MOBILE TRAFFIC MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20110001635A1
• Filed: 11/09/2007
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fudally, Scott A., Akens, Jody H., Zaidi, Ali H.
• Application Number:
  US11/937,543
• Publication Number:
  US 20110001635A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/936
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

A method (400) and a system (125) for monitoring traffic. A warning zone (130) can be defined based, at least in part, on a present location of a mobile traffic monitoring system (125). With the mobile traffic monitoring system, the warning zone can be optically monitored for movement of an object (175). Responsive to identifying the movement of the object in the warning zone, an alert (135) can be generated.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring traffic comprising:

defining a warning zone based, at least in part, on a present location of the mobile traffic monitoring system;

with the mobile traffic monitoring system, optically monitoring the warning zone for movement of an object; and

responsive to identifying the movement of the object in the warning zone, generating a first alert.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating the first alert to a protected resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein communicating the first alert to the protected resource comprises communicating the first alert to a communication device associated with the protected resource.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a proposed warning zone to a user;

wherein defining the warning zone comprises modifying the proposed warning zone responsive to a user input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the warning zone further comprises:

determining the at least one movement parameter for the object, the at least one movement parameter selected from the group consisting of a speed and a velocity.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the object has a probability of colliding with a protected resource that is at least equal to a threshold value;

responsive to determining that the probability is at least equal to the threshold value, generating a second alert; and

communicating the second alert to at least one entity selected from the group consisting of the protected resource and a server.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the object has collided with a protected resource;

responsive to determining that the object has collided with the protected resource, generating a second alert; and

communicating the second alert to the server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a position of a protected resource.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein monitoring the position of the protected resource further comprises tracking the protected resource via a communication device associated with the protected resource.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing an image of at least a portion of the object;

storing the image; and

associating the image with at least the present location of the mobile traffic monitoring system and a time that the image was captured.

11. A mobile traffic monitoring system, comprising:

a controller that defines a warning zone based, at least in part, on a present location of the mobile traffic monitoring system; and

an optical monitor that optically monitors the warning zone for movement of an object;

wherein, responsive to the optical monitor identifying the movement of the object in the warning zone, the controller generates a first alert.

12. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 11, further comprising:

a transceiver that communicates the first alert to a protected resource.

13. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 12, wherein:

communicating the first alert to the protected resource comprises communicating the first alert to a communication device associated with the protected resource.

14. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 11, further comprising:

a user interface that presents a proposed warning zone to a user;

wherein the proposed warning zone is modified in response to a user input to define the warning zone.

15. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 11, wherein:

while the warning zone is monitored, the controller determines the at least one movement parameter for the object, the at least one movement parameter selected from the group consisting of a speed and a velocity.

16. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 15, further comprising:

a transceiver or a network adapter that communicates a second alert to at least one entity selected from the group consisting of a protected resource and a server;

wherein;

the controller determines whether the object has a probability of colliding with a protected resource that is at least equal to a threshold value and, responsive to determining that the probability is at least equal to the threshold value, generates the second alert.

17. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 15, wherein:

the controller determines whether the object has collided with a protected resource and, responsive to determining that the object has collided with the protected resource, generates a second alert; and

the network adapter communicates the second alert to the server.

18. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the controller monitors a position of a protected resource.

19. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 18, wherein the controller tracks the protected resource via a communication device associated with the protected resource.

20. The mobile traffic monitoring system of claim 11, further comprising a data storage, wherein:

the optical monitor captures an image of at least a portion of the object;

the controller stores the image to the data storage; and

the controller associates the image with at least the present location of the mobile traffic monitoring system and a time that the image was captured.

21. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for monitoring traffic, said method steps comprising:

defining a warning zone based, at least in part, on a present location of the mobile traffic monitoring system;

with the mobile traffic monitoring system, optically monitoring the warning zone for movement of an object; and

responsive to identifying the movement of the object in the warning zone, generating a first alert.