Communications: electrical – Vehicle detectors
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-15
2001-04-17
Lee, Benjamin C. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Vehicle detectors
C340S928000, C340S960000, C235S384000, C701S117000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06218963
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a passing vehicle time management system, and more particularly to a passing vehicle time management system suitable for the time management of vehicles passing a tollhouse on a toll road or the like by using communication units.
In a conventional system, a driver (user) of a vehicle running on a toll road or the like receives a road ticket from a toll collector or an automatic ticket dispenser at the tollhouse, and after the driver reaches the target exit, the driver pays the toll at the tollhouse directly to the toll collector or automatic toll receiving machine. For the toll transfer process at the tollhouse on a toll road or the like, the toll corresponding to each road ticket is checked for each vehicle and the same vehicle is not incurred the toll twice. With such a system, however, it takes a time to process the toll transfer so that traffic congestion may occur at the tollhouse.
To solve such problems, an automatic toll transfer system has been adopted. This automatic toll transfer system incorporates the configuration that a fixed station serving as a fixed communication unit is provided at a tollhouse on a toll road or the like, a vehicles running along the toll road is equipped with a mobile station serving as a mobile communication unit, and the toll is automatically transferred by exchanging information on the toll transfer between the fixed station and mobile station through wireless communications. For example, in this system, information on an entrance tollhouse and an exit tollhouse, information on a toll transfer and the like are exchanged through wireless communications, and the toll is calculated at the fixed station and incurred to the bank account or the like of a user (driver). Manual toll calculation and charge process are therefore unnecessary and the man power can be reduced. Still more, a time zone is set during which the communications from the mobile station to the fixed station is inhibited for a predetermined time (release timer time) after the toll transfer information is exchanged between the mobile and fixed stations. Therefore, during the predetermined time after the communication completion, it is possible to prevent the fixed station from issuing a communication link request to the mobile station and executing a charging process twice.
The conventional automatic toll transfer system, however, does not consider the case wherein a vehicle in an area communicable with the fixed station may stay long because of traffic congestion. If the vehicle stays in the area communicable with the fixed station after the mobile station mounted on the vehicle exchanges the toll transfer information with the fixed station, there is a possibility that after the predetermined time after the completion of communications with the fixed station, i.e., after the release timer counts up, the mobile station may respond to a communication link request from the fixed station and resume communications. In such a case, unnecessary communications are performed between the mobile and fixed stations and the communications may become congested. Furthermore, as the communications between the mobile and fixed stations resume, there is a possibility that the charging process for incurring the toll is executed twice for the same vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a passing vehicle time management system capable of dynamically setting a release timer time in accordance with a vehicle passing time or speed which is used as a traffic flow index, and preventing communication congestion to be otherwise caused by the running states of vehicles.
In order to achieve the above object, the invention provides a time management system for passing vehicles using a passing time of a vehicle as a traffic flow index. The time management system comprises: mobile communication means mounted on a vehicle; fixed communication means for transferring toll transfer information to and from the mobile communication means mounted on the vehicle when the vehicle enters a communicable area; passing time measuring means for measuring a passing time of the vehicle passing a vehicle measuring section partially including a road belonging to the communicable area; and timer time setting means for setting a release timer time in accordance with a value measured by the passing time measuring means and adding the set release timer time to the toll transfer information, the release timer time indicating a communication inhibition time after completion of transfer of the toll transfer information, wherein the mobile communication means stops communication with the fixed communication means for the release timer time added to the toll transfer information after the completion of transfer of the toll transfer information to and from the fixed communication means, even if a communication link request is received from the fixed communication means.
The invention also provides a time management system for passing vehicles using a passing speed of a vehicle as a traffic flow index. The time management system comprising: mobile communication means mounted on a vehicle; fixed communication means for transferring toll transfer information to and from the mobile communication means mounted on the vehicle when the vehicle enters a communicable area; passing speed measuring means for measuring a passing speed of the vehicle passing a vehicle measuring section partially including a road belonging to the communicable area; and timer time setting means for setting a release timer time in accordance with a value measured by the passing speed measuring means and adding the set release timer time to the toll transfer information, the release timer time indicating a communication inhibition time after completion of transfer of the toll transfer information, wherein the mobile communication means stops communication with the fixed communication means for the release timer time added to the toll transfer information after the completion of transfer of the toll transfer information to and from the fixed communication means, even if a communication link request is received from the fixed communication means.
In each of the passing vehicle time management systems, the fixed communication means may be means having a function of transferring toll transfer information to and from the mobile communication means mounted on the vehicle when the vehicle enters one of a plurality of divided communicable areas, and the passing time measuring means or passing speed measuring means may be means having a function of measuring a passing time or speed of the vehicle passing a vehicle measuring section partially including a road belonging to each of the plurality of divided communicable areas.
In each of the passing vehicle time management system, the following feature may be added.
The fixed communication means starts the transfer of the toll transfer information to and from the mobile communication means mounted on the vehicle and judges that communication is duplicate communication to a same vehicle in the communicable area, the fixed communication means forcibly stops the communication with the same vehicle.
With the above-described means, the release timer time is set in accordance with the measured passing time or speed of the vehicle passing the vehicle measuring section. Accordingly, if the vehicle passing time prolongs or the vehicle passing speed lowers because of the traffic congestion, the release timer time prolongs. It is therefore possible to prevent communication congestion to be caused by unnecessary communications between the mobile communication means and fixed communication means after the completion of exchange of the toll transfer information between the mobile communication means and fixed communication means, and to prevent the process of charging a toll to the same vehicle twice.
If duplicate communication is performed with the same vehicle in the communicable region after the predetermined time after the completion of transfer o
Iino Takayuki
Kawanabe Toshihiro
Kayukawa Satoru
Nozato Masanari
Shimizu Yasuo
Hitachi , Ltd.
Kenyon & Kenyon
Lee Benjamin C.
Previl Daniel
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