Mapping road illumination

• US 10,132,643 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Thompson, Joshua, Zhao, Yunjie
• Primary Examiner(s): Frejd, Russell
• Application Number:
  US15/848,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20180135997A1
• Time in Patent Office: 335 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1423 Automatic dimming circuits, i.e. switching between high beam and low beam due to change of ambient light or light level in road traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/60 characterised by a variable light distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3837 Data obtained from a single source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing navigation services including illumination data. A request for a route is received with one or more preferences related to illumination for the route. One or more road segments that have illumination road attributes that correspond to the one or more preferences are selected. The illumination road attributes are calculated as a function of high beam frequency for the one or more road segments. The route is generated including the one or more road segments. The route is provided with the illumination road attributes.

Claims

1. A method for providing navigation services, the method comprising:

collecting high beam data by a first sensor for a road segment;

collecting roadway condition data by a second sensor for the road segment;

generating a data message including the high beam data and the roadway condition data for the road segment; and

transmitting the data message to a navigation service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway condition data comprises at least ambient light data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway condition data comprises at least weather data for the road segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway condition data comprises at least traffic data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway condition data comprises at least speed data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the high beam data comprises a length of time that a high beam was active.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the high beam data comprises time active, duration, and location data for a high beam event.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sensor and second sensor are integrated into a vehicle.

9. A computer-readable, non-transitory medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a method comprising:

collecting high beam data by a first sensor for a location on a road segment;

collecting ambient light data by a second sensor for the location on the road segment;

calculating, by a processor, a high beam confidence value as a function of the high beam data and the ambient light data;

generating, by the processor, a data message including the high beam confidence value; and

transmitting the data message including the high beam confidence value to a navigation service provider.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

comparing the high beam confidence value against a confidence threshold;

wherein the data message is generated when the confidence threshold is met or exceeded.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the high beam data and ambient light data is collected during a nighttime period of a day.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the high beam data comprises a length of time that a high beam was active.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the navigation service provider is located in a cloud computing network.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

collecting weather data by a third sensor for the location on the road segment;

wherein the high beam confidence value is calculated as a function of the weather data.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

collecting traffic data by a third sensor for the location on the road segment;

wherein the high beam confidence value is calculated as a function of the traffic data.

16. An apparatus for providing navigation services, the apparatus comprising:

a first sensor configured to monitor a high beam event of a vehicle and generate high beam data;

a processor configured to calculate a high beam confidence value as a function of the high beam data; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the high beam confidence value to a navigation service provider.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

a second sensor configured to monitor ambient light and to generate ambient light data;

wherein the ambient light data is used to calculate the high beam confidence value.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the high beam data comprises time active, duration, and location data for a high beam event.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the high beam confidence value indicates a level of confidence that the high beam event occurred in response to a low level of roadway illumination.

20. A method using high beam data to augment a geographic database, the method comprising:

receiving a high beam confidence value, wherein the high beam confidence value is indicative of whether a vehicle'"'"'s high beams were active on a low illumination road segment;

calculating, by a processor, a high beam frequency for the road segment based on the high beam confidence value; and

augmenting, by the processor, the geographic database by including the high beam frequency for the road segment.