Traffic channel

• US 20070150168A1
• Filed: 12/12/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Colando, Christian, Tan, Albert, Kostojohn, Vasantha, Tang, Mingyu, Balcom, Douglas, Skinner, Kent
• Application Number:
  US11/299,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150168A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality

Abstract

A method and system for implementing a traffic channel is described herein. A traffic route with a start location and an end location is selected by a user. A plurality of intermediate traffic locations along the traffic route is displayed. The user selects one or more of the displayed intermediate traffic locations. The selected traffic locations are stored for the selected traffic route. Traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route may then be displayed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a selection of a traffic route, the traffic route having a start location and an end location;

displaying a plurality of intermediate traffic locations along the selected traffic route, each intermediate traffic location corresponding to one or more traffic sensors along the selected traffic route;

receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of displayed intermediate traffic locations along the selected traffic route;

storing the selected intermediate traffic locations for the selected traffic route; and

displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the selection of the traffic route comprises receiving a selection of a first city for a start location of the traffic route and receiving a selection of a second city for an end location of the traffic route.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a plurality of intermediate traffic locations along the traffic selected route comprises displaying on a website a plurality of intermediate traffic locations along the traffic selected route.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route comprises displaying on a mobile device traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route comprises displaying on a website traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route comprises displaying on a watch traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route comprises displaying one or more traffic incidents along the selected traffic route.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying traffic information corresponding to the selected traffic locations for the selected traffic route comprises displaying a speed at each selected traffic location for the selected traffic route.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of one or more traffic regions and displaying one or more traffic incidents in the one or more selected traffic regions.

10. A system comprising:

a storage module to store traffic information for a plurality of traffic locations, each traffic location corresponding to one or more traffic sensors;

a configuration module to receive from a user a selection of a traffic route and one or more of the plurality of stored traffic locations along the selected traffic route; and

a network distribution element communicatively coupled to the configuration module and the storage module to distribute to a user device traffic information that corresponds to the selected traffic locations along the selected traffic route.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the network distribution element comprises a scheduler to schedule the distribution of traffic data to the user device.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a data collection element coupled to the storage module to determine and update the traffic information stored in the storage module based on data from the corresponding traffic sensors.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the configuration module includes a website to display and receive traffic route selections.

14. One or more device-readable media including device-executable instructions for performing the following:

storing a selected traffic route and one or more locations of interest along the traffic route;

determining a speed at each location of interest along the selected traffic route;

determining whether the speed at each location of interest is increasing or decreasing over a period of time; and

displaying the speed at each location of interest and whether the speed is increasing or decreasing at each location of interest along the selected traffic route.

15. The one or more device-readable media of claim 14, wherein determining a speed at each location of interest along the selected traffic route comprises determining a speed at each location of interest along the selected traffic route based on one or more traffic sensors at each location of interest.

16. The one or more device-readable media of claim 14, further comprising device-executable instructions for determining whether there are traffic incidents along the selected traffic route.

17. The one or more device-readable media of claim 16, further comprising device-executable instructions for displaying information about one or more traffic incidents along the selected traffic route.

18. The one or more device-readable media of claim 14, wherein displaying the speed at each location of interest and whether the speed is increasing or decreasing at each location of interest along the selected traffic route comprises displaying one of a plurality of different icons based on whether the speed is increasing or decreasing at each location of interest along the selected traffic route.

19. The one or more device-readable media of claim 14, further comprising device-executable instructions for displaying a name of the location of interest.

20. The one or more device-readable media of claim 14, further comprising device-executable instructions for displaying a timestamp indicating when the displayed speed was last updated.