Harvesting traffic information from mobile devices

• US 9,430,941 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2012
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Ronald K., Dere, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US13/610,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/411, 701/516, 701/414, 701/119, 455/127.5, 455/414.1, 455/516, 455/556.1, 455/404.1, 455/550.1, 455/3.01, 455/432.3, 455/412.1, 725/29, 725/109, 370/328, 370/329, 370/442, 375/225, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method for collecting the information from the mobile devices for producing real-time traffic data is provided. The process ensures that the collection of data from a mobile device to be non-intrusive to the user of the mobile device by using only communication channels that are already open and by using only Global Positioning System (GPS) data from an application that is already running on the mobile device. The mobile device will participate in the data collection only if its battery power is above certain threshold level or if its battery is currently being charged. The method will not let a mobile device participate in the data collection process if the mobile device has already provided more than a threshold amount of data to the traffic data collection during a particular period of time. The method let only mobile devices that are moving beyond certain speed to participate.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing a program for non-intrusively collecting real-time traffic information from a mobile device, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

gathering position data produced by the mobile device;

deriving traffic data from the gathered position data;

identifying an active data communication channel of the mobile device that is currently being used for transmitting application data for a particular application from the mobile device to a first set of servers;

using the identified active data communication channel to transmit the derived traffic data to a second set of servers and to transmit the application data to the first set of servers;

monitoring the mobile device for a set of terminating conditions; and

upon detection of at least one of the terminating conditions, terminating the transmission of the derived traffic data to the second set of servers over the identified active data communication channel while maintaining the transmission of the application data to the first set of servers.

2. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data comprises a set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data when the mobile device does not have sufficient battery level.

3. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data comprises a set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data when the mobile device is not plugged into a power source.

4. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data comprises a set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data when the mobile device has already provided more than a maximum amount of data to the second set of servers over a particular interval of time.

5. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data comprises a set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data when the mobile device has continuously transmitted traffic data for over a particular period of time.

6. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data comprises a set of instructions for terminating the transmission of the traffic data when the mobile device is traveling below a minimum speed.

7. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the traffic data comprises at least one of speed, position, and direction information of the mobile device.

8. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for transmitting the traffic data further comprises a set of instructions for accumulating data over a particular window of time.

9. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for transmitting the traffic data further comprises a set of instructions for periodic transmission of the accumulated data.

10. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the set of instructions for transmitting the traffic data further comprises a set of instructions for suspending the periodic transmission when the mobile device is conducting a voice call.

11. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the set of instructions for transmitting the traffic data further comprises a set of instructions for suspending the periodic transmission when strength of signal received by the mobile device is weaker than a threshold.

12. A mobile device comprising:

a set of processing units; and

a machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one of the processing units, the program comprising;

a global positioning (GPS) module for detecting positions of the mobile device;

a data accumulation module for accumulating traffic data based on the detected positions of the mobile device; and

a connection control module for (i) identifying an active data communication channel of the mobile device that is currently being used for transmitting application data for a particular application from the mobile device to a first set of servers, and (ii) using the identified active data communication channel to transmit the accumulated traffic data to a second set of servers and to transmit the application data to the first set of servers, (iii) monitoring the mobile device for a set of terminating conditions, and (iv) terminating, upon detection of at least one of the terminating conditions, the transmission of the derived traffic data to the second set of servers over the identified active data communication channel while maintaining the transmission of the application data to the first set of servers.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the connection control module transmits the accumulated traffic data when the mobile device is running an application that uses the GPS module.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the active data communication channel is an active push channel for pushing data into the mobile device.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the data accumulation module accumulates the traffic data over a particular window of time.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the connection control module refrains from transmitting the accumulated traffic data unless the mobile device is moving above a minimum speed.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the mobile device further comprises a motion sensor, wherein the connection control determines whether to transmit the accumulated traffic data based on a motion type detected by the motion sensor.

18. A method for providing real-time traffic data, the method comprising:

at a first set of servers, receiving speed and position data transmitted by a plurality of mobile devices,

wherein at least one of the mobile devices identifies an active data communication channel that is currently being used for transmitting application data for a particular application from the mobile device to a second set of servers and uses the identified active data communication channel to transmit the mobile device'"'"'s speed and position data to the first set of servers and to transmit the application data to the second set of servers, wherein each mobile device monitors a set of terminating conditions and terminates the transmission of the derived traffic data to the first set of servers over the identified active data communication channel upon detection of at least one of the terminating conditions while maintaining the transmission of the application data to the second set of servers;

generating real-time traffic data derived from the speed and position data received from the plurality of mobile devices; and

providing the generated real-time traffic data to subscribing devices.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the active data communication channel is being used by an application running on the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the speed and position data of the mobile device is based on GPS data generated for the application running on the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is plugged in or has sufficient battery level.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is moving faster than a minimum speed.

23. A method for collecting real-time traffic data from a mobile device, the method comprising:

identifying an active data connection that is currently used by the mobile device for transmitting application data of a particular application from the mobile device to a first set of servers;

gathering position data produced by the mobile device;

deriving traffic data from the gathered position data;

using the identified active data connection to transmit the derived traffic data to a second set of servers and to transmit the application data to a first set of servers;

monitoring the mobile device for a set of termination conditions; and

upon detection of at least one of the terminating conditions, terminating the transmission of the derived traffic data to the second set of servers over the identified active data communication channel while maintaining the transmission of the application data to the first set of servers.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising determining whether to participate in real-time traffic data collection.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein determining whether to participate in real-time traffic data collection is based on a type of the identified application.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein determining whether to participate in real-time traffic data collection is based on a geographical location of the mobile device.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein determining whether to participate in real-time traffic data collection is based on whether the mobile device is plugged in or is at sufficient battery level.