Method for the driver of an unattended truck loading station to abort the loading operation without getting out of the vehicle

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to urgently abort the loading operation without getting out of the vehicle, including: collecting environmental noise; horn sampling; constructing a horn digital recognition model; detecting a suspected horn; duration judgment; frequency judgment; amplitude judgment; position judgment; and determining it as a horn. The present invention monitors the sound in the surrounding environment during the loading process, discriminates the sudden change of the sound with an increased amplitude based on factors such as duration, frequency, amplitude, and position to determine whether there is a horn for warning and requiring the interruption of the loading process, forming a complete horn alarm system. The present invention uses continuous horn blowing to warn the surrounding personnel in the most convenient and fast way and notify the control system of the loading station to automatically perform emergency avoidance. When sounding the horn, the driver does not need to open the door and get out of the vehicle, or even open the window, and can quickly stop the loading operation. This is particularly important for effectively avoiding personal injury in case of an accident during loading.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to emergently abort the loading operation without getting off the vehicle, which is a safety process method for transportation machinery and an emergency avoidance method for an unattended bulk material loading station. Background Art

[0002] During the process of vehicle entry and loading at an unattended vehicle loading station, if an emergency occurs and it is necessary to emergently abort the loading operation, such as the vehicle having a control obstacle, breaking down, or the carriage side plate being washed open by bulk materials due to not being properly closed. Since there are electromechanical devices installed in the loading workshop, and there is dust and spray filling the air, and in addition, material blocks may fall from a height during the loading operation, it is not allowed for the driver to get off the vehicle or lean out of the window during the loading process. If the emergency situation cannot be detected and the loading operation aborted in time by the loading station control system or the administrator, it will cause serious impacts on the enterprise's loading production. In case of an emergency, using the method of calling the dispatching administrator has problems such as too long communication line connection time or weak mobile signal, and it is difficult to ensure the purpose of quickly avoiding risks. How to enable the vehicle driver to timely intervene and abort the loading operation when an emergency occurs during the loading process is an urgent problem to be solved for the unattended vehicle loading station. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In order to overcome the problems of the prior art, the present invention proposes a method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to emergently abort the loading operation without getting off the vehicle. The proposed method provides a method for aborting the loading operation by sounding the horn. When a failure or danger occurs, the driver does not need to get off the vehicle or open the door, but only needs to long-press the horn, and the system automatically judges the validity of the horn sound and automatically makes a reaction to stop the loading operation.

[0004] The object of the present invention is achieved as follows: A method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to emergently abort the loading operation without getting off the vehicle. The emergency abort loading system used in the method includes: a pickup for collecting the on-site environmental noise and horn sound is installed at each of the front, rear, left, and right in the loading workshop. The pickup is connected to a sound analysis device with a database of various vehicle horn sound, and the sound analysis device is connected to the loading station host computer. The steps of the method are as follows:

[0005] Step 1, collect environmental noise: When the loading vehicle drives into the loading workshop and enters the sound judgment area, the loading station host computer starts the loading program and at the same time starts the emergency abort loading system. The emergency abort loading system picks up and samples the noise background in the loading workshop operation environment to obtain the frequency and amplitude range of the background noise; samples the on-site noise and performs digital signal processing to obtain the noise amplitude of each frequency domain at each time period of the on-site operation as the noise background;

[0006] Step 2, Horn Sampling: The emergency stop loading system notifies the driver of the loading vehicle to sound the horn briefly. The sound analysis device records the horn frequency and amplitude range of the sounding horn and stores them in the database. At the same time, it is agreed that if there is an emergency during the loading process and the horn is sounded for several seconds, the loading operation can be aborted.

[0007] Step 3, Constructing a Horn Digital Recognition Model: Set the frequency domain range area of the horn sound and the threshold of the horn amplitude according to the environmental noise sampling and the brief horn sampling of the current vehicle to form the horn digital recognition model of the current vehicle; or search for existing models in the database based on the horn sampling.

[0008] The following steps are for identifying the sound of a suspected vehicle horn.

[0009] Step 4, Detecting a Suspected Horn: Each pickup simultaneously detects a sudden change in the sound amplitude in the environment.

[0010] Step 5, Duration Judgment: Judge the duration of the sudden change in sound. If it exceeds several seconds and continues continuously at the same frequency and amplitude, go to Steps 6, 7, and 8. If it does not exceed several seconds and the frequency and amplitude change, ignore it.

[0011] Step 6, Frequency Judgment: Use the horn digital recognition model to judge the frequency of the sudden change in sound to determine whether it is within the horn frequency range. If so, go to the next step. If not, ignore it.

[0012] Step 7, Amplitude Judgment: Use the horn digital recognition model to judge the amplitude of the sudden change in sound to determine whether it is within the horn amplitude range. If so, go to the next step. If not, ignore it.

[0013] Step 8, Position Judgment: Analyze and determine whether the position of the sound source is in the sound judgment area based on the intensity of the sudden sound collected by the front, rear, left, and right pickups. If so, go to the next step. If not, ignore it.

[0014] Step 9, Judged as a Horn: After frequency, amplitude, and position judgment: The continuous sudden change in sound is the alarm horn of the current loading vehicle, and immediately notify the upper computer to abort the loading program.

[0015] The advantages and beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: By monitoring the sounds in the surrounding environment during the loading process, the present invention discriminates the sudden change of the sound with an increased amplitude based on factors such as duration, frequency, amplitude, and position to determine whether there is a whistle for warning and requiring the suspension of the loading process, thus forming a complete whistle alarm system. The present invention utilizes a simple action that is most easily performed by a driver: continuously whistling, to warn the surrounding personnel in the most convenient and rapid manner and notify the control system of the loading station to automatically perform emergency avoidance. When whistling, the driver does not need to open the car door and get out of the car, or even open the window, and can quickly stop the loading operation. This is particularly important for effectively avoiding personal injury in the event of an accident during loading. Using the simple action of whistling can maximally avoid the further expansion of the accident and the resulting economic losses, and it is an excellent aggregation avoidance scheme. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and embodiments.

[0017] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the loading station and the installation position of the pickup used in the method of the embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 It is a principle block diagram of the emergency stop loading system used in the method of the embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 It is a flowchart of the method of the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] Embodiment 1:

[0021] This embodiment is a method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to avoid getting out of the car and emergency stop the loading operation. The emergency stop loading system used in the method includes: four pickups 1 and 2 for collecting the ambient noise and whistling sounds are respectively installed in the front, rear, left, and right of the loading workshop (where pickup 1 is installed at the front end of the loading workshop and pickup 2 is installed at the rear end of the loading workshop. As shown in, it should be noted that: in the positions of pickups 1 or 2 in, they should actually overlap the front and rear pickup graphics relative to the paper surface. Due to the reason of drawing, only one can be drawn, so the emergency stop loading system shown in and is provided with four pickups. The positions of the four pickups are expressed in terms of the vehicle coordinates as: front left, front right, rear left, rear right). The pickups are connected to a sound analysis device with a database, and the sound analysis device is connected to the upper computer of the loading station. The installation position of the pickups is as shown in, and the principle block diagram of the system is as shown in. Figure 1 shown, it should be noted that: in Figure 1 the positions of pickups 1 or 2 should actually overlap the front and rear pickup graphics relative to the paper surface. Due to the reason of drawing, only one can be drawn, so Figure 1 in Figure 1 and 2 the emergency stop loading system shown is provided with four pickups. The positions of the four pickups are expressed in terms of the vehicle coordinates as: front left, front right, rear left, rear right), the pickups are connected to a sound analysis device with a database, and the sound analysis device is connected to the upper computer of the loading station. The installation position of the pickups is as shown in Figure 1 shown, and the principle block diagram of the system is as shown in Figure 2 shown.

[0022] The loading station described in this embodiment is a loading machine with a relatively high degree of automation. The loading station usually has a bin 02 installed on a steel structure frame 01 for weighing and temporarily storing bulk materials. Usually, a gate 03 and a telescopic chute 04 are provided at the bottom of the bin to control and guide the bulk materials into the carriage of the loading vehicle. Below the chute is the loading area 05 (the loading area is a range, Figure 1 indicated by a dashed line in the figure), and the loading vehicle 06 ( Figure 1 indicated by a double-dot dash line in the figure) drives into the loading area to align the carriage with the chute outlet to receive the bulk materials sliding down under the action of gravity.

[0023] In this embodiment, at least one pickup is provided in the loading area. The pickup can be an ordinary microphone or a special microphone for sound localization. If multiple pickups are set, the pickups can be divided into two groups. One group is specifically used for picking up background noise, and the other group is specifically used for picking up and discriminating the whistles of the loading vehicles. Separating the pickup of background noise and the warning whistles of the loading vehicles is beneficial for accurately determining whether it is a warning whistle to avoid misjudgment and wrong judgment.

[0024] The sound analysis device is used to analyze and judge all the sounds generated during the loading process of the loading station, especially to discriminate those sudden sound changes, identify whether it is the whistle of the loading vehicle during loading, and make an action of whether to give an alarm according to the discrimination. The sound analysis device can be a specially designed hardware system or software installed in the control system of the loading station. The database therein can borrow the storage facilities in the control system of the loading station.

[0025] The sound analysis device has its own database for storing the whistle data of various loading vehicles and the corresponding whistle digital recognition models, and performs automated analysis through AI to quickly identify the whistles of various vehicles, improving the recognition ability of various whistles and the recognition of whistles and noise.

[0026] The upper computer of the loading station is the control system of the loading station. Since the emergency stop loading system is a subsystem of the loading station, the control system of the loading station is called the upper computer of the emergency stop loading system. The upper computer has the ability to control the actions of the gate and the chute, and can make an action to stop the loading operation after receiving the whistle alarm.

[0027] Since the loading station is an automated device with relatively high loading efficiency, any abnormal stop of operation will have a significant impact on economic benefits. Therefore, it is particularly important to determine whether the whistle is a real warning that requires the suspension of loading operations to avoid the impact of surrounding noise or the whistles of other non-loading vehicles on loading, resulting in economic losses. The pickup can only convert sound into an electrical signal and cannot distinguish the meaning of these electrical signals. Therefore, the pickup will give an electrical signal to any sound in the current environment, and these electrical signals need to be analyzed to determine whether there is a warning whistle. During the loading operation, it is first necessary to record the background noise, that is, the continuous sound in the environment, and continuously monitor whether there is a sudden change in the sound with an increased amplitude. Then, it is necessary to determine whether this sudden change in sound lasts for several seconds, and then determine the frequency, amplitude, and location of this sudden change in sound. Finally, it is determined whether it is a warning whistle. After determining that it is a warning whistle, the upper computer is notified to suspend the loading operation.

[0028] The specific steps of the method described in this embodiment are as follows, and the process is as Figure 3 shown:

[0029] Step 1, collect environmental noise: The loading vehicle drives into the loading workshop and enters the sound determination area. The upper computer of the loading station starts the loading program and at the same time starts the emergency stop loading system. The emergency stop loading system picks up and samples the noise background in the operation environment of the loading workshop to obtain the frequency and amplitude range of the background noise. Sample the on-site noise and perform digital signal processing to obtain the noise amplitude in each frequency domain at each time period of the on-site operation as the noise background.

[0030] During the actual loading process, the noise of the material falling into the carriage is relatively large at the beginning and gradually becomes smaller as the material accumulates. However, the noise of the material sliding in the chute is still relatively large, which has an interfering effect on some whistles with relatively small sounds. Since the loading station is open, there are various vehicles running around the loading station, and their noise cannot be ignored.

[0031] Step 2, whistle sampling: The emergency stop loading system notifies the driver of the loading vehicle to whistle briefly. The sound analysis device records the whistle frequency and amplitude range of the whistling vehicle and records them in the database. At the same time, it is agreed that if there is an emergency during the loading process and the whistle sounds for several seconds, the loading operation can be stopped.

[0032] In an unmanned loading workshop, there is usually an automatic prompt device used to prompt the loading driver of the actions that should be taken during the loading process. This automatic prompt device usually uses methods such as sound prompts or screen prompts. Moreover, some loading stations require the driver to whistle briefly when the vehicle enters the loading workshop to make preparations for receiving materials to indicate readiness. Therefore, the emergency stop loading system can use the automatic prompt device to prompt the driver to whistle briefly to achieve the sampling of the current vehicle's whistle.

[0033] While prompting the driver to briefly sound the horn, the driver is also prompted to sound the horn for several seconds in case of an emergency during the loading process. The signal to abort the loading operation is a continuous horn sound with a duration generally agreed to be more than 3 seconds to distinguish it from a brief horn sound and avoid misjudgment and incorrect judgment.

[0034] Step 3, construct a horn digit recognition model: Set the frequency domain range area of the horn sound and the threshold of the horn amplitude according to the environmental noise sampling and the brief horn sampling of the current vehicle to form the horn digit recognition model of the current vehicle; or search for an existing model in the database based on the horn sampling.

[0035] The horn digitization model includes: long-term continuous environmental noise, including the noise generated during loading and the noise around the loading station, and the horn sound under this noise background. Through the frequency domain analysis and amplitude analysis formed by the Fourier transform, the current sound can be quickly recognized to distinguish whether there is a horn sound. This model is not immediately discarded after use, but stored in the database for future use during the loading process. When a similar situation is found, it can be retrieved for use to improve the discrimination speed and save computing resources.

[0036] The following steps are for recognizing the sound of a suspected vehicle horn;

[0037] Step 4, detect a suspected horn: Each pickup simultaneously collects a sudden change in the sound amplitude in the environment.

[0038] Various noises are generated during the loading process. Therefore, it is first necessary to distinguish various noises from the horn for emergency avoidance. For the human ear, it can quickly distinguish the horn of a car, but the pickup cannot immediately distinguish what is a horn. It can only distinguish a sudden change in the sound amplitude in the environmental background. As for whether this sudden change in the sound amplitude is a horn, whether it is an alarm and requires stopping the loading operation, further judgment is needed. All sudden changes in the sound amplitude in this step need to be judged because any sudden change in the sound amplitude, regardless of the size of the amplitude or the difference between the amplitude and the background noise, may be a horn and needs to be judged.

[0039] Step 5, duration judgment: Judge the duration of the sudden change in the sound. If it exceeds several seconds and continues continuously at the same frequency and amplitude, go to steps 6, 7, and 8. If it does not exceed several seconds and the frequency and amplitude change, ignore it;

[0040] Since honking is a human behavior, obvious human traces are left. That is, for the sudden change in the honking sound, first, the amplitude of the sound in the environment increases and continues. Moreover, the frequency and amplitude of the honking sound remain unchanged. However, during the loading process, certain materials may suddenly make noise during the sliding in the chute for some unknown reason. Therefore, it cannot be recognized that the continuous sudden change in sound is honking. Even if its frequency and amplitude remain unchanged, there may be other factors causing this sudden change in sound. Therefore, it cannot be determined that the current sudden sound is honking.

[0041] Step 6, frequency judgment: Use the honking digital recognition model to judge the frequency of the sudden sound and determine whether it is within the honking frequency range; if so, proceed to the next step; if not, ignore it.

[0042] The frequency of honking determines whether the honking sound is low or loud, whether it is a sharp and ear-piercing sound or a smooth and pleasant sound. Usually, the honking of modern vehicles is relatively smooth and pleasant, with a frequency between 20 - 50 Hz and it is an accentuated sound. Therefore, as long as it is judged whether the sudden sound is within this range, but it may also be interference from the honking of surrounding vehicles. Therefore, it is still necessary to use the honking digital recognition model to compare and identify whether it is the honking of the vehicle currently being loaded.

[0043] Step 7, amplitude judgment: Use the honking digital recognition model to judge the amplitude of the sudden sound and determine whether it is within the honking amplitude range; if so, proceed to the next step; if not, ignore it.

[0044] Identify the amplitude of the real-time sampled noise. If the amplitude reaches the sound level of honking, it is considered as honking. The amplitude of a car horn is the loudness of the sound, usually 105 - 118 decibels (this loudness range is the Chinese national standard).

[0045] Step 8, position judgment: Based on the intensity of the sudden sound collected by the pickups in the front, rear, left, and right directions, analyze and determine whether the position of the sound source is within the sound judgment area; if so, proceed to the next step; if not, ignore it.

[0046] The pickups installed at the four corners of the front, rear, left, and right in the loading workshop can accurately determine the position of the sudden sound through the loudness of the sound. The described sound judgment area is set in the front of the vehicle being loaded in the loading workshop, such as Figure 1 the position expressed by A in Figure 1 (indicated by the single dotted line in ). Restricting the area for judging the sound to a smaller range is to prevent the honking of surrounding vehicles from being misjudged or wrongly judged as the honking of the vehicle being loaded, which may affect the normal loading operation.

[0047] Step 9, judged as honking: After the frequency, amplitude, and position judgments: If the continuous sudden sound is the alarm honking of the current vehicle being loaded, immediately notify the upper computer to abort the loading program.

[0048] After determining that the sudden sound change is the whistle alarm of the loading vehicle, send the emergency event to the control system. The host computer at the loading station immediately aborts the loading program, and takes safety measures such as closing the discharge gate, retracting the discharge chute, and stopping the feeding, and alarms to notify the loading administrator.

[0049] Finally, it should be noted that the above is only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred arrangement, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the technical solution of the present invention (such as the form of the loading station, the form of the loading station system as the host computer, the sequence of steps, etc.) can be modified or equivalently replaced without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for a driver of an unattended vehicle loading station to abort the loading operation without getting out of the vehicle. The emergency abort loading system used in the method includes: A microphone for collecting ambient noise and horn sounds is installed at each of the front, rear, left, and right in the loading workshop. The microphone is connected to a sound analysis device with a database of various car horn sounds, and the sound analysis device is connected to the loading station host computer. It is characterized in that the steps of the method are as follows: Step 1, collect ambient noise: When the loading vehicle drives into the loading workshop and enters the sound judgment area, the loading station host computer starts the loading program and at the same time starts the emergency stop loading system. The emergency stop loading system picks up and samples the noise background in the loading workshop operation environment to obtain the frequency and amplitude range of the background noise; samples the on-site noise and performs digital signal processing to obtain the noise amplitude of each frequency domain at each time period of the on-site operation as the noise background; Step 2, horn sampling: The emergency stop loading system notifies the driver of the loading vehicle to honk briefly. The sound analysis device records the horn frequency and amplitude range of the honking and records them in the database; at the same time, it is agreed that if there is an emergency during the loading process and the horn sounds for several seconds, the loading operation can be aborted; Step 3, construct a horn digital recognition model: Set the frequency domain range area of the horn sound and the threshold of the horn amplitude according to the ambient noise sampling and the short honking sampling of the current vehicle to form the horn digital recognition model of the current vehicle; or search for existing models in the database according to the horn sampling; The following steps are for identifying sounds that suspect vehicle honking; Step 4, detect suspected honking: Each microphone simultaneously collects a sudden change in sound with an increased amplitude in the environment; Step 5, duration judgment: Judge the duration of the sudden change in sound. If it exceeds several seconds and continues continuously at the same frequency and amplitude, go to steps 6, 7, and 8. If it does not exceed several seconds and the frequency and amplitude change, ignore it; Step 6, frequency judgment: Use the horn digital recognition model to judge the frequency of the sudden change in sound and determine whether it is within the horn frequency range; if so, go to the next step, if not, ignore it; Step 7, amplitude judgment: Use the horn digital recognition model to judge the amplitude of the sudden change in sound and determine whether it is within the horn amplitude range; if so, go to the next step, if not, ignore it; Step 8, position judgment: According to the intensity of the sudden sound collected by the front, rear, left, and right microphones, analyze and determine whether the position of the sound source is in the sound judgment area. If so, go to the next step, if not, ignore it; Step 9, determine as honking: After frequency, amplitude, and position determination, the continuous sudden change in sound is the alarm horn of the current loading vehicle, and immediately notify the host computer to abort the loading program.

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