JPH04123190A - Charge receiving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely receive a charge by managing in the lump the information peculiar to an entrance and the information of the car kind of an automobile by a host computer. CONSTITUTION:In an entrance of each toll road 1, information peculiar to the entrance and information of the car kind of an automobile 5 discriminated by an automobile car kind discriminating device 8 are managed in the lump by a host computer 17. In such a state, in an exit of the toll road 1, usually the information peculiar to the entrance stored in a radio card is received and based on this information, the charge is received. On the other hand, when a fault is generated in the radio card, the charge is received, based on the information managed by the host computer 17. In such a way, even when a fault is generated in the radio card, the charge can be received surely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a toll collection system for collecting tolls on toll roads.

(Prior art) Generally, in order to collect tolls on toll roads, a driver is handed a toll ticket at the entrance of the toll road, the driver is asked to return the toll ticket at the exit, and the fee is charged based on the contents of the toll ticket. A method is adopted that allows for the settlement of accounts.

However, this method not only requires a considerable amount of manpower, but also requires time and effort for the driver to hand over the pass.
This also caused traffic congestion. For this reason,
There has been a demand for a system that can be unmanned and does not require the handing over of passes.

Toll collection systems using wireless cards have been attracting attention in recent years as a system that meets these demands. That is,
Such a system transmits and stores information specific to the entrance, such as information about the name of the toll plaza, to a wireless card installed in a car at the entrance of a toll road, and stores it in the wireless card at the exit of the toll road. The system receives the information unique to the entrance and collects fees based on this information. If such a system is combined with a device for unmanned toll collection, it is possible to construct an unmanned system that does not require the handing over of passes.

However, such a toll collection system using a wireless card has a problem in that if the wireless card, which operates normally at the entrance to a toll road, malfunctions at the exit, the toll cannot be settled.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) As described above, the conventional toll collection system using wireless cards can be unmanned and does not require the handing over of passes.
If a wireless card that operates normally at the entrance to a toll road malfunctions at the exit, there is a problem in that the toll cannot be settled.

The present invention was developed based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toll collection system that can reliably collect tolls even if a wireless card malfunctions.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention transmits information specific to the entrance to a toll road to a portable storage medium mounted on a car at the entrance of the toll road. In a system that receives information unique to the entrance stored in the portable storage medium at the exit of a toll road and collects tolls based on this information, A vehicle type discriminating means for discriminating the vehicle type of the toll road, and a management means for collectively managing the information obtained by the vehicle type discriminating means at the entrance and the information specific to the entrance, are provided. If a failure occurs in the storage medium, the vehicle type of the vehicle is determined by the vehicle type determination means at the exit, the entry-specific information corresponding to this vehicle type information is retrieved from the management means, and the retrieved information is used. The feature is that the fee is collected based on the system.

(Function) In the present invention, at the entrance of each toll road, information specific to the entrance and information on the vehicle type are collectively managed by a host computer. At the exit of the toll road, information unique to the entrance stored in the wireless card is normally received, and tolls are collected based on this information. On the other hand, if a failure occurs in the wireless card, fees are collected based on information managed by the host computer. Therefore, even if a failure occurs in the wireless card, fees can be reliably collected.

(Example) Hereinafter, details of embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a toll collection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a toll road, 2a, 2b, . . . are toll gates installed at each interchange, and 3 is a management center that manages these toll gates 2a, 2b, .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the system configuration on the entrance side of the tollgates 2a, 2b, . . . .

In the figure, reference numeral 4 indicates a vehicle entry detection device that detects when a vehicle 5 enters the toll gate. This is done by the vehicle entry detection device 4 detecting the weight of the vehicle when the vehicle reaches F4.

Further, numeral 6 indicates a transmitter/receiver that transmits and receives predetermined information to and from the wireless card 7 mounted on the automobile 5 using, for example, microwave waves, and 8 indicates an automobile type discrimination device that discriminates the type of automobile 5. Discrimination by the vehicle type discriminating device 8 includes, for example, a method of taking an image of the license plate of the vehicle 5 and performing image processing, a method of recognizing the shape of the vehicle, a method using an axle load meter, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the system configuration on the exit side of the toll gates 2a, 2b, . . . .

In the figure, reference numeral 9 denotes an entry detection device that detects when the automobile 5 enters the tollgate; 10 a transceiver that transmits and receives predetermined information to and from the wireless card 7 mounted on the automobile 5;
Reference numeral 1 indicates a vehicle type discriminating device similar to the vehicle type discriminating device 8 on the entrance side.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the wireless card 7. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, 12 is a transceiver for transmitting and receiving predetermined information with transceivers 6.10 placed at tollgates 2a, 2b, etc., and 13 is a memory for storing information unique to the card, such as a serial number. 14 is a RAM that stores information specific to the entrance of the toll road, such as information regarding the name of the toll gate, 15 is a CPU that performs overall control of the entire card, and 16 is a CPU I
This is a ROM that stores programs necessary for the operation of 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the management center 3. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, 17 is a host computer, and this host computer 17 connects to the toll booth 2 via a communication line 18.
A, 2b, . . . can exchange predetermined information with each other. Then, this host computer 17 receives information sent from the tollgates 2a, 2b, etc., specifically information specific to the entrance of the tollgate 2a, 2b,... and the vehicle type discrimination device 8. This information is managed in pairs with the vehicle type information obtained by

Next, the operation of the toll collection system configured as described above will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the automobile 5 enters the toll gate, the entry detection device 4 detects this fact.

Then, information unique to the entrance is transmitted from the transceiver 6 of the toll gate to the wireless card 7 mounted on the car 5, and the wireless card 7 stores this information unique to the entrance in the RAM 14.

Next, card-specific information is transmitted from the transceiver 12 of the wireless card 7 to the transceiver 6 at the toll gate.

Further, in parallel with such operations, the vehicle type of the automobile 5 is determined by the vehicle type discriminating device 8 at the toll gate.

The vehicle type information is transmitted to the host computer 17 of the management center 3 via the communication line 18 along with information unique to the entrance.
and is managed by the host computer 17.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3, when the automobile 5 comes to the exit side of the toll plaza, the entrance detection device 9 detects this.

Then, a predetermined command is transmitted from the transceiver 10 of the tollgate to the wireless card 7 mounted on the automobile 5 to transmit the entrance-specific information stored in the card.

Upon receiving this command, the wireless card 7 transmits entrance-specific information to the tollgate transceiver 10 using the transceiver 12.

Then, in the exit side system of the toll gate, a computer (not shown) calculates a toll based on this entrance-specific information, and collects the toll.

Here, if the entrance-specific information cannot be obtained due to a failure of the wireless card 7 at the exit side of the toll gate, that is, if the wireless card 7 that was operating normally at the entrance of the toll road malfunctions at the exit. , the vehicle type discriminating device 11 is activated, and the vehicle type of the vehicle 5 is determined by the vehicle type discriminating device 11.

This vehicle type information is then sent to the host computer 17.

Then, the host computer 17 searches for entrance-specific information corresponding to the vehicle type information, and sends the entrance-specific information back to the exit-side system.

The exit-side system that receives this entrance-specific information from the host computer 17 calculates a fee based on this entrance-specific information using a computer (not shown), and collects the fee.

Therefore, in the system of this embodiment, even if a failure occurs in the wireless card 7, it is possible to reliably collect charges.

In addition, this system uses prepaid methods and separate payment methods such as bank withdrawals to collect fees.
Convenience can be improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, at the entrance of each toll road, entrance-specific information and vehicle type information are collectively managed by the host computer, and it is possible to prevent the wireless card from malfunctioning. If this occurs, the fee can be collected based on the information managed by the host computer, so that the fee can be reliably collected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a toll collection system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the system configuration at the entrance side of the toll plaza shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the wireless card according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the management center shown in FIG. 1. 1... Toll road, 2a12b... Toll gate, 3...
Management center, 4.9... Vehicle entrance detection device, 5... Vehicle, 6.10... Transmitter/receiver, 8.11... Vehicle type discrimination device, 17... Host computer. Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) At the entrance of a toll road, information specific to the entrance is transmitted to and stored in a portable storage medium mounted on a vehicle, and at the exit of the toll road, information specific to the entrance is stored in the portable storage medium. In a system that receives toll information and collects tolls based on this information, there is a vehicle type discrimination means for determining the vehicle type at the entrance and exit of each toll road, and information obtained by the vehicle type discrimination means at the entrance and the corresponding A management means is provided to collectively manage the information unique to the entrance and the entrance, and if a failure occurs in the portable storage medium at the exit of the toll road, the vehicle type is determined by the vehicle type determination means at the exit. A toll collection system characterized in that the management means searches for entrance-specific information corresponding to the vehicle type information, and collects tolls based on the retrieved information.