OPTIMIZING TRAFFIC PREDICTIONS AND ENHANCING NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20130304367A1
• Filed: 07/19/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Inventors: OSTROM, MICHAEL RICHARD, STEHLE, TOMMY ALLEN, PALLOTTO, TERRENCE MATTHEW, SIMON, CHRISTOPHER JAMES
• Application Number:
  US13/946,263
• Publication Number:
  US 20130304367A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D

Abstract

Travel-demand forecasting methods are described for predicting traffic volume based, at least in part, on user-entered data in the form of anticipated traffic routes, demographic data and/or other types of socioeconomic data. This data can source a prediction algorithm or be used to forecast traffic patterns. Methods and systems are described for, among other things, optimizing traffic predictions, forecasting traffic patterns using user-assigned trip patterns, associating rich attribute information to navigation routes, exposing personal-logistic information to a group, communicating traffic-situation-generated alerts based on user information, optimizing a presentation of user-defined traffic routes, and presenting location indications based on proximity (temporal or geographical).

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, facilitate a method of forecasting traffic, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of user-entered data sets that each describe an origin and a destination of a route, thereby providing a collection of route-information data;

utilizing the collection of route-information data to forecast a traffic pattern; and

communicating an indication of the traffic pattern to a display device.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the user-entered data sets include data provided by a user.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein said receiving further includes receiving a time indication associated with each route.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the time indication reflects one or more of the following:

an anticipated departure time;

an anticipated arrival time;

or

an anticipated duration associated with said route.

5. The media of claim 3, wherein the time indication includes one or more of the following:

a date;

a day;

an hour; and

a minute.

6. The media of claim 3, wherein the utilizing includes accounting for the time indication such that said traffic pattern is associated with a timeframe, which is presentable on demand.

7. The media of claim 1, wherein the utilizing includes increasing an accuracy of a traffic-prediction model used, in part, to forecast the traffic pattern.

8. The media of claim 1, wherein the display device is an end-user device.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the indication of the traffic pattern includes one or more of the following:

textual information;

map information;

notification information;

or

time information.

10. The media of claim 1, wherein the utilizing is also based on demographic data associated with one or more users.

11. The media of claim 1, further comprising forecasting traffic patterns of other persons having certain demographic traits based on gleaned traffic patterns of a user associated with certain demographic data.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein the certain demographic traits are shared by the user, or wherein the certain demographic traits are dissimilar to those of the user.

13. The media of claim 1, further comprising providing, based on the plurality of user-entered data sets, one or more location-based services to a user.

14. The media of claim 13, where the one or more of the location-based services include presenting incentives associated with entities along a route determined by the plurality of user-entered data sets.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, facilitate a method of forecasting traffic, the method comprising:

receiving a collection of user-entered data sets, each user-entered data set describing an origin, a destination, and an anticipated time of travel for a route, thereby providing a collection of route information;

utilizing the collection of route information to forecast a traffic pattern; and

communicating an indication of the traffic pattern.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the utilizing includes one or more of:

incorporating the collection of route information into a traffic-prediction algorithm;

or

supplementing results of the traffic-prediction algorithm.

17. The media of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises exposing, to a plurality of users, a user interface that includes a set of fields that are useable to receive user-entered data that describes an origin and a destination for which a route can be provided

18. The media of claim 17, wherein said exposing said user interface includes providing for the exposing of said user interface on one or more of the following:

a plurality of mobile devices including smart phones;

a plurality of land-line computers coupled to the Internet;

or

combinations of the same.

19. The media of claim 15, wherein the collection of route information is collectively utilized to forecast the traffic pattern.

20. One or more nontransitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of forecasting a traffic pattern, the method comprising:

exposing, to a plurality of users, a user interface that includes a set of fields that are useable to receive user-entered data that describes an origin and a destination for which a route can be provided;

receiving a plurality of origin-destination pairs from the user interface; and

utilizing the plurality of origin-destination pairs to forecast a traffic pattern.