Traffic management based on basic safety message data

• US 9,940,832 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Bansal, Gaurav, Lu, Hongsheng, Kenney, John, Nakanishi, Toru
• Primary Examiner(s): Brushaber, Frederick M
• Application Number:
  US15/077,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20170278388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0125 Traffic data processing
• 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 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/08 according to detected number or speed of vehicles

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system and method for managing traffic in a roadway system based on Basic Safety Message data (“BSM data”) included in a set of Basic Safety Messages (“BSMs”). The method may include wirelessly receiving a set of BSMs describing a set of vehicles traveling along the roadway system. Each BSM included in the set of BSMs may describe a specific vehicle included in the set of vehicles, including that vehicle'"'"'s lane, speed and heading of travel. The method may include analyzing the BSM data to determine whether there is an imbalance of traffic flow among a first set of vehicles traveling towards a first heading and a second set of vehicles traveling towards a second heading. The method may include determining that the bidirectional lane will be reconfigured so that traffic in the bidirectional lane flows towards the second heading based on the imbalance of traffic flow.

Claims

1. A method of managing traffic along a roadway system including a first unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a first heading, a second unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a second heading and a bidirectional lane that is configurable to have traffic flowing towards either the first heading or the second heading, wherein the first heading is different from the second heading and the bidirectional lane is presently configured so that traffic in the bidirectional lane flows towards the first heading, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a set of basic safety messages (“

BSMs”

) describing a set of vehicles traveling along the roadway system, each BSM included in the set of BSMs describing a specific vehicle included in the set of vehicles and including basic safety message data (“

BSM data”

) describing a lane of travel for the specific vehicle, a speed of travel for the specific vehicle and a heading of travel for the specific vehicle, wherein the set of BSMs are received by a dedicated short range communication (“

DSRC”

) antenna associated with a BSM traffic management system;

collating, by a processor, the BSM data into a plurality of subsets based on a portion of the BSM data describing the lane of travel, wherein the plurality of subsets includes a first subset including all the BSM data received for vehicles included in the set of vehicles traveling in the first unidirectional lane, a second subset including all the BSM data received for vehicles included in the set of vehicles traveling in the second unidirectional lane and a bidirectional subset including all the BSM data received for vehicles included in the set of vehicles traveling in the bidirectional lane;

analyzing, by the processor, the BSM data included in each subset to determine a first value for an Average Differential Speed Among Opposing Lanes of traffic (“

ADSAOL”

), wherein the first subset and the bidirectional subset oppose the second subset since traffic in the first unidirectional lane and the bidirectional lane flows towards the first heading and traffic in the second unidirectional lane flows towards the second heading;

analyzing, by the processor, the ADSAOL to determine whether reconfiguring the bidirectional lane so that traffic in the bidirectional lane flows in the second heading would result in a second value for the ADSAOL that is closer to zero when compared to the first value; and

providing, by the DSRC antenna, a signal to a traffic light that reconfigures the traffic light to allow traffic in the bidirectional lane to flow towards the second heading.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one BSM in the set is wirelessly received by the BSM traffic management system via a DSRC message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the DSRC message is transmitted by the specific vehicle that is described by the BSM data included in the BSM.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the DSRC message is transmitted by a different vehicle than the specific vehicle described by the BSM data included in the BSM.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one BSM included in the set of BSMs is received from a second BSM traffic management system via a DSRC message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one BSM included in the set of BSMs is received from a second BSM traffic management system via a wireless network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second unidirectional lane includes a feeder point that delivers traffic traveling in the second unidirectional lane.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the bidirectional lane is reconfigured if doing so would result in the second value being substantially zero.

9. A method of managing traffic along a roadway system including a first unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a first heading, a second unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a second heading and a bidirectional lane that is configurable to have traffic flowing towards either the first heading or the second heading, wherein the first heading is different from the second heading and the bidirectional lane is presently configured so that traffic in the bidirectional lane flows towards the first heading, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving, by a dedicated short range communication (“

DSRC”

) antenna, a set of basic safety messages (“

BSMs”

) describing a set of vehicles traveling along the roadway system, each BSM included in the set of BSMs describing a specific vehicle included in the set of vehicles and including basic safety message data (“

BSM data”

) describing a lane of travel for the specific vehicle, a speed of travel for the specific vehicle and a heading of travel for the specific vehicle;

analyzing, by a processor of a BSM traffic management system, the BSM data to determine a value for an Average Differential Speed Among Opposing Lanes of traffic (“

ADSAOL”

) for the first unidirectional lane and the second unidirectional lane;

determining, by the processor, that there is an imbalance of traffic flow among a first set of vehicles traveling towards the first heading and a second set of vehicles traveling towards the second heading responsive to the value for the ADSAOL exceeding a threshold value; and

providing, by the DSRC antenna, a signal to a traffic light that reconfigures the traffic light to allow traffic in the bidirectional lane to flow towards the second heading.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one BSM in the set is wirelessly received by the BSM traffic management system via a DSRC message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the DSRC message is transmitted by the specific vehicle that is described by the BSM data included in the BSM.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the DSRC message is transmitted by a different vehicle than the specific vehicle described by the BSM data included in the BSM.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one BSM included in the set of BSMs is received from a second BSM traffic management system via a DSRC message.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one BSM included in the set of BSMs is received from a second BSM traffic management system via a wireless network.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one of the first unidirectional lane and the second unidirectional lane includes a feeder point that delivers traffic traveling to that lane.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the bidirectional lane is only reconfigured if doing so would result in the feeder point not including one or more vehicles that are substantially stationary based at least in part on the imbalance.

17. A method of managing traffic along a roadway system including a first unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a first heading, a second unidirectional lane having traffic flowing towards a second heading and a traffic ramp that feeds traffic into the first unidirectional lane, wherein the first heading is different from the second heading and the traffic ramp includes a metering light to manage a flow of feeder vehicles fed into the first unidirectional lane, wherein the metering light is configured to allow a first rate of feeder vehicles to be fed into the first unidirectional lane per unit measurement of time, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a set of basic safety messages (“

BSMs”

) describing a set of vehicles traveling along the roadway system, each BSM included in the set of BSMs describing a specific vehicle included in the set of vehicles and including basic safety message data (“

BSM data”

) describing a lane of travel for the specific vehicle, a speed of travel for the specific vehicle and a heading of travel for the specific vehicle, wherein the set of BSMs are received by a dedicated short range communication (“

DSRC”

) antenna associated with a BSM traffic management system;

analyzing, by a processor of the BSM traffic management system, the BSM data to identify whether there is an imbalance of traffic flow among a first set of vehicles traveling towards the first heading and a second set of vehicles traveling towards the second heading;

responsive to identifying the imbalance, determining, by the processor, a second rate of feeder vehicles to be fed into the first unidirectional lane per unit measurement of time, wherein the second rate is configured to improve the imbalance relative to the first rate; and

providing, by the DSRC antenna, a signal to the metering light that reconfigures the metering light to allow the second rate of feeder vehicles to be fed into the first unidirectional lane per unit measurement of time.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the analyzing includes (1) analyzing the BSM data to determine a value for an Average Differential Speed Among Opposing Lanes of traffic (“

ADSAOL”

) for the first unidirectional lane and the second unidirectional lane based on the BSM data and (2) determining that an imbalance is present if the value for the ADSAOL is greater than a number provided by a human administrator of the BSM traffic management system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the ADSAOL is determined in substantial real time relative to a time when the set of BSMs was received.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the signal to the metering light is provided via a DSRC message.