Communications: electrical – Traffic control indicator – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-02
2002-01-22
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Traffic control indicator
Combined
C340S905000, C235S382000, C235S384000, C701S117000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340934
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication control system for ETC (electronic toll collection)-relevant information. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus (hereinafter also referred to simply as the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus) which is mounted on a motor vehicle running on a toll road for exchanging or interchanging through radio wave communication the ETC-relevant information concerning the toll charge/payment and others with ETC communication facility or equipment installed at a toll gate by way of an overhead antenna which may also be termed a toll gate antenna and which is disposed stationarily over and across the toll road and an antenna mounted on a motor vehicle (hereinafter also referred to as the vehicle-mounted antenna) to thereby allow the toll charge/payment settlement processing to be performed on the basis of the ETC-relevant information in a cashless manner.
2. Description of Related Art
For having better understanding of the concept underlying the present invention, description will first be made of a conventional vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus known heretofore by reference to
FIG. 12
which shows generally and schematically in a block diagram a structure of a hitherto known vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus (hereinafter also referred to simply as the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus) employed in a conventional ETC (electronic toll control) system.
Referring to
FIG. 12
, the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus shown in this figure is comprised of a receiving antenna
1
R mounted on a motor vehicle for receiving communication signals indicative of toll charge/payment information from an overhead antenna of ETC communication equipment installed at a relevant toll gate station (not shown), a receiving or input amplifier
2
for receiving the communication signal through the medium of the receiving antenna
1
R to thereby amplify the communication signal as received, a receiving mixer circuit (which may also be referred to as a down converter)
3
for mixing the received and amplified signal outputted from the input amplifier
2
with an oscillation signal outputted from a local oscillator
3
a
to thereby generate a communication signal of a frequency lower than that of the received signal, a data demodulator
4
for demodulating the communication signal outputted from the receiving mixer circuit
3
for the purpose of information processing, an electric field intensity detector (hereinafter also referred to simply as the field intensity detector)
5
for detecting the intensity level of the communication signal outputted from the receiving mixer circuit
3
as the electric field intensity level prevailing upon reception of the toll charge/payment-relevant information, a comparator
6
designed for comparing the detected field intensity level with an electric field intensity level set in advance by a controller incorporated in the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus (which field intensity level will hereinafter be referred to as the preset field intensity or preset field intensity level) to thereby generate as the output an electric field intensity confirmation or discrimination signal when the detected field intensity level is higher than that of the preset field intensity, and a logical product circuit (logical AND circuit)
7
for supplying the communication signal outputted from the data demodulator
4
to the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus as the received data when the field intensity discrimination signal mentioned above is outputted from the comparator
6
.
Further, the vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus is comprised of a low-pass filter
9
for performing a filter processing on data signal to be sent or transmitted to the ETC communication equipment of the toll gate as the communication signal from the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus after eliminating high harmonic components, a transmission modulator
10
for modulating a carrier signal outputted from a local oscillator
3
a
with the transmission signal (i.e., signal for transmission) outputted from the low-pass filter
9
, a transmission amplifier
11
for amplifying the modulated transmission data signal outputted from the transmission modulator
10
, and a transmitting antenna
1
T for sending or transmitting the amplified data signal outputted for transmission from the transmission amplifier
11
to the ETC communication equipment of the toll gate as a communication signal.
In addition, the vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus includes a display device
12
for displaying as images the toll charge/payment information and others exchanged or interchanged with the ETC communication equipment installed at the toll gate, an external interface
13
for outputting the toll charge/payment information interchanged with the ETC communication equipment of the toll gate to external equipment of concern (not shown), and an external storage
14
for recording or storing varieties of control information written and to be read by the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus.
Now, referring to
FIG. 13
showing a communication sequence diagram, description will be directed to operations of the conventional vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus implemented in the structure described above.
In the conventional vehicle-onboard ETC-relevant information communication control apparatus or ETC apparatus, the communication signal sent from the ETC communication equipment of a toll gate by way of the overhead antenna thereof (not shown in
FIG. 13
) is received firstly by the receiving antenna
1
R mounted on the motor vehicle to be subsequently amplified by the input amplifier
2
, the output of which is then inputted to the receiving mixer circuit
3
. The mixer circuit
3
then converts the frequency of the communication signal inputted thereto to a lower frequency (down converting) as mentioned previously. From the output of the receiving mixer circuit
3
, the original data before being modulated in the ETC communication equipment of the toll gate is restored through demodulation by means of the data demodulator
4
. Further, the field intensity level of the received signal outputted from the mixer circuit
3
is detected by means of the field intensity detector
5
. The detected electric field intensity level is compared with the receiving sensitivity discrimination reference level preset by the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus by means of the comparator
6
. When it is decided by the comparator circuit
6
that the electric field intensity level is higher than the receiving sensitivity discrimination reference level inclusive thereof, then the field intensity discrimination signal is outputted from the comparator circuit
6
to be subsequently supplied to the controller
8
incorporated in the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus.
Besides, at this time point, the demodulated data outputted from the data demodulator
4
is inputted to the logical product (AND) circuit
7
together with the field intensity discrimination signal. Consequently, so far as the electric field intensity level of the received communication signal is not lower than the receiving sensitivity discrimination reference level preset by the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus and thus when the electric field intensity discrimination signal is outputted, the received signal undergone the demodulation is outputted as the received data from the logical product (AND) circuit
7
to be supplied to the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus. In response to the input of the field intensity discrimination signal, the controller
8
of the vehicle-onboard ETC apparatus can decide or recognize that the motor vehicle has entered a commu
Pham Toan
Wu Daniel J.
LandOfFree
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