Traffic disruption detection using passive monitoring of vehicle occupant frustration level

• US 9,792,814 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2015
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Glasgow, Dane, MacLaurin, Matthew Bret, Newey, Neville Rhys, VanWinkle, Justin, Hall, Christopher Michael, Mcneill, Trista, Ramadge, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALSOMIRI, MAJDI A
• Application Number:
  US14/982,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20170186315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 658 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6893 Cars
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0125 Traffic data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/093 Data selection, e.g. prioritizing information, managing message queues, selecting the information to be output
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096866 where the complete route is shown to the driver
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096883 where input information is obtained using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure include a navigation system and computer-implemented methods for detecting traffic disruption events based on an analysis of input component data obtained from navigation-enabled devices of vehicles near a particular location. Traffic disruption events are events such as accidents, construction road closures, police and speed traps, or road hazards that cause a decrease in the flow of traffic along a particular route and thus, added time delays for occupants of vehicles traveling along those routes. The navigation system scores the input component data associated with each vehicle and aggregates the scored input component data to obtain a frustration score associated with the vehicle. The navigation system may detect traffic disruption events based on a number of vehicles near a particular area having associated frustration scores above a certain threshold.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors of a machine; and

one or more machine-readable mediums storing instructions to configure the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

detecting a traffic disruption event at a particular location, the detecting of the traffic disruption event including;

identifying a plurality of navigation-enabled devices within a predefined distance of the particular location based on location data received from geolocation components of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices;

determining a frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices based on input component data received from one or more input components coupled to or embedded in the plurality of navigation-enabled devices, the determining of the frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices including;

scoring respective input component data based on input component type, and

aggregating respective input component data scores to determine the frustration score, and

determining that at least a portion of the plurality of the navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above a threshold frustration score, the detecting of the traffic disruption event being in response to the determining that at least the portion of the plurality of the navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above the threshold frustration score;

in response to detecting the traffic disruption event, generating traffic disruption report data for the traffic disruption event; and

storing the traffic disruption report data at a database coupled to a navigation server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting a notification of the traffic disruption event to one or more of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing display of a map within a user interface, the map including an indicator of the traffic disruption event.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise verifying a previous traffic disruption report maintained in the networked database using the traffic disruption report data.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the verifying the previous traffic disruption report includes comparing location information included in the traffic disruption report data with location information included in previous traffic disruption data stored in the networked database.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the scoring respective input component data includes comparing the input component data to baseline data stored in respective user account records maintained in the networked database.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the input component data includes audio data obtained from a microphone, and wherein the determining of the frustration score includes determining an audio level of the audio data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the determining of the frustration score further includes:

identifying, from the audio data, one or more keywords using speech recognition; and

comparing the one or more keywords to a repository of frustration terms.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the traffic disruption event at the particular location further includes determining that a threshold number of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above the frustration score threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices correspond to a vehicle, and wherein the user of each navigation-enabled device is a vehicle occupant.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more input components include at least one of the group comprising:

a microphone, a motion sensor, or a heart rate sensor.

12. A method comprising:

detecting a traffic disruption event at a particular location, the detecting of the traffic disruption including;

identifying a plurality of navigation-enabled devices within a predefined distance of the particular location based on location data received from geolocation components of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices;

determining, using one or more processors of a machine, a frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices based on input component data received from one or more input components coupled to or embedded in the plurality of navigation-enabled devices, the determining of the frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices including;

scoring respective input component data based on input component type, and

aggregating respective input component data scores to determine the frustration score, and

determining that at least a portion of the plurality of the navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above a threshold frustration score, the detecting of the traffic disruption event being in response to the determining that at least the portion of the plurality of the navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above the threshold frustration score;

in response to detecting the traffic disruption event, generating traffic disruption report data for the traffic disruption event; and

storing the traffic disruption report data at a database coupled to a navigation server.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting a notification of the traffic disruption event to another navigation-enabled device travelling toward the particular location.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the particular location is included in an existing user generated traffic disruption report, and wherein the operations further comprise verifying the existing user generated traffic disruption report maintained in the networked database using the traffic disruption report data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the input component data includes motion data obtained from a motion sensor, and wherein the scoring of the respective input component data includes determining a velocity or frequency of motion of the navigation-enabled device from the motion data.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the input component data includes heart rate data obtained from a heart rate sensor, and wherein the scoring of the respective input component data includes:

determining a heart rate of the user from the heart rate data; and

comparing the determined heart rate to baseline heart data included in a user account record of the user.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more input components include at least one of the group comprising:

a microphone, a motion sensor, or a heart rate sensor.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting a traffic disruption event at a particular location, the detecting of the traffic disruption including;

identifying a plurality of navigation-enabled devices within a predefined distance of the particular location based on location data received from geolocation components of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices;

determining a frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices based on input component data received from one or more input components coupled to or embedded in the plurality of navigation-enabled devices, the determining of the frustration score associated with each of the plurality of navigation-enabled devices including;

scoring respective input component data based on input component type, and

aggregating respective input component data scores to determine the frustration score, and

determining that at least a portion of the plurality navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above a threshold frustration score, the detecting of the traffic disruption event being in response to the determining that at least the portion of the plurality of the navigation-enabled devices within the predefined distance of the particular location have an associated frustration score above the threshold frustration score;

in response to detecting the traffic disruption event, generating traffic disruption report data for the traffic disruption event; and

storing the traffic disruption report data at a database coupled to a navigation server.