Management of mobile objects

• US 9,805,598 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2015
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Hiromi, Tsuchiya, Atsushi, Yamamoto, Gaku
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US14/970,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20170178505A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• 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 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

To avoid congestion and ease traffic jams of mobile objects while managing movement of a plurality of mobile objects in a geographic space, provided is a system including a mobile object server operable to assist with movement of a plurality of mobile objects in a geographic space; and a priority control module operable to perform priority movement control that causes a mobile object having high priority to be prioritized over and progress ahead of a mobile object having low priority, based on priorities assigned to each of a plurality of mobile objects. Also provided are a method and program.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a mobile object server configured to manage a movement of a first mobile object and a movement of a second mobile object in a geographic space; and

a priority control module configured to prioritize the movement of the first mobile object over the movement of the second mobile object based on determining that the first mobile object has a higher priority than the second mobile object, wherein prioritizing the movement of the first mobile object over the second mobile object changes a management path of the second mobile object from a first management path to a second management path; and

a priority assigning module that is in communication with the mobile object server and is configured to reassign the priority of the first mobile object and the second mobile object, wherein the priority assigning module is configured to increase the priority of the second mobile object in response to the second mobile object moving ahead of the first mobile object.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the priority control module is configured to instruct the second mobile object to make a lane change based on the first mobile object being positioned behind the second mobile object.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the priority control module is configured to perform the priority movement control between the first mobile object and the second mobile object, based on a speed of the first mobile object being less than or equal to a predetermined reference speed.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein

the priority control module configured to perform the priority movement control of the first mobile object based on a time since a previous control movement is less than a threshold time.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the threshold time is based on a route used by the first management path.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the priority assigning module is configured to reassign priority to the first mobile object and the second mobile object according to at least one of:

a number of people riding in each mobile object and a state of the people riding in each mobile object.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the priority assigning module is configured to increase the priority of the second mobile object in response to a user of the second mobile object paying a fee.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the priority assigning module is configured to determine that the first mobile object and a third mobile object are traveling in a group; and

based on determining that the first mobile object and third mobile object are traveling in a group, increasing the priority of the first mobile object.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the priority assigning module is configured to set the priority of the first mobile object and the third mobile object higher than the priority of the second mobile object and a fourth mobile object, wherein the second mobile object and the fourth mobile object are traveling in a group.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the priority control module is configured to:

determine that the first mobile object and a third mobile object are traveling in a group

instruct the first mobile object and the third mobile object to make lane changes one at a time; and

instruct the second mobile object to make a lane change based on determining that the second mobile object is not traveling in the group.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the priority control module is configured to instruct a fourth mobile object positioned within a predetermined reference range from the group to stay in the lane based on a portion of the two or more mobile objects moving in the group has not completed the lane change.