WO2020084213A1

WO2020084213A1 - Device for counting persons, and street furniture comprising such a device

Info

Publication number: WO2020084213A1
Application number: PCT/FR2019/052236
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simon Rousseau
Original assignee: Jc Decaux Sa
Priority date: 2018-10-26
Filing date: 2019-09-24
Publication date: 2020-04-30
Also published as: FR3087920A1; FR3087920B1

Abstract

Device (10) for counting persons in a space to be monitored, comprising a device for taking images (5) and an electronic central unit (9) which is designed to automatically detect and count persons (P) in the images, and to transmit the number of persons counted. The central unit is designed not to transmit counting information which represents the real number of persons counted when the real number of persons counted is less than a given threshold K, K being a number which is at least 5.

Description

PEOPLE COUNTING DEVICE AND URBAN FURNITURE

COMPRISING SUCH A DEVICE

TECHNICAL AREA

This description relates to people counting devices and urban furniture comprising such devices.

TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

People counting devices are known for counting people in a predetermined space to be monitored, these devices comprising an electronic central unit and at least one sensor adapted to detect people in said space to be monitored and to communicate a signal to said central unit. detection, the central unit being adapted for:

- automatically counting people in said space to be monitored from said detection signal,

transmit counting information representative of at least a number of people counted in said space to be monitored.

OBJECTS

One problem with devices of this type is to guarantee the anonymity of the people counted.

To this end, in a person counting device of the aforementioned type, the central unit is adapted not to transmit counting information representative of the real number of people counted when the real number of people counted is below a certain threshold. K, K being a number at least equal to 5, and the central unit is adapted to transmit counting information representative of a fictitious number of people when the actual number of people counted is less than the threshold K.

That way, when too few people are counting, we avoid that the counting information cannot be cross-checked with other external information which would betray the identity of the counted people, and we thus preserve the anonymity of the counted people.

In various embodiments of the people counting device, one can optionally have recourse to one and / or the other of the following provisions:

the sensor is an image taking device adapted to take images of said space to be monitored and the central unit is adapted to automatically detect and count people on said images;

the image taking device is a camera and the central unit is adapted to count a person when said central unit detects a moving object having a height at least equal to a minimum height and a speed of movement included in a range of predetermined speed;

said fictitious number of people is between 0 and K;

said fictitious number of people is determined according to a predefined rule;

said fictitious number of people is equal to:

- 0 when the actual number of people counted is between 0 and K / 2,

K when the actual number of people counted is greater than K / 2 and less than K;

K is at most equal to 15;

the central unit is adapted to transmit the counting information at predetermined time intervals and to reset the number of people counted to 0 after sending the counting information.

Furthermore, the present description relates also street furniture comprising a people counting device as described above.

In various embodiments of this street furniture, one can optionally have recourse to one and / or the other of the following provisions:

- the street furniture communicates with at least one remote server and is adapted to transmit said metering information to said at least one remote server;

- the street furniture has a display side visible to people present in the area to be monitored.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages will appear during the following description of an embodiment of the above-mentioned device, given by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a device for counting people according to one embodiment, integrated for example into street furniture,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the people counting device,

Figures 3 to 5 illustrate several cases of use of the people counting device.

MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the various figures, the same references designate identical or similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows street furniture 1 provided with a device for counting people as described below.

The street furniture 1 shown is an advertising panel or the like. In the example shown, the advertising panel comprises a casing supported above the ground 3 by a foot 4. The advertising panel can be provided with at least one person detection sensor 5, in particular an image taking device 5 such as a digital camera or the like, which has a field of vision 5a covering a predetermined space to be monitored. The digital camera 5 may optionally include a high dynamic optical sensor coupled to a wide angle optic of the “pinhole” type.

The space to be monitored is generally a space accessible to the public, such as a public thoroughfare, shopping center, airport, train station, etc. The digital camera 5 can be integrated for example in an upper part 6 integral with the casing 2, for example a module attached to the upper part of the casing 2. The advertising panel has a display face 7, constituted for example by a digital screen diffusing digital content. As a variant, the display face 7 could be a simple window covering one or more posters of paper or the like.

Street furniture 1 is not limited to an advertising panel, it could consist of an information panel for non-advertising purposes, a shelter for travelers such as those arranged at bus and tram stations, a lighting candelabra public building, public restroom, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2, the people counting device 10 (SENS. MOD.) Can comprise, in addition to the sensor 5 (SENS.), An electronic central unit 9 (UC1). The electronic central unit 9 may possibly be a processor specialized in signal processing (DSP).

The people counting device is adapted to detect the presence in the monitored space of a person P moving in a direction of movement

D.

For example, when the detection sensor people is a digital camera 5, for any moving object in the space to be monitored, the central unit 9 can for example be programmed to determine on the image taken by the camera 5, a virtual box 8 in which is registered the object (Figure 1). This virtual box 8 has a height h determined by the central unit 9 and moves at a certain speed in the space to be monitored, this speed also being calculated by the central unit 9.

The central unit 9 can be programmed to determine whether the moving object is a person P or not. For example, the central unit 9 determines that the moving object is a person P, when:

the height h is greater than a predetermined threshold height (for example lm, or 70 cm), or the height is included in a predetermined height range (for example 1 m-2 m, or 70 cm - 2 m),

and the speed is within a predetermined speed range (for example 1km / h - 10 km / h).

Other criteria can be taken into account by the central processing unit 9, for example the width of the virtual box 8, which may have to be included in a predetermined range to determine that the moving object is a person P.

If the person detection sensor (s) 5 are other than a digital camera, the decision criteria of the central unit 9 may be different.

The central unit 9 counts the people P detected in the zone to be monitored, and transmits counting information to another device, for example at regular time intervals. The time interval in question can be for example from a few minutes to a few hours, for example 15 to 60 minutes. This time interval can optionally be configurable by the operator using the device 10 for counting people.

The counting information can be simply the number of people detected during the elapsed time interval, or this information can be more complex and for example also indicate what are the movements of people, as will be explained below.

It will be noted that the central unit 9 does not store any image in memory and does not transmit any image of the people P to another device.

In the example of FIG. 2, the central unit 9 transmits the counting information to a remote server 13 (SERV.). This transmission could be made directly from the central unit 9 to the remote server 13. In the example shown, this transmission is indirect: the central unit 9 of the people counting device 10 communicates with another central control unit 11 street furniture 1, which communicates with the remote server 13 by a WAN or other link.

In the particular example of FIG. 2 the central unit 11 for controlling street furniture 1 can be a computer controlling the digital screen 7, associated where appropriate with a memory 12 (M) and receiving the contents to be played by screen 7 via the WAN link, from server 13 or from another server.

To preserve the anonymity of the people P, the central unit 9 is adapted not to transmit counting information representative of the real number of people P counted when the real number of people P counted is below a certain threshold K.

The threshold K can be a number at least equal to 5.

K can be at most 15.

Optionally, K is between 5 and 15, for example of the order of 10, in particular K can be equal to 10.

The central unit 9 is adapted to transmit a counting information representative of a fictitious number of people P counted when the actual number of people P counted is less than the threshold K.

Said fictitious number of people P can be between 0 and K.

Said fictitious number of people P can be determined according to a predefined rule, programmed in the central unit 9.

In particular, the central unit 9 can be adapted to transmit counting information representative of a fictitious number of people P counted equal to:

- 0 when the actual number of people P counted is between 0 and K / 2 (for example, for K = 10, from 0 to 5 people detected during the past period),

- K when the actual number of people P counted is greater than K / 2 and less than K (for example, for K = 10, from 6 to 10 people detected during the past period).

It would also be possible for the central unit 9 to be adapted so as not to transmit counting information when the actual number of people P counted is less than the threshold K.

As shown in FIG. 3, the counting information given by the central unit 9 can for example include the number of people P passing from an area Z1 to an area Z2 of the monitored space, and vice versa. This information can obviously be given for more than two areas.

As a variant, as shown in FIG. 4, in an example where several zones are distinguished, for example two zones Z1, Z2 in the monitored space, the central unit can determine the residence time of each person P in each zone Zl, Z2 (respectively tl, t2) and the time tl2 spent between zone Zl and zone Z2 in the trajectory T followed by the person P. The counting information given by the central unit 9 can in this case include the times tl, t2, tl2, which is indicative of the average speed of movement of the person P.

According to another variant, represented in FIG. 5, the central unit 9 can keep the trajectories T followed by the different people P counted, and the counting information can include a representation of these trajectories T, for example on a background comprising only the static elements of the image taken by the camera 5. Advantageously, these trajectories T can be represented with colors indicative of the number of people identified at each point of each trajectory, to give a "heat map" of the monitored area .

Claims

1. Device (10) for counting people for counting people (P) in a predetermined space to be monitored, this device (10) comprising an electronic central unit (9) and at least one sensor (5) suitable for detecting people (P) in said space to be monitored and for communicating a detection signal to said central unit, the central unit being adapted for:

transmit counting information representative of at least a number of people counted in said space to be monitored,

wherein the central unit (9) is adapted not to transmit counting information representative of the actual number of people (P) counted when the actual number of people (P) counted is below a certain threshold K, K being a number at least equal to 5,

and the central unit (9) is adapted to transmit counting information representative of a fictitious number of people (P) when the actual number of people (P) counted is less than the threshold K.

2. Device (10) for counting people according to claim 1, in which the sensor (5) is an image taking device adapted to take images of said space to be monitored and the central unit (9) is adapted to automatically detect and count people (P) on said images.

3. Device (10) for counting people according to claim 2, wherein the image taking device (5) is a camera and the central unit (9) is adapted to count a person (P) when said unit central (9) detects a moving object having a height (h) at least equal to a minimum height and a displacement speed (D) included in a predetermined speed range.

4. Device (10) for counting people according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said fictitious number of people (P) is between 0 and

K.

5. Device (10) for counting people according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said fictitious number of people (P) is determined according to a predefined rule.

6. Device (10) for counting people according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said fictitious number of people (P) is equal to:

0 when the actual number of people (P) counted is between 0 and K / 2,

K when the actual number of people (P) counted is greater than K / 2 and less than K.

7. Device (10) for counting people according to any one of the preceding claims, in which K is at most equal to 15.

8. Device (10) for counting people according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the central unit (9) is adapted to transmit the counting information at predetermined time intervals and to reset the number of people (P) counted after sending the counting information.

9. Street furniture (1) comprising a device (10) for counting people according to any one of the preceding claims.

10. Street furniture (1) according to claim 9 communicating with at least one remote server (SERV.) And adapted to transmit said metering information to at least one remote server (SERV.).

11. Street furniture (1) according to claim 9 or claim 10, comprising a display face (7) visible to the people (P) present in the area to be monitored.