Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
  • G07B15/00—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
  • G07B15/00—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points
  • G07B15/06—Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems
  • G07B15/063—Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
  • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
  • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
  • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
  • H01Q1/1271—Supports; Mounting means for mounting on windscreens
  • H01Q1/1285—Supports; Mounting means for mounting on windscreens with capacitive feeding through the windscreen

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a radio communication unit for vehicles and in a particular such a unit which includes a transponder for communicating using microwaves.
• a position of the transponder which is advantageous from many points of view has appeared to be inside the windshield of the vehicle.
• the vehicle unit When approaching a road side transmitter it will then be facing it and can receive and retransmit the radio signal which penetrates the wind- shield, the vehicle unit then being arranged in a protected position inside the vehicle.
• the location inside the vehicle means, in addition to protection against weather and theft, also results in that the unit is accessible to the vehicle driver, what is necessary in those cases where some operating means have to be influenced or display means have to be observed.
• the object of the invention is to provide a vehicle unit which can obtain a position in the vehicle which makes it possible to use all its functions, also for vehicles which are provided with windshields, which shield against radio waves used for communication.
• this object is achieved by dividing the vehicle unit in an exterior and an interior part having predetermined locations in relation to each other at each side of a vehicle pane. For the internal communication between the parts a particular arrangement is provided.
• FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the windshield of a vehicle having two parts of a vehicle unit placed at the windshield and shown partly in cross- sectional views,
• Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the windshield corresponding to that shown in Fig. 1 having the two parts of the vehicle unit shown in an elevational view in a somewhat other functional position than that illustrated in Fig. 1, and
• Fig. 3 is a front view of the interior part of the vehicle unit in the functional position shown in
• Fig. 2 (corresponding to a view from the right hand side in Fig. 2) .
• Fig. 1 the upper portion of the windshield of a vehicle is denoted by 1, the outer side being denoted by 2 and the inner side by 3.
• the windshield is attached to the vehicle frame, for example by means of adhesive bonding, the frame being indicated by a portion of a vehicle roof 4.
• the vehicle unit denoted by 6, consists of an exterior part 7 attached to the outer side 2 of the windshield pane and an interior part 8, mounted at the inner side 3 of the windshield, the parts being located opposite each other. Both parts have in a direction towards the wind- shield a frame construction having marginal ribs 9 and 10 respectively for mounting the parts, the surface of the ribs being used for mounting the parts by bonding them adhesively to the surfaces of the windshield.
• the mounting rib 9 constitutes part of a frame-like housing 12 , for example made of plastics. It has a frame-like window 13 at its exterior side. In this window is a transponder element mounted.
• the transponder circuit which thus is an IC-circuit arranged to receive microwaves carrying information, to modulate them in order to carry response information and to retransmit them in order to be re- ceived by the sender-transmitter with which the transponder communicates.
• the transponder element also includes such electronic components which are required for performing this communication.
• a signalling element 15 Behind the transponder element 14, on the surface of the exterior part 7 which faces the windshield is a signalling element 15 arranged.
• the interior part 8 of the vehicle unit 6 is provided with a housing 18, for example made of plastics, which in a direction towards the inner surface 3 of the pane is terminated by the frame-like mounting surface 10 mentioned above.
• a signalling element 19 On the same side of the interior part is a signalling element 19 provided, which in a mounted position of the two parts is in a position opposite to the signalling element 15 of the exterior part.
• the housing contains IC-circuits 20 for data processing and for storing data.
• a hinge 22 On the outer side of the housing, which faces inwards, towards the compartment of the vehicle, in the lower edge thereof is a hinge 22 arranged.
• a plate shaped element 23 is rotatably mounted to the hinge in order to form an operating unit intended to be influenced by the vehicle driver.
• the operating element 23 In the folded-in position illustrated in Fig. 1 the operating element 23 is folded up to be located aligned with the rear side of the housing 18. In this folded-away position the element is not accessible for being operated on.
• the element 23 By means of the hinge 22 the element 23 can be folded down to the position illustrated in Fig. 2. Then its margin portion 24 will be freely located.
• keys 25 arranged. It is visible in Fig. 3 that in the embodiment shown seven keys are arranged which are constructed as a flexible diaphragm having underlying contact elements on the side facing away from the windshield. The contact elements can be influenced by pressing the diaphragm inwards, approximately at the centre of projecting wave-like portions 26, which indicate the locations of the seven keys. Also other embodiments of the keys are possible, such that they may have the shape of keys to be activated by depressing them and their number, distance, etc. can of course be varied within wide limits.
• the interior part 8 is provided with a display for displaying characters and/or one or more light indicators.
• a display 30 is placed on the operating element 23 inside the margin portion 24 and on that side which in the folded-out position shown in Fig. 2 faces outwards, away from the windshield. Thus, in this position the display can be observed by the driver.
• a display and/or like indicators on other surfaces of the housing 18 of the interior part, for example on the surface 31 thereof, which in the folded-in position of the operating element illustrated in Fig. 1 is located behind it.
• the operating elements together with their contact elements and possible displays and/or light indicators are connected to the IC-circuit 20 of the interior part. Also some sound indicator can be arranged, which is in that case also connected to the IC-circuit.
• the vehicle unit receives influencing signals from the transmitter and receiver equipment of the road side by means of microwaves, which are received and processed in the transponder element 14 in the exterior part of the unit. Thereby can communication between the vehicle unit and the road side be made, such as identifying operations made at both sides and operations for carrying out the registering operation for a toll fee intended to be collected in a road toll station.
• Communication arranged by means of light signals presupposes that each signalling element contains both a light emitting element which can be controlled by the respective IC-circuit to issue a coded signal having the shape of light pulses and a photosensitive element for receiving and converting such light pulses to electric pulses in order to control the respective IC- circuit.
• the invention is not restricted to internal communication of this kind and for example, means such as induction pulses can constitute other communication means.
• the internal communication is presupposed to be always made wirelessly through the windshield so that there is no need for making a hole through the windshield or for arranging wires around an edge of the windshield.
• some supply of electric energy is required. It can be obtained by mounting one or several electric battery cells or by supplying electric current from the vehicle system through a wire.
• the latter method can relatively simply be arranged for the interior part but is not suitable for the exterior part 7, since then a wire must be arranged to the exterior side of the vehicle.
• providing batteries in the exterior part is unsuitable considering that in that case there must be a lid for executing a replacement operation, which can easily result in leakage into that part.
• electric current supply is also needed by the exterior part it can be conceived that a suitable arrangement is that the relatively small necessary amount of energy, which is required, can be wirelessly transferred between the parts. It can for example be made by arranging a light transmitter in the interior part and in the outer part a photosensitive element which converts the light to an electric current. Another alternative is transferring an electric current using electric induction.
• the vehicle unit can be provided with or connected to other functional parts such as a terminal for using so-called smart cards.
• Such cards which comprise data processing and data storing equipment are to some extent used for paying operations. Then data corresponding to an amount of money which, by operations on data, can be transferred to service places such as road toll stations as a payment for services/goods.
• the vehicle unit can have the position shown in Fig. 1, thus having the operating element 23 folded in.
• the operating element 23 is folded down to the position illustrated in Fig. 2.
• the keys 26 will be free to be operated by depressing the respective key and thereby the contact means thereof using the thumb in the pinching operation as described.
• the preferred embodiment of the vehicle unit is thus as described above: it comprises two parts having a limited size, an exterior part mounted at the outside of the windshield and an interior part mounted at the inner side thereof in positions opposite to or facing each other and wireless internal communication for data, exchange through the windshield.
• This embodiment will little deviate from conventional constructions used up to now including a vehicle unit made in one part and mounted inside the windshield in a height position suitable for the communication, however, the invention makes communication by means of microwaves possible, independently of the capability of the windshield of letting such radio waves through.
• Another advantageous feature of the invention is the described arrangement of operating keys and the display which allows the simple integrated form of the interior part.

Landscapes

• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Finance (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Transceivers (AREA)
• Fittings On The Vehicle Exterior For Carrying Loads, And Devices For Holding Or Mounting Articles (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
• Lock And Its Accessories (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20404271

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (6)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1996
  • 1996-10-14 SE SE9603788A patent/SE9603788L/xx not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1997
  • 1997-10-09 CN CN97198790A patent/CN1233335A/zh active Pending
  • 1997-10-09 BR BR9714997-7A patent/BR9714997A/pt unknown
  • 1997-10-09 EP EP97945146A patent/EP0954831A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1997-10-09 WO PCT/SE1997/001686 patent/WO1998016905A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-10-09 KR KR1019990703219A patent/KR20000049133A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
• 1999
  • 1999-04-14 NO NO991775A patent/NO991775D0/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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