Rectifying erroneous road traffic sensor data
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating travel on roads by providing reliable data readings for road traffic sensors associated with the roads in such a manner as to accurately reflect actual vehicle travel on the roads, the method comprising:
- receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads, each road segment having one or more associated road traffic sensors that provide data regarding speeds of vehicles traveling by the road traffic sensors; and
for each of at least some of the road traffic sensors, automatically providing reliable vehicle travel speed data for a recent period of time, byreceiving from the road traffic sensor multiple data readings that each include a reported speed of one or more vehicles traveling by the road traffic sensor at an associated time that is within the recent period of time;
determining a current data reading distribution for the road traffic sensor to reflect reported vehicle travel speeds during the recent period of time based on the received data readings;
determining an average historical data reading distribution for the road traffic sensor to reflect average vehicle travel speeds during one or more prior periods of time that correspond to the recent period of time, the average historical data reading distribution being based on multiple data readings received from the road traffic sensor during the one or more prior periods of time;
generating a comparison of the current and average historical data reading distributions for the road traffic sensor based at least in part on determining a statistical measure of entropy for each of the current and average historical data reading distributions and on determining a statistical measure of similarity between the current and average historical data reading distributions;
determining whether the road traffic sensor likely provided reliable data readings for the recent period of time based at least in part on whether the generated comparison indicates sufficient differences between the current and average historical data reading distributions for the traffic sensor to reflect a likely malfunction of the road traffic sensor; and
if the road traffic sensor is determined to not have likely provided reliable data readings for the recent period of time, estimating reliable vehicle speeds for the recent period of time for at least a portion of the road segment associated with the road traffic sensor in a manner that is not based on the received data readings for the recent period of time, and providing the estimated vehicle speeds for use as a replacement for the received data readings for the recent period of time,so as to facilitate travel on the one or more roads by providing reliable data about vehicle travel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are described for assessing road traffic conditions in various ways based on obtained traffic-related data, such as data samples from road traffic sensors (e.g., physical sensors that are near or embedded in the roads) and/or from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads. The assessment of road traffic conditions based on obtained sensor data readings and/or other data samples may include various filtering and/or conditioning of the data samples, and various inferences and probabilistic determinations of traffic-related characteristics of interest. Assessing obtained data may further include determining traffic conditions (e.g., traffic flow and/or average traffic speed) for various portions of a road network in a particular geographic area, based at least in part on obtained data samples.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating travel on roads by providing reliable data readings for road traffic sensors associated with the roads in such a manner as to accurately reflect actual vehicle travel on the roads, the method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads, each road segment having one or more associated road traffic sensors that provide data regarding speeds of vehicles traveling by the road traffic sensors; and for each of at least some of the road traffic sensors, automatically providing reliable vehicle travel speed data for a recent period of time, by receiving from the road traffic sensor multiple data readings that each include a reported speed of one or more vehicles traveling by the road traffic sensor at an associated time that is within the recent period of time; determining a current data reading distribution for the road traffic sensor to reflect reported vehicle travel speeds during the recent period of time based on the received data readings; determining an average historical data reading distribution for the road traffic sensor to reflect average vehicle travel speeds during one or more prior periods of time that correspond to the recent period of time, the average historical data reading distribution being based on multiple data readings received from the road traffic sensor during the one or more prior periods of time; generating a comparison of the current and average historical data reading distributions for the road traffic sensor based at least in part on determining a statistical measure of entropy for each of the current and average historical data reading distributions and on determining a statistical measure of similarity between the current and average historical data reading distributions; determining whether the road traffic sensor likely provided reliable data readings for the recent period of time based at least in part on whether the generated comparison indicates sufficient differences between the current and average historical data reading distributions for the traffic sensor to reflect a likely malfunction of the road traffic sensor; and if the road traffic sensor is determined to not have likely provided reliable data readings for the recent period of time, estimating reliable vehicle speeds for the recent period of time for at least a portion of the road segment associated with the road traffic sensor in a manner that is not based on the received data readings for the recent period of time, and providing the estimated vehicle speeds for use as a replacement for the received data readings for the recent period of time, so as to facilitate travel on the one or more roads by providing reliable data about vehicle travel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-implemented method for providing reliable data readings from road traffic sensors regarding traffic conditions on one or more roads, the method comprising:
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for each of one or more road traffic sensors that each have an associated location on an associated road, receiving information about multiple data readings taken by the road traffic sensor during a period of time, each data reading having an associated time and reflecting one or more measurements of traffic conditions at the associated time at the associated location of the associated road for the road traffic sensor; and for each of the one or more road traffic sensors, automatically determining whether the multiple data readings taken by the road traffic sensor during the period of time are likely to be unreliable, the determining being based at least in part on an automated comparison of information about at least some of those multiple data readings to information about multiple other data readings previously taken by the road traffic sensor; if the multiple data readings taken by the road traffic sensor during the period of time are not determined to be likely to be unreliable, providing an indication to use those multiple data readings in representing actual traffic conditions at the associated location of the associated road for the road traffic sensor during the period of time; and if the multiple data readings taken by the road traffic sensor during the period of time are determined to be likely to be unreliable, automatically providing an indication to use other estimated data in place of those multiple data readings in representing the actual traffic conditions at the associated location of the associated road for the road traffic sensor during the period of time, the other estimated data being based at least in part on other road traffic data that is related to those multiple data readings, so that travel on one or more roads is facilitated by automatically eliminating road traffic sensor data readings that are likely to be unreliable. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to provide reliable data readings from a road traffic sensor regarding traffic conditions on a road, by performing a method comprising:
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receiving multiple data readings generated by a traffic sensor associated with a road that each reflect one or more measurements of traffic conditions on the associated road at an associated time; automatically determining current reliability of the traffic sensor based at least in part on comparing information about at least some of the multiple data readings to information about multiple other data readings previously generated by the traffic sensor; and providing an indication of the determined current reliability of the traffic sensor for use in facilitating travel on the road, so that data readings generated by a currently unreliable traffic sensor are not used to represent actual traffic conditions. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A computing device configured to provide reliable data from a traffic sensor regarding traffic conditions on an associated road, comprising:
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a memory; a first module configured to, after receiving information generated by a traffic sensor associated with a road that reflects one or more measurements of traffic conditions on the associated road at multiple distinct times during a period of time, automatically determine reliability of the generated information in representing actual traffic conditions on the associated road during the period of time based at least in part on comparing the generated information to other information previously generated by the traffic sensor to reflect one or more measurements of traffic conditions on the associated road for one or more other periods of time; and a second module configured to provide an indication of the determination of the reliability of the generated information in representing actual traffic conditions on the associated road during the period of time, so as to facilitate travel on the associated road via use of information that reliably represents actual traffic conditions on the associated road. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification