Title of Invention

METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING A TOLL REQUIRED SECTION OF ROAD

Abstract

A toll-collecting system (SYS) comprising a position detection system adapted to detect the current position of a vehicle (FAR), which vehicle (FAR) has control means adapted to compare positions of said vehicle (FAR) with the position of reference points characteristic of the at least one toll road section, the said toll-collecting system further comprising (i) means adapted to ascertain, within a predefined region (BER, 0) surrounding at least one access point (AUF) on a toll road section, the orientation (ORI) of said vehicle (FAR), using position data received by said position detection system; (ii) means adapted to determine whether the determined orientation (ORI) corresponds, within a predefined tolerance range, with an orientation (ORA) characteristic of said access point (AUF) using position data received by said position detection system; (iii) means adapted to ascertain whether the distance of said vehicle (FAR) from said access point (AUF) falls short of a predefined distance (DIS), by using position data received by said position detection system before the vehicle drives into said region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point (AUF); and (iv) means adapted to ascertain whether said vehicle (FAR) is located in said region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point in which determination of orientation was carried by using position data received by said position detection system, after the distance of the vehicle falls short of said distance (DIS).

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 OF 1970) As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 & The Patents Rules, 2003 As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2005 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10 and rule 13) TITLE OF THE INVENTION A toll system and method for identifying a toll required section of road travelled by a vehicle APPLICANTS (a) NAME : Siemens AG Osterreich (b) NATIONALITY : Austrian Company (c) ADDRESS : Siemensstrape 88-92 A -1210 Vienna, Austria The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed GRANTED The invention concerns a toll system with a position determining system which is set up so as to determine the instantaneous position of a vehicle and to compare positions of the vehicle with the position of the characteristic reference points for the at least one road section requiring payment of a toll. The invention further concerns a method for determining whether at least one vehicle passes through at least one road section requiring payment of toll by means of a position-determining system which is set up so as to determine the current position of the at least one vehicle, whereby positions of the at least one vehicle (FAR) are compared with the position of at least one characteristic reference point for entry to a road section requiring payment of a toll [toll road section]. A toll system, or a method of the type specified above, are known from DE 43 44 433 Al. In the known process, current position coordinates are determined from a GPS receiver and compared with entrance/exit coordinates of a highway section stored in an internal electronic vignette. If these coordinates agree, they are transmitted by means of the digital mobile network to a billing center external to the vehicle. In the billing center, the number of kilometers of highway driven and the highway fee due from that are calculated. WO 95/20801 discloses a process and an arrangement for determining use fees for traffic routes and/or traffic areas in which the position data of the vehicle are determined by a position determination system and compared with the positions of virtual toll sites. The position data can be transmitted to a central site external to the vehicle, whereby the fees for the vehicle can also be calculated in a toll device in the vehicle and the fees determined can be transmitted to the central site, where they can be deducted from an account. A major disadvantage of this process is that the vehicle position must be determined continuously and there is no possibility of an anonymous debiting. 2 WO 99/33027 describes a process for levying tolls, in which the current position of the vehicle is compared with the position of a virtual toll site to calculate tolls, such that when a vehicle passes through a physical toll station, a communication connection is made between the vehicle and a central toll control site to pay the tolls due. After a successful payment transaction a communications link is set up between the toll station and the vehicle, through which a receipt for the proper payment of the fee is transmitted. It is a disadvantage of the known process that its accuracy is relatively poor in determining whether there has been an entry onto a toll road section, as only passage through a point is registered. It is, therefore, an objective of the invention to overcome the disadvantage of the state of the art specified above. This objective is attained according to the invention with a toll system and a method of the type initially stated such that the orientation of the vehicle is determined within a specifiable region around the entrance, whereby it is determined whether the orientation determined corresponds within a specifiable tolerance range with the characteristic orientation for entry onto the toll road section. The invention provides a toll-collecting system (SYS) comprising a position detection system adapted to detect the current position of a vehicle (FAR), which vehicle (FAR) has control means adapted to compare positions of said vehicle (FAR) with the position of reference points characteristic of the at least one toll road section, the said toll-collecting system further comprising (i) means adapted to ascertain, within a predefined region (BER, 0) surrounding at least one access point (AUF) on a toll road section, the orientation (ORI) of said vehicle (FAR), using position data received by said position detection system; 3 (ii) means adapted to determine whether the determined orientation (ORI) corresponds, within a predefined tolerance range, with an orientation (ORA) characteristic of said access point (AUF) using position data received by said position detection system; (iii) means adapted to ascertain whether the distance of said vehicle (FAR) from said access point (AUF) falls short of a predefined distance (DIS), by using position data received by said position detection system before the vehicle drives into said region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point (AUF); and (iv) means adapted to ascertain whether said vehicle (FAR) is located in said region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point in which determination of orientation was carried by using position data received by said position detection system, after the distance of the vehicle falls short of said distance (DIS). The invention also provides a method for identifying a toll required section of road traveled by a vehicle using a toll-collecting system (SYS) comprising a position detection system adapted to detect the current position of a vehicle (FAR), which vehicle (FAR) has control means adapted to compare positions of said vehicle (FAR) with the position of reference points characteristic of the at least one toll road section, the method comprising (i) determining the orientation (ORI) of said vehicle within a predefined region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point (AUF) by using position data received by said position detection system; (ii) determining whether the resulting orientation (ORI) corresponds, within a predefined tolerance range, with an orientation (ORA) characteristic of making access to the toll road section by using position data received by said position detection system; 4 i (iii) ascertaining whether the distance of said vehicle (FAR) from said access point (AUF) falls short of a predefined distance (DIS) using position data received by said position detection system before said orientation (ORI) of said vehicle (FAR) is determined; and (iv) ascertaining whether said vehicle (FAR) is located in that region (BER, 0) surrounding said access point (AUF) in which the determination of orientation was carried out by using position data received by said position detection system after the distance of said vehicle (FAR) falls short of said distance (DIS). A toll system of the type stated initially, which is set up so as to determine the orientation of the vehicle inside a specifiable region about at least one entrance on a toll road section, is particularly suited to carry out this method according to the invention, with the toll system being further aimed at checking whether the orientation corresponds, within a specifiable tolerance range, with an orientation characteristic of entry. In an advantageous further development of the invention, the toll system can bet set up so as to check whether the vehicle is within a minimum distance from the entrance before the vehicle enters the region about the entrance. The toll system can also be set up so as to check whether the vehicle is in the region about the entrance after the vehicle is within the minimum distance. Furthermore, the toll system can be set up to check whether the vehicle passes at least one control point located along the toll road section if the orientation determined for the vehicle in the region around the entrance corresponds within the tolerance limits with the orientation characteristic of entry. The toll system can advantageously be set up to compare the position data determined from the position determination system with georeference data from an electronic map so 5 as to determine the position of the vehicle with respect to the at least one entrance and the orientation of the vehicle in the region around the entrance. The solution according to the invention makes it possible, by determining the orientation and thus the direction of travel of a vehicle in the vicinity of an entrance to a toll road section and to state with very high accuracy the probability of using this road section. In one preferred variant of the invention, there is a check whether the vehicle is within a minimum distance from the entrance before the orientation is determined, whereby after the vehicle is within the minimum distance there is a test whether the vehicle is in the vicinity of the entrance at which the determination of orientation is done. According to one advantageous embodiment of the invention, if the orientation determined for the vehicle matches the characteristic orientation for entrance, within the tolerance limits, a test is done whether the vehicle passes at least one control point along the toll road section. It is desirable for the position data determined from the position determination system to be compared with the georeference data of an electronic map to determine the position of the vehicle with respect to the at least one entrance and the orientation of the vehicle in the region whereby, however, only one reduced number of the parameters important for the method according to the invention, such as the position of the entrance, need be taken from the digital map. In this way the necessary memory capacity can be kept low. The invention and other advantages are explained in more detail in the following, using some non-limiting example embodiments shown. They show schematically: Figure 1: a toll system according to the invention and Figure 2: the course of a method according to the invention. 6 As shown in Figure 1, a toll system SYS according to the invention has a position determination system POS, such as a global positioning system, abbreviated GPS, which is itself known. As GPS is a system long known to those skilled in the art, no detailed presentation and explanation of the system is given here. In the example of a GPS system, an appropriate GPS module can be provided on board a vehicle FAR to determine position data. However, the invention is not limited to the GPS. In principle, the method according to the invention and the traffic monitoring system SYS according to the invention can also be realized with other known position determination systems. For example, inertial navigation systems are suitable for topographically difficult sections of road. Inertial navigation systems are also known in large numbers. For instance, EP 1 096 230 describes an inertial navigation system for vehicles, which can be used jointly with a GPS system or with other navigation systems to determine the position of a vehicle. Likewise, the method according to the invention can be applied to other satellite and terrestrial location systems. Aside from the instantaneous position, the travel direction FRR of the vehicle FAR can also be determined from the position determination system POS in a manner which is itself known. For instance, the instantaneous orientation ORI of the vehicle FAR, i. e., its direction of travel, can be determined unambiguously from the change in position of the vehicle FAR with time. For example, the instantaneous position or the orientation ORI of the vehicle FAR can be calculated from the position data in a control STR, such as an appropriately programmed microprocessor, a position determination unit PEH on board the vehicle FAR. For this purpose the control STR can be set up to receive reference signals of the position determination system over a communication unit SEE from transmitting stations such as satellites, and to determine the current position data from them. In the case of the GPS system the orientation information is obtained jointly with the position data in the 7 position determination unit PEH and made available. This case is assumed in the following, without limitation of generality. The control STR links the information of the current position data from the position determination system with the georeference data stored in a memory unit SPR, which also contains the coordinates of the entrances AUF on a toll road section. In this way each toll road section can be assigned a section identification. Furthermore, characteristic orientations ORA, i. e., travel directions, are assigned to each entrance AUF in the georeference data, which can be parameterized as angles in the known manner. For example, the georeference data can be taken from an ordinary commercial electronic map, such as Austrian Map 2.0 of the Austrian Federal Office for Standards and Calibration, or even filed in a storage unit SPR in the form of an electronic map. According to the invention, current positions of the vehicle FAR are compared with the positions of reference points characteristic for an entrance AUF to a toll road section. If the current position of the vehicle FAR is within a specifiable region BER about the entrance AUF the orientation ORI of the vehicle, i. e., the travel direction of the vehicle is determined, whereby a test is done whether the determined orientation ORI corresponds, within a specifiable tolerance range, with an orientation ORA characteristic for entry into the toll road section. As a result of the test, the control STR provides either the section identification of a toll road section, or a value appropriate for no identified section. As shown in Figure 2, identification of use of an entrance AUF can be done in steps. For this purpose, three validity ranges, 2, 1,0, which are activated or passed through in order, can be defined for identifying an entrance AUF, according to one advantageous variant of the invention. Validity range 2 can be activated for a distance less than a specifiable distance DIS from a reference point PUN assigned to the entrance AUF, the coordinates of which can be stored in a storage unit SPE for the georeference data linked with the control STR. To check whether a vehicle FAR is within validity range 2 of an entrance AUF, the distances 8 of the current GPS position can be calculated from all the entrances AUF defined in the georeference data. Validity range 1 is activated if validity range 2 has already been activated and if the distance of the vehicle from the Entrance AUF is less than the distance DIS' assigned to validity range 1. Validity range 0 is activated only if validity ranges 2 and 1 have already been activated and the difference between the current orientation ORI of the vehicle FAR and the orientation ORA of the entrance AUF stored in the georeference data is less than a specifiable value, such as 15°. If validity range 0 for the entrance AUF is activated, then one or more control points KOP of that toll road section can be activated. That is, a check is done whether these control points are passed through after identification of an entry AUF of the vehicle. For this purpose the control STR can be set up so as to make the control point "active" when the entrance is passed. That is, only identification of an entry AUF initiates monitoring in the control STR whether one or more control points KOP are passed. The coordinates of the control point or points can also be stored in the memory unit SPR and can be compared with the current position of the vehicle FAR. A toll road section can be identified as traveled if the current position of the vehicle lies within a validity range GUB of a control point KOP, or if a straight line calculated from the current and previous position data intersect the validity region GUB of the control point KOP. To avoid problems from temporary failure of the position determination system, the time span between the current and previous position data can be parameterized. That further reduces the risk of incorrect detection of a section. The reliability with which passing the control point KOP can be detected can be increased by the orientation ORI of the vehicle FAR being in a specifiable range, within a specified tolerance, around the control point KOP. 9

Documents:

266-mumnp-2005-cancelled pages(19-9-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-claims(granted)-(19-9-2006).doc

266-mumnp-2005-claims(granted)-(19-9-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-correspondence 1(27-4-2007).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-correspondence 2(3-4-2007).pdf

266-MUMNP-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(1-10-2012).pdf

266-MUMNP-2005-CORRESPONDENCE(3-7-2012).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-correspondence(ipo)-(28-6-2007).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-drawing(19-9-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 1(11-4-2005).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 18(21-6-2005).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 2(granted)-(19-9-2006).doc

266-mumnp-2005-form 2(granted)-(19-9-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 26(11-4-2005).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 3(11-4-2005).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 3(19-9-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form 5(11-4-2005).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form-pct-iper(30-10-2006).pdf

266-mumnp-2005-form-pct-isa-210(19-9-2006).pdf

266-MUMNP-2005-GENERAL POWER OF ATTORNEY(1-10-2012).pdf

266-MUMNP-2005-GENERAL POWER OF ATTORNEY(3-7-2012).pdf

abstract1.jpg