Method and apparatus for providing notifications based on ranking of road links

• US 10,173,695 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2014
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Stenneth, Leon, Averbuch, Alex, Giurgiu, Gavril Adrian, Jang, Dongwook
• Primary Examiner(s): Tissot, Adam D
• Application Number:
  US14/552,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20160144853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18145 Cornering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• 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 1/0141 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 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station

Abstract

An approach is provided for prioritizing notification to one or more vehicles based on the ranking of one or more road links. The approach involves determining one or more road links that are associated with at least one curvature value greater than at least one curvature threshold value. The approach also involves determining humanized speed information and speed limit information for the one or more road links. The approach further involves processing and/or facilitating a processing of the at least one curvature value, the humanized speed information, and the speed limit information to determine danger level information for the one or more road links. The approach also involves causing, at least in part, a ranking of the one or more road links based, at least in part, on the danger level information. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, a prioritization of one or more notifications to one or more vehicles approaching or traveling the one or more road links based, at least in part, on the ranking of the one or more road links.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

processing geographical feature data originating from a geographic database and historical probe data associated with a geographical area;

determining, utilizing one or more processors, a plurality of road links of a vehicular driving route associated with the geographical area based on the processed geographical feature data,

wherein the determining of the plurality of road links includes determining, based at least in part on a length of the respective road link, at least one respective curvature value of respective road links in the plurality of road links,

wherein the respective curvature values are determined based on the geographical feature data,

wherein at least one of the plurality of road links is associated with at least one curvature value greater than at least one curvature threshold value;

determining humanized speed information, based on the processed historical probe data, and speed limit information associated with respective road links of the plurality of road links;

determining danger level information associated with at least two of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determined danger level information associated with a respective road link of the at least two of the plurality of road links is determined based on processing the length of the respective road link, the at least one curvature value associated with the respective road links from the processed geographical feature data, the at least one curvature threshold value, the humanized speed information associated with the respective road links, and the speed limit information associated with the respective road links of the plurality of road links;

determining a ranking of at least two road links of the plurality of road links based, at least in part, on the determined danger level information;

generating a plurality of notifications with notice information based on the determined danger level information associated with the at least two road links of the plurality of road links;

determining two or more vehicles approaching or traveling one or more road links of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determining of the two or more vehicles includes determining proximity information of the two or more vehicles with respect to the one or more road links of the plurality of road links;

determining a prioritizing of the plurality of notifications to the two or more vehicles approaching or traveling the road links based, at least in part, on the ranking of the road links,

wherein a first road link including a first curve with a highest danger level is reported before other road links including curves with danger levels lower than the first road link; and

transmitting, based on the determined prioritizing and the determined proximity information, the notifications to the two or more vehicles.

2. A method of claim 1, wherein the notifications include, at least in part, one or more vehicular notifications, one or more traffic broadcasts, or a combination thereof.

3. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting at least one notification.

4. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

segmenting the road links respectively into a plurality of segments; and

deriving the at least one curvature value, the humanized speed information, the speed limit information, or a combination based, at least in part, on the segmenting to determine the danger level information for the road links consisting of the segments.

5. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a granularity of the segmentation based, at least in part, on a length of the segments; and

aligning a segmentation for determining the at least one curvature value, the humanized speed information, the speed limit information, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the granularity.

6. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing historical probe data associated with the road links to determine the humanized speed information,

wherein the humanized speed information includes, at least in part, an average speed, a median speed, a mode speed, or a combination thereof.

7. A method of claim 1, wherein the road links include a plurality of consecutive segments that are associated with the at least one curvature greater than the at least one curvature threshold value.

8. A method of claim 1, wherein the road links are associated with at least one maximum lateral acceleration value greater than a threshold lateral acceleration value, and wherein the at least one maximum lateral acceleration value is based, at least in part, on the at least one curvature value and the humanized speed information.

9. A method of claim 1, wherein the speed limit information of the road links is greater than at least one speed limit threshold value, the humanized speed information, or a combination thereof.

10. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

process geographical feature data originating from a geographic database and historical probe data associated with a geographical area,

determine a plurality of road links of a vehicular driving route associated with the geographical area based on the processed geographical feature data,

wherein the determining of the plurality of road links includes determining, based at least in part on a length of the respective road link, at least one respective curvature value of respective road links in the plurality of road links,

wherein the respective curvature values are determined based on the geographical feature data,

wherein at least one of the plurality of road links is associated with at least one curvature value greater than at least one curvature threshold value,

determine humanized speed information, based on the processed historical probe data, and speed limit information associated with respective road links of the plurality of road links,

determine danger level information associated with at least two of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determined danger level information associated with a respective road link of the at least two of the plurality of road links is determined based on processing the length of the respective road link, the at least one curvature value associated with the respective road links from the processed geographical feature data, the at least one curvature threshold value, the humanized speed information associated with the respective road links, and the speed limit information associated with the respective road links of the plurality of road links,

determine a ranking of at least two road links of the plurality of road links based, at least in part, on the determined danger level information;

generate a plurality of notifications with notice information based on the determined danger level information associated with the at least two road links of the plurality of road links;

determine two or more vehicles approaching or traveling one or more road links of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determining of the two or more vehicles includes determining proximity information of the two or more vehicles with respect to the one or more road links of the plurality of road links,

determine a prioritizing of the plurality of notifications to the two or more vehicles approaching or traveling the road links based, at least in part, on the ranking of the road links,

wherein a first road link including a first curve with a highest danger level is reported before other road links including curves with danger levels lower than the first road link; and

transmit, based on the determined prioritizing and the determined proximity information, the notifications to the two or more vehicles.

11. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the notifications include, at least in part, one or more vehicular notifications, one or more traffic broadcasts, or a combination thereof.

12. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

select the notifications.

13. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

segment the one or more road links respectively into a plurality of segments; and

derive the at least one curvature value, the humanized speed information, the speed limit information, or a combination based, at least in part, on the segmentation to determine the danger level information for the road links consisting of the segments.

14. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine a granularity of the segmentation based, at least in part, on a length of the segments; and

align a segmentation for determining the at least one curvature value, the humanized speed information, the speed limit information, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the granularity.

15. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

process historical probe data associated with the road links to determine the humanized speed information,

wherein the humanized speed information includes, at least in part, an average speed, a median speed, a mode speed, or a combination thereof.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps:

processing geographical feature data originating from a geographic database and historical probe data associated with a geographical area,

determining a plurality of road links of a vehicular driving route associated with the geographical area based on the processed geographical feature data,

wherein the determining of the plurality of road links includes determining, based at least in part on a length of the respective road link, at least one respective curvature value of respective road links in the plurality of road links,

wherein the respective curvature values are determined based on the geographical feature data,

wherein at least one of the plurality of road links is associated with at least one curvature value greater than at least one curvature threshold value,

determining humanized speed information, based on the processed historical probe data, and speed limit information associated with respective road links of the plurality of road links,

determining danger level information associated with at least two of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determined danger level information associated with a respective road link of the at least two of the plurality of road links is determined based on processing the length of the respective road link, the at least one curvature value associated with the respective road links from the processed geographical feature data, the at least one curvature threshold value, the humanized speed information associated with the respective road links, and the speed limit information associated with the respective road links of the plurality of road links,

determining a ranking of at least two road links of the plurality of road links based, at least in part, on the determined danger level information;

generating a plurality of notifications with notice information based on the determined danger level information associated with the at least two road links of the plurality of road links;

determining two or more vehicles approaching or traveling one or more road links of the plurality of road links,

wherein the determining of the two or more vehicles includes determining proximity information of the two or more vehicles with respect to the one or more road links of the plurality of road links,

determining a prioritizing of the plurality of notifications to the two or more vehicles approaching or traveling the road links based, at least in part, on the ranking of the road links,

wherein a first road link including a first curve with a highest danger level is reported before other road links including curves with danger levels lower than the first road link; and

transmitting, based on the determined prioritizing and the determined proximity information, the notifications to the two or more vehicles.