Bicycle detector with improved detection using signature analysis
AssigneeReno A & E
InventorsThomas Ray Potter, Jason Zhen-Yu Lu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle detector detects bicycles and discriminates between a bicycle and a motorized vehicle using a specific signature analysis technique when operated in the bicycle detect mode and the bicycle only detect mode. The signature analysis technique employs two sets of rules: one set for a bicycle which produces a signature having at least two peaks and two valleys when passing over a loop connected to the vehicle detector; the other for a bicycle which produces a signature having two peaks and only one valley when passing over a marginal side region of a loop connected to the vehicle detector. Peak and valley searches are conducted sequentially, with a peak search being conducted first upon start-up.
Claims17
A vehicle detector with bicycle detect and discrimination capability using signature analysis, said vehicle detector comprising:
- an oscillator adapted to be coupled to a loop;
- a memory;
- and a processor operatively coupled to said oscillator and said memory, said memory having machine readable code stored therein, said machine readable code configured to enable said processor to activate said oscillator to produce a signal for said loop, to implement a loop cycle counter for counting a predetermined number of loop oscillator cycles defining a sample period, to implement a sample counter for accumulating sample counts N during said predetermined number of loop oscillator cycles;
- to implement a reference counter for storing a reference count R based on the accumulated sample counts from a previous sample period;
- to implement an evaluation unit for determining from the sample counts N and the reference count R whether a vehicle has entered the loop during the sample period and for determining from the sample counts N and the reference count R whether a detected vehicle is a bicycle;
- and to implement a Call signal generator for generating a Call signal when the evaluation unit has determined that a vehicle has entered the loop during the sample period, said machine readable code being configured to enable said evaluation unit to determine whether a detected vehicle is a bicycle by successively detecting peaks and valleys in a signature formed by a collection of sample counts N and at least one reference count R, testing each detected peak and valley against a first set of rules, and generating a “Has Bike” signal when two peaks and two valleys satisfy said first set of rules.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.