Method and system for presenting traffic-related information

• US 20060136090A1
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: HNTB Corporation (HNTB Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Simon, Christopher James, Claudon, Timm J., Stehle, Tommy Allen, Sohl, Shawn Dewayne, Koromyslov, Aleksandr Mikhailovych
• Granted Patent: US 7,711,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/200
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/13 the indicator being in the form of a map

Abstract

Presenting of real-world situational data on a dynamically updateable user interface is provided for by providing a dynamically updateable user interface that includes dynamic objects having variable characteristics and that correspond to real-world objects, receiving situational data that corresponds to a status of the one or more real-world objects, and conforming the one or more variable characteristics to be consistent with the situational data such that an observer of the one or more dynamic objects is informed of a current status of a corresponding real-world situation.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of presenting real-world situational data on a system-independent, dynamically updateable user interface, the method comprising:

providing a dynamically updateable user interface that includes one or more dynamic objects that correspond to one or more real-world objects, wherein the dynamic objects are associated with one or more variable characteristics;

receiving situational data that corresponds to a status of the one or more real-world objects; and

conforming the one or more variable characteristics to be consistent with the situational data such that an observer of the one or more dynamic objects is informed of a current status corresponding to a real-world situation.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the situational data includes traffic data.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the traffic data includes roadway data comprising one or more of:

traffic speed;

performance data gathered from one or more roadway sensors;

video from one or more traffic cameras;

incident data;

road closures;

construction information;

detour information;

traffic operations data from databases;

dispatch data including computer-assisted dispatch data from one or more law enforcement agencies;

audio information including audio information from highway advisory radio(s);

road-condition information;

weather data;

location-specific data;

text from one or more dynamic message signs; and

roadway geometry.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a system-independent interface that includes one or more information-depiction components.

5. The media of claim 4, wherein the one or more dynamic objects includes groupings of one or more constituent objects.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein the one or more variable characteristics includes variable visual characteristics and/or audio characteristics.

7. The media of claim 6, wherein the visual characteristics include one or more of a color, a fill pattern, a blinking status, and a texture.

8. The media of claim 6, wherein conforming includes updating the user interface to reflect a change in the situational data and/or to reflect a change in geometry data associated with the dynamic objects presented on the user interface.

9. The media of claim 8, further comprising generating one or more alerts associated with the situational data.

10. The media of claim 9, further comprising communicating the one or more alerts to one or more remote devices.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the one or more remote devices includes a mobile phone, an e-mail-receiving device, a television, a radio, and/or a personal data assistant.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of informational attributes includes one more selections from the following:

traffic volume;

traffic occupancy,

traffic speed ranges;

actual speeds of vehicles including averages of groups of vehicles;

location-specific data;

traffic-status images;

text from variable-message signs;

construction phasing;

closure schedules;

indications of events;

alerts; and

combinations thereof.

12. A method for presenting real-world situational data on a dynamically updateable user interface, the method comprising:

depicting on a graphical user interface one or more graphical objects that have one or more variable characteristics;

storing in a repository, object-rendering data that describes how to render the graphical objects;

receiving from one or more traffic-data gathering components traffic data that describes a status of a real-world, traffic-related situation;

communicating the traffic data to the one or more graphical objects;

causing the one or more variable characteristics respectively associated with the one or more graphical objects to graphically indicate the status of the current traffic-related situation; and

without user interaction, periodically determining whether the object-rendering data in the repository has changed from a previous state to subsequent state, and if so, automatically re-depicting the graphical objects consistent with the subsequent state.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the repository stores coordinate-geometry information and traffic-status information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the object-rendering data that describes how to render the graphical objects include information relating to how to draw a representation of objects associated with the real-world data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein communicating the traffic data directly to the one or more graphical objects and/or communicating the traffic data indirectly through a repository.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein communicating the traffic data include communicating the traffic data according to a push or pull model.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein periodically determining includes determining on an irregular schedule and based upon the happening of one or more events.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the re-depicting includes automatically redrawing the graphical objects according to one or more changes associated with the subsequent state.

19. One or more computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for facilitating a method for presenting real-world situational data on a dynamically updateable user interface, the method comprising:

creating a dynamically updateable user interface (UI) that includes depictions of dynamic objects that correspond to the attribute-receivable objects and that are associated with one or more variable characteristics;

receiving situational data; and

conforming the one or more variable characteristics incident to receiving situational data.

20. The media of claim 19, wherein creating the dynamically updateable UI includes:

providing one or more drawing files that include drawing data that describes stagnant-drawing objects of the stagnant drawing;

using the drawing data, presenting on a user interface a set of attribute-receivable objects that are consistent with the drawing data;

exposing a set of options to associate attributes with the attribute-receivable objects; and

associating the attributes with the attribute-receivable objects.

21. A method for presenting traffic-related information, the method comprising:

gathering a plurality of informational attributes associated with traffic conditions of a geographic area; and

representing the informational attributes on a graphical user interface.