JP2001022980A - Roadside communication equipment and automatic rate collection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable simultaneous charging/settling processing of a parking rate to plural vehicles. SOLUTION: When a vehicle enters an arbitrary parking space 12 in a parking lot, the vehicle receives the signal of roadside communication equipment 10 and returns vehicle identification information to the roadside communications equipment 10. The roadside communications equipment 10 retrieves the obtained vehicle identification information out of vehicle identification information stored in a storage part. When there is no identical vehicle identification information in the storage part as a result of the retrieval, the set of vehicle identification information and link ID is stored in the storage part. When the engine of the vehicle is stopped and a communication line is cut normally, current time is defined as entering time concerning the vehicle identification information in the storage part, and the set of vehicle identification information and entering time is stored in the storage part. In the case of leaving, the parking rate is calculated from the time difference between the exiting time and entering time, the set of vehicle identification information and charging information is transmitted to a roadside center device, and settling processing is demanded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roadside communication device and an automatic toll collection system, and more particularly to a roadside communication device capable of simultaneously charging a plurality of vehicles and requesting a settlement process to a roadside center device. The configuration is as follows.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Calculation of parking fees and billing processes have conventionally relied on humans, even if a prepaid card has been used.
In fact, there are many issues, such as the time required for fee processing.

[0003] Therefore, various devices have been proposed to reduce labor costs by automatically performing these processes, to save the labor of cash and prepaid cards, and to simplify the processes at the gates of parking lots. (For reference, see JP-A-7-73350 and JP-A-10-40430).

[0004] However, in a parking lot where the processing at the gate is simplified, it is difficult to newly create such a parking lot in a large city or a sightseeing spot due to the problem that the space tends to be insufficient. There are many places where space for installing gates cannot be taken. Therefore, in such places, a parking space is provided on the roadside of a wide road, or a parking lot without a gate, and an unmanned parking time system using a parking meter is often adopted.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional system, the parking meter and the vehicle are in one-to-one correspondence, and many expenses such as facility costs and labor costs for collecting collected parking fees are required. There was a problem that it would take. In addition, there is also a problem that the driver has to act while paying attention to the trouble of inserting coins and the remaining time of the parking meter.

[0006] In order to solve such a problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a roadside communication device and an automatic toll collection system that enable a parking fee charging / settlement process to a plurality of vehicles at the same time. Is what you do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a roadside communication device comprising: a transmission / reception unit for performing wireless individual communication with a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on a vehicle; and data transmitted from a plurality of vehicles by a link ID. A multiplex communication control unit that performs sorting and distribution control, and a storage unit that centrally manages and accumulates incoming information including a set of vehicle identification information and an incoming time,
An information processing unit that checks the vehicle identification information based on the entry information stored in the storage unit, calculates a parking fee from information on the entry time and the exit time if there is matching vehicle identification information, and performs a charging process. A billing information transmitting unit for transmitting billing information calculated by the information processing unit to the roadside center device and requesting a billing process, and simultaneously billing a plurality of vehicles parked in the communication area. Is performed.

[0008] With this configuration, it is possible to request a plurality of vehicles to perform a charging process relating to a parking fee and to request a settlement process from the roadside communication device to the roadside center device. Can be constructed inexpensively, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment.

Further, the automatic toll collection system of the present invention comprises:
A roadside center device that supervises a plurality of roadside communication devices is provided, and the roadside center device performs a payment process from charging information calculated by the roadside communication device, and the roadside communication device includes a plurality of roadside communication devices existing in a communication area. A data communication unit for performing data communication with the vehicle-mounted communication device, the vehicle-mounted communication device further includes a transmission / reception unit that transmits and receives data to and from the roadside communication device, and a storage unit that stores vehicle identification information of the vehicle. And an information processing unit for transmitting the vehicle identification information stored in the storage unit via the transmission / reception unit in accordance with transmission / reception of data to / from the roadside communication device.

[0010] With this configuration, only by performing data communication between one roadside communication device and a plurality of in-vehicle communication devices, a charging process relating to a parking fee for a plurality of vehicles and a roadside communication device are performed. Can request a settlement process from the roadside center device, so that a parking lot without a gate can be configured at low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment of fees.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, a transmitting / receiving unit for performing individual wireless communication with a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on a vehicle, and linking data from a plurality of vehicles. A multiplex communication control unit that performs sorting control by sorting by ID; a storage unit that centrally manages and accumulates incoming information including a set of vehicle identification information and an incoming time;
An information processing unit that compares vehicle identification information based on the entry information stored in the storage unit, calculates a parking fee from information on entry time and exit time if there is matching vehicle identification information, and performs a charging process; A billing information transmitting unit that requests billing processing by transmitting billing information calculated by the information processing unit to the roadside center device, and performs billing processing simultaneously on a plurality of vehicles parked in the communication area. This is a roadside communication device characterized by the fact that the parking lot without a gate can be constructed at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment of the fee. It has the action of:

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, identification information (ID) of the on-vehicle communication device is used as the vehicle identification information.
The roadside communication device according to claim 1, wherein a parking lot without a gate can be configured at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about payment. Has the effect of being able to

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the roadside communication device according to the first aspect, wherein license plate information given to the vehicle is used as the vehicle identification information. There is an effect that a parking lot without a gate can be configured at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about payment of a fee.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the roadside communication device according to the first aspect, wherein a contract number of a credit card is used as the vehicle identification information. This has the effect that the car park can be constructed at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roadside center device for controlling a plurality of roadside communication devices, wherein the roadside center device performs a settlement process from charging information calculated by the roadside communication device. The roadside communication device includes a data communication unit that performs data communication with a plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices existing in a communication area, and the vehicle-mounted communication device further includes a transmission / reception unit that transmits and receives data to and from the roadside communication device. A storage unit for storing vehicle identification information of the own vehicle, and an information processing unit for transmitting the vehicle identification information stored in the storage unit via the transmission / reception unit in accordance with data transmission / reception with the roadside communication device. It is an automatic toll collection system characterized by the fact that parking facilities without gates can be constructed at low cost, and drivers can pay It has the effect of being able to use the parking lot without having to worry about have.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, as the vehicle identification information, identification information (ID) of the on-vehicle communication device is used.
An automatic toll collection system according to claim 5, wherein a parking lot without a gate can be configured at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment. It has the effect that it can be used.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic toll collection system according to the fifth aspect, wherein license plate information assigned to a vehicle is used as the vehicle identification information. In addition, a parking lot without a gate can be configured at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment of a fee.

The invention according to claim 8 is the automatic toll collection system according to claim 5, wherein a contract number of a credit card is used as the vehicle identification information. The parking lot can be constructed at a low cost, and the driver can use the parking lot without worrying about the payment of the fee.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a relationship between a communication area 11 of a roadside communication device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention and a parking space 12 for a vehicle covered by the communication area.

As shown in FIG. 1, the communication area 11 of the roadside communication device 10 has a range that covers a plurality of parking spaces 12, and signals are always output within the range. Here, the parking space 12 is assumed to be an area where traffic safety can be maintained, for example, at the side end of a relatively wide road.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between a plurality of roadside communication devices # 1 to #n and a roadside center device 20 which supervises them. In FIG. 2, the roadside center device 20 executes payment of a parking fee in response to a request for a payment process for a parking fee from a plurality of roadside communication devices. Needless to say, the settlement is executed by deducting the parking fee from the account opened by the user who has used the parking lot. Since settlement is already realized in the cashless system, it need not be explained here.

FIG. 3 shows a roadside communication device 10 and a vehicle-mounted communication device 30.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. In FIG. 3, a roadside communication device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 13 for performing individual wireless communication with the on-vehicle communication device 30 and a multiplex communication control unit 14 for performing distribution control by distributing data from a plurality of vehicles by link ID. And a storage unit 15 that centrally manages and accumulates the incoming information composed of a set of the vehicle identification information and the incoming time, and collates the vehicle identification information based on the incoming information stored in the storage unit 15 and matches. If there is vehicle identification information to be transmitted, an information processing unit 16 that calculates a parking fee based on the information on the entry time and the exit time and performs charging, and transmits the charging information calculated by the information processing unit 16 to the roadside center device 20. And a payment information transmitting unit 17 for requesting payment processing.

In FIG. 3, a vehicle-mounted communication device 30 includes a transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving data to / from the roadside communication device 10.
31, a storage unit 32 for storing vehicle identification information of the own vehicle, and an information processing unit for transmitting vehicle identification information stored in the storage unit 32 via the transmission / reception unit 31 in accordance with transmission / reception of data with the roadside communication device 10. 33.

Here, the operation performed in the roadside communication device 10 will be described with reference to the flow shown in FIG.

When the communication is started, the vehicle identification information transmitted from the on-vehicle communication device 30 is received, and whether or not the vehicle identification information is stored in the storage unit 15 is retrieved to store the vehicle. (Step 41)
(S41 in the figure)).

In step 41, the vehicle identification information is stored in the storage unit.
If it is not within 15, it is judged that there is a possibility of new receipt,
A set of the vehicle identification information and the link ID is stored in the storage unit 15 (step 46).

Although the vehicle is recognized as having entered the parking space 12 by performing the processing in step 46, the vehicle is turned off in the parking space 12 so that the roadside communication device 10 and the on-vehicle communication device 30 Although the vehicle communication between the vehicles ends normally, if the vehicle is a passing vehicle, the vehicle passes through the communication area without turning off the engine after entering, so the roadside communication device 10 and the on-vehicle communication device 30 Vehicle communication with
At 47, it is determined whether or not the end of the communication is a normal end.

If the communication is normally completed in step 47, the link ID stored in the storage unit 15 is deleted in step 48, the current time is written, and the process is terminated.

On the other hand, if the communication is abnormally terminated in step 47, the vehicle identification information and the link I
D is deleted from the storage unit 15 and the process is terminated.

If the set of the vehicle identification information and the parking time can be retrieved in the storage unit 15 in step 41, it means that the vehicle has already been stored. In step 42, the vehicle is parked based on the time difference between the current time and the parking time. The parking fee is calculated by calculating the time, that is, the charging process is performed.

With respect to the parking fee calculated in step 42, the vehicle identification information and the billing information are transmitted to the settlement information transmitting unit in step 43, and the settlement processing is requested to the roadside center device, and it is determined whether or not the settlement processing is successful. I do.

If the settlement processing is successful in step 43, the warehousing information stored in the storage unit 15 is deleted in step 45, and the processing ends.

If the settlement processing fails in step 43, error processing is performed in step 44, and the processing ends.

Next, the automatic toll collection system of the present invention will be described. The automatic toll collection system of the present invention includes the above-described roadside communication device 10, the roadside center device 20, and the in-vehicle communication device 30.

The operation of the automatic toll collection system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. When a vehicle enters any parking space 12 in the parking lot, the vehicle
Communication is started by receiving the signal of 10 and returning the vehicle identification information to the roadside communication device 10.

When receiving the data from the vehicle, the roadside communication device 10 specifies the correspondence with the onboard communication device 30 by giving a link ID. The roadside communication device 10 searches the vehicle identification information stored in the storage unit 15 for the vehicle identification information obtained from the on-vehicle communication device 30. Here, the vehicle identification information includes, for example, identification information (ID) attached to the in-vehicle communication device 30, license plate information attached to the vehicle, a card number such as a credit card, a cash card, an IC card, and the like of a financial institution. Various types such as an account number are conceivable, and any one of them may be used. Also,
The storage unit 32 provided in the vehicle-mounted communication device 30 is configured by, for example, a memory built in the vehicle-mounted communication device 30 in advance, a memory card that can be taken out by a driver, and the like.

As a result of the search, if the same vehicle identification information does not exist in the storage unit 15, a set of the vehicle identification information and the link ID is stored in the storage unit 15. The engine of the vehicle is turned off, and when the communication line is normally disconnected, the current time is set as the entry time for the vehicle identification information of the storage unit 15 and stored in the storage unit 15 as a set of the vehicle identification information and the entry time, That is, it is centrally managed and stored as the warehousing information.

On the other hand, if the vehicle is merely a passing vehicle, the communication ends abnormally when the vehicle exits the communication area 11. In that case, the abnormally terminated link I
The set of vehicle identification information having D is deleted from the storage unit 15.

When the vehicle identification information can be retrieved from the storage unit 15, the parking time is calculated by calculating the time difference from the current time, and it is determined whether or not the vehicle is leaving. If the time difference from the current time is insignificant, it is not treated as leaving after parking as an error range.

In the case of leaving the car, the parking fee is calculated from the time difference between the leaving time and the entering time, and the settlement process is requested to the roadside center device 20 as a set of the vehicle identification information and the calculated parking fee.

Examples of the charging method include a method of charging once, a method of charging in proportion to time, and a method of changing a charge rate depending on the time of day. Further, it is also possible to adopt a method in which a predetermined time is set as a threshold, and if the parking time is within the threshold, the parking is not considered and the charging is not performed.

When charging is performed, the roadside communication device
The data relating to the parking fee is transmitted from 10 to the on-vehicle communication device 30 to notify the driver of the parking time and the fee. As a notification method in this case, for example, a screen display on a monitor connected to the in-vehicle communication device 30, a sound output from a speaker, or the like can be adopted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roadside center device 20 executes a parking fee payment process in response to a parking fee payment request from a plurality of roadside communication devices # 1 to #n. Here, when the settlement processing in the roadside center device 20 succeeds, the processing is terminated as it is.

However, if the settlement processing in the roadside center device 20 fails, error processing is performed,
For the time being, the payment process is terminated, but in this case, the payment process can be retried and the payment process can be attempted again, or in some cases, the reason why the payment process could not be performed is sent to the user who has the account by e-mail. Can be sent to complete the settlement. The handling after the error processing is not directly related to the present invention and will not be described any further.

[0046]

As described above, according to the roadside communication device and the automatic toll collection system of the present invention, wireless charging is performed for a plurality of parked vehicles in a toll parking lot without a gate. Has the effect that it becomes possible.

Further, since the roadside communication device can perform charging / settlement processing for a plurality of vehicles in the communication area, it is possible to reduce costs for equipment, labor costs, and burden on the driver. It has the effect of.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a relationship between a communication area of a roadside communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention and a parking space of a vehicle covered by the communication area,

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a plurality of roadside communication devices # 1 to #n according to an embodiment of the present invention and a roadside center device that supervises them;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a roadside communication device and a vehicle-mounted communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation flow performed in the roadside communication device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Roadside communication device 11 Communication area 12 Parking space 13, 31 Transmission / reception unit 14 Multiplex communication control unit 15, 32 Storage unit 16, 33 Information processing unit 17 Payment information transmission unit 20 Roadside center device 30 In-vehicle communication device

Claims (8)

[Claims] A transmission / reception unit for performing wireless individual communication with a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on a vehicle; a multiplex communication control unit for performing distribution control by distributing data from a plurality of vehicles by link IDs; A storage unit that centrally manages and accumulates the incoming information composed of a set of the vehicle identification information and the incoming time, and checks the vehicle identification information based on the incoming information stored in the storage unit, If there is information, an information processing unit that calculates a parking fee from the information of the entry time and the exit time and performs a billing process, and transmits the billing information calculated by the information processing unit to the roadside center device to perform a settlement process. A roadside communication device comprising a requesting settlement information transmitting unit, wherein billing processing is simultaneously performed on a plurality of vehicles parked in a communication area. 2. The roadside communication device according to claim 1, wherein identification information (ID) of the onboard communication device is used as the vehicle identification information. 3. The roadside communication device according to claim 1, wherein license plate information given to the vehicle is used as the vehicle identification information. 4. The roadside communication device according to claim 1, wherein a credit card contract number is used as the vehicle identification information. 5. A roadside center device for controlling a plurality of roadside communication devices, wherein the roadside center device performs a settlement process based on billing information calculated by the roadside communication device. Data communication means for performing data communication with a plurality of in-vehicle communication devices existing in the vehicle, the in-vehicle communication device further includes a transmitting and receiving unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from the roadside communication device, and a vehicle identification information of the own vehicle. A storage unit for storing, and an information processing unit for transmitting the vehicle identification information stored in the storage unit via the transmission / reception unit in accordance with data transmission / reception with the roadside communication device. Toll collection system. 6. The automatic toll collection system according to claim 5, wherein identification information (ID) of the on-vehicle communication device is used as the vehicle identification information. 7. The automatic toll collection system according to claim 5, wherein license plate information assigned to the vehicle is used as the vehicle identification information. 8. The automatic toll collection system according to claim 5, wherein a credit card contract number is used as the vehicle identification information.