JP2009099063A - Roadside machine and erroneous communication countermeasure method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent erroneous communication between an on-vehicle device mounted in a vehicle passing in a lane of a toll gate of an ETC system and toll gate equipment in the next lane. <P>SOLUTION: A control machine 109 continuously performs beam irradiation from an antenna 107, and when the control machine 109 establishes radio connection for performing radio communication with the on-vehicle device 105, the control machine 109 immediately disconnects the radio connection. Thus, the on-vehicle device 105 does not perform radio communication for a fixed period after disconnecting the radio connection. It is therefore prevented that the on-vehicle device 105 erroneously communicates with a roadside machine of the ETC system installed in the next road and that automatic toll collection processing is carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a roadside device and an erroneous communication countermeasure method. In particular, the present invention relates to an erroneous communication countermeasure method in an automatic toll collection (ETC) system.

  In recent years, information required for toll collection has been exchanged between roadside equipment (also called “roadside equipment”) and on-board equipment mounted on the vehicle by wireless communication means, and automatically from toll road users A non-stop automatic toll collection system that collects tolls has been put into practical use. In such an ETC system, a toll road user can pass through the toll gate non-stop.

  In a conventional ETC system, a vehicle traveling on a toll road is equipped with a vehicle-mounted device having a wireless communication function. In this vehicle-mounted device, vehicle type information and contract information are written in advance, and route information, billing information, etc. are written when passing through the toll gate.

  On the other hand, at the entrance toll gate, as a toll gate side equipment, for example, a wireless communication means for transmitting / receiving a signal to / from the vehicle-mounted device, and a control device for performing communication via the wireless communication means are provided. This control device generates entrance information including the date and time of passage of the approaching vehicle, and transmits it to the vehicle-mounted device of the approaching vehicle via wireless communication means. This vehicle-mounted device stores the entrance information sent from the toll gate side equipment when entering the entrance toll gate.

  In addition, the exit toll gate is provided with, for example, a wireless communication means for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the vehicle-mounted device, and a control device for performing communication via the wireless communication means as a toll gate facility. This control device stores fee data for each combination of entrance toll gate and vehicle type. In addition, the control device receives the entrance information and the vehicle type information, etc. by wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle that has entered the exit toll gate. Based on the entrance information and the vehicle type information, the control device calculates an amount to be charged from the fee data. Calculate and generate billing information. This billing information is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device of the approaching vehicle via wireless communication means.

As described above, when a vehicle equipped with an on-vehicle device passes through the entrance toll gate and the exit toll gate, the toll collection process can be automatically performed by wireless communication between the on-vehicle device and the toll gate equipment. Can pass through the toll gate non-stop (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-11625 (page 3-4, FIG. 1)

  In the conventional ETC system, when there are multiple toll booth lanes (also called “lanes”), the toll booth side equipment of each lane erroneously communicates with the vehicle-mounted device mounted on the ETC vehicle passing through the adjacent lane. There was a problem of doing it. Therefore, for example, when there is a lane dedicated for general vehicles next to the lane for ETC vehicles (for ETC vehicles only, or for general vehicles and ETC vehicles), even if the ETC vehicle passes through the lane dedicated for general vehicles, There is a possibility that the in-vehicle device of the ETC vehicle may mistakenly communicate with the toll gate side equipment in the lane for the ETC vehicle adjacent to the ETC vehicle and the charging process by ETC may be executed. Here, a general vehicle refers to a vehicle not equipped with an on-board device for ETC, and an ETC vehicle refers to a vehicle equipped with an on-vehicle device for ETC. For general vehicles, the ETC system cannot collect automatic charges, and the charge collector collects charges at the toll booth. On the other hand, for ETC vehicles, the ETC system can collect automatic tolls, or a toll collector can collect tolls at a toll booth.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent erroneous communication between, for example, an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle passing through a lane of a toll gate of an ETC system and a toll gate facility of an adjacent lane.

A roadside machine according to one aspect of the present invention is
A roadside machine installed in a lane dedicated to manual toll collection, which is located next to the lane for automatic toll collection,
When an in-vehicle device is installed in a vehicle passing through the lane dedicated for manual fee collection, when the vehicle passes through its own communication area, wireless communication is performed with the on-vehicle device installed in the vehicle. The wireless communication between the vehicle-mounted device and another roadside device installed in the automatic toll collection lane is blocked.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the roadside device installed in the lane dedicated to manual fee collection provided in the lane for automatic fee collection is installed on the vehicle passing through the lane dedicated for manual fee collection. When the vehicle passes through the communication area of the vehicle, another roadside device installed in the automatic toll collection lane by performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device installed in the vehicle. Wireless communication between the on-board unit and the on-board unit, for example, an error between the on-board unit mounted on the vehicle passing through the toll gate lane of the ETC system and the toll gate facility on the adjacent lane. Communication can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of an ETC system 101 (automatic toll collection system) installed in one toll gate lane. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ETC system 101 (steps S104 to S106 show the erroneous communication countermeasure method according to the present embodiment).

  The ETC system 101 is an example of a fee collection system. In addition to what is described in FIG. 1, various facilities are provided in the ETC system 101, but only those related to the gist of the present embodiment will be described here.

  A road 102 on which the ETC system 101 is installed is a toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles, and is separated from a neighboring road or the like (for example, a main road of a toll road or another toll gate lane) by an inaccessible zone 103. The road 102 may be a toll gate lane for ordinary vehicles and ETC vehicles. The toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles, the toll gate lane for ordinary vehicles, and the ETC vehicles are all lanes operated for ETC vehicles, and are examples of automatic toll collection lanes. A vehicle 104 passing through the road 102 travels in the direction of the thick arrow in the figure. This vehicle 104 is equipped with an in-vehicle device 105 that exchanges information about charges with the ETC system 101.

  The gate-shaped support body 106 is provided so as to straddle the road 102, and the vehicle 104 passes below the support body 106. The support 106 can take various forms such as an F-shaped column. An antenna 107, which is an example of a wireless communication device, is attached to a support body 106. A beam is irradiated downward from the antenna 107 toward the road 102 (step S101 in FIG. 2), and a communication area 108 (communication area of the antenna 107) is formed on the road 102. The controller 109 is installed on the impassable zone 103 or the like, and detects the vehicle 104 with the detector 110 when the vehicle 104 enters the road 102. Then, when the vehicle 104 passes through the communication area 108, information on the toll road usage fee of the vehicle 104 is processed based on the information obtained from the vehicle-mounted device 105 via the antenna 107 (step S102 in FIG. 2). Then, processing such as calculating the amount of the usage fee (automatic fee collection processing) is performed (step S103 in FIG. 2). Further, the controller 109 detects that the vehicle 104 has passed through the communication area 108 with the detector 111. The camera 112 captures an image of the vehicle 104 traveling on the road 102 in accordance with an image capturing instruction from the controller 109.

  The detector 110 and the detector 111 described above can be realized by various detection means such as a transmission type and a reflection type. The camera 112 can be realized in various forms as long as it can capture the vehicle 104, and may include, for example, a lighting device. The antenna 107, the controller 109, the detector 110, the detector 111, and the camera 112 described above constitute a roadside device 115.

  The road 102 on which the ETC system 101 is installed can also be used as a toll lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles. The toll gate lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles is an lane operated for ordinary vehicles, and is an example of a lane dedicated to manual fee collection. Hereinafter, a case where the road 102 is a toll gate lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles will be described.

  The operation of the roadside unit 115 is almost the same as when the road 102 is a toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles. However, the controller 109 provided in the roadside device 115 is set so as not to perform the automatic fee collection processing even when the vehicle 104 passes through the communication area 108. Instead, a toll collector (human) at the toll booth (not shown) collects the toll road usage fee of the vehicle 104 from the driver of the vehicle 104 or the like.

  When the road adjacent to the road 102 is a toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles, or a toll gate lane for ordinary vehicles and ETC vehicles, the communication area of a similar ETC system installed on the adjacent road is the road 102. May extend to a part of In this case, when the vehicle 104 equipped with the vehicle-mounted device 105 passes through the road 102, the vehicle-mounted device 105 mistakenly communicates with the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road, and automatic toll collection processing is executed. There is a possibility.

  In the present embodiment, the controller 109 provided in the roadside device 115 performs wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device 105 via the antenna 107 when the vehicle 104 passes through the communication area 108. Thereby, wireless communication between the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road and the vehicle-mounted device 105 is blocked. Therefore, as described above, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the vehicle-mounted device 105 erroneously communicates with the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road and the automatic toll collection process is executed.

  Specifically, the controller 109 continuously performs beam irradiation from the antenna 107 (step S104 in FIG. 2), and establishes a wireless connection for wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device 105 (see FIG. 2). 2 (step S105), the wireless communication is immediately interrupted (step S106 in FIG. 2). Thereby, the onboard equipment 105 will be in the state which does not perform radio | wireless communication for a fixed period after interruption of radio | wireless communication. Therefore, as described above, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the vehicle-mounted device 105 erroneously communicates with the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road and the automatic toll collection process is executed. When establishing a wireless connection with the vehicle-mounted device 105, the controller 109 prohibits the vehicle-mounted device 105 from performing wireless communication with at least another roadside device of the ETC system for a certain period of time instead of immediately disconnecting the wireless connection. An instruction or the like may be transmitted. Also in this case, since the vehicle-mounted device 105 is not wirelessly communicated for a certain period, the vehicle-mounted device 105 erroneously communicates with the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road as described above, and the automatic fee It is possible to avoid a situation in which the receipt process is executed.

  When the conventional technology is applied, when the ETC system 101 is installed on the road 102 operated as a toll lane dedicated to general vehicles, the beam irradiation from the antenna 107 toward the road 102 is stopped. Yes. For this reason, as described above, wireless communication between the roadside device of the ETC system installed on the adjacent road and the vehicle-mounted device 105 cannot be blocked.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the roadside device 115.

  The control device 109 included in the roadside device 115 includes a detection unit 116 and a processing unit 117.

  The processing unit 117 of the controller 109 performs automatic toll collection processing using wireless communication between the antenna 107 included in the roadside device 115 and the vehicle-mounted device 105. As described above, does the automatic toll collection processing perform? Whether or not can be changed by setting. For example, when the roadside unit 115 is installed in a toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles, or a toll gate lane for ordinary vehicles and ETC vehicles, the processing unit 117 of the controller 109 is set to perform automatic toll collection processing. Is done. On the other hand, when the roadside device 115 is installed in a toll gate lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles, the processing unit 117 of the control device 109 is set not to perform automatic toll collection processing. The antenna 107 performs wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device 105 installed in the vehicle 104 when the vehicle 104 traveling on the road 102 passes through the own communication area 108. When the processing unit 117 of the control unit 109 is set to perform automatic fee collection processing, specifically, the vehicle type information and contract information held by the vehicle-mounted device 105 are received by the antenna 107 and acquired. Then, based on the acquired information, processing such as charging a usage fee for the user of the vehicle 104 is performed, and information on the result is transmitted to the antenna 107 and provided to the vehicle-mounted device 105.

  The detection unit 116 of the controller 109 detects the vehicle 104 passing through the communication area 108 of the antenna 107 with the two detectors 110 and 111 included in the roadside device 115. The detector 110 and the detector 111 are installed at a predetermined interval from each other. Specifically, the detection unit 116 of the controller 109 detects the vehicle 104 by notifying that the vehicle 104 is detected each time the detector 110 and the detector 111 detect the vehicle 104.

  For example, when the roadside device 115 is installed in a toll gate lane dedicated to ETC vehicles, or a toll gate lane for ordinary vehicles and ETC vehicles, that is, the processing unit 117 of the controller 109 performs automatic toll collection processing. When set, the processing unit 117 of the controller 109 performs a predetermined process when the automatic fee collection process fails. Specifically, the processing unit 117 of the control unit 109 instructs the camera 112 to take a photograph in order to photograph the vehicle 104 detected by the detection unit 116 with the camera 112 included in the roadside unit 115 as a predetermined process. input. The camera 112 shoots the vehicle 104 in accordance with a shooting instruction from the processing unit 117 of the controller 109.

  For example, when the roadside unit 115 is installed in a toll gate lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles, that is, when the processing unit 117 of the control unit 109 is set not to perform automatic toll collection processing, the processing unit 117 of the control unit 109 is set. Causes the antenna 107 to always output radio waves for wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device 105, and when the wireless connection with the vehicle-mounted device 105 is established, the wireless connection is immediately disconnected.

  The controller 109 is a recording medium such as a ROM (Read / Only / Memory), a magnetic disk, a flash memory, a processing device such as a CPU (Central / Processing / Unit), and other hardware such as an element / device / board / wiring. Is provided.

  In the description of the present embodiment, what is described as “to part” and “to means” may be “to circuit”, “to apparatus”, and “to device”, and “to step” and “to device”. -"Step", "-Procedure", "-Process" may be used. That is, what is described as “˜unit” and “˜means” is realized by, for example, firmware stored in a ROM. Alternatively, it is realized only by software, only hardware such as an element, a device, a board, and wiring, or a combination of software and hardware, and further, a combination of firmware. Firmware and software are stored as programs in a recording medium such as a magnetic disk or a flash memory. This program is read by the CPU and executed by the CPU. In other words, the program causes the computer to function as “to part” and “to means” described in the description of the present embodiment. Alternatively, the procedure or method of “˜unit” and “˜means” described in the description of the present embodiment is executed by a computer.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the ETC system 101 operated for a general vehicle, the on-board device 105 of the ETC that outputs radio waves and passes through the own lane is wirelessly connected to the antenna 107 of the own lane. A system and method for avoiding erroneous communication between an antenna of an ETC system for an adjacent ETC vehicle and the vehicle-mounted device 105 have been described.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the present embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration of the ETC system 101 is the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ETC system 101.

  In the present embodiment, the controller 109 provided in the roadside unit 115 is only in the case where there is a notification from the detector 110 that the vehicle 104 has been detected, instead of continuously performing the beam irradiation from the antenna 107. A radio wave for wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device 105 is output for a certain period. That is, the beam irradiation timing of the antenna 107 is set every time the vehicle is detected by the detector 110 instead of always. Thereby, in the ETC system 101 operated for general vehicles, it is possible to more easily avoid erroneous communication between the vehicle-mounted device of the vehicle passing through the toll gate lane for the adjacent ETC vehicle and the antenna 107.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration of the roadside unit 115 is the same as that shown in FIG. 3 in the first embodiment.

  For example, when the roadside unit 115 is installed in a toll gate lane dedicated to ordinary vehicles, the processing unit 117 of the control unit 109 is connected to the antenna 107 and the vehicle-mounted device 105 only for a certain period after the vehicle 104 is detected by the detection unit 116. When radio waves for wireless communication are output and a wireless connection is established with the vehicle-mounted device 105, the wireless connection is immediately disconnected.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the ETC system 101 operated for a general vehicle described in the first embodiment, the radio wave output timing is set not only at the time of detection but only at the time of vehicle detection.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the structure of the fee collection system which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the fee collection system according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the roadside machine which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the fee collection system according to the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  101 ETC system, 102 road, 103 inaccessible zone, 104 vehicle, 105 on-board device, 106 support, 107 antenna, 108 communication area, 109 controller, 110 detector, 111 detector, 112 camera, 115 roadside device, 116 Detection unit, 117 processing unit.

Claims (4)

A roadside machine installed in a lane dedicated to manual toll collection, which is located next to the lane for automatic toll collection,
When an in-vehicle device is installed in a vehicle passing through the lane dedicated for manual fee collection, when the vehicle passes through its own communication area, wireless communication is performed with the on-vehicle device installed in the vehicle. A roadside machine that blocks wireless communication between the on-board unit and another roadside machine installed in the automatic toll collection lane.   When establishing a wireless connection for performing wireless communication with the on-vehicle device, the wireless connection with the on-vehicle device is blocked for a certain period of time by disconnecting the wireless connection. The roadside machine according to claim 1.   It is a detector installed in the lane dedicated to manual fee collection, and only when there is a notification that the vehicle has been detected from a detector that detects a vehicle entering the lane dedicated to manual fee collection. The roadside machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a radio wave for performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device is output for a certain period.   When a roadside device installed in a lane dedicated to manual fee collection adjacent to an automatic fare collection lane is installed in a vehicle passing through the lane dedicated to manual fee collection, the vehicle is Wireless communication between the vehicle-mounted device and another roadside device installed in the automatic fare collection lane by performing wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted device installed in the vehicle when passing through its own communication area An erroneous communication countermeasure method characterized by blocking

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