Patent Publication Number: US-7596438-B2

Title: Beacon-based traffic control system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a traffic control system and more particularly, to a beacon-based traffic control system. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A conventional traffic control system uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) to provide positioning service, a GPS auto track (the so-called GPS black box) to store multiple global positioning data or to help satellite navigation. Other on-board electronic devices such as LCD, multimedia system, and etc. may be used to provide electronic map, electronic paths, stock information, . . . and other services. 
     However, a GPS may be blocked and unable to receive satellite signal when the car is moving under an overhead bridge, in a tunnel, or within a high-rise building intensive area. In this case, it will be difficult to accurately calculate the location of the car, and the other devices of the car based on the GPS, for example, the navigation system will be unable to function. Therefore, the devices of the car based on the GPS can keep functioning only after the car has moved away from the blocked area and received the satellite signal again. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The beacon-based traffic control system of the present invention is installed in a motor vehicle for receiving a wireless signal from one of a plurality of beacons. The beacons are respectively arranged at a plurality of geographic locations. Each beacon is defined to have a respective identification code correspondingly. Each beacon comprises a short-distance wireless transmitter for transmitting the wireless signal reaching to a predetermined distance. The wireless signal contains the corresponding identification code of the respective beacon. 
     The beacon-based traffic control system comprises an on-board short-distance wireless receiver, a memory device, and a microprocessor. The on-board short-distance wireless receiver adapted to receive the wireless signal from one of the beacons to obtain the corresponding identification code of the respective beacon. The memory device having stored therein a comparison table, the comparison table comprising the identification codes of the beacons and a plurality of action commands, each the identification code corresponding to at least one of the action commands. The microprocessor electrically connected to the on-board short-distance wireless receiver and the memory device. The microprocessor adapted to fetch the corresponding identification code of the wireless signal received by the on-board short-distance wireless receiver, to search the corresponding at least one action command from the memory device subject to the fetched identification code, and execute the searched corresponding at least one action command so as to control the operation of the electronic devices of the motor vehicle. 
     The beacons can be classified in a plurality of geographic groups. The comparison table contains at least one of the geographic groups which corresponding to at least one of the identification codes of the beacons. The geographic groups can be a street group, a parking lot group, a tunnel group, a landscape group, and a shop group. 
     The geographic locations of the beacons can be in a sheltered geographic zone, for example, in a tunnel, high-rise building intensive district, underground parking lot, or any geographic area where signal interference or attenuation problem is serous. 
     Further, each identification code in the comparison table corresponds to a control condition, and the microprocessor is adapted to search the control condition corresponding to the fetched identification code and to execute the corresponding at least one action command after the searched control condition has been matched. The control condition includes control parameters such as Time/Date parameter, Speed parameter, Enable flag, or the like, and other Boolean expression combinations. 
     The at least one action command comprises an instruction to modify the content of the comparison table of the memory device, for example, the content can be the identification code, the action command, the control condition, and the related relation between the identification code, the action command, and the control condition. 
     The aforesaid electronic devices of the motor vehicle include the headlight system, electric windows, fog lights, car stereo system, AV multimedia system, wireless communication device, security system, on-board mobile secretary system, air conditioning system, navigation system, . . . etc. 
     The beacon-based traffic control system further comprises an input device for inputting data into the comparison table of the memory device and editing the data in the comparison table of the memory device. The input device can be a wireless receiver, CD-ROM, attached keyboard, mobile computer, . . . , etc. 
     The beacon-based traffic control system further comprises a control center electrically connected to the beacons by wire or wirelessly to provide to the motor vehicle a variety of services including fried matching, inquiry of sales centers, shopping in vehicle, inquiry of traffic conditions, . . . and etc. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing showing a beacon-based traffic control system according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic drawing of a comparison table stored in a memory according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing of a geographic zone according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a plain view of an underground parking lot of the City Hall according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing of the geographic zone, showing the identification codes of the beacons modified according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic drawing showing the comparison table updated according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic drawing of a friend matching system according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a beacon-based traffic control system in accordance with the present invention is installed in a motor vehicle  1  for receiving a wireless signal from one of a plurality of beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15 . The beacons B 01 , B 02  . . . are respectively arranged at different geographic locations, each being defined to have a respective identification code  21  correspondingly and each using a short-distance wireless transmitter  22  to transmit the wireless signal containing the corresponding identification code  21  reaching to a predetermined distance. 
     The motor vehicle  1  comprises an on-board short-distance wireless receiver  10 , a memory  11 , a microprocessor  12 , an input device  14 , and a variety of vehicle electronic components  15 . The short-distance wireless receiver  10  can be a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) receiver, bluetooth receiver, IEE802.11 series receiver, etc. for short distance application, capable of receiving the wireless signal transmitted by the short-distance wireless transmitter  22  of each beacon B 01 , B 02 , . . . . 
     The memory  11  has stored therein a comparison table T as shown in  FIG. 2 . As illustrated, the comparison table T contains the identification codes of the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15 , control conditions of the corresponding Time/Data parameter, Speed parameter, and Enable flag parameter, and action commands Q 1 , Q 2 , . . . . Therefore, when the motor vehicle  1  entered the area within a predetermined distance around one of the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15 , the on-board short-distance wireless receiver  10  receives the wireless signal from the respective beacon so as to obtain the respective identification code, for example, D 01 . The microprocessor  12  compares the identification code D 01  to the comparison table T so as to find the corresponding action command Q 1 , and then controls the vehicle electronic components  15  to execute the obtained action command Q 1 , for example, controls the AV multimedia system  151  to play a local landscape introduction film, a video film, or a musical, the headlight system  150  to open or close, or the electric windows  152  to open or close. 
     Further, the input device  14  can be a keyboard  140 , a CD reader  141 , a wireless transceiver  16  (for example, mobile phone, PDA, pager, . . . ), card reader, etc. for inputting or editing the aforesaid comparison table T. By means of the wireless transceiver  16 , the motor vehicle  1  can receive a variety of value-added services from a remote control center  4  through a wireless transmission. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing showing one geographic zone according to the present invention. As illustrated, the aforesaid beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  are respectively located at different locations within the geographic zone. When the motor vehicle  1  is moving upwards (toward the north) from the lower left side shown in  FIG. 3  through a beacon B 01 , the on-board short-distance wireless receiver  10  receives the wireless signal from the nearest beacon B 01  to obtain the identification code  B 01   , and then compares the identification code  B 01    to the comparison table T to find and execute the corresponding action command. The action command can be defined to do no work (i.e. execute the action “Null”). For example, when passing through the circle on the lower left side shown in  FIG. 3 , the on-board short-distance wireless receiver  10  of the motor vehicle  1  receives the wireless signal from the beacon D 01  at the center of the circle, and the microprocessor  12  searches the comparison table T to find the action command Q 1  corresponding to the identification code  D 01    of the wireless signal from the beacon D 01 , and then executes the action command Q 1  to drive the AV multimedia system  151  to play an introduction film that introduces the history of the sculptured statue at the center of the circle. 
     When the motor vehicle  1  keeps moving northwards through a beacon B 07  toward the tunnel, the microprocessor  12  searches the comparison table T to find the action command Q 2  and then executes the action command Q 2 . This action command Q 2  is not to control the operation of the vehicle electronic components  15  but to modify the enable flag in the comparison table T corresponding to the identification code B 08 . 
     This enable flag works like a switch. When at  disable , the action command Q 3  corresponding to the identification code of the beacon B 08  will not be executed. When the motor vehicle  1  passes through the beacon B 07 , the enable flag corresponding to the identification code of the beacon B 08  will be changed to  enable , and the microprocessor  12  will execute the action command Q 3  to close the electric windows  152  and open the headlight system  150  when the motor vehicle  1  passes through the beacon B 08  after the identification code of the beacon B 08  has been changed to  enable . After the motor vehicle  1  passed through the beacon B 08 , the enable flag of the identification code of the beacon B 08  is returned to  disable . 
     In the same way, when keeps moving northwards, the motor vehicle  1  will pass through a beacon B 14  near the gateway before entering the highway, and will execute the corresponding action command Q 7  searched from the comparison table T to change the enable flag of the identification code of the beacon A 05  to  enable . When passing through the beacon A 05  at the entry of the highway, the microprocessor  12  of the motor vehicle  1  will then execute the corresponding action command Q 8  to provide the identification code of the beacon A 05  and the license number of the motor vehicle  1  to the control center  4 , allowing the control center  4  to know the location of the motor vehicle  1  and to trace the traveling of the motor vehicle  1 . 
     When leaving the highway through an exit, the microprocessor  12  of the motor vehicle  1  will execute the action command Q 9  of the identification code of the beacon A 13  and the action command Q 10  of the identification code of the beacon E 09 , providing the identification code of the beacon E 09  and the license number of the motor vehicle  1  to the control center  4 , so that the control center  4  can control the traffic flow on the highway, adjust the traffic flow control at the entry, or even calculate the feed to be charged to every motor vehicle passing through the entry or exit (beacon A 04  or A 13 ) of the highway. 
     As stated above, the action commands Q 1 , Q 2  stored in the memory  11  corresponding to the identification codes of beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  can be triggered individually like a regular switch to control the operation of the electronic components  15  of the motor vehicle  1 , or to provide data to the control center  4 , enabling the control center  4  to know the moving direction of the motor vehicle  1 . 
     Further, the identification codes in the comparison table T can be arranged and classified by group and the classified groups of identification codes can be corresponded to different geographic groups N 1 , N 2 , . . . , to facilitate project planning. For example, A** indicates the area within A 01 ˜A 16  as shown in  FIG. 3 , i.e., all the beacons along the highway group N 1 . The so-called different geographic groups N 1 , N 2 , . . . means the plurality of beacons on the land are arranged in groups subject to the characteristics of their geographic environments, and the beacons within a same geographic environment are defined to be members of same group. For example, the beacons at a same street are defined to belong to same street group; the beacons at the streets around one parking lot are defined to belong to same parking lot group; the beacons in a tunnel are defined to belong to a same tunnel group; the beacons at a highway are defined to belong to a same highway group; the beacons in a business zone are defined to belong to a same business zone group; the beacons in an amusement park are defined to belong to a same amusement park group; and so on. 
     Therefore, the aforesaid grouping prototype facilitates establishment of the comparison table T and its effective application. Establishing the comparison table T by the aforesaid grouping prototype greatly reduces the amount of data and the size of the electronic file of the comparison table T, allowing fast renewal of the comparison table T during a repair work of the motor vehicle  1  at the motor vehicle shop or factory or update of the comparison table T by the control center  4  through the wireless transceiver  16  or by the CD reader  141 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  again, some of the identification codes of the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  work subject to other control conditions, and the control conditions subject to the comparison table T include Time/Data parameter, Speed parameter, and Enable flag parameter. The control conditions may include other matters such as Altitude/Latitude parameter, Elevation parameter, Temperature parameter, . . . etc., or other Boolean expression combinations. According to the present preferred embodiment, the microprocessor  12  controls execution of the corresponding action command only after the control conditions have been checked to meet the requirements. For example, when the motor vehicle  1  passes through each beacon A** during its movement on a highway, the speed of the motor vehicle  1  will be detected, and the identification code of the beacon A** with Boolean logic  and  of Speed parameter will not be established if the speed of the motor vehicle  1  is below 90 km/hr when moving on a highway through the beacon A 07 , and therefore the action command Q 6  will not be executed. However, if the speed of the motor vehicle  1  is over 90 km/hr when passing through the beacon A 08 , the microprocessor  12  will execute the action command Q 6  to drive the multimedia system  151  to output a warning voice of speeding. 
     Other control conditions such as to execute the action command Q 4  under the condition that the identification code grouping*** to be any identification code and the Time/Date parameter to be 17:00PM˜08:00AM. In this case, the microprocessor  12  will detect the current time when passing through any beacon B 01  and will open the headlight system  150  if the current time is detected to be 17:01PM. Further, there is another condition with date included, for example, when the motor vehicle  1  passing through the beacon E 07  near Sogo Department Store  60 , the microprocessor  12  will detect the current time and date and will execute the action command Q 5  to drive the multimedia system  151  to play Sogo Department Store Promotional Film if the date is detected to be within November 1 st ˜15 th  and the time is detected to be within 10:00AM˜22:00PM. 
     Further, in the aforesaid comparison table T, the control conditions (for example, Time/Date parameter, Speed parameter, Enable flag parameter, . . . etc.) corresponding to the identification codes of the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15 , the corresponding action commands, and their related relationship are editable and renewable so that a specific effective comparison table T can be established to fit the requirements of every individual motor vehicle  1 . 
     The effectiveness of the present invention will become more prominent in a sheltered area. As shown in  FIG. 3 , when the motor vehicle  1  entered the underground parking lot  61  in the City Hall, GPS satellite signal is blocked, and remote wireless communication systems such as GSM mobile telephones will produce a significant determination error on triangle positioning or signal strength positioning method due to Multipath Interference, Inter Symbol Interference, or Decay. At this time, the all over beacons of the present invention allow accurate positioning or can still provide services.  FIG. 4  is a plain view of the underground parking lot of the City Hall. As illustrated, when the motor vehicle  1  passing through the beacon F 01  at the entrance, the microprocessor  12  of the motor vehicle  1  executes the corresponding action command Q 11  to report to the control center  4 . When leaving the parking lot and passing through the beacon F 01 , the microprocessor  12  of the motor vehicle  1  will report to the control center  4  again. Subject to the two reported data from the motor vehicle  1 , the control center  4  can calculate the parking time of the motor vehicle  1  and the related parking fee. During parking of the motor vehicle  1 , the motor vehicle  1  can also be controlled to drive multimedia system to play voices, advising the driver to turn off motor vehicle lights and locking motor vehicle doors (action command Q 12 ). Furthermore, it can be known the remained parking space bye the beacons F 02 ˜F 15 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  again, the aforesaid B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  can be connected in series to the control center  4  by a signal line  41  several kilometers long. Alternatively, the control center  4  can use a short-distance wireless transmitter  42  and the short-distance wireless receiver  43  to achieve two-way communication with the short-distance wireless transmitters  22 ,  32  and wireless receivers  23 ,  33  of the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15 . Therefore, the control center  4  can send data to the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  by wire or wirelessly, enabling the data to be further sent to the motor vehicle  1  by the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  to provide a variety of services, such as updating of the comparison table T, friend match, inquiry of sales centers, shopping in vehicle, inquiry of traffic conditions, . . . and etc. 
     Further, the control center  4  can provide the beacons B 01 , B 02 , . . . F 15  with a new identification code.  FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing of the geographic zone after modification of identification codes.  FIG. 6  is a schematic drawing of the updated comparison table. If an ambulance (not shown) is going to pass through the road at the right side in  FIG. 6  that extends from the south toward the north, the control center  4  can send a new comparison table T (with added identification code ZZZ and the related action command Q 13 ) to the wireless receiver  16  of the motor vehicle  1  wirelessly, enabling the new comparison table T to be stored in the memory  11  by the microprocessor  12 . Thereafter, the control center  4  changes the identification codes of the beacons E 01 ˜E 09  at this specific road to become ZZZ. Thus, any motor vehicle  1  entering this road will execute the action command Q 13  to drive the multimedia system  151  to play voices of pulling over the motor vehicle  1 , advising the driver to move over to the side of the road for allowing the ambulance to pass. 
     Further, because the beacon B 01  is equipped with a short-distance wireless receiver  23  and the motor vehicle  1  has an on-board short-distance wireless transmitter  13 , the beacon B 01  can provide simple services to the motor vehicle  1  without the help of the control center  4 . As illustrated in the friend matching system of  FIG. 7 , the driver of the motor vehicle  1  and the driver of the motor vehicle  7  have initiated the fried match service. At this time, the short-distance wireless receiver  23  of the beacon B 01  receives the personal signal S from the motor vehicle  1 , which personal signal S contains personal data including name, telephone number, sex, age, and etc, and then sends the received personal signal S to the other motor vehicle  7  through the short-distance wireless transmitter  22 , enabling the driver of the motor vehicle  7  to make communication with the driver of the motor vehicle  1 . Thus, the friend matching service is done. 
     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.