Lane Pricing System Using Vehicle Camera and GPS
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current road pricing systems face challenges in accurately determining vehicle entry into chargeable lanes, especially due to high costs associated with infrastructure sensors and GPS signal instability or errors, making precise lane-based charging difficult.
Innovation Solution
A lane pricing system that uses a vehicle-mounted device equipped with a camera and GPS sensor to acquire position and image data, which is then used by a lane pricing device to determine the toll based on lane identification and time information, eliminating the need for additional sensors on the road infrastructure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensors are embedded on the infrastructure side to determine vehicle entry into chargeable lanes, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using infrastructure-side sensors to detect vehicle entry, the patent inverts the approach by using vehicle-mounted devices (GPS receivers and cameras) to capture position and lane information, which are then processed server-side to determine chargeable lane usage. This eliminates the need for embedded road sensors while achieving accurate lane-based toll determination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses GPS coordinates and camera images as indirect copies or representations of the vehicle's actual position and lane status. Rather than directly sensing the vehicle on the road, the system creates a digital model using satellite positioning and visual data, which is then analyzed to determine lane entry into chargeable areas.
2Device complexity
If GPS information is used to determine vehicle entry into chargeable areas, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to signal obstruction and errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple data sources - GPS position information and camera images - to compensate for the weaknesses of each individual method. GPS provides continuous positioning but suffers from signal obstruction, while camera images provide visual confirmation of lane status but require processing. By merging these sources, the system achieves reliable lane detection without needing infrastructure sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary that receives and processes both GPS coordinates and camera images, reconciling the data from these different sources to determine whether the vehicle has entered a chargeable lane. This intermediary processing step resolves the precision issues by cross-validating information from multiple channels before making the final determination.
3Device complexity
If road pricing is implemented in units of roads rather than lanes, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability deteriorates for traffic optimization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the road into individual lanes and implements charging at the lane level rather than for the entire road. This segmentation allows different toll rates to be applied to different lanes based on traffic conditions, enabling fine-grained traffic flow optimization while maintaining relatively simple system architecture by using existing vehicle-mounted devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A lane pricing technique for charging a mobile body traveling on a road for use of a lane is provided. A lane pricing device according to one embodiment is configured to: acquire from a mobile body traveling on a road, at least one of position information of a mobile body measured based on a positioning signal, and/or a camera image that is acquired by capturing an image from the mobile body and includes a part of a lane in which the mobile body is moving; specify, based on at least one of the position information and/or the camera image, a lane in which the mobile body is moving; acquire lane identification information for identifying a specified lane along with time information indicative of time when the mobile body is moving; and determine and output a toll to be charged to the mobile body in units of lanes based on the lane identification information and the time information.