FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the monitoring of use of passenger vehicles. Particularly, it relates to means for monitoring the number of passengers conveyed in a vehicle, simultaneously with the distance, preferably also with the route and time of conveyance.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Like any other road vehicles, there is frequently a temptation for over-loading of passenger vehicles and where transportation costs are based on the number of passengers, there is a temptation to understate the number of passengers. These temptations are common between various commercial models for vehicle usage, e.g. taxi passengers who pay per distance, may be tempted by drivers to share their ride with too many passengers to save money. Taxi or bus operators who charge per passenger and per distance may be tempted to increase the number of passengers conveyed at any time, to increase profits. Also, whether vehicles are rented or driven by their owners, there may be a temptation to overload them, despite legislative or commercial limits on passenger numbers.

Over-loading of vehicles can present accident risks and under-stating passenger numbers can affect commercial enterprises where revenue is based on passenger numbers.

The present invention seeks to provide means for simultaneously monitoring passenger numbers and vehicle movement. These data are particularly useful for auditing purposes (i.e. to ensure that revenue collected correlates adequately with passenger numbers and movement), to ensure compliance with commercial and/or legal restrictions (e.g. for insurance companies or traffic authorities to ensure that maximum passenger numbers are not exceeded), and/or various other uses for this data. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for monitoring passenger vehicle usage, in a vehicle that is configured to convey passengers in a passenger area of said vehicle, said system comprising:

a tracker that is mountable on the vehicle and that is configured for tracking movement of the vehicle;

a camera that is mountable on, preferably inside the vehicle and is configured to capture digital images of at least part of the passenger area and to transmit the digital images as image data;

a processor that is configured to receive the image data and to process the image data to determine a number of passengers shown in said images to determine the number of passengers that occupy the passenger area; and

a transmitter that is mountable on the vehicle and is configured to transmit occupancy data, relating to the number of passengers in the vehicle, to a remote device.

The components of the system, i.e. the tracker, camera, processor and transmitter may be included in a unitary device, may be separate devices, may be connected to each other by conductors or wirelessly, may be grouped together in two or more devices, or the like.

The camera is a device for recording images and in this specification, the term “camera” is not limited to images of visible light, but refers to a device which uses emissions or reflections (of unlimited type) to record an image. A convention camera uses electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum (i.e. light), that is emitted or reflected, but in the context of this specification, the “camera” could use electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths (e.g. infrared) or may use other types of emissions or reflections (e.g. thermal imaging). In preferred embodiments, the camera uses visible light and/or infrared light.

The processor may be mountable on the vehicle and may be configured to communicate with the transmitter, so that the processor transmits data including the number of passengers to the transmitter and the occupancy data transmitted by the transmitter includes the number of passengers.

Alternatively, the transmitter may be configured to receive the image data from the camera and to transmit the image data to the processor as part of the occupancy data. In particular, the processor may be part of the remote device.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of monitoring passenger vehicle usage, said method comprising:

tracking movement of the vehicle;

capturing digital images of a passenger area of the vehicle that is configured to convey passengers, and transmitting said digital images as image data;

processing the image data to determine a number of passengers shown in said images to determine the number of passengers that occupy the passenger area;

transmitting occupancy data, relating to the number of passengers in the vehicle, to a remote device; and

collating the movement of the vehicle with the numbers of passengers in the vehicle over time, to compile vehicle usage data.

The method may include processing the image data on the vehicle to determine the number of passengers and to transmit the number of passengers to the remote device, as part of the occupancy data.

Alternatively, the method may include transmitting the image data to the remote device as part of the occupancy data and may include processing the image data in the remote device, to determine the number of passengers.

The movement of the vehicle and the number of passengers are preferably collated in real time, but may be recorded and collated later.

Tracking movement of the vehicle may include tracking at least distance travelled over time, but preferably also includes tracking vehicle speed and location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how it may be put into effect, the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows a schematic diagram of a system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawing, a system according to the present invention, is generally identified by reference number 10 and is shown for use on a single vehicle 12, although the system can be used in relation to any number of vehicles.

The vehicle 12 includes a passenger area 14 that is configured to convey passengers on passenger seats 16, although other vehicles’ passenger areas may also be configured to convey standing passengers. A driver seat 18 is also shown, but is outside the passenger area 14 in the illustrated embodiment of the invention. In other embodiments of the invention, the driver seat may be within the passenger area, but the occupant of the driver seat (i.e. the driver) is disregarded when determining the number of passengers, e.g. in minibus taxis there are typically two passenger seats next to the driver seat 18 and the passenger area 14 extends through the entire inside of the vehicle, including all passenger seats and the driver seat 18, although the driver is disregarded when determining passenger numbers.

The system 10 includes a camera 20 that is mounted in or on the vehicle 12 in a position that has a view of the passenger area 14. The position of the camera 20 shown in the drawing, is merely an example and in embodiments where the passenger area 14 extends also around the driver seat 18, the camera would need to be positioned to include the passenger seats next to the driver, in its view. The camera 20 is configured to capture digital images of the passenger area 14 and to transmit the digital images as image data. The camera 20 may capture images at any frequency and the images may be captured with any resolution, but a balance should be struck between the desired detail in the image data, and the volume of the image data that may be excessive if the resolution and/or frequency are too high.

In the illustrated embodiment, the camera 20 receives visible light and captures digital images based on the visible light it receives - which is emitted or reflected from objects and/or persons in the passenger area 14. However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the camera 20 can also operate in a“night” mode, in which it captures an image in response to receiving infrared light - which is not visible to the passengers. The infrared light is preferably emitted from a light source inside the vehicle, which illuminates the passenger area 14 with infrared radiation. In other embodiments of the invention, the camera 20 can operate using any image capturing mechanism and there may be more than one such camera in the vehicle 12.

In the illustrated embodiment, the system 10 also includes a processor 22 that is mounted on the vehicle 12 and is configured to receive the image data from the camera 20 and to process the image data to determine the number of passengers shown in the digital images to determine the number of passengers that occupy the passenger area 14 at the time the image was captured. The processor uses face and body detection techniques to identify passengers in each digital image and uses one or more of various techniques including: recognising only passenger bodies; recognising partially obscured passengers; detecting movement of passengers relative to movement of the vehicle, etc.

The system 10 also includes a transmitter 24 that is mounted on the vehicle 12 and is configured to transmit occupancy data 26 via a communication system such as a mobile communication network 28, or any other suitable communication system, to a remote device such as a smartphone, computer 30, or other communication device. In the illustrated embodiment, the number of passengers determined by the processor 22 is communicated from the processor to the transmitter 24 and is transmitted by the transmitter as the occupancy data 26, via the communication network 28. The system 10 further includes a tracker 32 that is mounted on the vehicle and is configured to track movement of the vehicle 12. The tracker 32 can operate in any one or more of various ways, e.g. it can communicate with satellites 34, with base stations of the mobile communication network 28, or the like. The movement of the vehicle 12 is tracked against time and vehicle movement data is created, which includes at least the distance travelled over time, but preferably the vehicle movement data also includes vehicle speed and location. The vehicle movement data is also communicated from the tracker 32 to the transmitter 24 and is transmitted to the computer 30 via the mobile communication network 28, although other means could be used instead for communicating the vehicle movement data to the computer, e.g. the vehicle movement data could be compiled in the mobile communication network 28 and transmitted to the computer, or could be compiled on the computer.

In the drawing, the camera 20, processor 22, transmitter 24 and tracker 32 are shown as separate devices and these devices can communicate with each other, e.g. data or signals can be transmitted between them via conductors or wirelessly, e.g. via Bluetooth or other communication means. However, in other embodiments of the invention, some or all of these components of the system 10 can be combined in a single unit or in two or more units.

In other embodiments of the invention, the image data from the camera 20 is communicated to the transmitter 24 and is transmitted as part of the occupancy data 26 to the computer 30. In such embodiments, the processor that processes the image data to determine the number of passengers that occupy the passenger area 14, is not mounted in the vehicle 12, but is in the computer 30.

In use, the computer 30 continuously (or at least intermittently) receives data including the number of passengers in the passenger area 14 and the movement of the vehicle 12 against time. These data are collated on the computer 30 to compile vehicle usage data, which can be used to monitor various parameters, such as determining whether or not the vehicle 12 was overloaded at any time, what revenue should have been generated from conveyance of the passengers, which times and/or routes are more profitable, and the like. In other embodiments of the invention, the collation of the number of passengers and the movement of the vehicle 12 against time can take place in the processor 24 and the occupancy data 26 can include this collated data, or the collated data can be stored in a suitable storage medium on the vehicle, for later retrieval.