APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING POSITION INFORMATION AND GATHERING INFORMATION USING RFID

• US 20100073154A1
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Eun-Kyu, Lee, Yong-Joon, Kim, Min-Soo
• Granted Patent: US 8,111,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/042 using inductive or magnetic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/20 using a distributed architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/50 using a mobile data collecting device, e.g. walk by or drive by
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and a method for providing position information and gathering information using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The apparatus includes: a plurality of RFID tags, driven by a radio frequency transmitted from an RFID reader installed in the vehicle, for providing stored tag information in order to provide current position information to the vehicle; a plurality of sensor nodes for sensing the time point when the RFID tags are driven and transmitting the sensed information through a sensor network; and an information gathering server for gathering and processing the information sensed by the sensor nodes, where at least two RFID tags and one sensor node are configured in groups, and the groups are installed at predetermined intervals on each lane of a road.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing position information to a vehicle and gathering vehicle information on each lane of a road, comprising:

a plurality of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, driven by a radio frequency transmitted from an RFID reader installed in the vehicle, for providing stored tag information in order to provide current position information to the vehicle;

a plurality of sensor nodes for sensing the time point when the RFID tags are driven and transmitting the sensed information through a sensor network; and

an information gathering server for gathering and processing the information sensed by the sensor nodes,

where at least two RFID tags and one sensor node are configured in groups, and the groups are installed at predetermined intervals on each lane of a road.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader has at least two antennas.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein antennas of the RFID reader are installed to maintain an angle of 20 to 40 degrees with respect to the road surface.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of RFID tags belonging to the one group is three or four.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the RFID tags belonging to the one group store the same tag information.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the intervals between the groups installed on the same lane are maintained at at least 5 m.

7. A method for providing position information and gathering information in a system in which a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader is installed in a vehicle and RFID tags are installed at predetermined intervals on each lane of a road, comprising the steps of:

a) driving the RFID tags installed on the road by the RFID reader and transmitting information of the RFID tags to the RFID reader;

b) sensing the driving time point of the RFID tags and transmitting sensing information along with the identifier (ID) thereof to an information gathering server through a sensor network; and

c) storing and processing the sensing information gathered by the information gathering server through the sensor network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, in the step b), three or four RFID tags storing the same tag information constitute one group, and when any one of the RFID tags is driven, the driving time point is sensed.