US-20260127619-A1 - GENERATING A POLLUTION EVENT REPORT

US20260127619A1US 20260127619 A1US20260127619 A1US 20260127619A1US-20260127619-A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a computer implemented method for generating a pollution event report. The method comprises: receiving pollutant data in respect of a pollutant measured at a site; determining, based on the pollutant data, that a pollution event has occurred at the site; receiving, based on the determination that a pollution event has occurred at the site, audio and/or image data captured at the site; and generating a pollution event report including an association between the pollution event and the audio and/or image data. A corresponding computer program, computer readable storage medium and system are also provided.

Inventors

Mark Wilson
Freddie Talberg

Assignees

Emission Solutions Limited

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230609
Priority Date: 20220609

Claims (20)

1 . A computer implemented method of generating a pollution event report, the method comprising: receiving pollutant data in respect of a pollutant measured at a site; determining, based on the pollutant data, that a pollution event has occurred at the site; receiving, based on the determination that a pollution event has occurred at the site, audio and/or image data captured at the site; generating a pollution event report including an association between the pollution event and the audio and/or image data; and sending, to a terminal, at least a portion of the pollution event report, the terminal being associated with a user associated with the site.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a pollution event is determined to have occurred when the pollutant is measured to have breached a threshold level.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the threshold level is based on at least one or more of the pollutant, the time of day, the day of the week, or the time in the year.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pollutant may be one or more of noise, light, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, one or more nitrous oxides, particulate matter; wherein optionally the particulate matter has diameters less than 10 μm, less than 4 μm, less than 2.5 μm, or less than 1 μm.
5 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising obtaining a baseline level of the pollutant; wherein the pollution event report includes a comparison of the baseline level of the pollutant with the measured pollutant level.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the baseline level is a historic average for a corresponding time period to the time at which the pollution event is determined to occur; wherein optionally the corresponding time period is one or more of a time of day, a day of the week, and a day of the month.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pollution event lasts for a predetermined duration starting from when the pollution event is determined to have occurred; wherein further pollution events based on the same pollutant cannot occur within the predetermined duration; and wherein optionally the predetermined duration is 15 minutes, half an hour, one hour, or two hours.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the pollution event retrospectively begins a predefined period before the pollution event is determined to have occurred; and wherein optionally the predetermined duration is 15 minutes, half an hour, one hour, or two hours.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined duration and/or the predefined period is different for different pollutants.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio and/or image data includes one or more of a photograph, a thermal image, an acoustic image, a video clip, and an audio clip; and/or wherein the audio and/or image data is captured in response to the determination that a pollution event has occurred.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio and/or image data is captured on a continuous basis and stored for a predetermined period of time after which it is deleted if no pollution event is determined to have occurred within the predetermined period of time; wherein optionally the predetermined period of time is 15 minutes, half an hour, or one hour.
12 . The method of claim 1 , comprising identifying, from the received audio and/or image data, one or more potential polluters; wherein the pollution event reports includes the one or more identified potential polluters; and wherein optionally the one or more potential polluters includes one or more vehicles, pieces of machinery, pieces of equipment, and people.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more potential polluters are identified using one or more of image recognition, such as automatic number plate recognition, audio recognition, and artificial intelligence.
14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: prompting the user associated with the terminal to input, at the terminal, contextual information about the pollution event; receiving the contextual information from the terminal; and updating the pollution event report to include the contextual information.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the terminal to which the at least a portion of the pollution event report is sent is one of a predefined list of terminals associated with a predefined list of users associated with the site.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the terminal is selected from the predefined list of terminals such that it is a terminal associated with a user who is present at the site; wherein optionally the user who is present at the site is determined based on one or more of: facial recognition performed on images taken from the site; a predefined schedule of users at the site; an electronic logbook of users at the site; and a detection of a terminal that is associated with the user at the site.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the terminal is a mobile phone or device capable of receiving an SMS message, and wherein the at least a portion of the pollution event report is sent to the terminal as an SMS message.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the pollution event report comprises some or all of the audio and/or image data.
19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving environmental data corresponding to the time of the pollution event; wherein the pollution event report includes the environmental data; and wherein optionally the method further comprises determining whether the environmental data was likely to have contributed to the pollution event or not; wherein the pollution event report includes the determination of whether the environmental data was likely to have contributed to the pollution event or not.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the environmental data is environmental data reflective of a geographical region within which the site is located; wherein optionally the geographic region is an administrative region, a city, a borough, a county, a state, a post code area, or a ZIP code area.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of pollution monitoring and management. In particular, the present invention provides methods and a system for generating a pollution event report in response to detecting a pollution event at a site. BACKGROUND Many human activities create some form of pollution in the form of pollutants. For example, an industrial vehicle may emit noise as well as particulate and gaseous pollutants, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NOx). It may also emit light, which may be considered a form of pollution, particularly during the night. Being able to monitor and manage the levels of pollution emitted from various sources is useful for a variety of reasons. One important need is that of monitoring for compliance with regulations or other pollution limits. For example, maximum allowable pollution levels may be set for a given region, e.g. a building site, or for a given piece of equipment, e.g. a lorry. In the case of a building site, there may be limits on the total noise emitted by the site at certain times of the day, for example. Meanwhile, in the case of a lorry, limits may be set on the amount of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide emitted. These limits may be set by national or international legislation, local authorities, or may be voluntary as part of a certification scheme, for example. In order to enforce these limits and ensure compliance or to manage and/or reduce pollution effectively even when compliant with current limits, it is important not just to be able to monitor pollution levels, but also to be able to identify the sources of the pollution so that the responsible party can be identified. This can ensure that appropriate action can be taken against any party in breach of the requirements. For example, a fine could be issued to a company that breaches emissions thresholds. In the past, pollutions have been recorded and averaged over a longer period of time, such as over 15 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, and 24 hours, to allow a general assessment of the causes of the pollutions. However, these studies have been limited to providing input for general decision-making or legislation. SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention is defined in the independent claims. Optional features are set out in the dependent claims. According to a first aspect of the invention, a computer implemented method for generating a pollution event report is provided. The method comprises: receiving pollutant data in respect of a pollutant measured at a site; determining, based on the pollutant data, that a pollution event has occurred at the site; receiving, based on the determination that a pollution event has occurred at the site, audio and/or image data captured at the site; and generating a pollution event report including an association between the pollution event and the audio and/or image data. The received audio and/or image data comprises audio and/or image data captured at the site during the pollution event. Accordingly, the disclosed method involves the collation of associated audio and/or image data from a site in response to determining that a pollution event has occurred at the site. The combination of measured pollutant data mapped with associated audio and/or image data may improve pollution event diagnostics by providing an indication of the cause of pollution events to help mitigate the occurrence/severity of future pollution events. Pollutant data may be received from at least one pollution sensor. The at least one pollution sensor may comprise one or more audio sensors, light sensors and/or emissions sensors. It will be appreciated that any sensor known in the art for detecting noise and/or pollutions may be used. Optionally, the pollutant data may be received from a plurality of pollution sensors. Optionally, the plurality of pollution sensors are distributed across at least two locations within the site. Optionally, the plurality of pollution sensors include two or more types of pollution sensor, each type of pollution sensor being configured to sense a different type of pollution. Use of a plurality of pollution sensors can provide a number of advantages. It can allow pollution levels to be measured from a number of different locations. This can help track the spatial distribution of the pollution which can aid in correctly associating the measured pollution with the potential polluters that produced the pollution. Additionally or alternatively, different types of pollution can be measured. For example, both noise pollution and emission pollution could be measured and associated with a potential polluters. A pollution event may be determined to have occurred when the pollutant is measured to have breached a threshold level. The threshold level can be used to give context to the pollution levels. It is often only of concern if pollution levels reach a certain point (e.g. a level considered dangerous or in breach of environmental regulations), and s