TRAFFIC DATA DISTRIBUTION IN A NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM

• US 20110125583A1
• Filed: 11/24/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: HAO, Jack Jianxiu
• Granted Patent: US 10,789,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.64
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/01 Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled G08G1/07 - G08G1/14 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station

Abstract

A server identifies areas of traffic congestion and generates traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion. The server receives, from a mobile device, a request for traffic objects, where the request includes a current geographic location of the mobile device and a destination geographic location to which the mobile device plans to travel. The server determines a length of travel based on the current geographic location and the destination geographic location, identifies a particular traffic object based on the length of travel, the current geographic location, and the destination geographic location, and provides information regarding the particular traffic object to the mobile device to permit the mobile device to generate navigational directions based on the particular traffic object.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more server devices, comprising:

collecting, by the one or more server devices, geographic location and traveling speed data from a plurality of mobile devices;

identifying, by the one or more server devices, areas of traffic congestion based on the collected geographic location and traveling speed data;

generating, by the one or more server devices, a plurality of traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion;

receiving, from a particular mobile device, a request for traffic objects, where the request includes a current geographic location of the particular mobile device and a destination geographic location to which the particular mobile device plans to travel;

determining, by the one or more server devices, a length of travel based on the current geographic location and the destination geographic location;

identifying, by the one or more server devices, a particular traffic object, of the plurality of traffic objects, based on the length of travel, the current geographic location, and the destination geographic location; and

providing, by the one or more server devices, information regarding the particular traffic object to the particular mobile device to permit the particular mobile device to generate navigational directions based on the particular traffic object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying additional areas of traffic congestion based on historical information regarding previously identified areas of traffic congestion; and

where generating the plurality of traffic objects includes generating traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion and the additional areas of traffic congestion.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating each of the plurality of traffic objects with one or more of a plurality of traffic layers, where the plurality of traffic layers includes an interstate highway traffic layer associated with interstate highways, a state highway traffic layer associated with state highways, and a local streets traffic layer associated with local streets; and

selecting one of the plurality of traffic layers based on the length of travel;

where the particular traffic object is associated with the selected one of the plurality of traffic layers.

4. The method of claim 3, where selecting the one of the plurality of traffic layers includes:

selecting the interstate highway traffic layer when the length of travel is greater than a first threshold,

selecting the state highway layer when the length of travel is not greater than the first threshold and is greater than a second threshold, where the second threshold is different than the first threshold, and

selecting the local streets traffic layer when the length of travel is not greater than the second threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating each of the plurality of traffic objects with one or more of a plurality of traffic layers, where the plurality of traffic layers includes a highway traffic layer associated with highways, and a local streets traffic layer associated with local streets;

creating a quad tree data structure for one of the plurality of traffic layers; and

storing information regarding one of the plurality of traffic objects in association with the quad tree data structure.

6. The method of claim 5, where identifying the particular traffic object includes:

identifying a portion of the quad tree data structure associated with the current geographic location or the destination geographic location, and

searching the portion of the quad tree data structure to identify the particular traffic object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing information for the particular traffic object, the stored information including at least one of;

an identifier that uniquely identifies the particular traffic object,

a type identifier that identifies a type of the particular traffic object,

a location identifier that identifies a geographic location of the particular traffic object,

a description that describes traffic congestion associated with the particular traffic object, and

a congestion factor that identifies an amount of congestion associated with the particular traffic object;

where providing the information regarding the particular traffic object includes transmitting the stored information to the particular mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating an advertisement with the particular traffic object;

where providing the information regarding the particular traffic object includes transmitting the advertisement to the particular mobile device along with the information regarding the particular traffic object.

9. One or more server devices, comprising:

means for identifying areas of traffic congestion;

means for generating a plurality of traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion;

means for receiving, from a particular mobile device, a request for traffic objects, where the request includes a current geographic location of the particular mobile device and a destination geographic location to which the particular mobile device plans to travel;

means for determining a length of travel based on the current geographic location and the destination geographic location;

means for identifying a particular traffic object, of the plurality of traffic objects, based on the length of travel, the current geographic location, and the destination geographic location; and

means for providing information regarding the particular traffic object to the particular mobile device to permit the particular mobile device to generate navigational directions based on the particular traffic object.

10. The one or more server devices of claim 9, further comprising:

means for associating each of the plurality of traffic objects with one or more of a plurality of traffic layers, where the plurality of traffic layers includes an interstate highway traffic layer associated with interstate highways, a state highway traffic layer associated with state highways, and a local streets traffic layer associated with local streets; and

means for selecting one of the plurality of traffic layers based on the length of travel, where the means for selecting the one of the plurality of traffic layers includes;

means for selecting the interstate highway traffic layer when the length of travel is greater than a first threshold,

means for selecting the state highway layer when the length of travel is not greater than the first threshold and is greater than a second threshold, where the second threshold is different than the first threshold, and

means for selecting the local streets traffic layer when the length of travel is not greater than the second threshold;

where the particular traffic object is associated with the selected one of the plurality of traffic layers.

11. The one or more server devices of claim 9, further comprising:

means for associating each of the plurality of traffic objects with one or more of a plurality of traffic layers, where the plurality of traffic layers includes a highway traffic layer associated with highways, and a local streets traffic layer associated with local streets;

means for creating a quad tree data structure for one of the plurality of traffic layers; and

means for storing information regarding one of the plurality of traffic objects in association with the quad tree data structure;

where the means for identifying the particular traffic object includes;

means for identifying a portion of the quad tree data structure associated with the current geographic location or the destination geographic location, and

means for searching the portion of the quad tree data structure to identify the particular traffic object.

12. One or more server devices, comprising:

one or more memory devices; and

one or more processor devices, connected to the one or more memory devices, to;

identify areas of traffic congestion,

generate a plurality of traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion,

associate, in the one or more memory devices, each of the plurality of traffic objects with one or more of a plurality of traffic layers, where the plurality of traffic layers includes a highway traffic layer associated with highways, and a local streets traffic layer associated with local streets,

receive, from a particular mobile device, a request for traffic objects, where the request includes a current geographic location of the particular mobile device and a destination geographic location to which the particular mobile device plans to travel,

determine a length of travel based on the current geographic location and the destination geographic location,

select one of the plurality of traffic layers based on the length of travel,

identify one or more traffic objects, of the plurality of traffic objects, associated with the selected one of the plurality of traffic layers, and

present information regarding the one or more traffic objects to the particular mobile device to permit the particular mobile device to generate navigational directions based on the one or more traffic objects.

13. The one or more server devices of claim 12, where the plurality of traffic objects includes at least one of:

a node object that is identified by a particular geographic location;

a link object that is identified by two geographic locations that define two endpoints of the link object;

a block object that is identified by two geographic locations that define a lower-left corner and an upper-right corner of the box object;

or a turn object that is identified by three geographic locations that define a beginning point, a turning point, and an ending point of the turn object.

14. The one or more server devices of claim 12, where, when identifying the areas of traffic congestion, the one or more processors are to identify areas of traffic congestion based on historical information regarding previously identified areas of traffic congestion;

and

where, when generating the plurality of traffic objects, the one or more processors are to generate traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion.

15. The one or more server devices of claim 12, where, when identifying the areas of traffic congestion, the one or more processors are to:

collect geographic location and traveling speed data from a plurality of mobile devices, and

identify areas of traffic congestion based on the collected geographic location and traveling speed data; and

where, when generating the plurality of traffic objects, the one or more processors are to generate traffic objects associated with the identified areas of traffic congestion.

16. The one or more server devices of claim 12, where, when selecting the one of the plurality of traffic layers, the one or more processors are to:

select the highway traffic layer when the length of travel is greater than a threshold, and

select the local streets traffic layer when the length of travel is not greater than the threshold.

17. The one or more server devices of claim 12, the one or more processors are further to:

create a quad tree data structure for one of the plurality of traffic layers, and

store, in the one or more memory devices, information regarding one of the plurality of traffic objects in association with the quad tree data structure.

18. The one or more server devices of claim 17, where, when identifying the one or more traffic objects, the one or more processors are to:

identify a portion of the quad tree data structure associated with the current geographic location or the destination geographic location, and

search the portion of the quad tree data structure to identify the one or more traffic objects.

19. The one or more server devices of claim 17, where the one or more processors are further to:

associate an advertisement with the portion of the quad tree data structure;

where, when presenting the information regarding the one or more traffic objects, the one or more processors are to transmit the advertisement to the particular mobile device along with the information regarding the one or more traffic objects.

20. The one or more server devices of claim 12, where the one or more processors are further to:

associate an advertisement with a particular traffic object of the one or more traffic objects;

where, when presenting the information regarding the one or more traffic objects, the one or more processors are to transmit the advertisement to the particular mobile device along with the information regarding the particular traffic object.

21. A mobile device, comprising:

a display; and

a processor to;

receive, from a user, information regarding a destination geographic location to which the user desires navigational directions,

send a request for traffic objects to a server, the request including a current geographic location of the mobile device and the destination geographic location,

receive information regarding one or more traffic objects from the server, the one or more traffic objects being based on the current geographic location, the destination geographic location, and a length of travel between the current geographic location and the destination geographic location, the information, for one of the one or more traffic objects, including traffic congestion data,

calculate a shortest path between the current geographic location and the destination geographic location based on the traffic congestion data,

generate navigational directions based on the calculated shortest path, and

present the navigational directions on the display.

22. The mobile device of claim 21, where the processor is further to:

receive, from the server, an advertisement associated with a traffic object of the one or more traffic objects,

determine whether the current geographic location of the mobile device is within a particular distance of a geographic location associated with the traffic object, and

present, on the display, the advertisement when the current geographic location of the mobile device is within the particular distance of the geographic location associated with the traffic object.

23. The mobile device of claim 21, further comprising:

a memory to store information regarding nodes and links of a road network; and

where the processor is further to map the one or more traffic objects to one of the nodes or one of the links of the road network.