Traffic monitoring system
First Claim
1. A vehicular traffic flow monitoring method for monitoring vehicular traffic flow in a road network in an area served by a mobile telecommunications device network having a call management system provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system providing positional data in respect of at least active mobile telecommunications devices belonging to said mobile telecommunications device network, said method comprising the steps of:
- a. capturing first geographical positional data for an active mobile telecommunications device in use on a vehicle at a given time t1;
b. intersecting said first geographical positional data with road network mapping data defining said road network in terms of road components each representing a discrete part of the road network, so as to identify original possible road components corresponding to said first geographical positional data;
c. generating an initial probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said original possible road for all of said original possible road components;
d. capturing second geographical positional data for said mobile telecommunications device at a later time t2 t1+Δ
t where Δ
t is the actual transit time of said device between said first and second geographical positions;
e. intersecting said second geographical positional data with said road network mapping data, so as to identify new possible road components corresponding to said second geographical positional data;
f. identifying available routes in the road network linking said possible road components corresponding to said first and second geographical positional data which routes are constituted by a series of road components;
g. generating an updated probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said new possible road components in the road network corresponding to said second geographical positional data at said later time t2 via one of said available routes, for all of said new possible road components;
h. intersecting said available routes with expected average vehicle speed data for the road components of each of said series of road components constituting said available routes so as to determine expected transit times for said available routes;
i. directly or indirectly comparing the actual transit time with the expected transit times for each of said available routes so as to produce delay factors for said routes indicative of the degree of vehicular traffic congestion on the individual road components thereof at the time; and
j. determining an average delay factor for a plurality of vehicles using a given road component, which average is weighted on the basis of at least the likelihood of any of the available routes having been followed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for monitoring vehicular traffic flow in a road network (1) in an area served by a mobile telecommunications device network (7) having a call management system (10) provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system (11) providing positional data for active mobile telecommunications devices (12). The method comprises capturing geographical positioning data for individual active devices carried aboard vehicles (12) and converting these into probability vectors representing the likelihood of the vehicle having arrived at any of the possible road components (16) of the road network (7) compatible with the geographical positional data. As the vehicle (12) travels along, this process is repeated and new probability vectors constructed based on the probability of any of the available routes between the new probability vector mad component position and the immediately preceding probability vector road component position.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A vehicular traffic flow monitoring method for monitoring vehicular traffic flow in a road network in an area served by a mobile telecommunications device network having a call management system provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system providing positional data in respect of at least active mobile telecommunications devices belonging to said mobile telecommunications device network, said method comprising the steps of:
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a. capturing first geographical positional data for an active mobile telecommunications device in use on a vehicle at a given time t1;
b. intersecting said first geographical positional data with road network mapping data defining said road network in terms of road components each representing a discrete part of the road network, so as to identify original possible road components corresponding to said first geographical positional data;
c. generating an initial probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said original possible road for all of said original possible road components;
d. capturing second geographical positional data for said mobile telecommunications device at a later time t2 t1+Δ
t where Δ
t is the actual transit time of said device between said first and second geographical positions;
e. intersecting said second geographical positional data with said road network mapping data, so as to identify new possible road components corresponding to said second geographical positional data;
f. identifying available routes in the road network linking said possible road components corresponding to said first and second geographical positional data which routes are constituted by a series of road components;
g. generating an updated probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said new possible road components in the road network corresponding to said second geographical positional data at said later time t2 via one of said available routes, for all of said new possible road components;
h. intersecting said available routes with expected average vehicle speed data for the road components of each of said series of road components constituting said available routes so as to determine expected transit times for said available routes;
i. directly or indirectly comparing the actual transit time with the expected transit times for each of said available routes so as to produce delay factors for said routes indicative of the degree of vehicular traffic congestion on the individual road components thereof at the time; and
j. determining an average delay factor for a plurality of vehicles using a given road component, which average is weighted on the basis of at least the likelihood of any of the available routes having been followed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A road traffic network congestion reporting system suitable for use in conjunction with a mobile telecommunications device network having a call management system provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system, for monitoring and reporting on road traffic delays affecting the movement of vehicles through the road network, said reporting system comprising:
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a storage device, and a processor connected to said storage device, the storage device storing;
i) road network data representing the geographical position of road components making up said road network;
ii) expected vehicle speed data for said road components of said road network; and
iii) a program for controlling the processor;
said processor operative with the program to;
a. capture first geographical positional data for an active mobile telecommunications device in use on a vehicle at a given time t1;
b. intersect said first geographical positional data with road network mapping data defining said road network in terms of road components each representing a discrete part of the road network, so as to identify original possible road components corresponding to said first geographical positional data;
c. generate an initial probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said original possible road for all of said original possible road components;
d. capture second geographical positional data for said mobile telecommunications device at a later time t2=t1+Δ
t where Δ
t is the actual transit time of said device between said first and second geographical positions;
e. intersect said second geographical positional data with said road network mapping data, so as to identify new possible road components corresponding to said second geographical positional data;
f. identify available routes in the road network linking said possible road components corresponding to said first and second geographical positional data which routes are constituted by a series of road components;
g. generate an updated probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on a given one of said new possible road components in the road network corresponding to said second geographical positional data at said later time t2 via one of said available routes, for all of said new possible road components;
h. intersect said available routes with expected average vehicle speed data for the road components of each of said series of road components constituting said available routes so as to determine expected transit times for said available routes;
i. directly or indirectly compare the actual transit time with the expected transit times for each of said available routes so as to produce delay factors for said routes indicative of the degree of vehicular traffic congestion on the individual road components thereof at the time; and
j. determine an average delay factor for a plurality of vehicles using a given road component, which average is weighted on the basis of at least the likelihood of any of the available routes having been followed. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A vehicular traffic monitoring system suitable for use in the method of the present invention and comprising a computer system having:
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a storage device;
a processor connected to the storage device; and
at least one interface connected to the processor, the storage device storing digital mapping information for a road network, expected vehicle speed for road components of said road network, and a database of at least;
probability vectors representing the likely positions of moving active mobile telecommunications devices over a period of time and the likely routes thereof to said likely positions, and current road delay factor information;
said at least one interface coupling said processor to a mobile telecommunications device network call management system for interrogating said management system and receiving positioning data for active individual mobile telecommunications device therefrom; and
coupling said processor to user enquiry systems for receiving road traffic delay enquiries from, and transmitting road traffic delay reports to, said user enquiry systems; and
the processor operative with the program to;
a) capture geographical positional data for a mobile telecommunications device;
b) intersect said geographical positional data with road network mapping data defining said road network in terms of road components each representing a discrete part of the road network, so as to identify possible road components corresponding to said geographical positional data;
c) generate a probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on any of said possible road components;
d) identify available routes in the road network linking said possible road components corresponding to a given geographical positional data and preceding possible road component corresponding to a preceding geographical positional data, which routes are constituted by a series of road components;
e) intersect said available routes with expected average vehicle speed data for the road components of said series of road components constituting said available routes so as to determine expected transit times for said available routes;
f) directly or indirectly compare the actual transit time with the expected transit time for each of said available routes so as to produce delay factors for said routes indicative of the degree of vehicular traffic congestion on the individual road components-thereof at the time;
g) determine an average delay factor for a plurality of vehicles using a given road component, which average is weighted on the basis of at least the likelihood of a given available route having been followed;
h) repeatedly update said database of moving active mobile telecommunication devices and road components with vehicle position and road delay factor information; and
i) retrieve road delay factor information from said database in response to enquiries from user enquiry systems and provide road delay factor reports thereto.
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44. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable code means embedded in said medium, said computer readable code means comprising a report generator for monitoring vehicular traffic flow in a road network and providing reports on congestion on individual roads in said road network, said report generator comprising executable program code for execution by a computer coupled with a mobile telecommunications device network having a call management system provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system providing positional data in respect of at least active mobile telecommunications devices belonging to said mobile telecommunications device network, wherein said executable program code;
a) captures geographical positional data for a mobile telecommunications device;
b) intersects said geographical positional data with road network mapping data defining said road network in terms of road components each representing a discrete part of the road network, so as to identify possible road components corresponding to said geographical positional data;
c) generates a probability vector representing the likelihood of said vehicle having arrived at a position on any of said possible road components;
d) identifies available routes in the road network linking said possible road components corresponding to a given geographical positional data and a preceding possible road components corresponding to a preceding geographical positional data, which routes are constituted by a series of road components;
e) intersects said available routes with expected average vehicle speed data for the road components of said series of road components constituting said available routes so as to determine expected transit times for said available routes;
f) directly or indirectly compares the actual transit time with the expected transit time for each of said available routes so as to produce delay factors for said routes indicative of the degree of vehicular traffic congestion on the individual road components thereof at the time; and
g) determines an average delay factor for a plurality of vehicles using a given road component, which average is weighted on the basis of at least the likelihood of a given available route having been followed.
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Specification