US 12,591,943 B2 · Systems and methods for guiding pedestrians to balance congestion

Abstract

A congestion control system configured to guide pedestrians to balance congestion throughout areas of a controlled environment is provided. The congestion control system is operatively connected to a plurality of sensors and a pedestrian guidance device. The sensors are configured to capture measurements corresponding to pedestrian congestion levels at various locations within the controlled environment. These measurements are provided to a congestion control system. The congestion control system uses the measurements to determine pedestrian traffic flow at the various locations of the controlled environment. The congestion control system then uses the measured congestion levels and the determined traffic flow to determine a control command. The control command is provided to the pedestrian guidance device to configure the device to provide a guidance output to the pedestrians of the controlled environment to balance and/or reduce congestion.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A congestion control system for controlling congestion in a controlled environment, wherein the congestion control system is operatively connected through one or a combination of wired and wireless communication channels to one or multiple sensors configured to collect measurements indicative of a traffic flow in the controlled environment and to a pedestrian guidance device arranged to affect the controlled environment, the congestion control system comprising:

at least one processor;
and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the congestion control system to:
collect the measurements indicative of a current state of traffic flow in the controlled environment;
optimize a cost function including a congestion model of a system of dynamics of crowd behavior in the controlled environment to produce a control command to the pedestrian guidance device, wherein the congestion model includes a closure term multiplied by a multiplier between 0 and 1 representing an estimated probability that a pedestrian will follow a guidance output of the pedestrian guidance device, and wherein the congestion model connects a next state of congestion to a current state of congestion affected by the current state of the traffic flow influenced by the pedestrian guidance device;
and
control the pedestrian guidance device to produce the guidance output defined by the control command.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Systems and methods for guiding pedestrians to balance congestion

Life of this patent

Systems and methods for guiding pedestrians to balance congestion

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19