DE3875941T2 - AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC CONDITION CONTROL SYSTEM. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic control system for the state of vehicle traffic, in particular road traffic. The term "automatic control" includes the following non-limiting functionalities: control of durations, payments, attendance, absences... It concerns the control of this vehicle traffic, whether the vehicles are moving or stationary. In the first case, its aim is to ensure compliance with the highway code, to assist in statistical recording and to prevent theft of vehicles. In the second case, its aim may be to encourage the use of public transport.

The various problems caused by the use of vehicles are well known, particularly in large cities, where congestion and traffic saturation create a constraint on everyone's life. In particular, parking is one of the main causes. The current regulations aim to organize parking and, in particular, to encourage drivers to use public transport by limiting it to a certain period of time (for example two hours). At first, parking permitted for a certain period of time was regulated by the installation of a disc, known as a parking disc, with which each driver indicated the time at which he had parked his vehicle. The disc indicated the hour limit before which the driver had to remove his vehicle or move it, under penalty of being fined. The municipalities that manage parking in their area have very quickly replaced the use of these free discs with systems of paid parking spaces. different systems have been envisaged, the principle of which is based on the advance payment of a parking period near a parking barrier and the issue of a parking ticket by this barrier or, more generally, a temporary parking permit corresponding to the amount paid. These parking barriers only partially fulfil the role assigned to them.

At the end of the parking period, nothing prevents the owner of the vehicle from repeating the prepayment and applying for an additional parking permit for a further period. This is made all the easier for him because his vehicle has already occupied a parking space which he has reserved in a certain way. In principle, repeating the parking request for a certain period is also prohibited. The parking control officers, who are required to monitor all the parked vehicles in their areas, must, however, mark those vehicles that have been parked for an abnormally long time in order to impose a fine on their driver. This is a difficult rule and can only be rigorously implemented if the officers engage in tedious work with lists of registration numbers of the vehicles present in their area. They must then compare these lists from time to time in order to establish the history. The complexity of this check is such that it is not carried out in practice. Certain drivers abuse it without taking the rules into account.

In addition, disabled people who drive special vehicles may have difficulty reaching the parking barrier associated with the space occupied by their vehicle with their wheelchair. For example, the path to get there may be blocked or insurmountable for their wheelchair. In certain cases, the lack of an easily visible barrier may annoy drivers when they try to find one.

As regards vehicles in motion, it is worth considering the problems caused by violations of the traffic regulations (mainly speeding), the problems caused by road wear and tear and, finally, the problems caused by vehicle theft.

From patent application FR-A-2 594 985 a parking control system according to the preamble of claim 1 is known which simplifies certain of these operations. In this prior art system, each vehicle is provided with a parking control device which receives a card which comprises a chip with a prepayment memory zone. The device comprises means for registering a clock signal which counts the time in the prepayment memory zone of the card and keys corresponding to different parking tariffs for selecting the clock signal rhythm. In this known system it is therefore necessary for the user of a vehicle to select the rhythm of the clock signal himself depending on the applicable parking tariff.

The aim of the present invention is in particular to remedy this deficiency.

The object is achieved according to the invention by the system specified in claim 1.

The invention will be better understood by reading the following description and by studying the accompanying figures. These are given for example purposes only and in no way limit the invention. The figures show:

Figure 1: a use of the system of the invention in a parking control application;

Figure 2: a functional diagram showing the use of the card in the previous application;

Figure 3: a use of the system when the vehicles are in motion, and

Figure 4: a typical organizational chart for the exchange of information between the station and the vehicle.

Figure 1 shows a use of the automatic control system for the state of vehicle traffic according to the invention. In this use, a parking space 1 is occupied by a vehicle such as 2. Each vehicle 2 carries, for example, a chip card 4 associated with it in a radio-electric transmitter-receiver-reader-writer with chip card 3. A station such as 5, arranged in the parking space, has a transmitter which, through an antenna 6, sends a signal which is received by a radio receiver contained in the reader 3 of the vehicle 2. As a variant, the exchange means can be optical or magnetic. In a simple parking application, the chip card 4 comprises units for counting the advance payment, here symbolically represented by diodes, stored in a memory zone 7.

The reader 3, for example, has two light indicators 8 and 9, each of green and red. In practice, the prepayment chip card 7 clears its counting units in the rhythm of the throughput of the pulses of a clock signal sent by the station 5. As long as the prepayment credit contained in the zone 7 is sufficient, the indicator 8 remains illuminated. When the credit is used up, the red indicator 9 is illuminated and signals to an inspector that the vehicle is now in violation of the non-payment.

In a more powerful version, the chip card 7 can be programmed at the time of its purchase from a distributor 10, using a programming terminal 11 provided with a slot 12 for receiving the card and a keyboard 13 for programming. The number of the vehicle 2 can be programmed there: that is to say not only an identification number, but also, for example, the type of vehicle and its colour, in order to facilitate the work of the staff. Other information relating to a subscriber number, a disability certificate or a pass can also be registered there. They allow the individualisation the card, for example, in the level of the permitted parking time or in the level of the tariff structure. In this improved version, the chip card reader 3 is simply a reader associated with a radio receiver. It is a reader associated with a radio-electric transmitter-receiver. With this transmitter, it is now possible to transmit information to station 5 regarding the number of vehicle 2 in such a way that an employee, when opening a door 14 of this station 5, can access a keyboard 15 to query the correctness of the parking of the existing vehicles.

A screen 16 can also display the number of the vehicle in question if a payment has been missed. The work of determining the location of the vehicle 2 in the officer's surveillance area is now further facilitated by knowing the type of vehicle, its colour and its identification number. A fine dispenser 17 can now be automatically linked to the barrier 5 to facilitate the work of this officer. This dispenser can also emit a signal increasing the number of hours, tariffs. At the time of parking, the driver can also program a number relating to the space occupied by his vehicle. This information also makes it possible to manage the spaces available in the car park at a centralised level.

Figure 2 shows the functional diagram of an application of the invention of the type shown in Figure 1. In this application, the aim is essentially to limit the duration of parking to a given period, even if the prepayment credit contained in the card is sufficient to allow a longer period. A radio receiver 18 associated with the reader 3 transmits, for example through one of the access metallizations 19 of this card, to the card 4 a clock signal representing the elapsed time and coming from the barrier 5. The card can, however, comprise its own transmitter, its own receiver or its own transmitter-receiver. It also transmits to another Input 20 of the card receives a signal identifying the parking barrier. This signal is symbolically sent through a switch 21 to a register 22. The signal of the clock pulses is sent to the prepayment zone 7 during billing and to a counter 23 included in the card. When zone 7 is empty (prepayment credit zero) or when counter 23 is full (a limit time indicated in the counter has elapsed), each of them emits a signal indicating this situation.

The signals are collected in an OR gate 24 which is connected to a monostable gate 25. In one example, the monostable gate 25 has a holding time for its state of fifteen minutes. During this holding time, the monostable gate 25 initiates the switching of the switch 21. Under these conditions, the identification of the barrier 5 received by the receiver 18 is now directed to a second register 26 which is comparable to the first. The registers 22 and 26 are connected to a comparator 27. Since the register 22 contains the information representing the identification of the barrier 5 and the register 26 now contains the same, the comparator 27 tips over and issues an alarm 28: lighting of the red indicator 9 of the vehicle 2, for example. This alarm can also cause the names of the bad payers to be written down on a special list, who will now have to accept increased tariffs. Conversely, there can also be a list of good payers: their rates are reduced. At the end of the monostable element's tripping period, the latter returns to its initial state, causing the switch 21 to return and the counter 23 and register 26 to zero at the same time. If the parking time is not to be limited, if it is enough to make the owners of the vehicles pay for their stays according to their duration, the stations 5 are designed not to send the identification. This lack of identification can be associated with the counter-zeroing signals, so that the counter 23 is permanently zeroed. Under these conditions, the register 26, which is characterized by the lack of a characteristic information is always different from the content of the register 22. The comparator 27 does not give an alarm. However, since the aim is to monitor the regularity of the payments, in this case the signal 29 available at the output of zone 7 is used to generate the alarm. The signal 29 is in practice associated with the signal 28 in a second OR gate 30, the output of which is operatively connected to the display 9. In the improved variant, the signal available at the output of the gate 30 can be used to cause the transmission of the vehicle number 31 by the transmitter-receiver 18. The station 5 can then receive the information relating to this error.

Figure 3 shows another application using the same means of the system as the two previously described. For example, with the aim of reducing speed, a set of stations such as 33 can be distributed along a road 32, each provided with an identification and a clock. The clocks of all the stations 33 are at the same time. They are also synchronized. Figure 4 shows the basic diagram of the operation of the control system of the invention in this case. When a vehicle approaches a station, the station detects it in a first step 34. This detection can be carried out by any means, in particular by radar with electromagnetic or acoustic radiation. This detection can also be obtained by passing the vehicle on a mechanical or magnetic rail. As soon as a vehicle has been detected, the station 33 sends a command 35 to identify this vehicle in order to condition the transceiver 18 of this vehicle. The transceiver detects the presence of a station through a routine 36 and immediately begins to transmit its number through a routine 37. The routines 36 and 37 can be easily programmed into the memory card 4 contained in the reader 3 of the vehicle, using the microprocessor 38 contained in this card.

The failure of station 33 to receive the number of vehicle 2 can be interpreted as a malfunction of the control system on the vehicle and can trigger an alarm 48. The alarm 48 can also be triggered if station 33 recognizes the number of a stolen vehicle in the number received, which it is also aware of. This technique definitely makes it possible to follow the movement of a stolen vehicle along the entire route taken by its driver.

Apart from these cases, the transceiver 18 of the vehicle 2 then receives from the station, in an operation 39, a timing signal representing the time at which it passed in front of the station 33. This time of passing is stored in the card 4. Finally, when the vehicle passes in front of a station 40 which is at a distance 41 from the station 33, the same phenomenon repeats itself. The card now has in its memory the times of passing in front of the stations 33 and 40 on the one hand and, by comparing the identifications of the stations 33 and 40, the distance 41 on the other. It is therefore possible to deduce from this the speed travelled by the vehicle over this distance 41. This speed, which may have been recorded on the card, can then be used by the traffic police to prove irrefutably, if this is done, that the vehicle passed at a permitted speed on the section 41. If the road 32 is a toll motorway, the speed information can be used to adjust the payment to be made by the user depending on the speed at which he has travelled. It is indeed known that the faster the vehicles travelling on it, the more significant the damage to the roads is. It may therefore be useful, in a concern for sound management, to make the use of the motorway more expensive for vehicles travelling faster than for vehicles travelling more slowly. As a variant, the toll can be on the move without having to stop at the motorway entrance/exit stations. These stops are often the cause of accidents.

In a more rural application, where there is no need to check stolen vehicles, for example, it is possible to send a clock signal by the station and an identification signal from this station. Finally, only operation 39 is carried out. Operation 39 is nevertheless recorded in card 4 for the purpose of determining, according to the authority managing this card, whether there should be an increase in the price of the toll or whether a speeding fine should be imposed. In a particularly interesting application, barriers 33 and 40 can be arranged preferably at the entrances and exits of villages such as 42, which are scattered along a large road 32. Rather than an identification code, each station 33 or 40 can now send a duration representing the minimum duration for crossing the distance 41, taking into account a speed limit imposed between the barriers 33 and 40. The card 4 can now receive as information the time of passing the barrier 33 and the minimum duration of crossing. If this duration is added to the time of passing, the time of passing in front of the barrier 40 must be later than the latter. It is then sufficient to compare the two passing times stored in the card 4 to determine whether or not an infringement has taken place.

Claims (4)

1. Automatic control system for the state of vehicle traffic, in particular road traffic and in particular stationary traffic, comprising: - chip cards (4) assigned to the vehicles (2), - Prepayment memory zones (7) in the chips of these cards - and means (18, 19) for registering a time-clocking signal in the pre-number memory zones of the cards, characterized in that it comprises: - transmitting stations distributed over the places of traffic (5) and - means (6, 18) for exchanging information between the cards and the stations, comprising in each station a transmitter sending the clock signal that clocks the time and in each vehicle a receiver (18) for receiving this clock signal and transmitting it to the card. 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmitter of a station also transmits a signal (22) representing the station. 3. System according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the cards comprise memory zones (31) for registering the corresponding vehicle numbers, and in that the means for exchanging information further comprise in each vehicle a transmitter for transmitting the vehicle number and in each station a receiver for receiving the vehicle numbers. 4. System according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cards comprise memory zones connected to a microprocessor (38) for processing the clock signal as a function of a signal sent by a station and representing this station.