FR3159133A1 - Management of vehicle fine information - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for managing information relating to a traffic ticket procedure for a motor vehicle, implemented in the motor vehicle, and comprising the following steps: - upon detection (201) of the presence of at least one officer responsible for traffic ticket procedures in an environment of the vehicle and upon detection (202) of the absence of a driver in the vehicle, transmission (204) of an alert to a vehicle owner, said alert indicating a risk of the vehicle being ticketed; - presentation (206) of a first piece of information to the officer, depending on whether or not a response from the driver to the transmitted alert has been received or not received. FIG. 2

Description

Management of vehicle fine information

The present invention belongs to the field of management of information relating to a motor vehicle fine procedure, in particular allowing the anticipation of such a procedure.

“Vehicle” means any type of vehicle such as a private, utility or heavy goods vehicle.

Such motor vehicles now incorporate one or more features to facilitate the use of the vehicle, particularly during driving situations. Such features are called driving assistance.

A vehicle's "driving assistance" system is any method capable of assisting in driving the vehicle. The method may consist of partially or fully steering the vehicle or providing any type of assistance to a natural person driving the vehicle. Driving assistance functions may relate to different levels of autonomy. The OICA scale, for "Organisation International des Constructeurs Automobile" (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers), provides for six levels. Other scales are provided to define the levels of autonomy permitted by driving assistance systems, for example the SAE scale, for "Society of Automotive Engineers".

Thus, driving assistance covers manual driving assistance functions, for the lowest levels, such as levels 1 and 2 of the aforementioned scales, and autonomous vehicle control functions for the highest levels of autonomy.

These systems improve driving comfort and safety by leveraging data from vehicle sensors, such as radar or lidar data, cameras and/or geolocation devices.

However, it is not known that, when the vehicle is stationary, there is any functionality that would allow for the anticipation of an imminent fine procedure carried out by at least one officer located near the vehicle, whether or not the owner of the vehicle is present in the vehicle when the officer approaches.

There is therefore a need to anticipate such a fine procedure, in order to limit the impact of the fine for the vehicle owner, and to facilitate the fine procedure for the officer.

The present invention improves the situation.

To this end, a first aspect of the invention relates to a method for managing information relating to a fine procedure for a motor vehicle, implemented in the motor vehicle, and comprising the following steps:
- upon detection of the presence of at least one officer in charge of contravention procedures in the vehicle's environment and upon detection of the absence of a driver in the vehicle, transmission of an alert to an owner of the vehicle, said alert indicating a risk of contravention of the vehicle;
- presentation of initial information to the agent, depending on receipt or absence of receipt of a response from the driver to the transmitted alert.

Thus, in the absence of a driver in the vehicle, the vehicle owner can be alerted to the presence of a ticket enforcement officer near the vehicle, which makes it possible to anticipate a ticketing procedure subsequently initiated against the owner's vehicle. In addition, the first information sent to the officer may depend on a response from the owner, which can help limit the impact of the ticket.

According to embodiments, if a response to the alert is received from the vehicle owner, the response comprising at least one instruction, the first information presented to the agent may comprise the at least one instruction.

This allows the owner to provide information to the officer while he is away from the vehicle, thereby limiting the impact of the fine. The instruction may indicate an estimated time before the owner returns to his vehicle, for example.

In addition, the presentation of the first information may include the audio or visual restitution of said at least one instruction included in the response to the alert.

Thus, the officer can be informed by the first information when he approaches the vehicle, therefore before or during the verbalization procedure initiated against the vehicle by at least one officer.

According to embodiments of the invention, in the event of no response to the alert by the owner of the vehicle, the first information may include default information.

Thus, even if the owner does not respond to the alert, the agent can be informed of default information that can be determined in advance. The default information could, for example, indicate an estimated time before the owner returns to their vehicle.

In addition, the default information can be configured in the vehicle.

This allows the owner to arrange in advance the first information to be sent to an officer in the event of a fine procedure.

According to embodiments, the method may further comprise, following the detection of the absence of a driver in the vehicle, obtaining at least one second piece of descriptive information of a fine procedure initiated against the vehicle, and transmitting said at least one second piece of information to said owner of the vehicle.

This allows the owner to be kept informed of the ticketing procedure. He can therefore determine whether it is necessary to return to his vehicle quickly, particularly when the ticketing procedure involves removing the vehicle.

According to embodiments, the alert can be transmitted to the owner:
- by a message transmitted directly from the vehicle to a telephone number of the owner; or
- to a server capable of transmitting the alert to the vehicle owner.

This way, the owner can be contacted at any time, especially if he has a portable terminal such as a mobile phone or smartphone.

According to embodiments, the alert may further indicate additional detection information including a distance between the vehicle and the at least one detected agent and/or a number of detected agents.

Thus, the alert can provide the vehicle owner with precise information relating to the vehicle's risk of being fined.

A second aspect of the invention relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to the first aspect of the invention, when these instructions are executed by a processor.

A third aspect of the invention relates to a device for controlling a motor vehicle comprising a processor configured to:
- detect the presence of at least one officer in charge of contravention procedures in the vehicle's environment;
- detect whether a driver is present or not in the vehicle;
- in the event of detection of the presence of said at least one agent and in the event of detection of the absence of a driver in the vehicle, transmit an alert to an owner of the vehicle, said alert indicating a risk of the vehicle being fined;
- present initial information to the agent, depending on whether or not a response from the driver to the alert transmitted has been received.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on examining the detailed description below, and the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a motor vehicle according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the steps of a method for managing information relating to a vehicle fine procedure, according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a device for controlling a motor vehicle, according to embodiments of the invention.

There FIG. 1 illustrates a motor vehicle 100, according to embodiments of the invention

The vehicle 100 comprises in particular a control device 101, which may be a centralized control device responsible for a plurality of functions of the motor vehicle. The control device 101 may be of the ECU type in particular, for “Electronic Control Unit” in English.

Alternatively, the control device 101 is dedicated to the function of managing information relating to a contravention procedure, a function described below.

The vehicle 100 may further comprise an image acquisition device 102, such as a camera, capable of obtaining an image or a series of images, representative of a scene external to the vehicle. For example, as shown in the FIG. 1 , the image acquisition device 102 may be capable of acquiring a scene facing the front of the vehicle 100: for this purpose, the camera 102 may be arranged inside the vehicle, in an upper and central part of the windshield of the vehicle 100. Note that the vehicle 100 may comprise several cameras, with different orientations, so as to acquire several series of images representative of different scenes from the environment of the vehicle.

The images acquired by the camera 102, raw or resulting from image processing, can be transmitted to the control device 101 via a wired or wireless communication means.

The vehicle 100 may further comprise a screen 103 of an infotainment system of the vehicle. The screen 103 is in particular capable of displaying information for the driver, passengers and/or persons located near the vehicle and who are in a position to look inside the vehicle 100. The control device 101 is capable of controlling the display of information on the screen 103. No restriction is attached to the technology associated with the screen 103, nor to its positioning inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle 100. For example, the screen 103 may be arranged at the front of the vehicle, in a central position between the position of the driver and the front passenger.

The vehicle 100 may further comprise an assembly 104 comprising at least one loudspeaker, and preferably several loudspeakers, of the infotainment system of the vehicle 100. The assembly 104 may also be controlled in order to present information, by sound reproduction, to an occupant of the vehicle or to a person close to the vehicle but located outside. The control device 101 may control the assembly 104 for the sound reproduction of information.

No restriction is attached to the means of communication between the control device 101 on the one hand, and the screen 103 and the assembly 104, which may be wired or wireless.

The vehicle 100 may further comprise a first radio communication module 105 capable of communicating in a cellular network, such as a 3G, 4G, 5G or any generation network. The first communication module 105 is thus capable of exchanging data with a base station of the cellular network, data which can then be transmitted to a remote server, or of transmitting a message, of the SMS type for example, to a telephone number, which can be transmitted via the cellular network to its recipient identified by the telephone number.

The vehicle 100 may further comprise a second communication module 106 of the V2X type, also called “Vehicle to Everything” or “Vehicle to Everything” in English, capable of exchanging data with similar modules of other vehicles, with elements of a road infrastructure and with other devices external to the vehicle 100. The second communication module 106 may for example be based on a Wi-Fi type radio technology, for example on the IEEE 802.11p standard.

The control device 101 can communicate with the communication modules 105 and 106, in order to receive data from remote entities and in order to transmit data to remote entities, as detailed in the following with reference to the FIG. 2 .

There FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the steps of a method for managing information relating to a traffic violation procedure, according to embodiments of the invention.

A fine procedure is understood to mean a procedure initiated by an agent external to the vehicle, based on a lack of conformity between the driving of the vehicle and/or the positioning of its parking, and regulatory constraints. In the context of the invention, the fine procedure is linked to a lack of conformity between a parking positioning of the vehicle 100 with respect to regulatory constraints, no restriction being attached to such constraints, which vary according to the countries/regions and according to the type of the vehicle 100.

The method described in the following can be implemented by the control device 101 described previously.

In a step 200, the method is initialized upon detection of initialization conditions of the information management method according to the invention. The management of information relating to a fine procedure can be activated manually by the user, or can be activated automatically at the end of a driving cycle of the vehicle 100, in particular when the vehicle 100 is parked, whether the driver is still present in the vehicle 100 or has exited the vehicle. Such initialization conditions can be verified by the control device 101. Alternatively, the method is initiated in step 200 at the end of a driving cycle and if an option for activating the information management function relating to a fine procedure has been validated beforehand by the user. The activation option can be validated each time the vehicle is parked, or can be validated once in advance via the vehicle settings, accessible from a menu displayed on the screen 103 for example.

In a step 201, the control device 101 determines whether an agent in charge of contravention procedures is detected in an environment of the vehicle 100. Such detection may be based on:
- images from the camera 102, for example by identifying a verbalization procedure carried out by an officer on a vehicle parked near the vehicle 100; and/or
- a message intercepted by the second communication module 105 V2X, the message indicating that a ticketing procedure is in progress for a vehicle located near the vehicle 100. Such a message may be sent by a server to a vehicle located in the environment of the vehicle 100 and/or may be sent by a vehicle in the environment of the vehicle 100, for example by the vehicle currently being ticketed by the officer.

A vehicle is said to be located in the environment of the vehicle 100 if it is located at a distance less than a given threshold from the vehicle, and/or if it is identifiable in images acquired by a camera 102 of the vehicle 100.

Furthermore, during step 201, the control device 101 can determine additional detection information, such as a distance between the vehicle 100 and the at least one agent, a number of agents, and/or any other detail relating to the at least one detected agent.

As long as the control device 101 does not detect an officer near the vehicle, step 201 is iterated, allowing continuous monitoring of the presence of an officer in charge of fines in the environment of the vehicle 100.

Upon detection of at least one agent in the environment of the vehicle 100 in step 201, the method proceeds to a step 202.

In step 202, the control device 101 may determine whether or not a driver is present inside the vehicle. No restriction is attached to the determining step 202, which may be based on data from an interior camera of the vehicle, capable of filming a scene inside the vehicle, or which may be based on other sensor data, and/or on a locking state of the vehicle 100.

If the control device 101 determines that a driver is present inside the vehicle 100, the control device 101 can display an alert on the screen 102 of the vehicle and/or can play an audible alert via the assembly 104, intended for the driver located inside the vehicle 100, at a step 203. The alert can indicate a risk of a fine and can further indicate the additional detection information described above. The driver can thus anticipate a fine procedure before it is initiated against the vehicle 100.

If the control device 101 determines that no driver is present inside the vehicle 100, during step 202, the control device 101 can transmit a remote alert intended for the owner of the vehicle 100, the alert being able to be transmitted for example via the first communication module 105 described previously. The alert can indicate a risk of a fine and can further indicate the additional detection information described previously. No restriction is attached to the format of the alert which can include:
- alert data transmitted via the cellular network to a remote server. The remote server may be associated with an application installed on a portable terminal of the owner, for example a Smartphone, and receipt of the alert by the server may generate an alert on the application installed and executed on the user's portable terminal. Alternatively, upon receipt of the alert, the server may transmit an SMS-type message to the owner, the server storing the owner's telephone number in association with a vehicle identifier transmitted in the alert during step 204;
- an SMS-type message transmitted directly from the control device 101 to the owner's portable terminal, via the first communication module 105, the control device 101 storing a telephone number of the owner in memory. Such a telephone number can be configured by the owner in a menu of the vehicle 100 accessible on the screen 103.

Again, the invention thus allows the owner to react in advance before a penalty procedure is initiated against the vehicle 100.

Following the remote alert being issued in step 204, the method proceeds to steps 205 and 206.

In step 205, the control device 101 determines whether a response to the alert has been received from the driver of the vehicle 100, the response comprising at least one instruction. If this is not the case, i.e. if no response to the alert has been received by the control device 101, step 205 is repeated, so as to be able to detect in real time the receipt of a response to the alert.

In step 206, the control device 101 sends a first piece of information to the agent located outside the vehicle. The information can be sent in the form of a display on the screen 103 or in the form of an audio message broadcast by the assembly 104 so as to be audible to the agent located outside the vehicle.

Advantageously, the first information sent to the agent depends on the receipt, or lack thereof, of a response from the driver to the alert transmitted in step 204.

For example, if no response is received from the owner, the first information sent to the agent may be default information stored by the control device 101. The default information may be configured in advance by the owner, via the vehicle menu 100 accessible via the screen 103 for example. The default information may be an audible or visual message indicating “the driver will return in X minutes”, X being a parameter defined in advance by the owner.

In the case where step 206 is implemented after receiving a response from the owner in step 205, the first information sent to the agent depends on the at least one instruction included in the owner's response. For example, the at least one instruction indicated by the owner can be directly returned, in visual and/or audio form, to the agent located near the vehicle, so that the agent takes into account the at least one instruction from the owner in the ticketing procedure, or even suspends the ticketing procedure if the owner indicates an imminent return of the owner to his vehicle.

No restriction is attached to the time at which the first information 206 is presented to the agent. For example, the first information may be presented when the agent is detected in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle 100, for example less than 2 or 3 meters from the vehicle 100. Alternatively, or in addition, the first information is presented to the agent at the end of a predetermined duration after the transmission of the alert 204: such a predetermined duration allows the owner to be given time to send a response comprising an instruction on the basis of which the first information can be determined by the control device 101.

In addition, the presentation of the first information during step 206 may include several presentations of information, for example:
- first the presentation of the default information to the agent; then
- upon receipt of the driver's response to step 205 at a time subsequent to the presentation of the default information, the presentation of the at least one instruction included in the response, to the agent.

In parallel with steps 204 to 206, the control device 101 can obtain, at a step 207, second information which is descriptive of a fine procedure initiated against the vehicle 100 by the agent located nearby.

Such second descriptive information of the ticketing procedure can be obtained by sensors of the vehicle, for example by the camera 102, or by V2D communication between a device of the officer and the second communication module 105.

The second descriptive information of the contravention procedure may include one or more of the following information:
- a type of fine;
- a vehicle removal status; and/or
- an identifier of a pound to which the vehicle is moved.

The second descriptive information of the contravention procedure can be transmitted, at a step 208, by the control device 101 in real time to the owner:
- via the remote server which can in turn transmit the descriptive data of the fine procedure by an SMS message to the owner, or via the application on his portable terminal;
- directly by sending an SMS type message to the owner's portable terminal, via the first communication module 105, the control device 101 storing a telephone number of the owner in memory.

Steps 204 to 206 on the one hand, and 207 and 208 on the other hand, can be implemented in parallel. Thus, the agent can implement the fine procedure, but adapt it when the first information is sent to him during step 206. The owner can thus, even when located remotely, interact remotely with the agent, since the second information can be acquired in real time: the owner can in particular determine whether the response transmitted in step 205 had an impact on the fine procedure, by consulting the second information transmitted to him during step 208.

There FIG. 3 shows the structure of a control device 101 according to embodiments of the invention.

The control device 101 comprises a processor 301 configured to communicate unidirectionally or bidirectionally, via one or more buses or via a direct wired connection, with a memory 302 such as a “ Random Access Memory ” type memory, RAM, or a “ Read Only Memory ” type memory, ROM, or any other type of memory (Flash, EEPROM, etc.). Alternatively, the memory 302 comprises several memories of the aforementioned types.

The memory 302 is capable of storing, permanently or temporarily, at least some of the data used and/or resulting from the implementation of the method described with reference to the FIG. 2 .

The memory 302 can in particular store the default information to be sent to the agent in the event of failure to receive a response from the owner, following transmission of the alert in step 204.

The processor 301 is capable of executing instructions, stored in the memory 302, for implementing the steps of the method according to the invention, described with reference to the FIG. 2 Alternatively, the processor 301 can be replaced by a microcontroller designed and configured to carry out the steps of the method according to the invention, described with reference to the FIG. 2 .

The control device 101 comprises a first interface 303 capable of communicating with the image acquisition device 102, in particular for receiving images acquired in real time by the device 102.

The control device 101 may further comprise a second interface 304 capable of communicating with the screen 103, in particular for displaying the first information on the screen 103.

The control device 101 may further comprise a third interface 305 capable of communicating with the assembly 104 of at least one loudspeaker, in particular for the transmission of the first information for sound reproduction of the first information by the assembly 104.

The control device 101 may further comprise a fourth interface 306, capable of communicating with the first communication module 105 described previously.

The control device 101 may further comprise a fifth interface 307, capable of communicating with the second communication module 106 described previously.

The control device 101 may include other interfaces for communicating with other equipment of the vehicle 100.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above as examples; it extends to other variants.

Claims (10)

Method for managing information relating to a fine procedure for a motor vehicle (100), implemented in the motor vehicle, and comprising the following steps:
- upon detection (201) of the presence of at least one agent in charge of contravention procedures in an environment of the vehicle and upon detection of an absence (202) of a driver in the vehicle, transmission (204) of an alert to an owner of the vehicle, said alert indicating a risk of contravention of the vehicle;
- presentation (206) of first information to the agent, depending on receipt or absence of receipt of a response from the driver to the transmitted alert. The method of claim 1, wherein, if a response to the alert is received (205) from the vehicle owner, the response comprising at least one instruction, the first information presented (206) to the agent comprises said at least one instruction. The method of claim 2, wherein the presentation (206) of the first information comprises the audible or visual reproduction of said at least one instruction included in the response to the alert. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which, in the event of no response to the alert by the owner of the vehicle, the first information comprises default information. Method according to claim 4, in which the default information is configurable in the vehicle (100). Method according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising, following the detection (202) of the absence of a driver in the vehicle (100), obtaining (207) at least one second piece of information describing a fine procedure initiated against the vehicle, and transmitting (208) said at least one second piece of information to said owner of the vehicle. Method according to one of the preceding claims, in which the alert is transmitted (204):
- by a message transmitted directly from the vehicle (100) to a telephone number of the owner; or
- to a server capable of transmitting the alert to the vehicle owner. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the alert further indicates additional detection information including a distance between the vehicle and the at least one detected agent and/or a number of detected agents. Computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to one of the preceding claims, when these instructions are executed by a processor (301). Control device (101) of a motor vehicle (100) comprising a processor (302) configured to:
- detect the presence of at least one officer in charge of contravention procedures in the vehicle's environment;
- detect whether a driver is present or not in the vehicle;
- in the event of detection of the presence of said at least one agent and in the event of detection of the absence of a driver in the vehicle, transmit an alert to an owner of the vehicle, said alert indicating a risk of the vehicle being fined;
- present initial information to the agent, depending on whether or not a response from the driver to the alert transmitted has been received.