Smart Roadway Apparatus, System, and Method

• US 20180181095A1
• Filed: 12/23/2016
• Published: 06/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Funk, Tom, Carpenter, Phil, Morrill, Robert J., Walker, William R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,222,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/14006 Safety, monitoring in general
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing Internet of Things (“IoT”) functionality. In some embodiments, a computing system or IoT management node might receive sensor data from one or more IoT-capable sensors, analyze the sensor data to determine one or more actions to be taken, and identify one or more devices (e.g., household devices associated with a customer premises; vehicular components associated with a vehicle; devices disposed in, on, or along a roadway; devices disposed throughout a population area; etc.) for performing the determined one or more first actions. The computing system or IoT management node then autonomously controls each of the identified one or more devices to perform tasks based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, thereby implementing smart environment functionality (e.g., smart home, building, or customer premises functionality, smart vehicle functionality, smart roadway functionality, smart city functionality, and so on).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, with a computing system, at least one first sensor data from each of one or more first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable devices of a plurality of IoT-capable devices via machine-to-machine communications, each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprising one or more first sensors that collect the at least one first sensor data, each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices being embedded within a roadway structure of a roadway;

analyzing, with the computing system, the at least one first sensor data to determine one or more first actions to be taken;

identifying, with the computing system, one or more devices for performing the determined one or more first actions to be taken, based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices; and

autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks comprises sending, with the computing system, one or more first control instructions to each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises one of a single processor disposed within a vehicle, a plurality of processors disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a customer premises associated with an owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a business premises associated with a company that owns or operates the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a service provider facility associated with providing services to the owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at one or more roadway service provider facilities associated with service providers that provide roadway services, a server computer remote from the vehicle, a roadway-embedded IoT management node, a plurality of roadway-embedded IoT management nodes, a municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management node, a plurality of municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management nodes, a computing system disposed at a vehicle traffic control center, a cloud computing system, a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from plurality of IoT-capable devices, or a combination of two or more of these computing systems.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the roadway comprises at least one of a local road, a main road, a highway, an airport apron, an airport ramp, an airport runway, a canal, a lock, or a waterway, wherein the one or more first IoT-capable devices, which are embedded in the roadway structure of the roadway, each comprises one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more structural integrity sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more seismic sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, or one or more particulate sensors, a top surface of each first IoT-capable device being one of substantially level with a top surface of the roadway or below the top surface of the roadway.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more structural integrity sensors comprise at least one of two or more global positioning system sensors or two or more relative position sensors, wherein the at least one first sensor data comprises data indicating a change in position of one structural integrity sensor relative to another structural integrity sensor beyond a predetermined threshold amount, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise a communications system, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, the communications system to send a message to a repair crew to repair the roadway in response to the at least one first sensor data indicating a change in position of one structural integrity sensor relative to another structural integrity sensor beyond a predetermined threshold amount.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the computing system is at least one of a roadway-embedded IoT management node, a plurality of roadway-embedded IoT management nodes, a municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management node, a plurality of municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management nodes, a computing system disposed at a vehicle traffic control center, a cloud computing system, or a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from plurality of IoT-capable devices.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices further comprises one or more second IoT-capable devices that are each disposed in one of a street lamp, a traffic control signal device, or an above-ground structure, wherein the one or more second IoT-capable devices each comprises one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more temperature sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, or one or more particulate sensors.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprise at least one of one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, or one or more motion sensors, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to halt or reroute traffic based on a determination that a traffic congestion condition exists.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of a navigation system disposed in one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway or one or more traffic control signal devices, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to halt or reroute traffic based on a determination that a traffic congestion condition exists comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to halt or reroute traffic based on a determination that a traffic congestion condition exists, by performing at least one of sending updated navigation instructions to the navigation system disposed in the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway or sending control instructions to the one or more traffic control signal devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprise at least one of one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, or one or more motion sensors, wherein the plurality of IoT-capable devices further comprises one or more second IoT-capable devices comprising at least one of a speedometer sensor, a vehicle navigation system, an electronic throttle control system, a braking system, a gear system, a steering system, or a vehicle turn signal system of each of one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of the electronic throttle control system, the braking system, the gear system, the steering system, or the vehicle turn signal system of each of the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the at least one of the electronic throttle control system, the braking system, the gear system, the steering system, or the vehicle turn signal system of each of the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway to coordinate changes in travelling speed of the one or more vehicles, while optimizing gaps between the one or more vehicles to predetermined safe distances, and releasing control of any of the one or more vehicles whose navigation system indicates its route includes the vehicle moving beyond a designated control portion of the roadway.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprise at least one of one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more location sensors, one or more impact sensors, one or more stress sensors, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise a communications system, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, the communications system to send a message to each of one or more of a towing company to send a tow truck to a location of an accident, a message to emergency responders regarding details and location of the accident, or a message to other user-specified recipients regarding details and location of the accident.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identified one or more devices further comprise at least one of a navigation system disposed in one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway or one or more traffic control signal devices, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices further comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to halt or reroute traffic around the location of the accident, by performing at least one of sending updated navigation instructions to the navigation system disposed in the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway or sending control instructions to the one or more traffic control signal devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprise at least one of one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, or one or more location sensors, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of a navigation system disposed in one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, a display device disposed in the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, a digital instrument gauge cluster disposed in the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, one or more traffic control signal devices, or a communications system, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises, based on a determination that one or more of at least one person or at least one animal is likely to move in a path of at least one of the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway, autonomously controlling, with the computing system, the communications system to perform at least one of displaying an alert message on one or more of the navigation system, the display device, or the digital instrument gauge cluster that are disposed in the one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway or sending control instructions to an identified at least one traffic control signal device of the one or more traffic control signal devices that is located between the one or more vehicles and the one or more of the at least one person or the at least one animal.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to divert traffic around one of a construction zone, an accident area, a school zone, or a congested portion of traffic.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to perform one of creating one or more bicycle lanes when bicycles are detected on the roadway or creating one or more pedestrian crossing paths when at least one pedestrian is determined to likely cross the roadway.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises, during non-peak times, autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to change one or more roadway lanes into one or more street parking spots and, during peak times, autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to change the one or more parking spots back into the one or more roadway lanes.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises, during non-peak times, autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to reduce a number of lanes to control flow of traffic and, during peak times, autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to dynamically change lane markers on the roadway to increase the number of lanes to improve flow of traffic.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise two or more roadway-embedded wireless access points (“

WAPs”

), wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the two or more roadway-embedded WAPs to provide wireless communications connections to one or more wireless user devices in each of one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway and to provide wireless hand-off between nearby ones of the two or more roadway-embedded WAPs.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise one or more power generation nodes embedded in the roadway, the one or more power generation nodes generating and providing power to at least one of one or more batteries or an electrical power grid interface, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the one or more power generation nodes to transfer generated power to the at least one of the one or more batteries or the electrical power grid interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more power generation nodes comprises at least one of one or more piezoelectric transducers that generate power when vehicles are travelling on the roadway, one or more heat transducers that generate power when solar energy heats up the roadway or when friction is generated by vehicles travelling on the roadway, or one or more high-impact solar arrays that generate power from solar energy.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise one or more battery charging nodes embedded in the roadway or parking spots, the one or more battery charging nodes generating and providing power to at least one of one or more batteries of a vehicle, wherein autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks comprises autonomously controlling, with the computing system, each of the one or more battery charging nodes to transfer generated power to the at least one of the one or more batteries of the vehicle.

22. A system, comprising:

one or more first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable devices of a plurality of IoT-capable devices, the one or more first IoT-capable devices being embedded within a roadway structure of a roadway, each first IoT-capable device comprising;

one or more first sensors;

a first transceiver;

at least one first processor;

a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor, the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the IoT-capable device to;

receive at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors; and

send the at least one first sensor data to a computing system via machine-to-machine communications, via the first transceiver;

the computing system, comprising;

a second transceiver;

at least one second processor;

a second non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one second processor, the second non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a second set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, causes the computing system to;

receive the at least one first sensor data from each of one or more first IoT-capable devices via machine-to-machine communications via the second transceiver;

analyze the at least one first sensor data to determine one or more first actions to be taken;

identify one or more devices for performing the determined one or more first actions to be taken, based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices; and

autonomously control each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken, by sending control instructions to each of the identified one or more devices; and

the one or more devices, each comprising;

a third transceiver;

at least one third processor;

a third non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one third processor, the third non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a third set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one third processor, causes the device to;

receive the control instructions from the computing system; and

perform one or more tasks of the device based on the control instructions.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the first set of instructions, when executed by the at least one first processor, further causes the IoT-capable device to:

determine whether at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors exceeds a predetermined threshold for each corresponding type of sensor;

wherein sending the at least one first sensor data to the computing system via machine-to-machine communications, via the first transceiver, comprises sending the at least one first sensor data to the computing system via machine-to-machine communications, via the first transceiver, in response to a determination that the at least one first sensor data from the one or more first sensors exceeds the predetermined threshold for each corresponding type of sensor; and

in response to a determination that at least one second sensor data from the one or more first sensors does not exceed the predetermined threshold for at least one corresponding type of sensor, prevent the at least one second sensor data from being sent to the computing system.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the computing system comprises one of a single processor disposed within a vehicle, a plurality of processors disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a customer premises associated with an owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a business premises associated with a company that owns or operates the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a service provider facility associated with providing services to the owner of the vehicle, a remote server computer remote from the vehicle, a roadway-embedded IoT management node, a plurality of roadway-embedded IoT management nodes, a municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management node, a plurality of municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management nodes, a computing system disposed at a vehicle traffic control center, a cloud computing system, a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from plurality of IoT-capable devices, or a combination of two or more of these computing systems.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the roadway comprises at least one of a local road, a main road, a highway, an airport apron, an airport ramp, an airport runway, a canal, a lock, or a waterway, wherein the identified one or more IoT-capable devices, which are embedded in the roadway structure of the roadway, each comprises one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more structural integrity sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more seismic sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, one or more particulate sensors, one or more power generation nodes, or one or more battery charging nodes, a top surface of each IoT-capable device being one of substantially level with a top surface of the roadway or below the top surface of the roadway.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of a communications system, one or more traffic control signal devices, or at least one of a navigation system, a display device, a digital instrument gauge cluster, an electronic throttle control system, a braking system, a gear system, a steering system, or a vehicle turn signal system of each of one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more first processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled with the one or more first processors, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the one or more first processors, causes the apparatus to;

receive at least one first sensor data from each of one or more first Internet of Things (“

IoT”

)-capable devices of a plurality of IoT-capable devices via machine-to-machine communications, each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices comprising one or more first sensors that collect the at least one first sensor data, each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices being embedded within a roadway structure of a roadway;

analyze the at least one first sensor data to determine one or more first actions to be taken;

identify one or more devices for performing the determined one or more first actions to be taken, based on the at least one first sensor data from each of the one or more first IoT-capable devices; and

autonomously control each of the identified one or more devices to perform one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the apparatus is one of a processor disposed within a vehicle, a plurality of processors disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed within the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a customer premises associated with an owner of the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a business premises associated with a company that owns or operates the vehicle, an IoT management node disposed at a service provider facility associated with providing services to the owner of the vehicle, a server computer remote from the vehicle, a roadway-embedded IoT management node, a plurality of roadway-embedded IoT management nodes, a municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management node, a plurality of municipal, state, federal, or private entity IoT management nodes, a computing system disposed at a vehicle traffic control center, or a distributed computing system that integrates computing resources from plurality of IoT-capable devices.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein autonomously controlling each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks comprises sending one or more first control instructions to each of the identified one or more devices to perform the one or more tasks, based on the determined one or more first actions to be taken.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the roadway comprises at least one of a local road, a main road, a highway, an airport apron, an airport ramp, an airport runway, a canal, a lock, or a waterway, wherein the identified one or more first IoT-capable devices, which are embedded in the roadway structure of the roadway, each comprises one of one or more communications signal detectors, one or more wireless access points, one or more pressure sensors, one or more temperature sensors, one or more motion sensors, one or more structural integrity sensors, one or more solar light sensors, one or more seismic sensors, one or more weather station sensors, one or more air quality sensors, one or more moisture sensors, one or more wind sensors, one or more particulate sensors, one or more power generation nodes, or one or more battery charging nodes, a top surface of each IoT-capable device being one of substantially level with a top surface of the roadway or below the top surface of the roadway.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the identified one or more devices comprise at least one of a communications system, one or more traffic control signal devices, one or more roadway-embedded wireless access points (“

WAPs”

), one or more power generation nodes embedded in the roadway, or at least one of a navigation system, a display device, a digital instrument gauge cluster, an electronic throttle control system, a braking system, a gear system, a steering system, or a vehicle turn signal system of each of one or more vehicles travelling on the roadway.