METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COMBINING SENSOR DATA TO DETERMINE VEHICLE MOVEMENT INFORMATION

• US 20170211939A1
• Filed: 01/26/2017
• Published: 07/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cambridge Mobile Telematics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Truemotion, Inc.
• Inventors: Arcolano, Nicholas, Sahoo, Sanujit, Cordova, Brad
• Granted Patent: US 10,349,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/40 Correcting position, velocity or attitude
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

According to some embodiments of the invention, movement measurements may be obtained from a movement sensor (e.g., an accelerometer) of a mobile device in a vehicle. In addition, location measurements may be obtained from a location sensor (e.g., a GPS) of the mobile device in the vehicle. The movement measurements and the location measurements may be cross-referenced to each other to remove erroneous measurements, such as physically impossible measurements. The remaining measurements may be used to draw conclusions about the movements or locations, such as to identify a movement event (e.g., a braking event, an acceleration event, or the like).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of movement measurements from a movement sensor of a mobile device disposed in a vehicle;

obtaining a plurality of location measurements from a location sensor of the mobile device disposed in the vehicle;

verifying the plurality of movement measurements using the plurality of location measurements;

removing one or more movement measurements from the plurality of movement measurements using the plurality of location measurements to provide a set of remaining movement measurements; and

determining a movement event for the vehicle using the set of remaining movement measurements.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying two or more approaches to verifying the plurality of movement measurements, wherein verifying using the plurality of location measurements is used by at least one of the approaches,

wherein removing the movement measurements from the plurality of movement measurements to provide the set of remaining movement measurements comprises, for the plurality of movement measurements, independently using each of the approaches to remove movement measurements that are not verified from the set of remaining movement measurements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying an accuracy estimate each movement measurement of a first portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

identifying a first threshold to assess the portion of the plurality of movement measurements; and

identifying a movement measurement of the first portion as not verified based on the accuracy estimate of the movement measurement and the first threshold.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a first set of rules to apply to two or more movement measurements of a second portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

applying the first set of rules to the two or more movement measurements to determine that the two or more movement measurements are not both physically possible; and

identifying one of the two or more movement measurements determined to not be physically possible as not verified.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a third portion of the plurality of movement measurements, the third portion having duplicate values; and

identifying the third portion as not verified.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the duplicate values of the third portion are time values.

7. The method of claim 5, therein the wherein the duplicate values of the third portion are location values.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a second set of rules to apply to a fourth portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

applying the second set of rules to the fourth portion of movement measurements to determine that fourth portion of movement measurements each have location values that are clustered; and

identifying the fourth portion of movement measurements as not verified.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

grouping each of the remaining movement measurements into groups based on a collection time for the remaining movement measurements, the grouping resulting in a plurality of movement measurement groups, wherein the remaining movement measurements have a speed component;

for a first group of the plurality of movement measurement groups, using the speed component of each movement measurement of the first group to determine a plurality of acceleration rates describing changes in the speed components;

identifying a second threshold to apply to the acceleration rates;

applying the second threshold to the acceleration rates; and

removing two or more movement measurements from the first group based on the second threshold being applied to the acceleration rates associated with the two or more movement measurements.

10. A device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to perform operations including;

obtaining a plurality of movement measurements from a movement sensor of a mobile device disposed in a vehicle;

obtaining a plurality of location measurements from a location sensor of the mobile device disposed in the vehicle;

verifying the plurality of movement measurements using the plurality of location measurements;

removing one or more movement measurements from the plurality of movement measurements using the plurality of location measurements to provide a set of remaining movement measurements; and

determining a movement event for the vehicle using the set of remaining movement measurements.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identifying two or more approaches to verifying the plurality of movement measurements, wherein verifying using the plurality of location measurements is used by at least one of the approaches,

wherein removing the movement measurements from the plurality of movement measurements to provide the set of remaining movement measurements comprises, for the plurality of movement measurements, independently using each of the approaches to remove movement measurements that are not verified from the set of remaining movement measurements.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying an accuracy estimate each movement measurement of a first portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

identifying a first threshold to assess the portion of the plurality of movement measurements; and

identifying a movement measurement of the first portion as not verified based on the accuracy estimate of the movement measurement and the first threshold.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a first set of rules to apply to two or more movement measurements of a second portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

applying the first set of rules to the two or more movement measurements to determine that the two or more movement measurements are not both physically possible; and

identifying one of the two or more movement measurements determined to not be physically possible as not verified.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a third portion of the plurality of movement measurements, the third portion having duplicate values; and

identifying the third portion as not verified.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the duplicate values of the third portion are time values.

16. The device of claim 14, therein the wherein the duplicate values of the third portion are location values.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the approaches comprises:

identifying a second set of rules to apply to a fourth portion of the plurality of movement measurements;

applying the second set of rules to the fourth portion of movement measurements to determine that fourth portion of movement measurements each have location values that are clustered; and

identifying the fourth portion of movement measurements as not verified.

18. The device of claim 11, further comprising:

grouping each of the remaining movement measurements into groups based on a collection time for the remaining movement measurements, the grouping resulting in a plurality of movement measurement groups, wherein the remaining movement measurements have a speed component;

for a first group of the plurality of movement measurement groups, using the speed component of each movement measurement of the first group to determine a plurality of acceleration rates describing changes in the speed components;

identifying a second threshold to apply to the acceleration rates;

applying the second threshold to the acceleration rates; and

removing two or more movement measurements from the first group based on the second threshold being applied to the acceleration rates associated with the two or more movement measurements.