Patent ID: 6109525
Filing Date: 2000-08-29
Classification: G01C,G07B,G08G

Abstract:
A method for registration vehicles in a road toll facility, the method comprising the steps of:providing at least a toll facility arranged with a passage through which the vehicles are intended to pass for registration in order to perform toll fee collecting operations,providing the toll facility with a radio communication means configured to communicate with in-vehicle radio communication equipment,providing first processor means connected to the toll facility and configured the process toll collecting operations in communication with said in-vehicle radio equipment,providing vehicles with said in-vehicle radio communication equipment, andproviding vehicles having said in-vehicle radio communication equipment with second processor means configured to be in communication with the radio communicating means of the toll facility, process data relating to the toll collecting operation to be transmitted by said in-vehicle radio equipment to the radio communication means of the toll facility,providing the toll facility with means configured to record identity characteristics as the number plates of at least some of the toll passing vehicles in a recording site of the toll facility,whereby in an activating location of the toll facility the radio communication equipment of the toll facility and the in-vehicle radio communication equipment are activated to perform an initial operation in order to register, in the first processor means, the state of the vehicle and the in-vehicle radio communication equipment including the vehicle provided with the in-vehicle radio communication equipment and the second processor functioning for communication with said toll facility or that the vehicle has no such functioning equipment,characterized in that each of the vehicles is tracked on a path through the passage of the toll facility between an activating location and a recording site in order to correlate the result of the initial operation with the recorded identifier characteristic, by registering the path between the two positions and thereby the position of the vehicle at a recording site in the recording instant, therebyproviding the toll facility with first tracking means in the form of at least one video camera configured to record the path of the vehicles between the activation location and the recording site and connected to the image processor configured to produce data representing said path, andproviding the toll facility with second tracking means in the form of at least one radio position detection means connected to the radio communication means and configured to register the position of the respective vehicle at least in the activation location at the instant of the initial operation and to produce data representation and position, so that said correlation can be made by comparing the data representing the result of the initial operation the vehicle position at the instant of the initial operation and the path of the respective vehicle between the recording site and the activation location thereby making it possible to secure the identity of vehicles for which a correct toll collecting operation has yet been performed.