Method of presuming traffic conditions by using floating car data and system for presuming and presenting traffic conditions by using floating data

• US 6,721,650 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2003
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fushiki, Takumi, Yamane, Kenichiro, Yokota, Takayoshi, Inoue, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MANCHO, RONNIE M
• Application Number:
  US10/372,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20030125874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 701/118, 701/119, 701/24, 701/117, 701/200, 701/213, 701/215, 342/454, 342/461, 246/167.R, 246/187.C, 340/932, 340/903, 340/905, 340/934, 340/910, 340/995, 455/456
• US Class Current: 701/118
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• 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

Abstract

A method of presuming traffic conditions for implementing a forecast and a presumption of traffic jam situation in an area where probe cars are not traveling currently, in which the probe cars send floating car data that is times and positions of traveled areas to center facilities, and the center accumulates the floating car data in a floating car data database by traffic conditions presumption means and also presumes forecast traffic jam information in the forward areas of the probe cars and presumed traffic jam information in the backward areas thereof by using the current floating car data and the floating car data database accumulated from the past to the present.

Claims

1. A method of presenting road maps which represent traffic jam situations ahead of a vehicle by using an on-vehicle terminal, on the basis of floating car data, comprising:

representing a road interval on which a probe car is driving with a first color in cases where the probe car is driving at a speed less than a first predetermined value,

representing a road interval on which the probe car is driving with a second color in cases where the probe car is driving at a speed less than a second predetermined value, and representing other road intervals with a third color.

2. A method according to claim 1 and further including presuming traffic conditions by using floating car data obtained from a probe car to presume a traffic jam situation at locations from a location measured backwards to a location measured forward with respect to the probe car.

3. A method according to claim 2, and further including using sensors installed on a road to presume said traffic jam situation.

4. A method according to claim 1 and further including:

finding the reliability of a presumed traffic jam situation; and

changing a method of representing on the basis of said reliability.

5. A method according to claim 4, comprising changing color density used in representing a presumed traffic jam situation depending on the reliability found.

6. A method according to claim 5, comprising making the color lighter in representing a presumed traffic jam situation depending on the reliability found.

7. A method according to claim 4, comprising causing the color used in representing a presumed traffic jam situation to flash depending on the reliability found.

8. A method of presenting road maps which represent traffic jam situations ahead of a vehicle by using an on-vehicle terminal, on the basis of floating car data, comprising:

finding the reliability of a presumed traffic jam situation; and

changing the method of representing said presuming traffic jam situation on the basis of said reliability, said reliability being determined in accordance with the distance from the present location at each location of the forecast driving path of said vehicle.

9. A method according to claim 8, comprising changing color density used in representing a presumed traffic jam situation depending on the reliability found.

10. A method according to claim 9, comprising making the color lighter in representing a presumed traffic jam situation depending on the reliability found.

11. A method according to claim 8, comprising causing the color used in representing a presumed traffic jam situation to flash depending on the reliability found.