Apparatus and method for providing traffic jam information, and apparatus for receiving traffic jam information for automobile

• US 8,219,306 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2006
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kim, Jin-Kyeong, Lee, Woo-Yong, Kim, Yong-Sun, Kim, Kyeong-Pyo
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Application Number:
  US12/086,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20090271100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,042 Days
• Field of Search: 701117-119, 340/933, 340/934, 340/936, 340/938, 340/943, 367/93
• US Class Current: 701/118
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/02 using treadles built into the road pads or other sensitive devices responsive to passage of vehicles E01F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element

Abstract

The present invention includes a traffic information collection unit for collecting weight information of a vehicle running on a road and vibration and noise information generated on the road; a traffic jam determination unit for determining a traffic jam and traffic jam type based on the collected weight information, the vibration and noise information; a traffic jam information transceiving unit for transmitting the traffic jam information or the received traffic jam information of a front road to a vehicle on a rear road by receiving the traffic jam information of a front road from another apparatus for providing traffic jam information installed on the front road; and a display unit for displaying the determination result of the traffic jam determination unit, or a traffic condition of the front road.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing traffic jam information installed on a road, comprising:

a traffic information collector configured to collect weight information of a vehicle running on a road and vibration and noise information generated on the road;

a traffic jam determinator configured to determine a traffic jam and a type of traffic jam based on the collected weight information, the vibration and noise information;

a traffic jam information transceiver configured to transmit the traffic jam information including the determination result of the traffic jam determinator, and configured to generate and configured to transmit traffic jam distance information and the type of traffic jam information of a front road based on received traffic jam information of the front road; and

a display unit configured to display the determination result of the traffic jam determinator or a traffic condition of the front road based on the traffic jam distance information and the type of traffic jam information received from the traffic jam information transceiver,

wherein the traffic jam information in the traffic jam information transceiver includes apparatus identifier and a frequency number of data generation.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the traffic jam determinator determines the traffic jam based on the weight information and the vibration information, and determines the traffic jam associated with an accident based on the noise information.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the traffic jam information in the traffic jam information transceiver includes the number of passed apparatuses and installation gap information, and additional information to calculate a distance to a point where the traffic jam information is transmitted.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the traffic jam information transceiver determines validation of the received traffic jam information of a front road and discards the traffic jam information which is invalidated by the determination result by acquiring the apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation from the received traffic jam information of the front road, and comparing the acquired apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation with the stored previous apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the display unit displays simply or flickeringly the result determined by the traffic jam determinator through an LED board, or displays a traffic condition of the front road by using colors, characters and symbols on the LED boards according to the distance information and the traffic jam type information acquired by the traffic jam information transceiver.

6. A method for providing traffic jam information, comprising:

collecting weight information of a vehicle running on a road and vibration and noise information generated on the road;

configuring to determine a traffic jam and a type of traffic jam based on the collected weight information, the vibration and noise information;

transmitting traffic jam information including a determination result in the determining and additional information for calculating traffic jam distance information;

generating and transmitting the traffic jam distance information and the traffic jam information of a front road based on received traffic jam information of the front road; and

displaying one of the determination result in the step of determining the traffic jam and a traffic condition of the front road based on the traffic jam distance information and the type traffic jam information,

wherein the traffic jam information in the transmitting the traffic jam information further includes apparatus identifier and a frequency number of data generation.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the determining the traffic jam information determines the traffic jam based on the weight information and the vibration information, and determines the traffic jam associated with an accident based on the noise information.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the traffic jam information in the transmitting the traffic jam information includes the number of passed apparatus and installation gap information.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the acquiring the traffic jam information of the front road determines validity of the received traffic jam information of a front road and discards the traffic jam information which is invalidated by the determination result by acquiring the apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation from the received traffic jam information of the front road, and comparing the acquired apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation with the stored previous apparatus identifier and the frequency number of data generation.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the displaying displays simply or flickeringly the result determined by the traffic jam determinator on an LED board, or displays a traffic condition of the front road by using colors, characters and symbols on the LED boards according to the distance information and the traffic jam type information acquired in the step of acquiring the traffic jam information of the front road.

11. An apparatus for receiving traffic jam information mounted on a vehicle, comprising:

a traffic jam information receiver configured to receive the traffic jam information received from a plurality of apparatuses to provide traffic jam information installed on a road ahead of the vehicle, and to acquire a distance to a point where the traffic jam information is transmitted and a type of traffic jam from the received traffic jam information; and

an output unit configured to inform a user of a traffic condition based on the result acquired from the traffic jam information receiver,

wherein the traffic jam information in the traffic jam information receiver includes presence of a traffic jam, a traffic jam type, additional information for calculating a distance to a point where the traffic jam information is transmitted, apparatus identifier, and the frequency number of data generation.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the additional information for calculating a distance to the point where the traffic jam information is transmitted includes the number of passed apparatus and the installation gap.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the traffic jam information receiving unit determines validity of the received traffic jam information based on the apparatus identifier and a frequency number of data generation from the traffic jam information, and discards the traffic jam information which is invalidated by the determination result.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the output unit comprising:

a display unit to output the result acquired by the traffic jam information receiver on a screen; and

an audio output unit to output the result acquired by the traffic jam information receiver through a speaker.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the display unit displays the distance to the point where the traffic jam information is transmitted acquired by the traffic jam information receiver on a character board or an LED board in a different color, displays simply or flickeringly on the LED board according to the traffic jam type, or displays the traffic jam information using a character or a symbol.