WO2018207199A1

WO2018207199A1 - Automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management

Info

Publication number: WO2018207199A1
Application number: PCT/IN2018/050011
Authority: WO
Inventors: Soothram Venkata RAMANA
Original assignee: Ramana Soothram Venkata
Priority date: 2017-05-06
Filing date: 2018-01-08
Publication date: 2018-11-15

Abstract

An automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management consists of a QR Code (Quick Response Code) or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology devices and its reader. The reader is embedded in ground near various signals where the vehicles generally halt or at places where speed or entry or otherwise of vehicles are required to be tracked. These QR Code or RFIDs are placed in vehicles making it possible to track them as and when they pass over the reader embedded on the ground. Similarly the QR Code (Quick Response Code) or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) devices are placed on licenses of the driver and accompanying persons travelling in the vehicle. When the vehicle passes over the reader it tracks the persons driving the vehicle, passengers accompanying them. These instruments provide an online tracking of vehicles, drivers and persons travelling in such vehicles.

Description

TITLE : AUTOMATIC VEHICLE & DRIVER TRACKING SYSTEM WITH INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

The following specification describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND USE OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to automatic tracking of vehicles and person driving the Vehicle ie the Driver and Intelligent Traffic Management system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The number of people dying due to vehicular accidents is increasing at an alarming rate across the world. More particularly in India the average annual deaths due to vehicle accidents is around 1.50 lakhs ie on an average 400 deaths per day. This figure when studied carefully raises eye brows and highlights the pathetic condition of traffic management and capabilities of drivers who are driving these vehicles.

The figure of 1.50 lakhs is of fatalities not to say about other accident where the person is either has broken limbs, injuries that do not endanger life or escapes with minor injuries or vehicles are damaged. Considering all these aspects the number of accidents per day itself will be around 1,000 per day.

According to estimates provided on Google search the number of vehicles plying in India is around 60 - 70 million ie 6 - 7 crores. This is a very huge number. Correspondingly there would be at least around 6 - 7 crores of persons who drive these vehicles ie the drivers. On a global front the number of estimated vehicles is 1.20 billion ie 120 crores. Correspondingly the number of drivers would also run around 120 crores. These numbers are staggering. Though various governments across the world including India have tough regulations for safe driving, still accidents are happening and people are dying.

As at present there are many techniques that are used for regulating the traffic, monitoring speed, observing the driver etc. But the degree of reliability, capability and monitoring is not cent percent. There are huge gaps between the intention of the law makers and the actual happenings at the ground level. More precisely if Indian scenario is discussed there are signals, speed limit indicators, lane protocol, regulation on highways etc., but the users seldom follow them. Most of the drivers are habitual offenders and they do not regret for having done the breaching. In important signal points at various cities traffic policemen are deployed. It is highly impossible for them to have a cent percent accuracy in catching or penalizing all the traffic offenders. Such policemen are deployed during peak hours say morning 8 am to night 8 pm. It is physically impossible for a policemen to keep eye on such flow of traffic throughout the day. He is subjected to lot of physical and mental stress. He has to stand day in and out during winter, rainy and summer season. In India summer season is a real test for any person. Nobody can expect good efficiency under such circumstances.

Traffic offenders are of various types ie driving at high speeds where limits are prescribed, jumping of signals, making wrong turns, overtaking in prohibited areas, driving in wrong lane, carrying excess persons than recommended etc. To track all such kinds of violations on a 24 X 7 for all 365 days in a year and across the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari & from Mumbai to Kolkata is an impossible task. The object of this invention is to tack all kinds of kinds of traffic violations ie driving at high speeds where limits are prescribed, jumping of signals, making wrong turns, overtaking in prohibited areas, driving in wrong lane, carrying excess persons than recommended etc., on a 24 X 7 for all 365 days in a year and across the country and penalize the offenders immediately.

At present it is very difficult to track the offender of traffic violation because the person driving the vehicle is normally different from the person who own the vehicle. In cases where the vehicle is owned by various legal entities like companies, partnership firms, association of persons, trusts etc., it is difficult to track who was the driver of the vehicle. Any person can replace the actual driving person in case of legal complications which normally happens in India. Only in cases where the driver of the vehicle is caught red handed he accepts that he violated the traffic norms otherwise such phenomenon is seldom observed.

Another object of the present invention is to overcome such difficulties. The driver of the vehicle will be caught automatically, he cannot escape the clutches of the law or manipulate law in his favour which normally happens in our country.

In the present system it is impossible to know that a person is driving a particular vehicle without license. Secondly it is impossible to know whether the license is valid or expired. Unless the traffic police physically stops the vehicle and examines the driver's license these facts are not known ie whether he is having license or not or whether the license is expired or not. Even if the traffic policeman stops the vehicle and questions the driver in some occasion there is temptation between both the parties to settle the matter by taking bribes instead of issuing ticket. It is another object of the present invention is to track such offenders on an automatic basis without the person's knowledge and deputing traffic policemen. There will be cent percent tracking of traffic offenders. Secondly since this an automatic system it will eliminate corruption also to the extent of cent percent.

One can just imagine the amount of reduction in traffic policemen who are presently deployed across the country at signals and monitoring the flow of vehicles. Consequently savings that the government can have by adopting to the proposed tracking system. Several thousands of crores of rupees can be easily saved.

It is another object of the present invention to create more awareness and alertness on the drivers who are driving the vehicles so that the number of accidents including fatal accidents are reduced to a bare minimum.

One can imagine the plight of the family who loses its members due to vehicle accidents. It is really pathetic and unimaginable.

The present invention can overcome such fatalities and save their families for facing such hardships.

Apart from this, vehicles are sometimes used by persons for committing crimes. Certain criminals steal vehicle, commit crime and dump the vehicle. The policeman normally come to know after the crime is committed and faces extreme difficulty in tracing the driver of such vehicles, and the persons or the accomplice of the driver. It is another object of the present invention to help a lot in tracking such offenders. The movement of the vehicle along with that of the driver and his accomplice is very easy to track. On most occasions the policeman can solve such matter within few hours.

At present there is no centralized online traffic offence recording or monitoring or penalizing or recovery of fines procedure. The present invention will take care of these issues simultaneously. One can have a online traffic offense recording & monitoring, penalizing and recovery of fines.

Presently for example every mobile user can get an alert message for bank deposit or withdrawal or ATM activity in a similar manner the present invention can be programmed in such a way that as soon as a traffic offence is committed an alert message can go to the driver as well as the owner of the vehicle on their registered mobile number. Such activity will change the method in which people are driving vehicles in the country and it will be beginning of safe driving in India.

In the present scenario in India there is no tracking of violations done by traffic offenders on an online basis. Say for example every time a person jumps signal he will be fined say Rs. 100/-., but if violates more than say 10 time he should be penalized more, but this does not happen. Moreover if the person changes state the traffic policeman in other state does not know how many times he violated traffic rules in earlier state and what type of offence he committed.

The Another object in the present invention is that there can be centralized data base where the entire history of offenses committed by the person will be maintained and can be penalized differently by grading his offenses. The present invention will relieve Government of India to a very great extent on traffic deaths & traffic related offenses in the country. In a similar way all other countries in the world will also benefit a lot due to the proposed invention. This will be boon to the entire mankind. Every human being irrespective of country, geography etc., can benefit due to this.

DESCRIPTION:

According to the present invention, the devise for tracking of vehicles consists QR Code (Quick Response Code) technology. The QR code will be fitted in each vehicle anywhere below the chassis near the front of the vehicle and its reader will be permanently embedded in the ground. As soon as the vehicle moves over the reader embedded in the ground the details of vehicle will be tracked. Such QR code and its reader is a simple technology that is easily available or can be designed as per specific requirements.

According to the present invention for driver tracking : By QR Code (Quick Response Code) or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology. The QR code or RFID will be fitted in the smart license holder of the driver. Its reader will be permanently embedded in the ground.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION :

Figure 1 illustrates an Automatic Vehicle Tracking System which contains:

a. Moving vehicles on road are depicted as A, B & C, this is just for an example. These vehicles could be of any type ie a small two wheeler, auto three wheeler, motor car, SUV, passenger busses of various sizes, trucks of various sizes, heavy duty vehicles, tractors or any other vehicle.

b. Line 'L' depicts the QR Code reader or RFID reader embedded in the ground. Any vehicle passing over this line will be read by the QR Code or RFID reader and this information passed on to a Centralized Processing Unit where such data will be stored and analyzed on a continuous basis ie 24 X 7 X 365 days.

All moving vehicles ie in the given diagram A, B and C will carry a QR Code or RFID chip below the chassis of such vehicle. This chip preferably, will be on the front side of the vehicle. In the diagram arrow marks represent vehicles and the QR Code or RFID is shown as a circle on each vehicle.

In the diagram two lines are depicted as Line L number 1 and Line L Number 2, it represents two sets of QR Code or RFID readers. The time taken by a vehicle for passing through two readers will determine the speed of the vehicle, density of vehicles on road and for other analysis.

Figure 2 illustrates an Automatic Driver Tracking System which contains : a. Line 'L' depicts the QR Code reader or RFID reader embedded in the ground. Normally every driver and other adult passenger travelling with him in car or on a motor cycle or buss or truck or tractor carries his license that will made of QR Code or of RFID. When any vehicle passes over it the QR Code or RFID reader will read the information of persons travelling in the vehicle including that of the driver. This information will be passed on to a Centralized Processing Unit where such data will be stored and analyzed on a continuous basis ie 24 X 7 X 365 days.

In moving vehicle there will be different persons who are denoted diagrammatically by A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H etc. These details are indicative in nature. Such persons as per law are normally required to carry licenses and it will contain their details in QR Code or RFID. Figure 3 illustrates an Intelligent Signaling System which contains :

Line 'A' at various intersections depicts the QR Code reader or RFID reader embedded in the ground. Any vehicle passing over this line will be read by the QR Code or RFID reader and this information passed on to a Centralized Processing Unit where such data will be stored and analyzed on a continuous basis ie 24 X 7 X 365 days.

On each lane of the road there will be at least two such Line 'A' containing QR Code reader or RFID reader embedded in the ground. These Lines will be separated at some suitable distance say 'X'. If 'T' is the time taken for each vehicle to cross these two lines that distance then speed of the vehicle 'S' will be calculated as S = X/T. If some vehicles are crossing the first Line and not reaching the second Line, it means there is traffic congestion and the signal timing can be suitably adjusted through the Centralized Processing Unit. c. Based on the data generated from operations as illustrated in Figure 1 & 2 it can generate host of information like

Vehicle jumping the signals

- Drivers who have violated the signals.

Vehicles / Drivers making wrong turnings and bypassing signals.

If stolen vehicles reach other cities that can be tracked easily.

Movement of unauthorized vehicles or criminal background drivers tracing.

Any other information as may be required by the law enforcing agency can be generated by the Centralized Processing Unit.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the embodiments just described merely illustrate the principles of present invention. Many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope.

Claims

I CLAIM: 1. The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management is a tracking system that can detect and track the vehicle and the driver on a 24 X 7 basis for all 365 days in a year. 2. The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that the person who breach signal will get penalized without any policeman's or any other person's intervention. This process will have following gains : a) Reduction in number of policeman or other persons manning signals. b) Reduction in salary and allowance paid for policing staff. c) Surplus personnel resulting in this activity can be used in

appropriate or other useful areas. d) The corruption due to manual intervention will get fully eliminated ie there will be 100% elimination of corruption either by the vehicle driver or the policeman.

Even in extreme weather conditions or night times or rainy times the vehicle drivers will become reluctant to breach signals. The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that Speed limit restrictions can be easily enforced on various routes. Persons breaching such limits can be fined automatically without any manual intervention.

The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that if persons are linked with their mobile numbers or email ids they will get immediate alerts or message on breaching of signals or speed limits.

The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that even in closed vehicles ie where persons are sitting in vehicles with their window glasses up and closed the following can be identified. a) Person actually driving the vehicle.

b) Persons sitting next to driver and other persons accompanying them.

The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that there is an easy identification of vehicle numbers consequently its owner, address etc.

The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that stolen vehicles using forged number plates can be easily identified. Car stealing will virtually reduce to zero. Even if some persons steals the vehicle, changes its number plates, applies new paints or changes parts and uses it, then also the vehicle can be tracked within few minutes. For example if a vehicle is stolen at New Delhi and later its number is changed, entire vehicle painted with new colour, tires are changed, some external appearance are changed and used in Chennai it can be tracked in few minutes. Note : This situation will not arise because the moment the owner complaints about loss of vehicle it can be located immediately when it moves on roads.

8. The automatic vehicle & driver tracking system with intelligent traffic management as mentioned in Claim 1 is such that notices of signal breaching can be sent immediately to the concerned vehicle owner as well as the person actually driving the vehicle to their postal addresses.

9. On many occasions it is seen that the vehicle driver deliberately takes a left turn and again a U turn towards right for camouflaging the red signal and getting into green signal area. Such practices will be easily detected and the vehicle driver can be penalized automatically without any manual intervention.

10. By analyzing the driving pattern of the driver and movement of vehicles between various signals assessment can be made about drunk driving and corrective steps can be taken immediately.

11. There is no need for expensive gadgets like cameras, wires, data & video recording procedures etc., that are traditionally used for tracking vehicle number. As at present in India only at handful places such arrangements are there because of its cost and operational factors. The suggested new system very simple and is multifunctional. It can handle number of operations in one go.

12. The new road safety arrangement is virtually invisible. It is very difficult to even locate its presence. 13. The new road safety arrangement is a vehicle history recorder. It is also a virtual history recorder of the license holder who operates vehicles. The entire history of license holder can be tracked like a) Number of signals breached.

b) Number of cases where he is involved in accidents.

c) Over speeding history.

d) Criminal record if any like vehicle thefts, number plates changing etc. The good part of this is that all these activities are automatic no manual intervention is required.

14. The new road safety arrangement operates with ease for different types of vehicles ie for scooter, auto rickshaw, motor car, SUVs, Mini trucks, Medium sized trucks, dumpers, JCBs, extra-long vehicles.

15. In case this new system is integrated with any bank account of the driver's license then the driver need not wait at the toll plaza for paying toll tax the desired amount can be automatically debited to driver's or any designated bank account.

16. Intelligent Signaling System : The ultrasonic sensors ie QR Code or RFID should be placed at least on two locations on each road with a gap of say around 100 meters. When a particular vehicle passes above these sensors it will record their length, number of vehicles passing above a particular area. Based on these parameters for each side of the signal online tracking of traffic is done at Signaling control room. The software will make online assessment of traffic movement on each side of the signal and based on this information the signal lighting will work. Due to dynamic in nature it will make correct assessment of traffic flow and reduce waiting period of vehicle to a considerable extent.

17. The device as claimed herein above, hereby described with reference to the accompanying drawings.