Monitoring road surface conditions

• US 8,451,140 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Piccinini, Sandro, Pichetti, Luigi, Secchi, Marco, Secomandi, Antonio, Yassin, Amr F., Zakaria, Mohamed
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMALL, NAOMI J
• Application Number:
  US12/336,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20090160675A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,623 Days
• Field of Search: 340/905, 340/539.13, 340/901, 701/117
• US Class Current: 340/905
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

Monitoring road surface conditions using a mobile computer unit carried by a vehicle operating on a road network and adapted to detect information about the road surface conditions. The detection may be done by means of bump sensors which may also provide information on the size and the depth of the bump according to a detected shock with respect to the vehicle speed. Such information may then be transmitted to a central controller server. The central server may use the collected information for several purposes, such as help in planning maintenance of the road network; forwarded to users and vehicles for journey planning purposes; and to deviate traffic in case of extreme surface damage.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a road surface of a road network, the method comprising:

associating a mobile computer unit with a vehicle operating on said road network, wherein the mobile computer unit is onboard the vehicle and interfaced with a cellular communication device providing bidirectional communication over a cellular communication network, the mobile computer unit interfaced with sensors comprising at least one shock sensor;

monitoring the road surface using said at least one shock sensor of the mobile computer unit during said vehicle operation so as to detect a bump, a bump intensity, and one of a bump width, length, or depth;

determining a position of the vehicle using GPS positioning data in response to detecting a bump on the road surface;

associating the position of the vehicle with a detected bump on the road surface;

providing information associated with the detected bump, the bump intensity, one of a bump width, length, or depth, and the determined position of the vehicle to a predetermined fixed receiver positioned proximate to a road of the road network to store in a shared database automatically accessible by the mobile computer unit of other vehicles operated by other users, wherein the information is processed to provide information representative of a condition of the road surface; and

automatically adjusting adjustable equipment of vehicles having access to the shared database for the condition of the road surface at the determined position using an analysis of processed information stored on the shared database and a determined condition of the road surface, comprising at least one of adjusting a setting for the suspension system and adjusting a setting for tension of a seat belt according to the determined condition of the road surface at the determined position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing information creates received information, and further comprising:

storing the received information;

determining a relevance of the detected bump for said road network; and

determining a recovery action in response to said relevance of the detected bump for said road network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the recovery action includes planning road maintenance according to the stored information.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the recovery action includes a server transmitting to a plurality of vehicles the stored information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile computer unit collects additional information about intensity of the detected bump, and further comprising a server receiving said additional information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile computer unit collects information about a speed of the vehicle at a moment of detection of the bump.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the vehicle includes at least one equipment adapted to react to the stored information, the at least one equipment adjusting its setting in order to minimize an effect of the bump on vehicle users.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one equipment includes one of an active suspension controller, a speed controller, and seat belt tension controller.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving information of the detected bump and the determined position of the vehicle is performed each time a bump is detected.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the detected bump and the determined position of the vehicle is collected and stored within the mobile computer unit and is transmitted to a server at a later moment.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the detected bump and the determined position of the vehicle is received by predetermined fixed receivers that communicate with the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the detected bump and the determined position of the vehicle is received by radio communication with the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the information on the detected bump and the determined position of the vehicle is received by a mobile telephone network.

16. The method of claim 4 further comprising providing information for deviating traffic in case of damage to the road network so as to avoid a damaged area of the road network.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing information to the receiver through RFID.

18. The method of claim 4 further comprising providing traffic information to a vehicle onboard navigation system.

19. The method of claim 4 further comprising providing traffic information to a police car.

14. A computer program product for monitoring a road surface of a road network, the computer program product comprising:

computer readable code stored in a computer readable tangible media, said computer readable code including computer instructions which when executed by a computer perform steps of;

associating a mobile computer unit with a vehicle operating on said road network, wherein the mobile computer unit is onboard the vehicle and interfaced with a cellular communication device providing bidirectional communication over a cellular communication network, the mobile computer unit interfaced with sensors comprising at least one shock sensor;

monitoring the road surface using the at least one shock sensor of said mobile computer unit during said vehicle operation, so as to detect a bump, a bump intensity, and one of a bump width, length, or depth;

determining a position of the vehicle using GPS positioning data from an onboard navigation system of the vehicle, in response to detecting a bump on the road surface;

associating the position of the vehicle with a detected bump on the road surface;

providing information of the detected bump, bump intensity, one of a bump width, length, or depth, and the determined position of the vehicle to a predetermined fixed receiver positioned proximate to a road of the road network to store in a shared database automatically accessible by the mobile computer unit of other vehicles operated by other users, wherein the information is processed to provide information representative of a condition of the road surface; and

automatically adjusting adjustable equipment of vehicles having access to the shared database for the condition of the road surface at the determined position using an analysis of processed information stored on the shared database and a determined condition of the road surface, comprising at least one of adjusting a setting for the suspension system and adjusting a setting for tension of a seat belt according to the determined condition of the road surface at the determined position.

15. A system for monitoring a road surface of a road network, the system comprising:

a mobile computer unit, the mobile computer unit interfaced with a cellular communication device providing bidirectional communication over a cellular communication network and interfaced with sensors including at least one shock sensor, wherein the mobile computer unit is associated with a vehicle operating on said road network, wherein the mobile computer unit is onboard the vehicle;

the mobile computer unit monitoring the road surface using the at least one shock sensor of said mobile computer during said vehicle operation, the at least one shock sensor configured to detect a bump, a bump intensity, and one of a bump width, length, or depth;

a position location system determining a position of the vehicle in response to detecting a bump on the road surface using GPS positioning data from an onboard navigation system of the vehicle;

the mobile computer unit associating the position of the vehicle with a detected bump on the road surface;

a server for providing information of the detected bump, bump intensity, one of a bump width, length, or depth, and the determined position of the vehicle to a predetermined fixed receiver positioned proximate to a road of the road network to store in a shared database automatically accessible by the mobile computer unit of other vehicles operated by other users, wherein the information is processed to provide information representative of a condition of the road surface; and

equipment of the other vehicles having access to the shared database with a capability to automatically adjust for the condition of the road at the determined position using an analysis of processed information stored on the database and a determined condition of the road surface, at least one of adjusting a setting for a suspension system and adjusting a setting for tension of a seat belt for the determined condition of the road surface at the determined location.

20. A computer program product for monitoring a road surface of a road network, the computer program product comprising:

computer readable code stored in a computer readable tangible media, said computer readable code including computer instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform steps of;

associating a mobile computer unit with a vehicle operating on said road network, wherein the mobile computer unit is onboard the vehicle, the mobile computer unit comprising an interface with at least one shock sensor;

monitoring the road surface using the at least one shock sensor of said mobile computer unit during said vehicle operation, so as to detect a bump, a bump intensity, and one of a bump width, length, or depth;

determining a position of the vehicle using GPS positioning data from an onboard navigation system of the vehicle, in response to detecting a bump on the road surface;

associating the position of the vehicle with a detected bump on the road surface;

providing information of the detected bump, bump intensity, one of a bump width, length, or depth, and the determined position of the vehicle to a predetermined fixed receiver positioned proximate to a road of the road network, wherein the information provides road information representative of a condition of the road surface;

receiving the road information comprising information representative of the condition of the road surface from a server transmitting the road information to a plurality of vehicles; and

determining a best route to a destination taking into account a load carried by the vehicle and the road information received from the server.