JP2003099828A - Electronic toll collection on-vehicle device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the insertion of an IC card from being forgotten when parking a vehicle in a service area on the way and restarting it in a nonstop electronic toll collection system automatically collecting the toll by wireless communication using the IC card. SOLUTION: A storage part 14 stores entrance passing information showing the passing of an entrance tollgate, a control part 13 allows an IC card detection part 20 to check whether or not the card is inserted, when a user parks the vehicle at the service area, pulls out the IC card, gets off the vehicle, and restarts it. When the IC card is not inserted and there is the entrance passing information, the control part 13 alarms that the insertion of the IC card is forgotten, thereby preventing a passing trouble in an exit tollgate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is mounted on a vehicle,
Automatic toll collection that automatically collects tolls by wireless communication with toll collection roadside devices installed at toll gates on toll roads using storage media such as IC cards, memory cards, SD cards, etc. (ETC: Electronic Tol
l Collection) system for automatic toll collection in-vehicle device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A non-stop automatic toll collection system that automatically collects tolls for toll roads is in operation, and an automatic toll collection vehicle-mounted device (hereinafter referred to as ETC vehicle-mounted device) corresponding to this system has been developed. . In order to automatically collect the toll at the tollgate, the IC card or the like used for collecting the toll must be properly inserted into the vehicle-mounted device. Therefore, in the ETC vehicle-mounted device, it is general practice to notify the user by means of a display or voice that the IC card or the like has been correctly inserted.

[0003]

However, on a toll road that collects charges according to distance, it is correct if the IC card used when passing through the entrance toll gate is not inserted in the vehicle-mounted device when passing through the exit toll gate. Toll collection cannot be realized. If you park in a service area after exiting the toll booth and get off, you may have to remove the IC card to prevent theft and carry it with you. Often removed. After that, when leaving the service area and heading for the exit toll booth, if you drive without forgetting to reinsert the IC card that was removed when you got off, and if you entered the exit toll booth as it was, it was installed at the exit toll booth. It becomes impossible to perform predetermined communication with the roadside device for toll collection and not only cannot pass through the exit toll gate normally, but also a subsequent vehicle equipped with an ETC on-board device cannot pass nonstop .

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and it is possible to prevent forgetting to insert the IC card once removed after passing through the entrance toll gate and prevent passage trouble at the exit toll gate. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the ETC vehicle-mounted device of the present invention is equipped with a radio unit for performing radio communication with a roadside device and a storage medium for storing data necessary for automatic toll collection. A storage medium insertion unit for wearing the storage unit, a storage unit for storing entrance passage information obtained from a result of wireless communication with an entrance side roadside device among the roadside devices, and the storage medium inserted into the storage medium insertion unit. A storage medium detecting unit for detecting whether or not the storage medium is attached, whether the storage medium is inserted in the storage medium inserting unit when the vehicle engine key is turned off and then turned on again, and It is checked whether or not the entrance passage information is stored in the storage unit, and if the storage medium is not inserted and the entrance passage information is stored, a warning about forgetting to insert the storage medium is issued. Equipped with a control unit Therefore, if you remove the storage medium when you get off to park in the service area of the toll road, etc., the storage medium must be inserted when you pass through the exit toll gate. Therefore, when the engine key of the vehicle is turned on, a warning to insert the storage medium is issued to prevent a passage trouble at the exit toll gate.

Further, the ETC vehicle-mounted device of the present invention is characterized in that the warning is given at least by voice or display, and a warning sound or message is output from a speaker, or a character display or a warning indicator is displayed on the display. By turning on, the user can be made aware of forgetting to insert the storage medium.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ETC vehicle-mounted device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, an antenna 11 transmits and receives radio waves to and from a toll collection roadside device installed at a tollgate on a toll road, and a radio unit 12 transmits data to and from the roadside device through the antenna 11. Are to be replaced. Control unit 13
Controls the entire ETC vehicle-mounted device, and a microcomputer is used. The storage unit 14 includes a ROM, a RAM, a non-volatile memory, and the like, and can store the entrance passage information. The HMI (Human Machine Interface) unit 15 receives operation data input from the operation unit 16, outputs a warning message and the like from the speaker 17, and displays characters and the like on the display unit 18. The IC card insertion / removal portion 19 is for attaching / detaching the IC card, and is locked when the IC card is pushed in, and ejected when the IC card is pushed again or the eject button is pushed. The IC card detection unit 20 is a switch provided in the IC card insertion unit 19, and outputs an ON signal when the IC card is inserted and an OFF signal when the IC card is ejected. The IC card R / W unit 21 writes and reads data through the contacts of the IC card inserted in the IC card insertion unit 20.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, if the user inserts an IC card into the IC card insertion portion 19 before starting the vehicle, I
Required data from the C card is stored in the storage unit 14 through the IC card R / W unit 21. When the vehicle enters the entrance toll booth, the storage unit 14 is operated according to the request data from the roadside machine.
The ID number and vehicle information stored in the IC card are sent to the roadside machine through the wireless unit 12 and the antenna 11, and the entrance information such as the entrance toll gate number is sent from the roadside machine. The R / W unit 21 records the information on the IC card and sets the entrance passage information in the storage unit 14. Communication with the roadside device is notified to the user through the HMI unit 15 by the speaker 17 and the display 18. When the vehicle enters the exit toll gate, the wireless unit 12 transmits the entrance information and the vehicle information stored in the IC card in response to the request data from the roadside device at the exit toll gate,
The roadside device calculates a toll from the received data and transmits the toll information to the ETC vehicle-mounted device. The ETC vehicle-mounted device outputs the charge information to the speaker 17 and the display device 18, and
The C card R / W unit 21 writes in the IC card. This allows the vehicle to pass through the ETC gate normally.

Next, at the time of parking in the present embodiment, I
The operation when the C card is removed will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. In FIG. 2, the control unit 1
3 performs predetermined communication with the toll collection roadside device installed at the entrance toll gate, checks whether the entrance toll gate has passed in step S21, and if it has passed the entrance toll gate, enters in step S22 The passage information is set in the nonvolatile memory of the storage unit 14. After passing through the entrance toll gate, the vehicle continues to run and enters the exit toll gate at step S23, and then performs predetermined communication with the toll collection roadside device at the exit toll gate and is inserted into the IC card insertion portion 19 at step S24. IC
A predetermined charging process is performed on the card, and the entrance passage information set in the nonvolatile memory of the storage unit 14 is cleared in step S25. This is the normal automatic fee collection process.

FIG. 3 shows the processing when the vehicle is parked in a service area on the way without passing through the exit toll gate in step S23. In FIG. 3, when the information does not pass through the exit toll gate, the entry passage information in the storage unit 14 has not been cleared and remains set. In this state, if the vehicle is parked in a service area or the like and the vehicle engine key is turned off in step S31, the ACC (accessory) power supply from the vehicle is turned off. Therefore, the control unit 13 detects this and the control unit 13 in step S32. Turns off the ETC on-board unit. The entrance passage information is not erased because it is stored in the nonvolatile memory. After that, step S3
When the user returns to the vehicle in 3 and turns on the engine key,
The control unit 13 detects that the ACC power is turned on, and step S34
On the basis of the signal from the IC card detection unit 20, it is checked whether or not the IC card is inserted in the IC card insertion unit 19, that is, whether or not the IC card is removed, and if it is removed, In step S35, it is checked whether or not the entrance passage information is stored in the storage unit 14. If the entrance passage information is stored, a warning is output in step S36, and the user is informed that "the ETC in-vehicle device IC Please insert a card. " This warning is
The IC card insertion portion 19 of the ETC vehicle-mounted device may be lit in an arrow shape by an indicator lamp, or a buzzer sound or the like may be generated. After the warning is output, if the engine key is not turned off in step S31, the engine key is not turned on in step S33, the IC card is not pulled out in step S34, or the entrance passage information is not stored in step S35. , Step S of FIG.
Returning to step 21, the process is repeated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle is parked in the service area of the toll road, returned to the vehicle after eating, shopping, etc. and the engine key is turned on, the control unit 13 causes the IC Check whether or not the card has been removed and whether or not the entrance passage information is stored. If the IC card is removed and the entry passage information is stored, "Insert the IC card into the ETC on-board unit" Please insert it "with a voice warning, so that users can be aware of forgetting to insert the IC card before starting, and by inserting the IC card immediately, passage trouble at the exit toll gate will occur. Can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the
By inputting the power source and backing up the storage unit 14, the entrance passage information can be stored in a normal memory instead of the nonvolatile memory.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the vehicle start may be detected by the vehicle speed pulse, and when the vehicle is actually started, a warning that the IC card has not been inserted may be warned. In this case, the warning is given after the vehicle has started, but since the warning is given at the same time as the vehicle starts, it is possible to immediately stop and insert the IC card.

[0014]

As described above, the ETC vehicle-mounted device of the present invention is a storage medium for inserting a radio unit for performing radio communication with a roadside device and a storage medium for storing data necessary for automatic toll collection. An insertion unit, a storage unit that stores entrance passage information obtained from a result of wireless communication with an entrance-side roadside device among road-side devices, and detects whether a storage medium is inserted into the storage-medium insertion unit A storage medium detection unit and a control unit that warns that the storage medium has been forgotten to be inserted, and whether the storage medium is inserted into the storage medium insertion unit when the engine key of the vehicle is turned off and then turned on again. Check whether or not the entrance passage information is stored in the storage unit, and if the storage medium is not inserted and the entrance passage information is stored, warn about forgetting to insert the storage medium. Since it was set, I will park in the service area etc. Even if you pulled out the storage medium at the time of, it is possible to notice the insertion forget the storage medium,
It is possible to prevent passage trouble at the exit toll gate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ETC vehicle-mounted device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a normal process of the ETC vehicle-mounted device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a process when the engine key is turned off for parking in the middle of a toll road in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 antenna 12 radio section 13 Control unit 14 Memory 15 HMI department 16 Operation part 17 speakers 18 Display 19 IC card insertion part 20 IC card detector 21 IC card R / W section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wireless unit for performing wireless communication with a roadside device, a storage medium insertion unit for inserting a storage medium for storing data required for automatic toll collection, and an entrance-side roadside unit of the roadside units. A storage unit for storing entrance passage information obtained from a result of wireless communication with the storage medium detection unit for detecting whether or not the storage medium is inserted in the storage medium insertion unit; When turned off and then on again,
It is checked whether or not the storage medium is inserted into the storage medium insertion portion and whether or not the entrance passage information is stored in the storage portion, and the storage medium is not inserted and the entrance An automatic toll collection vehicle-mounted device, comprising: a controller that warns that the storage medium has not been inserted when passage information is stored. 2. The automatic toll collection vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the warning is issued at least by voice or display.