Patent Publication Number: US-2013242104-A1

Title: Traffic monitoring system and method for monitoring roadway condition

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The disclosure generally relates to a traffic monitoring system and a method for monitoring roadway conditions. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Nowadays, due to an increasing of cars, traffic jams are happened frequently, especially in a commuter time. However, before starting off, a driver can not obtain an instant roadway condition of roads. If the road the driver selected is in traffic jam, the driver will spend a lot of time to get to a destination. 
     What is needed, therefore, is a traffic monitoring system and a method for monitoring a roadway condition which can overcome the described limitations. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a traffic monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view showing an operation environment of the traffic monitoring system in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , a roadway monitoring system  100  in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure is shown. The roadway monitoring system  100  includes a plurality of monitoring regions  110 , a plurality of cameras  120  positioned at the monitoring regions  110 , a monitor center  130  and a plurality of portable electronic devices  140 . 
     The monitoring regions  110  can be any locations in the roadway, such as traffic lights, school zones, hospital zones, intersection, locations with high traffic accidents or locations with frequent traffic violations. 
     The cameras  120  are positioned at each of the monitoring regions  110  to obtain instant images of the monitoring regions  110 . The images obtained by the cameras  120  are transmitted to the monitor center  130  by a wireless network. The wireless network can be selected from one of the 3G (The Third Generation), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). In this embodiment, each camera  120  is positioned at a lamp pole of a street lamp  150 . Preferably, the camera  120  can be rotated, zooming in or zooming out to get a better image of the monitoring region  110 . 
     The monitor center  130  receives the images of the monitoring regions  110  obtained by the cameras  120 , and determines a roadway condition in each of the monitoring regions  111 . For example, according to the images of the monitoring regions  110 , the monitor center  130  can determine whether there is a traffic jam in the road, and how serious the traffic jam is. If the cars in the road are almost stopped, there may be a serious traffic jam. If the cars in the road are moving slowly, there may be a medium traffic jam. If the cars in the road are moving in a normal speed, there may be no traffic jam happened. The monitor center  130  can include a map database. If a traffic jam happens in any of the monitoring regions  110 , the monitor center  130  can generate a label in the map to indicate the happening of the traffic jam, therefore reminding the driver to select a better route to bypass the monitoring region  110  with traffic jam. Generally, speed of a car can be calculated in following steps. Firstly, a first image of the car is captured in a first time t 1 , wherein the car is in a first position. Secondly, a second image of the car is captured in a second time t 2 , wherein the car is in a second position. Compared the first image with the second image, and determined a distance D 1  between the first position and the second position. Then, the speed V of the car can be determined by following expression: V=D 1 /(t 2 −t 1 ). In an alternative embodiment, the information of how serious the traffic jam is can also be determined by a distance between two adjacent cars or a time interval of two adjacent cars passing trough the monitoring region  110 . 
     Preferably, if a traffic accident is happened in any one of the monitoring regions  110 , the cameras  120  can also capture images of the traffic accident and transmit the images to the monitor center  130 . The monitor center  130  receives the images of the traffic accident and generates a warning to a person in charge, such as a policeman. In addition, the monitor center  130  can further label the information about the traffic accident in the map, and remind the drivers there is a traffic accident in that monitoring regions  110  and a traffic jam may happen in that position. So that the drivers can select another route to get to their destination. 
     The portable electronic devices  140  are taken by the drivers. With the portable electronic devices  140 , the drivers can receive information about traffic jams or traffic accidents in the monitoring regions  110 . Preferably, drivers can download the map with labels about the traffic jam or the traffic accident. According to indication of the map, the drivers can run avoiding regions with traffic jams or traffic accidents. In addition, without the cars going, the traffic jams in the monitoring region  110  can be mitigated. The portable electronic device  140  can be selected from a group consisting of mobile phones, PDA, and tablet computer. The portable electronic device  140  can further include an image capturing device. Therefore, when a traffic jam or a traffic accident happens in the roadside, the divers can also capture images of the traffic jam or the traffic accident, and upload the images to the monitor center  130 . It means that even in the regions without the cameras  120 , the information of traffic jams or traffic accident can be transmitted to the monitor center  130  immediately. Preferably, the drivers can input a starting location and a destination into the portable electronic device  140 . The portable electronic device  140  will transmit the starting location and the destination to the monitor center  130 . According to the traffic information, the monitor center  130  can determine one or more suitable routes and transmits the suitable routes back to the portable electronic device  140 . 
     A method for monitoring a roadway condition is also provided. The method comprises following steps. 
     A plurality of cameras  120  is set at a plurality of monitoring region  110 . The cameras  120  are configured to obtain images of the monitoring region  110 . 
     A monitor center  130  is then provided. The monitor center  130  receives the images of the monitoring regions  110  and determines a traffic information in the monitoring regions  110  according to the images. 
     A portable electronic device  140  is provided. The portable electronic device  140  is communicated with the monitor center  130  and receives the traffic information from the monitor center  130 . 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.