Toll advertisement message road topologies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11676426-B2
Application number	US-202117207008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2021
Priority date	Mar 19, 2021
Publication date	Jun 13, 2023
Grant date	Jun 13, 2023

Abstract

Smart tolling for vehicles is provided. A toll advertisement message (TAM) is received by a vehicle, broadcast from a road-side unit (RSU) via V2X communication, the TAM defining a plurality of toll road tariff data elements, each of the toll road tariff data elements specifying a set of tolling factors indexed by a unique toll context identifier. Roadway usage of the vehicle is determined. A charge for the roadway usage is determined according to the set of tolling factors of the TAM. A toll usage message (TUM) is sent via the V2X communication, the TUM indicating, to the RSU, the tariff for the roadway usage of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for smart tolling, comprising:
receiving, by a vehicle, a toll advertisement message (TAM), broadcast from a road-side unit (RSU) via V2X communication, the TAM defining a plurality of toll road tariff data elements, each of the toll road tariff data elements specifying a set of tolling factors indexed by a unique toll context identifier,
determining roadway usage of the vehicle,
determining a tariff for the roadway usage according to the set of tolling factors of the TAM, and
sending a toll usage message (TUM) via the V2X communication, the TUM indicating, to the RSU, the tariff for the roadway usage of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the toll road tariff data elements specifies a tariff for one or more of vehicle class, time class, distance class, entry-exit combination, and/or toll tariff approach type.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a section toll tariff approach with tariffs for traversal per road segment.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a closed network approach type in which each of a plurality of road exit from an entrance has an indicated tariff for exiting at that respective road exit.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a cordon charging toll tariff approach in which entrance and exit of a cordon area has an indicated cost.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes an area charging toll tariff approach in which cost is incurred according to time spent in a cordon area.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes an area charging toll tariff approach in which cost is incurred according to distance traveled in a cordon area.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the toll road tariff data elements specifies a tariff for a combination of two or more of vehicle class, time class, distance class, entry-exit combination, and/or toll tariff approach type.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying information, the information including class of the vehicle, time of day, entrance used by the vehicle, exit used by the vehicle, time spent in a cordon area, and distance traveled in the cordon area;
comparing the information to the toll road tariff data elements to identify one of the toll road tariff data elements that applies to the vehicle; and
determining the tariff for the roadway usage using the one of the toll road tariff data elements and the information.

10. A vehicle for smart tolling, comprising:
a telematics control unit configured to provide vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication; and
a processor, programmed to
receive a toll advertisement message (TAM), broadcast from a road-side unit (RSU) via the V2X communication, the TAM defining a plurality of toll road tariff data elements, each of the toll road tariff data elements specifying a set of tolling factors indexed by a unique toll context identifier,
determine roadway usage of the vehicle with respect to roadway geometry,
determine a tariff for the roadway usage according to the set of tolling factors of the TAM, and
send a toll usage message (TUM) via the V2X communication, the TUM indicating, to the RSU, the tariff for the roadway usage of the vehicle.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein each of the toll road tariff data elements specifies a tariff for one or more of vehicle class, time class, distance class, entry-exit combination, and/or toll tariff approach type.

12. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a section toll tariff approach with tariffs for traversal per road segment.

13. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a closed network approach type in which each of a plurality of road exit from an entrance has an indicated tariff for exiting at that respective road exit.

14. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes a cordon charging toll tariff approach in which entrance and exit of a cordon area has an indicated cost.

15. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes an area charging toll tariff approach in which cost is incurred according to time spent in a cordon area.

16. The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the toll tariff approach type includes an area charging toll tariff approach in which cost is incurred according to distance traveled in a cordon area.

17. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein each of the toll road tariff data elements specifies a tariff for a combination of two or more of vehicle class, time class, distance class, entry-exit combination, and/or toll tariff approach type.

18. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further programmed to:
identify information including class of the vehicle, time of day, entrance used by the vehicle, exit used by the vehicle, time spent in a cordon area, and distance traveled in the cordon area;
compare the information to the toll road tariff data elements to identify one of the toll road tariff data elements that applies to the vehicle; and
determine the tariff for the roadway usage using the one of the toll road tariff data elements and the information.

19. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the TAM specifies locations of one or more rest stops and/or service stops along the roadway geometry, and the processor is further programmed to:
maintain information with respect to traversal of at least a portion of the roadway geometry during power off at a rest stop or service stop; and
send the toll usage message (TUM) after powering the vehicle back on and the vehicle is in vicinity of the RSU.

20. The vehicle of claim 19 , wherein the TAM specifies whether an upcoming toll gantry is of a type requiring the vehicle to stop and go or proceed to drive under a speed limit, and the processor is further programmed to indicate an alert, in the vehicle user interface, responsive to the upcoming toll gantry requiring the vehicle to stop and go or proceed to drive under the speed limit.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Bandi Krishna
• Palakonda Sathyanarayana Chary
• Hamilton Brennan
• Ibrahim Samer
• Vukovic Ivan
• Ahmad Syed Amaar

Classifications

• G08G1/096783

  where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element · CPC title

• G07B15/063 Primary

  using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station (identification of vehicles G08G) · CPC title

• G08G1/096716

  where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W4/44

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title