HK1129477B - In-vehicle device - Google Patents

Description

Vehicle-mounted device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and wirelessly exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device that charges a toll on a toll road or the like.

Background

In recent years, as a countermeasure for alleviating traffic congestion, air pollution, and the like caused by excessive inflow of vehicles into a large city center, so-called road charging (road charging) has been realized, in which a charging target area is set in a city and a certain amount of charge is charged for vehicles entering the charging target area.

In the road tolling, a tower (gantry) of a wireless communication device to which a toll is set is provided at each exit and entrance of a tolling area. In addition, vehicles entering the charging target area are obligated to mount a vehicle-mounted device. When a vehicle enters a charging target area through a tower, information necessary for charging is exchanged between a wireless communication device for charging and a vehicle-mounted device, and charging processing for the vehicle is performed electronically (see, for example, japanese patent application laid-open No. 2003-323648).

An ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) system is known as a system for automatically collecting a road use fee. The ETC system is capable of automatically collecting tolls by performing wireless communication between a roadside wireless device installed in a toll station and a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a vehicle on a toll road.

[ patent document 1 ]: japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2003-323648 (FIG. 11)

Disclosure of Invention

However, in the above-described automatic toll collection system for road toll collection, the automatic toll collection is realized by recording toll collection information on an IC card or the like inserted into a vehicle-mounted device. Since the IC card is removable from the vehicle-mounted device so that it can be used by a plurality of vehicles, there is a problem that when the IC card is removed from the vehicle-mounted device at the time of departure, the IC card is forgotten to be inserted, and the fee cannot be automatically collected at the toll booth.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted device capable of avoiding a situation where an IC card is not inserted when a vehicle passes through a toll booth such as a toll road.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention adopts the following method.

A first aspect of the present invention is a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device including: a card interface for exchanging information with a charge card storing information on a charge; an area entry detecting unit that detects entry into a confirmation area provided in front of the charge receiving communication device; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected when entry into the confirmation area is detected; and a reporting unit configured to report a notification when the charge card and the card interface are not communicably connected.

According to the above-described aspect 1, when the area entry detecting means detects entry into the confirmation area provided before the charge receiving communication device, the determining means determines whether or not the charge receiving card and the card interface are communicably connected, and when the charge receiving card and the card interface are not communicably connected, the notifying means notifies that the charge receiving card and the card interface are communicably connected. In this way, the user of the vehicle can grasp that the charge card is not in a usable state before entering the toll station in the toll collection area or the toll road. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation where information cannot be written to or read from the charge card at a toll booth or the like.

The charge card may be any card as long as it is a card for charge processing such as a prepaid credit card (prepaid card) or an IC card. The charge card may be a contactless card or a contact card.

Examples of the charging target area include an area where a road use fee can be collected at a certain rate, such as a toll collection for a highway, and an area where a use fee according to a use time is collected, such as a toll collection parking lot.

A 2 nd aspect of the present invention is a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device including: a card interface for exchanging information with a charge card storing information on a charge; a storage device in which position information of a reference position set around an installation position of the charging communication device is registered; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance to the reference position based on the position information of the reference position and the position information of the user; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected when the distance is within a predetermined range; and a reporting unit configured to report a notification when the charge card and the card interface are not communicably connected.

According to the above-described 2 nd aspect, when the vehicle is within the predetermined distance range from the charge communication device, the determination means determines whether or not the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected, and when the charge card and the card interface are not communicably connected, the notification means notifies that the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected. In this way, the user of the vehicle can grasp that the charge card is not in a usable state before entering the toll station in the toll collection area or the toll road. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation where information cannot be written to or read from the charge card at a toll booth or the like.

A 3 rd aspect of the present invention is a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device including: an IC card insertion unit into which an IC card is inserted; an area entry detecting unit that detects entry into a confirmation area provided in front of the charge receiving communication device; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion unit when the entry into the confirmation area is detected; and a reporting unit configured to report a fact that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit.

According to the above-described aspect 3, when the entry detection means detects entry into the confirmation area provided in front of the charge receiving communication device, the determination means determines whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means, and when the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion means, the notification means notifies that the entry is detected. In this way, the user of the vehicle can grasp that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit before entering the toll station of the toll target area or the toll road. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation where the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion means and the charging process is disabled in the toll booth or the like.

A 4 th aspect of the present invention is a vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device including: an IC card insertion unit into which an IC card is inserted; a storage device in which position information of a reference position set around an installation position of the charging communication device is registered; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance to the reference position based on the position information of the reference position and the position information of the user; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion unit when the distance is within a predetermined range; and a reporting unit configured to report a fact that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit.

According to the above-described 4 th aspect, when the vehicle is within the predetermined distance range from the toll collection communication device, the determination means determines whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means, and when the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion means, the notification is made. In this way, the user of the vehicle can grasp that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit before entering the toll station of the toll target area or the toll road. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation where the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion means and the charging process is disabled in the toll booth or the like.

In the in-vehicle device according to any one of the above-described 1 st to 4 th aspects, the determination means may determine whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means when the distance is within a predetermined range and the distance tends to decrease.

With this configuration, only when the vehicle approaches the toll collection communication device, whether or not the IC card is inserted is determined. In this way, when the vehicle is away from the toll collection communication device or the like, the determination is not performed when the toll collection process using the IC card for traveling is not required, and therefore, redundant determination can be reduced.

In the in-vehicle device according to any one of the above-described aspects 1 to 4, the IC insertion means may be provided with insertion detection means for mechanically detecting the insertion of the IC card, and the determination means may determine that the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means when the insertion detection means detects the insertion of the IC card and the IC card is in a state in which information on the IC card is readable.

According to this configuration, when the insertion detection means detects the insertion of the IC card and the IC card is in a state in which the information on the IC card can be read, it is determined that the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means.

In the in-vehicle device according to any one of the above-described aspects 1 to 4, the manner of the report may be changed in accordance with a distance to the reference position.

According to this configuration, the manner of the report is changed according to the distance from the charge receiving communication device, and the user can be more strongly reminded of the insertion of the IC card by, for example, reporting at a higher level as the distance from the charge receiving communication device is closer. In addition, the user can grasp an approximate distance to the charge receiving communication device by the report method.

In addition, the above structures may be combined within a feasible range.

According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid a situation in which automatic toll collection cannot be performed because an IC card is not inserted into a vehicle-mounted device when a vehicle passes through a toll station such as a toll road.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a charging target area according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view of the vicinity of a tollgate in a region to be subjected to charging viewed from the roadside.

Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining the confirmation area provided in front of the toll booth.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle-mounted device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the in-vehicle device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the in-vehicle device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the reference symbols

1 vehicle

2 toll station

3 charge communication device

5 th 1 st antenna

8 nd 2 nd antenna

20 vehicle-mounted device

24 GPS receiver

25 storage device

26 control unit

27 communication unit

30 IC card insertion unit

31 IC card interface

32 insertion detection unit

A charging target area

B confirmation area

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a case of using for road tolling will be described as an example.

[ embodiment 1]

As shown in fig. 1, in all roads passing through the boundary of a toll subject area a, which is a subject area for road toll collection, a toll booth 2 for collecting road use fees from vehicles 1 entering the toll subject area a is provided. In the toll booth 2, a gate-shaped support column is disposed across the travel path on the boundary of the toll target area a. In the gate-shaped support column, a toll fee communication device 3 is provided corresponding to each lane.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, the charging communication device 3 includes: the 1 st antenna 5, the camera 6, the vehicle detector 7, the 2 nd antenna 8, and a control device (not shown) for controlling these. The toll collection communication device 3 automatically collects road use fees by exchanging information on toll collection between vehicle-mounted devices mounted on vehicles passing through a travel lane corresponding to the vehicle. The above configuration is merely an example, and the configuration of the charge receiving communication device 3 is not particularly limited.

As shown in fig. 3, a confirmation area B is provided in front of the tollgate 2 in each lane. The confirmation area B is an area for confirming whether or not an IC card (charge card) is inserted into a vehicle-mounted device mounted in the vehicle 1.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the in-vehicle device according to the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 4, the in-vehicle device 20 includes, as main components, a power supply circuit 23 connected to a vehicle power supply 21 and a built-in battery 22, a GPS receiver 24 that acquires information related to position information from a GPS satellite and detects a current position, a storage device 25 that stores various information, a control unit 26, a communication unit 27 that communicates with the 1 st antenna 5, the 2 nd antenna 8, and the like of the charge receiving communication device 3, a display unit 28, a buzzer, a notification unit 29 such as an LED, an IC card insertion unit 30 into which an IC card is inserted, and an IC card slot 31 provided in the IC card insertion unit 30. Further, the IC card insertion unit 30 is provided with an insertion detection unit (insertion detection means) 32 that mechanically detects whether or not the IC card is normally inserted.

The IC card inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30 is, for example, a contact type IC card, and incorporates an IC chip on which a flash memory, an MPU, or the like is mounted. In this IC card, in addition to card information such as a card ID number, a balance, a use history, and the like are stored. The information recorded in the IC card can be read or written by the control unit 26 via the IC card interface 31.

In the vehicle-mounted device 20 described above, the power supply circuit 23 mainly controls the voltage supplied from the vehicle power supply 21 to a voltage suitable for the vehicle-mounted device 20, and supplies the voltage to each part constituting the vehicle-mounted device 20. The built-in battery 22 is provided so that power of a degree of performing communication can be secured even when the power supply from the vehicle power supply 21 is cut off. The storage device 25 stores the map information of the confirmation area B. The storage device 25 stores various information necessary for fee processing, such as vehicle information including owner information and vehicle type information of the vehicle, balance information read from the IC card, and card information.

The control unit 26 is a unit that performs control of each section, and includes: an area entry detection function (area entry detection means) for detecting entry of the vehicle 1 into the confirmation area B based on the position information from the GPS receiver 24 and the map information of the confirmation area B stored in the storage device; and a determination function (determination means) for determining whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion means when the entry into the confirmation area B is detected.

The communication unit 27 is a unit for exchanging information with the charge communication device 3 by radio.

The display unit 28 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and notifies the user of the vehicle 1 of information on automatic charging such as road fees by temporarily displaying the remaining amount recorded in the IC card.

The reporting unit 29 is a unit that reports the fact that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30 when the control unit 26 detects that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30, for example, and reminds the user of the normal insertion of the IC card. For example, the report unit 29 includes a buzzer that reports by sound, an LED that reports by lighting, or the like.

The insertion detection unit 32 provided in the IC card insertion unit 30 includes, for example, a switch that changes from an on state to an off state when an IC card is inserted, and outputs an insertion detection signal to the control unit 26 when it is detected that the switch is in the off state.

In the in-vehicle device 20 having such a configuration, when the vehicle 1 enters the confirmation area B and the intention is reported by the control unit 26, the control unit 26 confirms whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30. Specifically, when the detection signal is input from the insertion detection unit 32 and information is read from the IC card, the control unit 26 determines that the IC card is inserted, and causes the display unit 28 to display a message indicating that the IC card is inserted.

On the other hand, when determining that the IC card is not inserted, the control unit 26 displays the indication that the IC card is not inserted on the display unit 28, and activates the notification unit 29 to notify the user that the IC card is not inserted in the IC card insertion unit 30, thereby urging the user to insert the IC card. Thus, the user can grasp that the IC card is not inserted.

As described above, according to the in-vehicle device 20 of the present embodiment, it is confirmed whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30 in front of the entrance tollgate for road tolling or the like, and if the IC card is not inserted, the user is notified of the fact, so that it is possible to prevent a situation in which automatic tolling cannot be performed because the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30 at the entrance tollgate.

By performing the report, the user can grasp that the user enters the charging target area a when the user has traveled the same. In this way, for example, it is possible to prevent the user from entering the charging target area a by mistake. In this way, the report by the report unit 29 can be used not only for a report of a situation where no IC card is inserted but also for an entry report to the charging target area a.

In the above-described embodiment, the case of applying the present invention to the charging target area a for toll collection on a highway has been described, but the present invention can be widely applied to a system for performing a toll collection process using an IC card, such as an entrance gate and an exit gate of a toll station or a toll parking lot on a toll road.

In the present embodiment, the insertion of the IC card is detected when the detection signal is input from the insertion detection unit 32 and data is read from the IC card, but the insertion of the IC card may be detected when one of these conditions is detected.

In the present embodiment, the entry into the confirmation area is detected based on the map information and the position information by the GPS receiver, but the method of detecting whether or not the entry into the confirmation area is detected is not limited to this example, and another detection method may be used. For example, an antenna may be provided around the confirmation area in advance, and when a predetermined signal transmitted from the antenna is received, the entry into the confirmation area may be detected.

Further, although the in-vehicle device 20 of the present embodiment has been described as an in-vehicle device incorporating the GPS receiver 24, instead of this, a mobile terminal device with a GPS function, a car navigation system, or the like may be connected via an external terminal, and the GPS function of these devices may be used as the GPS receiver 24. The present invention is not limited to the GPS receiver 24, and other components may be connected to the GPS receiver through external terminals.

[ 2 nd embodiment ]

Next, a vehicle-mounted device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.

The in-vehicle device 20 of the present embodiment is different from the above-described embodiment 1 in that the storage unit 25 stores the position information of each tollgate 2 instead of the map information of the above-described confirmation area B. Hereinafter, the in-vehicle device according to the present embodiment will be described with the same points as those in embodiment 1 omitted, and only different points will be described.

In the in-vehicle device 20 of the present embodiment, when the current position of the vehicle is grasped based on the position information acquired by the GPS receiver 24 (X, Y), the control unit 26 detects whether or not there is position information of the tollgate 2 located within a predetermined range of the radius of the current position (X, Y) based on the position information (x0, y0), (x1, y1), (xn, yn) of the tollgate stored in the storage unit 25.

As a result, when there is the toll booth 2 having the position information (x0, y0) within the predetermined distance range from the current position (X, Y) of the vehicle, the distance between the current position (X, Y) of the vehicle obtained by the GPS receiver 24 and the position information (x0, y0) of the toll booth is calculated. Then, when the distance between the two tends to decrease, the above-described determination of whether or not the IC card is inserted is performed.

As described above, according to the in-vehicle device 20 of the present embodiment, the toll booth 2 approaching the current position (X, Y) of the vehicle 1 is detected, and when the distance from the toll booth 2 tends to decrease, it is determined that the vehicle 1 is traveling toward the toll booth 2, and whether or not the IC card is inserted is determined. In this way, only when the vehicle 1 enters the tollgate 2, the presence or absence of the insertion of the IC card can be confirmed. In this way, when the toll booth 2 is far away, that is, when there is no problem in that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit 30, the determination regarding the presence or absence of the insertion of the IC card is not performed, and the redundant determination processing can be reduced as much as possible.

In the present embodiment, the reporting method of the reporting unit 29 may be changed according to the distance from the tollgate 2.

For example, the shorter the distance from the tollgate 2, the more strongly the user may be urged to insert the IC card. For example, if the notification unit 29 is a buzzer, the sound volume may be gradually increased, the interval between buzzes may be gradually shortened, or a combination thereof. When the reporting unit 29 is an LED, the amount of light emission may be increased gradually, the interval between on and off may be shortened gradually, or a combination thereof may be used. As shown in fig. 6, the distance to the tollgate 2 may be divided into a plurality of stages (in fig. 6, the distance is divided into 2 stages), and reports corresponding to the respective divisions may be performed.

In the present embodiment, it is determined that the vehicle 1 is traveling to the tollgate 2 based on the tendency of the distance between the vehicle 1 and the tollgate 2 to decrease, but in addition to this, a route used when traveling to the tollgate 2 may be considered. Specifically, the road on which the toll booth 2 is installed may be stored in the storage unit 25 in association with the position information of each toll booth 2, and when the distance between the vehicle 1 and the toll booth 2 is within a predetermined distance range, the road associated with the toll booth 2 may be traveled, and further, the distance between the vehicle 1 and the toll booth 2 tends to decrease, it may be determined that the vehicle 1 travels toward the toll booth 2. In this way, by considering the route to the tollgate 2 as well, even when, for example, a plurality of roads are intersected stereoscopically in the vicinity of the tollgate, it is possible to determine whether or not the IC card is inserted, by limiting the vehicle to the road on which the tollgate 2 travels.

In the present embodiment, the reference position is set as the installation position of the tollgate 2, but instead of this, an arbitrary position around the installation position of the tollgate 2 may be used as the reference position.

In addition, although the above-described embodiment 1 and 2 have been described using a contact type IC card as an example, a noncontact type IC card may be used instead.

Claims (3)

1. A vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

a card interface for exchanging information with a charge card storing information on a charge;

a storage device that stores in advance a road on which the toll booth is installed in association with position information of the toll booth;

an area entry detecting unit that detects entry into a confirmation area provided in front of the charge receiving communication device;

a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected when the vehicle travels on a road stored in the storage device in association with the tollgate and entry into the confirmation area is detected; and

and a reporting unit configured to report a notice when the charge card and the card interface are not communicably connected.

2. A vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

a card interface for exchanging information with a charge card storing information on a charge;

a storage device which registers position information of a reference position set around an installation position of the toll collection communication device and stores a road where the toll booth is installed in advance in association with the position information of the toll booth;

a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance to the reference position based on the position information of the reference position and the position information of the user;

a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the charge card and the card interface are communicably connected when the distance is within a predetermined range, the toll booth is traveling on a road associated with the toll booth, and the distance tends to decrease; and

and a reporting unit configured to report a notice when the charge card and the card interface are not communicably connected.

3. A vehicle-mounted device that is mounted in a vehicle and exchanges information related to charging with a charging communication device provided at least one of an entrance and an exit of a charging target area or a toll station on a toll road, the vehicle-mounted device comprising:

an IC card insertion unit into which an IC card is inserted;

a storage device that stores in advance a road on which the toll booth is installed in association with position information of the toll booth;

an area entry detecting unit that detects entry into a confirmation area provided in front of the charge receiving communication device;

a determination unit that determines whether or not the IC card is inserted into the IC card insertion unit when the vehicle travels on a road stored in the storage device in association with the tollgate and entry into the confirmation area is detected; and

and a reporting unit configured to report a fact that the IC card is not inserted into the IC card insertion unit.