Abstract: Method for detecting wheels of a vehicle that is traveling on a roadway in a travel direction and the wheels of which are at least partially exposed laterally. The method including: emitting an electromagnetic measurement beam lobe with a known temporal progression of frequency from the side of the roadway onto an area of the roadway and at a slant with respect to the travel direction, receiving the measurement beam lobe reflected by a passing vehicle and recording the temporal progression, relative to the known progression, of all of its frequencies, and during the passage of a vehicle, detecting a frequency spread appearing in the recorded progression and exceeding a predetermined spread magnitude, as a wheel.

Abstract: A method for detecting the wheels of a vehicle that is traveling on a roadway in a travel direction and whose wheels project downward from the vehicle body and are at least partially exposed laterally at the level of the vehicle body, with the steps: emitting a concentrated electromagnetic measurement beam with a known temporal progression of frequency from the side of the roadway onto an area a predetermined distance above the roadway and at a slant with respect to the travel direction, receiving the measurement beam reflected by a passing vehicle and recording the temporal progression, relative to the known progression, of its frequency, and detecting a rectangular pulse occurring in the recorded progression within the time period when the vehicle body passes, as a wheel.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for measuring a phase shift between a first and a second signal, comprising the steps of shifting the first signal in frequency by an offset frequency, superposing the frequency-shifted first signal and the second signal, determining an envelope signal of the superposed signal, and measuring a phase shift of the envelope signal at the offset frequency, or a multiple thereof, with respect to the phase of the offset frequency, wherein the phase shift is measured by determining a Fourier coefficient of the envelope signal at the offset frequency and extracting its phase. The invention further relates to an apparatus implementing the method.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods and apparatus for displaying toll charging parameters of vehicles by means of a roadside display. In one embodiment, parameters are sent from an onboard-unit of the vehicle to the roadside display. In an alternative embodiment, parameters are registered under a vehicle identification in a database and retrieved therefrom for displaying on the roadside display by a detection of the identification of the vehicle.

Abstract: A method for collecting tolls for location usages of an on-board unit, which has a unit identifier in a road toll system and a mobile telecommunications identifier in a mobile telecommunications network.

Abstract: A system and method for selecting a preferred connection point from a choice of one or more available connection points in a wireless communication network. The system and method include: determining a link quality for the one or more available connection points; establishing a connection to a first connection point when there is no existing established connection, the first connection point offers a desired service, and the link quality for the first connection point exceeds a first threshold value, wherein a service priority is considered in determining the link quality of the first connection point; maintaining the established connection to the first connection point when the link quality exceeds a second threshold value; and making eligible the established connection to the first connection point for preemption by a second connection point, when the link quality for the first connection point is less than the second threshold value.

Abstract: Method for detecting a boundary crossing of an object, the movement of which is represented by a sequence of positions on a digital road map ith vectorized road segments and at least one boundary, the method comprising: determining an intersection of the boundary with a road segment and a reference direction in the orientation of this road segment, successively projecting vectors, each determined between one of the positions and the intersection point, onto the reference direction, in order to obtain a sequence of projections, and detecting a boundary crossing if a change of direction or sign occurs in the sequence of projections.

Abstract: Method for charging position usages of vehicles in a road toll system including acquiring an identifier of a vehicle device, a transaction value and an identifier of a payment card as a payment transaction, authorization a payment transaction system and transmitting associated authorization data with the vehicle device identifier to a toll server, generating a substitute identifier assigned to the card identifier and transmitting the substitute identifier with the authorization data to the toll server, associating the substitute identifier and the vehicle device identifier based on the respective received authorization data, calculating toll values based on position usages of vehicles, based on the card identifier assigned to substitute identifier, the transmitted toll values and the transaction value.

Abstract: A method for validating a road traffic control transaction. The method includes: storing a cryptographic key assigned to a transaction receiver, in the transaction receiver; recording an image of a vehicle; reading an identification of the vehicle in the recorded image by OCR and generating a control transaction thereof in the control station; generating a random key and encrypting the recorded image into authentication data with the random key and the cryptographic key in the control station; transmitting the recorded image, the control transaction, the random key and the authentication data to the transaction receiver; in the transaction receiver, encrypting the received recorded image into nominal authentication data with the received random key and the stored cryptographic key; and comparing the received authentication data with the nominal authentication data. The received control transaction is then validated when the received authentication data and the nominal authentication data are identical.

Abstract: A parking lot with a plurality of parking spaces for vehicles that have OCR-readable license numbers and onboard units with radio IDs that can be read out via radio signals. The parking lot including a central computer for storing parking space reservations, a vehicle license number and an assigned radio ID, a radio beacon for the parking spaces for reading out the radio ID of an entering vehicle via radio and signaling the radio ID to the central computer, and at least one camera unit for each parking space for reading the license number of a vehicle and correspondingly signaling the license number to the central computer. The central computer checks whether for a radio ID signaled to the central computer the vehicle license number is subsequently signaled by the camera unit of this parking space, and to log instances in which this is not the case.

Abstract: A method for providing location-specific data services to vehicles that carry onboard units for short-range communication with tolling stations at known locations in a road-tolling system and mobile terminals for data reception in a mobile communication network. The method includes: storing a list of service IDs, a mapping between a device ID and a terminal ID, and at least one booking of a service ID for a device or terminal ID within the road tolling system; transmitting the device ID of an onboard unit to the tolling station; retrieving the booking of the service ID for the device ID or the mapped terminal ID; testing whether the service ID from this booking is included in the service ID list, and if so, transmitting of the mapped terminal ID to the data service; and providing this data service via the mobile communication network to the mobile terminal.

Abstract: A method and device for dynamically changing transmission parameters of broadcast messages transmitted and received by a mobile unit. The method and device include monitoring transmission channel characteristics; dynamically adjusting the transmission parameters of a message based on the monitored transmission channel characteristics; and broadcasting the message using the adjusted transmission parameters. The transmission parameters may include one or more of transmission power, error code rate, and modulation rate. The transmission channel characteristics include one or more of the group consisting of received message density, channel congestion, detected number of message collisions, and signal to interference ratio.

Abstract: A vehicle device for a road toll system including: a satellite navigation receiver for continuously generating location data for a processing and transmitting/receiving unit of the vehicle device; and a trusted-element processor configured to log a time segment of the generated location data and to cryptographically signing said time segment. The trusted-element processor is further configured to start said logging upon detection of a predefined time or a predefined location of the vehicle device and to carry out said logging for a predefined time segment.

Abstract: A method for capturing images of vehicles at excessive speeds including: generating a random access identifier for and capturing an image of the vehicle at the entry and storing them in a first memory which can only be accessed via the access identifier, recording the entry time and an entry identifier at the entry, forming an encrypted or hashed value of the entry identifier and storing the entry time, the value and the access identifier as a data set in a second memory, recording the exit time and an exit identifier at the exit, forming an encrypted or hashed value of the exit identifier and ascertaining the data set with it from the second memory. If the exit time lies within a preset time span from the entry time, using the access identifier for accessing the first memory to retrieve the stored entry image of the vehicle.

Abstract: Onboard unit for charging occupant number-dependent tolls for a vehicle in the context of a road toll system, comprising a Doppler radar or UWB impulse radar that can be directed onto the vehicle interior for measuring movements and generating at least one measurement signal representing these; and an evaluation device, which is configured to detect signal patterns in the measurement signal that are typical for heart or respiratory activity of an occupant, to count those signal patterns which occur simultaneously at an observation time, and to calculate toll data as a function of that count value.

Abstract: A method and a radio beacon for determining a distance of a vehicle passing a radio beacon of a road toll system, from beacon. The vehicle is equipped with an onboard unit, which emits a signal with a known curve of its frequency over time. The method includes receiving the signal in the radio beacon during passage of the vehicle and recording a curve of its frequency over time in relation to the known frequency curve; detecting a change in the recorded frequency curve exceeding a predetermined threshold value; looking for two far regions in the frequency curve lying before and after the detected change in time and showing a frequency change below a threshold value; scaling the recorded frequency curve in such a manner that the far regions assume predetermined values; and determining the said distance from a gradient of the scaled frequency curve in an inflection point thereof.

Abstract: A method of channel estimation in an OFDM transmission system having a transmitter and a receiver according to standard IEEE 802.11x. The method includes: in the transmitter, setting an identifier in a reserved bits section of the header following the preamble in a physical layer frame; attaching a postamble at the end of said frame without altering the length information in the header; transmitting said frame over the channel, in the receiver, receiving a frame over the channel and checking a reserved bits section in the header of the received frame for the presence of the identifier; and if the identifier is detected, using the postamble and the preamble of the received frame to estimate the channel.

Abstract: A system and method for a novel broadcasting scheme (NBS) in a wireless local area network are described, which can operate with or without a network connection. The system permits transmission of application-specific data through a specific field in a beacon frame, the Service Set Identity (SSID). By implementing a NBS Processor in an AP and a NBS Parser in stations, the AP can broadcast application-specific data while the stations can automatically act upon the receipt of the broadcast.