MANAGED ACCESS SYSTEM FOR TRAFFIC FLOW OPTIMIZATION

• US 20160097648A1
• Filed: 10/05/2015
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marc R. Hannah
• Original Assignee: Marc R. Hannah
• Inventors: Hannah, Marc R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,664,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/092 Coding or decoding of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/093 Data selection, e.g. prioritizing information, managing message queues, selecting the information to be output
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries
• 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

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems to manage traffic density in a transportation system, and by doing so, maintain, in one embodiment, traffic flows near optimum levels to maximize road capacity and minimize travel times. The method includes, in one embodiment, a mechanism for vehicles to request road access from a centalized control, a queuing system that allows road access to be granted to individual vehicles over an extended period of time in a fair and organized fashion, a measurement system that allows traffic flow and density throughout the system to be determined in real-time, and an enforcement and fraud prevention mechanism to ensure that the rules and permissions imposed by the system are followed.

Claims

1. A method for providing traffic control, the method comprising:

receiving a request to travel in a vehicle having a vehicle identifier, the request originating from a device associated with the vehicle and the request comprising at least one of;

(a) a destination or origin;

(b) a direction of travel;

(c) an original and a destination;

or (d) a route;

receiving information about a current traffic congestion condition for the request to travel;

determining a travel delay based on the request and current traffic congestion condition, wherein the travel delay represents a waiting time after the request to travel; and

transmitting a message, the message indicating when, based on the travel delay, the vehicle is authorized to begin to travel according to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data from a set of sensors configured to provide information which is used to detect vehicles traveling on one or more roads without authorization, the data comprising at least one of (a) one or more camera images of one or more license plates;

(b) radio frequency (RF) signals identifying one or more vehicles;

or (c) violation data based on permission codes specifying identifiers of vehicles and route information for the vehicle; and

wherein the current traffic congestion condition is based on at least one of;

current density of vehicles along the route or current rate of flow of vehicles along the route.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

recording violations for traveling on roads without authorization based on the data received from the set of sensors;

determining fines based on the recorded violations; and

wherein the request to travel is an on demand request.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a request to shorten the travel delay, the request being accompanied by a consideration provided to receive the shortened travel delay, and wherein the travel delay is created based on the request to shorten the travel delay.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the request to travel is received through a permission privacy server which anonymizes the vehicle identifier;

and

wherein the permission codes comprises sufficient information to determine whether a detected vehicle on a road has been authorized to be on the road at the current time that the vehicle is detected on the road.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the method receives a plurality of requests to travel which are placed in a virtual queue and the positions within slots in the virtual queue are randomized.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the vehicle identifier is a license plate number and the request includes one of the license plate number or a hash of the license plate number or a salted hash of the license plate number.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein a first set of roadside sensors provide information about the current traffic congestion condition, and wherein the permissions code comprises route information and other sufficient information to determine whether a detected vehicle on a route has been authorized to be on the route at the current time that the vehicle is detected on the route, and wherein the message is transmitted either soon after the travel delay is determined or around the time that the waiting period, required by the travel delay, expires, and wherein the method imposes a time window within which travel should begin and if travels does not begin within the time window, then the authorization to travel is revoked, and wherein the permission code is transmitted by a device on the vehicle to a roadside enforcement sensor, and wherein the travel delay is calculated to provide a vehicle density below a threshold value that is below a traffic density that would exist without the traffic control provided by the method.

9. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing computer program instructions which, when executed by a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform a method for providing traffic control, the method comprising:

receiving a request to travel in a vehicle having a vehicle identifier, the request originating from a device associated with the vehicle and the request comprising at least one of;

(a) a destination or origin;

(b) a direction of travel;

(c) an origin and a destination;

or (d) a route;

receiving information about a current traffic congestion condition for the request to travel;

determining a travel delay based on the request and the current traffic congestion condition, wherein the travel delay represents a waiting time after the request to travel; and

transmitting a message, the message indicating when, based on the travel delay, the vehicle is authorized to begin to travel according to the request.

10. The medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

receiving data from a set of sensors configured to provide information which is used to detect vehicles traveling on one or more roads without authorization, the data comprising at least one of (a) one or more camera images of one or more license plates;

(b) radio frequency (RF) signals identifying one or more vehicles;

or (c) violation data based on permission codes specifying identifiers of vehicles and route information for the vehicle; and

wherein the current traffic congestion condition is based on at least one of;

current density of vehicles along the route or current rate of flow of vehicles along the route.

11. The medium of claim 10, the method further comprising:

recording violations for traveling on roads without authorization based on the data received from the set of sensor;

determining fines based on the recorded violations; and

wherein the request to travel is an on demand request.

12. The medium of claim 10, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to shorten the travel delay, the request being accompanied by a consideration provided to receive the shortened travel delay, and wherein the travel delay is created based on the request to shorten the travel delay.

13. The medium of claim 10 wherein the request to travel is received through a permission privacy server which anonymizes the vehicle identifier;

and

wherein the permission codes comprises sufficient information to determine whether a detected vehicle on a road has been authorized to be on the road at the current time that the vehicle is detected on the road.

14. The medium of claim 10 wherein the method receives a plurality of requests to travel which are placed in a virtual queue and the positions within slots in the virtual queue are randomized.

15. The medium of claim 10 wherein the vehicle identifier is a license plate number and the request includes one of the license plate number or a hash of the license plate number or a salted hash of the license plate number.

16. The medium of claim 10 wherein a first set of roadside sensors provide information about the current traffic congestion condition, and wherein the permission code comprises route information and other sufficient information to determine whether a detected vehicle on a route has been authorized to be on the route at the current time that the vehicle is detected on the route, and wherein the message is transmitted either soon after the travel delay is determined or around the time that the waiting period, required by the travel delay, expires, and wherein the method imposes a time window within which travel should begin and if travels does not begin within the time window, then the authorization to travel is revoked, and wherein the permission code is transmitted by a device on the vehicle to a roadside enforcement sensor, and wherein the travel delay is calculated to provide a vehicle density below a threshold value that is below a traffic density that would exist without the traffic control provided by the method.

17. A data processing system for providing traffic control, the data processing system comprising:

means for receiving a request to travel in a vehicle having a vehicle identifier, the request originating from a device associated with the vehicle and the request comprising at last one of;

(a) a destination or origin;

(b) a direction of travel;

(c) an original and a destination;

or (d) a route;

means for receiving information about a current traffic congestion condition for the request to travel;

means for determining a travel delay based on the request and current traffic congestion condition, wherein the travel delay represents a waiting time after the request to travel; and

means for transmitting a massage, the message indicating when, based on the travel delay, the vehicle is authorized to begin to travel according to the request.

18. A data processing system comprising:

an input device and an output device;

a processing system coupled to the input device and to the output device;

a wireless transceiver coupled to the processing system and configured to transmit data to and to receive data from one or more data processing systems, the processing system and the wireless transceiver configured to transmit a request to travel in a vehicle having a vehicle identifier, and the processing system and the wireless transceiver configured to receive a message indicating when, based on a travel delay, the vehicle is authorized to begin to travel according to the request, the travel delay being based on current traffic congestion conditions, wherein the travel delay represents a waiting time after the request to travel.

19. The data processing system of claim 18 wherein the data processing system is one of a smartphone or a key fob.

20. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein an application (app) on the smartphone receives the request to travel and causes the request to be transmitted through the wireless transceiver, and wherein the app presents the message on the output device, and wherein the app stores prior starting and ending locations for re-use by the user.

21. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the data processing system generates a salt value repeatedly over time to provide privacy to the user.

22. The data processing system of claim 20 wherein the app generates a salt value repeatedly over time to provide privacy to the user.

23. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the travel delay is calculated to provide a vehicle density below a threshold value that is below a vehicle density that would exist without traffic control provided by a traffic control system provided by the one or more data processing systems.

24. The data processing system of claim 20 wherein the output device displays a violation warning that provides an opportunity to avoid a fine.

25. The data processing system of claim 20 wherein the app is configured to receive a request to shorten the travel delay.

26. The data processing system of claim 18 wherein the data processing system is a key fob and wherein the wireless transceiver comprises an RF texting receiver and a personal area network transceiver.

27. The data processing system of claim 20 wherein the app receives a permission code from the one or more data processing systems and then transmits the permission code to another device on the vehicle through a personal area network (PAN) transceiver.

28. The data processing system of claim 27 wherein the PAN transceiver is one of:

a Bluetooth transceiver, a WiFi transceiver or a ZigBee transceiver.

29. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions which, provide the app of claim 20.

30. A data processing system for anonymizing vehicle identifiers, the system comprising:

a processing system;

a network interface coupled to the processing system, the network interface configured to communicate with a server system that transmits messages to user devices indicating when vehicles are authorized to begin to travel, the processing system configured to receive requests to travel from the user devices, the requests specifying vehicle identifiers for vehicles associated with the user devices, and the processing system configured to transmit anonymized identifiers, corresponding to the vehicle identifiers, to the server system to permit the server system to identify the vehicles without using the actual vehicle identifiers.

31. The data processing system of claim 30 wherein each of the anonymized identifiers comprises one of:

a hashed license plate number;

a hashed vehicle identifier;

a salted hash of a license plate number;

a salted hash of a vehicle identifier.

32. The data processing system of claim 30 wherein the processing system is configured to crate a salted hash of a vehicle identifier for each of the anonymized identifiers and is configured to transmit, through the network interface, the salted hash of the vehicle identifier to the server system which is part of a traffic control system.

33. The data processing system of claim 32 wherein the network interface transmits a salt value to each user device for the corresponding salted hash and wherein the user device is one of a key fob or a smartphone with an app configured to operate with the traffic control system.

34. The data processing system of claim 31 wherein the processing system is configured to repeatedly generate new salt values over time to provide privacy for the users.

35. The data processing system of claim 31 wherein route information for each request to travel is provided to the server system which is part of a traffic control system, and the route information is hidden from the data processing system.

36. The data processing system of claim 31 wherein the processing system is configured to verify each vehicle identifier, specified in the requests, is valid and unique.

37. The data processing system of claim 36 wherein the vehicle identifiers are at least one of:

a license plate number;

a vehicle identification number provided by a manufacturer of the vehicle;

or code contained in an RFID signal from the vehicle.

38. A method performed by the data processing system of claim 30.

39. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing executable compute program instructions which cause the data processing system to perform the method of claim 38.

40. An enforcement sensor for use in a traffic control system, the enforcement sensor comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) receiver configured to receive data about one or more vehicles on one or more roads, the data including a permission code which includes, within the permission code, at least one of;

a vehicle identifier, a hash of the vehicle identifier, or a salted hash of the vehicle identifier, and the permission code also includes information about an authorized route;

a processing system coupled to the RF receiver, the processing system configured to extract the vehicle identifier or the hash of the vehicle identifier or the salted hash of the vehicle identifier from the permission code and to perform a comparison operation using the extracted data and the vehicle identifier received through either the RF receiver or a camera coupled to the processing system to determine whether the vehicle is authorized to travel on the route;

a transmitter coupled to the processing system, the transmitter configured to transmit a travel violation based on the comparison operation, the travel violation being transmitted, directly or indirectly to an enforcement authority.

41. The enforcement sensor of claim 40 wherein the enforcement sensor is fixed on a road and receives the permission code and the vehicle identifier and a salt value from one of:

a key fob on the vehicle, a smartphone, with an app, on the vehicle, or a device mounted on the vehicle.

42. A method performed by an enforcement sensor of claim 41.

43. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions which cause the enforcement sensor to perform the method of claim 42.

44. A device mounted on a vehicle the device for use in a traffic control system, the device comprising:

a memory configured to store a permission code received from a traffic control system in response to a user'"'"'s on-demand request to travel, the permission code including information about a route authorized by the traffic control system and data associated with a vehicle identifier of the vehicle, the data associated with the vehicle identifier being one of;

the vehicle identifier or a hash of the vehicle identifier or a salted hash of the vehicle identifier;

a transmitter coupled to an antenna;

a processing system coupled to the memory and to the transmitter, the processing system configured to transmit the permission code to an enforcement sensor which is coupled to one of the traffic control system or an enforcement agency associated with the traffic control system.

45. The device of claim 44 further comprising an RF receiver to receive the permission code and a salt value from one of a user'"'"'s key fob or smartphone which made the on-demand request, and wherein the transmitter transmits the salt value to the enforcement sensor and transmits the vehicle identifier to the enforcement sensor.

46. A method performed by the device of claim 45.

47. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions which cause the device to perform the method of claim 46.