Method and system for providing traffic and related information
First Claim
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1. A system for providing traffic-related information comprising:
- a database storing historical traffic data and being operable to receive substantially real time traffic data and associated data;
means for deterministically integrating the historical and real time traffic and associated data with respect to at least one traveler profile to produce customized forecasted traffic information with respect to the at least one traveler profile; and
means for sending the customized forecasted traffic information to an intended recipient wherein the customized forecasted traffic information comprises at least a predicted travel delay for at least one travel route described in the at least one traveler profile, wherein, if insufficient traffic data for a link of the travel route is present, the means for integrating is operable to use available data in respect of a further link in place of the insufficient traffic data on said link of said travel route in order to provide the predicted travel delay.
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Abstract
The invention provides a system for providing traffic or related information including: a database storing historical traffic data being operable to receive substantially real time traffic data and associated data; means for integrating historical, real time and associated traffic data with respect to traveller profiles to produce customized forecasted traffic information with respect to those traveller profiles; and means for sending the customized forecasted traffic information to an intended recipient wherein the customized forecasted traffic information includes predicted travel delays for travel routes described in the traveller profiles.
119 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A system for providing traffic-related information comprising:
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a database storing historical traffic data and being operable to receive substantially real time traffic data and associated data;
means for deterministically integrating the historical and real time traffic and associated data with respect to at least one traveler profile to produce customized forecasted traffic information with respect to the at least one traveler profile; and
means for sending the customized forecasted traffic information to an intended recipient wherein the customized forecasted traffic information comprises at least a predicted travel delay for at least one travel route described in the at least one traveler profile, wherein, if insufficient traffic data for a link of the travel route is present, the means for integrating is operable to use available data in respect of a further link in place of the insufficient traffic data on said link of said travel route in order to provide the predicted travel delay. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of providing traffic-related information comprising the steps of:
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a) storing historical, real time and associated traffic data in a database;
b) deterministically integrating said historical, real time and associated data with respect to a traveler profile to produce customized forecasted traffic information with respect to the traveler profile; and
c) sending the customized forecasted traffic information to an intended recipient wherein the customized forecasted traffic information comprises a predicted travel delay for a travel route described in the traveler profile;
wherein, if insufficient traffic data for a link of the travel route is present, the step of integrating comprises using available data in respect of a further link in place of the insufficient traffic data on said link of said travel route in order to provide the predicted travel delay. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
Where Dr represents period since last rain R represents rainfall in last predetermined period Sh represents school holiday period Ch represents common summer holiday period We represents a weekend or weekday Ph represents a public holiday Ph−
represents a day before a public holidayPh+ represents a day after a public holiday.
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48. The method according to claim 41, wherein the step of integrating historical, real time and associated data with respect to traveler profiles includes the step of receiving data relating to estimated link delays caused by incidents and storing that data for subsequent access whereby estimated delays caused by incidents are summed with historically expected link delays when predicted travel delays are generated.
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49. The method according to claim 41, further comprising the step of estimating travel time on a particular link on the basis of prior links to said particular link traversed and taking account of the delay involved with traversing said prior links and intersections.
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50. The method according to claim 41, including the step of identifying an optimal path of travel through a traffic network by determining a link travel time for each traffic link in a network and implementing a path searching method to determine the optimal path between two nodes in the traffic network, the optimal path being the series of connected traffic links between the two nodes resulting in the least expected delay.
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51. The method according to claim 39, wherein the step of determining link travel time for a traffic link in a network includes the step of summing the mean free travel time for that link and the average time required to negotiate the immediate upstream intersection connected to that link.
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52. The method according to claim 51, wherein the determination of the mean free travel time for a traffic link includes the step of obtaining the mean free travel speed by dividing the vehicle flow rate for the link by the vehicle concentration for the link and obtaining the mean free travel time by dividing the distance of the link by the mean free travel speed.
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53. The method according to claim 51, including the step of obtaining an average time to negotiate an immediate upstream intersection from the traffic network traffic control system.
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54. The method according to claim 50, including the step of identifying a request to provide an optimal travel path through a travel network and upon receipt of such a request, comparing measured link delays most recently collected from traffic signal data with historical link delay data and estimating the actual link delay for each traffic link in the network for an appropriate number of steps in the time series according, the traveler'"'"'s commencement and destination nodes in the network.
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55. The method according to claim 54, including the step of identifying whether sufficient recent real time link delay data for a traffic link is available according to a pre-established criteria and in the event that sufficiently recent link time delay data is not available, making use of historical link delay data.
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56. The method according to claim 41, including the step of identifying whether there is insufficient historical traffic data for links in a traffic net-work to generate historical link delay data in accordance with a pre-established criteria and in the event of identifying that insufficient data exists, using available traffic data for other links in the same and/or different networks as estimates for those various links for which there is no available data.
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57. The method according to claim 56, wherein the step of using available traffic data for other links in the same and/or different network as estimates for the various links for which there is no available data includes the step of matching the traffic links for which no traffic data is available to other traffic links for which traffic data is available, the method step taking account of one or more of the following:
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a) the relevant geometry of the traffic links;
b) the relative arrangement of the traffic links;
c) the relative capacity of the traffic links;
d) the relative alignment of the traffic links with locations of relatively high population density;
e) the relative DOS of the traffic links;
f) the relative distance of the traffic links from locations of relatively high population density.
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58. The method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of matching traffic data available for a portion of a city or urban area to another city or another urban area having similar traffic flow characteristics to the first mentioned city or urban area, in order to estimate the traffic data in said another city or said another urban area, wherein no traffic data is available for said another city or said another urban area.
Specification