Boots – shoes – and leggings
Patent
1995-09-25
1998-02-24
Zanelli, Michael
Boots, shoes, and leggings
364467, 3644497, 36444995, G07B 1500, G01C 2120, G01S 514
Patent
active
057216789
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a use billing system with an arrangement for identifying distances traveled by a moving object (e.g., a passenger automobile, motorcycle, truck, bus, ship, railroad train, aircraft, person, piece item) within a system of traveled distances (e.g., a highway system, waterway system, railroad system) or for identifying geographical zones (e.g., inner-city zones, air space zones, nature preserve zones) entered by the object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A position detection system for a motor vehicle is known from EP-A-0 519 630. This system determines position data via the GPS system and shows the data on a display. This GPS system is also used for another position detection system described in EP-A-0 519 630. The data can be recorded on a memory card or a PC.
Finally, DE-A-35 37 730 discloses an arrangement for automatically homing on a target point. For this purpose, position finding is carried out via a transmitter in a known location and the actual course of the moving object is determined therefrom.
Charges for the use of bridges or tunnels are commonly collected at toll stations similar to border posts, where the fee is collected by personnel or automatic coin payment machines. In order to charge for the use of sections of highway in France and Italy, a system is used in which the driver takes a ticket on which the entry point is marked in a machine-readable manner when entering the highway and at the junction between a toll-free highway section and a toll highway section. At the exit or when passing from a toll highway section to a toll-free highway section, the total traveled distance can be determined by means of this ticket and the respective use charge can be calculated and collected. Although this system enables reliable billing, its use requires not only considerable investment to provide the necessary infrastructure, in particular for construction of toll stations with automatic ticket machines, barriers and lighting installations, etc., but also a considerable expense for personnel to man the toll stations during the day and night. An additional grave disadvantage consists in that the toll collecting activities severely impede the flow of traffic especially at peak traffic hours.
In order to avoid this expense, Switzerland has for a number of years employed a different system for collecting tolls for the use of highways which is based on a lump payment for a fixed time period. In exchange for a lump payment, the driver receives a sticker which is to be placed in a visible location in the vehicle and which shows an externally visible authorization to travel on the highway and accordingly presents a verifiable record. This system requires no substantial expenditure on infrastructure, since it can make use of existing installations for selling the stickers (e.g., post offices, border posts) and for monitoring (e.g., highway entries and exits). However, it is not possible to charge for the actual extent of use, so that the calculation of costs does not adequately take into account the principle that payment should be commensurate with use.
Systems which permit an individual charge based on the actual extent of use have also already been suggested. However, these systems require that a suitable local infrastructure be provided, since they are based, for instance, upon infrared systems or so-called h-f transponder systems or r-f transponder systems, that is, upon special mechanical devices for detecting and identifying individual vehicles on the toll routes in question or in corresponding fixed geographical zones such as inner-city zones in which automobile traffic is to be restricted. The transponder technique has been known for some years from its use in the field of military air traffic for distinguishing enemy flying objects from friendly flying objects. The applied principle consists in that an object to be identified is "beamed" (e.g., by radar) from a monitoring station (e.g., a ground station, a ship or an
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patent: 5557524 (1996-09-01), Maki
Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft
Zanelli Michael
LandOfFree
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