KR20230152048A - Automated calculation method and toll collection system for determining validity of vehicle passage at toll booths - Google Patents

Abstract

This disclosure is within the area of vehicle verification of road toll booths, which may also be designated as toll collection systems. The present disclosure is directed to the detection of vehicles passing through a toll booth, including two modes of detection of the vehicle, via optical means and a mobile device that has unique information associated with the toll booth and subsequently receives a wireless beacon associated with a remote backend server. Includes automated calculation methods for determining effectiveness. Wireless beacons are a simple type of message that does not require mobile devices and fixed wireless devices to establish a connection. This feature is particularly relevant to the application of the present disclosure because it greatly improves the effectiveness of receiving unique information associated with a toll booth by a mobile device. The present disclosure further includes a corresponding system.

Description

Automated calculation method and toll collection system for determining validity of vehicle passage at toll booths

This disclosure is encompassed in the area of vehicle verification of road toll booths, which may also be designated as toll collection systems.

The solution lies in technology in which vehicles crossing road toll booths are identified through artificial vision - that is, involving cameras. The images captured by the camera are automatically analyzed and the vehicle's license plate number is identified to identify the vehicle.

This system is typically complemented by an application-specific device, containing a unique identifier, which is detected by a wireless reader associated with the toll plaza when a vehicle crosses the toll plaza. These application specific devices are typically coupled to the windshield of the vehicle, ensuring that the reader can detect their presence.

The premise of this system is to charge tolls directly and register vehicle users before the highway operator, which operates the toll collection system. If the vehicle is not registered with the highway operator, the owner of the vehicle containing the vehicle registration number detected by the artificial vision system will be charged a fee corresponding to the fine or fee and additional administrative costs, and each captured by the camera Images may also be stored digitally.

This system has the advantage that users of toll roads can be directly registered by users, toll collection system owners, and highway operators. On the other hand, the procedure for accessing the system requires a request from the said application-specific device, which may prevent registration for some users.

A further addition to the application-specific device consists of a system in which vehicle users crossing a toll booth subscribe to the services of a third party company other than the highway operator.

These third party companies receive a payment fee issued by the highway operator in relation to the detected vehicle registration number and subsequently bill their subscribers. The subscriber/user is registered before any third party as the owner of the vehicle with this vehicle registration number. The third party company then charges additional fees for the mentioned services.

This third-party-based system has the advantage of not requiring application specific devices or registration by the highway operator. However, they are significantly more complex, involve more entities and are prone to fraud due to possible vulnerabilities in the registration of information before third parties.

Moreover, the system is entirely based on artificial vision, which means that the system can adapt to each problem, including the inability to read the vehicle registration number clearly due to poor license plate condition, high vehicle speed or environmental conditions. It means vulnerable.

Current solutions innovatively overcome these problems in non-obvious ways.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, an automated calculation method is provided.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes an automated calculation method for determining validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth, the method comprising the following steps:

- a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth periodically issuing wireless beacons, the wireless beacons containing unique information associated with the toll booth,

- the mobile device receives a wireless beacon, the mobile device being associated with the vehicle,

- the mobile device issues a verification message to a remote backend server, wherein the verification message includes unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle,

- upon passage of a vehicle through a toll booth, optical means associated with the toll booth acquire at least one image of the vehicle, the optical means being arranged in close proximity to the fixed wireless device, and

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

This results in two types of detection. One detection is provided locally through optical means of acquiring at least one image of the vehicle. This may provide a toll collection system and identify vehicles at locations where tolls are charged. Additionally, a mobile device associated with the vehicle receives a wireless beacon issued by the fixed wireless device and transmits or issues a verification message to a remote backend server. The remote back-end server is associated with the fixed wireless device and the optical means, thereby providing that a match is provided between information from the image acquired by the optical means and information received at the remote back-end server. The information received at the remote backend server includes both unique information of the mobile device associated with the vehicle - and therefore a unique identification (ID) - and unique information associated with the toll booth - and therefore also a unique ID. Accordingly, when two types of detection occur and a match between the two is provided, it is determined whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid.

In one embodiment of the automated method, a valid passage may be considered a passage of a vehicle previously registered in the database.

In another embodiment of the automated method, a valid passage may be considered passage of the vehicle without imposition of a fine.

In the context of this disclosure, a vehicle passing a toll booth may mean passing through the vicinity of a toll booth, so that the respective means of the toll booth: a fixed wireless device and an optical means may include a wireless device received by a mobile device. Each can issue a beacon and capture images that contain and enable identification of the vehicle associated with the mobile device.

By providing a mobile device capable of receiving wireless beacons from a fixed wireless device associated with a toll booth, the methods of the present disclosure provide a range of suitable mobile devices, such as smartphones or smartphones that have broader accessibility to users than application specific devices. Open to devices such as tablets.

Additionally, a wireless beacon issued by a fixed wireless device is a simple type of message that does not require the mobile device and the fixed wireless device to establish a connection. This feature is particularly relevant to the application of the present disclosure, as it greatly improves the effectiveness of reception of unique information associated with a toll booth by a mobile device.

Additionally, when the verification message is sent by the mobile device directly to the remote backend server, this i) does not require the verification message to be sent via the fixed wireless device, which also reduces the need to establish a connection between the two; ii) This may mean that verification messages cannot be issued on a moment-to-moment basis, as the means are not provided at the moment of passage, for example through a toll booth, leaving this problem for a later moment. The methods of the present disclosure thereby operate in offline mode (for mobile devices).

In one embodiment, the verification message is issued by the mobile device to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network. Therefore, in this embodiment and considering case ii) above, this means that a cellular wireless network is not provided at the location of the fixed wireless device - typically in the case of a remote location, and the user/owner of the mobile device has limited use of the data. It may be that the mobile device has a cellular wireless network concept and has reached this limit, or simply that the mobile device has the cellular wireless network means associated with the mobile device turned off. In any case, the methods of the present disclosure allow verification messages to be issued at a later stage.

It is believed that the optical means will be placed in close proximity to the fixed wireless device and operate on the same toll booth. This means that the identification of the optical means and the fixed wireless device represents the same vehicle at the toll booth, which is particularly useful in single toll booth solutions as well as multiple toll booths in channeled road or open road toll booths. Provides relevant information when provided.

In one embodiment, the optical means includes at least one digital camera. The digital camera may take any form known to the art as long as it allows acquiring at least one image of the vehicle.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a toll collection system is provided.

In one embodiment, a toll collection system of the present disclosure provides for determination of validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth and includes:

- a fixed wireless device associated with a toll booth configured to periodically issue a wireless beacon, the wireless beacon comprising unique information associated with the toll booth,

- a remote backend server configured to receive a verification message from a mobile device associated with a vehicle, the verification message comprising unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle,

- optical means associated with the toll booth configured to obtain at least one image of the vehicle upon passage of the vehicle through the toll booth, the optical means comprising optical means arranged in close proximity to the fixed wireless device,

The system is 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 a remote backend server to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid. A toll collection system comprising a means.

The systems of the present disclosure provide the same advantages described above for the methods of the present disclosure.

1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a method 100 of the present disclosure, which includes the following steps:
- A fixed wireless device associated with a toll booth periodically issues a wireless beacon, the wireless beacon containing unique information associated with the toll booth (110),
- the mobile device receives a wireless beacon, the mobile device is associated with the vehicle (120),
- The mobile device issues a verification message to a remote backend server, the verification message including unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle (130),
- upon passage of a vehicle through a toll booth, optical means associated with the toll booth acquire at least one image of the vehicle, the optical means being disposed in proximity to the fixed wireless device (140), and
- determining, based on the at least one image of the vehicle, whether this vehicle corresponds to the vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid (150).

More general and advantageous configurations of the disclosure are described in the Summary of the Disclosure. This configuration is explained in detail below according to other advantageous and/or preferred embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

In one embodiment, a first vehicle registration number of a vehicle is determined from at least one acquired image of the vehicle and a second vehicle registration number is determined from unique information associated with each vehicle transmitted to a remote backend server, The vehicle license plate number is compared to the second vehicle registration number to determine whether the vehicle is valid for passage through the toll booth.

This provides a simplified solution for determining whether a vehicle that actually passes through a toll booth and is identified through optical means is in fact a known vehicle and that the vehicle's passage through the toll booth is valid. Moreover, and especially for cases where the vehicle passes the toll booth at a higher speed than desirable for the artificial vision-based system, there may be errors in recognition of the vehicle registration number from at least one image. Other errors in the recognition of vehicle registration numbers may be associated with poor condition of the license plate or environmental conditions such as fog, snow, ice, rain or excessive sunlight. In artificial vision-based systems known to the art, this situation is usually resolved by human verification of the image. This solution improves the reliability of the method by providing a second and reliable method of determining the vehicle's vehicle registration number (second vehicle registration number) and eliminates the need for such expensive verification. Moreover, in the most severe cases of vehicle registration number recognition problems, it may even occur that license plates are unreadable even after human review.

In one embodiment, the comparison between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number includes determining similarities between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number, wherein the similarity is between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number. It involves identifying the differences between alphanumeric characters in the same position in the vehicle registration number.

In order to reliably implement automatic determination of the correct vehicle registration number in case of mismatch, the solution described above is provided. In order to accommodate for the eventual deficiencies in the process of vehicle registration number recognition using optical means, the method of the present disclosure still provides for the case where the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are not identical, i.e. from at least one image. The verification process is completed even if there is no 100% match between the obtained vehicle registration number (first) and the vehicle registration number (second) obtained from the remote backend server. For example, if the difference between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number is only one character, such as an alphanumeric character, the verification loop may still be closed. The similarity or threshold may be adjusted depending on the desired risk tolerance. These may be coordinated by highway operators implementing the methods of the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, the stated similarity or threshold between two vehicle registration numbers is the difference between the string associated with the first vehicle registration number and the string associated with the second vehicle registration number via the method of Levenshtein distance. Through understanding, it can also be understood in a computational way.

Accordingly, in one embodiment and if the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are different and the similarity exceeds a predefined threshold, the value of the second vehicle registration number is changed so that the first vehicle registration number becomes the same as This is done in a simplified way to determine if the registration number is accepted/verified by this.

In one embodiment, the verification message is issued to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network, or, if the mobile device is not connected to a cellular wireless network at the time of passage of the associated vehicle at the toll booth, the mobile device is connected to a cellular wireless network or A verification message is issued when regaining connection to the wireless local area network.

As previously mentioned, methods of the present disclosure may be provided where a verification message is issued to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network.

Additionally, as previously mentioned, the methods of the present disclosure allow the mobile device to be offline upon passage through a toll booth with which the optical means and the fixed wireless device are associated, i.e., the mobile device upon passage of the associated vehicle of the toll booth. Allows the device not to connect to cellular wireless networks. This thereby allows a verification message to be issued at a later stage, when the mobile device regains the connection. Such connection may be provided via a cellular wireless network or to a wireless local area network. This may mean that the user/owner of the mobile device has a cellular wireless network concept with limited data usage and has reached this limit. Therefore, alternatively, the remote backend server may still receive the verification message via a wireless local area network.

In several alternative or cumulative embodiments, the cellular wireless network includes or is compatible with the following protocols: 2.5G GPRS, 2.75G EDGE, 3G, 4G or 5G. In one embodiment, a 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 the protocols of IEEE 802.11, preferably Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy, or IEEE 802.15.4. . In one embodiment, a wireless local area network may be compatible with other equivalent protocols.

In one embodiment, when the unique information received by the remote backend server is not determined to correspond to information obtained from at least one image of the vehicle, the information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle in the registration database is It is determined whether it corresponds to a registered user. This allows that in cases where the vehicle identified through the image acquired by optical means is not corresponded by unique information received by the remote backend server, the associated user can still be identified.

In each embodiment, when a known registered user is identified, an automated notification is issued to the associated address, and the automated notification includes payment information of the toll booth associated with the optical means.

In one embodiment, the mobile device is configured to go from a low power mode to a detection mode upon receipt of a notification associated with the area of responsibility. This allows saving the battery of mobile devices that run on batteries, as is the case in the present disclosure, since it prevents mobile devices from constantly waiting to receive beacons from fixed wireless devices. Particularly relevant to solutions. This change from low power mode to so-called detection mode may be referred to as wake-up of the mobile device.

In one embodiment, notifications associated with the area of responsibility are issued upon receipt of a message that complies with the iBeacon protocol.

In an additional embodiment, a message conforming to the iBeacon protocol is transmitted by an up-lock device, and the up-lock device is positioned such that a vehicle passes in the vicinity of the up-lock device before passing in the vicinity of the fixed wireless device. The upward fixed device may thereby be installed at a location on the toll road that is upstream of the fixed wireless device in what is believed to be a normal flow of traffic through this toll road. Accordingly, considering the vehicle and each mobile device moving along the normal flow of this traffic, the vehicle and each mobile device will pass the upward fixed device before passing the fixed wireless device and the respective optical means. This solution thereby causes the mobile device to be in a detection mode in a low power mode, and the mobile device can receive wireless beacons from the fixed wireless device. This solution allows the mobile device to be in a low-power mode rather than having the receiving mode always on.

In an alternative embodiment, a notification associated with an area of responsibility is issued upon a determination by the mobile device that the current location is within a predefined area associated with a toll booth. This solution is location-based, thereby allowing mobile devices to operate autonomously. Additionally, the method of the present disclosure may further include a so-called geographic location, i.e., a predefined area/virtual area of coverage associated with a toll booth that the mobile device recognizes as being in the vicinity of the toll booth, thereby enabling the detection mode to be activated. brings about change

In several alternative embodiments, determination of the current location of the mobile device is via a radio-navigation-satellite service, preferably the Global Positioning System (GPS), GALILEO, GLONASS, BeiDou or NavIC. In one embodiment, the radionavigation-satellite service may be compatible with other equivalent protocols.

In one embodiment, a communication protocol connection is established between a mobile device and a fixed wireless device. This allows for a more reliable acquisition of unique information associated with a toll booth by a mobile device, as it allows much shorter messages - beacons - to be issued by a fixed wireless device and thereby received by a mobile device. . Establishing a connection will require the use of higher layers of communication protocols, which are more prone to errors considering the vehicle is moving. Moreover, the establishment of a connection requires more time (also due to requiring long frames to be exchanged between devices), which may not be available for the higher speeds of the vehicle/mobile device.

In one embodiment, the vehicle is a car or motorized vehicle, and the toll booth is associated with access to a road.

In one embodiment, the method includes a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a corresponding plurality of optical means, each associated with a different toll plaza among a plurality of toll plazas, either on a channel road or in an open road toll plaza. , each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with each toll booth that is different from the unique information associated with each toll booth of the other fixed wireless devices. This thereby captures the passage of vehicles through a plurality of toll booths, and each toll booth identifies the vehicles passing through it respectively. In particular, each toll booth has associated optical means, which determines whether a vehicle is passing this toll booth. Because the verification message may be sent to a remote backend server regardless of the actual time and location of the mobile device (this disclosure even includes offline mode), valid passage of the vehicle may still be identified if a match occurs.

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

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

In one embodiment of the system, the computing means may also i) determine a first vehicle registration number of the vehicle from at least one acquired image of the vehicle, and ii) unique information associated with each vehicle received by the remote backend server. configured to determine the second vehicle registration number from, and the calculation means further configured to compare the first vehicle license plate with the second vehicle registration number to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid.

This provides a simple solution to determine that the vehicle actually passing through the toll booth and identified through optical means is in fact a known vehicle and that the vehicle's passage through the toll booth is valid. Moreover, and especially for cases where the vehicle passes the toll booth at a higher speed than desirable for the artificial vision-based system, there may be errors in recognition of the vehicle registration number from at least one image. Other errors in recognition of vehicle registration numbers may be caused by poor condition of the license plate or environmental conditions such as fog, snow, ice, rain or excessive sunlight. In artificial vision-based systems known to the art, this situation is usually resolved by human verification of the image. This solution improves the reliability of the method by providing a second and reliable method of determining the vehicle's vehicle registration number (second vehicle registration number) and eliminates the need for such expensive verification.

In another embodiment of the system, the calculating means are further configured such that the comparison between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number includes determining a similarity between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number, wherein the similarity is It includes determining the difference between alphanumeric characters at the same location of the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number.

In one embodiment, the computing device may also determine the stated similarity between two vehicle registration numbers by determining the difference between the string associated with the first vehicle registration number and the string associated with the second vehicle registration number via the method of the Levenshtein distance. Alternatively, it may be configured to determine the threshold value.

In order to reliably implement automatic determination of the correct vehicle registration number in case of mismatch, the solution described above is provided. In order to accommodate for the eventual deficiencies in the process of vehicle registration number recognition using optical means, the method of the present disclosure still provides for the case where the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are not identical, i.e. from at least one image. Verification is completed even if there is no 100% match between the obtained vehicle registration number (first) and the vehicle registration number (second) obtained from the remote backend server. For example, if the difference between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number is only one character, such as an alphanumeric character, the verification loop may still be closed. The similarity or threshold may be adjusted depending on the desired risk tolerance. These may be coordinated by highway operators implementing the methods of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the system, the calculating means also determines the value of the second vehicle registration number if the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are different and the similarity exceeds a predefined threshold. 1 It is configured to change to the same as the vehicle registration number.

In one embodiment of the system, the system further includes a registration database and the computing means further comprises a registration database when unique information received by the remote backend server is not determined to correspond to information obtained from at least one image of the vehicle. and further configured to determine whether information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle in the database corresponds to a known registered user. This allows that in cases where the vehicle identified through the image acquired by optical means is not corresponded by unique information received by the remote backend server, the associated user may still be identified.

In one embodiment of the system, the counting means is further configured to issue an automated notification to the address associated with the known registered user when the known registered user is identified, the automated notification being sent to a toll booth associated with the optical means. Contains information.

In one embodiment of the system, the system further comprises an upward fixing device, the upward fixing device configured to issue a message compliant with the iBeacon protocol, wherein such message compliant with the iBeacon protocol is such that upon receipt of the message, the mobile device It is provided to enable detection mode in low power mode. This solution thereby causes the mobile device to be in a detection mode in a low power mode, and the mobile device can receive wireless beacons from the fixed wireless device. This solution allows the mobile device to be in a low-power mode rather than having the receiving mode always on.

In one embodiment of the system, the system further comprises a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a corresponding plurality of optical means, each of which is at a channel road or at an open road toll booth. Configured to be associated with a different toll collection among the plurality of toll collections, each of the fixed wireless devices having unique information associated with each toll collection that is different from unique information associated with each toll collection of the other fixed wireless devices. This thereby captures the passage of vehicles through a plurality of toll booths, and each toll booth identifies the vehicles passing through it respectively.

In another aspect, the present disclosure may include a second embodiment of an automated calculation method for determining validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth, the method comprising the following steps:

- optionally, causing a mobile device associated with the vehicle to move from a low-power mode to a detection mode upon receipt of a notification associated with the area of responsibility,

- the mobile device establishes a connection with a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth, the fixed wireless device comprising unique information associated with the toll booth,

- subsequently, the mobile device transmits a wireless message to a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth, the message comprising unique information associated with each vehicle,

- Upon receiving the wireless message, the fixed wireless device issues a verification message to a remote backend server, the verification message including unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle,

- upon passage of a vehicle through a toll booth, optical means associated with the toll booth acquire at least one image of the vehicle, the optical means arranged in close proximity to the fixed wireless device, and

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

This results in two types of detection. One detection is provided locally through optical means of acquiring at least one image of the vehicle. This may provide a toll collection system and identify vehicles at locations where tolls are charged. Additionally, a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth receives messages issued by the mobile device and transmits or issues a verification message to a remote backend server. The remote back-end server is associated with the fixed wireless device and the optical means, thereby providing that a match is provided between information from the image acquired by the optical means and information received at the remote back-end server. The information received at the remote backend server includes both unique information of the mobile device associated with the vehicle - and therefore also a unique ID - and unique information associated with the toll booth - and therefore also a unique ID. Accordingly, when two types of detection occur and a match between the two is provided, it is determined whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid.

In one embodiment, a valid passage may be considered a passage of a vehicle previously registered in the database.

In another embodiment, valid passage may be considered passage of a vehicle without imposition of a fine.

In the context of this disclosure, a vehicle passing a toll booth may mean passing through the vicinity of a toll booth, so that each means of the toll booth: a fixed wireless device and an optical means may include a wireless signal issued by a mobile device. Each may receive a message and capture images that may include and enable identification of the vehicle associated with the mobile device.

By providing a mobile device capable of issuing wireless messages to be received by fixed wireless devices associated with the toll booth, the second method of the present disclosure provides a range of suitable mobile devices with broader accessibility to users than application-specific devices. Open with a device such as a smartphone or tablet.

Additionally, wireless messages issued by mobile devices are simple types of messages that still require the mobile device and the fixed wireless device to establish a connection. Because this feature greatly improves the effectiveness of reception of unique information associated with a toll booth by a mobile device when the vehicle associated with the mobile device is moving at a speed that allows successful reception of wireless messages by a fixed wireless device, the present disclosure It is particularly relevant to the application of content.

Additionally, when the verification message is sent by the fixed wireless device directly to the remote backend server, the mobile device cannot connect via another type of network, such as a cellular network, for example, because such a means is not provided. The methods of the present disclosure thereby operate in offline mode (for mobile devices).

In one embodiment, the verification message is issued by the fixed wireless device to a remote backend via a suitable network protocol, such as a cable connection or cellular wireless network. Therefore, this is particularly suitable for remote locations or situations where the mobile device is not connected to a wireless network, e.g., a cellular wireless network, and the user/owner of the mobile device has a cellular wireless network plan with limited data usage and has reached these limits. Or, it could simply be that the mobile device has a cellular wireless network means associated with the mobile device turned off. In any case, the second method of the present disclosure allows a verification message to be issued at a later stage.

It is believed that the optical means will be placed in close proximity to the fixed wireless device and operate on the same toll booth.

In one embodiment, the optical means includes at least one digital camera.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a second embodiment of a toll collection system is provided.

In one embodiment, a toll collection system of the present disclosure provides for determination of validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth and includes:

- remote backend server,

- A fixed wireless device, associated with a toll booth and

- configured to receive a wireless message from a mobile device, wherein the wireless message includes unique information associated with the vehicle,

- a fixed wireless device configured, upon receipt of the wireless message, to issue a verification message directed to a remote backend server, the verification message comprising unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle,

- optical means associated with the toll booth configured to acquire at least one image of a vehicle upon passage of the vehicle through the toll booth, the optical means being disposed in close proximity to the fixed wireless device, and

The system is 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 a remote backend server to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid. Includes means.

The second system of the present disclosure provides the same advantages described above for the method of the present disclosure.

Although the present disclosure is primarily described in terms of methods and systems, those skilled in the art will also recognize various devices or apparatuses that implement or implement the methods and systems, such as mobile devices, fixed wireless devices, optical means, backend servers and/or or computing equipment, such as a computer or set of computers. These devices or apparatuses may be connected via a communications network, which may be wireless or wired.

Mobile devices, fixed wireless devices, optical means, and/or backend servers may utilize at least one of the features of the example features and described methods, whether through hardware components (e.g., memory and/or processors), software, or any combination thereof. Contains a component that performs some task.

Articles for use with mobile devices, fixed wireless devices, optical means and/or back-end servers, such as pre-recorded storage devices or other similar computers containing computer data signals with recorded program instructions or readable program instructions. -Readable media can be directed to devices to facilitate implementation of the methods described herein. It is understood that such devices, articles of manufacture, and computer data signals are also within the scope of this disclosure.

“Computer-readable media” means read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, random access memory, or memory: RAM), portable floppy disk, drive hard drive (HDD), solid state storage device (e.g., NAND flash or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM)), and/or optical device, Any disc capable of storing instructions for use or execution by a computer or other computing device, including, for example, a Compact Disc (CD), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), or Blu-Ray™ Disc. It means media.

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

Of course, the preferred embodiments shown above are combinable and have different possible forms, and repetition of all such combinations is avoided herein.

Claims (24)

An automated calculation method for determining the validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth, comprising:
- periodically issuing, by a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth, a wireless beacon, wherein the wireless beacon contains unique information associated with the toll booth. ,
- a mobile device receiving the wireless beacon, the mobile device receiving the wireless beacon associated with a vehicle,
- the mobile device issuing a verification message to a remote backend server, wherein the verification message includes the unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle. issuing stage,
- upon passage of a vehicle through the toll booth, optical means associated with the toll booth acquire at least one image of the vehicle, wherein the optical means is arranged in close proximity to the fixed wireless device. acquiring at least one image of, and
- determining, 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 to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid.
An automated calculation method comprising: The method of claim 1, wherein the first vehicle registration number of the vehicle is determined from the acquired at least one image of the vehicle and the second vehicle registration number is determined from the unique information associated with each vehicle transmitted to the remote backend server. and wherein the first vehicle license plate number is compared to the second vehicle registration number to determine whether the vehicle is valid for passage through the toll booth. The method of claim 2, wherein the comparison between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number includes determining a similarity between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number, wherein the similarity is determined by the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number. An automated calculation method comprising determining differences between a vehicle registration number and alphanumeric characters at the same location in the second vehicle registration number. The method of claim 3, wherein the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are different and the similarity exceeds a predefined threshold, and the value of the second vehicle registration number is changed to register the first vehicle. An automated calculation method that is identical to the number. According to any one of claims 1 to 4, the verification message is issued to a remote backend over a cellular wireless network, or the mobile device connects to the cellular wireless network upon passage of the associated vehicle at the toll booth. Otherwise, the verification message is issued when the mobile device regains connection to the cellular wireless network or wireless local area network. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the cellular wireless network comprises 2.5G GPRS, 2.75G EDGE, 3G, 4G or 5G and/or the wireless local area network is IEEE 802.11, preferably Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy. ), or an automated calculation method comprising a protocol compliant with IEEE 802.15.4. According to any one of claims 1 to 6, when unique information received by the remote backend server is not determined to correspond to information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle, the registration database An automated calculation method for determining whether the information obtained from the at least one image of a vehicle corresponds to a known registered user. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein when a known registered user is identified, an automated notification is issued to the associated address, the automated notification comprising payment information of the toll booth associated with optical means. 9. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the mobile device is configured to go from a low power mode to a detection mode upon receipt of a notification associated with an area of responsibility. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification associated with the area of responsibility is issued upon receipt of a message that complies with the iBeacon protocol. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the message complying with the iBeacon protocol is transmitted by an up-lock device, and wherein the up-lock device causes the vehicle to pass in the vicinity of the up-lock device before passing in the vicinity of the fixed wireless device. Deployed, automated calculation method. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification associated with an area of responsibility is issued upon a determination by the mobile device that a current location is within a predefined area associated with the toll booth. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determination of the current location of the mobile device is determined via a radionavigation-satellite service, preferably a Global Positioning System (GPS), GALILEO, GLONASS, BeiDou or NavIC. Automated calculation method. 14. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein a communication protocol connection is established between the mobile device and the fixed wireless device. 15. An automated counting method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the vehicle is a motor vehicle or a motorized vehicle and the toll booth is associated with access to a road. According to any one of claims 1 to 15, the method comprises a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a corresponding plurality of optical means, each of which collects a plurality of tolls on a channel road or at an open road toll booth. An automated calculation method, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices is associated with a different toll plaza, each of the fixed wireless devices having unique information associated with each toll plaza that is different from unique information associated with each toll plaza of the other fixed wireless devices. A toll collection system for determining the validity of vehicle passage at a toll booth, comprising:
- a fixed wireless device associated with the toll booth configured to periodically issue a wireless beacon, the wireless beacon comprising unique information associated with the toll booth,
- a remote backend server configured to receive a verification message from a mobile device associated with a vehicle, wherein the verification message includes unique information associated with the toll booth and unique information associated with each vehicle,
- optical means associated with the toll booth configured to obtain at least one image of the vehicle upon passage of the vehicle through the toll booth, the optical means being arranged in close proximity to the fixed wireless device.
Including,
Based on the at least one image of the vehicle, the system determines whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid by determining whether such vehicle corresponds to a vehicle associated with the unique information received by the remote backend server. A toll collection system comprising calculating means further configured to do so. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the calculation means further i) determines a first vehicle registration number of the vehicle from the acquired at least one image of the vehicle, and ii) determines a first vehicle registration number of the vehicle and configured to determine a second vehicle registration number from the associated unique information;
and the calculating means is further configured to compare the first vehicle license plate number with the second vehicle registration number to determine whether passage of the vehicle through the toll booth is valid. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the calculating means is further configured such that the comparison between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number includes determining similarities between the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number. , wherein the similarity includes identifying differences between alphanumeric characters at the same location of the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the calculation means further determines the value of the second vehicle registration number if the first vehicle registration number and the second vehicle registration number are different and the similarity exceeds a predefined threshold. A toll collection system configured to change the number to be identical to the first vehicle registration number. 21. The method of any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the system further comprises a registration database and the calculating means is configured to determine whether unique information received by the remote backend server is obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle. and determine whether the information obtained from the at least one image of the vehicle in a registration database corresponds to a known registered user when not identified as corresponding to a known registered user. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the calculating means is further configured to issue an automated notification to an address associated with the known registered user when a known registered user is identified, the automated notification being sent to the toll collection associated with the optical means. Toll collection system, including payment information. 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the system further comprises an up-pinning device, the up-pinning device being configured to issue a message compliant with the iBeacon protocol, such message compliant with the iBeacon protocol being sent to a mobile device upon receipt of the message. A toll collection system that provides for switching from low power mode to detection mode. According to any one of claims 17 to 23, the system comprises a plurality of fixed wireless devices and a corresponding plurality of optical means, each of these fixed wireless devices and corresponding optical means in a channel road or in an open configured to be associated with a different toll collection among a plurality of toll collections in a road toll collection, wherein each of the fixed wireless devices has unique information associated with each toll collection of the other fixed wireless devices and each toll collection is different from the other toll collection. A toll collection system, with unique information associated with it.