Vehicle-Mounted Lamp Monitoring via Image Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing infrastructure lighting systems, such as streetlamps and traffic lights, often become inoperable, hindering vehicle navigation and safety, as there is no effective method for real-time monitoring and alerting of inoperable lamps.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle-mounted system equipped with cameras, light sensors, and an inter-vehicle communication module that identifies inoperable infrastructure lamps using image recognition and light emission analysis, sending alerts via vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to facilitate maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If infrastructure lighting systems are deployed to facilitate vehicle navigation, then vehicle safety and navigation are improved, but the systems become inoperable over time without effective monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where vehicles equipped with cameras and light sensors continuously monitor infrastructure lamp status and transmit this information back to infrastructure communication nodes. This creates a closed-loop system where lamp operability is continuously assessed and reported, enabling timely detection and response to inoperable lamps without requiring dedicated monitoring infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables infrastructure lighting to self-monitor through the vehicles that naturally traverse the infrastructure. Instead of requiring separate monitoring systems, the vehicles themselves perform the monitoring function using their existing sensors and communication capabilities, turning the infrastructure users into the monitoring agents.
2Reliability
If real-time monitoring of infrastructure lamps is implemented, then lamp operability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the multi-functionality of vehicles that already possess cameras for navigation and light sensors for environmental perception. These components serve dual purposes: their primary function for vehicle operation and an additional function for infrastructure lamp monitoring. This eliminates the need for dedicated monitoring hardware, reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces communication modules as intermediaries that bridge the gap between vehicles and infrastructure. These modules handle the transmission of lamp status information from vehicles to infrastructure communication nodes, simplifying the monitoring architecture by using existing communication infrastructure rather than requiring direct monitoring connections.
3Measurement precision
If vehicle-mounted monitoring systems are deployed, then detection accuracy is improved, but loss of time for data transmission occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring lamp status as vehicles pass by, rather than waiting for complaints or scheduled inspections. The cameras and light sensors are actively capturing and analyzing lamp status in real-time, enabling early detection of inoperable lamps before they impact safety or require manual inspection.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system operates continuously as vehicles traverse the infrastructure, providing uninterrupted surveillance of lamp status. Multiple vehicles passing by different locations create overlapping monitoring coverage, ensuring that lamp status is constantly assessed without gaps, and alerts are generated immediately upon detection of inoperable lamps.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables real-time detection and reporting of inoperable infrastructure lamps, improving vehicle safety and navigation by promptly alerting authorities and remote servers, ensuring timely maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
a camera to capture an image of a stationary infrastructure object
Implementation Method 2
a light sensor to monitor a light emission of the lamp
Implementation Method 3
a proximity sensor to detect a presence of the stationary infrastructure object
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for vehicle monitoring of infrastructure lighting, an example of which includes a vehicle having a camera, an inter-vehicle communication module and a controller. The controller is to identify a stationary infrastructure object within an image captured by the camera and identify, in response to determining that the stationary infrastructure object includes a lamp, whether the lamp is inoperable. The controller also is to send, via vehicle-to-infrastructure communication utilizing the inter-vehicle communication module, an alert to an infrastructure communication node indicating that the lamp is inoperable.