US 12,445,815 B1
System and method for detecting and counting road anomalies
Yasser Elsayed Mohamed Elalfy, Dhahran (SA); and Uthman Baroudi, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Jun. 23, 2025, as Appl. No. 19/246,174.
Int. Cl. G06V 20/56 (2022.01); G06V 10/40 (2022.01); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); H04W 4/40 (2018.01)
CPC H04W 4/40 (2018.02) [G06V 10/40 (2022.01); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); G06V 20/588 (2022.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of detecting road anomalies, the method comprising:
obtaining visual data of a road from an end computing device in a vehicle travelling along the road, wherein the visual data is a live feed captured using a camera mounted in or on the vehicle and sent to the end computing device;
inputting the visual data to a machine learning (ML) model in the end computing device that learns to detect and classify at least one road anomaly into a class including one of a pothole, a longitudinal crack, a transverse crack, or an alligator crack on the road;
outputting the class and a bounding box, created by the ML model, of the at least one road anomaly;
determining multiple post-detection features of the detected at least one road anomaly, wherein the determining multiple post-detection features includes determining that the at least one road anomaly is detected across multiple sequential frames;
when the at least one road anomaly is detected across multiple sequential frames, determining a number of skip frames based on a model fidelity distance (MFD) and a vehicle speed, wherein the MFD is a distance that the ML model can detect objects within a predetermined error;
determining that the detected at least one road anomaly is detected multiple times in each of the multiple sequential frames;
skipping frames based on the number of skip frames to a key frame; and
transmitting, via a roadside computing device installed proximate to the road, a notification to multiple end computing devices in a communication range of the roadside computing device, wherein the notification is an anomaly-specific notification that includes at least one of a message indicating a presence of the road anomaly, an image of the road anomaly, a location of the road anomaly, or a severity of the road anomaly.