IP Library Granted Patent US 12,374,119
Granted Patent B2
US 12,374,119 · App. 17/938,764 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Systems and methods for detecting vehicle tailgating

Inventors: Tommaso Bianconcini (Florence, IT); Stefano Caprasecca (Florence, IT); Tommaso Mugnai (Florence, IT); Luca Bravi (Scandicci, IT); Francesco Sambo (Florence, IT); Leonardo Taccari (Florence, IT)
Assignee: Verizon Connect Development Limited
G06V20/56G06F18/21G06T7/20G06T7/536G06T2207/10016G06T2207/20081G06T2207/30236G06T2207/30241G06T2207/30252G06V2201/08
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,374,119
App. No.
17/938,764
Granted
Jul 29, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A device may obtain video data associated with a driving event involving a first vehicle. The device may determine a vanishing point associated with the video data and may construct a cone of impact of the first vehicle based on the vanishing point. The device may detect a second vehicle within the cone of impact and may analyze the subset of video frames to determine a distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle. The device may determine a speed of the first vehicle during a time period associated with a subset of video frames. The device may determine a headway score, representative of a severity associated with the first vehicle being within a proximity threshold of the second vehicle during the time period, based on the distance and the speed. The device may determine an occurrence of a tailgating event based on the headway score.

Claims (61)

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a device, that a first vehicle is within a cone of impact in a video frame based on determining whether a center point of a lowest edge of a bounding box associated with the first vehicle is within the cone of impact,

wherein the cone of impact is determined from a perspective of a camera that captures the video frame and is represented as a triangular area of the video frame,

wherein a vertex of the triangular area includes a vanishing point associated with the video frame,

wherein a side of the triangular area coincides with a portion of a bottom boundary of the video frame, and

wherein the portion of the bottom boundary of the video frame is selected based on a horizontal inclination of the video frame and a height at which the camera is mounted;

determining, by the device, a distance between the first vehicle and a second vehicle based on the cone of impact;

determining, by the device, a score based on the distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle and a speed of the second vehicle; and

providing, by the device and to a client device, a notification based on the score.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the score represents a severity of tailgating event associated with the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

utilizing a machine learning model to detect the first vehicle within the cone of impact in the video frame.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving authentication of the score, and

training a tailgate detection model based on the score.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

utilizing an object detection algorithm to identify the first vehicle within the video frame.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vanishing point is determined based on selecting a candidate point, from a set of candidate points, based on confidence scores associated with each candidate point of the set of candidate points.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a length of the portion of the bottom boundary is determined based on one or more of:

the height at which the camera is mounted, and

a size of the first vehicle in the video frame.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to:

determine that a first vehicle is within a cone of impact in a video frame based on determining whether a center point of an edge of a bounding box associated with the first vehicle is within the cone of impact,

wherein the cone of impact is determined from a perspective of a camera that captures the video frame and is represented as a triangular area of the video frame,

wherein a vertex of the triangular area includes a vanishing point associated with the video frame,

wherein a side of the triangular area coincides with a portion of a bottom boundary of the video frame, and

wherein the portion of the bottom boundary of the video frame is selected based on a horizontal inclination of the video frame and a height at which the camera is mounted;

determine a distance between the first vehicle and a second vehicle based on the cone of impact;

determine a score based on the distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle and a speed of the second vehicle; and

provide, to a client device, a notification based on the score.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the score represents a severity of tailgating event associated with the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the one or more instructions further cause the device to:

utilize a machine learning model to detect the first vehicle within the cone of impact in the video frame.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the one or more instructions further cause the device to:

receive authentication of the score, and

train a tailgate detection model based on the score.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the one or more instructions further cause the device to:

utilize an object detection algorithm to identify the first vehicle within the video frame.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the vanishing point is determined based on selecting a candidate point, from a set of candidate points, based on confidence scores associated with each candidate point of the set of candidate points.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein a length, of the side of the triangular area that coincides with the portion of the bottom boundary of the video frame, is determined based on:

the height at which the camera is mounted, and

a size of the first vehicle in the video frame.

15. A device, comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

determine that a first vehicle is within a cone of impact in a video frame based on determining whether a center point associated with an edge of a bounding box associated with the first vehicle is within the cone of impact,

wherein the cone of impact is determined from a perspective of a camera that captures the video frame and is represented as a triangular area of the video frame,

wherein a vertex of the triangular area includes a vanishing point associated with the video frame,

wherein a side of the triangular area coincides with a portion of a bottom boundary of the video frame, and

wherein the portion of the bottom boundary of the video frame is selected based on a horizontal inclination of the video frame and a height at which the camera is mounted on a second vehicle;

determine a score based on a distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle and a speed of the second vehicle; and

provide, to a client device, a notification based on the score.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the score represents a severity of tailgating event associated with the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

17. The device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

utilize a machine learning model to detect the first vehicle within the cone of impact in the video frame.

18. The device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive authentication of the score, and

train a tailgate detection model based on the score.

19. The device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

utilize an object detection algorithm to identify the first vehicle within the video frame.

20. The device of claim 15 , wherein the vanishing point is determined based on selecting a candidate point, from a set of candidate points, based on confidence scores associated with each candidate point of the set of candidate points.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Oct 7, 2022
From: VERIZON CONNECT IRELAND LIMITED
To: VERIZON CONNECT DEVELOPMENT LIMITED
Reel/Frame 061349/0430 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 7, 2022
From: BIANCONCINI, TOMMASO; CAPRASECCA, STEFANO; MUGNAI, TOMMASO; BRAVI, LUCA; SAMBO, FRANCESCO; TACCARI, LEONARDO
To: VERIZON CONNECT IRELAND LIMITED
Reel/Frame 061349/0483 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 17001139 · Aug 24, 2020
Related Publication 20230037099A1 · Feb 2, 2023
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