Personal traffic congestion avoidance system

• US 7,027,915 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2002
• Issued: 04/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cufer Asset Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Dean A. Craine
• Inventors: Craine, Dean A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Donnelly, Arthur D.
• Application Number:
  US10/316,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20040073356A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/118, 701/120, 701/122, 701/213, 340/995.13, 340/906, 340/907, 340/910, 340/917
• US Class Current: 701/117
• 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

Abstract

A personal traffic congestion avoidance system for drivers of motor vehicles traveling on roadways in motor vehicles with GPS-based navigational systems. The system includes a GPS-based navigational system that includes a GPS receiver connected to a visual display, a map database and a wireless communication device for communicating with a remote computer over a wireless communication network. The GPS-based navigation system continuously determines the motor vehicle exact physical location in a region that is intermittently or continuously uploaded to a remote computer via the wireless communication network. The remote computer is connected to a traffic monitoring database or service that provides current traffic affecting events in the region thereto. When a traffic affecting event is located in the designated vicinity of the current location of the motor vehicle, on the current roadway used by the motor vehicle, or on a roadway that may affect the traffic on the current roadway, an alert warning is generated and delivered to the GPS-based navigational system and displayed on the visual display. The driver may ignore the warning or take an alternative route to avoid the traffic congestion.

Claims

1. A personal traffic congestion avoidance system, comprising

a. a motor vehicle;

b. a GPS-based navigational system mounted inside said motor vehicle, said GPS-based navigational system including a GPS receiver, a visual display, and a map database;

c. means for wireless communication coupled to said GPS-based navigation system;

d. a remote computer connected to said means for wireless communication, said remote computer being used to collect physical location data from said GPS-based navigation system located inside said motor vehicle;

e. means for monitoring traffic on roadways in a region for a traffic affecting event connected to said remote computer; and

,

f. said remote computer being used to compare the current location of said motor vehicle with the location of a detected traffic affecting event and said remote computer being used to transmit to said GPS based navigational system a traffic alert warning when said motor vehicle is in the vicinity of, or is traveling on a roadway affected by, the detected traffic affecting event.

2. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 1, wherein said means for wireless communication is a wireless telephone coupled to said GPS-based navigational system and a wireless telephone network.

3. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 2, further including a landline telephone network located between said wireless telephone network and said remote computer.

4. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 1, including means to select the monitoring distances for monitoring traffic affecting events from the current location of said motor vehicle.

5. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 1, wherein said GPS-based navigational system includes a route guidance system that uses said map database to direct said motor vehicle to a selected destination.

6. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 1, wherein said means for monitoring traffic on roadways in a region is a traffic monitoring service that monitors roadways in a selected region for traffic affecting events.

7. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 1, including means for selecting distances for monitoring traffic affecting events from the current physical location of said motor vehicle.

8. A personal traffic congestion avoidance system, comprising:

a. a motor vehicle;

b. a GPS-based navigational system mounted inside said motor vehicle, said GPS-based navigational system including a GPS receiver, a visual display, a map database, and a route guidance system;

c. means for wireless communication coupled to said navigational system;

b. a remote computer able to communicate with said means for wireless communication;

e. means for monitoring traffic on roadways in a region for a traffic affecting event, said means for monitoring traffic being connected to said remote computer to transmit traffic effecting events thereof; and

f. a traffic selecting software program loaded into said remote computer, said traffic selecting software program being used to compare the current location of said motor vehicle with the location of a traffic affecting event identified by said means for monitoring traffic on roadways, said remote computer being used to transmit to said GPS-based navigational system a traffic alert warning when said motor vehicle is in the vicinity or is traveling on a roadway on said map database affected by a traffic affecting event.

9. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 8, wherein said means for wireless communication is a wireless telephone coupled to said GPS-based navigational system and a wireless telephone network.

10. The personal traffic congestion avoidance system, as recited in claim 8, further including means to select the distances for monitoring traffic affecting events from the current physical location of said motor vehicle.

11. A method for avoiding traffic congestion, comprising the following steps

a. selecting a personal traffic congestion avoidance system comprising a motor vehicle with a GPS-based navigational system that includes a GPS receiver, a map database, a visual display, and a wireless communication means capable of communicating with a wireless communication network, a remove computer capable of connecting to said wireless communication network and a remote computer traffic monitoring system capable of monitoring the roadways in the region contained in said map database for traffic affecting events;

b. activating said GPS-based navigational system;

c. transmitting physical location information of said motor vehicle from said GPS based navigational system to said remote computer via said wireless communication network;

d. activating said remote computer to monitor the location of said motor vehicle in the region;

e. activating said traffic monitoring service to monitor the traffic in the region where said motor vehicle is driven for traffic affecting events;

f. using said remote computer to compare the physical location of said motor vehicle with the physical location of a traffic affecting event detected by said traffic monitoring service; and

g. transmitting a traffic alert signal from said remote computer to said GPS-based navigational system in said motor vehicle when said traffic affecting event is within a pre-selected distance from the physical location of said motor vehicle or affects a roadway that is currently used by said motor vehicle or affects a roadway that connects to the current roadway.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further including the step of selecting a distance from the physical location of said motor vehicle to monitor for traffic affecting events.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said traffic monitoring service transmits all of the traffic affecting events in a plurality of regions and then delivers the location of all traffic affecting events located within the selected distance to said remote computer.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said GPS-based navigational system further includes a route guidance system that provides alternative roadways to a driver that avoid the traffic affecting event transmitted from said remote computer.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said remote computer determines whether said traffic traffic events delivered from said remote computer is within the vicinity of said motor vehicle or on a roadway traveled.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein said remote computer determines whether said traffic affecting event delivered from said remote computer is on a roadway currently traveled by said motor vehicle.

17. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said remote computer determines whether said traffic affecting event delivered from said remote computer is on a roadway currently traveled by said motor vehicle.

18. A method for monitoring traffic when traveling in a motor vehicle, comprising the following steps:

a. selecting a personal traffic congestion avoidance system that includes a navigational system mounted inside said motor vehicle that includes a means for determining the physical location of said motor vehicle, a visual display, a map database and a route guidance system, means for wireless communication coupled to said navigational system, a remote computer able to communicate with said means for wireless communication, means for monitoring traffic on selected roadways in a region, and traffic selecting software program loaded into said remote computer used to identify and transmit traffic affecting events from said means for monitoring traffic to said navigational system based on the current location of said motor vehicle;

b. activating said personal traffic congestion avoidance system, said remote computer and said means for monitoring traffic;

c. connecting said personal traffic congestion avoidance system to said remote computer;

d. transmitting the current physical location information of said motor vehicle to said remote computer;

e. using said means for monitoring traffic to monitor the traffic in the roadways shown in said map database for traffic affecting events;

f. transmitting traffic affecting events to said remote computer the are in the vicinity of said motor vehicle and may affect the movement of said motor vehicle on the roadways in said map database;

g. transmitting said traffic affecting events, from said remote computer to said personal traffic congestion system using said means for wireless communication; and

,

h. presenting said traffic affecting events to a driver of said motor vehicle on said navigational system.

19. The method of monitoring traffic, as recited in claim 18, further including step (i) selecting said route guidance system to find an alternative route in said map database to avoid traffic congestion.