Apparatus for monitoring moving bodies

A moving body monitoring apparatus for monitoring a moving body which moves freely in a monitored area, said moving body monitoring apparatus comprising:

• moving side communication means adapted for placement in a moving body capable of moving freely through said monitored area, said moving side communication means having particular information;
• fixed position side communication means disposed in a fixed position and having at least one antenna arranged to communicate in a narrow communication area defined within said monitored area, said fixed position side communication means being arranged to communicate with said moving side communication means when said moving side communication means is held in said moving body while passing through said narrow communication area;
• moving body detecting means for detecting said moving body when entering into said narrow communication area of said at least one antenna, regardless of whether said moving body holds a moving side communication means;
• and
• a decision unit for deciding whether said moving side communication means of said moving body detected by said moving body detecting means holds said particular information or not,
• said decision unit being arranged so as to receive said particular information from said fixed position side communication means and classify said particular information according to whether said particular information matches data in a database of the decision unit,
• said decision unit being further arranged so as to receive information from said fixed position side communication means about an antenna identification number associated with said at least one antenna and about a time of communication between said moving side communication means and said at least one antenna, and to further receive information from said moving body detecting means about a position of said moving body and time of detection,
• said decision unit being further arranged to sort said information into a first group, if occurrences of said time of communication and time of detection coincide with a predetermined sequential order, and to sort said information into a second group if said information about a position of said moving body indicates that said moving body is within said narrow communication area and the time of communication coincides with the time of detection,
• wherein said decision unit determines that said moving body has one of said moving side communication means with said particular information if the number of information in said first group equals the number of information in said second group, and further the particular information received by said decision unit corresponds to said data in said database, regardless of whether said monitored area is divided into separate lanes by barriers.