Visualizing unidirectional traffic information

• US 10,168,176 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2017
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Saito, Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): Heinle, Courtney D
• Application Number:
  US15/450,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20180252548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• 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 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• 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 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096805 where the transmitted instructions are used to compute a route
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for providing unidirectional traffic flow distributions. The method includes generating a directed graph representing a position of a vehicle and a road network within a predetermined distance of the position of the vehicle, wherein vertices represent decision points along an edge and edges represent route segments between adjacent vertices, determining a plurality of travel routes within the directed graph by estimating a shortest path and at least one index for each edge in the directed graph, wherein each travel route includes one or more edges, selecting a travel route from the plurality of travel routes, and outputting unidirectional traffic information for edges included along the travel route.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing unidirectional traffic flow distributions, comprising:

generating a directed graph representing a position of a vehicle and a road network within a predetermined distance of the position of the vehicle, wherein vertices represent decision points along an edge, and edges represent route segments between adjacent vertices;

determining a plurality of travel routes between the position of the vehicle and a destination within the directed graph by estimating a shortest path and at least one index for each edge in the directed graph, wherein each travel route includes one or more edges;

selecting at least one travel route from the plurality of travel routes; and

outputting, on a display device, unidirectional traffic congestion information on a roadmap corresponding to the directed graph, concurrently, for edges included along the plurality of travel routes in a direction of travel of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of travel routes includes edges having a shortest combined path, the shortest combined path being a combination of each shortest path for each edge along a respective travel route.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the unidirectional traffic information includes excluding traffic information for non-selected travel routes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a route segment between adjacent vertices includes two edges, the two edges including a first edge in a first direction and a second edge in a second direction, the first direction being opposite of the second direction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one travel route includes comparing a combination of one or more indices between at least two travel routes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one index is selected from the group consisting of shortest travel time, gasoline consumption value, and accumulated waiting time due to traffic signals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one travel route from the plurality of travel routes further comprises determining an initial traveling direction of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the initial traveling direction of the vehicle includes comparing at least two successive positions of the vehicle.

9. A traffic information system having at least a processor and a memory device for providing unidirectional traffic flow distributions, comprising:

a map generator to generate a directed graph representing a position of a vehicle and a road network within a predetermined distance of the position of the vehicle, wherein vertices represent decision points along an edge and edges represent route segments between adjacent vertices;

a travel direction estimation unit to determine a plurality of travel routes between the position of the vehicle and a destination within the directed graph by estimating a shortest path and at least one index for each edge in the directed graph, and select at least one travel route from the plurality of travel routes, wherein each travel route includes one or more edges; and

a display unit to display unidirectional traffic congestion information on a roadmap corresponding to the directed graph, concurrently, for edges included along the plurality of travel routes in a direction of travel of the vehicle.

10. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of travel routes includes edges having a shortest combined path, the shortest combined path being a combination of each shortest path for each edge along a respective travel route.

11. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein the display unit further configured to exclude traffic information for non-selected travel routes.

12. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein a route segment between adjacent vertices includes two edges, the two edges including a first edge in a first direction and a second edge in a second direction, the first direction being opposite of the second direction.

13. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein the travel direction estimation unit selects the at least one travel route by comparing a combination of one or more indices between at least two travel routes.

14. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein the at least one index is selected from the group consisting of shortest travel time, gasoline consumption value, and accumulated waiting time due to traffic signals.

15. The traffic information system of claim 9, wherein the travel direction estimation unit is further configured to select the at least one travel route by determining an initial traveling direction of the vehicle.

16. The traffic information system of claim 15, wherein determining the initial traveling direction of the vehicle includes comparing at least two successive positions of the vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computer readable program for providing unidirectional traffic flow distributions, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute:

generating a directed graph representing a position of a vehicle and a road network within a predetermined distance of the position of the vehicle, wherein vertices represent decision points along an edge and edges represent route segments between adjacent vertices;

determining a plurality of travel routes between the position of the vehicle and a destination within the directed graph by estimating a shortest path and at least one index for each edge in the directed graph, wherein each travel route includes one or more edges;

selecting at least one travel route from the plurality of travel routes; and

outputting, on a display device, unidirectional traffic congestion information on a roadmap corresponding to the directed graph, concurrently, for edges included along the plurality of travel routes in a direction of travel of the vehicle.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of travel routes includes edges having a shortest combined path, the shortest combined path being a combination of each shortest path for each edge along a respective travel route.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein selecting the at least one travel route includes comparing a combination of one or more indices between at least two travel routes.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one index is selected from the group consisting of shortest travel time, gasoline consumption value, and accumulated waiting time due to traffic signals.