WO2009095468A1

WO2009095468A1 - Transponder for the transmission of positional data to a motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2009095468A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/051059
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ulrich STÄHLIN
Original assignee: Continental Teves Ag & Co. Ohg
Priority date: 2008-01-31
Filing date: 2009-01-30
Publication date: 2009-08-06
Also published as: CN101933063A; DE102009006977A1; KR20100119779A; JP2011517348A

Abstract

A transponder is described for transmitting positional data to a vehicle (16). Said transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is stationarily mounted in the zone of a road. Positional information that can be transmitted by the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) and can be received in a vehicle (16) is stored in the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19). In order to make positional data available at a low cost, the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is integrated into the roadway (2, 3, 10, 11, 12) of the road. Also described are a preferred use of the transponders (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) for transmitting positional information as well as a method for controlling a vehicle (16) on the basis of the positional information transmitted by the transponders (1, 13, 14, 15, 19).

Description

Transponder for transmitting position data to a motor vehicle

The invention relates to one or more transponders for transmitting position data to a vehicle, wherein the transponder is fixedly mounted in the region of a road and in the transponder a position information is stored, which can be transmitted by the transponder and received in a vehicle. Furthermore, the invention relates to preferred uses of this transponder. Finally, a method for controlling motor vehicles using this transponder is also described.

From DE 103 14 440 A1 a method for the output of protected user data in a vehicle is known, in which a user authorization of the data in the vehicle is issued in dependence on the traveled road or the traveled area. For this purpose, a rights evaluation unit is provided in the vehicle, which is coupled to a toll box, via which information is obtained as to whether the vehicle is on a certain route or whether a vehicle is on a particular route type, for example toll roads of a particular route Operating company, where the toll booth is transmitted by a navigation system, if necessary, the current position of the vehicle. The time of transmission of certain rights can be coupled, for example, to passing through a toll booth with a transponder or crossing a certain area boundary.

In this context, therefore, transponders are known which are used to activate certain additional functions in vehicles or permit. The disadvantage of this, however, is that these transponders are to be arranged in certain stations and only occasionally allow a position determination of the vehicle.

DE 10 2004 035 856 A1 describes an electrical auxiliary device which is attached to or in a holding tube of a traffic device such as a traffic sign, a traffic light or a traffic control post. In addition to active sensors, such as radar sensors, passive backscatter transmitter or RFID transponder are proposed, which can transmit data without much energy. These auxiliary devices can be used as an automatic continuous counting station for measuring traffic intensity, optical vehicle sensors, sensors for detecting the direction of travel, for example, in one-way streets or warning means, for example, at crosswalks. As part of a speed measurement, it may also be useful to connect the additional device to a global position detection system to allow conclusions about the speed of vehicles on the known positions. The aforementioned passive systems can also be used for toll collection deployed by the electronic accessory is installed in guide post, wherein the additional device in the traffic guidance post as information may also contain the exact location information of Verkehrsleitpfosten. With such information, a navigation system in the vehicle can determine its own vehicle speed very accurately. The disadvantage of this solution, however, is that the electrical accessory should be installed in each case in a traffic sign. As a result, the location of a position information can not be freely selected. In addition, the additional information is relatively expensive, since different housing and fastening means must be provided for the various attachment locations, so that a cost-effective position information is not possible even in limited spatial areas such as. A factory premises.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide position information at low cost, which can be received by a vehicle nationwide or along certain areas of residence.

This object is achieved with transponders according to the features of claim 1 and their intended use according to the features of claim 7.

For this purpose, provision is made in particular for the one or more transponders arranged in a sequence to be introduced into the roadway of the road, ie in particular into the roadway surface or into a roadway marking such as a lane marking. Because the transponders Are arranged bar in the road, it is possible to position the position information within the road as desired and use the transponder in addition to a pure information for a position at which the vehicle is also for active control of the vehicle. The position indication may contain relative information, for example the indication of a left and / or right lane edge, a parking lot or the like lounge of the vehicle. Furthermore, it can be provided that the position information is a position coordinate of a global positioning system such as GPS or Galilei. In the latter case, the position indication can be used to improve the accuracy of the position detection in a position system used in the vehicle (for example in the context of a navigation system) similar to a differential GPS system.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the transponder or transponders are designed as passive transponders, which can be activated by a transmitting unit arranged in a motor vehicle. In this case, the position data transmitted by the transponder after activation can be received by a receiving unit in the vehicle. A particularly cost-effective embodiment of the transponder are so-called RFID chips, which are widely used and are inexpensive.

To bring the transponder in the roadway of the road, they can be integrated into an electrically non-shielding housing. This housing is then introduced, for example, in recesses in the roadway. That can easily be Housing consist of a transponder enclosing the plastic housing, in which the transponder is cast in particular.

Preferably, the housing may be fixed on the side opposite the road surface in a recess, for example by screwing or nailing. So that the transponder and the housing are not unprotected in the roadway, it is further proposed to close the recess with the transponder received therein, in particular by means of a rubber-elastic mass. As rubber-elastic mass in this case also used in, for example, bridge joints joint material comes into question. As a result, the transponder is protected without significant electromagnetic shielding and almost invisible added to the road.

Alternatively, a transponder can also be integrated in a lane marking. The road marking can be formed in particular from lines applied to the roadway (for example lanes), drive-over cat's eyes or similar markings. In the case of lines painted on the road surface, the transponders, which may also be protected by a thin housing, for example in the form of a foil, may be provisionally fixed to the roadway and covered by the road markings for protection. This has the advantage that the transponders are located directly in the lane markings and can be used, for example, within the context of lane assistants, in order to precisely define the edge of the lane. In this context, it is particularly advantageous if a plurality of transponders are arranged along a lane and / or for the delimitation of occupied areas for (power) vehicles. In an arrangement of the transponder along the lanes, for example, on highways, the transponder can be optimally used to complement and support or as a replacement for optical lane assistants, which often do not work properly and especially in difficult road conditions (damp, reflective road surface, snow or the like) not work reliably. Lunar areas on the road may be, for example, parking lots or permitted and prohibited zones on a factory premises. In this case, they support automatic parking aids or vehicles driving on an operating site by means of an automatic control system.

Therefore, the invention also relates to the use of a transponder, which is placed stationarily in the roadway of the road and in which a position information is stored, which can be emitted by the transponder and received in a vehicle, the transponder in particular according to the characteristics of the Claims 1 to 6 is formed or the transponder are arranged accordingly. According to the invention, the transponder is used to transmit position information to the vehicle, which evaluates it and can use it as part of assistance systems.

In this context, a particularly preferred use provides that the position of the transponder for Correction or detailing of the determined by means of a particular global positioning system position information is used. In this way, the position in an electronic card system can be defined much more accurately, whereby the precision of the exact position within the global positioning system can be achieved, for example, by a method similar to the differential GPS.

Depending on the accuracy and density of the arranged on the road transponder provides a further preferred use that the position information of the transponder are used for automatic control of the vehicle, for example as part of a parking aid or for automatic and driverless control of vehicles on a site. Another aspect of the automatic control is to define prohibited areas for a motor vehicle and to alert the driver when driving over the prohibited zones and to stop the vehicle if necessary.

In accordance with the functionality described above, the invention also relates to a method for controlling a vehicle along a specific travel path, the location of a vehicle being determined by means of position information, and a travel path to a destination position being established, for example by means of navigation data and position information installed along the travel path. In a control of this type, in particular of a motor vehicle, it is proposed according to the invention that the position information is transmitted via the current location of the vehicle by means of transponders inserted into the roadway. be telt. These transponders are constructed in particular according to the features of claims 1 to 6 and can be used according to the features of claims 7 to 9. The desired accuracy in the position data can be achieved by adjusting the density of the arrangement of the transponder in the roadway.

According to a preferred embodiment of the method, it is proposed that a lane assistant is used to control the vehicle, which reads and evaluates the position information of the transponder. In this case, generally permitted and prohibited areas can also be specified on a factory premises, for example. In the permitted areas, vehicles can then move, for example, automatically controlled. These areas can also be used to issue warnings to the driver and, if necessary, to carry out control actions on the vehicle. Meaningful applications for this are, for example, airports in which certain routes for aircraft and auxiliary vehicles must be complied with on the ground. In a conventional lane assistant on the highway or wide arteries in large cities, the lanes next to a limit marker may also have a lane or Zählmarkierung, so that an assistance system in the vehicle recognizes exactly on which lane the vehicle is located. Then it is possible for the assistance system to give notorious left-handers requests to change to the right-hand lane. Furthermore, a navigation system can give an early classification to the correct lane in upcoming branches. Also It is possible to detect lanes even on snowy roads.

Other features, advantages and applications of the invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments and the drawings. All described and / or illustrated features alone or in any combination form the subject matter of the present invention, also independent of their summary in the claims or their back references.

Show it:

1 shows a transponder introduced into the roadway of a road according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a transponder introduced into the roadway of a road according to a second embodiment; FIG.

Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of the transponder according to the invention for lane marking and

Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of the transponder according to the invention for parking marking.

Fig. 1 shows in cross section a transponder 1, which is accommodated in a film, not shown. The transponder 1 is a passive transponder, which is excited by a transmitter and after the excitation in the transponder 1 stored information ü- transmits until the excitation energy is no longer available. A typical and preferred example of such a passive transponder 1 is an RFID chip.

The transponder 1 is fixed on a road surface 2 shown in cross-section and covered by a lane marking 3. Thus, the transponder 1 is introduced into the roadway of the road.

For provisionally fixing the transponder 1 on the road surface 2 of this can be glued there, for example by means of a bitumen-like mass. Furthermore, it is conceivable to pre-fix the transponder by means of nails or other holding means on the road such that the transponder is located at the desired location on the road surface. Subsequently, the lane marking 3 is applied in a known manner, wherein the transponder 1 is completely covered by the lane marking 3, which protects the transponder 1 in this way. At the same time, the transponder can serve as a position mark for the lane marking by the transponder 1 is set up to transmit its position data to a vehicle. The fixed in the field of road on the road surface specified transponder has stored position information, which can be transmitted by the transponder and received in a vehicle. By the transponder 1 is covered by the lane marker 3, the transponder 1 is captively inserted into the roadway of the road. As a variant, the transponder 1 can also be applied directly to the lane marking, that is, as part of the colorant of the lane marking, but where no more absolute positioning can be done because the position of the transponder 1 is no longer clearly defined.

2, an alternative embodiment for introducing the transponder 1 is shown in the road surface 2. For this purpose, located in the road surface 2 a recess 4, in which the transponder 1 is arranged. The transponder 1 is arranged in an electrically non-shielding housing 5, which is cast around the transponder 1 and has two attachment sections 6 with passage openings. The fastening sections 6 are each arranged on opposite sides of the transponder 1 in the housing 5. In the example shown, the housing 5 is fixed on the side opposite the road surface 2 in the recess 4 by means of nails. Instead of the nails, the housing 5 could also be screwed into the recess 4. Further, it is conceivable, at the side facing away from the road surface 2, for example, in the middle of the housing 5 to cast a plastic mandrel into a corresponding hole in the recess

4 is inserted to the transponder 1 with its housing

5 set in the recess 4 and pre-fix. Other mounting options are within the reach of the skilled person. Further, in the recess 4, a transponder 1 are introduced, which is not surrounded by an additional housing 5 similar to the embodiment described in Fig. 1. However, this housing 5 is an additional protection and may optionally be designed as attachable to the road surface cat's eye or other marking agent. For further protection of the transponder 1, the recess 4 is closed with a rubber-elastic mass 7, which surrounds the housing 5 in the recess 4 and is substantially flush with the road surface 2. As a rubber-elastic mass, for example, used in the area of bridges grout used. Instead of the rubber-elastic mass 7, a bitumen-like material can be used, which is often used for repairing minor road damage.

Another, not shown in the drawings possibility of introducing a transponder 1 in the roadway of a road is to accommodate this fixed on the road surface cat's eyes or the like position marks, which serve in particular to mark areas of residence of motor vehicles on a road.

FIG. 3 shows in a schematic representation a possible example of use for the transponders illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, which are arranged in the lane markings 10, 11, 12 delimiting the lanes 8, 9. In the example of FIG. 3, a two-lane highway with the right lane 8, which is delimited with the lane marking 10 against the side lane, and a second lane 9 is shown. The transponders provided in the lane markers 10, 11, 12 each emit different position information. To transmit the transponder 13 in the lane marker 10 after its activation a first position value, for example the Value "0", off. The transponders 14 send out a second position value, for example the value "1". Accordingly, the transponders 15 of the lane marking 12 send out the third position indication, for example the value "2". When a vehicle 16 travels on the lane 8, the transmitting and receiving devices 17, 18 transmit radio waves for activating the transponders 13, 14, which then send their position data "0" and "1" with the received energy. By receiving the position value "0" in the receiving device 17 and the position value "1" in the receiving device 18 can detect a present in the vehicle 16, not shown in FIG. 3 control that the vehicle is on the lane 8 and this information use by the vehicle's own navigation system or driver assistance system. If the vehicle 16 deviates from the lane 8, this can be detected quickly and reliably, for example, by different reception intensities of the different transponder signals of the transponders 13, 14, before the vehicle 16 leaves the lane 8 altogether, so that information about the lane markings 10 in the lane markings 10 , 11, 12 introduced transponder 13, 14, 15 a very sensitive and accurate lane assistant can be realized.

Further, in the lanes 8, 9 transponders 19 may be arranged, in which the precise position is stored within a global positioning system (for example the GPS or Galilei position). Via the receiving devices 17, 18, the vehicle 16 can then read in these positions and thus determine the position determined by means of the positioning system similar to the so-called differential Correct GPS. This correction can continue to be used, even if there are no more transponders 19 in the following road sections. Advantageously, such transponders 19 are introduced with the precise position information of a global positioning system at those points in the road at which the reception of the global, mostly satellite-based, positioning system disturbed or limited is possible. The use of such transponder 19 also lends itself to positions at which many vehicles drive 16.

4 schematically illustrates a further possible use of the transponder 1 proposed according to the invention, which are arranged on or in the boundary lines of a parking bay 20 for defining a location area. By means of these transponders 1, therefore, the boundaries of the parking bay 20 are marked so that it can be detected via the receiving device 17, 18 in the vehicle 16, whether the vehicle 16 is within the parking bay 20 or driven beyond the limits. In this case, the transponder 1 are thus used as a parking aid, with an automatic parking assistant with the help of these transponder signals can be realized. In a corresponding manner, common areas for vehicles 16 can be limited, for example, to provide a factory premises for automatic and driverless moving transport vehicles or to issue warnings when vehicles leave authorized areas of residence.

The inventively proposed transponder 1, 13, 14, 15 and 19 thus increase the "intelligence" of the road and make it possible to realize in a technically simple way functions that are otherwise only with great technical and sensory effort in the vehicle itself feasible.

List of reference numbers:

1 transponder

2 lane, road surface

3 lane, lane marking

4 recess

5 housing

6 attachment section

7 rubber-elastic mass

8, 9 lane

10, 11, 12 lane, lane marking

13, 14, 15 transponders

16 vehicle

17, 18 transmitting and receiving device

19 transponders

20 lounge area, parking bay

Claims

Claims:

1. Transponder for transmitting position data to a vehicle (16), wherein the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is fixedly mounted in the region of a road and in the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) a position information is stored, which can be transmitted by the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) and received in a vehicle (16), characterized in that the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) in the Roadway (2, 3, 10, 11, 12) of the road is introduced.

2. Transponder according to claim 1, characterized in that the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is designed as a passive transponder, which by a in a vehicle (16) arranged transmitting unit (17, 18) can be activated, wherein position data transmitted by the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) after activation can be received by a receiving unit (17, 18) in the vehicle (16).

3. Transponder according to one of the preceding claims, characterized indicates that the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) in an electrically non-shielding housing (5) is integrated and the housing (5) in a recess (4) in the roadway (2) is introduced.

4. Transponder according to claim 3, characterized in that the housing (5) on the road surface (2) opposite side in the recess (4) is fixed and the recess (4) with the therein received transponder (1, 13, 14 , 15, 19) is closed.

5. Transponder according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized indicates that the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) in a pavement marking (3, 10, 11, 12) is integrated.

6. Transponder according to one of the preceding claims, characterized indicates that a plurality of transponders (13, 14, 15) along a lane (8, 9) and / or for the delimitation of common areas (20) of vehicles (16) are arranged.

7. Use of a transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) which is stationary in the roadway (2, 3, 10, 11, 12) of the road is introduced and in which a position information is stored, which by the transponder ( 1, 13, 14, 15, 19) and receivable in a vehicle (16), characterized in that the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is used to transmit position information to the vehicle (16) ,

8. Use according to claim 7, characterized in that the position information of the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is used for the correction of the position information determined by means of a positioning system.

9. Use according to claim 7 or 8, characterized indicates that the position of the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) is used for automatic control of the vehicle (16).

10. A method for controlling a vehicle (16) along a specific route, wherein the location of the vehicle (16) determined by means of position information and a route to a destination position is determined, characterized in that the position information on the location of the vehicle (16) by means of Transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19) incorporated in the roadway (2, 3, 10, 11, 12) can be transmitted.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that for controlling the vehicle (16) a lane assistant is used, which reads in and evaluates the position information of the transponder (1, 13, 14, 15, 19).