IHIIIHIII|||III US005164732A United States Patent 19 11 Patent Number: 5,164,732 Brockelsby Et Al
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IHIIIHIII|||III US005164732A United States Patent 19 11 Patent Number: 5,164,732 Brockelsby et al. (45) Date of Patent: Nov. 17, 1992 (54) HIGHWAY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION 3,803,616 4/1974 Kopfet al. .......................... 343/719 SYSTEM WITH HIGH GAN ANTENNA 3,813,658 5/1974 Rich, Jr. .............................. 235/449 3,813,659 5/1974 Charlton ............................. 235/449 75) Inventors: William K. Brockelsby; Conrad M. B. 3,816,708 6/1974 Walton ... ... 340/825.3 Walker; Michael L. Hryciuk; Donald 3,839,717 10/1974 Paul ......... ... 342/44 P. Gillis, all of Edmonton, Canada 3,914,762 10/1975 Klensch .. ... 342/44 3,918,057 11/1975 Van Tol. ... 342/.51 (73) Assignee: EID Electronic Identification 3,935,432 1/1976 Maynard ......... 235/465 Systems Ltd., Montreal, Canada 3,984,835 10/1976 Kaplan et al. ...... 342/44 4,002,889 1/1977 Hoyer-Ellefsen .. 235/487 (21) Appl. No.: 446,234 4,015,259 3/1977 Siverhus et al. ... ... 342/44 22 Filed: Dec. 5, 1989 4,068,211 1/1978 Van Tol .......... ... 340/933 4,075,632 2/1978 Baldwin .. ... 342/5 Related U.S. Application0 - Data 4,114,1514,104,630 9/19788/1978 ChasekDenne et ........ al. ....... ...... 342/44 63) Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 383,169, Jul. 20, 1989, 4,167,007 9/1979 McGeochet al. ... 342/44 Pat. No. 4,937,581, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 4,209,783 6/1989 Ohyama et al..... ... 340/825 195,400, May 13, 1988, Pat. No. 4,870,419, which is a 4,687,445 8/1987 Williams .............................. 343/719 continuation of Ser. No. 661,712, Oct. 7, 1984, aban doned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. OTHER PUBLICATIONS 536,010, Sep. 26, 1983, abandoned which is a continua Report entitled, "Heavy Vehicle Electronic License on-Part of Ser. No. 2.570; Feb. 3, 1981, aban Plate Program-AVI Test Program-Interim Report and doned. Recommendations' by Castle Rock Consultants. 51 Int. Cl......................... G01S 13/74; G01S 13/80 Report entitled, "Heavy Vehicle Electronic License 52) U.S. C. ........................................ 342/44; 342/45; Plate (HELP) Program-Automatic Vehicle Identifica 342/.50; 342/.51; 340/505; 340/825.54; 340/933; tion (AVI) Research and Development Project Final 340/935; 340/988; 235/384 Report", dated Mar. 1990 by Castle Rock Consultants. 58 Field of Search ............... 343/719, 711, 717, 770, "Handbook of Microprocessors, Microcomputers, and 343/771, 789,826, 827,834, 837,841, 847, 873; Mini ters'. John D. Lenk, Prentice-Hall, I 342/42-45, 50, 51; 235/384; 340/505, 825.54, air, ao nk, Prentice-hail, Inc., 933,935, 941, 988 Primary Examiner-Bernarr E. Gregory (56) References Cited Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Fitch, Even, Tabin & U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Flannery 3,163,860 12/1964 Bailey .................................... 342/44 57 ABSTRACT 3,290,675 12/1966 Neild...... 340/825.34 3,346,842 10/1967 Dixon..... as 340/933 An antenna system for mounting in a roadway com 3,346,864 10/1967 Harmon ..... as 343/719 prised of an electrically lossy material. The antenna 3,530,434 9/1970 Stites et al. ... ... 340/825.61 system has a reflector trough shield filled with a solid 3,594,798 7/1971 Leydorf et al. ... - - - - - - 343/719 dielectric. An antenna, preferably comprised of coaxial 3,626,413 12/1971 Zachmann ..... ... 340/933 X cable, is positioned in the reflector trough, which pre st A: EME ala - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4: vents electromagnetic waves radiated by the antenna 3,750.63 7/1978 Hecker. .2/s from being lost into the roadway. 3,772,668 11/1973 Smith ..... 340/825.54 3,798,641 3/1974 Preti...................................... 342/44 22 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets LOGICCIRCUT AND MEMORY NFORMATION AND DENTITY STORAGE DEVICE NTERROGATION STATION TREGGERAND DATA FORMA PROGRAMMING MEMORY GENERATOR CONTROL U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 Sheet 1 of 7 5,164,732 LOGIC CIRCUIT AND MEMORY NFORMATION AND DENTITY STORAGE DEVICE NTERROGATION STATION Fig. 1 11 7-20 DECODER 8 SIGNAL PROC. TRIGGER AND DATA FORMAT PROGRAMMING MEMORY 8. GENERATOR CONTROL Fig. 2 13 33 19-N 37 D 2Z24ZZ 4. YM LOGIC 3Mass 1529 - ANTIES." %Z% 77 y 3.) A MEMORY 321 33 38 U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 Sheet 2 of 7 5,164,732 PREAMBLE MEMEYEASE LIGHT MEMORY PAGE ACTIVATED SWITCH 7 14 ER U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 Sheet 3 of 7 5,164,732 TO Fig. 4. TRIGGER INPUT 82 83 1. 91 93 DATA RECEIVER DETAL U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 Sheet 4 of 7 5,164,732 102 107 Sio O9 1 O9 COMPUTERTO Fig. 7 105-7 Fig 8 A. -1. 102 ANTENNAARRAYCOLLINEAR Fig. 8B'x 120 TRIGGERING LOOP, COLLINEAR ANTENNA Rx 2. ARRAY Fig. 8 C'xT 4. 22 DUAL COLLINEAR R 1. 122 ANTENNA ARRAY 126 -127 TV R 122 N N / SINGLE COLLINEAR Fig. 8D, * - A - 7-12 WITHANTENNA MICROWAVE ARRAY CIRCULATOR U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 . Sheet 5 of 7 5,164,732 TRAFFC 1 - D N ON 1 - p 24y sa2 (TUNING CAPACTOR) U.S. Patent Nov. 17, 1992 Sheet 6 of 7 5,164,732 Fig. 9C conductor I o N --4-N--1-N--1-N. DSTANCE Fig. 9D SHIELD I O tit--N-tv --S-tt- -ks--ti DSTANCE CURRENT DISTRIBUTION IN ARRAY RELATIVE SIGNAL NTENSITY DSTANCE 2Oo Fig. OB C - 25 3%2N222st SFT-- 22 U.S. Patent 5,164,732 |BN ZEN €EN 5,164,732 1 2 but a few. Early attempts to meet these needs followed HIGHWAY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM the premise that all that was necessary was to identify WITH HIGH GAIN ANTENNA the individual vehicles automatically and all other man agement functions could then be carried out in a central CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED 5 computer. This notion belies the fact that a vast amount APPLICATIONS of data communications with a central data base are This is a continuation-in-part of co-pending applica then required. In many cases, particularly when opera tion Ser. No. 383,169, filed Jul. 20, 1989, to Baldwin et tions cover a large geographic area, this approach is al. for Electronic Identification System, and assigned to both expensive and impractical. In addition, initial en the present assignee, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,581, O coding of earlier devices was not satisfactory. The de which is a continuation of Ser. No. 195,400, filed May vice was either factory-programmed, requiring a cross 13, 1988, to Baldwin et al. for Electronic Identification reference table to relate the arbitrary number to that of System, and assigned to the present assignee, now U.S. the vehicle, or it was field-programmed by physical Pat. No. 4,870,491, which is a continuation of applica and/or electric contact, requiring sealing in the field to tion Ser. No. 661,712, filed Oct. 17, 1984, to Baldwin et 15 ensure package integrity. al. for Electronic Identification System, assigned to the What is needed is a transponder system having a high present assignee and now abandoned; which is a con gain antenna but with broad transverse coverage to tinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 536,010, filed ensure that transponder communication can take place Sep. 26, 1983, to Baldwin et al., for Electronic Identifi between an interrogation station and an information and cation System, assigned to the present assignee and now 20 identity storage system carried by a highway vehicle. abandoned; which is a continuation-in-part of applica tion Ser. No. 234,570, filed Feb. 13 1981, to Baldwin et SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION al. for Electronic Identification System, assigned to the The present invention provides an electronic identifi present assignee and now abandoned. 25 cation system that can store both fixed and changing BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION information on a moving object, such as a railroad car, without physical contact and while the object is moving The invention relates to an identification system suit able for identifying objects from a remote interrogation at relatively high speeds. Furthermore, a portion of the station. More specifically, the invention provides an information stored on the object can be protected from electronic identification device including a logic circuit 30 accidental erasure so that portion cannot be changed and a memory, a trigger circuit and a transmitter posi without further steps being taken. tioned on an object and a remote interrogation station In the case of a railroad car, the system provides the including a receiver and data processor, together with car's identity and other pertinent information relating to means for remotely programming the electronic identi the car. Some of the information is protected from era fication device with transit information when the object 35 sure, such as the identification number, the type of car is moving relative to the interrogation station. The in and loading limits. Other information, such as destina vention also includes a system and apparatus for identi tion, contents, special handling considerations, etc., can fying vehicles traveling along multi-lane bidirectional be reprogrammed remotely by an interrogation station. highways by using a roadway antenna connected to the To provide for high speed transmission of informa receiver of the remote interrogation station. The road tion, a memory that can be read and changed and has a way antenna comprises an antenna array traversing the number of separate pages to store information is located highway lanes, and includes a collinear antenna array on the object. Different interrogation stations can then positioned in a reflector shield filled with a dielectric be placed to send encoded interrogation signals to read and buried in a flush-mount relationship with the road individual pages of information.