WO2008044827A1

WO2008044827A1 - Toll payment apparatus using mobile communication terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2008044827A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/004310
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jong Beom Park
Original assignee: Hismartech Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-10-09
Filing date: 2007-09-06
Publication date: 2008-04-17
Also published as: KR100728053B1

Abstract

A toll payment apparatus makes payment through wireless communication with a tollgate payment collection system using a mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal includes a toll payment module. The toll payment module has a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) control unit for controlling a toll payment function, a smart card connection unit for electrically connecting to a smart card provided in a slot and inputting/outputting basic information and toll payment information, and a first connection unit. A cradle includes a second connection unit for connecting to the first connection unit and a DSRC antenna module for transmitting/receiving wireless toll payment signals to/from a gantry of the tollgate payment collection system.

Description

TOLL PAYMENT APPARATUS USING MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL

Technical Field

The present invention relates, in general, to an apparatus for making toll payment through wireless communication with a gantry, that is, a kind of Road Side Equipment (RSE) provided at a tollgate, and, more particularly, to a toll payment apparatus that includes a cradle equipped with a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) antenna module and a mobile communication terminal placed on and connected to the cradle and provided with a toll payment module based on an Integrated Circuit (IC) card.

Background Art

Generally, tolls must be paid to use toll roads, such as expressways. For this purpose, tollgates (hereinafter referred to as "highway tollgates") are installed at the entries and exits of roads. Meanwhile, since the collection of tolls at tollgates is performed through the manual work of persons (collectors) in charge of toll booths provided at the entries and exits of roads, traffic congestion at the entries and exits is inevitable, and thus the efficiency of the use of roads is deteriorated and the added expense of wasted fuel is incurred.

In order to solve these problems, a tollgate payment collection system, called "Hi-pass" (the name of a service currently provided by Korea Highway Corporation) , is currently used at the tollgates of predetermined roads. The tollgate payment collection system is schematically described with reference to FIG. 1 below. A gantry 10, which is a kind of RSE, is installed across a road 1 on which a tollgate is placed, as shown in the drawing. The gantry 10, connected to the server (the toll collection server; not shown) of the tollgate payment collection system, is equipped with a transmitting/receiving antenna 12 in the case of a Radio Frequency (RF) method, or a transmitting/receiving sensor 12 in the case of an Infra Red (IR) method.

An On-Board Unit (OBU) is mounted on the front glass or dashboard of a car Cl, which enters through the road 1, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The OBU wirelessly conducts toll payment through the gantry 10 connected to the toll collection server, and toll payment information is updated and then stored in the smart card of the OBU.

However, the smart card and the OBU are devices dedicated to toll payment, and thus users (or drivers) must bear the cost of the purchase thereof. Furthermore, there is a problem in that expandability is low in view of functionality.

The smart card provided in the OBU may be used both in the above-described "Hi-pass" method and in the "Touch-pass" method (the name of a service currently provided by Korea Highway Corporation) . More particularly, a Touch-pass device 20 capable of communicating with the smart card in a contact/contactless manner is provided on a road (an exit road) 2, shown in FIG. 1. The Touch-pass device uses a communication method different from that of the gantry, but performs the same function as the gantry. The driver of a car C2 entering through the road 2 can make toll payment by bringing the smart card close to the Touch-pass device or bringing the smart card into contact with the Touch-pass device.

Meanwhile, the smart card has an advantage in that it can be easily kept in a purse because the smart card is the same size as a credit card. However, since a user generally carries a plurality of cards, such as a credit card and an identification card, in a purse, the user tends to place the smart card having only a toll payment function on the OBU rather than keeping it in the purse. Therefore, the phenomenon in which the characteristics of the smart card inserted in the OBU may be affected by hot weather is pointed out as a problem. Furthermore, since the smart card should be charged in a specific place, for example, an expressway office, it is inconvenient to use.

Disclosure of the Invention

In order to solve the above-described problems occurring in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a toll payment apparatus for making payment, which includes a cradle equipped with a DSRC antenna module for smoothly communicating with the RSE (gantry) of a tollgate toll payment system, and a mobile communication terminal placed on and connected to the cradle and configured to make toll payment via a toll payment module based on an IC card.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cradle which uses the power of the mobile communication terminal, so that separate power is not required.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a toll payment apparatus for making payment through wireless communication with a tollgate payment collection system using a mobile communication terminal, including a mobile communication terminal including a toll payment module, the toll payment module including a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) control unit for controlling a toll payment function, a smart card connection unit for electrically connecting to a smart card provided in a slot and inputting/outputting basic information and toll payment information, and a first connection unit; and a cradle including a second connection unit for connecting to the first connection unit, and a DSRC antenna module for transmitting/receiving wireless toll payment signals to/from a gantry of the tollgate payment collection system.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the Hi-pass and Touch-pass toll collection methods;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a conventional on-board unit and a conventional smart card;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the construction of a toll payment apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a smart card slot according to the present invention; FIGS. 5A and 5B are views showing the first connection unit of a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of the second connection unit of a cradle according to the present invention; and

FIGS . 7 and 8 are views showing the connection of the mobile communication terminal to the cradle according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in consideration of embodiments described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the following description, if it is determined that detailed descriptions of well-known functions related to the present invention and the construction thereof would make the gist of the present invention obscure, they are omitted.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the schematic construction of a toll payment apparatus according to the present invention. The construction of the toll payment apparatus basically includes a mobile communication terminal 100 and a cradle 200.

The mobile communication terminal 100 includes a central processing unit 110 for controlling the processing of general voice calls, text messages and moving image data, and a toll payment module 120 based on the feature of the present invention. In this drawing, for the convenience of description, the basic elements of the mobile communication terminal 100, for example, a display unit, a voice output unit, and a power unit, are not illustrated. However, it is preferred that the mobile communication terminal according to the present invention be understood to be a terminal that performs a general voice call function and a wireless Internet function (for example, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) function) .

Meanwhile, the toll payment module 120 includes a DSRC control unit 121, a smart card connection unit 122, a smart card 123, a battery built-in antenna 124, and a first connection unit 125 so as to perform a toll payment function based on a smart card. In this embodiment, the smart card 123 is a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) -type Integrated Circuit (IC) card, such as a small-sized mobile banking chip. The DSRC control unit 121 controls the general functions of the toll payment module 120. In certain cases, for example, in the case where toll payment information is required to be visually displayed on a display unit, the DSRC control unit 121 can exchange data related to control with the central processing unit 110 of the mobile communication terminal. The term 'DSRC stands for Dedicated Short Range Communication, and the DSRC control unit 121 can transmit/receive wireless signals to/from a gantry via a 5.8 GHz band at a speed of 1 Mbps. In this specification, in order to make it clear that RF communication with the gantry is performed based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b standard, the term ^XDSRC is added to the names of elements .

The smart card connection unit 122 is electrically connected to the smart card 123, and functions as an interface for inputting/outputting data to/from the smart card 123. The smart card connection unit 122 may be understood to be a slot provided in the rear side of the body of the mobile communication terminal 100, as illustrated in conjunction with FIG. 4. Generally, the slot is provided on the side with which a battery pack comes into contact . The smart card can record not only basic information, such as the unique number of a card and the date of issue and a digital signature, but also toll payment information, such as the date and time of passage through the entry/exit of a tollgate, the identification number of a tollgate, the type of road, the road number, the balance before and after toll payment, the type of vehicle, and vehicle information. Although only the basic information and the toll payment information are illustrated in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto.

The above-described toll payment module 120 may use two types of antennas to transmit/receive wireless toll payment signals to/from road side equipment (for example, RSE or gantry) provided at a tollgate. One of the antennas is a battery built-in antenna 124 contained in a battery pack (not shown) , that is, the power unit of the mobile communication terminal, and the other is a DSRC antenna module 220 included in the cradle 200. The former is a communication antenna

(13.56 MHz band) for communication within a distance less than or equal to 10 cm, and is used when making toll payment by bringing the mobile communication terminal 100 close to a

Touch-pass device (for an example, refer to reference numeral 20 shown in FIG. 1) . The latter will be described in detail below.

Meanwhile, as described above, the toll payment module 120 includes the first connection unit 125. The first connection unit 125 functions as a point of electrical connection to the DSRC antenna module 220. The first connection unit 125 may be set to a metallic terminal provided on the mobile communication terminal 100. For example, the first connection unit 125 may be set to a coaxial terminal, such as a Sub Miniature-type A (SMA) for coaxial cable connection.

FIG. 5A shows an example of the metallic terminal. The metallic terminal 125a shown in the drawing may be provided at a predetermined position on the rear surface of the mobile communication terminal 100, rather than the battery pack. FIG. 5B shows an example of the coaxial terminal 125b provided on the mobile communication terminal 100. Meanwhile, the cradle 200 according to the present invention has a basic function of supporting the mobile communication terminal 100, and also enables the smooth transmission/reception of wireless signals to/from the gantry. For this purpose, the cradle 200 includes a second connection unit 210 connected to the first connection unit 125 of the mobile communication terminal, and an internal or external DSRC antenna module 220. The cradle 200 illustrated in FIG. 6 is provided with a metallic terminal 210a and a coaxial terminal 210b, thus being able to connect to the first connection unit 125. Of course, in the case of the coaxial terminal 210b, a coaxial cable, which will be described separately below, is used.

The length and size of a directional antenna (5.8 GHz band; not shown) , included in the DSRC antenna module 220, may be adjusted depending on the characteristics thereof. Further, the directional antenna may include characteristic adjustment elements (inductor, capacitor, and so on) to adjust the resonance frequency thereof. For reference, the shape of the cradle 200 according to the present invention is not limited to that illustrated in FIG. 6. The cradle 200 operates using the power of the mobile communication terminal 100, therefore the separate application of power is not required. With reference to FIGS . 7 and 8 , an example of the connection between the first connection unit 125 and the second connection unit 250 is described below. First, FIG. 7 shows the case where the connection units 125 and 210 are metallic terminals 125a and 210a, respectively. The metallic terminal 125a comes into contact with the metallic terminal 210a at the same time that the mobile communication terminal 100 is placed on the cradle 200. This is the most preferable construction in view of a user's convenience. In contrast, FIG. 8 shows the case where the connection units 125 and 210 are- coaxial terminals 125b and 210b, respectively. The coaxial terminal 125b is connected to the coaxial terminal 210b through a separate coaxial cable. Although, in this drawing, the mobile communication terminal 100 is illustrated as being connected to the cradle 200 via a coaxial cable in a state in which the mobile communication terminal 100 is placed on the cradle 200, the present invention is not limited to the case shown in this drawing. In other words, such connection via the coaxial cable may be realized even when they are separated from each other.

In this embodiment, the pair of the first connection unit 125 of the mobile communication terminal 100 and the second connection unit 210 of the cradle 200 may be set to any one or more pairs of the pair of metallic terminals 125a and 210a and the pair of coaxial terminals 125b and 210b.

Industrial Applicability According to the present invention, there is an economic advantage in that an expensive On_Board Unit (OBU) does not need to be separately purchased solely for toll payment, and there is convenience in that a smart card does not need to be kept in a purse, unlike in the prior art. Further, wireless communication for toll payment is enabled by the DSRC antenna module equipped in the cradle. Furthermore, the present invention may be selectively applied to a Hi-pass method or a Touch-pass method. In addition, since a cradle according to the present invention operates using the power of a mobile communication terminal, the separate application of power is not required.

As described above, although the descriptions and illustrations have been made in conjunction with the preferred embodiments so as to illustrate the technical sprit of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated and described construction and operation, rather,, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, all appropriate variations, modifications and equivalents must be considered to fall within the technical scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A toll payment apparatus for making payment through wireless communication with a tollgate payment collection system using a mobile communication terminal, comprising: a mobile communication terminal comprising a toll payment module, the toll payment module comprising a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) control unit for controlling a toll payment function, a smart card connection unit for electrically connecting to a smart card provided in a slot and inputting/outputting basic information and toll payment information, and a first connection unit; and a cradle comprising a second connection unit for connecting to the first connection unit, and a DSRC antenna module for transmitting/receiving wireless toll payment signals to/from a gantry of the tollgate payment collection system.

2. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the smart card is a Subscriber Identification Module

(SIM) -type Integrated Circuit (IC) card that is provided in the slot in a rear side of a body of the mobile communication terminal .

3. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DSRC antenna module comprises a directional antenna .

4. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first connection unit and the second connection unit are metallic terminals.

5. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first connection unit and the second connection unit are coaxial terminals to be connected via a separate coaxial cable .

6. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toll payment module further comprises a battery- built-in antenna.

7. The toll payment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DSRC antenna module comprises one or more characteristic adjustment elements for adjusting a resonance frequency.