Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Traffic analysis or control of surface vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-28
2003-07-01
Nguyen, Tan Q. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Traffic analysis or control of surface vehicle
C701S118000, C701S207000, C340S934000, C340S909000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06587781
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of vehicular traffic data and information and, more particularly, to a method and system for modeling and processing vehicular traffic data and information, and using the modeled and processed vehicular traffic data and information for providing a variety of vehicular traffic related service applications to end users.
Despite continuing investing in massive amounts of financial and human resources, current road network capacities insufficiently meet the needs dictated by current levels and growth rates of traffic volume. This dilemma relates to current road network capacities, in general, and current road network capacities in urban, suburban, and rural, environments, in particular. Road congestion, or, equivalently, inconveniently high levels or volumes of vehicular road traffic, is a persistent major factor resulting from this dilemma, and needs to be given proper attention and taken into account for efficiently scheduling trips, selecting travel routes, and for attempting to efficiently allocate and exploit time, by individual drivers, as well as by vehicular traffic logistics personnel such as company vehicular fleet managers, responsible for performing such activities. Road congestion and associated traffic data and information also need to be well understood and used by a wide variety of public and private occupations and personnel, such as designers, planners, engineers, coordinators, traffic law makers and enforcers, directly and/or indirectly involved in designing, planning, controlling, engineering, coordinating, and implementing, a wide variety of activities, events, and/or construction projects, which depend upon accurate descriptions of current and future vehicular traffic situations and scenarios. This situation is a main driving force for the on-going development and application of various methods, systems, and devices, for acquiring, analyzing, processing, and applying, vehicular traffic data and information.
There are various prior art techniques for acquiring, analyzing, processing, and applying, vehicular traffic data and information. A few examples of recent prior art in this field are U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,933, issued to Lang, entitled “Instantaneous Traffic Monitoring System”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,012, issued to Fleck et al., entitled “Method And System For Determining Dynamic Traffic Information”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,364, issued to Kerner et al., entitled “Method And Device For Providing Traffic Information”, and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,227, issued to Peterson, entitled “Method And Apparatus For Providing Shortest Elapsed Time Route And Tracking Information To Users”.
Prior art techniques typically include calculating velocities of vehicles, for example, by acquiring series of exact locations of the vehicles located along roads in known time intervals, by measuring vehicular traffic flux along roads, especially, along highways, and/or, by a variety of other means known in the field. There are prior art techniques which are either based on, or, include, the use of networks of fixed or static traffic sensors or electronic devices, such as video cameras, induction boxes, tag readers, traffic detectors, and so on, which are installed and fixed along known locations of main traffic arteries and/or traffic volume. Fixed or static traffic sensors or electronic devices, positioned at known locations, relay crossing times of vehicles to a computerized central traffic data and information handling (gathering, collecting, acquiring, analyzing, processing, communicating, distributing) system that consequently calculates velocities of the vehicles between two such sensors.
Significant limitations of developing and implementing comprehensive, highly accurate and precise, techniques for acquiring, analyzing, processing, and applying, vehicular traffic data and information, primarily based upon a system or network of fixed or static traffic sensors or electronic devices, are the relatively large amounts and expense of the necessary infrastructure and maintenance, especially if such resources are to account for and include vehicular traffic data and information associated with a plethora of minor roads characterized by low volumes of vehicular traffic.
More recent prior art techniques are either based on, or, at least include, the use of mobile sensors or electronic devices physically located in or attached to vehicles, each of which is uniquely or specifically designated or assigned to a particular vehicle, whereby the mobile sensors or electronic devices automatically transmit vehicle locations to the computerized central traffic data and information handling system according to pre-determined time intervals, and, whereby, vehicle velocities are relatively simple to calculate for vehicle locations acquired with sufficient accuracy.
For obtaining dynamic vehicle location and velocity data and information, having varying degrees of accuracy and precision, from uniquely or specifically dedicated in-vehicle mobile sensors or electronic devices, such prior art techniques make use of well known global positioning system (GPS) and/or other types of mobile wireless communication or electronic vehicular tracking technologies, such as cellular telephone or radio types of mobile wireless communications networks or systems, involving the use of corresponding mobile wireless devices such as cellular telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), transceivers, and other types of telemetric devices, which are uniquely or specifically designated or assigned to a particular vehicle. Establishing and maintaining various communications of the mobile sensors or electronic devices, the computerized central traffic data and information handling system, and, vehicular end-users, are also performed by mobile wireless communication networks or systems, such as cellular telephone mobile wireless communications networks or systems, for example, involving the Internet.
It is noted, however, that due to the requirement of uniquely or specifically designating or assigning each mobile sensor or electronic device to a particular vehicle during the process of gathering, collecting, or acquiring, the vehicular traffic data and information, the potential number of mobile sensors or electronic devices providing dynamic vehicle location and velocity data and information to the computerized central traffic data and information handling system is limited, in proportion to the number of vehicles featuring the particular mobile wireless communication or electronic vehicular tracking technology. For example, currently, there is a significantly larger potential number of vehicles associated with cellular telephone types of a mobile wireless communication network or system compared to the potential number of vehicles associated with GPS types of a mobile wireless communication network or system.
Various specific techniques for manually and electronically gathering, collecting, or acquiring, vehicular traffic data and information are relatively well developed and taught about in the prior art. Moreover, various specific techniques for electronically communicating, sending, or distributing, analyzed and processed vehicular traffic data and information in vehicular traffic related service applications to end users are also relatively well developed and taught about in the prior art. However, there remains a strong on-going need for developing better, more comprehensive, highly accurate and precise, yet, practicable and implementable techniques for analyzing, modeling, and processing, the acquired, collected, or gathered, vehicular traffic data and information. This last aspect is especially true with regard to using vehicular traffic data and information for comprehensively, yet, accurately and practicably, describing current and predicting future vehicular traffic situations and scenarios, from which vehicular traffic data and information are used for providing a variety of vehicular traffic related service applications
Eshpar Allon
Feldman Israel
Lotem Amonon
Meltzer Yochai
Trinker Arie
Estimotion, Inc.
Friedman Mark M.
Nguyen Tan Q.
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