Method and apparatus for controlling speed excess of a moving object

Abstract: Normally, speed control is carried out by police using radar and camera. The speed of a car can also be recorded in a tachograph. According to the invention car speed is controlled and/or limited using driver-specific smart-cards and millimeter wave communications. When a car (13) enters the sector of a new transmitter (11), its card reader receives a signal telling the reader to consider the time information (t₁) received from the transmitter as a starting time. When the car exits this first sector and penetrates the perimeter of a second transmitter (12), the reader receives over the air a second time information (t₂) and other information (v₁, d₁) from which the speed is calculated and recorded within the card reader. The police can check the recorded information by inserting a special card into the reader.

Description: The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for controlling speed excess by drivers. Background Normally speed control is carried out by police using radar and camera. The speed of a car can also be recorded in a tachograph. DE-A-25 12 976 discloses a car speed control wherein a counter being fed with fixed-period impulses is started when the car passes a first transmitter and is stopped when the car passes a second transmitter. The impulse count is compared with a fixed value in order to determine a speed violation. Invention It is one object of the invention to disclose a method of speed control which is cheap, easy to implement and assigned to the driver. This object is achieved by the method disclosed in claim 1 and an apparatus disclosed in claim 11. The speed (e.g. cars in cities or on highways) is controlled using smart-cards. The invention is based on a combined use of modern smart-card identification techniques, millimetre wave communications and cryptographic computational resources. The invention allows an authority to know exactly the speed excesses committed by each driver independent of the car used to commit the offence. Driver-specific smart-cards are used so that a person may lend or rent a car to another person without being charged for speed excesses committed by the borrower. Advantageously the system is simple to implement and can be standardised easily. Usage of the car may only be enabled, if a valid card is inserted. To each driver a smart-card can be given when his driving license is delivered. Inside the smart-card's non-volatile memory, identification details of the driver such as name, date of birth, driving license number and ID (identification number) number are recorded. Each car is equipped with a smart-card reader connected to a millimeter wave receiver. The millimeter wave receiver is a very cheap and simple information reception apparatus that does not require the installation of an external antenna provided that the emitter and the receiver are close enough. The authority (eg. police), places millimeter wave transmitters that transmit continuously data streams in sensible traffic points (eg. highways). The transmitters are spread enough to avoid crosstalks. These data streams continuously code the time and date, limit speed value authorized in the sector and a sector-specific number. When a driver enters a car, he has to insert his smart-card into the reader. Upon this operation, the reader puts itself in standby mode and updates a dedicated memory, eg. an EEPROM field, by writing therein the date and time information extracted from the next encountered data stream. This time and date will be called hereafter IT (for Insertion Time). When a car enters the sector of a new transmitter, its reader receives a signal telling the reader to consider the time information t 1 received from the transmitter as a starting time. When the car exits this first sector and penetrates the perimeter of a second transmitter, the reader receives over the air a second time information t 2 , an information {d, v} and an instruction to consider t 2 as a stop time (t is hereafter denoting the time difference t 2 -t 1 calculated by the reader). d represents the distance between the two sectors and v the maximum speed limit value. d can also be received together with t 1 to indicate the location for evaluating t 2 after the car has done a respective distance which is controlled by the car's distance meter. A microprocessor, eg. within the reader, computes d/t, compares this value to v and if d/t is greater than v, the reader records in its memory (EEPROM) the date, time, d/t, v, the card number and the radio transmitter's identification code. These data can also be recorded on the smart-card to allow police control after changing the car. The speed of the car can automatically be limited in a smooth way to the allowed maximum speed, using known speed limiting methods (eg. reduction of fuel throughput or electric energy). If there is no card in the reader and the reader receives successively data streams from two different transmitters (someone is driving the car without a card being inserted) then the reader records a message DWC coding a "driving without a card violation", the date, time and sector numbers. If the car was not declared stolen then its owner can be fined for driving without a card being inserted. When a police agent stops a car for a control, he introduces a control card into the reader, the reader recognizes this smart-card as being a police card and transfers to it all the data regarding speed violations committed by the various drivers who used this specific car and DWC violations committed by the owner of the vehicle as well as the last IT. When the police card acknowledges the reception of the data, by the means of an adequate digital signature scheme, the reader's memory (EEPROM) is reset. If IT seems unrealistic to the agent (just few seconds before the control) then the driver can be fined for a DWC violation. The interaction with the police card should take less then a couple of seconds so that there is no additional time lost by the driver. The cost of the system is very low since 8 and even 4 bit microcontrollers can be easily used for implementing it efficiently. Advantageous additional embodiments of the inventive method are resulting from the respective dependent claims. Drawings Preferred embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show in: Fig. 1 inventive system; Fig. 2 details of the inventive system. Preferred embodiments In Fig. 1 two transmitters 11 and 12 are depicted, which transmit in Fig. la the data v 1 , d 1 and t 1 and in Fig. 1b the data v 1 , d 1 and t 2 , which are received by a car 13. d is the distance between the receiving areas of the transmitters. In Fig. 2 a microprocessor 22 is connected to a millimeter wave receiver 25 receiving millimeter wave data 26, via a card reader (not depicted) to a smart-card 23 and to a memory (EEPROM) 21. The receiver 25 sends d, v, time, and/or date or geographical area data to the microprocessor, which exchanges identity details with the smart-card and stores law violation data in the memory 21. The smart-card reader can be designed in such a way that external physical access to it is impossible (eg. all the electronic circuitry is covered with strong glue). The only way to read information from the reader is via the smart-card whereas inputting information into the reader is possible via the smart-card and the radio receiver. Advantageously a transmission frequency of about 60 GHz can be used. Then the big 0 2 atmospheric attenuation pick will insure that the transmission is crosstalk-free. Also 140 GHz (second atmospheric absorption peak of O 2 ) or 210 GHz or 350 GHz (first and second atmospheric absorption peaks of H 2 O) can be used. For avoiding time losses, the police controls can be done in parallel during routine checks such as alcohol tests, border passport controls or, simply, once a year during the yearly legal mechanical checkup that cars have to undergo in certain countries. For avoiding that drivers will cheat by disconnecting the reader from the power supply or the antenna input from the reader (or will simply put a piece of metal in front of the antenna), the police may place at random points transmitters giving to the reader the instruction to write a test parameter in the EEPROM and then wait at a second control point, stop the car and control that the reader actually received the test pattern from the special transmitter. The readers can be provided with an additional feature that will allow police agents to know if the card is in the reader and if the reader is not disconnected from the power supply and/or the antenna without stopping the car. This is achieved by means of an indicator 24, e.g. a small bulb, which is integrated in the reader in such a way that makes the bulb visible from outside the car. When the reader receives a "bulb signal", the bulb is lighted (under control of microprocessor 22), if the card is in the reader. Police agents can therefore control that the reader receives correctly the messages and that a card is inserted, by emitting such "bulb signals" and observing, if the bulb is lighted for a short time while the car is moving. The apparatus may as well be integrated with millimeter wave receivers used in highway payments which are already smart-card based. Since the readers and the smart-cards are assumed to be impossible to violate, the communications between the transmitters, readers and cards can be based on cryptographic means, eg. symmetric encryption techniques (eg. DES) which are very rapidly executable by electronic means. The invention can also be used in connection with other kind of moving objects, eg. trucks, trains, ships. Instead of the transmitted maximum speed limit value v or in addition, also a fixed speed limit value can be evaluated which is stored within the card (eg. lower speed limit for young drivers) or card reader memory.

Claims: Method for controlling speed excess of a moving object (13), e.g. a car, by evaluating therein in receiving means (25) the transmissions of transmitting means (11, 12), which are placed at the perimeters of a geographical area where speed control is desired, in order to compare speed information values derived from said transmissions with a predetermined speed limit information value and to store speed excess information in physically protected memory means (21), characterised by the following features: said transmitting means (11, 12) are millimetre wave transmitting means which transmit at least time (t 1 , t 2 ) and distance (d 1 ) information; said moving object (13) includes smart-card reader means with cryptographic protection into which a smart-card (23) with driver-dependant data is to be inserted during operation of said moving object; the received time and distance information is evaluated in said moving object, wherein a speed value is computed (22) from said time (t 1 , t 2 ) and distance (d 1 ) information and in case of speed excess over an also received (v 1 ) or a stored speed limit value, at least speed violation data is stored in said memory means (21) which is contained in said smart-card reader means and which is in particular an EEPROM, and wherein the stored speed violation data can be checked by inserting a police card into said smart-card reader and said memory means is reset after speed violation data reception acknowledgement by said police card. Method according to claim 1, wherein speed violation data is also recorded in a memory of said smart-card (23). Method according to claims 1 or 2, wherein said transmitting means (11, 12) transmit data including start/ stop time signals t 1 and t 2 , area-related speed limit values v, the current date and time, the transmitter's identification code and the distance d between the transmitting means sectors. Method according to claim 3, wherein within said moving object (13) - especially in said smart-card reader - said speed value d/(t 2 -t 1 ) is computed. Method according to claim 4, wherein said speed value d/(t 2 -t 1 ), and any of the data: date; time; speed limit value v; smart-card number; transmitter identification code, is stored in said memory means. Method according to any of claims 1 and 3 to 5, wherein, if no smart-card (23) is inserted in said smart-card reader and said receiver means (25) receive successively data streams from two different transmitting means (11, 12), a message coding a non-allowed driving, the date, the time and/or geographical sector numbers are recorded in said memory means. Method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein a transmission frequency of about 60GHz, 120GHz, 210GHz or 350GHz is used. Method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein an indicator (24) - especially a bulb - controlled by the smart-card reader is visible from outside said moving object (24) which indicates, if said smart-card (23) is inserted and/or the speed controlling is working correctly. Method according to claim 8, wherein said indicator (24) is enabled from outside by emitting bulb signals. Method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein in case of speed excess the speed of said moving object (13) is reduced automatically to a preselected or received speed limit, in particular by reducing the fuel throughput or the electric energy for the engine of said moving object. Apparatus for controlling speed excess of a moving object (13), e.g. a car, by evaluating therein in receiving means (25) the transmissions of transmitting means (11, 12), which are placed at the perimeters of a geographical area where speed control is desired, in order to compare speed information values derived from said transmissions with a predetermined speed limit information value and to store speed excess information in physically protected memory means (21), characterised by: millimetre wave receiving means (25) which receive at least time (t 1 , t 2 ) and distance (d 1 ) information from said transmissions; a smart-card reader with cryptographic protection which receives driver-dependant data from a smart-card (23) which is inserted into said smart-card reader during operation of said moving object; a microprocessor (22) which receives information from said millimetre wave receiving means and exchanges information with said smart-card reader and which controls said physically protected memory means (21), which is in particular an EEPROM, and which computes from said time and distance information a speed value and compares it with a speed value (v 1 ) also received by said millimetre wave receiving means or with a stored speed value, and which in case of speed excess over the received or stored speed value stores at least speed violation data in said memory means. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, after the stored speed violation data is checked by a police card inserted into said smart-card reader, said memory means is reset after speed violation data reception acknowledgement by said police card. Apparatus according to claim 11 or 12, wherein all electronic circuitry of said smart-card reader is covered with strong glue.

Inventors: FREMANTEAU PATRICE, HARTNACK WOLFGANG, NACCACHE DAVID, FREMANTEAU, PATRICE, HARTNACK, WOLFGANG, NACCACHE, DAVID
Applicants: THOMSON MULTIMEDIA SA, THOMSON MULTIMEDIA
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G08G1
IPC codes: G08G1