NL1006589C1 - Traffic control system. - Google Patents

Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an Interactive traffic control system, in which traffic lights and the like can be influenced by vehicles, such as public transport vehicles.

Such systems are generally known. In the Netherlands, such a system comprises vehicle detection loops in the road surface, which are connected via leased lines to a central vehicle monitoring system (for example the emergency room of a bus company) and / or to a local traffic control system (for example a local traffic light system around a crossroads).

A drawback of the current system is that installation and maintenance of detection loops is relatively expensive $ 1. The leased lines are also an IS considerable cost item.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to address the drawbacks of a system operating with wireless components. To this end, the system according to the invention comprises 1 wireless transponders instead of the detection loops, i.e. transceivers that transmit an Identification Code (ID) in response to the reception of a (call) signal. They can operate without external power, as the transmitter power is extracted from the received signal. According to the invention, the transponder ID is received by a vehicle transceiver 25 and, whether or not together with a vehicle ID, is transmitted wirelessly and locally and / or centrally received and processed.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment.

IMPLEMENTATION EXAMPLES

Figure 1 shows a local traffic light system 1, controlled by a local control unit 2. There are transponders 3 in the road surface.

The transponders 3 are compact and can easily be mounted on the road surface due to their cylindrical shape. In the event of a transponder becoming defective, the defective specimen may, if desired, remain in the road surface 35 and a new specimen may be fitted next to it in the road surface. The transponders 3 are maintenance-free and do not need to be electrically powered, as they draw their electrical energy 1006589-2 from the received signal. Buses 4 (or other vehicles suitable for influencing traffic lights) 2 are equipped with a transpander call transmitter 5 and a system transmitter 6 (both transmitters show only the antennas in the display). The 5 system transmitters can make radio contact with the control unit 2 of the local system 1 and possibly also with a system receiver in a central (bus) traffic control center 9.

The operation is as follows. A bus 4 approaching transmits a (coded) call signal IDc (all) to the transponders 3. The 10 transponders 3 comprise a code fliter, so that they can only be activated by a call signal which is passed through the filter; this is to prevent activation of the transponders by interference signals. Upon receipt of the call signal IDc issued by the bus 4, the transponder 3 transmits in the immediate vicinity of the bus (the transponder transmitter of the bus has only a limited range) an identification code IDt (transponder) which is specific for that transponder (the different transponder codes IDt <l ... n> are pre-programmed in the transponders). The bus receives that ID code IDt (which is specific to that one transponder and thus for the exact location of the bus) and sends (7) a replica of that code to the control unit 2, which then ensures that the bus runs as quickly as possible "green light" (if the traffic light was not already green).

If necessary, a replica 25 of the bus ID, IDv (vehicle), is also sent to the control unit 2. This is usually the case at an intersection with pre-sorting lanes and accompanying traffic lights, in which, to increase the flow of public transport, a transponder is installed in the road surface at a considerable distance from the intersection, where there are no pre-sorting lanes yet. This situation is shown in Figure 2. The transponder ID, IDt, now does not provide information about the route to be followed by the bus and the associated traffic light 1n $ count. Therefore, the vehicle ID, IDv, is now also sent to the control unit 2. Controlling the control unit 2 of figure 2 1s with a database with vehicle IDs (IDv's) and traffic light settings corresponding to the different bus routes. Unit 2 reads the desired direction of travel of the arriving bus for each received IDv value from the database and can timely set the 1006589 -3 traffic lights so that the bus can continue driving unhindered. Since normally the driving route is the same for all buses of the same bus line, the IDv will preferably consist partly of a code indicating the bus line number, so that the databases in the 5 different control units 2 can remain of limited size.

However, the part of the IDv that is indicative of the bus line should preferably be manually adjustable by, for example, the driver (possibly at the same time as setting the externally visible bus line and route permissions), since the buses must be able to be used on different lines.

Preferably, as both Figure 1 and Figure 2 show, the replica of the transponder ID, IDt, together with the bus ID, IDv, is radiographically sent to the traffic reporting center 9 of the bus company (8). There, the IDv and the IDt can record where the bus is located and the location information of each vehicle can be updated. To send the ID codes to air traffic control, use can be made of the mobile phone system that the bus company already uses for voice communication.

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Claims (3)

1. Interactive traffic control system »in which traffic lights (1) and the like can be influenced by vehicles (4), such as public transport vehicles, under the control of signals generated by those 5 vehicles and received by control means (2), characterized by no -wired transponders (3) at fixed locations, which transmit an Identification Code (IDt) upon receipt of a call signal (IDc) transmitted by a passing vehicle, after which the vehicle transmits a replica of that 10 transponder identification code wirelessly to the control means (2) . System according to claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle additionally transmits an identification code (IDv) of the vehicle itself to the control means (2). System according to claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle wirelessly replicates the identification code (IDt; of the transponder (3), together with an Identification code (IDv) of the vehicle (4) itself, to receiving and recording means broadcasts in a traffic control center (9) 1006589