JP2002074435A - Server and toll collection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server and a toll collection system for dispensing with the initial investment of an individual and minimizing the facility investment of a tollgate as well. SOLUTION: The owner of an automobile 13 and a portable telephone 14 rides on or drivers the automobile 13. A communication-managing center station 16 for moving object reports the position information of the portable telephone 14 provided by a base station 15 to a server 17. The server 17 stores the registration number of the automobile owned by the owner of the portable telephone 14. A gate terminal 18 identifies the registration number of the approaching automobile by a camera 19 and reports it to the server 17. When the owner 13 of the automobile approaching the gate 21 is matched with the owner of the portable telephone 14 proximate to the gate terminal 19, the server 17 permits opening of the gate 21. A sensor 22 confirms the passing of the automobile 13 through the gate 21 and on the basis of this confirmation, and the server 17 calculates the passage tollage and bills a credit company 23 for it. Then, the credit company 23 with draws the passage tollage from the account of a bank 24, under a transaction with the owner of the portable telephone 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ITS (Intelligent
ETC (Electronic Tol) in ent Transport Systems
l Collection System: A server used in an automatic toll collection system and a toll collection system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, on toll roads such as expressways (hereinafter simply referred to as toll roads), traffic congestion often occurs, and users are constantly dissatisfied. One of the causes of this traffic congestion is traffic congestion at a tollgate. recent years,
ETC is used as a measure to alleviate congestion at this tollgate.

FIG. 6A is a bird's-eye view showing the outline of a tollgate in ETC that is currently implemented, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of an on-board unit provided on the passing vehicle side. (c) is a diagram showing an example of an IC card used by being inserted into the vehicle-mounted device. As shown in FIG. 1A, the ETC performs two-way wireless communication 5 between a roadside antenna 2 installed at a tollgate 1 and an on-vehicle device 4 mounted on a vehicle 3.
In the two-way wireless communication 5, identification of personal data of a driver of the vehicle 3 and exchange of information required for toll calculation such as toll road toll information are performed.

The vehicle-mounted device 4 is a wireless device installed on the dashboard of the vehicle 3 or the like. The vehicle-mounted device 4 includes a liquid crystal display device 6 for displaying charge information and the like, an input operation button 7, an information lamp 8, and a card insertion slot 9. The card insertion slot 9
The C card 11 is inserted and used. The IC card 11 records the driver's personal contract information such as the fee settlement method.

When the exchange of necessary information by the two-way wireless communication 5 is completed, the double gates 12 (12a, 12b) are opened and the passage of the vehicle 3 is opened. Then, the calculated toll displayed on the liquid crystal display device 6 is deducted from the driver of the vehicle 3, that is, the subscriber account of the IC card 11 at a later date.

[0006] As a result, the driver of the vehicle 3 can pass through the tollgate non-stop without exchanging tolls with the tollgate staff as in the related art, and traffic congestion on the toll road is greatly increased. It is alleviated.

[0007]

However, the ETC currently in practical use requires the installation of a dedicated antenna at a toll booth and the installation of a dedicated vehicle-mounted device on a vehicle. Furthermore, it is necessary for the user to have an IC card in which contract information such as a settlement method is recorded.

As described above, in the current ETC, a dedicated antenna must be installed on the toll booth side, and a dedicated vehicle-mounted device and IC card must be purchased on the user side.
For this reason, there is a problem that the economical burden of initial investment until ETC can be used is large.

[0009] In particular, for individual users, the large cost burden of purchasing expensive in-vehicle devices and IC cards remains a dissatisfaction that it is not profitable compared to the profit that can be enjoyed by reducing traffic congestion. there were. It is an object of the present invention to provide a server and a toll collection system that eliminates the need for initial investment by individuals and minimizes capital investment in toll booths.

[0010]

In the server according to the first aspect of the present invention, a vehicle recognizing means for recognizing vehicle identification information and a position detecting means for detecting a position of a mobile communication means are connected via a network. A server for connecting a user to a mobile communication means owned by the user and storing the identification information of the vehicle owned by the user in association with each other. Means, when the vehicle identification information is recognized by the vehicle recognition means,
Obtaining means for reading the identification information of the mobile communication means corresponding to the identification information of the vehicle from the storage means, and obtaining the position of the mobile communication means corresponding to the identification information from the position detection means; Determining means for determining whether the position of the mobile communication means obtained by the means is near the vehicle recognizing means which has recognized the identification information of the vehicle, and the mobile communication owned by the user by the determining means Charging means for charging the user when it is determined that the position of the means is near the vehicle recognizing means.

The billing means is configured to update billing information stored in association with the user. Next, a toll collection system according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises a gate device installed on a toll road or the like for collecting a toll on a toll road or the like, and a server connected to the gate device via a network. A toll collection system including: a recognition unit configured to recognize identification information of a vehicle; a transmission unit configured to transmit the identification information of the vehicle recognized by a forward recognition unit to the server; Receiving means for receiving a signal to be transmitted, and control means for controlling the traffic of the vehicle in accordance with the signal transmitted from the server, wherein the server is a mobile communication means possessed by a user. Storage means for storing a data table in which the identification information is associated with the identification information of the vehicle; receiving means for receiving the identification information of the vehicle transmitted from the gate device; Position detecting means for detecting the position of the mobile communication means; determining means for determining whether or not the position of the mobile communication means detected by the position detecting means is near the gate device; Transmitting means for transmitting a permission signal to the gate device when it is determined that the mobile communication means is present in the vicinity of the gate device, and when the transmitting means transmits the permission signal, Charging means for charging.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a fee collection system according to one embodiment. In FIG. 1, first, a mobile phone 14 is attached to an automobile 13.
(In the following description, “mobile phone” means mobile phone and PHS
(Other mobile communication means are used as a general term.)
Be sure to carry the person carrying the car. The person carrying the portable telephone 14 is also the owner of the automatic person 13. That is, the owner of the automatic person 13 and the owner of the mobile phone 14 must be the same person.

The position of the automobile 13, that is, the portable telephone 14
Is located at the mobile phone base station 15
(An antenna base station, for example, three base stations A15-1, base station B15-2, and base station C15-3 in the following description, will be described below). Information output from these base stations 15 is centrally managed by the mobile communication management center station 16. The mobile communication management center station 16 transmits and receives information to and from each base station 15 by wireless or wired communication, and notifies the server 17 of the position information of the mobile phone 14 (that is, the position of the automobile 13).

A large number of gate terminals 18 (only two gate terminals 18-1 and 18-2 are shown as an example in the figure) are connected to the server 17 via a network. 18 (18-1, 18-
2,...) Is performed. Each gate terminal 18 has a similar function. That is, the gate terminals 18 are provided with cameras 19 (19-1, 19-
2,...) And the gate 21 (21-1, 21-2,...)
.) Are controllably connected and the sensor 22
(22-1, 22-2,...) Are respectively connected.

The camera 19 of the gate terminal 18 captures and recognizes information such as the vehicle number of the automobile 13 approaching the gate terminal 18, and the gate 21 recognizes the position information of the mobile phone 14 sent from the server 17. When the information such as the vehicle number of the automobile 13 and the recognition information of the automobile 13 by the camera 19 match, the opening operation is performed. The sensor 22 is
The approach of the vehicle 13 to the gate 21 is detected.

On the basis of this detection, the gate terminal 18 causes the camera 19 to recognize the vehicle number of the automobile 13 and transmits the vehicle number of the automobile 13 to the server 17. Server 1
7 calculates the toll of the gate 21 based on the vehicle number of the automobile 13 from the gate terminal 18, and charges the toll calculated by the calculation to the credit card company 23. The credit card company 23 debits the invoiced toll from the account of the bank 24 traded by the user, that is, the owner of the mobile phone 14.

Although the above data may be transmitted and received using a dedicated line, the data can be transmitted and received at a lower cost than by constructing a dedicated line by using the Internet. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a method for automatically detecting the position of a mobile phone in this fee collection system. A general triangulation method is used to detect the position of the mobile phone. That is, as shown in the figure, the mobile phone 14 receives the base station codes from the base stations A, B, and C, stores the electric field strength of the received signal, and stores the stored electric field strength in the base station. It transmits (replies) to the base stations A, B and C together with the station code.

For example, if the base station code of base station A is 0101
If the electric field strength is 10 dB, the base station code of the base station B is 0111, the electric field strength is 20 dB, the base station code of the base station C is 1111 and the electric field strength is 30 dB, the mobile phone 14 outputs, for example, 0101. -10D
B, the electric field strength corresponding to the base station code, such as 0111-20DB and 1111-30DB, is transmitted.
Note that this transmission may be performed when the electric field intensity of any of the base stations 15 detected by the mobile phone 14 changes by a predetermined value.

Since the higher the electric field strength, the closer to the base station 15 that emits the signal, the higher the electric field strength, the higher the electric field strength, the higher the electric field strength. From the table showing the relationship between the electric field strength and the distance, the position of the mobile phone 14 is determined as the radius R1 for the base station A, the radius R2 for the base station B, and the radius R3 for the base station C
(Where R1>R2> R3).

The server 17 calculates the radiuses R1, R2 and R3 by calculating them based on the position information of the cellular phone 14 reported from each base station 15, that is, the data of the radii R1, R2 and R3. It can be recognized that the mobile phone 14 is located at the point P where the circles drawn by.

In the calculation for calculating the position of the mobile phone 14, since the latitude and longitude of each of the base stations A, B, and C are known in advance, the latitude and longitude of each of the base stations A, B, and C are used. The latitude and longitude of the point P can be calculated. The calculations of the radii R1, R2, and R3 may be performed by each base station 15 as described above, or each of the base stations A, B
And C, the base station code and the electric field strength may be sent to the server 17, and the server 17 may collectively calculate the data from these data. Further, such calculation is performed by the mobile communication management center station 16 and the calculation result is stored in the server 17.
May be transmitted.

Of course, the base station 15 is not limited to the three base stations A, B, and C as described above, and it may be possible to perform position detection with more base stations. Thus, the more accurate position of the mobile phone 14 can be recognized. Thus, the toll collection system of the present invention functions effectively based on the position information of the mobile phone 14 detected as described above.

FIG. 3A shows a charge collection data file stored in a storage device (not shown) of the server 17 (the server having the hardware configuration of the server having the hardware configuration and the server having the software configuration). FIG. 3B is a diagram schematically showing the configuration, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the data configuration of the gate table;
FIG. 3C is a chart showing the data structure of the vehicle number file, and FIG. 3D is a chart showing the data structure of the accounting file.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the fee collection data file includes a gate table 25 and a vehicle number file 2.
6 and a billing file 27. Then, the gate table 25 stores the gate I as shown in FIG.
D, gate position information, and toll data columns. The gate ID column contains the individual gate terminals 18 described above.
, For example, G11000, G12
000,... Are stored. The gate position information column stores data indicating the north latitude position and the east longitude position (in the case of Japan) of each gate terminal 18 described above. In the toll column, data of tolls when the vehicle passes through the gate 21 of each gate terminal 18 is stored.

The vehicle number file 26 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the vehicle number, the mobile phone number, and the user I
D data section. In the vehicle number column, for example, Tama 5
The registration number data of automobiles such as 00A 1234, Shinagawa 300 5678,... Are stored, and in the mobile phone number column, for example, 090-123-4567, 090-234.
-5678,... Are stored, and the user ID column contains, for example, 1
23-456-7890, 123-789-1212,
., Etc., is stored with unique identification number data for identifying the owner of the mobile phone.

The billing file 27 is composed of data fields of user ID, user name, account number, and total charge as shown in FIG. The same data as the identification number data in the user ID column of the vehicle number file 26 is stored in the user ID column. In the user name column, for example, Suzuki ○
A person's name corresponding to the identification number data in the user ID column is stored, such as male, Sato x child, .... In the account number column, for example, 123-456-123478, 234
-567-789789,..., The bank account number registered as the use settlement account of the mobile phone 14 owned by the individual having the above name is stored. Then, the accumulated fare column stores the total amount of the toll for each gate 21 that the individual of the name passed by the automobile 13.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the processing by the gate terminal 18 in the fee collection system of the present invention having the above-described configuration. First, the process waits until there is a vehicle approaching the gate 21 (N in process G01). If there is a vehicle approaching (Y in process G01), the vehicle number is imaged and recognized by the camera 19 (process G02).

Subsequently, the gate ID of the terminal itself and the recognized vehicle number are transmitted to the server 17 (step G0).
3) Wait for reception of a signal returned from server 17 (process G04). If the received signal is a permission signal (processing G05 is Y), the gate 21 is opened (processing G06), and the processing is terminated.

On the other hand, when the received signal is a non-permission signal (N in processing G05), the gate 21 is closed to temporarily prohibit the traffic of the automobile 13 (processing G07), and a display device (not shown) Is displayed to inform the user that the toll should be "paid in cash" (process G08), and the process ends.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the processing by the server 17 in the fee collection system of the present invention having the above-described configuration. First, the process waits until there is an access (transmission) from the gate terminal 18 (the process S01 is N). And
When a signal from the gate terminal 18 is received (Y in the process S01), the gate ID and the vehicle number are read from the signal (the process S02), and the vehicle number file 26 is searched using the read vehicle number as a key (the process S03). Then, it is checked whether or not the vehicle number corresponding to the currently read vehicle number is present in the vehicle number file 26 (process S04).

If there is a vehicle number in the vehicle number file 26 that matches the read vehicle number (Y in step S04), the mobile phone number and user ID corresponding to the matched vehicle number are read from the vehicle number file 26 ( Processing S
05). Subsequently, the gate table 25 is searched to extract a gate ID that matches the received gate ID (step S06), and the position information and toll corresponding to the matching gate ID are read (step S07). Next, by communicating with the mobile communication management center station 16, the location information of the mobile phone of the mobile phone number read from the vehicle number file 26 is fetched (processing S <b> 08), and the fetched location information and the currently being handled are processed. Is compared with the gate position information of the gate terminal 18 (step S09).

Then, it is determined whether or not the position of the portable telephone is near the gate terminal 18 currently being handled (process S).
10) If it is near (Step S10: Y), the permission signal is transmitted to the gate terminal 18 (Step S11). Then, the amount in the charge total column corresponding to the user in the charging file 27 is updated (process S12).

On the other hand, if the position of the mobile phone is not in the vicinity of the gate terminal 18 currently being handled in the above-mentioned processing S10 (N in processing S10), an NG signal (non-permission signal) is transmitted to the gate terminal 18. (Step S13), and terminates the processing. Various methods can be applied to the billing method of the present system. First, from the viewpoint of the user, there is an advantage that traffic congestion at the toll gate is eased. Therefore, the basic usage fee is charged to the user, and the normal toll is charged to the user. As another method, there is an advantage that, from the point of view of the road manager, there is no need for a person to collect tolls, so that labor costs can be reduced.Therefore, the basic usage fee is collected from the road manager and provided to the user. May charge only tolls. Since both the road manager and the user can enjoy the advantages, the basic usage fee may be collected from both the road manager and the user by appropriately apportioning them.

As described above, the toll collection system of the present invention is constructed so that it is not necessary to operate a mobile phone while driving a car from the viewpoint of danger prevention. The entrance of the place and the terminal equipment are configured as simply as possible.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the identification information of the vehicle and the identification information of the mobile communication means are associated with each other to specify the passing vehicle and the billing destination of the passing fee. Toll road managers can automatically collect toll road tolls by using existing vehicle recognition cameras provided at the toll gates, as the tolls are charged to the owner of the mobile communication means according to the passage of the vehicle. Since the system can be constructed, the capital investment can be minimized, which is economical and convenient.

In addition, since it is possible to pass through the toll gate of the system without paying a toll on the spot simply by driving a car with a mobile phone, most users possess mobile communication means as a means of mobile communication. It is economical and convenient to have a mobile phone that does not require any initial investment for special equipment such as an on-board device.

In addition, there is no need to operate the mobile phone while driving, thereby making it possible to construct a system that is extremely preferable for safe driving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a fee collection system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of automatically detecting the position of a mobile phone in a toll collection system.

FIG. 3A is a chart showing the structure of a toll collection data file stored in a storage device of a server, FIG. 3B is a data structure of a gate table, FIG. 3C is a data structure of a vehicle number file, d) is a chart showing the data structure of the billing file.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by a gate terminal in the fee collection system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process performed by a server in the fee collection system.

6 (a) is a bird's-eye view showing an outline of a tollgate currently implemented in ETC, (b) is a diagram showing an example of a vehicle-mounted device provided on the passing vehicle side, and (c) is a diagram showing the vehicle-mounted device. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an IC card used by being inserted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toll booth 2 Roadside antenna 3 Vehicle 4 Onboard equipment 5 Two-way wireless communication 6 Liquid crystal display device 7 Input operation button 8 Notification light 9 Card insertion slot 11 IC card 12 (12a, 12b) Gate 13 Car 14 Mobile phone 15 (15) -1, 15-2, 15-3) Base station 16 Mobile communication management center station 17 Server 18 (18-1, 18-2, ...) Gate terminal 19 (19-1, 19-2, ...) *) Camera 21 (21-1, 21-2, ...) Gate 22 (22-1, 22-2, ...) Sensor 23 Credit card company 24 Bank 25 Gate table 26 Vehicle number file 27 Billing file

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08G 1/04 G08G 1/04 D

Claims (3)

[Claims] A vehicle recognizing means for recognizing vehicle identification information and a position detecting means for detecting a position of a mobile communication means are connected via a network, and a user is charged a fee according to the passage of the vehicle. A server, wherein the storage unit stores the identification information of the mobile communication unit owned by the user and the identification information of the vehicle owned by the user in association with each other; and the identification information of the vehicle is recognized by the vehicle recognition unit. In the case, obtaining means for reading the identification information of the mobile communication means corresponding to the identification information of the vehicle from the storage means, and obtaining the position of the mobile communication means corresponding to the identification information from the position detection means, Determining means for determining whether or not the position of the mobile communication means obtained by the obtaining means is near the vehicle recognizing means which has recognized the identification information of the vehicle; A charging unit that charges the user when it is determined that the position of the mobile communication unit owned by the user is near the vehicle recognition unit. 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the billing unit updates billing information stored in association with the user. 3. A toll collection system comprising: a gate device installed on a toll road or the like for collecting a toll on a toll road or the like; and a server connected to the gate device via a network. The apparatus includes: recognition means for recognizing vehicle identification information; transmission means for transmitting the identification information of the vehicle recognized by the forward recognition means to the server; and reception means for receiving a signal transmitted from the server. Control means for controlling the traffic of the vehicle in accordance with the signal transmitted from the server, wherein the server stores identification information of a mobile communication means possessed by a user and identification information of the vehicle. Storage means for storing an associated data table; receiving means for receiving the vehicle identification information transmitted from the gate device; and a position for detecting the position of the mobile communication means Output means, determination means for determining whether or not the position of the mobile communication means detected by the position detection means is present in the vicinity of the gate device. A transmitting means for transmitting a permission signal to the gate device when it is determined that the permission signal is present near the apparatus; and a charging means for charging a user of the vehicle when the transmitting means transmits the permission signal. A fee collection system characterized by the following.