Obtaining vehicle traffic information using mobile Bluetooth detectors

• US 20120276847A1
• Filed: 04/29/2011
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Navteq North America LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Peterson, Lawrence M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method and system for obtaining traffic information from mobile Bluetooth detectors is disclosed. A mobile Bluetooth detector is a device located in a moving vehicle that includes Bluetooth and GPS firmware for collecting data from Bluetooth enabled devices. The mobile Bluetooth detector transmits the collected data to a remote facility where the data is processed to generate traffic information. A pair of mobile Bluetooth detectors may be used to collect data for generating ground truth.

Claims

1. A mobile Bluetooth detector located in a moving vehicle, comprising in combination:

a positioning system that detects a location of the vehicle;

data storage storing machine language instructions for collecting data regarding Bluetooth enabled devices attempting to connect with the mobile Bluetooth detector;

a processor that executes the machine language instructions stored in the data storage; and

a communication module for transmitting the data collected from the Bluetooth enabled devices to a remote facility that generates traffic information.

2. The detector of claim 1, wherein the collected data includes MAC addresses and time of detection of the Bluetooth enabled devices.

3. The detector of claim 1, wherein the collected data includes location of the vehicle and time location data is collected.

4. The detector of claim 1, wherein the communication module also transmits the MAC address of the mobile Bluetooth detector to the remote facility.

5. The detector of claim 1, wherein the communication module also transmits an anonymous identifier of the mobile Bluetooth detector to the remote facility.

6. A method of obtaining traffic information from a mobile Bluetooth detector, comprising:

providing a first device in a first vehicle moving in a geographic area, wherein the first device has Bluetooth and GPS capabilities;

collecting data regarding other devices attempting to connect with the first device, wherein the other devices are located near the first device, and wherein the collected data includes when and where the other devices attempted to connect with the first device; and

transmitting the collected data to a remote facility that generates traffic information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is a mobile telephone.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the collected data includes a MAC address of the other devices.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting a MAC address of the first device to the remote facility.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting an anonymous identifier of the first device to the remote facility.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the collected data is transmitted to the remote facility at periodic intervals.

12. The method of claim 6, providing a second device in a second vehicle moving in a same direction on a road at a distance from the first vehicle, wherein the second device has Bluetooth and GPS capabilities.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting the data collected from the first and second devices to the remote facility to generate ground truth.

14. A method of generating traffic information from data collected by mobile Bluetooth detectors, comprising:

from a first set of devices, receiving data regarding when and where a second set of devices attempted to connect with the first set of devices, wherein the first set of devices are mobile Bluetooth detectors and the second set of devices are Bluetooth enabled devices;

merging the received data by timestamp and MAC address; and

map matching the merged data to generate traffic information.

15. The method of claim 15, further comprising filtering the merged data prior to generating the traffic information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the traffic information is traffic speeds.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the traffic information is travel times.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first set of devices is a pair of mobile Bluetooth detectors separated by a distance and traveling in a same direction on a road.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second set of devices is traveling in a direction opposite from the first set of devices on the road.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the traffic information is ground truth.