RF car counting system and method therefor
First Claim
1. A car counting method, based upon survey data, for estimating the number of vehicles passing a testing site during a testing period, said method comprising the steps of:
- detecting local oscillator (LO) signals emitted from a portion of said vehicles, said portion of vehicles having tuners located therein;
maintaining an LO count of said detected LO signals; and
performing a data translation operation on said LO count to estimate the number of said vehicles passing said testing site during said testing period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for counting vehicles by detecting RF signals emitted from a portion of the vehicles is provided. An RF scanner/receiver located at a testing site is tuned to receive local oscillator (LO) signals that may be emitted from radio tuners located in a portion of the vehicles. A control unit controls the scanner/receiver, stores data related to the received LO signals, and performs other operating procedures. A central computer in data communication with the control unit performs data translation operations on the raw LO signal data. Scale factors derived from calibration formulas are applied to the system data to provide an estimated vehicle count and an estimated average vehicle speed. The central computer formats the resulting data for presentation to a user.
103 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A car counting method, based upon survey data, for estimating the number of vehicles passing a testing site during a testing period, said method comprising the steps of:
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detecting local oscillator (LO) signals emitted from a portion of said vehicles, said portion of vehicles having tuners located therein; maintaining an LO count of said detected LO signals; and performing a data translation operation on said LO count to estimate the number of said vehicles passing said testing site during said testing period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A remote car counting method for collecting survey data related to a population of vehicles passing a testing site during a testing period, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a radio frequency antenna to detect a plurality of local oscillator (LO) signals emitted from a portion of said population of vehicles; receiving said detected LO signals at a receiver; producing a plurality of call records that contain data related to said received LO signals; and performing a translation operation on said data to estimate the number and approximate speed of said vehicles passing said testing site during said testing period. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A remote car counting system for estimating, based upon survey data, the number of vehicles passing a testing site during a testing period, said system comprising:
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a radio frequency antenna; a receiver coupled to said antenna, said receiver being configured in cooperation with said antenna to detect a plurality of local oscillator (LO) signals emitted from a portion of a plurality of vehicles having tuners located therein; means for producing a plurality of call records containing data related to said detected LO signals, said means for producing being in data communication with said receiver; and means for performing a translation operation on said data to estimate the number of said vehicles travelling past said testing site during said testing period, said means for performing being in data communication with said means for producing. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification