SLOWDOWN EVENTS

• US 20200135022A1
• Filed: 10/24/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Xu, Jingwei, Maddineni, Pradeep, Bernhardt, Bruce, Guan, Yuxin, Xuan, Zongyi, Huang, Weimin, Carter, Jennifer, Bennett, Casey, Yu, Yingzhou, Timms, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 11,295,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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
• 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 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle

Abstract

A method for providing alerts for a traffic slowdown includes receiving location data for at least a first vehicle of a plurality of vehicles, map matching the location data for at least the first vehicle to a road network, calculating an approaching speed for at least the first vehicle at a first time, calculating a final speed for at least the first vehicle at a second time, and generating a traffic slowdown message in response to the approaching speed and the final speed. The traffic slowdown message includes at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown.

Claims

1. A method for providing alerts for a traffic slowdown, the method comprising:

receiving location data for at least a first vehicle of a plurality of vehicles;

map matching the location data for at least the first vehicle to a road network;

calculating an approaching speed for at least the first vehicle at a first time;

calculating a final speed for at least the first vehicle at a second time; and

generating a traffic slowdown message in response to the approaching speed and the final speed, wherein the traffic slowdown message includes at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a difference between the first time and the second time; and

comparing the difference between the first time and the second time to a time interval threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the traffic slowdown message is generated in response to the difference between the first time and the second time exceeding the time interval threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the approaching speed to an initial speed threshold, wherein the traffic slowdown message is generated in response to the approaching speed exceeding the initial speed threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the final speed to a final speed threshold, wherein the traffic slowdown message is generated in response to the final speed being less than the final speed threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing a difference in the final speed and the approaching speed to maximum speed threshold, wherein the traffic slowdown message is generated in response to the difference exceeding the maximum speed threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data is probe data from a plurality of sources.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a confidence value, included in the at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown, for the traffic slowdown message based on a first quantity associated with at least the first vehicle and a second quantity associated with the plurality of vehicles.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a severity value, included in the at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown, for the traffic slowdown message based on a difference between the approaching speed and the final speed for at least the first vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

broadcasting traffic slowdown message to vehicles according to location.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a driving command to a vehicle in response to the traffic slowdown message.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a navigation command to a vehicle in response to the traffic slowdown message.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a traffic diversion message to a traffic device in response to the traffic slowdown message.

14. An apparatus for providing traffic alerts, the apparatus comprising:

a location module configured to identify a path for an initial vehicle;

a speed module configured to calculate an approaching speed for the initial vehicle and a final speed for the initial vehicle, the speed module further configured to compare the initial speed to a free flow threshold and compare the final speed to a final speed threshold;

a timing module configured to calculate a difference between a first time for the initial speed and a second time for the final speed and compare the difference between the first time and the second time to a time interval threshold,

wherein a slowdown message is generated in response to the initial speed exceeding the free flow threshold, the final speed being less than the final speed threshold, and the difference between first time and the second time being greater than the time interval threshold.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the time module determines the time interval threshold according to a granularity for slowdown detection.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein a second vehicle is determined from the path for the initial vehicle, and the slowdown message is sent to the second vehicle.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the final speed threshold is a percentage drop in speed.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

a characteristic module configured to calculate a characteristic of a slowdown of the initial vehicle and compare the characteristic to a characteristic threshold selected according to a geographic region.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions, that when executed by a processor, are configured to perform:

receiving location data for at least a first vehicle of a plurality of vehicles;

map matching the location data for at least the first vehicle to a road segment of a road network;

calculating an approaching speed for at least the first vehicle at a first time;

calculating a final speed for at least the first vehicle at a second time;

generating a traffic slowdown message in response to the approaching speed and the final speed, wherein the traffic slowdown message includes at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown; and

sending the traffic slowdown message to one or more subsequent vehicles of the plurality of vehicles having a horizon including the road segment for the first vehicle.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the horizon for the one or more subsequent vehicles is selected according to the at least one characteristic of the traffic slowdown.