MANAGING TRAFFIC FLOW

• US 20150051823A1
• Filed: 09/21/2014
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalfoundries US Incorporated (GlobalFoundries, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Joglekar, Kaushik C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,105,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/118
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control

Abstract

A method for tracking and routing traffic to avoid congestion via a plurality of user devices including providing a traffic reservation user interface for receiving a plurality of path selections from the plurality of user devices; responsive to predicting a traffic congestion from the plurality of user devices taking into account real-time and predicted conditions, presenting a first set of users with a first set of route selection recommendations via the user interface; and responsive to receiving a plurality of actual routing selections from the first set of users from the user interface, adjusting the traffic prediction, and presenting a second set of users with a second set of route selection recommendations via the user interface to reduce expected traffic congestion.

Claims

1. A method of tracking and routing traffic to avoid congestion via a plurality of user devices comprising:

providing a traffic reservation user interface for receiving a plurality of path selections from the plurality of user devices;

responsive to predicting a traffic congestion from the plurality of user devices taking into account real-time and predicted conditions, at least one of which is selected from the group of road, traffic, and weather conditions, presenting a first set of users with a first set of route selection recommendations via the user interface; and

responsive to receiving a plurality of actual routing selections from the first set of users from the user interface, adjusting the traffic prediction according to the predicted conditions and the actual routing selections, and presenting a second set of users with a second set of route selection recommendations via the user interface to reduce expected traffic congestion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of user devices includes mobile devices;

and wherein the user interface comprises an application programming interface (API).

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the mobile devices are selected from a group consisting of a smart phone, a notebook, a tablet and a GPS unit.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the predicted conditions includes scheduled road maintenance, scheduled road construction, scheduled events, predicted rush hour traffic loads, and weather forecasts.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second set of route selection recommendations does not include routes which are predicted to be congested.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second set of route selection recommendations includes incentives to avoid selecting routes which are predicted to be congested.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking selected routes during route usage and notifying users of alternate routes due to increased congestion in the selected routes.

8. The method of claim 3 further comprising tracking selected routes during route usage and notifying users of alternate routes due to increased congestion in the selected routes;

wherein the predicted conditions includes scheduled road maintenance, scheduled road construction, scheduled events, predicted rush hour traffic loads, and weather forecasts;

wherein the second set of route selection recommendations does not include routes which are predicted to be congested; and

wherein the second set of route selection recommendations includes incentives to avoid selecting routes which are predicted to be congested.

9-20. -20. (canceled)