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Multilane vehicle information capture system

  • US 7,725,348 B1
  • Filed: 05/27/2005
  • Issued: 05/25/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2001
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A multilane vehicle information capture (MVIC) system for management of a road having a plurality of travel lanes in an open-road toll collection environment, the system comprising:

  • an MVIC unit, including at least one processor, that is configured to determine whether an indication of the existence of one or more vehicles traveling along the road corresponds to a single vehicle that is straddling two of the plurality of travel lanes;

    a vehicle classification system comprising at least one first vehicle sensor configured to collect vehicle classification information of the one or more vehicles traveling along the road, the vehicle classification system configured to provide the collected vehicle classification information of the one or more vehicles to the MVIC unit;

    an RF system comprising at least one first RF antenna disposed so as to create a first RF read zone in the first one of the plurality of travel lanes and at least one second RF antenna disposed so as to create a second RF read zone in the second one of the plurality of travel lanes, the at least one first RF antenna configured to receive a first plurality of RF reads of vehicle transponder information from an RF transponder coupled to the one or more vehicles traveling through both the first RF read zone and the second RF read zone, the at least one second RF antenna configured to receive a second plurality of RF reads of vehicle transponder information from the RF transponder coupled to the one or more vehicles traveling through both the first RF read zone and the second RF read zone, the RF system configured to provide the first plurality of reads and the second plurality of reads to the MVIC unit, wherein the first one of the plurality of travel lanes and the second one of the plurality of travel lanes are not separated by a lane barrier;

    wherein the processor of the MVIC unit is configured to;

    determine that the one or more vehicles traveling along the road is a single vehicle based on the collected vehicle classification information,determine that the single vehicle is straddling both of the at least two of the plurality of travel lanes by comparing the first plurality of RF reads with the second plurality of RF reads, anddetermine, responsive to the determination that the single vehicle is straddling both of the at least two of the plurality of travel lanes, whether to manage a transaction for the single vehicle via the first RF antenna or via the second RF antenna.

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