JPH10222794A - Vehicle passage management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose the vehicle passage management system which can accurately and speedily perform the passage management of a toll, etc., of a vehicle for a motorway, etc., without human intervention. SOLUTION: The vehicle passage management system which manages vehicles 2 passing through the motorway has gates 10 installed at places where vehicles enter and exit from the motorway 1, vehicle-side communication devices 2 mounted on the vehicles 2, gate-side communication device 30 installed at the gates 10, and a headquarter device 50 which is connected to the gate-side communication devices 30 through wireless or wired communication lines. The vehicle communication device 20 can send identification information 21 on a vehicle 2 and receive gate information 11 that can specify passed gates 10. The gate-side communication device 30 can receive identification information 21 on a passing vehicle 2 and send gate information 11 discriminating the gate. This system can calculate a toll of each vehicle without a pass ticket or human intervention and accurately and speedily perform vehicle passage management without causing traffic congestion, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic management system for vehicles traveling on a toll road such as an expressway, and more particularly, a vehicle traffic management system capable of processing a toll settlement without relying on humans. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A traffic management system for vehicles traveling on an expressway has a gate placed at an interchange, which is an entrance and exit of the expressway, and a vehicle entering the expressway from there can obtain a pass to get the traffic. It is possible to identify the gate where charges are generated. Also, when leaving the highway, if the driver passes the toll ticket to the attendant waiting at the exit gate, the toll is calculated based on the toll ticket and the toll is calculated by cash, prepaid card, credit card, etc. Payment will be made.

As described above, in a general toll road vehicle traffic management system, a driver of a vehicle passing therethrough obtains a ticket at an entrance gate and submits the ticket at an exit gate. , A toll calculation is performed. In addition, the fare settlement is performed by an attendant who has received the toll ticket or an automatic fare clearing machine.

[0004]

However, such a traffic management system is based on the premise that a driver of a traffic vehicle carries a pass. However, taking out a toll ticket from a ticket issuing machine at an entrance gate and getting on a highway or the like causes traffic congestion at the entrance gate. In addition, taking out a toll ticket from a ticket issuing machine, carrying it, and submitting it at an exit gate is extremely troublesome for a vehicle driver. Furthermore, the delivery of cash or the like for clearing the toll at the exit gate is one of the major causes of traffic congestion at the exit gate.

[0005] A stolen vehicle or the like can often be found by monitoring a passing vehicle at an entrance gate, an exit gate, or the like. However, in the related art, such monitoring is performed manually, and for example, there is an adverse effect that it is not expected to perform an accurate discovery operation at night or the like.

Further, in order to accurately notify traffic information on a highway or the like to a passing vehicle in real time, it is desirable to be able to accurately confirm the number of vehicles traveling on the highway or the like.

[0007] In view of the above, the object of the present invention is to provide:
It is to propose a vehicle traffic management system that can efficiently manage traffic on toll roads such as highways.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, in the vehicle traffic management system of the present invention,
A function of transmitting identification information of the vehicle is provided, and gate information for specifying a gate that has passed is stored, and on the gate side, vehicle identification information transmitted by a passing vehicle is received, and the gate is specified. A function to transmit gate information to the passing vehicle is provided. With this configuration, the gate that has passed is stored on the side of the vehicle that passes through the entrance gate, so that the toll can be calculated at the exit gate based on the gate information stored in each vehicle. Therefore, there is no need to manage tolls using toll tickets.

[0009] Further, by transmitting these information from the exit gate to the headquarters device in a form in which the identification information of the vehicle transmitted by each vehicle and the toll of the vehicle are associated with each other, On the side of the device, the toll of each vehicle can be periodically tabulated, for example, to make a payment with a credit card. Therefore, it is not necessary to clear the traffic area at the exit gate each time, so that there is less possibility that traffic congestion will occur at the exit gate.

Further, if the identification information is transmitted to each vehicle as described above, the passing vehicle can be specified quickly and accurately using a computer system or the like.
Therefore, for example, a stolen vehicle or the like can be accurately discriminated. Also, on the side of the headquarters device, since it is possible to accurately calculate how many vehicles have entered from which gates and which vehicles have exited from which gates, how many vehicles are passing in the road area between which gates. There is also obtained an effect that traffic information such as a traffic information can be accurately detected.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention relates to a vehicle 2 (m) (m = 1, 1) passing through a toll road 1.
2, 3 ...), which is a vehicle traffic management system 3 that is installed at a plurality of locations to enter and exit the toll road 1 (n = 1, 2, 3, ...). )When,
Vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) mounted on vehicle 2 (m)
And the gate-side communication device 3 mounted on the gate 10 (n)
0 (n), and a main unit 50 connected to these gate-side communication devices 30 (n) via a wireless or wired communication line 40 (n).

Here, each vehicle-side communication device 20 (m)
The identification information 21 (m) of the vehicle 2 (m) can be transmitted, and the gate information 11 (n) that can identify the passing gate 10 (n) can be received. On the other hand, each gate communication device 30 (n) can receive the identification information 21 (m) of the passing vehicle 2 (m) and can transmit the gate information 11 (n) for identifying the gate. Is.

This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. The vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) is provided in the identification information storage unit 22 that stores the identification information 21 of the vehicle 2 (m) equipped with the communication device 20 (m) and the gate 10 (n) that has passed through. 23 that receives the traffic management information S1 transmitted from the gate-side communication device 30 (n), and a reception information storage 24 that can store the information received by the reception unit 23.
And a response request signal R from the gate side communication device 30 (n)
When the information is received, the identification information 21 and the received information storage unit 24
And a transmitting unit 25 that transmits the information stored in the above to the gate-side communication device 30.

On the other hand, the gate side communication device 30 is
The transmission unit 32 transmits the response request signal R, the gate information 11, and the traffic management information S to the vehicle communication device 20 of the vehicle 2 passing through the gate 10, and the vehicle communication device 20 responds to the response request signal R. A receiving unit 33 that receives the transmitted vehicle identification information 21 and the traffic management information S2, and a receiving unit 33.
Based on the reception information in the above, the toll calculation unit 34 that calculates the toll of the vehicle 2 that has passed through the gate 10 and the traffic management information storage that stores the calculated toll and the information received by the receiving unit 33 in association with each other. And means 35.

Here, the transmission unit 32 of the gate-side communication device 30 transmits the response request signal R again when the reception failure of the transmission information of the vehicle-side communication device 20 of the vehicle 2 passing through the gate 10 occurs. The information is transmitted to ensure communication with the passing vehicle 2.

However, when the power of the communication device 20 on the vehicle is turned off and the vehicle is in an inoperative state or the like, the identification information of the passing vehicle cannot be received. Even in such a case, in order to be able to identify the vehicle 2 that has passed through the gate 10, it is desirable to arrange a camera (imaging means) 36 for photographing the vehicle in the gate 10.

The gate 10 is provided with a fare clearing machine 37 that receives the toll calculated by the toll calculator 34 from the vehicle driver and performs automatic payment of the toll.

Of course, in the gate 10 (n), which serves as an entrance gate, the above-described charge calculation unit and charge clearing machine are not required.

Next, the gate-side communication device 30 determines whether or not the storage unit 38 storing the specific vehicle number and the vehicle having the vehicle number stored in the storage unit 38 have passed through the gate 10. You may add the structure provided with the determination part 39. In this case, for example, it is preferable to store the vehicle numbers of stolen vehicles, fleeing vehicles such as criminals, etc., since the passage of such vehicles can be accurately detected without relying on humans.

Here, as described above, the vehicle traffic management system 3 of this embodiment includes the head office device 50 and the plurality of gates 10.
The vehicle-side communication device 20 is provided in each vehicle 2, and the gate-side communication device 30 is provided in each vehicle.
Then, via the communication line 40, the gate side communication device 3
The traffic management information S2 of the traffic vehicle 2 received at 0 is centrally managed by the head office device 50. Of course, in the case of a gate provided with the camera 36, the image of the vehicle taken by the camera 36 is also transmitted to the headquarters device 50 side. When a stolen vehicle or the like is detected, a warning signal S3 is transmitted from the transmission unit 32 of the gate-side communication device 30. When the headquarter device 50 receives the warning signal S3, a warning is displayed to that effect. I do. For example, display that on the screen,
Alternatively, a warning sound such as a buzzer is generated.

Next, a preferred configuration of the vehicle-side communication device 20 will be described. As described above, since the vehicle side communication device 20 is for transmitting vehicle information for identifying the vehicle, it is desirable that the driver side cannot remove the vehicle information without permission. For this purpose, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is desirable that the module of the vehicle-side communication device 20 be embedded in the sealing portion 61 of the license plate 60 so that the module cannot be removed or replaced without permission. .

Further, the vehicle side communication device 20 needs to be set to a state (that is, an operating state) in which the vehicle identification information can be transmitted at all times while the vehicle is operating. For this purpose, for example, an in-vehicle battery is used as a power source of the communication device 20, and a power supply path of the communication device 20 is also formed in a state where the key-in is turned to an on position of vehicle electrical components. It is desirable to do so. In this manner, in the vehicle driving state, the communication device 20 is always supplied with power and can transmit the vehicle identification information.

In addition to this configuration, in order to prevent the driver from arbitrarily setting the communication device 20 in an inoperable state, it is visually checked from the outside whether the communication device 20 is in the operating condition. It is desirable to provide an identifiable indicator lamp. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, such an indicator lamp 62 may be attached to a position adjacent to the sealing portion 61 of the license plate 60. In this way, the indicator lamp 6 indicates whether the communication device 20 is operating.
It can be confirmed from the blinking state of 2.

In the above description, what kind of transmission and reception mechanism of the vehicle side communication device 20 is used is not mentioned. As such a mechanism, for example, a communication function such as PHS, which has been widely used in recent years, can be used as it is.

Instead of such a communication function, a detection mechanism to which a non-contact type sensor such as a magnetic type is applied may be adopted to identify the vehicle passing through the gate.

[0026]

As described above, in the vehicle traffic management system according to the present invention, each vehicle has a function of transmitting identification information of the vehicle and stores gate information for specifying a gate that has passed. There is. Further, the gate side has a function of receiving vehicle identification information transmitted by a passing vehicle and transmitting gate information specifying the gate to the passing vehicle side.

According to the present invention configured as described above, the gate that passes through the entrance gate is stored on the side of the vehicle that passes through the entrance gate. Therefore, at the exit gate, based on the gate information stored in each vehicle, You can calculate tolls. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to manage the toll using the toll ticket.

Further, in the present invention, such information is transmitted from the exit gate side to the headquarters apparatus side in a form in which the identification information of each vehicle transmitted by each vehicle is associated with the toll of the vehicle. If this is the case, the headquarters device can periodically add up the tolls of each vehicle and make payments by credit card, for example. Accordingly, it is not necessary to settle the toll area each time at the exit gate, so that traffic congestion due to the toll settlement time at the exit gate can be avoided.

Further, according to the present invention, a passing vehicle can be specified quickly and accurately by using a computer system or the like. Therefore, for example, it is possible to accurately determine a stolen vehicle or the like. On the side of the headquarters,
Since it is possible to accurately calculate how many vehicles entered from which gate and which vehicle left from which gate, it is possible to accurately obtain traffic information such as how many vehicles are passing in the road area between which gates. The effect of being detectable is also obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle traffic management system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a gate-side communication device and a vehicle-side communication device in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a position of a vehicle-side communication device attached to a license plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Expressway 2 Vehicle 3 Vehicle traffic management system 10 Gate 11 Gate identification information 20 Vehicle side communication device 21 Vehicle identification information 30 Gate side communication device 40 Communication line 50 Headquarters device 60 License plate 61 Sealed portion 62 Display lamp S1 Call from gate side Traffic management information S2 Traffic management information transmitted from the vehicle side S3 Warning signal

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle traffic management system for managing vehicles traveling on a toll road, comprising: a gate for entering and exiting the toll road; a vehicle-side communication device mounted on the vehicle;
And a gate-side communication device mounted on the gate, wherein the vehicle-side communication device is capable of transmitting identification information of the vehicle and capable of receiving gate information of a passing gate, the gate-side communication The device is capable of receiving identification information of a passing vehicle and transmitting gate information for identifying the gate, the vehicle traffic management system. 2. The vehicle-side communication device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-side communication device includes an identification information storage unit that stores identification information of a vehicle equipped with the communication device, and the gate side mounted on the gate. A receiving unit that receives the traffic management information transmitted from the communication device, a reception information storage unit that can store the information received by the reception unit, and a response request signal from the gate-side communication device, And a transmission unit that transmits information held in the reception information storage unit to the gate-side communication device, wherein the gate-side communication device is connected to the vehicle-side communication device of a vehicle passing through the gate. A transmitting unit that transmits a response request signal and traffic management information toward the vehicle, and a receiving unit that receives vehicle identification information and traffic management information transmitted from the vehicle-side communication device in response to the response request signal A toll calculating unit that calculates a toll for a vehicle that has passed through the gate based on information received by the receiving unit, and a traffic management unit that associates and stores the calculated toll and information received by the receiving unit. A vehicle traffic management system comprising: an information storage means. 3. The response request signal according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit in the gate-side communication device re-transmits the response request signal when a reception failure of transmission information of the vehicle-side communication device passing through the gate occurs. A vehicle traffic management system characterized in that the vehicle traffic management system is adapted to transmit the information. 4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the gate further includes a photographing means for photographing a passing vehicle, and information is provided from a side of the vehicle passing through the gate. When the vehicle cannot be received, the vehicle passing management system is configured to photograph the passing vehicle by the photographing means. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the gate further comprises a toll clearing machine that receives the toll calculated by the toll calculator. Vehicle traffic management system. 6. The gate-side communication device according to claim 1, wherein the gate-side communication device includes a storage unit that stores a specific vehicle body number, and a vehicle having a vehicle body number stored in the storage unit. A discriminating unit for discriminating whether or not the gate has passed,
When a vehicle having a specific vehicle body number has passed, a vehicle traffic management system comprising: a notifying unit for notifying the headquarters device of the fact and the corresponding vehicle body number. 7. The head unit device according to claim 1, the gate side communication device provided in each of a plurality of gates, and the vehicle side communication device provided in each vehicle. And the traffic management information of the traffic vehicle received by the gate-side communication device is centrally managed by the headquarters device. 8. The vehicle traffic management system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-side communication device is embedded in a sealed portion of a license plate of the vehicle. 9. The display lamp according to claim 1, further comprising a display lamp for displaying whether or not the vehicle-side communication device is in an operating state, the display lamp being visible from the outside. A vehicle traffic management system mounted on a vehicle body part of a vehicle. 10. The vehicle traffic management system according to claim 9, wherein the display lamp is attached to a license plate of the vehicle. 11. The vehicle traffic management system according to claim 9, wherein the display lamp uses a vehicle-mounted battery as a driving power source so as to turn on and off in synchronization with turning on and off of an accessory power source of the vehicle.