System and method for providing traffic information using operational data of a wireless network
First Claim
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1. A system for extracting vehicular movement information using operational data for mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communication network the system comprising:
- a processor module, logically coupled to the existing wireless telephony communication network, operable to generate a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data obtained from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number; and
a movement filtering and detection module, logically coupled to the processor module, operable to generate a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station via a vehicle.
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Abstract
Providing traffic information by using operational data developed by a wireless communication network to generate traffic information. Location information from the network can be combined with computerized street maps to measure the time it takes to get from one geographic area to another. By aggregating and analyzing anonymous data from thousands of devices, the present invention is able to determine real-time and historical travel times and velocities between cities, intersections and along specific routes.
161 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for extracting vehicular movement information using operational data for mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communication network the system comprising:
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a processor module, logically coupled to the existing wireless telephony communication network, operable to generate a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data obtained from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number; and
a movement filtering and detection module, logically coupled to the processor module, operable to generate a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station via a vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for extracting movement information using operational data for mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communication network, comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time;
processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of replacing the mobile station identifier in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number; and
maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station; and
generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the existing wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network, and identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station, wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of;
identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;
for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;
calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;
eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;
calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record; and
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station along the particular traffic route at a specific time;
trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;
eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;
eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;
calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and
selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score.
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8. A method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the existing wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network, identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network or a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station; and
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station alone the particular traffic route at a specific time; and
determining if mobile positioning system data are needed for calculating an estimate of the average velocity and the standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time, this step further comprising the steps of;
determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;
for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;
receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and
revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.
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9. A system for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, the system comprising:
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a processor module, logically coupled to the existing wireless telephony communication network, operable to generate a plurality of traffic data records based on operational data obtained from the wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time, wherein the processor module comprises a privacy module adapted to remove a mobile station identifier number identifying one of the mobile stations from each of the traffic data records, to replace the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number, and to maintain a relationship between the unique identifying number and the replaced mobile station identifier number;
a movement filtering and detection module, logically coupled to the processor module, operable to generate a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;
an analysis configuration module, logically coupled to at least one database comprising cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communications network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network, operable to generate the plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing the cell sector coverage area information and the geographic information for roadways; and
a traffic modeler module, logically coupled to the movement filtering and detection module and to the analysis configuration module, operable to generate a plurality of data records by processing the locations for the mobile stations as identified by the movement records within a geographical context provided by the plurality of traffic routes, each data record comprising an identification of the average velocity along a particular one of the traffic routes at a specific time. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operation data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time;
processing the plurality of traffic data records by removing certain confidential information associated with the operational data for the mobile stations operating within the wireless telephony communication network, the processing step comprising, for each of the traffic data records, the steps of replacing the mobile station identifier number in the traffic data record with a unique identifying number; and
maintaining a relationship between the replaced mobile station identifier number and the unique identifying number to assist the tracking of movement records generated for the same mobile station; and
generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;
creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;
identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station; and
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for determining traffic velocities alone a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and
generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;
creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;
identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station, wherein the step of identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations comprises the steps of;
identifying start and end cell sector pairs from a polyline of movement locations associated with the movement records for the same mobile station;
for each start and end cell sector pairs, determining all of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;
calculating a cell handoff score for each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair;
eliminating any of the traffic routes between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not within an acceptable range of the handoff scores;
calculating a velocity along each traffic route between the cell sectors in the cell sector pair that are not eliminated by the handoff score using time stamps in the movement record;
trimming each traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds a maximum velocity cutoff;
eliminating any traffic routes for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity exceeds the maximum velocity cutoff and the traffic route cannot be trimmed;
eliminating any traffic route for which a velocity was calculated in the event that the calculated velocity is less than a minimum velocity cutoff;
calculating a z-score of the calculated velocity for all of the remaining ones of the traffic routes that not been eliminated; and
selecting the particular traffic route from the remaining traffic routes based on the z-score of the calculated velocity and the handoff score; and
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route.
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21. A method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a previously-existing wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the existing wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and
generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;
creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;
identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route; and
determining if mobile positioning system data are needed for calculating an estimate of the average velocity and the standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time, this step further comprising the steps of;
determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;
for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;
receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and
revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data.
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22. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions implementing a method for determining traffic velocities along traffic routes based on movement of mobile stations operating within a wireless telephony communications network comprising a cell sector coverage area overlapping with the traffic routes and having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;
identifying a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station within a geographical context defined by the plurality of traffic routes, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for a same one of the mobile stations at different times and reflecting movement of the same mobile station;
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of the vehicle associated with the mobile station along the particular traffic route at a specific time;
determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;
for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;
receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and
revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions implementing a method for determining traffic velocities along a plurality of traffic routes by using operational data associated with mobile stations operating in a wireless telephony communications network overlapping the traffic routes and comprising a cell sector coverage area having a plurality of cell sectors, comprising the steps of:
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generating a plurality of traffic data records based on the operational data from the wireless telephony communication network, each traffic data record identifying a location within the wireless telephony communication network for one of the mobile stations at a particular time; and
generating a movement record in response to processing a pair of the traffic data records associated with a wireless communication activity by a same one of the mobile stations, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement by the same mobile station;
creating a plurality of traffic routes between any two of the cell sectors by processing cell sector coverage area information for the wireless telephony communication network and geographic information for roadways within the cell sector coverage area of the wireless telephony communications network;
identifying from the plurality of traffic routes a particular one of the traffic routes traveled by a vehicle associated with one of the mobile stations by processing movement records for the mobile station, each movement record comprising first and second locations within the wireless telephony communication network for the same mobile station at different times and reflecting movement of the vehicle associated with the same mobile station;
calculating an estimate of an average velocity and a standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time by using the movement records associated with the particular traffic route;
determining whether the estimate of the average velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for a specific time is based on a number of movement records at or above a threshold;
for those traffic routes where the velocity estimate is based on a number of movement records below a threshold, requesting mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network associated with the particular traffic route at the specific time;
receiving the requested mobile station location data from the wireless telephony communication network; and
revising the calculation of the estimate of the average velocity and standard deviation of velocity of vehicular traffic along the particular traffic route for the specific time by using the received mobile station location data. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification