System and method for processing and displaying traffic information in an automotive navigation system

• US 20060055565A1
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AutoNavigare LLC
• Original Assignee: Xanavi Informatics Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Deepak, Kawamata, Yukihiro, Kurami, Kunihiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,176,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/995.130
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages

Abstract

A system and method for displaying traffic information in an automotive navigation system having a display, memory and a data receiver. The method includes the first step of storing in a traffic speed table in memory at least two speed threshold limits wherein each speed threshold limit represents a different traffic flow category. The receiver receives data representative of the vehicle speed on at least one road segment and compares that received vehicle speed data with the traffic speed table to determine the traffic flow category corresponding to the received speed data for the road segment. A visual indicator is then displayed on the display which corresponds to the traffic flow category for the road segment. The user is able to customize the speed threshold limits through a GUI. These speed threshold limits are further user modifiable as a function of weather, day of the week, road conditions, type of road, as well as other factors.

Claims

1. A method for displaying traffic information in an automotive navigation system having a display, memory and a data receiver comprising the steps of:

storing in a traffic speed table in the memory at least two user definable speed threshold limits, each speed threshold limit representing a different traffic flow category,

receiving by the receiver data representative of vehicle speed on at least one road segment,

comparing said received vehicle speed data with said traffic speed table to determine the traffic flow category corresponding to said received vehicle speed data for the at least one road segment, and

displaying on the display a visual indicator corresponding to the traffic flow category for the at least one road segment.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said traffic speed table includes road category data and wherein said comparing step further comprises the step of comparing the received vehicle speed data with the traffic speed table corresponding to the road category data for said at least one road segment.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said traffic speed table includes geographic area data and wherein said comparing step further comprises the step of comparing the received vehicle speed data with the traffic speed table corresponding to the geographic area data for said at least one road segment.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising means for preprocessing received data to discard redundant data.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 and comprising means for error checking received data.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said storing means comprises means for storing said speed threshold limits as a function of at least one of the group of road segment type, geographic area, weather conditions, day of the week and road events.

7. The invention as defined in claim 3 wherein the geographic area is user defined.

8. The invention as defined in claim 3 wherein said storing step further comprising the steps of storing the speed of a vehicle in which the navigation system is installed on multiply traveled road segment(s), calculating the average vehicle speed on the multiply traveled road segment(s), and storing speed threshold limits for the multiply traveled road links as a function of the calculated average vehicle speed on the multiply traveled road segment(s).

9. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said storing step further comprises the step of setting said speed threshold limits as a function of at least two of the following parameters:

(1) weather conditions;

(2) road type;

(3) geographic area;

(4) traffic event; and

(5) day of the week.

10. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said storing step further comprises the step of inputting said speed threshold limits through a graphic user interface.

11. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said displaying step further comprises the step of displaying said at least one road segment in a predetermined color corresponding to said traffic flow category, different colors corresponding to different traffic flow categories.

12. The invention as defined in claim 10 wherein said graphic user interface comprises a touch screen.

13. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising the steps of:

determining when the signal strength of the data received by the receiver falls below a predetermined threshold, and

displaying a low signal indicator on the display whenever the received data signal strength falls below the predetermined threshold.

14. The invention as defined in claim 13 and further comprising the step of displaying an updating indicator on the display whenever the received data signal strength exceeds the predetermined threshold subsequent to a period when the received data signal strength fell below the predetermined threshold.

15. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising the steps of:

determining when the signal strength of the data received by the receiver is greater than a predetermined threshold, and

displaying a receiving signal indicator on the display whenever the received data signal strength is greater than the predetermined threshold.

16. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising the steps of:

inputting a destination,

displaying a route on said display between a current position and the destination, said route comprising at least one road segment, and

highlighting said route on the display.

17. The invention as defined in claim 16 and further comprising the steps of:

receiving traffic event data, and

displaying the traffic event data corresponding to said route on the display.

18. The invention as defined in claim 17 and further comprising the steps of:

assigning a priority value to at least a plurality of different traffic events,

determining the received traffic event on said route having the highest priority, and

displaying on the display the traffic event having the highest priority.

19. The invention as defined in claim 18 wherein said assigning step comprises the step of assigning the priority values through a user controlled interface.

20. The invention as defined in claim 1 and comprising the steps of:

checking the received data for data redundancy, and

disregarding redundant data.

21. The invention as defined in claim 1 and comprising the steps of:

checking the received data for error(s) in the data consistency, and

disregarding received data containing error(s).

22. The invention as defined in claim 1 and comprising the step of inputting data representative of weather conditions to a weather threshold table, wherein said comparing step comprises the step of comparing the received vehicle speed data with the traffic speed table corresponding to the weather condition.

23. The invention as defined in claim 21 wherein said resetting step comprises the step of setting speed threshold limits corresponding to different weather conditions through a user controlled interface.

24. The invention as defined in claim 1 and comprising the step of setting the speed threshold limits as a function of the day of the week.

25. The invention as defined in claim 24 wherein said step of setting the speed threshold limits as a function of the day of the week further comprises the step of setting the speed threshold limits through a user controlled interface.

26. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising the steps of storing said speed threshold limits in a central database, and thereafter accessing said central database to retrieve previously stored speed threshold limits for a user.

27. The invention as defined in claim 26 and comprising the step of automatically identifying the user prior to said retrieving step.

28. The invention as defined in claim 1 and further comprising the steps of detecting a system malfunction and notifying the user of the detected malfunction.

29. The invention as defined in claim 28 and comprising the step of transmitting the detected malfunction to a central location.

30. A method for processing traffic flow data received in transmitted packets for use with a vehicle navigation system comprising the steps of:

receiving each data packet,

storing in memory the first received data packet,

comparing subsequently received data packets for redundant data with the data packet stored in memory,

thereafter only storing non-redundant data in said memory.

31. The method as defined in claim 30 and further comprising the step of checking each received data packet for receiving errors.

32. The method as defined in claim 30 and further comprising the steps of determining whether the received data packets fall within a present range, and processing only data that fall within the preset range.

33. A method for processing traffic flow data received in transmitted packets for use with a vehicle navigation system comprising the steps of:

determining whether the received data for each packet falls within preset range, and

forwarding only data to the navigation system which falls within said preset range.

34. The method as defined in claim 33 and further comprising the step of checking each received data packet for receiving errors.

35. The method as defined in claim 33 and comprising the step of disregarding redundant data.

36. A system for displaying traffic information in an automotive navigation system comprising:

memory containing at least two user defined speed threshold limits,

a receiver which receives traffic data representative of vehicle speed on at least one road segment,

a processor which compares the traffic data with the speed threshold limits contained in memory and generates an output signal as a result of the comparison,

a display which receives the output signal from the processor and displays visual indicators representative of the actual speed on the at least one road segment relative to said user defined speed threshold limits.

37. The invention as defined in claim 36 wherein said processor is programmed to disregard redundant data received by said receiver.

38. The invention as defined in claim 36 wherein said receiver receives data corresponding to road events on said at least one segment, and wherein said display displays indicia representative of said road events.

39. The invention as defined in claim 36 wherein said display comprises a touch screen and wherein said processor is programmed to enable a user to modify the speed threshold limits through said display using a GUI.

40. The invention as defined in claim 36 and wherein said processor is programmed to check the received data for internal errors.

41. The invention as defined in claim 36 wherein said processor is programmed to store the received data in said memory and to process subsequently received traffic data only if said subsequently received traffic data differs from the stored received data.

42. The invention as defined in claim 41 wherein said processor is programmed to store the subsequently received data in memory only if said subsequently received data differs from the previously received data.