Data mining to identify locations of potentially hazardous conditions for vehicle operation and use thereof

• US 9,134,133 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Denaro, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, John Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fei, Jordan S
• Application Number:
  US12/156,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20090299622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,664 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/201, 701/208, 701/211, 701/223
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces

Abstract

Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle. A database that represents the road network is used to determine locations where a potentially hazardous condition exists. Then, precautionary action data is added to the database to indicate a location at which a precautionary action is to be taken relating to the hazardous condition. A precautionary action system installed in a vehicle uses this database, or a database derived therefrom, in combination with a positioning system to determine when the vehicle is at a location that corresponds to the location of a precautionary action. When the vehicle is at such a location, a precautionary action is taken by a vehicle system as the vehicle is approaching the location where the potentially hazardous condition exists.

Claims

1. A method for making a component for a vehicle system that provides a precautionary action in a vehicle when the vehicle approaches a potentially hazardous location along a road of a road network, wherein the component comprises an augmented version of a database that represents the road network in a geographic region, the method comprising:

evaluating, prior to operation of the vehicle, data contained in a first version of the database to identify locations along roads of the road network where a hazardous condition might exist, wherein the hazardous condition comprises a combination of a first condition and a second condition which are satisfied together at a same location along a road of the road network, wherein the step of evaluating further comprises;

evaluating a first type of data that represents geographic features of an identified location along the road of the road network to determine if the first condition is satisfied thereby, and

upon determining that the first type of data that represent geographic features satisfies the first condition, evaluating a second type of data that represents geographic features which are geographically located around the identified location along the road of the road network at which the first condition is satisfied to determine if the second condition is satisfied at or around the identified location at which the first condition was satisfied; and

upon determining satisfaction of the second condition at or around the identified location at which the first condition was satisfied, adding precautionary action data to the first version of the database in association with the identified location to form the augmented version of database to indicate that a precautionary action is to be taken by the vehicle system when the vehicle system determines that the vehicle is approaching the identified location along the road of the road network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prior to the step of adding precautionary data, verifying that the hazardous conditions exist at the identified locations.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of verifying is performed by direct observation of the locations by a human.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of verifying is performed by evaluating video acquired while driving.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first type of data represents a road segment;

and

wherein the step of evaluating data contained in the first version of the database further comprises;

continuing to select from the first version of the database data that represent road segments until all data that represent road segments have been selected.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the second type of data represent geographic features located around the road segment.

7. A database configured prior to operation of a vehicle stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and operable as a component in a vehicle system that provides a precautionary action in the vehicle when the vehicle approaches a potentially hazardous location along a road of a road network, wherein the database includes data that represents the road network in a geographic region, wherein the database comprises:

data records that represent road segments that make up the road network; and

data associated with a location along a road segment of the road network and the data being operative to cause the vehicle system to provide a precautionary action when the vehicle system determines that the vehicle is approaching the location along a road segment of the road network, the data having been associated with the location when it has been determined that the associated location is a hazardous location where a combination of two conditions are satisfied together at a same location along the road segment of the road network, wherein the satisfaction of the two conditions is determined by evaluating other data, representative of geographic features located at the location, in the database to determine if a first of the two conditions is satisfied thereby at the location and, upon determining satisfaction of the first condition, evaluating data in the database that represent geographic features located at or around the location of the first condition to determine if a second of the two conditions is satisfied.

8. The database of claim 7 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that indicates a location along a road segment at which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system.

9. The database of claim 7 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that indicates a direction along a road segment at which a precautionary action is to be taken.

10. The database of claim 7 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that refers to the location of the actual hazardous condition.

11. The database of claim 7 further comprising data that indicates permitted directions of travel along road segments, speed limits along road segments, classifications of road segments, and locations of road segments.

12. The database of claim 7 further comprising data that identifies successor road segments of each road segment, wherein successor road segments are those road segments that connect to a road segment at each end thereof.

13. A vehicle system comprising:

a database that contains data representing a geographic region in which a vehicle is being operated, wherein the data includes data that represents roads of a road network located in the geographic region and precautionary action data associated with a plurality of locations along the roads of the road network where hazardous geographic conditions exist, wherein each of the plurality of locations where hazardous conditions exist comprises a location along a road of the road network at which it has been previously determined, based on the data in the database that represents roads of a road network, that a combination of a first condition and a second condition are satisfied together at that same location along the road based on geographic features at or around the location;

a positioning system that determines a current location of the vehicle along a road of the road network relative to the data representing a geographic region; and

a precautionary action application responsive to the positioning system and the database that provides a precautionary action when the positioning system determines that the current location of the vehicle is approaching a location along a road of the road network associated with precautionary action data.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that indicates a location along a road segment at which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that indicates a direction along a road segment at which a precautionary action is to be taken.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the precautionary action data further includes data that refers to the location of the hazardous condition.

17. A method for providing precautionary actions in a vehicle comprising:

accessing, by a processor, a database coupled therewith that represents roads of a road network, wherein the database has been previously configured to contain precautionary action data associated with locations along roads of the road network at which a combination of conditions were previously determined to be satisfied, based on data in a database representative of geographic features, at or near each of the locations wherein, the conditions, when located together, may be potentially hazardous to vehicle operation;

with a positioning system coupled with the processor, determining a current position of the vehicle along a road of the road network;

with a precautionary action application being executed by the processor, upon determining that data representations of a part of the road of the road network around the current position of the vehicle includes precautionary action data, taking a precautionary action as the vehicle is approaching the location associated therewith.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

building an electronic horizon after accessing the database; and

using the electronic horizon to determine whether precautionary action data is included therein.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the precautionary action is provided via a user interface of the vehicle.