Data mining in a digital map database to identify community reported driving hazards along roads and enabling precautionary actions in a vehicle
First Claim
1. A method for making a database that represents a road network in a geographic region, the method comprising:
- receiving reports from users about hazardous conditions located along the road network;
identifying reports that pertain to the same general location;
grouping together clusters of reports that pertain to the same general location, wherein said clusters meet a threshold size determined to declare a location as potentially dangerous;
using data contained in the database to confirm user-reported hazardous conditions located along roads throughout the geographic region; and
adding precautionary action data to the database to indicate a location for which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system to address one of said hazardous conditions.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle. User reports of hazardous conditions along roads are obtained and analyzed to identify reports that pertain to the same general location along a road network. A database that represents the road network is used to confirm the user reports, identify the hazardous condition, and determine locations where precautionary action may be taken. Then, precautionary action data is added to the database to indicate a location at which a precautionary action is to be taken about the user-reported hazardous condition located along the section of road. A precautionary action system installed in a vehicle uses this database, or a database derived therefrom, in combination with a positioning system to determine when the vehicle is at a location that corresponds to the location of a precautionary action. When the vehicle is at such a location, a precautionary action is taken by a vehicle system as the vehicle is approaching a user-reported hazardous condition.
33 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for making a database that represents a road network in a geographic region, the method comprising:
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receiving reports from users about hazardous conditions located along the road network; identifying reports that pertain to the same general location; grouping together clusters of reports that pertain to the same general location, wherein said clusters meet a threshold size determined to declare a location as potentially dangerous; using data contained in the database to confirm user-reported hazardous conditions located along roads throughout the geographic region; and adding precautionary action data to the database to indicate a location for which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system to address one of said hazardous conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A database stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the database includes data that represents a road network in a geographic region, wherein the database comprises:
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data records that represent road segments that make up the road network; and data that indicates precautionary action locations, wherein a precautionary action location is determined by identifying and grouping clusters of reports from users that pertain to a same general location, wherein said clusters meet a threshold size determined to declare a location as potentially dangerous, and then using data that represents features of the road network to confirm existence of features of the road network that result in the hazardous condition. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A vehicle system comprising:
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a database that contains data representing a geographic region in which a vehicle is being operated, wherein the data includes data that represents a road network located in the geographic region and precautionary action data that indicates precautionary action locations associated with locations where user-reported hazardous conditions are located along sections of roads, wherein a location of a user-reported hazardous condition is based on identifying clusters of reports from users that pertain to a same general location, wherein said clusters meet a threshold size determined to declare a location as potentially dangerous, and then using data that represents features of the road network to confirm existence of features of the road network that result in the hazardous condition; a positioning system that determines a current location of the vehicle relative to the data representing a geographic region; and a precautionary action application responsive to the positioning system and the database that provides a precautionary action when the positioning system determines that the current location of the vehicle is approaching a user-reported hazardous condition located along a road. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for providing precautionary actions in a vehicle comprising:
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determining a current position of the vehicle; accessing a database that represents a road network to obtain data representations of a part of the road network around of the current position of the vehicle; and upon determining that the data representations of the part of the road network around the current position of the vehicle include precautionary action data, wherein the precautionary action data is determined by identifying and grouping clusters of reports from users that pertain to a same general location, wherein said clusters meet a threshold size determined to declare a location as potentially dangerous, and then using data that represents features of the road network to confirm existence of features of the road network that result in the hazardous condition, taking a precautionary action as the vehicle is approaching a user-reported hazardous condition located along a section of road. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification