenna based on the strength of the radio signal from the vehicle. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not the signal is a radio signal from a vehicle.

[0018]

The vehicle-mounted communication device according to the first aspect of the invention is
It is used for a road-to-vehicle communication system that transmits and receives information by radio signals between a vehicle traveling on a predetermined lane and a roadside device installed on the road. This information includes entrance information indicating an entrance when entering a toll road, billing information such as a charge to be paid at an entrance or exit of a parking lot or a toll road, and route information indicating a travel route. The lane recognition means of the vehicle-mounted communication device recognizes the lane in which the own vehicle travels. The transmission means of the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits, as lane information, information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means. As a result, the vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted communication device can reliably transmit that the vehicle is traveling in the lane. Therefore, on the roadside, it is possible to determine that the vehicle is traveling in a predetermined lane only by detecting the lane information transmitted from the transmission means of the vehicle-mounted communication device by the radio signal, and the information of the vehicle can be determined. You can give and receive.

In the road-vehicle communication system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the road equipment has a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle traveling in a predetermined lane by a radio signal. As a result, information can be exchanged with the vehicles existing in the communication area. In the vehicle-mounted communication device, the lane recognizing unit recognizes the lane in which the own vehicle travels, and the transmitting unit transmits information corresponding to the recognized lane as lane information. In order to recognize the lane in which this own vehicle travels, as described in claim 4, a bar code or a color code information representing the lane is displayed near the lane, and the code information is displayed. The lane can be recognized by reading. Further, as described in claim 5, the lane can be recognized by forming the lane in a shape representing the lane by undulations or gradients, and detecting the shape of the lane. Therefore, when one vehicle travels in a predetermined lane within the communication area, it is possible to notify that the vehicle is traveling in the lane by transmitting the lane information from this vehicle. Therefore, on the roadside, it is possible to distinguish between a vehicle traveling in the lane and a vehicle not traveling in the lane within the communication area. Even when there are multiple vehicles in the communication area, the lane information is transmitted from the vehicle traveling in the predetermined lane, and the vehicle traveling in the lane with the vehicle traveling in the lane is on the roadside. Can be identified as a vehicle that does not have one.

In the road-to-vehicle communication system according to the third aspect of the present invention, the road equipment has a communication area for exchanging information with the vehicle by a radio signal corresponding to each of a plurality of predetermined lanes. There is. As a result, it is possible to individually exchange information with the vehicles existing in the respective communication areas corresponding to the plurality of lanes. As described in claim 2, the vehicle-mounted communication device recognizes the lane in which the own vehicle travels and transmits the lane information corresponding to the lane. To recognize the lane, barcode information or color code information may be read and recognized, or the shape of the lane may be detected and recognized. Therefore, even if a vehicle travels in a plurality of lanes, especially in each of adjacent lanes, each vehicle transmits lane information of the lane in which each vehicle travels.
Therefore, on the upper side of the road, it can be determined from the lane information whether or not the vehicle is traveling in the corresponding lane.

In the road-to-vehicle communication system of the invention as defined in claim 6, the road equipment is provided in each of a plurality of predetermined lanes with a communication area for transmitting and receiving information to and from the vehicle by a radio signal having a predetermined communication frequency. Correspondingly has. Accordingly, it is possible to individually transmit / receive information to / from a vehicle existing in each communication area corresponding to each of the plurality of lanes using a predetermined communication frequency. The vehicle-mounted communication device recognizes the lane in which its own vehicle travels by the lane recognition means, and sets the communication frequency of the radio signal to the predetermined communication frequency corresponding to the recognized lane by the setting means. The radio wave signal of the set communication frequency is transmitted by the transmitting means. Therefore, the communication frequency of the radio wave signal transmitted by the vehicle-mounted communication device becomes the communication frequency corresponding to the lane in which the own vehicle travels. Therefore, even if there are multiple vehicles in the communication area on the roadside device, the vehicle traveling in the lane corresponding to each communication area can be determined only by receiving the radio signal of the predetermined communication frequency. You are doing it.

Here, when a communication area by a roadside antenna or the like is provided corresponding to each of a plurality of lanes, it is rare that the communication area spreads to the lane beyond the adjacent lane. Therefore, as described in claim 7,
For adjacent lanes of the plurality of lanes, predetermined different code information is displayed in each lane or in the vicinity of each lane, or each lane is formed in a predetermined different shape. As a result, adjacent lanes have different code information or lane shapes. By reading this code information or detecting the shape of the lane by the lane recognition means, it is possible to recognize whether the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling is an even-numbered lane or an odd-numbered lane among a plurality of lanes. Therefore, if the communication frequency for the even-numbered lanes or the communication frequency for the odd-numbered lanes is set by the setting means according to the recognized lanes, only the radio signal is received by the roadside device, and the corresponding lanes are detected. It means that it is determined whether the vehicle is traveling or the vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane.

In the road-to-vehicle communication system according to the present invention, at least one on-vehicle communication device transmits the information by a radio wave signal by the transmitting means. The roadside machine is provided with a plurality of roadside antennas, and each roadside antenna is installed corresponding to each of the plurality of lanes and has a communication area for exchanging information with each vehicle by radio signals. . Using the radio signals received by the adjacent roadside antennas at substantially the same time, the determining means determines whether the radio signal received by each roadside antenna is a radio signal from a vehicle traveling in the lane corresponding to each roadside antenna. Determine. As described in claim 9, the determination means is a radio wave from a vehicle traveling on a lane in which the radio signal received by each roadside antenna is based on the intensity of the radiowave signal from the vehicle. It is possible to determine whether or not it is a signal. In this way, the vehicles corresponding to the respective roadside antennas are discriminated by using the radio signals received by the adjacent roadside antennas substantially at the same time. It can be determined whether or not.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to an automatic billing system that automatically bills a vehicle traveling on a toll road or the like. The automatic charging system according to the present embodiment is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle (details will be described later).
And the roadside machine that has a flat antenna installed on the ground side such as the entrance gate and the exit gate to determine the traffic section (route) in which the vehicle has traveled and the vehicle type, and the entrance gate and the exit It is a system to settle tolls and other charges without stopping the vehicle at the gate.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted in the vehicle 90 includes an IC card read / write device 60 to which an IC card 62 storing the remaining charge data and the like can be attached and detached, as described later. (See Figure 1). The in-vehicle device 30 stores fixed data such as a vehicle number and a vehicle type, and, together with the inserted IC card 62, data of the owner of the IC card 62 and a radio communication identification code including the fixed data. Reads and writes the ID and remaining balance data.

On the other hand, as will be described later, the on-road device is provided with at least a flat antenna for exchanging various kinds of information with the vehicle-mounted device 30 at each of the entrance gate 100, the intermediate route 200 and the exit gate 300 of the toll road. Has been done.

An entrance antenna 117 composed of a flat antenna is arranged at the entrance gate 100, and an entrance antenna control device 132 is connected to the entrance antenna 117. The entrance antenna control device 132 transmits / receives entrance gate information of the toll road to / from the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle via the entrance antenna 117. The entrance gate 100 is provided with a pass ticket issuing device 123 for issuing a pass ticket for a vehicle that cannot be automatically billed by paying the pass fee by hand. Further, the entrance antenna control device 132 can be connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage vehicles entering the toll road.

Further, a route grasping antenna 217 composed of a flat antenna is arranged on the way route 200, and the route grasping antenna 217 is connected to the route grasping antenna controller 2.
32 is connected. The route grasping antenna control device 232 transmits / receives route passage information indicating a route traveled on the toll road to / from the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle via the route grasping antenna 217. Also,
The route grasping antenna control device 232 can be connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage the running state of the vehicle on the toll road.

Further, the exit gate 300 is provided with a notice antenna 317 and a tollgate antenna 341, which are flat antennas, in order to improve the certainty of information exchange by radio waves.
Is provided. A notice antenna control device 331 is connected to the notice antenna 317, and the notice station antenna 34 is connected.
A tollgate antenna control device 332 is connected to 1. Further, the notice antenna control device 331 and the tollgate antenna control device 332 are installed in the central computer 40.
0 is connected to the local controller 380. The local controller 332 includes a microcomputer, and the notice antenna control device 3
31 and a processing program for controlling the tollgate antenna control device 332 and the like are stored.

The exit gate 300 is provided with a vehicle type detection system 360, an illegally-passed vehicle photographing system 350, and a fare payment system 323 for vehicles that cannot be automatically charged. By collectively controlling each of these systems by the local controller 380, it is possible to take appropriate measures against billing inability and the like, and to smooth tolls according to the traffic section (route) in which the vehicle has traveled and the type of vehicle. Settled. Further, by connecting the central computer 400 and the local controller 380, it is possible to smoothly and swiftly exchange the information about the fare table modification and the information about the illegal traffic.

Next, an example of each schematic structure of an entrance gate, a midway route, and an exit gate to which the automatic charging system of this embodiment can be applied will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the entrance gate 100 of the toll road of this embodiment has three lanes 102, 104, and 1.
Has 06. Lane 102 is formed between site 108 and separator 110, lane 104 is formed between separator 110 and separator 112, and lane 106 is separator 1.
It is formed between 12 and the site 114. An arch 116 is provided from the site 108 to the site 114 so as to straddle these plural lanes, and an entrance antenna 117 is provided on the arch 116. The entrance antenna 117 is the entrance antenna 118, 120, 122.
The entrance antenna 118 is in charge of transmission / reception of radio waves to / from a vehicle traveling in the lane 102.
It is located above 2. Similarly, the entrance antenna 120
Is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from vehicles traveling on the lane 104, and is located above the lane 104. The entrance antenna 122 is in charge of transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling in the lane 106, and is located above the lane 106.

On the site 114, the entrance antenna control device 1
An entrance gate control center 130 including 32 is arranged, and entrance antennas 118, 120, 122 are connected to the entrance antenna control device 132.

At the entrance gate 100, a pass ticket issuing device 123 for issuing a pass ticket for a vehicle that cannot be automatically billed by paying a pass fee by hand is arranged, and the pass ticket issuing device 123 corresponds to each lane. Passage ticket issuing device 12
It is composed of 4, 126 and 128. The pass ticket issuing device 124 corresponds to the lane 102, and is arranged on the downstream side of the separation band 110 in the vehicle traveling direction and on the lane 102 side of the separation band 110. Further, the pass ticket issuing device 126 is arranged on the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction of the separation band 112 corresponding to the lane 104 and on the lane 104 side of the separation band 112, and the pass ticket issuing device 128 corresponds to the lane 106 and the site 114. Is arranged on the lane 106 side of the site 114 on the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction. These pass issuing devices 124, 1
26 and 128 are connected to the entrance gate control center 130.

Signals 134, 136, 138 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are provided on the downstream side of the arch 116 in the traveling direction of the vehicle so as to correspond to each lane. These traffic lights 134, 136, 138 are connected to the entrance gate control center 130 and indicate when a vehicle can enter each lane (for example, a green light).
Alternatively, one of the displays (for example, a red traffic light) when the entry is impossible is displayed.

The entrance gate control center 130 is connected to the central computer 400 (see FIG. 2). The entrance gate control center 130 may not be connected to the central computer 400, but may be an independent control system using only the entrance gate.

As shown in FIG. 4, the midway route 200 immediately before or after the branch point of the toll road has two lanes 202, 2
04 are adjacent to each other, and adjacent lanes 202 and 204 are formed between the site 208 and the site 214. An arch 216 is arranged from the site 208 to the site 214 so as to straddle these lanes 202 and 204.
A path grasping antenna 217 is arranged on the arch 216. The route grasping antenna 217 is composed of route grasping antennas 218, 220, 222. The route grasping antenna 218 is in charge of transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from a vehicle traveling in the lane 202, and is located above the lane 202. The route grasping antenna 222 is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling in the lane 204, and is located above the lane 204. These route grasping antennas 218,
Above the center line 206 near the middle of 222 and above the boundary between the lanes 202 and 204, the lane 202,
A path grasping antenna 220 that is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from a vehicle that extends over 204 is provided.

A route control center 230 having a route grasping antenna control device 232 is disposed on the site 214, and route grasping antennas 218, 220, 222 are connected to the route grasping antenna control device 232. .

As shown in FIG. 5, the toll road exit gate 300 has three lanes 302, 304, 306. The lane 302 is formed between the site 308 and the separator 310, and the lane 304 is the separator 310 and the separator 31.
2, the lane 306 is formed between the separation zone 312 and the site 314.

An arch 316 is provided from the site 308 to the site 314 so as to straddle these plural lanes, and a notice antenna 317 is provided on the arch 316. The notification antenna 317 is composed of notification antennas 318, 320, and 322. The notification antenna 318 is in charge of transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling in the lane 302, and is located above the lane 302. The notification antenna 320 is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling in the lane 304, and is located above the lane 304. Similarly, the warning antenna 322 is used by the lane 306.
Responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to the vehicle traveling on
It is located above 06.

An exit gate control center 330 is provided on the site 314, and a notice antenna control device 331 and a tollgate antenna control device 332 to be described later are provided at the exit gate control center 330. The notice antenna control device 331 includes notice antennas 318 and 32.
0 and 322 are connected.

A vehicle type detection system 360 is provided near the arch 316. This vehicle type detection system 3
The reference numeral 60 includes vehicle type detection devices 362, 364, and 366. The vehicle type detection device 362 is a device for identifying the vehicle type of the vehicle traveling on the lane 302, and is arranged on the site 308 and the separation zone 310 corresponding to the lane 302. Similarly, the vehicle type detection device 364 uses the lane 30.
4 is a device for identifying the type of vehicle traveling
Separation zone 31 corresponding to lane 304 near arch 316
0 and the separation band 312, the vehicle type detection device 366
Is a device for identifying the vehicle type of the vehicle traveling on the lane 306, and is provided in the separation zone 312 and the site 314 corresponding to the lane 306. The vehicle type detection system 360 including these vehicle type detection devices is connected to the local controller 380.

An arch 340 is provided from the site 308 to the site 314 on the downstream side of the position where the arch 316 is arranged in the vehicle traveling direction so as to straddle the plurality of lanes. A tollgate antenna 341 is arranged on the 340. This tollgate antenna 341 is composed of tollgate antennas 342, 344, 346,
The tollgate antenna 342 is in charge of transmitting and receiving radio waves of information related to a fee for a vehicle traveling in the lane 302, and is located above the lane 302. Tollgate antenna 34
Reference numeral 4 is in charge of transmission / reception of radio waves to / from a vehicle traveling on the lane 304, and is located above the lane 304. Similarly, the tollgate antenna 346 is in charge of transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 306, and is located above the lane 306. These tollgate antennas 342, 34
A tollgate antenna control device 332 is connected to the terminals 4, 346.

At the exit gate 300, a toll payment system 3 for vehicles that cannot automatically charge a toll
23, the toll payment system 323 has toll payment boxes 324, 326, 328 corresponding to each lane.
It is configured to include. The fee payment box 324 is
Corresponding to the lane 302, it is arranged on the downstream side of the separation belt 310 in the vehicle traveling direction and on the lane 302 side of the separation belt 310. In addition, the charge payment box 326 is in the lane 304.
The charge payment box 328 corresponds to the lane 306 and is located downstream of the separation belt 312 in the vehicle traveling direction and on the lane 304 side of the separation belt 312. It is arranged on the 306 side. These fee payment boxes 324, 326,
A microcomputer (not shown) is provided in each 328, and a fee payment system 323 that manages information charged by hand payment by integrally managing each microcomputer (not shown) is configured. This fee payment system 323 is based on the local controller 3
80 (see FIG. 2).

Further, an illegally passing vehicle photographing system 350 for photographing an illegally passing vehicle is arranged downstream of the toll payment box in the traveling direction of the vehicle (see FIG. 2), and the image pickup device of the illegally passing vehicle photographing system 350. Camera 352, which is
354 and 356 are arranged corresponding to the lanes 302, 304 and 306. This unauthorized vehicle photography system 35
0 is connected to the local controller 380.

Signals 334, 336, 338 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are arranged on the downstream side of the arch 340 in the vehicle traveling direction, corresponding to each lane. These traffic lights 334, 336, 338
Is connected to the exit gate control center 330,
Either a display when the vehicle can enter each lane (for example, a green light) or a display when the vehicle cannot enter (for example, a red traffic light) is displayed.

The exit gate control center 330 is connected to the central computer 400 (see FIG. 2). The exit gate control center 330 may not be connected to the central computer 400, but may be an independent control system using only the exit gate.

Next, a roadside device that communicates with the vehicle-mounted device 30 will be described by taking a roadside device provided at the entrance gate 100 as an example. Note that, for the sake of simplicity, the lane 102
The description will be made using the entrance antenna 118 and the entrance antenna control device 132 that are in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from a vehicle traveling in the area.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle-mounted device 30 has a receiving antenna 32 for receiving a data signal transmitted from a road-side device which will be described later. The reception antenna 32 is connected to a detection circuit 34 that detects the modulated wave received by the reception antenna 32 and obtains a data signal. The detection circuit 34 is connected to the transmission circuit 50 so that the carrier wave of the radio wave transmitted from the roadside device can be obtained. The detection circuit 34 is connected via a data signal reception circuit 44 to a signal processing circuit 46 including a microcomputer. The microcomputer included in the signal processing circuit 46 stores programs such as lane recognition processing described below.

A storage circuit 48 for storing data such as a vehicle number and ID and a transmission circuit 50 for transmitting a data signal containing an ID are connected to the signal processing circuit 46. The transmission circuit 50 is connected to a transmission antenna 52. It is connected. Therefore, the carrier wave obtained by detecting the modulated wave received by the receiving antenna 32 is modulated by the data signal from the signal processing circuit 46 and then returned via the transmitting antenna 52. In addition, the transmission antenna 52 is caused to function as a transmission / reception antenna, and the transmission circuit 50 receives the unmodulated carrier wave transmitted from the roadside device by the transmission antenna 52 and outputs the unmodulated carrier wave from the signal processing circuit 46. The signal may be modulated and then returned via the transmitting antenna 52.

An IC card read / write device 60 to which an IC card 62 can be attached / detached is connected to the signal processing circuit 46. The signal processing circuit 46 also includes a lane information recognition device 7 including a bar code reader 72 (FIG. 9).
0 is connected. This lane information recognition device 70
The barcode read by the barcode reader 72 is output to the signal processing circuit 46. Therefore, the in-vehicle device 30 receives the bar code information B read from the plate 74 described later in a non-contact manner.

The above-mentioned circuits are constantly supplied with power from a vehicle-mounted battery BT (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 6, the road vehicle for a vehicle traveling on the lane 102 is composed of an entrance antenna 118 and an entrance antenna control device 132. The entrance antenna 118 includes the transmission antenna 22 and the reception antenna 26.
It consists of The entrance antenna controller 132
A signal processing circuit 12 including a microcomputer is provided. A processing program described below is stored in the microcomputer included in the signal processing circuit 12. Further, the signal processing circuit 12 is
It can be connected to the central computer 400. The signal processing circuit 12 is connected to a transmission circuit 14 that generates a data signal (communication request signal) including an instruction. The transmission circuit 14 is connected to the transmission antenna 22 via the mixer 18. A carrier generation circuit 20 that generates a carrier of a predetermined frequency is connected to the mixer 18. The mixer 18 mixes a signal input from the transmission circuit 14 and a carrier input from the carrier generation circuit 20, and the transmission circuit 14 The carrier wave input from the carrier wave generation circuit 20 is modulated by the signal input from. Further, the modulated wave is transmitted as a radio wave from the transmitting antenna 22.

The carrier wave generating circuit 20 is connected to a receiving circuit 24 for extracting a data signal from the modulated wave which is modulated and returned from the vehicle-mounted device 30 shown in FIG. 1 and received by the receiving antenna 26. The receiving circuit 24 is the signal processing circuit 12.
It is connected to the. Further, the receiving circuit 24 is connected to the carrier wave generating circuit 20, and the carrier wave transmitted for comparison of the carrier waves included in the signal returned from the vehicle-mounted device 30 is input.

The structure of the other entrance antennas at the entrance gate 100 is the same as that described above, and the description thereof is omitted. In addition, the intermediate route 200 and the exit gate 3
The configurations of the antennas and the antenna control device in No. 00 are substantially the same as those described above, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

Further, in the above description, the antenna constructed by separating the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna is used, but an integrated antenna for transmission and reception may be used.

Toll roads and the like generally have a plurality of lanes. In this embodiment, the entrance gate, the intermediate route, and the exit gate are lanes for vehicles to be subjected to radio wave communication in the above automatic billing system. An antenna for each lane is installed on the ground side.

However, since one antenna has a communication area, even if the communication area is set to transmit and receive radio waves to and from the target lane, the communication area will spread to the adjacent lanes ( Communication area may span multiple lanes). For this reason, there is a risk that radio waves will be transmitted and received to and from vehicles traveling in adjacent lanes by this antenna, and whether or not the radio waves transmitted and received by each antenna are radio waves from vehicles traveling in the corresponding lane will be identified. There is a need.

A first embodiment for surely performing radio wave communication between a vehicle traveling in a certain lane and a roadside machine including an antenna in charge of the lane will be described. In the first embodiment, the lane information of the traveling lane is read on the vehicle side, and radio communication is performed between the vehicle-mounted device and the roadside device by using the read lane information. Securely exchange information between

As shown in FIG. 9, the lane 104 of the entrance gate 100 is provided with a plate 74 on which a bar code representing the lane number is displayed. This plate 74
Are arranged so that the surface on which the barcode is displayed faces the lane 104 side. This bar code may be displayed on an installation object such as a guard rail provided near the entrance gate in advance.

The lanes 102 and 106 have the same structure as the above-mentioned lane 104 in which plates are arranged, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the above description, the entrance gate 100 has been described as an example, but the exit gate 300
In the same configuration as above, radio communication can be performed between the vehicle-mounted device and the road device by using the lane information. The exit gate 300 is provided with a bar coded plate in each lane, and the entrance gate 10 described above is provided.
Since the configuration is similar to the case of 0, detailed description is omitted.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. As described above, when the vehicle 90 detects a lane entry, by reading the barcode while traveling in the lane, the lane information indicating the lane in which the vehicle 90 is traveling is transmitted from the lane information recognition device 70 to the signal processing circuit. When it is input to 46, the main routine of FIG. 8 stored in the signal processing circuit 46 is executed. In the signal processing circuit 46, as shown in FIG.
In step 502, the input lane information is read.

Whether or not the vehicle 90 has entered the lane may be detected by notifying the vehicle 90 of a radio wave or the like, and the detection of the lane entry is always detected without special detection. It may be done. For this lane information, a predetermined lane number such as a serial number can be used. For example, taking the entrance gate 100 as an example, three lanes 102, 104, and 106 are provided, and lane numbers R1, R2, and R3 are added to each. Therefore, the antenna in charge of the lane 102 of the lane number R1 is the entrance antenna 118, and the lane number R2
The antenna in charge of the lane 104 is the entrance antenna 12
The antenna in charge of the lane 106 having the lane number R3 is the entrance antenna 122. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 9, since the vehicle 90 is traveling in the lane 104,
The lane number R2 is read as lane information. In the next step 504, the read lane information is stored in the storage circuit 48 or recorded in the ID card 62.
The IDs input via the C card read / write device are combined, and the combined code is output to the transmission circuit 50. As a result, a radio signal corresponding to the code is transmitted from the antenna 52 via the transmission circuit 50. Therefore, the roadside device can determine the lane in which the vehicle 90 corresponding to the ID is traveling by receiving the radio signal in which the ID is combined with the lane information. Next, in step 506, when the radio wave from the antenna of the roadside machine is received and the lane matching information indicating matching or mismatching is input to the signal processing circuit 46 via the detection circuit 34 and the data signal receiving circuit 44, the next In step 508, it is determined whether or not lane matching information indicating matching is received.
That is, it is determined whether or not the transmission is from the antenna of the roadside device corresponding to the lane information transmitted in step 504. In this case, since the vehicle 90 is traveling in the lane 104,
The entrance antenna 120 is in charge, and lane matching information indicating matching is transmitted only from the entrance antenna 120.
Lane matching information indicating the mismatch is transmitted from other antennas. When the vehicle-mounted device 30 receives the lane matching information indicating the mismatch and the determination is negative, the transmission is from the antenna of the roadside device in charge of another lane, and therefore the process returns to step 504 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, if the lane matching information indicating the matching is received and the determination is affirmative, it means that the transmission is from the antenna of the roadside device in charge of the lane. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 510, and after performing communication processing with the corresponding roadside device. , This routine ends.

On the other hand, in the entrance antenna control unit 132 which constitutes the roadside machine, in step 602 of FIG. 7, it waits until the radio wave signal transmitted from the vehicle side is received, and when the radio wave signal from the vehicle side is received, The lane information is extracted from the received radio signal. In the next step 604, it is determined whether or not the extracted lane information is the lane of the lane number that the received entrance antenna is in charge of. In this case, the vehicle 90 travels on the lane 104, and the lane number R2
The radio signal including the lane information indicating that is received is affirmatively determined only when the radio wave signal is received by the entrance antenna 120 in charge of the lane 104, and is negatively determined by the other entrance antennas 118 and 122. In the case of affirmative determination, the lane on which the vehicle 90 is traveling and the lane handled by the entrance antenna match, so in the next step 606, lane matching information indicating that the lanes match is transmitted, and the next step 612. In order to exchange information such as entrance gate information, the communication process with the vehicle-mounted device 30 of the vehicle 90 is performed, and the present routine ends. On the other hand, in the case of negative judgment,
Since the signal is intercepted by a vehicle traveling in a lane other than the lane handled by the entrance antenna, a lane matching signal indicating that the lanes do not match is transmitted in step 608 to perform communication processing with the vehicle-mounted device 30 of the vehicle 90. If not (the process is stopped / step 610), this routine ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the lane information such as the lane number indicating the lane in which the vehicle is traveling is transmitted from the vehicle side to the roadside machine, the communication area 76 of the entrance antenna 120 is adjacent to the lane. Even when it reaches 102 and 106, it is possible to determine whether the signal received by the entrance antenna 120 from the vehicle side is the radio signal from the vehicle 90 traveling in the lane 104 that the operator is in charge of. Therefore, it is possible to perform reliable communication processing without erroneously performing communication processing with respect to a vehicle traveling in a lane adjacent to the lane handled by the antenna.
Therefore, on-road vehicles such as entrance gates and exit gates can determine whether or not the vehicle is traveling in the lane that the antenna is in charge of, and erroneously perform communication processing for vehicles traveling in adjacent lanes. There is no.

In the above embodiment, the case in which the lane information such as the lane number relating to the lane on which the vehicle travels is detected by reading the bar code displayed on the plate has been described, but the present invention reads the bar code. However, the lane number or the like for identifying the lane may be displayed as a symbol, the symbol may be imaged by an imaging device such as an in-vehicle camera, and the lane information may be detected from the imaged image.

Further, without providing a bar code, the lane numbers are made to correspond to colors in advance, and the plate is painted in the color corresponding to each lane. On the vehicle side, a lane information may be detected by providing a color CCD sensor or the like capable of detecting a color and detecting a coated color.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, the lane information is read by detecting the change in the shape of the traveling lane. Since the second embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 10, each lane of the entrance gate 100 is provided with a plurality of slight undulations. In the example of FIG. 10, the lane 102 is provided with two ridges 102A, the lane 104 is provided with three ridges 104A, and the lane 106 is provided with four ridges 106A.

On the other hand, a vibration sensor 80 is attached to a suspension or the like (not shown) of the vehicle 90. The vibration sensor 80 is provided in the lane information recognition device 70 in place of the bar code reader 72 (FIG. 9). The lane information recognition device 70 of the present embodiment stores a pattern of the output signal of the vibration sensor 80, that is, a code such as a cycle or amplitude of vibration with respect to the vehicle speed in advance as a table. The signal processing circuit 4 outputs a code corresponding to the road surface shape read by the sensor 80.
Output to 6. Therefore, the lane information is input to the vehicle-mounted device 30 only by traveling in the lane.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described. Second
In the embodiment, instead of the process of reading the bar code while traveling in the lane by the vehicle 90 entering the lane in step 502 of the flowchart of FIG. 8 of the first embodiment,
Read the lane relief. The lane information of the lane in which the vehicle 90 is traveling can be detected by reading the undulations of the lane. Therefore, the entrance gate 100
In this case, since undulations such as ridges and dents corresponding to the lane numbers R1, R2, and R3 of the three lanes 102, 104, and 106 are formed, the lane number can be detected on the vehicle side by traveling in the lane. .

The processing from step 504 is the first
Since this is the same as the embodiment, the description is omitted.

As described above, in the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the plate for obstructing the field of view is not provided, and only the shape of the lane forming a slight undulation on the road surface is changed. The vehicle side can read the lane information indicating the traveling lane.

In the second embodiment, the shape of the lane is changed by forming a slight undulation on the road surface, and the lane information is read from the change in the lane shape. Is not limited to the change in shape of the lanes that form the lanes, each lane has a different gradient, and a gradient detector such as a tilt sensor is arranged on the vehicle side,
The lane information may be read by detecting the gradient of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. The third
Since the embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the above embodiment, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the above embodiment, the case where the vehicle side obtains the lane information indicating which one of the plurality of lanes the vehicle is traveling in has been described. However, when radio communication is performed between the vehicle-mounted device and the roadside device,
Even when the communication area of one antenna spans up to a plurality of lanes, the communication area spreads to the next lane across the lanes adjacent to the lane that one antenna is in charge of (for example, the communication area of the lane 102). Lane 106
Spread to) is rare. Therefore, the lane to be discriminated by this antenna should be able to discriminate at least the relevant lane or the adjacent lane.

Therefore, in the third embodiment, in accordance with the arrangement order of a plurality of lanes, the odd-numbered lanes or the even-numbered lanes are detected in that order, and the lane information indicating the odd-numbered lanes or the even-numbered lanes is detected. Is transmitted to the roadside machine.

As shown in FIG. 11, on the ground side upstream of the arch 116 arranged at the entrance gate 100 in the vehicle traveling direction, an ultrasonic oscillator 82L and a lane which are in charge of the lane 102 and oscillate an ultrasonic wave f. An arch 116A that is in charge of 104 and that includes an ultrasonic oscillator 82R that oscillates an ultrasonic wave f is provided. The ultrasonic oscillator 82L is
The directional direction is deflected from the direction along the lane so that the front left part of the vehicle entering the lane 102 becomes the reception area of the ultrasonic wave f. Further, the ultrasonic oscillator 82R is disposed with its directing direction deflected from the direction along the lane so that the front right part of the vehicle entering the lane 104 becomes the reception area of the ultrasonic wave f.
On the other hand, the vehicle 90 includes a pair of left and right headlamps (not shown), and ultrasonic sensors 84L and 84R are provided inside each of the headlamps (not shown). The ultrasonic sensors 84L and 84R are provided in the lane information recognition device 70 in place of the barcode reader 72 (FIG. 9) of the first embodiment. Further, in the present embodiment, the vehicle is traveling in an odd numbered lane when the ultrasonic sensor 84L receives the ultrasonic wave f, and the vehicle is an even number when the ultrasonic sensor 84R receives the ultrasonic wave f. It corresponds in advance to driving in the lane. Therefore, in the lane information recognition device 70, the signal processing circuit 46 outputs a code indicating an odd lane or an even lane depending on which of the ultrasonic sensors 84L and 84R receives the ultrasonic wave f.
(Step 502 in FIG. 8). Therefore, the lane information is input to the vehicle-mounted device 30 from the lane information recognition device 70 only by traveling in the lane.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the vehicle 90 depending on the position on the vehicle that receives the ultrasonic wave f from the ground side.
It is possible to determine whether the lane that is traveling is an odd lane or an even lane. Therefore, the lane information indicating the odd-numbered or even-numbered lane in which the vehicle travels can be transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 30 to the roadside device, and the entrance antenna 12
Even when the communication area 76 of 0 spreads to the adjacent lanes 102 and 106, the signal from the vehicle side received by the entrance antenna 120 is a radio signal from the vehicle 90 traveling in the lane 104 in which it is in charge. You can judge. Therefore, the communication process with respect to the vehicle traveling in the lane adjacent to the lane handled by the antenna is prevented.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. In the fourth embodiment, the road surface shape change described in the second embodiment is changed to a shape that matches even-numbered lanes and odd-numbered lanes, and the even-numbered lanes are detected by detecting the road surface shape of the lane in which the vehicle travels. The lane information indicating whether the lane is an odd lane or not. Since the fourth embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the above-mentioned embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Lanes 102 and 10 of the entrance gate 100
In each of the numbers 4 and 106, lane 102 is the first and odd lanes from that order, lane 104 is the second and even lane, and lane 106 is the third and odd lane. Become. As shown in FIG. 12, the even-numbered lanes 104 are provided with three raised ODDs at three positions.

A vibration sensor 80 is attached to a suspension (not shown) of the vehicle 90. The vibration sensor 80 is provided in the lane information recognition device 70 (FIG. 9). Therefore, the lane information recognition device 70 outputs to the signal processing circuit 46 lane information indicating whether or not the lane in which the vehicle is traveling is an even-numbered lane, according to the road surface shape read by the vibration sensor 80. Therefore, the vehicle-mounted device 30 receives lane information indicating whether or not the vehicle is an even-numbered lane only by traveling in the lane.

Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, in step 502 of the flow chart of FIG. 8, the lane undulation is read while traveling in the lane when the vehicle 90 enters the lane,
The lane information of the lane in which the vehicle 90 is traveling can be detected by reading the undulations of the lane. Note that the processes in and after step 504 may be the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, since the ridges corresponding to the even lanes or the odd lanes are formed in the entrance gate 100 according to the order of the three lanes 102, 104, 106, the ultrasonic oscillator, etc. The vehicle can detect whether the lane order is even or odd by running in the lane without providing any equipment. Accordingly, the lane information indicating the odd-numbered or even-numbered lane in which the vehicle travels can be transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device 30 to the roadside device, and the communication area 76 of the entrance antenna 120 can reach the adjacent lanes 102 and 106. Even if it spreads, the vehicle 9 traveling in the lane 104 in which it is in charge of the signal from the vehicle side received by the entrance antenna 120
It is possible to determine whether the signal is a radio signal from 0. Therefore, the communication process with respect to the vehicle traveling in the lane adjacent to the lane handled by the antenna is prevented.

In the fourth embodiment, the shape of the lane is changed by forming a slight undulation on the road surface, and the lane information is read from the change in the lane shape. It is not limited to the change in the shape of the lane that forms the road.If the shape of only the road surface corresponding to the even lane or the odd lane is changed and it is determined whether or not the road surface shape is changed on the vehicle side. Good.
For example, each lane has a gradient corresponding to an even-numbered lane or an odd-numbered lane in order, a gradient detector such as a tilt sensor is provided on the vehicle side, and the lane on which the vehicle travels has Alternatively, the lane information indicating the even-numbered or odd-numbered lane in which the vehicle is traveling may be read by detecting the gradient.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. In the fifth embodiment, each lane is formed so that a vehicle may branch from one lane to a plurality of lanes, and even-numbered lanes may be formed on the vehicle side due to a change in traveling direction when the vehicle bifurcates. The lane information indicating whether the lane is an odd lane or an odd lane is detected.
Since the fifth embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the above-mentioned embodiments, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, regarding the correspondence between the traveling direction of the vehicle and the lane information, the traveling direction of the vehicle 90 traveling in the odd numbered lane is the left direction (the arrow L direction in FIG. 13),
The traveling direction of the vehicle 90 traveling in the even-numbered lane corresponds to the right direction (the arrow R direction in FIG. 13). In the entrance gate 100, lane 102 is the first and odd lanes from the order of lanes 102, 104 and 106, lane 104 is the second and even lane, and lane 106 is the third lane. There will be an odd numbered lane.

As shown in FIG. 13, the entrances of the odd-numbered lanes 102 and the even-numbered lanes 104 adjacent to each other merge, and the vehicle 90 travels on the same approach road 88 to the entrances. On the other hand, the vehicle 90 has a steering sensor 86 attached to a steering wheel (not shown) or the like. The steering sensor 86 is provided in the lane information recognition device 70 in place of the bar code reader 72 (FIG. 9). In the present embodiment, for example, a clockwise direction corresponding to the rotation direction (clockwise direction or counterclockwise direction) of a steering wheel (not shown) corresponding to the traveling direction of the vehicle 90 (arrow R direction or arrow L direction in FIG. 13). Then, a positive polarity signal and a counterclockwise negative polarity signal are output from the steering sensor 86. The lane information recognition device 70
A code (indicating right or left) corresponding to the polarity of the output signal of the steering sensor 86 is output to the signal processing circuit 46. For this reason, the lane information is input to the vehicle-mounted device 30 when entering a forked lane only by traveling in the lane.

Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, instead of the process of reading the bar code while traveling in the lane by the vehicle 90 entering the lane in step 502 of the flow chart of FIG. 8, the steering direction (not shown) is detected. The traveling direction of the vehicle 90 is read. By reading the traveling direction of the vehicle, it is possible to detect the lane information indicating the even lane or the odd lane of the lane in which the vehicle 90 is traveling. In addition,
The processes after step 504 are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

As described above, in the fifth embodiment, the steering sensor 86 can detect whether the lane on which the vehicle travels is an even-numbered or an odd-numbered vehicle from the traveling direction of the vehicle 90, and the vehicle is provided on the vehicle 90. The lane information can be obtained by a simple configuration of only the steering sensor 86.

In the above embodiment, the case where the lane information is recognized by using the bar code as the code information or changing the road surface shape or the road shape has been described. However, the color corresponding to the lane is predetermined. Alternatively, a different color may be painted for each lane, and the painted color may be measured to recognize the lane.

Next, a sixth embodiment will be described. Since the sixth embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the above-described embodiments, only different portions will be described, the same portions will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 14, the transmission circuit 50 of the vehicle-mounted device 30 includes a communication frequency setting circuit 54, a modulation / demodulation circuit 56,
And an FM modulation circuit 58. The communication frequency setting circuit 54 is connected to the output side of the detection circuit 34 and the signal processing circuit 4
6 is connected to one output side, and the modulation / demodulation circuit 56
Is connected to one input side. The other input side of the modulation / demodulation circuit 56 is connected to the output side of the FM modulation circuit 58, and the input side of the FM modulation circuit 58 is connected to the other output side of the signal processing circuit 46.

In this embodiment, the communication frequency setting circuit 54 and the FM modulation circuit 58 which form the transmission circuit 50 are independently connected to the signal processing circuit 46. As will be described later, a setting signal for setting the communication frequency is input from the signal processing circuit 46 to the communication frequency setting circuit 54, and the FM modulation circuit 58 transmits the transmission data to be transmitted to the roadside machine. Is entered. Further, the communication frequency setting circuit 54 has two oscillators (not shown) having communication frequencies f _R and f _L of the radio wave signal, and outputs the radio wave signal according to the setting signal output from the signal processing circuit 46. The communication frequency can be switched.

The communication frequency setting circuit 54, the FM modulation circuit 58, and the signal processing circuit 46 are connected to each other via the same signal line for the command and the transmission data, and a header is provided for each of the command and the transmission data. The communication frequency setting circuit 54 and the FM modulation circuit 58 may determine whether it is a command or transmission data by reading the header.

On the other hand, with regard to the entrance antenna, the entrance antenna 102 in charge of the odd-numbered lanes 102 transmits and receives radio waves only by the radio signals of the communication frequency f _L ,
Entrance antenna 104 for the even lanes 104
Transmits and receives radio waves using only radio signals of the communication frequency f _R.

As described above, the lane 102 is in charge and the lane 104 is in charge of the ultrasonic oscillator 82L and the lane 104 which oscillates the ultrasonic wave f so that the front left part of the vehicle is the reception area. Ultrasonic oscillator 82R that oscillates ultrasonic wave f so that the part becomes the receiving area
Are provided (see FIG. 11). On the other hand, ultrasonic sensors 84L and 84R are arranged inside a pair of left and right headlamps (not shown) of the vehicle 90.

Next, the operation of the sixth embodiment will be described. When the vehicle 90 enters the lane, the main routine including the communication frequency setting of FIG. 15 is executed instead of the main routine of FIG. As described above, the lane information indicating whether the lane in which the vehicle 90 travels is an odd lane or an even lane, depending on the position on the vehicle that receives the ultrasonic wave f from the ground side, is lane information recognition. The signal is input from the device 70 to the signal processing circuit 46. The signal processing circuit 46 reads the lane information input in step 520 and then determines in step 522 whether the lane information represents an odd-numbered lane or an even-numbered lane. Step 5 if the lane information indicates an odd numbered lane
At 24, a setting signal is output to the transmission circuit 50 to set the communication frequency of the radio wave signal to the communication frequency f _L. On the other hand, when the lane information indicates the even-numbered lane, in step 526, the setting signal is output to the transmission circuit 50 to set the communication frequency of the radio wave signal to the communication frequency f _R. As a result, the communication frequency setting circuit 54 of the transmission circuit 50 is set to one of the communication frequencies f _R and f _L of the radio signal according to the setting signal from the signal processing circuit 46.

In the next step 528, the radio signal from the antenna of the roadside device, that is, the entrance antenna is received,
In the next step 530, the set communication frequency f
This routine is ended by performing communication processing with the roadside machine via the entrance antenna in charge of the lane in which the vehicle travels by the radio signal of either _R or f _L.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the communication frequency is changed from the vehicle-mounted device 30 in correspondence with the odd-numbered or even-numbered lane in which the vehicle is traveling, so that it is different from the vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane. A radio signal of the communication frequency is transmitted. Therefore, on the roadside machine, each entrance antenna only performs communication processing at the communication frequency corresponding to each lane, and determines whether or not it is a radio wave transmitted from a vehicle traveling in each lane. You don't have to. For this reason, for example, even when the communication area 76 of the entrance antenna 120 spreads to the adjacent lanes 102 and 106, the radio signal from the vehicle side received by the entrance antenna 120 travels in the lane 104 that it is in charge of. Since only the radio signal from the vehicle 90 is transmitted, there is no chance that communication processing will be erroneously performed on a vehicle traveling in a lane adjacent to the lane in which the antenna is in charge, and the lane in which the entrance antenna is in charge is sure to travel. Communication processing can be performed for existing vehicles.

Next, a seventh embodiment will be described. The seventh embodiment is a roadside device that detects the intensity of radio waves transmitted by a vehicle,
Recognize the lane. Since this embodiment has substantially the same configuration as the above embodiment, only different portions will be described, the same portions will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the present embodiment, as will be described later, since the lane is recognized by the roadside machine, it is not necessary to include the lane information recognition device 70 of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 16, the entrance antenna 1 for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling in the lane 102.
An entrance antenna 120, which is adjacent to the entrance antenna 118 and is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from a vehicle traveling in the lane 104, is connected to the entrance antenna control device 132. The communication area 76 of the entrance antenna 120 has the lane 104 as a main area and the adjacent lane 10
It has spread to 2,106. Also, the entrance antenna 118
The communication area 77 of the main area is the lane 102 and spreads to the adjacent lane 102 and site 108.

A measurement side of a radio wave intensity measuring device 92 for measuring the intensity of the radio wave received by the entrance antenna is connected between the entrance antenna 118 and the entrance antenna 120 and the entrance antenna control device 132. The output side of the radio wave intensity measuring device 92 is provided with an entrance antenna control device 132.
It is connected to the.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The entrance antenna control device 132 of the present embodiment executes the antenna selection processing routine of FIG. First, in step 620 of FIG. 17, the radio wave intensity Ia of the entrance antenna 118 is detected by reading the output from the entrance antenna 118 side of the radio field intensity measuring device 92, and in the next step 622, the entrance antenna 120 side of the radio field intensity measuring device 92 is detected. The radio wave intensity Ib of the entrance antenna 120 is detected by reading the output of When the detection of the radio wave intensities Ia and Ib is completed, in the next step 624, the radio wave intensities Ia and Ib are detected.
A predetermined value Io where the sum of b corresponds to a predetermined noise level
Determine if less than. The judgment in step 624 is
This is to prevent this routine from being executed due to noise. In the case of affirmative judgment, the entrance antennas 118, 1
It is determined that none of the 20 radio waves is received, and the process returns to step 620.

On the other hand, in the case of a negative judgment in step 624, it is judged that a radio wave has been received by at least one of the entrance antennas 118 and 120, and in the next step 626 it is judged whether Ia> Ib or not. 1
It is determined whether the radio field intensity of the radio signal received at 18 is high. When the determination is affirmative, since the radio wave intensity of the entrance antenna 118 is high and the radio wave is from the vehicle traveling in the lane 102 in charge of the entrance antenna 118, the entrance antenna 118 is set in step 628, and this routine ends. . On the other hand, in the case of a negative determination, since it is a radio wave from the vehicle traveling in the lane 104 in charge of the entrance antenna 120, the entrance antenna 120 is set in step 630, and this routine ends. In the case of FIG. 16, since the vehicle 90A is close to the entrance antenna 120 and the radio wave intensity Ib received by the entrance antenna 120 is large, a negative determination is made and the entrance antenna 120 is set.

As described above, in this embodiment, the lane in which the vehicle transmitting the radio wave received by the entrance antenna is recognized by detecting the intensity of the radio wave received by the adjoining entrance antennas of the road equipment, An entrance antenna having a high radio wave intensity is selected as an entrance antenna corresponding to a vehicle traveling in the lane covered by the entrance antenna. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is not necessary for the vehicle side to recognize the lane. Therefore, the configuration of the vehicle-mounted device 30 can be simplified.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a toll road billing system has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a billing system for a parking lot or a guidance system or the like. It can be applied to a communication system in which unmanned communication is demanded and functions effectively.

That is, in the case of a communication system in which a fee is collected in a parking lot where a plurality of vehicles are parked, there is a vehicle other than the vehicle to be paid around the gate for paying the fee. There is. In addition, a payable vehicle (equipped with an in-vehicle device) may be present around the gate or may travel. Therefore, it is not possible to determine whether or not the information from the vehicle is information from the vehicle traveling in the lane heading for the gate for paying the fare, simply by receiving the information from the vehicle.

Therefore, when the present invention is applied to a communication system such as a parking lot, it is necessary to exchange information with at least one on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle traveling in a lane. Information may be exchanged only with at least one road device. Therefore, as described in the above embodiment, if the vehicle side recognizes the lane in which the vehicle is traveling and transmits the lane information indicating this lane to the roadside machine, the radio signal transmitted by the roadside machine becomes the corresponding vehicle. Can be determined. Further, as in the seventh embodiment, if a plurality of antennas are provided and a vehicle is specified by its radio field intensity, the vehicle can be discriminated by the roadside machine without recognizing the lane on the vehicle side.

Further, not only the application to the communication system on the premise of toll collection, but also the route guidance and the notification of information to the vehicle can be easily applied.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention have various technical aspects as described below in addition to the requirements described in the claims. The lane is formed in a shape representing the lane so that the traveling direction of the vehicle is determined to be a predetermined direction, and the lane recognition means according to claim 2 or 3 detects the traveling direction of the vehicle (detected by the steering sensor 86). This is characterized by recognizing the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling. As a result, the signal corresponding to the steering angle output from the steering sensor indicates the direction in which the own vehicle is going to travel. Since the lane is determined in advance corresponding to the traveling direction, the vehicle side can easily recognize the lane in which the own vehicle travels.

[0112]

As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, since the lane information corresponding to the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling is transmitted, it is a vehicle traveling in the lane on the roadside. There is an effect that it can be surely determined whether or not.

According to the invention described in claim 2, since the vehicle recognizes the lane in which the vehicle is traveling and transmits the information corresponding to the lane as the lane information, the lane that is traveling reliably is detected. Even if there are multiple vehicles in the communication area on the roadside,
Since the vehicle traveling in the lane can be discriminated from the lane information, there is an effect that the information can be reliably transmitted and received between the roadside machine and the vehicle traveling in the lane.

According to the invention described in claim 3, since the lane information of the lane to be traveled is transmitted from the vehicle traveling in each of the plurality of lanes, each of the lanes traveling in the plurality of lanes, especially adjacent lanes, is transmitted. Multiple radio signals from the vehicle 1
Even if the information is received in one communication area, the roadside device has an effect that information can be reliably transmitted / received to / from the vehicle traveling in the corresponding lane from the lane information.

According to the invention described in claim 6, the communication frequency of the vehicle-mounted communication device is set by the setting means to the predetermined communication frequency corresponding to the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling, which is recognized by the lane recognizing means. Therefore, even if there are multiple vehicles in the communication area on the roadside device, the vehicle travels in the corresponding lane only by receiving the radio signal of the predetermined communication frequency corresponding to the communication area. Since the vehicle is determined, there is an effect that the vehicle corresponding to the lane can be determined without performing the process of determining the radio signal from the vehicle.

According to the invention described in claim 8, the radio wave signal received by each roadside antenna corresponds to each roadside antenna by using the radio wave signals received by the adjacent roadside antennas substantially simultaneously by the discriminating means. Since it is determined whether or not the signal is a radio signal from a vehicle traveling in the lane, the vehicle side does not determine the lane and only transmits the radio signal to drive the lane corresponding to the roadside antenna on the roadside. The effect is that the vehicle can be identified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle-mounted device of a first embodiment to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an automatic billing system to which the present invention can be applied.

3 is a schematic perspective view showing an entrance gate of the automatic charging system of FIG. 2. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing an intermediate route of the automatic charging system in FIG.

5 is a schematic perspective view showing an exit gate of the automatic charging system of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a roadside machine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of a roadside machine.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the vehicle-mounted device.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the periphery of the lane of the entrance gate according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the periphery of the lane of the entrance gate according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the periphery of the lane of the entrance gate according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the periphery of an entrance gate lane according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing the periphery of the lane of the entrance gate according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration around a transmission circuit of a vehicle-mounted device according to a sixth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the vehicle-mounted device according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing the periphery of an entrance gate lane according to the seventh embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of a roadside machine according to the seventh embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 vehicle-mounted device (vehicle-mounted communication device) 46 signal processing circuit 50 transmission circuit (transmission means) 70 lane information recognition device (lane recognition means) 100 entrance gate 117 entrance antenna (roadside device) 132 entrance antenna control device (roadside device)

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical indication location G07B 15/00 G08G 1/09 F (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Umeda 1 Toyota Town, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Motor Corporation Stock In the company

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle-mounted communication device used in a road-vehicle communication system for exchanging information by radio signals between a vehicle traveling in a predetermined lane and a roadside device installed on the road, the vehicle being a vehicle of the vehicle. An in-vehicle communication device comprising: a lane recognition unit that recognizes a lane on which the vehicle travels; and a transmission unit that transmits information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition unit as lane information. 2. A roadside machine having a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle traveling in a predetermined lane by a radio signal, a lane recognizing means for recognizing a lane in which the own vehicle is traveling, and the lane recognizing means. A vehicle-to-vehicle communication system configured to include at least one vehicle-mounted communication device including a transmission unit that transmits information corresponding to the lane recognized by the vehicle as lane information. 3. A roadside machine having a communication area for transmitting and receiving information to and from a vehicle by a radio signal corresponding to each of a plurality of predetermined lanes, and a lane recognition means for recognizing a lane in which the own vehicle travels. A road-to-vehicle communication system including: at least one vehicle-mounted communication device including: a transmission unit that transmits information corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition unit as lane information. 4. The code information representing the lane is displayed in the lane or in the vicinity of the lane, and the lane recognition means recognizes the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling by reading the code information. The road-vehicle communication system according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The lane is formed in a shape representing the lane, and the lane recognition means recognizes the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling by detecting the shape of the lane. Alternatively, the road-vehicle communication system according to claim 3. 6. A road machine having a communication area for transmitting and receiving information to and from a vehicle by a radio wave signal of a predetermined communication frequency corresponding to each of a plurality of predetermined lanes, and the lane in which the own vehicle travels Lane recognition means for recognizing, a setting means for setting the communication frequency of the radio signal to a predetermined communication frequency corresponding to the lane recognized by the lane recognition means, and a radio signal of the communication frequency set by the setting means. A vehicle-to-vehicle communication system including: at least one vehicle-mounted communication device including a transmission unit that transmits. 7. For adjacent lanes of the plurality of lanes, predetermined different code information is displayed in each lane or in the vicinity of each lane, or each lane is formed in a predetermined different shape, The lane recognition means recognizes whether the lane in which the vehicle is traveling is an even lane or an odd lane among the plurality of lanes by reading the code information or detecting the shape of the lane. The road-vehicle communication system according to claim 6. 8. A plurality of roadside antennas installed corresponding to each of a plurality of lanes and each having a communication area for exchanging information with a vehicle by a radio signal, and adjacent roadside antennas receive substantially simultaneously. A roadside device provided with a determination means for determining whether the radio signal received by each roadside antenna is a radio signal from a vehicle traveling in a lane corresponding to each roadside antenna, and A road-vehicle communication system including: at least one vehicle-mounted communication device including a transmission unit that transmits information by a radio signal. 9. The determination means determines whether or not the radio signal is from a vehicle traveling in a lane corresponding to each roadside antenna, based on the intensity of the radio signal from the vehicle. 8. The road-vehicle communication system according to item 8.