METHOD OF PROCESSING POSITIONING DATA

• US 20100299064A1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TomTom Traffic B.V. (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: TomTom Traffic B.V. (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Wolf, Martin, Hilbrandie, Karine, Schäfer, Ralf-Peter, Atkinson, Ian Malcolm, Mieth, Peter, Hilbrandie, Geert, Rutten, Ben
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,057 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3844 Data obtained from position sensors only, e.g. from inertial navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096888 where input information is obtained using learning systems, e.g. history databases

Abstract

A method of processing positioning data to create map data is disclosed, the map data including a plurality of navigable segments representing segments of a navigable route in the area covered by the map with each segment being arranged to have speed data associated therewith. In at least one embodiment, the method includes processing the speed data to categorise the speed data into a plurality of time periods for the navigable segment with which the speed data is associated; and averaging the speed data within each time period in order to generate a measured speed profile for the navigable segment.

Claims

1. A method of processing positioning data to create map data, the map data comprising a plurality of navigable segments representing segments of a navigable route in an area covered by the map, speed data being associated with each segment, the method comprising:

i. processing the speed data to categorise the speed data into a plurality of time periods for the navigable segment with which the speed data is associated; and

ii. averaging the speed data within each time period in order to generate a measured speed profile for the navigable segment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the speed data before it is categorised into the plurality of time periods in order to reject speed data that is outside of designated criteria.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein speed data is rejected upon the speed data meeting any one of the following criteria:

being below a threshold speed, and being above a threshold speed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the averages calculated for each time period are analysed to determine whether they are acceptable.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving captured positioning data, comprising a plurality of positions, from at least one navigation device, and

storing the captured positioning data for processing in the method.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the captured positioning data is processed to generate trip data representing an individual journey for a navigation device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the captured positioning data is processed in order to associate positions within the data with a navigable segment.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the positioning data is processed in order to generate speed data therefrom.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the measured speed profile to replace a portion thereof with modified values for the average speeds for one or more time periods.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the measured speed profile in order to generate a set of generated speed profiles therefrom.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a set of generated speed profiles, each of which varies with respect to time.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the method further generates at least one further generated speed profile which does not vary with respect to time.

13. A method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a map being constituted by the map data.

16. A machine readable medium containing instructions which, when processed by a machine, cause the machine to perform:

the method of claim 1.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein the averages calculated for each time period are analysed to determine whether they are acceptable by way of ensuring that a standard deviation of the average meets a defined criteria.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the modifying of the measured speed profile, to replace a portion thereof with modified values for the average speeds for one or more time periods, includes using an average of the speed averages to be replaced as the modified value for each of the time periods within the replaced portion.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein each generated speed profile provides an approximation to one or more of the measured speed profiles, and wherein the generation is achieved by way of a clustering method.

14. A machine comprising:

a processor to process map data comprising a plurality of navigable segments representing segments of a navigable route in an area covered by the map, speed data being associated with each segment, the processor being arrange to at least;

process the speed data to categorise the speed data into a plurality of time periods for the navigable segment with which the speed data is associated; and

average the speed data within each time period to generate a measured speed profile for the navigable segment.

15. Map data comprising:

a plurality of navigable segments representing segments of a navigable route in an area covered by the map, speed data being associated with each segment, wherein the speed data comprises a set of time periods in which an average speed is stored in at least some time period, wherein the average speed represents average traffic speed along the navigable segment with which that speed data is associated in the time period.

20. A memory, for storing the map data of claim 15.