Vehicle, vehicle identification system, vehicle identification method, program, and method for attaching onboard unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11235743-B2
Application number	US-201716498036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2017
Priority date	Mar 29, 2017
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle is provided with: a main vehicle body having an attachment portion to which a towed vehicle can be attached, and a first onboard unit and a second onboard unit attached to the main vehicle body, the first onboard unit and the second onboard unit being installed so as to be capable of communicating with a roadside device. The first onboard unit has type information relating to the type of the main vehicle body, and is provided at a position at which communication with the roadside device is possible both when the towed vehicle is attached to the attachment portion and when the towed vehicle is not attached to the attachment portion. The second onboard unit is provided at a position at which communication with the roadside device is possible when the towed vehicle is not attached to the attachment portion and at which communication with the roadside device is not possible when the towed vehicle is attached to the attachment portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a main vehicle body including an attachment portion to which a towed vehicle is attachable; and
a first onboard unit and a second onboard unit that are attached to the main vehicle body and disposed so as to be capable of communicating with a roadside device, wherein
the first onboard unit holds type information relating to a type of the main vehicle body and is provided at a position at which the first onboard unit is capable of communicating with the roadside device in a state in which the towed vehicle is attached to the attachment portion and in a state in which the towed vehicle is not attached, and
the second onboard unit is provided at a position at which the second onboard unit is capable of communicating with the roadside device in the state in which the towed vehicle is not attached to the attachment portion and is not capable of communicating with the roadside device in the state in which the towed vehicle is attached to the attachment portion.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the second onboard unit includes an RFID tag.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
in the state in which the towed vehicle is attached to the attachment portion, the second onboard unit is electromagnetically shielded by the towed vehicle so as to be incapable of communicating with the roadside device.

4. A vehicle identification system comprising:
a roadside device configured to receive, from a first onboard unit attached to a main vehicle body, which is a main vehicle body of a vehicle and which includes an attachment portion to which a towed vehicle is attachable, first information including type information relating to a type of the main vehicle body, and configured to receive second information from a second onboard unit attached to the main vehicle body;
a first information processing unit configured to acquire the first information from the roadside device and to identify the type of the main vehicle body from the type information;
a second information processing unit configured to initiate, in relation to the identified type, a standby for the second information from the roadside device; and
a towing determination unit configured to determine that the main vehicle body is not towing the towed vehicle when the second information processing unit acquires the second information, and configured to determine that the main vehicle body is towing the towed vehicle when the second information processing unit does not acquire the second information.

5. A vehicle identification method comprising:
a first information processing step of acquiring, from a first onboard unit attached to a main vehicle body, which is a main vehicle body of a vehicle and which includes an attachment portion to which a towed vehicle is attachable, first information including type information relating to a type of the main vehicle body, and identifying a type of the main vehicle body from the type information;
a second information processing step of initiating, in relation to the identified type, a standby for second information from a second onboard unit attached to the main vehicle body; and
a towing determining step of determining that the main vehicle body is not towing the towed vehicle when the second information is acquired in the second information processing step, and determining that the main vehicle body is towing the towed vehicle when the second information is not acquired in the second information processing step.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Mach Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Higuchi Tatsuya
• Kitajima Kazuyoshi

Classifications

• G08G1/015 Primary

  with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles · CPC title

• B60T8/248

  Trailer sway, e.g. for preventing jackknifing · CPC title

• B60T7/20

  specially for trailers, e.g. in case of uncoupling of {or overrunning by} trailer (inertia-actuated overrun brakes B60T13/08) · CPC title

• G06K7/10297

  arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 (cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00) · CPC title

• B60T2230/00

  Monitoring, detecting special vehicle behaviour; Counteracting thereof · CPC title