EQUIPMENT FOR TRACK MONITORING Technical field

[0001 ] The invention is directed to the monitoring of tracks like railways, roads, watercourses, etc. The invention is directed to the monitoring of such tracks during service or modification operations.

Background art

[0002] Prior art patent document published WO 2012/040794 A1 discloses an unmanned railroad track inspection vehicle comprising a wheeled frame and electronic equipment configured for controlling the travelling speed of the vehicle and for detecting hazard. It comprises also an image capture system for capturing images of the hazard. This teaching is essentially directed to the speed control of the vehicle, for it is intended to be unmanned. This teaching addresses the detection of hazards on a railroad. The vehicle is therefore designed to automatically detect any hazard and to provide information of the hazard, like position and possibly images of the hazard. This teaching is therefore not adapted for the general inspection of a track and even less for providing a detailed report of the state of a whole track.

[0003] Prior art patent document published US 2012/0274772 A1 discloses a trolley for monitoring the geometry of a railway track. The trolley comprises positioning means as well as cameras. The cameras capture railway images in correlation with the location of the trolley. The images are stored and analysed so as to detect defects in the railway configuration. If a defect is detected, an alert can be generated. This teaching is essentially directed to determine the geometrical configuration of a railway, i.e. the inter-rail distance, the relative elevation of the rails, the radius of a curved rail or the like. This teaching fails therefore to provide relevant information of the general state of the railway site.

[0004] Prior art patent document published US 2013/0230212 A1 discloses method of surveying a section of a railway to determine amounts of soil to be excavated or added at selected position coordinates of track locations. The method includes moving a survey vehicle along the railway, optically scanning the track structure at selected intervals to obtain optical data points with position coordinates. Images are recorded at the intervals with position coordinates and are analysed so as to adjust the ditch overlays. The adjusted data are then loaded into a computer of an excavator device for display to guide an excavator operator in reshaping the ditches along the track according to the detected position of the excavator device. This teaching is therefore not adapted for generally monitoring the site of a railway but is rather specifically designed for the soil excavation at ditches along the railway.

Summary of invention

Technical Problem

[0005] The invention has for technical problem to provide a solution of monitoring a railway, more particularly for generally monitoring a track and its surroundings and providing a comprehensive report.

Technical solution

[0006] The invention is directed to an equipment for video and/or photo capturing, comprising: at least one digital video and/or photo capture device; a relative and/or absolute positioning device; wherein the equipment is configured so that the at least one digital video and/or photo capture device is/are sequentially triggered based on incremental movement detected by the positioning device.

[0007] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the position device comprises an odometer, a GPS and/or optical device with a display of the distance travelled, the at least one digital video and/or photo capture device comprising command input for triggering a new capture and/or for stopping an ongoing capture, said input being manually or automatically operable based on an increment of the travelled distance measured by the position device.

[0008] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the increment is constant and is preferably comprised between 1 m and 50m, more preferably between 2m and 30m, even more preferably between 5m and 15m. [0009] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it comprises a computer for storing the captured videos and/or photos, and/or for triggering the at least one digital video and/or photo capture device.

[0010] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the at least one digital video and/or photo capture device comprise several cameras for capturing videos in different direction, preferably a front camera, a back camera and two side cameras.

[001 1 ] The invention is also directed to a trolley for railway, comprising: a frame with wheels for rolling on a railway; an equipment for video and/or photo capturing; wherein the equipment is in accordance with the invention.

[0012] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the position device of the video and/or photo capturing equipment comprises an odometer that cooperates with at least one the wheels of the trolley.

[0013] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, its movement is exclusively hand powered.

[0014] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, its wheels for rolling on the railway comprise two wheels on one side and a single wheel on the other side.

[0015] The invention is also directed to a method of capturing videos and/or photos along a track, comprising the following steps: travelling along the track with a vehicle and capturing videos and/or photos; wherein the vehicle is preferably provided with an equipment in accordance with the invention, and the videos and/or photos are sequentially captured while the vehicle travels along the track, based on an increment of a travelled distance of said vehicle.

[0016] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the increment is constant.

[0017] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the track is a railway or a watercourse, preferably a river.

[0018] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the track is a railway and the increment is comprised between 1 m and 50m, more preferably between 2m and 30m, even more preferably between 5m and

15m. [0019] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sequential capturing is initiated when the vehicle reaches a reference point of the track.

[0020] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sequential capturing is further sequentially triggered based on a signal from a relative and/or absolute positioning device.

[0021 ] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the number of sequences of captured videos and/or photos is greater than 10, preferably 50, more preferably 100.

[0022] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sequences of captured videos and/or photos correspond to a travelled distance of more than 1 km, preferably 5km, more preferably 10km.

[0023] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the vehicle is a trolley in accordance with the invention.

[0024] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the captured videos and/or photos are computer readable files, said method further comprising a step of generating a computer readable file comprising the names of the videos and/or photos files, said names being indexed with the corresponding increments of the travelled distance, the file preferably being a CSV file with comma-separated values, a TSV file with tab- separated values, a Database Interchange Format file, a XML spreadsheet file or an Excel® file.

[0025] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the names of the video and/or photo files are indexed with values expressed as distance along the track, preferably with kilometric or mile values of reference points along said track.

Advantages of the invention

[0026] The invention is particularly interesting in that it permits to build a structured and indexed file with complete visual information of a portion of track. This information can be very easily consulted at any time and directly at the portion of interest.

Brief description of the drawings

[0027] Figure 1 depicts a railway vehicle in accordance with the invention; [0028] Figure 2 depicts an equipment for capturing videos and/or photos, provided on the trolley of figure 1 ;

[0029] Figure 3 illustrates the process of capturing indexed videos and/or photos along the track by means of the equipment of figures 1 and 2;

[0030] Figure 4 depicts an example of a CSV file that is prepared based on the videos and/or photos captured with the equipment of figures 1 and 2;

[0031 ] Figure 5 depicts the principle of a computer interface providing monitoring results of the railway by means of a CSV file as in figure 3 and the videos and/or photos files;

[0032] Figure 6 illustrates an example of the computer interface depicted in figure 5;

[0033] Figure 7 depicts an alternative railway vehicle in accordance with the invention.

Description of an embodiment

[0034] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a track monitoring vehicle in accordance with the invention. In this particular case, the vehicle is a railway trolley 2 comprising, essentially, a frame 4 with wheels 6 configured for rolling on the rails of the railway. The trolley 2 comprises also support(s) for one or several cameras 14. The camera(s) is/are configured for capturing videos and/or photos of the railway environment, including the railway itself. The trolley 2 can also comprise a support 10 for a computer 12 connected to the camera(s) 14. The trolley 2 can also comprise an odometer 16 based on the detection of rotation of one of the wheels 6. The odometer can also be connected to the computer 12 or to any display means for indicating the distance travelled with the trolley from a reference point.

[0035] Figure 2 illustrates equipment in accordance with the invention that is provided in the trolley of figure 1 for monitoring the track. The equipment 18 comprises image capturing means 14 that can include a front camera 14 ¹ , a left camera 14 ² , a right camera 14 ³ and a rear camera 14 ⁴ . These cameras can be connected to a computer 12 for triggering video and/or photo capturing with said cameras 14 ¹ to 14 ⁴ . Alternatively, the cameras can be triggered independently of the computer, e.g. manually by means of a wire or wireless (wifi, Bluetooth, etc.) connection. The computer 12 can also be connected to relative or absolute positioning devices, like an odometer 16 (relative), a GPS 20 (absolute). The positioning device can also be an optical positioning device 22 like the TPS of Leica® providing an absolute position of the trolley. Such a device comprises a laser source that interacts with a prism on the trolley and that is able to transmit by radio waves a signal comprising the coordinates X, Y and Z of the prism and therefore of the trolley.

[0036] The computer 12 can comprise a specific interface for being connected with the odometer 16, the GPS device and/or the other device like the optical positioning device 22. It can therefore display the relative position,

1. e. the travelled distance from a reference point, or the absolute position of the trolley. The computer can also be connected to the camera(s) so as to be able to trigger them. The computer can also be connected to the camera(s) so as to store the videos and/or photos captured.

[0037] Figure 3 illustrates the steps of the process of capturing indexed videos and/or photos along the track by means of the equipment of figures 1 and

2. The first step consists in positioning the vehicle (or trolley) at a reference position. This reference position can be located by any means known to the skilled person, e.g. GPS device, landmark, ...

[0038] Once the reference position is achieved with the vehicle, the camera(s) on the vehicle can be triggered in order to capture videos and/or photos on or from that reference position. For photos, these will be on that reference position whereas for videos, these will start from that reference position.

[0039] The triggering can be manual or automatic. When done manually, an operator can read the display of the positioning device and/or observe possible landmarks along the track. In the case of railways, it is indeed possible to proceed to a marking of the railway to that respect, e.g. on one of the rails. This marking can be made by mean of paint on the web of the rail at regular interval. In the field of railways, it can be with an interval of 10 meters. When the triggering is made automatically, this can be based on the positioning device connected to the computer of the equipment.

[0040] As a next step, the vehicle is then moved along the track so as to travel preferably at a reduced speed, until it has travelled a distance that corresponds to the predetermined increment. When the vehicle has reached that further position, the camera(s) can be triggered again so as to capture new photo(s) or to start a new video sequence. For video camera(s), the triggering means stopping the ongoing sequence(s) and starting new one(s). Preferably, the trolley is moved without interruption, the video(s) and/or photo(s) capture(s) being taken while the trolley is travelling. The videos are taken so that the different sequences do not have any significant gap.

[0041 ] This triggering can be made manually or automatically similarly as the initial triggering detailed here above.

[0042] When the travelled distance from the previous position reaches the predetermined increment, the above detailed steps of detection and corresponding triggering are executed similarly.

[0043] The steps of travelling, detecting when the travelled distance reaches the increment, and triggering a new capture are repeated in loop until the portion track that had to be monitored is covered.

[0044] The process described above generates a series of video and/or photo files that are stored on storage medium or media. Storage media can be installed in the cameras themselves. The generated files are named with incremental numbers and need to be indexed with an indicator of the positions to which they correspond. The result of this operation is illustrated in figure 4.

[0045] Figure 4 is an example of a CSV (comma-separated values) file indexing the names of the video and/or photo files. The left column correspond to the kilometre points of the railway track. The intermediate column contains the names of the video and/or photo files that are related to kilometre points in the left column. The right column is optional and corresponds to possible comments that the person proceeding to the indexing can notify.

[0046] As is apparent in figure 4, the first kilometre point KP is 310.00, corresponding to the reference position (see figure 3) where the capturing has been initiated. In the present example, the files of a single camera are listed, e.g. a front camera. The file corresponding to the KP 310.00 is 0001 FRONTVIEW.MP4. The file corresponding to the next KP, i.e. KP 310.10 (i.e. 310.00+10m) is 0002FRONTVIEW.MP4, and so forth. The camera(s) can be set up so as to generate file names with a fixed section and an incremental one. The fixed section can be set as "FRONTVIEW" in that particular case. The incremental one can be set up so as to start from 0. In the CSV file of figure 4, the increments in the file names can be easily generated by an automatic function as available in Microsoft Excel®.

[0047] Interestingly, the CSV file in figure 4 comprises not only video sequences (.MP4) but also photos (JPG). These can be indexed with a specific KP, like an intermediate one. In figure 4, the file name "0001 SCR_0001 .MP4" is indexed with the KP 310.073 which is intermediate between the KP 310.070 and the KP 310.080.

[0048] Once the CSV file is finished, it can be opened with a specially designed viewer as illustrated in figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 illustrates the principle of the viewer whereas figure 6 illustrates an example. The viewer must also have access to the video and/or photo files stored in a specific directory. The left side 24 of the viewer shows a portion of the content of the CSV file, i.e. the track position. Additional information can be added, indexed with the kilometre points, like dedicated references of the user of the track or observations. When clicking on a specific kilometre point 28 on the left part 24 of the viewer illustrated in figures 5 and 6, the video(s) and/or photo(s) associated (in the CSV file) with that section of the track are displayed on the right side 26.

[0049] This provides an easy and rapid visual access to the specific sections of the track. Indeed, as an example, the railway company owner and/or user of a railway track may have ordered some maintenance work on that track and would like to observe the result of that work. A user by merely clicking on the corresponding points of the track are concerned by the maintenance work done will have an immediate view of the railway section.

[0050] In the above discussed figures 4 to 6, only a front view is illustrated, being understood that additional views, like a rear view and one or more side views can also be viewed. These can be viewed simultaneously or alternatively.

[0051 ] A special function can be activated for viewing the images of the sequences on-the-go, i.e. continuously one after the other in the order of the sequences. This provides a view of the railway as a continuous sequence with however the difference and advantage that this sequence is split in many shorter sequences that can be accessed with reference to their position along the track.

Figure 7 illustrates an alternative track monitoring vehicle, still in accordance with the invention. The same reference numbers as those use for figure 1 are used for the same or corresponding elements, these numbers being however incremented by 100. Similarly to the vehicle depicted in figure 1 , it is a railway trolley 102 comprising, essentially, a frame 4 with wheels 6 configured for rolling on the rails of a railway. The frame 104 of the trolley 102 comprises a central mast serving as support for the cameras 1 14. In the presence case, the trolley comprises 8 cameras being understood that this number can be lower or higher. Still in the present case, the trolley comprises two front cameras at a lower level, a central front camera at a lower level and oriented for capturing the central portion of the railway, including the cross members. It comprises also a central front camera at an intermediate level, two side cameras at an upper but still intermediate level and a front and a back camera at a central upper level. All these cameras can be identical, i.e. of the same type. They can all be triggered wirelessly and centrally.