WO2024211974A1 - System for identifying high-occupancy vehicles and occupant behaviour - Google Patents

Abstract

A system capable of identifying the number of occupants in a vehicle and the behaviour of the occupants has been developed to overcome disadvantages, inconveniences and limitations, using cameras facing the shared lane with computer vision sensors with the ability to record information such as: a panoramic and/or detailed photographic record, a timestamp, the vehicle position, the speed, the vehicle make, the vehicle model, the vehicle colour, the use or not of headlights, the use or not of a helmet (in the case of motorbikes), whether or not the driver and passenger are wearing a seatbelt, whether or not the driver is using a mobile phone, whether or not the driver is smoking, and a count of the occupants inside the vehicle, thereby providing the advantages of combining several different measurement and monitoring modes in a single system.

Description

HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM AND OCCUPANT BEHAVIORS

Field of invention

The present invention relates to a system for collecting, making available and controlling urban traffic data, with application on public roads where there is or is not sharing with personal vehicles during a given period and when the vehicle has more than one occupant (carpooling). The purpose is to collect and make available information about the vehicle and its occupants and to control traffic lanes with traffic shared between public transport vehicles and shared transport vehicles. The solution proposed by the present invention presents a series of advantages in bringing together several traffic monitoring and control components to monitor inappropriate behavior of drivers, motorcyclists or passengers that does not correspond to a correct attitude on public roads, reducing manufacturing and installation costs of devices by concentrating a greater number of data collected in a scenario, in addition to monitoring a greater variety of information captured on public roads in a greater number of vehicles.

Fundamentals of the invention

With the exponential growth in the number of vehicles in large urban centers, there has been a need to adopt strategies to reduce the flow of cars during peak hours. The solution of creating exclusive lanes for public transport is increasingly being adopted with great effectiveness, but one of its consequences is the increase in traffic due to the bottleneck in the region where these exclusive lanes were implemented. One of the solutions to reduce traffic was to share these previously exclusive lanes with regular vehicles, but on the condition that the vehicle is being shared with two or more people on board. In another strategy to reduce the flow of vehicles, exclusive lanes were created for shared vehicles. Regardless of the strategy used, the control and monitoring of these lanes is essential for their perfect functioning. In another field of application, inappropriate behavior by the driver of a vehicle or its occupants increases the risk of accidents, or can reduce the damage caused by a traffic accident, in the case of failure to wear a seat belt or wear a helmet, in the case of a motorcyclist.

By searching national and international patent databases, some patents were found relating to the traffic monitoring system on urban roads:

Brazilian patent number BR2020160262661 reveals a system that assesses the condition of a vehicle if its headlights are on on highways where they are mandatory, using a camera that sends a photo of the vehicle to the controlling system. This system has the limitation of only monitoring whether a vehicle's headlights are on or not.

Brazilian patent number BR1120150016880 reveals an on-board system for analyzing the behavior of a vehicle's driver, sending information to a server. This system has the limitation of being a device installed inside a vehicle, with analysis limited to the driver alone.

Brazilian patent number BR 1020140097465 reveals an on-board system that collects information on driver behavior, with analysis performed by software hosted in the cloud. This system has the limitation of requiring a device installed inside a vehicle, with analysis limited to the driver alone.

US patent number US8013760B2 discloses a toll collection control system that analyzes the occupancy of a vehicle through a transponder inserted in the vehicle, which is responsible for informing a reader whether the car has a high or low occupancy level. This system has a high implementation cost and must be installed in each vehicle.

French patent number FR2992917A1 discloses a system for analyzing the behavior of a ground transportation driver, containing a set of on-board video cameras, capturing images and sending them to a central station. This system has the limitation of being a device installed in the vehicle, with analysis limited to the driver alone. Chinese patent number CN107657211A reveals a system for monitoring the number of people inside a vehicle through front and side photographs of the same vehicle, thus quantifying the number of occupants inside a vehicle. This device has the limitation of only evaluating the number of people inside a vehicle, without analyzing the behavior of the occupants inside the vehicle, without evaluating aspects such as speed, without calculating and issuing infractions, without communicating with any other urban traffic control system, in addition to not issuing useful information to the driver.

The American patent number US9336450B2 discloses a traffic control system on shared roads that captures the image of a vehicle for later analysis by the controlling system, in addition to analyzing whether this vehicle has already passed through a previous data collection area, avoiding the need to collect the same data more than once. This device has the limitation of only collecting information on the number of occupants inside a vehicle, and has the disadvantage of not analyzing the behavior of the vehicle's occupants, not calculating and issuing infractions, not communicating with any other urban traffic control system, and not issuing useful information to the driver.

“HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM AND OCCUPANT BEHAVIOR”, a system that is capable of identifying the number of occupants in a vehicle and the behavior of its occupants, was developed to overcome the disadvantages, inconveniences and limitations, through the use of cameras facing the shared lane with computer vision sensors with the capacity to record information such as: panoramic and/or detailed photographic record, time stamp, vehicle position, speed, vehicle make, vehicle model, vehicle color, headlights on or off, whether the driver is wearing a helmet or not (in the case of motorcycles), whether the driver and passenger are wearing seat belts or not, whether the driver is using a cell phone or not, whether the driver is smoking or not and the count of occupants inside the vehicle, bringing advantages of aggregating in a single system, several different modes of measurement and control.

The prior art presents the following technical problems that were solved by the present invention shown below.

Behavior analysis of drivers and their occupants located inside the vehicle itself, limited to the analysis of only a small group of people. Solved by installing cameras at fixed points on the roads that collect data in real time from each vehicle that circulates on the monitored road, exponentially increasing the number of samples collected;

Intrusive on-board analysis systems on vehicles do not guarantee that they are in good working order, making it difficult for a responsible inspection body to inspect them. This can be resolved by implementing a system consisting of several sensors and cameras that collect data and process it at a central location installed on public roads, ensuring that all vehicle flows are monitored;

Disaggregated traffic management systems, increasing installation difficulty, cost and maintenance. Solved by unifying several traffic control and analysis elements inserted into a single component, increasing the variety of analysis at the same data collection point; and

The equipment or systems found on the market are limited to identifying the number of occupants in a vehicle, and are unable to extract other characteristics, such as: make, model, license plate, color of the vehicle, whether the headlights are on or off, speed, whether the motorcyclist is wearing a helmet, whether the driver and front passenger are using a cell phone, smoking or wearing a seatbelt. Furthermore, none of them send the data to an operations control center, capable of processing and generating statistical information and traffic reports, as well as processing any violations. This is resolved by a system composed of several sensors capable of collecting various information and sending this information to a single control, which is capable of controlling and managing the information from more than one scenario.

In a market analysis and research, it was noted that there was a need for traffic management and control equipment that would aggregate several data collections into a single set, together with the emergence of the demand for traffic controls on shared roads. After the analysis carried out, it was decided to develop equipment that would collect images of a vehicle moving on a road, collecting information both on the vehicle's data and on the behavior of the occupants and the number of people inside the vehicle. To this end, it was determined that the capture would be carried out by a camera digital and initially it was difficult to obtain the same daytime utilization rates during the night. This is mainly due to the fact that computer vision is used and the brightness of the environment directly affects the quality of the image obtained by the equipment's sensors (camera). Several different models of LED-based infrared illuminators were used. However, none of them presented adequate nighttime image quality. The solution was found with the use of an infrared illuminator based on a Xenon lamp. This illuminator provides a greater amount of infrared illumination compared to LED-based ones, which was enough for the nighttime images to be adequate and with utilization rates similar to those of the daytime. Another difficulty encountered was the lateral capture of the images in a synchronized manner with the frontal images. In similar products, this synchronization is performed by sensing (ultrasound, laser, barrier sensor, among others). The solution found and implemented in this invention to solve this problem was to perform the synchronization by software. In addition to the main functionalities, it was decided to include speed measurement and insert a peripheral panel for various indications.

Brief description of the drawings

For better clarification and understanding of the system's constructivity, the following figures are attached:

Illustrates the top view of a system operation scenario (COS) on a roadway (VV);

Illustrates the perspective view of the main post (PP), with its components;

Illustrates the perspective view of the peripheral post (PPE), with its components;

Illustrates the perspective view of the auxiliary post (PAX), with its components;

Illustrates the perspective view of a system operation scenario (COS) on a roadway (VV); and

Illustrates the block diagram of the electronic components that make up the system.

Description of the invention

The system operating scenario (COS), integrated by the operations control center (CCO), comprises all the elements involved in a road (VV) and its surroundings, is equipped with a main pole (PP), metallic, preferably circular in shape with connection at the upper end for mounting the projected arm (BP), which contains a projected arm (BP) metallic, preferably circular in shape, with a slight bend in its medial part, joining the main pole (PP) at the upper part so that its final portion is arranged perpendicular to the road (VV) at a height that can vary from 2m to 8m, contains a digital camera (CA), capable of capturing color or black and white images, with high FPS and compatible with infrared lighting, and must contain at least one unit per system operating scenario (COS), arranged at the end of the projected arm (BP), contains an infrared illuminator (IR), in a quantity equal to the number of digital cameras (CA), high-performance auxiliary light with infrared light emission with a light source coming from a Xenon lamp or similar, arranged at the end of the projected arm (BP) next to the digital camera (CA), contains the main cabinet (GP), a metal box that contains the equipment, responsible for selecting and organizing the information from the detection of the cameras (CA) and other inserted sensors, controls the peripherals (PE) and sends and receives data to the operations control center (CCO), has control and electrical protection of surge protector circuit breakers, filters, circuit breaker, auxiliary power source (UPS/VPS), power supervision and internet connection equipment (modem, for example), arranged at the end of the main post (PP); equipped with a metal auxiliary post (PAX), preferably circular in shape; containing a digital camera (CA), capable of capturing color or black and white images, with high FPS and compatible with infrared lighting, arranged at the top of the auxiliary post (PAX), containing an infrared illuminator (IR), a high-performance auxiliary light with infrared light emission with a light source coming from a Xenon lamp or similar, arranged at the top of the auxiliary post (PAX), close to the digital camera (CA), and may optionally be equipped with an auxiliary cabinet (GA), equipment that captures side images of a vehicle (V) and sends them to the main cabinet (GP) (used when it is necessary to capture images of the rear of a vehicle), containing a digital camera (CA), and an infrared illuminator (IR), all grouped and encapsulated, arranged on a post on the side of the road (VV); optionally being equipped with a metal peripheral post (PPE), preferably circular in shape, which contains peripheral (PE) components that act by providing functionalities peripherals to the system operating scenario (COS), the number of peripherals (PE) may vary according to the needs of a system operating scenario (COS) and the need of the application, and may be light focal groups on the side or above the road (VV), sound signaling, active visual signaling (alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric light displays, variable message panels, among others, for example); equipped with an operations control center (CCO); responsible for managing the information of one or more system operating scenarios (COS), contains a set of hardware and software to receive, post-process and present information to system users, and may optionally be allocated to remote servers (cloud); equipped with data input (ED); equipped with power input (EE).

The system of the present patent has the following external and internal components with the following interconnections: The digital camera (CA) connects unidirectionally with the infrared illuminator (IR) and connects bidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP); the infrared illuminator (IR) connects unidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP) and unidirectionally with the digital camera (CA); the auxiliary cabinet (GA) connects bidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP); the power input (EE) connects unidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP); the peripherals connect bidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP); and finally the operations control center (CCO) connects bidirectionally with the main cabinet (GP).

Examples of embodiments of the invention

The process of installing a system operation scenario (COS) is carried out using the following steps: The main post (PP) is installed on the side of the road (VV);

The projected arm (BP) is fixed to the upper part of the main post (PP), with sufficient length to center the digital cameras (CA) in the center of a lane of the road (VV);

The digital cameras (CA) are fixed to the projected arm (BP), so that it is centered on the road (VV);

The infrared illuminator (IR) is fixed next to the digital camera (CA), at a distance that can vary between 0.lm and 1.5m;

The main cabinet (GP) is fixed to the main post (PP);

The data input (ED) and power input (EE) connections are made in the main cabinet (GP);

The auxiliary post (PA) is installed when necessary next to the road (VV), at a distance from the main post (PP) that can vary between 1m and 30m;

The auxiliary cabinet (GA) is installed on the auxiliary post (PA), with the image capture part facing the road (VV); and

The peripherals (PE) are installed according to the demand of the system operating scenario (COS) and the location of each one can vary between being installed on the projected arm (BP) or on an auxiliary post (PA) next to the road (VV).

The process of operating a system operation scenario (COS) is carried out using the following steps: Turn on the equipment and access the system operation scenario (COS) locally through an IP connection;

The framing of the image of digital cameras (CA) is adjusted by controlling focus, zoom and pointing and settings;

Speed calibration is performed by passing a vehicle with a reference tachometer using a screen and a specific procedure that was developed; and

At night, the infrared illuminator is pointed and adjusted until sufficient nighttime image quality is obtained for the system's operating scenario (COS) to function.

The system installed on the road (VV) detects vehicles (V) using digital cameras (CA) and the auxiliary cabinet (GA), if applicable. These detections are limited to identifying vehicles (V) traveling in the operating lane, performing the necessary measurements and inferences when a vehicle travels through the measurement area, recording photos and/or videos and sending them to the main cabinet (GP). Vehicle (V) detection is performed throughout the entire measurement lane, but the photos and videos are captured in the measurement area. Vehicles (V) can travel in any direction on the road (VV), regardless of the system's operation. The records sent by the cameras (CA) and auxiliary cabinets (GA) to the main cabinet (GP), are processed and saved in a local database. The processing performed in the main cabinet (GP) consists of extracting all the desired characteristics from the detection, such as: color, model, seat belt use, among others, for example. The main cabinet (GP) is also capable of generating violations of minimum occupants required or unsafe driving (use of cell phone, no seat belt, for example). These characteristics are also inferred by the cameras (CA), but can also be performed by the main cabinet (GP) and in both if necessary. After the processing and storage of the information performed by the main cabinet (GP), it is sent via the internet to the operations control center (CCO) in real time or in batches with timing, and this frequency can be configured according to the need. The operations control center (CCO) generates all alerts, reports and processing of violations when necessary or applicable.

Operations control (CCO) can optionally perform an analysis of data crossing and, with intelligence, issue alerts on peripheral equipment (PE), create a behavioral profile, provide urban mobility indexes, in addition to being able to integrate with third-party systems, exchanging information.

Claims

1. HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM AND OCCUPANT BEHAVIORS, has a system operating scenario (COS), integrated by the operations control center (CCO), comprises all the elements involved in a road (VV) and its surroundings and is characterized by being equipped with a main pole (PP), metallic, preferably with a circular shape with a connection at the upper end for mounting the projected arm (BP), which contains a projected metallic arm (BP), preferably with a circular shape, with a slight bend in its medial part, joining the main pole (PP) at the upper part so that its final portion is arranged perpendicular to the road (VV) at a height that can vary from 2m to 8m, contains a digital camera (CA), capable of capturing color or black and white images, with high FPS and compatible with infrared lighting, and must contain at least one unit per system operating scenario (COS), arranged at the final portion of the projected arm (BP), contains an infrared illuminator (IR), in a quantity equal to the quantity of digital cameras (CA), high-performance auxiliary light with infrared light emission with a light source coming from a Xenon lamp or similar, arranged at the end of the projected arm (BP) next to the digital camera (CA), contains main cabinet (GP), metal box that contains the equipment, responsible for selecting, organizing the detection information from the cameras (CA) and other inserted sensors, controls the peripherals (PE) and sends and receives data to the operations control center (CCO), has control and electrical protection of surge protector circuit breakers, filters, circuit breaker, auxiliary power source (UPS), power supervision and internet connection equipment (modem for example), arranged at the end of the main post (PP); equipped with a metal auxiliary post (PAX), preferably circular in shape; containing a digital camera (CA), capable of capturing color or black and white images, with high FPS and compatible with infrared lighting, arranged at the top of the auxiliary post (PAX), containing an infrared illuminator (IR), a high-performance auxiliary light with infrared light emission with a light source coming from a Xenon lamp or similar, arranged at the top of the auxiliary post (PAX), close to the digital camera (CA), and may optionally be equipped with an auxiliary cabinet (GA), equipment that captures side images of a vehicle (V) and sends them to the main cabinet (GP) (used when it is necessary to capture images of the rear of a vehicle), containing a digital camera (CA), and an infrared illuminator (IR), all grouped and encapsulated, arranged on a post on the side of the road (VV); optionally be equipped with a metal peripheral post (PPE), preferably with a circular shape, which contains peripherals (PE) components that act by providing peripheral functionalities to the system operation scenario (COS), the number of peripherals (PE) may vary according to the needs of a system operation scenario (COS) and the need for the application, and may be light focal groups on the side or above the road (VV), sound signaling, active visual signaling (alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric light displays, variable message panels, among others, for example); equipped with an operations control center (CCO); responsible for managing the information of one or more system operation scenarios (COS), contains a set of hardware and software to receive, post-process and present information to system users, and may optionally be allocated to remote servers (cloud); equipped with data input (ED); equipped with power input (EE). 2. PROCESS OF INSTALLING THE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM, according to claim 1, the process of installing a system operating scenario (COS), is characterized by the following steps: al. The main post (PP) is installed on the side of the road (VV); a2. The projected arm (BP) is fixed to the upper part of the main post (PP), with sufficient length to center the digital cameras (CA) in the center of a lane of the road (VV); a3. The digital cameras (CA) are fixed to the projected arm (BP), so that it is centered on the road (VV); a4. The infrared illuminator (IR) is fixed next to the digital camera (CA), at a distance that can vary between 0.lm and 1.5m; a5. The main cabinet (GP) is fixed to the main post (PP); a6. The data input (ED) and power input (EE) connections are made to the main cabinet. (GP); a7. The auxiliary post (PA) is installed when necessary next to the road (VV), at a distance from the main post (PP) that can vary between lm and 30m; a8. The auxiliary cabinet (GA) is installed on the auxiliary post (PA), with the image capture part facing the road (VV); and a9. The peripherals (PE) are installed according to the demand of the system operating scenario (COS) and the location of each one can vary between being installed on the projected arm (BP) or on an auxiliary post (PA) next to the road (VV). 3. OPERATION PROCESS OF THE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM, according to claim 1, the operation process of a system operation scenario (COS), is characterized by the following steps: bl. The equipment is turned on and the system operation scenario (COS) is accessed locally through an IP connection; b2. The image framing of the digital cameras (CA) is adjusted by controlling the focus, zoom and pointing and settings; b3. The speed calibration is performed by passing a vehicle with a reference tachometer using a screen and a specific procedure that was developed; and b4. At night, the infrared illuminator is pointed and adjusted until the night image quality sufficient for the system operation scenario (COS) to function is obtained.