Self declaring device for a vehicle using restrict traffic lanes

• US 10,388,079 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2018
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Original Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Inventors: Nyalamadugu, Sheshi, Mullis, Joe, Leanio, Bobby
• Primary Examiner(s): Trail, Allyson N
• Application Number:
  US16/147,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20190035169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• Field of Search: 235492, 235375, 235385, 705 13
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/002 Seats provided with an occupancy detection means mounted therein or thereon detection means responsive to presence or absence of children B60N2/266
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/041 Constructional details G06K19/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07345 by activating or deactivating at least a part of the circuit on the record carrier, e.g. ON/OFF switches
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07715 the interface being used to indicate that the record carrier is active, e.g. a blinking light to indicate that the record carrier is busy communicating with a secondary device or busy computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence

Abstract

The present disclosure provides various examples of a self-declaring wireless device installed on a vehicle operable to automatically detect, determine and declare occupancy information of the vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane to an electronic toll collection (ETC) system. According to one aspect, a process for performing self-declaration by a vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane includes the steps of: receiving sensor data collected by one or more sensors installed on the vehicle; determining occupancy data of the vehicle based on the received sensor data; and controlling a wireless transceiver installed on the vehicle to communicate with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system associated with the restricted traffic lane based on the determined occupancy data.

Claims

1. A self-declaring device installed on a vehicle, comprising:

a sensor module configured to collect data from inside the vehicle;

a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with a reader; and

a microcontroller coupled to both the sensor module and the wireless transceiver and configured to;

determine occupancy data based at least in part on the data collected by the sensor module;

determine an operation state of the wireless transceiver from a plurality of operation states based at least on the determined occupancy data; and

communicate with the reader via the determined operation state of the wireless transceiver.

2. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the sensor module includes a plurality of sensors of the same type or a combination of different types of sensors, wherein the types of sensors include motion sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, and image sensors.

3. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the collected data include IR images captured by an IR sensor.

4. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the collected data include optical images captured by an image sensor.

5. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver includes one of the following:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) module, a WI-FI module, a ZigBee module, and a Bluetooth®

module.

6. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver includes an RFID transponder configured to operate at multiple frequencies.

7. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the occupancy data includes a determination of a number of occupants in the vehicle and whether the number of occupants in the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold number of occupants.

8. The self-declaring device of claim 1, wherein the determined operation state of the wireless transceiver includes an OFF state and an ON state.

9. A self-declaring device installed on a vehicle, comprising:

a sensor module configured to collect data from inside the vehicle;

a wireless transceiver configured to operate at multiple frequencies to communicate with a reader, wherein the multiple frequencies comprises a first operating frequency and a second operating frequency;

a microcontroller coupled to both the sensor module and the wireless transceiver and configured to;

determine occupancy data based at least in part on the data collected by the sensor module;

determine an operation frequency of the wireless transceiver from a plurality of operation states based at least on the determined occupancy data; and

communicate with the reader via the determined operation state of the wireless transceiver, wherein communicating with the reader via the determined operation state comprises communicating with the reader using one or more of the first or second operating frequencies based on the determined operation state of the wireless transceiver.

10. The self-declaring device of claim 9, wherein the first operating frequency is a high-frequency and the second operating frequency is an ultra-high frequency.

11. A computer-implemented method for performing self-declaration by a vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data collected by a plurality of sensors installed on the vehicle;

determining, by a microcontroller coupled to the plurality of sensors, occupancy data of the vehicle based at least on the received sensor data;

determining, by the microcontroller, an operation state from a plurality of operation states of a wireless transceiver installed on the vehicle based at least on the determined occupancy data; and

communicating, by the microcontroller, with a reader via the determined operation state of the wireless transceiver.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein communicating with the reader includes:

transmitting the determined occupancy data to the wireless transceiver; and

enabling the wireless transceiver to transmit the determined occupancy data to the reader to make a self-declaration.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining occupancy data of the vehicle includes processing one or more images inside the vehicle captured by the one or more sensors using an imaging processing module.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the occupancy data includes a number of occupants in the vehicle.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the occupancy data includes a determination of whether the number of occupants in the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold number of occupants.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein communicating with the reader includes enabling the wireless transceiver to communicate with the reader if the determined number of occupants in the vehicle does not exceed the predetermined minimum number of occupants.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein communicating with the reader includes transmitting account information and/or exchanging payment information with the reader.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the determined operation state includes one or more of an OFF state and an ON state.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the determined operation state includes a first operation frequency and a second operation frequency of the wireless transceiver.