System and method for determining traffic conditions

• US 7,593,809 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2008
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rock, Timothy A., Blewett, Charles Douglas, Banks, Diane, Bansal, Pradeep K., Rosen, Kenneth H.
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US12/119,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20080262711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 497 Days
• Field of Search: 701207-208, 701213-214, 701117-119, 340901-905, 340/989, 340991-993, 342/357.01, 342/357.02, 342/357.06, 342/357.07
• US Class Current: 701/119
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for determining traffic conditions using wireless devices. A number of signals from the vehicles traveling in selected routes are received by several wireless communication networks via the wireless devices. The total number of signals received are used to compare if there are sufficient number of vehicles traveling on the selected routes. If so, then the location information of the moving vehicles at various times is determined by the wireless communication network and forwarded to a central computer. The central computer coordinates with the wireless communications network for information needed to compute traffic data. The central computer computes the velocity of the moving vehicles and a traffic profile is created based on the velocity and location information of the moving vehicles. Furthermore, the traffic profile is sent to the moving vehicles.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates directing traffic using wireless devices by:

determining locations and velocities of vehicles using location signals, the location signals being output from wireless devices associated with the vehicles;

determining routes on which the vehicles are located using the location signals;

calculating traffic profiles associated with the routes based on the locations and velocities of the vehicles; and

providing directions to the wireless devices based on the traffic profiles.

2. The medium according to claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates directing traffic using wireless devices by directing the vehicles to an underutilized route.

3. The medium according to claim 1, wherein the traffic profiles comprise at least one of an average velocity, an estimated time-of-arrival to a destination, driving directions along the routes, and driving directions to an alternate route.

4. The medium according to claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates directing traffic using wireless devices by correlating the location signals to the selected route.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates directing traffic using wireless devices by optimizing utilization of the selected route by directing said vehicles based on said traffic profiles.

6. The medium according to claim 1, wherein the velocities of the vehicles are determined continuously.

7. The medium according to claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates directing traffic using wireless devices by correlating the location signals to the selected route.

8. A system for directing traffic using wireless devices comprising:

a computing device configured to determine locations and velocities of vehicles using location signals output from wireless devices associated with the vehicles, determine routes on which the vehicles are located from the location signals, calculate traffic profiles associated with the routes based on the locations and velocities of the vehicles, and to provide directions to the wireless devices based on the traffic profiles.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the computing is configured to direct the vehicles to an underutilized route.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the traffic profiles comprise at least one of an average velocity, an estimated time-of-arrival to a destination, driving directions along the routes, and driving directions to an alternate route.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the velocities of the vehicles are determined on a real-time basis.

12. The system according to claim 8, further comprising a wireless signal receiver for receiving the location signals, the location signals received by the wireless signal receiver being sent to the computing device.

13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the computing device is configured to correlate the location signals to the selected route.

14. The system according to claim 8, wherein the computing device is configured to optimize utilization of the selected route by directing said vehicles based on said traffic profile.

15. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates determining traffic conditions of selected routes using a wireless device by

receiving a number of signals at various times from vehicles traveling on said selected routes;

counting a total number of the signals received from the vehicles traveling on said selected routes;

comparing said total number of the signals with a predetermined value;

determining a location of said vehicles at said various times on said selected routes only if said total number of signals is greater than the predetermined value representing a sufficient number of said vehicles traveling on said selected routes;

computing a velocity of the vehicles at said various times on said selected routes based on said location information;

creating a traffic profile based on the location and computed velocity of the vehicles; and

sending said traffic profile associated with said selected routes to the vehicles.

16. The medium according to claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates determining traffic conditions of selected routes using a wireless device by periodically polling said wireless devices to track the location information of the vehicles traveling in said selected route.

17. The medium according to claim 15, wherein said traffic profile includes average velocity of the vehicles traveling in said routes, estimate time of arrival for said route, driving directions of said routes, driving directions of alternate routes, or combination thereof.

18. The medium according to claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates determining traffic conditions of selected routes using a wireless device by flagging the vehicle having a zero velocity.

19. The medium according to claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates determining traffic conditions of selected routes using a wireless device by continuously updating the traffic profile based on changes in location and velocity of the vehicles.

20. The medium according to claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions by at least one computing device facilitates determining traffic conditions of selected routes using a wireless device by sending the traffic profiles in formats such as text, video, audio or the combination thereof.