JP2005202848A - Automatic toll collection system for toll road and onboard etc device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure that a tolling process is carried out at an exit toll gate even if communication using a second antenna at a double-antenna type entrance toll gate has failed. <P>SOLUTION: When communication with an onboard ETC device is made using a double-antenna system at an entrance toll gate and entrance information is written on an IC card inserted in the onboard ETC device in order to collect fees using a distance-based system, of the information obtained through communication with a first antenna at the entrance toll gate, only the minimum part of the information required for the tolling process at the exit toll gate is written by the onboard ETC device onto the IC card immediately after the information has been obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic toll collection (Electronic Toll Collection: ETC) system for a toll road and an ETC on-board device used therefor.

  In recent years, ETC systems have been introduced in various places for the purpose of eliminating vehicle traffic congestion in the vicinity of toll gates on toll roads. In this ETC system, when a vehicle in which an IC card storing a user ID, a vehicle number (number plate number), entrance / exit information, etc. is inserted into the ETC on-board unit passes through the ETC lane of the toll gate, This is a system in which information necessary for fee payment is communicated wirelessly with a device, and the fee is automatically paid without the assistance of a staff member.

The ETC system by the Japan Highway Public Corporation is operating on domestic highways. Among the ETC systems of the Japan Highway Public Corporation, at the entrance toll gate of the ETC system that collects tolls using the distance collection method, the first and second antennas are installed from the entrance side. Communication required for toll collection is performed between the ETC and the ETC on-board unit mounted on the vehicle.
Among these, in communication with the first antenna, the onboard unit ID registered in the onboard unit from the ETC onboard unit side, the vehicle number on which the onboard unit is installed, the onboard unit specific information such as vehicle type information, the IC inserted into the ETC onboard unit The IC card number, vehicle number, vehicle type, contract information such as expiration date, past traffic history information, etc. recorded on the card (ETC card) are transmitted to the first antenna. On the other hand, from the first antenna side, entrance information including the entrance toll gate number and the entrance toll gate passage date / time, on-vehicle equipment instruction information on whether or not to pass, traffic history information, etc. are transmitted to the ETC on-board equipment.

Further, in the communication at the second antenna, OBE specific information, contract information, and the like are transmitted from the ETC on-vehicle device side, and on-vehicle device instruction information, entrance information, traffic history information, and the like are transmitted from the second antenna.
Among these pieces of information, information necessary for the billing process at the exit toll gate is included in the entrance information. The entrance information includes the vehicle type discrimination information of the passing vehicle determined by the vehicle type discrimination device installed near the entrance of the entrance toll gate, in addition to the entrance toll gate number and the entrance toll gate passage date and time. The vehicle type discrimination information includes appearance information such as the vehicle height, vehicle length, vehicle weight, and the number of axles of the passing vehicle, a license plate number read by a CCD camera, and the like.

  However, this vehicle type discrimination information includes items such as vehicle height that cannot be detected in time for communication with the first antenna. For this reason, in the 2nd antenna, the entrance information which added the vehicle type discrimination | determination information obtained after that to the entrance information transmitted with the 1st antenna is transmitted to an ETC onboard equipment. The entrance information is written on an IC card inserted into the ETC on-board device, and the contents are read at the exit toll gate by communication with the antenna installed at the exit toll booth and used for billing processing.

  In this way, the entrance information is transmitted twice to the ETC on-board device by the first and second antennas. Since the entrance information transmitted by the second antenna is information obtained by adding new information to the entrance information at the first antenna, the entrance information received by the second antenna is written to the IC card for billing processing. The entrance information received by the first antenna need not be written to the IC card. For this reason, some ETC vehicle-mounted devices have a method of writing entrance information received by the first antenna immediately after reception, that is, a method of not writing to the IC card before communicating with the second antenna.

  The entrance information received by the ETC on-board device recently includes information on actual operation in addition to the above-described information, and the amount of information (number of bits) is considerably increased. In addition, since the information exchange between the onboard device and the IC card in the ETC onboard device is normally performed by serial communication of 9600 bps, it takes time to exchange data. Furthermore, when exchanging information between the vehicle-mounted device and the IC card, various processes such as confirmation of transmission data and response are performed, so the number of required times calculated by dividing transmission data (bit length) by communication speed. Double the time.

  As described above, when it takes time to write information from the ETC onboard device to the IC card, when the vehicle enters the first antenna at a considerable speed, the vehicle moves to the second antenna during the processing. May occur. As described above, when the vehicle reaches the second antenna during the data writing to the IC card, there arises a problem that communication with the second antenna becomes impossible.

  In order to avoid such a situation, there is an ETC in-vehicle device in which the entrance information received by the first antenna is not written to the IC card as described above. However, in this case, since the entrance information is not written to the IC card by the first antenna, if the communication fails by the second antenna, the entrance information is not written to the IC card, and the billing process cannot be performed correctly at the exit toll gate. It will occur.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems of the prior art, and the problem is that, at the exit toll gate, of the entrance information received by the first antenna at the two antenna type entrance toll booth. By making sure that the information required for the billing process is written to the IC card, even if communication with the second antenna fails, the ETC system that can perform the billing process reliably at the exit toll booth and its use It is to provide an on-board ETC device.

  In order to achieve the above object, the first and second antennas are arranged in order from the entrance side at the entrance toll gate in order to collect charges in a distance-to-distance manner. An ETC system that performs communication between two antennas and an ETC on-board unit, and writes information received from the first and second antennas to an IC card inserted into the ETC on-board unit, wherein the ETC on-board unit includes: Of the information acquired by communication with the first antenna at the entrance toll gate, only the minimum information necessary for the billing process at the exit toll gate is written to the IC card before communication with the second antenna. ETC system.

  According to the ETC system having such a configuration, since the time required for writing only the minimum information necessary for the billing process to the IC card is short, the vehicle receives the second antenna while the received information is being written to the IC card. It is possible to avoid a situation in which communication cannot be performed after reaching the communication area. Further, since the minimum information necessary for the billing process is surely written into the IC card, the billing process at the exit toll gate does not hinder.

The invention according to claim 2 is the ETC system according to claim 1, characterized in that the minimum information is an entrance toll gate number.
If the entrance toll gate number is written in the IC card as the minimum information, the billing process at the exit toll booth becomes possible. Further, since the time required for writing the entrance toll gate number to the IC card is short, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained.

The invention according to claim 3 is the ETC system according to claim 2, wherein the minimum information is either the entrance toll gate passage date and vehicle number acquired by communication with the first antenna of the entrance toll gate or the vehicle number. Alternatively, both are further added.
If such minimum information is written on the IC card, the billing process at the exit toll booth is further facilitated, and the time for writing the information on the IC card is sufficiently short, as in the invention of claim 1. The effect of can also be obtained.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the first and second antennas communicate with the first and second antennas that are sequentially provided from the entrance side at the entrance toll gate in order to collect charges in a distance-to-distance manner. The information received from the ETC in-vehicle device in which the IC card is written, and only the minimum information necessary for the billing process at the exit toll gate among the information acquired by communication with the first antenna of the entrance toll gate, An ETC vehicle-mounted device that writes in the IC card before communication with the second antenna.

  According to the ETC vehicle-mounted device having such a configuration, since the time required for writing only the minimum information necessary for the billing process to the IC card is short, the vehicle is in the middle of writing the reception information at the first antenna to the IC card. A situation in which communication cannot be performed after reaching the communication area of the antenna can be avoided. Further, since the minimum information necessary for the billing process is written in the IC card, the billing process at the exit toll gate does not hinder.

The invention according to claim 5 is the ETC on-board device according to claim 4, wherein the minimum information is an entrance toll gate number.
According to the ETC vehicle-mounted device having such a configuration, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 2 can be obtained.

Further, the invention according to claim 6 is the ETC on-board device according to claim 4, wherein the minimum information is any of the entrance toll gate passage date and vehicle number acquired through communication with the first antenna of the entrance toll gate and the vehicle number. Or a further addition of both.
According to the ETC vehicle-mounted device having such a configuration, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 can be obtained.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an ETC system of the present invention and an ETC vehicle-mounted device used therewith will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows an outline of the arrangement of various devices arranged at the entrance toll gate of the ETC system that collects charges by the distance collection method. The vehicle 2 equipped with the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 enters a dedicated lane for the vehicle equipped with the ETC vehicle-mounted device. Various devices are arranged along the dedicated lane.

  The two antennas, the first antenna 3 and the second antenna 4 installed in order from the entrance side, are for performing wireless communication with the ETC on-vehicle device 1. Four vehicle detectors 5 to 8 installed along the dedicated lane detect passage of the vehicle 2. The guidance display board 9 displays the operation status of the lane (the distinction between ETC dedicated lane, ETC mixed lane, and general lane). The roadside indicator 10 displays a message such as whether or not the vehicle 2 is allowed to pass. The start control device 11 controls the start of the passing vehicle 2 and opens when radio communication with the first antenna 3 is normally performed.

  In addition, a vehicle type identification device 12 is installed in the vicinity of the front side of the first antenna 3. The vehicle type discriminating device 12 includes a vehicle height detector 13, an axle number detector 14, a vehicle length detector 15, a vehicle weight detector 16, and a license plate number of the passing vehicle 2 for identifying the vehicle type from the appearance of the passing vehicle 2. It is composed of a CCD camera or the like for identifying the vehicle type. Information obtained by the vehicle type discrimination device 12 is sent to a lane control device described next.

  The various devices including the vehicle type identification device 12 are connected to the lane control device. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the lane control device 20. The lane control device 20 communicates with the ETC on-vehicle device 1 via the first antenna 3 and the second antenna 4 connected to the wireless communication device 21, and the on-vehicle device specific information of the ETC on-vehicle device 1 and the inserted IC card. The contract information and traffic history information written in is acquired. The lane control device 20 determines whether or not the vehicle 2 is allowed to pass based on the information and the information obtained by the vehicle type determination device 12. The result is displayed on the roadside display 10, and the bar of the start control device 11 is opened when the passage is allowed.

  The lane control device 20 also transmits passage permission, entrance information, and a traffic history to the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 via the wireless communication device 21, the first antenna 3, and the second antenna 4. The communication of the entrance information will be described in detail later. Information collected by the lane control device 20 is sent to a central processing unit 23 that supervises many lane control devices. The timing signals detected by the vehicle detectors 5 to 8 are used as trigger signals for various processes performed by the lane control device 20.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 and the configuration of the IC card 40 inserted into the card slot inside the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1. The IC card 40 includes a CPU 41, a flash memory 42 that is a nonvolatile memory, and an interface circuit 43. The flash memory 42 stores IC card number, vehicle number, vehicle type, contract information such as expiration date, past traffic history information, etc., and entrance information described later.

  The IC card 40 exchanges information via the CPU 30 of the ETC on-vehicle device 1 and the IC card interface circuit 31. Information exchange between the IC card interface circuit 31 and the interface circuit 43 is performed by serial communication of 9600 bps. A wireless communication device 35 including an antenna 50 is connected to the CPU 30 of the ETC on-vehicle device 1, and the ETC in-vehicle device is connected via the antenna 50 and the first and second antennas 3 and 4 connected to the lane control device 20. Communication between the device 1 and the lane control device 20 is performed. In addition, the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 includes a memory 32, a display unit 33, and an operation unit 34.

  Next, the communication in the first antenna 3 is performed with respect to the contents of communication performed between the lane control device 20 and the ETC on-board unit 1 in this embodiment and the writing of the information acquired by the ETC on-board unit 1 by the communication to the IC card 40. And communication in the second antenna 4 will be described separately. FIG. 1 shows the contents of information transmitted and received in communication with the first antenna 3 and the direction in which the information is sent. The wireless communication system in this case is performed in accordance with the Toll Road Automatic Toll Collection System Standard (ARIB STD-T75) of the Radio Industry Association (ARIB). The lane control device 20 corresponds to this standard base station, and the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 corresponds to a mobile station.

  When the vehicle 2 enters the communication area of the first antenna 3 and a communication state is established between the lane control device 20 and the ETC on-vehicle device 1, the lane control device 20 sends a request for transmission of the on-vehicle device specific information to the ETC on-vehicle device 1. Is issued (not shown). In response to this, the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 transmits the vehicle-mounted device specific information to the lane control device 20 (S1). Here, the vehicle-mounted device specific information includes a vehicle-mounted device ID, a vehicle number in which the vehicle-mounted device is installed, vehicle type information, and the like. Based on these pieces of information, the lane control device 20 determines whether or not the vehicle 2 that has entered the vehicle can use the ETC system.

  If it is determined that the vehicle is usable, a request for transmission of contract information and traffic history information is subsequently issued (not shown). Contract information and traffic history information are stored in the IC card 40. Accordingly, the ETC on-vehicle device 1 receives the transmission request and transmits the information read in advance from the IC card 40 to the memory 32 to the lane control device 20 (S2, S3). Here, the contract information is a contract condition such as an IC card number, a vehicle number, a vehicle type, a card expiration date, and the like, and the traffic history information is past traffic history information recorded on the IC card 40.

When the communication of the information is completed, this time, the lane control device 20 transmits the entrance information, the traffic history, and the on-vehicle device instruction information to the ETC on-vehicle device 1 (S4, S5, S6). When the ETC on-board unit 1 completes the reception of the information, it returns a reception confirmation (not shown).
Here, the entrance information includes an entrance toll gate number and an entrance toll gate passage date and time, and also includes vehicle appearance information and license plate information detected by the vehicle type discriminating apparatus 12 up to the communication timing. The traffic history information is new traffic history information to be added to the past traffic history. The vehicle-mounted device instruction information is information indicating whether or not the entrance toll gate is permitted or not permitted as a vehicle using the ETC system.

  The feature of the ETC system of this embodiment and the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 used therein is the handling of the entrance information received by the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 as described above. As described in the “Background Art” section, the conventional ETC on-board unit has a method of writing the entrance information received by the first antenna 3 into the IC card 40 immediately after receiving, that is, before communicating with the second antenna. There is a thing of the method of not writing. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, only the minimum information necessary for the billing process at the exit toll gate is written in the IC card 40 in the received entrance information (S7).

  This minimum information is an entrance toll gate number, and is preferably information obtained by adding one or both of the entrance toll gate passage date and time and the vehicle number received by the lane controller 20 from the ETC onboard unit 1. The minimum information required when the distance toll collection type billing process is performed at the exit toll gate is the entrance toll gate number necessary for calculating the distance using the toll road. The actual billing process also requires contract information such as vehicle type, vehicle number, account number, etc., but this information is also used at the exit toll gate using wireless communication with the ETC on-board unit 1 and a vehicle type identification device. Can be confirmed automatically. Even if such information cannot be automatically confirmed at the exit toll booth, it can be confirmed if the vehicle is stopped and the staff responds. Therefore, if even the entrance toll gate number where the vehicle is entered is written in the IC card 40, it is possible to charge the user based on that number.

  For this reason, in the ETC system of this embodiment and the ETC on-board device 1 used for the ETC system, the information acquired by communication with the first antenna 3 is the minimum necessary for the charging process using only the entrance toll gate number therein. Information is written in the IC card 40. However, when charging at the exit toll booth, if the billing processing is based on the fact that only the entrance toll booth number is written in the IC card 40, the user will not be willing to respond to the fee payment complaining. Cases are also conceivable. Therefore, it is preferable to write either or both of the entrance toll gate passage date and time and the vehicle number in addition to the entrance toll gate number to the IC card 40 as minimum information. The vehicle number in this case is the license plate number measured by the roadside CCD camera at the entrance toll gate.

  If it is based on the fact that either or both of the entrance toll gate passage date and time and the vehicle number are written in the IC card 40 in addition to the entrance toll gate number, it becomes easier to collect the fee from the user. In this case, the minimum information written in the IC card 40 and the information acquired from the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 by the first antenna 3 at the entrance toll gate and stored in the central processing unit 23 through the lane control device 20 are stored. Similarly, based on the information obtained by the vehicle type discriminating device 12 at the entrance toll gate and stored in the central processing unit 23 through the lane control device 20, and the radio communication at the exit toll gate and the information obtained by the vehicle type discriminating device, It is also possible to perform automatic billing processing without stopping 2.

  When writing only the entrance toll gate number into the IC card 40, the data length is 6 bytes. Even if the entry toll gate passage date and time and the vehicle number are added, it only increases by about 10 bytes, and the time required to transmit these information to the IC card 40 at a speed of 9600 bps and write it in the internal flash memory 42 is 5 It only takes a short time of ~ 15msec. In such a short time, the vehicle 2 reaches the communication area of the second antenna 4 while writing the reception information on the IC card 40, and communication with the second antenna becomes impossible. Will not occur. Since the minimum information necessary for the billing process as described above is surely written in the IC card 40, the information transmitted from the second antenna 4 to the ETC on-board unit 1 after the communication with the second antenna 4 fails. Can be charged at the exit toll gate even if no information is written on the IC card 40.

  FIG. 5 shows the contents of communication between the lane control device 20 and the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 in the second antenna 4 and the transmission direction thereof. Also in the second antenna 4, contract information, vehicle-mounted device specific information, entrance information, and traffic history information are transmitted from the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1 in response to a request from the lane control device 20. Further, from the lane control device 20, entrance information, traffic history information, and vehicle-mounted device instruction information are transmitted to the ETC vehicle-mounted device 1. The entrance information sent from the lane control device 20 is added with vehicle appearance information, other confirmation information, etc. that are not in time for communication with the first antenna 3.

It is a figure which shows the communication content between the 1st antenna of an entrance toll gate, and an ETC onboard equipment. It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning outline | summary of the various apparatuses in an entrance toll gate. It is a block diagram showing the structure of a lane control apparatus. It is a block diagram showing the structure of an ETC onboard equipment and an IC card. It is a figure which shows the communication content between the 2nd antenna of an entrance toll gate, and an ETC onboard equipment.

Explanation of symbols

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes an ETC vehicle-mounted device, 3 denotes a first antenna, 4 denotes a second antenna, 12 denotes a vehicle type identification device, 20 denotes a lane control device, and 40 denotes an IC card.

Claims (6)

  In order to collect tolls by the distance method, first and second antennas are sequentially arranged from the entrance side at the entrance toll gate, and the first and second antennas and the ETC onboard equipment communicate with each other. An ETC system that writes information received from the first and second antennas to an IC card inserted in the ETC on-board unit, wherein the ETC on-board unit stores information acquired by communicating with the first antenna at the entrance toll gate Of these, only the minimum information required for the billing process at the exit toll gate is written in the IC card before communication with the second antenna.   2. The ETC system according to claim 1, wherein the minimum information is an entrance toll gate number.   3. The ETC system according to claim 2, wherein the minimum information further includes one or both of an entrance toll gate passage date and time and a vehicle number acquired through communication with the first antenna of the entrance toll gate. A featured ETC system. An ETC in which information is received from the first and second antennas by communicating with the first and second antennas sequentially provided from the entrance side at the entrance toll gate in order to collect tolls in the distance-to-distance method. An in-vehicle device,
Of the information acquired by communication with the first antenna at the entrance toll gate, only the minimum information necessary for the billing process at the exit toll gate is written to the IC card before communication with the second antenna. ETC on-board unit.   5. The ETC on-board device according to claim 4, wherein the minimum information is an entrance toll gate number. 5. The ETC on-board device according to claim 4, wherein the minimum information further includes one or both of an entrance toll gate passage date and time and a vehicle number acquired through communication with the first antenna of the entrance toll gate. ETC in-vehicle device characterized by.

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