Vehicle tracking system using smart-phone as active transponder
AssigneeAmtech Systems, LLC
InventorsKelly Gravelle, John Todd Elson, Greg Lantz, Michael Melville, Paul Hamel
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Abstract
A system combining readers for RFID transponders and Bluetooth® devices for automated roadway tolling and monitoring is described. Because of the ubiquity of Bluetooth® devices, filtering methods are described to narrow received Bluetooth® signals to a particular monitored traffic lane and to further associate the Bluetooth® signal with a registered RFID toll tag in a vehicle. Signal strength of the Bluetooth® signal at each of a plurality of receiver antennas may be used to identify the location of the Bluetooth® device that emitted the signal.
Claims30
A system for monitoring of vehicles, comprising:
- a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) antennas respectively associated with portions of a roadway;
- a plurality of Bluetooth® antennas, a corresponding one of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas being located in proximity with each RFID antenna of the plurality of RFID antennas;
- and
- a controller configured to transmit a Bluetooth® advertisement via at least one Bluetooth® antenna of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas in response to receiving an RFID signal from an RFID transponder located in a vehicle by an RFID antenna of the plurality of RFID antennas.
A method for processing Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and Bluetooth® signals received at a monitoring site, the monitoring site including a plurality of RFID antennas and a plurality of Bluetooth® antennas, each of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas being associated with a respective one of the plurality of RFID antennas, the method comprising:
- detecting an RFID transponder signal at an RFID antenna of the plurality of RFID antennas;
- transmitting, in response to detection of the RFID transponder signal, an advertisement via one or more of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas;
- and
- receiving, at one or more of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas and in response to the advertisement, one or more response signals from one or more Bluetooth® devices, each of the one or more response signals including identification (ID) information uniquely associated with a respective one of the one or more Bluetooth® devices.
At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- receive, via an RFID antenna of a plurality of RFID antennas, a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder signal from an RFID transponder;
- transmit, in response to the RFID transponder signal, an advertisement signal via one or more of a plurality of Bluetooth® antennas, wherein each of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas is associated with a respective one of the plurality of RFID antennas;
- receive, at one or more of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas and in response to the advertisement, one or more Bluetooth® response signals from one or more Bluetooth® devices, each of the one or more Bluetooth® response signals including identification information uniquely associated with a respective one of the one or more Bluetooth® devices;
- and
- associate a Bluetooth® device of the one or more Bluetooth® devices with the RFID transponder based on a detection of a Bluetooth® response signal from the Bluetooth® device by a Bluetooth® antenna, of the plurality of Bluetooth® antennas, corresponding to the RFID antenna.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.