TWI643162B - Traffic sign control system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a traffic signal control system, which is a traffic signal control system that uses image vision to detect changes in the shape of an optical pattern caused by vehicles suspended at a specific distance at an intersection to respond to changes in the traffic signal. The present invention includes A control unit, at least one light-emitting unit, at least one image capture unit and an image recognition unit; thereby, the present invention effectively detects the pause by the image visual detection method of detecting the laser optical pattern by the image capture unit The result of the change in the shape of the optical pattern caused by vehicles at a specific distance at the intersection to correspond to the change of the relevant traffic signs, and the monitoring of road vehicles by the same camera can indeed achieve smooth road traffic flow and use the original monitoring equipment at the intersection Advantages such as convenience and hardware cost savings.

Description

Traffic sign control system

The present invention relates to a traffic sign control system, in particular to a traffic sign control system that uses image vision to detect changes in the shape of an optical pattern caused by vehicles suspended at a specific distance at an intersection to respond to changes in traffic signs.

According to press, the types of traffic signs installed on the current road can be roughly divided into five types: warning signs, prohibition signs, restriction signs, indication signs, and auxiliary signs. Its main purpose is to promote the driving of vehicle drivers and pedestrians. Fully understand the various conditions on the road to help increase alertness, and prepare for contingency measures and avoid violations.

With the advancement of technology and the affluence of society, the number of vehicles traveling on the road will increase, which will directly cause the traffic flow on the road to be overcrowded. The operation principle of the current traffic signal is mainly at the crossroads. Vehicles pass (red light) while vehicles in the other direction go first (green light), and then exchange driving after a certain period of time; however, the traffic flow of each road or each direction is different. The direction of small traffic is suspended for the same red light time. The road or direction with large traffic must be congested. Even if the traffic police can make dynamic manual adjustments, the traffic police has limited police power to maintain traffic order. At intersections with large traffic volume and commuting hours, it is impossible to monitor all intersections 24/7; therefore, how to effectively use the original monitoring equipment at the intersection to effectively control the road traffic flow through innovative hardware design Detect and adjust the change of traffic signs accordingly to relieve Excessive traffic flow is still a problem that the traffic sign control system and other related industry developers and related researchers need to continuously strive to overcome and solve.

Today, the inventor is considering that the current traffic signal control system still has many deficiencies in the actual implementation, so it is a tireless spirit and is supplemented by its rich professional knowledge and many years of practical experience. Improve, and research and create the present invention accordingly.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a traffic sign control system, in particular to a traffic sign control system that uses image vision to detect changes in the shape of an optical pattern caused by vehicles suspended at a specific distance at an intersection to respond to changes in traffic signs , Mainly by the camera and other image capture units to detect the optical pattern of the optical pattern emitted by the laser light emitting unit, which effectively detects the optical pattern of vehicles that are suspended at a specific distance at the intersection due to red lights or traffic jams The result of the change caused by the shape corresponds to the change of the relevant traffic signs, and the same camera is used to monitor the vehicles on the road, and the traffic flow of the road is indeed smooth, and the convenience of using the original monitoring equipment at the intersection. And those who have advantages such as hardware cost savings.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned implementation objectives, the present inventor proposes a traffic sign control system that interacts with at least one traffic sign on a road. The traffic sign control system of the present invention includes at least one control unit and at least one light emitting device. Unit, at least one image capture unit, and an image recognition unit; the control unit is installed on the road, the control unit is electrically connected to the traffic signal to control the operation of the traffic signal light; at least one light-emitting unit corresponds to The traffic signs on the same road are set at a distance, and the light-emitting unit is electrically connected to the control unit. When the red light of the traffic sign lights up, the control unit starts the operation of the light-emitting unit, where the light-emitting unit emits a The beam including at least one optical pattern is on the road, and the optical pattern is according to At least one vehicle hits the road and changes. The light-emitting unit is a flashing light source with a blinking frequency; at least one image capture unit is electrically connected to the light-emitting unit, and the image capture unit includes an optical lens, And a photosensitive element connected to the optical lens, when the light-emitting unit is activated, the optical lens captures images of the vehicle on the road and the optical pattern on the vehicle at the same frequency as the blinking frequency to image on the photosensitive element; image recognition unit The image capturing unit and the control unit are electrically connected respectively. The image recognition unit receives and compares the difference between the image before and after the image capturing unit and recognizes the state of the optical pattern in the image. When the optical pattern contacts the vehicle When the change occurs and lasts for a period of time, the image recognition unit transmits a control signal to the control unit to control the operation of the traffic signal on the same road as the light emitting unit.

As mentioned above, the traffic signal control system may further be provided with a storage unit, which is electrically connected to the image capturing unit to store the image captured by the image capturing unit.

The traffic signal control system as described above, wherein the traffic signal control system may be further provided with a transmission unit, which is electrically connected to the image capture unit to transmit the image captured by the image capture unit to a post端 系统。 End system.

The traffic signal control system as described above, wherein the vehicle is one of a large vehicle, a special vehicle, a small vehicle, a locomotive, or a bicycle, or a combination of two or more.

In the traffic signal control system as described above, the light-emitting unit is one of laser, light-emitting diode, or light-emitting element for outputting a light beam.

In the traffic signal control system as described above, the optical pattern is one of grids, straight lines, regularly arranged points, or irregularly arranged points.

The traffic signal control system as described above, wherein the optical lens is a fisheye lens Head, wide-angle lens or standard lens, etc.

In the traffic signal control system as described above, the photosensitive element is one of a photo-coupled device (Charge Coupled Device, CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor, CMOS) and the like.

In this way, the traffic signal control system of the present invention mainly uses the image visual detection method of detecting the optical pattern emitted by the light emitting unit of the laser by the image capturing unit such as a camera to effectively detect the suspension due to red light or traffic jam The result of the change in the shape of the optical pattern caused by the vehicles at a specific distance at the intersection to correspond to the change of the relevant traffic signs, and the use of the same camera to monitor the vehicles on the road does achieve smooth road traffic flow and use. The convenience of the original monitoring equipment at the intersection, as well as the advantages of saving hardware costs and expenditures; in addition, the traffic signal control system of the present invention mainly calculates the traffic volume of the road by changing the shape of the optical pattern caused by the vehicles on the road Through the relevant information of this traffic flow, the corresponding traffic signal is switched, which effectively sets the section where no vehicle passes to a red light, and indeed evacuates the section with higher traffic flow to achieve the advantage of traffic control; finally, the traffic number of the present invention The traffic control system is mainly based on the original video surveillance equipment at road intersections, combined with the optical pattern emitted by the laser light emitting unit, which effectively reduces the hardware cost of the traffic signal setting, and indeed reduces road traffic at a lower cost. The purpose of traffic.

(1) ‧‧‧ traffic signal control system

(11) ‧‧‧Control unit

(12) ‧‧‧Lighting unit

(121) ‧‧‧beam

(1211) ‧‧‧Optical pattern

(13) ‧‧‧Image capture unit

(131) ‧‧‧Optical lens

(132) ‧‧‧Photosensitive element

(14) ‧‧‧Image recognition unit

(2) ‧‧‧Road

(21) ‧‧‧Intersection

(3) ‧‧‧ traffic signs

(4) ‧‧‧Vehicle

(D) ‧‧‧Distance

Figure 1: Block diagram of the system architecture of a preferred embodiment of the traffic signal control system of the present invention

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the system setting of a preferred embodiment of the traffic signal control system of the present invention

Figure 3: Schematic diagram of optical pattern changes of a preferred embodiment of the traffic signal control system of the present invention Fig

In order to facilitate your examination committee to understand the technical features, content, advantages and achievable effects of the present invention, the present invention is described in detail in conjunction with the drawings and in the form of expressions of the embodiments, and the drawings used therein, Its purpose is only for illustration and supplementary description, and may not be the true scale and precise configuration after the implementation of the present invention, so it should not be interpreted and limited to the relationship between the scale and the configuration of the attached drawings, and the scope of the present invention in the actual implementation is limited , He Xianming.

First, please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3, which is a block diagram of a system architecture, a schematic diagram of a system setting, and a schematic diagram of optical pattern changes of a preferred embodiment of the traffic signal control system of the present invention. The control system (1) interacts with at least one traffic signal (3) on a road (2). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the intersection (21) of the road (2) is correspondingly provided with 4 traffic signs (3) to control the driving sequence of vehicles (4) at intersections (21), where vehicles (4) can be, for example but not limited to, large vehicles, special vehicles, small vehicles, locomotives or bicycles, etc. A vehicle or a combination of two or more; the traffic signal control system (1) of the present invention includes at least: a control unit (11), which is installed on the road (2), and the control unit (11) is electrically Connect the traffic signal (3) to control the operation of the traffic signal (3); in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the control unit (11) can be controlled by the current traffic signal (3) Device to electrically connect the four traffic signs (3) of the intersection (21) and control the operation of the red, green or yellow lights; at least one light emitting unit (12) corresponds to the same road (2 ) The traffic signs (3) are set at a distance (D), and the light-emitting unit (12) is electrically connected to the control unit (11). When the red light of the traffic sign (3) lights up, control The unit (11) starts the operation of the light-emitting unit (12), wherein The light emitting unit (12) emits a light beam (121) including at least one optical pattern (1211) on the road (2), and the optical pattern (1211) is due to at least one vehicle (4) irradiated on the road (2) ) And the light-emitting unit (12) is a scintillation light source with a flicker frequency; in addition, the light-emitting unit (12) is a laser, a light-emitting diode or a light-emitting element for outputting a light beam, etc. A device; furthermore, the optical pattern (1211) is one of grids, straight lines, regularly arranged points or irregularly arranged points, etc .; in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, 4 light emitting units ( 12) Correspondingly set at the distance (D) of 4 traffic signs (3) at a distance of 30 meters, and electrically connected to the control unit (11), when the red light of the traffic sign (3) lights up , The control unit (11) activates the light-emitting unit (12) located on the same road (2). The light-emitting unit (12) emits a light beam (121) including an optical pattern (1211) with a linear pattern at a blinking frequency On the road (2); however, it must be noted that the distance between the light-emitting unit (12) and the traffic signal (3) is for convenience of description, and is not limited to the scope of the present invention, and is familiar with this art. Knowing that as long as the distance between the light emitting unit (12) and the traffic signal (3) can be determined as congestion according to the traffic flow of the road (2), it will not affect the actual implementation of the present invention; at least one image capturing unit (13 ), Which is electrically connected to the light-emitting unit (12), and the image capturing unit (13) includes an optical lens (131) and a photosensitive element (132) connected to the optical lens (131), when the light-emitting unit (12) After starting, the optical lens (131) captures images of the vehicle (4) on the road (2) and the optical pattern (1211) on the vehicle (4) at the same frequency as the blinking frequency on the photosensitive element (132) Imaging; in addition, the optical lens (131) is one of fisheye lens, wide-angle lens or standard lens, etc. Furthermore, the photosensitive element (132) is a photoelectric coupling element (CCD) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the four image capturing units (13) are electrically connected to the four light emitting units (12) respectively. When the light emitting unit (12) is activated, it is built in The optical lens (131) in the fisheye lens configuration of the image capturing unit (13) is The frequency of the same blinking frequency starts to capture the image of the vehicle (4) on the road (2) and the optical pattern (1211) on the vehicle (4) on the photosensitive element (132) of the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) state Imaging; and an image recognition unit (14), which are respectively electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) and the control unit (11), the image recognition unit (14) receives and compares the image capture unit (13) Capture the difference between the previous image and the image and identify the state of the optical pattern (1211) in the image. When the optical pattern (1211) changes due to contact with the vehicle (4) and lasts for a period of time, the image recognition unit (14) transmits a Control signals to the control unit (11) to control the operation of the traffic signal (3) on the same road (2) as the light-emitting unit (12); in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the image recognition unit (14) and the control unit (11) are located at the same location, and the image recognition unit (14) is electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) and the control unit (11), and the image recognition unit (14) receives And compare the difference of the image captured by the image capturing unit (13) and identify the state of the optical pattern (1211) in the image, that is, the light emitting unit (12) is a flickering type that shows a continuous state of turning on and off The light source has the same blinking frequency as the image capturing unit (13) captures the image. When the light emitting unit (12) emits a light beam (121) with an optical pattern (1211) and lights up, the image capturing unit (13) The image of the vehicle (4) on the road (2) and the optical pattern (1211) on the vehicle (4) is captured and transmitted to the image recognition unit (14), and when the light emitting unit (12) goes out next time , The image capture unit (13) captures the image again and sends it to the image recognition unit (14), and the image recognition unit (14) subtracts the two captured images before and after the time for comparison. Since the difference between the two images is only the existence of the optical pattern (1211), the image of the optical pattern (1211) can be left alone after the two images are subtracted, and the image recognition unit (14) can be more easily Judging the shape change of the optical pattern (1211) to determine whether there is a vehicle (4) around the optical pattern (1211), so when the optical pattern (1211) contacts the vehicle (4) When the change occurs and lasts for a period of time, the image recognition unit (14) transmits a control signal to the control unit (11) to control the operation of the traffic signal (3) lights; that is, the image recognition unit (14) Recognize the state of the optical pattern (1211) at a distance (D) of 30 meters from the traffic signal (3), when the shape of the optical pattern (1211) changes due to the presence of the vehicle (4) and lasts for a period of time , It means that the vehicles (4) on the road (2) have been arranged at a length of more than 30 meters from the stop of the traffic signal (3), and have reached the state of overcrowding, then the image recognition unit (14) That is, the control signal is transmitted to the control unit (11) to control the traffic signal (3) located on the same road (2) as the light-emitting unit (12) from the original red light signal to the green light signal to stop the red light The vehicle (4) can start moving to relieve traffic flow and reduce the traffic congestion of the vehicle (4); however, it must be noted that the above traffic signs (3), light emitting unit (12), and image capturing unit (13 The number of) is for convenience of description, not limited to the present invention, and those skilled in the art should know that as long as the image capturing unit (13) can capture the optical pattern (1211 emitted by the light emitting unit (12) ), And the image recognition unit (14) recognizes the shape change of the optical pattern (1211), and then controls the operation of the traffic signal (3), which does not affect the actual implementation of the present invention.

In addition, the traffic signal control system (1) may be further provided with a storage unit (not shown in the figure), which is electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) to store the image capture unit (13) In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the storage unit is provided with the image recognition unit (14) and electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) to store the image capture unit (13) captured The image is used for subsequent traffic safety management and control.

Furthermore, the traffic signal control system (1) can be further provided with a transmission unit (not shown in the figure), which is electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) to capture the image capture unit (13) The captured image is transferred to a back-end system (not shown in the figure); another preferred implementation of the invention For example, the transmission unit is set together with the image recognition unit (14) and electrically connected to the image capture unit (13), in order to wire or wirelessly capture the image captured by the image capture unit (13) Passed to the back-end system, where the back-end system can be, for example but not limited to, a police or traffic control system to prevent the occurrence of traffic accidents and the use of evidence, and the wireless transmission system can be, for example, but not limited to, a wireless LAN (WLAN), Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), or Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and one or more wireless communication protocols. The transmission unit uses one of the above wireless communication protocols To transfer images to the back-end system.

Next, in order to enable your reviewer to further understand the purpose, features, and desired effects of the present invention, the following specific practical examples of the traffic signal control system (1) of the present invention are used to further prove the traffic number of the present invention The scope of practical application of the traffic control system (1), but it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any form; when a government agency wants to smooth the traffic flow on the road (2), it can use the traffic signal control system of the invention ( 1), by the image visual detection method of the optical pattern (1211) emitted by the light emitting unit (12) that detects the laser by the image capture unit (13) of the camera, effectively detecting the pause at the cross due to the red light Intersection (21) The vehicle (4) at a specific distance causes a change in the shape of the optical pattern (1211) to correspond to the change of the related traffic signal (3), and the vehicle on the road (2) is driven by the same camera (4) The monitoring does indeed achieve the advantages of smooth road traffic flow, the convenience of using the original monitoring equipment at the intersection (21), and the saving of hardware costs and other advantages; the traffic signal control system (1) of the present invention is related to The four traffic signs (3) at the intersection (21) on a road (2) interact with each other to control the driving sequence of the vehicles (4) at the intersection (21). The vehicles (4) can be, for example, but not Limited to one kind of vehicles such as large cars, special cars, small cars, locomotives or bicycles or a combination of two or more; first, prepare a control unit (11), where the control unit (11) is installed on the road (2) , The control unit (11) is electrically connected to the traffic signal (3) to control the traffic signal The light signal of the sign (3) is operated; then, four light emitting units (12) are prepared, wherein the light emitting unit (12) corresponds to a distance (D) from the traffic signal (3) located on the same road (2) and The light-emitting unit (12) is electrically connected to the control unit (11). When the red light of the traffic signal (3) lights up, the control unit (11) starts the operation of the light-emitting unit (12), wherein the light-emitting unit (12) emits a light beam (121) including at least one optical pattern (1211) on the road (2), and the optical pattern (1211) is caused by at least one vehicle (4) irradiated on the road (2) Changes occur, in which the light-emitting unit (12) is the only blinking light source with a blinking frequency; then, four image capture units (13) are prepared, in which the image capture unit (13) is electrically connected to the light-emitting unit (12) The image capture unit (13) includes an optical lens (131) and a photosensitive element (132) connected to the optical lens (131). When the light emitting unit (12) is activated, the optical lens (131) is replaced by a Capture the image of the vehicle (4) on the road (2) and the optical pattern (1211) on the vehicle (4) at the same frequency as the blinking frequency and image it on the photosensitive element (132); finally, prepare an image recognition unit (14) ), Where the image recognition unit (14) is electrically connected to the image capture unit (13) and the control unit (11), respectively, and the image recognition unit (14) receives and compares the images captured by the image capture unit (13) The difference between the front and back images and identify the state of the optical pattern (1211) in the image. When the optical pattern (1211) changes due to contact with the vehicle (4) and lasts for a period of time, the image recognition unit (14) transmits a control signal To the control unit (11) to control the operation of the traffic signal (3) on the same road (2) as the light emitting unit (12); that is, the image recognition unit (14) recognizes the traffic signal (3) The appearance of the optical pattern (1211) at a distance (D) of 30 meters, when the shape of the optical pattern (1211) changes due to the presence of the vehicle (4) and lasts for a period of time, it represents the road (2 ) The vehicle (4) has been arranged at a length of more than 30 meters from the stop of the traffic signal (3), and has reached the predetermined vehicle multi-state. The image recognition unit (14) transmits the control signal to the control unit (11 ) To control the traffic signal (3) located on the same road (2) as the light emitting unit (12) from the original red light signal to the green light signal, so that the red light vehicle (4) is suspended Can start to move, relieve traffic flow and reduce the traffic jams of vehicles (4); the traffic signal control system (1) of the present invention can indeed achieve smooth road traffic flow and use the convenience of the intersection (21) original monitoring equipment Performance and hardware cost savings.

It can be seen from the above implementation description that the traffic signal control system of the present invention has the following advantages compared with the prior art:

1. The traffic signal control system of the present invention is mainly based on the image visual detection method of detecting the optical pattern emitted by the laser light emitting unit through the image capturing unit such as a camera, which effectively detects the pause at the red light or traffic jam. The result of the change of the shape of the optical pattern caused by the vehicles at a specific distance at the intersection to correspond to the change of the relevant traffic signs, and the same camera is used to monitor the vehicles on the road, and the traffic flow of the smooth road is indeed achieved. The convenience of the original monitoring equipment at the intersection, and the advantages of saving hardware costs and other advantages.

2. The traffic sign control system of the present invention mainly calculates the traffic flow of the road by the way that the vehicles on the road cause the change of the shape of the optical pattern, and the relevant information of this traffic flow corresponds to the control of the switching of the traffic sign, effectively making the vehicle free The road section passing by is set to a red light, and the road section with higher traffic flow is indeed evacuated, thus achieving the advantage of traffic flow control.

3. The traffic signal control system of the present invention is mainly based on the original video surveillance equipment at road intersections, combined with the optical pattern emitted by the laser light emitting unit, which effectively reduces the hardware cost of the traffic signal setting. Low cost achieves the purpose of alleviating road traffic flow.

In summary, the traffic signal control system of the present invention can indeed achieve the expected use effect through the disclosed embodiments, and the present invention has not been disclosed before the application, and has fully complied with the provisions of the Patent Law With requirements. I filed an application for a patent for invention in accordance with the law, pleaded for the review, and granted the patent.

However, the illustrations and descriptions disclosed above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention; those who are familiar with the art, according to the characteristic scope of the present invention, do other things Equivalent changes or modifications should be regarded as not departing from the design scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

A traffic sign control system that interacts with at least one traffic sign on a road. The traffic sign control system includes at least: a control unit that is installed on the road and the control unit is electrically connected The traffic signal is used to control the operation of the traffic signal; at least one light-emitting unit is arranged corresponding to a distance away from the traffic signal on the same road, and the light-emitting unit is electrically connected to the control unit When the red light of the traffic signal lights up, the control unit starts the operation of the light-emitting unit, wherein the light-emitting unit emits a light beam including at least one optical pattern on the road, and the optical pattern is caused by Changes occur when at least one vehicle on the road is illuminated, wherein the light-emitting unit is a blinking light source with a blinking frequency; at least one image capture unit is electrically connected to the light-emitting unit, and the image capture unit is It includes an optical lens and a photosensitive element connected to the optical lens. When the light-emitting unit is activated, the optical lens captures the vehicle on the road and the optical pattern on the vehicle at a frequency equal to the blinking frequency Image on the photosensitive element; and an image recognition unit, which is electrically connected to the image capture unit and the control unit, the image recognition unit receives and compares the image capture unit before and after the capture Image difference and recognize the appearance of the optical pattern in the image, when the optical pattern changes due to contact with the vehicle and lasts for a period of time, the image recognition unit transmits a control signal to the control unit to control and The traffic lights of the traffic lights on the same road are operated. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the traffic signal control system is further provided with a storage unit, the storage unit is electrically connected to the image capture unit to store the image capture unit The captured image. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the traffic signal control system is further provided with a transmission unit, and the transmission unit is electrically connected to the image capture unit to capture the image capture unit The captured image is transferred to a back-end system. The traffic sign control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the vehicle is one or a combination of two or more of a large vehicle, a special vehicle, a small vehicle, a locomotive, or a bicycle. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the light emitting unit is one of a laser, a light emitting diode or a light emitting element for outputting a light beam. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the optical pattern is one of a grid, a straight line, a regularly arranged point, or an irregularly arranged point. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the optical lens is one of a fisheye lens, a wide-angle lens, or a standard lens. The traffic signal control system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the photosensitive element is one of a photoelectric coupling element (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS).