Displaying road traffic condition information and user controls

• US 8,615,354 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2010
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inrix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Inrix Incorporated
• Inventors: Barker, Alec, Asher, Todd, Burns, Mitchel A., Downs, Oliver B., Chapman, Craig H., Cahn, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOYER, DALE S
• Application Number:
  US12/856,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20110035141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 701117-119, 701/414, 701/423, 340/905, 340/995.13, 342/456
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0968 Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

Techniques are described for displaying or otherwise providing information to users regarding various types of road traffic condition information in various ways. The information may be provided, for example, as part of a user interface (or “UI”), which may in some situations further include one or more types of user-selectable controls to allow a user to manipulate in various ways what road traffic condition information is displayed and/or how the information is displayed. A variety of types of road traffic condition information may be presented to users in various manners, including by presenting information on graphically displayed maps for geographic areas to indicate various information about road conditions in the geographic area. In addition, provided controls may allow users to select particular times, select particular routes, indicate to perform animation of various types of changing traffic conditions over a sequence of multiple successive times, etc.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing information relating to traffic conditions on roads, the method comprising:

providing a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area, the providing of the map being performed by one or more configured computing systems;

identifying a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments;

automatically determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, comparative traffic conditions for the at least some road segments that indicate differences between actual and expected traffic conditions, the determining of the comparative traffic conditions including, for each of the at least some road segments;

determining expected traffic conditions for the road segment for a selected time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segment at the selected time;

determining target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time that correspond to actual traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment; and

determining whether a difference exists between the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time and the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time, and

providing, by at least one of the one or more configured computing systems, information for display on the map about the determined comparative traffic conditions for the at least some road segments, wherein the provided information includes an indication for each of the at least some road segments of whether the difference is determined to exist for the road segment for the selected time and includes an indication of a determined numeric difference between actual average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment and expected average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment, such that the displayed representation of the road segment on the displayed map includes an associated visual indication of the determined numeric difference for the road segment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least some road segments are a subset of the multiple road segments, and wherein the representations of the at least some road segments are displayed on a map in a manner distinct from the displayed representations of other of the multiple road segments, so as to visually emphasize the route through a network of multiple roads displayed on the map.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the provided information for each of the at least some road segments includes an indication of one of multiple predefined determined levels of difference that reflects the differences between the actual traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and the expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment, such that the displayed representation of the road segment on the displayed map includes a visual representation of the determined difference level for the road segment, each of the multiple predefined difference levels having a distinct visual representation.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing information for display on the map about comparative travel times for vehicles traveling the route at the selected time, the comparative travel time information indicating differences between actual vehicle travel times at the selected time for the route and expected vehicle travel times at the selected time for the route.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments are a past time, and wherein the comparative traffic conditions information is based on information about actual traffic conditions at the selected past time.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments are a single time, such that the provided comparative traffic conditions information for the at least some road segments reflects traffic conditions at the single time.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments include multiple successive times for successive road segments in a series of road segments along the route, such that a first of the road segments in the series is associated with a first selected time and such that each other road segment in the series is associated with a distinct selected time later than the associated selected time for a prior road segment in the series, the distinct selected later time associated with an other road segment differing from the associated selected time for the prior road segment by an amount that corresponds to an expected amount of time to traverse the prior road segment at the associated selected time for the prior road segment.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the map for display includes providing a user interface for displaying the map, the provided user interface including one or more user-selectable controls to allow one or more users to modify traffic conditions information that is provided for display on the map.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the information about the comparative traffic conditions at the selected time for each of the at least some road segments includes displaying to one or more users the provided comparative traffic conditions information on the map.

10. A computer-implemented method for providing information relating to traffic conditions on roads, the method comprising:

providing a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area, the providing of the map being performed by one or more configured computing systems;

identifying a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments;

providing, by at least one of the one or more configured computing systems, information for display on the map about comparative traffic conditions for each of the at least some road segments at a selected time, wherein the comparative traffic conditions information indicate differences between expected traffic conditions for the road segment at the selected time and at least one of actual and predicted traffic conditions for the road segment at the selected time, and wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments include multiple successive times for successive road segments in a series of road segments along the route; and

providing one or more user-selectable time sequence manipulation controls for the map such that a single selection by a user of one of the time sequence manipulation controls indicates to automatically perform without further user interaction a successive providing of information about comparative traffic conditions for the at least some road segments at each of the multiple successive times.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing system to provide information relating to traffic conditions on roads, by performing a method comprising:

providing a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area, the providing of the map being performed by the configured computing system;

identifying a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments;

automatically determining, by the configured computing system, comparative traffic conditions for one or more of the multiple road segments that indicate differences between expected traffic conditions and at least one of actual and predicted traffic conditions, the determining of the comparative traffic conditions including, for each of the one or more road segments;

determining expected traffic conditions for the road segment for a selected time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segment at the selected time;

determining target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time that correspond to the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment; and

determining whether a difference exists between the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time and the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time, and

initiating a display on the map of information about the determined comparative traffic conditions for the one or more road segments by providing the information about the comparative traffic conditions, wherein the providing of the information about the comparative traffic conditions is performed by the configured computing system, and wherein the provided information includes an indication for each of the one or more road segments of whether the difference is determined to exist for the road segment for the selected time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the at least some road segments are a subset of the multiple road segments whose displayed representations are included on the map, and wherein the displayed representations of the at least some road segments have a visual representation that is distinct from the displayed representations of other of the multiple road segments that are not part of the at least some road segments.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the provided information about the comparative traffic conditions includes an indication for each of the one or more road segments of one of multiple predefined determined levels of difference that reflects the differences between the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and the expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment, and wherein the displayed representation of each of the one or more road segments includes a visual representation of the determined difference level for the road segment.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions for each of the one or more road segments includes at least one of an actual and predicted average traffic speed for the road segment, wherein the expected traffic conditions for each of the one or more road segments includes an expected average traffic speed for the road segment, wherein the provided information about the comparative traffic conditions includes an indication for each of the one or more road segments of a determined numeric difference between the at least one actual and predicted average traffic speeds for the road segment and the expected average traffic speeds for the road segment, and wherein the displayed representation of each of the one or more road segments includes an associated visual indication of the determined numeric difference for the road segment.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments are one of a past time and a future time, wherein the determined comparative traffic conditions information is based on information about actual prior traffic conditions at the past time if the selected times are the past time, and wherein the determined comparative traffic conditions information is based on information about predicted traffic conditions at the future time if the selected times are the future time.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the configured computing system is a client device that is used by a user and that displays comparative traffic conditions information to the user as part of the providing of the information about the comparative traffic conditions, or a server device that transmits comparative traffic conditions information to one or more remote client devices as part of the providing of the information about the comparative traffic conditions.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing system, and wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the configured computing system to perform the method.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing system to provide information relating to traffic conditions on roads, by performing a method comprising:

providing a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area, the providing of the map being performed by the configured computing system;

identifying a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments;

initiating a display on the map of information about comparative traffic conditions for each of one or more road segments of the at least some road segments at a selected time by providing the information about the comparative traffic conditions, wherein the comparative traffic conditions information indicate differences between at least one of actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment, wherein the selected times for the one or more road segments include multiple successive times for successive road segments in a series of multiple road segments along the route, such that a first of the multiple road segments in the series is associated with a first selected time and such that each other of the multiple road segments in the series is associated with a distinct selected time later than the associated selected time for a prior road segment in the series, and wherein the providing of the information about the comparative traffic conditions is performed by the configured computing system; and

providing one or more user-selectable time sequence manipulation controls for the map to enable a single selection by a user of one of the time sequence manipulation controls to automatically initiate a successive providing of information about comparative traffic conditions for road segments at each of multiple successive selected times.

19. A computing device configured to provide information relating to traffic conditions on roads, comprising:

one or more processors;

a first component configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors;

provide a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area;

identify a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments; and

for each of one or more road segments of the at least some road segments, initiate a display on the map of information about comparative traffic conditions at a selected time for the road segment, the comparative traffic conditions information indicating differences between at least one of actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment; and

one or more components configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, determine the comparative traffic conditions for the one or more road segments at the selected time by, for each of the one or more road segments;

determining the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segment at the selected time;

determining target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time that correspond to the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment; and

determining whether a difference exists between the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time and the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time, and

wherein the information about the comparative traffic conditions for each of the one or more road segments that is displayed on the map includes an indication of whether the difference is determined to exist for the road segment.

20. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the at least some road segments are a subset of the multiple road segments, and wherein the displayed representations of the at least some road segments have a visual representation that is distinct from the displayed representations of other of the multiple road segments that are not part of the at least some road segments.

21. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the information about the comparative traffic conditions for each of the one or more road segments includes an indication of one of multiple predefined determined levels of difference that reflects the differences between the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and the expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment, and wherein the displayed representation of each of the one or more road segments on the displayed map includes a visual representation of the determined difference level for the road segment.

22. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the at least one actual and predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for each of the one or more road segments includes at least one of an actual and predicted average traffic speed at the selected time for the road segment, wherein the expected traffic conditions at the selected time for each of the one or more road segments includes an expected average traffic speed at the selected time for the road segment, wherein the information about the comparative traffic conditions at the selected time for each of the one or more road segments includes an indication of a determined numeric difference between the at least one actual and predicted average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment and the expected average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment, and wherein the displayed representation of each of the one or more road segments on the displayed map includes an associated visual indication of the determined numeric difference for the road segment.

23. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the selected time is one of a past time and a future time, wherein the comparative traffic conditions information for the selected time is based on information about actual prior traffic conditions at the past time if the selected time is the past time, and wherein the comparative traffic conditions information for the selected time is based on information about predicted traffic conditions at the future time if the selected time is the future time.

24. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the configured computing device is in communication with a second computing device of a user, and wherein the providing of the map for display includes initiating the display of the map as part of a user interface on the second computing device of the user.

25. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the configured computing device further comprises a display device, and wherein the providing of the map for display includes displaying the map as part of a user interface on the display device of the configured computing device.

26. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the first component is a user interface manager system that includes software instructions for execution by the one or more processors of the computing device.

27. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the one or more components consist of one or more means for performing the determining of the comparative traffic conditions for the one or more road segments.

28. A computer-implemented method for providing information relating to traffic conditions on roads, the method comprising:

providing a map for display that corresponds to at least a portion of a geographic area, the map including displayed representations of multiple road segments of one or more roads in the geographic area, the providing of the map being performed by one or more configured computing systems;

identifying a route of interest between at least two locations in the geographic area, the route including at least some road segments of the multiple road segments;

automatically determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, comparative traffic conditions for the at least some road segments that indicate differences between predicted and expected traffic conditions, the determining of the comparative traffic conditions including, for each of the at least some road segments;

determining expected traffic conditions for the road segment for a selected time, the expected traffic conditions reflecting traffic conditions that are normal for the road segment at the selected time;

determining target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time that correspond to predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment; and

determining whether a difference exists between the target traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time and the expected traffic conditions for the road segment for the selected time, and

providing, by at least one of the one or more configured computing systems, information for display on the map about the determined comparative traffic conditions for the at least some road segments, wherein the provided information includes an indication for each of the at least some road segments of whether the difference is determined to exist for the road segment for the selected time.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the provided information for each of the at least some road segments includes an indication of one of multiple predefined determined levels of difference that reflects the differences between the predicted traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment and the expected traffic conditions at the selected time for the road segment, such that the displayed representation of the road segment on the displayed map includes a visual representation of the determined difference level for the road segment, each of the multiple predefined difference levels having a distinct visual representation.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the provided information for each of the at least some road segments includes an indication of a determined numeric difference between predicted average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment and expected average traffic speeds at the selected time for the road segment, such that the displayed representation of the road segment on the displayed map includes an associated visual indication of the determined numeric difference for the road segment.

31. The method of claim 28 further comprising providing information for display on the map about comparative travel times for vehicles traveling the route at an indicated time, the comparative travel time information indicating differences between predicted vehicle travel times for the route at the indicated time and expected vehicle travel times for the route at the indicated time.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein the selected times for the at least some road segments are one or more future times.