EP2256694A1 - Method and components for generating toll transactions - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves producing a toll transaction (T) from an identification (BID/SID) of a transmitting and receiving station rod (3) over a path of a server (6) by a vehicle device (14) i.e. onboard unit, where the identification is received by a short range-transmitter and receiver (2). The toll transaction is transmitted to a power station (5). The toll transaction directly transmitted to the power station is emulated. The toll transaction is provided with a cryptographic signature of the transmitting and receiving station rod. The road toll system is formed by the vehicle device. An independent claim is also included for a road toll system comprising a vehicle device.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for generating toll transactions in a road toll system, comprising vehicle devices both with a short range transceiver for communicating with stationary transceiver of a center and with a satellite navigation receiver with downstream mobile module for data transmission via a mobile network to a server of the center. The invention further relates to vehicle devices and servers for such road toll systems.

Modern road toll systems follow in their functions, role distributions and interfaces the principles defined in the standard ISO 17573, "Road Transport and Traffic Telematics - Electronic Fee Collection - System Architecture for Vehicle Related Transport Services".

Onboard units (OBUs) of the type mentioned are also referred to as "Hybdrid OBUs" because they both with transceiver beacons conventional infrastructure-based toll systems, eg DSRC toll systems (dedicated short range communication - toll charging) according to the DSRC standards according to CEN TC278, as well as with so-called GNSS toll collection systems (global navigation satellite system - great charging) can work together. Infrastructure-based tolling systems, such as DSRC toll systems, have a high degree of reliability with regard to the location of the vehicle equipment due to the well-known location of the transceiver beacons, whereas GNSS toll systems offer the advantage of free choice to the operator of a toll charger due to their low infrastructure requirements Mobile network and the toll transaction server has. On the other hand, GNSS toll systems have a lower positioning security, so that it has already been proposed, this with the help of additional locally distributed Increase transceiver beacons ("localization augmentation communication", LAC). Nevertheless, even with LAC-GNSS toll systems, it is currently not possible to achieve the high reliability of conventional infrastructure-based tolling systems, so that toll operators can continue to rely on infrastructure-based tolling systems and can not take advantage of the aforementioned freedom of choice.

The invention has as its object to provide methods and components for road toll systems, which combine the advantage of the high reliability of infrastructure-based toll systems with the advantage of free provider selection of GNSS toll systems.

This object is achieved in a first aspect with a method of the aforementioned type, which is characterized according to the invention in that generated by the vehicle unit from a received via the short-range transceiver identifier of a transceiver on the way of the server a toll transaction and to the control center is sent, this toll transaction emulates a transceiver sent directly to the headquarters toll collection transaction.

The invention makes use of the functionalities of conventional hybrid OBUs, which have hitherto acted separately in infrastructure-based and GNSS systems, in a novel link by the OBUs as it were "infrastructure-bound toll transactions", as they were previously generated by the transceiver of an infrastructure-based system itself and send it via the GNSS toll collection system to the central office. For the toll operator, this results in no changes to its fixed infrastructure, in particular its transceiver beacons and the central office, in which the toll transactions received can continue to be processed as conventional infrastructure-based toll transactions. The toll transactions continue to contain - as the previous infrastructure-bound Toll transactions - an identifier of the respective transceiver beacon, so that the operator has the high local security of conventional infrastructure-based toll systems. At the same time, however, he has the free choice of provider in terms of the server and the mobile network of the GNSS toll system through which this toll transaction are sent to the headquarters, so that the advantages of both known systems are combined.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention said toll transaction is additionally provided with a cryptographic signature and / or encryption of the transceiver beacon. As a result, a tamper-proof authentication of the transceiver beacon can be ensured with respect to the center, which further increases the location security.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a vehicle device for road toll systems, which has both a short range transceiver for communicating with stationary transceiver of a center and a satellite navigation receiver with downstream mobile module for position message via a mobile network to a server of the center and is characterized in that it generates a toll transaction from an identifier of a transceiver beacon received via the short range transceiver and transmits it to the central office via the mobile radio network and the server, this toll transaction emulating a toll transaction sent by transceiver beacons directly to the central station.

The vehicle device preferably additionally provides said toll transaction with a cryptographic signature and / or encryption of the transceiver beacon received via the short-range transceiver.

In yet another aspect, the invention provides a server for a road toll system, which is used to receive Toll transactions or position reports of vehicle devices of the type presented here is formed and sends these toll transactions or toll transactions generated from these position reports via an interface to a center of the road toll system.

With regard to the features and advantages of the vehicle device and server according to the invention, reference is made to the above statements.

• Fig. 1 ein DSRC-Straßenmautsystem nach dem Stand der Technik in schematischer Blockschaltbildform;
• Fig. 2 ein GNSS-Straßenmautsystem nach dem Stand der Technik in schematischer Blockschaltbildform; und
• Fig. 3 das Straßenmautsystem und Verfahren der Erfindung anhand eines schematischen Blockschaltbilds.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings shows:

• Fig. 1 a DSRC road toll system according to the prior art in a schematic block diagram form;
• Fig. 2 a GNSS road toll system according to the prior art in a schematic block diagram form; and
• Fig. 3 the road toll system and method of the invention with reference to a schematic block diagram.

According to Fig. 1 comprises a conventional infrastructure-based road toll system, eg a DSRC road toll system according to the DSRC standard CEN TC278. The road toll system comprises a plurality of vehicle devices or OBUs 1 equipped with a short range transceiver 2, such as an infrared transceiver or short range radio transceiver, in particular DSRC transponders, for communicating with stationary transceiver beacons 3 placed on the roadside. The term "transceiving beacon" or "beacon" in the present description means any type of stationary short-range transceiver, eg infrared, radio or in particular DSRC transceiver.

The vehicle devices 1 are each with a unique vehicle device identifier OID and the transceiver beacons 3 each with a unique own identifier, eg a beacon identifier BID and / or a station identifier SID a locally responsible station (not shown) provided.

When passing a transceiver beacon 3 with a vehicle device 1, the transceiver beacon 3 - or any devices connected to it, such as their stations, which are here counted to the transceiver beacon 3 for simplicity - generates a toll transaction T for a center 5 on an interface 4, which is in the area of influence of the toll operator TC ("toll charger"). The toll transaction T contains the vehicle device identifier OID and the beacon or station identifier BID / SID and - be it explicitly stated therein, or only implicitly referenced by the beacon or station identifier BID / SID - the location of the respective transceiver beacon 3.

In Fig. 1 Furthermore, the role of a service provider SP ("service provider") with a server 6 and a connected user database 7 is shown, which manages the vehicle device identifiers OID with respect to specific user accounts, assigns them to the OBUs 1 and, if necessary, also make them available to the center 5 can.

Fig. 2 shows the case of a conventional GNSS toll collection system whose OBUs 8 include satellite navigation receiver 9 for self-sufficient determination of their own position in a satellite navigation system 10 and - as so-called "thin clients" - corresponding position reports or - as so-called "thick clients" - already derived therefrom "finished" toll transactions T by means of a mobile module 11 via a mobile network 12 to the server 6 of the service provider SP dedicate.

The server 6 transmits the toll transactions T received from "thick client" OBUs 8, or the toll transactions T completed from position reports of "thin client" OBUs 8, to the center 5 via a back office interface 13, the toll transactions T being the respective ones Vehicle device identifier OID and the respective vehicle device position LOC included. The toll operator TC may perform manual random checks on the positions of the vehicle devices 8 (CHK) to check the toll transactions T.

Fig. 3 shows the road toll system and method according to the invention with its components, which consists of a novel, modified combination of the systems Fig. 1 and 2 composed. Like reference numerals designate like components as in FIGS Fig. 1 and 2 ,

The at the road toll systems of Fig. 3 used vehicle devices 14 are hybrid OBUs and have both a short range transceiver 2, in particular DSRC transponder, for communication with the transceiver beacons 3, in particular DSRC transceivers, as well as a mobile module 11 for issuing messages via the mobile network 12 to the server. 6 The vehicle devices 14 are here modified in such a way that they can themselves generate toll transactions T (OID, BID / SID) from the identifiers BID / SID received from the transceiver bays 3 in the course of the short-range communication which correspond to the toll transactions on the interface 4 of the system of FIG Fig. 1 are functionally equivalent, ie they emulate.

Alternatively, the vehicle devices 14 first generate position messages from the beacon or station identifications BID / SID obtained from the transceiver beacons 3 in the course of the short-range communication, which are sent to the server 6, and this is modified such that it can use the received toll-related T (T) transaction messages. OID, BID / SID) which is responsible for the toll transactions on interface 4 of the system Fig. 1 are functionally equivalent, ie they emulate.

In particular, the toll transactions T contain in each case the beacon and / or station identifier BID or SID of the respective transceiver beacon 3 or their station and, be it explicitly indicated therein or implicitly identified by the beacon or station identifier BID / SID - also the location of the respective transceiver beacon 3.

The toll transactions T can additionally be provided with a cryptographic signature of the respective transceiver beacon 3 and / or encrypted with this signature or another key; this also includes the case where e.g. only the identifier BID / SID contained in the toll transaction is provided with such a signature or encrypted.

The toll transactions T are forwarded from the server 6 via the back-office interface 13 to the central office 5. The symbolic arrow 15, which leads in the central office 5 to the interface 4, indicates that the central station 5 treats the toll transactions T thus obtained in the same way as conventional toll transactions previously generated by the transceiver bays 3 and received via the interface 4 , If desired, the server 6 can also feed the toll transaction T directly into the interface 4, but this requires a corresponding additional connection between server 6 and center 5.

This now also makes it possible to connect the central office 5 via the back-office interface 13 to server 6 of different service providers SP, so that there is free provider selection for the central operator TC. If, after a transitional period, the road toll system no longer comprises "pure" infrastructure-based vehicle devices 1, the connection between the transceiver beacons 3 and the interface 4 can also be disconnected; subsequently could be even completely dispensed with the transceiver beacons 3.

The invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, but includes all variants and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (7)

A method for generating toll transactions (T) in a road toll system comprising vehicle devices (14) having both a short range transceiver (2) for communicating with fixed transceiver beacons (3) of a center (5) and a satellite navigation receiver (9) Downstream mobile radio module (11) for data transmission via a mobile network (12) to a server (6) of the control center (5), characterized in that the vehicle unit (14) from an over the short range transceiver (2) received identifier (BID / SID) of a transceiver beacon (3) via the path of the server (6) generates a toll transaction (T) and is sent to the central (5), said toll transaction (T) one of transceiver (3) directly to the center (5) submitable toll transaction (T) emulated. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said toll transaction (T) is additionally provided with a cryptographic signature of the transceiver beacon (3). 2. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said toll transaction (T) is additionally provided with a cryptographic encryption of the transceiver beacon (3). 4. Vehicle device (14) for road toll systems, which includes both a short range transceiver (2) for communicating with stationary transceiver beacons (3) of a control center (5) and a satellite navigation receiver (9) with downstream mobile radio module (11) for position reporting via a mobile network ( 12) to a server (6) of the control center (5), characterized in that it generates a toll transaction (T) from an identifier (BID / SID) of a transceiver beacon (3) received via the short range transceiver (2) and sends via the mobile network (12) and the server (6) to the center (5), this toll transaction (T) emulates a toll transaction (T) which can be sent directly to the center (5) by transceivers (3). 5. Vehicle device according to claim 4, characterized in that it provides said toll transaction (T) additionally with a via the short range transceiver (2) received cryptographic signature and / or encryption of the transceiver beacon (3). 6. server (6) for a road toll system, which is designed for the receipt of toll transactions (T) of vehicle devices (14) according to claim 4 or 5 and these toll transactions (T) via an interface (4) to a control center (5) Road toll system sends. 7. Road toll system with at least one vehicle device (14), which both a short range transceiver (2) for communication with stationary transceiver (3) a central (5) of the road toll system and a satellite navigation receiver (9) with downstream mobile module (11) for position reporting via a mobile radio network (12) to a server (6) of the control center (5), characterized in that the vehicle device (14) comprises an identification (BID / SID) of a transceiver beacon (3) received via the short range transceiver (2) generates a position message and sends it via the mobile network (12) to the server (6), wherein the server (6) generates a toll transaction (T) from such a position message and sends it via an interface (4) to a center (5) of the road toll system , and wherein this toll transaction (T) emulates a toll transaction (T) which can be sent directly to the control center (5) by transceiver beacons (3).

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