System and method for monitoring and updating speed-by-street data

• US 20080252487A1
• Filed: 05/22/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inthinc Technology Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Inthinc Technology Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: McClellan, Scott, Catten, Jonathan C., Follmer, Todd, Capps, Eric, Maynard, Ed, Ord, Dave, Russon, Verlin, Eyre, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,859,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/936
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information

Abstract

System and method for identifying speeding violations, comprising determining a current speed and a current location of a vehicle, determining a posted speed limit for the current location from a speed-by-street database, comparing the current speed of the vehicle to the posted speed limit, and evaluating whether the current speed exceeds the posted speed limit. Errors are identified in the speed-by-street database by storing a plurality of speeding violation records, wherein the speeding violation records each include a speeding event location; analyzing the speeding violation records to identify one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations; comparing a posted speed limit at the one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations to corresponding speed limit data in the speed-by-street database; and identifying one or more speed limit entries in the speed-by-street database that do not match the posted speed limit.

Claims

1. A method for identifying speeding violations, comprising:

determining a speed and a location of a vehicle;

determining a posted speed limit for the location from a speed-by-street database;

comparing the speed of the vehicle to the posted speed limit; and

evaluating whether the speed exceeds the posted speed limit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a speeding violation record.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a speeding violation warning to a driver of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the speeding violation warning is selected from at least one (1) of the group consisting of:

a warning tone;

an audible warning message;

a spoken warning message;

a visual warning indicator; and

a text message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a speeding violation warning to a monitoring system remote from the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the speeding violation notice is transmitted via a wireless link to a monitoring system server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the speeding violation notice comprises the location and the speed of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the speeding violation message is sent only if the speed exceeds the posted speed limit by a threshold amount.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

storing a speeding violation record at the monitoring system remote from the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying a performance of an engine of the vehicle, if the speed exceeds the posted speed limit by a threshold amount.

11. A method for identifying errors in a speed-by-street database, comprising:

storing a plurality of speeding violation records, wherein at least one of the speeding violation records includes a speeding event location;

analyzing the speeding violation records to identify one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations;

comparing a posted speed limit at the one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations to corresponding speed limit data in the speed-by-street database; and

identifying one or more speed limit entries in the speed-by-street database that do not match the posted speed limit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the speeding violation records are created based upon a comparison of a vehicle'"'"'s speed to a speed limit entry in the speed-by-street database.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

updating entries in the speed-by-street database with the posted speed limit at the one or more speeding event locations.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying a speeding condition, wherein the speeding condition is associated with a location and a speed; and

comparing the location and speed to an updated speed-by-street database.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

creating a list of entries in the speed-by-street database that do not match the posted speed limit at the one or more speeding event locations.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the list comprises locations and posted speeds for one or more of the speeding event locations.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a speeding condition, wherein the speeding condition is associated with a location and a speed; and

comparing the location and speed to the list.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

if the location is included in the list, determining whether speed is above a corresponding posted speed in the list.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a speeding violation notification message; and

comparing the speeding violation notification message to a list of corrected speed limits; and

conditionally forwarding the speeding violation message.

20. A vehicle monitoring base station comprising:

a data communication interface operable to receive an event from a monitored vehicle;

a database that associates vehicle speed limitation information with geographical information; and

a processor operable to query the database using geographical information associated with the received event to determine a threshold speed, to use the received event to determine whether the monitored vehicle has surpassed the threshold speed, and to perform an action if it is determined that the monitored vehicle has surpassed the threshold speed.

21. The vehicle monitoring base station of claim 20, wherein the data communication interface is wireless.

22. The vehicle monitoring base station of claim 20, each event received by the data communication interface includes the following:

a location of the monitored vehicle; and

a speed of the monitored vehicle.

23. The vehicle monitoring base station of claim 22, wherein each event received by the data communication interface further includes a vehicle identifier.

24. The vehicle monitoring base station of claim 20, wherein the database associates speed limits with streets.

25. The vehicle monitoring base station of claim 20, wherein the database associates speed limits with geographical areas.

26. A vehicle speed monitoring device comprising:

an interface for receiving information from one or more input devices; and

a processor operable to determine a speed and location of a vehicle using the received information, to determining a threshold speed corresponding to the determined location of the vehicle, and to perform an action if the speed of the vehicle exceeds the determined threshold speed.

27. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 26, wherein the one or more input devices includes a geo-location device.

28. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 26, wherein the one or more input devices includes an on-board diagnostic system.

29. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 26, further comprising an output device.

30. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 29, wherein the output device includes a display.

31. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 29, wherein the output device includes a speaker.

32. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 29, wherein the output device is a data communication interface.

33. The vehicle speed monitoring device of claim 29, wherein the action performed by the processor if the speed of the vehicle exceeds the determined threshold speed is to transmit an event using the output device.

34. A speed-by-street database system comprising:

a database associating vehicle speed limitation information with geographical information;

a data communication interface that receives events from monitored vehicles; and

a database maintenance component to facilitate modification of speed limitation information for particular geographical information in the database using received events corresponding to the particular geographical information.

35. The speed-by-street database system of claim 34, wherein a received event includes information indicative of a speed and location of a monitored vehicle.

36. The speed-by-street database system of claim 35, wherein the database maintenance component facilitates modification of speed limitation information in the database by identifying locations associated with received events wherein the vehicle speed indicated by the received events surpasses a speed threshold indicated by speed limitation information in the database.