Method and System for Estimating Road Traffic

• US 20100273491A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: Colonna, Massimo, Parata, Dario, Lovisolo, Piero
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/440
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A method of estimating road traffic on a roads network, comprising: receiving information from at least one information source, wherein the information received from the at least one information source is one among a first information type and a second information type; defining at least two different information processing methods, each one associated with a respective one of said information type; selecting the information processing method based on the available information type and on predefined criteria; and processing with the selected information processing method the corresponding available information type; and providing an estimation of the road traffic based on the result of said processing.

Claims

1. A method of estimating road traffic on a roads network, comprising:

receiving information from at least one information source, wherein the information received from the at least one information source is one among a first information type and a second information type;

defining at least two different information processing methods, each one associated with a respective one of said information type;

selecting the information processing method based on the available information type and on predefined criteria; and

processing with the selected information processing method the corresponding available information type;

providing an estimation of the road traffic based on the result of said processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one information source includes at least a first and a second distinct information sources, and wherein said defining at least two different information processing methods comprises associating with a respective combination of the information types received from the first and second information sources a respective information processing method.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said first information source includes at least one cellular PLMN.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information received from the first information source comprises one or more among:

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and identifiers of the macroareas where each mobile terminal in the list is situated;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and identifiers of the PLMN cells in which each mobile terminal in the list is situated while making a phone call, or while dispatching a message, or when a handover is performed;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and indications about the geographical positions within the respective PLMN cells of each mobile terminal in the list, at the time a phone call or a handover are performed;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and an indication of a trajectory of each mobile terminal in the list during a phone call.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said second information source includes at least one among a manual or automatic vehicles counting system, and a system based on information received from a satellite localization system receiver on-board of at least a subset of circulating vehicles.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said information received from the second information source comprises one or more among:

a list of geographic coordinates of the road sections in which manual or automatic vehicles counters are installed, and the number of vehicles counted by each counter in the list, and

a list of vehicles equipped with satellite localization system receivers and indications about a trajectory thereof.

7. The method of claim 2, comprising:

at least temporarily storing the information received from the first information source and the information received from the second information source in a database and arranging the information in a matrix form.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein in said matrix form the different information types received from the first information source are arranged in a matrix column, and the different information types received from the second information source are arranged in a matrix row.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information is arranged in said matrix column or row in order of increasing or decreasing complexity.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein at an intersection of a matrix row and a matrix column, an identifier is stored of the information processing method associated with the corresponding combination of information types available.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said selection criterion includes a degree of accuracy of the estimation of the road traffic, an information processing time, the nature of the fruitor of the estimation of the road traffic, a price paid by the fruitor of the estimation of the road traffic, an arbitrary choice.

12. A system for the estimation of road traffic on a roads network, adapted in use to:

receiving information from at least one information source, wherein the information received from the at least one information source is one among a first information type and a second information type;

defining at least two different information processing methods, each one associated with a respective type of information received from the at least one information source;

selecting the information processing method based on the available type of information and on predefined criteria; and

processing with the selected information processing method the corresponding available type of information;

providing an estimation of the road traffic based on the result of said processing.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said at least one information source includes at least a first and a second distinct information sources, and wherein said at least two different information processing methods comprises a respective information processing method associated with every combination of the information types received from the first and second information sources.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said first information source includes at least one cellular PLMN.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the information received from the first information source comprises one or more among:

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and identifiers of the macroareas where each mobile terminal in the list is situated;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and identifiers of the PLMN cells in which each mobile terminal in the list is situated while making a phone call, or while dispatching a message, or when a handover is performed;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and indications about the geographical positions within the respective PLMN cells of each mobile terminal in the list, at the time a phone call or a handover are performed;

a list of mobile terminals attached to the cellular PLMN, and an indication of a trajectory of each mobile terminal in the list during a phone call.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said second information source includes at least one among a manual or automatic vehicles counting system, and a system based on information received from a satellite localization system receiver on-board of at least a subset of circulating vehicles.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said information received from the second information source comprises one or more among:

a list of geographic coordinates of the road sections in which manual or automatic vehicles counters are installed, and the number of vehicles counted by each counter in the list, and

a list of vehicles equipped with satellite localization system receivers and indications about a trajectory thereof.

18. The system of claim 13, comprising a database wherein the information received from the first information source and the information received from the second information source are at least temporarily stored arranged in a matrix form.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein in said matrix form the different information types received from the first information source are arranged in a matrix column, and the different information types received from the second information source are arranged in a matrix row.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the information is arranged in said matrix column or row in order of increasing or decreasing complexity.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein at an intersection of a matrix row and a matrix column, an identifier is stored of the information processing method associated with the corresponding combination of information types available.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein said selection criterion includes a degree of accuracy of the estimation of the road traffic, an information processing time, the nature of the fruitor of the estimation of the road traffic, a price paid by the fruitor of the estimation of the road traffic, an arbitrary choice.