Self-measuring automotive traffic
First Claim
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1. A method of compiling vehicular traffic flow information, the method comprising:
- acquiring vehicular traffic data in the form of position information from a plurality of wireless telephones capable of receiving and disseminating position information and having Global Positioning System (GPS) capability, each of said plurality of wireless telephones being carried by a respective vehicle, the GPS capabilities of said wireless telephones being used to determine the position of the related wireless telephone and, thus, the position of the vehicle carrying the wireless telephone, wherein acquiring vehicular traffic data from the plurality of wireless telephones includes allowing users of the plurality of wireless telephones to choose to provide vehicular traffic data;
utilizing the acquired vehicular traffic data from the plurality of wireless telephones to determine velocity of movement data for the vehicles carrying the wireless telephones and utilizing the velocity of movement data to compile traffic flow information for the geographical area within which the vehicles carrying the plurality of wireless telephones are located; and
disseminating the traffic flow information only to the users of the plurality of wireless telephones that provide the vehicular traffic data.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing traffic density and flow information obtained from wireless devices. The wireless devices may be wireless telephones having Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities. A server interacts with the wireless telephones wireless telephones to compile the traffic density and flow information. The traffic density and flow information is then available for dissemination to requesting wireless telephones, or other requesting clients capable of contacting the server.
15 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of compiling vehicular traffic flow information, the method comprising:
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acquiring vehicular traffic data in the form of position information from a plurality of wireless telephones capable of receiving and disseminating position information and having Global Positioning System (GPS) capability, each of said plurality of wireless telephones being carried by a respective vehicle, the GPS capabilities of said wireless telephones being used to determine the position of the related wireless telephone and, thus, the position of the vehicle carrying the wireless telephone, wherein acquiring vehicular traffic data from the plurality of wireless telephones includes allowing users of the plurality of wireless telephones to choose to provide vehicular traffic data; utilizing the acquired vehicular traffic data from the plurality of wireless telephones to determine velocity of movement data for the vehicles carrying the wireless telephones and utilizing the velocity of movement data to compile traffic flow information for the geographical area within which the vehicles carrying the plurality of wireless telephones are located; and disseminating the traffic flow information only to the users of the plurality of wireless telephones that provide the vehicular traffic data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12)
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7. A system for compiling vehicular traffic flow information, the system comprising:
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a plurality of wireless telephones each having Global Positioning System (GPS) capability, each of said plurality of wireless telephones being carried by a respective vehicle, the GPS capabilities of said wireless telephones used to determine and transmit a position of a related wireless telephone and, thus, a position of the vehicle carrying the wireless telephones; and a server configured to; receive position transmissions from each of the plurality of wireless telephones whose users choose to provide the position transmissions, utilize the received position transmissions from the plurality of wireless devices to compile traffic flow information pertaining to a geographical are where vehicles carrying the plurality of wireless devices are located, and disseminate the traffic flow information only to the users of the plurality of wireless telephones that provide the position transmissions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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13. A system for compiling vehicular traffic flow information, the system comprising:
a server configured to; receive global positioning information from a plurality of wireless telephones whose users choose to provide global positioning information; utilize the global positioning information to calculate position data for the plurality of wireless devices; utilize the position data to compile traffic flow information pertaining to a geographical area where vehicles carrying the plurality of wireless devices are located; and disseminate the traffic flow information only to the users of the plurality of wireless telephones that provide the global positioning information, wherein disseminating the traffic flow information includes disseminating commands directing the users to make alterations in a current travel direction to avoid an undesirable traffic condition.
Specification