Apparatus and associated methods for navigation of road intersections

• US 9,470,536 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2014
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Goldberg, Alexander James
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pipala, Edward J
• Application Number:
  US14/455,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20160040993A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18154 Approaching an intersection
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• 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 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

An apparatus comprising a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, enable the apparatus at least to:

• • identify, for use in route navigation, a complete set of lane traversals for a road intersection from two or more different complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection based on respective safety-traffic flow scores assigned according to one or more predefined safety-traffic flow criteria,
  • wherein each lane traversal defines a path of travel from an inbound lane of the road intersection to an outbound lane of the road intersection, and
  • wherein each different complete set of lane traversals comprises a different combination of lane traversals for the road intersection.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

identify, for use in route navigation, a complete set of lane traversals for a road intersection from two or more different complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection based on respective safety-traffic flow scores assigned according to one or more predefined safety-traffic flow criteria; and

initiate a display of the road intersection with the complete set of lane traversals over a digital map on a user interface as the apparatus is detected to be approaching the road intersection,

wherein each lane traversal defines a path of travel from an inbound lane of the road intersection to an outbound lane of the road intersection, and

wherein each different complete set of lane traversals comprises a different combination of lane traversals for the road intersection.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals are predetermined by filtering all possible complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection to leave only complete sets of lane traversals which comprise one or more pre-travelled lane traversals.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals are predetermined to comprise only complete sets of lane traversals which satisfy one or more predefined safety-traffic flow rules.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the one or more predefined safety-traffic flow rules comprise at least one of:

any lane traversals which begin on the same road segment cannot cross paths; and

each inbound lane of the road intersection must be associated with one or at least one outbound lane of the road intersection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals are predetermined by filtering all possible complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection to account for one or more known safety-traffic flow restrictions.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more known safety-traffic flow restrictions comprise at least one of:

turn restrictions, access restrictions, medians, road types, signal controls, traffic patterns, tolls, road works, and road markings.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals are predetermined by filtering all possible complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection to leave only complete sets of lane traversals which satisfy one or more user-defined safety-traffic flow preferences.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more user-defined safety-traffic flow preferences comprise at least one of desirable lane traversals, undesirable lane traversals, desirable types of lane traversal and undesirable types of lane traversal.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the respective safety-traffic flow scores are assigned to each of the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals based on one or more of the following safety-traffic flow criteria:

the geometry of the paths of travel defined by the constituent lane traversals; and

the occurrence of one or more predefined safety-traffic flow features within the complete set of lane traversals.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the respective safety-traffic flow scores are assigned to each of the two or more different complete sets of lane traversals by:

identifying any constituent lane traversals which define a substantially straight path of travel;

assigning a geometry score to each substantially straight lane traversal based on the curvature of its associated path of travel;

identifying the occurrence of one or more predefined safety-traffic flow features within the complete set of lane traversals;

assigning a penalty score to each of the identified predefined safety-traffic flow features; and

combining the geometry and penalty scores to produce a total score for the complete set of lane traversals.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more predefined safety-traffic flow features of the complete set of lane traversals comprise at least one of:

unmapped outbound lanes, unmapped inbound lanes, merging lanes, forming lanes and lane gaps.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to identify the complete set of lane traversals with the highest or lowest safety-traffic flow score for use in route navigation.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to provide an aggregate safety-traffic flow score for a given geographic area by combining the safety-traffic flow scores of the respective identified sets of lane traversals for a plurality of different road intersections within the geographic area.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the aggregate safety-traffic flow score is a total or average safety-traffic flow score for the geographic area.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to generate one or more of:

a poor-scoring indicator when the identified complete set of lane traversals has been assigned a safety-traffic flow score which is above or below a predefined safety-traffic flow score threshold;

a similarly-scoring indicator when two or more different complete sets of lane traversals have been assigned a substantially similar safety-traffic flow score resulting in no single identifiable complete set of lane traversals; and

a penalty indicator when the identified complete set of lane traversals breaches one or more predefined safety-traffic flow rules or comprises one or more predefined safety-traffic flow features.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the road intersection is predefined by one or more of the number, location, size, shape, geometry and traffic flow direction of its inbound and outbound lanes.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the road intersection comprises one or more of a signalised intersection, and un-signalised intersection, a junction, a crossroad, a roundabout, an interchange, an onramp, an off-ramp, a road or lane merge, and a road or lane split.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is one or more of an electronic device, a portable electronic device, a portable telecommunications device, a satellite navigation device, a mobile phone, a phablet device, a tablet device, a server and a module for the same.

19. A method comprising:

identifying, by an apparatus, for use in route navigation, a complete set of lane traversals for a road intersection from two or more different complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection based on respective safety-traffic flow scores assigned according to one or more predefined safety-traffic flow criteria; and

initiating, by the apparatus, a display of the road intersection with the complete set of lane traversals over a digital map on a user interface as the apparatus is detected to be approaching the road intersection,

wherein each lane traversal defines a path of travel from an inbound lane of the road intersection to an outbound lane of the road intersection, and

wherein each different complete set of lane traversals comprises a different combination of lane traversals for the road intersection.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps:

identifying, for use in route navigation, a complete set of lane traversals for a road intersection from two or more different complete sets of lane traversals for the road intersection based on respective safety-traffic flow scores assigned according to one or more predefined safety-traffic flow criteria; and

initiating a display of the road intersection with the complete set of lane traversals over a digital map on a user interface as the apparatus is detected to be approaching the road intersection,

wherein each lane traversal defines a path of travel from an inbound lane of the road intersection to an outbound lane of the road intersection, and

wherein each different complete set of lane traversals comprises a different combination of lane traversals for the road intersection.