JP2003223660A - Automatic toll collection system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic toll collection system billing a driver without any omission even if the driver performs a fraudulent operation to an on-vehicle device. <P>SOLUTION: This automatic toll collection system performs a first road/ vehicle communication using a first antenna 101 (S31), collects an on-vehicle device ID and an IC card ID (S32), retains the collected on-vehicle device ID and the IC card ID (S33), and performs a second road/vehicle communication using a second antenna 201 (S34). When this fails the system creates full statement data to the IC card obtained through the first road/vehicle communication (S35). When it is successful, the system compares it with the on-vehicle device ID obtained through the first road vehicle communication (S37). This system compares it with the IC card ID obtained through the first road/vehicle communication by the first antenna 101 (S38). When the both show nonconformity, this system creates full statement data to the IC card obtained through the first road/vehicle communication by the first antenna 101 (S39). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic toll collection system for determining a charged vehicle type and toll collection at the same toll gate, and a power source of the onboard device before the driver communicates with the second antenna to the onboard device. Automatic toll collection (ETC (Electron
ic Toll Collection)) system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The ETC system is a system that automatically communicates necessary information between a roadside wireless device installed at a tollgate and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle and automatically charges a toll. , By introducing this system, the vehicle can pass through the toll gate non-stop, and the congestion at the toll gate can be eliminated.

FIG. 6 shows an E adopting a conventional flat-rate system.
It is a perspective view showing an outline of composition of a TC tollgate. In FIG. 6, at the ETC toll gate, six pairs of vehicle detectors 12 to 1 installed at the side of the lane to detect the entry situation of the vehicle 1.
4, a vehicle height measuring device 15 that measures the vehicle height, an axis counter 16 that detects the number of axles of the vehicle 1, a first roadside wireless device 10 and a second roadside wireless device that communicate with the vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle 1. Device 20
And a roadside indicator 18 that indicates whether the vehicle 1 can pass or stops.
And the start controller 19 having a bar that blocks the lane, and the communication between the first roadside wireless device 10 and the second roadside wireless device 20 and the vehicle-mounted device based on the detection information of the vehicle detectors 12 to 14. In addition, the lane server 17 controls the display of the roadside display 18 and the opening and closing of the bar of the start controller 19. Although not shown in FIG. 6, a toll booth server is provided in the toll booth of the ETC system, and the billing data from the lane server 17 and the like are transferred to the existing toll booth data via the toll booth server. The processing device is further connected to a billing system operated by a card company or the like. These will be mentioned again in the description of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ETC system implemented at the ETC tollgate adopting the flat rate system in FIG. 6 will be described. Vehicle detector 12 (also called the first vehicle detector)
The entry of the vehicle 1 is detected by. It is determined that the vehicle is moving forward when the first axis passes through the tread plate on which the axis counter 16 is installed. Next, the vehicle height measuring device 15 measures the vehicle height of the vehicle.

After confirming the entry of the vehicle 1 by the vehicle detector 12,
By the wireless communication (DSRC wireless communication) between the first roadside wireless device 10 installed under the toll gate (not shown) and the vehicle-mounted device (not shown) equipped in the vehicle 1, Information on the inserted storage medium, for example, an IC card, is read.

[0006] Normally, an ETC vehicle has an on-vehicle device (not shown) installed on a dashboard or the like inside the vehicle, and personal information such as an IC card ID and balance information is recorded on the on-vehicle device. An IC card is inserted. When this vehicle-mounted device receives a wireless signal from the first roadside wireless device 10, the vehicle-mounted device ID, the vehicle type information, the vehicle ID stored therein,
The information such as the place of departure and the place of passage and the information such as the ID of the IC card read from the inserted IC card and the balance information are transmitted.

The lane server 17 determines whether or not the communication is normally completed before the vehicle detector 13 (also called the second vehicle detector) detects the entry of the vehicle. Vehicle detector 13
In the case of an ETC vehicle that has been able to normally terminate the communication before the entry of the vehicle is detected in step S1, the roadside indicator 18 is displayed and the bar of the start controller 19 is opened. Vehicles that could not normally terminate the communication before the vehicle detector 13 detects the entry of the vehicle (non-ET
In the case of a C car or an abnormal ETC car), the roadside display 18 displays a stop, the bar of the start control device 19 is not opened, and an appropriate response is taken by the clerk.

Next, when the vehicle detector 14 (also referred to as a third vehicle detector) detects the entry of the vehicle 1, the second roadside wireless device 20 and the vehicle-mounted device (not shown) communicate with each other, and If there is a need to correct the toll based on the vehicle type discrimination result obtained based on the information obtained from the number meter 16, the toll is corrected and written to the IC card inserted in the vehicle-mounted device. When the vehicle detector 14 detects the trailing edge of the vehicle 1, the lane server 17 erases the display on the roadside indicator 18.

Thus, the conventional automatic toll collection (ETC)
In the system, a normal ETC vehicle and other vehicles are distinguished from each other, and the vehicle exit management is performed by opening and closing the bar of the start controller.

By the way, vehicle type information received from the vehicle-mounted device in the road-to-vehicle communication by the first roadside wireless device 10 arranged on the lane at the tollgate as described above, and installed at the position of the first vehicle detector 12. The charging vehicle type is determined based on the number of axes measured by the number of axes counter 16 and the vehicle length measured by the first vehicle detector 12 and the second vehicle detector 13.

If it is necessary to correct the toll according to the vehicle type discrimination result, the second roadside radio device 20 is used to transmit the charged vehicle type and the charged amount to the vehicle-mounted device, and the vehicle-mounted device is inserted into the vehicle-mounted device. By writing to the IC card and transmitting the billing detail data from the lane server 17 to the fee billing system (which will be described later), the corresponding I
Charge the C card.

In the second roadside radio device 20, the determined charging vehicle type is accurately transmitted to the vehicle (vehicle-mounted device) and written in the IC card. Therefore, the first roadside radio device 10 identifies the vehicle for which road-to-vehicle communication has been performed. It needs to be processed. Conventional ETC
The system performs this vehicle identification processing by comparing the vehicle-mounted device IDs.

However, the vehicle identification process in the conventional ETC system as described above has the following problems. Before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second roadside apparatus 20,
There is a problem that the vehicle-mounted device is powered off, road-to-vehicle communication is not established, and the vehicle-mounted device ID cannot be acquired. Before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second roadside apparatus 20,
There is a problem that the IC card cannot be recognized because the IC card is removed from the vehicle-mounted device. Before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second roadside apparatus 20,
There is a problem in that the IC card is replaced with an IC card different from the IC card used in the road-to-vehicle communication of the first roadside apparatus 10, and the IC card has a different ID.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention is an automatic toll collection system for determining a charged vehicle type and toll collection at the same tollgate, and is installed in the vehicle before the driver communicates with the second antenna to the vehicle-mounted device. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic fee collection system that performs a billing process so that there is no omission of billing even if an illegal operation such as power-off of a container, ejection of an IC card, or replacement of an IC card is performed.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the present invention, the vehicle-mounted device is tampered with by an unauthorized operation performed before the road-to-vehicle communication is performed by the second antenna. When it is not completed, the billing process is performed on the IC card received by the road-to-vehicle communication by the first antenna.

With this configuration, the driver turns off the power supply of the vehicle-mounted device, discharges the IC card, and ICs before communicating with the second antenna.
Even if an illegal operation such as card replacement is performed, the charging failure can be prevented by performing the charging process on the IC card that is collected by the first antenna and determined to be normal.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of an automatic toll collection system for determining a charged vehicle type and toll collection at the same toll gate in the embodiment of the present invention. 1, the automatic toll collection (ETC) system of the present invention is basically the same as the conventional automatic toll collection system shown in FIG. 6, but there are problems in the vehicle identification processing of the conventional ETC system (from the above (See) is largely different in the configuration.

Next, referring to FIG. 1, the type of billing vehicle is judged and the fee is collected at the same toll gate in the embodiment of the present invention.
The operation of the TC system 100 will be described. The first vehicle detector 12 detects the entry of the vehicle. It is determined that the vehicle is moving forward when the first axis of the vehicle passes the tread plate on which the axis counter is installed. The installation position of the axis counter is the same as the installation position of the first vehicle detector 12. Next, the vehicle height is measured by the vehicle height measuring device.

After confirming the entry of the vehicle by the first vehicle detector 12, the first vehicle installed under the toll gate (not shown)
Antenna 101 (first roadside apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 6)
Information of the IC card inserted in the vehicle-mounted device 111 is read by wireless communication (DSRC wireless communication) between the vehicle-mounted device 111 mounted on the vehicle).

Normally, the vehicle-mounted device 111 has an IC card I
An IC card (not shown) in which personal information such as D and balance information is recorded is inserted. The vehicle-mounted device 111 is the first
When the wireless signal is received from the antenna 101, the stored vehicle-mounted device ID, vehicle type information, vehicle ID, information such as the place of departure and the place of passage, and the I read from the inserted IC card.
Information such as C card ID and balance information is transmitted.

The lane server 17 determines whether or not the communication is normally completed before the second vehicle detector 13 detects the entry of the vehicle. The communication could be normally terminated before the second vehicle detector 13 detected the entry of the vehicle E
In the case of a TC vehicle, the roadside indicator 18 indicates that traffic is permitted and the bar of the start controller 19 is opened. Vehicles that could not normally terminate the communication before the second vehicle detector 13 detects entry of the vehicle (non-ETC vehicle or abnormal E
In the case of a TC vehicle), the roadside display 18 displays a stop, the bar of the start control device 19 is not opened, and the receipt staff takes appropriate action.

Next, when the vehicle entrance is detected by the third vehicle detector 14, the second antenna 201 (the second antenna 201 shown in FIG. 6) is detected.
Of the roadside wireless device 20) and the vehicle-mounted device 111 perform road-vehicle communication, and information obtained from the above-mentioned axis counter and vehicle length information confirmed by the first vehicle detector 12 and the second vehicle detector 13 If it is necessary to correct the toll based on the vehicle type discrimination result obtained based on the
Writing is performed on the IC card inserted in 11.

The toll booth server 30 of the toll booth 300
1. By transmitting the billing detail data from the lane server 17 to the billing system 501 operated by the card company 500 or the like via the data processing device 401 of the existing billing system 400, billing processing is performed on the corresponding IC card. I do. However, an IC card that can be charged by such a processing flow is the in-vehicle device 1 when communicating with the first antenna 101.
Only in the case of the same IC card that was inserted in 11, the solution to the above-mentioned problems (1) to (3) of vehicle identification processing in the conventional ETC system will be described later. Third
When the vehicle detector 14 detects a vehicle trailing out of the vehicle, the lane server 17 erases the display on the roadside indicator 18.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the positional relationship among various devices arranged in the toll gate lane. In FIG. 2, the first road-to-vehicle communication is executed in the communicable area by the first antenna 101, and then the second road-to-vehicle communication is executed in the communicable area by the second antenna 201. The second antenna 20 in the second road-vehicle communication
1 accurately transmits the determined billing vehicle type to the vehicle-mounted device 111 and writes it in the IC card, so it is necessary to perform identification processing with the vehicle that has performed the first road-vehicle communication performed by the first antenna 101. Performing vehicle identification processing by comparing the vehicle-mounted device IDs obtained by the first and second road-to-vehicle communication is the same as in the conventional ETC system.

FIG. 3 is an operation flow of the ETC system of the present invention showing a solution to the problems (1) to (3) of the vehicle identification processing in the conventional ETC system. In step (abbreviated as S in FIG. 3) 31 of FIG. 3, firstly, the first antenna 101 performs the first road-vehicle communication. Next, at step 32, the on-board device ID of the on-board device 111 and the IC card ID are collected from the IC card.

In step 33, the vehicle-mounted device ID and the IC card ID collected in step 32 are held. Next, in step 34, the second antenna 201 performs the second road-vehicle communication. When the second road-vehicle communication is impossible in step 34 (for example, the power supply of the vehicle-mounted device is cut off or the IC card is ejected), the process proceeds to step 35, and the writing process to the IC card is not performed in step 35, and the first Billing detail data is created for the IC card obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the antenna 101. At the time of this processing, the roadside indicator 18 can display an abnormality in the charge collection. As the display content, for example, "charge collection abnormality" is displayed. Further, since the charge cannot be collected normally, the billing detail data can be created by using the data in which the first-time vehicle-to-vehicle communication is normally performed, whereby the validity of the billing can be secured.

If the second road-to-vehicle communication is possible in step 34, the process proceeds to step 36, and in step 36, the on-board device ID of the on-vehicle device 111 and the ID of the IC card to the IC card by the second road-to-vehicle communication. To collect. Next, in step 37, the first antenna 101
The on-vehicle device ID of the on-vehicle device 111 obtained in the first road-to-vehicle communication is compared.

Further, in step 38, I of the IC card obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101
Compare with D. If they do not match in the comparison in step 38 (for example, IC card exchange), step 3
In step 39, the writing processing for the IC card is not performed in step 39, and the billing detail data is created for the IC card obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101. In addition, at the time of this processing, the roadside display 18,
Anomalies in toll collection can be displayed. As the display content, for example, "charge collection abnormality" is displayed. Further, since the charge cannot be collected normally, the billing detail data can be created by using the data in which the first-time vehicle-to-vehicle communication is normally performed, whereby the validity of the billing can be secured.

If they match in the comparison in step 38, the process proceeds to step 40, and in step 40 the IC
Write to the card.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the vehicle identification processing of the conventional ETC system as described above,
Can solve the problem. That is, even when the vehicle-mounted device 111 is powered off before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second antenna 201 and the second road-to-vehicle communication is not established and the vehicle-mounted device ID cannot be obtained, the above step 35 is performed. As shown in FIG. 5, by creating the billing detail data for the IC card obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101 without performing the writing process to the IC card, at least the legitimacy of billing is ensured. Can be secured. Even when the IC card is removed from the vehicle-mounted device 111 before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second antenna 201 and the ID of the IC card cannot be recognized, the writing process to the IC card is performed as shown in step 39 above. No
I obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101
By creating the billing detail data for the C card, it is possible to ensure the legitimacy of billing at a minimum. Even before the road-to-vehicle communication with the second antenna 201, an IC card different from the IC card at the time of the first road-to-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101 is exchanged, and even if the ID of the IC card is different, As shown in the above step 39, by performing the writing process on the IC card and creating the billing detail data for the IC card obtained by the first inter-vehicle communication in the first antenna 101, the billing can be performed at a minimum. The legitimacy can be secured.

In the operation flow of FIG. 3, the lane server 17 in FIG. 1 has described the writing to the IC card and the creation of the billing detail data. However, various data is transmitted from the lane server 17 to the tollgate server 301 at the tollgate. The notification timing will be described below.

Basically, after the exit of the vehicle from the third vehicle detector 4 is detected, the normal ETC / abnormal ETC / non-ETC determination result and the charging process in the roadside-vehicle communication in the first and second antennas are detected. The data is notified to the tollgate server 301.

When communication with a certain vehicle is completed in the second antenna 201 (including that an abnormality in road-to-vehicle communication has been confirmed) and the vehicle in the island is in correspondence (communication with the first antenna 101). On-board device I kept
When it coincides with D), the communication is completed for all the vehicles existing in front of the vehicle (pseudo communication completion processing). However, the vehicle immediately before (one vehicle before) may be in communication at the same time, so it is treated specially. If the immediately preceding vehicle is communicating or the communication abnormality is undetermined, this vehicle holds the state.

In FIG. 4, the vehicle A immediately in front of the vehicle P in question is shown.
Is not communicating or the communication abnormality has not been determined yet, all the vehicles (vehicles A to D) in the front are pseudo-communications completed, and the lane server 17 notifies the tollgate server 301 (from the island to the vehicles A to D). D is all deleted).

On the other hand, in FIG. 5, all the vehicles (vehicles B to D) in front of the vehicle A are pseudo-communications completed because the vehicle A immediately in front of the vehicle P is communicating or the communication abnormality is undetermined. The lane server 17 notifies the tollgate server 301 (all the vehicles B to D are deleted from the island).

Since two vehicles can communicate at the same time in the ETC system, it is possible that one vehicle is communicating even if the vehicle behind is in the communication completion state first. for that reason,
Even if the vehicle behind is in the communication completed state, if the vehicle in front is communicating, or if the communication error is undetermined, the state of the vehicle behind which the communication is completed is retained, and when the state of the vehicle ahead is confirmed, the tollgate server Notify me.

As described above, the method of notifying the tollgate server according to the present invention performs non-ET by the pseudo communication completion processing.
It is possible to accelerate the notification timing to the tollgate server of car C. In other words, if the non-ETC cars are continuous,
Basically, if the vehicle queue (Queue) does not overflow, the toll booth server is not notified, so a certain number of vehicles need to pass. However, in the present invention, vehicles in front of ETC vehicles are provided on the condition that they are notified in the rear. If the communication is treated as communication completion (pseudo communication completion processing), it is possible to notify the tollgate server before a certain number of vehicles or more pass.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description of the embodiments, according to the present invention, the driver turns off the power supply of the vehicle-mounted device, discharges the IC card, replaces the IC card, etc. before communicating with the second antenna. Even if the operation is performed, the billing process can be performed on the IC card that is collected by the first antenna and is determined to be normal, so that the leakage of billing can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of an automatic toll collection system for determining a charged vehicle type and toll collection at the same toll gate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an overview diagram showing the positional relationship among various devices arranged in a toll gate lane,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the ETC system in the embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a first example showing a timing of notifying data from a lane server to a tollgate server of a tollgate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a second example showing the timing of notifying data from the lane server to the tollgate server of the tollgate according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an outline of a configuration of an ETC tollgate which adopts a conventional flat rate system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 vehicle 2 ETC cars 10 First Roadside Wireless Device 12 Vehicle detector S1 (first vehicle detector) 13 Vehicle detector S2 (second vehicle detector) 14 Vehicle detector S4 (third vehicle detector) 15 Vehicle height measuring device 16 axis counter 17 lane server 18 Roadside display 19 Start controller 20 Second roadside wireless device 100 ETC system 101 first antenna 111 Onboard equipment 201 Second antenna 300 toll gates 301 Tollgate server 400 Existing fee system 401 data processing device 500 card company 501 billing system

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. In a road charge automatic collection system in which vehicle-mounted device information and a storage medium are legally authenticated by a first antenna and billing processing is performed by a second antenna, road-vehicle communication is performed by the second antenna, If the vehicle-mounted device has been previously tampered with and the road-to-vehicle communication has not been completed, a charging process is performed on the storage medium received in the road-to-vehicle communication by the first antenna. Automatic toll collection system. 2. The automatic toll collection system according to claim 1, wherein when the road-to-vehicle communication is not completed, a roadside indicator displays an abnormality in toll collection. 3. When roadside-vehicle communication is impossible due to the illegal operation, writing processing to a storage medium that is detected later is not performed, but is detected first when received by roadside-vehicle communication by the first antenna. The automatic fee collection system according to claim 1, wherein a charging process is performed on the storage medium. 4. The automatic fee collection system according to claim 3, wherein the billing process includes creating billing detail data and transmitting the created billing detail data to a billing system. 5. When the IDs of the storage medium do not match due to the illegal operation, the writing process to the storage medium is not performed, and the charging process is performed on the storage medium received by the roadside-vehicle communication by the first antenna. The method according to claim 1, wherein
Automatic fee collection system described. 6. The automatic fee collection system according to claim 5, wherein the billing process includes creating billing detail data and transmitting the created billing detail data to a billing system. 7. In a road fee automatic collection system in which vehicle-mounted device information and a storage medium are legitimately authenticated by a first antenna and billing processing is performed by a second antenna, road-to-vehicle communication by the second antenna is completed. On the condition that data is notified to the tollgate server about the vehicle, the vehicle in front of the vehicle is treated as communication completed, and notification to the tollgate server can be made before a certain number of vehicles pass through. An automatic toll collection system that features