JP2001202543A - Device for charging passing vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a passing vehicle charging device which is easy to be constructed and is easily applied even to an ordinary road. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a road device 1 where an image picking up part 5 picks up the image of a passing vehicle, a plate extracting part 7 extracts a number plate from its image data, a character recognizing part 9 performs character recognition processing of a plate picture to obtain plate information, a charging deciding part 14 decides whether the passing vehicle is charged or free by collating the plate information with the contents of a free vehicle data memory 13 and an MPU 18 transmits the plate information and the plate picture to a central device 2 when the part 14 decides the vehicle as charged, and the central device 2 which sequentially registers and files various data transmitted from the device 1 in a data filing part 21, reads the data by a CPU 20 and performs charging processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traveling vehicle charging apparatus which is installed on a general road where no toll booth such as a national road, a prefectural road, and a city road is installed, and which automatically charges the traveling vehicle. . Although there are no examples of this type of equipment being used in Japan, municipalities in overcrowded cities have serious problems such as the effects of vehicle exhaust on residents and traffic jams. There is a pressing need to automatically charge vehicles outside the area that enter and pass through the specific area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As such a conventional automatic toll system related to the above-mentioned necessity, there is a toll collection device installed at a tollgate on a toll road such as an expressway. Numerous inventions and proposals have been made for this toll collection device, mainly of the non-stop type. Among them, as a prior art particularly related to the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
There is a toll collection device for toll roads described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 1 (1994).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a toll collection device for a toll road disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7 (1995). In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a first vehicle separator, and 812 denotes a second vehicle separator. Reference numerals 811 and 812 each include a group of light emitting and receiving devices of photoelectric tubes, and form an optical screen at right angles to the traveling direction of the vehicle. The first vehicle separator 811 is installed at the front of the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the second vehicle separator 812 is installed at the rear of the traveling direction of the vehicle. Things. Reference numeral 813 denotes a vehicle height detector formed by a light emitting and receiving device of a photoelectric tube, which detects the vehicle height of a passing vehicle and uses a detection signal as a vehicle type determining element. 81
Reference numeral 4 denotes a vehicle length detector formed by a light emitting and receiving device of a photoelectric tube,
It detects the length of a passing vehicle and uses the detection signal as a vehicle type discriminating element. 815 is a number plate reader for reading the number plate information of the passing vehicle, 816 is a road device that receives a signal from the on-vehicle device and reads the information of the on-vehicle device, and 817 is a means for blocking traffic to vehicles that can pass. A breaker 818 is constituted by a group of light emitting and receiving devices of photoelectric tubes, and is a vehicle separator for forming a light screen at right angles to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Machine 817 is closed. Reference numeral 820 denotes a recording unit of the center device that performs data transmission with the roadside device 816. The recording unit 820 records the usage history and the remaining amount of the vehicle-mounted device or the IC card.

[0004] Reference numeral 823 denotes the vehicle separators 811 and 812.
A forward / reverse determining circuit 827 which receives the vehicle detection signal of FIG.
, A vehicle height signal output by the vehicle height detector 813, a vehicle length signal output by the vehicle length detector 814, and a code of number plate information output by the number plate reader 815. A vehicle type discriminating unit for inputting the converted signal and discriminating the vehicle type of the passing vehicle, 828
Is a CPU circuit that performs overall control of the on-board unit 816 and calculates a vehicle fee based on the vehicle type determination signal output from the vehicle type determination unit 827. A transmission request signal to the on-board unit 829 and a If installed at the entrance tollgate, it is a memory circuit for storing the entrance tollgate number.

[0005] 8210 is present when the road unit 816 is installed at the entrance tollgate,
A charge calculating circuit 8211 for calculating a charge based on the vehicle type discrimination signal by the action of the data transmission unit 8211 transmits a use history of the vehicle-mounted device or the IC card to the recording unit 820 of the center device.

Reference numeral 8212 denotes a transmission / reception switching circuit. When data is transmitted from the vehicle-mounted device to the road device 816, the demodulation circuit 8215 controls the data to be transmitted to the CPU 828, and the data is transmitted from the road device 816 to the vehicle-mounted device. When transmitting the data, the CPU 828 controls to transmit data to the modulation circuit 8213. Reference numeral 8213 denotes a modulation circuit for modulating data sent from the roadside device 816 to the on-vehicle device, reference numeral 8214 denotes an amplification circuit for amplifying the signal modulated by the modulation circuit 8213, reference numeral 8215 denotes a demodulation circuit for demodulating the signal amplified by the amplification circuit 8216, 8216 indicates the on-board unit to the on-road unit 816
This is an amplifier circuit for amplifying the signal sent to the receiver. 8217
Is a switching circuit that controls the amplifying circuit 8216 to operate when the signal is sent from the on-board unit to the on-board unit 816, and controls the amplifying circuit 8214 to operate when the signal is sent from the on-board unit 816 to the on-board unit. To control. Reference numeral 8218 denotes an antenna for performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device, and reference numeral 8222 denotes a camera for imaging a license plate of a passing vehicle.

The conventional device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-20964 is configured as described above, is a device installed at a tollgate on a toll road, and operates as follows. First, the vehicle separator 811
And 812, a vehicle height detector 813, a vehicle length detector 814, a forward / reverse determination circuit 823, and a number plate reader 81.
5, the vehicle type determining unit 827 determines the vehicle type of the passing vehicle, and executes the CPU 828 and the charge calculation circuit 82.
The charge is calculated at 10. Next, the charge information is transferred to the CPU 8
28, the transmission / reception switching circuit 8212, the modulation circuit 8213, the demodulation circuit 8215, the amplification units 8214 and 8
216, a switching circuit 8217, and an antenna 8218 for performing information communication with the vehicle-mounted device of the passing vehicle, and registering the same fee information with the vehicle-mounted device,
The information is also recorded in the recording unit 820 of the center device. If an in-vehicle device mounted on a passing vehicle has an abnormality such as a failure or loss, the recording information for the vehicle is read from the recording unit 820 of the center device, and a toll collection process is performed. ing.

[0008] With this configuration, even if an in-vehicle device malfunctions, such as a failure or destruction of the in-vehicle device, the recorded information of the center device can be read and the toll collection on the toll road can be performed normally. It is characterized by preventing damage to the elderly.

As another example of the prior art related to the present invention, there is a toll collection system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-111088 (hereinafter referred to as Gazette 2). FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a toll collection system described in Publication 2. In the figure, reference numeral 901 denotes a vehicle on which a wireless card 902 and a number plate 908 are attached. Reference numerals 903A and 903B denote wireless card access devices separately installed at two toll booths at the entrance and exit of the toll road, and reference numeral 904 denotes both wireless card access devices 903.
A and 903B are centrally managed host computers.

Next, the wireless card access devices 903A, 903
The configuration of 03B will be described. A read / write processing device 905 performs wireless communication with the wireless card 902 via an antenna 906. Reference numeral 907 denotes an image pickup device for picking up an image of the number plate 908 attached to the vehicle 901; 909, an image processing device for obtaining vehicle information displayed on the number plate 908 from image data output by the image pickup device 907; Is an alarm device for notifying fraud in the toll collection business, 911
Denotes the read / write processing device 905, the image processing device 9
This is a control device that comprehensively controls the alarm device 09 and the alarm device 910, and transfers data relating to toll collection work to the host computer 904.

The wireless card 902 has a memory and a wireless communication function, and vehicle information such as a vehicle number of the vehicle 901 is written in advance. Also, by accessing from the wireless card access device 903A or 903B using, for example, a microwave, writing and reading to and from the memory in the wireless card 902 are enabled.

[0012] The conventional device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-214,197 is configured as described above, and is a device installed at a tollgate of a toll road or a toll facility, and has a wireless card access device 903A at both the entrance and the exit. Alternatively, 903Bs are installed one by one. Each wireless card access device 903A and 903B has a vehicle information reading means from a number plate 908 comprising an imaging device 907 and an image processing device 909, and a vehicle from a wireless card 902 comprising a read / write processing device 905 and an antenna 906. An information access means is provided so that the vehicle information at the entrance and the exit can be collated, and the display information on the number plate 908 and the vehicle information on the wireless card 902 can be collated. For this reason, it is possible to prevent unauthorized payment of fees due to the exchange of the wireless card 902 on the road.

[0013]

The apparatus according to the prior art has the above configuration and is premised on installation at a tollgate, so that it is not easy to construct a tollgate and the construction cost is high. Separate the lanes at the toll booth of vehicles that are subject to automatic toll collection, or that are equipped with in-vehicle devices and that automatically collect tolls by wireless communication, and those that are manned toll collection by manned through toll tickets. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to apply the method to general roads, for example, because a vehicle separation zone is required and a wide road width is required for its installation. In addition, there is no registration means for exempting tolls for vehicles and the like owned by the residents of the toll area, so there is a problem that it is difficult to apply the method to general roads that require discrimination between toll and free. Further, since there is no means for collating the automatically read vehicle information with the image data of a license plate (hereinafter, referred to as a plate image), it is insufficient to cope with a reading error when applied to a general road. There was a problem that.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toll vehicle billing apparatus which can be easily applied to general roads and which copes with a mistake in reading a number plate. The purpose is.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus for charging from a to-be-charged toll vehicle which passes through a specific area. Recognition processing means for recognizing the license plate information of the license plate from the image data; a free vehicle data storage unit for storing identification data of the vehicle not to be charged; a recognition result by the recognition processing means and the free vehicle data storage unit; It is provided with a pay determining means for comparing the stored information with the stored information and discriminating whether the passing vehicle is paid or free based on the comparison result.

The toll vehicle billing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the recognition processing unit, the free vehicle data storage unit, the toll determining unit, and a central unit for performing a billing process for postpayment based on the number plate information. A road device including transmission means for transmitting license plate information corresponding to a passing vehicle determined to be charged by the charge determination means toward the device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus corresponding to the recognition processing unit, the free vehicle data storage unit, the toll determining unit, and the toll vehicle determined to be toll by the toll determining unit. Plate extracting means for extracting the image information of the license plate, and transmission means for transmitting the license plate image information to a central unit for performing a post-payment billing process based on the extracted license plate image information. And a road device comprising:

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the toll vehicle charging apparatus, the central unit re-recognizes the information of the license plate from the license plate image transmitted from the transmission unit at a higher recognition rate than the recognition processing unit. Processing means;
There is provided a billing processing means for performing a billing process by post-payment based on the billing information corresponding to the number plate information recognized by the re-recognition processing means.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus, wherein the on-road device is provided with communication means for communicating with a toll vehicle having a wireless device for transmitting ID information, and the communication means. A transmission unit for transmitting ID information, wherein the central device stores a management data storing the ID information and the number plate information in association with each other, and the ID information and the number transmitted from the road device. A charging unit for comparing the plate information with the management data stored in the data storage unit, and performing a post-payment charging process based on the comparison result;

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus, wherein the on-road device is provided with communication means for communicating with a toll vehicle having a wireless device for transmitting ID information, and the communication means. A transmission unit for transmitting ID information, wherein the central device stores a management data in which the ID information and the number plate information are associated with each other, and the ID information and the number transmitted from the road device. Comparing means for comparing the plate information with the management data stored in the data storage unit, and, if the result of the comparison does not match, the information possessed by the number plate from the number plate image information transmitted from the transmitting means; Re-recognition processing means for recognizing at a higher recognition rate than the means, and a charging processing means for performing a post-payment charging process based on the re-recognized number plate information. It is those with a door.

The toll vehicle billing device according to the seventh aspect of the present invention comprises a roadside device for obtaining information on vehicles traveling on the road, and a central device for transmitting information on the roadside device and performing a billing process for passing vehicles. In the toll vehicle charging apparatus configured, the road device includes an imaging unit that captures an image of the vehicle, and a plate extraction unit that inputs image data output by the imaging unit and extracts and processes image information of a license plate of the vehicle. A character recognition unit for performing character recognition processing on the number plate image information obtained by the plate extracting unit to obtain plate information of the vehicle; a wireless transmitting and receiving unit for performing wireless communication with the vehicle to obtain unique information of the vehicle; A free vehicle data storage unit capable of registering vehicle data that is not a charging target from the following. The contents of the free vehicle data storage unit and the plate information obtained by the character recognition unit In total, a pay determination unit that determines whether the passing vehicle is toll or toll, a first transmission unit for performing data transmission with the central device, and a determination result obtained by the toll determination unit are input. The central device, a plate information obtained by the recognition processing means, a number plate image information extracted by the plate extracting means, and a processor that controls each unit to transmit the unique information obtained by the wireless transmitting and receiving unit, The central device includes a second transmission unit for performing data transmission with the road device, a vehicle management data, plate information of a passing vehicle transmitted from the road device, a number plate image information, and a unique information of the vehicle. A data storage unit for storing and storing information; and a billing processing unit for performing a billing calculation process based on transmission data from the second transmission unit and information stored in the data storage unit. It is those with a.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus, wherein the road device includes a light, and the light and the image pickup unit are arranged at a position for picking up an image of a rear surface of the vehicle.

The toll vehicle billing apparatus according to the ninth aspect of the present invention is such that a land transportation branch office code, a vehicle type / use code, a pay period, and a pay time zone of plate information can be registered in a free vehicle data storage unit.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus.
As management data of the data storage unit, in addition to the plate information and unique information of the vehicle, the presence or absence of an automatic payment contract and its account number, the presence or absence of a fixed-term contract, the number of contracts and the contents of the contract, and the presence or absence of a special fee exemption and its type It is made possible.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toll vehicle charging apparatus.
The central device is provided with a means for manually correcting the plate information of the passing vehicle based on the number plate image information.

[0026]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a road device for obtaining information on vehicles traveling on a road, and 2 denotes a central device for transmitting and inputting the information of the road device 1 via a line and performing post-payment billing for the passing vehicles.

The structure of the road device will be described below. Reference numeral 3 denotes an illumination for irradiating light to the passing vehicle, 4 denotes an illumination control unit for controlling the illumination 3, 5 denotes an imaging unit for imaging the vehicle, 6
Is an image memory for inputting and temporarily storing the image data output by the imaging unit 5, and 7 is a plate extraction unit for performing a plate image extraction process from the image data stored in the image memory 6. is there. Reference numeral 8 denotes a plate memory for storing a plate image obtained by the plate extracting unit 7;
Reference numeral 9 denotes a character recognition unit for inputting the plate image stored in the plate memory 8 and performing character recognition processing, and obtaining plate information of the vehicle. A character recognition unit 9 is required for the character recognition unit 9 to perform character recognition processing. , A dictionary data memory for storing dictionary data of number plate characters, which can be updated from the central device 2. A wireless transmission / reception unit 11 performs wireless communication with a passing vehicle using a radio wave or light as a communication medium to obtain a vehicle ID which is unique information for specifying the vehicle. A wireless unit interface (hereinafter, referred to as a wireless unit I / F) is provided between the processor (hereinafter, referred to as an MPU) 18 and exchanges communication data. Reference numeral 13 denotes a free vehicle data memory in which vehicle data that is not to be charged can be registered from the central device 2. Reference numeral 14 denotes a pass of the free vehicle data memory 13 by comparing the contents of the free vehicle data memory 13 with plate information obtained by the character recognition unit 9. It is a toll vehicle determination unit that determines whether the vehicle is toll or free. Reference numeral 15 denotes a data compression unit for compressing a plate image described in the plate memory 8 into a small data amount, and 16a and 16b are installed in each of the road apparatus 1 and the central apparatus 2,
A transmission unit 17 for transmitting various data including the compressed plate image is a line for performing this data transmission. Numeral 18 inputs the judgment result obtained by the pay judging unit 14, and when paying, the central unit 2 receives the plate information obtained by the character recognizing unit 9, the plate image stored in the plate memory 8, and the radio transmitting / receiving unit 11. MP for controlling each part to transmit the obtained vehicle ID
U. The MPU 18 has a function of storing and executing a program, and is capable of inputting / outputting data to / from each of the above-described units, and performing data arithmetic processing and determination processing.
A calendar / clock function for knowing the date and time of traffic is also added. Reference numeral 19 denotes a controller in which each unit other than the illumination 3, the imaging unit 5, and the wireless transmission / reception unit 11 is housed in one box.

Next, the configuration of the central unit 2 will be described.
16b is the above-mentioned transmission unit. 20 is the transmission unit 16
A central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) that performs input / output of various data including the transmission data of b, charge calculation processing, and the like. The CPU 20 is a general-purpose computer having a function of storing and executing a program and capable of performing data input / output with each unit, data arithmetic processing, determination processing, and the like at high speed. Reference numeral 21 is used for identification of a free vehicle, billing processing, and the like, such as management data of a vehicle to be described later, plate information of a passing vehicle, a plate image, and passing vehicle data such as a vehicle ID transmitted from the road apparatus 1. This is a data file section for storing various information and having a large storage capacity. Reference numeral 22 denotes management data filed in the data file unit 21, vehicle data registered in the free vehicle data memory 13 of the roadside device 1,
And a data input unit for inputting various data such as dictionary data of number plate characters stored in the dictionary data memory 10. 23 is the data file unit 2
This is an operation terminal unit for reading out vehicle data, plate images, and the like stored in the file 1 and performing a billing operation. Reference numeral 24 denotes a billing information input / output unit which inputs a result of the billing calculation process, issues a bill and outputs an automatic payment request, and confirms the end of payment and issues a receipt. The charging information input / output unit 24 and the data input unit 22 are connected to a public line such as the Internet, for example.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of installation of the road apparatus 1. In the figure, reference numeral 25 denotes a mounting column for mounting the road apparatus 1, reference numeral 26 denotes a road, and reference numeral 27 denotes a vehicle passing on the road 26. As shown in the drawing, the illumination 3, the imaging unit 5, and the wireless transmission / reception unit 11 are mounted on the mounting column 25 at a position in front of the vehicle 27 and at a height that does not hinder traveling. Controller 19
Is mounted on the mounting column 25 at a position where maintenance is easy. With such installation, a building such as a tollgate on a toll road can be made unnecessary. In addition, the on-road device 1 is provided on a road that intersects the boundary in the specific area, near the boundary between the specific area and another area outside the specific area, and moves toward the specific area (arrow in the figure). Direction)
Vehicles outside the area that pass through the road (Vehicles whose Land Transportation Bureau code 29 is a code in another area other than the specific area)
Acquires information for charging for.

In the case where the on-street device 1 is to be charged for vehicles in other areas that pass on prefectural roads and city roads, it must be installed at many points, so that the device must be as compact as possible. Must. On the other hand, the central device 2 is installed in a building of a department that performs a charging operation.

Here, since the illumination 3 should not dazzle the eyes of the driver of the vehicle 27, the wavelength 7 which is hardly noticeable to human eyes.
Near infrared light of about 00 to 850 μm is used. The imaging unit 5 also has sensitivity to this near-infrared light.

Preferably, the illumination 3 and the image pickup unit 5 are mounted at a position where the vehicle 27 is imaged from the rear. As a result, the driver's eyes are not dazzled, so that a normal visible light can be selected as the illumination 3 and the imaging unit 5, and it is possible to charge a motorcycle having a number plate only on the rear side. Become.

Further, the image pickup section 5 needs to take an image of a road having a width of about 3 m including a number plate having a narrow character line width of only about 4 mm.
Using a pixel number of 0 pixels x 500 pixels or more,
It is preferable to set the horizontal pixels so that the horizontal pixels are oriented in the horizontal direction. This is because in order to perform character recognition processing with good recognition performance, it is better to capture a character line as an image of at least two pixels.

Further, the imaging section 5 is for continuously imaging at a screen frequency of about 30 Hz. Also, since it is necessary to obtain an image that does not blur even when the vehicle 27 runs at high speed, 1000
Shutter imaging is performed for about 1 / sec to 1/2000 sec.

The continuous images picked up by the image pickup section 5 are temporarily stored in the image memory 6 one by one, and the plate extraction section 7 performs a plate image extraction process for each screen. The plate image extraction process is performed by a feature extraction method using a feature that the number plate is a rectangle of a predetermined size and, for example, a black line character of a predetermined size is displayed at a predetermined position on a white background. When the plate image is extracted, the MPU 18 is notified from the plate extraction unit 7 that the traveling vehicle 27 exists. With this configuration, the vehicle separator and the like included in the conventional device described in the above-mentioned publication 1 becomes unnecessary.

When receiving the presence notification of the vehicle 27, the MPU 18 performs wireless communication with the vehicle 27 via the wireless unit I / F 12 and the wireless transmitting / receiving unit 11 to acquire a vehicle ID. If the wireless communication means is not mounted on the vehicle 27 or the communication fails, the vehicle 27
It is assumed that there is no D. At the same time as the wireless communication, the plate image output from the plate extracting unit 7 is input and stored in the plate memory 8, and the character recognition processing of the plate image by the character recognizing unit 9 is started. The character recognition unit 9 performs pattern matching processing between the plate image and the dictionary data stored in the dictionary data memory 10 in advance to read all the display characters of the number plate, and uses the result as plate information as the MPU 18 and the toll vehicle. The determination unit 14 is notified. The dictionary data memory 10 stores characters used for, for example, a number plate number, a vehicle type code, a land transportation branch office code, an application code, and the like as dictionary data, one character at a time or as a combination of several characters. If the character recognition unit 9 fails to read the character, it notifies the MPU 18 to that effect. The MPU 18 discards any one if the read result is the same as the previous one, for example, when the number plate of the stopped vehicle is read.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a number plate. In the figure, 28 is a number plate, 29 is a land transportation branch office code indicating a land transportation branch office or an automobile inspection registration office, 30
Is a vehicle type code indicating the type of vehicle such as a normal car, a large car, a special purpose vehicle, etc., 31 is a use code indicating a use such as private use, business use, and 32 is a serial number. Number plate 28
Since such a display is displayed, the type and use of the vehicle can be understood.
It is not given to one vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of free vehicle data. In the figure, reference numeral 33 denotes the land transportation branch office code 29 of a target vehicle whose traffic on this road is free of charge, which is provided so as not to charge for the traffic of vehicles such as inhabitants of a charging area. Numeral 34 is composed of the vehicle type code 30 and the use code 31 of a target vehicle whose traffic on this road is free of charge, for example, so as not to charge for the traffic of public vehicles such as fire trucks. is there. Reference numeral 35 denotes a pay period, and reference numeral 36 denotes a pay time zone, each of which is for charging only during periods of heavy traffic or time zones.

The toll vehicle judging unit 14 compares the plate information output by the character recognition unit 9 with the free vehicle data stored in the free vehicle data memory 13 to determine whether the vehicle currently passing is toll. It determines whether or not it is free, and notifies the MPU 18 of the result.

In the MPU 18, the plate image stored in the plate memory 8, the information content of the presence / absence of the plate information, and the presence / absence of the vehicle ID only when the determination result is a fee. ID in case of
Of the vehicle, and the date and time of passage of the vehicle,
Each part is controlled so as to be transmitted to the central device 2 via a. The plate image is transmitted by the transmission data compression unit 15.
For example, a small amount of data is compressed and transmitted by a method such as JPEG.

It should be noted that the plate memory 8 is provided in case of trouble in the circuit 17 or in rare cases where the distance between the traveling vehicles becomes extremely close and the passing interval between the vehicles becomes shorter than the data transmission to the central unit 2. It has a capacity capable of storing a plurality of plate images.

Next, the operation of the central unit will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the management data of the vehicle. This management data is input from the data input unit 22 and registered in the data file unit 21 in advance.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 37 denotes plate information, which is display information of the number plate 28. 38
Is a vehicle ID indicating whether the vehicle specified by the plate information 37 has wireless communication means with the road device 1
And the vehicle ID if yes. Vehicle ID
Is the same as the vehicle ID that the on-road device 1 receives from the passing vehicle by wireless communication, and if the vehicle has wireless communication means, it is determined that the vehicle ID is present. 39
Is the name of the owner of the vehicle, and 40 is the address, telephone number, and postal code of the owner name 39. Reference numeral 41 denotes the presence / absence of an automatic payment contract between the owner and the department that performs the charging operation, and if so, the account number of the debit, which simplifies the payment operation of the owner and automates fee collection. It is for. Needless to say, this automatic payment contract is possible even for the owner of a vehicle not equipped with wireless communication means. Reference numeral 42 denotes, for example, the presence / absence of a regular contract similar to a train pass ticket, and the validity period if there is. 43 represents the presence / absence of a count contract similar to a train coupon, and the remaining count if present. It is. In each case, the fees are stored together in advance,
Users have discount benefits. 44 is a charge for a specific owner such as an elderly person or a disabled person, a person who commutes to a charging area from outside the area, or a person engaged in work similar to public work. When exempting some or all,
Special fee exemption existence / non-existence. 4
Reference numeral 5 denotes an Internet address of the owner, which is used for online data communication of the data input unit 22 and the charging information input / output unit 24.

The vehicle management data shown in FIG. 5 is a file in which data of almost all vehicles existing in Japan are stored in the data file section 21 in advance, and every time the contents are changed. The input is updated online or manually from the data input unit 22 or the like.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the passing vehicle data. Under the control of the CPU 20, the passing vehicle data is composed of various data from the roadside device 1 received via the transmission unit 16b and progress data of a charging process described later, and is sequentially filed in the data file unit 21. is there.

In FIG. 6, reference numerals 46 to 50 denote data obtained by transmission with the road apparatus 1. Reference numeral 46 denotes whether or not recognition of whether or not reading of the plate information has succeeded is performed. Plate information. 47 is the presence / absence of the vehicle ID obtained by wireless communication with the vehicle, and if so, the vehicle ID, and 48 is the date of passage of the vehicle and the number of times of travel on the same day. In the case of billing collectively, a plurality of data are used. 49 is the traffic time of the vehicle,
It is a traffic point code that is previously assigned and registered one by one from the data input unit 22 to one road device. This point code 4
Reference numeral 9 is also used for transmission as an address of the on-road device 1. Reference numeral 50 denotes a plate image compressed by the on-road device 1, and when read out and displayed on the operation terminal unit 23 described later, the operation terminal unit 23 performs a decompression process and displays the image. If the plate image 50 and the traffic time / traffic point code 49 need only be charged once for any number of passes on the same day, only one is required. In the case of, the data number corresponding to the number of times is filed.

In FIG. 6, reference numerals 51 to 53 denote progress data of the billing process, 51 is a billing amount to be described later, 52 is the issuance of a bill output from the billing information input / output unit 24, and The date and time 53 of the payment request is the date and time when the payment end information input from the charging information input / output unit 24 is confirmed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of post-payment billing processing according to this embodiment. In the figure, 54
Is a process of reading the above-described passing vehicle data from the data file unit 21 to the CPU 20. 55 indicates whether the recognition of the plate information in the passing vehicle data is successful or not.
This is a determination process of recognition success or failure based on the plate information 46. If the result of the determination processing 55 is not successful, the plate image 50 is displayed on the operation terminal unit 23, and the operator reads the display and manually corrects the plate information 46. Reference numeral 57 denotes processing for reading out management data necessary for the next billing processing step when the manual correction 56 succeeds. Reference numeral 58 denotes a case where when the manual correction 56 is difficult to read the plate image 50 and is unsuccessful, it is determined that there is no passing vehicle, the corresponding passing vehicle data is deleted from the file, and the process is terminated.

Reference numeral 59 denotes a process for judging the presence or absence of a vehicle ID based on the presence / absence / vehicle ID 47 of the vehicle ID in the passing vehicle data when the result of the determination process 55 is successful. In step 60, if the result of this determination process 59 is that there is no vehicle ID, the CPU 20 performs the recognition process of the plate information from the plate image 50 again and collates with the plate information 46 read by the road device 1. Although the character recognition process by the CPU 20 requires more time than the processing method of the road device 1,
This is performed by, for example, a character edge tracing method or the like, which has a higher character recognition rate, such as tracing a character edge to identify a character shape pattern. If the collation result with the plate information 46 matches,
The process proceeds to the process of reading out the management data 57, and if not, the process of the manual correction 56 is started. The plate information re-recognition process 60 is a rescue process in case the plate information 46 is misread. 61 is the judgment processing 5
If the result of No. 9 has the vehicle ID, the vehicle ID 47 and the plate information 46 transmitted from the road device 1 and stored as the passing vehicle data are compared with the plate information 37 and the vehicle ID 38 stored as the management data. If they match, the process proceeds to reading management data 57, and if they do not match, the process enters manual correction 56.

Since there is a case where the vehicle 62 goes through the process of the manual correction 56, it is judged again whether or not the vehicle is a free object. 63 is a judgment process 62
If the result is free, the pertinent vehicle data is deleted from the file and the process is terminated. Reference numeral 64 is for judging the presence or absence of a contract based on the information on the regular contract existence / absence / validity period 42 and the number of contract existence / absence / remaining times 43 in the management data. Things. Reference numeral 65 denotes a process for reducing the remaining number by 1 when the number contract is valid. Reference numeral 66 denotes a determination process required when the second and subsequent traffic on the same day is free of charge. 67
Is a determination process of the type 44 of the special exemption of the management data. 68 sets a fee exemption rate according to the type, if any, as a result of the determination processing 67.

Reference numeral 69 is for judging the presence / absence / account number 41 of the automatic payment contract of the management data. 70a, 7
1a calculates the amount of the charge by a predetermined charging algorithm set in advance based on the set exemption rate and the contents of the contract when there is no automatic payment contract, and outputs a bill to the owner of the vehicle. Things. 70b, 71b
Calculates the amount of the fee by a predetermined charging algorithm based on the set exemption rate and the contents of the contract in the case of an automatic payment contract, and automatically transfers the amount to the account number 41 of the owner of the financial institution. It outputs a payment request. 72 indicates the amount of money 51 and billing /
The date 52 of the request output is written, and the accounting process is terminated.

Here, if an automatic payment contract has been made with the owner of the vehicle, a payment completion report from the financial institution is automatically input from the charging information input / output unit 24 via a public line or the like. Date, time, date and time of confirmation of payment completion of passing vehicle data 5
3 is written with end data. Usage details information such as the payment end result and the payment amount are transmitted online from the charging information input / output unit 24 to the Internet address 45 of the vehicle owner through a line such as the Internet. If an automatic payment contract has not been made, the fact that the collection has been completed is manually input from the operation terminal unit 23, and the date 53 of the payment completion confirmation is written.

Although the above description has been made mainly of the case where the fee is charged for vehicles passing on a general road, the device according to the present invention comprises:
The present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to toll collection on toll roads such as expressways.

[0054]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, it is easy to discriminate between a vehicle not to be charged and a vehicle to be charged, so that only vehicles to be charged that pass through a specific area without setting up a tollgate. Since billing can be performed, there is an effect that a device which can be easily applied to a general road can be obtained.

According to the fourth to seventh aspects of the present invention, the vehicle to be charged can be reliably discriminated and the vehicle to be charged can be charged from the vehicle to be charged passing through a specific area without installing a tollgate. This has the effect of obtaining a device that is easy to perform.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the illumination and the imaging unit are arranged at the position where the rear surface of the vehicle is imaged, the illumination of the visible light and the imaging unit can be selected, and the motorcycle can be charged. effective.

According to the ninth aspect, the land transportation branch office code, vehicle type / use code, pay period and time zone of the plate information can be registered in the free vehicle data storage section.
This has the effect of enabling fine-grained billing operations.

According to the tenth aspect, as the management data of the data storage unit, in addition to the plate information of the vehicle and the vehicle-specific information, whether or not there is an automatic payment contract, its account number,
Since the presence / absence of the number-of-times contract and the contents of the contract, and the presence / absence of the special fee exemption and the type thereof can be registered, it is easy to improve the service to the user.

According to the eleventh aspect, the means for manually correcting the plate information of the passing vehicle and the vehicle-specific information is added to the central device, so that a device having high reliability can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing Embodiment 1 of a toll vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an installation example of a road device of a toll vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a number plate.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of free vehicle data of a toll vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of management data of a toll vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of passing vehicle data of the passing vehicle charging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a billing process of the passing vehicle billing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional toll road toll collection device described in Publication 1.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional toll collection system described in Publication 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 on-road equipment, 2 central equipment, 3 lighting, 5 imaging unit,
7 plate extraction unit, 8 plate memory, 9 character recognition unit, 11 wireless transmission / reception unit, 13 free vehicle data memory, 14 toll determination unit, 16a, 16b transmission unit, 18
MPU, 20 central processing unit, 21 data file section, 22 data input section, 23 operation terminal section.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A recognition system for recognizing number plate information of a number plate from image data acquired in an area where a vehicle passes, in a toll vehicle charging apparatus for charging from a to-be-charged vehicle passing in a specific area. Means, a free vehicle data storage unit for storing identification data of a vehicle not to be charged, a recognition result by the recognition processing unit and information stored in the free vehicle data storage unit, and a passing vehicle is determined based on the comparison result. A toll vehicle charging apparatus comprising: a toll determining means for discriminating whether the toll is free or toll. 2. The charge determining means for the recognition processing means, the free vehicle data storage unit, the pay determining means, and a central unit for performing a post-pay billing process based on the number plate information. 2. A road device comprising transmission means for transmitting number plate information corresponding to a passing vehicle determined to be tolled in claim 1.
The toll vehicle billing device according to any one of the preceding claims. 3. An image information of a license plate is extracted corresponding to a vehicle that is determined to be charged by the recognition processing unit, the free vehicle data storage unit, the toll determining unit, and the toll determining unit. A roadside device comprising a plate extracting means and a transmitting means for transmitting the license plate image information to a central device for performing a post-payment billing process based on the extracted license plate image information. The toll vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 4. The re-recognition processing means for recognizing information of the number plate from the number plate image transmitted from the transmission means at a higher recognition rate than the recognition processing means, and the re-recognition processing means. 4. The toll vehicle billing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: billing processing means for performing billing processing by post-payment based on the billing information corresponding to the number plate information recognized in (1). 5. A communication device for communicating with a passing vehicle having a wireless device for transmitting ID information, the communication device comprising:
A transmission unit that transmits the ID information obtained by the communication unit; the central device stores a management data that associates the ID information with the license plate information; And a charge processing means for comparing the obtained ID information and the number plate information with the management data stored in the data storage means, and performing a billing process by postpayment based on the comparison result. The toll vehicle billing device according to claim 3. 6. A communication means for communicating with a passing vehicle having a wireless device for transmitting ID information, wherein the road device includes:
A transmission unit that transmits the ID information obtained by the communication unit, wherein the central unit stores management data in which the ID information and the number plate information are associated with each other; Comparing means for comparing the transmitted ID information and number plate information with the management data stored in the data storage unit, and, if the result of the comparison does not match, the number from the number plate image information transmitted from the transmitting means. Re-recognition processing means for recognizing the information of the plate at a higher recognition rate than the recognition processing means, and charging processing means for performing post-payment charging processing based on the re-recognized number plate information. The toll vehicle billing device according to claim 3, characterized in that: 7. A toll vehicle billing device comprising: a road device for obtaining information of a vehicle passing on a road; and a central device for transmitting information of the road device and charging the passing vehicle. The roadside device includes an imaging unit that captures an image of the vehicle, a plate extraction unit that inputs image data output by the imaging unit and extracts and processes image information of a license plate of the vehicle, and a number obtained by the plate extraction unit. A recognition processing unit that performs character recognition processing on plate image information and obtains plate information of the vehicle, a wireless transmission and reception unit that obtains vehicle-specific information by performing wireless communication with the vehicle, and registration of vehicle data not to be charged from the central unit. By comparing the available free vehicle data storage unit with the contents of the free vehicle data storage unit and the plate information obtained by the character recognition unit, it is determined whether the passing vehicle is toll or free. Charge determining means, a first transmission means for performing data transmission with the central unit, and a determination result obtained by the pay determining means, and a plate obtained by the recognition processing means is input to the central unit at the time of pay. Information, a number plate image information extracted by the plate extracting means, and a processor that controls each unit so as to transmit unique information obtained by the wireless transmitting and receiving unit. Second transmission means for performing, plate information, number plate image information of passing vehicles transmitted from the vehicle management data and the road device,
And a data storage unit for storing and storing the unique information of the vehicle, and a billing processing unit for performing a billing calculation process based on the transmission data from the second transmission unit and the storage information of the data storage unit. Toll vehicle billing device. 8. The toll vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the on-road device includes a light, and the light and the image pickup unit are arranged at a position for picking up an image of a rear surface of the vehicle. 9. The toll vehicle billing system according to claim 7, wherein a land transportation branch office code, a vehicle type / use code, a pay period and a pay time zone of the plate information can be registered in the free vehicle data storage unit. apparatus. 10. As management data of the data storage unit, in addition to the plate information and the unique information of the vehicle, whether or not there is an automatic payment contract and its account number, whether or not there is a fixed-term contract, the number of contracts and the contents of the contract, and whether or not there is a special fee exemption 8. The toll vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the type and the type thereof can be registered. 11. The toll vehicle charging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a means for manually correcting the plate information of the passing vehicle based on the number plate image information is added to the central device.