JP2005122434A - Onboard device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a function for carrying out accurate charging even when an onboard device is used by a plurality of different vehicles. <P>SOLUTION: After detecting the ON signal of an I/G (ignition), this ETC onboard device communicates with an electronic number plate mounted on the vehicle when it is started to acquire vehicle information necessary for using an ETC system from the electronic number plate, and sets up the ETC onboard device. Then, when it is not impossible to acquire any normal information from the electronic number plate, a user is informed of the result by a display part 10 or a speaker 11. Furthermore, after detecting the OFF signal of the I/G, this ETC onboard device erases vehicle information stored in a control part 3 or a memory 9 when it is ended. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle.

  In recent years, an automatic toll collection system (hereinafter referred to as an “ETC system”) that can pay a toll even if a vehicle does not stop on a toll road has started to operate. An ETC system is a vehicle-mounted device that can communicate (hereinafter referred to as an ETC vehicle-mounted device) mounted on a vehicle and enters a dedicated gate where a communication antenna is installed. Dedicated Short Range Communication (communication) communication is used for exchanging information necessary for billing such as vehicle information, and processing such as fee settlement is automatically processed. In order to use such an ETC system, it is necessary to perform setup so that vehicle information of a vehicle on which the ETC on-board device is mounted, for example, information for identifying a vehicle type such as a vehicle, a light vehicle, and a normal vehicle is stored in advance. There is.

In addition, in the conventional ETC on-board device, the vehicle information of the set-up vehicle is not lost even if it is transferred to a vehicle other than the vehicle on which the ETC on-board device is set up. Even when it is installed, there is a problem that billing is performed based on vehicle information at the time of setup.
For example, on toll roads, tolls charged by vehicles such as light cars, ordinary cars, and large cars differ. Therefore, when the ETC on-board device is set up with a light vehicle and then transferred to a large vehicle, the conventional ETC on-vehicle device has a problem that the settlement is performed at the fee of the light vehicle.

Therefore, the vehicle information and the like are stored in the volatile memory provided in the ETC on-vehicle device, and when the power supply to the ETC on-vehicle device is interrupted, the stored vehicle information is deleted, so that There is one that prevents the vehicle information (billing information) of the previous vehicle from being used when being transferred to the vehicle. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-76503 ([0018], [0019], FIG. 1).

  However, the above-mentioned ETC on-vehicle device prevents the reuse of the ETC on-vehicle device removed from the vehicle, and a user who owns a plurality of different vehicles cannot share the ETC on-vehicle device with those vehicles. . Even if the IC card for setup can be read out a plurality of times, when the IC card for setup is used for a vehicle different from the vehicle type, accurate charging by the ETC on-vehicle device is not performed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a function that enables accurate charging even when the same vehicle-mounted device is used in a different vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle-mounted device that settles the fee by sending and receiving the vehicle information stored in the storage medium to and from the billing facility , the communication determining means When it is determined whether communication with the electronic license plate attached to the vehicle is possible and it is determined that communication with the electronic license plate is possible, vehicle information stored in the electronic license plate is acquired by the acquisition unit. Then, when the acquired vehicle information is written in the storage medium in the area where the vehicle information is written by the writing means, and the vehicle information is written in the storage medium, the permission means allows communication with the charging facility. Features.

  Therefore, unless the vehicle-mounted device can communicate with the electronic license plate, communication with the charging facility is permitted, and new vehicle information cannot be acquired from the electronic license plate, communication with the charging facility is not permitted.

  For this reason, if the correct vehicle information from the electronic license plate is not written even if it is used on a different vehicle such as by changing the on-vehicle device, communication with the billing facility is not permitted. Can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to solve the problem that charging is performed based on the information on the contracted vehicle when the conventional vehicle-mounted device is mounted on a device other than the contracted vehicle.

In addition, when communication with the electronic license plate is possible, the vehicle information stored in the storage medium of the vehicle-mounted device is written with accurate vehicle information from the electronic license plate. Even when used in a vehicle, the previous vehicle information cannot be used. Furthermore, since accurate vehicle information of the mounted vehicle is acquired from the electronic license plate, it is possible to settle a fee based on the accurate vehicle information.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle-mounted device that settles the fee by sending and receiving the vehicle information stored in the storage medium to and from the billing facility , the acquisition means via the communication means Vehicle information stored in an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle is acquired. The vehicle information acquired by the storage means is stored in a volatile storage medium.

Thereby, the vehicle-mounted device that can communicate with the electronic license plate acquires accurate vehicle information of the mounted vehicle from the electronic license plate, and can settle the fee based on the accurate vehicle information. And when changing onboard equipment etc., since the power supply to onboard equipment stops once, the vehicle information stored in a volatile storage medium will lose | disappear. Therefore, if accurate vehicle information is not obtained from the electronic license plate even if it is used in a different vehicle, vehicle information is not stored in the storage medium of the in-vehicle device, so that the in-vehicle device cannot be charged. Thereby, when the conventional vehicle-mounted device is mounted on a vehicle other than the contract vehicle, it is possible to solve the problem that charging is performed based on the contract vehicle information.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle-mounted device that settles the fee by sending and receiving the vehicle information stored in the storage medium to and from the billing facility , the acquisition means via the communication means Vehicle information stored in an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle is acquired. The vehicle information acquired by the storage means is stored in a nonvolatile storage medium, and the vehicle information stored in the storage medium is deleted by the deletion means when the vehicle is parked.

That is, the vehicle-mounted device that can communicate with the electronic license plate obtains accurate vehicle information of the mounted vehicle from the electronic license plate, and can settle the fee based on the accurate vehicle information. And when changing onboard equipment etc., since it is thought that a vehicle is in a parking state, when a vehicle parks, vehicle information is erase | eliminated by an erasure | elimination means. Therefore, even if the vehicle is used in a different vehicle, it is impossible to charge with the vehicle-mounted device unless accurate vehicle information is written from the electronic license plate. In addition, if it is possible to communicate with the electronic license plate after changing the vehicle-mounted device, accurate vehicle information is obtained and stored in a storage medium, so that it is possible to settle the fee based on the accurate vehicle information Become. Thereby, when the conventional vehicle-mounted device is mounted on a vehicle other than the contract vehicle, it is possible to solve the problem that charging is performed based on the contract vehicle information.

  Furthermore, in the invention according to claim 4, in the invention according to claim 3, the parking state is a state where at least the ignition is stopped, the hand brake is operated, the vehicle accessory is turned off, and the moving distance for a certain time is less than the predetermined distance. The moving speed is less than a predetermined speed, or one of the states is a combination thereof.

  Therefore, by setting the state in which the vehicle-mounted device can be removed as the parking state, it is possible to erase the vehicle information stored in the storage medium before the vehicle-mounted device is removed.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in the first to fourth aspects of the invention, the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit is determined by the determination unit to determine whether the vehicle information is usable. If it is determined, communication with the billing facility is prohibited by the prohibiting means.

  That is, when normal vehicle information cannot be obtained from the electronic license plate, communication with the billing facility is prohibited so that the vehicle-mounted device does not settle the fee based on the abnormal vehicle information. This makes it possible to prevent billing based on incomplete information when information fragmentation occurs during communication or when all necessary information is not available. it can.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an ETC vehicle-mounted device and can communicate with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an ETC on-vehicle device in the present embodiment. The ETC vehicle-mounted device includes an antenna 1, an ETC communication unit 2, a control unit 3, an SP communication unit 4, an antenna 5, an SP interface circuit unit 6, an IC card 7, an IC card interface circuit unit 8, a memory 9, a display unit 10, and a speaker. 11 and a power supply circuit 12. The antenna 1 is a small antenna such as a loop antenna or a microstrip antenna, and is used to perform wireless communication between a dedicated gate (hereinafter referred to as an ETC gate) on which a communication antenna is installed and an ETC vehicle-mounted device. is there. The ETC communication unit 2 is configured by a communication circuit, and performs signal processing on the reception signal of the antenna 1 and outputs it to the control unit 3, or signal processing of transmission data from the control unit 3 to convert it into a transmission signal, to the ETC gate It is for transmitting via the antenna 1. The ETC vehicle-mounted device performs wireless communication with the ETC gate by the antenna 1 and the ETC communication unit 2 and transmits / receives information necessary for billing. The control unit 3 is a computer means composed of a well-known CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line connecting these components, and is used for communication and information acquisition performed by the ETC on-board unit. A control device that controls processing.

  The SP communication unit 4 and the antenna 5 are communication means for performing transmission / reception of information with an in-vehicle device such as an electronic license plate by wireless communication, and are configured similarly to the antenna 1 and the ETC communication unit 2. The SP interface circuit unit 6 is an in-vehicle LAN interface circuit for communicating with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle and with other in-vehicle devices. In this embodiment, the communication with the electronic license plate may be either wireless communication or wired communication, and may be configured by any of the SP communication unit 4 and the antenna 5 or the SP interface circuit unit 6.

  The IC card interface circuit unit 8 is a unit into which an IC card 7 necessary for using the ETC system is inserted, and necessary information is read and written by the ETC gate. The memory 9 as a storage medium is configured by a known RAM (volatile readable / writable storage medium) or the like, and temporarily stores information from an electronic license plate or an ETC communication gate.

  The display unit 10 includes a well-known LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), LED (Light Emitting Diode), and the like, and is used to notify visual information to the user. And the speaker 11 is comprised similarly to the conventional one, and alert | reports acoustic information. The power supply circuit 12 is for supplying electric power necessary for the operation of the ETC vehicle-mounted device.

  The antenna 1 and the ETC communication unit 2 are configured in the same manner as the SP communication unit 4 and the antenna 5, and can be shared.

  The ETC vehicle-mounted device having the above configuration acquires vehicle information necessary for using the ETC system from the electronic license plate by communicating with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle at the time of startup, and sets up the ETC vehicle-mounted device. If normal information cannot be obtained from the electronic license plate, the user is notified of this. Furthermore, the stored vehicle information is deleted at the end.

  Such processing in the ETC on-vehicle device will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. A program for executing the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is stored in the ROM of the control unit 3.

  In FIG. 2, it is determined in step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 100 whether or not an ON signal or the like of an ignition (hereinafter abbreviated as I / G) is detected. This determination is a trigger for starting the ETC on-vehicle device, and is repeated until the I / G is turned on. When the engine key is turned and an operation for starting the engine is performed, an I / G ON signal is detected (S100: YES), and the process proceeds to S101. In S101, vehicle information is acquired from the electronic license plate, and the vehicle information is temporarily stored in the memory 9. In addition, when communication with an electronic license plate is impossible, since vehicle information cannot be acquired, information is not stored in the memory 9.

  In S102, it is determined whether or not the information stored in the memory 9 is normal. The determination performed here verifies whether the information from the electronic license plate is not fragmented or whether all necessary information is available, and determines whether the information has been acquired normally. When it is determined that the acquired information is not normal (S102: NO), an abnormality of the information acquired by the display unit 10 or the speaker 11 provided in the ETC on-vehicle device is notified in S105. Thereafter, in S106, the communication of the ETC on-vehicle device is prohibited, and a prohibition signal for prohibiting the communication of the electronic license plate is output, and the processing is terminated. Moreover, in this S102, it is determined whether vehicle information was obtained from the electronic license plate, in other words, whether communication between the electronic license plate and the ETC on-vehicle device is possible.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S102 that the information acquired from the electronic license plate is normal, that is, the ETC on-board unit and the electronic license plate are normally connected (S102: YES), the control unit in S103. The vehicle information stored in the memory 9 is written into the RAM 3. In S104, the communication function of the ETC on-vehicle device is activated. Therefore, the vehicle information obtained from the electronic license plate and stored in the RAM is used for communication performed between the ETC on-vehicle device and the ETC gate thereafter.

  The process shown in FIG. 2 is a process that is performed when the ETC on-vehicle device is activated, and is repeatedly executed. And the process at the time of completion | finish of the ETC onboard equipment performed in parallel with the process at the time of starting of an ETC onboard equipment is demonstrated below using FIG.

  In FIG. 3, in S200, it is determined whether an I / G OFF signal or the like has been detected. This determination is a trigger for the termination process of the ETC on-vehicle device, and until the I / G OFF signal is detected (S200: No), the communication process with the communication gate of the ETC system is performed in S203 as in the conventional case. .

  On the other hand, when the engine key is turned and an operation for stopping the engine is performed, an I / G OFF signal is detected (S200: YES), and obtained from the electronic license plate stored in the ETC on-vehicle device in S201. In order to erase the vehicle information, the power supply to the RAM is cut off. Thereafter, the power of the ETC on-vehicle device is turned off in S202, and the process is terminated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle starts (when I / G is ON), the ETC on-board device is mounted by acquiring vehicle information from the electronic license plate every time the ETC on-board device is activated. It is possible to obtain accurate information about the vehicle that is on. In addition, when normal information cannot be acquired, it is possible to prevent unauthorized charging by notifying the user of the fact and prohibiting the communication function. And since the vehicle information stored in the ETC vehicle-mounted device is erased when the vehicle stops (when I / G is OFF), it is possible to prevent the vehicle information from being misused.

  In the present embodiment, the vehicle information is stored in the RAM, but an erasing operation may be performed in S201 using an EEPROM, a flash memory, or the like as a rewritable nonvolatile memory. Further, the vehicle information that is always stored may be overwritten with the acquired vehicle information without erasing the vehicle information in S201.

  Then, by determining the I / G state in S100 and S200, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is in a parking state, and the ETC on-board device is started and terminated in conjunction with it, but only the I / G ON / OFF signal In addition, the ETC on-board device may be activated and terminated according to the operation / release of the handbrake, ON / OFF of the vehicle accessory, the movement distance for a certain time, the movement speed, and the like. In this case, if the handbrake is released, the vehicle accessory is turned on, and the moving distance for a predetermined time is a predetermined distance or more and the moving speed is a predetermined speed or more, an affirmative determination is made in S100. When the handbrake is activated, the vehicle accessory is turned off, the moving distance for a predetermined time is less than the predetermined distance, and the moving speed is less than the predetermined speed, an affirmative determination is made in S200.

  In addition, since the ETC in-vehicle device according to the present invention can be used by being transferred to a plurality of different vehicles, the user is restricted by the IC card to be used, the password is entered by the operation switch, or the user owns the device. The user may be restricted by unlocking the function of the ETC on-board device by authentication using a mobile phone, and theft of the ETC on-board device may be prevented.

  Furthermore, when the power supply of the ETC on-board unit is performed by the secondary battery 13 as shown in FIG. 4, the charging circuit 14 is operated only when the communication with the electronic license plate is confirmed by the control unit 3, The battery may be charged from the + B supply terminal. At that time, the charging start timing is determined after normal vehicle information has been acquired from the electronic license plate in S102 shown in FIG. 2 (S102: YES).

  In addition, the present invention enables not only charging facilities on toll roads but also normal charging at toll parking lots that are charged according to the vehicle type and charging facilities for restricting entry into the city according to the vehicle type. The present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

It is a block diagram of the ETC onboard equipment which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the process performed with an ETC onboard equipment at the time of starting of a vehicle in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the process performed with an ETC onboard equipment at the time of completion | finish of a vehicle in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the ETC onboard equipment when the ETC onboard equipment which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is a battery type.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna 2 ... ETC communication part 3 ... Control part 4 ... SP communication part 5 ... Antenna 6 ... SP interface circuit part 7 ... IC card 8 ... IC card Interface circuit unit 9 ... Memory 10 ... Display unit 11 ... Speaker 12 ... Power supply circuit

Claims (5)

In the in-vehicle device that settles the fee by sending and receiving vehicle information stored in the storage medium with the billing facility,
Communication determining means for determining whether communication with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle is possible;
An acquisition means for acquiring the vehicle information stored in the electronic license plate when the communication determination means determines that communication with the electronic license plate is possible;
Writing means for writing and storing the vehicle information acquired by the acquiring means in the vehicle information writing area of the storage medium;
Permission means for permitting communication with the billing facility when vehicle information is written by the writing means;
A vehicle-mounted device comprising: In the in-vehicle device that settles the fee by sending and receiving vehicle information stored in the storage medium with the billing facility,
A communication means for communicating with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle;
Obtaining means for obtaining the vehicle information stored in the electronic license plate via the communication means;
Storage means for storing the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition means in the volatile storage medium;
A vehicle-mounted device comprising: In the in-vehicle device that settles the fee by sending and receiving vehicle information stored in the storage medium with the billing facility,
A communication means for communicating with an electronic license plate attached to the vehicle;
Obtaining means for obtaining the vehicle information stored in the electronic license plate via the communication means;
Storage means for storing the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition means in the nonvolatile storage medium;
An on-vehicle device comprising: erasing means for erasing vehicle information stored in the storage medium when the vehicle is parked. The parking state is at least one of an ignition stop, a hand brake operation, a vehicle accessory OFF, a state in which the movement distance for a certain period of time is less than a predetermined distance, and a state in which the movement speed is less than a predetermined speed. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 3, which is in a combined state. Determining means for determining whether or not the vehicle information acquired by the acquiring means is usable;
And prohibiting means for prohibiting transmission / reception of vehicle information with the billing facility,
5. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein when the vehicle information is determined to be unusable by the determination unit, the prohibition unit prohibits communication with the billing facility.

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