SE543820C2 - Method, control arrangement and tachograph for collection of data associated with a border crossing event - Google Patents

Abstract

Method (500), control arrangement (360) and tachograph (340) for collection and storage of data of a vehicle (100) comprising a tachograph (340), a positioning device (310) and a control arrangement (360). The method (500) comprises the steps of detecting (501 ) by the positioning device (310) that the vehicle (100) is passing a national border (200); and sending (508) a signal to the tachograph (340), triggering storage of geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing event.

Description

METHOD, CONTROL ARRANGEMENT AND TACHOGRAPH FOR COLLECTION OF /j//1off/,111///1/z,,,I /,,lr'fl' ef]ff)Z!” x/f/Z!f' ,ff?/ 1,' /14/C 1ß,rf'f f TECHNICAL FIELD This document discloses a tachograph and a control arrangement of a vehicle and a methodto be performed. I\/|ore particularly, a tachograph, a control arrangement and a method aredescribed, for collection of data of the vehicle, such as for example position and time whenthe vehicle is crossing a national border.

BACKGROUND Internationaltransportation with professional transportation vehicles such as trucks and trail-ers are fundamental for international trade. To enable and facilitate international trade, it isimportant that professional transportation vehicles are allowed to cross national borders withtheir cargo.

Working hours and driving time of professional vehicle drivers are regulated by law in manylegislations. For this reason, a tachograph is normally present in the professional heavy ve-hicle, such as a truck or a long-distance bus, for measuring and keeping track of the workinghours/ driving hours of the driver /-s of the vehicle. The driver presents a driver card to thetachograph and all recorded tachograph data is associated with the driver's driver card.

These regulations concerning working hours/ driving time of professional drivers, and alsosalary levels of drivers and cost levels of different countries may vary considerably. lt is forthese reasons tempting for foreign freight forwarders and/ or drivers from a country with amodest salary level to let their transportation vehicles remain in and take additional freightswithin countries with a high cost level. This behaviour may be referred to posting and/ orcabotage.

A posted worker is a person who usually works in a first country (typically with a relativelylow salary level) but is sent to a second country (typically with a relatively high cost level) byhis/ her employer to work there for a limited period of time. An employer who posts his or heremployees in the high cost level country is based in the low salary country and provides services across national borders.

Cabotage is the carriage of passengers or goods within a country's border, carried out by acompany registered outside the country's borders. Cabotage, provided by a foreign freightfon/varder, is classified as posting if there is an agreement between the employer and therecipient of the services, and other criteria for posting are met.

Posting/ cabotage is legally regulated in many legislations. Foreign vehicles may be allowedto drive within the country only for a limited period of time. Also, the foreign vehicle may beallowed to return again only after a certain waiting period. Other rules may specify that thedrivers' long weekly rest may not take place in the vehicle, that the driver must return to his/her home for the weekly rest, and/ or that the foreign driver must have the same salary andconditions as colleagues employed in the country he/ she currently is driving in. These reg-ulations are however very difficult for the relevant authorities to control.

To enable international transportation, yet enforcing posting and/ or cabotage, posting regu-lations have been introduced. Within EU, directive 96/71/ EC and directive 2014/67/EU arecurrently regulating these issues. The Mobility Package (current legal work within the EU)comprises certain adjustments of these regulations.

The mandatory tachograph onboard the vehicle is configured to store position of the vehicleat start, stop and every three hours of accumulated driving. The reason is to enable controlof regulations concerning allowed driving times and/ or resting times of the driver. lt has beensuggested to use the tachograph in order to detect and enforce posting/ cabotage.

This may to some extent reduce the problems of posting/ cabotage, yet three hours of drivingat highway speed will result in a considerable distance (about 300 km), which is enough tocross a border and return; alternatively, to completely pass a country.

A more frequent sampling of vehicle position may be introduced at the tachograph, like forexample every fifteen minute. This will however radically increase data storage require-ments, leading to increased costs for the tachograph. lt will also trigger generation and stor-age of a lot of irrelevant data, as most vehicles could be expected to be legal.

There is also to some extent a political hesitation/ resistance to allow a too detailed plotting of the whereabouts and movements of (non-criminal) citizens.

Document US20170076399 concerns a tachograph in a vehicle (called Electronic on-boardrecorder), wherein data concerning the vehicle is stored, such as position and jurisdiction.Vehicle position is continuously determined and in case a state/ national border is passed,the data is stored as an event in the tachograph. ln case no border crossing has been de-tected, the vehicle position is continuously determined and stored when a certain time periodhas passed.

The solution is based on having a very advanced tachograph in the vehicle, having ability todetermine geographical position based on a satellite-based positioning system, e.g. GlobalPositioning System (GPS). Also, a map has to be stored in the tachograph, which also hasto be continuously updated. Thereby currently used tachographs have to be replaced whichis an expensive solution. The new tachograph requires a very large memory for storage ofthe map and the stored data, which also is expensive. Also, the fact that the map has to becontinuously updated introduces a considerable administrative burden, and also open up thetachograph for manipulation by downloading an adjusted/ manipulated map.

Document US6253129 and US5928291 present an on-board computer, which may be inter-preted as a tachograph maintained in the vehicle. Data concerning passage of a nationalborder is stored. Geo-cells are created for differentjurisdictions/ countries in the system, andmap data is downloaded based on the planned route of the vehicle. This data is comparedwith the vehicle position and when a border crossing is detected, this information is stored inthe device/ tachograph.

Also, this solution is based on having a very advanced tachograph in the vehicle, havingability to determine geographical position based on GPS. A map has to be stored in thetachograph, which also has to be continuously updated. Thereby currently used tachographshave to be replaced which is an expensive solution. The new tachograph requires a verylarge memory for storage of the map and the stored data, which also is expensive. Also, thefact that the map has to be continuously updated introduces a considerable administrativeburden, and also open up the tachograph for manipulation by downloading an adjusted/ ma-nipulated map.

Document WO2008010178 describes an apparatus for logging vehicle positions duringtransportation, including border crossings. An indication is presented to the driver when anational border is crossed. The positioning system calculates and stores positioning data.

The described solution introduces a new apparatus for logging vehicle positions, which is nota tachograph, i.e. which has to be maintained in the vehicle simultaneously, adding totalcosts. lt is also a bit unclear how the output indication of the border crossing to the drivercould solve the problems of posting/ cabotage as the driver typically is well aware of wherehe/ she is driving.

Document US20030163249 illustrates a system for detection and logging of national bordercrossings. The data concerning vehicle position and border crossing is transmitted to a re- mote server via a wireless communication interface, for storage therein.

The described system enables central surveillance of vehicles by an authority, which maybe undesired from an integrity point of view. Also, by transmitting positioning/ route data ofa vehicle wirelessly, an eavesdropper may extract business sensitive data concerningroutes/ clients of a competitor for example. Also, the transmitted data may be manipulatedto throw suspicion on a competitor by a so-called man-in-the-middle attack. Alternatively, avehicle wanting to camouflage posting/ cabotage may replace the data to be uploaded to theserver with fake data.

To summarise, studies of previously known solutions regarding detection of vehicle bordercrossings reveals various weaknesses. lt would be desired to further improve and develop asolution concerning tachograph data management and analysis thereof, for enabling detec-tion of illegal vehicle driving such as posting and/ or cabotage.

SUMMARY lt is therefore an object of this invention to solve at least some of the above problems andprovide a solution facilitating enforcing of posting, cabotage and regulations associated withprofessional vehicle driving.

According to a first aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a method for collec-tion and storage of data of a vehicle. The vehicle comprises a tachograph, a positioning . . va... I N ...N ~ p _.tfiè Qètïïs Q: i -~=;~>~\\~~«\v\~~»~~ «\~~-«\\,~«.~\.-\ www “r rIQQQ=LšL-::E§\S'Q~ '\š§:=\~:\-::= cxšaQ '“ “ device and a control arrangement.. va. .\\_ _., t _. _.\_ _..\ _.\nån: n. att: i: :ma The method comprises the steps of detecting by the positioning device that the vehicle is passing a national border. Also, the method comprisessending a signal to the tachograph, triggering storage of geographical position coordinatesof the vehicle and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing event.

According to a second aspect of the invention, this objective is achieved by a control ar-rangement of a vehicle. The vehicle comprises a tachograph, a positioning device, for col- WIM. K. _. UINN . t U.uïlisïxä sixëxfs~cze =$^^“ lection of data of the vehicle. in k.. w . _ t+~-;.~_\_ .-\.-\;-¶~~.-.»\; f; .-.-.-_\ .~\.-\.~_§-§\Q~-+ .-_\..-.»_\_' .'\.~ \.~\.~.~ sk: 1-9: m: : a: :måst .~ :\.-: I: u! i.- í/ 4 The control arrangement is configured to detect, by the position-ing device, that the vehicle is passing a national border. ln addition, the control arrangementis configured to send a signal to the tachograph, triggering storage of geographical positioncoordinates of the vehicle and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing event.

Thanks to the described aspects, by detecting border crossings of the vehicle with navigationequipment which typically is already comprised in the vehicle, no map handling is requiredby the tachograph, which means that tachographs do not have to be updated with larger memories. ln some embodiments, an existing tachograph with software updates may beused, rendering overall cost savings for all involved parts, yet providing a reliable solution forcombatting and enforcing posting and/ or cabotage. Further, the provided solution is com-pletely independent from any user input by the driver, thereby reducing potential stress andcognitive pressure from him/ her.

Other advantages and additional novel features will become apparent from the subsequentdetailed description.

FIGURES Embodiments of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to theaccompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 illustrates a vehicle approaching a border crossing according to an embodi-ment of the invention; Figure 3 illustrates a vehicle as regarded from a vehicle internal perspective accordingto an embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 illustrates a vehicle with a weight sensor according to an embodiment of theinvenfion; Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the method; Figure 6 is an illustration depicting a system according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the invention described herein are defined as a method and a control ar-rangement, which may be put into practice in the embodiments described below. These em-bodiments may, however, be exemplified and realised in many different forms and are not tobe limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these illustrative examples of embodi-ments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

Still other objects and features may become apparent from the following detailed description,considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. lt is to be understood, however,that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition ofthe limits of the herein disclosed embodiments, for which reference is to be made to theappended claims. Further, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and, unless oth-en/vise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and pro-cedures described herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a scenario with a vehicle 100 driving in a driving direction 105 on a road110. The vehicle 100 comprises a tachograph and is typically driven by a professional human driver.

The vehicle 100 may comprise a means for transportation by in broad sense such as e.g. atruck, a car, a motorcycle, a trailer, a bus, a train, a tram, an aircraft, a watercraft, a space-craft, or other similar manned means of conveyance running e.g. on wheels, rails, air, water, space or similar media.

However, the vehicle 100 is subsequently primarily described as a heavy professional roadvehicle such as a truck or a bus, having a tachograph for registering, among other things,the working and/ or driving hours of the driver, and storing of data related to national border crossings.

The disclosed solution is based on automatic determination of vehicle position by a regularpositioning device such as a navigator of the vehicle 100, based on a satellite-based posi-tioning system such as Galileo, GPS, Glonass, etc. The driver is not required to make anyparticular action.

When the positioning device/ navigator of the vehicle 100 detects that the vehicle 100 ispassing a national border, geographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 is deter- mined. The moment in time is also determined.

The data comprising position coordinates and time moment when the vehicle 100 pass thenational border is then sent to the tachograph of the vehicle 100, for storage therein, prefer-ably in a dedicated file for border crossing data. Alternatively, the positioning device/ naviga-tor could send an event/ message to the tachograph to trigger storage of position and timehandled by the tachograph itself.

Law enforcing police may at irregular basis stop vehicles and extract data from the tacho-graph and based thereupon determine if the vehicle 100 has performed illegal posting/ cab-otage.

The disclosed solution is cheaper and easier to implement than the previously discussedsolutions. No handling, updating and/ or downloading of maps into the tachograph is re-quired. An already existing tachograph may be used, at least in some embodiments, leading to low overall costs and swift implementation.

By using navigational information of the vehicle navigator, several advantages is achieved.No maps need to be handled by the tachograph and no large memory need to be installedin the tachograph. Only some minor software changes may be made to the tachograph. Datarecord storage in the tachograph and data communication from the navigator to the tacho-graph are easily implemented.

As a telematic system may be used for so many other purposes today, the driver is notencouraged to destroy or manipulate the function. This in turn increase the probability thatthe intention of the legislation is followed; i.e. recording of border crossing and subsequentreview by enforcement for checking posting and cabotage is fulfilled.

Figure 2 depicts a vehicle 100 driving in a driving direction 105 on a road 110 towards anational/ regional border 200, as regarded from an above perspective. The expression “na-tional border” as used herein is to be regarded as a border distinguishing two areas withdistinct legislation. Thus, a “national border” as referred to herein may be a border betweentwo or more regions in a federal nation, such as e.g. a border between two states in the US,as well as a national border between two sovereign states, such as e.g. between Swedenand Norway.

Figure 3 illustrates an example of how the previously scenario in Figure 1 or Figure 2 maybe perceived by the driver of the vehicle 100.

The vehicle 100 is approaching a national border 200.

The geographical position of the vehicle 100 may be determined by the positioning unit 310in the vehicle 100, which may be based on a satellite navigation system such as the Naviga-tion Signal Timing and Flanging (Navstar) Global Positioning System (GPS), Differential GPS(DGPS), Galileo, GLONASS, or the like.

The geographical position of the positioning unit 310, (and thereby also of the vehicle 100)may be made continuously with a certain predetermined or configurable time intervals ac- cording to various embodiments.

Positioning by satellite navigation is based on distance measurement using triangulationfrom a number of satellites 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d. ln this example, four satellites 330a,330b, 330c, 330d are depicted, but this is merely an example. More than four satellites 330a,330b, 330c, 330d may be used for enhancing the precision, or for creating redundancy. The satellites 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d continuously transmit information about time and date (forexample, in coded form), identity (which satellite 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d that broadcasts),status, and where the satellite 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d are situated at any given time. TheGPS satellites 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d sends information encoded with different codes, forexample, but not necessarily based on Code Division l\/|ultiple Access (CDMA). This allowsinformation from an individual satellite 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d distinguished from the others'information, based on a unique code for each respective satellite 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d.This information can then be transmitted to be received by the appropriately adapted posi-tioning device comprised in the vehicle 100.

Distance measurement can according to some embodiments comprise measuring the differ-ence in the time it takes for each respective satellite signal transmitted by the respectivesatellites 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d to reach the positioning unit 310. As the radio signals travelat the speed of light, the distance to the respective satellite 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d may becomputed by measuring the signal propagation time.

The positions of the satellites 330a, 330b, 330c, 330d are known, as they continuously aremonitored by approximately 15-30 ground stations located mainly along and near the earth'sequator. Thereby the geographical position, i.e. latitude and longitude, of the vehicle 100may be calculated by determining the distance to at least three satellites 330a, 330b, 330c,330d through triangulation. For determination of altitude, signals from four satellites 330a,330b, 330c, 330d may be used according to some embodiments.

Having determined the geographical position of the positioning unit 310 (or in another way),it may be presented on a map, a screen or a display device where the position of the vehicle100 may be marked, in some alternative embodiments.

The map may be stored in a database 320 in the vehicle, or possibly external to the vehicle100 in some embodiments. By determining the geographical position and compare it withmap data, it may be determined that the vehicle 100 is approaching/ crossing the nationalborder 200.

The crossing of the national border 200 may also/ alternatively be determined by othermeans on-board the vehicle 100, e.g. by having transponders positioned at known positionsalong the national border 200 and a dedicated sensor in the vehicle 100, for recognising thetransponders and thereby detect the national border 200; by detecting and recognising acellular network of another nation; by detecting and recognising WiFi networks (WiFi net-works along the route may be mapped with certain respective geographical positions in a database); by receiving a Bluetooth beaconing signal, associated with a geographical posi-tion, or other signal signatures of wireless signals such as e.g. by triangulation of signalsemitted by a plurality of fixed base stations with known geographical positions. The border200 may alternatively be detected by a sensor in the vehicle 100, detecting a sign presentingthe border crossing.

The vehicle 100 also comprises a control arrangement 360. The control arrangement 360may be comprised in the positioning device 310; however, the control arrangement 360 mayalternatively be external to the positioning device 310.

The control arrangement 360 may comprise e.g. one or several Electronic Control Units(ECUs), typically a plurality of interacting ECUs. The control arrangement 360 may comprisea digital computer that controls one or more electrical systems, or electrical sub systems, ofthe vehicle 100, based on e.g. information read from the sensors placed at various parts andin different components of the vehicle 100; and/ or the positioning device 310. ECU is ageneric term that often is used in automotive electronics, for any embedded system thatcontrols one or more of the electrical system or sub systems in the vehicle 100. The controlarrangement 360 is particularly designated to obtain signals from the positioning device 310and/ or vehicle sensors, indicating that the vehicle 100 is passing the national border 200.Further, the control arrangement 360 is configured to obtain geographical position coordi-nates of the vehicle 100 from the positioning device 310 when the national border 200 ispassed. Also, the control arrangement 360 is configured to determine a moment in time whenthe vehicle passage of the national border 200 is detected. ln the illustrated embodiment, the vehicle 100 also comprises a tachograph 340, configuredto automatically record e.g. speed and travelled distance of the vehicle 100. Further, thetachograph 340 is configured to record the driver's activity selected from a choice of modes.The drive mode may be activated automatically when the vehicle 100 is in motion. The restmode, availability mode and/ or other work mode (and possibly also any other mode) maybe manually selected by the driver while the vehicle 100 is stationary.

The control arrangement 360 is then configured to orchestrate transmission of the geograph-ical position coordinates and the moment in time to the tachograph 340, wherein the coordi-nates and time may be stored, associated with crossing of the national border 200.

The determined geographical position coordinates and the determined moment in time maybe stored in a dedicated record file of the tachograph 340, such as a database 350a, and/ oron the driver's card 350b.

An inspecting authority such as a police officer may at some moment stop the vehicle 100and extract data from the tachograph 340/ database 350a, and/ or driver's card 350b. lt may thereby be determined by the inspecting authority whether the drivers of the vehicle100 has crossed any national borders 200 and when it occurred. Hereby, braking of the rules of posting/ cabotage and possibly also other illegal activity may be detected.

The inspecting authority may also inspect working hours etc., of the driver. One or two drivercards 350b may be presented to the tachograph 340 by the driver/ co-driver when startingthe journey/ changing driver on-board. There may be working hour data already recorded onthe driver's driver card 350b, e.g. because the driver has been driving another vehicle, forexample, or been working with loading the vehicle 100.

The tachograph 340 may have a card reader functionality for reading/ writing data from/ tothe driver's driver card 350b. The driver card 350b may have to be physically inserted intothe card reader of the tachograph 340. ln some embodiments, the driver card 350b maycomprise a contactless card and the card reader functionality of the tachograph 340 maydetect and communicate with the driver card 340 over a wireless short range communicationsuch as e.g. Bluetooth (BT), Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio-Frequency Identifica-tion (RFID), Z-wave, ZigBee, lPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoW-PAN), Wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) Protocol, Wireless Uni-versal Serial Bus (USB), optical communication such as Infrared Data Association (lrDA) orinfrared transmission to name but a few possible examples of wireless communications in some embodiments.

The driver card 350b may comprise identity information of the driver, and/ or a unique refer-ence identity, uniquely identifying the driver card 350b.

The positioning device 310, tachograph 340 and/ or control arrangement 360 in the vehicle100 may communicate interactively between themselves via e.g. a wired or wireless com-munication bus. The communication bus may comprise e.g. a Controller Area Network (CAN)bus, a l\/ledia Oriented Systems Transport (l\/lOST) bus, or similar. However, the communi-cation may alternatively be made over a wireless connection comprising, or at least be in- spired by any of the previously discussed wireless communication technologies.

Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of the vehicle 100, having a weight sensor 410. 11 The cargo weight of the vehicle 100 may be measured by the weight sensor 410 (or multiplesensors as the case may be) on the vehicle 100. The weight sensors 410 may be situatede.g. on the axis of the vehicle 100. ln some embodiments, the weight of the vehicle 100 maybe estimated based on the acceleration capacity of the vehicle 100.

The cargo weight of the vehicle 100 may be measured or estimated continuously or at apredetermined time interval. This cargo weight value may then be sent to the control ar-rangement 360 for comparison with a previously stored cargo weight value, captured e.g. atthe beginning of the journey; or being the last mayor cargo weight change. When a detecteddifference between these two values exceeds a predetermined or configurable thresholdweight limit, it may be determined that the vehicle 100 is loading/ unloading the cargo. lnsome embodiments, it may be checked whether the vehicle 100 is moving or not, e.g. bygetting input from the vehicle speedometer, from the tachograph 340 and/ or from the posi-tioning unit 310. ln case the vehicle 100 is not moving and the cargo weight is deviating fromstored value, a cargo loading/ unloading event may be determined.

The determination of the cargo loading/ unloading event may then trigger determination ofgeographical position coordinates by the positioning unit 310. This information may be sentto the tachograph 340 for storage therein, together with a time stamp and associated withthe cargo loading/ unloading event. Alternatively, the determination of the cargo loading/unloading event may result in sending of a signal to the tachograph 340, triggering the tach-ograph 340 to determine geographical position coordinates and current moment of time andstore this information associated with the cargo loading/ unloading event.

The storage of the cargo loading/ unloading events in the tachograph 340 may with ad-vantage be kept apart from the storage of the border crossing data; e.g. in an own dedicatedstorage file. Thereby the risk of confusing or misinterpret the stored data is eliminated, or atleast reduced.

An inspecting police officer may, upon inspection of the stored cargo loading/ unloadingevents in the storage file of the tachograph 340, discover illegal loading/ unloading. Thereby,illegal driving activity may be discovered.

Figure 5 illustrates an example of a method 500 according to an embodiment. The flow chartin Figure 5 shows the method 500 for collection and storage of data of a vehicle 100 com-prising a tachograph 340, a positioning device 310 and a control arrangement 360. 12 The vehicle 100 may be any arbitrary kind of means for professional driving involving trans-portation of cargo and/ or passengers, such as a truck, a bus, or similar. ln order to correctly be able to collect the driver activity data of the driver, the method 500may comprise a number of steps 501-508. However, some of these steps 501 -508 may beperformed solely in some alternative embodiments, like e.g. steps 506-508. Further, the de-scribed steps 501-508 may be performed in a somewhat different chronological order thanthe numbering suggests. The method 500 may comprise the subsequent steps: Step 501 comprises detecting, by the positioning device 310, that the vehicle 100 is passinga national border 200.

The detection may be made by determining the current geographical position of the vehicle100 and comparing the determined position with map data, comprising information concern-ing national borders 200. Alternatively, the national border 200 may be detected in another manner, as previously discussed.

Step 502, which may be performed only in some embodiments, comprises determining ge-ographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 when the passage of the national border200 is detected 501.

The determined geographical position coordinates may be stored in a dedicated record file350a, 350b of the tachograph 340; i.e. a record file 350a, 350b dedicated to border crossingevents.

Step 503, which may be performed only in some embodiments, comprises determining amoment in time when the vehicle passage of the national border 200 is detected 501.

The moment in time may be determined by a chronographic software comprised in the con-trol arrangement 360, obtained from a calendar/ time service provider; determined by thepositioning device 310 and/ or the tachograph 340, etc.

The determined moment in time may be stored in a dedicated record file 350a, 350b of thetachograph 340, associated with the fact that a border 200 has been crossed.

Step 504, which only may be comprised in some particular embodiments, comprises deter-mining cargo weight of the vehicle 100. 13 The cargo weight may be estimated by one or several weight sensors 410 of the vehicle 100.

Step 505, which only may be comprised in some particular embodiments wherein step 504has been performed, comprises detecting that the determined 504 cargo weight of the vehi-cle 100 has changed more than a threshold weight limit. The threshold weight limit may bepredetermined or configurable and may be for example 5% of the cargo weight; 5% of thevehicle weight; 200 kg, etc.

Step 506, which only may be comprised in some particular embodiments wherein step 504and step 505 have been performed, comprises determining geographical position coordi-nates of the vehicle 100 when the cargo weight change is detected 505.

Step 507, which only may be comprised in some particular embodiments wherein steps 504-506 have been performed, comprises determining a moment in time when the cargo weightchange is detected 505.

Step 508 comprises sending a signal to the tachograph 340, triggering storage of geograph-ical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 and a current time stamp, associated with a bor- der crossing event.

The signal may in some embodiments trigger the tachograph 340 to determine geographicalposition coordinates of the vehicle 100 and to determine current moment in time, and storethese values associated with a border crossing event.

The signal sent to the tachograph 340 may in some embodiments wherein step 502 and step503 have been performed may comprise data concerning the determined 502 geographicalposition coordinates and the determined 503 moment in time, for storage therein, associatedwith the border crossing event.

The geographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 may be stored associated with acurrent time stamp in a record file 350a, 350b of the tachograph 340, dedicated to bordercrossing events. The dedicated record file 350a, 350b may be an internal memory device ofthe tachograph 340, a dedicated external database or a tachograph card, for example. ln some embodiments, wherein steps 504 and step 505 have been performed, the signalsent to the tachograph 340 may trigger storage of geographical position coordinates of thevehicle 100 and a current time stamp, associated with a cargo weight change event. 14 ln some embodiments, wherein steps 506 and step 507 have been performed, the signal tobe sent to the tachograph 340 comprises the determined 506 geographical position coordi-nates and the determined 507 moment in time, for storage therein, associated with the cargoweight change event.

The signal sent to the tachograph 340 for storage therein may comprise the detected 505cargo weight change in some embodiments.

The geographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 may be stored together with thecurrent time stamp in a record file 350a, 350b of the tachograph 340, dedicated to cargoweight change events. The dedicated record file 350a, 350b may be an internal memorydevice of the tachograph 340, a dedicated external database or a tachograph card, for ex-ample.

An inspecting police officer may, when inspecting the tachograph 340, analyse the geograph-ical coordinates of the border crossings and by comparing them with map data, it may bedetermined where and when the vehicle 100 has crossed national borders 200.

The analysis may also comprise other checks such as for example making a comparisonbetween the accrued working time/ driving time of the driver, with the applicable workingtime/ driving time restrictions and computing remaining allowed working time/ driving time of the driver in the vehicle 100.

Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of a vehicle 100 which comprises a control arrangement360 a tachograph 340 and a positioning device 310. The control arrangement 360 is config-ured to perform at least some of the method steps 501-508 according to the above describedmethod 500 for collection of data of the vehicle 100.

The control arrangement 360 is configured to detect by the positioning device 310 that thevehicle 100 is passing a national border 200. The control arrangement 360 is in additionconfigured to send a signal to the tachograph 340, triggering storage of geographical positioncoordinates of the vehicle 100 and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing GVGHL Further the control arrangement 360 may be configured to determine geographical positioncoordinates of the vehicle 100 when the passage of the national border 200 is detected. Also,the control arrangement 360 may be configured to determine a moment in time when thevehicle passage of the national border 200 is detected. The control arrangement 360 may additionally be configured to send the signal to the tachograph 340 comprising data concern-ing the determined geographical position coordinates and the determined moment in time,for storage therein, associated with the border crossing event. ln some embodiments, the control arrangement 360 may also be configured to determinecargo weight of the vehicle 100 via a weight sensor 410. The control arrangement 360 mayfurthermore be configured to detect that the determined cargo weight of the vehicle 100 haschanged more than a threshold weight limit by monitoring the cargo weight via the weightsensor 410 and iteratively compare it with the determined cargo weight and then compare adetected cargo weight difference with the threshold weight limit. The signal sent to the tach-ograph 340 may also trigger storage of geographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100and a current time stamp, associated with a cargo weight change event. ln addition, the control arrangement 360 may be configured to determine geographical posi-tion coordinates of the vehicle 100 via the positioning device 310 when the cargo weightchange is detected. The control arrangement 360 may be configured to determine a momentin time when the cargo weight change is detected. ln addition, the control arrangement 360may also be configured to send the data comprising the determined geographical positioncoordinates and the determined moment in time to the tachograph 340, for storage therein.

The control arrangement 360 may also in yet some embodiments be configured to send datato the tachograph 340 comprising the detected cargo weight change, for storage therein,associated with the determined geographical position coordinates and determined momentin time when the cargo weight change is detected.

Thanks to various embodiments provided herein, analysis of vehicle route and in particularnational border crossings and/ or loading/ unloading of cargo may be detected by an author-ity by inspecting the stored information in the tachograph 340 and/ or a memory device 350a,350b associated therewith. Storage of this information in the tachograph 340, e.g. in a dedi-cated record file 350a, 350b of the tachograph 340 instead of in any other onboard device,manipulation of the data becomes impossible or difficult to make. At the same time storageof map data in the tachograph 340 is not required. Thereby all problems in connection withmap updating is avoided. Neither is a very large memory in the tachograph 340 required,which saves costs.

The control arrangement 360 may comprise a receiving circuit 610 configured for receivinga signal from the positioning unit 310 and/ or the weight sensor 410 of the vehicle 100. 16 The control arrangement 360 may also comprise a processing circuit 620 configured for per-forming at least some of the calculating or computing of the control arrangement 360. Thus,the processing circuit 620 may be configured to perform at least some of the above describedmethod steps 501 -508 when the computer program is loaded into the one or more processingcircuits 620 of the control arrangement 360.

Such processing circuit 620 may comprise one or more instances of a processing circuit, i.e.a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, a processing circuitry, a processor, anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, or other processing logicthat may interpret and execute instructions. The herein utilised expression “processing cir-cuit” may thus represent a processing circuitry comprising a plurality of processing circuits,such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones enumerated above.

Furthermore, the control arrangement 360 may comprise a memory 625 in some embodi-ments. The optional memory 625 may comprise a physical device utilised to store data orprograms, i.e., sequences of instructions, on a temporary or permanent basis. According tosome embodiments, the memory 625 may comprise integrated circuits comprising silicon-based transistors. The memory 625 may comprise e.g. a memory card, a flash memory, aUSB memory, a hard disc, or another similar volatile or non-volatile storage unit for storingdata such as e.g. ROIVI (Read-Only l\/lemory), PROIVI (Programmable Read-Only l\/lemory),EPROIVI (Erasable PROIVI), EEPROIVI (Electrically Erasable PROIVI), etc. in different embod- iments.

Further, the control arrangement 360 also may comprise a signal transmitter 630. The signaltransmitter 630 may be configured for transmitting a signal over a wired or wireless interfaceto be received by the tachograph 340 for storage in a memory file therein; and/ or a memorydevice 350a, 350b.

The computer program product mentioned above may be provided for instance in the formof a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing at least some of the steps501-508 according to some embodiments when being loaded into the one or more pro-cessing circuit 620 of the control arrangement 360. The data carrier may be, e.g., a harddisk, a CD ROIVI disc, a memory stick, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage deviceor any other appropriate medium such as a disk or tape that may hold machine readabledata in a non-transitory manner. The computer program product may furthermore be pro-vided as computer program code on a server and downloaded to the control arrangement 360 remotely, e.g., over an Internet or an intranet connection. 17 Further, some embodiments may comprise a vehicle 100 comprising the tachograph 340 apositioning device 310 and the control arrangement 360, according to any of the above de-scribed embodiments.

Also, a tachograph 340 is provided, configured for receiving a signal from a control arrange-ment 360 according to any of the previously described embodiments, triggering storage ofgeographical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 and a current time stamp, associatedwith a border crossing event.

The tachograph 340 is constructed to be impossible or at least difficult to manipulate, at leastwithout being detected at a later made inspection. By storing coordinates/ time of the bordercrossing event in the tachograph 340, or a dedicated file therein, tampering/ manipulation ofthe tachograph data becomes impossible or at least very difficult to perform without detec-tion. The data stored in the tachograph 340 may thereby be regarded as reliable, both forconfirming the time/ coordinates of border crossings, as well as confirming that no bordercrossing has been made by the vehicle 100.

The tachograph 340 may also be configured to determine geographical position coordinatesof the vehicle 100. The tachograph 340 may in addition be configured to determine currentmoment of time; upon receiving the signal from the control arrangement 360 and store thesevalues, associated with the border crossing event.

By determining the geographical position coordinates and time in the tachograph 340 insteadof in the positioning device 310, manipulation of the coordinates and time becomes verydifficult to perform, leading to storage of reliable coordinates/ time. ln some embodiments, the tachograph 340 may be configured to receive geographical posi-tion coordinates of the vehicle 100 and a current moment of time together with the signalfrom the control arrangement 360; and store these values associated with the border cross- ing event.

By determining coordinates and time of the border crossing in the positioning device 310,also a quite primitive tachograph 340 may be utilised, requiring a minimum of preparation toyet be able to perform the provided solution. Thereby implementation is facilitated.

The tachograph 340 may according to some embodiments be configured to store the geo-graphical position coordinates of the vehicle 100 and the current time stamp, associated withthe border crossing event in a record file 350a, 350b of the tachograph 340, dedicated to 18 border crossing events.

By storing information concerning the border crossing events in the dedicated record file350a, 350b of the tachograph 340, inspection of the stored data by a third party such as thepolice is facilitated and confusion with other data is avoided. ln yet some embodiments, the tachograph 340 may be configured to determine geographicalposition coordinates of the vehicle 100. The tachograph 340 may also be configured to de-termine current moment of time; upon receiving the signal from the control arrangement 360 and store these values, associated with the cargo weight change event.

Hereby, loading/ unloading of the vehicle 100 could be detected upon inspection of this data.By storing the data associated with the cargo weight change event in the tachograph 340,manipulation of this data becomes impossible or at least difficult to make without later detec- tion.

The tachograph 340 may also be configured to receive geographical position coordinates ofthe vehicle 100 and a moment in time of the cargo weight change together with the signalfrom the control arrangement 360, and store these values associated with the cargo weightchange event. ln addition, the tachograph 340 may furthermore be configured to receive a cargo weightchange value; and store the received value associated with the cargo weight change event.

Also, the tachograph 340 may be additionally configured to store the geographical positioncoordinates of the vehicle 100 and the current time stamp, associated with the cargo weightchange event in a record file 350a, 350b of the tachograph 340, dedicated to cargo weightchange events.

As used herein, the term "and/ or" comprises any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. The term “or” as used herein, is to be interpreted as a mathematicalOR, i.e., as an inclusive disjunction; not as a mathematical exclusive OR (XOR), unless ex-pressly stated otherwise. ln addition, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are to be inter-preted as “at least one", thus also possibly comprising a plurality of entities of the same kind,unless expressly stated othen/vise. lt will be further understood that the terms "includes","comprises", "including" and/ or "comprising", specifies the presence of stated features, ac-tions, integers, steps, operations, elements, or components, but do not preclude the pres-ence or addition of one or more other features, actions, integers, steps, operations, elements, 19 components, or groups thereof. A single unit such as e.g. a processor may fulfil the functionsof several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited inmutuaily different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measurescannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/ distributed on a suitablemedium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together withor as part of other hardware but may also be distributed in other forms such as via Internet or other wired or wireless communication system.

Claims (25)

1. A method (500) for collection and storage of data of a vehicle (100) comprising atachograph (340), a positioning device (310) and a control arrangement (360), wherein thepositioning device (310) and the control arrangement (360) are not part of the tachograph(340); which method (500) comprises the steps of: detecting (501) by the positioning device (310) that the vehicle (100) is passing anational border (200); and sending (508) a signal to the tachograph (340), triggering storage of geographicalposition coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing event.

2. The method (500) according to claim 1, further comprising: determining (502) geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) when thepassage of the national border (200) is detected (501); determining (503) a moment in time when the vehicle passage of the national border(200) is detected (501); and wherein the signal sent (508) to the tachograph (340) comprises data concerningthe determined (502) geographical position coordinates and the determined (503) momentin time, for storage therein, associated with the border crossing event.

3. The method (500) according to any one of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the geograph-ical position coordinates of the vehicle (100), associated with a current time stamp are storedin a record file (350a, 350b) of the tachograph (340), dedicated to border crossing events.

4. The method (500) according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising the stepsof: determining (504) cargo weight of the vehicle (100); detecting (505) that the determined (504) cargo weight of the vehicle (100) haschanged more than a threshold weight limit; and wherein the signal sent (508) to the tachograph (340) triggers storage of geograph-ical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with acargo weight change event.

5. The method (500) according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of: determining (506) geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) when thecargo weight change is detected (505); determining (507) a moment in time when the cargo weight change is detected(505); and 21 wherein the signal sent (508) to the tachograph (340) comprises data concerningthe determined (506) geographical position coordinates and the determined (507) momentin time, for storage therein, associated with the cargo weight change event.

6. The method (500) according to any one of claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the signalsent (508) to the tachograph (340) comprises the detected (505) cargo weight change, forstorage therein associated with the cargo weight change event.

7. The method (500) according to any one of claims 4-6 wherein the geographicalposition coordinates of the vehicle (100) are stored together with the current time stamp in arecord file (350a, 350b) of the tachograph (340), dedicated to cargo weight change events.

8. A control arrangement (360) of a vehicle (100) comprising a tachograph (340), apositioning device (310), for collection and storage of data of the vehicle (100) ), wherein thepositioning device (310) and the control arrangement (360) are not part of the tachograph(340); wherein the control arrangement (360) is configured to: detect, by the positioning device (310), that the vehicle (100) is passing a nationalborder (200); and send a signal to the tachograph (340), triggering storage of geographical positioncoordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossing GVGHL

9. The control arrangement (360) according to claim 8 further configured to: determine geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) when the passageof the national border (200) is detected; determine a moment in time when the vehicle passage of the national border (200)is detected; and wherein the signal sent to the tachograph (340) comprises data concerning the de-termined geographical position coordinates and the determined moment in time, for storagetherein, associated with the border crossing event.

10.the geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100), associated with a current timestamp are stored in a record file (350a, 350b) of the tachograph (340), dedicated to border crossing events. The control arrangement (360) according to any one of claim 8 or claim 9, wherein

11. The control arrangement (360) according to any one of claims 8-10, further config-ured to: 22 determine cargo weight of the vehicle (100); detect that the determined cargo weight of the vehicle (100) has changed more thana threshold weight limit; and wherein the signal sent to the tachograph (340) triggers storage of geographicalposition coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with a cargoweight change event.

12. The control arrangement (360) according to c|aim 11, further configured to:determine geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) when the cargoweight change is detected; determine a moment in time when the cargo weight change is detected; and wherein the signal sent to the tachograph (340) comprises data concerning the de-termined geographical position coordinates and the determined moment in time, for storagetherein, associated with the cargo weight change event.

13.the signal sent to the tachograph (340) comprises the detected cargo weight change, for The control arrangement (360) according to any one of c|aim 11 or c|aim 12, wherein storage therein associated with the cargo weight change event.

14.geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) are stored together with the current The control arrangement (360) according to any one of claims 11-13 wherein the time stamp in a record file (350a, 350b) of the tachograph (340), dedicated to cargo weightchange events.

15.cording to any one of claims 1-7 when the computer program is executed in the control ar- A computer program comprising program code for performing a method (500) ac- rangement (360), according to any one of claims 8-14.

16.(360) according to any one of claims 8-14, triggering storage of geographical position coor- A tachograph (340) configured for receiving a signal from a control arrangement dinates of the vehicle (100) and a current time stamp, associated with a border crossingevent.

17. The tachograph (340) according to c|aim 16, further configured to: determine geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100); and determine current moment of time; upon receiving the signal from the control ar- rangement (360) and store these values, associated with the border crossing event. 23

18. The tachograph (340) according to claim 16, further configured to: receive geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current momentof time together with the signal from the control arrangement (360): and store these valuesassociated with the border crossing event.

19. The tachograph (340) according to any one of claims 16-18, further configured to:store the geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and the current timestamp, associated with the border crossing event in a record file (350a, 350b) of the tacho-graph (340), dedicated to border crossing events.

20. The tachograph (340) according to any one of claims 16-19, further configured to:store geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a current timestamp, associated with a cargo weight change event upon reception of a signal from thecontrol arrangement (360) according to any one of claims 8-14.

21. The tachograph (340) according to claim 20, further configured to: determine geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100); and determine current moment of time; upon receiving the signal from the control ar-rangement (360) and store these values, associated with the cargo weight change event.

22. The tachograph (340) according to claim 20, further configured to: receive geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and a moment in timeof the cargo weight change together with the signal from the control arrangement (360) ac-cording to any one of claims 8-14, and store these values associated with the cargo weightchange event.

23. The tachograph (340) according to any one of claims 20-22, further configured to:receive a cargo weight change value; and store the received value associated withthe cargo weight change event.

24. The tachograph (340) according to any one of claims 20-23, further configured to:store the geographical position coordinates of the vehicle (100) and the current timestamp, associated with the cargo weight change event in a record file (350a, 350b) of thetachograph (340), dedicated to cargo weight change events.

25.positioning device (310) and a control arrangement (360) according to any of claims 8-14. A vehicle (100) comprising a tachograph (340) according to any of claims 16-24, a