JPH04366708A - Car sort discriminating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a car sort discriminating device which can discriminate the car sort securely and can improve the accuracy of the car sort discrimination remarkably. CONSTITUTION:A luminous member 5 composed by providing numerous luminous elements in a matrix from, and a light receiving member 6 composed by providing numerous light receiving elements in a matrix form corresponding to the luminous elements of the luminous member 5 are set on both sides of a running road opposing relatively, and tires of a car are passed between the both members. A sensor controller 9 drives to scan the luminous member 5 and the receiving member 6, and outputs a sensor data according to the running of the tires of the car. A tire diameter operation member 10 finds the circular arc data of the tires from the circular arc of the parts of the dark condition of the sensor data, and finds the diameter data of the tires by the found circular arc data. A car sort discriminator 11 discriminates the car sort depending on the found diameter data and other car sort data 12.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle type discrimination device for determining the type of automobile on a toll road or a toll parking lot, for example.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, for example, at a toll gate on a toll road, an attendant performs the task of collecting tolls. In this case, if the type of vehicle (automobile) can be automatically identified,
It is thought that it will be possible to automate these tasks, and conventionally,
The following vehicle type discrimination method has been proposed.

In other words, it detects the number of vehicle axles, tread, vehicle length, vehicle height, tire width (single/double), size of the license plate, information on lowercase letters on the license plate, etc. The vehicle type is then determined from this information.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional vehicle type discrimination method has the following problems. In other words, as mentioned above, the vehicle type is determined based on a number of parameters such as the number of vehicle axles, tread, vehicle length, vehicle height, tire width, size of the license plate, and information on lowercase letters on the license plate. , they are required to be detected with high precision. This is because there is not much difference in the above parameters between vehicle types. Therefore, if the above-mentioned parameters cannot be detected accurately, it may become impossible to identify the vehicle type, or the vehicle type may be erroneously determined. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle type discrimination device that enables reliable vehicle type discrimination and significantly improves the accuracy of vehicle type discrimination.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The vehicle type discrimination device of the present invention includes a large number of optical sensors that are installed on the side of a road on which a vehicle travels, and that obtain projection information of the side surface of a tire mounted on the vehicle. an optical sensor device arranged in a matrix, a calculation means for calculating the tire diameter information based on the projection information of the tire side surface obtained from the optical sensor device, and an optical sensor device for calculating the tire diameter information obtained by the calculation means. and discriminating means for discriminating the vehicle type of the vehicle based on the vehicle type.

[0006]

[Function] The diameter of the tires installed on a vehicle varies greatly between car models, so by measuring the tire diameter and using it as information for car type identification, reliable car type identification becomes possible. Accuracy is significantly improved.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the arrangement of optical sensor devices in the vehicle type discrimination device according to this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is the driving path at the entrance gate of a toll road, for example, and a vehicle (automobile) entering the entrance gate.
2 runs in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. An optical sensor device 4 is installed on the side of the traveling path 1 to obtain projection information of the side surface of a tire 3 mounted on an incoming vehicle 2. The optical sensor device 4 includes a large number of optical sensors arranged in a matrix.

That is, the optical sensor device 4 includes, for example, a light emitting section 5 disposed on one side of the running path 1, and a light emitting section 5 disposed on the other side of the running path 1 facing the light emitting section 5. The vehicle 2 is configured to pass between the light emitting section 5 and the light receiving section 6. In this case, the positions of the light emitting section 5 and the light receiving section 6 are set so that they face the side surfaces of the tires 3 of the traveling vehicle 2. The light emitting section 5 includes a large number of light emitting elements (light sources) 7 arranged in a matrix, and the light receiving section 6 includes a large number of light receiving elements corresponding to each of the light emitting elements 7, ... of the light emitting section 5. 8,... are arranged in a matrix.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a vehicle type discrimination device according to this embodiment. That is, the light emitting section 5 and the light receiving section 6 are each connected to the sensor control section 9. The sensor control section 9 associates each light emitting element 7,... of the light emitting section 5 with each light receiving element 8,... of the light receiving section 6, so that a pair of elements 7,...
, 8 is sequentially scanned to prevent interference with light from other light emitting elements. Then, the sensor control unit 9 takes in the output signals of the light receiving elements 8, . . . of the light receiving unit 6, and outputs them as bright and dark sensor information (projection information of the side surface of the tire 3).

Sensor information output from the sensor control section 9 is supplied to a tire diameter calculation section 10. Although the details will be explained later, the tire diameter calculation unit 10 receives sensor information, that is,
The circular arc information of the tire 3 is determined based on the projection information of the side surface of the tire 3, and the diameter information of the tire 3 is determined based on the determined circular arc information. Diameter information output from the tire diameter calculating section 10 is supplied to a vehicle type discriminating section 11.

[0012] The vehicle type discrimination unit 11 uses other vehicle type information obtained by conventionally known means (for example, the number of vehicle axles, tread, vehicle length, vehicle height, tire width, size of the license plate, information on the license plate, etc.). information, etc.) 12, and the vehicle type based on the diameter information output from the tire diameter calculation unit 10, and the automatic pass ticket issuing machine 13 uses the determination result as vehicle type information.
Send to.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained. The sensor control section 9 scans and drives the light emitting section 5 and the light receiving section 6 as described above. When the vehicle 2 now approaches in this state, the sensor control unit 9 outputs sensor information according to the progress of the tires 3 of the vehicle 2. That is, the sensor information D1 output from the sensor control unit 9 changes as the tires 3 of the vehicle 2 move, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the tire diameter calculation unit 10 obtains arc information D2 of the tire 3 from the arc of the dark portion of the sensor information D1 that changes in this way, and calculates the diameter of the tire 3 using the obtained arc information D2. Ask for information. In this case, accuracy can be further improved by reading sensor information several times from when the tire 3 enters until it leaves the tire 3 to obtain circular arc information and averaging the obtained diameter information.

The tire diameter calculating section 10 outputs the diameter information obtained as described above to the vehicle type discriminating section 11. The vehicle type determination unit 11 receives other vehicle type information (
For example, the vehicle type is determined based on the number of vehicle axles, tread, vehicle length, vehicle height, tire width, size of the license plate, information on the license plate, etc.) 12 and diameter information output from the tire diameter calculation unit 10. Then, vehicle type information based on the determination result is output. This output vehicle type information is sent to the automatic pass ticket issuing machine 13 and printed on the issued pass ticket.

[0015] In this way, by obtaining the tire diameter information and using this diameter information as information for identifying the vehicle type,
Even if other vehicle type information cannot be accurately detected, reliable vehicle type discrimination is possible, and the accuracy of vehicle type discrimination is significantly improved. In addition, by obtaining tire diameter information,
Means for obtaining other vehicle type information is simplified or unnecessary, which also reduces costs. Note that the tire for obtaining diameter information may be either a front tire or a rear tire.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle type discriminating device for discriminating the vehicle type on a toll road, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It can also be applied to a vehicle type discrimination device that discriminates the type of vehicle.

[0017]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle type discriminating device that enables reliable vehicle type discrimination and significantly improves the accuracy of vehicle type discrimination.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle type discrimination device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of optical sensor devices at the entrance gate of a toll gate of a toll road.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process for obtaining tire arc information.

[Explanation of symbols] 1... Running road, 2... Vehicle, 3... Tire, 4... Optical sensor device, 5... Light emitting section, 6... Light receiving section, 7... Light emitting element, 8... Light receiving Element, 9...Sensor control section, 10...
Tire diameter calculation unit, 11...Vehicle type determination unit, 12...Other vehicle type information.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An optical sensor device that is installed on the side of a road on which a vehicle travels, and includes a large number of optical sensors arranged in a matrix to obtain projection information on the side surface of tires mounted on the vehicle. a calculation means for determining the tire diameter information based on the projection information of the tire side surface obtained from the optical sensor device; and a determination means for determining the vehicle type of the vehicle based on the tire diameter information determined by the calculation means. A vehicle type identification device characterized by: