JP2007140806A - Toll collection machine and toll collection program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce influence of update of software on toll collection. <P>SOLUTION: The toll collection machine comprises: a toll collection processing part 15 for executing processing relating to the toll collection of a toll road on the basis of operation information; an operation information downloading part 14 for downloading the operation information from a host device 3 when the operation information is not recorded in a storage device 11 and the toll collection processing part 15 is activated; and a new software activation part 17 for activating the new software instead of the toll collection processing part 15 when the new software for executing the processing relating to the toll collection on the basis of the operation information is installed to the toll collection machine 1. At this time, the operation information downloading part 14 does not download the operation information from the host device 3 by utilizing the operation information recorded in the storage device 11 when the operation information is recorded in the storage device 11 and the new software is activated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a toll collection machine and a toll collection program, and more particularly to a toll collection machine and a toll collection program that perform processing related to toll collection by executing software.

  Toll collection machines that perform processing related to toll collection for toll road tolls are known. The toll collection machine controls a plurality of lane peripheral devices installed at the entrance and exit of the toll road, and executes processing related to toll collection on the toll road. Examples of each lane peripheral device include a vehicle type discriminating device, a pass ticket issuing device, a pass ticket confirmation device, a prepaid card processing device, a toll indicator, a receipt issuing device, or an antenna.

  The vehicle type discrimination device is installed at the entrance of the toll road, and includes an imaging device, a vehicle length detector, a vehicle height detector, and a vehicle type discrimination tread. The vehicle length detector measures the vehicle length of a vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. The vehicle height detector measures the vehicle height of a vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. The vehicle type discriminating tread measures the number of axles, the wheel distance, and the tire pattern of the vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. At this time, the vehicle type discriminating device discriminates the vehicle type of the vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road based on the vehicle length, the vehicle height, the number of axles, the wheel distance, and the tire pattern, and uses the vehicle type as a toll collection machine. Notice. The ticket issuing machine is installed at the entrance of the toll road and issues a ticket that contains information notified from the toll collection machine.

  The toll ticket checker is installed at the exit of the toll road, and transmits the information described in the toll ticket to the toll collection machine when the toll ticket is inserted. The prepaid card processing machine is installed at the exit of the toll road, and when the prepaid card is inserted, the information recorded on the prepaid card is sent to the toll collection machine, and the information notified from the toll collection machine Write on the prepayment card. The toll indicator displays the toll to be notified from the toll collection machine. The receipt issuing machine prints a receipt on which information notified from the toll collection machine is written.

  The antenna communicates with the vehicle-mounted device included in the vehicle passing through the entrance / exit of the toll road. The vehicle-mounted device stores the vehicle type of the vehicle and is controlled by the toll collection machine by communicating with the toll collection machine.

  Such a toll collecting machine is a computer, and executes a predetermined operation by installed software. The software is revised to new software when an error is discovered or when a new service is provided for toll collection. Such an operation of the toll collection machine includes an operation when the software is activated and an operation for updating the software.

  FIG. 4 shows an operation when the software is activated. When the toll collection machine is operated by the toll collector and the software is started, first, the operation information is downloaded from the host device (step S101). When the input / output device is switched to work-on (step S102), the toll collection machine controls the lane peripheral device based on the operation information (step S103). That is, the toll collection machine determines the vehicle type of the vehicle using the vehicle type determination device when the vehicle passes through the entrance of the toll road. The toll collection machine issues a pass ticket in which the vehicle type and entrance information for identifying the entrance are described using a pass ticket issuing machine. The toll collection machine collects information described in the ticket when the ticket is inserted into the ticket checking machine. The toll collecting machine refers to the toll table indicated by the operation information, and calculates the toll based on the vehicle type described in the toll ticket checker, the entrance, and the exit at which the toll checker is installed. The toll collection machine displays the toll using the toll indicator. When a prepaid card is inserted into the prepaid card processing machine, the toll collection machine uses the prepaid card processing machine to prepay the balance as the balance of the prepaid card minus the toll. Write on the card. The receipt issuing machine prints a receipt on which information notified from the toll collection machine is written. The toll collection machine issues a receipt printed to the effect that the toll has been received using the receipt issuing machine.

  When the vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road has an on-vehicle device, the toll collection machine transmits the entrance information for identifying the entrance to the on-vehicle device and stores the entrance information in the on-vehicle device. When the vehicle passing through the exit of the toll road is equipped with an in-vehicle device, the toll collection machine communicates with the in-vehicle device, collects the vehicle type and entrance information of the vehicle, and refers to the toll table. Then, the toll calculated based on the vehicle type, the entrance information, and the exit where the toll collection machine is installed is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device, and the toll is settled.

  When starting the operation of the toll collecting machine (No at Step S105), the toll collector switches the input / output device to work on and starts working (Step S102). When the work ends or when the work is replaced with another toll collector, the input / output device is switched off (step S104). Next, the toll collector who works works switches the input / output device to work-on and starts working again. That is, the fee collection machine executes the processing of step S102 to step S104 again when the operation is continued (No in step S105). When the operation of the toll collecting machine is to be stopped after the end of work (step S105, Yes), the power of the toll collecting machine is turned off and the software is terminated.

  FIG. 5 shows an operation for updating the software. When the fee collection machine is instructed to update the software from the host device, first, the fee collection machine downloads new software from the host device (step S111). The toll collection machine is set so that the software that has been executed so far is not activated, and the new software is activated (step S112).

  Such a toll collection machine takes a long time to update the software, and the lane at the doorway controlled by the toll collection machine needs to close the lane while updating the software. Toll collection machines are desired to reduce the effect of updating software on processing related to toll collection.

An object of the present invention is to provide a toll collection machine and a toll collection program that reduce the influence on processing related to toll collection when software is updated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fee collection machine and a fee collection program for updating software at high speed.

  In the following, means for solving the problems will be described using the reference numerals used in the best modes and embodiments for carrying out the invention in parentheses. This reference numeral is added to clarify the correspondence between the description of the claims and the description of the best mode for carrying out the invention / example, and is described in the claims. It should not be used to interpret the technical scope of the invention.

  The toll collection machine (1) according to the present invention and the toll collection program executed by the toll collection machine (1), which is a computer, include a toll collection processing unit (15 ), And when the operation information is not recorded in the storage device (11), and the fee collection processing unit (15) is activated, the operation information download unit (3) downloads the operation information from the higher-level device (3). 14) and new software that activates the new software on behalf of the fee collection processing unit (15) when new software that executes processing related to fee collection based on the operation information is installed in the fee collection machine (1) And an activation unit (17). At this time, the operation information download unit (14) records the operation information recorded in the storage device (11) when the new software is activated in the case where the operation information is recorded in the storage device (11). Use and do not download operational information from the host device (3).

  At this time, when the new software is activated, the toll collection machine (1) should update the new software from the toll collection processing unit (15) without newly downloading operation information from the host device (3). And the impact of the renewal on toll collection can be reduced.

  The fee collection machine (1) and the fee collection program according to the present invention include a software download unit (16) that downloads new software from the host device (3) in parallel with the fee collection processing unit (15) executing a process. It has more.

  The new software activation unit (17) further stores the information generated by the fee collection processing unit (15) before the new software is activated on behalf of the fee collection processing unit (15) by the new software. 11).

  The new software activation unit (17) activates the new software in place of the fee collection processing unit (15) when the input / output device (12) is operated in a predetermined manner.

  The toll collection machine and the toll collection program according to the present invention can update the software at a higher speed and reduce the influence on the toll collection.

  An embodiment of a toll collecting machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The toll collection machine 1 is applied to a toll collection system 2 as shown in FIG. The toll collection system 2 is connected so that a plurality of devices can bidirectionally transmit information to each other via a communication line. The plurality of information processing apparatuses are formed of a toll collecting machine 1, a host apparatus 3, and a plurality of lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5-n (n = 2, 3, 4,...). Examples of the communication line include the Internet, LAN, and wireless communication.

  The host device 3 is a computer and includes a CPU, a storage device, and an input / output device not shown. The host device 3 records the operation information and transmits the operation information to the fee collection machine 1 when requested by the fee collection machine 1. Further, when the software executed on the fee collection machine 1 is updated, the host device 3 notifies the fee collection machine 1 that the software has been updated. The host device 3 further records the software, and transmits the software to the toll collection machine 1 when requested by the toll collection machine 1.

  The lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5-n are installed at entrances and exits of toll roads, and execute processing related to toll calculation and toll collection on the toll roads. Each lane peripheral device 5-i (i = 1, 2, 3,..., N) includes a vehicle type discriminating device, a pass ticket issuing device, a pass ticket checking device, a prepaid card processing device, a charge indicator or a receipt issuing device An antenna is exemplified.

  The vehicle type discrimination device is installed at the entrance of the toll road, and includes an imaging device, a vehicle length detector, a vehicle height detector, and a vehicle type discrimination tread. The vehicle length detector measures the vehicle length of a vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. The vehicle height detector measures the vehicle height of a vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. The vehicle type discriminating tread measures the number of axles, the wheel distance, and the tire pattern of the vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road. At this time, the vehicle type discriminating device discriminates the vehicle type of the vehicle passing through the entrance of the toll road based on the vehicle length, the vehicle height, the number of axles, the wheel distance, and the tire pattern, and the vehicle type is collected by the toll collection machine 1 Notify The pass ticket issuing machine is installed at the entrance of the toll road and issues a pass ticket on which information notified from the toll collection machine 1 is described.

  The toll ticket checker is installed at the exit of the toll road, and transmits information described in the toll ticket to the toll collection machine 1 when the toll ticket is inserted. The prepaid card processing machine is installed at the exit of the toll road, and when the prepaid card is inserted, the information described in the prepaid card is transmitted to the toll collection machine 1 and notified from the toll collection machine 1 Put the information on the prepaid card. The toll indicator displays the toll to be notified from the toll collection machine 1. The receipt issuing machine prints a receipt in which information notified from the toll collection machine 1 is described.

  The antenna can communicate with an in-vehicle device included in a vehicle passing through the entrance / exit of the toll road. The vehicle-mounted device stores the vehicle type of the vehicle and is controlled by the toll collection machine 1 by communicating with the toll collection machine 1. As the vehicle-mounted device, an ETC vehicle-mounted device into which an ETC card is inserted is exemplified.

  FIG. 2 shows the toll collection machine 1. The toll collection machine 1 is a computer, and includes a storage device 11, an input / output device 12, and a CPU (not shown). The CPU executes a computer program installed in the toll collection machine 1 and controls the storage device 11, the input / output device 12, and the lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5-n. The storage device 11 records the computer program and temporarily records information generated by the CPU. The storage device 11 is formed of, for example, a volatile memory exemplified by CompactFlash (registered trademark), and can record the computer program, information thereof, operation information and software transmitted from the host device 3. In addition, the storage capacity is sufficiently large.

  The input / output device 12 includes a work switch, a keyboard, and a display. The input / output device 12 outputs either work-on or work-off when the work switch is operated by the toll collector. The input / output device 12 outputs information generated by operating the keyboard by a toll collector to the CPU. The input / output device 12 displays a screen generated by the CPU on the display.

  The fee collection machine 1 is installed with an operation information download unit 14, a fee collection processing unit 15, a software download unit 16, and a new software activation unit 17 that are computer programs.

  The operation information download unit 14 determines whether the operation information is recorded in the storage device 11 when the fee collection processing unit 15 is activated. An example of the operation information is a fee table. The toll table associates a combination of a vehicle type and a section of the toll road where the vehicle has traveled with a toll. The operation information download unit 14 downloads the operation information from the host device 3 when the operation information is not recorded in the storage device 11, and when the operation information is recorded in the storage device 11, the storage device 11. Is not downloaded from the higher-level device 3. Such a download generally takes about 5 to 15 minutes.

  The toll collection processing unit 15 controls the lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5 -n based on the operation information recorded in the storage device 11 when work on is output from the input / output device 12 and the toll road. Execute processing related to toll collection.

  When notified from the host device 3 that the software has been updated, the software download unit 16 downloads new software from the host device 3 to the storage device 11 and installs the software. At this time, the software download unit 16 executes the download and installation in parallel with the processing executed by the fee collection processing unit 15. The software is a computer program created in place of the toll collection processing unit 15, that is, pays by controlling the lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5-n based on the operation information recorded in the storage device 11. Executes processing related to road toll collection.

  In response to the output of work-off from the input / output device 12, the new software activation unit 17 determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied. The condition is that the host device 3 is instructed to update the software, and that the installation by the software download unit 16 has been completed. When the new software activation unit 17 satisfies the condition, the new software activation unit 17 records the information generated by the fee collection processing unit 15 that can be used by the new software downloaded by the software download unit 16 in the storage device 11, and collects fee collection processing The section 15 is terminated and the new software is activated.

  FIG. 3 shows the operation of the toll collection machine 1 when the toll collection processing unit 15 is activated. The operation starts when the fee collection machine 1 is turned on and the fee collection processing unit 15 is activated. When the fee collection processing unit 15 is activated, the fee collection machine 1 first determines whether operation information is recorded in the storage device 11 (step S1). The toll collection machine 1 downloads the operation information from the host device 3 (step S2) when the operation information is not recorded in the storage device 11 (step S1, NO), and the operation information is recorded in the storage device 11 When it is being performed (step S1, YES), the operation information is not downloaded from the host device 3.

  When the input / output device 12 is operated so that the input / output device 12 outputs work-on (step S3), the toll collection machine 1 controls the lane peripheral devices 5-1 to 5-n based on the operation information. (Step S4).

  The toll collecting machine 1 downloads and installs new software from the host device 3 to the storage device 11 in parallel with the process of step S4 when notified from the host device 3 that the software has been updated.

  The toll collector operates the input / output device 12 so that the input / output device 12 outputs work-off when the operation of the toll collecting machine 1 is stopped or when the work is replaced with another toll collector. (Step S5). The condition that the toll collection machine 1 is instructed by the host apparatus 3 to update the software in response to the input / output device 12 outputting work-off and that the installation by the toll collection machine 1 has been completed. Is satisfied (step S6).

  When the fee collection machine 1 satisfies the condition (step S6, YES), the fee collection machine 1 records the information generated by the fee collection processing unit 15 to be usable by the downloaded new software in the storage device 11 (step S7). ) The fee collection processing unit 15 is not activated and the new software is set to activate (step S8), the fee collection processing unit 15 is terminated and the new software is activated (step S9).

  The toll collector working next operates the input / output device 12 so that the input / output device 12 outputs work-on. When the input / output device 12 is operated so that the input / output device 12 outputs work-on (step S10, YES), the toll collection machine 1 executes the processing after step S4 again.

    When the operation of the fee machine 1 is stopped (step S10, YES), the fee collection machine 1 is turned off after the input / output device 12 is operated so that the input / output device 12 outputs work off. The receipt processing unit 15 or its new software is terminated.

  According to such an operation, the toll collecting machine 1 does not need to newly download operation information when starting up new software, and can be started up at high speed with the new software. For this reason, the toll collection machine 1 can start new software without closing the lane controlled by the toll collection machine 1 while the toll collector changes, and the effect of the software update on the toll collection is affected. Can be reduced.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a fee collection system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a toll collection machine according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation when the software is activated. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation when a known software is started. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation for updating known software.

Explanation of symbols

1: Toll collection machine 2: Toll collection system 3: Host device 5-1 to 5-n: Lane peripheral device 11: Storage device 12: Input / output device 14: Operation information download unit 15: Toll collection processing unit 16: Software download Part 17: New software startup part

Claims (8)

A toll collection unit that performs processing related to toll collection on toll roads based on operation information;
When the operation information is not recorded in a storage device, when the fee collection processing unit is activated, an operation information download unit that downloads the operation information from a host device;
A new software activation unit that activates the new software in place of the fee collection processing unit when new software that executes processing related to the fee collection based on the operation information is installed in the fee collection machine. ,
The operation information download unit uses the operation information recorded in the storage device when the new software is activated when the operation information is recorded in the storage device, and from the host device Toll collection machine that does not download the operation information. In claim 1,
A fee collection machine further comprising a software download unit that downloads the new software from a host device in parallel with the fee collection processing unit executing the processing. In either claim 1 or claim 2,
The new software activation unit records information generated by the fee collection processing unit in a storage device so as to be usable by the new software before starting the new software on behalf of the fee collection processing unit. . In any one of Claims 1-3,
The new software activation unit activates the new software on behalf of the fee collection processing unit when the input / output device is operated in a predetermined manner. A toll collection unit that performs processing related to toll collection on toll roads based on operation information;
When the operation information is not recorded in a storage device, when the fee collection processing unit is activated, an operation information download unit that downloads the operation information from a host device;
A new software activation unit that activates the new software in place of the fee collection processing unit when new software that executes processing related to the fee collection based on the operation information is installed in the fee collection machine;
The operation information download unit uses the operation information recorded in the storage device when the new software is activated when the operation information is recorded in the storage device, and from the host device A toll collection program that does not download the operation information. In claim 5,
A fee collection program further comprising: a software download unit that downloads the new software from a host device in parallel with the fee collection processing unit executing the processing. In either claim 5 or claim 6,
The new software activation unit further records the information generated by the fee collection processing unit in the storage device so as to be usable by the new software before starting the new software on behalf of the fee collection processing unit. Receiving program. In any one of Claims 5-7,
The new software activation unit is a fee collection program that activates the new software on behalf of the fee collection processing unit when an input / output device is operated in a predetermined manner.

Images