Patent ID: 8843390

Claim:
An electronic toll collection (ETC) system, comprising: a central control module comprising a processor; a toll collection module guided by the processor, and configured for providing a pre-pay service and a post-pay service, wherein an on board unit (OBU) on a vehicle makes a toll payment in response to one of the pre-pay service and the post-pay service; and an identification module guided by the processor, and configured for capturing an image of the vehicle and providing an identification service to the OBU to obtain an identification information of the vehicle, wherein when the vehicle enters a pre-pay communication range, the OBU executes an intermittent pay procedure in response to the pre-pay service, wherein when the intermittent pay procedure executed by the OBU within the pre-pay communication range fails and the vehicle enters a post-pay communication range from the pre-pay communication range, the OBU executes an extended pay procedure in response to the post-pay service to make the toll payment, wherein the toll collection module further provides the pre-pay service and the post-pay service within a first communication range, and the identification module further captures the image of the vehicle and provides the identification service to the OBU within a second communication range, wherein the first communication range comprises the pre-pay communication range and the post-pay communication range, the second communication range comprises a plurality of identification communication ranges, and the identification communication ranges are corresponding to a plurality of isometric lanes, wherein the pre-pay communication range covers the identification communication ranges, wherein when the vehicle enters an overlap area of the pre-pay communication range and the identification communication ranges, a priority of the identification service provided by the identification module in a control channel specified by a specific communication protocol according to the specific communication protocol is higher than a priority of the pre-pay service provided by the toll collection module in the control channel, and when the OBU receives the identification service provided by the identification module within the overlap area, the OBU instantly sends the identification information of the vehicle to the identification module in one corresponding of a plurality of identification service channels among a plurality of service channels specified by the specific communication protocol in response to the identification service.