Method and apparatus for reporting road conditions

• US 7,571,029 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2005
• Issued: 08/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Roesser, Robert P., Dai, Xiaowen
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu; Yonel
• Application Number:
  US11/242,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701 24- 25, 701/200, 701/207, 701213-215, 701117-119, 340/988, 342/357.06, 342/357.12
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle

Abstract

An on-vehicle system for identifying and reporting external conditions is presented. The system has an operator-selectable user interface to identify occurrence of an external condition, a global positioning system receiver; and, a wireless communications system. The unit may be used to assist in discovering localized roadway conditions that adversely affect safety and travel. The unit is placeable into a vehicle of a volunteer, is manually operated whenever a hazard is detected. Reportable hazards include potholes, obstacles or debris in the highway, snow or ice patches, fog, unusual traffic or pedestrian activity, and localized incidences, such as presence of disabled or emergency vehicles. Nature of the hazard is indicatable by manual activation of additional push buttons or other suitable devices. A GPS receiver is incorporated to estimate position, speed, and heading of the hazard. The information is encoded as a message sent to a central server.

Claims

1. On-vehicle system for manually identifying recognition of external conditions and reporting the external conditions, comprising:

a. a user interface configured to recognize manual user selection indicating the recognition of discrete external conditions selected from a plurality of user selectable discrete external conditions;

b. a global positioning system receiver configured to provide temporal vehicle position upon user selection of discrete external conditions; and

,

c. a wireless communications system configured to transmit user selected discrete external conditions and corresponding temporal vehicle positions for receipt by a receiver remote from the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the discrete external conditions comprise road surface conditions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the discrete external conditions comprise ambient conditions.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the discrete external conditions comprise traffic conditions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a push-button device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a graphic-user interface device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a voice recognition system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said global positioning system receiver is configured to further provide temporal vehicle speed and heading upon user selection of discrete external conditions and said wireless communications system is configured to further transmit said temporal vehicle speed and heading for receipt by a receiver remote from the vehicle.

9. Method for selectively manually identifying and reporting conditions external to a vehicle, comprising:

presenting a plurality of selectable external conditions for manual selection;

monitoring a selectable external condition indication through a user interface, the selectable external condition indication identifying user recognition of one of the selectable external conditions;

determining a time-stamped location where the selectable external condition indication occurred through a GPS device; and

reporting the selectable external condition indication and the time-stamped location where the selectable external condition indication occurred through a wireless communication system to a remote server.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein presenting the plurality of selectable external conditions comprises listing a discrete set of external conditions on a graphical interface.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring the selectable external condition indication through a user interface comprises monitoring a set of push-buttons.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring the selectable external condition indication through a user interface comprises monitoring a video screen having touch-sensitive capability.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein monitoring the selectable external condition indication through a user interface comprises monitoring a voice-recognition system.

14. On-vehicle system for manually identifying and reporting external conditions, comprising:

a user interface configured for selective manual identification indicating user recognition of said external conditions selected from a plurality of user selectable external conditions;

a global positioning system receiver configured to capture vehicle position at the time of identification of said external conditions; and

a wireless communication system configured to transmit a message to a receiver remote from the vehicle including identified external conditions and captured vehicle positions.