Apparatus for checking for loading of a storage medium
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A toll charging system comprising:
- a storage medium for storing information concerning vehicle toll charging processing;
a storage medium reader-writer, provided in a vehicle, for performing vehicle toll charging processing by writing information in said storage medium and reading said information from said storage medium;
operation start determining means for determining whether said vehicle is in an operation started state;
determining means for, when said operation start determining means determines that said vehicle is in said operation started state, determining whether said storage medium reader-writer is loaded with said storage medium; and
notifying means for notifying a driver that said storage medium reader-writer is not loaded with said storage medium if said determining means determines that said storage medium reader-writer is not loaded with said storage medium.
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Abstract
An apparatus has a detector for, when the operation of a vehicle is started, determining whether a specific portable wireless tolling storage medium is loaded in an automatic toll processing unit installed in the vehicle. A warning unit produces a visual or auditory warning if the detector determines that the specific tolling storage medium is not loaded. The apparatus enables realization of a tolling system that prevents incidents where a user neglects to load a tolling storage medium into a toll processing unit, thus ensuring normal toll processing.
9 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A toll charging system comprising:
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a storage medium for storing information concerning vehicle toll charging processing; a storage medium reader-writer, provided in a vehicle, for performing vehicle toll charging processing by writing information in said storage medium and reading said information from said storage medium; operation start determining means for determining whether said vehicle is in an operation started state; determining means for, when said operation start determining means determines that said vehicle is in said operation started state, determining whether said storage medium reader-writer is loaded with said storage medium; and notifying means for notifying a driver that said storage medium reader-writer is not loaded with said storage medium if said determining means determines that said storage medium reader-writer is not loaded with said storage medium. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A toll charging system comprising:
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a first road-installed device for transmitting a first command to a vehicle passing proximate thereto to cause said vehicle to determine whether a storage unit is received by a toll charging unit in said vehicle; a second road-installed device for transmitting a second command to said vehicle proximate thereto to cause said toll charging unit to write information concerning a toll in said storage unit; and notifying means for notifying a driver that said toll charging unit is not loaded with said storage unit if said vehicle determines that said toll charging unit is not loaded with said storage unit; wherein said first road-installed device is positioned before said second road-installed device in a direction of travel of vehicles so that said vehicles receive said first command from said first road-installed device before said vehicles receive said second command from said second road-installed device.
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14. An apparatus for checking loading of a storage medium in which information regarding automatic toll processing may be stored, said apparatus comprising:
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an IC card reader-writer, provided in a vehicle, for performing automatic toll processing; operation start determining means for determining whether said vehicle is in an operation started state, based on a signal from an ignition key switch that is operated at starting of operation of said vehicle; determining means for, when said operation start determining means determines that said vehicle is in said operation started state, determining whether said IC card reader-writer is loaded with said IC card; and load warning producing means for producing an auditory warning if said determining means determines that said IC card reader-writer is not loaded with said IC card.
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15. A method of performing vehicle toll charging, said method comprising:
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determining whether a vehicle is in an operation started state; determining whether a storage medium which stores information concerning vehicle toll charging processing is loaded in a processing unit when said vehicle is in said operation started state; notifying a driver in said vehicle that said storage medium is not loaded in said processing unit when said determining step determines that said storage medium is not loaded in said processing unit; and processing a toll charge by writing information in said storage medium and reading said information from said storage medium when said determining step determines that said storage medium is loaded in said processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification