Traffic monitoring system
First Claim
1. A traffic monitoring system for monitoring speeds of moving vehicles, the traffic monitoring system comprising:
- a housing;
a Doppler radar transceiver, within the housing, for producing Doppler signals responsive to one or more moving vehicles in a radar beam;
a digital computer connected to the Doppler radar transceiver, the digital computer including (a) a converter for transforming the Doppler signals from one or more moving vehicles in the radar beam into multiple-bit digital form signals, and (b) a processor that determines;
(i) whether the Doppler signals were produced in response to more than one vehicle in the radar beam;
(ii) the speed of a single vehicle corresponding to the Doppler signals and (iii) whether the single vehicle has violated a speed limit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A traffic monitoring system has a common housing for a Doppler radar transceiver, a video camera, and a digital computer for processing the Doppler signal. The system also includes a video cassette recorder, a high-speed photographic camera, and a laptop computer for downloading control settings and a program from a diskette or memory card to the digital computer. The digital computer performs an initial self-test by injecting a calibration signal in lieu of a Doppler signal into an electronic interface between the radar transceiver and the digital computer. The radar transceiver generates a Doppler signal having two channels, and the phase between the channels indicates whether a vehicle is approaching or receding from the radar transceiver. The two channels are recorded on the left and right audio channels of the video cassette. Recorded with the video signal is a push-down stack of speeds of vehicles detected on the system, in order to present a record of prevailing traffic conditions when prosecuting a speed violator. The recorded picture may also include a series of successive speed measurements for each vehicle. Although an operator could listen to the Doppler signal, it is preferred that the digital computer activates an audio annunciator to emit a click sound when the system detects a vehicle, and a warbly sound when a detected vehicle exceeds a specified speed limit.
209 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A traffic monitoring system for monitoring speeds of moving vehicles, the traffic monitoring system comprising:
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a housing; a Doppler radar transceiver, within the housing, for producing Doppler signals responsive to one or more moving vehicles in a radar beam; a digital computer connected to the Doppler radar transceiver, the digital computer including (a) a converter for transforming the Doppler signals from one or more moving vehicles in the radar beam into multiple-bit digital form signals, and (b) a processor that determines;
(i) whether the Doppler signals were produced in response to more than one vehicle in the radar beam;
(ii) the speed of a single vehicle corresponding to the Doppler signals and (iii) whether the single vehicle has violated a speed limit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A traffic monitoring system for monitoring speeds of moving vehicles, the traffic monitoring system comprising:
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a Doppler radar transceiver; a digital computer connected to the Doppler radar transceiver for processing Doppler signals from the Doppler radar transceiver to determine speeds of the vehicles monitored by the Doppler radar transceiver; and an audio annunciator connected to the digital computer for emitting a first sound when the digital computer determines that one of the vehicles is being monitored by the Doppler radar transceiver, and for emitting a distinct second sound when the digital computer determines that the speed of one of the vehicles exceeds a specified speed, wherein; the digital computer includes;
(a) a converter for transforming the Doppler signals from one or more moving vehicles in a radar beam into multiple-bit digital form signals, and (b) a processor that determines;
(i) whether the Doppler signals were produced in response to more than one vehicle in the radar beam;
(ii) the speed of a single vehicle corresponding to the Doppler signals and (iii) whether the single vehicle has violated a speed limit. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method of monitoring speeds of motor vehicles, the method comprising the steps of:
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generating, with a Doppler radar transceiver, Doppler signals having frequencies proportional to the speeds of the vehicles moving within a radar beam; processing the Doppler signals in a digital computer by converting the Doppler signals from the vehicle into multiple-bit digital form signals to determine the speeds of the vehicles, and to identify vehicles that exceed a specified speed limit when the Doppler signals are produced in response to a single vehicle, but to not identify vehicles that exceed a specified speed limit when the Doppler signals are produced in response to more than a single vehicle; operating a video camera aligned with the Doppler radar transceiver to generate a video picture of the vehicles monitored by the Doppler radar transceiver; overlaying on the video picture alphanumeric data produced by the digital computer, the alphanumeric data defining a stack of the speeds of the vehicles monitored by the Doppler radar transceiver; recording on video tape the video picture including the overlaid alphanumeric data; and playing back the video tape to display the stack and demonstrate traffic conditions existing when one of the vehicles was found to exceed the specified speed limit.
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Specification