JP2001357486A - Vehicle management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems that it can not be accurately detected that a specified vehicle such as a rent-a-car enters a specified place such as a parking lot and vehicle management can not be sufficiently performed. SOLUTION: This vehicle management system is provided with an electromagnetic wave type fixed station provided with a transmitter-receiver attached to a prescribed position on the ground for outputting absolute position information for indicating the attached position and receiving vehicle information from a vehicle, a mobile station for receiving the absolute position information outputted from the transmitter-receiver of the electromagnetic wave type fixed station, attaching the vehicle information including an intrinsic vehicle code different for each vehicle to the absolute position information and outputting it and a vehicle management center for receiving the absolute position information and the vehicle information from the mobile station, instructing a charging processing through the electromagnetic wave type fixed station to the vehicle of the mobile station which transmits the received vehicle information and managing the absolute position information and the vehicle information of the vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle management system for managing a vehicle using absolute position information of a fixed station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a system for managing the location of a mobile body such as a vehicle using a positioning system such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) has been provided. For example, JP-A-11-
That is described in Japanese Patent No. 23292.
The rent-a-car drop-off position management system described therein, as shown in FIG. 6, includes a handset 5 of a mobile telephone,
Based on the current position notification device 7, the transceiver 6 connected to the current position notification device 7, and the position information sent from the current position notification device 7, position management of a rental car equipped with the current position notification device 7 The present location notification device 7 is mounted on a rental car, and the management center 10 is installed as a fixed station in a rental car company or the like.

The current position notifying device 7 is a GPS receiving unit 1 for calculating current position information (absolute position information) of a vehicle such as a rental car on which the current position notifying device 7 is mounted, based on a signal from an artificial satellite. And PB (Push B
(U.T.) transmission unit 3, an audio interface unit 4, and a control unit 2 that calculates and controls data between these units. The management center 10 includes a line interface unit 11 for interfacing with the public telephone line 8, a PB transmitting unit 12 and a PB receiving unit 13.
A database 14 of area map and vehicle management information,
It is composed of a timer 15, a control unit 16 for calculating and controlling data between these units, and a display unit 17 for displaying the calculation result of the control unit 16.

The current position notifying device 7 calculates the current position of the vehicle equipped with the current position notifying device 7 in response to an inquiry from the management center 10.
The information is read from the receiving unit 1 and notified to the management center 10 via the exchange 9 of the public telephone line 8, and the management center 10 manages the drop-off position of the rent-a-car based on the data sent from the current position notification device 7. Do.

[0005]

However, when such a device is employed in a rental car used in an urban area, for example, a rental car for an electric vehicle, the rental car is used in a building, so that the GPS is required. There is a case where the receiving unit 1 enters a valley of a building and becomes difficult to receive a radio wave from a satellite. In addition, the special use of this type of rental car, that is, it is necessary to scatter small parking lots everywhere so that you can freely drop off anywhere, so arrange a small parking lot for several cars facing the road The detection accuracy of the current position by GPS is poor,
In addition, in the current situation where the error is large, even if the rental car is dropped off at a regular position in the parking lot, it may be recognized as parking on the road, and the management center 10 may not be able to manage the vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and a vehicle such as a rental car can be used by utilizing an electromagnetic wave such as a beacon which enables communication within a narrow area having a radius of about 2 m. It is an object of the present invention to accurately detect when a vehicle enters a parking lot, and to sufficiently manage where the vehicle is located in the parking lot.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle management system which is mounted at a predetermined position on the ground.
An electromagnetic wave fixed station having a transceiver for receiving vehicle information from a vehicle while outputting absolute position information indicating the mounting position, receiving absolute position information output from a transceiver of the electromagnetic wave fixed station, A mobile station that outputs by attaching vehicle information including a unique vehicle code different for each vehicle to the position information, and a state in which the vehicle as the mobile station is dropped off upon receiving the absolute position information and the vehicle information from the mobile station. When it is determined that the vehicle information has been received, the vehicle of the mobile station that has received the received vehicle information is instructed to perform a charging process via the electromagnetic wave fixed station, and the absolute position information and the vehicle information of the vehicle are managed. And a vehicle management center.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle management system which outputs absolute position information and vehicle information, and is mounted at a predetermined position on the ground and receives absolute position information and vehicle information from the mobile station. Based on the absolute position information and the vehicle information, when it is determined that the vehicle serving as the mobile station is in a state of being abandoned, the vehicle of the mobile station that has transmitted the vehicle information is transmitted via the electromagnetic wave fixed station to the vehicle. And a vehicle management center for managing the absolute position information and the vehicle information of the vehicle.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1 FIG. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a vehicle management system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in particular, a vehicle management system for managing a drop-off position of a rental car.
FIG. 3 is a system circuit block diagram of the vehicle management system, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a data processing procedure in the system. Next, the configuration of each unit shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail. The same or equivalent components as those in the circuit block diagram described in FIG. 6 are given the same reference numerals. The detailed description of the lever is omitted.

First, the difference between the vehicle management system according to the present invention and the vehicle management system described in the conventional example is that, first, the conventional management system uses GPS, but the system according to the present invention uses a beacon. It detects and manages the parking position (latitude, longitude) of a vehicle such as a rental car by using radio waves, and manages the beacon radio wave generator (fixed station) 31 and the current position notification device (mobile station) 20. There is a great difference in the configuration. The current position notifying device 20 includes a beacon receiving unit 32 that receives a signal indicating the latitude and longitude constantly output from the beacon radio wave generating device 31, and a PB (Push Button) transmitting unit 3.
, An interface unit 33, a display unit 34, a card reading / writing device 36, and a control unit 35 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from these units.

That is, the beacon radio wave generator 31
Is, for example, the ITS currently being promoted as a national business
(Intelligent Transport System) This business uses beacon radio wave transmitters installed at each intersection to form fixed stations.

The beacon radio wave generator 31 is equipped with the same transceiver as that of the beacon radio wave generator installed at each intersection. The beacon radio wave generator 31 is so narrow that about five vehicles can be finally parked. The beacon radio wave generator 31 is provided between adjacent regular parking positions so as to cover, for example, the regular parking position of the vehicle in the parking lot, and while a vehicle such as a rental car is always parked at the regular parking position. Is always ready to communicate with. The beacon radio wave generator 31 transmits a signal indicating the position where the beacon radio wave generator 31 is installed, that is, the latitude and the background, and transmits the signal from the current position notification device 20 mounted on the rental car. The received absolute position information, vehicle information, and the like are transmitted to the vehicle management center 10.

A second difference is that instead of the GPS receiving unit 1, a beacon receiving unit 32, a display unit 34, and a card reading / writing device 36 are connected to a control unit 35, and the card reading / writing device 36 The various types of information are read from a card on which information such as personal information of a rent-a-car user, charging information, vehicle information, etc. is written and supplied to the control unit 35, and the rental fee is charged from the management center 10. When the information is supplied, the information is supplied to the card reading / writing device 36 and written on the card.

Next, the beacon radio wave generator 31
The above-mentioned specific parking lot (where the company that manages the rental car specially manages to park this rental car)
Are arranged between adjacent areas of the regular parking positions to form a fixed station, and the communication range is a very narrow space such as a radius of 2 m, for example, near the intersections A1, A2, A3, shown in FIG.
It is set in an extremely narrow area such as A4, specific parking lots B1 and B2.

Further, the beacon radio wave transmitting device 31 comprises:
When vehicle information and the like are supplied with the absolute position information attached thereto from the rental car current position notification device 20, the vehicle information and the like are received and supplied to the management center 10, and the vehicle management transmitted from the management center 10 is also received. Request signal for the rental car to the current position notification device 20 of the rental car, and data read by the card reading / writing device 36 in response to the various request signal, for example, the personal information of the rental car borrower written on the card Information (ID code for personal identification, name of affiliated organization, etc.), balance of card used, billing information of issuing bank (usable balance, credit company name, etc.), vehicle information such as management number of rented car (Remaining battery power, fault diagnosis data, reservation information, etc.)
Is transmitted from the rental car current position notification device 20 to the management center 10.

The control unit 35 includes the beacon receiving unit 3
When the signals indicating latitude and longitude supplied from 2 are input,
The “parking lot name” corresponding to the latitude and longitude is read from a memory (not shown) and displayed on the display unit 34, and a signal indicating the latitude and longitude is supplied to the interface unit 33 and converted into a signal from the PB transmission unit 3. Transceiver 2 based on
1 is supplied. The control unit 35 outputs the personal information and billing information read by the card reading / writing device 36 attached to the signals indicating the latitude and longitude,
Data indicating the vehicle number is read from a memory (not shown) and output together.

Next, the operation of the present system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 in a case where a rental car is borrowed in the specific parking lot B1 in FIG. 1 and returned at the specific parking lot B2.

When the user inserts the IC card lent to the user into the card reading / writing device 36 provided in the rental car rented at the specific parking lot B1,
The card reading / writing device 36 instructs the control unit 35 to call the management center 10 (step S).
T100). On the other hand, in the management center 10, step ST
At 110, the system waits for an incoming call from the rental car, and when it is determined that there is an incoming call, the control unit 35 instructs the card reading / reading device 36 to read the IC card.

The card reading / writing device 36 reads personal information, billing information, vehicle number information, vehicle information and the like from the inserted IC card and transmits them to the management center 10 (step ST120). As a result, the control unit 16 of the management center 10 in step ST130
The registered vehicle number information, personal information, and managed billing information are read from the database 14 and examined in step ST140.

If the result of the examination is that the user or vehicle number is not registered, or if the balance is not sufficient, a signal indicating travel disapproval is returned to the vehicle in step ST150. If the examination result is OK, the lending permission data is created in step ST160, and the lending vehicle management ledger is read from the database 14 in step ST170, and the lending vehicle management ledger is stored in the next step ST180. , The vehicle number information and the like are written and registered.

Thereafter, in step ST190, a travel permission is issued, and when the rental car is ready to travel, the beacon receiving section 3 of the current position notifying device 20 attached to the vehicle.
2 receives the position information transmitted from the beacon radio wave generator 31 installed at the regular parking position of the specific parking lot B1 (step ST200), and controls the latitude and longitude of the specific parking lot B1 together with the vehicle number information to the control unit. 35 to the management center 10.

The control unit 16 of the management center 10 determines whether the latitude and longitude correspond to one of the specific parking lots B1 and B2 registered in the database 14 based on the transmitted latitude and longitude. (Step ST21).
0) If it is the first match, the specific parking lot B1
Is written in the vehicle management ledger as the start point of the charging process, the lending timer is started to operate, and the measurement of the lending time is started (step ST220). Thereafter, the process returns to step ST210. Then, this loop is executed only once, and thereafter, only step ST210 is repeatedly executed, and is continued until it is determined that the vehicle is abandoned.

If the second and subsequent times are the same, or if it is determined that the specific parking lot B2 is different from the start point registered in the database 14, it is determined that the rental car is abandoned (step ST210). , Step S
At T230, the rental time is read from the rental timer, a rental fee is calculated, a billing process is performed by the vehicle management ledger, and the billing data is transmitted from the management center 10 to the control unit 35 on the vehicle side. 35 reads the balance from the IC card, activates the card reading / writing device 36, performs a charging process on the inserted IC card, and displays the result on the display unit 34.

Embodiment 2 FIG. The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in the first embodiment, the beacon radio wave generator 31 always indicates the place where the beacon radio wave generator 31 is provided on the vehicle side. In contrast to generating absolute position information, the second embodiment
When a signal indicating some information is generated from the vehicle side to the beacon radio wave generator 40, the beacon radio wave generator 40 attaches the absolute position information to the signal indicating the supplied information, and adds the absolute position information to the management center 10. (See FIG. 4). In FIG. 4, the same or equivalent components as those in the circuit block diagram of FIG. 2 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals.

That is, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, the user reads the card reading / writing device 36 installed in the rental car rented in the specific parking lot B1.
Then, when the IC card lent to the user is inserted, the card reading / writing device 36 instructs the control unit 35 to make a call to the management center 10 (step ST10).
0). On the other hand, the management center 10 executes step ST110.
Waits for an incoming call from the rental car, and when it is determined that there is an incoming call, the control unit 35 instructs the card reading / reading device 36 to read the IC card.

The card reading / writing device 36 reads personal information, billing information, vehicle number information, vehicle information, etc. from the inserted IC card (step ST120).
When the signal is transmitted to the beacon radio wave generator 40, the received signal indicating the absolute position of the beacon radio wave generator 40 indicating the latitude and longitude is attached to the information read in step ST120 and transmitted to the management center 10 (step ST280). As a result, the control unit 1 of the management center 10
6 corresponds to the database 14 in step ST260.
, The registered vehicle number information, personal information, and managed charging information are read and examined in step ST140.

If the result of the examination is that the user or vehicle number is not registered or the balance is not sufficient, a signal indicating that driving is not permitted is returned to the vehicle in step ST150. If the examination result is OK, the lending permission data is created in step ST160, and the lending vehicle management ledger is read from the database 14 in step ST170, and the lending vehicle management ledger is stored in the next step ST180. , The vehicle number information and the like are written and registered.

Thereafter, in step ST190, a travel permission is issued, the rental car is ready to travel, and a signal indicating that the vehicle has received the travel permission is returned to the management center 10 via the beacon radio wave generator 40. The control unit 16 of the management center 10 determines, based on the received latitude and longitude, whether or not one of the specific parking lots B1 and B2 registered in the database 14 is applicable. If it is the first match, the specific parking lot B1 is written in the vehicle management ledger as a starting point of the charging process (step ST210), and the lending timer is started to start the measurement of the lending time (step ST210). Step ST220). Thereafter, the process returns to step ST210. Then, this loop is executed only once, and thereafter, only step ST210 is repeatedly executed, and is continued until it is determined that the vehicle is abandoned.

If the second and subsequent times are the same, or if it is determined that the specific parking lot B2 is different from the start point registered in the database 14, it is determined that the rental car is abandoned (step ST210). , Step S
At T230, the rental time is read from the rental timer, a rental fee is calculated, a billing process is performed by the vehicle management ledger, and the billing data is transmitted from the management center 10 to the control unit 35 on the vehicle side. 35 reads the balance from the IC card, activates the card reading / writing device 36, performs a charging process on the inserted IC card, and displays the result on the display unit 34.

[0030]

According to the present invention, when a vehicle is parked at a specific place, the place can be specified with high accuracy, so that the vehicle can be reliably managed even in a valley of a building. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a vehicle management system for abandoning a rental car according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a vehicle management system for abandoning a rental car according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a circuit block diagram of the vehicle management system for abandoning a rental car in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram of a vehicle management system for abandoning a rental car according to another embodiment 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the circuit block diagram of the vehicle management system in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a configuration explanatory view of a conventional vehicle management system for abandoning a rental car.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Transceiver 8 Public telephone line 10 Management center 11 Line interface unit 12 PB (Push Button) transmitting unit 13 PB receiving unit 14 Database 15 Timer 16, 35 Control unit 17, 34 Display unit 20 Current position notifying device 21 Transceiver 30, 31, 40 beacon radio wave generator 32 beacon receiver 33 interface unit 36 card reader / writer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page F term (reference) 5B049 AA06 CC36 CC40 EE23 EE25 GG04 5H180 AA01 BB05 BB12 CC12 EE10 FF01 FF05 FF10 FF13 FF32 KK03 KK08 5K033 AA09 BA06 BA08 CB01 DA01 DA06 DA19 DB20 DB18 DB18

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electromagnetic wave fixed station having a transceiver mounted at a predetermined position on the ground, outputting absolute position information indicating the mounting position, and receiving vehicle information and absolute position information from a vehicle; A mobile station that receives absolute position information output from a transceiver of a fixed station, and outputs the absolute position information by attaching vehicle information including a unique vehicle code that is different for each vehicle; When the position information and the vehicle information are received from the electromagnetic wave fixed station and it is determined that the vehicle as the mobile station is in a state of being abandoned, the absolute position information and the vehicle information of the mobile station that transmitted the received vehicle information A vehicle management system comprising a vehicle management center for managing the vehicle. 2. A mobile station that outputs absolute position information and vehicle information, and is attached to a predetermined position on the ground, and when the mobile station enters a communication area, receives vehicle information from the mobile station, An electromagnetic wave fixed station that outputs the received vehicle information with the absolute position information attached thereto, and a vehicle that is the mobile station based on the absolute position information and the vehicle information of the mobile station supplied from the electromagnetic wave fixed station. A vehicle management system comprising: a vehicle management center that manages absolute position information and vehicle information of the vehicle when it is determined that the vehicle is abandoned.