METHOD FOR DETECTING VEHICLES WITH TRAILERS

• US 20110246263A1
• Filed: 03/09/2011
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kapsch TrafficCom AG (Datax Handelsgmbh)
• Original Assignee: Kapsch TrafficCom AG (Datax Handelsgmbh)
• Inventors: Spannagl, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/13
• 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 1/015 with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles

Abstract

A method for detecting vehicles with trailers in a road toll system, which comprises at least one radio beacon for radio communication with radio OBUs, wherein vehicles and trailers are respectively provided with their own OBUs carried by them, and a vehicle and a trailer are detected as belonging to one another when an evaluation of the radio communications with their OBU indicates that these are moving at a limited and constant distance from one another.

Claims

1. A method for detecting vehicles with trailers in a road toll system, which comprises at least one radio beacon for radio communication with radio onboard units (OBUs), the method comprising:

providing a vehicle with a vehicle OBU carried by the vehicle;

providing a trailer with a trailer OBU; and

detecting that said vehicle and said trailer as belonging to one another, when an evaluation of radio communications with the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU indicates that said OBUs are moving at a limited and constant distance from one another.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU are both arranged next to one another in the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using a phase shift between the two radio communications for measurement of a distance between the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU for said evaluation.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using an amplitude difference between the two radio communications for measurement of the distance between the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU for said evaluation.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using a Doppler shift of the two radio communications for measurement of the movements of the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU for said evaluation.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein only radio communications within a given time window are taken into consideration for said evaluation.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the radio beacons are DSRC radio beacons and the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU are DSRC OBUs.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the vehicle OBU and the trailer OBU are infrared-based or microwave-based DSRC OBUs.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said evaluation is conducted in a central system of the road toll system.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said evaluation is conducted in a decentralised manner in a radio beacon of the road toll system, or in a local control unit of the radio beacon.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising for vehicle and trailer OBUs detected as belonging together, applying a charge to toll accounts assigned to said OBUs.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying a charge only to a toll account assigned to the vehicle OBU when vehicle and trailer OBUs are detected as belonging together.