AU2016200631B2

AU2016200631B2 - A public transport vehicle with a panoramic view

Info

Publication number: AU2016200631B2
Application number: AU2016200631A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Eric Combeau; Christopher Frind; Nicolas Rufflart
Original assignee: Alstom Holdings SA
Current assignee: Alstom Holdings SA
Priority date: 2015-02-06
Filing date: 2016-02-02
Publication date: 2021-08-19
Anticipated expiration: 2036-02-02
Also published as: EP3053801B2; EP3053801A1; ES2823803T5; AU2016200631A1; ES2823803T3; EP3053801B1

Abstract

A public transport vehicle with a panoramic view 5 The public transport vehicle includes a passenger zone (14) defined by walls (18, 20), each having an inner surface (20A) facing toward the passenger zone (14), and an outer surface (20B). The vehicle (10) includes image capture devices (30), arranged on the outer surface (20B) of one of the walls (18, 20), oriented to capture the images of an environment in which the vehicle (10) is traveling, image display devices housed in the 10 passenger zone (14), and connecting means between the image capture devices (30) and the display devices, such that each display device is able to display images captured by at least one of the image capture devices (30) arranged near said display device. Figure 1 15 1/2 -U / **------------- ----------------- --------------- D- eyN // -N1\b/

Description

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The present invention relates to a public transport vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle is a rail vehicle, and more particularly an urban rail vehicle such as a tram. A public transport vehicle includes a passenger zone designed to receive passengers, defined by walls, in particular side walls and a roof. In order for the passengers present in the passenger zone to be able to appreciate an urban landscape, transport vehicles, in particular buses, are already known in the state of the art that are equipped with a so-called "panoramic" roof, i.e., a transparent roof through which passengers can see the landscape beyond the vehicle. Also known are transport vehicles including an opening or open roof, for a same effect. However, such a panoramic roof is not suitable for an urban rail vehicle. Indeed, an urban rail vehicle generally includes various pieces of electronic equipment, in particular comprising pantographs, arranged on the roof of said vehicle. These pieces of electronic equipment do not make it possible to arrange a sufficient opening to allow passengers to observe the landscape of the vehicle. Embodiments of the invention provide a public transport vehicle, in particular a rail vehicle, allowing passengers to observe the urban landscape, in particular above the vehicle. In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a public transport vehicle, including at least one passenger zone designed to receive passengers, defined by walls comprising side walls and a roof, each wall having an inner surface facing toward the passenger zone, and an outer surface facing toward the outside of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a display system including: - a plurality of display devices housed in the passenger zone, each display device being arranged on the inner surface of one of the walls, - a plurality of image capture devices, each arranged on the outer surface of one of the walls, and oriented to capture the images of an environment in which the vehicle is moving, each of the image capture devices being arranged behind a corresponding display device, and - connecting and processing means, between the image capture devices and the display devices, such that each display device is able to display images captured by the corresponding image capture devices arranged behind said display device. Also disclosed is a display system for a public transport vehicle, in particular a rail vehicle, of the type including a passenger zone designed to receive passengers, defined by walls, in particular side walls and a roof, each having an inner surface facing toward the passenger zone, and an outer surface facing toward the outside of the vehicle, characterized in that the display system includes: - at least one image capture device, including means for fastening on the outer surface of one of the walls, designed to capture the images of an environment in which the vehicle is moving, - at least one display device designed to be housed in the passenger zone, each display device including means for fastening on the inner surface of one of the walls, and - connecting and processing means, between the at least one image capture device and the at least one display device, such that each display device is able to display images captured by at least one of the image capture devices arranged near said display device. Also disclosed is a public transport vehicle, in particular a rail vehicle, including at least one passenger zone designed to receive passengers, defined by walls, comprising side walls and a roof, each having an inner surface facing toward the passenger zone, and an outer surface facing toward the outside of the vehicle, characterized in that the vehicle includes a display system, comprising: - at least one image capture device, arranged on the outer surface of one of the walls, oriented to capture the images of an environment in which the vehicle is traveling, - at least one display device housed in the passenger zone, arranged on the inner surface of one of the walls, and - connecting and processing means, between the at least one image capture device and the at least one display device, such that each display device is able to display images captured by at least one of the image capture devices arranged near said display device. Each display device is fastened to a wall, and displays the images captured by the capture device located nearby, on the other side of that wall. For example, the display device is fastened on an inner face of the roof the vehicle, and the sensor device on an outer face of said roof. By retranscribing the captured images in real-time on the display device, the passengers indirectly observe the landscape through this wall, in particular this roof. This invention is particularly adapted to an urban rail vehicle, in particular a tram, since it allows passengers to observe the landscape above the vehicle despite the presence of electronic equipment on the roof. However, the invention can also be applied to any other type of public transport vehicle.

Furthermore, the display device is advantageously arranged on a roof of the vehicle, but it could alternatively be arranged on any other wall defining the passenger zone. A vehicle according to the invention can further comprise one or more of the following features, considered alone or in any technically possible combinations. - Each display device includes a faceplate having a display surface facing toward the passenger zone, at least one of the image capture devices being arranged behind the faceplate, the connecting and processing means connecting this image capture device with this faceplate such that the images displayed by this faceplate are images captured behind this faceplate. - The display system includes a plurality of display devices, the faceplates of which are aligned to cover part or all of the inner surface of the corresponding wall. - At least two adjacent faceplates are alongside one another in a coplanar manner, such that these adjacent faceplates together have a continuous or quasi-continuous shared display surface. - The display system includes a plurality of image capture devices, aligned on an outer surface of the corresponding wall, each having a field of view, arranged such that the fields of view of the image capture devices of each pair of two adjacent image capture devices have a shared zone. - The connecting and processing means include means for compiling images captured by the plurality of image capture devices, able to compile the images captured by the image capture devices in a collective image, in which the images captured by two adjacent image capture devices are aligned with an overlap corresponding to the shared zone of their fields of view. - The connecting and processing means include means for separating the collective image, able to separate the collective image into a plurality of sub-images, each displayed by a respective one of the display devices. - At least one of the image capture devices is arranged on the outer surface of the roof defining the passenger zone, this image capture device facing upward. - Each display device can display information images and/or decorative images, by superposition on the captured images, or alternating with these captured images. The invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: - figure 1 is a partial top view of a public transport vehicle according to one example embodiment of the invention; - figure 2 is a partial profile view of the vehicle of figure 1;

- figure 3 is a partial diagrammatic view of the inner surface of a roof of the vehicle of figure 1. Figure 1 partially shows a public transport vehicle, in particular a tram 10. The transport vehicle 10 includes at least one driving cabin 12 of a traditional type, assembled with at least one traditional structural body 15. More particularly, the transport vehicle 10 includes a plurality of structural bodies 15 aligned in the longitudinal direction X between two driving cabins 12 (only one of which is shown). Each body 15 is separated from at least one adjacent body by a traditional inter-circulation device 16. Each body 15 includes walls, in particular side walls 18 and a roof 20. The walls 18, 20 of each body 15 define a respective passenger zone 14 between them, designed to receive passengers. Each of these walls 18, 20 has an inner surface facing toward the passenger zone 14 and an outer surface facing toward the outside of the vehicle 10. More particularly, the inner surface of the roof 20 is designated by reference 20A, shown in figure 3, and the outer surface of the roof 20 is designated by reference 20B, shown in figure 1. The vehicle 10 according to an embodiment of the invention includes a display system 22, comprising at least one display device 24 housed in at least one of the passenger zones 14, preferably in each passenger zone 14. Each display device 24 includes a faceplate 26 having a display surface 28. Each faceplate 26 is arranged on the inner surface of a wall 18, 20, its display surface 28 facing toward the corresponding passenger zone 14. In the described example, the faceplates 26 are arranged on the inner surface 20A of the roof 20 of each body 15, as shown in figure 3. More particularly, the display system 22 includes, for each passenger zone 14, a plurality of display devices 24 whereof the faceplates 26 are aligned along the longitudinal direction X, overlapping some or all of the inner surface 20A of the corresponding roof 20. Preferably, the faceplates 26 are aligned to cover the entire inner surface 20A of the roof 20 of each body 15. The faceplates 26 of two adjacent bodies 15 are therefore separated by an upper part of the inter-circulation device 16 inserted between these bodies 15. This upper part of the inter-circulation device 16 can include a display device, or alternatively have no display device. Advantageously, as shown in figure 3, a plurality of adjacent faceplates 26 are alongside one another in a coplanar manner, such that these adjacent faceplates 26 together have a continuous or quasi-continuous shared display surface. "Quasi- continuous" means that the two faceplates 26 are separated by a very small space, in particular smaller than 10 mm. The display system 22 further includes at least one image capture device 30, arranged on the outer surface of one of the walls 18, 20. More particularly, the display system 22 includes a capture device 30 for each display device 24, arranged near this display device 24. Thus, each capture device 30 is arranged on the outer surface of one of the walls 18, 20 bearing a display device connected to it on its inner surface. In the described example, at least one image capture device 30 is arranged on the outer surface 20B of the roof 20, and oriented to capture the images of an environment in which the transport vehicle 10 is traveling. More particularly, each image capture device 30 is advantageously pointed upward. Each display device 24 is connected to at least one of these image capture devices 30 by connecting and computer processing means (not shown), such that each display device 24 is able to display images captured by at least one of the image capture devices 30 arranged near this display device 24. Advantageously, each image capture device 30 is arranged behind a corresponding faceplate 26, such that the images displayed by this faceplate 26 are images captured behind this faceplate 26. According to the described embodiment, the display system 22 includes a plurality of image capture devices 30, aligned along the longitudinal direction X on the outer surface20B ofthe roof20. Each of these image capture devices 30 has a field of view 32, shown in figure 1 by a circle centered on this image capture device 30, and in figure 2 by a cone also centered on this image capture device 30. It should be noted that the image capture devices 30 are arranged such that each pair of two adjacent image capture devices 30 have their fields of view 32 intersecting one another, thus having a shared zone 34. Thus, the images captured by two adjacent image capture devices 30 have identical parts, corresponding to the shared zone 34 of their fields of view 32. Said connecting and processing means include means for compiling images captured by the plurality of image capture devices 30, able to compile the images captured by these image capture devices 30 in a collective image. This collective image is formed by the images captured by the image capture devices 30, aligned overlapping the identical image parts.

In the collective image, these images captured by two adjacent image capture devices are therefore aligned with an overlap of their identical parts corresponding to their shared zone 34. One thus obtains a continuous collective image in each passenger zone 14. The connecting and processing means also include means for separating the collective image, able to separate this collective image into a plurality of sub-images, each being displayed by a respective one of the display devices 24. This makes it possible to retrieve the collective image over all of the display devices 24, this collective image being retrieved continuously. Each display device 24 and each capture device 30 preferably has a high resolution. Thus, the images retrieved on the display devices 24 are substantially of as good quality as if the passengers were observing the landscape through a panoramic roof of the state of the art. Furthermore, the connecting and processing means allow a retrieval of the images in real-time, such that the images retrieved on the display devices 24 correspond in real time to the landscape of the environment in which the vehicle 10 is traveling. Advantageously, each display device 24 is able to display information images and/or decorative images, in particular by superposition with the retrieved collective image, or alternating with said collective image. This makes it possible to add information, in particular relative to the visible landscape, on the retrieved collective image, to display advertisements, or to display any other decorative element. These information and/or decorative images are for example displayed by the display device 24 replacing the collective image when the vehicle 10 enters a tunnel, or when this is desired by an operator. Alternatively, the display system 22 comprises means for detecting environmental conditions, able to automatically display information images and/or decorative images to replace the collective image, based on detected environmental condition parameters. Advantageously, the means for detecting environmental conditions comprise outside brightness sensors, and are able to automatically display information images and/or decorative images, when the detected outside brightness is below a predetermined threshold. Advantageously, the means for detecting environmental conditions comprise rain and/or snow sensors, and are able to automatically display information images and/or decorative images when the quantity of rain and/or snow detected outside is above a predetermined threshold.

Thus, these environmental detection means make it possible to avoid displaying low-quality landscape images when the environmental conditions are poor. Advantageously, each image capture device 30 includes a nighttime image capture mode, for example an infrared mode. Thus, the display devices 24 are able to display a depiction of the landscape, even at night. The invention is not limited to the embodiment previously described, but could assume various alternatives. For example, while the side walls 18 of the rail vehicle typically include windows, at least some of these windows could be replaced by display devices 24 as previously described. These display devices 24 are then connected to image capture devices as previously described. This is in particular of interest to allow the display of information images and/or decorative images by superposition on the captured images, as previously indicated, which is not possible for traditional windows. Lastly, it should be noted that although the invention is particularly suitable for a rail vehicle, it may be adapted to any other public transport vehicle, in particular buses or coaches. Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavor to which this specification relates. While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not by way of limitation. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A public transport vehicle, including at least one passenger zone designed to receive passengers, defined by walls comprising side walls and a roof, each wall having an inner surface facing toward the passenger zone, and an outer surface facing toward the outside of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes a display system including: - a plurality of display devices housed in the passenger zone, each display device being arranged on the inner surface of one of the walls, - a plurality of image capture devices, each arranged on the outer surface of one of the walls, and oriented to capture the images of an environment in which the vehicle is moving, each of the image capture devices being arranged behind a corresponding display device, and - connecting and processing means, between the image capture devices and the display devices, such that each display device is able to display images captured by the corresponding image capture devices arranged behind said display device.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each display device includes a faceplate having a display surface facing toward the passenger zone, at least one of the image capture devices being arranged behind the faceplate, the connecting and processing means connecting this image capture device with this faceplate such that the images displayed by this faceplate are images captured behind this faceplate.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the faceplates of the display devices are aligned to cover part or all of the inner surface of the corresponding wall.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein at least two adjacent faceplates are alongside one another in a coplanar manner, such that these adjacent faceplates together have a continuous or quasi-continuous shared display surface.

5. The vehicle according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the plurality of image capture devices are aligned on an outer surface of the corresponding wall, each image capture device having a field of view, the image capture devices being arranged such that the fields of view of the image capture devices of each pair of two adjacent image capture devices have a shared zone.

6. The vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the connecting and processing means include means for compiling images captured by the plurality of image capture devices, able to compile the images captured by the image capture devices in a collective image, in which the images captured by two adjacent image capture devices are aligned with an overlap corresponding to the shared zone of their fields of view.

7. The vehicle according to claim 6 combined with claim 3, wherein the connecting and processing means include means for separating the collective image, able to separate the collective image into a plurality of sub-images, each displayed by a respective one of the display devices.

8. The vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the image capture devices is arranged on the outer surface of the roof defining the passenger zone, this image capture device facing upward.

9. The vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each display device can display information images and/or decorative images, by superposition on the captured images, or alternating with these captured images.