Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to a system for crowd management. Particularly, the present invention relates to an integrated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card based system for management of crowd at pilgrimages or other crowded locations having a high influx of visitors.

BACKGROUND:

Religious places across the globe witness a high influx of crowd. The pilgrim/visitor influx increases especially during the days or months of the year which have a high religious value associated with them. Pilgrims/visitors in extremely large numbers visit these places which gives rise to certain logistical, managerial, and safety related issues.

Crowd management is a daunting task that has to be performed at such religious venues throughout the year and especially during peak seasons, by the management authorities. Excessive crowd during pilgrimages may lead to disasters such as stampedes, crowd crushes, and human collapses. Such disasters directly or indirectly endanger the safety of the pilgrims/visitors, and raise a serious concern before the management authorities.

The crowd management systems currently employed in India are more or less primitive. They tend to neglect a lot of crucial aspects about crowd movement and the locality which in turn gives rise to a higher frequency of crowd disasters as mentioned before. Some of the key aspects not taken into consideration by these systems are the pilgrim/visitor head count in relation to the holding capacity of a particular region on the journey track and live tracking of pilgrims/visitors throughout the journey. Mostly, these systems make use of non-integrated and non-centralized technologies, which further aggravate the problem.

Furthermore, the systems currently used for crowd management barely have a direct link and/or access to the local police force and other armed and civil authorities, who are in a position to intervene in case of such disasters and bring it in control. This is a major drawback of the current systems as significant amount of time is lost between the occurrence of the disaster, communication to the appropriate authorities, and the actual deployment of the forces/authorities at the concerned location.

Prior art:

ES17718888T discloses a a crowd management system that influences a crowd of people to distribute themselves among different regions by changing the perception of the crowd in said different regions. The system comprises of a presence sensor to detect occupancy information in one region, a controller to receive the said information and an environmental control element. The system allows distribution of crowd between different regions. However, the system fails to shed light on implementation of RFID tag based technology for crowd management. This prior art discusses merely about the distribution of crowd between different area, but does not provide any mechanism of communication with concerned authorities in case of emergency situations like stampedes.

US17/508,605 discloses a crowd traffic management system for providing a traffic control for patrons in a high density event in case of emergency situations. However, the system tends to focus on the evacuation and distribution of crowd and does not provide any RFID based technology for visitor tracking. It further fails to disclose an alert mechanism which allows the system to communicate with the concerned authorities.

Hence, there is a need for an improved system which overcomes all the drawbacks of the existing crowd management systems and offers solution for effective crowd management at religious or other crowded places.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:

An object of the present invention is to provide an integrated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card based crowd management system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which allows contact-less real time tracking of visitors at religious places.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which is capable of recording instantaneous head count of visitors in a particular zone of the religious place.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which is capable of monitoring and analyzing the crowd movement in relation to the holding capacity of a particular zone or area.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which is self sufficient to alert the appropriate authorities to take preventive and/or corrective action in case of overcrowding.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which employs multi-technology integration for efficient crowd management at religious places.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which allows multi platform visitor registration.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which mainly functions through wireless Radio Frequency (RF) network technology.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which allows disinfection and reuse of RFID cards.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which is efficient and cost effective.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which does verification of visitors to check their authenticity.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which allows Secure intra and inter communication using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an integrated RFID card based crowd management system, which allows stable RF network connectivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to a system for crowd management. Particularly, the present invention relates to an integrated RFID card based system for management of crowd at pilgrimages having a high influx of pilgrims/visitors.

In one aspect, the system of the present invention comprises of a journey track of the pilgrimage location where the crowd needs to be managed. The system further comprises of a visitor server, a backup server, a central server, a web based or mobile application through which the visitor may register himself online, a software architecture including a dashboard, a master data set; plurality of RFID cards, plurality of registration counters, plurality of card collection counters, plurality of verification counters, plurality of image capturing devices, plurality of QR code readers, plurality of CCTV cameras, plurality of Ultra high frequency (UHF) readers, plurality of antennas connected via a wireless RF network, plurality of network towers, plurality of SIP phones and controllers, plurality of verification kiosks or hand held devices, plurality of card collection boxes, and plurality of disinfection machines. The plurality of antennas and network towers are connected via a wireless Radio Frequency (RF) network.

In another aspect, the journey track comprises of multiple zones with each zone having a specified crowd holding capacity. The zones further comprise of registration counters, visitor verification counters and card collection counters. In another aspect, the visitor may register himself online by means of a web based or mobile application or offline by visiting physically at any of the registration counters. The image capturing devices located at the registration counters capture the image of the visitor and store the same.

In yet another aspect, when the registration and image capturing process is completed, an RFID card is issued to the visitor. As the visitor moves along the various zones of the journey track, his location is tracked in real time and the location data is fed into displayed at the dashboard.

In yet another aspect, the RFID cards issued to the visitors are scanned by UHF readers installed at entry and exit points of each zone in order to verify the authenticity of visitors crossing those zones. The verification regarding authenticity of the visitors may also be done manually by means of dedicated staff or kiosks present at such entry and exit points.

In yet another aspect, the system is configured to raise a warning/alarm at the central server location when the holding capacity of any zone is exceeded. Such alarm is simultaneously communicated to concerned authorities so that precautionary measures or corrective action can be initiated well in advance to avoid any untoward incident such as a stampede.

In yet another aspect, the system comprises of a software architecture which includes a dashborad, a master module, a utility module and an MIS report analysis module. The software architecture is configured to display the live tracking data of the visitors on the dashboard. In another aspect, the used RFID cards of the visitors are collected at the end of the journey and disinfected using a disinfection machine so as to allow reuse of the same cards.

In yet another aspect, the system allows a two communication of data between the central server and the backup server. The system is further configured to perform device health monitoring so as to allow immediate action to be taken to fix or repair the said devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 illustrates the zone wise crowd distribution schematic of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates the Radio Frequency (RF) tower network layout.

FIG. 3 illustrates the overall schematic of the crowd management system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the overview of the software architecture involved in the system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

Before the present invention is described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to methodologies described, as these may vary as per the person skilled in the art. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Throughout this specification, the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps. The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the invention to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results. Various embodiments of the present invention are described below. It is, however noted that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, but rather the intention is that modifications those are apparent are also included.

The present invention relates to a system for crowd management. Particularly, the present invention relates to a integrated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card based system for management of crowd at pilgrimages having a high influx of visitors.

In a preferred embodiment, the system (1) of the present invention comprises of journey track (2) of the pilgrimage location where the crowd needs to be managed. The system (1) further comprises of a visitor server (3), a backup server (4), a central server (5), a web based or mobile application (6) through which the visitor may register himself online, a software architecture including a dashboard (7), a master data set (8), plurality of RFID cards (9), plurality of registration counters (R), plurality of card collection counters (C), plurality of verification counters (V), plurality of image capturing devices (10), plurality of QR code readers (11), plurality of CCTV cameras (12), plurality of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) readers (13), plurality of antennas (14) connected via a wireless Radio Frequency (RF) network (15), plurality of network towers (16), plurality of SIP phones and controllers (17), plurality of verification kiosks or hand held devices (18), plurality of card collection boxes (19), and plurality of disinfection machines (20). The functioning of the system is described in the paragraphs that follow.

Referring to FIG. 1, the journey track (2) is divided into plurality of zones. The zones are represented as zone A, B, C, D, E and F. The crowd holding capacity of each zone is evaluated and pre-fed in the software architecture. The plurality of antennas (14) and network towers (16) are installed along the journey track (2) and the vicinity area. The locations (Location A, A1, B, B1, C, D, D1, E, E1, F, F1, G, H, I) at which such antennas (14) and network towers (16) are installed are as depicted in FIG. 2. It is to be noted that the zones and the tower locations mentioned above are named so for mere explanatory purposes and are not limited to the count or names specified therein. The system (1) can have lesser or more number of zones and tower locations as per the geographical conditions of the pilgrimage location. The antennas (14) and network towers (16) are placed such that a stable Radio Frequency (RF) network (15) is established between them and that they are able to communicate with each other via the RF network (15). The dotted lines in FIG. 2 depict the RF network connectivity between set of antennas (14) and a set of network towers (16).

Referring to FIG.1, in a preferred embodiment, some of the zones have registration counters (R) and card collection counters (C). Visitor verification counters (V) are present at the entry and exit point of each zone. Registration counters (R) are the locations wherein the visitor can physically register himself for journey through an offline mode. Alternatively, the visitor may also register through an online mode, the procedure for which is discussed following paragraph.

In an embodiment wherein the visitor registers himself online through a web based or mobile application (6), the system is configured to synchronize the visitor data from the visitor server (3) with the backup server (4). After registering online, a unique QR code specific to each visitor bearing his details is generated and communicated to the visitor. The visitor then has to merely visit any of the registration counters (R) and display his/her QR code. The QR code readers (11) are configured to scan the QR code and retrieve the details of a particular visitor from the master data set (8).

In an embodiment wherein the visitor wishes to register through an offline mode, he has to reach out to any of the registration counters (R) and provide his personal details. In both the online and the offline mode, once the visitor provides his details/data, a master data set (8) is created in the software architecture of the system.

Referring to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, once the master data set is created (8), the visitor is registered for the journey. Post registration either online or offline, the image capturing devices (10) located at the registration counters (R) capture the image of the visitor and store the same. In an alternate embodiment, wherein the registration is done online, the web based or mobile application is configured to capture image of the visitor at his location itself and transmit the same to the backup server (4) and the central server (5).

In an embodiment, when the registration and image capturing process is completed, an RFID card (9) is issued to the visitor. Each RFID card (9) is specific to a particular visitor. Once the RFID card (9) is issued, the visitor is ready to begin his journey on the journey track (2). As the visitor moves along the various zones of the journey track (2), his location is tracked in real time and the location data is fed into the dashboard (7).

In an embodiment, plurality of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) card readers (13) are installed at the entry and exit points of each zone. The UHF card readers (13) scan the RFID cards (9) issued to each visitor and verify if the visitor is an authentic registered visitor or not. If he is a registered visitor, he is allowed to proceed ahead on the journey track (2). In case the visitor is not an authentic registered visitor, an alert is sent to the central server and concerned authorities. In this manner, the system (1) helps to ensure that only verified registered visitors are allowed to move along the journey track (2). This not only helps in regulation of crowd, but also is important from safety point of view.

In an embodiment, the verification of the authenticity of a visitor can be done in an automated or manual manner. In case of an automated route, UHF readers (13) are pre-installed at entry and exit points of each zone. When the visitor passes through the scanning range of such readers, the RFID card (9) gets automatically scanned. In case of a manual route, dedicated staff or kiosks are present at such locations so as perform the scanning part.

In a preferred embodiment, each zone has a particular crowd holding capacity. The moment the holding capacity of a particular zone is exceeded, the system (1) is configured to raise a warning/alarm at the central server (5) location. The alert is simultaneously communicated to concerned authorities. The concerned authorities include all the unit heads of the sectors, designated officers of police force, CRPF and civil administration officers. The system is configured to raise such a warning/alert so that precautionary measures or corrective action can be initiated well in advance to avoid any untoward incident such as a stampede. The communication of such warning/alert is done via SIP phones and controllers. This mode of communication provides the most secure communication line and ensures that such sensitive information is safely shared only with the concerned authorities.

In an embodiment, the software architecture of the system (1) includes but is not limited to a dashboard (7), a master module (21), a utility module (22), and an MIS report analysis module (23). The overall architecture is as illustrated in FIG. 4. The master module (21) comprises of the master data set (8) consisting of information such as the user master, location master, counter master, alert master, registration master, zone master, and device master. The utility module (22) comprises of options for data synchronization, password change, and user rights assignment. The MIS report analysis module (23) basically performs analysis of the live tracking data of the visitors along the journey track (2) and multiple zones. This module is configured to display green (least crowded), yellow (moderately crowded), and red (most crowded) zones on the dashboard (7). The entire real time visitor tracking data and real time zone wise distribution of the crowd is displayed on the dashboard (7).

In an embodiment, once the journey is completed, the used RFID cards (9) of all visitors are collected and disinfected through disinfecting machines (20). In case any wherein the visitor forgets to submit the card, an alarm system is installed at the exit point to auto detect the card passing in unauthorized way. This minimizes card losses and controls their misuse. After disinfection, the RFID cards (9) become ready to be re-used. This drastically brings down the operational cost of the system (1) since the same cards can be re-used and there is no need to issue a bulk of fresh cards every time new visitors are registered. This makes the system (1) of the present invention highly economically viable unlike the systems of the prior arts where there is no provision for re-use of the same cards.

In an embodiment, there is a two way communication between the central server (5) and the backup server (4). Once the data is fed in the central server (5), it is immediately synchronized with the backup server (4) and a copy of the data is stored in the backup server (4). Yet another copy of the data is transmitted from the backup server (4) to the central server (5) and is stored at a different location. Such a two way flow of data ensures that there is always a backup in case of server failure/crash. The system of the present invention allows external API integration. Apart from this, the central server (5) and the backup server (4) also have a provision of network attached storage (NAS). The NAS facility ensures that the data is stored at the back end when the server space is utilized completely.

In another embodiment, the system (1) of the present invention is also configured to perform health monitoring of all the devices connected through. Whenever there is a dysfunction in any of the connected devices, they get disconnected from the RF network, which is immediately reflected on the dashboard (7) at the central server (5) location. This allows immediate action to be taken to fix or repair the said devices and the system (1) to function smoothly.

Working Example: Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Area

Consider an example wherein a visitor “X” intends to register for a visit to the famous pilgrimage of Sri Mata Vaishnodevi in India. With respect to the journey of visitor “X” the implementation of the system (1) of the present invention will be as follows:

The Sri Mata Vaishnodevi shrine is divided into seven major zones namely Banganga (Zone A), Tarakote (Zone B), Adhkuwari (Zone C), Bhawan (Zone D), Sanjichhat (Zone E), Bhairoli (Zone F), and the helipad area (Zone G). Out of these, Zone A, B and G have registration and card collection counters. All the zones including Zone A, B and G have verification counters.

“X” can either register himself online through the web based or mobile application of the system or offline by visiting any of the registration centers as mentioned above. For the purpose of this example, it is assumed that he registered himself online. Once “X” registers online, a QR code corresponding to “X”’s details is generated and communicated to him. When “X” reaches Sri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine, he has to go to any of the registration centers and display the said QR Code.

The QR code scanners of the system scan the QR code of “X” and retrieve all the information fed in by “X” at the time of registering online and display it on the dashboard of the central server location - Tarakote. The system of the present invention synchronizes the data of “X”’s server and the backup server. Once the details of “X” are retrieved, image of “X” is captured by the image capturing devices and stored in the central server.

Once the image capturing process is completed, an RFID card consisting details of “X” is issued to him. The system of the present invention fetches, records and stores the real-time data about “X”’s movement along the journey track. As “X” moves from one zone to the other, the installed UHF readers or verification kiosks installed at the entry and exit point of each zone scan his card and verify at every stage if the person passing through an instantaneous zone is “X” or not. At the end of the journey, “X” has to deposit back his RFID card. This card is then disinfected by the disinfecting machines and re-used for newly incoming visitors. A similar process is applicable for all other visitors.

Alert mechanism (crowd management):
Consider the above mentioned zones of Sri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine to have a holding capacity as given in Table. 1.

Sr. No. Location Green Yellow Red
1 Registration area Upto 30000 30000-40000 Above 40000
2 Zone A Upto 5000 5000-7000 Above 7000
3 Zone B Upto 5000 5000-7000 Above 7000
4 Zone C Upto 4000 4000-5000 Above 5000
5 Zone D Upto 3000 3000-4000 Above 4000
6 Zone E Upto 3000 3000-4000 Above 4000
7 Zone F Upto 2000 2000-3500 Above 3500

Table. 1

In order to understand the alert mechanism of the system of the present invention, consider a scenario wherein the head count of visitors in Zone B is 7200. In this case, the number of people present in Zone B is above the holding capacity of that zone (i.e. 7000). In such an event, the system of the present invention is configured to send a warning/alarm to the concerned authorities to bring the situation in control by distributing the crowd as per the holding capacity of each zone. This helps prevent untoward incidents such as but not limited to stampedes.

Advantages:

The system (1) of the present invention provides several advantages over the existing prior arts. They are as follows:
1.The system allows contact-less visitor tracking by means of RFID cards.
2.The system allows real-time tracking of visitors throughout the journey.
3.The system comprises of a single dashboard providing immediate visibility and insights about different operational and monitoring details of the system.
4.The system sends auto-generated warnings/alarms in case of overcrowding in a zone.
5.The system allows preventive and corrective action to be taken in emergency events.
6.The system succeeds at establishing a stable RF network in hilly regions, where typically installation and functioning of RF network is reasonably challenging.
7.The system includes multi-technology integration for better crowd management high crowd influx pilgrimages.
8.The system enables multi-platform visitor registration.
9.The system functions on RF technology which enables wireless communication between the integral components of the system.
10.The system provides an user friendly and insightful dashboard.
11.The system allows the RFID cards to be reused thereby allowing a very economically beneficial crowd management.
12.The system is equipped to auto identify and generate an alarm if any visitor does not return the card at the end of the journey.

While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the specific elements of the preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that many alterations can be made and that many modifications can be made in preferred embodiment without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other changes in the preferred embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation. , Claims:We Claim,

1.An integrated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card based crowd management system (1) comprising of a journey track (2), a visitor server (3), a backup server (4), a central server (5), a web based or mobile application (6) through which the visitor may register himself online, a software architecture including a dashboard (7), a master data set (8), plurality of RFID cards (9), plurality of registration counters (R), plurality of card collection counters (C), plurality of verification counters (V), plurality of image capturing devices (10), plurality of QR code readers (11), plurality of CCTV cameras (12), plurality of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) readers (13), plurality of antennas (14), plurality of network towers (16), plurality of SIP phones and controllers (17), plurality of verification kiosks or hand held devices (18), plurality of card collection boxes (19), and plurality of disinfection machines (20), wherein;
the journey track (2) is divided into plurality of zones based on the visitor holding capacity of each area along the track;
the plurality of antennas (14) and the plurality of network towers (16) are installed along the journey track (2) and are connected via a wireless radio frequency (RF) network (15);
the system is configured to synchronize visitor data from the visitor server (3) with the backup server (4);
a master data set (8) is created in the software architecture of the system once the visitor submits his data;
the image capturing devices (10) are located at the registration counters (R);
the image capturing devices (10) capture the image of the visitor and store them;
plurality of RFID cards (9) specific to each visitor are issued after registration and image capturing;
the system is configured to track the location of the visitors in real-time;
the real-time location data of the visitors is fed into the dashboard (7);
the plurality of UHF card readers (13) are installed at the entry and exit points of each zone;
the RFID card (9) gets automatically scanned when the visitor passes through the scanning range of the UHF card readers (13);
the system is configured to send an alert to the central server (5) and the concerned authorities in case of non-authorized visitors;
the system is configured to raise an alarm as soon as the holding capacity of any of the zones is exceeded;
the alarm is communicated to concerned authorities via SIP phones and controllers;
the software architecture includes a dashboard (7), a master module (21), a utility module (22), and an MIS report analysis module (23);
the used RFID cards (9) of all visitors are collected and disinfected through disinfecting machines (20) after completion of the journey; and
the system is configured to perform health monitoring of all the devices connected through the RF network (15).

2.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the visitor holding capacity of each zone is pre-determined, and pre-fed in the software architecture.

3.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein registration of a visitor can be done by online or offline mode.

4.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein registration of a visitor by online mode is done by means of a web based application or a mobile application (6).

5.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein after online registration a unique QR code specific to each visitor is generated and communicated to the visitor.

6.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein offline registration is done by visiting the registration counters (R) located in the plurality of zones.

7.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein dedicated staff or kiosks are present at the entry and exit points of each zone to scan the RFID card (9).

8.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the concerned authorities include but are not limited to the unit heads of the sectors, designated officers of police force, CRPF and civil administration officers.

9.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the master module (21) comprises of the master data set (8) consisting of information such as the user master, location master, counter master, alert master, registration master, zone master, and device master.

10.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the utility module (22) comprises of options for data synchronization, password change, and user rights assignment.

11.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the MIS report analysis module (23) tracks the live location of the visitors along the journey track (2) and plurality of zones.

The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein on feeding of data in the central server (5), the data is immediately synchronized with the backup server (4) and a copy of the data is stored in the backup server (4), and yet another copy of the data is transmitted from the backup server (4) to the central server (5) and is stored at a different location.