Detecting anomalous road traffic conditions
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying abnormal traffic conditions on roads, the method comprising:
- receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area;
for each of the roads in the network, identifying multiple segments of the road for which traffic conditions are distinctly tracked;
for each of multiple users, receiving a request from the user to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions that occur on one or more indicated road segments, wherein the received request from a first user of the multiple users includes an indication from the first user of a first specified amount of difference between actual and expected average traffic speeds for the first user; and
facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads using information about automatically identified abnormal traffic conditions on the roads, the facilitating of the navigation of the vehicles being performed automatically by one or more programmed computing systems and including, for each of at least some of the road segments,obtaining information indicating current actual traffic conditions for the road segment, the current actual traffic conditions including an actual average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at a current time;
obtaining information indicating expected traffic conditions for the current time for the road segment, the expected traffic conditions reflecting a generated forecast of traffic conditions that includes an expected average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at the current time;
automatically identifying whether the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment at the current time are abnormal with respect to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time, the identifying being based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment, wherein the identifying of whether current actual traffic conditions for a road segment are abnormal based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment includes, for the multiple users other than the first user, determining whether the difference exceeds a predetermined amount and includes, for the first user, determining whether the difference exceeds the first specified amount; and
if the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment are identified as abnormal, and if one or more users has requested to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions on the road segment, providing information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users, wherein the providing of the information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users includes providing a notification to the first user if the difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on one or more of the at least some road segments exceeds the first specified amount.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are described for automatically detecting anomalous road traffic conditions and for providing information about the detected anomalies, such as for use in facilitating travel on roads of interest. Anomalous road traffic conditions may be identified using target traffic conditions for a particular road segment at a particular selected time, such as target traffic conditions that reflect actual traffic conditions for a current or past selected time, and/or target traffic conditions that reflect predicted future traffic conditions for a future selected time. Target traffic conditions may be compared to distinct expected road traffic conditions for a road segment at a selected time, with the expected conditions reflecting road traffic conditions that are typical or normal for the road segment at the selected time. Anomalous conditions may be identified based on sufficiently large differences from the expected conditions, and information about the anomalous conditions may be provided in various ways.
451 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying abnormal traffic conditions on roads, the method comprising:
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receiving information describing a network of roads in a geographic area; for each of the roads in the network, identifying multiple segments of the road for which traffic conditions are distinctly tracked; for each of multiple users, receiving a request from the user to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions that occur on one or more indicated road segments, wherein the received request from a first user of the multiple users includes an indication from the first user of a first specified amount of difference between actual and expected average traffic speeds for the first user; and facilitating navigation of vehicles over the network of roads using information about automatically identified abnormal traffic conditions on the roads, the facilitating of the navigation of the vehicles being performed automatically by one or more programmed computing systems and including, for each of at least some of the road segments, obtaining information indicating current actual traffic conditions for the road segment, the current actual traffic conditions including an actual average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at a current time; obtaining information indicating expected traffic conditions for the current time for the road segment, the expected traffic conditions reflecting a generated forecast of traffic conditions that includes an expected average traffic speed of vehicles traveling on the road segment at the current time; automatically identifying whether the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment at the current time are abnormal with respect to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time, the identifying being based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment, wherein the identifying of whether current actual traffic conditions for a road segment are abnormal based at least in part on generated comparative information for the road segment that indicates a difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on the road segment includes, for the multiple users other than the first user, determining whether the difference exceeds a predetermined amount and includes, for the first user, determining whether the difference exceeds the first specified amount; and if the current actual traffic conditions for the road segment are identified as abnormal, and if one or more users has requested to be notified of abnormal traffic conditions on the road segment, providing information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users, wherein the providing of the information about the abnormal current actual traffic conditions to each of the one or more users includes providing a notification to the first user if the difference between the actual and expected average traffic speeds of vehicles traveling on one or more of the at least some road segments exceeds the first specified amount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, the method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of multiple related roads; receiving information from a user that identifies traffic conditions that are considered to be normal by the user for one of the multiple road segments; obtaining information about expected traffic conditions for each of the road segments for a current time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segments at the current time, wherein the obtained expected traffic conditions for the one road segment for the current time are based at least in part on the received information from the user; obtaining information about target traffic conditions for each of the road segments for the current time for comparison to the expected traffic conditions for the road segments, the target traffic conditions reflecting actual traffic conditions on the road segments; for each of the multiple road segments, comparing the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to automatically determine whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time, the automatic determining of whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time being performed by one or more computing systems, wherein the automatic determining that target traffic conditions for the one road segment are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the one road segment is performed on behalf of the user; and providing indications of the road segments whose target traffic conditions are determined to be abnormal for the current time to facilitate travel on the roads, wherein the providing of the indications of the road segments whose target traffic conditions are determined to be abnormal for the current time includes providing notification to the user if the target traffic conditions for the one road segment that reflect the actual traffic conditions on the one road segment differ from the identified traffic conditions that are considered to be normal by the user for the one road segment by more than a determined amount. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A computer-implemented method for automatically identifying abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, the method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of multiple related roads; obtaining information about expected traffic conditions for each of the road segments for a current time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segments at the current time; obtaining information about target traffic conditions for each of the road segments for the current time for comparison to the expected traffic conditions for the road segments, the target traffic conditions reflecting actual traffic conditions on the road segments; for each of the multiple road segments, comparing the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to automatically determine whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time, the automatic determining of whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time being performed by one or more computing systems; providing indications of the road segments whose target traffic conditions are determined to be abnormal for the current time to facilitate travel on the roads; and receiving an indication of a selected past time, comparing actual traffic conditions on each of one or more road segments at the selected past time to normal traffic conditions on that road segment at that past time so as to automatically determine whether the actual traffic conditions at that past time on that road segment are abnormal with respect to the normal traffic conditions at that past time on that road segment, and providing indications of the road segments whose actual traffic conditions at the selected past time are determined to be abnormal.
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38. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose stored contents configure a computing device to automatically identify abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, by performing a method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments; obtaining information about expected traffic conditions for each of the road segments for a current time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segments at the current time, the traffic conditions that are normal for the road segments at the current time including information specific to a first user that indicates traffic conditions for at least one of the road segments that are normal for the first user for the at least one road segments at the current time; obtaining information about target traffic conditions for each of the road segments for the current time for comparison to the expected traffic conditions for the road segments, the target traffic conditions reflecting actual traffic conditions on the road segments; for each of the multiple road segments, comparing the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to automatically determine whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time, the automatic determining of whether the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time including determining whether the indicated traffic conditions for the at least one road segments that are normal for the first user differ by at least a determined amount from the target traffic conditions for the at least one road segments for the current time; and providing indications of the road segments whose target traffic conditions are determined to be abnormal, the providing of the indications including notifying the first user if the target traffic conditions for one or more of the at least one road segments for the current time are determined to differ by at least the determined amount from the indicated traffic conditions for the at least one road segments that are normal for the first user. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computing device configured to automatically identify abnormal traffic conditions on roads so as to facilitate travel, comprising:
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one or more processors; and a first component configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and for each of multiple indicated road segments; receive information from a user that identifies traffic conditions that are considered to be normal by the user for the road segment; obtain information about expected traffic conditions for the road segment for a current time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segment at the current time and being based at least in part on the received information from the user; obtain information about target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time for comparison to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment, the target traffic conditions reflecting actual traffic conditions on the road segment; compare the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the current time to automatically determine that the target traffic conditions are abnormal with respect to normal traffic conditions for the current time, the automatic determining that the target traffic conditions are abnormal being performed on behalf of the user; and provide an indication of the road segment having target traffic conditions that are determined to be abnormal, wherein the providing of the indication includes providing notification to the user if the target traffic conditions differ from the expected traffic conditions by more than a determined amount. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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Specification