Communication method and arrangement

1. An arrangement for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, each of the at least one transmitter transmitting radio frequency waves containing positional information about the transmitter, information necessitated by the information transferring arrangement and additional information of potential interest for operation of the vehicle, comprising:

an antenna mounted on the vehicle and capable of receiving radio frequency waves emitted by the transmitter and containing information;

a position determining device for determining the position of the vehicle; and

a processor coupled to said antenna and said position determining device and arranged to analyze the waves received by said antenna, determine whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle based on the vehicle's position as determined by said position determining device, and extract the information of interest only from the received waves determined to contain information of interest,

said processor being arranged to extract only the positional information and the information necessitated by the information transferring arrangement from all received waves and analyze the positional information to determine whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle and then extract additional information only from received waves determined to contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the information of interest is information which allows for the determination or calculation of one of a distance between the transmitter and the vehicle, an angle between the transmitter and the vehicle, a direction between the transmitter and the vehicle, a place of the transmitter and a geographic position of the transmitter and combinations thereof.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the analysis by said processor of the positional information extracted from all of the received waves to determine whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle includes an analysis of the positional information to determine whether any received waves originate from a transmitter within a pre-determined area relative to the vehicle.

4. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said antenna is capable of transmitting radio frequency waves, said processor being arranged to direct transmission of encoded signals from said antenna including information about the position of the vehicle.

5. The arrangement of claim 4 , wherein said processor is arranged to derive encoded signals using a code based on the position of the vehicle.

6. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said antenna is capable of transmitting radio frequency waves, said processor being arranged to direct transmission of encoded signals from said antenna including information about the position of the vehicle and identification of the vehicle.

7. The arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising a speed determining device arranged in the vehicle for determining the speed of the vehicle, said processor being coupled to said speed determining device for encoding signals including information about the speed of the vehicle.

8. The arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising a motion determining device arranged in the vehicle for determining the direction of motion of the vehicle, said processor being coupled to said motion determining device for encoding signals including information about the direction of motion of the vehicle.

9. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein said processor is arranged to derive encoded signals by phase modulation of distance or time between code transmissions, phase or amplitude modulation of code sequences, changes of the polarity of an entire code sequence or individual code segments, or bandwidth modulation of a code sequence, said processor deriving the encoded signals using a code based on the position of the vehicle.

10. A method for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, each of the at least one transmitter transmitting radio frequency waves containing positional information about the transmitter, information necessitated by the information transferring method and additional information of potential interest for operation of the vehicle, comprising:

arranging an antenna on the vehicle capable of receiving the radio frequency waves emitted by the transmitter;

receiving waves transmitted by the at least one transmitter via the antenna;

determining the position of the vehicle;

analyzing the waves received by the antenna to extract the positional information about the transmitter and information necessitated by the information transferring method from each wave;

determining from the extracted positional information whether any received waves contain additional information of actual interest for operation of the vehicle; and

extracting the additional information only from those transmitted signals determined to contain information of actual interest for operation of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the additional information contained in each transmitted wave is information which allows for the determination or calculation of one of a distance between the transmitter and the vehicle, an angle between the transmitter and the vehicle, a direction between the transmitter and the vehicle, a place of the transmitter and a geographic position of the transmitter and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wave analysis step comprises analyzing the received waves to determine whether any received waves originate from a transmitter within a pre-determined area relative to the vehicle, the information extracting step comprising extracting additional information only from the waves received from any transmitter determined to be within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a direction between each transmitter within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle and the vehicle; and

limiting the extraction of additional information from waves received from the transmitters within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle to only those whose direction to the vehicle affects the traveling of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a direction of travel of each transmitter within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle and the vehicle; and

limiting the extraction of additional information from waves received from the transmitters within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle to only those whose direction of travel affects the traveling of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wave analysis step comprises analyzing the received waves to determine whether any received waves originate from a transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current position, the information extracting step comprising extracting additional information only from the waves received from any transmitter traveling toward the vehicle's current position.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wave analysis step comprises analyzing the received waves to determine whether any received waves originate from a transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current position or toward the vehicle's projected position based on the vehicle's current position and direction of travel, the information extracting step comprising extracting additional information only from the waves received from any transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current or projected position.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the antenna is capable of transmitting radio frequency waves, further comprising:

transmitting encoded signals from the antenna including information about the position of the vehicle; and

selecting a code to use for encoding the signal based on the position of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the signals are analyzed to determine whether any of the signals originate from transmitters dedicated to the transmission of road conditions or traffic data whereby the signals containing information of interest originate from the transmitters dedicated to the transmission of road conditions or traffic data.

19. A method for transferring information from transmitters to a moving vehicle, comprising:

determining the position of the vehicle;

transmitting a signal from each transmitter containing its position, information necessitated by the information transferring method and additional information;

arranging an antenna on the vehicle;

receiving the signals from the transmitters via the antenna;

analyzing the signals received by the antenna to extract the positional information about the transmitters and information necessitated by the information transferring method from each signal;

determining from the extracted positional information whether any transmitters are situated within a pre-determined area relative to the vehicle; and

extracting the additional information only from signals received from transmitters within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the additional information is information which allows for a determination or calculation of one of a distance between the transmitter and the vehicle, an angle between the transmitter and the vehicle, a direction between the transmitter and the vehicle, a place of the transmitter and a geographic position of the transmitter and combinations thereof.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

determining a direction between each transmitter within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle and the vehicle; and

limiting the extraction of the additional information from waves received from the transmitters within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle to only those whose direction affects the traveling of the vehicle.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining a direction of travel of each transmitter within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle and the vehicle; and

limiting the extraction of additional information from waves received from the transmitters within the pre-determined area relative to the vehicle to only those whose direction of travel affects the traveling of the vehicle.

23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

determining whether any received waves originate from a transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current position; and

extracting additional information only from the waves received from any transmitter traveling toward the vehicle's current position.

24. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

determining whether any received waves originate from a transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current position or toward the vehicle's projected position based on the vehicle's current position and direction of travel; and

extracting additional information only from the waves received from any transmitter traveling in a direction toward the vehicle's current or projected position.

25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

encoding the signals transmitted by the transmitters; and

selecting a code to use for encoding the signals for each transmitter based on the position of the transmitter.

26. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

positioning the transmitters on vehicles; and

determining the position of each transmitter using a (GPS-based system.

27. A method for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, comprising:

mounting an antenna on the vehicle which is capable of receiving radio frequency waves emitted by the transmitter containing information and capable of transmitting radio frequency waves containing information;

determining the position of the vehicle;

analyzing the waves received by the antenna;

determining whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle based on the vehicle's position; and

extracting the information of interest only from the received waves determined to contain information of interest;

transmitting encoded signals from the antenna; and

generating the encoded signals using a code based on the position of the vehicle such that the position of the vehicle is determinable upon decoding of the signal.

28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising assigning an identification to the vehicle and encoding an identification of the vehicle into transmission from the antenna.

29. An arrangement for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, comprising:

an antenna mounted on the vehicle and capable of receiving radio frequency waves emitted by the transmitter and containing information and capable of transmitting radio frequency waves;

a position determining device for determining the position of the vehicle; and

a processor coupled to said antenna and said position determining device and arranged to analyze the waves received by said antenna, determine whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle based on the vehicle's position as determined by said position determining device, and extract the information of interest only from the received waves determined to contain information of interest,

said processor being arranged to direct transmission of encoded signals from said antenna including information about the position of the vehicle.

30. The arrangement of claim 29 , wherein said processor is arranged to direct transmission of encoded signals from said antenna including identification of the vehicle.

31. An arrangement for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, comprising:

an antenna mounted on the vehicle and capable of receiving radio frequency waves emitted by the at least one transmitter and containing information and transmitting radio frequency waves containing information;

a position determining device for determining the position of the vehicle; and

a processor coupled to said antenna and said position determining device and arranged to analyze the waves received by said antenna, determine whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle based on the vehicle's position as determined by said position determining device, and extract the information of interest only from the received waves determined to contain information of interest,

said processor being arranged to generate encoded signals using a code based on the position of the vehicle, the encoded signals being transmitted by said antenna.

32. The arrangement of claim 31 , wherein said processor is arranged to encode the signals by phase modulation of distance or time between code transmissions, phase or amplitude modulation of code sequences, changes of the polarity of an entire code sequence or individual code segments, or bandwidth modulation of a code sequence.

33. A method for transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle, comprising:

mounting an antenna on the vehicle which is capable of receiving radio frequency waves emitted by the transmitter and containing information and capable of transmitting radio frequency waves;

determining the position of the vehicle;

analyzing the waves received by the antenna;

determining whether any received waves contain information of interest for operation of the vehicle based on the vehicle's position; and

extracting the information of interest only from the received waves determined to contain information of interest;

transmitting encoded signals from the antenna including information about the position of the vehicle.