Personalized traffic reports

• US 20100094531A1
• Filed: 10/15/2008
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Navteq North America LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: MacLeod, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/119
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• 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

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for providing personalized traffic reports. A personalized traffic report is a relatively short, audio-visual presentation that includes an audio narrative by an announcer describing the traffic conditions along a user'"'"'s selected route, synchronized with a video presentation that includes maps with animations showing the traffic conditions and a visual representation of the announcer. A traffic data services provider determines traffic conditions that pertain to a user'"'"'s identified particular route, i.e. from an origin to a destination. Then, the traffic data services provider forms an audio-video file that includes an audio narrative in the voice of an announcer that describes the traffic conditions along the user'"'"'s route, along with a visual map representation of the user'"'"'s route, a graphical indication of the traffic conditions along the route, and a visual representation of the announcer. The traffic data services provider transmits the audio-video file of the personalized traffic report to the user, who then plays it back on a computing device.

Claims

1. A method for making a personalized traffic report for a user comprising the steps of:

obtaining current traffic information that pertains to at least one route along roads of a road network in a geographic area from the user'"'"'s starting location to a destination;

selecting a plurality of phrases in a voice of an announcer to form an audio track narrative that describes the current traffic information pertaining to the at least one route from the user'"'"'s starting location to the destination;

forming an audio-video file that combines (i) the audio track narrative, (ii) a graphical visual representation of at least a portion of the roads of the route, (iii) a visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route and (iv) a visual representation of the announcer speaking at least a portion of the audio track narrative; and

providing the audio-video file to the user for playback on a computer platform device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the announcer is animated to appear to be speaking the audio track narrative.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of phrases in the voice of the announcer are pre-recorded.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the user stores a profile indicating times at which personalized traffic reports are to be automatically transmitted.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user stores a profile indicating a selection of the announcer whose voice and visual representation are used in personalized traffic reports.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route is provided by an animation that moves at a speed that corresponds relatively to that of the traffic along the roads.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the personalized traffic report has a duration of between 15 seconds and 1 minute.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route includes a scene in which the roads are presented in a 3D view.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route includes a scene in which the roads are presented in a 2D view.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route includes a scene in which the roads are presented in a fly-through video.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route includes a scene in which the roads are presented in a drive-through video.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the user stores a profile indicating an email address or telephone number to which to send personalized traffic reports.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route includes incident data.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route include flow data.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining map data from a map database to render the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using a report template that defines scenes to depict the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the announcer includes hand or arm gestures.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the announcer includes a hand gesture that points to a portion of the route the traffic information about which is described by the audio track narrative.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route, the visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route, the visual representation of the announcer and the audio track narrative are synchronized so that the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route, the visual representation of the current traffic information along the roads of the route and the visual representation of the announcer show the traffic information that is concurrently being described by the audio track narrative.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual representation of the announcer is overlaid over the graphical visual representation of the roads of the route.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing advertising with the personalized traffic report.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of phrases in the voice of the announcer are formed by text-to-speech processing.

23. A system for providing personalized traffic reports to users located throughout a geographic area comprising:

a traffic report generator application operable to form personalized traffic reports and deliver the personalized traffic reports to users, where each personalized traffic report comprises an audio-visual file that includes

(i) an audio narrative in a voice of an announcer describing traffic conditions along a route between locations specified by a user,

(ii) one or more visual scenes depicting a graphical map representation of the route including a representation of current traffic information along the route, and

(iii) a visual representation of the announcer speaking at least a portion of the audio narrative.

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

a navigation services application operable to determine the routes between locations in the geographic area specified by users.

25. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

a traffic services application operable to maintain information on the current traffic conditions along roads in the geographic area, including routes between locations specified by users.

26. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

an advertising application operable to include ads with the personalized traffic reports.

27. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

a collection of audio clips in the voice of the announcer, from which said traffic report generator selects certain audio clips to form the audio narrative of the personalized traffic report.

28. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

a collection of video clips of the announcer, from which said traffic report generator selects certain video clips to form the visual representation of the announcer.

29. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

a user profile database that stores information indicating times of day to deliver personalized traffic reports to users.

30. A method for delivering personalized traffic reports to users from an on-line service, comprising the steps of:

combining phrases to form an audio narrative in a voice of an announcer, wherein the audio narrative describes traffic conditions on a route between locations selected by a user;

synchronizing the audio narrative with video scenes that show a graphical depiction of the route, the traffic conditions on the route and a visual representation of the announcer speaking at least a portion of the audio narrative; and

providing the audio-video file to the user for playback.