Self declaring device for a vehicle using restrict traffic lanes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016343175-A1
Application number	US-201615225779-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 1, 2016
Priority date	May 6, 2011
Publication date	Nov 24, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides various examples of a self-declaring wireless device installed on a vehicle operable to automatically detect, determine and declare occupancy information of the vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane to an electronic toll collection (ETC) system. According to one aspect, a process for performing self-declaration by a vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane includes the steps of: receiving sensor data collected by one or more sensors installed on the vehicle; determining occupancy data of the vehicle based on the received sensor data; and controlling a wireless transceiver installed on the vehicle to communicate with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system associated with the restricted traffic lane based on the determined occupancy data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A self-declaring device installed on a vehicle, comprising:
a sensor module configured to collect data from inside the vehicle; a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system; and a microcontroller coupled to both the sensor module and the wireless transceiver and configured to:
receive at least a portion of data collected by the sensor module;
determine occupancy data based at least in part on the at least a portion of data; and
change an operation state of the wireless transceiver based at least on the determined occupancy data.

2 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module includes one or more sensors of the same type or a combination of different types of sensors, wherein the types of sensors include motion sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, and image sensors.

3 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the collected data include IR images captured by an IR sensor.

4 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the collected data include optical images captured by an image sensor.

5 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module and the microcontroller are coupled through a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a combination of both.

6 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein wireless transceiver includes one of the following: a radio frequency identification (RFID) module, a WI-FI module, a ZigBee module, and a Bluetooth® module.

7 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transceiver includes an RFID transponder configured to operate at multiple frequencies.

8 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the occupancy data include a number of occupants in the vehicle.

9 . The self-declaring device of claim 8 , wherein the occupancy data include a determination of whether the number of occupants in the vehicle exceeds a minimum number of occupants required for a specific high occupancy toll (HOT) lane access.

10 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller includes an imaging processing module which is configured to determine the occupancy data by processing a captured image in the at least a portion of data.

11 . The self-declaring device of claim 1 , wherein the operation state of the wireless transceiver includes an ON/OFF state.

12 . A computer-implemented method for performing self-declaration by a vehicle traveling on a restricted traffic lane, the method comprising:
receiving sensor data collected by one or more sensors installed on the vehicle; determining occupancy data of the vehicle based at least on the received sensor data; and controlling a wireless transceiver installed on the vehicle to communicate with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system associated with the restricted traffic lane based at least on the determined occupancy data.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein controlling the wireless transceiver to communicate with the ETC system includes:
transmitting the determined occupancy data to the wireless transceiver; and enabling the wireless transceiver to transmit the determined occupancy data to the ETC system to make a self-declaration.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more sensors include one of the following: a motion sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an image sensor, and a combination of the above.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein receiving the sensor data includes receiving the sensor data through one of the following: a wired connection, a wireless connection, and a combination of both.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining occupancy data of the vehicle includes processing one or more images inside the vehicle captured by the one or more sensors using an imaging processing module.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the occupancy data includes a number of occupants in the vehicle.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the occupancy data includes a determination of whether the number of occupants in the vehicle exceeds a minimum number of occupants required for a specific high occupancy toll (HOV) lane access.

19 . The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the occupancy data includes a determination of whether the number of occupants in the vehicle exceeds a minimum number of occupants required by the restricted traffic lane if the restricted traffic lane is a high occupancy toll (HOT) lane.

20 . The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein controlling the wireless transceiver includes enabling the wireless transceiver to communicate with the ETC system associated with the HOT lane if the determined number of occupants in the vehicle does not exceed the minimum number of occupants required by the HOT lane.

21 . The computer-implemented method of claim 20 , wherein communicating with the ETC system includes transmitting account information and/or exchanging payment information with the ETC system.

22 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein controlling the wireless transceiver includes changing an operation state of the wireless transceiver.

23 . The computer-implemented method of claim 22 , wherein the operation state includes an ON/OFF state of the wireless transceiver.

24 . The computer-implemented method of claim 22 , wherein the operation state includes an operation frequency of the wireless transceiver.

Assignees

• Neology Inc

Inventors

• Nyalamadugu Sheshi
• Mullis Joe
• Leanio Bobby

Classifications

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title

• G06K19/07345

  by activating or deactivating at least a part of the circuit on the record carrier, e.g. ON/OFF switches · CPC title

• G06K19/041 Primary

  Constructional details (G06K19/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06K19/07715

  the interface being used to indicate that the record carrier is active, e.g. a blinking light to indicate that the record carrier is busy communicating with a secondary device or busy computing · CPC title

• G08G1/017

  identifying vehicles (G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence) · CPC title