Patent Publication Number: US-2023146823-A1

Title: Laser ranging and speed measurement device incorporating on-board data storage with gps, compass, excessive panning detection and voice recognition technology

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
     The present invention is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. Application Serial No. 16/688,633 filed on Nov. 19, 2019 for “Handheld Laser-Based Vehicle Speed Measurement Device Incorporating an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Function” which is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Pat. Application Serial No. 62/769,803 filed Nov. 20, 2018. The present application is also related to U.S. Pat. Application Serial No. 15/473,307 filed on Mar. 29, 2017, for “Camera Module and Folded Optical System for Laser-Based Speed Gun,” now U.S. Pat. 10,146,103 issued Dec. 4, 2018, and which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62/316,319 filed on Mar. 31, 2016. The full disclosures of each of the foregoing patents and patent applications are hereby incorporated by this reference in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates, in general, to the field of handheld laser-based ranging and vehicle speed measurement devices and speed guns. More particularly, the present invention relates to a handheld laser-based ranging and vehicle speed measurement device incorporating on-board data storage with a Global Positioning System (“GPS”), compass, excessive panning detection, and voice recognition technology. The device also records minimum and maximum speeds of a plurality of vehicles along a roadway and performs the calculation of 85 th  percentile speed. 
     The word “laser” stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.” The type of laser device utilized in Laser Technology, Inc. (“LTI”) products can be an infrared, semiconductor, gallium arsenide (“GaAs”) laser diode. The generated light energy can have a wavelength of approximately  905  nanometers, with a beam divergence of 3.0 milliradians which can equate to a beam width of roughly 0.3 meters at 100 meters or approximately 3 feet at a distance of 1000 feet. This can be used by police officers to visually identify a speeding vehicle, pinpoint its exact location on the roadway, and then validate its precise speed. 
     In operation, such products calculate distance by measuring the time of flight of very short pulses of infrared light. This differs from the traditional surveying instrument method of measuring phase shifts by comparing the incoming wavelength with the phase of the outgoing light. 
     Any solid object (e.g. a vehicle) will reflect back a certain percentage of the emitted light energy. This only needs to be a small percentage for a sensitive photodiode detector to pick it up. The time it takes a laser pulse to travel to the target and back is then measured with a precision, crystal-controlled time base. With knowledge of the constant speed of light, the distance traveled is first calculated and then the speed of the object can be calculated using the changing distances over time. 
     For increased accuracy, LTI speed and distance measuring devices can process as many as sixty pulses in a single measurement period with target acquisition times ranging from 0.3 to 0.7 seconds. Sophisticated accuracy validation algorithms can be utilized to ensure a reliable reading. Such laser-based devices are completely eye safe, meeting FDA Class 1 specifications. The radiated light power of the lasers utilized can be on the order of 50 microwatts, or approximately one twentieth the light power of a typical TV remote control. 
     Also related to vehicle speed measurement is the establishment of road and highway speed limits as set by various jurisdictions. The traffic engineering industry standard utilized in setting the regulatory speed limit for a roadway generally uses the “85th percentile speed.” The 85th percentile speed is usually defined as, “the speed at or below which 85 percent of all vehicles are observed to travel under free-flowing conditions past a monitored point.” Stated another way, this is the speed at which only 15% of traffic would violate this speed on average. Traffic engineers use the 85th percentile speed as a standard to set the speed limit at a safe speed which results in minimizing crashes and promoting uniform traffic flow along a corridor. See, for example, Technical Resources, “Setting Speed Limits” of the Institute of Transportation Engineers at www.ITE.org. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Disclosed herein is a laser-based speed gun with extremely fast target acquisition and an integrated ultra-bright 2X magnified heads-up display (HUD). A speed gun in accordance with the present invention may further include a built-in global positioning system (GPS), an intuitive button and display interface, and enhanced communication capability utilizing Bluetooth Dual Mode. The speed gun disclosed herein can utilize a strong and light weight magnesium chassis with an aluminum rubber armored outer housing providing 100% water ingress protection (IP67 waterproof construction). The speed gun disclosed herein can incorporate a collapsible shoulder rest integrated into the speed gun handle. The memory of the speed gun can provide a recall mode with  500  or more measurements and statistics together with a fixed distance, zero velocity confidence test. 
     In particular embodiments of the present invention, the laser-base speed gun can provide a maximum range in a Speed Mode of operation of at least 3,408 meters or 10,000 feet. In a Survey Mode of operation, the speed gun can provide a minimum range of 0 meters or 0 feet and in Speed Mode, 15.0 meters or 50 feet. In operation the speed gun can be capable of measuring vehicle or target object speed of 0-320 kilometers per hour or 0-200 miles per hour with a speed accuracy of -/+ 2 kph or -/+ 1 mph. 
     A speed gun in accordance with the present invention may incorporate an RS-232, 6 pin connector communications port and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) input/output (I/O) capability. The speed gun may further provide a 5.0 volt Universal Serial Bus (USB) external output with a 6 button user input. The speed gun may be powered by 4 AA alkaline or rechargeable batteries or an external power source such as a main voltage or automobile charger with a standard cigarette plug connector. 
     The speed gun of the present invention may comprise an extruded aluminum outer shell with an aluminum internal chassis with an approximately 4.0 pound weight. The display of the speed gun may incorporate the assignees’ proprietary backlighting technique disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,964,805, the disclosure of which is herein specifically incorporated by this reference. The display may also include a reticle which can represent the laser beam size at differing distances. The GPS function of the laser speed gun may be 22 tracking and 66 acquisition. 
     Particularly disclosed herein is a laser-based speed gun which comprises a processor and laser signal transmitting and receiving sections coupled to the processor for determining a speed of a target vehicle based on changes in distance between the target vehicle and the speed gun over time. The speed gun further comprises a rate gyro coupled to the processor to determine an angular velocity of the speed gun during operation and to indicate if the angular velocity exceeds a determined threshold velocity wherein an indicated speed of the target vehicle is possibly invalid. 
     On-board data storage can be provided in conjunction with the processor for recording data indicative of the target vehicle speed. The on-board storage can also record a plurality of vehicle speeds along a roadway to establish a spread of vehicle speeds from among the plurality of vehicle speeds. The speed gun can further comprise a GPS system coupled to the processor, with the GPS system operative to synchronize a clocking input to the processor in measuring the changes in distance between the target vehicle and the speed gun over time. 
     The speed gun can further comprise a magnetic sensor coupled to the processor. The magnetic sensor can provide an indication of a magnetic direction in which the speed gun is oriented when recording the target vehicle speed. 
     Also further disclosed herein is an electronic device having a user holdable handle, with the device comprising an articulating shoulder rest disposed within the handle. The handle of the device can comprise a cover for at least a portion of the shoulder rest, with the cover being displaceable from the handle to enable the shoulder rest to be pivotably deployed from the handle from a first stowed position to a second extended position. 
     The speed gun can further comprise on-board data storage for recording data indicative of the target vehicle speed and a microphone. A speech recognition system can be coupled to the microphone and the processor, with the speech recognition system operative to add oral notations in analog or text format from an operator of the speed gun in conjunction with the speed of the target vehicle in the on-board data storage. The speech recognition function disclosed herein can further be applicable to a laser-based ranging instrument not implemented to determining the speed of an object. 
     The speed gun can further comprise on-board data storage for recording data indicative of a given target vehicle speed as well as the recordation of general traffic speeds of multiple vehicles on a given roadway. This can include, for example, minimum vehicle speed, maximum vehicle speed, and statistics enabling the computation of 85 th  percentile speed and the like. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The aforementioned and other features and objects of the present invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG.  1 A  is a front elevational view of a representative speed gun in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG.  1 B  is a left side elevational view of the representative speed gun of the preceding figure; 
         FIG.  1 C  is a left front isometric view of the representative speed gun of  FIGS.  1 A and  1 B ; 
         FIG.  1 D  is a left rear isometric view of the representative speed gun of  FIGS.  1 A through  1 C  and further illustrating components of an integral shoulder rest incorporated within the handle of the speed gun; 
         FIG.  1 E  is a further left rear isometric view of the representative speed gun of the preceding figures illustrating additional components of the integral shoulder rest cover and shoulder rest as they are in a position extending outward from the handle of the speed gun; 
         FIG.  1 F  is an additional left rear isometric view of the representative speed gun of the preceding figures illustrating the integral shoulder rest as it is extended fully outward of the handle of the speed gun with the shoulder rest cover once again aligned with the handle; 
         FIGS.  2 A and  2 B  are representative functional block diagrams of the laser-based speed gun of the preceding figures in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and 
         FIGS.  2 C and  2 D  are additional representative functional block diagrams of the speech recognition and voice command features of the laser-based speed gun of the preceding figures. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF A REPRESENTATIVE EMBODIMENT 
     With reference now to  FIG.  1 A , a front elevational view of a representative laser-based speed gun  100  is shown in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The laser-based speed gun  100  comprises a housing  102  and associated handle  104  for handheld operation. A trigger  106  can be provided to initiate the transmission and reception of laser pulses toward a moving object, such as a target vehicle. The speed gun  100  can incorporate a laser pulse emission aperture  108  and a reflected laser pulse reception aperture  110 .  FIGS.  1 B and  1 C  depict a left side elevation view and front isometric view of the speed gun  100  of  FIG.  1 A . 
     With reference now to  FIG.  1 D , a left rear isometric view of the speed gun  100  is shown further illustrating user viewable and actuatable components, and more detail as to the shoulder rest integrated within the speed gun  100  handle  104 . The speed gun  100 , as illustrated, can include a sighting port  112  which can allow a user to view a potential target vehicle through an optical pathway in conjunction with the laser pulse emission aperture  108 . The speed gun  100  can further include a user viewable display  114  and user input and user actuatable activation and mode selection elements  116 . 
     The representative speed gun  100  can further incorporate an integral shoulder rest recessed within the handle  104  which can be deployable by means of a release mechanism  118 . The integral shoulder rest can include the distal end  120  of the handle  104  as protected by an articulated cover  122  when in the stowed position. 
     With reference now to  FIG.  1 E , a further left rear isometric view of the speed gun  100  is illustrated depicting additional components of the integral articulated shoulder rest cover  122  and shoulder rest as they are in a position extending outward from the handle  104  of the speed gun  100 . 
     When the release mechanism  118  is activated, the articulated shoulder rest cover  122  may be moved in an upward direction to allow the distal end  120  to be moved from the base of the handle  104  extending a first arm  124  which pivots from the base of the handle  104  along with a concentrically mounted and pivoting second arm  126  to which the distal end  120  is secured. The first and second arms  124  and  126  along with the distal end  120  comprise a shoulder rest  130  which can be deployable and stowable by users of the speed gun  100 . 
     With reference now to  FIG.  1 F , an additional left rear isometric view of the representative speed gun  100  is illustrated depicting the integral shoulder rest  130  as it is extended fully outward of the handle  104  of the speed gun  100  with the articulated shoulder rest cover  122  once again aligned with the handle  104 . 
     Additional features of the representative laser-based speed gun  100  may also be implemented in accordance with the disclosure of commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 10,146,103 issued Dec. 4, 2018 for “Camera Module and Folded Optical System for Laser-Based Speed Gun”, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated by this reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein. 
     With reference now to  FIG.  2 A , a representative functional block diagram of the laser-based speed gun  100  in accordance with the principles of the present invention is shown. 
     The exemplary speed gun  100  comprises a microprocessor  202  or central processing unit (CPU) and can further include an associated oscillator  204  for providing clocking signals to the microprocessor  202 . A battery and power management section  206  can supply operating power to the microprocessor  202  and various other speed gun  100  subsystems. The high voltage (HV) power supply  208  can provide operating voltage to a laser transmit section  210  and associated laser diode as well as a laser receive section  212  and associated photodiode. 
     The laser receive section  212  can receive a portion of the laser energy transmitted by the laser transmit section  210  as reflected by a target vehicle to a photodiode and can provide the return signals to a signal/noise (S/N) discriminator section  214  in order to separate true return pulses from any associated noise. A timing section  216  can accurately measure the time between the transmission of laser pulses from the laser transmit section  210  and the reception of the same reflected pulses at the laser receive section  212 . This can determine, in conjunction with the microprocessor  202 , the varying distance and resultant speed of the particular target vehicle towards which the speed gun  100  is aimed. 
     A fire button  222  as actuated by the trigger  106  can be coupled to the battery and power management section  206  and can be operable by a user of the speed gun  100  in conjunction with the microprocessor  202  to determine when to emit pulses toward a target vehicle from the laser transmit section  210 . 
     The speed gun  100  may also incorporate a user viewable in-sight display  218  implemented in conjunction with a backlighting technique. In this regard, the in-sight display  218  may be configured to provide the user with a view of the target vehicle in conjunction with an aiming reticle as well as information regarding the range to the target vehicle, the speed of the target vehicle, battery conditions, and other information. In certain embodiments, the speed gun  100  may also comprise a touchscreen display to allow the user to provide inputs to the speed gun  100  in conjunction with, or as an alternative to, an input/output (I/O) section  220 . 
     The I/O section  220  may further comprise a keypad (e.g. selection elements  116  of  FIG.  1 B ) or other means of communicating information to or from the microprocessor  202 . This can include wired connections such as a universal serial bus (USB) and the like as well as wireless connections such as an IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), or other wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; a Bluetooth transceiver or other personal area network (PAN) system for wirelessly exchanging data over short distances; and/or another near field communication (NFC) transceiver (inclusive of infrared (IR) coupling) for wirelessly coupling the speed gun  100  to external devices or data storage elements. 
     As illustrated, the speed gun  100  may further include one or more additional input modules such as an inclinometer  224 , accelerometer  226 , magnetic sensor  228  (e.g. a compass), and/or rate gyro  230 . 
     As an exemplary utilization of a backlighting technique for LCDs and other display devices in electronic speed guns of the present invention, the speed gun  100  is illustrated as incorporating a backlight  232 . In a representative embodiment of the speed gun  100 , the backlight  232  may be provided in accordance with the specification and teachings of commonly owned U.S. Pat. 9,964,805 issued on May 8, 2018 for: “Backlighting Technique for Liquid Crystal and Other Displays in Electronic Speed Guns,” the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated by this reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein. As further illustrated, the speed gun  100  may comprise a reticle  234  interposed between the backlight  232  and the in-sight display  218  as is more fully described in the aforementioned ‘805 patent. 
     A global positioning satellite (GPS) module  236  may also form a portion of the speed gun  100  to provide information to the microprocessor  202  as to the specific geographic position of the speed gun  100 . In addition, the speed gun  100  may further include an NFC module  238  capable of enabling external bidirectional communication with the speed gun  100  via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the like in conjunction with a smartphone, tablet device, computer laptop, or any other appropriate external device. 
     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the speed gun  100  may further be configured to provide an augmented reality display to a user by the optional camera module  240  and view screen  242 . In this manner, by angularly scanning the speed gun  100  about a target vehicle, other features and objects in the surrounding scene can be displayed in the view screen  242 , on an in-sight display  218 , and/or on the screen of an associated smartphone, tablet device, or laptop to a user of the speed gun  100 . The determined distances to such additional features and objects can also be displayed to provide additional terrain context over and above the speed of, or distance to, the desired target vehicle. Such features and objects might be trees, highway overpasses, signs, buildings, and the like. The camera module  240  can then be operational to log the surrounding features and objects, and their distances determined by the laser-based speed gun  100 . 
     With reference now to  FIG.  2 B , an additional representative portion of the functional block diagram of the laser-based speed gun  100  of the preceding figure is shown illustrative of an embodiment of the present invention which may further include a vibro-motor  250  and one or more audio and/or visual indicators  252 . The vibro-motor  250  and one or more audio and/or visual indicators  252  can be used to provide physical, haptic, audible, and/or visible feedback to the user of the laser-based speed gun  100 . A laser-based speed gun  100  in accordance with the present invention may also include an ANPR function block  254 , a cellular telephony block  256 , a Wi-Fi block  258 , and/or a NFC or other communications medium to bidirectionally communicate data regarding a target vehicle’s speed, license plate number, and/or other information to and from a location and database remote from the laser-based speed gun  100 . The ANPR function block  254  may be operative in conjunction with the microprocessor  202  and the camera module  240  as disclosed in co-pending and commonly owned U.S. Pat. Application Serial No. 16/688,633. 
     Further illustrated are various sensors comprising environmental sensors  248  which provide inputs to a laser-based speed gun  100 . Such sensors may include those for sensing temperature, wind velocity, atmospheric pressure, humidity, rain, snow, other precipitation, and the like as such information may be useful in conjunction with a speed gun  100  in establishing the surrounding environmental conditions at a given time or when the speed of a target vehicle is recorded. 
     A system comprising the laser-based speed gun  100  may further include on-board volatile, non-volatile, read/write, and/or read only memory as database  260  of sufficient capacity for all functions resident in the laser-based speed gun  100  itself. In other embodiments of the present invention the database or portions thereof may be located remotely in communication with the laser-based speed gun  100 . The database  260  may, for example in an ANPR application, comprise number plates of particular interest to authorities which can then be matched to the number plate of a target vehicle as determined by the ANPR functionality. This information can be added to the database  260  or communicated to the operator of the laser-based speed gun  100  by haptic, aural, and/or visual means by the vibro-motor  250  and the aural visual indicator  252 . 
     With reference now to  FIGS.  2 C and  2 D , functional block diagrams of a possible implementation of a speech recognition system as may be employed in a laser-based ranging instrument or in the form of a speed gun  100  are shown. 
     As illustrated with reference to  FIG.  2 C  an exemplary speed gun  100  may include a microphone  270  for recording an officer’s voice notations in database  260  or responding to voice commands such as navigating the speed gun  100  program menus. The microphone is illustrated as providing input to a speech recognition  272  which can be coupled to the microprocessor  202  for communication with the database  260 . The microprocessor may also provide speech output to a speaker  274 , headphones, or other aural transducer. 
     With reference now to  FIG.  2 D , a more detailed functional block diagram of a speech recognition system  272  is illustrated for use in an exemplary implementation of a speed gun  100 . As shown, output from the microphone  270  can provide a speech input to a feature extraction block  280  which, in turn, can provide a sequence of feature vectors to a pattern classification unit  282 . The pattern classification unit  282  can also receive inputs from a lexicon block  284 , a language model block  286 , and an acoustic models block  288 . Output of the pattern classification unit  282  is then in the form of recognized words as illustrated. 
     In a representative embodiment of a laser speed gun  100  in accordance with the present invention, the speed gun  100  may include a microprocessor  202 , a GPS module  236 , a compass such as magnetic sensor  228 , and on-board data storage in the form of database  260 . In addition, a rate gyro  230  may also be employed to provide a speed gun panning indication to the microprocessor  202 . The output of the rate gyro  230  can be utilized to determine if the operator of the speed gun  100  is panning a target vehicle with an angular velocity that is too fast with respect to a determined panning speed to accurately provide an indication of a vehicle’s speed. This can be the case when the officer is on the side of a roadway on which such vehicles may be travelling. In this manner, possible erroneous speed indications can thereby be precluded before being stored in the database  260 . An audible, visual, or haptic indication of excessive panning speed may also be provided to the officer utilizing the speed gun  100  by means of the aural and/or visual indicator  252  or vibro-motor  250 . 
     In operation the magnetic sensor  228  can provide input to the microprocessor  202  to provide information that might be stored in the database  260  as to the direction or compass heading toward which the speed gun  100  is pointed such as with respect to approaching or receding traffic on a roadway. As an example, the speed gun  100  can then record in the database  260  the speed, distance, and heading of a target vehicle in addition to an identification of the particular speed gun  100  employed in recording this information. 
     The GPS module  236  may also be utilized to record the physical position of the speed gun  100  in the database  260  when speed measurements of target vehicles are recorded. Further, the GPS module  236  may also be utilized to provide real time synchronization to the on-board clock by the satellite thereby providing the speed gun  100  with an absolute self-correcting clock signal. In this manner each speed measurement recorded in the database  260  can be provided with an accurate date/time clock stamp which cannot be changed once entered. 
     As previously mentioned, the microphone  270  may be utilized by an officer to make oral notes (in analog or text format) in the database  260  with respect to each entry regarding a recorded speed. The microphone  270 , in conjunction with the speech recognition system  272 , may be utilized to provide verbal or written notations with respect to each entry regarding a recorded vehicle speed in the database in addition to enabling an officer to navigate the speed gun’s program menus orally instead of stepwise through manual inputs. 
     While there have been described above the principles of the present invention in conjunction with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that the foregoing description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention. Particularly, it is recognized that the teachings of the foregoing disclosure will suggest other modifications to those persons skilled in the relevant art. Such modifications may involve other features which are already known per se and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein. Although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations of features, it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure herein also includes any novel feature or any novel combination of features disclosed either explicitly or implicitly or any generalization or modification thereof which would be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art, whether or not such relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as confronted by the present invention. The applicants hereby reserve the right to formulate new claims to such features and/or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom. 
     As used herein, the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a recitation of certain elements does not necessarily include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly recited or inherent to such process, method, article or apparatus. None of the description in the present application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope and THE SCOPE OF THE PATENTED SUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE CLAIMS AS ALLOWED. Moreover, none of the appended claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 U.S.C. Sect.  112  unless the exact phrase “means for” is employed and is followed by a participle.