JP3293501B2 - Information storage card, information storage card device, and method of storing information in information storage card - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information storage card,
IC used as an intermediary for automatically collecting tolls on toll roads, such as expressways, related to information storage card devices and information storage methods on information storage cards
The present invention relates to an information storage card such as a card, an information storage card device for storing information in the information storage card, and an information storage method for the information storage card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an automatic toll collection device using a prepaid or postpaid card has been developed for collecting usage fees of toll facilities, for example, collecting tolls on toll roads. In this automatic toll collection device, in order to automatically collect tolls at an entrance gate or an exit gate of a toll road, a road machine having an antenna as an interrogator for inquiring information to a vehicle is arranged on the road side. In addition, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device (hereinafter, referred to as a vehicle-mounted device) having an antenna as a transponder for responding to inquired information is mounted on the vehicle, and wireless communication is performed between the vehicle-mounted device and the road device. The exchange of information is carried out by.

[0003] However, due to poor maintenance of the on-road equipment, insufficient power of the on-vehicle battery, malfunction of the antenna, and the like,
There are cases where the information stored in the on-vehicle device cannot be received by the on-road device, or the information from the on-road device cannot be received by the on-vehicle device. In addition, when an abnormality occurs in the on-vehicle device on a toll road, route information indicating the type of route that the vehicle has taken on the road device cannot be received, so it may be impossible to respond. Occurs.

[0004] As described above, when the information stored in the vehicle-mounted device cannot be received, the connector of the vehicle-mounted device is connected to the connector of the road device to directly read out the information (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-100018). Gazette).

[0005] However, the provision of the connector in the vehicle-mounted device leads to an increase in the size of the vehicle-mounted device, or a complicated operation of requesting connection of the vehicle-mounted device to the connector on the roadside device and connecting the roadside connector.

Accordingly, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a road-to-vehicle communication system comprising a road-side device and an on-vehicle device, which allows the content of data stored in the on-vehicle device to be easily confirmed on the road-side device without increasing the size of the on-vehicle device. A device has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-2859).
No. 59). In this technique, the current time is also recorded when writing data relating to communication to the IC card. This allows the roadside machine to read out the information recorded on the IC card together with the time at the time of recording.

[0007]

However, if a plurality of IC cards are inserted by mistake, for example, if they are replaced,
The same information may be recorded on a plurality of IC cards.
Therefore, one of the plurality of IC cards transmits and receives information to and from the roadside device using the recorded information, while the other IC cards maintain the erroneously recorded information as it is.
For this reason, when the other IC card is used next time, the erroneously recorded information is maintained, so that normal communication and information transfer may not be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has an information storage card, an information storage card device, and a method of storing information in an information storage card capable of accurately transmitting and receiving information with a simple configuration. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage card comprising: a counter means for increasing or decreasing a value at predetermined time intervals; a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle; Storage means for storing usage information related to communication performed between the road machine installed in the, and detection means for detecting that the usage information is stored or updated,
Invalidation means for invalidating the usage information stored in the storage means, when the update of the usage information is not detected during a period from when the usage information is stored or updated to a predetermined counter value, It has.

[0010] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage card device for storing usage information relating to communication with a roadside machine installed on the road, and the information storage card according to the first aspect. Writing means for reading the usage information stored in the storage means and writing the information to the storage means of the information storage card; and a time shorter than a time corresponding to the predetermined counter value based on the usage information. Updating means for updating the usage information stored in the storage means of the information storage card at predetermined time intervals.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information storage card device according to the second aspect, the storage means stores data indicating the start of use of a predetermined facility as use information relating to the communication. And

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information storage card device according to the third aspect, the predetermined facility is an automobile toll road.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the information storage card device according to the third aspect, the update unit stores the data indicating the start of the predetermined facility use after the storage unit stores the data indicating the start of use of the predetermined facility. The usage information stored in the storage unit is updated at predetermined time intervals shorter than a time period corresponding to the determined counter value.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the information storage card device according to any one of the second to fifth aspects, when the use information is invalidated by the invalidating means, the update is performed. Information storing means for storing unupdated information indicating that no update has been performed in at least one of the storage means and the storage means, or outputting the unupdated information to the outside.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for storing information in an information storage card, the storage for storing usage information relating to communication performed between a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle and a road device mounted on a road. In an information storage card having means,
The time from when the use information is first stored or last updated until the next update is measured, and when the measured time exceeds a predetermined time, the use information stored in the storage unit is invalidated. .

The invention according to claim 8 is the method for storing information in the information storage card according to claim 7, wherein utilization information relating to communication performed with a roadside machine installed on the road is stored. Reading out the accumulated use information and writing the same in the information storage card, and updating the use information stored in the storage means at intervals of less than the predetermined time based on the use information. It is characterized by.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information storage method for the information storage card according to the eighth aspect, wherein data indicating the start of use of a predetermined facility is stored as the use information relating to the communication. Features.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information storage method for the information storage card according to the ninth aspect, wherein the predetermined facility is an automobile toll road.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the method for storing information in the information storage card according to the ninth aspect, wherein the data indicating the start of use of the predetermined facility is shorter than the predetermined time. It is characterized in that the stored use information is updated every time the padding time elapses.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information storage method for the information storage card according to any one of the seventh to eleventh aspects, wherein when the use information is invalidated, Unupdated information indicating that no updates have been made,
And storing the unupdated information to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information storage card according to the present invention stores counter means whose value increases or decreases at predetermined time intervals, and usage information relating to communication performed between the vehicle-mounted device and the road device. The detecting means detects that the usage information is stored or updated in the storage means. The invalidation means, when the update of the usage information is not detected during a period from when the usage information is stored or updated to a predetermined counter value,
The use information stored in the storage unit is invalidated. Therefore, when a predetermined counter value, that is, a predetermined set time has elapsed since the use information was first stored or last updated, the stored use information is invalidated. Thus, the usage information after the elapse of the set time is not used.

In this information storage card, use information is written or updated by the information storage card device of the present invention. The information storage card device accumulates the usage information on the communication by the accumulating means. The accumulated usage information is read by the writing means and written to the storage means of the information storage card. The written usage information is updated by the updating unit at predetermined time intervals shorter than a time corresponding to a predetermined counter value based on the usage information. The use information of the information storage card is invalidated when the set time has elapsed. However, the information storage card is updated by the information storage card device in a time shorter than the set time, and thus is not invalidated. As a result, by reading the data stored in the information storage card, the roadside device can easily confirm the contents of the data stored in the vehicle-mounted device.

The storage means can store data indicating the start of use of a predetermined facility such as an automobile toll road as the use information relating to the communication. When storing the data indicating the start of the use of the predetermined facility in the storage means, the updating means sets the time corresponding to the predetermined counter value after the storage means stores the data indicating the start of the use of the predetermined facility. It is preferable that the usage information stored in the storage unit be updated every shorter predetermined time.

When the use information is invalidated by the invalidating means, the non-updated information indicating that the update has not been performed is stored in at least one of the storage means and the storage means by the information output means. By outputting the unupdated information to the outside, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of the invalidated usage information.

The roadside information device reads the usage information from the information storage card storing the usage information by the reading means. The read use information is determined by the checking means as to whether or not it has been invalidated. When the control unit determines that the use information is not invalidated by the check unit, the control unit can execute a toll collection process based on the read data. in this way,
Since the use information is read out from the information storage card by the reading means and whether or not the use information is invalidated is determined, the data transmission and reception can be easily performed without directly connecting the vehicle-mounted device and the roadside device, On the roadside, the toll collection process can be performed only from the determination result of whether or not the toll is invalidated, so that the toll collection process can be executed based on the latest usage information.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to an automatic toll collection system that automatically performs a toll collection process for a vehicle traveling on a toll road or the like.

In this automatic toll collection system, information is exchanged by radio communication between an on-board unit mounted on the vehicle and a road unit having a flat antenna installed on the ground side such as an entrance gate or an exit gate. By doing so, the traffic section (route) and vehicle type in which the vehicle has traveled are determined, and tolls and the like are automatically collected at the entrance gate and the exit gate without stopping the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 2, an in-vehicle device 30 mounted on a vehicle 90 has an IC card 62 for storing various information.
(Details will be described later) are detachable. This in-vehicle device 3
The airplane that communicates with the vehicle 0 is equipped with a flat antenna for transmitting and receiving various types of information.
00, a halfway route (so-called check barrier) 200, and an exit gate 300.

An entrance antenna 117 composed of a flat antenna is provided at the entrance gate 100, and an entrance antenna control device 132 is connected to the entrance antenna 117. The entrance antenna control device 132 transmits the entrance gate information of the toll road to the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle via the entrance antenna 117. The entrance gate 100 is provided with a toll ticket issuing device 123 for paying a toll manually. The toll ticket issuing device 123 is used as a recovery gate for writing data such as entrance information indicating an entrance gate using an IC card when a communication error occurs, and for reading data stored in the vehicle-mounted device. Function. This pass ticket issuing device 123 is provided with an IC card read / write device 61A to which an IC card 62 can be attached and detached, and the IC card read / write device 61A is connected to a central computer 400. Further, the entrance antenna control device 132 can be connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage vehicles entering the toll road.

A route grasping antenna 217 composed of a flat antenna is disposed on the intermediate route 200, and a route grasping antenna control device 232 is connected to the route grasping antenna 217. This route grasping antenna control device 232
Through the route grasping antenna 217, route passing information indicating what route the vehicle traveled on the toll road is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle. In addition, the route grasping antenna control device 232 can be connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage the traveling state of the vehicle on the toll road. The route 20 on the way
In 0, a recovery gate 224 for writing route information indicating an intermediate route to the vehicle-mounted device using the IC card 62 is provided. The recovery gate 224 has I
An IC card read / write device 61B to which a C card 62 can be attached / detached is provided. The IC card read / write device 61B is connected to a central computer 400. The recovery gate 224 may be provided in a parking area, a service area, or the like.

The entrance information and the route information can use codes such as numbers assigned in advance corresponding to the positions of the toll roads.

The exit gate 300 is provided with a notice antenna 317 composed of a flat antenna and a tollgate antenna 341 in order to improve the reliability of information transmission and reception by radio waves. The notice antenna control device 331 is connected to the notice antenna 317, and the tollgate antenna control device 332 is connected to the tollgate antenna 341. The notice antenna control device 331 and the tollgate antenna control device 332 are connected to a local controller 380 that can be connected to the central computer 400. The local controller 380 includes a microcomputer, and a notice antenna control device 331 is provided.
And a processing program for controlling the tollgate antenna controller 332 and the like. Note that among the notice antenna 317, the tollgate antenna 341, the notice antenna control device 331, and the tollgate antenna control device 332 that function as the on-road unit, the notice antenna 317 and the notice antenna control device 331 can be omitted.

The exit gate 300 is connected to a vehicle type detection system 360 for discriminating the vehicle type by image processing and the like, and a camera 352 for photographing an illegally passing vehicle such as a vehicle passing without paying a fee. ,
Manual payment system 3 for vehicles that cannot receive automatic tolls
23 are provided. By controlling each of these systems collectively by the local controller 380,
In addition to taking measures against toll collection, etc., the system automatically collects tolls and the like according to the traffic section (route) in which the vehicle traveled and the type of vehicle. Also, by connecting the central computer 400 and the local controller 380, information on alteration of the toll table and information on illegally passing vehicles are smoothly and quickly exchanged.

Next, an example of each schematic configuration of the above-mentioned entrance gate, intermediate route, and exit gate will be described in more detail.

As shown in FIG. 3, the entrance gate 100 of the toll road has three lanes 102, 104 and 106. Lane 102 is formed between site 108 and separation zone 110, and lane 104 is formed between separation zone 110 and separation zone 1
12, the lane 106 is formed between the separation zone 112 and the site 114. An arch 116 is arranged from the site 108 to the site 114 so as to straddle these plural lanes, and entrance antennas 118, 120, 122 (corresponding to the entrance antenna 117 in FIG. 2) are arranged on the arch 116. Has been established. The entrance antenna 118 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from a vehicle traveling on the lane 102 and is located above the lane 102. Similarly, the entrance antenna 120 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 104, and is located above the lane 104. The entrance antenna 122 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 106, and is located above the lane 106.

The site 114 has an entrance antenna control device 1
An entrance gate control center 130 provided with an entrance antenna control device 32 is connected to the entrance antenna control device 132.

Although three entrance antennas 118, 120 and 122 are used as entrance antennas in FIG. 3, one or two entrance antennas may be used for one or two lanes, and more entrance antennas may be used. May be used.

At the entrance gate 100, toll ticket issuing devices 124, 126, 128 for issuing tolls to pay tolls by hand for vehicles that cannot receive automatic tolls.
(Corresponding to the toll ticket issuing device 123 in FIG. 2). The pass ticket issuing device 124 corresponds to the lane 102 and is located on the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction of the separation zone 110 and in the separation zone 1
The ten lanes 102 are provided. In addition, the pass ticket issuing device 126 corresponds to the lane 104 and
Lane 10 of the separation zone 112 on the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction
4, the toll ticket issuing device 128 is connected to the lane 106
In the vehicle traveling direction downstream of the site 114 and the site 1
14 are provided on the lane 106 side. These ticket issuing devices 124, 126, 128 are connected to an entrance gate control center 130.

At the downstream side of the arch 116 in the vehicle traveling direction, traffic lights 134, 136, 138 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are provided corresponding to each lane. These traffic lights 134, 136, and 138 are connected to the entrance gate control center 130 and indicate when vehicles can enter each lane (for example, a green light).
Alternatively, a display (for example, a red light) when entry is impossible is performed.

The entrance gate control center 130 is connected to a central computer 400 (see FIG. 2). The entrance gate control center 130 may not be connected to the central computer 400, but may be an independent control system using only the entrance gate.

As shown in FIG. 4, two lanes 202 are included in the intermediate route 200 immediately before and immediately after the fork road junction.
204 are provided adjacent to each other and the adjacent lane 20
2 and 204 are formed between the site 208 and the site 214. Straddling these lanes 202 and 204,
An arch 216 is provided from the site 208 to the site 214. On the arch 216, the route grasping antenna 2
18, 220, 222 (the route grasping antenna 217 of FIG. 2)
Corresponding to). Route grasping antenna 21
Numeral 8 is responsible for transmission and reception of radio waves to and from vehicles running on the lane 202, and is located above the lane 202. The route grasping antenna 222 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 204, and is located above the lane 204. Near the middle of the route grasping antennas 218 and 222 and above the center line 206 indicating the boundary between the lanes 202 and 204, a route grasping a vehicle traveling over the lanes 202 and 204 in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves. An antenna 220 is provided.

On the site 214, a route control center 230 having a route grasping antenna control device 232 is provided, and route grasping antennas 218, 220 and 222 are connected to the route grasping antenna control device 232. .

As shown in FIG. 5, the exit gate 300 of the toll road has three lanes 302, 304 and 306. Lane 302 is formed between site 308 and separator 310, and lane 304 is separator 310 and separator 3
12, and a lane 306 is formed between the separation zone 312 and the site 314.

An arch 316 is provided from the site 308 to the site 314 so as to straddle the plurality of lanes.
20, 322 (corresponding to the notice antenna 317 in FIG. 2)
Are arranged. The notice antenna 318 is connected to the lane 30
2 is in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from the vehicle running on the vehicle 2 and is located above the lane 302. Notice antenna 320,
It is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 304, and is located above the lane 304. Similarly, the notice antenna 322 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 306, and is located above the lane 306.

An exit gate control center 330 is provided on the site 314, and a notice antenna control device 331 and a tollgate antenna control device 332 described later are provided at the exit gate control center 330. The notice antenna control device 331 includes notice antennas 318, 32
0 and 322 are connected.

In the vicinity of the arch 316, vehicle type detecting devices 362 and 36 each constituted by a CCD line scanner.
4, 366 (corresponding to the vehicle type detection system 360 in FIG. 2). The vehicle type detection device 362 is a device for identifying the vehicle type of the vehicle running on the lane 302, and includes a site 308 and a separation zone 31 corresponding to the lane 302.
0. Similarly, the vehicle type detection device 364
This is a device for identifying the type of the vehicle traveling on the lane 304. The device is disposed on the separation zone 310 and the separation zone 312 corresponding to the lane 304 near the arch 316. And a device for identifying the type of vehicle, and is provided on the separation zone 312 and the site 314 corresponding to the lane 306. A vehicle type detection system 360 including these vehicle type detection devices is connected to the local controller 380, and determines a vehicle type by determining a silhouette of a passing vehicle by image processing based on an image obtained by a CCD line scanner. To the local controller 380.

On the downstream side of the position where the arch 316 is arranged in the vehicle traveling direction, the vehicle is straddled over the plurality of lanes.
An arch 340 is provided from the site 308 to the site 314, and on the arch 340, the tollgate antenna 34
2, 344 and 346 (corresponding to the tollgate antenna 341 in FIG. 2) are provided. Tollgate antenna 342
It is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves of information related to fares to vehicles traveling on the lane 302, and is located above the lane 302. The tollgate antenna 344 is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 304, and is located above the lane 304. Similarly, tollgate antenna 346
Is responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 306, and is located above the lane 306. These tollgate antennas 342, 344, and 346 are connected to a tollgate antenna controller 332.

At the exit gate 300, fee payment boxes 324, 326, 328 (corresponding to the fee payment system 323 in FIG. 2) are provided for manually paid vehicles that cannot automatically collect tolls. I have. The fee payment box 324 corresponds to the lane 302 and is disposed on the downstream side of the separation zone 310 in the vehicle traveling direction and on the lane 302 side of the separation zone 310. In addition, the fee payment box 326
Corresponding to lane 304, it is disposed downstream of separation zone 312 in the vehicle traveling direction and on the side of lane 304 of separation zone 312.
Lane 30 on the site 314 on the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction 4
It is arranged on the 6 side. These fee payment boxes 32
A microcomputer (not shown) is provided in each of 4, 326, and 328, and a charge manual payment system 323 that manages information on a charge received by manual payment by managing each of the microcomputers in an integrated manner.
Is composed. This fee payment system 323 is connected to the local controller 380 (FIG. 2).

Note that the fee payment system 323 also has a function as a recovery gate for receiving a fee using the IC card 62 when a communication error occurs. In each of the fee payment boxes 324, 326, and 328 of the fee payment system 323, an IC card read / write device 61C (FIG. 2) as a reading means to which the IC card 62 can be attached and detached is provided. The light device 61C is connected to the central computer 400.

The IC card read / write device 61
A, 61B, and 61C are provided with an insertion detection device including a limit switch, a photo interrupter, and the like for detecting insertion of an IC card.

Further, a camera 35 which is an image pickup device of an illegally passing vehicle photographing system 350 (FIG. 2) for photographing an illegally passing vehicle is provided downstream of the toll payment box in the vehicle traveling direction.
2, 354, 356 are provided corresponding to the lanes 302, 304, 306. This unauthorized vehicle image capturing system 350 is connected to the local controller 380.

Signals 334, 336, and 338 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are provided downstream of the arch 340 in the vehicle traveling direction. These traffic lights 334, 336, and 338 are connected to the exit gate control center 330, and indicate when vehicles can enter each lane (for example, a green light) or when they cannot enter (for example, a red light). ) Is performed.

The exit gate control center 330 is connected to the central computer 400 (FIG. 2). The exit gate control center 330 is connected to the central computer 400.
, And may be an independent control system using only the exit gate.

As shown in FIG. 6, an IC card 62 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU 63, a RAM 64, a ROM 65, a memory 66 as storage means, a counter 67 as counter means, and an input / output port (I / O) 68. Are connected by a bus 69 so that commands and data can be transmitted and received. The memory 66 is for storing various information, and the counter 67 is for measuring the unupdated time of the information stored in the memory 66 as described later. The counter 67 is constituted by an up-down counter (free-run counter) that increases or decreases every predetermined time corresponding to a timer. The ROM 65 stores a processing routine described later. I / O port 68
Is the vehicle-mounted device 30 or the IC read / write device 61A, 6
1B and 61C can be connected. Although not shown, the IC card 62 includes a power supply circuit.
Power is always supplied.

In the above IC card, various information
In-vehicle device information such as card number, balance information, usage statement information (entrance gate number, exit gate number, fee, date of use, etc.), and an information invalid flag (described later) can be stored. And an authentication key code for associating them with each other.

The IC card includes a memory card such as an LSI card, a magnetic card, a hologram card capable of recording and reproducing information optically, and a magneto-optical card capable of recording and reproducing information magneto-optically. Etc. can be used.

Next, the in-vehicle device 30 and the road device that communicates with the in-vehicle device 30 will be described. The on-road unit will be described by taking the on-road unit provided at the entrance gate 100 as an example. In addition, for simplicity, the description will be made using the entrance antenna 118 and the entrance antenna control device 132 which are responsible for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the vehicle traveling on the lane 102. An in-vehicle battery (not shown) is connected to the in-vehicle device 30.

As shown in FIG. 7, the on-vehicle device 30 includes a receiving antenna 32 for receiving a data signal transmitted from a road device. The reception antenna 32 is connected to a detection circuit 34 that detects a modulated wave received by the reception antenna 32 and obtains a data signal. The detection circuit 34 is configured to obtain a carrier wave of a radio wave transmitted from a roadside device,
It is also connected to the transmission circuit 50. The detection circuit 34 is connected via a data signal receiving circuit 44 to a signal processing circuit 46 including a microcomputer.
The microcomputer of the signal processing circuit 46 stores a processing program and a writing condition described below.

The signal processing circuit 46 is connected to a storage circuit 48 as storage means. The storage circuit 48 is for storing in-vehicle device information, and the storage circuit 48 stores a vehicle number (the same number as a number recorded on a license plate) as an ID code when mounted on a vehicle. At the same time, vehicle type information of a vehicle on which the on-vehicle device is mounted is stored. Also, when the IC card 62 is inserted, the balance information of the IC card 62 (the balance information, and the balance update result when the IC card 62 is used in an intermediate service area) is stored. Further, when the vehicle passes through the entrance gate, the vehicle type code detected at the entrance gate and the entrance information (entrance number, date and time of passage, etc.) are stored. Minute check barrier information (check barrier number, passage date and time) is stored. When a communication error occurs, the communication error information (error type,
An error occurrence location (gate type, gate number, antenna number, etc.), date and time of error occurrence, number of errors, etc. are stored.

The signal processing circuit 46 is connected to a transmission circuit 50 for transmitting a data signal including an ID code or the like as a response signal.
2 are connected. The on-vehicle device 30 includes a receiving antenna 32
The carrier wave obtained by detecting the modulated wave received in step (1) is modulated by the data signal from the signal processing circuit 46 and returned via the transmission antenna 52. The transmission antenna 52 functions as a transmission / reception antenna, receives an unmodulated carrier transmitted from the roadside device by the transmission antenna 52, and transmits the unmodulated carrier to the data signal from the signal processing circuit 46 by the transmission circuit 50. , And may be returned via the transmission antenna 52.

The in-vehicle device 30 has an IC card read / write device 60 for reading data from the attached IC card 62 and writing data on the IC card 62.
Is connected. The IC card read / write device 60 is provided with a limit switch 58 that mechanically detects that the IC card 62 has been inserted. Whether or not the IC card has been inserted is determined by determining whether or not light has been blocked by the inserted IC card using a photointerrupter configured with the light emitting element and the light receiving element arranged opposite to each other.
You may make it detect optically.

The signal processing circuit 46 is connected to a display 54 composed of an LCD or CRT for displaying the insertion / non-insertion of the IC card, the balance, etc., and a numeric keypad 56 for inputting a signal to the signal processing circuit 46. Further, a timer 45 for measuring time is connected to the signal processing circuit 46. The timer 45 may use a built-in clock.

As shown in FIG. 8, the on-road unit for a vehicle traveling on the lane 102 includes an entrance antenna 118 and an entrance antenna control device 132. The entrance antenna 118 includes the transmitting antenna 22 and the receiving antenna 26.
It is composed of The entrance antenna control device 132
A signal processing circuit 12 including a microcomputer is provided. The microcomputer stores a processing program described below. Also,
This signal processing circuit 12 can be connected to a central computer 400. The signal processing circuit 12 is connected to a transmission circuit 14 that generates a data signal (communication request signal) including an instruction. The transmission circuit 14 is connected to a transmission antenna 22 via a mixer 18. The mixer 18 is connected to a carrier generation circuit 20 for generating a carrier having a predetermined frequency. The mixer 18 mixes a signal input from the transmission circuit 14 and a carrier input from the carrier generation circuit 20, and Modulates the carrier wave input from the carrier wave generation circuit 20 with the signal input from. The modulated wave is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 22 as a radio wave.

The carrier wave generating circuit 20 is connected to a receiving circuit 24 for extracting a data signal from a modulated wave which is modulated and returned from the vehicle-mounted device 30 and received by the receiving antenna 26 shown in FIG. This receiving circuit 24 is the signal processing circuit 12
It is connected to the. Further, the receiving circuit 24 is connected to the carrier generation circuit 20, and receives the carrier transmitted for comparison of the carrier included in the signal returned from the on-vehicle device 30.

The configuration of the other entrance antennas at the entrance gate 100 is the same as that described above, and a description thereof will be omitted. In addition, halfway route 200 and exit gate 3
The configurations of the respective antennas and the antenna control device in 00 are also substantially the same as those described above, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

In the above-described on-vehicle unit and on-road unit, an antenna configured to be separated into a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna is used. However, one antenna integrated for transmission and reception may be used as a flat antenna.

Next, a processing routine in each of the IC card, the in-vehicle device, and the road device according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 shows a processing routine of the vehicle-mounted device.
At 50, it is determined whether or not the communication state is established. If the communication state is established, communication processing (explained in detail later) such as exchange of entrance information and toll collection processing is executed at step 450.

At step 456, the write conditions are read. This writing condition is a condition for determining whether or not to write information on the IC card 62, and includes the following.

[Writing Condition] When the switch for writing is pressed by the occupant's keyboard, when the vehicle is stopped When the vehicle speed is low (below a predetermined vehicle speed) The IC card 62 is inserted. When the vehicle has a navigation system,
When a trigger signal generated when a vehicle arrives near the exit gate is input When an information writing request signal transmitted from the on-road unit is received Information notification indicating the exit gate on the road immediately before the exit gate Means (for example, magnetic information or bar code information) is installed, and a reading device for reading the information writing / notifying means is provided in the vehicle-mounted device, and when the vehicle-mounted device reads magnetic information or bar code information, Whether an automatic insertion / extraction device (loader) that can automatically insert / extract an IC card is installed. The writing conditions differ depending on the presence or absence of this loader. That is, when there is a loader, immediately before the IC card is inserted or immediately before the IC card can be removed. When there is no loader, the occupant can remove the IC card at any time, so when detecting that the IC card has been inserted After a certain period of time

Only one of the above write conditions may be used, or a plurality of write conditions may be used for reading and determining sequentially. The communication process between the on-road device and the on-vehicle device may be performed when the vehicle is traveling, so that the communication time may be short. Therefore, IC
If the timing for writing information to the card 62 coincides, a communication error occurs. For example, if a process of writing at regular time intervals according to the writing condition is adopted, the process may be executed during communication with the traveling road machine. For this reason, it is preferable to add to the writing conditions that processing is performed after the communication is completed, for example, when communication is not being performed between the roadside device and the on-vehicle device.

In the next step 456, it is determined whether or not the current state of the vehicle (including the state of the vehicle-mounted device) is included in the read writing conditions. For example, in the above-described example of the writing condition, it is determined whether or not a writing request switch is pressed by a keyboard operation (manual operation) by an occupant such as a driver to determine whether or not a writing request has been made. I do. Thereby, it can be determined whether or not the write condition is satisfied. In addition, when the vehicle is stopped or running at a low speed, it is assumed that the vehicle is entering the gate or running at the gate. Therefore, by detecting the vehicle speed, it is determined whether the vehicle has stopped or whether the vehicle has stopped. It is determined whether the speed has become low. Thus, it is possible to determine the write condition or whether or not the write condition is satisfied. Also,
By determining whether the limit switch 58 has changed from off to on, it is determined whether or not the state has changed from the absence of an IC card to the presence state, that is, whether or not an IC card has been inserted. Thereby, it can be determined whether or not the write condition is satisfied.

Since the vehicle equipped with the navigation system can recognize that the vehicle has reached the vicinity of the exit gate, it is determined whether or not a trigger signal indicating the vicinity of the exit gate has been input from the navigation system. It can be determined whether or not the conditions match.

If a signal indicating a write request to the IC card is transmitted from the road device to the vehicle-mounted device, it is determined whether or not a request signal for writing information from the road device has been received. It can be determined whether or not it matches the writing condition. Also, if magnetic information or bar code information indicating the exit gate is installed on the road immediately before the exit gate, it is determined whether or not the magnetic information or bar code information has been read. Can be determined.

Some in-vehicle devices are equipped with an IC card loader. Therefore, when there is a loader, the trigger signal is input from the loader immediately after the IC card is inserted or immediately before the IC card can be removed, and it is determined whether or not the trigger signal is input from the loader. Further, when there is no loader, it is possible to determine whether or not the write condition is satisfied by determining whether or not the IC card is inserted as described in the write condition.

A certain time is measured by a timer,
By monitoring the timer, it is possible to determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed, and to determine whether or not the write condition is satisfied. The write conditions will be described in detail later.
This corresponds to a condition for executing an update process for not invalidating the information stored in the C card 62.

If it is determined in step 456 that the current vehicle state matches the write condition, the information stored in the vehicle-mounted device is read out in step 458, and the next step 4
At 60, write to the IC card.

The IC card 62 is used at the exit gate, and is also inserted into the entrance card 100 or the IC card reader / writer of the recovery gate of the road machine installed on the way 200 to write originally necessary data. You can also. Steps 458 and 460 above
Functions as the processing of the writing means of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows the details of the communication processing in step 452 in FIG. 9. If it is determined in step 500 that an inquiry signal has been received from the road device, step 502
Transmits a modulated wave obtained by modulating a carrier with an ID code which is an identification code for identifying the own vehicle, using the received inquiry signal as a carrier as a response signal.

If it is determined in step 504 that a signal from the on-road unit has been received, it is determined in step 506 whether or not the received signal includes the entrance gate number. It is determined whether or not the vehicle has passed. When the vehicle has not passed through the entrance gate, the process proceeds to step 508. When the vehicle has passed through the entrance gate, the entrance gate process is performed in step 510. In the entrance gate processing in step 510, the entrance information based on the entrance gate number included in the signal received in step 506 is stored in the storage circuit 48 of the vehicle-mounted device 30.

In step 508, it is determined whether or not the signal received in step 506 contains a halfway route code (check barrier information) to determine the halfway route 2
It is determined whether or not the vehicle has passed through the route 200, and if the vehicle has passed the route 200, the route processing is performed in Step 512. If the route has not passed the route 200, it is determined that the vehicle has passed the exit gate. In step 514, exit gate processing is performed. In the intermediate route processing in step 512, the storage circuit 48 of the vehicle-mounted device 30 stores the intermediate route information based on the intermediate route code included in the signal received in step 506.

In the exit gate process of step 514, the vehicle type information stored in the on-vehicle device, the balance information stored on the general card mounted on the on-vehicle device, and the fee previously recorded on the on-vehicle device Based on the table, a fee is calculated from the current balance to the entrance gate, the intermediate route, and the exit gate, and a process for automatically receiving the fee is performed. And after the toll collection has been performed successfully,
Clear entrance information.

As shown in FIG. 11, the on-road unit installed at the entrance gate transmits an inquiry signal consisting of a continuous wave in step 600 until a response signal from the on-vehicle unit is received. Is received, a signal including the entrance gate number and the like is transmitted in step 604.

Note that the roadside machine of the halfway route 200 performs substantially the same processing as that of the roadside machine at the entrance gate, but the above-mentioned step 604 replaces the signal containing the entrance gate number and the like with the halfway route representing the halfway route. Transmits a signal including a code and the like.

[0098] The roadside machine at the exit gate 300 also performs substantially the same processing as that of the roadside machine at the entrance gate, but the exit gate 300 is provided with a roadside device DA including a notice antenna 317 and a notice antenna control device 331. And an on-road unit DB (FIG. 2) including a tollgate antenna 341 and a tollgate antenna control device 332. The road machine DA performs substantially the same processing as the above processing, and
4 transmits a signal including an exit code indicating the exit gate 300 and the like, and in the roadside machine DB, the step 604 transmits a signal including an exit code and the like indicating the exit gate 300 and charges the fee by radio wave communication. What is necessary is just to perform a collection process.

Next, the processing of the IC card 62 will be described.
In the present embodiment, the process of FIG. 12 is executed when a request or a process for reading and writing information is made to the IC card 62 from the vehicle-mounted device or the IC card read / write device.

At step 520 in FIG. 12, it is determined whether or not the processing for the IC card 62 is the writing of on-vehicle device information. If the processing is other than writing, such as reading, a negative determination is made, and this routine ends. This step 520 constitutes a part of the detecting means of the present invention. on the other hand,
When the process for the IC card 62 is the writing of the in-vehicle device information, an affirmative determination is made, the information invalid flag is turned off (reset) in the next step 522, and the next step 524 is performed.
Resets and starts the counter 67. The information invalid flag is a flag indicating whether or not the vehicle-mounted device information written in the memory 66 of the IC card 62 is invalidated. The information invalid flag indicates invalid when ON (set) and valid when OFF (reset). I have. By resetting and starting the counter 67, the time of the in-vehicle device information after being written into the memory 66 of the IC card 62 can be measured. In addition,
The valid time of the vehicle-mounted device information after being written into the memory 66 of the IC card 62 is predetermined.

In the next step 526, the timer monitoring processing of FIG. 13 is executed. Note that the timer monitoring processing routine of FIG. 13 functions as an interrupt routine that is executed at predetermined time intervals after being executed first. In step 530 of FIG. 13, the count value of the counter 67 is read, and it is determined in the next step 532 whether or not the in-vehicle device information in the memory 66 has exceeded the valid time (timeout). That is, since the count value of the counter 67 increases and decreases at regular intervals, the validity of the on-vehicle device information can be determined by determining whether the count value has exceeded the count value corresponding to the valid time.

If the in-vehicle device information in the memory 66 does not exceed the valid time, a negative determination is made in step 532, and this routine ends. On the other hand, when the in-vehicle device information in the memory 66 exceeds the valid time, an affirmative determination is made in step 532, and the in-vehicle device information stored in the memory 66 is invalidated by turning on the information invalidation flag in step 534. In the next step 536, the counter 67 is reset, the operation is stopped, and the routine ends.
The timer monitoring process ends by the process of step 536.

Therefore, even if the in-vehicle device information is stored in the memory 66, the information exceeding the valid time is invalidated. On the other hand, when the in-vehicle device information is updated or written again within the valid time, the process of FIG. 13 is performed, and the monitoring process within the valid time is continuously performed.

Note that the above steps 530 to 5
The processing of 36 functions as the processing of the invalidating means of the present invention.

As described above, when there is no update for a fixed time (time corresponding to a predetermined count value) after the in-vehicle device information is stored in the IC card 62, the in-vehicle device information stored in the IC card becomes invalid. Is done. Therefore, by setting the fixed time of the writing condition to a time shorter than the time for invalidating the on-vehicle device information in the IC card, the validity of the on-vehicle device information can be maintained even when there is no new information. In order to continue the update, an update process can be performed. This processing corresponds to the updating means of the present invention.

Here, when a communication error occurs in at least one of the on-vehicle device and the on-road device, information may not be correctly exchanged between the on-vehicle device and the on-road device. When a communication error occurs, the occupant goes to a manned gate such as a fee payment box or a recovery gate in which the IC card read / write device is installed, a management office, or the like.
At the manned gate or administrative office at the exit gate,
Inquire the crew orally about the reason for coming to the manned gate or management office, telling the correct path if it came wrong, and if it came due to a communication error etc., check whether the onboard equipment is installed. Judgment is made visually, and if the onboard unit is not installed, in the fee payment box,
Perform normal manual payment processing. On the other hand, when the vehicle-mounted device is mounted, the passenger is requested to present the IC card, and the toll collection process is performed using the presented IC card.

FIG. 14 shows a flow of processing for an IC card read / write device such as a fee payment box or a recovery gate in which the IC card read / write device is installed. If it is determined that the card has been inserted, the in-vehicle device information stored in the IC card 62 is read in step 612, and the information invalidation flag is read in the next step 614. In the next step 618, it is determined whether or not the information invalidation flag is on. If a negative determination is made, it is determined that the data recorded on the IC card is valid.
At 20, a recovery process is performed.

In the recovery process, a fee collection process is performed at the exit gate, and the fee collection process is performed using data recorded on the IC card. The entrance gate performs a process of writing information such as a result of the process by communication and an entrance gate number. Also, route 2 on the way
At 00, a process of writing an intermediate route code or the like indicating an intermediate route is performed. If various information is written to the IC card at the entrance gate or on the way along the route without communication,
It is preferable to load the contents of the memory of the C card into the storage circuit of the vehicle-mounted device.

On the other hand, when the information invalidation flag is off and the determination in step 618 is affirmative, the data recorded on the IC card is determined to be invalid, and it is determined that the in-vehicle device information cannot be used. 62
In step 2, the occupant is requested to rewrite the in-vehicle device information stored in the in-vehicle device to the IC card, and the IC card is removed and returned to the occupant. After writing the data in the returned IC card, the occupant hands the IC card again to the manned gate operator. Thereafter, the process is executed again from step 610.

As described above, by reading and judging the on / off state of the information invalid flag read by the on-road unit, when the data is invalid, the data can be regarded as old and judged as invalid data. It is possible to request writing of new data by writing again.

The above-mentioned system can be applied to a road or a parking lot with simple entrance where there is no entrance gate. That is, there is no entrance on a road or the like of simple collection, so that it is not necessary to read the on-vehicle device information. For this reason,
The occupant can collect the fee for the IC card only by handing the IC card, and the system of the present embodiment can be easily applied.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
In the IC card, it is possible to set whether or not the stored in-vehicle device information is invalid, so that the reliability of the data can be improved, and it is not necessary for the on-vehicle device and the on-road device to perform time management for vehicles existing on the toll road. , Reducing the load on the system.

Further, since the information invalid flag is turned on / off by the IC card itself, an operation error or the like in the vehicle-mounted device can be suppressed, and the reliability is improved. Further, the IC card read / write device on the roadside device can have a simple configuration, and the on-vehicle device can respond only by a simple change in processing such as addition of a processing procedure.

Further, even when a plurality of IC cards are erroneously inserted at the entrance gate and the in-vehicle device information is stored in the plurality of IC cards, an IC card other than the IC card inserted in the in-vehicle device may be used. Since the stored in-vehicle device information is invalidated, IC cards other than the valid IC card inserted into the in-vehicle device cannot be used at another exit gate or the like. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the same information from being copied and distributed to a plurality of IC cards.

Further, since information can be exchanged between the vehicle-mounted device and the on-road device using only the IC card, there is no need to further prepare a management card for performing information management. The complexity is reduced. Also,
Special processing such as unauthorized use of the management card and verification of the unauthorized card is not required, and the processing load on the system side can be reduced.

[0102]

As described above, according to the information storage card of the present invention, the stored use information can be invalidated, so that the in-vehicle device and the road device can be invalidated without directly connecting them. There is an effect that data can be transmitted and received with the latest usage information that is not performed easily and with high reliability.

Further, according to the information storage card device of the present invention, since the use information stored in the information storage card can be updated, only the use information of the information storage card loaded in the information storage card device is invalidated. There is an effect that it is possible to maintain or update to the latest use information without using.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an automatic toll collection system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing an entrance gate of the automatic toll collection system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing an intermediate route of the automatic toll collection system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing an exit gate of the automatic toll collection system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an IC card to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a road device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing routine of the vehicle-mounted device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a communication processing routine of the vehicle-mounted device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of the on-road unit.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of the IC card.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a timer monitoring processing routine.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a recovery processing routine.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 30 onboard unit 46 signal processing circuit 48 storage circuit 50 transmission circuit 60, 61A, 61B, 61C IC card read / write device

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-44740 (JP, A) JP-A-8-185548 (JP, A) JP-A-7-14043 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07B 15/00 510 G07B 15/00

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. A counter means for increasing or decreasing a value at predetermined time intervals, and a storage means for storing usage information relating to communication between an on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle and a on-road device installed on a road. Detecting means for detecting that the usage information has been stored or updated; and when the usage information has not been updated during a period up to a predetermined counter value after the usage information has been stored or updated, An information storage card comprising: invalidation means for invalidating usage information stored in storage means. 2. An information storage card according to claim 1, wherein said storage means stores usage information relating to communication with a roadside machine installed on a road. 2. The usage information stored in said storage means. Writing means for reading and writing to the storage means of the information storage card; and storing the information storage card in the storage means of the information storage card at predetermined time intervals shorter than a time corresponding to the predetermined counter value based on the usage information. An information storage card device comprising: updating means for updating stored usage information. 3. The information storage card device according to claim 2, wherein said storage means stores data indicating the start of use of a predetermined facility as use information relating to said communication. 4. The information storage card device according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined facility is an automobile toll road. 5. The update unit stores the data indicating the start of use of the predetermined facility in the storage unit every predetermined time shorter than a time corresponding to the predetermined counter value after the storage unit stores data indicating the start of use of the predetermined facility. 4. The information storage card device according to claim 3, wherein the stored use information is updated. 6. When the use information is invalidated by the invalidation means, non-updated information indicating that no update has been performed is stored in at least one of the storage means and the storage means, or the non-updated information is stored in the storage means. The information storage card device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, further comprising information output means for outputting update information to the outside. 7. An information storage card having storage means for storing usage information relating to communication performed between an on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle and a road device mounted on a road, wherein the usage information is stored first. Information storage in an information storage card, which measures the time from the last update to the next update, and invalidates the use information stored in the storage means when the measured time exceeds a predetermined time. Method. 8. A method for accumulating usage information relating to communication performed with a roadside machine installed on a road, reading out the stored usage information and writing the information in the information storage card, and determining the predetermined time based on the usage information. The method of storing information in an information storage card according to claim 7, further comprising: updating the usage information stored in the storage means at shorter time intervals. 9. The method for storing information in an information storage card according to claim 8, wherein data indicating the start of use of a predetermined facility is stored as usage information related to the communication. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined facility is an automobile toll road. 11. The information according to claim 9, wherein the stored use information is updated every time shorter than the predetermined time after accumulating data indicating the start of use of the predetermined facility. A method for storing information on a storage card. 12. When the usage information is invalidated,
The information storage card according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein unupdated information indicating that no update has been performed is stored or the unupdated information is output to the outside. Information storage method.