LEARNING ROAD NAVIGATION PATHS BASED ON AGGREGATE DRIVER BEHAVIOR
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving information about a plurality of prior vehicle trips along a plurality of roads in a geographic area, the plurality of prior vehicle trips involving a plurality of drivers of vehicles and each reflecting actual prior behavior of one of the plurality of drivers in traveling between a starting location in the geographic area and an ending location in the geographic area, the received information including, for each of the prior vehicle trips, indications of multiple data samples reported by a device in the vehicle as the vehicle travels between the starting and ending locations for that vehicle trip, each of the data samples indicating a road location and an associated time when the vehicle is at the indicated road location;
automatically analyzing the received information about the plurality of prior vehicle trips to determine multiple compound links that each represents a preferred path between two locations in the geographic area based on actual prior behavior of the plurality of drivers, the automatically analyzing being performed by at least one of one or more programmed computing systems and including;
determining based on the plurality of prior vehicle trips multiple decision points along the plurality of roads that each corresponds to a connection of multiple roads which at least some of the plurality of prior vehicle trips arrive at and continue past during those at least some prior vehicle trips, the at least some prior vehicle trips that arrive at each of the determined multiple decision points being part of at least one of traffic diverging among the multiple roads of the connection for the decision point and of traffic converging from the multiple roads of the connection for the decision point;
identifying multiple pairs of the determined decision points, each of the identified decision point pairs including one of the determined decision points as a starting point and including another of the determined decision points as an ending point, each of the identified decision point pairs further having multiple alternative paths along the plurality of roads from the starting determined decision point to the ending determined decision point and having multiple associated prior vehicle trips from the plurality of prior vehicle trips that each include one of those multiple alternative paths, each of the multiple alternative paths being traveled by at least one of the associated prior vehicle trips; and
selecting multiple of the identified decision point pairs to represent the determined multiple compound links, each of the selected decision point pairs having a preferred one of the multiple alternative paths for that decision point pair that is used by a majority of the multiple associated prior vehicle trips for that selected decision point pair such that at most a specified minimum amount of those multiple associated prior vehicle trips use an alternative path other than the preferred one path, the determined multiple compound links being the preferred one paths for the selected decision point pairs; and
providing information about the determined compound links to enable future routing decisions for other vehicles to use the determined compound links as part of preferred routes.after the determining of the multiple compound links, automatically using the determined compound links to improve routing of additional vehicle trips through the geographic area, the using of the determined compound links being performed by at least one of the one or more programmed computing systems and including, for each of multiple requests for a route between two indicated locations in the geographic area;
selecting one of multiple alternative paths between the two indicated locations for the request based at least in part on the selected one alternative path including at least one of the determined compound links; and
providing the selected alternative path as the route for the request.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are described for generating and using information regarding road traffic in various ways, including by obtaining and analyzing road traffic information regarding actual behavior of drivers of vehicles on a network of roads. Obtained actual driver behavior information may in some situations be analyzed to identify decision point locations at which drivers face choices corresponding to possible alternative routes through the network of roads (e.g., intersections, highway exits and/or entrances, etc.), as well as to track the actual use by drivers of particular paths between particular decision points in order to determine preferred compound links between those decision point locations. The identified and determined information from the analysis may then be used in various manners, including in some situations to assist in determining particular recommended or preferred routes of vehicles through the network of roads based at least in part on actual driver behavior information.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving information about a plurality of prior vehicle trips along a plurality of roads in a geographic area, the plurality of prior vehicle trips involving a plurality of drivers of vehicles and each reflecting actual prior behavior of one of the plurality of drivers in traveling between a starting location in the geographic area and an ending location in the geographic area, the received information including, for each of the prior vehicle trips, indications of multiple data samples reported by a device in the vehicle as the vehicle travels between the starting and ending locations for that vehicle trip, each of the data samples indicating a road location and an associated time when the vehicle is at the indicated road location; automatically analyzing the received information about the plurality of prior vehicle trips to determine multiple compound links that each represents a preferred path between two locations in the geographic area based on actual prior behavior of the plurality of drivers, the automatically analyzing being performed by at least one of one or more programmed computing systems and including; determining based on the plurality of prior vehicle trips multiple decision points along the plurality of roads that each corresponds to a connection of multiple roads which at least some of the plurality of prior vehicle trips arrive at and continue past during those at least some prior vehicle trips, the at least some prior vehicle trips that arrive at each of the determined multiple decision points being part of at least one of traffic diverging among the multiple roads of the connection for the decision point and of traffic converging from the multiple roads of the connection for the decision point; identifying multiple pairs of the determined decision points, each of the identified decision point pairs including one of the determined decision points as a starting point and including another of the determined decision points as an ending point, each of the identified decision point pairs further having multiple alternative paths along the plurality of roads from the starting determined decision point to the ending determined decision point and having multiple associated prior vehicle trips from the plurality of prior vehicle trips that each include one of those multiple alternative paths, each of the multiple alternative paths being traveled by at least one of the associated prior vehicle trips; and selecting multiple of the identified decision point pairs to represent the determined multiple compound links, each of the selected decision point pairs having a preferred one of the multiple alternative paths for that decision point pair that is used by a majority of the multiple associated prior vehicle trips for that selected decision point pair such that at most a specified minimum amount of those multiple associated prior vehicle trips use an alternative path other than the preferred one path, the determined multiple compound links being the preferred one paths for the selected decision point pairs; and providing information about the determined compound links to enable future routing decisions for other vehicles to use the determined compound links as part of preferred routes. after the determining of the multiple compound links, automatically using the determined compound links to improve routing of additional vehicle trips through the geographic area, the using of the determined compound links being performed by at least one of the one or more programmed computing systems and including, for each of multiple requests for a route between two indicated locations in the geographic area; selecting one of multiple alternative paths between the two indicated locations for the request based at least in part on the selected one alternative path including at least one of the determined compound links; and providing the selected alternative path as the route for the request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving information about a plurality of prior vehicle trips along a plurality of roads in a geographic area, the plurality of prior vehicle trips involving a plurality of drivers of vehicles and each reflecting actual prior behavior of one of the plurality of drivers in traveling between a starting location in the geographic area and an ending location in the geographic area, the received information including, for each of the prior vehicle trips, indications of multiple road locations of the vehicle for that vehicle trip as the vehicle travels from the starting location to the ending location for that vehicle trip; automatically analyzing the received information about the plurality of prior vehicle trips to determine one or more compound links that each represents a preferred path between locations in the geographic area based on actual prior behavior of the plurality of drivers, the automatically analyzing being performed by one or more programmed computing systems and including; determining multiple decision points along the plurality of roads based at least in part on the plurality of prior vehicle trips, each of the determined decision points corresponding to a connection of multiple roads which at least some of the plurality of prior vehicle trips travel past during those at least some prior vehicle trips; identifying multiple pairs of the determined decision points, each of the identified decision point pairs including one of the determined decision points as a starting point and including another of the determined decision points as an ending point, each of the identified decision point pairs further having multiple alternative paths along the plurality of roads from the starting determined decision point to the ending determined decision point and having multiple associated vehicle trips from the plurality of prior vehicle trips that each includes one of those multiple alternative paths; and selecting one or more of the identified decision point pairs to represent the determined one or more compound links, each of the selected decision point pairs having a preferred one of the multiple alternative paths for that decision point pair that is used by a majority of the multiple associated prior vehicle trips for that selected decision point pair such that at most a specified minimum amount of those multiple associated prior vehicle trips use an alternative path other than the preferred one path, the determined compound links being the preferred one path for each of the selected decision point pairs; and providing information about the determined compound links to enable future routing decisions for other vehicles to use the determined compound links as part of preferred routes. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose stored contents configure a computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
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receiving information about a plurality of prior vehicle trips along one or more roads by a plurality of vehicles that reflect actual prior behavior of a plurality of drivers, the received information including, for each of the prior vehicle trips, indications of multiple road locations of the vehicle during the vehicle trip; automatically analyzing the received information about the plurality of prior vehicle trips to determine a compound link that represents a preferred path between two locations on at least one of the one or more roads based on the actual prior behavior of the plurality of drivers, the automatic analyzing being performed by the configured computing system and including; identifying a pair of decision points along the one or more roads, each of the decision points being one of the two locations and corresponding to a connection of multiple roads which at least some of the plurality of prior vehicle trips travel past during those at least some prior vehicle trips, the identified decision point pair having multiple alternative paths between the pair of decision points and having multiple associated vehicle trips from the plurality of prior vehicle trips that each includes one of those multiple alternative paths; evaluating the multiple alternative paths with respect to a specified measure by assessing a value for the specified measure for each of the multiple alternative paths, the assessed values for the specified measure being based at least in part on the multiple associated vehicle trips; and selecting a preferred one of the multiple alternative paths to be the determined compound link based on the assessed values for the specified measure; and indicating the determined compound link. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A computing system, comprising:
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one or more processors; and a system that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, automatically determine a compound link that represents a preferred path between two locations on one or more roads based on actual prior behavior of a plurality of drivers on the one or more roads, the automatic determining of the compound link including; receiving information about a plurality of prior vehicle trips along the one or more roads by a plurality of vehicles under control of the plurality of drivers, the received information including, for each of the prior vehicle trips, indications of multiple road locations of the vehicle during the vehicle trip; identifying a pair of decision points along the one or more roads, each of the decision points being one of the two locations and corresponding to a connection of multiple roads which at least some of the plurality of prior vehicle trips travel past during those at least some prior vehicle trips, the identified decision point pair having multiple alternative paths between the pair of decision points and having multiple associated vehicle trips from the plurality of prior vehicle trips that each includes one of those multiple alternative paths; selecting a preferred one of the multiple alternative paths to be the determined compound link, the preferred one alternative path being selected based on being used by at least a specified minimum amount of the multiple associated prior vehicle trips; and indicating the determined compound link. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification