Method for determining traffic related information

• US 20040039516A1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: gedas deutschland GmbH (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Willembrock, Ralf
• Granted Patent: US 6,865,475 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining traffic related information within a traffic system with the aid of mobile detectors (1), particularly from vehicles selected at random. According to the invention, the information which is used for determining the traffic situation is at least the standard deviation (σ) of the driven speed (v_i) of the mobile detector (1) compared to the average speed (v_m) of the mobile detector (1) on a section of a road (A B), and/or the sum (S) of the stationary time on said section of a road (A-B).

Claims

1. A method for determining traffic situation information within a traffic system using mobile detectors (1), in particular vehicles of a random-sample fleet, that have a terminal (1a),

wherein at least the standard deviation (σ

) of the speed (v_i) being driven by the mobile detector (1) from the mean speed (v_m) of the mobile detector (1) on a route segment (A-B), and/or the sum (S) of the stand still times on the route segment (A-B) being traveled, are used as information for determining the traffic situation.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the following steps are carried out:

determining the mean speed (v_m) of at least one mobile detector (1) on at least one route segment (A-B) being traveled by it;

determining the standard deviation (σ

) of the speed (v_i) being driven by the mobile detector (1) from the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B) being traveled, and/or the sum (S) stand still times of the mobile detector (1) on the route segment (A-B) being traveled;

comparing the standard deviation (σ

) as a function of the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B) being traveled to at least one boundary profile (G) that is defined on the basis of the standard deviation (σ

) and the mean speed (v_m); and

/or

comparing the sum (S) of the stand still times on the route segment (A-B) being traveled, as a function of the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B) being traveled, to at least one boundary profile (G) that is defined on the basis of the sum (S) of the stand still times on the route segment (A-B) being traveled and the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B);

determining a traffic situation condition on the basis of the comparison of the standard deviation (σ

) as a function of the mean speed (v_m) to the at least one boundary profile (G) that is defined on the basis of the standard deviation (σ

) and the mean speed (v_m); and

/or

determining a traffic situation condition on the basis of the comparison of the sum (S) of the stand still times as a function of the mean speed (v_m) to the at least one boundary profile (G) that is defined on the basis of the sum (S) of the stand still times and the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B).

3. The method as recited in claim 1 or 2, wherein the boundary profiles (G) define the boundary between two traffic conditions.

4. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 3, wherein multiple boundary profiles (G) are provided that are defined on the basis of standard deviation (σ

) and the mean speed (v_m) on a route segment (A-B).

5. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 4, wherein multiple boundary profiles (G) are provided that are defined on the basis of the sum (S) of the stand still times on the route segment (A-B) being traveled and the mean speed (v_m) on the route segment (A-B).

6. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 5, wherein at least one of the boundary profiles (G) exhibits a hysteresis (H).

7. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 6, wherein for definition of the traffic conditions, the boundary profiles (G) are defined on the basis of road type.

8. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 7, wherein the boundary profiles (G) are defined on a route-dependent basis.

9. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 8, wherein the boundary profiles (G) are defined in infrastructure-dependent fashion.

10. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 9, wherein the boundary profiles (G) are defined in time-dependent fashion.

11. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 10, wherein the boundary profiles (G) are modifiable.

12. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 11, wherein at least on the basis of the maximum permissible speed on a route segment (A-B), a traffic situation determination is made on the basis of the standard deviation (σ

) as a function of the mean speed (v_m), and/or on the basis of the sum (S) of the stand still times as a function of the mean speed (v_m).

13. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 12, wherein a traffic situation determination is made in at least infrastructure-dependent fashion on the basis of the standard deviation (σ

) as a function of the mean speed (v_m), and/or on the basis of the sum (S) of the stand still times as a function of the mean speed (v_m) on a route segment (A-B).

14. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 13, wherein the acceleration behavior of the mobile detector (1) is additionally employed for traffic situation determination.

15. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 14, wherein the traffic situation determination is carried out in a control center (3) that receives at least time-related data for the position of the at least one mobile detector (1).

16. The method as recited in one of claims 1 through 14, wherein a traffic situation determination is carried out in the terminal (1a) of the mobile detector (1), and data about the traffic situation are sent to a control center (3) and or transferred thereto.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the control center (3) sends data about an expected traffic situation to the mobile detector (1), and the mobile detector (1) transmits data regarding the determined traffic situation to the control center (3) substantially only in the event of a change in the expected traffic situation.

18. A control center for determining traffic situation information within a traffic system, that obtains, from at least one mobile detector (1), data regarding its geographic position,

wherein the control center (3) is embodied to carry out a method as defined in one of claims 1 through 17.

19. The control center as recited in claim 18, wherein the control center (3) receives from the mobile detector (1) time-related data concerning its geographic position.

20. The control center as recited in claim 18 or 19, wherein the control center (3) receives vehicle status data of the mobile detector (1), at least the instantaneous speed (v_i).

21. A terminal in a mobile detector that contains at least one position identification device (2) or is connected thereto, and encompasses a data processing device (6) and a device (4) for data exchange with the control center (3), wherein the terminal (1a) is configured to carry out a method as defined in one of claims 1 through 17.

22. The terminal as recited in claim 21, wherein the terminal (1a) determines the speed (v_i) of the mobile detector (1) from its time-related position data.

23. The terminal as recited in claim 21, wherein the terminal (1a) receives the speed (v_i) of the mobile detector (1) from a vehicle speed sensor, or determines it from vehicle status data.

24. A software program product that can be loaded directly into an internal memory of the control center (3) and/or of the terminal (1a) of a mobile detector (1), and that encompasses program steps with which the method steps in accordance with one of claims 1 through 17 are executed and/or are executable when the program product runs in the control center (3) and/or in the terminal (1).