Traffic monitoring systems and methods

• US 9,418,544 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Relyea, Donald H., Felt, Michelle
• Primary Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US14/270,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20140244149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• 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: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/056 with provision for distinguishing direction of travel
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/094 Hardware aspects; Signal processing or signal properties, e.g. frequency bands
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09626 where the origin of the information is within the own vehicle, e.g. a local storage device, digital map
• 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 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

In an exemplary method, a mobile device provides mobile device attribute data to a traffic monitoring subsystem, receives traffic condition data generated by the traffic monitoring subsystem based at least in part on the mobile device attribute data, presents, by way of a user interface, the traffic condition data for consideration by a user of the mobile device, and provides an interface tool configured to be used by the user to report a traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem. In certain embodiments, the mobile device receives, by way of the interface tool, user input indicating a user observance of the traffic condition and provides, in response to the receiving of the user input, a notification of the user observance of the traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, by a mobile device, mobile device attribute data to a traffic monitoring subsystem;

receiving, by the mobile device, traffic condition data generated by the traffic monitoring subsystem based at least in part on the mobile device attribute data;

presenting, by the mobile device by way of a user interface, the traffic condition data for consideration by a user of the mobile device; and

providing, by the mobile device, an interface tool configured to be used by the user to report a traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem;

wherein the presenting of the traffic condition data comprises presenting at least one of

an indication of a number of mobile devices that provided attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data, and

an indication of a confidence factor for the traffic condition data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device by way of the interface tool, user input indicating a user observance of the traffic condition; and

providing, by the mobile device in response to the receiving of the user input, a notification of the user observance of the traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic condition comprises one of traffic congestion, a vehicle collision, a law enforcement operation, an emergency personnel operation, and a road closure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface tool comprises an input mechanism configured to be used by the user to report a certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the input mechanism comprises a soft key input mechanism configured to be touched by the user to report the certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of the traffic condition data further comprises presenting at least one of:

an indication of an average of actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data;

a notification that the average of the actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data is outside of a predefined range of normal speeds of a traffic monitoring location; and

a graphical distribution of the actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, by the mobile device, a map view display on a display screen of the mobile device; and

providing, by the mobile device, an additional interface tool configured to be used by the user to define, within the map view display, a traffic monitoring location at which traffic conditions will be monitored.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting of the traffic condition data further comprises presenting an indication of distances between the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data.

8. A method comprising:

providing, by a mobile device that is configured to automatically provide mobile device attribute data to a traffic monitoring subsystem, receive traffic condition data generated by the traffic monitoring subsystem based at least in part on the mobile device attribute data, and present the traffic condition data for consideration by a user of the mobile device, an interface tool configured to be used by the user to manually report a traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem;

receiving, by the mobile device by way of the interface tool, user input indicating a user observance of the traffic condition;

providing, by the mobile device in response to the receiving of the user input, a notification of the user observance of the traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem; and

presenting, by the mobile device, the traffic condition data for consideration by the user of the mobile device;

wherein the presenting of the traffic condition data comprises presenting at least one of

an indication of a number of mobile devices that provided attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data, and

an indication of a confidence factor for the traffic condition data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the interface tool comprises an input mechanism configured to be used by the user to manually report a certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the input mechanism comprises a soft key input mechanism configured to be touched by the user to manually report the certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the presenting of the traffic condition data further comprises presenting at least one of:

an indication of an average of actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data;

a notification that the average of the actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data is outside of a predefined range of normal speeds of a traffic monitoring location; and

a graphical distribution of the actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data.

12. A mobile device comprising:

a processor; and

a traffic agent facility that directs the processor to;

provide mobile device attribute data to a traffic monitoring subsystem;

receive traffic condition data generated by the traffic monitoring subsystem based at least in part on the mobile device attribute data;

present, by way of a user interface, the traffic condition data for consideration by a user of the mobile device; and

provide an interface tool configured to be used by the user to report a traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem;

wherein the presentation of the traffic condition data comprises a presentation of at least one of

an indication of a number of mobile devices that provided attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data, and

an indication of a confidence factor for the traffic condition data.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the traffic agent facility further directs the processor to:

detect user input received by way of the interface tool, the user input indicating a user observance of the traffic condition; and

provide, in response to the detecting of the user input, a notification of the user observance of the traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the traffic condition comprises one of traffic congestion, a vehicle collision, a law enforcement operation, an emergency personnel operation, and a road closure.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the interface tool comprises an input mechanism configured to be used by the user to report a certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the input mechanism comprises a soft key input mechanism configured to be touched by the user to report the certain type of traffic condition to the traffic monitoring subsystem.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the traffic condition data represents

an average of actual speeds of the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data.

18. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the traffic agent facility further directs the processor to:

present a map view display on a display screen of the mobile device; and

provide an additional interface tool configured to be used by the user to define, within the map view display, a traffic monitoring location at which traffic conditions will be monitored.

20. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the traffic condition data represents distances between the number of mobile devices that provided the attribute data used by the traffic monitoring subsystem to generate the traffic condition data.