KAPSCH TRAFFICCOM AG Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140357202 | ADAPTIVE ECHO CANCELLATION FOR RFID SYSTEMS - A radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader having fast-adaptive echo cancellation for backscatter-modulated signals is described. The echo cancellation includes subtracting an RF-level cancel signal from the received signal, where the cancel signal is generated based upon an error measured in the receive signal after down-conversion to baseband and low-pass filtering. The cancel signal is based upon a cumulative sum or integral of error signals and an estimated complex-valued transfer function of the scaling circuit. Methods of quick calibration of the reader are described, including accounting for circuit offsets and determining the estimated complex-valued transfer function. | 12-04-2014 |
20140333472 | APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE POSITION OF A VEHICLE OR A SURFACE THEREOF - An apparatus is disclosed for measuring the position of a vehicle or a surface thereof on a roadway. The apparatus comprises at least one radar transmitter, which is arranged in a transmitting position above the plane of the roadway and transmits radar beams downwardly, a plurality of radar receivers, which are distributed above the plane of the roadway in different receiving positions at distances from one another, receive reflections of the radar beams from beneath, and convert the reflections into a received signal, and an evaluation device, which is connected to the radar transmitter and the radar receivers and is configured to measure the said position from the transmitting position, the receiving positions and the received signals. | 11-13-2014 |
20140333471 | METHOD FOR MEASURING THE POSITION OF A SURFACE OF A VEHICLE - A method for measuring the position of a surface of a vehicle on a roadway comprising the following steps: transmitting and receiving radar beams at transmitting and receiving positions in various primary transmitting and primary receiving directions and converting these beams into received signals; selecting the received signal having the greatest signal strength; and determining the aforementioned position from the transmitting and receiving positions and the primary transmitting and primary receiving directions of the received signal having the greatest signal strength. | 11-13-2014 |
20140333469 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A VEHICLE FEATURE - Techniques are disclosed for determining characteristic feature(s) of a vehicle travelling on a roadway, comprising: a detector, which is directed towards the roadway and is configured to measure the movement vector of the vehicle at a current location and time, a tracking unit, connected to the detector, for calculating a target location of the vehicle at a target time on the basis of current location and time and movement vector, a first radar sensor, connected to the detector, for transmitting a radar beam directed towards the current location, receiving a reflected radar beam, and determining a frequency spectrum thereof, a second radar sensor, connected to the tracking unit, for transmitting a radar beam directed towards the target location at the target time, receiving a reflected radar beam and determining a frequency spectrum thereof, and an evaluation unit for generating characteristic feature(s) of the vehicle from the determined frequency spectra. | 11-13-2014 |
20140331736 | METHOD FOR CALIBRATING A TRIGGER UNIT AND CASCADABLE SENSOR THEREFOR - A method is disclosed for calibrating a trigger unit which is connected via a trigger line to at least two sensors configured to be triggered. Each sensor is connected between two successive line portions of the trigger line. Each sensor has an input and an output, a controllable interrupter between the input and output; and a control circuit, which controls the interrupter. The interrupters of all sensors are initially open. The method comprises the following: transmitting a trigger pulse; in the sensor: receiving the trigger pulse and returning a response; in the trigger unit: receiving the response and calibrating the trigger unit; repeating the aforementioned steps, wherein each sensor reflects the trigger pulse, and the trigger unit measures the propagation times and is calibrated thereto. | 11-13-2014 |
20140316992 | METHOD FOR CHARGING AN ONBOARD-UNIT WITH AN ELECTRONIC TICKET - Methods are disclosed for charging an onboard unit with an electronic ticket and redeeming the ticket at a radio beacon. The onboard unit has a DSRC interface for radio communication with the radio beacon and a second interface for radio communication with a mobile phone. The second interface is separate from the DSRC interface. The onboard unit is provided with a public and a private electronic key of the onboard unit. In the mobile telephone, an encrypted ticket is received and the encrypted ticket is sent to the onboard unit. In the onboard unit, the encrypted ticket is received, the received ticket is decrypted, and the ticket is transmitted to the radio beacon for redemption. | 10-23-2014 |
20140316685 | ONBOARD-INSTALLATION FOR A VEHICLE - The present subject matter relates to an onboard unit for a traffic telematics system, comprising: a first communication module, designed for near-range radio communication with a first external communication device, a second communication module, designed for far-range radio communication with a second external communication device, and a non-volatile memory, which can be accessed both by the first and the second communication module, wherein each communication module has a power-supplied communication mode and a powerless or power-saving rest mode, and wherein the power supply of the memory during an access thereto is effected by the accessing communication module. The present subject matter further relates to an onboard system for a vehicle comprising such an onboard unit, and to a communication device for said system. | 10-23-2014 |
20140270386 | METHOD FOR READING VEHICLE IDENTIFICATIONS - A method is disclosed for reading license plate numbers in a road network, comprising: recording an image of a license plate number at a first location, OCR-reading a license plate character string in the image, and storing an OCR data set in a database; recording an image of a license plate number at a second location, OCR-reading a license plate number character string in the image, and generating a current OCR data set; and, if a confidence measure of the current OCR data set falls below a first minimum confidence value, selecting a stored OCR data set with a license plate number image having a similarity exceeding a minimum similarity value and/or having the greatest similarity to the license plate number image of the current OCR data set, and using the selected OCR data set for improving the license plate number character string of the current OCR data set. | 09-18-2014 |
20140218227 | Method and Device for Detecting a Rotating Wheel - A method is described for detecting a rotating wheel of a vehicle that is travelling on a roadway in a travel direction, the wheels of which are at least partially exposed laterally, the method comprising: emitting an electromagnetic measurement beam having a known temporal progression of its frequency onto a first section above the roadway in a direction in a slant with respect to the vertical and normally or at a slant with respect to the travel direction; receiving a reflected measurement beam and recording the temporal progression of its frequencies, relative to the known progression, as a reception frequency mixture progression; and detecting a frequency band, which is continuously inclining or declining over a period of time, in the reception frequency mixture progression as a wheel. A device for conducting the method is also described. | 08-07-2014 |
20140207539 | METHOD FOR CHARGING LOCATION USAGES - Methods are described for charging fees in a road toll system. An on-board unit identification is input into a toll terminal to generate a transaction identification. The transaction identification is transmitted to a transaction server, and from the server to a transaction terminal. A payment card identification is input into the transaction terminal, and is transmitted with the transaction identification to the server. A substitute identification, generated in the transaction server and associated with the card identification, and the transaction identification are transmitted from the transaction server to the toll terminal. The on-board unit identification and substitute identification, associated by the transaction identification, are transmitted from the toll terminal to a toll server. The substitute identification is used in a communication between the toll server and the transaction server for charging a fee for a location usage determined in the road toll system under the respective on-board unit identification. | 07-24-2014 |
20140204205 | METHOD FOR MEASURING THE HEIGHT PROFILE OF A VEHICLE PASSING ON A ROAD - A method for measuring a height profile of a vehicle passing on a road, said method comprising the following steps: directing a monocular camera from a point above the road onto the road with an angle of aperture that captures a section of the road from above, recording at least a first image of the passing vehicle by the camera at a first moment in time, recording at least a second image of the passing vehicle by the camera at a second moment in time, generating a movement vector image of the vehicle from an analysis of the optical flow between the first and the second image, and creating the height profile of the vehicle from the movement vector image. | 07-24-2014 |
20140132398 | METHODS FOR PROLONGING BATTERY LIFE IN TOLL TRANSPONDERS - A transponder, such as an electronic toll transponder, is configured to recognize when it is being subjected to consistent and repeated trigger signals over an extended period of time and, in response, the transponder enters a reduced-responsiveness state. In the reduced-responsiveness state, the transponder may only intermittently respond to detected trigger signals. The transponder may recognize when the repeated trigger signal situation has been resolved and then return to normal responsiveness. | 05-15-2014 |
20140081848 | METHOD FOR ELECTRONICALLY PROCESSING A TRAFFIC OFFENSE AND ONBOARD-UNIT THEREFOR - A method for electronically processing a traffic violation of a vehicle that comprises an onboard unit having a transceiver, an input device and an output device, and an onboard unit for carrying out the method, are provided. The method includes: 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. | 03-20-2014 |
20140081718 | METHOD, RADIO BEACON AND ONBOARD UNIT FOR GENERATING PARKING FEE TRANSACTIONS - A method for generating a parking fee transaction for a vehicle that comprises an onboard unit having an identifier, and a radio beacon and an onboard unit for carrying out the method, are provided. The method includes: wirelessly polling the identifier by a roadside radio beacon as a current identifier, generating a parking fee transaction for the identifier if the current identifier is identical to a stored old identifier, storing the current identifier as the old identifier, waiting a predetermined time period, and repeating these steps. | 03-20-2014 |
20140055298 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CAPTURING AN IMAGE OF A SPEED-VIOLATING VEHICLE - Methods and devices are provided for recording images of vehicles that pass through a section between an entrance and an exit at excessive speed, comprising the following steps: capturing an entry time of a vehicle at the entrance, generating a unique object identifier for the vehicle and storing the entry time under the object identifier; tracking the movement of the vehicle, which is being continuously referenced by way of the object identifier, over the entire section using a sensor arrangement; capturing an exit time of the vehicle that is referenced by way of the object identifier at the exit; and if a comparison of the captured exit time to the stored entry time indicates a speed that exceeds a threshold value: determining an entry image stored under the object identifier or creating an exit image of the vehicle. | 02-27-2014 |
20140046583 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE LENGTH OF A PATH TRAVELED BY A VEHICLE - Methods are provided for determining the length of a path traveled by a vehicle using an onboard unit that generates a sequence of position readings and a related position quality index for each position reading. A set of consecutive position readings is extracted from the sequence. Position readings are discarded having position quality indices falling below a threshold. A set quality index is determined based on the number of position readings of the set or on the position quality indices. If the set quality index exceeds a threshold, the path length is determined based on mutual distances of consecutive position readings of the set. Otherwise, the path length is determined using a digital road map composed of road segments by associating the position readings of the set with at least one road segment, and determining the path length based on the segment length of the at least one road segment. | 02-13-2014 |
20140046582 | METHOD FOR UPDATING A DIGITAL ROAD MAP - Methods are provided for updating a digital road map in which road segments having segment lengths are stored. At least two vehicles are equipped with at least one respective onboard unit generating position readings. If a first set of position readings of a first onboard unit can be associated with a road segment, a first path length is determined based on the position readings of the first set. If a second set of position readings of a second onboard unit can be associated with the road segment, a second path length is determined based on the position readings of the second set. An average path length is calculated based on at least the first and second path lengths. If the average path length deviates from the stored segment length, the average path length is stored as an updated stored segment length of this road segment in the digital road map. | 02-13-2014 |
20140020194 | APPARATUS AND MOUNTING GANTRY FOR SUSPENDING A COMPONENT - A device for suspending at least one component from a gantry, and a gantry that includes such a device, are provided. The device includes a guide rail that can be secured on the gantry in an approximately vertical orientation, a carriage that is guided on the guide rail in a sliding movable manner and on which the component can be mounted, and a limit stop that is mounted on the guide rail beneath the carriage in a height-adjustable manner. The guide rail is divided into a lower part and an upper part, which are connected to each other by way of a pivot connection having a pivot axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail. | 01-23-2014 |
20140015974 | DEVICE FOR MONITORING A VEHICLE PARKING SPACE - The invention relates to a device for monitoring a parking space ( | 01-16-2014 |
20130293422 | METHOD AND DEVICES FOR IDENTIFYING A VEHICLE USING A LOCATION - Methods for identifying a vehicle using a predetermined location are provided, as well as a radio beacon and an onboard unit for use with the methods. One method comprises: carrying, on the vehicle, an onboard unit that broadcasts status messages that each indicate a current position of the onboard unit and a radio identifier that changes after each or several status messages; receiving at least one status message in a radio beacon; detecting a location usage of the vehicle by evaluating the status message(s) based on the position(s) indicated therein with respect to the predetermined location; transmitting an identification request from the radio beacon to the onboard unit addressed according to the radio identifier from the status message(s); receiving and conducting a legitimacy check of the identification request in the onboard unit and, if the request is legitimate, transmitting an identification of the onboard unit to the radio beacon. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293397 | METHOD AND DEVICES FOR IDENTIFYING A VEHICLE USING A LOCATION - Methods for identifying a vehicle using a predetermined location, and a radio beacon and an onboard unit are provided. One method comprises: carrying, on the vehicle, an onboard unit that broadcasts status messages that each indicate a current relative distance of the onboard unit from the predetermined location and a radio identifier that changes after each or several status messages; receiving at least one status message in a radio beacon; detecting a location usage of the vehicle by evaluating the status message(s) based on the indicated relative distance; transmitting an identification request from the radio beacon to the onboard unit addressed according to the radio identifier from the status message(s); receiving and conducting a legitimacy check of the identification request in the onboard unit; and if the request is legitimate, transmitting an identification of the onboard unit to the radio beacon that remains the same over changes of radio identifier. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293392 | METHOD FOR DETECTING VEHICLES WITH CARGO - A method for detecting vehicles with cargo in a traffic telematics system comprising at least one radio beacon for radio communication with onboard units (OBUs) carried by vehicles and their cargo. The method including: establishing radio communications between said radio beacon and a first OBU, and between said radio beacon and a second OBU, via radio signals; electronically evaluating said radio signals; and when said evaluation indicates that said first and second OBUs are moving at a limited and constant distance from one another, receiving characteristic data from the first OBU in the radio beacon, transmitting the characteristic data from the radio beacon to the second OBU, and recording the characteristic data in a memory of the second OBU. | 11-07-2013 |
20130266139 | Method for Detecting a Speed Violation of a Vehicle - Detecting a speed violation of a vehicle traveling from a first roadside system to a second roadside system comprises: protecting evidence data collected at two roadside systems by encrypting each set of data with random session keys at each roadside system, and then encrypting the random session keys with a public key generated from an identity that may include a vehicle identifier and a timestamp. A ratio of the public keys is calculated and used to detect a violation, whereupon a private key is obtained for decrypting at least one of the encrypted session keys, and decrypting at least one of the encrypted evidence data with the decrypted session key. | 10-10-2013 |
20130234892 | Method for Radio Communication Between a Radio Beacon and an Onboard Unit, and Radio Beacon and Onboard Unit Therefor - Selective radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit of a vehicle passing the radio beacon comprising: in the onboard unit determining the current heading of the onboard unit and transmitting information thereon to the radio beacon; in the radio beacon checking whether the heading indicated in the heading information is within predetermined boundaries, and if so, carrying out a radio communication with the onboard unit. | 09-12-2013 |
20130201039 | Control Method for a Road Toll System - Control devices and methods for a road toll system that is based on vehicle-based on-board units, using recording vehicles, control vehicles and a violation server, wherein the recording vehicle reads out a toll parameter from the on-board unit of a passing vehicle via a DSRC radio interface, compares it to a shape parameter of the vehicle detected by a sensor, and based thereon, in case of inconsistency, generates a violation data record and transmits it to the violation server, wherein the control vehicle registers the position or surroundings thereof in the violation server, and the violation server makes available to a control vehicle such violation data records, the locations of the violations of which are within the surroundings of a position of the control vehicle, wherein the control vehicle issues an alert message when it detects a violating vehicle in the surroundings, and wherein, during the transmission of a violation data record from the recording vehicle to the violation server and/or from the violation server to the control vehicle, the violation data record is divided into a TCP part and a UDP part. | 08-08-2013 |
20130201038 | Control Devices and Methods for a Road Toll System - Control devices and methods for a road toll system that is based on on-board units carried by vehicles, using at least one recording vehicle and at least one control vehicle, which communicate with a central violation server, wherein the recording vehicle reads out a toll parameter from the on-board unit of a passing vehicle via a DSRC radio interface, compares it to a shape parameter of the vehicle detected by a sensor, and based thereon, in case of inconsistency, generates a violation data record and transmits it to the violation server, wherein the control vehicle registers the position or surroundings thereof in the violation server, and the violation server makes available to this control vehicle those violation data records, the locations of the violations of which are within the surroundings of a position of a control vehicle, and wherein the control vehicle issues an alert message when it detects a violating vehicle in the surroundings thereof. | 08-08-2013 |
20130201035 | Control Method for a Road Toll System - A control method for a road toll system using vehicle-based on-board units, recording vehicles, control vehicles, cellular mobile communication networks, and switching servers, comprising: registering a recording vehicle identifier and a mobile communication network cell identifier in the switching server; selecting a cell identifier in a control vehicle and transmitting the same with a control vehicle identifier to the switching server; associating the control vehicle identifier with the recording vehicle identifier for which a cell identifier that is identical to the selected cell identifier is registered; detecting a traffic or toll violation by means of the recording vehicle and transmitting a violation data record to the switching server, determining the assigned control vehicle identifier; transmitting the violation data record to the control vehicle identified by the determined identifier; and processing the violation data record in the control vehicle. | 08-08-2013 |
20130201034 | Control Devices and Methods for a Road Toll System - Control devices and methods for a road toll system that is based on on-board units carried by vehicles, comprising: in a marking vehicle detecting a traffic or toll violation of an on-board unit, and, if a violation exists, transmitting a marker to the on-board unit via a DSRC radio interface; in an on-board unit periodically determining, upon receipt of a marker, the position of the unit and broadcasting a position message containing the respective current position; and in the control unit: detecting the vehicle based on at least one of the position messages that are broadcast by the on-board unit. | 08-08-2013 |
20130162445 | Method for Determining Traffic Flow Data in a Road Network - Determining traffic flow data in a road network comprising passing a first radio beacon and receiving a request message that at least includes a start location and a stop location; determining if an on-board unit position is within a predetermined range of the start location, and responsively starting a recording of measurement data; determining if the on-board unit position is within a predetermined range of the stop location, and responsively stopping the recording of the measurement data; and transmitting the recorded measurement data to a next radio beacon that is passed by the on-board unit. | 06-27-2013 |
20130144687 | METHOD AND ON-BOARD UNIT FOR SIGNALING TOLL TRANSACTIONS IN A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A method and an on-board unit for signaling toll transactions in a road toll system with geographically distributed radio beacons, carrying out toll transactions with passing on-board units of vehicles. In the on-board unit, it is verified in the course of a toll transaction between an on-board unit and a radio beacon whether a toll transaction dates back longer than a given time span, and if so, an acoustic signal is emitted by the on-board unit, and if not, no acoustic signal is emitted by the on-board unit. | 06-06-2013 |
20130141281 | CONTROL VEHICLE FOR A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A control vehicle for a road toll system on the basis of vehicle-mounted onboard units which can be polled via DSRC radio communications, with the control vehicle comprising at least one DRSC transceiver with at least two antenna systems, which are distributed with a mutual distance over the longitudinal direction of the control vehicle, for polling a passing on-board unit. | 06-06-2013 |
20130096993 | METHOD OF TOLLING VEHICLES IN AN OPEN-ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A method of tolling vehicles in an open-road toll system with vehicle-based on-board units and roadside radio beacons. The method includes transmitting transaction information and a factor from the on-board unit; updating the factor as a function of the transmitted transaction information and calculating a debit amount as a function of the updated factor; transmitting a debit request with the calculated debit amount and the updated factor to the on-board unit; and debiting the received debit amount to a toll credit account in the on-board unit and writing a new transaction information concerning this new debit transaction and the received updated factor into the on-board unit. | 04-18-2013 |
20130072121 | Radio Beacon and Method for Selectively Communicating in Accordance with 5.8 and 5.9 GHz DSRC Standards - A radio beacon and a method for selective radio communication with a first onboard unit and a second onboard unit, in which a sequence of first data packet is transmitted to the first onboard unit in a first frequency band in accordance with 5.8 GHz DSRC standards, a sequence of second data packet is transmitted or received to/from the second onboard unit in accordance with 5.9 GHz DSRC standards, wherein the transmission of a data packet of the sequence of first data packet is delayed by the duration of the second data packet if the second data packet appears in the second frequency band. | 03-21-2013 |
20130050493 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING VEHICLE LICENSE PLATES - A system and method for detection of vehicle license plates including a video camera that has a first operating mode in which it generates a first image sequence of a small, strip-shaped section of its optical camera image at a high frame rate, and a second operating mode in which a second image sequence of its entire optical camera image is generated at a lower frame rate. In the first operating mode, at the time of the detection of a license plate in the first image sequence, the video camera is switched to the second operating mode to generate an image, which contains the license plate in or near the mentioned section. | 02-28-2013 |
20130006726 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING TOLL FEES IN A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - Method for determining toll fees for vehicles in a road toll system including vehicle-onboard units and positionally distributed beacons capable of communicating with the onboard units via radio signals. The method includes: providing a toll fee level and a validity time frame; retrieving an identifier of the onboard unit, the toll fee level and the validity time frame from the onboard unit as a data record; resetting the toll fee level, if the validity time frame has expired; increasing the toll fee level and storing the updated data record in the onboard unit and the beacon; transmitting a request for deletion of stored data records for this identifier to other beacons; transmitting the data record from the beacon to the central station, if no deletion request for the data record arrives within the validity time frame; and deleting the data record in the beacon. | 01-03-2013 |
20130002407 | RF-LINK MARGIN MEASUREMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM - A system and method for conducting dynamic RF-link margin tests in an electronic toll collection for non-stationary vehicles travelling up to highway speed. The system maintains a list of candidate transponders and, during the course of a normal toll collection, if a transponder is on the list then the system schedules a margin test for a later handshake in the capture zone. At a location at or near the peak margin test the system conducts a margin test during one or more of the reader-transponder handshakes. The attenuation may be dynamically controlled by the system using a variable attenuator in the RF path from the reader RF module to the antenna. Distributing the margin measurement over multiple passes of a vehicle through the capture zone provides for a highway speed method of measuring link margin. | 01-03-2013 |
20120326914 | Method and Apparatus for Detecting Vehicle Wheels - Method for detecting wheels of a vehicle that is traveling on a roadway in a travel direction and the wheels of which are at least partially exposed laterally. The method including: emitting an electromagnetic measurement beam lobe with a known temporal progression of frequency from the side of the roadway onto an area of the roadway and at a slant with respect to the travel direction, receiving the measurement beam lobe reflected by a passing vehicle and recording the temporal progression, relative to the known progression, of all of its frequencies, and during the passage of a vehicle, detecting a frequency spread appearing in the recorded progression and exceeding a predetermined spread magnitude, as a wheel. | 12-27-2012 |
20120326913 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING VEHICLE WHEELS - A method for detecting the wheels of a vehicle that is traveling on a roadway in a travel direction and whose wheels project downward from the vehicle body and are at least partially exposed laterally at the level of the vehicle body, with the steps: emitting a concentrated electromagnetic measurement beam with a known temporal progression of frequency from the side of the roadway onto an area a predetermined distance above the roadway and at a slant with respect to the travel direction, receiving the measurement beam reflected by a passing vehicle and recording the temporal progression, relative to the known progression, of its frequency, and detecting a rectangular pulse occurring in the recorded progression within the time period when the vehicle body passes, as a wheel. | 12-27-2012 |
20120265583 | METHOD FOR FEE CHARGING POSITION USAGES OF VEHICLES - Method for charging position usages of vehicles in a road toll system including acquiring an identifier of a vehicle device, a transaction value and an identifier of a payment card as a payment transaction, authorization a payment transaction system and transmitting associated authorization data with the vehicle device identifier to a toll server, generating a substitute identifier assigned to the card identifier and transmitting the substitute identifier with the authorization data to the toll server, associating the substitute identifier and the vehicle device identifier based on the respective received authorization data, calculating toll values based on position usages of vehicles, based on the card identifier assigned to substitute identifier, the transmitted toll values and the transaction value. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265430 | METHOD FOR DETECTING A BOUNDARY CROSSING - Method for detecting a boundary crossing of an object, the movement of which is represented by a sequence of positions on a digital road map ith vectorized road segments and at least one boundary, the method comprising: determining an intersection of the boundary with a road segment and a reference direction in the orientation of this road segment, successively projecting vectors, each determined between one of the positions and the intersection point, onto the reference direction, in order to obtain a sequence of projections, and detecting a boundary crossing if a change of direction or sign occurs in the sequence of projections. | 10-18-2012 |
20120246477 | Method for Validating a Road Traffic Control Transaction - A method for validating a road traffic control transaction. The method includes: storing a cryptographic key assigned to a transaction receiver, in the transaction receiver; recording an image of a vehicle; reading an identification of the vehicle in the recorded image by OCR and generating a control transaction thereof in the control station; generating a random key and encrypting the recorded image into authentication data with the random key and the cryptographic key in the control station; transmitting the recorded image, the control transaction, the random key and the authentication data to the transaction receiver; in the transaction receiver, encrypting the received recorded image into nominal authentication data with the received random key and the stored cryptographic key; and comparing the received authentication data with the nominal authentication data. The received control transaction is then validated when the received authentication data and the nominal authentication data are identical. | 09-27-2012 |
20120236149 | PARKING LOT - A parking lot with a plurality of parking spaces for vehicles that have OCR-readable license numbers and onboard units with radio IDs that can be read out via radio signals. The parking lot including a central computer for storing parking space reservations, a vehicle license number and an assigned radio ID, a radio beacon for the parking spaces for reading out the radio ID of an entering vehicle via radio and signaling the radio ID to the central computer, and at least one camera unit for each parking space for reading the license number of a vehicle and correspondingly signaling the license number to the central computer. The central computer checks whether for a radio ID signaled to the central computer the vehicle license number is subsequently signaled by the camera unit of this parking space, and to log instances in which this is not the case. | 09-20-2012 |
20120231815 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING LOCATION-SPECIFIC DATA SERVICES - A method for providing location-specific data services to vehicles that carry onboard units for short-range communication with tolling stations at known locations in a road-tolling system and mobile terminals for data reception in a mobile communication network. The method includes: storing a list of service IDs, a mapping between a device ID and a terminal ID, and at least one booking of a service ID for a device or terminal ID within the road tolling system; transmitting the device ID of an onboard unit to the tolling station; retrieving the booking of the service ID for the device ID or the mapped terminal ID; testing whether the service ID from this booking is included in the service ID list, and if so, transmitting of the mapped terminal ID to the data service; and providing this data service via the mobile communication network to the mobile terminal. | 09-13-2012 |
20120209776 | VEHICLE DEVICE, AD HOC NETWORK AND METHOD FOR A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A vehicle device for a road toll system including: a satellite navigation receiver for continuously generating location data for a processing and transmitting/receiving unit of the vehicle device; and a trusted-element processor configured to log a time segment of the generated location data and to cryptographically signing said time segment. The trusted-element processor is further configured to start said logging upon detection of a predefined time or a predefined location of the vehicle device and to carry out said logging for a predefined time segment. | 08-16-2012 |
20120162432 | METHOD FOR CAPTURING IMAGES OF VEHICLES - A method for capturing images of vehicles at excessive speeds including: generating a random access identifier for and capturing an image of the vehicle at the entry and storing them in a first memory which can only be accessed via the access identifier, recording the entry time and an entry identifier at the entry, forming an encrypted or hashed value of the entry identifier and storing the entry time, the value and the access identifier as a data set in a second memory, recording the exit time and an exit identifier at the exit, forming an encrypted or hashed value of the exit identifier and ascertaining the data set with it from the second memory. If the exit time lies within a preset time span from the entry time, using the access identifier for accessing the first memory to retrieve the stored entry image of the vehicle. | 06-28-2012 |
20120143786 | Onboard Unit and Method for Charging Occupant Number-Dependent Tolls for Vehicles - Onboard unit for charging occupant number-dependent tolls for a vehicle in the context of a road toll system, comprising a Doppler radar or UWB impulse radar that can be directed onto the vehicle interior for measuring movements and generating at least one measurement signal representing these; and an evaluation device, which is configured to detect signal patterns in the measurement signal that are typical for heart or respiratory activity of an occupant, to count those signal patterns which occur simultaneously at an observation time, and to calculate toll data as a function of that count value. | 06-07-2012 |
20120140835 | CHANNEL ESTIMATION IN AN OFDM TRANSMISSION SYSTEM - A method of channel estimation in an OFDM transmission system having a transmitter and a receiver according to standard IEEE 802.11x. The method includes: in the transmitter, setting an identifier in a reserved bits section of the header following the preamble in a physical layer frame; attaching a postamble at the end of said frame without altering the length information in the header; transmitting said frame over the channel, in the receiver, receiving a frame over the channel and checking a reserved bits section in the header of the received frame for the presence of the identifier; and if the identifier is detected, using the postamble and the preamble of the received frame to estimate the channel. | 06-07-2012 |
20120139774 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE DISTANCE OF A VEHICLE FROM A RADIO BEACON AND RADIO BEACON FOR THIS PURPOSE - A method and a radio beacon for determining a distance of a vehicle passing a radio beacon of a road toll system, from beacon. The vehicle is equipped with an onboard unit, which emits a signal with a known curve of its frequency over time. The method includes receiving the signal in the radio beacon during passage of the vehicle and recording a curve of its frequency over time in relation to the known frequency curve; detecting a change in the recorded frequency curve exceeding a predetermined threshold value; looking for two far regions in the frequency curve lying before and after the detected change in time and showing a frequency change below a threshold value; scaling the recorded frequency curve in such a manner that the far regions assume predetermined values; and determining the said distance from a gradient of the scaled frequency curve in an inflection point thereof. | 06-07-2012 |
20120115417 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING SERVICES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK - A system and method for selecting a preferred connection point from a choice of one or more available connection points in a wireless communication network. The system and method include: determining a link quality for the one or more available connection points; establishing a connection to a first connection point when there is no existing established connection, the first connection point offers a desired service, and the link quality for the first connection point exceeds a first threshold value, wherein a service priority is considered in determining the link quality of the first connection point; maintaining the established connection to the first connection point when the link quality exceeds a second threshold value; and making eligible the established connection to the first connection point for preemption by a second connection point, when the link quality for the first connection point is less than the second threshold value. | 05-10-2012 |
20120113262 | Mobile Device and Method for Monitoring of Vehicles - A mobile monitoring device including a first sensor for measuring the speed of vehicles passing through a first detection range with a first time stamp; a second sensor for measuring the geometry of vehicles passing through a second detection range with a second time stamp; a camera for recording images of vehicles passing through a third detection range with a third time stamp; and an evaluation device, which calculates from the speed measurement value, first time stamp and first detection range, and from the geometry measurement value, second time stamp and second detection range, the place and time in or at which a passage of the vehicle is to be expected in the third detection range, to determine the matching image on the basis of the third time stamp and third detection range therefrom. The invention additionally relates to such a monitoring method. | 05-10-2012 |
20120072108 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE LENGTH OF THE ROUTE TRAVELLED BY A VEHICLE - A method for determining the length of the route travelled by a vehicle using a position measuring device that records positions of the vehicle and a digital road map, which is composed of road segments of known segment lengths. The method including recording positions of the vehicle on the route by means of the position measuring device, matching the recorded vehicle positions to a sequence of road segments, and determining the route length from the segment lengths of these road segments, wherein from the angle between at least two consecutive road segments and an assumed road width of the two road segments, a turn-off route of the vehicle from the one road segment into the other road segment is calculated. The calculated turn-off route is taken into consideration in the determination of the route length. | 03-22-2012 |
20120071191 | METHOD AND RADIO BEACON FOR TRANSMITTING MESSAGES IN A ROAD COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - A method and a radio beacon for transmitting messages between a radio beacon and multiple onboard units passing this with unique identifiers in a road toll system, wherein the messages respectively provided with an identifier of an onboard unit are stored in a buffer memory of the radio beacon for sequential processing or despatch. The method including determining, of each onboard unit entering the transmitting-receiving area of the radio beacon, at least one characteristic of the onboard unit, sorting the messages present in the buffer memory under the identifiers depending on the characteristics determined for these identifiers, and sequentially processing or despatching the messages from the buffer memory in the sequence they were sorted. | 03-22-2012 |
20120068861 | METHOD AND ONBOARD-UNIT FOR RADIO COMMUNICATION IN A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A method and onboard unit for radio communication between a radio beacon and an onboard unit with a transceiver as part of a road toll system, wherein the radio beacon has a limited radio coverage area and the onboard unit has two operating modes, i.e. a first energy-consuming working mode and a second energy-saving resting mode, and can be changed from the resting mode to the working mode by a signal received from the radio beacon. The method comprises: receiving a signal in the onboard unit and as a result, changing the onboard unit to the working mode, if this was previously in the resting mode, within a prompt time; transmitting a response signal, which contains at least one information message concerning the operating mode of the onboard unit before receipt of the signal, from the onboard unit to the radio beacon; and on the basis of the received operating mode information selecting by means of the radio beacon whether the remaining part of the radio communication is to be conducted with the onboard unit for a longer or shorter duration. | 03-22-2012 |
20120006513 | DEVICE FOR COOLING AN ELECTRICAL CABINET - Device for cooling an electrical cabinet including a hollow upright beam having a lower end, an upper end and a cavity inside, the upright beam having an air inlet at the lower end and an air outlet at the upper end, the upright beam supporting the electrical cabinet on a side of the upright beam. The device further includes a first flow connection formed between the interior of the electrical cabinet and the cavity of the upright beam at a level of the lower end of the electrical cabinet; a second flow connection formed between the interior of the electrical cabinet and the cavity of the upright beam at a level of the upper end of the electrical cabinet; and a sealing element at an intermediate level between the first and second flow connections to block the cavity of the upright beam. | 01-12-2012 |
20110282717 | METHOD FOR COLLECTING TOLLS FOR LOCATION USAGES - A method for collecting tolls for location usages of an on-board unit, which has a unit identifier in a road toll system and a mobile telecommunications identifier in a mobile telecommunications network. The method includes storing the unit identifier and the mobile telecommunications identifier of the on-board unit in a control centre of the road toll system, sending the position-fix data from the on-board unit, under the mobile telecommunications identifier as sole identification, to a toll calculation server, calculating location-anonymised toll data in the toll calculation server, and sending said toll data under the mobile telecommunications identifier to a control centre of the mobile telecommunications network, charging a user account assigned to the mobile telecommunications identifier in the control centre of the mobile telecommunications network, sending a confirmation to the control centre of the road toll system under the mobile telecommunications identifier, and retrieving the unit identifier associated with the mobile telecommunications identifier and providing the confirmation in the control centre of the road toll system. | 11-17-2011 |
20110267470 | RADIO BEACON FOR A WIRELESS ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A radio beacon for a wireless road toll system including a transceiver, which is arranged for packet-type radio communication with onboard units of passing vehicles; at least one camera for recording an image of a passing object; and a control device connecting to the transceiver and the camera. The control device is configured to measure, in conjunction with the transceiver, the number of data packets received per unit time from a specific onboard unit and to actuate the camera to record an image of the object carrying this onboard unit, in the case of a number exceeding a threshold value. | 11-03-2011 |
20110263207 | BEACON FOR A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - A beacon with a transceiver for radio communication with vehicle OBUs of a road toll system, wherein the transceiver has a directional antenna and is configured to communicate wirelessly with OBUs on a selected channel directed via the directional antenna wherein the transceiver is additionally equipped with an omnidirectional antenna and is configured to transmit, before the beginning of a directional radio communication, by means of the omnidirectional antenna a channel reservation message and/or to check, before the beginning of a directional radio communication, by means of the omnidirectional antenna whether the selected channel is free. | 10-27-2011 |
20110260836 | Device and Method for Radio Programming Wireless Terminal Devices - A method and device for radio programming wireless terminal devices, which have a unique radio identification and an optical or acoustic signal device, with a transceiver for radio communication with the terminal devices and a control device connected to the transceiver. The control device is configured for radio programming the terminal devices with a predetermined radio identification via the radio transceiver. The control device is connected with at least one optical or acoustic signal detector and is configured for transmitting a request for emission of an optical or acoustic signal to a terminal device with a predetermined radio identification via the transceiver. The terminal device is radio programmed, only when the signal detector detects an optical or acoustic signal. | 10-27-2011 |
20110246263 | METHOD FOR DETECTING VEHICLES WITH TRAILERS - A method for detecting vehicles with trailers in a road toll system, which comprises at least one radio beacon for radio communication with radio OBUs, wherein vehicles and trailers are respectively provided with their own OBUs carried by them, and a vehicle and a trailer are detected as belonging to one another when an evaluation of the radio communications with their OBU indicates that these are moving at a limited and constant distance from one another. | 10-06-2011 |
20110202662 | NETWORK NODE FOR AN AD-HOC NETWORK AND PROCESS FOR PROVIDING APPLICATION SERVICES IN AN AD-HOC NETWORK - A network node for an ad-hoc network having a plurality of network nodes of the same type, which provide one another with application services via wireless connections. The network node is configured to generate a list of all application services provided to it by other network nodes with associated quality classes and makes the list available to other network nodes as a list of the application services provided by it with such quality classes. At least one of the quality classes is dependent on movement vectors of at least one wireless connection, via which the respective application service is provided. The invention also relates to a method for providing application services in an ad-hoc network. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202648 | NETWORK NODE FOR AN AD-HOC NETWORK AND PROCESS FOR PROVIDING APPLICATION SERVICES IN AN AD-HOC NETWORK - A network node for an ad-hoc network having a plurality of network nodes of the same type, which provide one another with application services via wireless connections. The network node generates a list of all application services provided to it by other network nodes including associated quality classes and makes this list available to other network nodes as list of the application services provided by it with such quality classes. The quality class is at least dependent on the number of consecutive network nodes, via which the application service is provided, and the quality class specified by the last of these network nodes. The invention also relates to a method for providing application services in an ad-hoc network. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202476 | METHOD FOR RECHARGING ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTRIBUTED RECHARGING STATIONS - A method for recharging an electric vehicle in a recharging station of a network of geographically distributed recharging stations. The method includes: communicating availability of a recharging station to a control centre of the network; transmitting a recharge request from an onboard unit of the electric vehicle via communication devices of a road toll system to the control centre; assigning the onboard unit to an available recharging station in the control centre; notifying the onboard unit of the assigned recharging station via the communication devices of the road toll system and notifying the recharging station of the onboard unit; and activating the recharging station to recharge the electric vehicle, when the assigned onboard unit is detected therein. The recharging in the recharging station is monitored and an image of the vehicle is recorded in the recharging station in an event of an interruption, interference or deviation in the recharging process from a given course. | 08-18-2011 |
20110199049 | ASSEMBLY FOR ELECTRICALLY RECHARGING VEHICLES - An assembly for electrically recharging vehicles, to which individual radio units are assigned, having a parking space for a vehicle, a recharging station assigned to the parking space for cable-connected recharging of a vehicle located therein, and a transceiver connecting to the recharging station for communication with a radio unit, wherein the transceiver clears the recharging station for the recharging process depending on the communication with the radio unit, and the transceiver has a communication zone, which is restricted to the region of the parking space or can locate a radio unit as being located in this restricted region. | 08-18-2011 |
20110187506 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DSRC COMMUNICATION - A system and method for Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) between beacons and onboard units of a road toll system, wherein the beacons have a system-wide key and the onboard units have only individual keys, which are respectively formed from the system-wide key on the basis of a derivation code specific to the onboard units, wherein upon a communication from the onboard unit the derivation code is transmitted to the beacon in order to enable the beacon to emulate the individual key to encrypt/decrypt the communication with the onboard unit and/or for access to data stored in the onboard unit, and wherein upon communications with consecutive beacons the onboard unit transmits varying derivation codes. | 08-04-2011 |
20110161140 | ONBOARD UNIT FOR A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - An onboard unit for a road toll system including: at least one transceiver for transmitting toll-relevant data to transceiver stations for forwarding to a central processing unit of the road toll system; at least one camera, which is directed towards a passenger compartment of a vehicle carrying the onboard unit and can create at least one image recording of at least one section of the passenger compartment; and an evaluation unit connected down-line of the camera that detects and counts the passengers of the vehicle in the image recording. | 06-30-2011 |
20110157363 | ONBOARD UNIT FOR A ROAD TOLL SYSTEM - An onboard unit for a road toll system including: at least one transceiver for transmitting toll-relevant data to transceiver stations for forwarding to a central processing unit of the road toll system; and at least one camera, which is directed towards an environment in front of a vehicle carrying the onboard unit and can create at least one image recording of at least one section of the environment. The camera forms an object detector, which detects the presence of an object remaining substantially stationary in a moving environment of the vehicle and upon detection of such an object causes the camera to record an image. | 06-30-2011 |
20110125558 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING TOLL INFORMATION IN A ROAD-TOLL SYSTEM - A method for generating toll information for vehicle devices in a road-toll system with a toll center and geographically distributed radio beacons. The method includes providing a set of location data of toll-requiring geo-objects from the respective local environment of a beacon in this beacon, recording a sequence of position data of a vehicle device in this vehicle device, if the aforementioned vehicle device is in the transmitting/receiving range of a beacon: receiving the location-data set from this beacon in the vehicle device, comparing the position-data sequence with the received location-data set in the vehicle device in order to generate toll information therefrom, and if the above-mentioned vehicle device is in the transmitting/receiving range of a beacon: transmitting the toll information from the vehicle device via the beacon to the toll center. The invention further relates to a vehicle device, a beacon and a monitoring device for such a road-toll system. | 05-26-2011 |
20110093315 | APPARATUS FOR THE PERSONALIZATION AND REGISTRATION OF VEHICLE DEVICES - Apparatus for personalization and registration of vehicle devices of different types in a road toll system, comprising: for each type of vehicle device, a respective personalization module that is configured to write personalization data into a vehicle device of this type and generate the associated registration data, which contains the personalization data, an interface module common to all personalization modules that is configured to receive their registration data and, following a release request, send it to a registration database of the road toll system, and a testing unit that reads out the personalization data of a personalized but not yet registered vehicle device, checks the registration data generated by the responsible personalization module for agreement of the personalization data contained therein with the read-out personalization data, and if it agrees, sends a release request with respect to this registration data to the interface module. | 04-21-2011 |
20110090095 | Method and Apparatus for Displaying Toll Charging Parameters - The invention relates to methods and apparatus for displaying toll charging parameters of vehicles by means of a roadside display. In one embodiment, parameters are sent from an onboard-unit of the vehicle to the roadside display. In an alternative embodiment, parameters are registered under a vehicle identification in a database and retrieved therefrom for displaying on the roadside display by a detection of the identification of the vehicle. | 04-21-2011 |
20100303139 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING SIGNAL PHASE SHIFTS - A method and an apparatus for measuring a phase shift between a first and a second signal, comprising the steps of shifting the first signal in frequency by an offset frequency, superposing the frequency-shifted first signal and the second signal, determining an envelope signal of the superposed signal, and measuring a phase shift of the envelope signal at the offset frequency, or a multiple thereof, with respect to the phase of the offset frequency, wherein the phase shift is measured by determining a Fourier coefficient of the envelope signal at the offset frequency and extracting its phase. The invention further relates to an apparatus implementing the method. | 12-02-2010 |
20100287621 | Method For The Use-Specific Initialization Of Vehicle Devices - Method for the use-specific initialization of vehicle devices of a road toll system, wherein the devices communicate with a central system via a radio interface and have device identifiers (OID), the method including the steps of: registering driver data under a driver identifier (AID) and vehicle data under a vehicle identifier (VID) in the central system; allocating a use identifier (UID) to a driver identifier (AID) and to a vehicle identifier (VID) in the central system; input of the use identifier (UID) into a vehicle device; transmitting the use identifier (UID) and the device identifier (OID) from the vehicle device to the central system via the radio interface; registering the driver data and vehicle data for each driver identifier (AID) and vehicle identifier (VID) to which the received use identifier (UID) is allocated in the central system; transmitting the determined driver data and vehicle data from the central system back to the vehicle device specified by the received device identifier (OID) via the radio interface; and initializing the vehicle device with the received driver data and vehicle data. | 11-11-2010 |
20100283856 | Method For Calibrating The Image Of A Camera - A method for calibrating the image ( | 11-11-2010 |
20100267344 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BROADCAST MESSAGE TRANSMISSION IN MOBILE SYSTEMS - A method and device for dynamically changing transmission parameters of broadcast messages transmitted and received by a mobile unit. The method and device include monitoring transmission channel characteristics; dynamically adjusting the transmission parameters of a message based on the monitored transmission channel characteristics; and broadcasting the message using the adjusted transmission parameters. The transmission parameters may include one or more of transmission power, error code rate, and modulation rate. The transmission channel characteristics include one or more of the group consisting of received message density, channel congestion, detected number of message collisions, and signal to interference ratio. | 10-21-2010 |