Vehicle identification system for electric toll collection system

• US 5,969,641 A
• Filed: 04/10/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Nakamura, Yuki, Kuwahara, Yoshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitts, Harold I.
• Application Number:
  US08/827,692
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• Field of Search: 235/384, 235/928
• US Class Current: 340/928
• 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

A plurality of antennas receives radio wave transmitted from a vehicle which comes in a toll collection area. Each antenna has at least three antenna elements, and the antennas are disposed in the horizontal direction and vertical direction. The signal analyzer analyzes the ID signal included in the received radio wave to identify the vehicle. The direction detector measures the direction of arrival (DOA) of radio wave received by two antennas selected by the antenna selector by way of two-dimensional interferometry principle in terms of the directional angle and depression angle. The location detector calculates the location of the vehicle in the horizontal direction and the height in the vertical direction of the vehicle as a location information based on the DOA of the radio wave measured by the direction detector. The vehicle tracking unit generates the locus data of the vehicle based on the location information calculated by the location detector and the information for identifying the vehicle analyzed by the signal analyzer. On the other hand, the video camera takes a picture of the vehicle which comes in the toll collection area to obtain the picture data. The data correlation unit judges whether the vehicle is a violator vehicle by correlating the picture data and locus data. The controller registers the locus data and picture data of the vehicle if the vehicle is a violator vehicle. On the other hand, the controller collects a prescribed toll from the vehicle if the vehicle is not a violator vehicle.

Claims

1. A system for identifying a vehicle which comes into a prescribed area, comprising:

receiving means for receiving a radio wave transmitted from a vehicle which comes into a prescribed area, said receiving means comprising a plurality of antennas;

a selector for selecting at least two antennas from said plurality of antennas which receive said radio wave from the vehicle not blocked by a larger vehicle;

identification means for identifying said vehicle based on an identification signal included in said radio wave which is received by said receiving means;

a directional finder for measuring a direction of arrival of said radio wave received by said at least two antennas selected by said selector; and

location detection means for calculating a location of said vehicle based on the direction of arrival measured by said directional finder.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receiving means comprises a plurality of antennas, each antenna having at least three antenna elements, and

wherein said directional finder comprises means for measuring a directional angle and depression angle of said radio wave to each said antenna based on a phase difference of said radio wave received by two of said antenna elements included in said respective antennas and a previously registered standard phase difference.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said location detection means determines an intersection of direction lines formed from each said antenna as the location of said vehicle in a horizontal direction, said direction lines formed in the direction of arrival of said radio wave received by said respective antennas from said respective antennas.

4. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein ones of said plurality of antennas are disposed in a horizontal direction and ones of said plurality of antennas are disposed in a vertical direction.

5. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said plurality of antennas comprises at least two antennas disposed in a horizontal direction and at least two antennas disposed in a vertical direction.

6. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one of said plurality of antennas disposed with its radio wave receiving plane facing in an inclined depressing direction.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

vehicle tracking means for determining the locus of said vehicle based on the location of said vehicle measured by location detection means.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

camera means for taking a picture of said vehicle which comes into said prescribed area.

9. The system as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:

camera means for taking a picture of said vehicle which comes into said prescribed area and outputting a picture data; and

means for identifying said vehicle by correlating said picture data supplied from said camera means with the locus of said vehicle determined by said vehicle tracking means.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said directional finder measures a direction of arrival of said radio wave transmitted from said vehicle by way of two dimensional interferometry in terms of a directional angle and depression angle.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said location detection means calculates the location of said vehicle on the horizontal plane and the height in the vertical direction based on the directional angle and depression angle of the direction of arrival of the radio wave measured by said directional finder.

12. A system for identifying a vehicle which comes into a collection area and for collecting a prescribed toll from said vehicle, comprising;

receiving means for receiving a radio wave transmitted from a vehicle which comes into a toll collection area, Wi receiving means comprising a plurality of antennas;

a selector for selecting at least two of said plurality of antennas which receive the radio wave from the vehicle not blocked by a larger vehicle;

identification means for identifying said vehicle by analyzing an identification signal included in said received radio wave;

a directional finder for measuring a direction of arrival of said radio wave;

location detection means for calculating the location of said vehicle based on the direction of arrival measured by said directional finder;

vehicle tracking means for calculating the locus of said vehicle based on an identification information of said vehicle outputted from said identification means and a location information of said vehicle outputted from said location detection means, and outputting locus data indicative of the locus of said vehicle;

camera means for taking a picture of said vehicle and outputting a picture data; and

toll collection means for collecting a desired toll from said vehicle based on the locus data outputted from said vehicle tracking means and the picture data outputted from said camera means.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

correlation means for correlating said locus data with the said picture data; and

judging means for judging whether said vehicle is a violator vehicle based on correlation result generated by said correlation means.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

means for registering the locus data and picture data of said vehicle when said vehicle is judged to be a violator vehicle.

15. The system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

means for erasing the locus data and picture data of said vehicle when said vehicle is judged not to be a violator vehicle.

16. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said receiving means is provided with a plurality of antennas each having at least three antenna elements, and wherein said directional finder is provided with means for measuring the direction of arrival of said radio wave to each antenna based on phase difference of said radio wave received by two of said two antenna elements included in said respective antennas and a previously registered standard phase difference.

17. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said directional finder measures the direction of arrival of radio wave transmitted from said vehicle with two dimensional interferometry in terms of the directional angle and depression angle.

18. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said location detection means calculates the location of said vehicle on the horizontal plane and the height in the vertical direction based on the directional angle and depression angle of the direction of arrival of the radio wave measured by said directional finder.

19. The system as claimed in claim 14, wherein said correlation means comprises means for correlating vehicle number information of said vehicle included in said ID signal with vehicle number information on the picture taken by said camera means.