Enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium

Abstract

The present invention provides solutions, especially systems, methods and devices, for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium, especially for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) in at least one area respectively space (CUV or SUV) of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces(CUV or SUV), each area respectively space (CUV or SUV) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISA), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUV or SUV) to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUV or SUV).

Description

[0001] Vodafone GmbH

[0002] Ferdinand-Braun-Platz 1 40549 Dusseldorf

[0003] Enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium

[0004] The present invention refers to solutions, especially systems, methods and devices, for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium, especially for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle in at least one area respectively space of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces, each area respectively space providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium for use with at least one vehicle respectively for use for at least one vehicle, and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle using a transportation medium at least of the part of the area respectively space.

[0005] The at least one vehicle - as an entity according to the present invention - having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which could be static and / or dynamic, for example the location respectively position, the velocity, the direction of movement and / or the like. In case of a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which could be static and / or dynamic.

[0006] A vehicle according to the present invention is any vehicle that is part of the traffic. Advantageously a vehicle according to the present invention is a vehicle which is driven respectively controlled by an artificial intelligence (Al), semiautonomous, autonomous, or manual, hereinafter also referred to as VAISAM, and which collaborates according to the present invention.

[0007] A vehicle according to the present invention is a mobile means of transport, which is especially used to transport people (passenger transport), animals (animal transport) and / or goods (goods transport). The at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device - as an entity according to the present invention - having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which could be static and / or dynamic, for example the location respectively position and / or the like. In the case of a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices, each transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which could be static and / or dynamic.

[0008] A transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device according to the present invention is an entity that is not or may not be part of the traffic in a transportation system, but which participates with regard to the collaboration, hereinafter also referred to as participating non-vehicular entity (PNVE).

[0009] A transportation medium (TM) according to the present invention could be a solid surface, especially like land, surface of a building or building layout or plan, especially indoors, biological structures, for example the blood vessels of the blood circulation system of a human being or an animal, underground, for example a rail network of a subway, air (loosely defined as below the Karman line, or a chamber of gas), liquid surface (water, oil, silt), submersible (underwater, body fluids, oils, liquid chemicals) or space (loosely defined as above the Karman line) and / or a combination of mediums - hereinafter also referred to as area respectively space, especially collaboration space.

[0010] Traffic according to the present invention is especially the movement of entities in advantageously pre-defined paths, routes and / or lanes in transportation medium and adhering to certain norms, rules, and / or regulations under normal circumstances.

[0011] Nowadays, entities, especially VAISAMs, such as autonomous cars, drones and / or ships use a plethora of sensors, computational resources for localisation, motion prediction, collision avoidance, passenger entertainment and / or route planning among many others. These vehicles are increasingly being used in scenarios where collaboration between a plurality of such vehicles could be harnessed to increase efficiency, reduce BOM (bill of material), reduce price, grant features onto vehicles that their own hardware, software, person in control respectively Al in control may not be capable of on its respectively their own. Such entities, especially VAISAMs, are and will be increasingly being used in scenarios where collaboration between two or more entities, especially VAISAMs and / or PNVEs, in an area respectively a space - hereinafter also referred to as collaboration space - is common and at most times essential.

[0012] Most collaborative use cases warrant that participants respectively entities have similar technical level of affordances for a successful collaboration. However the collaborating entities, especially VAISAMs, may have disparate capabilities, features and / or affordances. Capabilities according to the present invention for example are:

[0013] - hardware capabilities, as for example storage capacity or computing power, e.g. CPU performance, clock frequency, data transmission bus system, and / or the like hardware capabilities;

[0014] - sensing capabilities, as for example heat or moisture sensing, movement or velocity sensing, and / or the like sensing capabilities; and / or

[0015] - capabilities to scan or analyze the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example. The scanning and / or analyzing could be done, e.g. by a camera, e.g. optical and / or UV- / IR camera, LIDAR, ultrasonic, x-ray, echo sounder, or also by performing a chemical or medical probing or analyzing of the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example.

[0016] The difference in capabilities respectively hardware capabilities will increase over time as entities, especially vehicles (VAISAMs), with new and powerful capabilities and / or features are used in parallel with other entities that are older, in the same collaborative scenarios.

[0017] Therefore, a solution is required, which levels the playing field, especially by enhancing the features of low-end entities, especially VAISAMs, in a collaboration space.

[0018] With regard to these entities, especially vehicles (VAISAMs) are facing the following requirements and tasks: Computation:

[0019] Most VAISAMs today have computing units as part of their hardware that is transported around with the vehicle apart from the parts that are needed for locomotion. The computing is needed for various activities from processing sensor information and translating it to action, maintaining state machine(s), computing needs of the passengers and the like. Most of the time these computing units are part of the vehicle that adds weight, need energy to operate and increase the cost of the vehicle. Although, solutions for cloud computing exist, these often cannot address the latency needs as the computing resources are beyond the sphere to latency required (constrained by the speed of light / electron speed). Additionally, most cloud computing platforms are accessed via the internet which may not offer the security demands of certain use cases, especially as these are not peer to peer. Therefore, a solution is required to outsource the computing away as much as possible, thus reaping the benefits of latency, lower weight, security and / or energy requirement thus consequentially cost of the vehicle.

[0020] Position and / or Localisation:

[0021] Most VAISAMs today use sophisticated LIDAR, visual cameras, and / or other sensors in addition to GPS to map their environment as they move in the transportation medium. Various methods (compare for example Ref.: Survey of Wireless Indoor Positioning Techniques and Systems : Hui Liu, Student Member, IEEE, Houshang Darabi, Member, IEEE, Pat Banerjee, and Jing Liu) exist for positioning and localisation in indoor settings where satellite aided geo positioning is undesirable, unavailable, untenable, unfeasible due to various reasons from monetary to technological and physical limitations. This continuous and / or regular mapping and re-mapping may be needed to take various actions, for example like collision avoidance, route planning, emergency manoeuvres and / or the like, or the simple fact that the surrounding is dynamic. Carrying all these sensors, computing power to continuously map and localise is inefficient. An example is an autonomous land or air vehicle navigating through a city’s underground networks where GPS (or other satellite-based positioning systems) signals would be weak or absent. Thus a solution is required to improve position and localisation features to enable vehicles (VAISAMs) to ply through traffic efficiently while keeping the position and localisation information current without too much penalty on precious resources or being forced to have features that negatively affect their function. For example, an autonomous drone delivering a parcel to a balcony on the 6th floor of a skyscraper would have to sense and calculate everything on its own using on-board cameras, other sensors, and its own computational power. In addition to weight and energy, there exists privacy concerns with drones (or vehicles (VAISAMs) in general) equipped with cameras for localisation, to ply in residential areas or in areas where cameras are a security risk. Hence A further solution is required to reduce the security risk by reducing the number of cameras or eliminating them entirely with minimal to no effect on functionality or efficiently.

[0022] Mapping and / or Prediction:

[0023] Interaction and coordination between entities in traffic is often necessary if not mandatory. Most VAISAMs today are self-contained, i.e., they are endowed with a plethora of sensors and computation to detect if an object that is moving and if yes, if there is a probability of that object interfering with the VAISAM on its present trajectory or intended trajectory. VAISAMs interact with their environment in a reactive way by observing their surroundings using various sensors and / or faculties. In many cases, it is impossible to detect objects in motion if they are obscured. For example, an autonomous car may be unaware of another car that might be coming onto to its projected path if it obscured by buildings nearby. When it does detect, algorithms might kick-in to avoid collision or other counter measures that might be appropriate for the situation. In another example, a ship might be unaware of a speed boat heading its way from an angle into the same canal. Manoeuvres after detection by own sensors are inefficient at best, risky at normal circumstances and catastrophic at its worst. In both these cases, the interacting vehicles are not aware of each other’s presence and / or other parameters like velocity, direction, dimensions and / or the like unless they are in the range of their own sensors. Thus a solution is required to enable detection of moving and non-moving objects and entities that are obscured in the vicinity and on the intended trajectory. Feature deficiency and / or obsolescence:

[0024] Most VAISAMs today are self-contained in terms of sensing capabilities. For this they need to carry the sensors on their being as they make the transit. This especially means that each and every VAISAM today carries its own set of sensors and the needed energy and compute to make use of them. As more and newer versions of VAISAMs come into the market the sensors on these are very likely to supersede the ones on the older VAISAMs. Most collaborative use cases warrant, as stated above, that participants have similar level of affordances for a successful collaboration. However, the collaborating VAISAMs may have disparate capabilities, features and / or affordances. The difference in capabilities respectively hardware or software capabilities will increase over time - or decrease to cater to a different price tier in the market - as VAISAMs with new and powerful capabilities are deployed respectively used in parallel with other VAISAMs that are older, in the same collaborative scenarios. Thus a solution is needed to reduce the number of sensors and its associated hardware and / or software. So for example weight critical applications like airborne vehicles benefit not only from the reduction of weight, but also from the reduction of processing resources. Thus, a solution is required, which levels the playing field, especially by enhancing the features of low-end VAISAMs in a collaboration space.

[0025] According to the present invention this is achieved by using capabilities of other entities, especially vehicles (VAISAMs) that are present in the collaboration space.

[0026] The solutions according to the present invention allow for example a vehicle (VAISAM) with lower computing and / or lower sensor capabilities to outsource the computing and / or sensoring or parts of these to a device or entity with higher capabilities during such collaboration.

[0027] Addressing to this the present invention especially suggests a system respectively method for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space, especially a Cubble Under Survey (CUS) or Space Under Survey (SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least on transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein a hub interface provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is communicatively connected with the at least one vehicle (VAISAM), which is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface, and the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), which is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface, and is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal, and wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to receive from the hub interface and make use of at least one of

[0028] - at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE)

[0029] - at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium of the area respectively space the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, and / or

[0030] - the hybrid point cloud map, preferably only changes of the dynamic point cloud map of the hybrid point cloud map, at least when using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, whereby the information is advantageously provided to the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) via the hub interface. From the method side according to the present invention a method for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least on transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein a communication connection is established between the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface, which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface, the established communication connection is used to provide information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to the hub interface and / or to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or the established communication connection is used to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from respectively via the hub interface and / or from at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least when at least one vehicle (VAISAM) uses a transportation medium () of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, wherein the hub interface is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, respectively data for creation of such a hybrid point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), includes positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal, and wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to receive from the hub interface and make use of at least one of

[0031] - at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE)

[0032] - at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium of the area respectively space the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, and / or

[0033] - the hybrid point cloud map, preferably only changes of the dynamic point cloud map of the hybrid point cloud map, at least when using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

[0034] The method is advantageously designed and / or adapted for a system according to the present invention.

[0035] According to the present invention the hub interface is advantageously provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and allows to establish a communication connection between the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface, is designed and / or adapted to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) provided via the established communication connection, and / or is designed and / or adapted to send information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

[0036] The hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) is advantageously designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the hub interface of a method according to the present invention, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to the present invention.

[0037] According to the present invention it is especially suggested to provide a hub interface (300) for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using or intending to use a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein the hub interface (300) is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), allows to establish a communication connection between the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface (300), is designed and / or adapted to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) provided via the established communication connection, and / or is designed and / or adapted to send information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, respectively data for creation of such a hybrid point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), includes positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal.

[0038] A further object of the present invention is a vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which is designed, configured and / or set up to establish a communication connection with at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface, which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM), the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface, use the established communication connection to provide information of at least a part of the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the vehicle (VAISAM) to the hub interface and / or to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from respectively via the hub interface and / or from at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) at least when using a transportation medium () of an area respectively a space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

[0039] The vehicle (VAISAM) is advantageously designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the vehicle (VAISAM) of a method according to the present invention, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to the present invention.

[0040] A further object of the present invention is a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which is designed, configured and / or set up to establish a communication connection with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface, which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the hub interface, use the established communication connection to provide information of at least a part of the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to the hub interface and / or to at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or of at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from the hub interface and / or from at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least when at least one vehicle (VAISAM) uses a transportation medium () of an area respectively a space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

[0041] According to the present invention capabilities advantageously but not limiting to this are especially:

[0042] - hardware capabilities, as for example storage capacity or computing power, e.g. CPU performance, clock frequency, data transmission bus system, and / or the like hardware capabilities;

[0043] - sensing capabilities, as for example heat or moisture sensing, movement or velocity sensing, and / or the like sensing capabilities;

[0044] - capabilities to scan or analyze the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example. The scanning and / or analyzing could be done, e.g. by a camera, e.g. optical and / or UV- / IR camera, LIDAR, ultrasonic, x-ray, echo sounder, or also by performing a chemical or medical probing or analyzing of the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example;

[0045] - capabilities to add information to create a point cloud to depict the environment of a vehicle (VAISAM), and / or

[0046] - capabilities with regard to communication capabilities or positioning capabilities of a vehicle (VAISAM).

[0047] The transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is advantageously designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) of a method according to the present invention, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to the present invention.

[0048] As stated before, a vehicle according to the present invention is any vehicle that is part of the traffic. Advantageously a vehicle according to the present invention is a vehicle which is driven respectively controlled by an artificial intelligence (Al), semiautonomous, autonomous, or manual, hereinafter also referred to as VAISAM, and which collaborates according to the present invention. A vehicle according to the present invention is a mobile means of transport, which is especially used to transport people (passenger transport), animals (animal transport) and / or goods (goods transport), and can advantageously be a car, a drone, a bike, a boat, or a ship. A vehicle according to embodiments of the present invention could advantageously be, for example, a car, a truck, a ship, a satellite, a rocket, an airplane, a submarine, a motorcycle, a cycle, a mobile robot, a train, a subway, a medical micro-robot, a drone, or any other device that can move, or even a person wearing means to collaborate with a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device. Such means to collaborate could be, for example, a Smartphone, a computing device, a XR-glass or a comparable device which is configured to collaborate with a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device. All such examples can advantageously be driven respectively controlled by an artificial intelligence (Al), semiautonomous, autonomous, or can be driven manual, hereinafter also referred to as VAISAM, and they may collaborate according to the present invention.

[0049] As stated before, a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device according to the present invention is an entity that is not or may not be part of the traffic in a transportation system, but which participates with regard to the collaboration, hereinafter also referred to as participating non-vehicular entity (PNVE). A PNVE advantageously contribute to collaborate according to the present invention in various ways. This could for example advantageously be a sensor stuck on the traffic lights or a drone monitoring road traffic from above ground.

[0050] The transportation medium according to the present invention could preferably be land, water, plasma, air and / or space, for example roads or rails of a traffic system, especially an intelligent transportation system.

[0051] A hub interface or a hub device according to the present invention is advantageously also a participating or acting as a participating non-vehicular entity - hereafter also referred as PNVEHD - and advantageously enables one or more vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) to collaborate. Advantageously this solution can be embodiment in the form of a bespoke device or implemented as an interface in an existing vehicle (VAISAM) or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). The solutions according the present invention, especially the hub interface or hub device (PNVEHD) according to the present invention, advantageously allow the following features alone and / or in combination:

[0052] 1. Distributed computation: Distributed computation across participating vehicles (VAISAMs) and transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). Advantageously each participating vehicle (VAISAM) advertises its capabilities and headroom to other vehicles (VAISAMs) either directly (via an instance of the hub interface or hub device (PNVEHD)) or via a physical instance of the hub interface that it is already connected to. The least capable vehicle (VAISAM) can advantageously now participate in the collaboration experience making use of the compute capabilities of the others VAISAMs or PNVEs around it. A participating vehicle (VAISAM) can refresh it capabilities and announce it to the quorum, for example when a vehicle (VAISAM) must lower its computing power due to low energy or thermals. The hub interface, preferably the hub device, advantageously allows a collaborative computation.

[0053] 2. Collaborative feature enhancement: The main case envisaged is that most vehicles (VAISAMs) offloading compute to a bespoke physical instance of the hub device (PNVEHD). Advantageously when multiple vehicles (VAISAMs) are participating in a circle or a so called Cubble (Cubble is explained in detail below) that is under surveillance (hereinafter also referred to as CUS (CUS: circle under surveillance or Cubble under surveillance)) or a sphere or space that is under surveillance (hereinafter also referred to as SUS (SUS: sphere / space under surveillance), some vehicles (VAISAMs) could have their features enhanced by making use of the features that are on other vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) in the same collaboration experience. For example, a so called nano drone with no camera can according to the present invention navigate through the traffic while communicatively connected to the hub interface, which advantageously maintains a dynamic spatial map. This is advantageously done by the hub interface, preferably of a hub device (PNVEHD), by combining sensor data from monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and / or contributing vehicles (VAISAMs). Advantageously that dynamic spatial map will enable for example a nano drone to navigate the traffic even when not having a camera or the computing power to build a spatial map for itself. A participating vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) can advantageously refresh its capabilities and announce it to the quorum, for example a truck might detect that the energy in the batteries is depleted and may have to stop data streaming to conserve energy. The hub interface, preferably the hub device, advantageously allows a collaborative feature enhancement, especially by generating, providing and / or maintaining a map, especially a dynamic spatial map. Real-time communication: Real-time communication channels between vehicles (VAISAMs), transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and hub device (PNVEHD). According to the present invention the hub interface / hub device is advantageously configured and / or designed to provide a real-time communication channel towards the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). Advantageously an instance of the hub device (PNVEHD) when communicatively connected to a vehicle (VAISAM) will be capable of initiating a real-time communication and / or control protocol, like ROS (Robot Operating System), ExpressLRS and / or the like, to enable real-time sensor and stimulators communication apart from control, telemetry, position, orientation, capabilities negotiation, announcements and / or the like. Collab SLAM (simultaneous Location and Mapping) for spatial position and orientation of vehicles (VAISAMs): Advantageously a collaborative point cloud generation is given, which might be static and / or dynamic. Advantageously, when more than one vehicle (VAISAM) is present in the same physical space are connected to the hub interface (PNVEHD), the typical challenges of occlusion can be resolved by combining sensor input from all - or at least a part of - the connected vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) to form a dynamic point-cloud using available algorithms like RANSAC (RandomSampleConsensus) and ICP (Iterative closest point). Advantageously this dynamic point cloud gets continuously updated with enough participation thus creating a digital multimodal twin of the real world for the vehicles (VAISAMs) to navigate. Advantageously the more vehicles (VAISAMs) join the collaborative process, the better the fidelity and resolution of the dynamic point cloud of the real-world. Advantageously non collaborative entities (hereinafter also referred to as NCE (non collaborative entity)), that is an entity which is part of the traffic but not collaborates according to the present invention, are also tracked in this dynamic point cloud. When using this tracking data vehicles (VAISAMs) advantageously can predict the trajectories of NCEs for example to navigate, thus reducing the risk of inadvertent interactions (accidents). The hub interface, preferably the hub device, advantageously allows a Collab SLAM, especially by generating, providing and / or maintaining a point cloud map, especially a dynamic point cloud map. Multimodal dynamic digital twin: According to a further preferred and advantageous embodiment of the present invention a multimodal dynamic digital twin of the real world is given. This is advantageously not just useful for navigation by vehicles (VAISAMs) but is advantageously as easily used for various purposes of prediction, analysis, analytics, statistics and or the like, especially and preferred with the help of ML (machine learning), Deep learning models to further optimise to increase efficiency and resilience of the collaboration according to the present invention.

[0054] A digital twin according to the present invention is a digital model of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process - a physical twin - that serves as the effectively indistinguishable digital counterpart of it for practical purposes, such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and / or maintenance (compare also Wikipedia: digital twin).

[0055] In essence certain sensors are embedded in the physical entity which periodically sends its status to a computer which maintains a digital manifestation of the physical entity so that a simulation is as accurate as possible. According to the present invention, it is advantageously not just the sensors that are embedded in the physical entity (for example a Wi-Fi in a car) the physical entity is also monitored via external sensors including cameras, heat-sensors, motion-sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, ultraviolet (UV) sensors and / or various passing entities that have access to the said physical entity. Therefore the data collected about the physical entity is not just from the sensors inside the physical entity or sensors associated with the physical entity but potentially by vehicles (VAISAMs) that are in the same CUS (circle under surveillance or cubble under surveillance) or SUS (Space Under Surveillance). Thus multimodal i.e. , the data about the physical entity comes from heterogeneous sensors anchored on the physical embodiment and may not be correlated. The analysis and / or correlation algorithms are at a higher level which could potentially make sense of the multimodal data that is available.

[0056] For example, if the hub interface (PNVEHD) is fed these inputs about two physical vehicles (VAISAMs) on the side of the highway:

[0057] 1 . Input (camera) informs that the first vehicle (VAISAM) is a truck and the second vehicle (VAISAM) is a car.

[0058] 2. A motion detector inputs that motion of the vehicles (VAISAMs) themselves.

[0059] 3. Another input (camera) detects overlapping each other.

[0060] 4. An Infra-red (IR) sensor shares its heat-map that for example highlights that the vehicles (VAISAMs) engines are hot.

[0061] 5. Input from the engines of the vehicles (VAISAMs) themselves informs that for example one of the engines is still on.

[0062] 6. Input from a passing drone informs about a person laying flat on the grass beside the car (second vehicle (VAISAM)).

[0063] 7. Several volatile organic compound detectors in the vicinity register a spike in a certain hazardous chemical in the air (shared with hub interface, preferably hub device (PNVEHD)).

[0064] This is an example for a multimodal input according to the present invention which is reflected in the digital twin. An analytics engine advantageously highlights this as an anomaly and alerts for example a higher-level Al or a human in the loop who can conclude that is an accident that just happened, and an ambulance needs to be rushed along with hazmat equipment and containment units. Advantageously the sensors are continuously monitoring the situation and additional vehicles (VAISAMs) for example could be sent for adding additional layers to the affected CUS or SUS. Thus the digital twin according to the present invention is dynamic.

[0065] The hub interface, preferably the hub device, advantageously allows multimodal dynamic twin, especially by generating, providing and / or maintaining a point cloud map, especially a dynamic point cloud map, with additional layers to the area / space it is allocated to for observing / monitoring. Collaborative occlusion computation: Advantageously the hub interface allows a collaborative occlusion computation. With this the hub interface (PNVEHD) has in a multi-entity scenario advantageously the capability of dynamically generating and / or updating the volumetric data, especially the multi-modal volumetric data of a map. This facilitates the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), to know where the objects lie in space at a given time. This information can advantageously be used to compute occlusion using existing algorithms like ray tracing which advantageously helps hidden object points to be discovered, which improves efficiency. Depending on the frequency of updating, which is either based on the use case or user configuration, the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD) advantageously could further increase the efficiency of occlusion calculation using the differential dynamic volumetric data. This helps immensely in cases where the medium is challenging, like stormy weather, submarine, smog and / or the like. Collaboration between pluralities of hub interface respectively PNVEHD instances: Advantageously the real-time protocol could employ a physical cable or other wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi. The hub interface (PNVEHD) advantageously could in turn be connected to other hub interfaces (PNVEHDs) either via a physical cable, for example optical, copper / metal / Ethernet, or via wireless interface such as LASER, satellite, WiFi, sonar in various configurations comprising for not limited to daisy-chains, star, Mesh, circular and / or the like. Collaborative (static and / or dynamic) point cloud generation: Point cloud generation could be a time-consuming for a single vehicle (VAISAM), especially when the area respectively space to be covered is large and the traverse trajectory is not on a single plane (air / water). Compromises on the resolution and / or quality are usually made in such scenarios. Advantageously there exists a process like collaborative SLAM which enables the generation of a point-cloud by combining the data - volumetric data - from multiple sources simultaneously. Advantageously the hub device (PNVEHD) not only enables a collaborative SLAM approach but a collaborative dynamic SLAM where the data from various vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that are collaboratively connected to the hub interface, especially hub device (PNVEHD) are updating the data - volumetric data - continuously or periodically or a trigger. Advantageously the input data from transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) need not only contribute the volumetric map generation, but also for the multimodal data anchored to the said volumetric map. For example, a heat sensing transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) updates the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD) with heat map information which in turn updates the volumetric map with heat information.

[0066] Advantageously, according to the present invention the at least one or more vehicles (VAISAMs) could collaboratively generate together and / or with at least one or more transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) or a hub device (PNVEHD) a common point cloud and / or mapping information of the surrounding respectively traffic area / space (CUS or SUS) of the vehicle(s), PNVE(s) and / or the hub device (PNVEHD). The new common point cloud may therefore advantageously comprise more information, e.g. details / information of the environment, for example of a CUS or a SUS, a higher point cloud density of the environment, for example of a CUS or a SUS, especially as each of the single involved entities (VAISAM, PNVE, PNVEHD) are capable to deliver and / or generate by themselves. Such a common point cloud or a common map of the surrounding, for example a CUS or a SUS, can advantageously comprise better and / or more information of the environment / surrounding as a single point cloud of the involved entities (VAISAM, PNVE, PNVEHD). The common point cloud can advantageously be enriched by additional sensing information provided by one or more of the involved entities. The common point cloud can advantageously be sharable e.g. among the involved entities or also with a VAISAM for example, which is entering the specific traffic area (for example CUS or SUS). With a common point cloud a vehicle (VAISAM), for example a car at a crossing connected to the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD), could for example advantageously "look" around a building at the crossing, get information from a traffic area the vehicle (VAISAM) cannot scan or see from its current position in the traffic area (for example CUS or SUS).

[0067] A static point cloud according to the present invention is for example given, when an area or space is subject to SLAM and is not refreshed often. This is for example useful in use cases where objects are not expected to move respectively remain where they are, like buildings, walls and / or furniture. According to the present invention the area or space is scanned once and that point cloud respectively volumetric information is used by entities that may not have the capability of SLAM themselves. A dynamic point cloud according to the present invention is deployed where the many changes in objects / entities are expected and where these changes impact the respective use-case. For example an automated pizza delivery rover on a street during a busy day, a busy warehouse, where pallets are moving around all the time, or drones that scan the codes, need to be aware of movements lest they crash into one.

[0068] The hub interface, preferably the hub device, according to the present invention advantageously allows generating, providing and / or maintaining a hybrid point cloud map. A hybrid point cloud map according to the present invention is advantageously a combination of both a static and dynamic model where one part of the area / space is deemed busier than the other and sections of the point clouds could be updated depending on the frequency of change. For example in a downtown as of today the space 5 meters above the street level could be deemed passive and may receive less scans / SLAM- sweep than the scans / SLAM-sweeps needed for the street level where many changes are expected at higher frequency. The hybrid model according to the present invention thus can advantageously reap the benefits of static model in terms of energy conservation for example but also the advantages of dynamic where needed. A hybrid multimodal model is according to the present invention advantageously also envisaged where one mode is deemed static and the other dynamic. For example when creating the multimodal volumetric map of a dam with sensors sensing the salinity, temperature or other parameters of the flowing water itself, the visual modal registering the dam itself could be considered static whereas the salinity and temperature modals which are anchored on the visual model considered dynamic. Thus in this embodiment a hybrid multimodal model is given.

[0069] According to the present invention advantageously multimodal point clouds are given, where various properties of the points in space are stored or taken into consideration along with their position in space. These properties could advantageously be obtained by different sensors, but those properties are anchored to a point in space. For example an infrared camera monitoring a chimney, may register the heat signature surrounding the chimney which is then anchored to the point cloud generated with the help of visual cameras or LIDAR.

[0070] 9. Object tracking, anchor movement and anchor tagging: Advantageously the dynamic point cloud generation enables the hub device (PNVEHD) to be time domain independent and to have the multimodal volumetric data and its associated properties stay current, track objects, movements and / or changes associated with each volumetric unit. For example, in case of a point could that volumetric unit would be a point. Advantageously this feature can be used to generate floating anchors (virtual) that can be tagged or pinned to physical objects. In other words, the position of the anchor is now determined by the position of the object that it is tagged to, rather than the position that the anchor was originally placed in space. For example a marine biologist, who has tagged an anchor to a whale for example by means of radio tagging, if the pod moves to another location, the anchor follows the pod. In another example, an anchor could be tagged to a traffic detour sign, when the sign is moved, the anchor moves along with the sign, thanks to the object tracking and floating anchors.

[0071] The proposed solution is advantageously not restricted to one transportation medium and advantageously covers terrestrial mediums, as in roads, areal mediums and / or marine mediums as well. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention at least two different transportation media (TMs) of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS) are usable by at least one vehicle (VAISAM), wherein the transportation media (TMs) are at least two of an earth- based transportation medium (TM), an air-based transportation medium (TM) and / or a water-based transportation medium (TM). The spatial maps that are proposed with the present invention are multimodal hence inherently covers a single medium, multiple medium or a volume of space containing multiple mediums of traffic. An example of this would be a volume of space in a port city could have vehicular traffic on the roads, drones in the air, underground network of railways and ships and boats in the water ways.

[0072] The proposed solution advantageously doesn’t need extensive city-wide infrastructure. The proposed solution can advantageously be deployed inside any volume of space irrespective of in-building or outdoors or medium. Advantageously the present invention allows and provides seamless transitions between indoors and outdoors and mediums. Since VAISAMs according to the present invention can access the multimodal spatial maps in the hub, the traffic has access to both indoor, outdoor and multi-medium multimodal spatial information that might be required for the transition between mediums and spaces. For example in a typical in-water ship husbandry includes cleansing of the hull from epibiosis by professional divers who need to navigate the often murky waters with very low visibility increasing the risk of injuries to human divers. An autonomous or a remotely guided cleaning robot can take advantage of the system and / or method according to the present invention to deploy propulsion mechanisms that is most suitable to the medium. For example, the robots - or even an entire swarm of robots - could deploy wheels on land to traverse the dock to reach the ship under maintenance and propellers when in water. With this the robots for example being fully aware of the spatial maps of both terrestrial and underwater. The stored maps could be generated using visual sensors on land and ultrasound in water. Thus for a volume of space a hub according to the present invention advantageously enables a standard dynamic multi-medium and multi-modal spatial map to facilitate.

[0073] In so far known collaborative systems, the entities in the traffic are constantly scanning and transmitting the scanned data with others in the system, which is highly inefficient especially if there are physical structures in the system that for example doesn’t move in the timeframe of the use case. For example, an overbridge is not expected to move - except for in emergency / exceptional cases like an earthquake or the like - during daily vehicle transit. Known solutions scan practically everything in their vicinity. Discerning static and dynamic entities takes computing power and time, which might affect latency and increasing the risk of accidents. According to the present invention the map is advantageously stored in the hub and differentially updated (differential-update explained in detail below) and transmitted, thus preferably reducing the latency and volume of data traffic. According to the present invention a solution is suggested, wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) with a customizable time interval between 0.01 milliseconds and several minutes or hours, preferably between 1 millisecond to 1 second or more preferably between 30 seconds up to 45 minutes, which preferably depends on a trigger signal with regard to the amount of traffic and / or a traffic event of the transportation medium within at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS). Advantageously the trigger signal allows an updating of the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of an updated hybrid point cloud map with a defined time interval between 0.01 milliseconds and several minutes or hours, preferably between 1 millisecond to 1 second or more preferably between 30 seconds up to 45 minutes, depending on the use case, which preferably is different to a time interval within which at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring. Reducing the volume of the data traffic has a net positive effect on system stability and latency which depend on wireless communication challenges that may have inherent limitations due to system constraints such as speed, direction, variable propagation characteristics of the medium, for example fog, rain or the like.

[0074] In so far known solutions all participating vehicles are endowed with scanners to sense their environment. According to the present invention VAISAMs without any sensing capabilities advantageously could ply with the help of other endowed entities in the system thanks to the hub that advantageously stores the multimodal, multimedium, spatial map enabling for example, light weight drones to ply without guidance sensors of their own, but relying only on the communication with the hub according to the present invention. This increases efficiency and mobility of VAISAMs and simultaneously decreases weight and cost of the VAISAMs.

[0075] In so far known solutions a map is restricted to one form of data like a point cloud. According to the present invention a multimodal, multi-medium, time-differential spatial map is advantageously provided. This advantageously overcomes several deficiencies of standard maps, especially standard point cloud spatial maps which often generally do not have provision for associating properties of a point in space. With the present invention for example, an IR and UV spatial map can be superimposed layered on a visual point-cloud, enabling heat sensitive VAISAMs to navigate safely. Further use cases preferably include but are not limited to:

[0076] - Indoor drones in a steel smelting facility could advantageously avoid extreme hot zones using the IR map instead of just visual point clouds.

[0077] - Carrier flying drones cloud advantageously avoid high temperature chimneys when flying through a city.

[0078] - When Air-flow is advantageously included as an additional layer anchored onto the base point cloud, flying or sailing drones could advantageously avoid routes with significant air drafts for efficiency and risk mitigation.

[0079] According to the present invention it is advantageously provided, that the PNVEHD handles collaborative (VAISAMs) and non-collaborative entities (NCE) by acting as a hub for information reception, analysis, compute and / or dissemination, especially since a trigger for collaboration is normally a challenge of collaboration. According to the present invention VAISAMs preferably navigate a volume of space efficiently irrespective of the medium and the number of NCEs that ply through this volume. According to the present invention entry and exit procedures in and out the volume of space served by the PNVEHD are suggested, similar to existing terrestrial cell-phone but adapted to the traversing medium of propagation with suitable communication medium. For example RF for terrestrial and ultrasound for marine.

[0080] A further challenge is the issue of cooperative agent selection. Since majority of the use cases mentioned as an example are according to the present invention centred on a hub according to the present invention, for the most part, assumed as part of the infrastructure, cooperative agent selection challenge is reduced to a minimum. Given the dynamic over static overlay nature of the map preferably stored locally in the PNVEHD the latency is cut to a minimum and the data and analytics are local to the hub. Once the base spatial map is obtained or created, advantageously only the temporal difference is registered and if need be transmitted which happens to be the dynamic part of the spatial data. Depending on the traffic density, speed, and dynamics the frequency of the update can be negotiated and varied thus advantageously optimising communication and processing resources.

[0081] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention differentially updating or differential-update of the hybrid point cloud map is done with so called Cubbies. Since multimodal-multimedium-spatial maps, in most use cases, cannot afford to have system-wide layers update, as in most use cases, layers are continually accessed and entire layer / layers cannot be locked by a single entity for a longer period of time without risking user inconvenience, malfunction, slowdown or other performance degradation. Hence with the present invention a solution is provided to resolve this.

[0082] A cubble according to the present invention is or can be imagined as a Cartesiancoordinates based cube with an additional dimension of time added to it, which is represented by at least one parameter added to the cube. The parameter preferably has a limited validity, for example a timer. Akin to a soap bubble, a cubble “bursts” if there is a change, especially a “significant change”, endemic to the cubble or its burst-timer has run out. A burst advantageously triggers the rebuild of the cubble. A rebuild is preferably achieved by acquiring latest data from the sensors monitoring the cubble. In other words, a cubble according to the present invention is or can be advantageously described as a container for a bunch / set of foundational spatial layer units (FSLII: Foundational Spatial Layer Units), be it points in a point-cloud, Voxels or other fundamental units that describe a non-zero volume of space in a spatial system that is used as its foundation.

[0083] With a change, especially a "significant change”, according to the present invention the resolution of the hybrid point cloud map is determined. The resolution is limited by the sensors on one end and dictated by the use case on the other. For example, the cubble can only be as small as the change that can be detected by the sensors and equal to larger than the FSLUs used for the hybrid point cloud map according to the present invention, especially the respective use-case. Higher resolution usually means a need for higher computing power and / or time to compute. If the sensors monitoring the cubble out-resolve the use-case, then the resolution could be reduced to suite the use-case and thus save on resources, for example computing, time, energy, bandwidth, latency, or the like. According to the present invention advantageously a foundation spatial-layer (FSL: Foundation Spatial-Layer) is chosen according to the respective use-case. In most use cases the FSL would consist of vision-based point cloud consisting of points that do not change over a significant amount of time. For example, an FSL for a home use case would consist of a point cloud representing walls, fixed structures and furniture that is not moved often. If we assume that a cubble is 1 cubic meter, all the spatial points that form the FSL are new grouped under this cubble (FSLC: FSL Cubble). Adjacent non-overlapping isometric FSLCs are now / then placed all around this initial cubble so as to fill the room. These cubbies can now / then be locked in the hybrid point cloud map temporarily, for example by authorised entities inside the system to make changes. For example, if some furniture is moved, or a wall broken down, the sensors detect the change, either during or after depending on the temporal resolution dictated by the respective use case, and a cubble burst is triggered. The rebuild cubble procedure might now / then choose to engage multiple sensors to rebuild the cubble. In summary the present invention advantageously provides a continuous spatial cubbies formed out of FSL which can be modified / re-formed without the entire map being rebuilt when there is a change. A FSLC can advantageously be programmed to burst at regular intervals, external triggers or internal triggers.

[0084] Once the concept of FSLC is established, advantageously additional spatial layers can build up that envelope the FSLC. According to the proposed solution, additional spatial layers could advantageously also be in the form of cubbies, referred to as higher layer spatial cubble (HLSC: Higher Layer Spatial Cubble). Any layer above the FSLC could advantageously be non-contiguous as long as they are anchored to a FSLC. A HLSC preferably could overlap other HSLC / HSLCs either of its own kind (Modal / Medium) or other kinds (Modal / Medium). A HSLC is preferably not bound to be contiguous or isometric either. A HSLC preferably need not conform to a cubical structure nor a sphere, and can have any shape with defined confines which can be mathematically and / or spatially described. When an FSLC bursts, all the HSLCs anchored / associated with it preferably also burst. It is upon the system to determine if these HSLCs need to be rebuilt or not. An HSLC according to the present invention cannot exist without a corresponding FSLC that is anchored to / associated with. For example, a spatial thermal layer constructed with the help of IR sensors form a floating cubble and this IR cubble is now anchored to a FSLC. In a typical use case, the sizes of the floating cubbies formed by additional spatial layers that are not FSLC are larger than the cubble that they are anchored to. For example, in an outdoor scenario where the outlet of an industrial chimney is part of the FSLC, the spatial heat map around the FSLC could constitute one large HLSB made of spatial data from IR sensors. The relative position of the HSLC to the FSLC is advantageously configurable.

[0085] Advantageously the solution according to the present invention does not impose any restrictions on the size, shape, position or lifetime of a HSLC. Some implementations preferably could impose restrictions on the attributes of the HSLC for the sake of simplicity, computational and / or energy efficiency. These restrictions are advantageously envisaged to include some of the following:

[0086] - Size & shape: A HSLC shall advantageously be the same size as the FSLC it is anchored to. A HSLC shall be in integer multiples of cube of the FSLC. A HSLC shall not be less than the size of a FSLC. A HSLC is restricted to either the shape of a cube or a sphere.

[0087] - Position: A HSLC advantageously is centred on its FSLC anchor. HSLC shall be within the confines of an FSLC. HSLCs shall always envelope its corresponding FSLC. A HSLC shall be in the same physical location of the FSLC.

[0088] - Association and anchors: Multiple HSLCs could advantageously be anchored to an FSLC. An HSLC can be anchored to only one FSLC.

[0089] - Timeline: A HSLC advantageously could also have an internal independent burst timer upon whose expiration, the HSLC bursts and the system decides if it needs to be rebuilt.

[0090] Once the concept of FSLC and HSLC are established, advantageously additional abstraction of sectors could be implemented. FLSCs according to the proposed solution especially are isometric, contiguous, and cubical and arranged in space so that there is no spatial gap between them. In fact, the edges of each FSLC is advantageously monitored by adjacent FSLC, thereby changes in one might trigger a change in the neighbouring FSLCs. A sector according to the present invention is a construct to encompass a group of FSLCs. Sectors according to the present invention gives flexibility of disparate resolution in space. For example, in a museum where one space is dedicated to huge objects, the size of the FSLCs could be large as large objects might not need a higher resolution of FSLCs whereas in the same museum an adjacent room could have tiny artefacts which might need a higher resolution / density of FSLCs to monitor. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the resolution inside each FSLC per sector is uniform. Some properties of individual FSLCs can advantageously be changed en mass by changing the properties of the sector. Many properties of the Cubble that reside inside the sector can advantageously be tied to sector properties thus gaining efficiencies. For example, a burst time or timer start can be set for an entire sector thus gaining efficiencies. The shape of the sector is determined by boundary of the FLSCs that are associated with it. Sectors cannot be discontinuous in space as all the FSLCs contained therein should be navigable by conceptual point from and to any FLSC within / associated-with the sector. In summary the sector according to the present invention can acquire any shape as long as it is continuous within its volumetric boundaries. Within a sector, an FSLC or FSLCs are advantageously immovable. As in, their spatial co-ordinates with respect to the sector remain advantageously the same. Programmatically their volumetric address is preferably constant within the confines of the sector.

[0091] Once the concept of sector is implemented, advantageously additional abstraction of sectors could be implemented with an additional abstraction of Domains. Domains according to the present invention are advantageously containers of sectors. Sectors can move around in a domain without overlapping each other volumetrically. Domains can advantageously contain multiple sectors and there is preferably no restriction on the number of sectors per domain.

[0092] Once the concept of Domain is implemented, advantageously an additional abstraction of a volumatrix could be implemented. A volumatrix according to the present invention is a grid that is anchored to the planet. Finally, according to the present invention a FSLC must belong to a sector, a sector must belong to a Domain and a Domain must belong to a volumatrix.

[0093] Since Multimodal-Multimedium-Spatial maps, in most use cases, cannot afford to have system-wide layers update, especially as in most use cases, layers are continually accessed, and entire layer / layers cannot be locked by a single entity for a longer period of time without risking user inconvenience, malfunction, slowdown or other performance degradation, a further preferred embodiment of the present invention advantageously provides differential-update with cubbies. According to the present invention a virtual cube or other form of volume, hereinafter called “Planetrix” with each side measuring respectively corresponding for example 100.000 Kilometres is placed in space in such a way that the earth is inside it and the centre of the earth is also the centre of the Planetrix. One of the axes of the Planetrix preferably aligns with the axis of rotation of earth. The Planetrix is preferably locked to the earth spatially which means that the Planetrix rotates along with the Earth with the same rotational speed. The Planetrix is then advantageously divided into for example 1.000 equal cubes hereinafter called “PnetCells”. A PnetCell according to the present invention is advantageously an addressable cube shaped space inside the Planetrix. A PnetCell could be empty or occupied by a domain.

[0094] A domain according to the present invention is a cube the size of a PnetCell. Domains advantageously fit in a PnetCell and share the coordinates of a PnetCell upon creation. Domains according to the present invention can advantageously move from one PnetCell to another in any direction but not out to the Planetrix. A Domain according to the present invention further advantageously cannot overlap another domain spatially at the same instance when moving or when-stationary / at- rest. A domain's position is determined by locating in which PnetCell its origin coordinates rest, for example coordinates like [0,0,0], A domain according to the present invention is advantageously divided into 1.000 equal cubes called “DomainCells”. A DomainCell according to the present invention is advantageously an addressable cube shaped space inside the domain. A DomainCell could be empty or occupied by a sector.

[0095] A sector according to the present invention is advantageously a cube the size of a DomainCell. Sectors advantageously fit in a DomainCell and share the coordinates of a DomainCell upon creation. Sectors can move from one DomainCell to another in any direction but not out to the Domain. A Sector cannot overlap another Sector spatially at the same instance when moving or when- stationary / at-rest. A Sector's position is determined by locating in which DomainCell its origin co-ordinates rest, for example [0,0,0], A Sector is divided into 1000 equal cubes called SectorCells. A SectorCell is an addressable cube shaped space inside the Sector. A SectorCell could be empty or occupied by a Cubble.

[0096] As stated and explained before, a cubble can be imagined as a Cartesiancoordinates based cube with an additional dimension of time added to it. Akin to a soap bubble, it “bursts” if there a "significant” change endemic to the cubble or its burst-timer has run out. A burst triggers the rebuild of the cubble. A rebuild is usually achieved by acquiring latest data from the sensors monitoring the cubble. In other words, a cubble according to the present invention is a container for a bunch / set of foundational spatial layer units (FSLLI), be it points in a point-cloud, Voxels, gaussian splats, or other fundamental units that describe a non-zero volume of space in a spatial system that is used as its foundation. As stated and explained before, the "significant” term determines the resolution of the system. The resolution is limited by the sensors on one end and dictated by the use case on the other. The cubble for example can advantageously only be as small as the change that can be detected by the sensors and equal to larger than the FSLUs used for the system / use-case.

[0097] As stated and explained before, higher resolution usually means a need for higher computing power and / or time to compute. If the sensors monitoring the cubble out- resolve the use-case, then the resolution could advantageously be reduced to suite the use-case and thus save on resources, especially computing, time, energy, bandwidth, latency and / or the like. A cubble advantageously is the smallest unit of spatial resolution of the system. Cubbies are preferably cubical spaces that are monitored by sensors. Like a bubble, the cubble bursts if a significant change is triggered from inside or outside. A burst could advantageously trigger action by the system agents like monitors, editors, owners, readers, builders.

[0098] In summary a cubble system according to the present invention is advantageously a Spatially Locked Cubic Framework for Earth-Centric Spatial Management. The Planetrix according to the present invention is advantageously a spatially locked cubic framework encompassing Earth, designed to facilitate precise spatial management and / or monitoring. The Planetrix, with each side for example measuring 100.000 kilometres, is centred on Earth and advantageously rotates synchronously with it. The framework is advantageously divided into smaller addressable units called PnetCells, Domains, DomainCells, Sectors, SectorCells, and Cubbies, each serving distinct roles in spatial resolution and / or management. The framework preferably comprising:

[0099] Planetrix: o The Planetrix is a cube with each side measuring 100,000 kilometres. o It is positioned in space such that Earth is at its centre, with one axis aligned with Earth's rotational axis. o The Planetrix rotates in sync with Earth, maintaining a fixed spatial relationship.

[0100] • PnetCells: o The Planetrix is subdivided into 1 ,000 equal cubic units called PnetCells. o Each PnetCell is an addressable cubic space within the Planetrix. o PnetCells can be either empty or occupied by Domains.

[0101] • Domains: o A Domain is a cube the size of a PnetCell. o Domains are created within PnetCells and initially share the coordinates of the PnetCell that they are spawned within. o Domains can move between PnetCells but cannot exit the Planetrix. o Domains cannot spatially overlap with other Domains either at rest or motion. o The position of a Domain is determined by the coordinates of its origin within a PnetCell. o Each Domain is further divided into 1 ,000 equal cubic units called DomainCells.

[0102] • DomainCells: o A DomainCell is an addressable cubic space within a Domain. o DomainCells can be either empty or occupied by Sectors.

[0103] • Sectors: o A Sector is a cube the size of a DomainCell. o Sectors are created within DomainCells and share the coordinates of the DomainCell at the time of creation. o Sectors can move between DomainCells but cannot exit the Domain. o Sectors cannot spatially overlap with other Sectors either at rest or in motion. o The position of a Sector is determined by the coordinates of its origin within a particular DomainCell. o Each Sector is further divided into 1 ,000 equal cubic units called SectorCells.

[0104] • SectorCells: o A SectorCell is an addressable cubic space within a Sector. o SectorCells can be either empty or occupied by cubbies.

[0105] • Cubbies: o A Cubble is the smallest unit of spatial resolution within the system. o Cubbies are cubic spaces monitored by sensors. o A Cubble can "burst" if a significant change is detected. o A burst triggers actions by system agents such as monitors, editors, owners, readers, and builders. According to the present invention the advantageously immovable Framework using Cubbies is used for optimisation and efficiencies. According to the present invention a Temporally-Stable-Layer (TSL) is chosen according to the respective use-case. In most use cases the TSL would consist of vision-based point cloud consisting of points that do not change over a significant amount of time. For example, a TSL for a home use case would consist of a point cloud representing walls, fixed structures and furniture that is not moved often. Assumed that a Cubble is for example 1 cubic meter, all the spatial points that form the TSL are new grouped under this Cubble [TSLC]. Adjacent nonoverlapping isometric TSLCs are now placed all around this initial Cubble so as to fill the room. These Cubbies can now be locked in the system temporarily by authorised entities inside the system to make changes. For example, if some furniture is moved, or a wall broken down, the sensors detect the change (either during or after depending on the temporal resolution dictated by the use case) and a cubble burst is triggered. The rebuild cubble procedure might now choose to engage multiple sensors to rebuild the cubble in its new configuration.

[0106] In summary, a continuous spatial cubbies formed out of TSL are given, which advantageously can be modified / re-formed without the entire map being rebuilt when there is a change. A TSLC can be programmed to burst at regular intervals, external triggers or internal triggers.

[0107] Once the concept of TSLC is established, additional spatial layers can be build up on this concept to have additional spatial layers that advantageously envelope the TSLC. According to the present invention additional spatial layers could also be in the form of cubbies, hereinafter referred to a higher layer spatial Cubble (HLSC). Any layer above the TSLC could advantageously be non-contiguous as long as they are anchored to a TSLC. A HLSC could advantageously overlap other HSLC / HSLCs either of its own kind (Modal / Medium) or other kinds (Modal / Medium). A HSLC is not bound to be contiguous or isometric either. A HSLC preferably need not conform to a cubical structure nor a sphere, any shape with defined confines which can be mathematically and / or spatially described, is advantageously a possibility. When a TSLC bursts, preferably all the HSLCs anchored / associated with it also burst. It is advantageously upon the system to determine if these HSLCs need to be rebuilt or not. An HSLC, in the proposed system preferably cannot exist without a corresponding TSLC that is anchored to / associated with. For example, as stated before, a spatial thermal layer constructed with the help of IR sensors form a floating cubble and this IR cubble is now anchored to a TSLC. In a typical use case, the size of the floating cubbies formed by additional spatial layers that not TSLC are larger than the cubble that they are anchored to. For example, in an outdoor scenario where the outlet of an industrial chimney if part of the TSLC, the spatial heat map around the TSLC could constitute a one large HLSB made of spatial data from IR sensors. The relative position of the HSLC to the TSLC is advantageously configurable.

[0108] The proposed solutions according to the present invention do not, as stated before, impose any restrictions on the size, shape, position or lifetime of a HSLC. Some implementations could impose restrictions on the attributes of the HSLC for the sake of simplicity, computational or energy efficiency. These restrictions are preferably envisaged to include some of the following:

[0109] • Size & shape: A HSLC shall be the same size as the TSLC it is anchored to. A HSLC shall be in integer multiples of cube of the TSLC. A HSLC shall not be less than the size of a TSLC. A HSLC is restricted to either the shape of a cube or a sphere.

[0110] • Position: A HSLC is centred on its TSLC anchor. HSLC shall be within the confines of a TSLC. HSLCs shall always envelope its corresponding TSLC. A HSLC shall be in the same physical location of the TSLC.

[0111] • Association and anchors: Multiple HSLCs could be anchored to a TSLC. An HSLC can be anchored to only one TSLC.

[0112] • Timeline: HSLC could also have an internal independent burst timer upon whose expiration, the HSLC bursts and the system decides if it needs to be rebuilt.

[0113] Once the concept of TSLC and HSLC are established, additional abstraction of sectors is proposed to build upon. TSLCs according to the present invention are preferably isometric, contiguous, cubical and / or arranged in space so that there is no spatial gap between them. In fact, the edges of each TSLC is monitored by adjacent TSLCs. Thereby changes in one might trigger a change in the neighbouring TSLCs. A sector is a construct to encompass a group of TSLCs. Sectors thus gives flexibility of disparate resolution in space. For example, in a museum where one space is dedicated to huge objects, the size of the TSLCs could be large as large objects might not need a higher resolution of TSLCs whereas in the same museum an adjacent room could have tiny artifacts which might need a higher resolution / density of TSLCs to monitor. The resolution inside each TSLC per sector is preferably uniform.

[0114] Some properties of individual TSLCs can advantageously be changed en mass by changing the properties of the sector. Many properties of the cubble that reside inside the sector can be tied to sector properties thus advantageously gaining efficiencies. For example, a burst time or timer start can be set for an entire sector thus gaining efficiencies.

[0115] For example the following use cases are given according to the present invention:

[0116] • Logistics and Transportation: o Navigation: Improve the accuracy of GPS and other navigation systems. o Traffic Management: Monitor and manage air, sea, and land traffic within the Planetrix according to the present invention.

[0117] • Geospatial Monitoring and Management: o Environmental Monitoring: Track changes in climate, deforestation, and natural disasters with high precision. o Urban Planning: Assist in the development and management of smart cities by providing detailed spatial data.

[0118] • Telecommunications: o Satellite Coordination: Optimize the placement and movement of satellites within the Planetrix to improve communication networks. o Signal Management: Enhance the accuracy and efficiency of signal transmission and reception. • Defence and Security: o Surveillance: Monitor specific regions for security threats or unauthorized activities including home, state, country, satellite, naval and ariel. o Strategic Planning: Aid in the deployment and movement of defence assets.

[0119] • Scientific Research: o Astronomy: Provide a stable framework for space telescopes and other observational instruments. o Geophysics: Study Earth's physical properties and processes with high spatial resolution both on the surface and underground.

[0120] • Resource Management: o Mining and Drilling: Optimize the extraction of natural resources by precisely locating and monitoring drilling sites. o Agriculture: Enhance precision farming techniques by monitoring crop health and soil conditions.

[0121] • Healthcare: o Epidemiology: Track the spread of diseases and manage public health responses. o Emergency Services: Coordinate disaster response efforts with precise location data including land (under / over), water (under / over) and air.

[0122] • Entertainment and Virtual Reality: o Gaming: Create immersive virtual environments that align with real-world locations. o Augmented Reality: Enhance AR applications with accurate spatial data.

[0123] These use cases respectively applications highlight the versatility and potential impact of the Planetrix system according to the present invention in improving various aspects of life on Earth. The cubble concept according to the present invention provides in its hierarchical, Earth-centric cubic structure, synchronous rotation with Earth, and the detailed subdivision into addressable units, preferably PnetCells, Domains, DomainCells, Sectors, SectorCells, and Cubbies. This structure according to the present invention advantageously allows for precise spatial management and / or monitoring.

[0124] The solution according to the present invention can advantageously easily extend to encompass the solar system and beyond. As an example, if a so called HelioMatrix is assumed, in which the Sun is placed in the centre of the cube and the side of the cube extends to cover the Kuiper belt for example.

[0125] The solution according to the present invention advantageously also work if the fundamental structures were different than cubes. Cubes have especially been used here for ease of understanding and explanation. For example, the HelioMatrix could be shaped a slice of a cube, thick enough to accommodate the orbits of all objects orbiting the sun but wide enough to accommodate the Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). The Kuiper Belt Objects are small astronomical bodies which are theorised to be remnants from whence Solar System formed. A mixture of shapes could advantageously be used according to the respective use case needs. The number of subdivisions per abstraction could advantageously vary as per the use case. The 1 .000 number of subdivisions / cubes has been stated here for clarity and ease of explaining only and is not limiting the present invention.

[0126] According to the present invention the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface and / or directly to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). Advantageously the at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to subscribe to the hub interface to be informed about the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters in case the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters is provided to the hub interface. Capabilities of a vehicle (VAISAM) or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) according to the present invention advantageously are:

[0127] - hardware capabilities, as for example storage capacity or computing power, e.g. CPU performance, clock frequency, data transmission bus system, and / or the like hardware capabilities;

[0128] - sensing capabilities, as for example heat or moisture sensing, movement or velocity sensing, and / or the like sensing capabilities;

[0129] - capabilities to scan or analyze the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example. The scanning and / or analyzing could be done, e.g. by a camera, e.g. optical and / or UV- / IR camera, LIDAR, ultrasonic, x-ray, echo sounder, or also by performing a chemical or medical probing or analyzing of the environment / surrounding of a vehicle for example; and / or

[0130] - capabilities with regard to communication and / or positioning of the vehicle (VAISAM) or the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

[0131] In a further embodiment of the present invention the vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to subscribe to the hub interface to be informed about the information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), in case the information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is provided to the hub interface.

[0132] The hub interface advantageously is configured to receive sensor data or information with regard to sensor data from at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to provide the at least one feature, capability and / or parameter defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters (respectively an information item with regard to the at least one feature, capability and / or parameter defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters) to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). Advantageously the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters directly to one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) within the area / space allocated to the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

[0133] With regard of computation the present invention advantageously suggests for enabling collaboration between a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), that a first vehicle (VAISAM) V1 having a first set of features, capabilities and / or parameters; a second vehicle (VAISAM) V2 having a second set of features, capabilities and / or parameters; and a hub device (PNVEHD), which is a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) providing the hub interface, communicatively connected to vehicle (VAISAM) V1 and vehicle (VAISAM) V2. Advantageously each participating vehicle (VAISAM) and transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) advertises its computing features, capabilities, headroom and / or optionally price per compute unit (one compute unit for example could be 1 GFLOPS for 1 sec) to the hub device (PNVEHD) during a registration process, which is described later below. Features according to the present invention can advantageously be the type of a computing resource offered. Any participating entity is allowed to update its own set of computing features, capabilities, and headroom while connected to the hub device (PNVEHD). This advantageously allows temporal variance of features, capabilities, and headroom which is necessary in a dynamic environment where external parameters are changing and harder to predict. As an example, if assumed that vehicle (VAISAM) V1 has lower computing capabilities (low-end), the hub device (PNVEHD) has higher computing capabilities and vehicles (VAISAM) V2 has just enough computing capabilities to manage on its own even in crisis situations, which means it does have some computational headroom in normal circumstances. Their current capacity to take on additional load is advantageously updated periodically, and the status advantageously maintained in the hub device (PNVEHD). Assuming vehicle (VAISAM) V1 is in a route planning mode and needs additional computing resources requests the hub device PNVEHD for the same. The hub device (PNVEHD) responds and allocates the requested computing resources to the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 if it has spare computing resources. Advantageously, if the hub device (PNVEHD) doesn’t have any computing resources at the moment, it will look up a list of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and vehicles (VAISAMs) that are connected to it to check if any of them have registered to have compute as an advertised feature. In the present example it finds vehicle (VAISAM) V2 as a candidate. The hub device (PNVEHD) will advantageously communicatively confirm with vehicle (VAISAM) V2 about the available computing resource and if an affirmative response is received. The hub device (PNVEHD) will then transfer the request from vehicle (VAISAM) V1 to vehicle (VAISAM) V2. The vehicles (VAISAMs) V1 and V2 can now advantageously initiate a peer-to-peer communication to service the vehicle’s (VAISAM’s) VTs request for compute for this particular session. In most cases this is advantageously done using a secure token or for example a so called blockchain for communications.

[0134] Thus the hub device (PNVEHD) according to the present invention advantageously allows distributed computation across vehicles (VAISAMs) and transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). The least capable vehicle (VAISAM) - or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) - can advantageously now participate in the collaborative experience making use of the compute capabilities of the other vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) around it. A participating vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) can advantageously refresh it capabilities and announce it to the quorum via the hub device (PNVEHD), for example when a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) must lower its computing power due to low energy or thermals or its computing resources are already engaged with other vehicles (VAISAMs).

[0135] Advantageously there is an opportunity for each transaction can be monetized. In the example above, vehicle (VAISAM) V2 not only advertises its capabilities but a fee for the same which is stored as part of the look-up table, database and / or information, preferred during registration. During the resource request from vehicle (VAISAM) V1 , the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 could advantageously choose the computing resource that it suits best for its current situation. This advantageously enables micro transactions and value exchange at a transaction level if need be.

[0136] Advantageously a subset of participants, with appropriate agreement could implement a virtual hub interface that spans several entities. For example at a charging station several computers that may have a disparate computing capability could pool their resources to expose a hub interface to vehicle (VAISAMs) to utilise, for example for in vehicle gaming, entertainment and / or the like. In another example a swarm of drones hovering over a disaster zone could pool their resources and expose a hub interface to the traffic below for efficient evacuation, in situations where regular traffic controls have been disrupted.

[0137] Advantageously the hub interface / hub device is further configured to receive, from the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), an image and / or image stream captured by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), to determine, based on the image and / or image stream, a position of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and to provide, to at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) the determined position.

[0138] With regard of position and / or localisation the present invention advantageously suggests for enabling collaboration between a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that a VAISAM (V1 ) traversing through traffic; a PNVE (C1 ); and a hub interface, especially provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) which is also a PNVE (PNVEHD). PNVE (C1 ) is a camera that scans their surroundings. PNVE (C1 ) is communicatively connected to the hub interface. Advantageously the area under scan is used for localisation and mapping. The hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) obtains its own position and localisation using well known techniques and methods irrespective of whether it is an indoor or an outdoor scenario. A hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) according to the present invention can advantageously be assigned a position passively (for example via hard coding or manual entry) depending on the use case and need not resort to active techniques (for example constant mapping and / or GPS) to redetermine the position and localisation if the use case doesn’t warrant the same. For example, in the case of the hub device (PNVEHD) at a known traffic intersection whose position can be accurately determined during installation and configured in the hub device (PNVEHD), as traffic intersections themselves are not assumed to move. Once the hub device (PNVEHD) has positioned and localised itself, it advantageously builds a volumetric map (for example a point cloud) of the area respectively space that it intends to monitor and survey SUS (Space under Survey). The frequency at which the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) requests the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE) C1 for an update to refresh the volumetric map advantageously depends on the use-case and / or needs for this.

[0139] According to the present invention the vehicle (VAISAM) that connects to the hub interface (PNVEHD) advantageously undergoes registration before beginning regular operation. The registration is advantageously a process where respectively when the vehicle (VAISAM) adds its identification and feature capability to a list or database held in a hub device (PNVEHD). Once the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD) accepts the vehicle (VAISAM) on the list or database, the vehicle (VAISAM) is able to access the data and advantageously to contribute to the data on the hub interface, especially on the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0140] The registration process may advantageously involve many parameters governing security, access levels, priority, bandwidth and / or the like, which can advantageously be used by a monetary tool. For example, an autonomous car or drone could be unregistered and identical in most respects to the other car or drone that come out of the production line. A registration happens when the vehicle (VAISAM) is assigned an identity or owner. This is akin to inserting a SIM in a mobile phone or a car registered with a license plate.

[0141] According to the present invention the vehicle (VAISAM) that connects to the interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), advantageously undergoes a process of initialisation. Initialisation is a procedure that precedes the registration. Initialisation typically is expected to happen when the vehicle (VAISAM) is powered up after a shutdown. The credentials are maintained at the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), and when connected to a suitable hub device (PNVEHD), the vehicle (VAISAM) advantageously can request the latest set of data which advantageously may include the position and localisation. Thus an initialisation is the process of a vehicle (VAISAM) ready to enter the traffic actively. The vehicle (VAISAM) advantageously may opt to update its own status and resource availability during such a procedure.

[0142] Extending the previous example in registration, in this the autonomous car or drone is registered and then powered down temporarily. After the power up, car or drone starts a search for a hub interface, especially a hub device (PNVEHD), in its vicinity. In principle similar respectively comparable to how mobile phones find a suitable cellular mobile phone tower to communicate as part of their initialisation process. Advantageously a vehicle (VAISAM) finds a suitable hub device (PNVEHD) based on existing cellular procedures known from and given by mobile telecommunications networks, for example when a phone with a suitable active SIM within is switched on. The initialization advantageously consists of a vehicle (VAISAM) first powering itself on under user’s behest or at a predetermined time as set by the manufacturer, OEM or any other authorised entity that has initialisation credentials to the vehicle (VAISAM). Once authenticated, the vehicle (VAISAM) is considered to be communicatively connected to the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0143] In a further embodiment of the present invention the hub interface is advantageously configured to receive location related information from the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to create a map, preferably a point cloud map, including positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

[0144] Advantageously the hub interface is configured to control the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to collaboratively operate in a point cloud generation, especially for creating a map, preferably a point cloud map according to the present invention.

[0145] Advantageously the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 connects to the hub interface (PNVEHD) and requests for position and localisation information. On the vehicle’s (VAISAM’s) V1 request, the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD), now provides the latest map and / or its own position with respect to the map. If localisation is requested by the vehicle (VAISAM), the vehicle (VAISAM) advantageously can use exiting techniques like time of flight, to localise itself given the now known position of the hub device (PNVEHD). If mapping service is requested, the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), shares the latest volumetric map created by the data obtained by a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), for example C1 and C2. This advantageously enables the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 to obtain the map of surroundings through which it plans to traverse without scanning it all over again. This advantageously reduces the time for the vehicle (VAISAM) to begin its journey and the need to do a SLAM to position and localise itself. Advantageously if the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 also has the ability to scan and create a map, it can now instead use the difference between the map shared by respectively via the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD), and its own to traverse or interact with the entities in the traffic. Advantageously if the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 rescans the surroundings it can share its data back to the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD). The hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) in turn advantageously may use this data to update or enhance aspects of the map (like spatial resolution for example) that it stores and / or is in control of. Advantageously for a more precise localisation, if the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2 are also capable of beacon feature and know their own location, the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) advantageously can request the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2 for a timed beacon. This could be a single burst (for example beacon id, location) or a sequence of bursts that could now be used by the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 to localise itself using well known triangulation methods for example. Advantageously any participant in the example can implement the hub interface and assume the mantle of a hub to facilitate traffic.

[0146] Advantageously, once a vehicle (VAISAM) V1 has localised itself, it can offer to localise another vehicle (VAISAM) V2 which may be sharing the collaboration space. For example, in a swarm of drones or a, if one of the drones happens to localise itself, the entire swarm could localise themselves relative to the localised drone. The same example applies to a fleet of cars or ships, boats or underwater vehicles. This increases the efficiency of the solutions according to the present invention.

[0147] Advantageously, a hub device (PNVEHD) can itself be mobile and need not have a fixed location or position as long as it refreshes its position and localisation with a frequency to match the use case. According to a preferred embodiment of the present depending on the use case needs, a hub interface, especially a hub device (PNVEHD), advantageously could maintain a multi-modal volumetric map and / or data according to the present invention, especially if there are transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and / or vehicles (VAISAMs) that are communicatively connected to the hub interface (PNVEHD) share information or items of information, that especially are non-spatial, but those values and parameters can be anchored to the spatial coordinates. For example, infrared information can be anchored to spatial coordinates if the use case involves drones traversing through off-shore rigs need to avoid chimneys that exude hot gases.

[0148] Advantageously, a hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) can be communicatively connected to a multitude of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), depending on the use case to generate a high-resolution or dense spatial map. Some transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) advantageously could differ in their input than purely imaging transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that enabling the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) to build multimodal spatial maps if necessary.

[0149] Advantageously, multiple hub devices (PNVEHDs) could be communicatively connected to each other to extend and expand the CUS and / or SUS. That especially allowing efficiencies to be had at a larger scale. This is similar respectively comparable to the cellular base-stations seamlessly allowing mobile users move from one location to the other, including roaming and / or handover scenarios.

[0150] With regard of mapping and prediction the present invention advantageously suggests for enabling collaboration between a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), for example two VAISAMs Viand V2 traversing through traffic; eight transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) (C1 to C8) that monitor the traffic (for example with a camera); and a hub interface, preferably a hub device (PNVEHD) which is also a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). The transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 , C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 are communicatively connected to hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD). Advantageously the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), is aware of the position of all the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) connected to it and the direction they are monitoring. Collectively the area covered by transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 to C8 advantageously forms a circle or preferably a Cubble that is under surveillance (CUS) with vehicles (VAISAMs) and NCEs (non collaborative entities) entering and exiting the said Cubble. Advantageously vehicles (VAISAMs) are communicatively connected to the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), as soon as they enter the CUS for example. Since NCEs which are part of traffic are also monitored by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 to C8 observing the CUS, the mapping and prediction is improved, especially with regard to safety reasons.

[0151] Advantageously transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 to C8 share their information and / or data, preferably a video stream, with the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD). This enables the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) to construct a dynamic volumetric map, preferably a point cloud, with VAISAMs, NCEs, PNVEs and NPOs as part of the said map. A NPO according to the present invention is a non-participating, non-collaborative object that is not part of the regular traffic. Knowing the position, direction of travel, speed and acceleration, algorithms and mechanisms exist for prediction. Collaborating VAISAMs which are fully autonomous or situationally autonomous (for example in autonomous mode inside CUS) would then receive instructions to for example either slowdown, speed up or change direction to travel. Irrespective of their collaboration from NCEs, algorithms exist to predict the trajectory of entities within an acceptable margin as they are monitored. The acceptable margin is set according to parameters set by external entities owning, influencing and / or controlling the respective entity. With regard solutions according to the present invention, especially the system for enabling collaboration between vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs).

[0152] Advantageously with regard to solutions according to the present invention, especially the system for enabling collaboration between vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) this increases the efficiency by continues mapping and prediction which results in benefits from collision avoidance, better predictability, transparency at blind-spots, fuel respectively energy optimisation, traffic control and / or the like to name a few. For example, a VAISAM maybe instructed to traverse a traffic junction at high speed without slowing down at the crossroads when the system knows that there are no risks of collision. This optimizes energy, time and / or wear and tear of parts for example. These instructions would be typical in traffic intersections or in extraordinary cases like accidents or even to make way for emergency vehicles to pass though.

[0153] Advantageously in another instantiation, the position and direction of the cameras C1 and C2 of the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) could be determined by another method and stored in the hub interface (PNVEHD), instead of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2 being aware of their own position and direction. Thus, the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2 need not be self-aware of their own position and direction. Thus potentially reducing their costs. One of the methods that could be employed for is to externally determine location and direction during installation of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2. For example, a city might decide to install transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 and C2 in fixed locations and facing specific directions as they do with traffic lights, thus rendering their position and direction known and constant in normal circumstances.

[0154] Advantageously vehicles (VAISAMs) that are endowed with sensors could communicatively share their sensor data which when combined with their position in a CUS can contribute to enhance the mapping and / or resolution of the spatial map of the system. Advantageously a video stream or a LIDAR stream is passed on to the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) which then advantageously analyses the data and decides if that input can be taken to enhance the existing spatial map for example. Advantageously a trust network of which vehicles (VAISAMs) can contribute to the spatial map for example is assumed. A trust mechanism involving the hub device (PNVEHD) and vehicles (VAISAMs) is preferred. In this instance, vehicles (VAISAMs) apart from traversing through the CUS for example also act as monitoring sensors akin to the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) C1 to C8. Advantageously, depending on the need, area coverage, density of traffic, spatial resolution and expected movement, the number of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) (cameras C1 to C8 in the present example) that monitor the traffic can either be decreased or increased to optimally serve the situation.

[0155] In another instantiation the monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) could advantageously cover not only a circle or preferably a Cubble of interest, but a sphere or any other space, especially any Euclidean or non-Euclidean space, in case of marine, arial or mixed traffic medium in these instances the CUS or SUS would transform to a space under surveillance (SUS). For example, a single lane road with sparse traffic could be monitored by a single camera or sensor, for example for a CUS, whereas monitoring a swarm of nano drones in addition to autonomous delivery drones of both arial and terrestrial kind, would call for higher resolution spatial mapping where roadside objects like dustbins would also need to be considered as significant NPOs and are advantageously mapped accordingly, for example for a SUS.

[0156] In another preferred instantiation, transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), for example cameras C1 to C8, need not be placed in fixed or established locations or positions for the present solution to work. Various methods can be used to derive or deduce the pose, position, location and directionality (as per need) of the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE) monitors dynamically. Preferably the proposed solution for mapping and prediction does not rely on geo-scale positioning rather relative positioning of the monitoring-PNVEs with respect to each other, and their ability to cover traffic in the area under monitoring.

[0157] One of the preferred methods for this would be to endow all the monitoring-PNVEs with global positioning technology like GPS, but may not be practical for all applications as the satellite assisted positioning systems typically need LOS or NLOS (LOS - line of sight) to an orbiting satellite cluster.

[0158] Another preferred method for derive or deduce the pose, position, location and directionality would be to endow the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) with a monitor, especially a camera, and / or visual marking on the monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) for relative positioning. This way the hub device (PNVEHD) can advantageously monitor the positions of the monitoring-PNVEs via a wide-angle camera for example and ascertain the position from where the signal feed is coming from, thus enabling the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) to build the spatial map. This way even if the monitoring-PNVEs are moving, the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) can compensate for that movement when constructing respectively reconstructing the spatial map. The advantage with this method is that the cost of the monitoring-PNVEs can be reduced and affords dynamisms in the placement of monitoring-PNVEs. This solution may advantageously be used where monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) cannot be anchored physically, for example, in a scenario where the monitoring-PNVEs are a combination of floating and underwater drones monitoring an ocean route. Vehicles (VAISAMs) could in this case be autonomous cargo ships, objects in nature - like icebergs and / or whales for example - and would be presented as NCEs. Depending on the rules set, for example by the authorities that have a claim over the area / space, appropriate actions can be executed.

[0159] Yet another preferred method for derive or deduce the pose, position, location and directionality would be signals, especially signals timed or with a time information, from monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) towards the hub device (PNVEHD) and / or each other. With the usage of existing TOF algorithms, relative positions of the monitoring transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) can advantageously be derived. Once the position from where the incoming sensor data is known, the hub device (PNVEHD) can build spatial map, for example with the help of existing and well known algorithms.

[0160] According to a further embodiment of the present invention the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD), is within the confines of the CUS or a SUS, but this is not a necessity as the hub interface can advantageously be instantiated irrespective of the physical location of a CUS or SUS.

[0161] Advantageously if the CUS is traversed only by VAISAMs in autonomous mode, then traffic lights or other illumination that have only helped humans may not be necessary just saving on energy and light pollution. Advantageously in combination with other sensors like wind, temperature, moisture, clouds, rain, natural disaster avoidance and risk mitigation could be built right into the solutions and especially the system according to the present invention.

[0162] Advantageously In another instantiation, if the CUS or SUS is limited to vehicles (VAISAMs) which are connected to a hub interface (PNVEHD) and announce their location and position periodically to the hub interface (PNVEHD), then prediction could be achieved without transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). An example of this instantiation would be for example a warehouse which is limited to Robots communicatively connected to a hub device (PNVEHD) providing the hub interface.

[0163] Advantageously transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) could be cameras operating at different electromagnetic wave lengths to suit the need of the use-case. Although the typical use case can be made for transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) being imaging sensors humans visual spectrum, Infrared (IR), Ultraviolet (UV) or other wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. The providing of these is advantageous in many use cases. Advantageously transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) could operate with non- electromagnetic technology like SONAR, pressure, proximity and / or the like.

[0164] With regard of feature deficiency and obsolescence the present invention advantageously suggests for enabling collaboration between a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that a VAISAM (V1 ) traversing through traffic and a PNVE (FP1 ) which is a fog penetrating camera. The solution according to the present invention allows the vehicle VAISAM V1 to use the data stream of a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) FP1 to safely traverse through inclement weather. Thus the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) FP1 by opening up its data stream to the vehicle (VAISAM) V1 in the CUS or SUS thus granting fog penetration feature to vehicle (VAISAM) V1 that did not have that feature on its own.

[0165] Advantageously the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) FP1 could open its data steam to more than one vehicle (VAISAM), thus benefiting the traffic in general. Advantageously transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) FP1 could be communicatively connected to a hub interface, especially a hub device (PNVEHD), described above with regard to mapping and prediction thus enabling the spatial map to be multimodal. This method would bestow the FPTs primary feature to vehicles (VAISAMs) communicatively connected to the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0166] Advantageously in the absence of a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE) - or by design - a vehicle (VAISAM) could implement a hub interface to open its sensor stream to other vehicles (VAISAMs) collocated in the traffic. This method could be deployed for example in a swarm where participating vehicles (VAISAMs) have disparate abilities and feature sets, and with the said proposal could benefit from feature sharing without the presence of a hub device (PNVEHD).

[0167] Advantageously hub devices (PNVEHDs) have and / or provide the requisite interfaces to collaborate with each other at least on a temporal basis. This results advantageously in a dynamic scenario where hub devices (PNVEHDs) as well as vehicles (VAISAMs) which implement the hub interface could dynamically enter and exit the CUS or SUS without impeding the traffic.

[0168] In another preferred example according to the present invention, an open parking / docking space which has the capability to host multiple vehicles (VAISAMS) could be equipped with cameras that have a view of the parking slots. Vehicles (VAISAMs) could advantageously request access to these camera streams to park precisely irrespective of the vehicle (VAISAM) having cameras, distance measurement sensors or other typical mechanisms used for parking / docking. According to the present invention this would even work if the vehicle (VAISAM) has outdated camera sensors, as it can now take advantage of the camera stream from the parking lot. This advantageously solves the challenge of obsolescence to a large extent. This solution according to the present invention when deployed over a large spaces (for example cities or countries) enables producers of vehicles (VAISAMs) to outsource many features thus reducing the cost, weight, energy-need of vehicles (VAISAMs) to operate. Hub devices (PNVEHDs) and transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) become part of the infrastructure, similar to the street lights of today to provide features to vehicles (VAISAMs) respectively their users when necessary, thus reducing or even eliminating the need for a vehicle (VAISAM) to carry a plethora of sensors and associated support hardware around, resulting in energy and space efficiency.

[0169] According to the present invention the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that connect to a hub interface, especially provided by a device (PNVEHD), advantageously undergo an initial phase of initialization and registration before beginning regular operation.

[0170] The initialization advantageously consists a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) first powering itself on under user’s behest.

[0171] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide a first set of features, capabilities and / or parameters - which advantageously comprise affordances of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), to the hub interface, especially provided by the device (PNVEHD), and / or directly to another vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). Advantageously by means of this, data can be communicated among clients, i.e. vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), through a publisher / subscriber-model (as an example) via the hub interface that advantageously may act as a central hub to establish the communication among clients, i.e. vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). According to a further embodiment of the present invention the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD), advantageously also maintains the status of each client, i.e. vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), and updates the others in the cohort accordingly.

[0172] According to a further embodiment of the present invention the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is advantageously configured to provide a second set of features, capabilities and / or parameters and at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to use at least one of the features, capabilities and / or parameters defined in the second set of features, capabilities and / or parameters.

[0173] The at least one vehicle (VAISAM) is communicatively connected to the hub interface by at least one of a wireless connection including a mobile radio network, especially according to 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC.

[0174] The at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is communicatively connected to the hub interface by at least one of a wireless connection including a mobile radio network, especially according to 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC; and / or a wired connection including optical fibers, metal, and / or Ethernet.

[0175] A communication between vehicles (VAISAMs) respectively a communication connection between vehicles (VAISAMs) and transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) is realised by at least one of a wireless connection including a mobile radio network, especially according to 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC.

[0176] A communication between transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) is realised by at least one of a wireless connection including a mobile radio network, especially according to 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC; and / or a wired connection including optical fibers, metal, and / or Ethernet.

[0177] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the registration procedure is advantageously facilitated with geo-fence or by geofencing, whereby a location can be determined via the mobile radio system at radio cell level or coordinate-based via a navigation satellite system, especially with regard of the area / space observed / monitored, when a vehicle enters this. The registration procedure can also be facilitated by Near Field Communication (NFC) or manual. Optionally or additionally the registration process between vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD), could be accomplished by other means of communication, including optical or wired exchange of information, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and / or RF protocols, preferably according to a mobile telecommunications standard, that enable the exchange of information.

[0178] According to a further embodiment of the present invention a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) that has already initialized and registered with the hub device (PNVEHD) and has gone into sleep mode, for example as part of energy saving features, advantageously re-initializes itself by sensing the physical movement of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) itself or the re-initialization of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) be triggered by onboard sensors of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) or the re-initialization of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) be triggered by a predetermined signal / message from the hub interface. According to a further embodiment of the present invention a re-registration albeit not necessarily, could advantageously be triggered by the hub interface, preferably depending on various factors like for example time elapsed since last activity, activity churn over time and / or the like.

[0179] According to a further preferred embodiment, a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) that gets registered with the hub interface, especially provided by the hub device (PNVEHD) is requested to conduct a mapping of the physical environment and submit the same to the hub interface. The hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD) then builds a volumetric representation of the physical surroundings, for example as a point cloud, in which it operates and tracks the registered vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). A point cloud or point cloud map in the sense of the present invention is a discrete set of data points in space, wherein each point position has its set of coordinates, i.e. Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z). The points may represent i.e. a 3D shape or object. A point cloud is a well-defined term, for example in the XR field comprising augmented reality (AR) devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, or mixed reality (MR) devices in an AR-, a VR-, and / or MR-space - hereafter also referred to as collaboration space. Advantageously, each of these points in turn may have their own set of properties which could include parameters like colour, luminosity, transparency and / or the like. The points could also have associative and / or reactive functions associated with them, for example, behaviour based on neighbouring points, reaction to interaction etc. Hence, when more than one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is present in a same physical space connected to a hub interface, especially a hub device (PNVEHD), challenges of the occlusion of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) for example can advantageously be resolved by combining sensor input from all vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) connected to the hub interface to form respectively create a point cloud respectively point cloud map by the hub interface. For this the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) advantageously makes use of algorithms like RANSAC (RandomSampleConsensus) and ICP (Iterative closest point). With enough participation of vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) this point cloud may advantageously be made a dynamic point cloud, and thus allows advantageously creating a digital twin of the real world for virtual objects to interact with. The more vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) join such collaborative process with the hub interface the better is the fidelity and resolution of such dynamic point cloud of the real world.

[0180] A further embodiment of the present invention provides optionally, that any additional vehicles (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that registers itself to the hub interface is requested to also conduct a mapping exercise, for example if the present mapping information is found inadequate in terms of completeness and / or resolution. This advantageously allows the hub interface to add to the point cloud map information, for example either to fill in the gaps, update or to increase the density or resolution of the existing point cloud map stored in the hub interface.

[0181] A further embodiment of the present invention provides optionally, that the point cloud map is represented and stored as polygons or voxels or a combination thereof. Preferably the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) optionally provides affordances to the user of a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to store in an either / or / and model for the point cloud maps. Each of these representations of the surrounding spatial features offers an advantage / com promise depending on the nature of the surrounding, available storage space and / or computational requirements. In the either / or / and model, the hub interface advantageously decides where to store the maps and / or associated date, preferably either in a local storage within the confines of the physical environment or in a cloud storage space. The decision is advantageously pre-configured, user defined, dynamic or Al-generated (Al: Artificial Intelligence). The decision as to where the generated maps are stored depends on various factors which includes but not limited to the nature of the application, latency requirements, security requirements, Privacy requirements, asset management, digital license and / or the like.

[0182] Advantageously the hub interface acts as a feature transmission medium between the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) joining the collaborative process with the hub device (PNVEHD), e.g. as a world origin for an environment scanned by a capable vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). A first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), having for example higher hardware capabilities, connects the hub interface, especially provided by a hub device (PNVEHD), registers itself to / with the hub interface and scans the environment. A second vehicle (VAISAM), having for example lower hardware capabilities, may also register itself to / with the hub interface but is restricted by its hardware, for example its camera, LIDAR (Light Imaging, Detection And Ranging) or the like, to a lower quality mapping. As the hub interface acts as the origin of the point cloud map, it advantageously transfers the higher quality point cloud map obtained from / with the first vehicle (VAISAM) to the second vehicle (VAISAM) and thus advantageously enhances the feature set of the second vehicle (VAISAM), also it has lower hardware capabilities, for example with regard to its camera, LIDAR or the like.

[0183] In a further embodiment of the present invention the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), is advantageously configured to receive location related information from the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to create a point cloud map including positions of the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). This is advantageous since e.g. a low-end device, i.e. the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), which may not have location and / or mapping functionality built-in, that might require certain capabilities in a collaboration space then can communicate with the hub interface to get the location related information from the hub interface, especially including the positions of the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) in the point cloud map. If, for example, a vehicle (VAISAM) needs such input at a particular spatial location for example, it can query the hub interface with a currently captured image as input, which could be sponsored by another vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). In response to this query the hub interface will localize the second vehicle (VAISAM) based on a point cloud map stored and transmits the queried features (image) to the second vehicle (VAISAM). Thus advantageously collaboration and distribution is given. Optionally or additionally the hub interface can store point cloud maps in a central repository or off the physical confines of the hub interface itself, but in a place where it has access to and can recall the data when needed.

[0184] According to a further preferred embodiment, the hub interface is therefore further configured to: receive, from a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), an image or image stream captured by the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE); determine, based on the image or image stream, a position of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE); and provide, to the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), the determined position. Accordingly, the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) can now determine its location without having a corresponding functionality on its own. In case there are more than one high-end devices (vehicles (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE)), all of such devices might provide obtained point cloud map data to the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD), which creates a global point cloud map using the same. The hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) may advantageously use various SLAM algorithms, such as ARKit, ARCore, Orb SLAM 3 or the like.

[0185] In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention optionally or additionally LIDAR, SONAR, TOF and / or other mechanisms and / or sensors can advantageously be used as an alternate and / or in conjunction with images or image streams for localization and / or mapping.

[0186] In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, in case the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) have similar capabilities, features and / or affordances, the mapping data obtained from the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is used to update and or enhance the point cloud map in terms of accuracy, density and / or filling gaps that an earlier mapping might have missed. Advantageously the map data could be enhanced by combining the data generated by the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), advantageously by using implementations such as, OctoMap (Hornung, A., Wurm, K.M., Bennewitz, M. et al. OctoMap: an efficient probabilistic 3D mapping framework based on octrees. Auton Robot 34, 189-206 (2013)).

[0187] Advantageously, if there are temporal differences between the maps generated by the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), the difference in data is used to locate and identify objects that have moved. If the frequency is suitably increased to match the application, a dynamic volumetric map with dynamic object movement mapping and prediction is achieved. The implementations of trajectory prediction, well known in the computer vision industry, is advantageously further used, preferably Kernel-based tracking and / or Contour tracking.

[0188] In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, in case the first vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) have disparate sensing capabilities, the mapping data obtained from the second vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is advantageously used to update and / or enhance the point cloud map in terms of accuracy, density and / or filling gaps that an earlier mapping might have missed. This is advantageously implemented with the widely available multi-sensor SLaM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) procedures and / or algorithms. Multi-Senor SLaM advantageously entails combining the output of various sensors like LIDAR, IR, UV, visual spectrum cameras, touch based sensors and / or the like, to generate a spatial map with higher fidelity and resolution than could be generated by the use of a single sensor. This can advantageously be implemented with existing well known multi-sensor SLaM algorithms like LIDAR-IMU based Loosely and tightly Coupled Systems.

[0189] A further embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) is configured to receive sensor data from a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to provide the at least one feature defined in the first set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to another vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

[0190] Advantageously, increased quality and / or performance are achieved by combining multiple sensor data from all vehicles (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE) connected to the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD).

[0191] A further advantageous embodiment of the present invention provides that the sensor data from only few vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) can be selected for processing depending on the capabilities, computing power requirements, energy optimization, range, user configuration, application need and / or the like.

[0192] In another preferred embodiment of the present invention the hub device (PNVEHD) itself may also have a sensor or an array of sensors to track the change of state in its physical environment and in its operational vicinity / range and extend various features to all the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that are registered with it. This advantageously comprises: movements of vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), heat, moisture, gaseous composition & content, and / or RF (RF: Radio Frequency) in its operation vicinity / range.

[0193] According to a preferred embodiment, when a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) registers to the hub interface it will be informed about the set of features - that is not present in or with the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) itself - that it can opt to enable.

[0194] In a further embodiment of the present invention some features that are nonexistent in vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) can advantageously be enabled via the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD).

[0195] According to another advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) can provide the functions and features of the hub interface, especially the device hub (PNVEHD). Thus advantageously all of the features of the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) are implemented in a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). A further embodiment of the present invention suggests that a reduced set of features of the hub interface / device hub (PNVEHD) is implemented in a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), thus enabling a limited set of features and advantages of the system according to the present invention.

[0196] Advantageously, the hub device (PNVEHD) is configured to provide a real-time communication channel towards the connected vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs). For example, an instance of the hub device (PNVEHD) when connected with a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) might be capable of initiating a real-time communication and / or control protocol (like ROS, ExpressLRS, etc.) to enable real-time sensor and stimulator communication apart from control, telemetry, position, orientation, capabilities negotiation, announcements and / or the like.

[0197] According to another preferred embodiment, the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) are communicatively connected to the hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) by at least one of: a wireless connection including a mobile telecommunications standard, WiFi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC; and a wired connection including optical fibers, metal, and Ethernet. For example, the real-time protocol could employ a physical cable or a wireless interface such as Wi-Fi. Moreover, the hub device (PNVEHD) could in turn be connected to other hub devices (PNVEHDs) either via a physical cable or via wireless interface in various topology configurations, including but not limited to daisy-chains, star, mesh, circular and / or the like.

[0198] Variants of the hub interface, especially the hub device (PNVEHD) could advantageously also allow a flexible platform for expansion via hardware updates or software updates. For example, a version of the hub device (PNVEHD) could offer empty slots for future expansion via adding compute-cards to support additional vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) based on demand.

[0199] According to a further aspect of the present invention, the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide a second set of features and another vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) device is configured to use at least one of the features defined in the second set of features. This has the advantage that, in case both vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) are high- end devices but have different specific features; said features can be made available for both vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) involved. Accordingly, the hub device (PNVEHD) can advantageously be used for a mutual exchange of features among the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs).

[0200] Advantageously, the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide the second set of features to the hub interface and / or directly to another vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). This allows to mutually subscribing to features of the respective other.

[0201] Preferably, the hub device (PNVEHD) comprises a compute section, a communication section, and a platform section. The compute section consists advantageously of computational elements like the GCPLI (General CPU (Central Processing Unit)), GPU, Al (Artificial Intelligence), and ML (Machine Learning) components integrated together to offer a collaboration platform for serving many different vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVEs). The communication section of the hub device (PNVEHD) can be broadly divided into back-end and front-end. The back-end communication section attempts ensures that the hub device (PNVEHD) is connected to the internet, as the need may be, via various means, for example Cellular based station via 5G, 6G, connection to satellites, another hub via Ethernet / optical and / or the like. The back-end communication section is advantageously also responsible for connecting to other hub devices (PNVEHDs) via various technologies, for example 5G, 6G, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and / or the like. The front-end communication section connects to all the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) and other related hardware that are needed to deliver the collaboration experience according to the present invention.

[0202] The platform section advantageously consists of mechanisms for controlling and managing several functions, preferably:

[0203] - Creation of computation models either virtual or the digital equivalent of physical objects which are spatially collocated in the physical realm; Data to create computational models of the physical objects could advantageously come from the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that are connected to hub device (PNVEHD);

[0204] - Ensuring synchronisation between back-end and front-end communication as per the use case; - Ensuring latency requirements of the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs);

[0205] - provide an abstraction layer for applications to be developed and deployed (ex., an operating system).

[0206] Further details, features and / or advantages of the presented invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the embodiments of the present invention shown in the figures of the drawings.

[0207] Therein:

[0208] Fig. 1 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of an interworking in a system for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium, comprising a vehicle (VAISAM), a transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) and a hub interface of a hub device (PNVEHD);

[0209] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment utilizing a global SLAM located on a hub device (PNVEHD);

[0210] Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of an initial phase of initialization and registration of a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) with a hub interface according to the present invention;

[0211] Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium, especially for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) in at least one area respectively space of a transportation system and at least one transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium at least of the part of the area respectively space; and

[0212] Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of a system according to the present invention at a traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS). Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of an interworking in a system for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium. The system comprising a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100, a vehicle (VAISAM) 200, and a hub interface 300 of a hub device (PNVEHD). In a first step S11 , the vehicles (VAISAM) 200, e.g. a low end device, may subscribe to the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 in order to be informed about a first set of features that may be provided to the hub device (PNVEHD) providing the hub interface 300 by transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100.

[0213] When the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100, e.g. a high end device, has provided its features to the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 in step S12, the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) subsequently notifies - due to the preceding subscription - the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 about the same. As an alternative or in addition, it can be foreseen that the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 directly informs the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 about available features.

[0214] According to an embodiment, particularly if there are more than two vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each participating vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) may advertise its capabilities and headroom to the other vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) either directly (i.e. via an instance of a hub device (PNVEHD) interface) or via a physical instance of the hub device (PNVEHD) that it is already connected to. A least capable vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), for example a low end vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), can now participate in an collaboration experience making use of the computing capabilities of the other vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) around it.

[0215] After that, the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 may transmit a feature request in step S14 to the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD). Said request pertains to a feature, which has been previously notified to the vehicle (VAISAM) 200, i.e. a feature that is only available on the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 but not on the vehicle (VAISAM) 200.

[0216] Subsequently, the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) notifies the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 in step S15 that a feature of said device has been requested. According to step S16, this is done by the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) by combining sensor data from the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100. A corresponding sensory stream, obtained by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100, will enable the vehicle (VAISAM) 200, to have the feature for usage.

[0217] Therein, the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 may advantageously comprise a compute section 305, a communication section 310, and a platform section 315.

[0218] The compute section 305 may comprise a General Central Processing Unit (GCPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), an Artificial Intelligence (Al) unit, and Machine Learning (ML) components integrated together to offer collaboration platform for serving many different vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs).

[0219] The communication section 310 of the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 may be broadly divided into a backend and a frontend, wherein the backend ensures that the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 is connected to the Internet, e.g. using a cellular network such as 5G or 6G, a connection to satellites, another hub via Ethernet / optical networks, and / or the like. The backend may be also responsible for connecting to other hub device via various technologies including 5G, 6G, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and / or the like. On the contrary, the frontend connects to all the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), such as the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 and the vehicle (VAISAM) 200, and advantageously other related hardware that is needed to deliver the collaboration experience.

[0220] Finally, the platform section 315 comprises software that manages several functions including the creation of computation models, wherein data to create such computation models of physical objects in the real could come from vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that are connected to hub device (PNVEHD) 300. Furthermore, the platform section 315 comprises software that ensures synchronization between backend and frontend communication as well as latency requirements of the vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), e.g. by providing an abstraction layer for applications to be developed and deployed.

[0221] Fig. 2 shows an embodiment, wherein a global SLAM located on the hub device (PNVEHD) providing the hub interface 300 is utilized to provide location data to a low end device, i.e. vehicle (VAISAM) 200.

[0222] According to the embodiment of Fig. 2, a Robot Operating System (ROS) might be used as a middleware to allow communication among the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 and the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 and the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100. This is indicated by means of dotted lines.

[0223] Therein, the hub device (PNVEHD) 300 advantageously may act as an ROS master to establish a communication among the clients, i.e. the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 and the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100. As explained above, data may advantageously be communicated among the clients using a Publisher / Subscriber model.

[0224] Moreover, it is apparent from Fig. 2 that a global Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is present on the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD), which stores maps from all vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) that are capable of providing corresponding data, i.e. the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 (which is a high end device). Accordingly, in step S21 of Fig. 2, the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100 provides such data to the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0225] When the low end device, i.e. the vehicle (VAISAM) 200, requires corresponding capabilities, it communicates with hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) to get it, which is indicated in step S22. For example, if the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 wants or needs some particular information it itself has not, it can query the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) for such information, for example a global map with a current image, i.e. an image that has been captured by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100, as input.

[0226] In response to that, the hub interface 300 of the hub device (PNVEHD) will localize the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 based on the map created based on data retrieved from other vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), i.e. high end devices, such as the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) 100, and thereby transmits corresponding features to the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 by means of collaboration and distribution. Hence, although the vehicle (VAISAM) 200 does not have own SLAM capabilities, it may nevertheless determine its own location.

[0227] The flow chart according to Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of an initial phase of initialization and registration of a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) with a hub interface, especially provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) according to the present invention. On side of a vehicle (VAISAM) and / or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) device registers itself to / with the hub interface and scans the environment. On side of the hub interface this is used as an init alert. The hub interface, especially hub device (PNVEHD) determines, whether the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) was previously already registered with the hub interface. If this was not the case, the hub interface queries the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to provide respectively exchange the first set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, especially comprising capabilities, and location of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). If the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) was previously already registered with the hub interface, the hub interface determines, whether the map / point cloud map used for collaboration needs an update. If an update of the map is deemed necessary by the software or application hosted on the hub device (PNVEHD), the hub device (PNVEHD) requests the registered vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) to update the map. Typically this would be message communicated to the user of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) which, for example has been referred to as a device with higher capability. The vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) especially with the help of the user wielding it, will then scan the surrounding and exchange the scanned data with the hub interface. If no update of the map is needed or the map is already updated, the hub interface exchanges session data, parameters and protocols used within the session and completes with this the registration of the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to the hub interface, especially hub device (PNVEHD).

[0228] Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a system for enabling collaboration between entities using a transportation medium, especially for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and at least one transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium at least of the part of the area respectively space the at least one transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) being allocated to.

[0229] According to Fig. 4 there are for example five vehicles (VAISAM) with different features, capabilities and / or parameters, namely a vehicle (VAISAM) is an Al drone, a vehicle (VAISAM) being a self-driving car, a vehicle (VAISAM) being a Subway Train, a vehicle (VAISAM) being a Cargo ship and a vehicle (VAISAM) being an Airplane.

[0230] According to Fig. 4 there are for example five transportation medium traffic control devices (PNVEs) with different features, capabilities and / or parameters, namely a PNVE as respectively comprising a camera, a PNVE as respectively comprising RADAR, PNVE as respectively comprising a VOC detector, a PNVE as respectively comprising a traffic light and A PVNE as respectively comprising a fog penetrator (FP). The transportation medium traffic control devices (PNVEs) observe the area respectively space, for example a CUS or SUS, respectively the traffic within it, symbolized in Fig. 4 by dashed lines.

[0231] According to Fig. 4 there are for example also NCEs, non-collaborative entities which are part of the traffic within the area respectively space, for example a CUS or SUS. Fig. 4 shows three NCEs, namely a NCE being a human driven car, a NCE representing a person or people at a crossroad and a NCE representing a flock of birds. The NCEs within the area respectively space are also observed by the transportation medium traffic control devices (PNVEs).

[0232] The vehicles (VAISAMs) and the transportation medium traffic control devices (PNVEs) are communicatively connected with a hub device (PNVEHD), symbolized in Fig. 4 by continuous lines. The hub device (PNVEHD) provides a hub interface for enabling collaboration between the vehicles (VAISAMS) and / or the transportation medium traffic control devices (PNVEs). The hub interface allows establishing a communication connection between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE). The communication connection is preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface, at least when the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or at least one NCE uses or intends to use a transportation medium at least of a part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS). The hub interface is designed and / or adapted to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) provided via the established communication connection. Further, the hub interface is designed and / or adapted to send information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control device (PNVE) the area respectively space (CUS or SUS).

[0233] Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of a system for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) in at least one area respectively space of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces, and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium TM at least of the part of the area respectively space.

[0234] In the embodiment according to Fig. 5 the area respectively space of the transportation system is an intersection of two roads for example. The road is respectively represents a transportation medium TM for use with respectively for use for at least one or more vehicles (VAISAMs) NCEs and / or NPOs. Each road of the example according to Fig. 5 comprises two lanes for vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or NCVEs for each direction.

[0235] Each vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters.

[0236] Each transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters. In the embodiment according to Fig. 5 the PNVEs are or for example comprise cameras for observing respectively monitoring at least a part of at least one area respectively space, presently the two lanes for each direction of the roads of the intersection the respective PNVE is allocated to. The PNVEs also observe / monitor NCEs and / or NPOs within the area / space and are able to provide information with regard to their presence within the area / space to vehicles (VAISAMs) and / or PNVEs collaborating.

[0237] The system according to Fig. 5 comprises a hub device (PNVEHD) providing a hub interface. The hub interface / hub device (PNVEHD) is communicatively connected with the vehicles (VAISAMs) participating the collaboration and the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVE) participating the collaboration.

[0238] Each of the vehicles (VAISAMs) participating the collaboration is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface of the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0239] Each if the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs) participating the collaboration is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface of the hub device (PNVEHD).

[0240] Each of the vehicles (VAISAMs) participating the collaboration is configured to receive from the hub device (PNVEHD) via the hub interface at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium TM of the area respectively space the respective transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

[0241] Each of the vehicles (VAISAMs) participating the collaboration is further configured to make use of the received information at least when using or intend to use the transportation medium TM of the area respectively space the respective transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

[0242] The hub interface, preferably the hub device, according to the embodiments of Fig. 4 or Fig. 5 advantageously allows generating, providing and / or maintaining a hybrid point cloud map, which is advantageously a combination of both a static and dynamic point cloud respectively point cloud map. Advantageously multimodal point clouds are given, where various properties of the points in the area / space are stored or taken into consideration along with their position in the area / space. These properties could advantageously be obtained by different sensors of a PNVE and / or VAISAM, but those properties are anchored to a point in space.

[0243] The embodiments shown in the figures of the drawing and the embodiments explained in connection therewith, particularly the examples of messages in Fig. 2, serve only to explain the presented solution according to the present invention and are not limiting for the same.

[0244] Reference signs:

[0245] 100 transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device

[0246] (PNVE)

[0247] 200 vehicle (VAISAM)

[0248] 300 hub interface (provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or provided by a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device

[0249] (PNVE))

[0250] 305 compute section of hub device (PNVEHD)

[0251] 310 communication section of hub device (PNVEHD)

[0252] 315 platform section of hub device (PNEHD)

[0253] 511 method step

[0254] 512 method step

[0255] 513 method step

[0256] 514 method step

[0257] 515 method step

[0258] 516 method step

[0259] 521 method step

[0260] 522 method step S23 method step

[0261] VAISAM vehicle which is Ai driven, semiautonomous, autonomous, or manual control who / which collaborate

[0262] PNVE participating non-vehicular entity (entity that itself may not be part of the traffic but contribute to the collaboration in various ways)

[0263] PNVEHD transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) hub device

[0264] NCE non-collaborative entity (entity who / which is part of the traffic)

[0265] NCVE non-collaborative vehicle entity (vehicle entity who / which is part of the traffic)

[0266] NPO non-participating, non-collaborative objects (objects that are not part of the regular traffic)

[0267] CUS circle under surveillance or Cubble under surveillance

[0268] SUS sphere under surveillance or space under surveillance

[0269] TM transportation medium of a transportation system

Claims

Claims:1 . A system for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using or intending to use a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein a hub interface (300)provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is communicatively connected with the at least one vehicle (VAISAM), which is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface (300), and the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), which is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface (300), and is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, respectively data for creation of such a hybrid point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), includes positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal, and wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to receive from the hub interface (300) and make use of at least one of- at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE),- at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectivelyspace (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, and / or- the hybrid point cloud map, preferably only changes of the dynamic point cloud map of the hybrid point cloud map, at least when using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) with a customizable time interval between 0.01 milliseconds and several minutes or hours, preferably between 1 millisecond to 1 second or more preferably between 30 seconds up to 45 minutes, depending on the use case, which preferably depends on a trigger signal with regard to the amount of traffic and / or a traffic event of the transportation medium within at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS).

3. The system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the trigger signal allows an updating of the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of an updated hybrid point cloud map with a defined time interval between 0.01 milliseconds and several minutes or hours, preferably between 1 millisecond to 1 second or more preferably between 30 seconds up to 45 minutes, which preferably is different to a time interval within which at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring.

4. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein at least two different transportation media (TMs) of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS) are usable by at least one vehicle (VAISAM), wherein the transportation media (TMs) are at least two of an earth-based transportation medium (TM), an air-based transportation medium (TM) and / or a waterbased transportation medium (TM).

5. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) (100) is configured to provide the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to the hub interface and / or directly to at least one othervehicle (VAISAM) (200) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) (200) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to subscribe to the hub interface (300) to be informed about the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters in case the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters is provided to the hub interface (300).

7. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to subscribe to the hub interface to be informed about the information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) in case the information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is provided to the hub interface.

8. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the hub interface (300) is configured to receive sensor data from at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) (100) to provide the at least one feature, capability and / or parameter defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) (200) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

9. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide information of at least a part of its set of features, capabilities and / or parameters directly to one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) within the area / space allocated to the vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

10. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the hub interface is configured to receive location related information from the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to create a map including positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE).

11. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the hub interface (300) is further configured to: receive, from the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), an image and / or image stream captured by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), determine, based on the image and / or image stream, a position of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and provide, to at least one vehicle (VAISAM) or transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), the determined position.

12. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 11 , wherein the hub interface (300) is configured to provide a real-time communication channel towards the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) (200) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) (100).

13. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 12, wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) (200) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to provide a second set of features, capabilities and / or parameters and at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) (100) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is configured to use at least one of the features, capabilities and / or parameters defined in the second set of features, capabilities and / or parameters.

14. The system according to any one of the claims 1 to 13, wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is communicatively connected to the hub interface (300) by at least one of: a wireless connection including a mobile radio network, especially according to 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and / or NFC; and / or a wired connection including optical fibers, metal, and / or Ethernet.

15. The system of any one of the claims 1 to 14, wherein the hub interface (300), especially the hub device (PNVEHD) comprises respectively provides a compute section (305), a communication section (310), and a platform section (315).

16. A method for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system () comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters,and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using or intending to use a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein a communication connection is established between the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface (300), which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface (300), the established communication connection is used to provide information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to the hub interface (300) and / or to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or the established communication connection is used to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from respectively via the hub interface (300) and / or from at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least when at least one vehicle (VAISAM) uses a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to,wherein the hub interface (300) is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, respectively data for creation of such a hybrid point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), includes positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal, and wherein the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) is configured to receive from the hub interface (300) and make use of at least one of- at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE),- at least a part of the information defined in the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one or more other vehicle (VAISAM) using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to, and / or- the hybrid point cloud map, preferably only changes of the dynamic point cloud map of the hybrid point cloud map, at least when using a transportation medium (TM) of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the method is designed and / or adapted for a system according to one or more of the claims 1 to 13.

8. A hub interface (300) for enabling collaboration between at least one vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, in at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), especially traffic area respectively traffic space (CUS or SUS), of a transportation system comprising a plurality of areas respectively spaces (CUS or SUS), especially an intelligent transportation system comprising a plurality of traffic areas respectively traffic spaces (CUS or SUS), each area respectively space (CUS or SUS) providing respectively comprising at least one transportation medium (TM) for use with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively for use for at least one vehicle (VAISAM), and at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, advantageously a plurality of transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring devices (PNVEs), each having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, and being allocated to at least a part of at least one area respectively space (CUS or SUS), to inform, guide and / or control traffic of at least one vehicle (VAISAM), advantageously a plurality of vehicles (VAISAMs), using or intending to use a transportation medium (TM) at least of the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS), wherein at least the part of the area respectively space (CUS or SUS) is scanned for monitoring by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), wherein the hub interface (300) is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE),allows to establish a communication connection between the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface (300), is designed and / or adapted to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) provided via the established communication connection, and / or is designed and / or adapted to send information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or is configured to generate, provide and / or maintain a hybrid point cloud map, which is a combination of at least one static point cloud map and at least one dynamic point cloud map, respectively data for creation of such a hybrid point cloud map, whereby the hybrid point cloud map respectively data for creation of the hybrid point cloud map is based on and / or comprises the information provided by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), includes positions of the at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and is differentially updated depending on at least one trigger signal.

19. A hub interface (300) according to claim 18, wherein the hub interface (300) is designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the hub interface (300) of a method according to claim 16 and / or claim 17, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to one or more of the claims 1 to 15.

20. A hub device (PNVEHD) providing a hub interface (300) according to claim 18 or claim 19.

21. A vehicle (VAISAM) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which is designed, configured and / or set up to establish a communication connection with at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface (300), which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by a transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one vehicle (VAISAM), the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and / or the hub interface (300), use the established communication connection to provide information of at least a part of the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the vehicle (VAISAM) to the hub interface (300) and / or to at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from respectively via the hub interface (300) and / or from at least one other vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) at least when using a transportation medium (TM) of an area respectively a space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

22. A vehicle (VAISAM) according to claim 21 , wherein the vehicle (VAISAM) is designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the vehicle (VAISAM) of a method according to claim 16 and / or claim 17, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to one or more of the claims 1 to 15.

23. A transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) having a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters, which is designed, configured and / or set up to establish a communication connection with at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) and a hub interface (300), which is provided by a hub device (PNVEHD) or which is provided by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), preferably initiated by the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or the hub interface (300), use the established communication connection to provide information of at least a part of the set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) to the hub interface and / or to at least one vehicle (VAISAM) respectively at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), and / or to receive information of at least a part of a set of features, capabilities and / or parameters of at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or of at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) from the hub interface (300) and / or from at least one vehicle (VAISAM) and / or at least one other transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE), at least when at least one vehicle (VAISAM) uses a transportation medium (TM) of an area respectively a space (CUS or SUS) the at least one transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is allocated to.

24. A transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) according to claim 23, wherein the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) is designed and / or adapted to execute the steps performed by the transportation medium traffic control and / or monitoring device (PNVE) of a method according to claim 16 and / or claim 17, and / or is designed and / or adapted for a system according to one or more of the claims 1 to 15.

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