Patent Publication Number: US-2016232522-A1

Title: Method for electronically processing a traffic offense and onboard-unit therefor

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/023,917, titled “METHOD FOR ELECTRONICALLY PROCESSING A TRAFFIC OFFENSE AND ONBOARD-UNIT THEREFOR,” filed on Sep. 11, 2013, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. 12 184 677.8, filed on Sep. 17, 2012, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present patent application relates to a method for electronically processing a traffic violation of a vehicle, which comprises an onboard unit having a transceiver, an input device and an output device. The present patent application further relates to an onboard unit for carrying out this method. 
     2. Background Art 
     Onboard units (OBUs) are electronic devices carried by vehicles so as to be able to identify the vehicles in a wireless manner, for example for the purpose of billing tolls in electronic road toll systems. OBUs can be implemented in the form of active or passive radio transponders, radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, near field communication (NFC) chips, dedicated short range communication (DSRC) transceivers for radio or infrared data transmission, wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE) and wireless local area network (WLAN) nodes, or the like. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     It is an object of the present patent application to render such OBUs usable for processing traffic violations such as speed limit violations, parking time violations or the like. In a first aspect, this object is achieved by a method for electronically processing a traffic violation of a vehicle, which comprises an onboard unit having a transceiver, an input device and an output device, comprising: 
     transmitting a traffic violation message from a beacon to the transceiver of the onboard unit and outputting the traffic violation message on the output device of the onboard unit; 
     accepting a user selection concerning two options via the input device of the onboard unit; 
     if the user selection indicates the first option, transmitting the traffic violation message from the onboard unit to a remote central facility; 
     if the user selection indicates the second option, generating a debit transaction related to the traffic violation and charging the debit transaction against a user account. 
     Embodiments allow traffic enforcement officials, such as law enforcement officers, policemen, parking enforcement officers, parking space managers and the like, to write a detected traffic violation, such as a speed limit or parking time violation, directly to the onboard unit of the violating vehicle in the form of an electronic traffic violation message by a beacon that is implemented as a handheld device, for example, using radio or infrared. The vehicle user receives the violation message on the onboard unit via voice output or graphic display and can then decline or accept the violation via the input device. In the first case, the traffic violation message is forwarded to a central facility for conventional violation processing, for example so as to print and mail a penalty notice to the user, who may then also lodge an appeal. In the second case, if the user accepts the violation, the user can immediately pay the fine with the aid of the onboard unit in that the onboard unit generates a corresponding debit transaction and charges it against a user account or at least initiates this step. 
     It shall be noted here that an onboard processing unit is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,277, which, after analyzing data received via vehicle sensors and road-side signboards, detects speeding violations of the vehicle and, with appropriate severity of the violation, automatically contacts the police, who can then read out the violation data from the processing unit. The police officer can then establish separate voice communication with the vehicle driver and offer to have the vehicle driver pick up the ticket or to have it mailed. 
     The user selection made by the user can be confirmed by entering a PIN code so as to increase system security; this can prevent unauthorized persons from confirming or declining a traffic violation, for example. 
     It is also favorable if a cryptographic signature of the OBU is transmitted together with the traffic violation message, and in particular if the OBU signs and/or encrypts the traffic violation message with a cryptographic signature. Authenticated data can thus be generated for penalty notices, offering maximum legal safeguards. 
     According to an embodiment, the user selection can be made in particular by way of an NFC connection in the input device. For example, a mobile telephone, smartphone, PDA, tablet PC or the like having an NFC chip can be used as the input device (and also as the output device), and the user selection can be made by this device approaching an OBU that is integrated in or mounted on the vehicle. In this way, for example, the user selection can be set to the second option, this being the confirmation of the violation and generation of a debit transaction, simply by the device approaching the unit. 
     The actual debit against the user account can take place in a wide variety of ways, depending on where the user account is kept. If, according to a first embodiment, the user account is kept directly in the onboard unit, the onboard unit can also directly generate the debit transaction and carry out a corresponding debit against the user account. If an NFC-compatible input device is used, the user account can also be kept on a data carrier, which is debited by way of such an NFC connection. For example, one of the above devices, these being mobile telephone, smartphone or the like, can be used as the input device, the NFC connection can be established by the device approaching the remaining OBU part and, for example, a payment transaction for the data carrier can be generated in this device or sent to the mobile communication network via a mobile communication connection and the debit transaction can be charged against a user account there. 
     If the user account is kept in the central facility, the onboard unit can, for example, transmit the traffic violation message together with the user selection to the central facility, so that the debit transaction is charged there against the user account. As an alternative, if the user account is kept in the central facility, the onboard unit can transmit a completed debit transaction to the central facility, which is then applied there to the user account. 
     An advantageous embodiment is characterized by the preceding step of transmitting a status of the onboard unit to the beacon and creating the traffic violation message in the beacon depending on the received status. For example, the status of the onboard unit can relate to an operating mode of the onboard unit and/or of the vehicle, such as standstill or movement, speed, operating mode, “parking”, the readiness to pay a particular parking fee, claiming a particular priority, for example emergency vehicle, multi-occupant status for so-called high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, the result of an earlier toll transaction, parking fee transaction or vehicle inspection or the like. Depending on the status that is read out from the onboard unit, the inspecting officer can compile the corresponding traffic violation message on the beacon or the beacon can generate it automatically, for example based on its own control measurements on the vehicle or the OBU, and can write the violation message to the OBU. 
     The communication between the beacon and onboard unit may take place according to the dedicated short range communication (DSRC) standard, for example the CEN-DSRC standards using radio or infrared data transmission, ITS-G5, IEEE 802.11p, wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE), radio frequency identification (RFID), near field communication (NFC), or the like. 
     In a second aspect, an onboard unit is created for a vehicle, comprising a transceiver, an input device and an output device, which is configured 
     to receive a traffic violation message from a beacon and output it on the output device; 
     accept a user selection concerning two options via the input device; 
     if the user selection indicates the first option, transmit the traffic violation message to a remote central facility; or 
     if the user selection indicates the second option, to initiate the generation of a debit transaction for a user account related to the traffic violation. 
     The onboard unit may comprise a stored modifiable status and is configured to transmit the status via the transceiver to the beacon in response to a wireless poll. The onboard unit may be configured to keep a user account and charge the debit transaction against the same. 
     Reference is made to the above comments regarding the method in terms of the advantages and characteristics of the onboard unit. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES 
       Embodiments will be described in greater detail hereafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic overview of the communication of an onboard unit in the tolling mode with tolling beacons on their way on a road, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  shows a schematic overview of the communication of onboard units in the parking mode with a parking beacon during parking, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram and  FIG. 4  is a front view of an exemplary onboard unit according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a state transition diagram of a part of a method for generating parking fee transactions that is carried out in an onboard unit, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a flow chart of a part of a method for generating parking fee transactions that is carried out in a parking beacon, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic illustration of a road traffic check, during the course of which a part of the method is carried out, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  shows a method embodiment in the form of the signal flows between the components involved in the method. 
     
    
    
     Embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In  FIG. 1 , a vehicle  1  is moving on a road  2  at a speed and in a driving direction  3 , and in  FIG. 2  several vehicles  1  are parked in each case in a parking space  4  of the road  2 . The road  2  can be any arbitrary traffic or parking area, for example an expressway, a highway or an entire road system in  FIG. 1 , or a shoulder, a large parking space or a parking garage in  FIG. 2 ; all of these are considered to be covered by the general concept of “road”  2 . 
     Each of the vehicles  1  is equipped with an onboard unit (OBU)  5 , which is able to carry out wireless communication  8  with roadside beacons (roadside units, RSUs)  6 ,  7 . The OBUs  5  can be separate devices or an integral part of the vehicle electronics system. The communication  8  is short range or dedicated short range communication (DSRC), which may be configured according to the CEN-DSRC standards using radio or infrared data transmission, ITS-G5, IEEE 802.11p, WAVE, WLAN, RFID, NFC or the like. The beacons  6 ,  7  thus have a respective locally delimited radio or infrared coverage range  9 ,  10 . 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  show two different types of beacons  6 ,  7  and application scenarios of the described components. The beacons  6  of  FIG. 1  are “tolling” beacons (tolling roadside units, T-RSUs) that are set up in a geographically distributed manner along the road  2 . With the aid of periodically broadcast polls  11 , the tolling beacons  6  request all passing OBUs  5  to establish communication  8 , as is illustrated based on the exemplary response  12 . So as not to “miss” any passing OBU  5  due to the potentially high speed of the vehicle  1 , the polls  11  of the tolling beacons  6  are broadcast at relatively short intervals, for example every 100 ms or less. For the polls  11 , for example, so-called wave service announcement (WSA) messages are used in the WAVE standard, and so-called beacon service table (BST) messages are used in the CEN-DSRC standard. 
     Successful communication  8  with a passing OBU  5  demonstrates that the OBU  5  is located in the locally delimited coverage range  9  of the tolling beacon  6 , whereby a fee (“toll”) can be charged for usage of the location of the tolling beacon  6 . For example, the tolled location usage can be the driving on a road section, the entering of a particular territory (“city toll”) or the like. 
     In contrast, “parking” beacons (parking roadside units, P-RSUs)  7  are employed in the parking scenario of  FIG. 2 , which use a poll  11 , for example a WSA or BST message, to request all the OBUs  5  located in the coverage range  10  to provide response messages  12  so as to charge a fee for the usage of the parking spaces  4 , as will be described in greater detail hereafter. To this end, a parking beacon  7  may be in charge of one or more parking spaces  4 , which together form a parking area P. 
     Because parked vehicles  1  are stopped, a parking beacon  7  can broadcast its polls  11  at considerably longer time intervals ΔT than the tolling beacon  6  of  FIG. 1 , for example every 10 minutes, which also defines the time resolution of the parking time billing. 
     The coverage range  10  of the parking beacon  7  can be adapted to the spatial expansion of the parking spaces  4  using optional measures, for example directional antennas, so as to avoid responses  12  of OBUs  5  of vehicles  1  that are not parked, for example passing vehicles. As an alternative or in addition, the OBUs  5  of the vehicles  1  can also be caused to assume different operating modes, which are adapted in each case to the scenarios of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , and more particularly a first toll operating mode (tolling mode, TM) for responses  12  to polls  11  from tolling beacons  6 , and a second parking operating mode (parking mode, PM) for responses  12  to polls  11  from parking beacons  7 . In the polls  11 , the beacons  6 ,  7  can optionally broadcast a respective beacon identifier, which indicates whether it is a tolling beacon  6  or a parking beacon  7 . The beacon identifier can, for example, be indicated as a service of the beacon as part of a WSA or BST message. 
     Of course, the tolling beacons  6  and parking beacons  7  can also be implemented by one and the same physical unit, which alternately or simultaneously performs the functions of a tolling beacon and a parking beacon  6 ,  7 . Such a combined unit  6 ,  7  can thus broadcast polls  11  with the beacon identifier of a tolling beacon, for example continually at short intervals, and polls  11  with the beacon identifier of a parking beacon  7  at longer intervals ΔT, which is to say occasionally “interspersed”. Such a beacon  6 ,  7  is then in charge of both charging a toll for a road section of the road  2  and charging a fee for a parking area P, for example. 
     Depending on the operating mode TM or PM of the OBU  5 , and depending on the received beacon identifier, the OBU  5  can, for example, respond only to tolling beacons  6  if the OBU is in the tolling mode TM or only to parking beacons  7  if the OBU is in the parking mode PM. 
     The operating mode of an OBU  5  can further be encoded as a data message (status) st and transmitted as part of the response  12 . A beacon  6 ,  7  can appropriately evaluate the status st received in a response  12 , so that tolling beacons  6  only charge tolls for the passage of OBUs  5  where status st=TM, and parking beacons  7  only charge fees for the parking of those OBUs  5  where status st=PM. Moreover, the OBUs  5  can also measure their own respective positions p and transmit these to the parking beacons  7 , which compare the received positions p to the respective parking areas P and only charge fees for the parking of those OBUs  5 , the positions p of which are within the respective parking area P. This will be described in more detail hereafter with reference to  FIGS. 3 to 6 . 
       FIG. 3  shows an exemplary block diagram,  FIG. 4  shows an exemplary outside view, and  FIG. 5  shows an exemplary state transition diagram of an OBU  5 , which can be switched between (at least) two operating modes TM and PM in accordance with the application scenarios of  FIGS. 1 and 2 . According to  FIG. 3 , to this end an OBU  5  comprises a transceiver  13  (for example according to one of said DSRC standards) for carrying out the communication  8 , a microprocessor  14  controlling the transceiver  13 , a memory  15 , an input device  16 , and an output device  17 . The input and output devices  16 ,  17  can also be implemented in a manner that differs from the shown keyboard and monitor output, for example by way of voice input and output, sensor systems, advisory tones and the like. The input and output devices  16 ,  17  can also be formed by physically separate components such as car radios, navigation devices, smartphones, PDAs, tablets and the like and can be connected to the microprocessor  14  by wire or wirelessly, for example by way of NFC, Bluetooth®, WLAN or infrared. 
     The OBU  5  can optionally also comprise a movement sensor  18 , for example in the form of a satellite navigation receiver for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and the like; instead of a GNSS receiver, it is also possible to use any other type of movement sensor  18 , for example an inertia sensor (inertial measurement unit, IMU) or a sensor that is connected to components of the vehicle  1 , for example a connection to the speedometer or engine of the vehicle  1 . 
     In the simplest case, the movement sensor  18  can also be only a connection to the vehicle electronics system, for example the ignition lock of the vehicle, so that the position of the key (engine running—not running), for example, indicates the (anticipated) movement or parking status of the vehicle. 
     The OBU  5  can optionally also be equipped with a position determination device  18 ′, which is able to determine the current position p of the OBU  5 —in response to a poll, periodically or continuously. The position determination device  18 ′ can operate in any manner that is known in the art, for example by way of radio triangulation in a network of geographically distributed radio stations, which can be formed directly by the beacons  6 ,  7  or by base stations of a mobile communication network, for example, or by way of evaluation of the cell identifiers of a cellular mobile communication network, and the like. The position determination device  18 ′ may be a satellite navigation receiver for position determination in a GNSS and in particular can also be formed by the same GNSS receiver that is used for the movement sensor  18 . 
     In addition to the appropriate application and control programs and data, the memory  15  of the OBU  5  includes a unique identifier id of the OBU  5 , which is established and saved, for example, during the output or user-specific initialization of the OBU  5  and which uniquely identifies the OBU  5  and/or the user thereof and/or the vehicle  1  and/or a settlement account of the user. The OBU identifier id is transmitted together with every response message  12  from the OBU  5  to a beacon  6 ,  7  so as to uniquely identify the OBU  5  with respect to the beacon  6 ,  7 . 
     The memory  15  can further include the status st, which indicates the operating mode TM or PM of the OBU  5  for the corresponding scenario of  FIG. 1 or 2 . The status st can be modified or adjusted both depending on a movement (or non-movement) of the OBU  5  measured by the movement sensor  18  or by a user selection via the input device  16 . For this purpose, the input device  16  may, for example, comprise a lockable button  16 ′ ( FIG. 4 ), which is labeled “PM” for “parking mode” PM and switches the OBU  5  to the parking mode PM by pressing and locking and sets the status st to the value “PM”. The OBU  5  is reset to the tolling mode TM and the status st is set to the value “TM” by releasing or unlocking the button  16 ′. The output device  17  can optionally output appropriate advisory and/or confirmation messages. 
       FIG. 5  shows several of the possible operating states of the OBU  5  again in detail in the form of a state transition diagram. The OBU  5  can be switched from the tolling mode TM into the parking mode PM by pressing the button  16 ′ and/or if the movement sensor  18  determines no movement of the OBU  5  over a minimum time period for 5 minutes, for example. The OBU can be set from the parking mode PM back to the tolling mode TM by releasing the button  16 ′ and/or by a movement of the OBU  5  detected by the movement sensor  18 . 
     In the parking mode PM, the OBU  5  can temporarily assume a power-saving sleep mode (“sleep”), and more particularly as soon as it has received a poll  11  from a parking beacon  7  and sent a response  12 . The OBU  5  can also wake up from the sleep mode after a predetermined time period Δt has lapsed and return to the parking mode PM. The time period Δt may be shorter than the time period Δt between consecutive wireless polls  11  of a parking beacon  7 . As an alternative or in addition, the OBU  5  could also be awakened again by receiving a subsequent wireless poll  11 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the method for generating parking fee transactions in the application scenario of  FIG. 2  that is being carried out in a parking beacon  7  in cooperation with the OBU  5  of  FIGS. 3 to 5 . 
     In a first step  19 , a poll  11  is broadcast by the parking beacon  7  so as to request the OBUs  5  located in the coverage range  10  to provide responses  12 . In step  20 , the responses  12  arriving from the OBUs  5  are received, wherein each response  12  includes at least the respective identifier id i  of the OBU  5  with the index i and—optionally—the status st i  thereof and/or the position p i  thereof determined by the position determination device  18 ′. The received identifiers statuses st i  and positions p i  are temporarily stored in the parking beacon  7  as a current dataset set curr . 
     Thereafter, a check is carried out within a loop  21  covering all received identifiers id i  as to whether or not the respective status st i  is set to the parking mode “PM”, see decision  22 . In addition (or as an alternative), it can be checked in the decision  22  whether or not the respective position p i —provided this was transmitted—falls within a predetermined geographical region, more particularly the parking area P of the parking beacon  7 . If only some of the conditions that are checked in decision  22  are met (branch “n” of  22 ), the subsequent steps  23  and  24  are skipped and the loop  21  is continued or exited for step  25  upon completion. In contrast, if all the conditions are met, which is to say in the present case: st i =PM and p i εP (branch “y” of  22 ), it is checked in a further decision  23  whether the respective identifier id i  corresponds to a previously stored “old” identifier id i,last , which is to say whether or not it occurs in a dataset set last {id i,last } of old identifiers id i,last . These “old” identifiers id i,last  were determined during an earlier execution of the method and stored in the dataset set last , as will be described hereafter. 
     If the respective current identifier id i  does not agree with any old identifier id i,last , which is to say does not occur in the dataset set last  (branch “n” of  23 ), the loop  21  is continued or exited for step  25  after it is completed; if there is agreement (branch “y” of  23 ), the method branches to step  24 , in which a parking fee transaction ta(id i ) is generated for the current identifier id i , as will described in greater detail later. 
     After step  24 , the loop  21  is continued or, after completion thereof, a transition is made to step  25 . 
     In step  25 , the current identifiers id i  determined in step  20  are resaved as “old” identifiers id i,last , which is to say the current dataset set is (now) stored as an “old” dataset set last . 
     Thereafter, in step  26 , a wait is carried out for the predefined time period ΔT, which is between the individual polls  11  of the parking beacon  7 , and then the method is repeated (loop  27 ). 
     During the next repetition in the loop  27 , the previously determined current identifiers id i  now constitute the “old” identifiers id i,last , if in step  20  again “new” current identifiers id i  are determined, these can then be compared in step  23  to the “old” identifiers id i  from the last dataset set last . As a result, it is checked during each loop last execution  27  whether or not an OBU identifier id i  determined by a parking beacon  7  based on a poll  11  was already present during a poll  11  dating back by the time period ΔT; if so, a vehicle  1  comprising an OBU  5  having this identifier has obviously spent at least the time period ΔT in the coverage range  10  of the parking beacon  7 , so that a corresponding parking fee transaction ta(id i ) can be generated for the OBU identifier id i  for parking over the time period ΔT (step  24 ). 
     The parking fee transactions ta(id i ) generated in step  24  can be settled directly by the beacon  7 , for example by charging these to a user account that is kept in the beacon  7 . Alternatively, the parking fee transactions ta(id i ) can be forwarded by the beacon  7  to a remote central facility (not shown), which keeps user accounts, toll accounts, bank accounts, credit accounts and the like under the identifiers so that the parking fee transactions ta(id i ) can be charged there against a corresponding settlement account. However, it is also possible for the generated parking fee transaction(s) ta(id i ) to be returned from the beacon  7  to the OBU  5  with the identifier id i  and to be charged there against a settlement account (an “electronic purse”) that is kept in the OBU  5 . 
     Another option is to temporarily store the parking fee transaction(s) ta(id i ) returned from the parking beacon  7  to the OBU  5  in the OBU  5  and, when the OBU  5  returns to the tolling mode TM, have the OBU  5  send it/them to a tolling beacon  6  on the way for settlement purposes, as if it were a toll transaction.  FIG. 5  shows a corresponding operating mode “post ta”, which the OBU  5  temporarily assumes after returning from the parking mode PM and in which it awaits the next tolling beacon  6  on the way, so as to deliver the parking fee transaction(s) ta(id i ) to the same, whereupon the OBU again returns to the “normal” tolling mode TM. 
     The procedures shown in  FIG. 6  can, of course, be appropriately modified according to programming methods known to a person skilled in the art. For example, the decision  22  could be eliminated or included in step  20 , and it could be checked whether the status st i  of an identifier id i  is set to “PM” and/or the position p i  of an identifier id i  falls in the area P, wherein then only those identifiers where status st i =“PM” or position p i εP, are stored as current identifiers in the current dataset set curr . The loop  21  could also be implemented differently and, for example, steps  22  to  24  or  23  to  24  could be carried out immediately after receipt of a response  12  for an identifier id i  if this takes place so quickly in terms of data processing that this can be done between consecutively arriving responses  12 . It should be noted in this regard that, according to some DSRC standards, the responses  12  of several OBUs  15  replying to one common wireless poll  11  are variably spread over time so as to prevent collisions of responses  12 , whereby sufficient time can remain between individual responses  12  for steps  22  to  24  or  23  to  24 . 
     A parking beacon  7 , the coverage range  10  of which covers several parking spaces  4 , at the same time receives a complete overview of the occupancy status of the parking spaces  4  in its parking area P as a result of the responses  12  of the OBUs  5  in step  20 . For this purpose, the beacon only needs to compare the number of identifiers id i  received in step  20  to the number of parking spaces  4  in the area P, so as to obtain a proportional or percentage-based utilization rate of the parking spaces  4 , for example “80%” if 4 out of 5 parking spaces are occupied, and so forth. The parking space occupancy status thus determined can be sent to a central facility for parking area management measures, for example. 
       FIG. 7  shows a first part of the method for electronically processing traffic violations based on a control scenario, in which a control person  31  checks a vehicle  1  comprising the OBU  5  thereof with the aid of a transportable beacon  32 , which is implemented as a handheld device, for example. In the example shown, the vehicle  1  is parked in a parking space  4 . The parking mode PM was set by the user in the OBU  5 , which is to say the status st in the memory  15  of the OBU  5  is accordingly set to “PM”. With the aid of the OBU  5  and one of the described parking beacons  7 , for example, corresponding parking fee transactions to are generated, as was described based on  FIGS. 1 to 6 . 
     The control person  31  now carries out a road traffic check with the aid of the beacon  32 . In the illustrated example, this person checks the correct setting of the parking mode PM in the OBU  5 . 
     As is shown in  FIG. 8 , for this purpose in a first step  33  the identifier id and (optionally) the status st of the OBU  5  of the checked vehicle  1  are read out into the beacon  32  via a communication  8 . Optionally, additional data such as the starting time t 1  of a parking process (time at which the parking mode PM is entered), the maximum allowed parking duration at this location in the form of a time window or an allowed ending time t 2 , one or more of the last parking fee transactions ta last  processed in the OBU  5 , traffic violation messages that were previously stored in the OBU  5  or the like, can also be read out. 
     Depending on the information received in the beacon  32 , for example whether the status st in a parking space  4  was set correctly to “PM” by the user, a traffic violation message rec is compiled in a step  34  based on a visual comparison by the control person  31 —or also in a partially or entirely automated fashion directly by the beacon  32 , if it has appropriate sensors. If the beacon  32  carries out step  34  autonomously, instead of being a handheld device, it can also be set up in a stationary manner, for example, or carried by a patrol vehicle. It is also possible for the beacon  32  to be implemented in the form of one of the beacons  6  or  7  and to generate traffic violation messages rec, for example in the case of speed limit violations, parking time violations in a short-term parking zone or no-stopping zones with time limits and the like. 
     Thereafter, in a step  35 , the traffic violation message rec is transmitted in a communication  8  to the OBU  5 , where the message is output on the output device  17  to the user of the vehicle  1 , for example via voice output or graphic display. Using the input device  16 , for example voice input or the keyboard, the user of the vehicle  1  can now accept (“y”), or not accept (“n”), the traffic violation for payment and make a corresponding user selection y/n. On a supplementary basis, in the case of acceptance “y”, additionally a PIN code may be requested to be entered so as to further increase the payment security, for example so as to prevent third-party selection in the case of open convertibles or by vehicle users in rental cars who are not authorized to access the account. 
     For example, if the input and output devices  16 ,  17  are configured as a smartphone with an NFC connection, the violation can be accepted and a payment process can be triggered simply by the smartphone approaching the processor part of the OBU  5 . 
     In a step  36  then, the user selection y/n is transmitted via the transceiver  13 —or another transceiver of the OBU  5 , for example a mobile communication module or via WAVE/LAN access of the distributed beacons—to a remote central facility  37  together with the traffic violation message rec and the identifier id of the OBU  5 . The central facility  37  can take on any arbitrary form, for example a central facility of a road toll system, parking fee billing system, a bank computer, a credit card account processor and the like, which is connected wirelessly or by wire to one of the beacons  6 ,  7  and/or  32 . The central facility  37  can even be directly implemented by one of the beacons  6 ,  7  or  32 . 
     If the user selection y/n related to the declination of the indicated traffic violation (“n”), in a step  38  thereafter a “conventional” ticket  39  is created from the traffic violation message rec(id), for example it is printed out and mailed to the user of the vehicle  1  together a notice of the legal remedies that are available. 
     During the transmission of the user selection y/n in step  30 , the authenticity of the user can optionally be checked by additionally transmitting a cryptographic OBU signature that is stored in the OBU  5  and/or the OBU  5  can sign and/or encrypt the user selection y/n and/or the traffic violation message rec(id) with the OBU signature and/or an OBU key. In this way, datasets of the user interaction that hold up in court can be generated. 
     If the user selection y/n related to the acceptance of the traffic violation (“y”), in step  40  a debit transaction ta(id) is generated from the traffic violation message rec(id) and charged against a user account  41 , for example by debiting the user account  41  with a fine indicated in the traffic violation message rec(id). Alternatively or additionally, in step  42  the debit transaction ta(id) can also be returned to the OBU  5  via a communication  8  and charged there against a user account (an “electronic wallet”) kept directly in the OBU  5 . The user account  41  could also be kept in a part of the input and output device  16 ,  17 , for example if the same is implemented by a mobile terminal such as mobile telephone, smartphone, PDA, tablet PC or the like connected wirelessly, for example via NFC, Bluetooth® or the like. In this case, the OBU  5  can be programmed so that an appropriate message is sent to this wirelessly connected part of the input and output device  16 ,  17  for debiting the user account  41  and there, for example, a user account  41  in this terminal is debited or the debit transaction ta(id) is forwarded by the latter, for example to a billing center of a mobile communication network. 
     Alternatively, it is possible for the debit transaction ta(id) to be generated directly in the OBU  5  from the traffic violation message rec(id) and charged against a user account  41  kept in the OBU  5 , in which case step  36 , this being the forwarding of the traffic violation message rec(id), only becomes necessary if the traffic violation is declined (“n”); or a debit transaction to (id) that is directly generated in the OBU  5  is transmitted to the central facility  37  for processing in step  36 —instead of the violation message rec(id). 
     If after an extended period, for example one month, the user has not entered a user selection y/n, the user selection y/n can be set to a predetermined value directly by the OBU  5  and can be further processed accordingly. The user selection may be set to the value “n” so as to not to debit an incorrect account or cause an early expiration of a deadline in the case of a ticket. 
     After the user selection y/n has been entered into the OBU  5 , the traffic violation message rec(id) in the OBU  5  is deleted or marked as processed. 
     CONCLUSION 
     The invention is not limited to the shown embodiments, but encompasses all variants and modifications that are covered by the scope of the accompanying claims. While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments. Thus, the breadth and scope of the described embodiments should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.