JP2004185128A - Toll information collecting system and on-vehicle notification unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toll information collecting system capable of collecting the toll information of a pay road always updated into the latest status and an on-vehicle notification unit. <P>SOLUTION: A navigation device 100 connected to ETC on-vehicle equipment 110 is mounted on a vehicle, and when original toll information read and displayed from incorporated media 101 before a vehicle passes an ETC road machine 500 is different from the latest toll information actually paid by the ETC on-vehicle machine 110, the paid latest toll information is transmitted to a toll information storing center 300, and the latest toll information is stored, and the stored latest toll information is transmitted in response to a request from the navigation device 100. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a toll information collection system and an in-vehicle guidance device which collect and accumulate the latest toll information on a toll road, and which can provide the latest toll information to the outside on demand.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, toll information on toll roads installed in in-vehicle guidance devices is composed of toll information published by each road authority, plus original survey result data from each device manufacturer and database maintenance company. . The toll information published by each road corporation is released at different times. For example, in the case of the Japan Highway Corporation, new tolls are announced every April, but other road corporations (Urban Expressway: Metropolitan Expressway, Nagoya Expressway, Nagoya Expressway) In other cases, the tolls are not announced on a regular basis, and each device manufacturer and database maintenance company investigate and obtain their own toll information.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, after the deadline of the survey results or after the toll data obtained by the above survey has been loaded into the on-board guidance device, one of the road corporations may revise the toll, It is difficult to obtain the latest toll information in a timely manner.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toll information collection system and an in-vehicle guidance device capable of obtaining the latest toll information on a toll road in a timely manner. .
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the invention described in claim 1, a toll information storage facility capable of collecting and accumulating toll information on a toll road and providing the toll information to the outside on demand, A toll information collection system comprising: an automatic payment unit for performing automatic payment; and an in-vehicle device for displaying the toll information, wherein the in-vehicle device stores initial toll information of a toll road. A comparing unit that compares the latest toll information actually paid by the automatic payment unit with the initial toll information read from the storage unit based on the travel section of the toll road where the vehicle has actually traveled. Means, when the comparing means determines that the latest toll information is different from the initial toll information, transmits at least the latest toll information to the toll information storage facility. Characterized in that and a communication unit that.
[0006]
As a result, the latest toll information paid on various toll roads can be transmitted to the toll information storage facility, collected and stored, and the latest toll information can be provided to the outside from this storage facility in a timely manner. become.
[0007]
In the invention described in claim 2, the on-vehicle device includes a determination unit that determines whether a latest toll paid by the automatic payment unit is a discounted toll, and the determination unit includes a discounted toll. When it is determined that the fee is a discount fee, the information is added to the fee information storage facility, and is transmitted to the fee information storage facility.
[0008]
As a result, the fee information storage facility can determine whether or not the received information is information relating to the discount fee, based on the presence or absence of the determination information.
[0009]
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the fee information storage facility converts the received fee information into a regular fee when the received fee information is information of a discount fee, and stores the converted fee.
[0010]
According to the invention described in claim 3, the toll information storage facility can convert the latest toll information, which is a discounted rate, into regular toll information. Therefore, even when the latest toll information that is not a discount rate is not received, the conversion is performed. Toll information that has been used can be used, and information can be collected efficiently.
[0011]
In the invention according to claim 4, the fee information storage facility performs a conversion based on information on a section in which the vehicle has traveled when converting the received discount fee information into a regular fee. I do.
[0012]
As a result, the toll storage facility can convert the received discount rate information into a regular toll even if the discount rate is not uniform and is discounted according to the traveling section of the vehicle.
[0013]
The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the toll information storage facility transmits recent toll information provided internally in response to a request from the vehicle.
[0014]
As a result, the latest toll information can be updated and stored in the storage means, and the latest toll information can be displayed.
[0015]
According to the invention described in claim 6, there is provided an automatic payment means for automatically paying a toll at a toll pay station, and a storage means for storing initial toll information of a toll road, so that a vehicle approaches the toll pay place. And navigation means for displaying the initial toll information read from the storage means based on the travel section of the toll road where the vehicle actually traveled, and the navigation means collects toll information of the toll road. An in-vehicle guidance apparatus configured to receive toll information transmitted from a toll information storage facility to be stored, and to update the initial toll information stored in the storage means, wherein the navigation means includes: Comparing means for comparing the latest toll information actually paid by the automatic payment means with the initial toll information read from the storage means; And means the latest toll information, if the the original toll information is determined to differ, characterized in that and a communication means for transmitting at least the latest toll information to said charge information storage facility.
[0016]
As a result, when approaching the toll pay station, it is possible to always keep the toll information read from the storage means up to date.
[0017]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a toll information collection system 400, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an in-vehicle device 200 as a travel guidance device in the system 400.
[0018]
In FIG. 1, the in-vehicle device 200 includes a navigation device 100 and an ETC in-vehicle device 110.
[0019]
The navigation device 100 has a location function for confirming the position of the vehicle and a route guidance function for guiding a route to a destination. The navigation device 100 is provided to operate in cooperation with the on-board ETC device 110. It is connected so that various information is provided from the vehicle-mounted device 110. The given various information is transmitted from the navigation device 100 to the toll information storage center 300 forming a toll information storage facility, and, in response to a request from the navigation device 100, the latest toll from the center 300. The information is received and stored in the built-in media 101 (see FIG. 2) in the road map data unit 1. The navigation device 100 corresponds to a navigation unit described in the claims.
[0020]
The ETC on-board unit 110 performs toll payment processing with the ETC road unit 500 by wireless communication using a DSRC communication protocol. Specifically, it reads the user's personal information held by an ETC card (not shown) inserted by the user and information on the point where the vehicle entered the toll road, transmits the information to the ETC road machine 500 from the ETC antenna 110a, and transmits the information to the ETC road machine 500. Receives the toll information determined based on the travel section of the toll road where the vehicle actually traveled, writes the actually paid toll information on the ETC card, and transmits the information to the navigation device 100. The transmitted navigation device 100 displays this information on the display device 5. The ETC on-board unit 110 corresponds to an automatic fee payment unit described in the claims.
[0021]
The charge information storage center 300 receives, collects, accumulates and collects the latest payment rate information transmitted from the in-vehicle device 200 mounted on various vehicles, or the navigation device 100 in the on-vehicle devices 200a and 200b, and responds to a request. It is a computer that provides the latest toll information to the outside. A communication unit 310 that receives information transmitted from a plurality of vehicles traveling on various toll roads and, when receiving a request signal from the vehicle, transmits the latest toll information to the request vehicle; The storage unit 330 for storing information and the latest toll information received from the vehicle are stored in the storage unit 330. If the received information includes the discounted toll information, the received And a calculation unit 320 for converting the toll information.
[0022]
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inside of the navigation device 100 described above. The navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment includes a road map data unit 1, an operation switch group 2 for inputting various commands to the device 100, and a remote control terminal 3a capable of inputting various commands similar to the operation switch group 2. (Hereinafter referred to as a remote controller), a remote controller sensor 3 for inputting a signal from a remote controller, an external interface 4, a display device 5 for performing various displays such as a toll display screen, a map display screen, a TV screen, and a speaker 6. A communication unit 7, a position detection unit 10 for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and the above-described road map data unit 1, operation switch group 2, remote control sensor 3, external interface 4, and input from the position detection unit 10 A navigation control circuit 20 that executes various processes and controls the display device 5, the speaker 6, and the communication unit 7 is provided.
[0023]
The road map data unit 1 reads from the internal medium 101 various kinds of data including so-called map matching data for improving the position detection accuracy and road data representing road connections. The built-in medium 101 may be constituted by a hard disk drive for writing information received by the communication unit 7.
[0024]
The road data stored in the built-in media 101 is one in which a plurality of nodes such as intersections are connected by links to form map information, and for each link, a unique number (link ID) for specifying the link, Link information including link length indicating the length of the link, x and y coordinates of the start and end of the link, road width of the link, and road type (indicating road information such as toll road) is stored. I have.
[0025]
In addition to the road data described above, various data stored in the built-in media 101 include toll information on a toll road, position information on a tollgate where the ETC road machine 500 is installed, and guidance information for guiding to the ETC road machine 500. And facility index information.
[0026]
The operation switch group 2 is configured integrally with a display device 5 described later, and includes touch switches set on a display screen, mechanical key switches provided around the display device 5, and the like. The touch switch is composed of an infrared sensor which is arranged vertically and horizontally on the screen of the display device 5. For example, when the infrared light is blocked by a finger or a touch pen or the like, the blocked position becomes a two-dimensional coordinate value (x, y). Is detected as As a result, a predetermined instruction can be input by directly touching the display screen as described later.
[0027]
The remote control sensor 3 is a photo sensor that receives a signal from the remote control 3a and inputs the signal to a navigation control circuit 20 described later. It is arranged near the driver's seat and is electrically connected to the navigation control circuit 20.
[0028]
The external interface 4 is for exchanging data with the on-board ETC device 110.
[0029]
The display device 5 is a color display device in the present embodiment. The screen of the display device 5 includes a mark indicating the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection unit 10, the road data input by the road map data unit 1, and a map. The additional data such as the guide route, the name, and the mark displayed above can be displayed in a superimposed manner. In addition, information for guidance and guidance and information for alerting can be displayed.
[0030]
The speaker 6 notifies the user of audio information for various kinds of guidance and guidance processed by the navigation control circuit 20.
[0031]
The communication unit 7 is a communication line modem, such as a mobile phone, for communicating with the toll information storage center 300. This is a communication unit different from the well-known VICS (traffic information service system). The communication unit is connected to a built-in media 101 included in the road map data unit 1 and an external interface 4 described later via a navigation control circuit 20 to transmit signals. are doing. The communication unit 7 corresponds to a communication unit described in the claims.
[0032]
The position detection unit 10 receives a transmission radio wave from a GPS (Global Positioning System) artificial satellite via a GPS antenna, and detects a position, a direction, a speed, and the like of the vehicle, and a GPS receiver 11, which is added to the vehicle. A gyroscope 12 for detecting the magnitude of the rotational motion, a vehicle speed sensor 13 for detecting a traveling distance of the vehicle, which includes a distance sensor and a wheel sensor, and a geomagnetic sensor 14 for detecting an absolute azimuth based on geomagnetism. And Each of the sensors 11 to 14 has an error having a different property, and is configured to be used while complementing each other. It should be noted that depending on the accuracy, only a part of the above-described sensors 11 to 14 may be used, or a sensor for calculating the direction by accumulating the steering angles of the vehicle obtained from the rotation difference between the left and right steered wheels and the like. Etc. may be used.
[0033]
The navigation control circuit 20 mainly includes a well-known microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM 21 and a ROM 22. The navigation control circuit 20 receives the current position of the vehicle based on each detection signal from the position detection unit 10 and the road map data unit 1. Based on the processing of displaying a map or the like near the current position read on the display screen on the display screen and the facility index information stored in the road map data unit 1, the facility as the destination is selected according to the operation of the operation switches 2 and the remote controller. A so-called navigation process, such as a destination selection process, automatically selects an optimum route from the current position to the destination, and provides guidance according to the selected route. As a method for automatically setting the optimum route, a method such as the Dijkstra method is known. Then, the guidance route is displayed on the road map on the display device 5 to guide the driver to an appropriate route.
[0034]
Next, a control flow regarding collection of toll information in the toll information collection system 400 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0035]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process performed by the navigation device 100 at a toll payment place and a control flow for transmitting the latest toll information to the toll information storage center 300.
[0036]
In step S1, information indicating that the vehicle has approached the entrance of the toll road where the ETC road machine 500 is installed is obtained. In the vicinity of the entrance of the toll road where the ETC road machine 500 is installed, there is an area for transmitting advance notice information to inform the vehicle in advance that the ETC road machine is installed, and the vehicle enters the area. Then, ETC in-vehicle device 110 receives the notice information. At the subsequent step S2, it is determined from the notice information received that the vehicle is approaching the ETC road machine 500. In step S3, the navigation device 100 reads the original toll information from the built-in media 101 based on the travel section information of the toll road on which the vehicle actually traveled, and displays the original toll information on the display device 5 in step S4. indicate. The vehicle enters the ETC on-road unit 500, and communication relating to actual toll collection is performed between the on-board ETC unit 110 and the ETC on-road unit 500. Then, in step S5, the information on the amount of the toll actually paid is transmitted from the on-board ETC device 110 to the navigation device 100. As a method of calculating the travel section information, there is a method of calculating the travel section by detecting the position information of the toll pay point by the navigation device 100 alone or receiving the position information from the ETC road machine 500.
[0037]
In step S6, the latest toll information is displayed on the display device 5.
[0038]
In step S7, the initial toll information displayed by the navigation device 100 in step S4 is compared with the latest toll information transmitted from the ETC on-board unit 110 in step S6. finish. If it is determined that they are different, the process proceeds to step S8. The processing in step S7 corresponds to the comparing means described in the claims.
[0039]
In step S8, it is determined whether or not the latest toll information received from the in-vehicle ETC device 110 in step S5 is discount rate information (determination information). This determination is made based on the information on the discount rate received by the ETC on-board unit 110 during the communication regarding the payment made between the on-board ETC unit 110 and the ETC on-road unit 500. If the information on the discount rate is not included in the received information or the discount rate is 0 (zero), the toll actually paid by the ETC on-vehicle device 110 to the ETC road device 500 is equal to the discount fee. Indicates that there is no. Therefore, if the latest fee actually paid is the discounted fee, the process proceeds to step S9, and a process of adding a discount flag to the latest toll fee information actually paid by the on-board ETC device 110 is performed. Move to S10. If the latest toll actually paid by the ETC in-vehicle device 110 is not a discounted fee, the process directly proceeds to step S10. The processing in step S8 corresponds to the determination means described in the claims.
[0040]
In step S10, for the latest toll information, a point stored in the RAM 21 in the navigation control circuit 20 from the point at which the vehicle starts traveling on the toll road (entrance inter) to the point at which the vehicle has passed the ETC road machine 500 ( The travel section information up to the exit interchange is added, and in step S11, the latest toll information is transmitted from the communication unit 7 to the toll information storage center 300, and the flow ends.
[0041]
Next, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the calculation unit 320 from when the toll information storage center 300 receives and stores the latest toll information transmitted from the navigation device 100 described above.
[0042]
In step S21, the communication unit 310 determines whether or not the latest fee information has been received from the navigation device 100. If it is determined that the latest fee information has been received, the process proceeds to step S22, where the discount flag is included in the received latest fee information. Is determined. If it is determined that the discount flag is included, the process proceeds to step S23, where a regular toll is calculated based on the discount rate information included in the received latest fee information, and the storage unit 330 (step S24). Database) and the flow ends.
[0043]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the navigation device 100 when the above-described navigation device 100 transmits a signal requesting the latest toll information to the fee information storage center 300.
[0044]
As step S31, the navigation device 100 transmits a request signal. In step S32, it is determined whether or not new toll information has been received from the toll information storage center 300. If it is determined that new toll information has been received, the process proceeds to step S33, where the information is updated and stored in the built-in medium 101, and this flow ends. .
[0045]
As described above, the built-in medium 101 is desirably a writable medium. Therefore, since the received information cannot be written on a non-writable medium such as a CD-ROM, it is preferable to configure the medium with a medium such as a DVD-RAM or a hard disk.
[0046]
With the configuration and operation described above, it is possible to always obtain updated toll information on a toll road.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an automatic toll information updating system 400.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inside of the navigation device 100.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart relating to transmission of fee information of the navigation device 100.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart relating to control for storing the latest fee information received by the fee information storage center 300;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart relating to control for storing the latest fee information received by the navigation device 100;
[Explanation of symbols]
1 road map data section (storage means)
4 External interface 5 Display device 7 Communication unit (communication means)
10 position detection unit 100 navigation device (navigation means)
100a Communication antenna 101 Internal media (storage means)
110 ETC on-board equipment (automatic fee payment means)
110a ETC antenna 200 In-vehicle device 300 Toll information storage center 400 Toll information collection system 500 ETC roadside device

Claims (6)

A toll information storage facility that can collect and store toll information on toll roads and provide this toll information to the outside upon request;
A toll information collection system comprising: an automatic payment unit for automatically paying a toll at a toll payment point; and an in-vehicle device for displaying information about the toll.
The on-vehicle device, a storage unit in which toll information of a toll road is stored,
A comparison unit that compares the latest toll information actually paid by the automatic payment unit with the initial toll information read from the storage unit based on a travel section of a toll road where the vehicle actually traveled;
A communication unit that transmits at least the latest toll information to the toll information storage facility when the comparing unit determines that the latest toll information is different from the initial toll information. Charge information collection system. The in-vehicle device includes a determination unit configured to determine whether the toll paid by the automatic payment unit is a discounted toll,
The communication means is characterized in that, when the discriminating means determines that the fare is a discounted fee, discriminating information indicating a discounted fare is added to the latest toll information and transmitted to the fare information storage facility. The toll information collection system according to claim 1, wherein: The method according to claim 2, wherein, when the toll information storage facility receives the latest toll information in a form in which the discrimination information is added, the latest toll information is converted into regular toll information and stored. The toll information collection system described. When converting the latest toll information indicating the discounted rate into the regular toll information, the toll information storage facility receives the information of the traveling section actually traveled from the on-vehicle device and based on this information. The toll information collection system according to claim 3, wherein the conversion is performed. The said toll information storage facility transmits the latest toll information to collect and accumulate inside according to the request from the said vehicle-mounted device, and updates and memorizes in the said storage means, The Claims characterized by the above-mentioned. The toll information collection system described in Crab. An automatic payment means for automatically paying tolls at a toll payment point;
The vehicle has storage means for storing initial toll information of the toll road, and when the vehicle approaches the toll payout point, the initial read out from the storage means based on the travel section of the toll road where the vehicle actually traveled. Navigation means for displaying toll information,
The navigation means receives toll information transmitted from a toll information storage facility that collects and accumulates toll information on toll roads, and updates the initial toll information stored in the storage means. An on-board guidance device,
A comparing unit that compares the latest toll information actually paid by the automatic payment unit with the initial toll information read from the storage unit;
When the comparing means determines that the latest toll information is different from the initial toll information, a communication means is provided for transmitting at least the latest toll information to the fare information storage facility. In-vehicle guidance device.

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