Method of displaying traffic congestion estimation

• US 9,443,424 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2011
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Koshizen, Takamasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): McPherson, James M
• Application Number:
  US13/807,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20130103294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,930 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/166 Navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/215 characterised by the combination of multiple visual outputs, e.g. combined instruments with analogue meters and additional displays
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/60 Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10
• 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 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of displaying traffic congestion estimation including a step of detecting a transition state that exists when transitioning from a free flow in which a possibility (probability of occurrence) of an occurrence of traffic congestion is lower than a first set value, to a mixed flow in which states of braking and accelerating the vehicle are mixed as the state of the flow of traffic, and a step of displaying the possibility (probability of occurrence) of transition from the free flow to the mixed flow in a continuous and visual manner on the basis of the detection result of the transition state.

Claims

1. A method of displaying traffic congestion estimation by using a traffic congestion estimation apparatus

the traffic congestion estimation apparatus comprising:

a vehicle speed sensor configured to detect a speed of a vehicle;

a vehicle-to-vehicle distance detection unit configured to detect a vehicle-to-vehicle distance between the vehicle and another vehicle;

a display unit;

a frequency analysis unit configured to analyze a frequency of a detection result of the speed of the vehicle output from the vehicle speed sensor;

a slope calculation unit configured to calculate a simple linear regression line in a power spectrum output from the frequency analysis unit and a slope and an intercept of the simple linear regression line are calculated;

a time variation calculation unit configured to calculate a difference of the slope output from the slope calculation unit;

a labeling and boundary creation processing unit configured to associate each piece of data with a label “

+1”

or “

−

1”

on the basis of the difference of the slope output from the time variation calculation unit is set as a combination of the vehicle-to-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the another vehicle and the speed of the vehicle, obtain a distribution of the label “

+1”

or “

−

1”

that is associated with each piece of the data in a two dimensional space, and calculate a boundary between the label “

+1” and

the label “

−

1” and

output a calculation result with respect to the distribution of the label in the two dimensional space;

a traffic congestion estimation unit configured to estimate an occurrence of a traffic congestion on the basis of the calculation result of the boundary output from the labeling and boundary creation processing unit and output an estimation result; and

a processing device configured to display on the display unit the estimation result, wherein the processing device comprises;

a step of associating a combination of the speed of the vehicle and the vehicle-to-vehicle distance with a parameter that is distributed in a two-dimensional space, and determining when a phase transition of that parameter occurs to detect a state of a flow of traffic corresponding to a transition state that is present when changing from a free flow in which a probability of the occurrence of the traffic congestion is lower than a first predetermined value, to a mixed flow in which states of braking and accelerating the vehicle are mixed; and

a step of displaying the probability of the occurrence of changing from the free flow to the mixed flow in a continuous and visual manner on the basis of the detection result of the transition state.

2. The method of displaying traffic congestion estimation according to claim 1,

wherein the probability of occurrence is equal to or more than a second predetermined value in a traffic congestion state.

3. The method of displaying traffic congestion estimation according to claim 2,

wherein the probability of occurrence is equal to or more than the first predetermined value and equal to or less than the second predetermined value in the transition state.

4. The method of displaying traffic congestion estimation according to claim 1,

wherein the processing device further includes a communication step of transmitting the probability of occurrence to the another vehicle by a communication on the basis of the detection result of the transition state.

5. The method of displaying traffic congestion estimation according to claim 1,

wherein the processing device further includes a path search step and a path guide step in which the vehicle avoids the traffic congestion on the basis of the detection result of the transition state.