A crowd management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019104596-A1
Application number	US-201716095056-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 19, 2017
Priority date	Apr 22, 2016
Publication date	Apr 4, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A crowd management system for influencing a crowd of people to distribute itself between a first region and a second region, comprising: at least one presence sensor configured to sense occupancy information from the first region and the second region; and a controller configured to receive said occupancy information from the at least one presence sensor; and at least one environmental control element configured to control an environmental effect in both the first region and second region; wherein said controller is configured to compare the occupancy information relating to the first region and the second region and based thereon to control the environmental effect in both the first region and the second region via the at least one environmental control element, such that the environmental effect in one of the first region or the second region is relatively more attractive or repellent than the other, in order to thereby influence at least a portion of the crowd to distribute or redistribute itself between the first region and the second region.

First claim

1 . A crowd management system for influencing a crowd of people to distribute itself between a first region and a second region, comprising:
at least one presence sensor configured to sense occupancy information from the first region and the second region; and a controller configured to receive said occupancy information from the at least one presence sensor; and at least one environmental control element configured to control an environmental effect in both the first region and the second region; wherein said controller is configured to compare the occupancy information relating to the first region and the second region and based thereon to control the environmental effect in both the first region and the second region via the at least one environmental control element, such that the environmental effect in one of the first region or the second region is relatively more attractive or repellent than the other, in order to thereby influence at least a portion of the crowd to distribute or redistribute itself between the first region and the second region.

2 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information sensed by the at least one presence sensor for each respective one of the first and second regions, and based upon which the controller performs said control, comprises any one or more of: an absolute number of people in the respective region, a measure of a number of people in the respective region relative to a capacity of the respective region, a number of people in one or more queues in the respective region.

3 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information sensed by the at least one presence sensor for each respective one of the first and second regions, and based upon which the controller performs said control, comprises any one or more of: a rate of flow of people passing into or out of the respective region, a rate of flow of people passing a predefined point or boundary in the respective region, a number of people turning in one or more predefined directions, a rate of flow of people in one or more predefined directions, and/or the number of people having a facial orientation or gazes in one or more predefined directions.

4 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one presence sensor is adapted to detect rate of flow of people moving towards or away from the first region or second region; and wherein the controller is configured to perform said control of the environmental effect in the first region and second region based on rate of flow towards or away from the first or second region, in addition to the occupancy information of the first region and second region.

5 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information comprises real time measurements from the at least one presence sensor; and wherein, via the at least one environmental control element, the controller is configured to control the environmental effect in the first region and second region based on said real time measurements.

6 . The crowd management system as claimed claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a target change in the occupancy information, to determine a degree of said control of the environmental effect in the first and second regions based on the target change, to use the least one presence sensor to monitor a resulting change in the occupancy information in response to said control, and if the resulting change does not meet the target change after a predetermined time, to adapt the control of the environmental effect in one or both of the first and second regions in order to bring the resulting change closer to the target change.

7 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the occupancy information comprises historical data captured by the at least one presence sensor; and wherein the environmental control elements pre-emptively controls the environmental effect at the first region and second region based on said historical data.

8 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein under the influence of controlled environmental effect, at least part of the crowd is both subconsciously repelled from one of the first region or the second region and attracted to the other of the first region or the second region.

9 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one presence sensor comprises: one or more of optical cameras, one or more load cells, one or more microphones, one or more thermal sensors, one or more ultrasound sensors, and/or one or more infrared sensors.

10 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental control element comprises lighting system for emitting illumination into the first and second regions; and wherein said lighting system is configured to enable the controller to perform said control of the environmental effect in the first region and the second region by varying a light characteristic of the emitted illumination, the varied light characteristic comprising any one of a position, orientation, intensity, colour temperature and/or illumination pattern of the illumination; and wherein said control of the environmental effect in the first and/or second region comprises:
a) emitting illumination with an unpleasant light characteristic to repel the at least part of the crowd from the first region or the second region, and/or b) emitting illumination with a pleasant light characteristic to attract at least part the crowd to the first region or the second region.

11 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said lighting system is configured to enable the controller to perform said control of the environmental effect in the first region and the second region by highlighting one or more key elements within the first region and second region; and wherein said key elements comprise one or more walls, floor regions and/or signs.

12 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental control element comprises a sound system for outputting either unpleasant sound effects or pleasant sound effects; and wherein the sound system is adapted to enable the controller to perform said control of the environmental effect in the first and/or second region by:
a) emitting unpleasant sound effects to repel at least part of the crowd from the first region or second region, and/or b) emitting pleasant sound effects to attract at least part of the crowd to the first region or second region.

13 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to perform said control by initiating the change in the environmental effect in the first region and second region when a difference between their respective occupancy information increases above a threshold.

14 . The crowd management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust a degree of difference between the environmental effect in the first region and second region in relation to a difference in their respective occupancy information.

15 . A method of influencing a crowd of people to distribute themselves between a first region and a second region, comprising the step of:
sensing occupancy information from the first region and the second region; and comparing said occupancy information relating to the first region and the second region; and based thereon controlling the environmental effect in both the first region and the second region via the at least one environmental control

Assignees

• Philips Lighting Holding Bv

Inventors

• Den Hartog Edith Danielle
• Hultermans Martijn Marius

Classifications

• H05B47/12

  by detecting audible sound · CPC title

• H05B37/0236

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B37/0227 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B47/115 Primary

  by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings · CPC title

• Y02B20/40

  Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection · CPC title