KR101244088B1 - Apparatus and method for controlling led module in a intelligent system - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the disclosure herein, there is provided an LED module for use in an intelligent road system. The LED module includes at least one light emitting diode (LED), and a light emitting unit for variably displaying road usage information; An information collecting unit for collecting road situation information; And a control unit that is functionally connected to the light emitting unit and the information collecting unit, wherein the control unit controls to blink at least one LED of the light emitting unit based on the collected road condition information.

Description

Method and device for controlling LED module in intelligent road system {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING LED MODULE IN A INTELLIGENT SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to an intelligent road system and an LED lighting module used therein, and more particularly, to a system and a method for providing road conditions and road usage information to a driver in real time.

Traffic congestion is increasing every year due to the increase of vehicles. Institutions are working in a number of ways to address repeated traffic congestion. For example, eliminating bottlenecks by operating variable lanes in congested areas, and installing road signs indicating weather conditions and road conditions. In addition, the road situation and road information is transmitted to the driver through traffic broadcasting to induce the congestion section to be avoided.

However, it is difficult to operate the above measures by coping quickly when an accident occurs or the traffic volume of a certain section changes, and it is difficult to see that the traffic information is immediately transmitted to the vehicle driver.

On the other hand, the driver may select a driving route avoiding the congestion section based on the traffic information received through the vehicle navigation. Even in this case, due to the time taken for the road situation to be collected, aggregated, and delivered to the driver, inaccurate information may be received.

In addition, some drivers may not be able to bypass even if the driver knows a traffic jam, which may increase traffic congestion.

Among the factors that cause traffic congestion, accidental road environmental factors can be sufficiently improved by appropriate traffic control. For example, traffic congestion, road congestion due to road hazards, and road congestion due to bad weather can be alleviated each time by lane increase and decrease.

Therefore, there is a need for a method of changing a road marking according to a situation and providing road conditions and usage information in near real time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an intelligent road system and apparatus for providing road situation information to a driver in real time.

According to one disclosure in the present specification to achieve the above object, there is provided an LED module for use in an intelligent road system. The LED module includes at least one light emitting diode (LED), and a light emitting unit for variably displaying road usage information; An information collecting unit for collecting road situation information; And a control unit that is functionally connected to the light emitting unit and the information collecting unit, wherein the control unit controls to blink at least one LED of the light emitting unit based on the collected road condition information.

The information collecting unit may further include a communication unit for transmitting and receiving a signal to and from the outside, and the control unit may control the communication unit to receive the road situation information through visible light communication or wireless communication with a traffic vehicle.

The information collecting unit may further include a sensing unit for detecting a traffic volume of the vehicle, and the controller may control the sensing unit to collect the road situation information using the frequency of the vehicle detected for a predetermined time.

The LED module further includes a power supply unit for supplying power, wherein the power supplied to the power supply unit is supplied through solar, geothermal, pressure or power lines generated during vehicle traffic; The controller may be configured to charge the power by using solar heat during sunshine, and to charge the power by using one or more of the geothermal heat and the pressure other than the sunshine time.

The road usage information may be a signal for changing a lane of a road, a signal for changing a speed limit, or a signal for indicating a driving direction of a vehicle.

The road situation information may be a current road condition, a vehicle congestion degree or an accident status.

According to another disclosure herein, a method for controlling at least one LED embedded on a road in an intelligent road system is provided. The control method includes collecting road condition information through at least one of a sensor of an LED module and communication with a traffic vehicle; Comparing the collected road condition information with previously stored road condition information; determining whether to change road usage information according to the comparison result; If it is determined whether the road usage information is changed, the method may include displaying the changed road usage information by blinking LEDs of the LED module.

According to another disclosure herein, an intelligent road system is provided to achieve the above object. The intelligent road system includes at least one LED lighting module for collecting road situation information and displaying road usage information by blinking LEDs based on the collected road situation information; A central control center for receiving the road situation information from the LED lighting modules, generating a control signal for displaying road usage information according to the received road situation information, and transmitting the control signal to the LED lighting module; It may include.

According to the intelligent road system according to the present invention and the LED lighting module used therein, it is possible to easily display road usage information such as lane information in real time using a plurality of LEDs arranged on the road.

1 is a block diagram of an intelligent road system to which an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.
2 is a block diagram of an LED module to which an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling an LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lane change according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a schematic diagram showing a speed limit change according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a schematic diagram showing lane guidance according to another embodiment of the present invention.

It is to be noted that the technical terms used herein are merely used to describe particular embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. It is also to be understood that the technical terms used herein are to be interpreted in a sense generally understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs, Should not be construed to mean, or be interpreted in an excessively reduced sense. In addition, when the technical terms used herein are incorrect technical terms that do not accurately express the spirit of the present invention, they should be replaced with technical terms that can be understood correctly by those skilled in the art. In addition, the general terms used in the present invention should be interpreted according to a predefined or prior context, and should not be construed as being excessively reduced.

Also, the singular forms "as used herein include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the term "comprising" or "comprising" or the like should not be construed as necessarily including the various elements or steps described in the specification, Or may be further comprised of additional components or steps.

In addition, the suffixes "module" and "unit" for the components used herein are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification, and do not have distinct meanings or roles from each other.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like or similar elements throughout the several views, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. It is to be noted that the accompanying drawings are only for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. The spirit of the present invention should be construed as extending to all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives in addition to the appended drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an intelligent road system to which an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

The intelligent road system 100 is composed of LED modules (110a, 110b, 110c, 110d), the central control center 120, traffic detection camera 150, sensors (not shown).

The LED module is embedded in a road and displays road usage information such as a lane 110a, a centerline 110b, a speed limit 110c, and a vehicle traveling direction 110d. The display of the road usage information is controlled by the controller of the LED module. The controller controls the LED light emission based on the road situation information received by itself or received through the communication unit of the LED module. The road situation information includes a traffic volume, whether an accident occurs on the road, a weather condition, pedestrian information, and the like. Here, the road usage information includes all signs for vehicles and pedestrians, such as lanes, center lines, speed limits, vehicle travel direction indications, pedestrian crossings, and pedestrian crossing stop lines.

The central control center 120 collects and aggregates road situation information and transmits a control signal for displaying the road usage information. In order to collect more road situation information, it may be connected to an external traffic information center 130, a traffic detection camera 150, or the like.

The traffic detection camera 150 and the sensor may collect information on a road condition and transmit the information to the central control center 120 or the LED module. Accordingly, the intelligent road system 100 having the above configuration is variable. It responds to in-road conditions in real time to induce smooth and safe traffic operation for vehicle operators or pedestrians.

2 is a block diagram of an LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The LED module 110 may include a light emitting unit 111, a control unit 112, an information collecting unit 113, and a power supply unit 114.

The light emitting unit 111 may include a light emitting diode (LED) and a circuit for emitting the LED. The light emitter 111 may emit light of a specific color under the control of the controller 112. For example, the light emitting unit 111 emits yellow light when displaying a center line and white light when displaying a lane. In addition, the light emitting unit 111 may blink a red light when it is necessary to induce a lane due to a temporary traffic accident treatment.

The power supply unit 114 may supply power for driving the LED module and emitting the LED. Power provided by the power supply unit 114 may be supplied through a power line buried underground. In this case, the power supply unit 114 is connected to the power line by wire.

In addition, the power supply unit 114 may further include a solar cell. In this case, the power supply unit 114 may use the charged power to drive the LED module 110 by charging the power at sunshine time through the solar cell.

In addition, the power supply unit 114 may charge power provided by the power supply unit 114 by using geothermal heat and / or pressure generated when the vehicle passes. In this case, the LED module 110 may further include a conversion device for converting the pressure due to the geothermal and / or vehicle traffic into power.

In addition, the power provided by the power supply unit 114 may be charged by mixing the above methods.

The information collecting unit 113 collects information related to the road situation.

In this case, the information collecting unit 113 may further include at least one of a communication unit and a sensing unit. The communication unit is a device for transmitting and receiving a signal with the outside, and may receive road condition information from a central control center, a traffic vehicle, a sensor around the road, or a camera. In this case, when the road situation information is received through the traffic vehicle, visible light wireless communication, RF communication method, or the like may be used as the communication method.

The information related to the road situation, that is, the road condition information includes a traffic volume, whether an accident occurs on the road, a weather condition, and the like. The communication unit may receive a control signal for displaying road usage information from a central control center and transmit the control signal to the controller 112. In addition, the communication unit may transmit the road situation information collected by the LED module to the central control center. In this case, the transmission and reception may be performed using wired or wireless communication.

In addition, the sensing unit detects a road situation such as a traffic volume of the vehicle. That is, the sensing unit may collect traffic volume information of a corresponding region by examining the number of traffic vehicles for a predetermined time, and may collect information related to the road situation through various other means. The sensing unit transmits the collected road situation information to the controller 112.

The controller 112 controls the at least one LED of the light emitter 111 to blink based on road condition information collected through the information collector 113 to variably display road usage information on a road. Do it. For example, a control command such as color control or blinking control may be sent to the light emitting unit 111 so as to change a lane, a maximum driving speed, and a display of a driving direction of the vehicle.

In addition, the control unit 112 may control the power supply unit 114 to supply power where necessary. It can also be controlled to charge in a manner appropriate to the current environment. For example, the power supply unit 114 may be controlled to charge using a solar cell at sunshine time and to charge using geothermal or pressure at other times.

The controller 112 may control the communication unit to transmit / receive road situation information and information on a road use sign.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling an LED module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The LED module may collect information regarding road conditions (S111). The information related to the road situation includes a traffic volume, whether an accident occurs on the road, a weather condition, and the like. The collection of information on the road situation may use a variety of means.

For example, the information may be collected through visible light wireless communication or RF communication with a traffic vehicle, a sensor or a camera embedded in an LED module.

Alternatively, the information may be received from a central control center or from cameras or sensors installed around a road.

Thereafter, the LED module may determine whether the current road usage information display needs to be changed by analyzing the collected road conditions (S112).

For example, if congestion in one direction is severe while traffic in the opposite direction is low, a decision is made to increase lanes in the congestion direction. If the traffic flows in both directions smoothly, it is determined to maintain the current display state. As another example, when the left turn lane is congested but the adjacent straight lane is busy, it may be decided to change the straight lane to the left turn lane.

Thereafter, when it is determined that the current road usage information display needs to be changed, the LED module may change the road usage information display by adjusting at least one LED of the light emitting unit (S113). When the change according to the above example is determined, the lane in one direction may be increased, or an arrow indicating the driving direction of the vehicle may be changed.

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a lane change according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a conventional road is a six-lane road reciprocating three lanes in both directions. When the traffic volume is analyzed using the information on the road conditions collected by the LED module, and the traffic volume in one direction is large, the LED module controls the LED blinking part of the light emitting unit to increase the lane in the high traffic direction. I can move it. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the existing yellow center line 110b turns into a white lane 110a 'and serves as a general lane. At this time, the existing general lane 110a is changed to the center line 110b '. As shown in FIG. 4, as a result of the change, it can be seen that the stagnant direction is operated by four lanes and the stagnant direction by two lane roads.

5 is a schematic diagram showing a speed limit change according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the existing road is operated with a maximum speed limit of 80 km / h. At this time, when a sudden road condition change such as bad weather occurs, the LED module 110c displaying the maximum speed limit may display the changed maximum speed limit 110c ′ reflecting the change in the road situation. As shown in FIG. 5, it can be seen that the maximum speed limit has been changed from 80 km per hour to 60 km per hour. The determination of the change is made based on information collected by the LED module itself or a control signal received through the central control center. Here, the control signal is an instruction for changing the display of the road usage information as described above, and may be received from the central control center through a communication unit of the LED module and transmitted to the controller of the LED module.

6 is a schematic diagram showing lane guidance according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a conventional road is a six-lane road reciprocating three lanes in both directions. At this time, when the LED module detects that a traffic accident (A) has occurred in one lane in one direction, that is, collects the road situation of the traffic accident, the LED module turns the lane to bypass the accident occurrence lane. The LED light of the light emitting unit blinks to display road usage information that crosses (110f). Preferably, the direction indication sign 110e may be generated so that vehicles behind the accident point can recognize the lane change more quickly. Through the lane guidance signs 110e and 110f, congestion due to a sudden lane change can be prevented and a chain accident can be prevented.

The embodiments described above are the components and features of the present invention are combined in a predetermined form. Each component or feature shall be considered optional unless otherwise expressly stated. Each component or feature may be implemented in a form that is not combined with other components or features. It is also possible to construct embodiments of the present invention by combining some of the elements and / or features. The order of the operations described in the embodiments of the present invention may be changed. Some configurations or features of certain embodiments may be included in other embodiments, or may be replaced with corresponding configurations or features of other embodiments. It is clear that the claims that are not expressly cited in the claims may be combined to form an embodiment or be included in a new claim by an amendment after the application.

110,110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f: LED module
120: central control center
130: Traffic Information Center
150: traffic detection camera

Claims (7)

In the LED module used in the intelligent road system,
A light emitting unit including at least one light emitting diode (LED) and variably displaying road usage information;
An information collecting unit for collecting road situation information; And
A control unit is functionally connected to the light emitting unit and the information collecting unit,
The control unit,
Based on the collected road situation information, controlling to blink at least one LED of the light emitting unit;
The road use information is
LED signal, characterized in that the signal for changing the lane of the road, the signal for changing the speed limit or a signal indicating the direction of travel of the vehicle. The method of claim 1, wherein the information collecting unit,
Further comprising a communication unit for transmitting and receiving a signal with the outside, the control unit,
And the communication unit controls the communication unit to receive the road situation information through visible light communication or wireless communication with a traffic vehicle. The method of claim 1, wherein the information collecting unit,
Further comprising a sensing unit for detecting the traffic volume of the vehicle,
The control unit LED module, characterized in that for controlling the sensing unit to collect the road situation information using the frequency of the vehicle detected for a predetermined time. The method of claim 1,
Further comprising a power supply for supplying power,
The power supplied to the power supply unit is supplied through solar heat, geothermal heat, pressure generated during vehicle traffic or power lines,
The control unit is configured to charge the power using solar heat at sunshine time, and to control the charge of the power using at least one of the geothermal heat and the pressure other than the sunshine time. According to claim 1, The road situation information is
LED traffic, characterized in that the traffic volume, whether the road accident or weather conditions. A method for controlling at least one LED embedded on a road in an intelligent road system, the method comprising:
Collecting road situation information through at least one of a sensor of the LED module and communication with a traffic vehicle;
Comparing the collected road condition information with previously stored road condition information;
Determining whether to change road usage information according to the comparison result; And
And if it is determined whether to change the road usage information, flashing the LEDs of the LED module to display the changed road usage information. At least one LED lighting module collecting road situation information and displaying road usage information by blinking LEDs based on the collected road situation information; And
A central control center for receiving the road situation information from the LED lighting modules, generating a control signal for displaying road usage information according to the received road situation information, and transmitting the control signal to the LED lighting module; Including,
The road usage information is a signal for changing the lane of the road, a signal for changing the speed limit or a signal indicating the direction of travel of the vehicle.

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