JPH1116087A - Vehicle passage management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain exact passage management information without being affected by a vehicle traveling in the opposite lane. SOLUTION: A vehicle passage management system for managing a vehicle 2(m) passing through a road 1 is provided with a vehicle side communication equipment 20(m) mounted on the vehicle 2(m) and a gate device 10(n) arranged on the road shoulder of the road 1. The gate device 10(n) is provided with a gate side communication equipment 30(n) and first and second transmitting devices 12(n) and 13(n) arranged at the front. The vehicle 2(m) traveling through a lane 1R can communicate with the gate side communication equipment 30(n) only at the time of receiving pre-response request signals R1 and R2 from the first and second transmitting device 12(n) and 13(n), and then receiving a response request signal R3 from the gate side communication equipment 30(n). Also, a vehicle 2A(m) passing through an opposite lane 1L can not communicate with the gate side communication equipment 30(n). Thus, only the vehicle 2(m) passing through the lane 1R can be detected regardless of the size of a communication area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to traffic management of vehicles passing on toll roads such as highways and other roads,
The present invention relates to a vehicle traffic management system that manages traffic of vehicles entering and exiting a parking lot and traffic of vehicles entering and leaving a site such as a factory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a traffic management system for vehicles passing on a highway, a gate is arranged at an interchange, which is an entrance of the highway, and vehicles entering the highway from there are obtained by obtaining a toll ticket. It is possible to specify the gate where the fee is generated. Also, when leaving the highway, if the driver passes the toll ticket to the attendant waiting at the exit gate, the toll is calculated based on the toll ticket and the toll is calculated by cash, prepaid card, credit card, etc. Payment is made.

As described above, in a general toll road vehicle traffic management system, a driver of a vehicle passing therethrough obtains a toll ticket at an entrance gate and submits the toll ticket at an exit gate. , A toll calculation is performed. In addition, the fare settlement is performed by an attendant who has received the toll ticket or an automatic fare clearing machine.

[0004] Similarly, in a toll parking lot, a gate is arranged at an entrance and a ticket is issued to a driver of a vehicle entering the gate to manage the parking fee. When exiting the parking lot, the ticket is used to settle the parking fee at a checkout machine installed at the exit gate.

On the other hand, in a factory or the like, a security guard monitors vehicles entering and exiting the factory, so that outsiders and the like cannot enter the factory.

[0006]

As described above, the traffic management of vehicles entering and exiting a specific road, place or the like is generally performed by a method using a medium such as a toll ticket or by a supervisor.
However, the former method is troublesome because it has to handle a medium such as a toll ticket, and the latter method relies on manual labor, so it may be inaccurate and difficult to operate around the clock.

Therefore, the applicant of the present application has previously described Japanese Patent Application No. 9-24 / 1990.
No. 934 proposes a highway vehicle traffic management system that performs highway vehicle traffic management by communication. This system is equipped with a communication device for each highway gate and each vehicle so that vehicles passing through the gate can be automatically identified and managed by communication, and tolls can be calculated. Like that. Such a vehicle traffic management system can be installed on the shoulder of a highway, and a vehicle passing therethrough can be identified to acquire data such as traffic volume.

[0008] Here, no problem occurs on a one-way road, but when a response request signal is transmitted from a communication device of a gate disposed on one shoulder of a road such as a two-way traffic, the response request signal is transmitted to the gate arrangement. It may be received by a passing vehicle on the opposite lane and also received by a passing vehicle on the opposite oncoming lane. In this case, vehicles passing both routes are detected at the gate, so the gate-side communication device
Passing vehicles only on the gate side line cannot be detected accurately.

Of course, the communication area of the gate-side communication device may be reduced. However, in this case, the detection of vehicles passing through the route on the gate arrangement side may be incomplete. It is desirable to keep.

On the other hand, in the case of controlling traffic of vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot, when the entrance is located adjacent to the parking lot, vehicles entering the parking lot through the gate and vehicles exiting the parking lot through the gate are distinguished. Otherwise, accurate traffic management cannot be performed. Similarly, a similar problem occurs when traffic control of vehicles entering and exiting a factory facility or the like is performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle operation management system capable of accurately detecting only a passing vehicle in one direction in view of the above point.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a vehicle traffic management system for managing vehicles passing through a gate disposed on a road or the like. And n (n is a positive integer) transmitting devices for transmitting a preceding-stage response request signal, the gates installed forward of these transmitting devices in the vehicle signal direction, and gates mounted on the gates A configuration having a side communication device and a vehicle side communication device mounted on a vehicle is employed.

[0013] Further, the gate-side communication device transmits a response request signal and traffic management information to the vehicle-side communication device of a vehicle passing through the gate, and the vehicle responds to the response request signal. The receiving unit receives the vehicle identification information and the traffic management information transmitted from the side communication device, and the traffic management information storage unit stores the information received by the receiving unit.

Further, the vehicle-side communication device includes an identification information storage unit storing identification information of a vehicle equipped with the vehicle-side communication device, and the gate-side communication device mounted on the gate that has passed. A reception unit for receiving the transmitted traffic management information, a reception information storage unit capable of storing the information received by the reception unit, and transmitting the identification information and the information held in the reception information storage unit to the gate-side communication; A transmission unit for transmitting to the device, and when the response request signal is received after receiving the n pre-stage response request signals, the identification information and the reception information storage unit are held via the transmission unit. The communication control unit permits transmission of information and permits reception of the traffic management information via the reception unit.

As described above, in the vehicle traffic management system according to the present invention, one or a plurality of transmitting devices are arranged in front of the gate along the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the passing vehicle transmits these transmitting devices. After receiving the previous-stage response request signal from the device, transmission of vehicle identification information and the like is performed. Therefore, the vehicle passing through the gate in the reverse direction receives the response request signal from the gate without receiving the previous-stage response request signal, and does not respond at all. Therefore, the gate can detect only vehicles that pass through the gate in only one direction.

Here, in a typical configuration, the n pre-stage response request signals and the response request signals are the same response request signal. In this case, when the communication control unit of the vehicle-side communication device receives (n + 1) response request signals within a predetermined time, the communication control unit stores the identification information and the reception information via the transmission unit. It is configured to permit transmission of the information held in the section and permit reception of the traffic management information via the receiving section.

On the other hand, the vehicle-side communication device can be attached, for example, to the back side of the license plate of the vehicle.
In this case, a display lamp for indicating that the vehicle-side communication device is in an operating state is attached to a position visible from the outside so that an external person, for example, a gate guard can check whether the vehicle-side communication device is in an operating state. Is desirable. For example, it is desirable to embed it in a sealed part of the license plate so as to be visible from the outside. Such an indicator lamp may be driven by an in-vehicle battery so as to be turned on / off in conjunction with on / off of the on-vehicle accessory power supply.

In the case where a plurality of gates are installed along each road or the like to control the traffic of vehicles, a headquarters device is arranged, and the traffic management information of the passing vehicles received by the communication device at each gate is arranged. It is desirable that the headquarters device be configured to perform centralized management.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the drawings, a vehicle traffic management system in which the present invention is applied to road traffic management will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a vehicle traffic management system. As shown in this figure, the road 1 has opposing lanes 1R and 1L consisting of a single or a plurality of lanes. Vehicle 2 (m) passing through lane 1R (m = 1, 2, 3
…)), The traffic control system 3 manages the lane 1
A gate device 10 (n) (n = 1, 2, 3,...) Installed at a plurality of locations along the road shoulder of R, and a vehicle 2 (m)
And the gate-side communication device 30 (n) provided in the gate device 10 (n).
And a headquarters device 50 connected to these gate-side communication devices 30 (n) via a wireless or wired communication line 40 (n).

Here, each vehicle-side communication device 20 (m)
The identification information 21 (m) of the vehicle 2 (m) can be transmitted, and the gate identification information 11 (n) that can specify the gate device 10 (n) that has passed through can be received. On the other hand, each gate-side communication device 30 (n)
(M) can receive the identification information 21 (m),
Gate identification information 11 (n) for identifying the gate can be transmitted.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the gate device 10 (n). As shown in FIG.
(N) shows the first and second transmitting devices 12 arranged along the lane 1R of the road 1 along the traveling direction of the vehicle.
(N), 13 (n), a gate 14 (n) installed ahead of the transmitting device 13 (n) in the vehicle signal direction, and a gate communication device 30 (n) mounted on the gate 14 (n). )
And

The first and second transmitting devices 12 (n), 1
3 (n) emits response request signals R1 and R2, respectively. The gate-side communication device 30 (n) also sends the response request signal R
Make a call to 3. In the drawing, the transmission effective area of each transmission device and communication device is indicated by a circle.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) and the gate-side communication device 30 (n). First, the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m)
1, a microcomputer unit 22 having a ROM and a RAM, and an in-vehicle battery 23 as a power supply. The identification information 24 of the vehicle 2 (m) is RO
M. The transmission / reception module 21 receives the traffic management information S1 transmitted from the gate-side communication device 30 (n). The received information is stored and held in the RAM.
The microcomputer unit 22 includes first and second microcomputer units.
After receiving the response request signals R1 and R2 from the transmitting devices 12 (n) and 13 (n), the gate-side communication device 30
Only when the response request signal R3 from (n) is received,
The identification information 24 and R
The information held in the AM is transmitted to the gate-side communication device 30.
It has a communication control function for permitting transmission to (n).

On the other hand, the gate-side communication device 30
(N) is a response request signal R3 to the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) of the vehicle 2 (m) passing through the gate 14 (n).
The vehicle-side communication device 20 transmits the gate identification information 11 and the traffic management information S and responds to the response request signal R3.
The transmission / reception module 31 for receiving the vehicle identification information 24 and the traffic management information S2 transmitted by (n), and the gate 14 (n) based on the information received by the transmission / reception module 31
A microcomputer unit 32 including a RAM for storing traffic management information such as the date and time of passage of the vehicle 2 (m) that has passed the vehicle, in association with the received information, a RAM for storing the gate identification information 11, and the like; It has. Also,
The microcomputer unit 32 sends a communication line 40 to the host computer 34 on the upper side of the head office device 50.
(N).

Here, in the transmission / reception module 31 in the gate-side communication device 30 (n), the reception failure of the transmission information of the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) of the vehicle 2 (m) passing through the gate 14 has occurred. Again, the response request signal R
3 is transmitted to ensure communication with the passing vehicle 2 (m).

Next, a preferred configuration of the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) will be described. As described above, the vehicle-side communication device 20
Since (m) is for transmitting vehicle information for identifying the vehicle, it is desirable that the driver cannot remove the vehicle without permission. For this purpose, the vehicle-side communication device 20 is attached to the license plate.
It is desirable to arrange (m).

The vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) must always be set to a state in which vehicle identification information can be transmitted (ie, an operating state) during driving of the vehicle. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 3, a vehicle-mounted battery is used as a power source for the communication device 20 (m), and the key-in is performed. It is desirable that a power supply path of 20 (m) is also formed. With this configuration, in the vehicle driving state, the communication device 20 (m) is always in the power supply state, and can transmit the vehicle identification information.

In addition to this configuration, the communication device 20 (m) is operating from the outside in order to prevent the driver from setting the communication device 20 (m) to an inoperative state without permission. It is desirable to attach a display lamp capable of visually discriminating whether or not this is the case.

FIG. 4 shows an example of mounting the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) on the license plate of the vehicle.

In the example shown in FIG.
Is a box-shaped storage case 71, a license plate body 73 attached to a side opening 72 of the storage case 71,
It comprises a transmitting / receiving circuit board 74 and an antenna plate 75 mounted in a space between them. A transmission / reception module 76 is mounted on the surface of the transmission / reception circuit board 74, and a light emitting body 77 such as an LED that is turned on when the transmission / reception circuit is in an operating state is attached. The luminous body 77 is arranged at the same position as the seal 78 attached to the license plate main body 73, and is in a state covered by the seal 78. This seal 78 is made of a transparent material,
Lighting / extinguishing of the luminous body 77 can be confirmed from the outside via.

Here, the storage case 71 may be formed entirely of a non-conductive material, or only a part of the storage case 71 may be made of a non-conductive material that easily passes radio waves in order to impart directivity to the built-in antenna plate 75. It may be formed from a conductive material. Of course, the built-in antenna plate 75 itself may be directional.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the operation of the thus configured vehicle operation management system 3 of the present embodiment will be described. First, the first and second transmitting devices 12 (n) and 13 (n) on the side of the gate device 10 (n) and the gate-side communication device 3
At 0 (n), the vehicle is on standby, and
A call is being made (step ST1). In this transmission operation, the presence or absence of communication in the same frequency band is detected by performing carrier sense (step ST2). If there is communication, communication is attempted in a different available frequency. If there is no communication in the same frequency band, the response request signals R1, R
2 and R3 are transmitted (step ST3).

Vehicle 2 passing through gate device 10 (n)
On the side of (m), the vehicle approaches the gate device 10 (n) in a receivable standby state. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the first and second transmitting devices 12 (n) and 13 (n) and the gate-side communication device 14 are arranged along the traveling direction of the vehicle 2 (m).
(N) are arranged, and the effective communication area of each device is a circular area centered on each device. Vehicle 2
When (m) passes through the gate device 10 (n), first, the response request signal R1 transmitted from the first transmitting device 12 (n) is received. (N)
, And thereafter receives the response request signal R3 transmitted from the gate-side communication device 14 (n). These response request signals can be the same signal.

When all the response request signals R1 to R3 have been received (step S
T11B) Carrier sense is performed (step ST1)
2) The identification information 24 of the vehicle 2 (m), the traffic management information S2, and the like are transmitted using the wavelength of the available frequency band to the gate-side communication device 30.
(N) (step ST13). When the response request signals R1 to R3 are the same signal, the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) identifies the vehicle 2 (m) only when the response request signal is received three times within a predetermined time. 24, transmitting the traffic management information S2 and the like to the gate-side communication device 30 (n) (step ST13).

When the gate-side communication device 30 (n) receives a control signal including the identification information 24 and the traffic management information S2 from the vehicle (step ST4), the gate-side communication device 30 (n) receives the control signal.
The gate identification information 11 of (n) is transmitted to the vehicle side (step ST5). On the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) side, the gate-side communication device 30 (n) sends the gate identification information 1
When 1 is received (step ST14), a confirmation signal indicating the reception is transmitted to the gate-side communication device 30 (n) (step ST15). Vehicle 2 passing through gate 14 (n)
Upon receiving this confirmation signal (step ST6), the vehicle-side communication device 30 (m) of (m) returns to the reception standby state (step ST7). Similarly, the gate device 10 (n) also returns to the standby state (step ST16).

As described above, in the vehicle traffic management system of the present embodiment, the first and second transmitting devices 12 (n), 1 (n),
3 (n), and the vehicle-side communication device 20 of the passing vehicle
(M) receives the preceding-stage response request signals R1 and R2 before receiving the response request signal from the gate-side communication device 30 (n). The traveling direction of the passing vehicle can be determined based on whether or not the preceding-stage response request signal is received, and only the passing vehicle in the lane 1R can be detected.

That is, in FIG. 2, the vehicle 2A passing through the opposite lane 1L is temporarily
Even if the response request signal of (n) is received, the first and second transmitting devices 12 (n), 13 (
Since the response request signal from (n) has not been received, the vehicle-side communication device 20A (m) of the vehicle 2A sends the identification information 24 and the traffic management information S to the gate-side communication device 30 (n).
No control signal including 2 is transmitted.

Therefore, the gate-side communication device 30 (n) can detect only vehicles passing through the lane 1R, and thus can obtain accurate vehicle traffic management information.

In the vehicle-side communication device 20 (m) of this embodiment, communication is performed so that it is not difficult to recognize the same frequency when a plurality of vehicles enter the gate device 10 (n) in a row. Before the carrier sense gate device 10
(N), and the communication is performed by automatically switching to the unused channel frequency. Therefore, even when many vehicles are connected, communication with each vehicle can be reliably performed.

In the above description, two transmitting devices are arranged. However, only one transmitting device may be arranged, or three or more transmitting devices may be arranged.

It is also possible to use signals having different frequencies and signal waveforms as response request signals transmitted from each transmitting device.

(Other Embodiments) The above example is a vehicle traffic management system on a road, but the present invention can also be applied as a vehicle traffic management system at an entrance gate of a parking lot. Further, the present invention can also be applied as a traffic management system for vehicles entering and leaving factory premises.

[0044]

As described above, in the vehicle traffic management system according to the present invention, each vehicle has a function of transmitting identification information of the vehicle and stores the gate identification information for specifying the gate that has passed. It is. The gate side has a function of receiving vehicle identification information transmitted by a passing vehicle and transmitting gate identification information for specifying the gate to the passing vehicle side. Further, a transmitting device is arranged in front of the gate-side communication device to transmit a preceding-stage response request signal to a passing vehicle, and the passing vehicle responds to the preceding-stage request signal from the transmitting device and the response from the gate-side communication device. Only when a request signal is received, communication is performed with the gate-side communication device.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the vehicle-side communication device communicates only with the gate-side communication device located at the shoulder of the vehicle passing lane, and communicates with the vehicle passing through the opposite lane. Communication is not possible. Therefore, regardless of the size of the communication area of the gate-side communication device, information on the vehicle traveling in the opposite direction is not received, so that accurate traffic management of the vehicle can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle traffic management system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a partial schematic configuration diagram showing an enlarged gate device of the vehicle traffic management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a gate-side communication device and a vehicle-side communication device in the vehicle traffic management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a configuration of a license plate to which a vehicle-side communication device attached to the license plate is attached.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart showing the operation of the system of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 road 2 (m) vehicle 2A (m) vehicle passing in opposite lane 3 vehicle traffic management system 10 (n) gate device 12 (n) first transmission device 13 (n) second transmission device 14 (n) Gate 11 Gate identification information 20 (m) Vehicle-side communication device 24 Vehicle identification information 30 (n) Gate-side communication device 70 Number plate 75 Antenna plate 77 Indicator lamp 78 Sealed part R1, R2 Previous-stage response request signal R3 Response request signal S1 Gate Traffic management information transmitted from the vehicle side S2 Traffic management information transmitted from the vehicle side

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 23, 1997

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle traffic management system for managing vehicles passing through a gate arranged on a road or the like, wherein n vehicles (n is a positive integer) that are arranged along the vehicle traveling direction and transmit a preceding-stage response request signal ) Transmission device,
The gate-side communication device includes the gate installed on the front side in the vehicle traveling direction with respect to these transmission devices, a gate-side communication device mounted on the gate, and a vehicle-side communication device mounted on the vehicle. A transmitting unit that transmits a response request signal and traffic management information to the vehicle-side communication device of the vehicle passing through the gate; and a vehicle identification information transmitted by the vehicle-side communication device in response to the response request signal. And a reception unit for receiving the traffic management information, and a traffic management information storage unit for storing information received by the reception unit, wherein the vehicle-side communication device is a vehicle equipped with the vehicle-side communication device. An identification information storage unit that stores identification information of the same, a reception unit that receives the traffic management information transmitted from the gate-side communication device equipped with the gate that has passed, and a reception unit that receives the traffic management information. Information, a transmission unit that transmits the identification information and the information held in the reception information storage unit to the gate-side communication device, and receives n pre-stage response request signals. Later, when the response request signal is received, the transmission of the identification information and the information held in the reception information storage unit is permitted through the transmission unit, and the traffic management information is transmitted through the reception unit. A vehicle traffic management system comprising: a communication control unit that permits reception. 2. The communication control unit according to claim 1, wherein the n first-stage response request signals and the response request signals are the same response request signal, and the communication control unit of the vehicle-side communication device sets (n + 1) within a predetermined time. ) Response request signals are received, the transmission of the identification information and the information held in the reception information storage unit is permitted through the transmission unit, and the traffic management is performed through the reception unit. A vehicle traffic management system that permits reception of information. 3. The vehicle traffic management system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-side communication device is attached to a rear surface of a license plate of the vehicle. 4. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a display lamp for displaying whether the vehicle-side communication device is in an operating state, wherein the display lamp is visible from outside. The vehicle traffic management system is embedded in a sealed portion of the license plate in a proper state. 5. The display lamp according to claim 4, wherein:
A vehicle traffic management system using an in-vehicle battery as a driving power source so as to be turned on / off in conjunction with turning on / off of a vehicle accessory power source. 6. The headquarters device, the gate-side communication device provided in each of a plurality of gates, and the vehicle-side communication device provided in each vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5. Wherein the traffic management information of the traffic vehicle received by the gate communication device is centrally managed by the headquarters device.