POINT OF INTEREST DATABASE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM

• US 20150012510A1
• Filed: 03/07/2013
• Published: 01/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TomTom Traffic B.V. (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: TomTom International BV (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: van der Laan, Antoine Carl, Jonkman, Richard Hendrik Josephus
• Application Number:
  US14/383,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20150012510A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/702
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/022 Road traffic radar detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A method of processing data at a server (302) for maintenance of a database (516) of points of interest, such as speed limit enforcement devices. Each of the devices represented in the database has at least one attribute and a confidence value indicative of the accuracy of the at least one attribute associated therewith. The confidence value is time dependent and varies according to a pre-defined decay function. A report (500) relating to an attribute of a speed limit enforcement device is received at the server (302) from a mobile device (200). The confidence value associated with the speed limit enforcement device is adjusted in accordance with the received report, and information relating to the speed limit enforcement device (520, 522) is selectively transmitted to the or another mobile device (200) based on the confidence value.

Claims

1. A method of processing data for maintenance of a database of points of interest (POI), each point of interest represented in the database having at least one attribute and a time-varying confidence value indicative of the accuracy of the at least one attribute associated therewith, the method comprising:

transmitting a request to one or more remote devices to provide confirmation of an attribute of a point of interest when the confidence value associated with the point of interest is below a predetermined threshold;

receiving a report relating to the attribute in response to the transmitted request from at least one of the remote devices; and

adjusting the confidence value associated with the point of interest in accordance with the received report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence value associated with the point of interest is increased upon receipt of a positive report indicating the current attribute is correct, and wherein the confidence value associated with the point interest is decreased upon receipt of a negative report indicating the current attribute is incorrect.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the points of interest are speed limit enforcement devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one attribute associated with a speed limit enforcement device comprises one or more of:

an active status of the device;

a device type;

a location of the device;

a speed limit;

a driving direction indicating with which direction of vehicular travel the device operates; and

a time period during which the device is operational.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one attribute associated with a speed limit enforcement device comprises a speed limit, wherein the speed limit is one of:

(i) the actual speed limit for the road on which the speed limit enforcement device is located; and

(ii) derived from position data received from vehicles travelling along the road on which the speed limit enforcement device is located.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein speed limit enforcement devices are added to and/or modified in the database based on identifying a change in speed indicative of the presence of a speed limit enforcement device from position data relating to the position of at least one vehicle at a plurality of times when travelling along a route.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the points of interest comprise one or more of:

parking locations;

electric vehicle charging stations;

fuel stations;

dynamic advertising locations; and

areas of construction or road works.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial confidence value associated with a point of interest is based on the source of the point of interest.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each point of interest represented in the database has a plurality of attributes associated therewith, and the confidence value associated with a device is a combined confidence value indicative of the accuracy of each of the attributes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence value for a point of interest is calculated using one or more of:

the number of positive reports received from the remote devices;

the number of negative reports received from the remote devices;

the ratio of positive reports received to negative reports; and

the age of each report.

11. A server system arranged to process data for maintenance of a database of points of interest (POI), each point of interest represented in the database having at least one attribute and a time-varying confidence value indicative of the accuracy of the at least one attribute associated therewith, the system comprising memory for storing the database of points of interest and at least one processor configured to:

transmit a request to one or more remote devices to provide confirmation of an attribute of a point of interest when the confidence value associated with the point of interest is below a predetermined threshold;

receive a report relating to the attribute in response to the transmitted request from at least one of the remote devices; and

adjust the confidence value associated with the point of interest in accordance with the received report.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the adjusting the confidence value comprises increasing the confidence value associated with the point of interest upon receipt of a positive report indicating the current attribute is correct, and decreasing the confidence value associated with the point interest upon receipt of a negative report indicating the current attribute is incorrect.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer program code adapted, when said computer program code is run on a computer, to cause the computer to perform a method of processing data for maintenance of a database of points of interest (POI), each point of interest represented in the database having at least one attribute and a time-varying confidence value indicative of the accuracy of the at least one attribute associated therewith, the method comprising:

transmitting a request to one or more remote devices to provide confirmation of an attribute of a point of interest when the confidence value associated with the point of interest is below a predetermined threshold;

receiving a report relating to the attribute in response to the transmitted request from at least one of the remote devices; and

adjusting the confidence value associated with the point of interest in accordance with the received report.

14. (canceled)