Monitoring signalized traffic flow
DCFirst Claim
1. At a roadway mounted sensor, the roadway mounted sensor monitoring vehicles on a portion of a roadway, a method for monitoring a signalized traffic flow, the method comprising:
- an act of receiving sensor data, the sensor data indicating the presence of one or more vehicles within a continuous range of the monitored portion of the roadway, the received sensor data representing a portion of a signal that was transmitted by the roadway sensor into the portion of the roadway;
an act of using the received sensor data to determine estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles to a traffic control point associated with the monitored portion of the roadway, two or more times while the one or more vehicles are within the continuous range;
an act of determining a level of efficiency and safety for the traffic flow within the vicinity of the traffic control point based upon the estimated times-of-arrival; and
an act of reporting the level of efficiency and safety to a traffic control unit that is actively controlling the monitored signalized traffic flow.
8 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for monitoring signalized traffic flow. A processor in a sensor system or traffic controller interface estimates the time-of-arrival and other traffic flow estimates of one or more vehicles to an intersection stop bar, while the vehicles are within a continuous range of one or more transducers view of the sensor system. A level of efficiency and safety within the signalized traffic flow is estimated by the sensor system based upon one or more of the estimated time-of-arrival and other flow variables estimates and then communicated to the control unit of the traffic signal system. Other flow estimates for each vehicle include but are not limited to: position relative to the stop bar, lane position, velocity, acceleration, time headway and classification.
71 Citations
52 Claims
-
1. At a roadway mounted sensor, the roadway mounted sensor monitoring vehicles on a portion of a roadway, a method for monitoring a signalized traffic flow, the method comprising:
-
an act of receiving sensor data, the sensor data indicating the presence of one or more vehicles within a continuous range of the monitored portion of the roadway, the received sensor data representing a portion of a signal that was transmitted by the roadway sensor into the portion of the roadway; an act of using the received sensor data to determine estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles to a traffic control point associated with the monitored portion of the roadway, two or more times while the one or more vehicles are within the continuous range; an act of determining a level of efficiency and safety for the traffic flow within the vicinity of the traffic control point based upon the estimated times-of-arrival; and an act of reporting the level of efficiency and safety to a traffic control unit that is actively controlling the monitored signalized traffic flow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 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, 37, 38)
-
-
39. At a roadway mounted sensor, the roadway mounted sensor monitoring vehicles on a portion of a roadway, a method of monitoring traffic with the roadway mounted sensor, comprising:
-
an act of receiving sensor data, the sensor data indicating a presence of one or more vehicles within a continuous range of the monitored portion of the roadway, the received sensor data representing a portion of a signal that was transmitted by the roadway sensor into the portion of the roadway; an act of using the received sensor data to determine estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles to a traffic control point associated with the monitored portion of the roadway in traffic flow while the one or more vehicles are within the continuous range; an act of receiving further sensor data, the further sensor data indicating the presence of the one or more vehicles within the continuous range of the monitored portion of the roadway; an act of using the received further sensor data to update estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles to the traffic control point while the one or more vehicles are within the continuous range subsequent to using the received sensor data to determine estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles; and an act of reporting the updated estimated times-of-arrival. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
-
-
45. At a roadway mounted sensor, the roadway mounted sensor monitoring vehicles on a portion of a roadway, a method of monitoring traffic with the roadway mounted sensor, comprising:
-
an act of receiving sensor data, the sensor data indicating a presence of one or more vehicles within a continuous range of the monitored portion of the roadway, the received sensor data representing a portion of a signal that was transmitted by the roadway sensor into the portion of the roadway; an act of dynamically adapting a location of detections for each of the one or more vehicles within the continuous range based upon a traffic characteristic, including; an act of using the received sensor data a plurality of times to determine estimated times-of-arrival of the one or more vehicles to a traffic control point associated with the monitored portion of the roadway while the one or more vehicles are within the continuous range; an act of reporting detections at the location of detections for each of the one or more vehicles as the location of detections dynamically adapt. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
Specification