Transmission of targeted roadway alerts

• US 9,959,756 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2015
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Filley, George, Moran, Kevin, Belkin, Anatoly
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jelani A
• Application Number:
  US14/872,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20170098373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0125 Traffic data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096708 where the received information might be used to 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 1/096805 where the transmitted instructions are used to compute a route
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmission of targeted roadway alerts. A server receives a first description of an incident. The server determines an impact area of the incident based on the description. The server generates a geographic polygon based on the impact are of the incident. The server overlays the geographic polygon on a first cellular map and transmits an alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the geographic polygon.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first description of an incident;

determining an impact area of the incident based on the first description, the impact area comprising one or more road segments;

generating a geographic polygon based on the impact area of the incident, the geographic polygon describing an area different than the impact area;

overlaying the geographic polygon on a first cellular map;

transmitting an alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the geographic polygon;

overlaying the geographic polygon on a second cellular map, wherein the second cellular map includes different coverage patterns than the first cellular map; and

transmitting the alert message to a device within a cell of the second cellular map that contain at least a portion of the geographic polygon.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an updated impact area of the incident at a subsequent time;

generating an updated geographic polygon based on the updated impact area;

overlaying the updated geographic polygon on the first cellular map; and

transmitting an updated alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the updated dynamic geographic polygon.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first description of the incident is received from a sensor integrated within a vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an impact area comprises:

using the first description, current traffic data, and historical flow data to predict a traffic pattern as a result of the incident; and

determining a geographic area where current traffic is affected by the predicted traffic pattern.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the geographic area is comprised of one or more road segments.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising using weather data to predict the traffic pattern.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert message has a timeout, wherein after the timeout expires, the alert message is not transmitted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic geographic polygon is archived to use for future incidents.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert message includes information that alters a route of the device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second description of the incident, wherein determining an impact area of the incident is based on the first description and second description.

11. 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 configured to store the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform;

receiving a description of an incident;

generating an impact area of the incident based on the description;

generating a geographic polygon based on the impact area of the incident, the geographic polygon different than the impact area;

transmitting an alert message and the geographic polygon to a first cellular provider; and

transmitting an alert message and the geographic polygon to a second cellular provider;

wherein the first cellular provider and second cellular provider maintain different cellular patterns of coverage for the geographic polygon.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:

generating an updated impact area of the incident at a second time;

generating an updated geographic polygon based on the updated impact area; and

transmitting the alert message and the updated geographic polygon to the first cellular provider.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the alert message has a timeout, wherein after the timeout expires, the alert message is not transmitted.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein generating an impact area comprises:

using current traffic and historical flow information to predict a traffic pattern as a result of the incident; and

determining the geographic area where current traffic is affected by the traffic pattern.