CO-OPERATIVE TRAFFIC NOTIFICATION

• US 20130328698A1
• Filed: 06/11/2012
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Prashanth
• Granted Patent: US 8,760,314 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination

Abstract

Upon detecting a request for traffic information or abnormal motion, a mobile electronic device can generate and transmit a first signal to a remote traffic-information generator, the first signal identifying a location and motion of the device. The remote traffic-information generator can aggregate this type of data across devices and estimate traffic information, assuming that traffic is normal along roads not associated with first signals. The remote traffic-information generator can transmit a second signal with estimated traffic information back to the device. The conditioned transmission can allow real-time traffic information to be efficiently estimated while conserving devices'"'"' power usage and the remote traffic-information generator'"'"'s processing and storage resources.

Claims

1. A method of determining traffic information, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a request from each mobile electronic device of a set of mobile electronic devices, the request being for traffic information that relates to an estimate of a traffic speed of interest to a user of the mobile electronic device;

receiving, at the server, data from each mobile electronic device of the set of mobile electronic devices, wherein the received data indicates a velocity and location of the mobile electronic device;

aggregating, by the server, the data from the set of mobile electronic devices in a location-specific manner;

determining, by the server, the traffic information based on the aggregated data; and

communicating, by the server, the traffic information to a first one of the mobile electronic devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of mobile electronic devices includes the first mobile electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the request for traffic information represents an implicit or explicit permission to collect the data from the mobile electronic device from which the request is received.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, for each mobile electronic device of the set of mobile electronic devices, a road coinciding with an absolute location of that one of the mobile electronic devices, the location of the mobile electronic device including the absolute location,

wherein the data is aggregated in a road-specific manner.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the traffic information includes implementing an assumption that traffic is normal along a road portion associated with relatively few traffic-information requests.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the server, a location of a congestion source based on the aggregated data,

wherein the traffic information includes the location of the congestion source.

7. A method of determining a traffic-related parameter, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, data from each mobile electronic device of a set of mobile electronic devices, the data identifying a location and value of a motion variable of the mobile electronic device;

determining for each mobile electronic device of the set of mobile electronic devices, by the server, a road on which that mobile electronic device is traveling, the determination being based on the identified location;

aggregating, by the server, the values of the motion variable from the set of mobile electronic devices in a road-specific manner;

determining for each mobile electronic device of the set of mobile electronic devices, by the server, device-specific traffic information associated with the road on which that mobile electronic device is determined to be traveling; and

communicating for each mobile electronic device of the set of mobile electronic devices, by the server, the device-specific traffic information to the mobile electronic device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the traffic information is determined based on data previously aggregated by the server from a previous set of mobile electronic devices.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining a location of a congestion source based on the aggregated data,

wherein the traffic information includes a distance to a congestion source.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising predicting a temporal duration of congestion, wherein the device-specific traffic information includes the predicted temporal duration.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the motion variable includes a velocity.

12. A method for interacting with a traffic-information service, the method comprising:

detecting, at a mobile electronic device, a request from a user for traffic information;

detecting, by the mobile electronic device, a location of the mobile electronic device;

detecting, by the mobile electronic device, a velocity of the mobile electronic device;

generating, by the mobile electronic device, a signal that identifies the detected location and the detected velocity;

transmitting, by the mobile electronic device, the signal to a remote server;

receiving, at the mobile electronic device, the traffic information from the remote server; and

presenting, by the mobile electronic device, the traffic information to the user.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the transmission of the signal is conditioned on detection of the request

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the traffic information includes a traffic parameter characterizing speeds near the mobile electronic device.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the signal includes a destination location and the traffic information includes an estimate of a time at which mobile electronic device will reach a destination location.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the traffic information is presented to the user on a touchscreen.

17. A method for interacting with a traffic-information service, the method comprising:

detecting, at a mobile electronic device, abnormal motion of the mobile electronic device;

generating, by the mobile electronic device, a signal that identifies a location of the mobile electronic device and a value of a motion variable for the mobile electronic device;

transmitting, by the mobile electronic device, the signal to a remote server;

receiving, at the mobile electronic device, traffic information from the remote server; and

presenting, by the mobile electronic device, the traffic information to a user of the mobile electronic device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting the abnormal motion includes detecting that a value of a variable related to an acceleration of the mobile electronic device exceeds a threshold.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the variable related to the acceleration includes a cumulative sum of absolute acceleration values.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the traffic information includes a traffic map.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the abnormal motion is detected by monitoring a speed of the mobile electronic device, the speed being determined based on a set of time-lapsed detected locations of the mobile electronic device.

22. A mobile electronic device comprising:

a touchscreen configured to receive inputs from a user and present outputs to the user;

a network interface configured to wirelessly communicate with a remote server;

a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver configured to receive GPS signals;

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to execute a method of interacting with a traffic service, the method comprising;

determining a location of the mobile electronic device based on a plurality of GPS signals received by the GPS receiver;

determining a road that the mobile electronic device is on, the road being determined based on the determined location;

determining a velocity of the mobile electronic device;

generating a first signal that identifies the road and the velocity;

initiating transmission of the first signal to a remote traffic-information generator via the network interface;

accessing a second signal from the first signal, the second signal being received via the network interface in response to the transmission of the first signal, the second signal characterizing a flow of traffic along the road; and

presenting data from the second signal to the user via the touchscreen.

23. The mobile electronic device of claim 22 wherein the method further comprises detecting a request from the user for traffic information, wherein transmissions of signals that identify velocities from the mobile electronic device to the remote server are conditioned upon detection of a request.

24. The mobile electronic device of claim 22 wherein the mobile electronic device is a phone.

25. The mobile electronic device of claim 22 wherein the second signal identifies average speeds of traffic along the road.