Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for congestion detection, which can detect whether people are congested in an area in a simple manner.
A method for congestion detection according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: calculating received signal strength of a wireless signal, wherein the wireless signal is a signal received by a receiver from a transmitter, and the receiver and the transmitter are respectively located at different positions in a designated area; and determining whether the designated area is congested based on the calculated received signal strength and the received signal strength threshold.
Wherein determining whether people are crowded in the designated area comprises: determining that there is no congestion of people in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is greater than the received signal strength threshold; and determining that there is congestion in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is not greater than the received signal strength threshold.
Wherein calculating the received signal strength of the wireless signal comprises: calculating respective received signal strengths of a plurality of signals included in the wireless signal, wherein each of the plurality of signals is a signal received by one of the antennas of the receiver from one of the antennas of the transmitter; and acquiring the received signal strength of the wireless signal based on the respective received signal strengths of the plurality of signals.
Wherein the designated area is an enclosed area.
An apparatus for congestion detection according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: the calculating module is used for calculating the received signal strength of a wireless signal, wherein the wireless signal is a signal received by a receiver from a transmitter, and the receiver and the transmitter are respectively positioned at different positions in a specified area; and a determining module for determining whether the designated area is congested based on the calculated received signal strength and the received signal strength threshold.
Wherein the determination module is further to: determining that there is no congestion of people in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is greater than the received signal strength threshold; and determining that there is congestion in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is not greater than the received signal strength threshold.
Wherein the calculation module comprises: an obtaining module, configured to calculate respective received signal strengths of a plurality of signals included in the wireless signal, where each of the plurality of signals is a signal received by one of the antennas of the receiver from one of the antennas of the transmitter; and an obtaining module, configured to obtain the received signal strength of the wireless signal based on the respective received signal strengths of the multiple signals.
Wherein the designated area is an enclosed area.
An apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the operations comprised by the aforementioned method.
A computer program product according to an embodiment of the invention, comprising: a machine-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations encompassed by the aforementioned methods.
A system for congestion detection according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a transmitter for transmitting a wireless signal; the receiver is used for receiving the wireless signals transmitted by the transmitter, wherein the receiver and the transmitter are respectively positioned at different positions in a specified area; and a processing device for calculating a received signal strength of the wireless signal received by the receiver, and determining whether the designated area is congested with people based on the calculated received signal strength and a received signal strength threshold.
Wherein the transmitter and the receiver each include one or more antennas, and the processing device is further configured to calculate a received signal strength of each of a plurality of signals included in the wireless signal received by the receiver, and obtain the received signal strength of the wireless signal received by the receiver based on the received signal strength of each of the plurality of signals, wherein each of the plurality of signals is a signal received by one of the antennas of the receiver from one of the antennas of the transmitter.
Wherein the transmitter's antenna and the receiver's antenna are conventional antennas, the transmitter and the receiver being arranged within the designated area such that there is no line-of-sight propagation of signals between the transmitter and the receiver.
As can be seen from the above description, the solution of the embodiment of the present invention can detect whether an area is congested with people in a simple manner by placing a transmitter and a receiver at different positions in the area and determining whether the area is congested with people according to the received signal strength of a wireless signal received by the receiver from the transmitter and a received signal strength threshold.
Detailed Description
Experiments show that the human body has a weakening effect on wireless signals. The inventors have made the present invention based on this finding.
Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to fig. 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of a system for congestion detection in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the system may include a transmitter 20 for transmitting wireless signals and a receiver 30 for receiving wireless signals. Here, the wireless signal may be, but is not limited to, a WIFI signal, a bluetooth signal, or the like. The transmitter 20 and receiver 30 may each have a plurality of conventional antennas.
The transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 are respectively located at different positions in the closed area a, for example, but not limited to, the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 are respectively disposed at both ends of the closed area a such that the wireless signal transmitted by the transmitter 20 covers the entire closed area a.
The transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 are arranged within the enclosed area a such that there is no line-of-sight propagation of the wireless signal between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30, but only reflection propagation of the wireless signal.
In one aspect, there may be no line-of-sight propagation of signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 by placing an obstruction B in the line-of-sight propagation path of signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30. Here, the obstacle B is intentionally added to the enclosed area a in order that there is no line-of-sight propagation of signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30. Alternatively, the obstacle B is an object that is already present in the closed area a, but by appropriately positioning the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 in the closed area a such that the obstacle B is located just on the line-of-sight propagation path of the signal between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30, there is no line-of-sight propagation of the signal between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30.
In another aspect, the polarity of the antenna of the transmitter 20 may be made perpendicular to the polarity of the antenna of the receiver 30 such that there is no line-of-sight propagation of wireless signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30.
Referring now to fig. 2, there is shown a flow chart of a method for congestion detection in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. The method shown in fig. 2 is described in detail below with reference to the system shown in fig. 1.
As shown in fig. 2, transmitter 20 may transmit a wireless signal through its antenna using a predetermined power level at block 202. Here, the transmitter 20 may transmit a wireless signal through each of its antennas one by one, for example, or through all of its antennas simultaneously, for example.
Receiver 30 may receive wireless signals from each antenna of transmitter 20 via each of its antennas, block 204. In an aspect, receiver 30 may have its antennas receive wireless signals at different times, i.e., receiver 30 may have its antennas not receive wireless signals at the same time. In another aspect, receiver 30 may have its antennas simultaneously receive wireless signals.
At block 206, receiver 30 may calculate the received signal strength of the wireless signal received by each antenna of receiver 30 from each antenna of transmitter 20.
In block 208, receiver 30 may calculate a received signal strength of the wireless signal received by receiver 30 from transmitter 20 based on the received signal strength of the wireless signal received by each antenna of receiver 30 from each antenna of transmitter 20. For example, but not limited to, the receiver 30 may calculate an average of the received signal strengths of the wireless signals from each antenna of the transmitter 20 received by each antenna of the receiver 30 as the received signal strength of the wireless signals from the transmitter 20 received by the receiver 30.
In block 210, receiver 30 may determine whether the received signal strength of the wireless signal received by receiver 30 from transmitter 20 is greater than a received signal strength threshold H. Here, for example, but not limited to, the received signal strength of the wireless signal from the transmitter 20 received by the receiver 30 when the person in the closed area a is crowded may be taken as the received signal strength threshold H.
In block 212, receiver 30 may determine whether the enclosed area a is congested based on the determination of block 210. Specifically, if the determination result of block 210 indicates that the received signal strength of the wireless signal from the transmitter 20 received by the receiver 30 is greater than the received signal strength threshold H, the receiver 30 may determine that there is no crowd in the enclosed area a, and if the determination result of block 210 indicates that the received signal strength of the wireless signal from the transmitter 20 received by the receiver 30 is not greater than the received signal strength threshold H, the receiver 30 may determine that the crowd in the enclosed area a.
Referring now to fig. 3, there is shown a schematic diagram of a system for congestion detection in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the system 40 may include a transmitter 50 and a receiver 60. The transmitter 50 and the receiver 60 are respectively located at different positions in the area a ', for example, but not limited to, the transmitter 50 and the receiver 60 are respectively disposed at both ends of the area a ' such that the wireless signal transmitted by the transmitter 50 covers the entire area a '. Here, the region a' may be a full closed region, a semi closed region, or an open region.
Transmitter 50 may include three antennas TC1, TC2, and TC3, and receiver 60 may include three antennas RC1, RC2, and RC 3. The antennas TC1, TC2, TC3, RC1, RC2 and RC3 are of the same type, all belonging to leaky coaxial cables or leaky waveguides.
The propagation of signals between the antennas TC1, TC2, TC3 of the transmitter 50 and the antennas RC1, RC2, RC3 of the receiver 60 may be line-of-sight or reflection propagation of signals. Fig. 4 shows an example of wireless signal propagation between an antenna of a transmitter 50 and an antenna of a receiver 60.
The method of detecting whether the area a' is congested with people using the system shown in fig. 3 is the same as the method shown in fig. 2, and thus, a detailed description thereof is omitted herein.
As can be seen from the above description, the solution of the embodiment of the present invention can detect whether an area is congested with people in a simple manner by placing a transmitter and a receiver at different positions in the area and determining whether the area is congested with people according to the received signal strength of a wireless signal received by the receiver from the transmitter and a received signal strength threshold.
Other variants
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that although the transmitter 50 and the receiver 60 each include three antennas in the second embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the present invention, each of the transmitter 50 and the receiver 60 may also include one, two, or more than three antennas.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that although in the first embodiment the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 are arranged within the enclosed area a such that there is no line-of-sight propagation of wireless signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the present invention, line-of-sight propagation of wireless signals may also exist between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 if the receiver 30 is able to distinguish between line-of-sight propagation and reflected propagation of signals, in which case the receiver 30 removes the line-of-sight propagated signals from the received wireless signals and uses only the remaining reflected propagated signals to calculate the received signal strength of the wireless signals received by the receiver 30 from the transmitter 20. Alternatively, in some embodiments of the present invention, line-of-sight propagation of wireless signals may also exist between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30, but the signal strength of the line-of-sight propagated signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 is made less than a predetermined threshold by a suitable method (e.g., without limitation, by adjusting the direction between the polarity of the antenna of the transmitter 20 and the polarity of the antenna of the receiver 30, etc.) so that the line-of-sight propagated signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 do not significantly interfere with the reflection propagated signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30, in which case the received signal strength of the wireless signals from the transmitter 20 received by the receiver 30 can be calculated using the line-of-sight propagated signals and the reflection propagated signals between the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that although the transmitter 20 and the receiver 30 each include a plurality of antennas in the first embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the present invention, transmitter 20 may include only one antenna and/or receiver 30 may include only one antenna.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that although in the above embodiments the operations of blocks 208-212 were performed by receiver 30 or 60, the invention is not so limited. In other embodiments of the present invention, the system 10 or 40 may further include a processing device for performing the operations of blocks 208-212. In this case, receiver 30 or 60 no longer performs the operations of block 208-block 212.
Referring now to fig. 5, shown is a flow diagram of a method for congestion detection in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method 500 shown in fig. 5 may be implemented by the receivers 30, 60 or other devices, such as the processing devices described previously.
As shown in fig. 5, method 500 may include, at block 502, calculating a received signal strength of a wireless signal, wherein the wireless signal is a signal received by a receiver from a transmitter, the receiver and the transmitter each being located at a different location within a designated area. The method 500 may also include determining whether the designated area is congested based on the calculated received signal strength and received signal strength threshold at block 504.
In one aspect, block 504 may include: determining that there is no congestion of people in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is greater than the received signal strength threshold; and determining that there is congestion in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is not greater than the received signal strength threshold.
In another aspect, block 502 may include: calculating respective received signal strengths of a plurality of signals included in the wireless signal, wherein each of the plurality of signals is a signal received by one of the antennas of the receiver from one of the antennas of the transmitter; and acquiring the received signal strength of the wireless signal based on the respective received signal strengths of the plurality of signals.
In yet another aspect, the designated area is an enclosed area.
Referring now to fig. 6, shown is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for congestion detection in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 600 shown in fig. 6 may be implemented by software, hardware (e.g., an integrated circuit or DSP, etc.), or a combination of both. The apparatus 600 shown in fig. 6 may be located in the receiver 30, 60 or other device (e.g., the processing device described previously).
As shown in fig. 6, apparatus 600 may include a calculation module 602 and a determination module 604. The calculation module 602 may be configured to calculate a received signal strength of a wireless signal, wherein the wireless signal is a signal received by a receiver from a transmitter, and the receiver and the transmitter are respectively located at different positions within a designated area. The determination module 604 may be configured to determine whether the designated area is congested based on the calculated received signal strength and received signal strength threshold.
In an aspect, the determining module 604 may be further configured to: determining that there is no congestion of people in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is greater than the received signal strength threshold; and determining that there is congestion in the designated area if the calculated received signal strength is not greater than the received signal strength threshold.
In another aspect, the calculation module 602 may include an obtaining module and an obtaining module. The obtaining module may be configured to calculate respective received signal strengths of a plurality of signals included in the wireless signal, where each of the plurality of signals is a signal received by one of the antennas of the receiver from one of the antennas of the transmitter. The obtaining module may be configured to obtain the received signal strength of the wireless signal based on the respective received signal strengths of the plurality of signals.
In yet another aspect, the designated area is an enclosed area.
Referring now to fig. 7, shown is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for congestion detection in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, device 700 may include a processor 702 and a memory 704. The memory 704 is used to store executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor 702 to perform the operations encompassed by the various methods described previously.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations encompassed by the aforementioned methods.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the above-disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.