Methods and network nodes for notifying vehicle drivers about their driving

• US 10,163,340 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2014
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Vandikas, Konstantinos, Dasselaar, Manfred, Tsiatsis, Vlasios, Washington, Nina
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US15/313,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20170193819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: 701117, 7014255, 701 334, 701 25, 340441, 340438-439, 340576
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09626 where the origin of the information is within the own vehicle, e.g. a local storage device, digital map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method (50) performed in a network node (3, 4, 5) for notifying a driver of a vehicle (7) about his or her driving. The method (50) comprises receiving (51) vehicle related information from a communication device (6) capable of receiving data from a data collector (8) of the vehicle (7); processing (52) the vehicle related information such as to establish a driving indicator of a driver of the vehicle (7) in relation to one or more other drivers; and transmitting (53) to the communication device (6) data indicating the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle (7) in relation to other drivers. The disclosure also relates to a corresponding network node, computer program and computer program products. The disclosure further relates to a method in a communication device.

Claims

1. A method performed in a network node for notifying a driver of a vehicle about his or her driving, the method comprising:

receiving vehicle related information from a communication device capable of receiving data from a data collector of the vehicle, wherein the data collector is configured to obtain the vehicle related information from one or more sensors on the vehicle;

processing the vehicle related information to establish a driving indicator of a driver of the vehicle in relation to one or more other drivers, wherein processing the vehicle related information comprises calculating a driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle based on the vehicle related information and comparing the calculated driving indicator to driving indicators established for one or more drivers of a respective vehicle located within a first distance of the vehicle, and wherein the driving indicator comprises an estimated stress level of the driver; and

transmitting to the communication device data indicating the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving complementary information and wherein the processing comprises processing also the complementary information in the establishing of the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the complementary information comprises one or more of:

speed limit of road, weather conditions, current road utilization, road condition, road age, a specific highway, a specific part of a city or a country, information about road works, parades, demonstrations, drivers in the same sex and/or age group, and similar road conditions.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle related information comprises one or more of:

speed of vehicle, location of vehicle, fuel consumption of vehicle, proximity of vehicle to other vehicles, music played on a radio of the vehicle, and communication device use.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle related information comprises at least the speed of the vehicle and wherein the processing comprises:

calculating a number of fluctuations of the speed of the vehicle, wherein a fluctuation is a speed variation larger than a threshold value; and

ranking the driving indicator of the driver in relation to a driving indicator of one or more other drivers based on the number of fluctuations of speed of the vehicle.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising repeating the receiving and processing for a number of communication devices, and storing the data of driving indicators of drivers of vehicles in a database.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, comprising transmitting, to the communication device, routing information generated based on the stored data, wherein the routing information comprises suggested routes based on an aggregated stress level of drivers on the respective routes.

6. A computer program for a network node for notifying a driver of a vehicle about his or her driving, the computer program comprising computer program code, which, when run on the network node causes the network node to:

receive vehicle related information from a communication device capable of receiving data from a data collector of the vehicle, wherein the data collector is configured to obtain the vehicle related information from one or more sensors on the vehicle;

process the vehicle related information such as to establish a driving indicator of a driver of the vehicle in relation to one or more other drivers, wherein processing the vehicle related information comprises calculating a driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle based on the vehicle related information and comparing the calculated indicator to driving indicators established for one or more drivers of a respective vehicle located within a first distance of the vehicle, and wherein the driving indicator comprises an estimated stress level of the driver; and

transmit to the communication device data indicating the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers.

7. A computer program product comprising a computer program as claimed in claim 6, and a non-transitory computer readable medium on which the computer program is stored.

10. A method performed in a communication device for notifying a driver of a vehicle about his or her driving, the method comprising:

receiving, from a data collector of the vehicle, vehicle related information;

sending the vehicle related information to a network node, wherein the network node is configured to process the vehicle related information to establish a driving indicator of a driver of the vehicle in relation to one or more other drivers, the processing comprising;

(i) calculating a driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle based on the vehicle related information and (ii) comparing the calculated driving indicator to driving indicators established for one or more drivers of a respective vehicle located within a first distance of the vehicle; and

receiving from the network node data indicating the established driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers, wherein the established driving indicator comprises an estimated stress level of the driver.

11. A network node for notifying a driver of a vehicle about his or her driving, the network node comprising:

a memory; and

 

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to;

receive vehicle related information from a communication device capable of receiving data from a data collector of the vehicle, wherein the data collector is configured to obtain the vehicle related information from one or more sensors on the vehicle;

process the vehicle related information to establish a driving indicator of a driver of the vehicle in relation to one or more other drivers, wherein processing the vehicle related information comprises calculating a driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle based on the vehicle related information and comparing the calculated indicator to driving indicators established for one or more drivers of a respective vehicle located within a first distance of the vehicle, and wherein the driving indicator comprises an estimated stress level of the driver; and

transmit to the communication device data indicating the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers.

12. The network node as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive complementary information and process the complementary information in the establishing of the driving indicator of the driver of the vehicle in relation to other drivers.

13. The network node as claimed in claim 12, wherein the complementary information comprises one or more of:

speed limit of road, weather conditions, current road utilization, road condition, road age, a specific highway, a specific part of a city or a country, information about road works, parades, demonstrations, drivers in the same sex/age group, and similar road conditions.

14. The network node as claimed in claim 11, wherein the vehicle related information comprises one or more of:

speed of vehicle, location of vehicle, fuel consumption of vehicle, proximity of vehicle to other vehicles, music played on a radio of the vehicle, and communication device use.

15. The network node as claimed in claim 11, wherein the vehicle related information comprises at least the speed of the vehicle and wherein the processor is further configured to:

calculate a number of fluctuations of the speed of the vehicle, wherein a fluctuation is a speed variation larger than a threshold value; and

rank the driving indicator of the driver in relation to a driving indicator of one or more other drivers based on the number of fluctuations of speed of the vehicle.

16. The network node as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to repeat the receiving and processing for a number of communication devices, and store the data of driving indicators of drivers of vehicles in a database.

17. The network node as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit, to the communication device, routing information generated based on the stored data, wherein the routing information comprises suggested routes based on an aggregated stress level of drivers on the respective routes.