System and method for collecting and transporting simulation data

• US 7,881,914 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2006
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: HNTB Holdings Limited
• Inventors: Trotta, Brian W., Wills, Christopher Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Kamini S
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAY, HERNG DER
• Application Number:
  US11/469,668
• Publication Number:
  US 20070052701A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 703/6, 703/8, 345/419, 345/420, 345/473
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/20 3D [Three Dimensional] animation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions

Abstract

A system and method for receiving and displaying simulated movement data on a graphical display in real-time is provided. Simulated movement data from a simulation is received. The type and location of each object to be displayed on a graphical display for a time step is extracted from the simulated movement data. The extracted data is transferred to an application for determining an appropriate three-dimensional representation to associate with each type of object in the first point in time. Each three-dimensional representation is displayed according the location of each object for the first point in time of the simulation.

Claims

1. One or more computer-storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for causing a computing device to perform a computer-implemented method for extracting and transferring simulated movement data in real time, the method comprising:

receiving from a simulation simulated movement data for multiple time steps that include an indication of a certain location of a vehicle, wherein each of the multiple time steps is a different point in time in the simulation;

by way of a processor of said computing device, extracting from the simulated movement data simulated movement time step data that include a vehicle identifier, a vehicle-type indicator, and a vehicle location;

determining whether a first time step of the multiple time steps is within a designated recording period, wherein the designated recording period is a recording period that starts after the simulation begins;

if the first time step is within the designated recording period, assigning simulated movement time step data for the first time step to an at least one step scanner that transfers simulated movement time step data for a first vehicle of the first time step to a worker thread;

if the first time step is not within the designated recording period, terminating the at least one step scanner and the worker thread;

upon determining that the first time step is within the designated recording period, extracting from the simulated movement time step data for the first time step a vehicle identifier, a vehicle-type indicator, and a vehicle location that describes a location of the first vehicle within the first time step such that the vehicle identifier, the vehicle-type indicator, and the vehicle location are accessible to a virtual reality interface for creating a three-dimensional environment in a virtual reality application;

transferring extracted vehicle data for the first time step from the worker thread to the virtual reality interface via one of a plurality of pipes, wherein each pipe carries extracted vehicle data that was extracted from a different time step by a different worker thread, wherein transferring includes,

(a) determining whether any of the pipes is not currently being utilized,

(b) when it is determined that a pipe is not being used to transfer extracted vehicle data, utilizing the pipe to transfer the extracted vehicle data for the first time step to the virtual reality interface;

accessing the virtual reality application by the virtual reality interface for associating with the first vehicle an appropriate three-dimensional representation based on the first vehicle identifier and the first vehicle-type indicator;

determining appropriate corrections for displaying the three-dimensional representation of the first vehicle, wherein the appropriate corrections include adjustments to heading, pitch, and roll of the three-dimensional representation for the first time step so that the first vehicle has a correct orientation in the three-dimensional environment of the virtual reality application; and

according to the first vehicle location of the first vehicle, displaying the corrected three-dimensional representation of the first vehicle for the first time step.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

extracting simulated movement data for a second time step from the simulated movement time step data, wherein the simulated movement time step data for the second time step include a vehicle identifier, a vehicle-type indicator, and a vehicle location that describes a location of the first vehicle within the second time step; and

transferring extracted data for the second time step.

3. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a computer-implemented method for presenting on a display device a simulation of traffic that is made up of real-world vehicles (“

vehicles”

) in real-time, the method comprising;

receiving from a simulation simulated movement data for multiple time steps that include an indication of a certain location of a first vehicle and a second vehicle, wherein each of the multiple time steps is a different point in time in the simulation;

assigning the simulated movement data to a plurality of step scanners, wherein each of the step scanners is assigned simulated movement data for a different time step, and wherein multiple time steps are processed in parallel by the step scanners;

at each step scanner,

(a) parsing the movement data for the time step assigned to the step scanner to determine whether the movement data include vehicle data,

(b) when the movement data include vehicle data, associating the vehicles into groups of vehicles, and

(c) assigning the groups of vehicles to a plurality of threads within the step scanner, wherein each thread is assigned a different group of vehicles, wherein each thread extracts vehicle data from the simulated movement data for each vehicle in the group of vehicles assigned to the thread, wherein the threads within the step scanner process the simulated movement data for the time step in parallel;

extracting from the simulated movement data for a first time step simulated movement time step data that include a first vehicle identifier, a first vehicle-type indicator, and a first vehicle location that describes a first location of the first vehicle such that the first vehicle identifier, the first vehicle-type indicator, and the first vehicle location are accessible to a virtual reality interface for creating a three-dimensional environment in a virtual reality application;

inspecting the simulated movement time step data to determine whether the first vehicle has been previously encountered;

if the first vehicle has been previously encountered, updating an existing vehicle history which stores vehicle-identification information, vehicle-type information, and vehicle-location information, wherein said updating includes updating the vehicle-location information to reflect the first vehicle location;

if the first vehicle has not been previously encountered, storing in the vehicle history the first vehicle identifier, the first vehicle-type indicator, and the first vehicle location;

determining whether the first time step is within a designated recording period in the simulation, wherein a designated recording period is a recording period included in a simulation that starts after the simulation begins;

if the first time step is within the designated recording period, assigning simulated movement time step data for the first time step to a first step scanner of the plurality of step scanners that transfers simulated movement time step data for the first vehicle of the first time step to a first worker thread of the plurality of threads within the first step scanner;

if the first time step is not within the designated recording period, terminating the first step scanner and the first worker thread;

transferring the extracted data via at least one connection to the virtual reality application for associating with the first vehicle an appropriate three-dimensional representation based on the first vehicle identifier and the first vehicle-type indicator;

repeating said extracting, inspecting, and associating steps for the second vehicle to derive a three-dimensional representation that corresponds to the second vehicle; and

according to the first vehicle location that describes the first location of the first vehicle and a second vehicle location that describes a location of the second vehicle, displaying on the display device the three-dimensional representation of the first vehicle and the three-dimensional representation of the second vehicle.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

determining appropriate corrections for displaying the three-dimensional representations of the first vehicle and the second vehicle, wherein the appropriate corrections include adjustments to one or more of heading, pitch, and roll of the three-dimensional representations.

5. The media of claim 3, wherein the simulated movement data include a state of a traffic signal.

6. The media of claim 3 further comprising, wherein the three-dimensional representation for both the first vehicle and the second vehicle is obtained from the virtual reality application.