Controlling disclosure of trace data related to moving object

• US 8,935,268 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Issued: 01/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Uramoto, Naohiko, Watanabe, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Saeed, Usmaan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Allen, Brittany N
• Application Number:
  US13/351,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20120197873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 707918-921
• US Class Current: 707/757
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90 Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/06 Arrangements for road pricing or congestion charging of vehicles or vehicle users, e.g. automatic toll systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method and system for controlling disclosure of trace data related to moving object. The method includes the steps of: receiving, for at least one moving object in a first region, a first record aggregate; receiving, for at least one moving object in a second region, a second record aggregate; calculating trace data from at least one attribute value of a first identifier that is in received first and second record aggregates in response to data search request; calculating to satisfy a condition of the moving object passing through at least one region and to satisfy another condition of at least two of the moving objects being present in each of the region; and returning calculated trace data as a search result if the moving object moves in calculated ranges and if the moving object has the first identifier that is in both the received first and second record aggregates.

Claims

1. A method of a server computer connected to at least one data provider system to control disclosure of data provided from the at least one data provider system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, for at least one vehicle in a first spatio-temporal region, a first record aggregate from at least one data provider system, said first record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a first identifier for identifying a first recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier;

receiving, for at least one vehicle in a second spatio-temporal region, a second record aggregate from said at least one data provider system, said second record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a second identifier for identifying a second recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said second identifier, said second identifier comprising at least one of said first identifier;

calculating trace data from said at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier that is present in both received first record aggregates and received second record aggregates in response to a reception of a data search request to search for data related to a candidate vehicle, wherein said trace data is related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request;

calculating to satisfy a condition of said candidate vehicle passing through at least one region having certain spatio-temporal ranges within certain time ranges and to satisfy another condition of at least two of said candidate vehicles being present in each of said at least one region, said spatio-temporal range of said at least one region, or a passing time range of said spatial temporal range of each of said at least one region; and

returning calculated trace data or part of said trace data as a search result if said candidate vehicle moves in calculated spatio-temporal ranges within calculated passing time ranges and if said candidate vehicle has said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates,

wherein at least one of the steps is carried out by a server computer device, and

wherein when a first vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range and a second vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range, said method further comprises the steps of;

calculating a first aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including said at least one first attribute value associated with an identifier of the first vehicle, said calculating of the first aggregate value performed using a predetermined function;

replacing a first value that represents said at least one first attribute value associated with the identifier of the first vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates with a second value that represents said at least one second attribute value associated with an identifier of the second vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates, and calculating a second aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including at least the second value that replaced the first value, said calculating of the second aggregate value performed using the predetermined function;

controlling selection of the first attribute value to enable the first aggregate value to completely match the second aggregate value; and

when the first aggregate value completely matches the second aggregate value, returning, as said search result, said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with an attribute value of said controlled selection of the first attribute value.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of returning further comprises the step of:

restricting disclosure of said calculated trace data or said part of said trace data in accordance with a policy associated with said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of returning further comprises the step of:

restricting disclosure of said calculated trace data or said part of said trace data in accordance with a policy associated with said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

said policy associated with said first identifier comprises constraint data selected from the group consisting of;

(i) number of times said trace data related to said first recorded vehicle is being disclosed;

(ii) a destination of disclosure of said trace data; and

combinations thereof; and

said step of returning further comprises the step of;

restricting disclosure of said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with said constraint data.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein:

said policy associated with said first identifier comprises constraint data selected from the group consisting of;

(i) number of times said trace data related to said first recorded vehicle is being disclosed;

(ii) a destination of disclosure of said trace data; and

combinations thereof; and

said step of returning further comprises the step of restricting disclosure of said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with said constraint data.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of returning further comprises the step of:

recording said constraint data as a history.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein said policy is retrieved from a policy repository.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein said policy is set by a data owner associated with said candidate vehicle or said data provider system.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates in a record repository.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said step of calculating trace data further comprises the step of:

creating trace data from first record aggregates and second record aggregates that have been stored in said record repository in response to said data search request.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of calculating trace data further comprises the step of:

integrating said first record aggregates and said second record aggregates into one integrated record aggregate; and

sorting records associated with an identifier in said integrated record aggregate by the order of time data.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one attribute value comprises values selected from the group consisting of at least one identifier of said candidate vehicle, color of said candidate vehicle, number of said candidate vehicle, type of said candidate vehicle, a speed at a time value, a value regarding a device of said candidate vehicle, name, age, or gender of a driver or a passenger, number of occupants, a state inside or outside said candidate vehicle at said time value, state of said occupant at said time value, and combinations thereof.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein said calculating trace data comprises:

calculating to satisfy a condition that a vehicle passing through L regions that have certain ranges within certain time ranges be fulfilled, and

satisfy a condition that k or more vehicles (k is an integer greater than or equal to

     2) are present in each of the L regions, or present in a range w_j or a passing time range (s_j, e_j) for range w_j (j is an integer of 1, 2, . . . , L) for each of the L regions, wherein

the calculated trace data or part of the trace data is returned as a search result when the vehicle passing through L regions having a same identifier in the received first and second record aggregates moves in the calculated ranges w_j within the calculated passing time ranges (s_j, e_j).

13. A computer program product comprising a tangible non-transitory storage device, said storage device including a computer readable program code having computer readable instructions which when implemented, cause a computer to carry out the steps of a method comprising:

receiving, for at least one vehicle in a first spatio-temporal region, a first record aggregate from at least one data provider system, said first record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a first identifier for identifying a first recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier;

receiving, for at least one vehicle in a second spatio-temporal region, a second record aggregate from said at least one data provider system, said second record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a second identifier for identifying a second recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said second identifier, said second identifier comprising at least one of said first identifier;

calculating trace data from said at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier that is present in both received first record aggregates and received second record aggregates in response to a reception of a data search request to search for data related to a candidate vehicle, wherein said trace data is related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to the data search request;

calculating to satisfy a condition of said candidate vehicle passing through at least one region having certain spatio-temporal ranges within certain time ranges and to satisfy another condition of at least two of said candidate vehicles being present in each of said at least one region, said spatio-temporal range of said at least one region, or a passing time range of said spatial temporal range of each of said at least one region; and

returning calculated trace data or part of said trace data as a search result if said candidate vehicle moves in calculated spatio-temporal ranges within calculated passing time ranges and if said candidate vehicle has said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates,

wherein when a first vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range and a second vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range, said method comprises further steps of;

calculating a first aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including said at least one first attribute value associated with an identifier of the first vehicle, said calculating of the first aggregate value performed using a predetermined function;

replacing a first value that that represents said at least one first attribute value associated with the identifier of the first vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates with a second value that represents said at least one second attribute value associated with an identifier of the second vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates, and calculating a second aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including at least the second value that replaced the first value, the calculating the second aggregate value performed using the predetermined function;

controlling selection of the first attribute value to enable the first aggregate value to completely match the second aggregate value; and

when the first aggregate value completely matches the second aggregate value, returning, as said search result, said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with an attribute value of said controlled selection of the first attribute value.

15. A system that controls disclosure of data provided from at least one data provider system, the system comprising:

a memory;

a programmable data processing apparatus in communication with said memory, said programmable data processing apparatus configured to receive, for at least one vehicle in a first spatio-temporal region, a first record aggregate from at least one data provider system, said first record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a first identifier for identifying a first recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier;

said programmable data processing apparatus further configured to receive, for at least one vehicle in a second spatio-temporal region, a second record aggregate from said at least one data provider system, said second record aggregate comprising, as a unit record, a second identifier for identifying a second recorded vehicle and at least one attribute value associated with said second identifier, said second identifier comprising at least one of said first identifier;

said programmable data processing apparatus configured to calculate trace data from said at least one attribute value associated with said first identifier that is present in both received first record aggregates and received second record aggregates in response to a reception of a data search request to search for data related to a candidate vehicle, wherein said trace data is related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request;

said programmable data processing apparatus is configured to calculate said trace data to satisfy a condition of said candidate vehicle passing through at least one region having certain spatio-temporal ranges within certain time ranges, and to satisfy another condition of at least two of said candidate vehicles being present in each of said at least one region, said spatio-temporal range of said at least one region, or a passing time range of said spatial temporal range of each of said at least one region; and

said programmable data processing apparatus configured to return calculated trace data or part of said trace data as a search result if said candidate vehicle moves in calculated spatio-temporal ranges within calculated passing time ranges and if said candidate vehicle has said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates,

wherein when a first vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range and a second vehicle is within said calculated spatio-temporal range within said calculated passing time range, said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to;

calculate a first aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including said at least one first attribute value associated with an identifier of the first vehicle, said calculating of the first aggregate value performed using a predetermined function;

replace a first value that represents said at least one first attribute value associated with the identifier of the first vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates with a second value that represents said at least one second attribute value associated with an identifier of the second vehicle in said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates, and calculate a second aggregate value from said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates including at least the second value that replaced the first value, the calculating of the second aggregate value performed using the predetermined function;

control selection of the first attribute value to enable the first aggregate value to completely match the second aggregate value; and

when the first aggregate value completely matches the second aggregate value, return, as said search result, said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with an attribute value of said controlled selection of the first attribute value.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to restrict disclosure of said calculated trace data or said part of said trace data in accordance with a policy associated with said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates.

17. The system according to claim 15, wherein said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to restrict disclosure of said calculated trace data or said part of said trace data in accordance with a policy associated with said first identifier that is present in both said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein:

said policy associated with said first identifier comprises constraint data selected from the group consisting of;

(i) number of times said trace data related to said first recorded vehicle is being disclosed;

(ii) a destination of disclosure of said trace data; and

combinations thereof; and

said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to restrict disclosure of said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with said constraint data.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein:

said policy associated with said first identifier comprises constraint data selected from the group consisting of;

(i) number of times said trace data related to said first recorded vehicle is being disclosed;

(ii) a destination of disclosure of said trace data; and

combinations thereof; and

said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to restrict disclosure of said calculated trace data related to said candidate vehicle that corresponds to said data search request or said part of said trace data in accordance with said constraint data.

20. The system according to claim 15, wherein to calculate said trace data, said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to:

satisfy a condition that a vehicle passing through L regions that have certain ranges within certain time ranges be fulfilled, and

satisfy a condition that k or more vehicles (k is an integer greater than or equal to

     2) are present in each of the L regions, and one of;

a passing time range (s_j, e_j) for a range w_j (j is an integer of 1, 2, . . . , L) for each of the L regions, or for the range w_j or both, wherein

the calculated trace data or part of the trace data is returned as a search result when the vehicle passing through L regions having a same identifier in the received first and second record aggregates moves in the calculated ranges w_j within the calculated passing time ranges (s_j, e_i).

21. The system according to claim 18, wherein to return the trace data, said programmable data processing apparatus is further configured to:

record said constraint data as a history.

22. The system according to claim 16, further comprising:

a policy repository for storing policies for retrieval.

23. The system according to claim 16, wherein said policy is set by a data owner associated with said candidate vehicle or said data provider system.

24. The system according to claim 15, wherein said memory comprises a record repository for storing said received first record aggregates and said received second record aggregates.

25. The system according to claim 23, wherein to calculate trace data, said computing device is further configured to:

create trace data from first record aggregates and second record aggregates that have been stored in said record repository in response to said data search request.

26. The system according to claim 15, wherein to calculate trace data, said computing device is further configured to:

integrate said first record aggregates and said second record aggregates into one integrated record aggregate; and

sort records associated with an identifier in said integrated record aggregate by an order of time data.

27. The system according to claim 15, wherein said at least one attribute value comprises values selected from:

at least one identifier of said candidate vehicle, a color of said candidate vehicle, a number of said candidate vehicle, a type of said candidate vehicle, a speed at a time value, a value regarding a device of said candidate vehicle, name, age, or gender of a driver or a passenger, a number of occupants, a state inside or outside said candidate vehicle at said time value, a state of said occupant at said time value, and combinations thereof.