System and method for providing road condition and congestion monitoring using smart messages

• US 8,566,010 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2010
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Sarma, Sanjay E., Ho, Stephen Sai-Wung, Siegel, Joshua E.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HIEP VAN
• Application Number:
  US12/821,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20110320111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 701/118
• US Class Current: 701/118
• 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 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation

Abstract

A communication device for providing road conditions and monitoring congestion, contains a memory and a processor configured by the memory to perform the steps of: extracting key current vehicle and/or traffic insight; determining if the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight represents a departure from expected vehicle and/or traffic insight; if the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight is a departure from expected vehicle and/or traffic insight, using the key current vehicle and/or traffic insight to create a smart message, wherein the smart message contains the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight; and if the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight is a confirmation of expected vehicle and/or traffic insight, creating a confirmation message that does not contain the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight, yet confirms similarity between the extracted key current vehicle and/or traffic insight and the expected vehicle and/or traffic insight.

Claims

1. A communication device for providing road conditions and monitoring congestion, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured by the memory to perform the steps of;

extracting at least one current vehicle and/or traffic condition at a vehicle having the communication device;

determining if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition represents a departure from an expected vehicle and/or traffic condition;

if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition, using the current vehicle and/or traffic condition to create a smart message, wherein the smart message contains extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition data; and

if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a confirmation of the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition, creating a confirmation message that does not contain the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition data, yet confirms similarity between the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition and the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition,

wherein an expected vehicle and/or traffic condition is a previously stored vehicle and/or traffic condition,

wherein the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition comprises a prior extracted vehicle and/or traffic condition from one or more other vehicles that were driving on a path that is the same as a path currently being driven by the current vehicle, and

wherein the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is outside of a predefined range of values relative to the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is physically connected to the current vehicle, but not electronically connected to the current vehicle.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is in communication with the current vehicle through use of an on board diagnostics (OBD) or OBDII vehicle connection.

4. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition comprises a previously extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition from the current vehicle.

5. The communication device of claim 1, wherein confirmation of the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition occurs when the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is within a predefined range of values from the expected vehicle and/or traffic insight.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the communication device transmits the smart message when the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition.

7. A system for providing road conditions and monitoring congestion, comprising:

at least one communication device, wherein the communication device further comprises;

a memory; and

a processor configured by the memory to perform the steps of;

extracting at least one current vehicle and/or traffic condition;

determining if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition represents a departure from expected vehicle and/or traffic condition;

if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from an expected vehicle and/or traffic condition, using the current vehicle and/or traffic condition to create a smart message, wherein the smart message contains extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition data; and

if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a confirmation of expected vehicle and/or traffic condition, creating a confirmation message that does not contain the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition data, yet confirms similarity between the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition and the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition; and

a server for communicating with the communication device to receive the smart message and/or the confirmation message,

wherein an expected vehicle and/or traffic condition is a previously stored vehicle and/or traffic condition,

wherein the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition comprises a prior extracted vehicle and/or traffic condition from one or more other vehicles that were driving on a path that is the same as a path currently being driven by the current vehicle, and

wherein the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition if the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is outside of a predefined range of values relative to the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the server aggregates traffic conditions and/or road conditions from multiple communication devices, including the at least one communication device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server transmits alerts regarding the aggregated traffic conditions and/or road conditions to at least one of the multiple communication devices.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication device is physically connected to a vehicle, but not electronically connected to the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication device is in communication with a vehicle through use of an on board diagnostics (OBD) or OBDII vehicle connection.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition comprises a previously extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition from the current vehicle.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein confirmation of the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition occurs when the extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is within a predefined range of values from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the communication device transmits the smart message when extracted current vehicle and/or traffic condition is a departure from the expected vehicle and/or traffic condition.