DETECTING ANOMALOUS ROAD TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
First Claim
1. A method for a computing system to automatically identify abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel on the roads, the method comprising:
- receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area;
for each of the roads in the network, identifying multiple segments of the road for which traffic conditions are distinctly tracked;
for each of multiple users, receiving a request from the user to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions that occur on one or more indicated road segments; and
facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads using information about automatically identified abnormal traffic conditions on the roads by, for each of at least some of the road segments,obtaining information indicating current actual traffic conditions for the road segment, the current actual traffic conditions including an actual average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at a current time;
obtaining information indicating expected traffic conditions for the current time for the road segment, the expected traffic conditions reflecting a generated forecast of traffic conditions that includes an expected average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at the current time;
automatically identifying whether the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment at the current time are abnormal with respect to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time, the identifying being based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment; and
if the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment are identified as abnormal, and if one or more users has requested to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions on the road segment, providing information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are described for automatically detecting anomalous road traffic conditions and for providing information about the detected anomalies, such as for use in facilitating travel on roads of interest. Anomalous road traffic conditions may be identified using target traffic conditions for a particular road segment at a particular selected time, such as target traffic conditions that reflect actual traffic conditions for a current or past selected time, and/or target traffic conditions that reflect predicted future traffic conditions for a future selected time. Target traffic conditions may be compared to distinct expected road traffic conditions for a road segment at a selected time, with the expected conditions reflecting road traffic conditions that are typical or normal for the road segment at the selected time. Anomalous conditions may be identified based on sufficiently large differences from the expected conditions, and information about the anomalous conditions may be provided in various ways.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method for a computing system to automatically identify abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel on the roads, the method comprising:
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receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area; for each of the roads in the network, identifying multiple segments of the road for which traffic conditions are distinctly tracked; for each of multiple users, receiving a request from the user to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions that occur on one or more indicated road segments; and facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads using information about automatically identified abnormal traffic conditions on the roads by, for each of at least some of the road segments, obtaining information indicating current actual traffic conditions for the road segment, the current actual traffic conditions including an actual average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at a current time; obtaining information indicating expected traffic conditions for the current time for the road segment, the expected traffic conditions reflecting a generated forecast of traffic conditions that includes an expected average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at the current time; automatically identifying whether the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment at the current time are abnormal with respect to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time, the identifying being based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment; and if the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment are identified as abnormal, and if one or more users has requested to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions on the road segment, providing information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, the method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of multiple related roads; obtaining information about expected traffic conditions for each of the road segments for a current time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segments at the current time; obtaining information about target traffic conditions for each of the road segments for the current time for comparison to the expected traffic conditions for the road segments, the target traffic conditions reflecting actual traffic conditions on the road segments; for each of the multiple road segments, comparing the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to automatically determine whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time; and providing indications of the road segments whose target traffic conditions are determined to be abnormal, so as to facilitate travel on the roads. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to automatically identify abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, by performing a method comprising:
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obtaining first and second sets of traffic conditions data for a segment of a road at an indicated time, the data of the first and second sets being for a same type of traffic condition but being generated in distinct manners such that at least one of the first and second sets reflects expected traffic conditions for the road segment at the indicated time; automatically identifying an abnormal traffic condition associated with the road segment at the indicated time based at least in part on one or more differences between the first and second sets of traffic conditions data; and providing an indication of the identified abnormal traffic condition for the road segment at the indicated time. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A computing device configured to automatically identify anomalous traffic conditions on roads, comprising:
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a memory; and a first component configured to, for each of at least one of multiple segments of multiple roads in a geographic area, obtain a first set of expected traffic conditions data for the road segment for an indicated time; obtain a second set of target traffic conditions data for the road segment for the indicated time; detect an anomalous traffic condition associated with the road segment at the indicated time based at least in part on a comparison between the target traffic conditions data and the expected traffic conditions data; and provide an indication of the detected anomalous traffic condition associated with the road segment. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification