JPH0816846A - Automatic fare collection/reception device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely discriminate whether a fault part exists on a road machine-side or an on-vehicle machine-side. CONSTITUTION:It is judged whether dissidence between a fare calculated in a road machine and that calculated in an on-vehicle machine, which are stored in an automatic fare collection/reception processing executed in communication between the road machine installed on a road and the on-vehicle machine loaded on a vehicle, occurs or not (504). When the dissidence of the fares occur, a counter value C is increased by one (506), and the counter value C is judged to be more than a prescribed value (n) or not (508). When the counter value C is not more than the prescribed value (n), the fare collection/reception processing is executed for other vehicles. When the counter value C is more than the prescribed value (n), the fares of n-number of different vehicles, which are calculated in the road machine, and the fares calculated in the n-number of different on-vehicle machines are continuously dissident for n-number of times. Thus, the fault part is discriminated to be in the road machine and a corresponding processing at road machine fault time is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic toll collection device, and more particularly, to automatically collect tolls by communication between a roadside device installed on the road and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle. An automatic toll collection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Toll roads, for example, toll gates on expressways, have toll collection staff to collect tolls,
In addition, the vehicle must be stopped to pay the fee.
For this reason, traffic congestion was caused at the toll gate.

In view of such a point, from the vehicle ID signal generator mounted on the vehicle, the ID signal processing device installed at each of the entrance gate and the exit gate of the expressway, the charge calculation device and the charge payment processing device. A toll road automatic payment device has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-296991). In this toll road automatic payment device, the ID signal processing device installed at the entrance gate of the highway is the vehicle ID.
Vehicle ID signal sent from the signal generator for identifying the vehicle (consisting of vehicle identification data, vehicle type data, etc.)
And the place ID signal representing the entrance gate are combined and transmitted to the charge calculation device. Also, similarly, the ID signal processing device installed at the exit gate of the highway will transmit the transmitted vehicle I
The D signal and the place ID signal representing the exit gate are combined and transmitted to the charge calculation device. The charge calculation device calculates the charge of the vehicle based on the location IDs of the entrance gate and the exit gate transmitted from the ID signal processing device. Then, the fee payment processing device charges the driver of the vehicle separately and makes payment such as withdrawal from a bank.

[0004]

However, in the conventional toll road automatic payment device, there is a case where the vehicle ID signal generating device and the ID signal processing device have a communication failure and the toll cannot be calculated. In this case, it is impossible to determine whether the reason why the fare is not calculated is due to the breakdown of the vehicle ID signal generator or the breakdown of the ID signal processing device.

Further, the vehicle ID signal generating device or the ID signal processing device may malfunction, and the charge calculated by the charge calculating device may be incorrect. In this case, the cause of the wrong charge being calculated is also It is not possible to determine whether it is due to a malfunction of the vehicle ID signal generating device or a malfunction of the ID signal processing device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic charge determination device capable of surely determining whether the faulty part is on the roadside or onboard side. To do.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 automatically performs a fee collection process by communication between a roadside device installed on the road and an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle. In the automatic toll collection device, the roadside device is provided with a discriminating means for discriminating that the roadside device is faulty when a communication failure between the onboard devices is detected a predetermined number of times in succession.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a roadside device that is installed on a road and performs a calculation regarding a charge according to a route traveled by a vehicle, and a vehicle-mounted device that performs a calculation regarding a charge according to a route traveled by the vehicle. In an automatic toll collection device that performs toll collection processing through communication with an on-vehicle device, whether the calculation result of the on-vehicle device and the calculation result of the on-road device match with each other on the road device. Judgment means is provided for judging and determining that a roadside device failure has occurred when the numbers do not match continuously for a predetermined number of times.

[0009]

According to the automatic toll collection device of the first aspect of the invention, the toll collection process is automatically performed by communication between the roadside device installed on the road and the on-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle. As the charge collection process, a card in which balance information is recorded may be attached to an in-vehicle device, and a charge according to a route traveled by the vehicle may be subtracted from the balance information recorded in the card. Alternatively, information on the charge according to the route taken by the vehicle may be recorded in the vehicle-mounted device, and the fee may be withdrawn from the bank account at a later date.

Here, if communication failure occurs between the on-road unit and the on-road unit, it is not possible to automatically collect charges. In this case, it is necessary to determine whether the cause of the communication failure is the roadside device side or the vehicle-mounted device side. If there is a cause of communication failure on the vehicle-mounted device side, the roadside device can normally communicate with another vehicle-mounted device even if communication with the vehicle-mounted device causing the communication failure is poor. On the other hand, if there is a cause of communication failure on the side of the roadside machine, the roadside machine continuously causes communication failure between different onboard machines.

Therefore, the discriminating means provided on the roadside equipment is
When a communication failure between different in-vehicle devices is detected a predetermined number of times in succession, it is determined to be a road device failure.

As described above, when the communication failure between different on-vehicle devices is detected a predetermined number of times in succession, it is determined that the road device is out of order. Whether it is on the side can be reliably determined.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the vehicle-mounted device mounted on the vehicle calculates the charge according to the route traveled by the vehicle. The roadside machine installed on the road performs a calculation regarding a charge according to the route taken by the vehicle. Then, the fee collection process is automatically performed by the communication between the on-road device and the on-vehicle device.

[0014] Here, if a failure occurs in a roadside device or a vehicle-mounted device, it is not possible to automatically collect charges. in this case,
It is necessary to determine whether the cause of the failure is on the roadside or onboard side. If there is a cause of failure on the vehicle-mounted device side, the above-described calculation result of the vehicle-mounted device causing the failure does not match the calculation result of the roadside device of the roadside device, but it does match with the other vehicle-mounted device. On the other hand, if there is a cause of failure on the roadside machine, the results of the determination that the calculation result of the vehicle-mounted device and the calculation result of the calculation means do not match are continuous with the vehicle-mounted device.

Therefore, the discriminating means provided on the road equipment is
It is determined whether or not the calculation result of the on-vehicle device and the calculation result of the on-road device match with different on-vehicle devices, and if they do not match continuously for a predetermined number of times, it is determined that the on-road device has failed.

In this way, it is judged whether or not the calculation result of the on-vehicle device and the calculation result of the on-road device match with different on-vehicle devices, and if they do not match continuously for a predetermined number of times, it is determined that the on-road device has failed. Therefore, it is possible to surely determine whether the cause of the failure causing the price mismatch is the roadside machine side or the vehicle-mounted side.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The automatic toll collection device of this embodiment performs radio wave communication between an on-vehicle device (details will be described later) mounted on a vehicle and a roadside device installed on the ground side such as an entrance gate or an exit gate of a toll road. In this way, the traffic section (route) in which the vehicle has traveled and the vehicle type are determined, and the toll is automatically collected without stopping the vehicle at the entrance gate and the exit gate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle 90 is equipped with an IC card read / write device 60 to which an IC card 62 storing charge balance information and the like can be attached and detached, as described later. (See Figure 5). Note that a prepaid card such as an LSI card, a magnetic card, or a hologram card can be used instead of the IC card. The in-vehicle device 30 includes a storage circuit that stores fixed data such as vehicle type information such as a vehicle number, and refers to charge balance information and an ID code of the IC card 62 mounted by the IC card read / write device 60. , The charge balance information is written in the IC card 62.

On the other hand, as the equipment on the ground side, as will be described later, an on-vehicle device 30 is provided at each of an entrance gate 100 of a toll road, an intermediate route 200 immediately before or after a branch point, a service area, and an exit gate 300. A road machine is installed to exchange various information.

At the entrance gate 100, a roadside machine including an entrance antenna 117 made of a flat antenna and an entrance antenna control device 132 connected to the entrance antenna 117 is installed. This entrance antenna control device 132
Thus, via the entrance antenna 117, the entrance gate information of the toll road can be transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted in the vehicle and the signal from the vehicle-mounted device 30 can be received. Note that the entrance gate 100 is provided with a toll ticket issuing device 123 that issues a toll ticket similar to the conventional one for a vehicle that pays the toll by hand payment because automatic toll collection cannot be performed. Further, the entrance antenna control device 132 is connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage vehicles entering the toll road.

On the way route 200, a route grasping antenna 217 composed of a flat antenna and a route grasping antenna 2
An on-road device including a route grasping antenna control device 232 connected to 17 is installed. This route grasping antenna control device 232, via the route grasping antenna 217, information indicating which route is selected from the branch point and the route is traveled, and route passage information indicating which route the toll road is traveling on ( The route grasping antenna control device installation position information and the like) are transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device 30. Further, the route grasping antenna control device 232 is connected to the central computer 400 in order to comprehensively manage the traveling state of the vehicle on the toll road.

At the exit gate 300, in order to improve the certainty of information transmission / reception by radio waves, a notice antenna 317 composed of a flat antenna and a tollgate antenna 341 are provided.
Various types of antennas are provided. This notice antenna 3
A notice antenna control device 331 is connected to 17, and a tollgate antenna control device 332 is connected to the tollgate antenna 341. These notice antenna control device 331
The tollgate antenna controller 332 is connected to a local controller 380 connected to the central computer 400. Although the notice antenna 317, the tollgate antenna 341, the notice antenna control device 331, and the tollgate antenna control device 332 act as the road device of the present invention, the notice antenna 317 and the notice antenna control device 331 can be omitted. .

Further, the exit gate 300 is connected to a vehicle type detection system 360 for discriminating the vehicle type by image processing or the like, and a camera 352 for photographing an illegally passing vehicle such as a vehicle passing without paying a toll. ,
A fee payment system 323 is installed for vehicles that cannot receive automatic tolls. By collectively controlling each of these systems with the local controller 380, measures are taken for the inability to collect tolls, and tolls are automatically received according to the traffic section (route) in which the vehicle has traveled and the vehicle type. There is. In addition, the central computer 400
By connecting the local controller 380 and the local controller 380, the information about the revision of the toll table and the information about the illegal traffic are smoothly and swiftly exchanged.

Next, an example of the schematic structure of each of the entrance gate, the intermediate path and the exit gate will be further described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the entrance gate 100 of the toll road of this embodiment has three lanes 102, 104, and 1.
Has 06. Lane 102 is formed between site 108 and divider 110, and lane 104 is divider 110.
And the separation zone 112, the lane 106 is formed between the separation zone 112 and the site 114. From site 108 to site 11 across these multiple lanes
The arch 116 is arranged over 4 and the arch 11
Entrance antennas 118, 120, and 122 are attached to the upper part of 6 so as to be located directly above each lane. The entrance antenna 118 transmits / receives information to / from a vehicle traveling in the lane 102, the entrance antenna 120 transmits / receives information to / from a vehicle traveling in the lane 104, and the entrance antenna 122 transmits / receives information to / from the lane 106. Information is exchanged with the traveling vehicle.

At the site 114, the entrance antenna control device 1
An entrance gate control center 130 having 32 is provided, and entrance antennas 118, 120, 122 are connected to the entrance antenna control device 132.

In FIG. 2, the entrance antenna 117 of FIG.
Although the entrance antennas 118, 120, and 122 are used as the above, one or two entrance antennas may be used in one or two lanes, or more entrance antennas may be used.

At the entrance gate 100, there are installed ticket issuing devices 124, 126, 128 for issuing tolls for paying tolls corresponding to each lane. The pass issuing device 124 is located in the lane 102.
The ticket issuing device 126 is installed so as to correspond to the lane 104, and the ticket issuing device 128 is installed so as to correspond to the lane 106. These ticket issuing devices 12
4, 126 and 128 are connected to the entrance gate control center 130.

Signals 134, 136, 138 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are provided on the downstream side of the arch 116 in the vehicle traveling direction so as to correspond to each lane. These traffic signals 134, 136, 138
Is connected to the entrance gate control center 130 and displays either a display when the vehicle can enter each lane (for example, a green light) or a display when the vehicle cannot enter the lane (for example, a red light). .

The entrance antenna controller 132 of the entrance gate control center 130 is connected to the central computer 400 (see FIG. 1).
See). In addition, without connecting the entrance antenna control device 132 to the central computer 400,
An independent control system using only the entrance gate may be used.

As shown in FIG. 3, the intermediate route 200 immediately before the branch point of the toll road has two lanes 202, 20.
4 are formed adjacent to each other between the site 208 and the site 214. An arch 216 is arranged from the site 208 to the site 214 so as to straddle these lanes 202 and 204, and the route grasping antenna 21 is provided on the arch 216.
8, 220, 222 are attached. The route grasping antenna 218 is located above the lane 202 and is located in the lane 20.
2 transmits and receives information to and from the vehicle traveling on the route 2, and the route grasping antenna 222 transmits and receives information to and from the vehicle located on the lane 204 and traveling on the lane 204. Above the center line 206 between the route grasping antennas 218 and 222 and indicating the boundary between the lanes 202 and 204, there is a route grasping antenna 220 that transmits and receives information to and from the vehicle across the lanes 202 and 204. It is arranged.

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

As shown in FIG. 4, the exit gate 300 of the toll road is provided with three lanes 302, 304 and 306. Lane 302 is site 308 and divider 31
0, lane 304 is formed between separators 310 and 312, and lane 306 is separated.
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. On the arch 316, the notice antennas 318 and 3 are provided.
20, 322 are attached. Notice antenna 318
Transmits / receives information to / from vehicles traveling on the lane 302 located above the lane 302.
Transmits and receives information to and from vehicles traveling on the lane 304 located above the lane 304. Similarly, the warning antenna 322 is located above the lane 306 and located on the lane 306.
Information is sent to and received from vehicles traveling on the road.

At the site 314, the exit gate control center 3
30 is provided, and this exit gate control center 33
At 0, a notice antenna control device 331 and a tollgate antenna control device 332 described later are arranged. The notice antenna control device 331 includes notice antennas 318 and 320,
322 is connected.

A vehicle type detection system 360 is arranged near the arch 316. This vehicle type detection system 3
The reference numeral 60 includes vehicle type detection devices 362, 364, 366 each of which is a CCD line scanner. The vehicle type detection device 362 is arranged on the site 308 and the separation zone 310 corresponding to the lane 302 in order to identify the vehicle type of the vehicle traveling on the lane 302. Similarly, the vehicle type detection device 364 is arranged in the separation band 310 and the separation band 312 corresponding to the lane 304 near the arch 316 in order to identify the vehicle type of the vehicle traveling in the lane 304, and the vehicle type detection device 366 is In order to identify the vehicle type of the vehicle traveling on the lane 306, it is arranged on the separation belt 312 and the site 314 corresponding to the lane 306. The vehicle type detection system 360 including these vehicle type detection devices is connected to the local controller 380, and determines the vehicle type by determining the silhouette of the passing vehicle by image processing based on the image obtained by the CCD line scanner, thereby determining the vehicle type information. To the local controller 380.

On the downstream side in the vehicle traveling direction of the position where the arch 316 is arranged, so as to straddle the above-mentioned plurality of lanes,
An arch 340 is arranged from the site 308 to the site 314, and the tollgate antenna 34 is provided on the arch 340.
2, 344 and 346 are attached. The tollgate antenna 342 is located above the lane 302 and is located in the lane 30.
The tollgate antenna 344 exchanges information relating to the charge with respect to the vehicle traveling in 2, and the tollgate antenna 344 transmits and receives information with respect to the vehicle traveling in the lane 304 above the lane 304. , Lane 30
Information is transmitted and received to and from vehicles traveling above the lane lane 306. These tollgate antennas 342, 3
Tollgate antenna control device 332 is connected to 44 and 346.

At the exit gate 300, toll-paying boxes 324, 326, 328 are provided corresponding to each lane for vehicles paid by hand that do not automatically charge tolls.
Is installed. The fee payment box 324 is arranged corresponding to the lane 302, and the fee payment box 326 is provided.
Is arranged corresponding to the lane 304, and the fee payment box 328 is arranged corresponding to the lane 306. A microcomputer (not shown) is provided in each of these fee payment boxes 324, 326, 328, and the information is collected by manual payment by controlling each microcomputer (not shown). The system 323 is configured. The fee payment system 323 is connected to the local controller 380 (see FIG. 1).

Further, an unauthorized vehicle photographing system 350 for photographing an illegally passing vehicle is arranged downstream of the toll payment box in the traveling direction of the vehicle (see FIG. 1). Camera 352, which is
354 and 356 are arranged corresponding to the lanes 302, 304 and 306. This unauthorized vehicle photography system 35
0 is connected to the local controller 380.

Signals 334, 336, 338 for instructing whether or not to enter each lane are provided on the downstream side of the arch 340 in the vehicle traveling direction, corresponding to each lane. These traffic lights 334, 336, 338
Is connected to the exit gate control center 330,
Either a display indicating that the vehicle can enter each lane (for example, a green light) or an indication that the vehicle cannot enter (for example, a red traffic light) is displayed.

The exit gate control center 330 is connected to the central computer 400 (see FIG. 1). The exit gate control center 330 may not be connected to the central computer 400, but may be an independent control system using only the exit gate.

Next, the structure of the vehicle-mounted device 30 mounted on the vehicle will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle-mounted device 30 includes a reception antenna 32 that receives a signal transmitted from a road device described later.
It has. The receiving antenna 32 is the receiving antenna 32.
It is connected to a detection circuit 34 that detects the modulated wave received in step S3 and obtains a data signal. The detection circuit 34 is connected via a data signal reception circuit 44 to a signal processing circuit 46 including a microcomputer.

The signal processing circuit 46 is connected to a storage circuit 48 for storing data such as an ID code and vehicle type information, and a transmission circuit 50 for transmitting a data signal including the ID code as a response signal. Reference numeral 50 modulates the inquiry signal, which is an unmodulated carrier wave received by the transmission / reception antenna 52, with the data signal from the signal processing circuit 46, and returns it via the transmission / reception antenna 52.

An IC card read / write device 60 to which an IC card 62 can be attached / detached is connected to the signal processing circuit 46.

The vehicle-mounted device is always supplied with power from the vehicle-mounted battery when the ignition is turned on.

The on-vehicle device 30 described above receives the reception antenna 32 for receiving the signal transmitted from the roadside device, the inquiry signal transmitted from the roadside device, and the signal obtained by modulating the received inquiry signal with the data signal. Although the transmitting / receiving antenna 52 for transmitting is configured separately, the transmitting / receiving antenna 52 is not limited to this, and may be configured as one transmitting / receiving antenna.

Next, a roadside device that communicates with the vehicle-mounted device 30 will be described by taking a roadside device provided at the exit gate 300 as an example. Note that, for the sake of simplicity, the lane 302
An exit antenna 318 and an exit antenna control device 331 that are in charge of transmission and reception of radio waves to and from a vehicle traveling on the road will be described. Further, since the notice antennas 320 and 322, the tollgate antennas 342, 344 and 346, and the tollgate antenna control device 332 have substantially the same configuration, description thereof will be omitted. Further, the configurations of the antennas and the antenna control device in the entrance gate 100 and the intermediate route 200 are substantially the same, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the device on the ground side with respect to the vehicle traveling in the lane 302 is composed of an exit antenna 318 and an exit antenna control device 331. The exit antenna 318 includes a transmitting antenna 22 and a transmitting / receiving antenna 26. The transmitting antenna 22
Although the transmission / reception antenna 26 and the transmission / reception antenna 26 are separately configured, the present invention is not limited to this and may be configured as one transmission / reception antenna. Exit antenna control device 331
Has a signal processing circuit 12 including a microcomputer. The signal processing circuit 12 can be connected to the central computer 400. The signal processing circuit 12 is connected to a transmission circuit 14 that transmits a data signal (communication request signal) including a command. Transmission circuit 14
Is connected to the transmitting antenna 22 via the mixer 18. A carrier generation circuit 20 for generating a carrier of a predetermined frequency is connected to the mixer 18, and the mixer 18 receives the signal input from the transmission circuit 14 and the carrier generation circuit 20.
The carrier wave input from the carrier wave generating circuit 20 is mixed with the carrier wave input from the carrier wave generating circuit 20 and the signal input from the transmitting circuit 14 modulates the carrier wave input from the carrier wave generating circuit 20. Further, the modulated wave is transmitted as a radio wave from the transmitting antenna 22.

In the carrier wave generation circuit 20, a transmission / reception circuit 2 for extracting a data signal from a modulated wave which is modulated and returned from the vehicle-mounted device 30 shown in FIG. 5 and received by the transmission / reception antenna 26.
4 are connected. The transmission / reception circuit 24 is connected to the signal processing circuit 12.

The other exit antennas in the exit gate 300 have the same structure as described above, and the description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the entrance gate 100 and the intermediate route 20
The configuration of each antenna and the antenna control device in No. 0 is substantially the same as the above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the processing routine of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, the fee collection process is performed and the process of determining the faulty part is performed.

In the case of a roadside machine installed at the exit gate, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, in step 502, fee collection processing is performed. Hereinafter, the fee collection process will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Note that FIG. 8 shows the details of step 502.

If the vehicle type detection system determines that the vehicle 90 has been detected, step 602 (see FIG. 8).
Then, an inquiry signal composed of a continuous wave is transmitted.

When the vehicle-mounted device receives this inquiry signal (see FIG. 9, step 632), in step 634, the received inquiry signal is used as a carrier wave to identify the own vehicle. A modulated wave obtained by modulating a carrier wave with passing information or the like is transmitted as a response signal.

When the roadside machine receives this response signal (see FIG. 8).
Reference, step 604), in step 614, the entrance gate information, route passage information, etc. are read out, and the vehicle type information detected by the vehicle type detection system is read out.
In step 16, a charge is calculated by referring to the charge table based on these pieces of information, and in step 618, a modulated wave (charge table signal) obtained by modulating a carrier wave with the charge table information is transmitted.

When the vehicle unit receives this charge table signal (see FIG. 9, step 636), in step 638,
The charge is calculated by referring to the charge table received based on the entrance gate information, the route passage information, and the vehicle type information, and in step 640, the calculated charge information (charge signal) is transmitted,
In step 642, the calculated charge is subtracted from the charge balance information stored in the IC card 62, and the subtracted charge balance information is stored.

When the roadside device receives the charge signal from the vehicle-mounted device (see FIG. 8, step 620), the calculated charge and the received charge are stored in step 622.

After the charge collection process is performed as described above, in step 504 (see FIG. 7), it is determined whether or not the charge calculated by the on-vehicle device and the charge calculated by the on-road device have been mismatched. If it is determined that the charges do not match, the counter value C is incremented by 1 in step 506, and it is determined in step 508 whether the counter value C is greater than or equal to the predetermined value n. If the counter value C is not equal to or greater than the predetermined value n, the process returns to step 502, and the fee collection process is performed for another vehicle. On the other hand, if the counter value C is greater than or equal to the predetermined value n, the charges of the different n vehicles calculated by the roadside machine and the charges calculated by the different n vehicle-mounted machines are consecutively repeated n times. Since it is not done, it is determined that the faulty part is a roadside device. Therefore, in step 510, the processing for dealing with the failure of the road device is performed, and this processing is ended.

Here, the processing for dealing with the failure of the road equipment includes, for example, processing for prohibiting entry of the vehicle into the lane. For example, it is recommended that a breaker be installed at the lane exit and that the breaker be removed when it is determined to be a roadside machine failure, or that vehicles that have entered the lane should be stopped at all manned gates. There is processing.

If the charge calculated by the vehicle-mounted device and the charge calculated by the on-road device match in step 504, the counter value C is set to 0 in step 512, the process returns to step 502, and other steps are performed. Toll collection processing is performed on the vehicle.

In this way, it is judged whether or not there is a discrepancy between the charge calculated by the in-vehicle device and the charge calculated by the on-road device, and the inconsistency with the different in-vehicle devices is repeated a predetermined number of times. Since the on-road unit is determined to be the faulty part when it occurs, it is possible to reliably determine that the cause of the fault that causes the price mismatch is on the side of the on-road unit.

In the embodiment described above, it is determined whether or not the charge calculated by the vehicle-mounted device and the charge calculated by the on-road device are inconsistent, but the invention is not limited to this. You may do as follows.

That is, step 602 (see FIG. 10)
Then, the inquiry signal is transmitted. When the vehicle-mounted device receives this inquiry signal (see FIG. 11, step 632), in step 634 the inquiry signal is used as a carrier wave for the ID code,
A modulated wave obtained by modulating the carrier with the remaining charge information such as entrance gate information and route passage information is transmitted as a response signal.

When the roadside machine receives this response signal (see FIG. 1).
0, step 604), in step 614a, the entrance gate information, route passage information, and remaining charge information is read out, and the vehicle type information detected by the vehicle type detection system is read out, and in step 616a, a fee table is created based on these information. Calculate charges by referring to step 618
Then, the charge table signal of the charge table information is transmitted.

When the vehicle unit receives this charge table signal (see FIG. 11, step 636), step 638.
Then, the charge is calculated by referring to the charge table received based on the entrance gate information, the route passage information, and the vehicle type information, and in step 640b, the calculated charge is subtracted from the charge balance information stored in the IC card 62, and the subtraction is performed. The information of the remaining charge balance is stored. Then, in step 642b, the stored charge balance information (balance signal) is transmitted.

When the roadside device receives the remaining charge signal from the vehicle-mounted device (see FIG. 10, step 620a), step 62
At 2a, the remaining charge amount information received from the vehicle-mounted device and the remaining charge amount information calculated on the roadside device are stored.

Then, the roadside machine compares the charge balance information received from the vehicle-mounted machine with the charge balance information calculated by the roadside machine to obtain the charge balance information received from the vehicle-mounted machine and the charge balance information calculated by the roadside machine. It is determined whether or not a mismatch with When the remaining charge amount information received from the vehicle-mounted device and the remaining charge amount information calculated on the roadside device do not match for a predetermined number of times, the remaining charge amount information for each of the n different vehicles calculated on the roadside device and n Since the respective remaining charge information calculated by the vehicle-mounted device does not match n times in a row, it is determined that the faulty part is a roadside device, and the above-mentioned handling processing when the roadside device fails is performed.

In this way, it is determined whether or not the remaining charge amount calculated by the in-vehicle device and the remaining charge amount calculated by the on-road device are inconsistent, and a predetermined result is determined between the in-vehicle devices having different inconsistencies. Since the on-road machine is determined to be the faulty part when the number of consecutive times is continuous, it is possible to reliably determine that the cause of the failure causing the price mismatch is on the side of the on-road machine.

In the embodiment described above, the charges are calculated by both the vehicle-mounted device and the road device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the following process may be performed.

If the vehicle type detection system determines that the vehicle 90 is detected, step 602 (see FIG. 12).
Then, an inquiry signal composed of a continuous wave is transmitted.

When the vehicle unit receives this inquiry signal (see FIG. 13, step 632), step 634d.
Then, using the received inquiry signal as a carrier, an ID code that is an identification code for identifying the own vehicle, entrance gate information, route passage information, and a modulated wave obtained by modulating the carrier with the remaining charge information stored in the current IC card 62, etc. It is sent as a response signal.

When the roadside machine receives this response signal (see FIG. 1).
2), Steps 604c) and 614c, the entrance gate information, the route passage information, the remaining charge information, etc. are read out, and the vehicle type information detected by the vehicle type detection system is read out, and the remaining charge amount information is stored in Step 615. In step 616, the charge is calculated by referring to the charge table based on the entrance gate information, the route passage information, and the vehicle type information, and in step 617, the calculated charge is subtracted from the stored charge residual information to obtain the new charge residual information. Then, in step 619, a modulated wave (charge information signal) obtained by modulating the carrier wave with the calculated charge information is transmitted.

When the vehicle-mounted device receives this charge information signal (see FIG. 13, step 637), step 642d.
Then, the charge balance information stored in the IC card 62 is subtracted by the received charge, and the subtracted charge balance information (new charge balance information) is stored. Then, in step 646, the new charge balance information is transmitted.

When the roadside device receives the new charge balance signal from the vehicle-mounted device (see FIG. 12, step 620c), step 6
At 22c, the received new charge balance information is stored.

Then, the roadside machine compares the new charge balance information received from the onboard machine with the new charge balance information calculated by the onboard machine to calculate the new charge balance information received from the onboard machine and the roadside machine. It is determined whether a discrepancy with the new charge balance information has occurred. When the new charge balance information received from the vehicle-mounted device and the new charge balance information calculated on the roadside device do not match for a predetermined number of times, the new charge balance information for each of the n different vehicles calculated on the roadside device is different. Since the new charge balance information calculated for each of the n vehicle-mounted devices does not match for n consecutive times, it is determined that the faulty part is a roadside unit, and the above-mentioned measures when the roadside unit fails Perform processing.

As described above, it is determined whether or not the new charge balance received from the in-vehicle device and the new charge balance calculated on the roadside device are inconsistent, and a predetermined result is determined between the in-vehicle devices having different determination results. Since the on-road machine is determined to be the faulty part when the number of consecutive times is continuous, it is possible to reliably determine that the cause of the failure causing the price mismatch is on the side of the on-road machine. In addition, the charge is calculated by the roadside device, and in communication between the roadside device and the vehicle-mounted device, the charge table is not transmitted / received, and the charge and remaining charge amount information is transmitted / received. Therefore, communication is performed with a small amount of data. be able to.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since this embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment described above, the operation of this embodiment will be described below. Further, the same parts as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

If the vehicle type detection system 360 determines that the vehicle 90 has detected the vehicle 90, the roadside machine performs step 602.
(See FIG. 14), the inquiry signal is transmitted, and in step 606, it is judged whether or not the response signal is received within the predetermined time. If the response signal is received within the predetermined time, the counter is counted in step 612. The value C is set to 0 and the above-described processing is performed (steps 614 to 622 (FIG. 8)). In this case, the processing routine shown in FIG. 10 (steps 614a to 622a) may be executed, or the processing routine shown in FIG. 12 (steps 614C to 614C).
Step 622) may be performed. The in-vehicle device is
FIG. 9, FIG. 11, and FIG.
One of the processing routines shown in 3 is executed.

On the other hand, when the response signal is not received within the predetermined time, the counter value C is incremented by 1 in step 624, and it is determined in step 626 whether the counter value C is larger than the predetermined value n. If the counter value C is not larger than the predetermined value n, the process returns to step 602,
An inquiry signal is transmitted to another vehicle. On the other hand, when the counter value C is larger than the predetermined value n, the communication failure in which the response signal is not received from the different in-vehicle device is the predetermined number (n times).
Since they are continuous, in step 628, the above-mentioned processing for handling a failure on the road device is performed, and this processing ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, in order to determine whether the cause of the communication failure between the on-vehicle device and the on-road device is a failure on the on-road device side or a failure on the on-vehicle device side, When a communication failure occurs in which no response signal is received within a predetermined time from different on-board devices, the on-road device is identified as the faulty part. It is possible to reliably determine that there is.

In the second embodiment described above, the roadside machine is determined to be the faulty part when the communication failure between the roadside machine and the onboard machine has continued for n times with different onboard machines. However, the present invention is not limited to this in order to determine whether the cause of the communication failure is on the side of the roadside machine or the side of the vehicle-mounted machine, and may be performed as follows.

If the vehicle type detection system 360 determines that the vehicle 90 has detected the vehicle 90, the roadside machine performs step 602.
(See FIG. 15), the inquiry signal is transmitted, and step 6
At 08, it is determined whether a signal is received. If no signal is received, the process returns to step 602 to transmit an inquiry signal for another vehicle, and if a signal is received, in step 610, predetermined information is received from the received signal,
For example, ID code, entrance gate information, passage route information,
It is determined whether or not the remaining charge amount can be read. If the predetermined information can be read from the received signal, the counter value C is set to 0 in step 612, and the above-described processing is performed (steps 614 to 620 (FIG. 8)). In this case, as in the case of the above-described embodiment, FIG.
0 may be executed (steps 614a to 622a), and the processing routine shown in FIG. 12 (steps 614C to 622) may be executed. The in-vehicle device executes any one of the processing routines shown in FIGS. 9, 11, and 13 in accordance with the processing routine performed by the on-road device.

On the other hand, when the predetermined information cannot be read from the received signal, the counter value C is incremented by 1 in step 624, and in step 626.
It is determined whether or not the counter value C is larger than the predetermined value n, and if it is not larger, the process returns to step 602 and an inquiry signal is transmitted to the in-vehicle device of another vehicle. On the other hand, when the counter value C is larger than the predetermined value n, the communication failure in which the predetermined information cannot be read from the signal received from the vehicle-mounted device has continued for the predetermined number of times (n times).
Then, it is determined that the on-road machine is out of order, and the above-mentioned processing for handling the on-road machine failure is performed.

As described above, in order to determine whether the cause of the communication failure between the on-vehicle unit and the on-road unit is the failure on the on-road unit side or the on-vehicle unit side, the predetermined information is output from the signal from the on-vehicle unit. Cannot be read.
Since the on-road unit is determined to be the faulty part when the number of consecutive times is continuous, it is possible to reliably determine that the cause of the communication failure is the on-road unit side failure.

In the above-described embodiment, the calculated charge balance information stored in the IC card is subtracted from the charge according to the route traveled by the vehicle, and the subtracted charge balance information is stored. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the charge information according to the route that the vehicle has traveled may be recorded in the vehicle-mounted device, and may be withdrawn from the bank account at a later date.

[0086]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when a communication failure between different on-vehicle devices is detected a predetermined number of times in succession, it is determined that the road device malfunctions. There is an effect that it is possible to surely determine whether the cause is on the side of the roadside device or on the side of the vehicle-mounted device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the calculation result of the on-vehicle device and the calculation result of the on-road device match with different on-vehicle devices. Since it is determined that the machine is out of order, there is an effect that it is possible to reliably determine whether the cause of the failure that causes the price mismatch is on the roadside or onboard side.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an automatic fee collection device to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an entrance gate of the automatic fee collection device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing an intermediate route of the automatic fee collection device of FIG.

4 is a schematic perspective view showing an exit gate of the automatic toll collection device of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a roadside machine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a main routine of this embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing routine on the side of a roadside device in a fee collection process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing routine on the in-vehicle device side in the fee collection processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing another processing routine on the side of the roadside device in the fee collection processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing another processing routine on the in-vehicle device side in the fee collection processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing still another processing routine on the roadside machine in the fee collection processing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing still another processing routine on the in-vehicle device side in the fee collection processing.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a roadside machine for determining whether or not the communication failure is caused by a failure on the roadside machine side.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing another processing routine of the roadside machine for determining whether or not the communication failure is caused by a failure on the roadside machine side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 In-vehicle device 100 Entrance gate 117 Entrance antenna 200 Midway route 217 Route grasping antenna 300 Exit gate 317 Notice antenna 341 Tollgate antenna

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Umeda 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Automobile Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic toll collection device for automatically performing a toll collection process through communication between an on-road device installed on a road and an on-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, comprising: 2. An automatic toll collection device, characterized in that it is provided with a discrimination means for discriminating a roadside device failure when a communication failure is detected a predetermined number of times consecutively. 2. A communication between a roadside device installed on the road for calculating a charge according to a route traveled by a vehicle and an in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle for calculating a charge according to a route traveled by the vehicle In an automatic toll collection device that performs toll collection processing, the roadside device determines whether or not the calculation result of the onboard device and the calculation result of the roadside device match between different onboard devices, and a predetermined number of times continuously. The automatic toll collection device is characterized in that it is provided with a determining means for determining a roadside device failure when they do not match.