Autonomous and dependent data collection for traffic analysis

• US 7,752,302 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2006
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Discrete Wireless Incorporated (Compagnie Generale DES Etablissements Michelin SCA)
• Original Assignee: Discrete Wireless Incorporated (Compagnie Generale DES Etablissements Michelin SCA)
• Inventors: Thacher, Jeffery W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yohannes; Tesfay
• Application Number:
  US11/308,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,570 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/224, 701/200
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A central control system operates in conjunction with multiple mobile traffic probes to analyze and characterize traffic in a particular region or area. The traffic probes operate autonomously to collect traffic related data and report the collected data to the central control system. The traffic probes can analyze the collected data to identify traffic anomalies, and in response, change the amount and type of data collected, as well as the frequency of reporting the data to the central control system. In addition, the central control system can analyze the received data to identify traffic anomalies or points of interest and force one or more deployed traffic probes to change the amount and type of data collected, as well as the frequency of reporting.

Claims

1. A system for gathering traffic related information, the system comprising:

a geographically stationary central control system operable to communicate directly with at least one of a plurality of traffic probes, wherein said at least one of a plurality of traffic probes resides in a mobile vehicle and comprises a sensor;

at least one mobile vehicle including at least one traffic probe, wherein the at least one traffic probe is communicatively coupled to the central control system;

an autonomous process operating within the at least one traffic probe and being operable to;

control the rate and type of data collection;

record collected data, wherein the collected data is uniquely attributable to the traffic probe and sufficient to support a derivation of traffic related data;

derive traffic related data; and

transmit the traffic related data to a central processor; and

a control process operating within the central control system and being operable to receive the traffic related data from the at least one traffic probe, analyze the received traffic data and override the autonomous process operating within select at least one traffic probes based at least in part on the analysis.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous process further comprises:

a first mode that transmits the traffic data at a first rate; and

a second mode that transmits the traffic data at a second rate.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous process further comprises:

a first mode that gathers a first set of collected data and transmits the first set of traffic data at a first rate; and

a second mode that gathers a second set of collected data and transmits the second set of collected data at a second rate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control process is operable to override the autonomous process by sending a command to a particular traffic probe thereby forcing the particular traffic probe to collect data and report the derived traffic data in accordance with particular parameters.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the traffic probe comprises a global positioning system receiver.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the traffic probe is installed in a vehicle that includes a bus providing vehicle status information, and the traffic probe comprises an interface to bus for receiving the vehicle status information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the vehicle status information on the bus includes the vehicle speed.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the traffic probe includes a cellular based transceiver communicating with the central control system.

9. A method for gathering traffic data for analyzing fluctuating traffic conditions in a real-time manner, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting data autonomously using at least one in-traffic probe, wherein said in-traffic probe resides in a mobile vehicle and comprises a sensor, and wherein the collected data is uniquely attributable to the traffic probe and sufficient to support a derivation of traffic related data;

deriving traffic related data;

reporting the derived traffic data at a first rate to a central control system;

detecting a change in traffic data that satisfies a threshold level, wherein the detection is made by said in-traffic probe;

in response to detecting the change in traffic data, commencing to report the traffic data at a second rate to the central control system;

receiving a signal from the central control system at the in-traffic probe and in response to the signal, reporting the traffic data at a third rate to the central control system.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of, in response to detecting the change in traffic data, modifying the collection of data.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the traffic data is derived from a collected travel speed of the in-traffic probe and the threshold level includes a speed value, and the step of detecting a change in traffic data that satisfies the threshold level further comprises detecting that the travel speed identified by the traffic data is less than the threshold level.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the traffic data is derived from a collected travel speed of the in-traffic probe and the threshold level includes a speed value, and the step of detecting a change in traffic data that satisfies the threshold level further comprises detecting that the travel speed identified by the traffic data is greater than the threshold level.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of, in response to receiving the signal from the central control system, modifying the collection of data.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the data is collected periodically based on time and the data includes location information, and the step of detecting a change in derived traffic data that satisfies a threshold level comprises the steps of:

examining the location information for the last X collections of data; and

if the distance traveled over the last X collections is less than a threshold distance, concluding that the change in traffic data is collected.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of commencing to report the traffic data at a second rate to the central control system in response to detecting the change in traffic data further comprises:

increasing the rate at which data is collected; and

reporting the traffic data at the second rate which has a higher frequency than the first rate.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the report of the derived traffic data from the in-traffic probe at the central control system;

the step of detecting a change in traffic data that satisfies a threshold level is performed by the central control system based at least in part on the report of derived traffic data from the in-traffic probe;

in response to detecting the change in traffic data, transmitting a signal to one or more in-traffic probes to modify the operation of data collection and reporting of the one or more in-traffic probes.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the report of the derived traffic data from the in-traffic probe at the central control system;

in response to the contents of the traffic data, transmitting a signal to one or more in-traffic probes to modify the operation of data collection and reporting of the one or more in-traffic probes.

18. A method for gathering traffic data, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting data autonomously at a first in-traffic probe operating in proximity to a first zone, wherein said in-traffic probe resides in a mobile vehicle, comprises a sensor and is configured to run an autonomous process comprising the steps of;

controlling the rate and type of data collection;

recording collected data, wherein the collected data is uniquely attributable to the traffic probe and sufficient to support a derivation of traffic related data; and

deriving traffic related data; and

transmitting the traffic related data to a central processor;

the first in-traffic probe reporting the traffic data at a first rate to a geographically stationary central control system;

the central control system receiving traffic data reports from a plurality of in-traffic probes;

the central control system sending a control signal to the first in-traffic probe;

in response to reception of the control signal, the first in-traffic probe commencing the reporting of the traffic data at a second rate.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of the central control system sending a second control signal to one or more additional in-traffic probes of the plurality of in-traffic probes that are also operating in proximity to the first zone.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

the central control system analyzing the traffic data reported by the first in-traffic probe at the second data rate to determine when the first in-traffic probe exits the first zone; and

sending a second control signal to the first in-traffic probe; and

in response to the reception of the second control signal, the first in-traffic probe commencing the reporting of the traffic data at the first rate.