Communications: electrical – External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm – Highway information
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-04
2001-07-03
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm
Highway information
C340S539230, C701S117000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06255963
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a method for transmitting traffic information and to devices for carrying out the method.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Basically, traffic information representing the current or future state of a traffic network or part of a traffic network can be transmitted from a traffic information center to at least one terminal device of a traffic information customer via radio, mobile radio, etc. Traffic information is obtained for this purpose from different sources such as stationary detectors, FCDs (vehicles floating in traffic), traffic bulletins, etc. and is conveyed to terminal devices from a traffic information center. However, the amount of traffic information available to a traffic information center can be very large. Therefore, the traffic information centers, in the form of local radio transmitters, compile only current traffic information concerning the urban area or area surrounding this radio transmitter and send it to the terminal device. Nevertheless, the amount of traffic information to be transmitted and displayed in the terminal device is very large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DE-A-44 45 582 discloses a method for transmitting traffic information from a central station to a terminal device via an RDS-radio channel, wherein traffic information received in the terminal device is filtered therein with respect to its relevance for an area surrounding the current location of the terminal device.
It is the object of the invention to optimize the traffic information provided to the user of the traffic information through the user's terminal device with the maximum relevant traffic information and the minimum irrelevant traffic information. Pursuant to this object, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one aspect of the present invention resides in a method for transmitting traffic information from a traffic information center to at least one terminal device in a vehicle via a communications channel. The method includes the steps of defining a first reference zone at or around a known or at a presumed stopping place of the vehicle to which information is to be conveyed at a first time point, defining at least a second reference zone at or around at least one presumed stopping place of the vehicle at a second time point lying in the future in relation to the first time point, compiling traffic information, generated for a reference zone and for a respective and additional future time point, with forecasting and traffic information determined for a current time point and for a respective current reference zone for reducing the information to be transmitted in the traffic center, and transmitting data representing the traffic information with the time point to which it relates and/or the reference zone to which it relates. The compiling, according to the invention, of traffic information with respect to its relevance for at least two time points optimizes redundancy. Accordingly, only traffic information that may be relevant for the current stopping place and, as the case may be, for a predefinable reference zone surrounding the current stopping place of a vehicle is compiled for the first of the at least two time points, while the other traffic information is sorted out as irrelevant for the current time point and is not compiled. In a corresponding manner, traffic information is compiled as relevant for the second time point (or third time point, etc.) occurring later in relation to the first time point based on an anticipated stopping place of the terminal device at this second time point in a respective second reference zone, wherein this traffic information is relevant for the second time point for the terminal device based on its stopping area (=reference zone) to be anticipated at this time, while traffic information which is not relevant at the second time point for the terminal device based on its stopping place (or reference zone) anticipated at that time is not included in the compilation, that is, it is sorted out as irrelevant.
In this way, the extent of the traffic information which is transmitted, or which is to be transmitted, is reduced. When the traffic information which is relevant for the first, second and further possible time points based on the respective associated reference zone (=stopping place zone) is compiled in the traffic information center, the amount of traffic information to be transmitted is reduced, so that transmission is more economical. On the other hand, when the compiling of traffic information relevant for a reference zone or for a plurality of reference zones is carried out in the terminal device, the amount of traffic information to be displayed to the user of the terminal device is reduced, resulting in an ergonomic advantage; beyond this, the generation of navigation information based on a reduced database is simplified.
The invention can be arranged in different ways. When the first time point is a future time point, only predicted traffic information is transmitted, whereas if the first time point is the current time point, current and predicted traffic information are transmitted.
Instead of traffic information relating to only two time points and/or reference zones, traffic information relating to three or more time points and/or reference zones can also be transmitted in order to further optimize redundancy.
Transmission can be carried out in particular as mobile radio short messages to a terminal device or to a plurality of terminal devices.
The reference zones can be determined in different ways. A current reference zone can be determined in particular on the basis of the current position of the terminal device which can be detected by the terminal device by means of a location detection device (especially GPS) which is integrated in the terminal device or can be connected to it. Future reference zones can be determined with the terminal device based on a forecast of possible or probable stopping places of a vehicle with the terminal device. For this purpose, a defined speed or speed range of a vehicle can be assumed, or a plurality of speeds or speed ranges with different probabilities can be assumed. When no preferred direction of the vehicle is known and the vehicle can accordingly move in approximately any direction, the reference zones can be arranged in a circle or ring around the current location. Possibly, the expected driving direction and/or the actual driving direction of the vehicle can be taken into account, resulting in reference zones in the form of circular segments or curved ring portions. The first, second and further reference zones can partially overlap (especially in the case of reference zones in the shape of full circles or circular segments) or can be disjunct (for example, when the reference zones are in the shape of rings or curved ring segments).
The definition of reference zones can be predetermined. A determined average speed of a vehicle, possibly differentiated according to types of road, can be assumed and an expected reference zone for predeterminable time intervals can be calculated from this for a determined future time span. In particular, there can be two intervals 10 to 60 minutes apart, especially 30 minutes apart, wherein one time interval can define an inner limit and/or an outer limit of a reference zone.
With respect to the transmission of traffic information from a traffic information center to at least one terminal device when a cellular radio network is used, traffic information can be transmitted in an individualized manner, particularly according to reference zones defined by one or more radio cells. The vehicles of a defined radio cell or a defined group of radio cells within this radio cell receive the same compiled traffic information; this is advisable because it can be assumed in a simplifying manner for all vehicles in a radio cell or group of radio cells that they will have reference zones coinciding in the future for future time points.
The method can be real
Heimann Josef
Schulz Werner
Vieweg Stefan
Cohen & Pontani, Lieberman & Pavane
Mannesmann AG
Pope Daryl
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