AU2008316120A1

AU2008316120A1 - Traffic monitoring system

Info

Publication number: AU2008316120A1
Application number: AU2008316120A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Andreas Behrens
Original assignee: Jenoptik Robot GmbH
Current assignee: Jenoptik Robot GmbH
Priority date: 2007-10-26
Filing date: 2008-10-23
Publication date: 2009-04-30
Anticipated expiration: 2028-10-23
Also published as: ATE528739T1; EP2212872B1; DE112008003523A5; ES2373831T3; WO2009052820A1; EP2212872A1; DE102007051801A1; AU2008316120B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a traffic monitoring system with low power consumption. The object of the invention is to provide an option that compared to prior art contributes to a further reduction of the energy consumption of mobile and/or fixed traffic monitoring systems. The object is achieved by means of a traffic monitoring system composed of the essential functional units of a sensor for registering a road vehicle which travels, for example, at a higher speed than permitted or crosses an intersection at red, a digital camera for recording the registered road vehicle, a computer for storing all the necessary data and a lighting device, such as a flash device, in that, with the exception of the sensor, all the functional units are switched in the stand-by mode and activate one another mutually or are activated by a controller only at necessary times.

Description

Translation from German of PCT Application PCTDE2008/050031 Traffic Monitoring System 5 The invention concerns stationary or mobile traffic monitoring systems with low power consumption. 10 Systems with a mechanical camera were essentially operated by a microcontroller, which has a low average power consumption. The power consumption only increased when a traffic violation occurred as a result of the image triggering of the mechanical camera and flash. As a 15 consequence, the idea of low power consumption did not play an important role for systems with a mechanical camera. Continuous power consumption rose suddenly with the use of digital camera systems and corresponding computers. Local power supplies for digital mobile or 20 stationary traffic monitoring systems, such as batteries or solar power supply units or other generators must be accordingly large in their dimensions and are correspondingly expensive. Low energy consumption represents an important criterion, particularly with 25 mobile systems; thus all measures to reduce power consumption contribute directly to the usefulness of such systems. It is the object of the invention to specify an option 30 which contributes to further reduction of the energy consumption of mobile and/or stationary traffic monitoring systems compared to the state of the art.

2 The object is achieved by a traffic monitoring system consisting of the key functional units of a sensor for registering a road vehicle which, for example, travels at a speed higher than allowed or crosses an intersection 5 through a red light, a digital camera for recording the registered road vehicle, a computer for storing all the necessary data and an illumination device such as a flash unit, such that except for the sensor unit all functional units are switched to standby mode and activate each 10 other or are activated only at necessary times. The controller can be a standalone functional unit of the traffic monitoring system. An external arrangement is also feasible in which the controller only communicates with the individual functional units of the traffic 15 monitoring system via connecting cables. In an extreme case, if it is arranged externally, the controller can even set the sensor into standby mode if, for example, the traffic situation leads one to expect that no traffic violations by road vehicles can be registered. 20 The system according to the invention extends a traffic monitoring system in such a way that a defined processing logic only wakes the functional components and switches them on if they are needed; otherwise they are in standby 25 mode. A sensor for recording the traffic violation, which is continuously ready to operate, attempts to manage with the lowest power consumption possible by pulsed operation. According to the defined processing logic, the sensor activates the camera unit and thus rouses it when 30 an event is determined, such as an unpermitted high speed. The camera unit remains active until it records an image and has saved or transmitted it, then it switches itself back to standby mode. The defined processing logic 3 further determines when the computer belonging to the traffic monitoring system will be activated. The computer may be awakened by the camera, or it may be awakened and activated by the camera only at regular intervals, such 5 as for every tenth image. Alternatively, the processing logic can be programmed so that the computer is activated at particular intervals, or is activated by an external event. However, the computer always returns to the standby mode. 10 According to the invention, the defined processing logic is implemented through the controller. The invention will be explained in more detail below 15 based on embodiments. The associated drawings show in Fig. 1 a schematic arrangement of a traffic monitoring system. The sensor unit 1 according to the invention is 20 constructed so that the only parts of the sensor that are continuously operated are those absolutely required for recording the event signal and/or speed measurement. With active sensors, such as radar or laser, a transmitter unit 11, which actively sends out a wave beam, and a 25 receiver unit 12, which receives the wave beam, are continuously ready to operate. A threshold value discriminator 13, which is also continuously ready to operate, rouses a detector 14 that is connected with said discriminator only if detection is to be expected due to 30 a prespecified threshold being exceeded. A measurement value is passed on as a detection result to the controller 21 of a camera unit 2. The controller 21 need not be continually ready for operation. It can be 4 awakened by the detector 14 first. The controller 21 can likewise awaken detector 14 for transmitting parameters so that said detector stores the parameters, or gives information about the parameters that have been set. 5 After detecting an input signal, or after setting parameters, the detector 14 automatically returns to the standby mode with little or no power consumption. To keep power consumption low, the sensor unit 1 can 10 activate the transmitter unit 11 and/or receiver unit 12 just briefly in a pulsed, periodic manner in order to determine whether a sufficient threshold signal is present. Only when there is a sufficient threshold signal present will the transmitter and receiver units 11 and 12 15 remain switched on until detection is completed. The idle times of the transmitter and' receiver units 11 and 12 also enable the power consumption to be minimised. The sensor unit 1 can also be a loop sensor or a 20 piezoelectric sensor. The transmitter unit 11 is then not present for passive sensors. Detection only begins after a threshold value of the input signal is exceeded. The camera unit 2 is constructed such that the individual 25 components of the camera unit 2 are active, and thus have a higher power consumption, only if this is required by the sensor unit 1, or when accessed by a connected computer 4. 30 The controller 21 in the camera unit 2 activates an image acquisition unit consisting of an electronic photo sensor 25 and a photo controller 24 only if a photograph is to be taken. A possibly necessary resetting of the photo 5 sensor also takes place immediately prior to the recording of the image. The recorded image is stored in a static image storage device 26. Any desired safeguarding of the image by a digital signature or encryption can 5 take place directly before storing the image in the image storage device 26. Ideally, the image storage device 26 consumes no power to maintain the picture information in the standby state. Technologies such as a flash disk can be provided for this purpose. 10 The controller 21 stores the image information together with the reading from the sensor unit 1 and the time from a real time clock 22 in the image storage unit 26. 15 The recording of an image activates at the same time the timely triggering of an illumination unit 3 consisting of a dedicated controller unit 31 and a light emitter 32. The illumination unit 3 can also be roused by the controller 21 and subsequently return itself to the 20 standby state, which has lower or no power consumption. The real time clock 22 of the camera unit 2 is always ready to operate. It is to be designed such that only a small operating current is required for it to function. 25 Typically this continuous operating current is supplied by a long-life battery. An optional GPS receiver 27 can be used to provide the real time clock 22. Likewise, the controller 21 can use the location information of the GPS receiver to store it together with the image information 30 in the image storage device 26. The GPS receiver 27 can be queried when the system starts, or upon each awakening. A further storage device 23 can be used by the controller 21 to store all readings from the detector 14 6 together with time and location, if available, for statistical purposes. The controller 21 stores internally important parameters, 5 which it requires to control the camera unit 2 and the sensor unit 10. An important parameter is the trigger limit from which onwards pictures are to be triggered when the speed limit is exceeded. If no statistical data are required, the detector 14 can wake the controller 21 10 only when a speed limit is exceeded. A connected computer 4 can be -awakened by the controller 21. A transfer of the image data can occur and the computer system 4 can return to the standby state. The 15 computer 4 can also be awakened actively by a timer or through external network access 41 and rouse the controller 21 in order to query image information or statistical data, or to set parameters. 20 In a further embodiment, the controller 21, which according to Fig. 1 is an integral part of camera unit 2, can also be designed as a standalone unit. The detector 14, the photo controller 24 and the control unit 31 can also be integrated in the controller 21 so that the 25 entire processing logic of the traffic monitoring system is implemented by the controller 21. The particular advantage of this is that the controller 21 could then also be operated externally and could communicate with the traffic monitoring system just via corresponding 30 signal lines, which need not necessarily be implemented as hardware. Thus even the sensor unit 1 could then be placed into standby mode if the traffic situation leads 7 one to expect that no traffic violations can be committed, for example due to temporary road blocks.

Claims

1. A traffic monitoring system comprising the key 5 functional units of a sensor for registering a road vehicle which, for example, travels at a speed higher than allowed or crosses an intersection through a red light, a digital camera for recording the road vehicle that was registered, a computer for storing all the 10 necessary data and an illumination device such as a flash unit, characterised in that except for the sensor unit all functional units are switched to standby mode and are only activated when necessary. 15

2. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 1, characterised in that the sensor activates the digital camera (2) after registering a traffic violation.

3. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 2, 20 characterised in that the digital camera (2) is made active during the entire period for recording the road vehicle, which has been registered by the sensor, and after completion of the recordings first activates the computer (4) in order to carry out the transfer of the 25 recorded images to the computer (4) and after conclusion of the transmission is returned to standby mode.

4. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 2, characterised in that during its activated state the 30 digital camera (2) activates the illumination device (3) under visibility conditions determined to be appropriate. 9

5. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 1, characterised in that a controller (21) is present which sets the functional units into standby mode or into the active phase. 5

6. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 5, characterised in that the controller (21) is arranged outside of the traffic monitoring system and only communicates with the traffic monitoring system via 10 connecting lines.

7. A traffic monitoring system according to claim 1, characterised in that the sensor contains a detector (14) which activates the controller (21) if a traffic 15 violation has been registered by the sensor.