초록 ▼

A system and method for tracking and monitoring vehicles on a roadway. RFID tags are positioned along the roadway and may be interrogated by vehicles equipped with an RFID scanner and a transceiver as the vehicles encounter the RFID tags along the roadway. The RFID tag information received by the RF

A system and method for tracking and monitoring vehicles on a roadway. RFID tags are positioned along the roadway and may be interrogated by vehicles equipped with an RFID scanner and a transceiver as the vehicles encounter the RFID tags along the roadway. The RFID tag information received by the RFID scanner is transmitted by the transceiver to a roadside repeater station which in turn sends the RFID tag information, as well as other identifying information, to a remote central tracking station. The remote central tracking station processes the RFID tag information and other information to determine a current position of a corresponding vehicle. Driver ranking profiles may be generated for drivers of vehicles and stored in a database in the central tracking station. The driver ranking profiles are used to restrict drivers in certain ways.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A system for monitoring vehicles on a roadway, said system comprising: a plurality of RFID tags affixed at various pre-designated locations along a roadway, wherein each of said RFID tags is encoded with RFID tag information that may be used to determine a physical location of any of said RFID ta

1. A system for monitoring vehicles on a roadway, said system comprising: a plurality of RFID tags affixed at various pre-designated locations along a roadway, wherein each of said RFID tags is encoded with RFID tag information that may be used to determine a physical location of any of said RFID tags on said roadway;a first RFID scanner installed on a first vehicle to wirelessly interrogate said RFID tags as said first vehicle travels on said roadway and/or to wirelessly receive said RFID tag information from said RFID tags as said first vehicle encounters any of said RFID tags on said roadway;a first transceiver installed in said first vehicle and operatively connected to said first RFID scanner to receive said RFID tag information from said first RFID scanner and to re-encode and transmit at least said RFID tag information wirelessly as at least a first RF signal;at least one roadside repeater station to wirelessly receive at least said first RF signal from said first transceiver and to re-transmit the information encoded in at least said first RF signal; anda remote central tracking station, having at least one database, wherein the remote central tracking station is configured to: receive and process said re-transmitted information from said roadside repeater station to generate statistical data corresponding to operation of the first vehicle by a driver of the first vehicle; andmodify at least one driving restriction of the driver, stored in the database, based on the statistical data, wherein the at least one driving restriction includes at least one of a time of day the driver is allowed to drive, driving lanes the driver is allowed to drive in, a maximum speed the driver is allowed to drive, and a type of vehicle the driver is allowed to drive. 2. The system of claim 1 further comprising: a second RFID scanner installed on a second vehicle to wirelessly interrogate said RFID tags as said second vehicle travels on said roadway and/or to wirelessly receive said RFID tag information from said RFID tags as said second vehicle encounters any of said RFID tags on said roadway; anda second transceiver installed in said second vehicle and operatively connected to said second RFID scanner to receive said RFID tag information from said second RFID scanner and to re-encode and wirelessly transmit at least said RFID tag information as a second RF signal to said roadside repeater station. 3. The system of claim 2 wherein said second RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a front portion of said second vehicle. 4. The system of claim 2 wherein said second RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a back portion of said second vehicle. 5. The system of claim 2 wherein said second RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a bottom portion of said second vehicle. 6. The system of claim 2 wherein said second transceiver also transmits a second vehicle identification code corresponding to said second vehicle as part of said second RF signal. 7. The system of claim 2 wherein said second transceiver also transmits time stamp information as part of said second RF signal. 8. The system of claim 2 further comprising a second driver's license reader device operatively connected to said second transceiver to read a driver identification code on a driver's license that is presented to said second driver's license reader device and to transfer said driver identification code to said second transceiver. 9. The system of claim 8 wherein said second transceiver encodes said driver identification code into said second RF signal. 10. The system of claim 9 wherein said central tracking station determines a status of said driver's license and notifies the authorities if said status of said driver's license is that of being suspended. 11. The system of claim 2 wherein said central tracking station tracks a current roadway location of said second vehicle using at least said received RFID tag information transmitted from said second vehicle. 12. The system of claim 2 wherein said central tracking station estimates a current speed of said second vehicle using at least said received RFID tag information transmitted from said second vehicle. 13. The system of claim 2 wherein said central tracking station and said at least one database to store and correlate information, including vehicle identification codes, driver identification codes, RF tag location information, and driver ranking information. 14. The system of claim 13 wherein said driver ranking information includes at least one of hours allowed to drive, lanes allowed to drive in, speed allowed to drive at, and type of vehicle allowed to drive, for each driver identification code stored in said at least one database. 15. The system of claim 13 wherein said driver ranking information, for any driver identified in said at least one database by one of said driver identification codes, is determined based on at least one of a driving record of said driver, an age of said driver, a vehicle of said driver, a test taken by said driver, and a criminal record of said driver. 16. The system of claim 2 wherein said central tracking station transmits a second warning message signal, either directly or indirectly, to said second transceiver of said second vehicle. 17. The system of claim 16 wherein said second warning message signal indicates that said second vehicle is traveling in a lane of said roadway in which said second vehicle and/or a driver of said second vehicle is not authorized to travel. 18. The system of claim 16 wherein said second warning message signal indicates that said second vehicle is traveling on said roadway at a time of day for which said second vehicle and/or a driver of said second vehicle is not authorized to travel on said roadway. 19. The system of claim 16 wherein said second warning message signal indicates that said second vehicle is traveling on said roadway at an unauthorized speed. 20. The system of claim 16 wherein said second warning message signal indicates that a driver of said second vehicle is not authorized to drive said second vehicle on said roadway. 21. The system of claim 16 further comprising at least one warning indicator device within said second vehicle wherein said second warning message signal triggers said at least one warning indicator device to activate within said second vehicle such that a driver of said second vehicle is warned. 22. The system of claim 16 further comprising at least one warning indicator device on an outside of said second vehicle wherein said second warning message signal triggers at least one warning indicator device to activate on said outside of said second vehicle such that other drivers on said roadway in proximity to said second vehicle are warned. 23. The system of claim 1 wherein said re-transmitted information is wirelessly re-transmitted from said roadside repeater station to said remote central tracking station. 24. The system of claim 1 wherein said re-transmitted information is transferred from said roadside repeater station to said remote central tracking station over a wired network. 25. The system of claim 1 wherein said encoded RFID tag information comprises physical geographic position information. 26. The system of claim 1 wherein said encoded RFID tag information comprises global positioning system (GPS) coordinates. 27. The system of claim 1 wherein said encoded RFID tag information comprises an RFID tag identification code. 28. The system of claim 1 wherein said first RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a front portion of said first vehicle. 29. The system of claim 1 wherein said first RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a back portion of said first vehicle. 30. The system of claim 1 wherein said first RFID scanner includes an antenna that is mounted to a bottom portion of said first vehicle. 31. The system of claim 1 wherein said RFID tags are affixed substantially in the center of individual lanes on a surface of said roadway. 32. The system of claim 1 wherein said first transceiver also transmits a first vehicle identification code corresponding to said first vehicle as part of said first RF signal. 33. The system of claim 1 wherein said first transceiver also transmits time stamp information as part of said first RF signal. 34. The system of claim 1 further comprising a first driver's license reader device operatively connected to said first transceiver to read a driver identification code on a driver's license that is presented to said first driver's license reader device and to transfer said driver identification code to said first transceiver. 35. The system of claim 34 wherein said first transceiver encodes said driver identification code into said first RF signal. 36. The system of claim 35 wherein said central tracking station determines a status of said driver's license and notifies the authorities if said status of said driver's license is that of being suspended. 37. The system of claim 1 wherein said central tracking station tracks a current roadway location of said first vehicle using at least said received RFID tag information transmitted from said first vehicle. 38. The system of claim 1 wherein said central tracking station estimates a current speed of said first vehicle using at least said received RFID tag information transmitted from said first vehicle. 39. The system of claim 1 wherein said central tracking station and said at least one database store and correlate information, including vehicle identification codes, driver identification codes, RF tag location information, and driver ranking information. 40. The system of claim 39 wherein said driver ranking information includes at least one of hours allowed to drive, lanes allowed to drive in, speed allowed to drive at, and type of vehicle allowed to drive, for each driver identification code stored in said at least one database. 41. The system of claim 39 wherein said driver ranking information, for any driver identified in said at least one database by one of said driver identification codes, is determined based on at least one of a driving record of said driver, an age of said driver, a vehicle of said driver, a test taken by said driver, and a criminal record of said driver. 42. The system of claim 1 wherein said central tracking station transmits a first warning message signal, either directly or indirectly, to said first transceiver of said first vehicle. 43. The system of claim 42 wherein said first warning message signal indicates that said first vehicle is traveling in a lane of said roadway in which said first vehicle and/or a driver of said first vehicle is not authorized to travel. 44. The system of claim 42 wherein said first warning message signal indicates that said first vehicle is traveling on said roadway at a time of day for which said first vehicle and/or a driver of said first vehicle is not authorized to travel on said roadway. 45. The system of claim 42 wherein said first warning message signal indicates that said first vehicle is traveling on said roadway at an unauthorized speed. 46. The system of claim 42 wherein said first warning message signal indicates that a driver of said first vehicle is not authorized to drive said first vehicle on said roadway. 47. The system of claim 42 further comprising at least one warning indicator device within said first vehicle wherein said first warning message signal triggers said at least one warning indicator device to activate within said first vehicle such that a driver of said first vehicle is warned. 48. The system of claim 42 further comprising at least one warning indicator device on an outside of said first vehicle wherein said first warning message signal triggers said at least one warning indicator device to activate on said outside of said first vehicle such that other drivers on said roadway in proximity to said first vehicle are warned. 49. The system of claim 1 wherein said remote central tracking station is capable of tracking a plurality of other vehicles on said roadway, wherein each of said other vehicles has installed an RFID scanner that is operatively connected to a transceiver which are capable of operating in a similar manner as said first RFID scanner and said first transceiver. 50. The system of claim 49 wherein said remote central tracking station is capable of generating traffic flow data in response to tracking said first vehicle and said plurality of other vehicles on said roadway. 51. The system of claim 50 wherein said remote central tracking station is capable of changing the operation of at least one traffic control device associated with said roadway in response to said traffic flow data. 52. The system of claim 1 wherein said RFID tags are affixed substantially off-center in individual lanes on a surface of said roadway.