Filtering road traffic condition data obtained from mobile data sources
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for assessing data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the method comprising:
- receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads;
receiving information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle; and
for each of the multiple road segments, assessing traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by,identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment;
automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the reported speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to a range of speeds associated with the road segment, wherein the predetermined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway and wherein the determined one or more data samples for each of the one or more road segments include at least one data sample having a reported geographic location that is determined to correspond to one the ramps, the automatic determining being performed by one or more configured computing systems;
automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment, the automatic excluding being performed by the one or more configured computing systems; and
after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment, so that inferred traffic conditions based on data samples are available for use in facilitating travel on the road segments.
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Abstract
Techniques are described for assessing road traffic conditions in various ways based on obtained traffic-related data, such as data samples from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads, as well as in some situations data from one or more other sources (such as physical sensors near to or embedded in the roads). The assessment of road traffic conditions based on obtained data samples may include various filtering and/or conditioning of the data samples, and various inferences and probabilistic determinations of traffic-related characteristics from the data samples. In some situations, the filtering of the data samples includes identifying data samples that are inaccurate or otherwise unrepresentative of actual traffic condition characteristics, such as data samples that are not of interest based at least in part on roads with which the data samples are associated and/or that otherwise reflect vehicle locations or activities that are not of interest.
106 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for assessing data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads; receiving information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle; and for each of the multiple road segments, assessing traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by, identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment; automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the reported speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to a range of speeds associated with the road segment, wherein the predetermined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway and wherein the determined one or more data samples for each of the one or more road segments include at least one data sample having a reported geographic location that is determined to correspond to one the ramps, the automatic determining being performed by one or more configured computing systems; automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment, the automatic excluding being performed by the one or more configured computing systems; and after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment, so that inferred traffic conditions based on data samples are available for use in facilitating travel on the road segments. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose stored contents configure a computing device to assess data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the assessing of the data samples including performing a method comprising:
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receiving indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads; receiving information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle; and for each of the multiple road segments, assessing traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by, identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment; automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the report speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to one or more expected speeds associated with the road segment, wherein the predefined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway, the automatic determining being performed by the configured computing device; automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment, the automatic excluding being performed by the configured computing device; and after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment to facilitate travel on the road segments. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computing system configured to assess data samples reported by vehicles traveling on roads, the data samples including information regarding the travel of the vehicles, the computing system comprising:
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one or more processors; and one or more components that are configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, receive indications of multiple road segments of one or more roads; receive information related to current traffic conditions of the multiple road segments, the received information including a plurality of data samples that each are reported from one of multiple vehicles and reflect a reported speed of the one vehicle at a reported geographic location and reflect a reported travel heading of the one vehicle; and for each of the multiple road segments, assess traffic conditions for the road segment based on data samples identified to represent travel on the road segment by, identifying a group of multiple data samples from the plurality of data samples such that the data samples of the group have reported geographic locations that are within a predefined distance of one or more predefined geographic locations for the road segment and have reported travel headings that are within a predefined difference from one or more predefined headings for the road segment; automatically determining that one or more of the data samples of the group are unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment based at least in part on the reported geographic locations of the determined data samples not corresponding to predefined portions of the road segment for which vehicle travel is of interest and based at least in part on the reported speeds of one or more vehicles that reported the determined data samples not corresponding to one or more expected speeds associated with the road segment; and
wherein the predefined portions of one or more of the multiple road segments that are each part of a highway do not include any ramps on or off the highway;automatically excluding from the group the data samples determined to be unrepresentative of actual vehicle travel on the road segment; and after the excluding, automatically using the data samples remaining in the group to infer traffic conditions for all vehicles traveling on the road segment to facilitate travel on the road segments. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification