Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Traffic analysis or control of surface vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-24
2002-06-04
Nguyen, Tan (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Traffic analysis or control of surface vehicle
C701S207000, C701S208000, C340S988000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06401027
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to traffic data collection and intelligent routing systems for highway vehicles and, in particular, to a system and method for remotely collecting real-time traffic data and providing traffic forecasts and travel guidance for drivers of vehicles equipped to utilize the system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Modern automobile travel is plagued by excessive traffic congestion due to continuously increasing automobile use. Drivers constantly seek optimum travel routes to minimize driving time. Local area radio and television stations transmit traffic alerts to inform drivers of blocked or congested traffic routes so that drivers familiar with alternate routes to their respective destinations can alter their planned route to minimize driving time. This, however, is often unproductive and results in increased travel time. Such traffic alerts disadvantageously require real-time reception by drivers prior to entering a congested traffic area. Traffic alerts are often missed because drivers are not tuned to the right station at the proper time. Besides, drivers tend to learn and routinely follow the same route day after day without becoming familiar with alternate routes even when they encounter heavy recurring congestion.
Roadside signs are also used to warn drivers and re-direct traffic during road construction or traffic congestion. For example, detour signs and electronic roadside billboards are used to suggest or require alternate routes. Some electronic billboards are located on main traffic arteries, warning of a pending traffic blockage or congestion. However, signs and billboards are usually too near the point of congestion or blockage to enable meaningful re-evaluation of a planned route, primarily because of the required close proximal relationship between the location of the sign and the point of congestion or blockage. There exists a continuing need to improve the collection of accurate traffic congestion data in order to provide accurate route planning information.
Governmental agencies provide emergency care service in response to roadside vehicle accidents, as is well known. Governmental agencies in North America have adopted the well-known “911” emergency call system through which road accidents are reported to enable emergency care services including police, fire and paramedic services to respond. The 911 emergency system relies on the reporting of accidents by private citizens who are typically either witnesses to an accident or are involved in the accident. However, when victims are incapacitated by injury, or when witnesses are unable to quickly locate a telephone, the 911 system fails. Moreover, critical time is often lost while searching for a telephone to place the 911 call. In addition, misinformation may be inadvertently given by victims or witnesses unfamiliar with the location of an accident, thereby directing the emergency care providers to a wrong location. There therefore exists a need for a system to more expeditiously provide accurate vehicle traffic accident information to emergency care providers.
Automobiles have also been equipped with experimental local area road-map systems which display a portion of a map of interest but do not use a global positioning system (GPS) to determine a vehicle position on the map. The driver is enabled to locate departure and destination points on the map, and then visually refers to the displayed map to see the current position of the vehicle as the driver travels toward the destination point. The map system displays a cursor to indicate the current position of a moving vehicle on the display map. The portion of the map that is displayed is periodically adjusted to keep the current position cursor in the center of the displayed map. The system uses a compass and a wheel sensor odometer to determine the current position as the vehicle travels on the road. The use of this map display system requires the driver to repetitively study the map and then mentally determine and select travel routes, directing attention away from the safe operation of the vehicle. This does not promote safe vehicle operation. Besides, the compass and wheel odometer technology causes map position error drifts, requiring re-calibration after travelling only a few miles. Moreover, the use of such a map system disadvantageously requires the entry of the departure point each time the driver begins a new route. Additionally, this map system does not perform route guidance and is not dynamically updated with current traffic information. There therefore exists a need to improve map systems with a driver friendly interface which reduces diversion away from the safe operation of the vehicle.
Certain experimental integrated dynamic vehicle guidance systems have been proposed. For example, Motorola has disclosed an intelligent vehicle highway system in block diagram form in a 1993 brochure, and DELCO Electronics has disclosed another intelligent vehicle highway system, also in block diagram form, in Automotive News published on Apr. 12, 1993. These systems use compass technology for vehicle positioning. However, displacement wheel sensors are plagued by tire slippage, tire wear and are relatively inaccurate, requiring re-calibration of a current vehicle position. Compasses suffer from drift, particularly when driving on a straight road for an extended period of time. These intelligent vehicle highway systems appear to use GPS satellite reception to enhance vehicle tracking on road-maps as part of a guidance and control system. GPS data is used to determine when drift errors become excessive and to indicate that re-calibration is necessary. However, the GPS data is not used for automatic re-calibration of a current vehicle position. These intelligent vehicle highway systems also use RF receivers to receive dynamic road condition information for dynamic route guidance, and contemplate infrastructure traffic monitoring, for example, a network of road magnetic sensing loops, and contemplate the RF broadcasting of dynamic traffic conditions for route guidance. The disclosed two-way RF communication through the use of a transceiver suggests a dedicated two-way RF radio data system. While two-way RF communication is possible, the flow of information between the vehicles and central systems appears to be exceedingly lopsided. It appears that the amount of the broadcast dynamic traffic flow information from a central traffic radio data control system to the vehicles would be far greater than the information transmitted from the vehicles to the central traffic control center, since the system is only used to report roadside incidents or accident emergency messages to the control center.
To overcome the above disadvantages, U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,482 entitled AUTOMOBILE NAVIGATION GUIDANCE, CONTROL AND SAFETY SYSTEM, which issued to K. D. Schreder on Apr. 2, 1996, discloses an automobile route guidance system. In this system, an automobile is equipped with an inertial measuring unit and GPS satellite navigational unit and a local area digitized street map system for precise electronic positioning and route guidance between departures and arrivals. The system is equipped with RF receivers to monitor updated traffic condition information for dynamic re-routing guidance to reduce travel time. It is also equipped with vehicle superseding controls activated during unstable vehicle conditions sensed by the inertial measuring unit to improve the safe operation of the automobile. Telecommunications equipment automatically notifies emergency care providers of the precise location of the automobile in the case of an accident so as to improve the response time of roadside emergency care providers.
Nevertheless, Schreder fails to address how the traffic data is collected for broadcasting road traffic conditions on which the system relies to provide the navigational guidance. A map-matching smoothing process disclosed by Schreder is also not optimal because it adjusts the display output so that a vehicle is displayed on a road rather than elsewh
Jin Youchun
Xu Yiwen
Nguyen Tan
Tran Dalena
Wenking Corp.
Wood Max R.
Yan Wayne M.
LandOfFree
Remote road traffic data collection and intelligent vehicle... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Remote road traffic data collection and intelligent vehicle..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Remote road traffic data collection and intelligent vehicle... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2916329