On-demand suggestion for vehicle driving

• US 9,020,876 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2012
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rakshit, Sarbajit K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hill, Stanley K
• Application Number:
  US13/490,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332402A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,055 Days
• Field of Search: 701400-541
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

A method of on-demand suggestion for vehicle driving which includes: providing a centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase containing previously-stored information pertaining to vehicle driving situations; responsive to a request for information pertaining to navigating a particular road situation, collecting current parameters pertaining to a current vehicle driving situation; providing the current parameters to the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase; evaluating the current parameters with respect to the information previously stored in the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase; and providing at least one suggestion to a vehicle for navigating the particular road situation. Also included is a computer program product for providing an on-demand suggestion for vehicle driving and a vehicle helping system.

Claims

1. A method of on-demand suggestion for vehicle driving comprising:

collecting by a weather sensor network environmental parameters;

collecting by a video network visual road parameters;

collecting vehicle parameters from a plurality of vehicles;

storing the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters in a centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

discovering knowledge from the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase pertaining to vehicle driving situations affected by the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters;

formulating rules based on the knowledge pertaining to the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters for handling various driving situations;

storing the rules in the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

responsive to a request for information pertaining to handling a particular road situation, collecting current parameters pertaining to a current vehicle driving situation;

providing the current parameters to the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

evaluating the current parameters with respect to the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters stored in the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase to identify appropriate information to handle the current vehicle driving situation; and

providing at least one suggestion from the appropriate information to a vehicle for handling the particular driving situation;

wherein the method is performed by one or more data processing apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the current parameters relate to environmental parameters, visual road parameters, vehicle parameters.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one suggestion is provided to the vehicle for display by the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one suggestion is a video clip.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one suggestion is provided to a computer processor in the vehicle.

6. A computer program product for providing an on-demand suggestion for vehicle driving, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable non-transitory storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to collect environmental parameters from a weather sensor network;

computer readable program code configured to collect visual road parameters from a video network;

computer readable program code configured to collect vehicle parameters from a plurality of vehicles;

computer readable program code configured to store the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters in a centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

computer readable program code configured to discover knowledge from the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase pertaining to vehicle driving situations affected by the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters;

computer readable program code configured to formulate rules based on the knowledge pertaining to the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters for handling various driving situations;

computer readable program code configured to store the rules in the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

responsive to a request for information pertaining to handling a particular road situation, computer readable program code configured to collect current parameters pertaining to a current vehicle driving situation;

computer readable program code configured to provide the current parameters to the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase;

computer readable program code configured to evaluate the current parameters with respect to the environmental parameters, visual road parameters and vehicle parameters stored in the centralized vehicle driving knowledgebase to identify appropriate information to handle the current vehicle driving situation; and

computer readable program code configured to provide at least one suggestion from the appropriate information to a vehicle for navigating the particular road situation.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the current parameters relate to environmental parameters, visual road parameters, and vehicle parameters.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the at least one suggestion is provided to the vehicle for display by the vehicle.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the at least one suggestion is a video clip.

10. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the at least one suggestion is provided to a computer processor in the vehicle.

11. A vehicle helping system comprising:

a central computing server for receiving and storing information in a knowledgebase pertaining to vehicle driving situations;

a weather sensor network for determining current environmental parameters and sending the environmental parameters to the central computing server, the central computing server storing the environmental parameters;

at least one video device for visualizing current road parameters and sending the road parameters to the central computing server, the central computing server storing the road parameters;

responsive to a navigational signal from a vehicle, receiving and storing current vehicle parameters;

the central computing server evaluating the current environmental parameters, road parameters and vehicle parameters with respect to information stored in the knowledgebase to identify appropriate information to handle various driving situations and providing to a vehicle at least one suggestion from the appropriate information for handling a particular driving situation.

12. The vehicle helping system of claim 11 wherein the environmental parameters include at least three of wind speed, visibility, humidity, temperature and precipitation, the road parameters include at least four of friction of the road surface, hardness of the road surface, type of road surface, condition of the road surface, traffic and accidents, and the vehicle parameters include at least three of speed, gear level, dimensions, model, make and tire wear.

13. The vehicle helping system of claim 11 further comprising, responsive to a navigational input from the vehicle, receiving and storing driver parameters, the central computing server further comprising evaluating the current driver parameters along with the current environmental parameters, road parameters and vehicle parameters with respect to information stored in the knowledgebase to identify appropriate information to handle various driving situations and providing to a vehicle at least one suggestion from the appropriate information for handling a particular driving situation.

14. The vehicle helping system of claim 13 wherein the driver parameters include at least two of driver experience, driver age and disability of the driver.