System and method for integrated camera and phased array antenna for electronic toll collection

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for integrated cameras and phased array antennas for electronic toll collection. Systems and methods for integrated cameras and phased array antennas for electronic toll collection (ETC) are disclosed. In one aspect, an ETC system includes a camera including a lens and configured to capture an image indicating a vehicle location and a plurality of antennas formed in a ring around the lens of the camera. The system also includes a control circuit configured to: determine the location of the vehicle based on the image captured by the camera, adjust the antenna for beamforming based on the location of the vehicle, and wirelessly communicate with an onboard unit (OBU) of the vehicle through the beamforming provided by the adjusted antenna.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to electronic systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods for integrating phased array antennas into electronic toll collection (ETC) camera systems. Background Art

[0002] An electronic toll collection (ETC, also known as electronic toll collection) system is a wireless system that includes a transceiver (commonly referred to as an ETC device or ETC system) that uses an antenna to transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal to an onboard unit (OBU) transponder mounted on a vehicle. The OBU in turn sends a signal back to the ETC device, which can be used to charge a payment account associated with the user of the OBU for payment.

[0003] The use of ETC, especially in China, has been increasing rapidly recently. In 2019, the number of cars in China with OBUs increased from 80 million to 200 million. As the system becomes more popular, the use of ETC payments is expanding from highway tolls to include urban use, including parking, SMS payments, broadcasting, and vehicle monitoring. Summary of the invention

[0004] The methods and apparatus of the described technology each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes.

[0005] On the one hand, an electronic toll collection (ETC) system is provided, comprising: a camera including a lens and configured to capture an image indicating a vehicle position; a plurality of antennas forming a ring around the lens of the camera; and a control circuit configured to: determine the position of the vehicle based on the image captured by the camera, select a plurality of beamforming settings of the antenna based on the position of the vehicle; and wirelessly communicate with an onboard unit (OBU) of the vehicle using the selected antenna beamforming settings.

[0006] On the other hand, a phased array is provided, comprising: a printed circuit board (PCB) having a hole, configured to be aligned with a lens of a camera; a plurality of antennas formed on the PCB and formed in a ring around the hole; and a control circuit configured to: determine a position of the vehicle based on an image captured by the camera, select a plurality of beamforming settings of the antennas based on the position of the vehicle; and wirelessly communicate with an onboard unit (OBU) of the vehicle using the selected antenna beamforming settings.

[0007] On the other hand, a method for wireless electronic toll collection (ETC) communication is provided, the method comprising: receiving an image indicating a vehicle position captured by a camera including a lens; determining the position of the vehicle based on the image; selecting multiple beamforming settings of multiple antennas based on the position of the vehicle, the multiple antennas forming a ring around the lens of the camera; and wirelessly communicating with an on-board unit (OBU) of the vehicle using the selected antenna beamforming settings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] These drawings and the associated description are provided herein to illustrate specific embodiments of the present invention and not to limit the same.

[0009] Figure 1 is an example block diagram of an ETC system according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0010] Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method that may be performed by a control circuit of an ETC system according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0011] Figure 3 The present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 An example phased array used in an ETC system.

[0012] Figure 4 The present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 Another example of a phased array used in an ETC system.

[0013] Figure 5 Can be used to drive Figure 3 Example of a control circuit for a phased array.

[0014] Figure 6 Can be used to drive Figure 4 Another example of a phased array control circuit.

[0015] Fig. 7A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0016] Figure 7B Pictured Fig. 7A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0017] Fig. 8A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0018] Figure 8B Pictured Fig. 8A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0019] Fig. 9A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0020] Fig. 9B Picture shows Fig. 9A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0021] Fig. 10A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0022] Fig. 10B Picture shows Fig. 10A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0023] Fig.11A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0024] Fig. 11B illustrate Fig.11A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0025] Fig. 12A An example phased array according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Fig. 12B Picture shows Fig. 12A Radiation pattern of a phased array.

[0027] Fig.13 An embodiment of an ETC system having a phased array integrated with a camera according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0028] Fig.14 An example environment is illustrated in which an ETC system may be installed according to aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Various aspects of novel systems, devices, and methods will be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to any specific structure or function presented in the present disclosure. On the contrary, these aspects are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the scope of the present disclosure will be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the novel systems, devices, and methods disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of any other aspect or implemented in combination with any other aspect. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or a method may be practiced. In addition, the scope is intended to cover such a device or method that is practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions in addition to or different from the various aspects set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

[0030] Although specific aspects are described herein, many variations and permutations of these aspects fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Although some benefits and advantages of preferred aspects are mentioned, the scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to specific benefits, uses or objectives. On the contrary, aspects of the present disclosure are intended to be broadly applicable to different wired and wireless technologies, system configurations, networks, including optical networks, hard disks, and transmission protocols, some of which are shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings and the following description of preferred aspects. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present disclosure and are not limiting, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0031] In this specification, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numerals may represent the same or functionally similar elements. It should be understood that the elements shown in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In addition, it should be understood that some embodiments may include more elements than a subset of the elements shown in the drawings and / or the drawings. In addition, some embodiments may combine any suitable combination of features from two or more drawings.

[0032] Integrated Camera and Phased Array System Overview

[0033] ETC roadside units (RSUs) are required to have additional features, such as the inclusion of phased array ETC capabilities and integrated cameras that can be widely deployed within a city. It is also desired that such an integrated camera / ETC system can simply replace currently installed cameras without requiring additional calibration in the field.

[0034] As described above, the ETC device is configured to send an RF signal to an OBU transponder mounted on a vehicle, which in turn sends a signal back to the ETC device to charge a payment account associated with the user of the OBU for payment. When used in a more crowded environment such as a city or parking lot, it may be more difficult for the ETC device to detect a single OBU because there may be more than one vehicle / OBU within the range of the ETC device. For example, there may be multiple OBUs within the communication range of the ETC device, making it difficult for the ETC device to communicate with a single OBU at a time.

[0035] To overcome these problems, it is necessary to integrate a camera and a phased array antenna into the ETC device, which can be used in combination to identify the location of a vehicle with an OBU within the camera's field of view and use beamforming through the phased array antenna to direct the transmit and receive beams of the phased array antenna to the location of the detected vehicle / OBU. In some aspects, the integrated camera can be configured to detect the location of one or more vehicles within the camera's field of view, and then control the phased array antenna to direct the RF beam to one of the detected vehicles, thereby avoiding interference with any other OBU within the communication range of the phased array antenna.

[0036] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a phased array antenna and transceiver based ETC device with an integrated camera, which can provide a relatively small size solution compared to conventional multi-vehicle ETC systems.

[0037] Traditional high-performance phased array ETC systems that can be used to cover different vehicles and multiple lanes are much larger than typical cameras and therefore cannot be directly integrated into cameras to provide a single combined camera / ETC system without significantly increasing the size of the ETC system. In addition, such systems typically require additional beam calibration when deployed in the field.

[0038] OBU-based system-on-chip (SoC) is an example technology that can be used to reduce the size of a printed circuit board (PCB) to a size that can be integrated into the camera of an ECT system using a single element antenna. However, these technologies do not support phased array ETC functions and therefore cannot cover different vehicles / OBUs and multiple lanes.

[0039] Figure 1 is an example block diagram of an ETC system 100 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, the ETC system 100 includes a camera 102, a phased array 104 formed by a plurality of antennas, and a control circuit 106. The control circuit 106 may be configured to control each of the camera 102 and the phased array 104 to wirelessly communicate with a selected vehicle within the field of view of the camera 102. Figure 1 Not shown, but in many embodiments, the phased array 104 can be integrated into the camera 102 to provide a relatively smaller system 100 compared to conventional phased array ETC systems. The phased array 104 is also referred to herein as a phased antenna array or an electronically scanned antenna array.

[0040] Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method 200 that may be performed by the control circuit 106 of the ETC system 100 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 2 As shown, method 200 begins at block 201 .

[0041] At block 202, the control circuit 106 may detect a vehicle using the camera 102 of the ETC system 100 (e.g., see Fig.14 At block 204, control circuitry 106 may adjust phased array 104 (by controlling beamforming settings) to direct RF communications in the direction of the vehicle (e.g., using beamforming). For example, control circuitry 106 may adjust the gain and / or phase of an RF signal associated with each antenna or group of antennas within the phased array to perform beamforming to direct RF communications in the direction of the vehicle.

[0042] For example, for signal transmission, RF signal waves radiated from the antennas of the phased array 104 are aggregated through constructive interference and destructive interference to jointly generate a transmit beam with a specific direction. Regarding signal reception, a receive beam is generated by combining the RF signals received from the antennas of the phased array 104 after amplitude scaling and phase shifting.

[0043] At block 206, the control circuit 106 may use the adjusted phased array 104 to communicate with the vehicle's OBU (e.g., see Fig.14 For example, the control circuit 106 may use the adjusted beam to perform conventional ETC communications between the ETC system 100 and the OBU to charge a payment account associated with a user of the OBU.

[0044] In summary, the method 200 may include first detecting the vehicle position using the camera 102 , adjusting the antenna beam to the detected vehicle position using the phased array 104 , and completing the ETC process using the adjusted beam. The method 200 ends at block 208 .

[0045] Figure 3 The present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 An example phased array 104 is used in the ETC system 100. In particular, Figure 3 The phased array 104 shown in FIG. 1 can be implemented as a customized phased array 104 and a transceiver-based multi-transmit (Tx) multi-receive (Rx) solution, which can be used to integrate the phased array 104 into the camera 102. In particular, Figure 3 The phased array 104 may be integrated with the camera 102 (eg, mounted on and / or in the camera 102 ) to form an integrated camera / ETC system 100 .

[0046] Figure 3 The illustrated phased array 104 includes a plurality of antennas 302A-302H formed on a printed circuit board (PCB) 300. More specifically, the antennas 302A-302H are formed in a ring around a hole or aperture 304 formed in the PCB 300. The PCB 300 may be positioned such that the aperture 304 is aligned with an aperture of the camera 102, thereby allowing light to enter the camera 102 through the aperture 304. The camera 102 may further include a lens (e.g., see Fig.13 108 in the camera 102), which is configured to focus light to capture an image within the field of view of the camera 102. This positioning of the PCB 300 relative to the camera 102 also allows the antenna rings 302A-302H to be substantially coaxial with the aperture of the camera 102.

[0047] Thus, this coaxial arrangement simplifies the orientation of the beam formed by the antenna array 302A-302H, because the camera 102 and the antenna rings 302A-302H will face substantially the same direction. Figure 3 As shown, the ring of antennas 302A-302H may form a circle, wherein the angular orientation of each individual antenna 302A-302H rotates based on its position within the ring.

[0048] Antennas 302A-302H may also be divided into multiple antenna groups 308A and 308B. For example, antennas 302A-302D may be connected together using first conductors 306A to form a first antenna group 308A and antennas 302E-302H may be connected together using second conductors 306B to form a second antenna group 308B. First conductor 306A may be implemented with branches that substantially match the delay of each antenna in first antenna group 308A. Similarly, second conductor 306B may be implemented with branches that substantially match the delay of each antenna in second antenna group 308B. As described in more detail below, antenna groups 308A and 308B may be used to direct RF communications in the direction of the vehicle determined by camera 102.

[0049] Figure 4 The present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 Another example phased array 104 used in the ETC system 100. Figure 3 Similar to the embodiment, Figure 4 The phased array 104 shown in the figure can be implemented as a customized phased array 104 and a transceiver-based multi-transmit (Tx) multi-receive (Rx) solution, which can be used to integrate the phased array 104 into the camera 102. The phased array 104 also includes a PCB 400 having a hole 404 at its center and a plurality of conductors 406A-406D that divide the antennas 402A-402H into antenna groups 408A-408D. Therefore, in this example, the eight antennas are divided into four groups. Figure 4 The phased array 104 may have Figure 3 The phased array 104 has a similar structure, therefore, a detailed description of similar elements may not be provided.

[0050] Figure 4 The antennas 402A-402H of the phased array 104 are shown formed in a ring around a hole 404 formed in the PCB 400. The antennas 402A-402H are also divided into a plurality of antenna groups 408A-408D, which may be used for beamforming to facilitate radio frequency communications with the OBUs of detected vehicles.

[0051] exist Figure 3 and Figure 4In each of the illustrated embodiments, the phased array 104 is designed to have good directivity in both the horizontal and vertical directions. For example, when the half power beam width (HPBW) is approximately 25° in both the horizontal and vertical directions, it can be determined that the phased array 104 has good directivity. The phased array 104 is further designed to be placed on the shielding glass of the camera 102, for example, so that the holes 304 and 404 of the phased array are substantially concentric with the aperture of the camera 102. Although in Figure 3 and Figure 4 1, but the control circuit 106 (e.g., which may be implemented as a feeder in some embodiments) may be placed on the circuit board 300 or 400 outside the loop formed by the antennas 302A-302H or 402A-402H. In other embodiments, the control circuit 106 may be placed on a separate PCB. In some embodiments, at least some of the antennas 302A-302H and 402A-402H may be implemented as patch antennas.

[0052] As described above, the center of the PCB 300 and 400 of each phased array 104 may be removed, thereby allowing the lens of the camera 102 to be placed within or overlap the openings 304 and 404 so that light can be transmitted to the camera 102. The circuit boards 300 and 400 and / or the antenna rings 302A-302H and 402A-402H may include one or more markings that indicate the center of the beam phase generated by the array of antennas 302A-302H and 402A-402H, thereby facilitating the optical centering of the camera 102 (e.g., see Fig.13 The alignment of the optical center 114 of the antenna to coincide with the beam phase center may facilitate large-scale deployment of the phased array 104 in the field. When the antennas are arranged in a roughly circular ring, the beam phase center may be the center point of the circle formed by the antennas.

[0053] like Figure 3 and Figure 4 In each of the embodiments shown, eight antenna elements 302A-302H and 402A-402H are shown as examples. In other embodiments, the number of antennas can be more or less, for example, there can be 6, 10 or 12 antennas in other embodiments. The antenna elements can be arranged in any size.

[0054] Figure 5 Can be used to drive Figure 3 Phased array 104 (in Figure 5 8A and 308B).

[0055] like Figure 5As shown, the control circuit 106 includes a transmit / receive (T / R) controller 502, a plurality of power amplifiers 504A and 504B, a plurality of low noise amplifiers 506A and 506B, and a plurality of T / R switches 508A and 508B. The T / R switches 508A and 508B are connected to corresponding ones of the antenna groups 308A and 308B, respectively (e.g., Figure 3 In some embodiments, T / R switches 508A and 508B may be implemented together as two transmit, two receive (2T2R) on a single chip, such as a 5.8G front end module (FEM).

[0056] The T / R controller 502 can be configured to set the gain and phase of the RF signals provided to each of the antenna groups 308A and 308B and received from each of the antenna groups 308A and 308B based on the beamforming settings 510 to provide beamforming based on the detected vehicle position. For example, for signal transmission, the amplitude and phase of the first RF transmit signal provided to the power amplifier 504A are separately controllable from the amplitude and phase of the second RF transmit signal provided to the second power amplifier 504B. In addition, with respect to signal reception, a first desired gain and phase shift amount is applied to the first RF receive signal from the low noise amplifier 506A, while a second desired gain and phase shift amount is applied to the second RF receive signal from the low noise amplifier 506B. The beamforming settings 510 can define the amplitude and phase to be applied to each RF signal (e.g., the first RF transmit signal, the first RF receive signal, the second RF transmit signal, and the second RF receive signal), which can be used to steer the RF signal beam. The T / R controller 502 may select a plurality of beamforming settings 510 for the antenna groups 308A and 308B to direct the RF signal beam toward a vehicle detected by the camera 102 .

[0057] Similarly, Figure 6 Can be used to drive Figure 4 Phased array 104 (in Figure 6 Another example of a control circuit 106 is shown in FIG. 4 as antenna groups 408A-408D.

[0058] like Figure 6 As shown, the control circuit 106 includes a T / R controller 602 having a beamforming setting 610, a plurality of power amplifiers 604A-604D, a plurality of low noise amplifiers 606A-606D, and a plurality of T / R switches 608A-608D. The T / R switches 608A-608D are respectively connected to a corresponding one of the antenna groups 408A-408D (e.g., Figure 4In some embodiments, switches 608A-608D may be implemented together as a four-transmit four-receive (4T4R) on a single chip, such as a 5.8G front-end module (FEM).

[0059] Figure 5 and Figure 6 The control circuit 106 shown provides an exemplary transceiver-based multi-transmit and multi-receive circuit with a sufficiently small footprint to be incorporated onto the PCBs 300 and 400, while still keeping the size of the PCBs 300 and 400 small enough to be integrated into the camera 102. In some embodiments, one or more control circuits 106 can be designed as cascaded transceivers. For example, in one embodiment, Figure 6 The switches 608A-608D of the control circuit 106 may be implemented using two 2T2R cascaded chips instead of a single 4T4R chip.

[0060] Figures 7A-12B Several different embodiments of phased arrays 104 and corresponding radiation patterns are illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0061] Fig. 7A An example phased array 702 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, the phased array 702 is formed in a rectangular pattern without holes formed in the PCB. The individual elements of the phased array 702 may be similar to other embodiments described herein. Figure 7B Picture shows Fig. 7A Radiation pattern 704 of phased array 702.

[0062] Fig. 8A An example ETC device 802 according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In particular, the ETC device 802 includes Fig. 7A 802 is placed adjacent to the hole 804 in the PCB 806. The hole 804 in the PCB 806 can be arranged to be substantially aligned with the camera 102, thereby allowing light to enter the camera 102 through the hole 804. Due to the arrangement of antennas on the phased array 702, there is not enough space between the antennas for the hole 804, and therefore, the phased array 702 is placed adjacent to the hole 804 in the PCB 806. This results in a larger overall size of the PCB 806, which may make the size of the PCB 806 too large to be integrated into the camera 102. Figure 8B illustrate Fig. 8A Radiation pattern 808 of the ETC device 802.

[0063] In conclusion, Figures 7A-8B The phased array 702 formed in a rectangular pattern is shown to have a radiation pattern 704 that can be used for directional beamforming communications. Fig. 8AAs can be seen in the figure, due to the rectangular pattern of the phased array 702, the phased array 702 cannot be positioned on the PCB 806 so that the center of the phased array 702 is aligned with the center of the camera 102 through the hole 804 in the PCB 806. Therefore, the phased array 702 in this embodiment is placed on one side of the hole 804 and the camera 102, which results in the phased array 702 being located close to the metal housing of the camera 102. The metal housing may distort the radiation pattern 704, resulting in Figure 8B Radiation pattern 808 is shown.

[0064] Fig. 9A An example phased array 902 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, the phased array 902 is substantially similar to Figure 3 and Figure 4 In particular, the antennas of the phased array 902 are arranged in a circular shape (eg, equidistant from a hole in the center of the PCB) and the angular orientation of each antenna is rotated around the hole. Fig. 9B Pictured Fig. 9A 904 of the phased array 902. In particular, the radiation pattern 904 shown includes a right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) radiation pattern 906 and a left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) radiation pattern 908. In some communication standards (e.g., China's ETC standard), RHCP is used for communication, requiring a cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) better than 15dB. XPD can be determined as the difference between RHCP and LHCP in ETC applications.

[0065] Fig. 10A An example phased array 1002 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, the phased array 1002 is Figure 3 and Figure 4 A modified version of the phased array 104 shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 In contrast to the embodiment of FIG. 1 , the antennas are arranged in a more linear loop. In particular, the antennas of phased array 1002 are arranged to form a loop (eg, equidistant from the hole in the center of the PCB) without rotating the angular orientation of each antenna. Fig. 10B Pictured Fig. 10A Radiation pattern 1004 of phased array 1002 includes RHCP radiation pattern 1006 and LHCP radiation pattern 1008 .

[0066] Fig.11A An example phased array 1102 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, the phased array 1102 is Figure 3 and Figure 4In particular, the antennas of phased array 1102 are arranged to form a square (eg, their distances from the hole in the center of the PCB are not substantially equidistant) and the angular orientation of each antenna is rotated around the hole. Fig. 11B Pictured Fig.11A The radiation pattern 1104 of the phased array 1102 includes a RHCP radiation pattern 1106 and a LHCP radiation pattern 1108.

[0067] Fig. 12A An example phased array 1202 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In particular, the phased array 1202 is Figure 3 and Figure 4 In particular, the antennas of phased array 1102 are arranged to form a square (eg, their distances from the hole in the center of the PCB are not substantially equidistant) without rotating the angular orientation of the individual antennas. Fig. 12B Pictured Fig. 12A Radiation pattern 1204 of phased array 1202 includes RHCP radiation pattern 1206 and LHCP radiation pattern 1208.

[0068] When the control circuit is placed inside the inner loop of the antenna, the antenna is more sensitive to the noise than when the control circuit is placed outside the loop. Fig. 12A The antenna axial ratio of the embodiment may be relatively worse (e.g., a higher axial ratio). The ETC national standard (GB) requires a cross-polarization discrimination ratio of >15dB in the direction of maximum gain. Typically, a circular phased array shape (e.g., Fig. 9A and 10A The axial ratio of the phased arrays 902 and 1002) may be greater than that of a rectangular phased array shape (e.g., Fig.11A and 12A The axial ratio of the phased arrays 1102 and 1202) is better.

[0069] Fig.13 1 shows an embodiment of an ETC system 100 having a phased array 104 integrated with a camera 102 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.13 As shown, the ETC system includes a PCB 300 integrated with a camera 102. The PCB 300 has a plurality of components disposed thereon, including a phased array 104 and one or more integrated circuits (ICs) 110. A hole 112 or aperture is formed in the PCB 300 and the hole 112 overlaps with a lens 108 of the camera 102. The lens 108 has an optical center 114 that is substantially aligned (e.g., coaxial) with the hole 112. The optical center 114 is also substantially aligned with a phase center of the phased array 104. The one or more ICs 110 may include circuits configured to implement the control circuit 106, e.g. Figure 5 and 6The control circuit 106 shown in FIG.

[0070] Fig.14 An example environment in which an ETC system 100 may be installed according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The ETC system 100 may be configured to communicate with an OBU 118 mounted on a vehicle 116. As described herein, the ETC system 100 may use an integrated camera to detect the location of the vehicle 116, adjust an antenna array to perform radio frequency communication in the direction of the vehicle, and communicate with the OBU 118 of the vehicle 116 using the adjusted antenna array.

[0071] in conclusion

[0072] Aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in various electronic devices. Examples of electronic devices may include, but are not limited to, consumer electronic products, components of consumer electronic products, electronic test equipment, vehicle electronic systems, etc. Examples of electronic devices may include, but are not limited to, computing devices, communication devices, electronic home appliances, automotive electronic systems, etc. In addition, electronic devices may include unfinished products.

[0073] Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims, the words "include", "comprising", "containing", "having", etc. should be interpreted as being inclusive, and not in an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is, in the sense of "including but not limited to". In addition, the words "herein", "above", "below" and words of similar meaning used in this application shall refer to the application as a whole and not to any particular part of the application. Where the context permits, words used in the singular or plural in the above specific embodiments may also include the plural or singular, respectively. Where the context permits, the word "or" in a list referring to two or more items is intended to cover all of the following interpretations of the word: any item in the list, all items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.

[0074] Additionally, conditional language used herein, such as "may," "might," "for example," and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise or otherwise understood in the context of use, is generally intended to convey that some embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and / or states. Thus, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that one or more embodiments in any way require the features, elements, and / or states, or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining, with or without author input or prompting, whether such features, elements, and / or states are included or will be performed in any particular embodiment.

[0075] The foregoing description and claims may refer to elements or features as being "connected" or "coupled" together. As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, "connected" means that one element / feature is directly or indirectly connected to another element / feature, and is not necessarily mechanically connected. Similarly, unless expressly stated otherwise, "coupled" means that one element / feature is directly or indirectly coupled to another element / feature, and is not necessarily mechanically coupled. Therefore, although the various schematic diagrams shown in the figures depict example arrangements of elements and components, additional intermediate elements, devices, features, or components may be present in actual embodiments (assuming that the functionality of the depicted circuits is not adversely affected).

[0076] As used herein, the term "determine" includes a variety of actions. For example, "determine" may include calculating, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), determining, etc. In addition, "determine" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), etc. In addition, "determine" may include parsing, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc. In addition, "channel width" as used herein may include or may also be referred to as bandwidth in some aspects.

[0077] The various operations of the above methods can be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the operations, such as various hardware and / or software components, circuits and / or modules. Generally, any operation shown in the figure can be performed by corresponding functional devices capable of performing these operations.

[0078] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array signal (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0079] The method disclosed herein includes one or more steps or actions for implementing the method. Without departing from the scope of the claims, the method steps and / or actions can be interchangeable with each other. In other words, unless the order of specific steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions can be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0080] It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the precise configuration and components described above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made to the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and devices described above without departing from the scope of the embodiments.

[0081] Although the present invention has been described in terms of certain embodiments, other embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, including embodiments that do not provide all of the features and advantages set forth herein, are also within the scope of the present invention. In addition, the various embodiments described above may be combined to provide further embodiments. In addition, certain features shown in the context of one embodiment may also be incorporated into other embodiments.

Claims

1. An electronic toll collection (ETC) system, comprising: a camera including a single lens and configured to capture an image indicative of a position of the vehicle; a phased array integrated with the camera to provide a single combined camera ETC system, the phased array comprising a plurality of antennas forming a ring around a lens of the camera; and The control circuit is configured as follows: determining the position of the vehicle based on the image captured by the camera, selecting a plurality of beamforming settings for the antenna based on a location of the vehicle, and Wireless communication is performed with an onboard unit (OBU) of the vehicle using selected antenna beamforming settings, wherein the plurality of antennas are operable to form transmit beams and receive beams based on the plurality of beamforming settings to communicate with the vehicle.

2. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein an optical center of the camera coincides with a center of a ring formed by the plurality of antennas.

3. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of beamforming settings comprises setting gain and phase for radio frequency (RF) signals provided to two or more of the plurality of antennas, and setting gain and phase for RF signals received from the two or more antennas.

4. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein the antennas are divided into a plurality of antenna groups, the antennas in a first antenna group among the antenna groups are electrically connected together, and the control circuit is further configured to control the antennas in the first antenna group together.

5. The ETC system of claim 4, wherein the control circuit comprises: The first power amplifier, The first low noise amplifier, a first switch that selectively couples the first antenna group to the first power amplifier and the first low noise amplifier, and A controller is configured to provide a transmit radio frequency (RF) signal to the first antenna group via the first power amplifier and receive a receive RF signal from the first antenna group via the low noise amplifier.

6. The ETC system of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust a gain and a phase of each of the transmit RF signal and the receive RF signal for beamforming.

7. The ETC system of claim 1, further comprising: a printed circuit board PCB having a plurality of antennas formed thereon, the PCB comprising a hole arranged at the center of a ring formed by the antennas, The hole in the PCB is coaxial with the camera lens.

8. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein the angular orientation of each antenna rotates based on the position of the corresponding antenna within the loop.

9. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein the ring is substantially circular.

10. The ETC system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication with the OBU includes charging a payment account associated with a user of the OBU for payment.

11. A phased array comprising: a printed circuit board PCB having a hole configured to align with a single lens of a camera to be integrated with the phased array to provide a single combined camera ETC system; a plurality of antennas formed on the PCB and formed in a ring around the aperture; and The control circuit is configured as follows: determining the position of the vehicle based on the image captured by the camera, selecting a plurality of beamforming settings for the antenna based on a location of the vehicle, and wirelessly communicate with an onboard unit OBU of the vehicle using the selected antenna beamforming setting, The plurality of antennas are operable to form transmit beams and receive beams based on the plurality of beamforming settings to communicate with the vehicle.

12. The phased array of claim 11, wherein an optical center of the camera coincides with a center of a ring formed by the plurality of antennas.

13. The phased array of claim 11, wherein selecting a plurality of beamforming settings comprises setting gain and phase for radio frequency (RF) signals provided to two or more of the plurality of antennas, and setting gain and phase for RF signals received from the two or more antennas.

14. The phased array of claim 11, wherein the antennas are divided into a plurality of antenna groups, antennas in a first antenna group of the antenna groups are electrically connected together, and the control circuit is further configured to control the antennas in the first antenna group together.

15. The phased array of claim 14, wherein the control circuit comprises: The first power amplifier, The first low noise amplifier, a first switch that selectively couples the first antenna group to the first power amplifier and the first low noise amplifier, and A controller is configured to provide a transmit radio frequency (RF) signal to the first antenna group via the first power amplifier and receive a receive RF signal from the first antenna group via the low noise amplifier.

16. The phased array of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the gain and phase of each of the transmit RF signal and the receive RF signal for beamforming.

17. A method for wireless electronic toll collection (ETC) communication, the method comprising: receiving an image captured by a camera including a single lens indicating a position of a vehicle; determining a position of the vehicle based on the image; selecting a plurality of beamforming arrangements of a plurality of antennas in a phased array integrated with the camera to provide a single combined camera ETC system based on the position of the vehicle, the plurality of antennas forming a ring around a lens of the camera; and Wirelessly communicating with an onboard unit (OBU) of the vehicle using the selected antenna beamforming settings includes using the plurality of antennas to form transmit beams and receive beams based on the plurality of beamforming settings to communicate with the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein an optical center of the camera coincides with a center of a ring formed by the plurality of antennas.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting a plurality of beamforming settings comprises setting gain and phase for radio frequency (RF) signals provided to two or more of the plurality of antennas and setting gain and phase for RF signals received from the two or more antennas.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the antennas are divided into a plurality of antenna groups, the antennas in a first antenna group being electrically connected together, the method further comprising controlling the antennas in the first antenna group together.

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