CELLULAR NETWORK

D E S C R I P T I O N

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to payment systems and more specifically to payment systems that exploit a mobile cellular network in toll stations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A toll collection system is a platform that enables drivers to pay the fee for using an infrastructure, such as a highway, a bridge or a tunnel. Toll systems can be classified as follows:

- Manual: the manual system counts with the presence of human personnel to collect the payment.

- Card-based: the card-based system is based on the insertion of a pre-paid card or a credit card.

- Automatic: in an automatic system, drivers have an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) or a DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communications) device, which identifies the user and triggers the payment. In this case, a previous registration of the user in the system is necessary.

- Transparent: a transparent system automatically identifies the registered car by means of video cameras or an equivalent system and triggers the payment. In this system, a previous registration of the user in the system is necessary, too.

The last two categories allow the driver to pay the fee without stopping the vehicle. Electronic toll collection (ETC) aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept. It determines whether the cars passing are enrolled in the program, alerts enforcers for those that are not, and electronically debits the accounts of registered car owners without requiring them to stop.

In some urban settings, automated gates are in use in electronic-toll lanes.

Enforcement is accomplished by a combination of a camera, which takes a picture of the car, and a radio frequency keyed computer, which searches for a drivers' window/bumper mounted transponder to verify and collect payment. The system sends a notice and fine to cars that pass through without having an active account or paying a toll.

Factors hindering full-speed electronic collection include significant non- participation, entailing lines in manual lanes and disorderly traffic patterns as the electronic- and manual- collection cars "sort themselves out" into their respective lanes; problems with pursuing toll evaders; need, in at least some current (barrier) systems, to confine vehicles in lanes, while interacting with the collection devices, and the dangers of high-speed collisions with the confinement structures; vehicle hazards to toll employees present in some electronic-collection areas; the fact that in some areas at some times, long lines form even to pass through the electronic- collection lanes; and costs and other issues raised when retrofitting existing toll collection facilities. In Australia, the e-TAG device is accepted at all tolled motorways. A toll is debited to the customer's account with their tag provider. Some toll road operators encourage use of such tags, and apply an additional vehicle matching fee to vehicles without a tag.

In Brazil, Sem Parar/Via-Facil allows customers to pass through approximately 150 toll barriers in the states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Rio Grande do

Sul, and Rio de Janeiro. Sem Parar/Via-Facil also allows users to enter and exit some pay parking lots. There is also the Auto Express that is present in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana and Minas Gerais. The European Union has created the EFC- which attempts to standardize European toll collection systems. Systems deployed after 1 January 2007 must support at least one of the following technologies: satellite positioning, mobile communications using the GSM-GPRS standard or 5.8 GHz microwave technology.

The most revolutionary application of ETC is in the urban context of congested cities, allowing to charge tolls without vehicles having to slow down. This application made feasible to concession to the private sector the construction and operation of urban freeways, as well as the introduction or improvement of congestion pricing, as a policy to restrict auto travel in downtown areas.

From the existing technologies, one can reach the conclusion that the user must make an extra effort in order to take the time and the inconvenience of using an extra device to benefit from electronic toll collection systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is a method and system for managing electronic toll collection in a toll station. The system is characterized by comprising:

- at least one cell 1 , associated to the toll station 3, for creating a coverage area 7 with an area identification code, the cell receiving an area identification signalling message from a mobile terminal 4 when the mobile terminal detects the area identification code of the coverage area of the cell, the area identification message including a code identifying a user;

- an authentication server, in communication with a payment module, where the user is previously registered;

- a payment module 2 connected to the cell, receiving the area identification code of the mobile terminal and, in communication with the authentication server, triggers automatically the payment if the user is registered and allowing the vehicle going through the toll station. According to the invention, the area identification signalling message received by the cell may be either a Location Area Update message in 3G, or a Tracking Area Update message in LTE, or equivalent messages for other technologies. The code identifying the user may be the International Mobile Subscriber Identity or

Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity included in the area identification message.

Optionally, the system may comprise a directional antenna 5, being configured said directional antenna to cover only one toll lane and avoiding interferences with adjacent lanes.

Additionally, the system of the invention allowing the vehicle going through the toll station, may further comprise a barrier in the toll station, the barrier is lift by the payment module after every payment.

In some embodiments the cells of the invention are a femtocell.

A second aspect of the invention refers to the mentioned method for managing the payment in a toll station. The method comprises the steps of:

- creating a coverage area 7, with an area identification code, by a cell 1 associated to a toll station;

- a mobile terminal 4 detecting the area identification code and sending automatically an area identification signalling message;

- a payment module 2 receiving the area identification signalling message including a code identifying a user;

- checking, in an authentication server, if the user is registered;

- if the user is registered in the authentication server, the payment module automatically triggering the payment.

The user registers himself into the authentication server via web or sending an SMS.

In some embodiments the area identification signalling message received by the cell is a Location Area Update message. Therefore, the code identifying the user is the International Mobile Subscriber Identity or Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity included in the location area update message.

In one embodiment of the invention the area identification signalling message received by the cell is a Tracking Area Update message.

Optionally, the invention may further comprise the payment module notifying the mobile terminal after every payment.

A computer program may also be included in the invention comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of the method, when said program is run on a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an FPGA, an ASIC, a microprocessor, a micro-controller, or any other form of programmable hardware.

The above features and advantages do not limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art will recognize additional features and advantages upon reading the following detailed description, and upon viewing the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complete the description that is being made and with the object of assisting in a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, in accordance with a preferred example of practical embodiment thereof, accompanying said description as an integral part thereof, is a set of drawings wherein, by way of illustration and not restrictively, the following has been represented:

Figure 1 shows a scheme of the system of the invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The system of the invention in a preferred embodiment has a plurality of cells 1 , of a mobile telecommunication network, hanging from a toll station 3. Each cell has certain features, such as covering one specific zone of a tolling area, for example a toll lane (to avoid interference with adjacent toll lanes), thus the system, in one embodiment, makes a difference by identifying through which toll lane a vehicle is crossing the toll. This requires the use of directional antennas. Directional antennas are antennas that radiate greater power in one direction allowing for increased performance in transmission and reception and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Thus, a mobile terminal 4 approaching to the toll station establishes a communication with the corresponding cell thanks to a directional antenna 5.

The cells are connected to a payment module 2, which is in charge of controlling the payment procedure. It is assumed that the toll station is in the coverage area of some mobile operator(s), through e.g. a macrocell 6. The cell hanging from the toll station (recall that in a preferred embodiment there is one cell per toll lane) lies in a location area (LA) that is different from that of said macrocell serving the toll area. Then, when the mobile enters the coverage area 7 of one of the cells of the toll station, and due to the change of LA, it starts a location update procedure between the mobile and the cellular core network serving the cell, through the cell, which embeds useful data that are used in the invention. The reader should notice that location area refers to the area identifying the location of a mobile terminal when in idle mode. Depending on the cellular technology the term used to refer to this concept may be different, e.g., tracking area in LTE, location area in 3G, etc. As an alternative, other procedures (different from location area update) that embed the same identification information might as well be used. The preferred embodiment of the present invention leverages on the following concepts:

- Cellular networks recognize their subscribers by means of the so called International Mobile Subscribers Identity (IMSI) number. IMSI numbers are registered in the core network entities and are unique for each subscriber. The network can also use the TMSI (Temporary IMSI) to identify its users for security reasons.

- A Location Area (LA) is defined as a set of contiguous cells in a given region.

- Location Area Update (LAU) is the procedure by which mobile terminals notify the cellular network about changes in their LA. When a mobile terminal detects a change of its LA, it sends a LAU message to the cell corresponding to its new LA, including an IMSI or TMSI identification. In this way, cellular networks can forward incoming calls (or data traffic) to the mobile terminals within a given LA.

This invention enables the payment of fees for accessing infrastructures, such as highways, bridges or tunnels, by means of mobile phones, though it may have other applications. When the vehicle traverses the toll station, the system identifies the subscriber, checks whether he/she is a registered user and, if so, it triggers the payment of the corresponding fee. It can eventually notify the subscriber of the payment (e.g., via SMS messages).

The implementation of the preferred embodiment of the invention is performed using the common LAU procedure. It is assumed that cells in the toll station lie in a LA that is different from that of the macrocell serving the toll area to force a LAU procedure. The payment procedure consists in the following steps:

1 . The mobile terminal carried by one of the users of the vehicle (the registered one) enters the coverage area of the cell installed in the toll station. It measures the received power from the cell, which is configured to be higher than that of the macrocell and triggers a LAU procedure by sending a LAU message.

2. The payment module captures the LAU messages from the mobile terminal and identifies the subscriber through the IMSI or TMSI fields in the LAU messages. The payment module relies also on an authentication server, where the users need to be registered in advance (e.g., web- or SMS-based registration). The authentication server identifies the subscriber and checks whether he/she is a registered user.

3. The payment module triggers the payment and lifts the barrier of the corresponding toll lane. 4. Optionally, in some embodiments, the payment module may notify the mobile terminal about the payment via e.g., the macro-cell network. It is worth noting that there is no need to complete the aforementioned LAU procedure, since no communication through the cell will eventually take place. This might allow substantially simplifying the architecture of the cell.

Therefore, the payment is totally transparent for the user since all the communications between the mobile terminal and the cell are common procedures when a change of location area happens. Once the mobile terminal is identified, the system automatically executes the payment without user intervention.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cells are actually femtocells. A femtocell access point is a simplified cellular base station with reduced capabilities, complementing macrocells in some environments such as home or enterprises. In comparison with traditional base stations, often referred to as macrocells, femtocells have a smaller footprint (i.e. reduced coverage area) and, typically, the number of users they can serve is lower.

Accordingly, their cost is much lower, too. In general, femtocells operate in the same frequency band of macrocell base stations as a kind of underlay infrastructure. One of the main goals of femtocell deployments is to enhance indoor coverage, especially where the cellular service would otherwise be limited or unavailable. In some cases, femtocells are owned by subscribers, like Wi-Fi access points are, but unlike them, femtocells operate in licensed bands. Femtocells are connected to the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) via broadband connections, such as DSL.

As of the time of writing this patent, the most common air interface of commercial femtocells is WCDMA (used by 3G systems like UMTS/HSPA), but femtocells with other access technologies, like OFDMA (used by Long Term Evolution or WiMAX networks), start to appear. The standardization process for both 3G and LTE femtocells has been already completed by 3GPP. According to market research, the expected impact of femtocells on deployment of macrocell base stations is to considerably increase in the coming years. The main advantages of the present invention with respect to existing toll collection systems encompass:

. Manual

o Lower infrastructure costs.

o No need to stop the car when traversing toll stations. . Automatic

o No need for additional devices to be installed in the car.

o No need to stop the car when traversing toll stations.

. Card-based

o No need to stop the car when traversing toll stations.

. Transparent

o More difficult to elude the payment of the fee.

One more aspect of the invention, in one embodiment that means another improvement with respect to existing systems, is the differentiation among toll lanes. It is needed nothing else than the femtocells with directional antennas and the payment module to manage all vehicles crossing the toll station. Users do not have to use extra devices or to stop the car or to follow any special manual procedure when crossing the toll. Existing systems use cameras, plate readers or equivalent systems to identify which vehicle is crossing the toll through each toll lane. The present invention solves these problems.

More benefits associated to the invention are the following ones:

For final users

o The whole process is transparent for the o No need to rent or buy any device and install it in the car.

o No need to stop the vehicle to pay toll fees.

o Faster average speed when crossing toll stations. oad infrastructure owners

o Reduced OPEX (workforce).

o Limited CAPEX due to the low cost of the necessary infrastructure, o Less traffic congestion in the toll. obile network operators

o Adding a value added service to their portfolio.

o Increased revenues for existing cellular infrastructure.

o New niche market.