Method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle

Abstract

One aspect of the invention relates to a method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle, the event being associated with an area of interest located in the vicinity of the vehicle, comprising the following steps: - consulting a database comprising a plurality of bitmap thumbnail images, each bitmap thumbnail image comprising a plurality of pixels each corresponding to a geolocation, at least one pixel of the plurality of pixels corresponding to a geolocation comprised in an area of interest associated with the bitmap thumbnail image, each pixel meeting at least one triggering criterion having a first value and each pixel not meeting the triggering criterion having a second value, the triggering criterion being linked to the area of interest associated with the bitmap thumbnail image; - if a geolocation of the vehicle corresponds to a geolocation of a pixel comprised in a bitmap thumbnail image of the database and if the pixel has the first value, triggering the event associated with the area of interest corresponding to the bitmap thumbnail image.

Description

DESCRIPTION TITLE: Method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The technical field of the invention is that of vehicles and more particularly that of triggering events in a moving vehicle in connection with the geolocation of the vehicle.

[0002] The present invention relates to a method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle, and in particular to a method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle located near an area of ​​interest. The present invention also relates to a system and a computer program for implementing the method. TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] To evaluate the triggering criteria of an event, such as a security or informational event, in a moving vehicle based on the vehicle's proximity to an area of ​​interest, a significant amount of geospatial data is required. For example, triggering an event when an area of ​​interest is visible from the vehicle requires data related to the vehicle's route, the geometry of the area of ​​interest, the road network, the terrain topology, and the height of surrounding buildings.

[0004] If, for example, we limit event triggering to situations where the vehicle is near a school, crosses a forest, drives alongside a park, crosses a river on a bridge, or sees a church or historical monument, the necessary data represents approximately 6 gigabytes for metropolitan France alone. However, for the triggering to occur in real time, this data must be stored on the vehicle, and such a large volume of data is prohibitively expensive in terms of storage.

[0005] Therefore, there is a need to be able to trigger an event in a vehicle related to an area of ​​interest near the vehicle, without having to store several gigabytes of data on board the vehicle. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The invention offers a solution to the problems mentioned above, by enabling the triggering of an event linked to an area of ​​interest located near a vehicle by carrying a limited amount of data on the vehicle.

[0007] A first aspect of the invention relates to a method for triggering an event in a moving vehicle, the event being associated with an area of ​​interest located near the vehicle, the method comprising the following steps: Consulting a database containing a plurality of raster images, each raster image comprising a plurality of pixels each corresponding to a geolocation, at least one pixel of the plurality of pixels corresponding to a geolocation included in an area of ​​interest associated with the raster image, each pixel meeting at least one triggering criterion having a first value and each pixel not meeting the triggering criterion having a second value, the triggering criterion being linked to the area of ​​interest associated with the raster image; If a vehicle geolocation corresponds to a geolocation of a pixel included in a raster image of the database and if said pixel has the first value, triggering of the event associated with the area of ​​interest corresponding to said raster image.

[0008] Thanks to the invention, the data needed to evaluate a trigger criterion for an event associated with an area of ​​interest is pre-entered into a database requiring no real-time processing other than being consulted according to simple rules. The database contains only raster images, and the stored information is therefore extremely compact due to pixelation on the one hand, and the fact that the rest of the map, which does not contain useful information, is not stored on the other. With this solution, an average of 1 kilobyte is sufficient for a given area of ​​interest, and only 200 megabytes are needed for the entire territory of metropolitan France, compared to 6 gigabytes for the example described in the prior art.

[0009] In addition to the characteristics mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the process according to the invention may have one or more additional characteristics from among the following, considered individually or according to all technically possible combinations.

[0010] According to one embodiment, the triggered event is the setting up of a unisensory or multisensory atmosphere, the display of text or video, or the broadcasting of an audio signal.

[0011] According to an embodiment compatible with the previous embodiment, a pixel meets the triggering criterion if the geolocation corresponding to the pixel is near, crosses, or runs alongside the area of ​​interest or if the area of ​​interest is visible from the geolocation corresponding to the pixel.

[0012] According to an embodiment compatible with previous embodiments, the database further includes at least one registration information associated with each area of ​​interest and the method includes a step of registration of the geolocation of the vehicle using the registration information associated with the area of ​​interest located near the vehicle.

[0013] Thus, if very precise geolocation is required to trigger an event, for example for a visibility criterion, an additional precise geolocation recalibration operation is carried out to compensate for the location inaccuracies inherent in the technology used by the geolocation devices on board while in motion.

[0014] According to an embodiment compatible with the preceding embodiments, the method according to the invention comprises a preliminary step of constructing the database, including the following sub-steps for each area of ​​interest: In a geolocated image including the area of ​​interest, delimitation of the area of ​​interest to obtain a polygon; Sampling of the road network in a predefined area containing the polygon in the image, to obtain a plurality of geolocated points; For each point meeting the triggering criterion, a square of predefined dimensions centered on said geolocation is drawn in the image at the corresponding geolocation; Image transformation into a raster image, the raster image comprising a plurality of pixels each corresponding to a geolocation included in the image, the first value being assigned to each pixel of the raster image corresponding to a square and the second value being assigned to the other pixels; Determination in the raster image of the smallest window encompassing each pixel with the first value, to obtain the raster image associated with said area of ​​interest; Storage of the raster image in the database, the raster image being associated with said area of ​​interest and with at least one dimension information and at least one geolocation information of the raster image.

[0015] According to a sub-embodiment of the previous embodiment, said matrix image is stored in the database in the form of a bit array.

[0016] According to a sub-variant of the previous embodiment compatible with the previous embodiment, the database construction step is carried out while dismounted and the database is stored in the vehicle.

[0017] A second aspect of the invention relates to a system embedded in a vehicle, comprising means for implementing the process according to the invention.

[0018] According to one embodiment, the system according to the invention is a vehicle computer or a smartphone.

[0019] A third aspect of the invention relates to a computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, lead it to implement the steps of the process according to the invention.

[0020] The invention and its various applications will be better understood by reading the following description and examining the accompanying figures. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0021] The figures are presented for illustrative purposes only and are in no way limiting to the invention. Figure 1 is a synoptic diagram illustrating the sequence of steps of a process according to the invention. Figure 2 illustrates the implementation of a first sub-step of the process according to the invention on an example image. Figure 3 illustrates the implementation of a second sub-step of the process according to the invention in the image of Figure 2. Figure 4 illustrates the implementation of a third sub-step of the process according to the invention in the image of Figure 2. Figure 5 illustrates the implementation of a fifth sub-step of the process according to the invention in the image of Figure 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Unless otherwise specified, the same element appearing on different figures has a unique reference.

[0023] The invention relates to a method of triggering in a moving vehicle an event associated with an area of ​​interest, the triggering being conditioned on the verification of a triggering criterion related to the proximity between the vehicle and the area of ​​interest.

[0024] An area of ​​interest can include a single geolocated point and thus correspond to a point of interest, or a plurality of geolocated points.

[0025] The term "geolocated" refers to a latitude and a longitude.

[0026] An area of ​​interest is, for example, a historical monument, a church, a school, a forest, a park, or even a waterway.

[0027] A trigger criterion can be being close to the area of ​​interest, crossing the area of ​​interest, walking along the area of ​​interest, passing through the area of ​​interest, or seeing the area of ​​interest.

[0028] An event can be the setting up of a unisensory or multisensory atmosphere in the vehicle, the display of text or video on a screen in the vehicle, the broadcasting of an audio signal by a microphone in the vehicle or more generally any action carried out by a computer program of a device present in the vehicle.

[0029] A geolocation device is installed in the vehicle during its movement.

[0030] The geolocation device can be included in the vehicle or a smartphone belonging to a vehicle user connected to the vehicle.

[0031] The sequence of steps in process 100 is illustrated in Figure 1.

[0032] The method 100 according to the invention may include a first step 101 of constructing a database comprising a raster image or "bitmap" image, per area of ​​interest considered.

[0033] The first step 101 comprises a plurality of sub-steps carried out for each area of ​​interest considered.

[0034] A first sub-step 1010 of the first step 101 illustrated in Figure 2, consists of delimiting, using a polygon 202, the area of ​​interest 201 in a geolocated image 200 in which the area of ​​interest 201 is present.

[0035] Image 200, for example, is an RGB image seen from the sky.

[0036] In Figure 2, the area of ​​interest 201 is a cathedral and image 200 is an aerial view of which the cathedral is visible and appears delimited by a polygon 202.

[0037] A second sub-step 1011 of the first step 101 illustrated in Figure 3, consists of sampling a part of the road network near the area of ​​interest 201, to obtain a plurality of points 203 geolocated on the road network.

[0038] The sampled portion of the road network corresponds to a predefined area including polygon 202 obtained in the first sub-step 1010.

[0039] The predefined area is, for example, a 200-meter zone surrounding polygon 202.

[0040] A third sub-step 1012 of the first step 101 illustrated in Figure 4, is carried out for each point 203 obtained in the second sub-step 1011 meeting at least one triggering criterion.

[0041] The third sub-step 1012 of the first step 101 consists of drawing a square 204 of predefined dimensions centered on said point 203 in the image 200.

[0042] Square 204, for example, is a square with sides of 10 meters.

[0043] Figure 4 shows that only a portion of the points 203 obtained at the end of the second sub-step 1011 met the triggering criterion and were represented by a square 204 in image 200.

[0044] A fourth sub-step 1013 of the first step 101 consists of transforming the image 200 in which at least one square 204 was drawn during the third sub-step 1012, into a matrix image 205 visible in Figure 5.

[0045] The transformation is carried out for example by applying a pixelation operation, and therefore a reduction of the resolution, to the image 200, then by assigning a first value to each pixel 206 of the matrix image 205 corresponding to at least one point of the image 200 on which a square 204 is drawn and by assigning a second value to each pixel 206 of the matrix image 205 not corresponding to a point of the image 200 on which a square 204 is drawn.

[0046] The first value is, for example, 1 and the second value is, for example, 0.

[0047] A fifth substep 1014 of the first step 101 illustrated in Figure 5, consists of determining the smallest dimension window encompassing each pixel 206 presenting the first value in the matrix image 205, to obtain a matrix image 207.

[0048] The resulting matrix image 207 corresponds to the part of the matrix image 205 contained within the determined window.

[0049] The smallest dimension window is determined, for example, by scanning all the pixels of the matrix image 205 having the first value, and comparing their coordinates in space.

[0050] A sixth sub-step 1015 of the first step 101 consists of storing the raster image 207 obtained in the fourth sub-step 1014 in the database, and associating with the raster image 207 in the database, the area of ​​interest 201 considered and at least one dimension information and at least one geolocation information of the raster image 207.

[0051] Dimension information is, for example, the width and height of the determined window, and geolocation information is, for example, the geolocation of a lower corner and an upper corner of the determined window, and the geolocation of the barycenter of the area of ​​interest 201.

[0052] For example, the matrix image 207 is stored in the database as a bit array.

[0053] The raster image 207 can also be associated with at least one registration information.

[0054] The registration information is, for example, the road network included in the part of image 200 corresponding to the raster image 207.

[0055] The first step 101, for example, is carried out prior to any journey of the vehicle, and after disembarking, that is to say on a computer outside the vehicle.

[0056] A second step 102 of the process 100 consists of consulting the database built in the first step 101 to determine if the geolocation of the vehicle corresponds to the geolocation of a pixel 206 included in a raster image 207 of the database and thus identify the raster image 207 and the pixel 206 of the raster image 207.

[0057] The second step 102 is, for example, carried out for each change in the vehicle's geolocation.

[0058] The method 100 according to the invention may include a third step 103 consisting of recalibrating the geolocation of the vehicle using the recalibration information associated with the matrix image 207 identified during the second step 102.

[0059] A fourth step 104 of the process 100 consists of triggering the event associated with the area of ​​interest 201 corresponding to the matrix image 207 identified in the second step 102 if the pixel identified in the second step 102 and potentially rejected in the step 103 has the first value.

Claims

DEMANDS 1. A method (100) for triggering an event in a moving vehicle, the event being associated with an area of ​​interest (201) located near the vehicle, the method (100) comprising the following steps: - Consultation (102) of a database comprising a plurality of raster images (207), each raster image (207) comprising a plurality of pixels (206) each corresponding to a geolocation, at least one pixel (206) of the plurality of pixels (206) corresponding to a geolocation included in an area of ​​interest (201) associated with the raster image (207), each pixel (206) meeting at least one triggering criterion presenting a first value and each pixel (206) not meeting the triggering criterion presenting a second value, the triggering criterion being linked to the area of ​​interest (201) associated with the raster image (207); - If a geolocation of the vehicle corresponds to a geolocation of a pixel (206) included in a matrix image (207) of the database and if said pixel (206) has the first value, triggering (104) of the event associated with the area of ​​interest (201) corresponding to said matrix image (207).

2. Method (100) according to the preceding claim, wherein the triggered event is the setting up of a unisensory or multisensory atmosphere, the display of text or video, or the broadcasting of an audio signal.

3. Method (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a pixel (206) meets the triggering criterion if the geolocation corresponding to the pixel (206) is near, crosses, or runs along the area of ​​interest (201) or if the area of ​​interest (201) is visible from the geolocation corresponding to the pixel (206).

4. Method (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the database further comprises at least one recalibration information associated with each area of ​​interest (201) and the method comprises a step (103) of recalibrating the geolocation of the vehicle using the recalibration information associated with the area of ​​interest (201) located near the vehicle.

5. A method (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a preliminary step (101) of constructing the database, comprising the following substeps for each area of ​​interest (201): - In a geolocated image (200) including the area of ​​interest (201), delimitation (1010) of the area of ​​interest (201) to obtain a polygon (202); - Sampling (1011) of the road network in a predefined area including the polygon (202) in the image (200), to obtain a plurality of geolocated points (203); - For each point (203) meeting the triggering criterion, drawing (1012) in the image (200) at the corresponding geolocation, of a square (204) of predefined dimension centered on said geolocation; - Transformation (1013) of the image (200) into a matrix image (205), the matrix image (205) comprising a plurality of pixels (206) each corresponding to a geolocation included in the image (200), the first value being assigned to each pixel (206) of the matrix image (205) corresponding to a square (204) and the second value being assigned to the other pixels (206); - Determination (1014) in the matrix image (205), of the smallest window encompassing each pixel (206) presenting the first value, to obtain the matrix image (207) associated with said area of ​​interest (201); - Storage (1015) of the raster image (207) in the database, the raster image (207) being associated with said area of ​​interest (201) and with at least one dimension information and at least one geolocation information of the raster image (207).

6. Method (100) according to the preceding claim, wherein said matrix image (207) is stored in the database in the form of a bit array.

7. Method (100) according to any one of claims 5 or 6, wherein the step (101) of constructing the database is carried out off-site and the database is stored in the vehicle.

8. System embedded in a vehicle, comprising means for implementing the method (100) according to any one of the preceding claims.

9. System according to the preceding claim, the system being a vehicle computer or a smartphone.

10. Product computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the process (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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