EP3210194A1

EP3210194A1 - Method and onboard unit (obu) for toll recording

Info

Publication number: EP3210194A1
Application number: EP15784334.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marte Gerhard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-10-20
Filing date: 2015-10-20
Publication date: 2017-08-30
Also published as: WO2016062712A1; EP3012810A1

Abstract

An onboard unit (OBU) for recording the kilometres travelled by a vehicle on a toll road includes a GPS module (17) for running calculation of the vehicle position and the route travelled, a communication unit (23) for communication with a control device (31), and a computer unit with a processor (19) and a memory (15). The computer unit is connected to the GPS module (17), the communication unit (23), and the memory (15). A program (13) and data, such as OBU-ID and vehicle master data, are stored in the memory (15) of the OBU. In addition, the geographic coordinates of a plurality of control polygons, the distance thereof to other control polygons, and the corresponding measured routes, are also stored in the memory (15). The control polygons additionally function to determine whether road segments subject to tolls have been travelled. A travelled route or measuring section is, however, only counted if the result is plausible, i.e. an independent route measurement substantially corresponds to the polygon distances. It is also important that the routes are calculated on the basis of the officially determined measured street segment.

Description

Procedure and onboard unit (OBU) for toll collection

The invention relates to a method for toll collection and an onboard unit (OBU) for carrying out the method, in particular distance and time data acquisition, according to the preambles of claims 1 and 11.

State of the art

From EP-A-1 909 231 a vehicle-mounted equipment is known, which implements at least one in-use track-use calculation system. The equipment includes a vehicle position data providing vehicle position device, a map memory including one or more maps, a map comparison device that receives vehicle position data from the vehicle positioning device and map data from the map memory, compares them and determines therefrom the route usage data, a communication device Form of a GSM / GPRS communication device, which receives data for the route usage calculation and sends it to a background device. The on-vehicle equipment may switch between two comparison modes, an off-vehicle map comparison mode in which the data received and transmitted from the communication device is the changing vehicle position data from the vehicle positioning device, and a vehicle-side map comparison mode in which the communication from the communication device - Received and transmitted data is the route usage data from the card comparison device. When entering the data, the location and time of entry and exit from a zone can also be recorded. In addition, at least one surface in the form of a polygon is stored in the equipment or in a trailing computer. Thus, only one surface in the form of a polygon corresponding to the fee-based area must be stored in the on-board equipment, although information about the distance traveled within the area may well be recorded for purposes of proof. In the case of motorways, the distance traveled may either be determined by the equipment or derived from the legal length of a section of the motorway.

WO 03/098556 discloses an evaluation system for determining the time and / or the distance traveled by a vehicle in a certain zone. The Zone is defined as a geographic polygon corresponding to larger streets. According to WO 03/098556, the system calculates the distance traveled in a combination of corridors and polygon zones and spent time. The evaluation system requires only a limited accuracy for the position determination, since only usage and time information are determined within each zone.

EP-A-1 696 208 discloses a method with which vehicles can be detected reliably when driving in and out of a certain surface area in a simple way and with the simplest possible processing and calculation of data. This object is achieved by taking into account not only pure position data of the vehicle derived therefrom information such as the direction of travel. In the process, polygonal surfaces are laid over entrances and exits, and it is determined whether a vehicle is in such an area or not. If the vehicle is in the area, its direction of travel is additionally determined by comparing it with a direction-dependent attribute of the area. This has the advantage that a crossing of the surface is mistakenly regarded as driving on the geographical area associated with the surface. The area can be the coordinates of a geographic area. For example, a city should be superimposed so that it covers at least one area of the geographical area in order to determine the entry and exit from the geographical area. The device used for the implementation is connected to a computer center in a communication connection, via which data (results of the comparison operation) and an identification data of the vehicle can be transmitted. WO 2009/146948 describes a method for collecting a motor vehicle toll using satellite and / or mobile telephone location, in which method in at least one vehicle device on the basis of recorded location data and stored tariff data fee data are determined between the vehicle unit and establishing a communication connection with a central system, and using authenticated certificates and digital signatures for all data transmission and billing operations in order to ensure access authorizations, billing capability and tamper resistance. In this case, predetermined location data, which are respectively required as a function of the current vehicle position, are transmitted from the central system via the communication connection to the vehicle device in order to minimize the data stored in the vehicle device to reduce. However, repeatedly used location data remain permanently stored in the vehicle's device. The given location data may include information about the network availability of the communication link as well as about the local quality of GPS signals. In principle, any time- and / or km-dependent toll system can be technically realized with a GPS track recording (track log). The evaluation of the lane data can take place both in a vehicle device itself or on a server. The biggest drawback, however, is that even if the aforementioned techniques were to work perfectly, the data protection authorities of many countries prohibit the transmission, storage or evaluation of route and speed data to a server, since the driver's privacy can be violated.

Even a GSM connection between the OBU of a vehicle and a GSM network operator is rejected by the data protection authorities in toll collection because the transferred data can be intercepted and the way of the vehicle can be recorded via GSM location.

Data protection is a massive problem with toll systems. For example, In Germany, not all check bridges are active at the same time in order not to allow tracking. Other countries, such as Italy, protect themselves from data protection lawsuits with the possibility of paying cash at the motorway exits, as credit card numbers can be linked to the previously issued ticket.

A scientific review article authored by authors Saijie Lu, Tiejun He and Zhaohui Gao summarizes the state of the art in electronic toll collection and outlines the steps required to introduce a GPS based toll collection system in China. The architecture of a toll collection system is described, whose 5 key components are an OBU, a law enforcement system, a management center, a clearing center, and a payment service center. In the toll collection system described, the driver must first go to the payment service center to seek the issuance of a pre-paid or post-paid payment card and install the OBU. When the vehicle enters a pay zone, the OBU compares the coordinates of the current vehicle position with the virtual toll nodes stored in the memory of the OBU. If it is determined that the OBU is safely within the payment zone, it will connect to the management center via a GSM module established and transactional data transmitted. After checking the data, the toll-relevant data is stored and a confirmation message is sent back to the OBU. The OBU receives the message and displays the result of the transaction. If an error message appears, then the OBU is not ready for operation. If the vehicle leaves the payment zone with a non-operational OBU, or if no OBU is installed in the vehicle, then the injury is registered and tracked. The processing center processes all toll data from the administrative center and divides the tolls on the road owners. The Payment Service Center collects all toll and settlement data to satisfy account-related inquiries.

The enforcement system provides a mechanism to track injuries. It can include fixed and mobile monitoring devices. When approaching a fixed monitoring device, the license plate is photographed and the license plate is decrypted in real time. When the OBU passes the monitoring device, the status of the OBU is read out via DSRC. If the indicator stored in the OBU matches the photographed one and the status of the OBU is correct, then the photo is deleted. Otherwise, the photo will be sent to the administration center to track the fallible driver.

The administrative center is the heart of the toll collection system. It tracks, monitors, loads and directs all vehicles moving on the road. The administrative center can change the geographic extent of the payment zone, set the fees for road use, collect and store data for toll collection and include other functions such as vehicle navigation, fleet management, road information services. The processing center deals with the calculation of tolls, the settlement of payments and the distribution of the money to the owners of the toll road sections.

According to the article described above, GPS based systems have the advantage that only a few monitoring devices are needed. Also, the payment area can be changed by the virtual nodes with little effort.

WO 2001/58038 discloses a method of determining whether an object follows a particular path or not. Thereby position data of a Object detected at regular time intervals and checked whether the object passes or not one or more virtual signal bridges, which are defined as a line-shaped segments across a road. When passing several signal bridges one after the other, the direction of travel of the object can be determined. The measurement results can also be validated by comparing the distance measured by the GPS with the distance expected between 2 signal bridges. Which roads an object has passed is stored in a memory. In WO 2001/158038 there is no further information on how the stored data are further processed or used. EP-A-2 372 667 discloses a method for detecting vehicles with trailers in the context of a road toll system. Both the towing vehicle and the trailer each have their own OBUs, and a towing vehicle and a trailer are detected as belonging to each other if an evaluation of the radio communication with their OBUs shows that they are moving with limited and constant mutual distance. In a proposed embodiment, the OBUs may include a satellite navigation receiver and their positions transmitted to a server over a cellular connection.

Object of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a self-sufficient, automatically operating, driver-independent data acquisition system for toll collection. One goal is to provide a method and an OBU that can be used to record toll data either for driving on highways and / or low-level roads such as federal highways without the need for expensive installations. Yet another goal is to propose an OBU and a method that complies with the selective data protection laws in the various countries (for example, not transmitting driver profile data to a central computer).

Yet another objective is to propose an OBU and a method which is parallel compatible with all existing toll systems, ie that the toll data calculated by the OBU coincide with the calculated toll data of the respective external system. description

These and other objects are achieved by a method according to claim 1 and an OBU according to claim 11. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are defined in the subclaims.

In the following description, the individual terms used are defined as follows:

• ID = identification code

• GPS = The abbreviation GPS is used synonymously for the designation GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and is not intended to denote a specific satellite navigation system, but generally stand for any available satellite navigation system (eg Galileo, Navstar, GPS, Glonass (Russia) and Compass (China)).

• Polygon = polygon defined by a variety of geodesics. The geodesics describe the periphery of a closed area.

• Control polygon is a polygon that spans only a preferably small section of a toll section or toll area so that vehicles passing through the control polygon can be reliably detected. Control polygons are defined, for example, at branches, after motorway exits and before motorway exits. Thus, it can be determined after passing at least 2 polygons, whether a certain paid area or road was traveled or not traveled.

• Vehicle lane = a series of geographic coordinates describing a driven lane = track log

• Driving profile = route recording with time and speed profile

• Vehicle master data = vehicle type (car, truck, trailer, vehicle with trailer or trailer, etc.), number of axles, weight, number plate, etc.

• UTC time = coordinated universal time

• Vehicle = all vehicles admitted to traffic, including towed vehicles such as trailers, semi-trailers, caravans, etc.

• Control device = monitoring and / or data transmission device

• Measuring point (= P) = officially measured point on a traffic area

• Measuring distance (= MS) = officially measured distance between measuring points = toll measuring distance • Polygon distance (= PD) = distance between two adjacent control polygons in the course of the road

• OUU = On Board Unit = vehicle unit that is carried in a vehicle

• OBU-ID = unique alphanumeric OBU identification string

· Geoposition = Geodesics = Position data = Geo coordinates + UTC time (Universal Time Code)

• Bounce attempt = fraud attempt

• EETS (European Electronic Toll Service)

• SRC = Short Range Communication = all standardized frequencies and protocols, e.g. DSRC, Bluetooth, WLAN, DSRC communication devices are preferably used in accordance with the specifications of the German Federal Office for Freight Traffic. Such communication facilities for the European Electronic Tolling Service (EETS) use the basis of CEN standard based 5.8 GHz microwave technology as the basis of communication for a control of the OBUs DSRC. The corresponding specifications have been obtained from the German Federal Office for Goods Transport or have been downloaded from its website (www.bag.bund.de)

• GPS Km Counter = Km registration of the airline connections of successive geo-coordinates received from the GPS module in the OBU

· Road section = toll road section

• Time-based toll = charge for the use of defined traffic or parking areas within a defined period of time

• Mileage-based toll = charge per kilometer driven, resp. traveled distance within defined traffic areas

· GIS = geographic information system: A system for the acquisition, processing, organization, analysis and presentation of spatial data. In the context of the present invention, maps are meant in which all streets and their length are entered with official measuring points. The subject of the present invention is a method for detecting the distance traveled by a vehicle on a toll road. In the method according to the invention, it is checked on the basis of the geo-coordinates of a vehicle whether this utilizable area, ie roads or zones, travels or stays on it by monitoring access to and leaving these areas. The process according to the invention is characterized by the following process steps:

a Edit resp. Defining control polygons on toll roads so that the control polygons only overlap with part of a toll road section,

b calculating the distances between adjacent control polygons;

c taking over the geo-coordinates of the official measuring points located on the toll roads and the measuring distances between the measuring points from a geographic information system (GIS) and linking the measuring sections with the control polygons;

d transmitting the data obtained in steps a to c into the memory of an OBU;

The steps a to d are carried out for the preparation of an OBU, preferably with the aid of an already existing geographic information system (GIS). In existing geographic information systems, the lengths of road sections are defined by a large number of official measuring points. The measuring sections selected for the purpose of carrying out the method according to the invention can accordingly be composed of a plurality of partial measuring sections (measuring points). If all the above-mentioned information is defined resp. are calculated, the data can be transferred to a computer or, preferably, a central toll server, which then transmits them, e.g. transmits to the OBUs via an SRC communication device (SRC = Short Ranges Communication).

In operation, i. When the vehicle is in motion, the following process steps take place in the OBUs prepared in this way:

e current calculation of the geo-coordinates or position data of a vehicle by means of the OBU arranged in the vehicle, which has a GPS module, wherein the calculated geo-coordinates are compared with the stored geo-coordinates of the control polygons to determine whether the OBU / vehicle Kon - trollpolygon happens;

f determining the direction of travel of a vehicle after passing two consecutive control polygons in the course of the road;

g Performing a plausibility check by comparing the distance between two control polygons measured with an odometer with the stored control polygon distance and measuring the distance corresponding to the direction of travel only if the difference between the measured distance and the stored control polygon distance is within a defined tolerance,

h storing and adding up the length of the measuring path linked to the control polygon with the corresponding direction of travel in a route memory location of the OBU;

i Repeat steps e to h and

j Transmission of the measurement lines added up in the travel route memory by means of an SRC communication device to a computer network which is connected to a central toll server. Steps e to h are performed continuously to track the position of the vehicle. However, transmission of the metered measurement lines only occurs at longer intervals when the OBU is in the transmit / receive area of an SRC controller that can communicate with the SRC module of the OBU.

The inventive method has the advantage that it has identical results as the z.Zt. The toll collection systems used in the system provide, since it is based on the officially measured waypoints (measurement points), i. the distance traveled is derived from the legally stipulated length of a road section. The method is simple to implement, very flexible in use, can be used worldwide and requires no further infrastructure, such as the OBUs, the SRC controllers and a toll server. Toll bridges, axle counting devices or control devices at the entrances and exits. A very big advantage is that the proposed method can handle both highways and federal highways, any low-level roads or bypass roads.

According to an advantageous variant of the method, the OBU automatically transmits the accumulated measuring sections together with the vehicle identifying data to an SRC control device as soon as the SRC communication device of the OBU is located in the transmission / reception area of the SRC control device. This has the advantage that no permanent data connection to a server is required. Rather, the toll-relevant data is transmitted to the toll server in greater time intervals. SRC control devices can be provided, for example, at petrol stations that can query the toll-relevant data of the OBUs.

Advantageously, the distance traveled between two control polygons is detected by means of a GPS-Km counter, ie calculated from the geo-coordinates, and with the in compared to the control polygons stored control polygon distance, wherein the driving direction-specific measuring path is evaluated after additional verification of Kontra llpolygon- ID sequence when covered distance and control polygon distance within a defined tolerance match. This procedure is simple and can be performed using the GPS module in the OBU.

Preferably, different types of roads are defined, and the metered routes by road type are separately detected. The method thus has the advantage that any roads can be tolled. The road types can be differentiated according to road class, time and / or location. For example, driving on certain roads or zones can be taxed differently depending on the time of day.

If, for example, driving on federal roads is also to be punished, then control polygons should be provided in each case in the area of junctions and intersections so that it is possible to clearly determine which distances the vehicle traveled on the tolled road. Preferably, the control polygons are placed directly overlapping the branches and intersections.

All movement data recorded by the OBU can be transmitted by means of an SRC communication device to a corresponding monitoring device of the monitoring device which has SRC communication capabilities, i. no continuous data connection to a central server is required. The transmission preferably takes place when the vehicle passes an SRC control device resp. is in its reception area.

Conveniently, only such data are transmitted to the toll server of the respective country, which have also been released by the local data protection authority. This allows you to comply with all national data protection regulations.

Since a toll fee can be stored in memory for each measuring section in the memory, the accumulated tolls are fixed at any time, or can be calculated at any time based on the collected data and, if desired, displayed or transferred via SRC.

Advantageously, the information required for charging the toll is transferred when a SRC monitoring device is passed. Is at or after passing one Control polygons the measured distance greater than all logically traversable in the direction of travel control polygon distances, it is assumed that the vehicle has left the road. If, on the other hand, the measured GPS distance (distance) and the distance between two consecutively traversed control polygons are the same, the test distance stored in the OBU is registered as a vehicle. The stored measurement path does not have to correspond either to the control polygon distance or to the distance measured, for example, by GPS, since the measurement points do not have to match the position of the control polygons.

The OBU can at least display its functional state so that the user can see at any time whether the OBU is ready for use and / or has a connection to the satellite navigation system.

The data of the OBU can be transmitted via an SRC interface to an external computer and / or to a mobile terminal. There can also be incurred toll, for example. be calculated via an app. Advantageously, the recorded data can be transmitted to a mobile device, preferably to a smartphone or to a tablet computer, for checking the functionality of the OBU and / or calculating the toll. However, it is also conceivable that the traveled kilometers and the accumulated tolls are calculated in the OBU and displayed on a display. Alternatively, it is conceivable that the traveled kilometers and the accumulated tolls via a

Interface on a computer or a smartphone. Particularly preferred is a wireless interface such as e.g. WLAN available, which allows to display the distance traveled and accumulated tolls on a mobile device. In principle, it is conceivable that the recorded data of the OBU are additionally transmitted via smartphone or computer to any central detection point.

Advantageously, the total distance traveled in the OBU is recorded, regardless of whether the vehicle has moved on toll roads or not. Tampering attempts can then be determined by a subsequent comparison of the OBU-GPS-Km counter reading with the mileage of the vehicle's speedometer. It is also important that the OBU's GPS-km counter stores and transmits the sum of the vehicle's traveled km for bounce control (comparison of the tacho-km counter with the GPS-km counter). Advantageously, a control polygon pair is used to register a border crossing. This has the advantage that, depending on the direction of travel of a control polygon pair, it can be clearly determined whether the vehicle is on one or the other side of a national border. The invention also relates to an OBU for detecting the distance covered by a vehicle on a toll road

• a GPS module for continuously recording the current vehicle position,

A communication device for communication with a control device, a computer unit with a processor and a memory, which computer unit is in communication with the GPS module, the communication device and the memory,

• a program stored in memory

• Data stored in the memory, such as OBU-ID and preferably vehicle master data, preferably including the license plate of the vehicle in which the OBU is carried.

According to the invention, the OBU is characterized in that

the OBU has an SRC communication device and the following data is stored in the memory:

The geocoordinates of a plurality of spaced-apart control polygons each overlapping a portion of a toll road section;

• Measuring sections linked to the control polygons between each of two predefined official measuring points located in the street, and

• polygonal distances associated with the control polygons, which correspond to the distance between two control polygons arranged on a measurement path and in the road. In addition, the program is designed to carry out the following actions during operation: e calculating the geo-coordinates of a vehicle by means of the GPS module (17) and comparing the calculated geo-coordinates with the stored geo-coordinates of the control polygons to determine whether the OBU / Vehicle within a control polygon is located;

f determining the direction of travel of a vehicle after passing two control polygons directly following one another in the course of the road;

g Performing a plausibility check by comparing the distance between two control polygons measured with a GPS odometer with the stored control polygon distance, and measuring the distance corresponding to the direction of travel is considered used only if the difference between the GPS Odometer measured distance and the stored control polygon distance lies within a defined tolerance,

h storing and adding the length of the measuring path linked to the control polygon with the corresponding direction of travel in a travel path memory; and

i repeating steps e to h while the vehicle is in motion, and j transmitting the measurement lines added in the route memory by means of an SRC connection when the OBU is in the transmission / reception range of an SRC-Konrollgeräts.

The OBU according to the invention has the advantage that, for the calculation of the kilometers traveled, the measurement distances measured or measured and stored in the OBU are calculated. legally stipulated lengths of road sections. This has the advantage that the measured distances determined are identical to those determined by the systems currently in existence. Also, there are no additional costs for the infrastructure, such as Toll bridges in Austria or

Germany or checkpoints on entries and exits in Italy or France. Yet another advantage is that the direction of travel of a vehicle is reliably and reliably determined by the registration of two consecutively traversed control polygons. Another important feature of the OBU is that only those routes are recorded as busy routes that have survived a plausibility check with an independent mileage measurement. A further advantage of the OBU according to the invention is that separate mileage recording according to motorways, federal highways, bypass roads and subordinate roads including off-road travel is possible without additional effort. This is especially important for the allocation of toll revenues to the respective road owners. In addition, a comparison with the vehicle tachometer can be ensured that the OBU was properly used and carried along (bounce check).

In contrast to the other known systems, all data relevant for toll collection is calculated autarchically in the OBU. Also, for the data exchange, an SRC communication device, i. no permanent online data connection to a central computer is required. Advantageously, the transmission of the toll data and the control of the OBU functionality take place exclusively via SRC such as EETS (European Electronic Toll Service) or by means of SRC. Depending on the country-specific laws, only those data are transmitted that comply with the respective data protection regulations.

Compared to the known toll collection systems, the inventive method has the advantage that no communication via GSM network is required, i. that the OBU is self-sufficient. Because preferably no GSM module is provided in the OBU, locating the vehicle by third parties outside the SRC area is not possible. Consequently, such a device meets the requirements of modern data protection. The OBU according to the invention fulfills the data protection provisions of most countries (no driving profile recording and no GSM locating allowed).

Advantageously, the distance traveled between two control polygons is detected by means of a GPS-Km counter and compared with the control polygon distance stored in the control polygons, wherein the distance direction-specific measuring distance is evaluated after additional checking of the control polygon ID sequence if the distance and control polygon distance within one defined tolerance match.

According to a preferred embodiment, the communication device is an SRC communication device, e.g. DSRC, Bluetooth or WLAN. The data transmission from the OBU to the outside world therefore preferably takes place exclusively via SRC systems. With this technology, the provisions of data protection au- thorities and the requirements for a toll system can be met as far as possible. In contrast to an SRC communication device, a GSM communication device can be located even if there is no SIM card, which would contradict the strict European data protection regulations.

For each control polygon stored in the OBU, the control polygon distances to the preceding and to the subsequent control polygon are in the course of the road and Depending on the direction of travel, the toll-measuring section to be calculated is stored. For plausibility control, the stored control polygon distance to the previous control polygon is compared to the value of the GPS Km counter for each control polygon passage. If these two values agree within a defined tolerance, the control polygon is considered to pass through. Here, in the determined direction of travel with a control polygon linked measuring section is stored as a drive. Control polygons therefore preferably do not serve to calculate the toll-km, but to determine which toll-measuring path is to be calculated.

A control polygon pair may also be used to register a border crossing if the control polygons are located, for example, on both sides of the border. Depending on the passing direction of the control polygon pair, the vehicle must then be located on one or the other side of the border. This is of great advantage if the driven km on non-tolled roads are to be detected selectively within a border (state, country, city). Thus, e.g. also a city toll, such as in London, by registering the city entrance time and city departure time of a vehicle.

In order for the road user to be aware of the toll kilometers covered, the OBU may have an SRC interface by means of which the traveled kilometers are selectively directed to an external computer or preferably a mobile terminal, e.g. Smartphone, to be transferred.

For bounce control, the manual or data-related adjustment of the regular Km counter (speedometer) with the electronic target mileage of the GPS Km counter in the OBU can be used. This can be done, for example, by registering the current mileage of the vehicle in the OBU and preferably in a central server when the OBU is put into operation. Alternatively, it is also conceivable that the km counter of the vehicle is directly coupled to the OBU and deviations in the kilometer detection are monitored. It would also be possible for the current mileage of the vehicle km counter to be transmitted from, for example, a vehicle workshop to a central toll server. Alternatively, it is also conceivable that the operating hours counter of the vehicle is coupled to the OBU and deviations are monitored for driving time detection. Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures.

Fig. 1 shows schematically the individual components of a toll system with the OBU according to the invention;

2 shows schematically a motorway section with two separate Fahrbah- to 8 nen and a plurality of spaced-apart Kontrollpolygo- NEN, wherein in the individual figures different routes are shown by way of example;

Fig. 9 shows schematically a road section comprising a federal road to 13 se and a plurality of secondary roads branching off from the main road, wherein different driving routes are shown by way of example in the individual figures;

An OBU 11 according to the invention has a computer unit 19, at least one memory 15 and a GPS module 17 for the calculation of geographic coordinates. For the communication of the OBU 11 with a control device 31, an SRC communication module 23 is provided. A power supply unit 21 supplies power to the above-described components of the OBU. In the memory 15, the program 13 and the data are stored. The program 13 is used to control the OBU and calculate the distances covered. The data stored in the memory 15 comprises on the one hand a plurality of control polygons and on the other hand the master data of the vehicle in which the OBU is carried. The control polygons define by means of a plurality of geographic coordinates areas, preferably rectangular or polygons, which are laid across a road to be monitored. It should be noted that no digital road types need be stored in the OBU 11 itself, but only control polygons that overlap with the geo-coordinates of the road to be monitored. This reduces the amount of data to be stored. The controller 31 is in communication with a central toll calculator 33 which collects the transmitted user data and ultimately charges the user for the cost of using the road. The data of the OBU 11 can in principle also be transmitted to an eg smartphone 29. The communication connection can also be an SRC connection. By means of an executable on the smartphone application, the resulting toll fee can be calculated based on the transmitted data. Likewise, the data can be transmitted to a smartphone of a control body, which can detect, for example, the continuous functioning of the OBU on the basis of a kilometer / tacho comparison. Each OBU can also communicate and exchange data with another SRU in the SRC area. In principle, the OBU 11 can also have a serial interface for taking over the ID of a trailer attached to the towing vehicle.

Based on the highway section 35 shown in Fig. 2, the operation of the toll collection system will be explained in more detail. The highway section 35 comprises on the first lane 37 the three measuring points MP1, MP2 and MP3 and on the other second lane 39 the three measuring points MP4, MP5 and MP6. All measuring points MP _n are determined by an official measurement and define the official length of a road section lying between the individual measuring points. Between the first and the second measuring point MP1 and MP2, a first measuring path MS1 is defined, and between the second and the third measuring point MP2 and MP3 a second measuring path MS2 is defined. On both sides of a measuring point MP _n are each spaced apart control polygon pairs P1 and P2, P3 and P4, respectively. P5 and P6 defined by means of corresponding geo-coordinates. The individual control polygons are separated from each other by the control polygon distances PD1, PD2, .... PD5. These distances are stored in the OBU.

Now, when a vehicle drives on the route F1 on the highway 35, it passes first the control polygon P5 and then the control polygon P4. After passing at least 2 control polygons, the direction of travel of the vehicle results automatically. After the control polygon P3 is not traversed after the control polygon distance PD3, which is known and stored in the OBU (check by internal GPS-km counter), the vehicle must logically have departed from the highway. Therefore, the measured distance MS2 stored in the OBU is registered as driven motorway kilometers.

The program of the OBU carries out the following plausibility check:

The control polygons are traversed in the order P5, P4. However, the control poly- mer P3 is no longer reached. Consequently, only the control polygon distance PD4 lying between the control polygons P5 and P4 is registered as valid, but not the control polygon distance PD3, since the control polygon P3 will no longer pass through. Consequently, the measuring path MS2, which is an attribute of the control polygons P4 and P5, is stored as the measuring path.

According to the example of FIG. 3, the vehicle traverses the control polygons on the driving route F2 in the order P5, P4, P3 and P2. Thus, the direction of travel is clearly defined. After the control polygon P1 is not traversed to the control polygon distance PD1, which is compared to the GPS GPS-Km internal counter, the vehicle is considered to be off the highway. Accordingly, only the control polygon distances PD4, PD3 and PD2 lying between the control polygons P5, P4, P3 and P2 are registered as valid but not the control polygon distances PD1 and PD5 since the control polygon pairs defining the control polygon distances are not traversed. Therefore, the toll lanes MS2 and MS1 stored in the OBU are registered as driven motorway km. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

According to the example of FIG. 4, a vehicle on the driving route F3 passes through the control polygons P4 and P5, but no further control polygons. Consequently, the measuring section MS4 is registered as a driven measuring section.

The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

According to the example of FIG. 5, the vehicle passes through the control polygons P2 to P5 on the driving route F4. Consequently, the detected measurement path corresponds to the sum of the measurement paths MS3 and MS4. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

In the example shown in FIG. 6, a vehicle traverses both the driving route F5 and the driving route F6, the entire section of the motorway shown. Correspondingly, the measuring lanes MS1 and MS2 and the measuring lanes MS3 and MS4 are recorded as driven motorway kilometers for the vehicle. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

If a vehicle traverses only a single control polygon on the route F7, it will not be possible to detect a valid measuring route (FIG. 7). Such a situation may arise, for example, in that a lower ranking road leads over the motorway section 35. After neither control polygon P4 is traversed after a distance PD4 nor control polygon P6 after a distance PD5 (internal GPS Km counter), there is no valid detection of a measurement path and the measurement is deleted. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

FIG. 8 shows an application example in which a vehicle F8 passes two successive control polygons P4 and P5, but the distance measured with the GPS-Km counter is significantly greater than the control polygon distance PD4, ie the plausibility check leads to it a rejection of the result. Consequently, there is no valid detection of a measuring section. The corresponding plausibility check looks as follows:

The situation is different if route recording is not to take place on motorways but on eg federal roads. There is the problem that vehicles between two control polygons can basically change the direction of travel and that there may still be a minor or off-road connection between two adjacent control polygons. It must therefore be ensured that a user is charged only with a toll, even if he has actually used a certain paid road section.

FIGS. 9 to 14 each show an identical road image with federal highway 41 and several subordinate roads 43 to 51 crossing or branching off the federal highway. In order to be able to record the measuring distance of a vehicle as accurately as possible, the control polygons are each overlapped by branches. It is not absolutely necessary that every single branch must be occupied by a control polygon. The more intersections are provided with Kontrollpolygonen, the more accurate the measurement distance of a vehicle can be detected.

According to the example of FIG. 9, a vehicle on the travel route F9 crosses the federal highway 41, ie only the control polygon P1 is traversed, but no further travel. Accordingly, no acquisition of a measurement route occurs. The corresponding plausibility check looks as follows:

If a vehicle travels along a section of the main road on route F10, but leaves it before a second control polygon is reached, no valid detection of a measuring route will take place (FIG. 10). The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

If a vehicle drives on the route F11 via the side street 45 onto the Bundesstrasse 41, where no control polygon has been created at the junction, the vehicle is registered only when passing through the control polygon P2 (junction 47) (FIG. 11). However, if the vehicle does not continue on the main road 41, but reaches the control polygon P3 via an abbreviation (off-road), then, despite passing two consecutive control polygons P2 and P3, no valid detection of a measuring path takes place. This is because of the GPS Km counter detected distance significantly shorter than the control polygon distance PD2. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

In FIG. 12, a vehicle drives on the driving route F12 via the side street 45 onto the main road and leaves it again via the side street 51. In contrast to the previous example, however, the vehicle remains between the entry and exit on the main road 41. Consequently, the measuring sections MS2 and MS3 are detected. The corresponding plausibility check looks like this:

In FIG. 13, a vehicle drives on the driving route F13 via the side road 43 onto the federal highway 41 and leaves it again via the side road 51. Consequently, the measuring sections MS1, MS2 and MS3 are detected as the measuring route. The corresponding plausibility check looks as follows: The OBU functions as follows: A large number of so-called virtual control polygons are stored in a memory of the OBU. Each control polygon is defined by a plurality of geographic coordinates and can basically take any shape (round, rectangular or polygonal). Of importance is only that the control polygons overlap with a short road section of the real world, so that it can be determined by means of a GPS receiver if a vehicle is within a control polygon resp. This happens and it can be proven that this vehicle drives on a certain road. The control polygons are defined on a backend computer according to the roads to be tolled and then transferred to the OBU.

Existing geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to edit the control polygons. The GIS registers a large number of official measuring points that officially determine the length of road sections. With the help of the GIS NEN also necessary for the implementation of the inventive method control polygons are edited. The edited control polygons, and the associated mutual distances of the control polygons and length of the measuring paths, are then transferred to the OBU. Control polygons on highways are preferably provided between the respective predetermined measuring points and on federal highways, preferably directly at the measuring points of road junctions. Usually, the control polygons have a longitudinal extension in the direction of the lane, so that at least one and preferably several measuring points of the G PS receiver within the control polygon passage can be detected even at very high vehicle speed at a certain measuring frequency of the GPS receiver. The control polygons have a longitudinal extent in the direction of the road of up to 1000 m, preferably up to 500 m and particularly preferably up to 300 m. Typically, the polygons in the direction of the road have a length between 20 and 300 m, preferably between 50 and 180 m, and particularly preferably between 70 and 150 m. In terms of width, the polygons are chosen to exceed the width of the carriageway by a certain amount depending on the accuracy of the position determination.

An important feature of the toll collection system according to the invention is the reliable data acquisition by means of a plausibility check carried out: the distance measured by the GPS-Km counter or detected by the tachometer between two control polygons traversed is compared with the control polygon distance stored in the OBU. Only if the plausibility check is positive, i. If the measured distance substantially coincides with the control polygon distance stored in the OBU, a valid measurement has been made. This can effectively prevent road users from being burdened on unused routes.

On motorways there are official surveying points which are used in each case for the calculation of the official length of a road section between entrances and exits or at motorway junctions. Examples of specific measuring points for freeway and motorway exits are shown at the following link: http://mgo.ms/s/x7wt0. So that driving on resp. Departure from a train can be reliably detected, control polygons are provided between the measuring points. In the OBU, not only the geocoordinates of the control poly- gone, but also stored the official measuring distances between the individual entries and exits. If required for the toll calculation, the IDs of the entries and exits can also be stored in the OBU.

If it is determined by means of the OBU 11 that a measuring route has been traveled and a corresponding plausibility check is positive, the account of a road user is charged a toll.

If tolls are to be levied for federal roads, the control polygons are preferably placed above the measuring points at road junctions, whereby in principle no control polygon must be provided for each branch if no 100% coverage of the kilometers driven on toll roads is required , If required, control polygons can also be placed over measuring points that are not on any road junction.

The fee due for use of the toll roads may be calculated on the basis of time and / or route data. The corresponding information can be stored in the OBU or in a central toll server.

The toll road data calculated in the OBU are automatically transferred to existing SRC control devices when they are passed.

An OBU for recording the distance traveled by a vehicle on a toll road has a GPS module for continuously calculating the vehicle position and the distance traveled, a communication device for

Communication with a control device, and a computer unit with a processor and a memory. The computer unit is connected to the GPS module, the communication device and the memory. The memory of the OBU contains a program and data such as OBU-ID and preferably the respective vehicle master data, but at least the license plate of the vehicle. Furthermore, the memory stores the geocoordinates of a plurality of control polygons, their distances to other control polygons, and the measurement sections corresponding to the roadside segment. The control polygons are used to ascertain whether roads subject to toll have been used. However, a traveled distance or measuring distance is only counted if the result is plausible, ie an independent distance measurement with the polygonal distances essentially coincides. It is also important that the routes are calculated on the basis of the officially measured road sections.

Legend

11 Onboard Unit (OBU = vehicle unit)

13 program

15 memory

17 GPS module

19 CPU (microprocessor)

21 power supply unit

23 Short Range Communication (SRC) WLAN, DSRC, Bluetooth

25 Optical system information

29 Smartphone

33 toll server

35 motorway section

37 first highway lane

39 second highway lane

41 federal highway

43 to 51 secondary roads

Claims

claims

1. A method for recording the kilometers traveled by a vehicle on a toll road, comprising the following steps:

a Edit control polygons on toll roads so that the control polygons each overlap only with part of a toll road section,

b calculating the distances between adjacent control polygons;

c taking over the geo-coordinates of the official measuring points on the toll roads and the measuring distances between the measuring points from a geographic information system (GIS) and linking the measuring sections with the control polygons;

d transmitting the data obtained in steps a to c into the memory of an OBU (1);

e calculating the geo-coordinates or position data of a vehicle by means of an OBU carried in the vehicle having a GPS module (17), wherein the calculated geo-coordinates are compared with the stored geo-coordinates of the control polygons to determine whether the OBU / vehicle on Control polygon happens;

further characterized by the following process steps:

g Carrying out a plausibility check by comparing the distance measured between two control polygons traveled by the vehicle with the stored control polygon distance, measured using a G PS odometer, and using the measuring distance corresponding to the direction of travel only if: the difference between the distance measured by the GPS odometer and the stored control polygon distance is within a defined tolerance,

h storing and adding the length of the measuring path linked to the control polygon and the corresponding direction of travel in a route memory;

i repeating steps e to h while the vehicle is in motion, and j transmitting the measurement lines added up in the travel route memory by means of an an SRC communication device to a computer network that is in communication with a central server.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the OBU (11) automatically transfers the added measuring sections together with the vehicle identifying data to an SRC control device (31) as soon as the SRC communication device of the OBU in the transmission / Reception area of the SRC control unit (31).

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the distance traveled between two control polygons is detected by means of a GPS-Km counter and compared with the control polygon distance stored in the control polygons, wherein the driving direction-specific measuring distance is checked after additional checking of the control polygon ID. The result is only evaluated if the distance and the control polygon distance match within a defined tolerance.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that different road types are defined and the accumulated measuring sections are recorded separately by road type.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the road types are distinguished by road classes, time and / or place.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that polygon are defined in the region of branches and intersections.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that only such data from the OBU (11) to the toll server (33) of the respective country are transmitted, which were also released by the local data protection authority.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the information required for the toll calculation when passing an SRC control device (31) from the OBU (11) are transmitted to the first.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the data of the OBU are transmitted via an SRC interface to an SRC control device.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the detected data for the purpose of checking the functionality of the OBU and / or for the calculation of the toll fee to a mobile device, preferably to a control device (31), smartphone (29) or a Tablet computer, to be transmitted.

11. Onboard unit (11) for recording the distance covered by a vehicle on a toll road

a GPS module (17) for continuously detecting the vehicle position, a communication device (23) for communicating with a control device (31),

- A computer unit with a processor (19) and a memory (15), which is in communication with the GPS module (17), the communication device (23) and the memory (15), and

a program (13) stored in the memory (15) and

data stored in the memory (15), such as OBU-ID and vehicle master data of a vehicle in which the OBU is carried,

characterized,

the OBU has an SRC communication device,

the following data are stored in the memory (15):

the geocoordinates of a plurality of spaced-apart control polygons, each overlapping with a portion of a toll road,

measuring sections linked to the control polygons between in each case 2 predefined official measuring points located in the course of the road; and

polygon distances associated with the control polygons, which correspond to the distance of two control polygons arranged respectively on a measurement path and in the course of the road,

and that the program (13) is designed to carry out the following method steps during operation:

e calculating the geo-coordinates of a vehicle by means of the GPS module (17) and comparing the calculated geo-coordinates with the stored geo-coordinates of the control polygons to determine if the OBU / vehicle is within or passes through a control polygon;

Perform a plausibility check by using an odometer measured distance between two control polygons is compared with the stored control polygon distance, and the measuring distance corresponding to the direction of travel is only considered used if the difference between the distance measured by the odometer and the stored control polygon distance is within a defined tolerance,

h storing and adding the length of the measuring section linked to the control polygon with the corresponding direction of travel in a route memory; and

i repeating steps e to h while the vehicle is in motion, and j transmitting the measurement lines added in the route memory by means of an SRC connection.

12. OBU according to claim 11, characterized in that the distance covered between two control polygons is detected by means of a GPS-Km counter and compared with the control polygon stored in the control polygon distance, the driving direction-specific measuring distance after additional examination of the control polygon ID is evaluated if distance and control polygon distance match within a defined tolerance.

13. OBU according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the communication device (23) is an SRC communication device. which is designed to transfer the data required for the toll calculation to an SRC control device (31-.

14. OBU according to one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the SRC communication device is designed for (bidirectional) communication.

15. toll collection system with

an OBU according to one of claims 11 to 14,

further characterized by

a central server that can collect and account for toll data, in particular the accumulated measuring distances, via a computer network which is connected to a large number of SRC receivers.