Mobile enforcement reader

• US 7,382,275 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2005
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vertex Aerospace, LLC
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Feldman, Ira R., Patno, Brian E., Moosie, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg; George
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANG, SON M
• Application Number:
  US11/206,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20060044161A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/904
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• 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 mobile enforcement reader (MER) includes an antenna, a reader coupled to receive signals from the antenna and a control/display unit (CDU) coupled to the reader. The CDU selects a receive direction and processes signals provided thereto from the reader. When the MER and a transponder are in proximity, the MER interrogates the transponder and receives information related to toll payment. The MER allows enforcement officials to monitor payment by single occupancy vehicle (SOV) traffic for use of high occupancy traffic (HOT) lanes.

Claims

1. A mobile enforcement reader (MER) disposed in a vehicle, the MER for reading signals from a transponder and the MER comprising:

an antenna configured to receive signals in a plurality of different antenna receive directions with at least two of the plurality of antenna receive directions being orthogonal to each other;

a reader coupled to receive signals from said antenna; and

a control/display unit (CDU) coupled to said reader and in response to signals from said reader, said CDU provides an output signal having information concerning the transponder, said CDU for selecting one of the plurality of different antenna receive directions and for processing transponder signals provided thereto from said reader wherein, said reader reads from the transponder;

a Transponder ID;

a location of the last toll point;

a time of the last toll point that data was collected from; and

agency data including the agency and vehicle classification, wherein at least one of the plurality of different antenna receive directions is a direction which is substantially orthogonal to a direction of travel of the vehicle in which the MER is disposed.

2. The MER of claim 1 wherein said CDU provides a visual indication of a direction of a detection zone.

3. The MER of claim 1 wherein in response to said reader reading agency data including the agency and vehicle classification, the reader processes the date to determine if transponder agency data is on an approved agency list.

4. The MER of claim 1 further comprising an exception list processor and wherein in response to said reader reading the transponder ID, said exception list processor compares the transponder ID to an exception list comprising a list of transponder IDs.

5. The MER of claim 1 further comprising a transponder class data store.

6. The MER of claim 5 wherein the transponder class data store has stored therein a value indicating that the MER belongs to one or more of a plurality of classes in a transponder classification scheme.

7. A mobile enforcement reader (MER) for reading signals from a transponder, the MER disposed in a vehicle and the MER comprising:

an antenna;

a reader coupled to receive signals from said antenna;

a control/display unit (CDU) coupled to said reader and in response to signals from said reader, said CDU provides an output signal having information concerning the transponder, said CDU for selecting an antenna receive direction and for processing transponder signals provided thereto from said reader wherein, said reader reads from the transponder;

a Transponder ID;

a location of the last toll point;

a time of the last toll point that data was collected from; and

agency data including the agency and vehicle classification; and

a dynamic read zone circuit for adjusting at least one of a size and a shape of a MER read zone wherein said CDU is adapted to select at least one of a plurality of receive directions wherein at least one of the plurality of receive directions is a direction which is orthogonal to a direction of travel of the vehicle.

8. The MER of claim 7 wherein the dynamic read zone circuit is provided as a MER squelch circuit.

9. A mobile enforcement reader (MER) coupled to a first, law-enforcement vehicle and configured to read signals from a toll transponder coupled to a second vehicle, the MER comprising:

an antenna;

a reader coupled to receive signals from the antenna; and

a control/display unit (CDU) coupled to the reader and configured to provide an output signal comprising information associated with the transponder in response to signals comprising toll data from the reader, the CDU being configured to allow selection of an antenna receive direction to receive the signals from the transponder and to process transponder signals provided by the reader,

wherein the reader reads the signals from the transponder comprising;

a transponder ID;

a location of the last toll point;

a time of the last toll point that data was collected from; and

agency data comprising an agency and vehicle classification, wherein the antenna comprises;

a first antenna configured to receive signals emanating from a first direction corresponding to a direction which is toward a rear of the first vehicle and along a central longitudinal axis of the vehicle; and

a second antenna configured to receive signals emanating from a second direction which is substantially orthogonal to the central longitudinal axis of the first vehicle.

10. The MER of claim 9, further comprising a third antenna configured to receive signals emanating from a third direction which is substantially orthogonal to a central longitudinal axis of the first vehicle and which is substantially opposite the second direction.

11. The MER of claim 9 wherein the selection of an antenna receive direction comprises selection of at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna and the CDU provides a visual indication corresponding to the selection.

12. The MER of claim 9 further comprising an exception list processor and wherein in response to the reader reading the transponder ID, the exception list processor is configured to compare the transponder ID to an exception list comprising a list of transponder IDs.

13. The MER of claim 9 wherein in response to the reader reading agency data including an agency classification and a vehicle classification, the reader processes the date to determine if transponder agency data is on an approved agency list.

14. The MER of claim 9, further comprising a dynamic read zone circuit configured to adjust at least one of a size and a shape of a MER read zone, the dynamic read zone circuit being provided as a MER squelch circuit.

15. The MER of claim 9, further comprising a transponder class data store is configured to store a value indicating that the MER belongs to one or more of a plurality of classes in a transponder classification scheme.

16. The MER of claim 9 wherein said CDU further comprises a direction selector coupled to said antenna, said direction selector adapted to select a direction from which the antenna receives signals such that a user can select to monitor for enforcement/verification purposes a vehicle to the left, right or behind the first, law-enforcement vehicle.

17. The MER of claim 16 wherein said CDU further comprises a display which provides a visual indication of a selected direction from which the MER receives signals.