JP2002216192A - Variable toll accounting system and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce influence exerted on an environment by dispersing traffic volume. SOLUTION: Standard required time, time for accounting, an increment toll or a decrement toll or both tolls are previously set for each section. A travel required time calculating means 11 calculates the travel required time of the travel sections of each vehicle based on tollgate data collected from a tollgate terminal or ETC(electronic toll collection) and transmits it to a variable toll calculating means 15. The variable toll calculating means 15 compares travel required time with standard required time. When travel required time exceeds standard required time, the increment toll and the decrement toll for addition or discount are calculated in accordance with the time for charging. Thus, the toll obtained by adding the calculated increment toll or discounting the decrement toll to or from a prescribed toll which is previously determined, is charged on the driven of the relevant vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a variable fee charging system and a storage medium for charging a variable fee according to the traffic congestion on a target line such as an expressway.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Toll roads are provided with toll gate terminals or ETCs (non-stop toll collection systems) for taking in data required for toll calculation at entrances and exits of the toll roads. A toll collection system is connected via line or wireless.

[0003] This toll collection system uses a magnetic toll ticket or a prepaid card presented by a driver to enter / exit the name of each vehicle (for example, an inter name), vehicle input / output time, vehicle type data, and other contract data. ET that captures data and collects fees nonstop
The C-equipped device can also take in the account number and the tollgate data described above necessary for the charge calculation, so that the charge can be easily collected from the vehicle owner.

[0004] Tolls on expressways are divided into a toll system according to the distance adopted on inter-city expressways and a flat toll system adopted on expressways in cities. A fee is charged accordingly.

[0005]

Therefore, conventional tolls on expressways impose different tolls depending on the distance and the type of vehicle, and no change in tolls according to traffic congestion is introduced.

However, the following problems are pointed out in the above-mentioned fee system.

One of the problems is that even if traffic congestion is normal, it is necessary to rely on a change in route determined by the driver, making it difficult to diversify the traffic and greatly affecting the environment. large.

[0008] Another is that when traffic congestion occurs,
There is a problem that stresses the driver himself and causes the service to deteriorate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a toll change billing system that diversifies the traffic volume and reduces the influence on the environment by providing a toll difference according to the traffic congestion. To provide.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide a toll charging system for reducing driver stress due to traffic congestion and improving service.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program for dispersing a traffic volume and reducing an influence on an environment.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a variable toll system according to the present invention for imposing a variable toll on a vehicle traveling on a highway is provided at a tollgate terminal installed at the entrance of the highway. A travel time calculating means for calculating the travel time of each vehicle based on the tollgate data collected from the ETC; Means for setting any one or both, and comparing the required travel time with the standard required time, and when the required travel time exceeds the standard required time, an increase or a discount for adding or discounting according to the chargeable time. A variable charge calculating means for calculating a reduced charge, and further adding an increased charge calculated by the variable charge calculating means to a predetermined prescribed charge or a reduced charge. Which is a structure in which a means to charge the appropriate vehicle owner discounted.

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, of the tollgate data collected from the tollgate terminal or the ETC by the required travel time means, the entrance / exit location name and the entrance / exit time are used. The required travel time of the travel section is calculated and transmitted to the variable fare calculation means.

The variable toll calculating means compares the required travel time of the traveling section with a predetermined standard required time of the corresponding section. When the required traveling time exceeds the standard required time, the charging target time registered in advance is set. Is calculated in accordance with the following formula, or a predetermined reduced fee is calculated, and the additional fee is added to the specified fee, or the reduced fee is discounted from the specified fee to be charged to the driver. When there is traffic congestion in the section or there is a fear that the fee will be high during traffic congestion, the driver will often choose another route or use a relatively vacant time zone, thus increasing the traffic volume. It is possible to achieve decentralization, and it is possible to reduce the influence on the environment due to the decentralized traffic volume.

Further, when the traveling time of each vehicle exceeds the standard required time, if the amount is reduced according to the excess time,
The driver's stress due to traffic congestion can be reduced, and service can be provided.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a fee-changing charging system according to the present invention.

Generally, on a toll expressway 1, an entrance 3 (inter) of a vehicle 2 is provided at an appropriate place.
Each of the entrances 3 includes a terminal that reads tollgate data necessary for toll calculation from a toll ticket, a prepaid card, or the like, or an ETC on-board device mounted on a vehicle 2 that passes non-stop, and includes a wireless charge including an account number. ETC4,... For transmitting and receiving tollgate data necessary for calculation are provided.

The terminals and the ETCs 4 installed at the entrances 3 are connected to a fee-changing charging system 5 and a toll collection system 6 via a wired or wireless transmission line. Reference numeral 7 denotes a database, which includes terminals, ETCs 4,... In addition to prescribed charge data for each section and vehicle type.
Of the tollgate data sent from the toll collection system 6 through the toll collection system 6, data required for billing in the toll collection system 6 is stored.

The toll change charging system 5 includes a required travel time calculating means 11 for calculating a required travel time of a travel section from the exit side toll gate exit time and the entrance side toll gate entrance time of the corresponding vehicle, A travel time data storage means 12 for storing the required travel time for each vehicle travel section, and an average (representative) travel by averaging the required travel time of each section of a large number of vehicles stored in the travel time data storage means 12. It comprises a required time, that is, a standard required time calculating means 13 for calculating a standard required time, a variable charge database 14, and a variable charge calculating means 15.

The variable fee database 14 comprises, for example, a standard time table 14a and a charge increasing / decreasing table 14b as shown in FIG. 2. For example, a vehicle type fee table may be newly added. Note that the tables 14a, 14b, etc. may be provided with items of, for example, a standard required time, a charging target time, and an increase / decrease fee for each section, without being individualized, and may be stored in an integrated table.

As the standard required time of the standard time table 14a, a fixed time of each section predetermined by the road management company is used. For example, the standard required time calculated by the standard required time calculating means 13 is as follows. The required time may be used.

In general, during the travel time calculated by the travel time calculation means 11, if the vehicle travels straight without detour, takes a break in the service area, travels, and further restricts There are vehicles having various traveling states, such as when traveling at a speed exceeding the speed, and considerable variation is expected even in the same section. Therefore,
By removing extremely long and short travel times from the travel time for each section and averaging the remaining many travel times, a relatively reliable standard travel time can be obtained. This is because

On the other hand, the charge increasing / decreasing table 14b shown in FIG. 2 (b) uses a section as a key, and defines a charging target time, an increase fee and a reduction fee for each target time. It should be noted that both the increased charge and the reduced charge are specified, but only the increased charge or only the reduced charge may be used. It is up to the road management company to decide which one to use.
If anything, it leads to decentralized traffic and plays a role in reducing the environmental impact of reducing traffic congestion. In the case of a reduced fare only, the reduced fare is discounted from the prescribed fare. If the fare is further reduced as the travel time is longer, the service of the expressway is improved. Furthermore, in the case of using both the toll and the toll together, in order to avoid the concentration of vehicles during a certain time zone, by using the toll and the toll separately, the traffic volume is diversified and the service of the expressway is improved. It is an effective means.

The variable fare calculation means 15 compares the travel time of the vehicle in a section travel calculated by the travel time calculation means 11 with a standard required time, and the required travel time is longer than the standard required time. When this happens, it has a function of imposing an increase / decrease rate on the specified fee to the owner of the vehicle based on the data specified in the charging / decreasing table 14b.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a storage medium for storing a program for executing a series of processes shown in FIG. This storage medium 16
When the program stored in is read and the predetermined processing is executed, the required travel time calculation means 11 and the variable charge calculation means 15 are constituted by a CPU, and the CPU reads the program and performs the predetermined processing. .

Next, the operation of the above system and the processing of the program stored in the storage medium will be described.

First, as the standard required time specified in the standard time table 14a stored in the variable fare database 14, a completely fixed time or an average (representative) travel time is used. Processing is slightly different. When a complete fixed time is used, a fixed time is set in advance to the standard required time in the standard time table 14a,
After that, the set time is used as the standard required time until it is reviewed while taking into account the past required travel time. When the average (representative) travel time is used, the travel time data is stored in the travel time data storage means 12 for each of a large number of vehicle travel sections, and the travel time for each vehicle travel section stored for each predetermined time is stored. Are averaged, set as the standard required time defined in the standard time table 14a, and updated by overwriting every predetermined time.

In the above state, when the vehicle 2 traveling on the highway 1 comes out of the entrance 3, a terminal for reading the contents of the magnetic toll ticket and the prepaid card or E
Toll gate data such as entry / exit location names (for example, inter names), vehicle entry / exit times, vehicle type data and other contract data from TC4, and account numbers required for charge calculation and other toll gate data described above for ETC-equipped devices Is transmitted by wire or wirelessly.

Here, the CPU executes the required travel time calculating means 11. That is, it is determined whether or not there is tollgate data, and when it is determined that there is tollgate data, the exit time of the departure name and the entrance time of the entry place name are used, and “the exit time of the departure name” is used. -The required travel time between the entry and exit locations (sections) is calculated from the "input side name of entry location name" (S1, S2: required travel time calculation function).

Thereafter, the variable fee calculating means 15 is executed. The variable fee calculating means 15 compares the required travel time of a section calculated in step S2 with the required standard time of the section specified in the standard time table 14a, and the required travel time is larger than the required standard time. It is determined whether or not this is the case (S3: both time magnitude comparison function). If the required travel time is short, it is determined that it is within the prescribed time, and a prescribed billing instruction is transmitted to the toll collection system 6, and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S3 that the required travel time is long, it is determined in steps S5 to S7 which fee processing is to be performed (charge processing determination function). Normally, it is possible to set which fee processing is to be performed by using a flag or other data.

If it is determined in step S5 that the charge increase processing is to be performed, the charge increase is extracted from the charge increase / decrease table 14b in accordance with the corresponding section and "travel required time-standard required time = over time" and identified. The data is sent to the fee collection system 6 together with the possible data (S8, S9: variable fee calculation function).

When it is determined in step S6 that the process is a combined increase / decrease process for each time zone, it is determined whether the amount is to be increased or decreased in accordance with, for example, the current time on the exit side. , S9, the same processing is performed.
In the case of the reduction processing, the corresponding section and “traveling required time−standard required time = over time” are obtained from the charging increase / decrease table 14 b
Then, the reduced fee is extracted and sent to the fee collection system 6 together with the identifiable data (S10, S11: variable fee calculation function).

Further, when it is determined in step S7 that the charge reduction processing is to be performed, the reduced charge is extracted from the charge increase / decrease table 14b according to the corresponding section and "travel required time-standard required time = over time", and can be identified. The data is sent to the toll collection system 6 together with the relevant data (S12: variable fee calculation function).

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, when the required travel time of each vehicle exceeds the predetermined standard required time, it is set so that an increased fee is charged in accordance with the exceeded required time. For example, when traffic congestion occurs in a certain section due to traffic information, etc., or when there is a fear that the fee will increase during congestion, select another route,
The number of users during relatively vacant hours increases, and overall traffic can be decentralized.With the decentralized traffic, traffic congestion will decrease and its impact on the environment will decrease. it can.

When the required travel time of each vehicle exceeds the standard required time, if the amount is reduced according to the required time,
Driver stress due to traffic congestion can be reduced, and service can be improved.

Further, when the traveling time of each vehicle exceeds the standard required time, the amount of traffic is increased or decreased according to the time zone, thereby similarly dispersing the traffic volume and providing services to the driver. It can also contribute to the improvement of

(Other Embodiments) (1) In the above embodiment, when the traveling time of each vehicle exceeds the standard required time, a predetermined fee is added to the prescribed fee according to the time required for the traveling. Or discounted from the prescribed fare, for example, when the travel time of each vehicle is within the standard required time, or it is determined that the traffic volume is small based on traffic volume prediction information from a conventionally known traffic prediction system At this time, if the reduced charge of the charge increase / decrease table 14b is set to be used, it is possible to easily discount from the prescribed charge.

(2) In the above embodiment, as shown in the figure, the fee change system 5 and the existing charge collection system 6 are divided, but the function of the charge collection system is incorporated in the charge change system 5. It may be. Structurally, if a process of adding a specified fee data to the section specified in the charging increase / decrease table 14b and adding an increased fee to the specified fee or discounting the reduced fee is performed, the corresponding vehicle Drivers can be offered or billed for high speed.

(3) If a road traffic control system is connected to a public line or the Internet, it is possible to reserve in advance from a general driver a telephone, a facsimile, or a specific toll booth at a specific toll booth from a personal computer terminal. In addition, the road manager can make a traffic demand forecast and manage the expressway with planning.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof. Further, the embodiments can be implemented in combination as much as possible, and in that case, the effect of the combination can be obtained. Furthermore, each of the above embodiments includes various upper and lower stage inventions, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed components. For example, if an invention is extracted because some constituent elements can be omitted from all the constituent elements described in Means for Solving the Problems, the omitted part may be omitted when implementing the extracted invention. Is appropriately supplemented by well-known conventional techniques.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the traveling time of a vehicle exceeds the standard required time, an increased fee is charged according to the time, thereby minimizing traffic congestion. Or to change the time, etc.
The traffic can be easily dispersed, and as a result, the influence on the environment can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, when the traveling time of the vehicle exceeds the standard required time due to traffic congestion or the like, the driver's spirit can be reduced by discounting a predetermined reduced fee from a prescribed fee according to the excess time. It alleviates stress and contributes to improving services.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a fee-varying billing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data array diagram of a variable fee database shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a program stored in a storage medium according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Expressway 2 ... Vehicle 3 ... Entrance / exit 4 ... ETC 5 ... Toll fluctuation charging system 6 ... Toll collection system 11 ... Travel time required calculation means 12 ... Travel time data accumulation means 13 ... Standard required time calculation means 14 ... Variable fee Database 15: Variable charge calculation means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A variable toll charging system for imposing a variable toll on a vehicle traveling on an expressway, comprising: a tollgate terminal installed at an entrance of the expressway;
Travel time calculating means for calculating the travel time of each vehicle traveling section based on the tollgate data collected from the TC;
Means for setting one or both of an increase and a reduction fee, and comparing the travel time and the standard travel time, and when the travel time exceeds the standard travel time, increase / reduction according to the charging time. A variable fee billing system, comprising: a variable fee calculation means for calculating a fee. 2. The variable fee charging system according to claim 1, wherein a fee obtained by adding an increased fee calculated by said variable fee calculating means to a predetermined prescribed fee or discounting a reduced fee is charged to a driver of the vehicle. A variable fee charging system, characterized in that the variable fee charging system is provided. 3. The variable toll charging system according to claim 1, wherein the standard required time is a fixed time determined in advance for each section or an average travel obtained by averaging the required travel time of each section of a plurality of vehicles. A variable fee charging system characterized by using a required time. 4. The variable fee charging system according to claim 1, wherein the variable fee calculating means selectively selects an increased fee and a reduced fee according to a time zone and a traffic volume. A variable fee charging system characterized by being used. 5. A method for applying a variable fee to each vehicle using a standard time required for each section, a charging time, and one or both of an increased fee and a reduced fee. A storage medium for storing a program, wherein the program is a tollgate terminal or an ETC installed at an entrance of an expressway.
Travel time calculation function that calculates the travel time required for each vehicle based on the entry / exit location and entry / exit time collected from the vehicle, and the travel time required for the travel section calculated by this function. A two-time magnitude comparison function for comparing the magnitude relation between the section and the standard required time, and, when it is determined by the comparison function that the travel required time is large, the extra charge according to the time exceeding the standard required time Alternatively, a computer-readable storage medium for realizing a variable fee calculation function of calculating and outputting a reduced fee.