WO1999023613A1

WO1999023613A1 - Population monitoring

Info

Publication number: WO1999023613A1
Application number: PCT/AU1998/000459
Authority: WO
Inventors: Graeme Allan Green
Original assignee: Coms21 Limited
Priority date: 1997-10-30
Filing date: 1998-06-19
Publication date: 1999-05-14
Also published as: AU8004198A; AUPO009797A0; AU687720B3

Abstract

A method of monitoring a population is disclosed which includes establishing a discrete zone through which all members of the population to be monitored must pass, and tracking individual members of the population within the discrete zone.

Description

"POPULATION MONITORING"

Technical Field

This invention relates to a population monitoring system and to a method of monitoring a population.

As used herein the expression "population" is to be given a broad meaning. The expression is not limited only to human populations and refers to any collection of articles, objects, people, animals etc. The invention has particular but not exclusive application to crowd control, such as for example entrance to and/or exit from facilities.

As used herein the expression "facility" is to be given a broad meaning and includes for example but without limitation, events such as sporting events, theatres, concerts etc; facilities such as recreational areas, and utilities such as a railway system or the like.

For illustrative purposes reference will be made to this latter application. It will be realised that the invention also has application in other areas such as for example, production line monitoring. Egg counting is one such example.

Background of Invention

In modern transport systems, such as the major underground rail systems, it is known to control individual entry to and exit from the system electronically. Users of such systems purchase destination- free "smart" tickets which have an electronically stored given credit value which is progressively decremented upon use. The ticket is inserted in a reader at a turnstile or other barrier when the user enters a railway station, details of the commencement of travel being electronically captured by the system. The ticket is again inserted in a reader at a turnstile when the user leaves a railway station upon completion of their travel, details of the completion of travel also being electronically captured by the system, and the appropriate fare being calculated and the credit value of the ticket automatically decremented by the fare for the completed journey.

To ensure that people do not use the system without paying, population monitoring is effected by providing physical barriers such as turnstiles at entrances and exits with the barriers being opened to allow a user to proceed only when a valid ticket is inserted in the reader at the barrier.

Summary of Invention

The present invention aims to provide an alternative to known population monitoring systems and methods.

This invention in one aspect resides broadly in a method of monitoring a population including :- establishing a discrete zone through which all members of the population to be monitored must pass, and tracking individual members of the population within the discrete zone.

It is preferred that the individual members of the population are tracked within the discrete zone by camera means. As used herein the expression "camera means" is to be given a broad meaning and is not limited to a photographic camera. The expression refers to all means by which a visual image is recorded and includes video recording .

In one preferred embodiment the tracking produces a trace for each individual member of the population within the discrete zone, each trace being complete when an individual member of the population has passed through the discrete zone, the method further including :- counting the completed traces to thereby count the population.

In another preferred embodiment wherein members of the population are to be individually logged upon entering the discrete zone, the method includes:- detecting individual members of the population in the discrete zone which have not been so logged, and preventing the individual members so detected from progressing beyond the discrete zone until they have been so logged.

In another aspect this invention resides broadly in a method of monitoring the admission of people to and/or exit from a facility, the method including :- providing a person having authority to enter and/or exit a facility with machine readable authorisation means indicating the person has such authority; establishing a discrete zone through which all people entering and/or exiting the facility must pass, the discrete zone having reading means for reading the machine readable authorisation means; tracking people within the discrete zone; detecting a person who has entered the discrete zone without the reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person, and preventing the person so detected from entering and/or exiting the facility until the reading means has read an authorisation means provided to that person.

The authorisation may be a voucher, credit card or other smart card containing a credit value. In a preferred embodiment the machine readable authorisation is a ticket and the discrete zone is a passageway having no physical barrier.

As used herein the expression "passageway" is to be given a broad meaning and includes all means such as rails, walls and barriers, moving platforms and footpaths etc which constrain people to move in substantially columnar formation.

As used herein the expression "physical barrier" is to be given a broad meaning and includes all means such as turnstiles, doors, gates etc which substantially impedes the progress of people beyond the barrier.

It is preferred that the people are tracked within the passageway by camera means . The method of this aspect of the invention may further include : - visually identifying the people so detected by means of the camera means at an intermediate position along the passageway; wherein a person so detected is prevented from entering and/or exiting the facility by human intervention.

It is preferred that the method includes actuating alarm means in response to detection of a person having entered the discrete zone without the reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person, the human intervention being responsive to actuation of the alarm means. As discussed above, the facility is preferably a railway station or the like.

In a further aspect this invention resides broadly in a system for controlling the admission of people to and/or exit from a facility, the system including :- authorisation issuing means for providing a person having authority to enter and/or exit a facility with machine readable authorisation means indicating the person has such authority; a discrete zone through which all people entering and/or exiting the facility must pass; reading means in the discrete zone for reading the machine readable authorisation means; tracking means for tracking people within the discrete zone, and detection means for detecting a person who has entered the discrete zone without the reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person.

It is preferred that the machine readable authorisation is a ticket, the authorisation issuing means is a ticket vending machine and the discrete zone is a passageway having no physical barrier.

Preferably the tracking means is camera means.

The system may also include:- alarm means actuable in response to the detection means detecting that a person has entered the discrete zone without the reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person.

Description of Drawings

In order that this invention may be more easily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein: -

FIG 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the invention;

FIG 2 is a schematic plan view illustrating a system of monitoring the entry or exit of people to or from a facility such as a railway station, and

FIG 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the system of the invention.

Description of Preferred Embodiment of Invention As can be seen in FIG 1 which illustrates members 10 of a population progressing in the direction of the arrows, a discrete zone 11 is provided through which members 10 must pass in order to progress from area 12 to area 13. Whilst in zone 11, members 10 are tracked by tracking means 14. The tracking of members 10 within zone 11 generates traces 18 for each member.

As can be seen in FIG 2 which illustrates the entrance to and exit from a railway station where people 20 proceed in the direction of the arrows, a longitudinally extending discrete zone 11 (shown shaded in the drawing) is formed between islands 19. Video cameras 17 constitute tracking means which record the progress of individuals 20 through the discrete zones 11 which are designed such that the people are constrained to move in substantially single file as illustrated.

A ticket reader 15 is located at each island 19 adjacent the entrance to each zone 11 and reads the ticket of individuals 20 entering the railway station through the discrete zone. Camera 17 triggers a signal when a person enters zone 11 and if this signal is not matched by a signal generated when the ticket reader reads a valid ticket, an audible and visual alarm 16 is activated.

The actuation of the alarm also alerts a control centre where the video monitors of the respective cameras 17 are displayed. This enables the person who has not used a ticket or has used an invalid ticket to be visually identified by a controller who apprehends the person thus detected and prevents the person entering or leaving the railway station as the case may be.

As can be seen schematically in FIG 3, system 30 controls the admission of people to and/or exit from a facility and includes authorisation issuing means in the form of a ticket vending machine 20 for providing a person with machine readable authorisation means in the form of ticket 26. At the entrance to a discrete zone 21 through which all people entering and/or exiting the facility must pass, a reading means in the form of a ticket reader 22 indicates that a valid ticket has been used by a person entering zone 21 and who is tracked through zone 21 by tracking means in the form of video camera 24. Both video camera 24 and ticket reader 22 feed to a detector 23 which actuates alarm 25 upon detecting a person who has entered the discrete zone without ticket reader 22 having detected a valid ticket.

The population monitoring systems and methods of the present invention have a number of advantages over known systems and methods.

In general terms the present invention adopts a holistic approach and avoids the complexity and cost of controlling individual members of the population which is to be monitored, whether for example by counting in the case of production control or establishing individual physical barriers in the case of crowd control .

In specific terms in relation to controlling entrance to and/or exit from facilities, the present invention avoids the high capital cost associated with the installation of the huge number of turnstiles required to cope with peak use periods, avoids the delays which are inevitably experienced because of the presence of the physical barrier which must be opened to allow progress, and avoids the interruptions and delays occasioned by breakdown of the turnstiles as well as avoiding the cost associated with their repair and maintenance. It will of course be realised that whilst the above has been given by way of an illustrative example of this invention, all such and other modifications and variations hereto, as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art, are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is herein set forth.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a population including :- establishing a discrete zone through which all members of the population to be monitored must pass, and tracking individual members of the population within said discrete zone.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the individual members of the population are tracked within said discrete zone by camera means.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said tracking produces a trace for each individual member of the population within said discrete zone, each trace being complete when an individual member of the population has passed through said discrete zone, said method further including :- counting said completed traces to thereby count the population.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein members of the population are to be individually logged upon entering said discrete zone, said method including: - detecting individual members of the population in said discrete zone which have not been so logged, and preventing the individual members so detected from progressing beyond said discrete zone until they have been so logged.

5. A method of monitoring the admission of people to and/or exit from a facility, said method including :- providing a person having authority to enter and/or exit a facility with machine readable authorisation means indicating the person has such authority; establishing a discrete zone through which all people entering and/or exiting the facility must pass, said discrete zone having reading means for reading said machine readable authorisation means; tracking people within said discrete zone; detecting a person who has entered said discrete zone without said reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person, and preventing the person so detected from entering and/or exiting the facility until said reading means has read an authorisation means provided to that person.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said machine readable authorisation is a ticket and said discrete zone is a passageway no physical barrier.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the people are tracked within said passageway by camera means.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, and including: - visually identifying said people so detected by means of said camera means at an intermediate position along said passageway; wherein a person so detected is prevented from entering and/or exiting the facility by human intervention.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, and including :- actuating alarm means in response to detection of a person having entered said discrete zone without said reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person, said human intervention being responsive to actuation of the alarm means.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said facility is a railway station or the like.

11. A system for controlling the admission of people to and/or exit from a facility, said system including: - authorisation issuing means for providing a person having authority to enter and/or exit a facility with machine readable authorisation means indicating the person has such authority; a discrete zone through which all people entering and/or exiting the facility must pass; reading means in said discrete zone for reading said machine readable authorisation means; tracking means for tracking people within said discrete zone, and detection means for detecting a person who has entered said discrete zone without said reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said machine readable authorisation is a ticket, said authorisation issuing means is a ticket vending machine and said discrete zone is a passageway having no physical barrier.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said tracking means is camera means.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13, and including :- alarm means actuable in response to said detection means detecting that a person has entered said discrete zone without said reading means having read an authorisation means issued to that person.