CA2183284C - Traffic information estimation and reporting system - Google Patents
Traffic information estimation and reporting systemInfo
- Publication number
- CA2183284C CA2183284C CA002183284A CA2183284A CA2183284C CA 2183284 C CA2183284 C CA 2183284C CA 002183284 A CA002183284 A CA 002183284A CA 2183284 A CA2183284 A CA 2183284A CA 2183284 C CA2183284 C CA 2183284C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- radio coverage
- coverage areas
- mobile end
- cell
- user devices
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/09—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions
- G08G1/0962—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
- G08G1/0967—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits
- G08G1/096708—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where the received information might be used to generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
- G08G1/096716—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where the received information might be used to generate an automatic action on the vehicle control where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/01—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled
- G08G1/0104—Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/09—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions
- G08G1/0962—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
- G08G1/0967—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits
- G08G1/096733—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where a selection of the information might take place
- G08G1/096741—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where a selection of the information might take place where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/09—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions
- G08G1/0962—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
- G08G1/0967—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits
- G08G1/096733—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where a selection of the information might take place
- G08G1/096758—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where a selection of the information might take place where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/09—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions
- G08G1/0962—Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
- G08G1/0967—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits
- G08G1/096766—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where the system is characterised by the origin of the information transmission
- G08G1/096775—Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits where the system is characterised by the origin of the information transmission where the origin of the information is a central station
Abstract
An estimation of traffic conditions on roads located in the radio coverage areas of a wireless communications network is provided based on an analysis of real-time and past wireless traffic data carried on the wireless communications network. Data analyzed may include, for example, actual (current) and expected (past average) number of a) active-busy wireless end-user devices in one or more cells at a particular period of time, b) active-idle wireless end-user devices registered in a location area of the wireless communications network, c) amount of time spent by mobile end-user devices in one or more cells at a particular period of time.
Description
- '- 21 83284 TRAFFIC INFORMATION ESTIMATION AND REPORTING SYSTEM
Technical Field This invention relates to communications systems and more particularly to a method and a system for estim~ting and delivering road condition information to s commumcahons servlces users.
Back~round Of the Invention Recent developments in satellite systems technology, such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT), have provided the impetus for the creation of a wide variety of mobile communications services. These services o include personal satellite telephone services and global positioning service (GPS).
Prominent among the services provided under the umbrella of global positioning are real-time locator and navigation services for automobile drivers and pedestrians, not to mention security- and military-related applications. The real-time locator service identifies the relative position of a device within a few feet of the real coordinates of the 15 device. By contrast, the navigation service provides directions to an end-user (in the form of digital maps, for example) based on a user's position as well as traffic congestion with respect to that position. Unfortunately, market acceptance of global positioning service has been slower than anticipated by the GPS planners and designers. This is primarily because global positioning service providers have to spread the high cost of procuring 20 and launching (LEO) satellites over a small customer base.
In an attempt to offer similar services at a lower price, systems designers havedeveloped a surface transportation monitoring system called "Intelligent VehicleHighway System" (IVHS). That system uses video-based detection devices and road sensors to collect real-time traffic data and to deliver warning and alternate route 25 information to users when traffic congestion occurs. The infrastructure for the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System is probably less costly than the infrastructure of the Global Positioning System, which would lead to an expectation of lower cost for IVHS-based _ service. Sadly, IVHS developers have found out that because IVHS service is limited to congestion detection/management and traffic reporting, the IVHS customer base may even be smaller than the one for GPS. Hence, the smaller IVHS customer base may operate to vitiate any competitive advantage IVHS may enjoy over GPS. This issue is s further complicated by the fact that major radio stations broadcast periodic traffic condition reports targeted at drivers on major metropolitan highways. Thus, it is unlikely that radio listeners on the road would pay for a service that is available to them practically free-of-charge, unless the service includes features heretofore unavailable. The radio stations typically receive the traffic report information that they broadcast from sources o such as reporters on board strategically located helicopters. Alas, the radio-broadcast traffic information reporting service is delivered primarily during rush hours, and is targeted primarily to listeners on major highways. The delivery time and scope of the radio-broadcast information operate to make that information worthless to drivers who are traveling either during non-rush hours, or on a congested secondary highway or a suburban road. In addition, the radio-broadcast traffic information reporting service does not offer detailed alternate paths to allow targeted drivers/listeners to avoid the congested area. Furthermore, the radio-broadcast traffic information "ages" rapidly (typically, far more rapidly than the radio-broadcast report frequency) as new accidents occur and old ones no longer hamper road traffic. Thus, a problem of the prior art is lack of an 20 "anytime, anywhere" solution that allows delivery of road congestion information to users without deploying a new costly information collection infrastructure.
Summary of the Invention The present invention is directed to a system which estimates traffic conditions in - the thoroughfares located in one or more radio coverage areas of a wireless 25 communications network based on an analysis of real-time and past traffic information carried on, and collected by, the wireless communications network. The data collection process is performed as part of the registration operation and hand-off procedure carried out by the wireless communications network. Data analyzed may include, for example, _ actual (current) and expected (past average) number of a) active-busy wireless end-user devices in one or more cells at a particular period of time, and b) active-idle wireless end-user devices registered in a location area of the wireless communications network.
In an embodiment of the principles of the invention, an inference of traffic 5 congestion is made when the number of wireless end-user devices active in a cell or location area exceeds a given threshold. For example, the ratio of actual to expected registered number of wireless devices that are active-busy in a cell and/or active- idle in a location area may be indicative of a bottleneck in one or more major roads located in that cell or in that location area. Furthermore, the same ratio in adjacent cells or location 0 areas provides orientation information regarding bottlenecks on that road. For example, when a cell A and its adjacent cell B to the north are experiencing higher than expected communications traffic while adjacent cell C that is located to the south of A is experiencing communications traffic level equal to or lower than an expected level, an inference is made that a bottleneck is present in the northbound section of the highway or the major road located in cell A. The inference of road traffic congestion based on higher than expected traffic level in particular coverage areas of a wireless network is supported by empirical studies which tend to indicate a direct correlation between traffic jams on a road and increased wireless network traffic in a cell where the congested section of that road is located. The expected traffic level for a cell is derived from past historical data 20 collected by a wireless communications network. The expected traffic level also takes into consideration time-dependent factors, such as time-of-day, day-of-week, day-of-year.
Other variables factored in the determination of the threshold level include scheduled events, such as parades and road repairs.
, In another embodiment of the invention, an inference of traffic congestion on a 25 road within the coverage area of a cell or location area is made when a significant number of wireless devices spend higher than expected amount of time to traverse that cell or location area. The expected amount of time for a wireless device to traverse a cell is based on past historical data which factors therein time-dependent parameters, such as ~ 2~3~4 time-of-day, day-of-week and day-of-year.
According to one aspect of the invention, a user may subscribe to the on-demand traffic reporting service which allows the user to be alerted of possible congestion on any road of an itinerary provided by the user. The itinerary may list, for example, dirre.~ cells in which the 5 subscriber is expected to travel within particular time intervals.
According to another aspect of the invention, a subscriber may receive unsolicited traffic reports of road congestion and alternate routing information whenever the current cell (location area) in which the subscriber is located and/or cells (location areas) adjacent to that current cell (location area) are experiencing higher than expected wireless traffic.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining road traffic conditions in thoroughfares located in radio coverage areas served by a wireless communications network including a plurality of base stations, each serving a cell in the radio coverage areas and a wireless switch coupled to the plurality of base stations, said method comprising the steps of: receiving from each of a plurality of cells, via said wireless switch coupled lS to a base station associated with the cell, real-time registration and cell activity data from active mobile end-user devices currently located in each of said plurality of cells served by the wireless communications network; and estim~ting road traffic conditions in at least one thoroughfare located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas based on a comparison of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to past analog equivalent information previously collected by said wireless 20 communications network for said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for determining road traffic conditions in a geographic area corresponding to a plurality of radio coverage % ~
4a areas served by a wireless communications system including a plurality of base stations and a wireless switch coupled to the base stations, the system comprising: a wireless traffic monitor, coupled to said wireless switch and which tracks a current flow of active mobile end-user devices entering and exiting at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas which are served by the wireless communications 5 system, and in which a plurality of roads are located; a processor which compares said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area to a past average flow previously collected by said wireless communications system for said at least one radio coverage area under substantially similar time conditions; and means responsive to said comparison for assessing road traffic conditions in said at least one radio coverage area.
10 Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 shows in block diagram format a communications switching system arranged in accordance with the invention to estimate traffic conditions in the thoroughfares located in the radio coverage area of the wireless component of the communications switching system;
FIG. 2 illustrates a table that maps particular cells or location areas to sections of a 1 5 thoroughfare;
FIG. 3 presents in flow diagram format illustrative instructions executed by a processor in the network of FIG. I to collect information on wireless end-user devices located within the radio coverage area of the wireless component of the communications switching system; and FIGs. 4 and 5 present in flow diagram format instructions executed by different components 20 of the network of FIG. 1 to deliver traffic information to a subscriber in accordance with the Invention.
~, .
_ Detailed Description Shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 is a communications switching system that includes a wireless network 20 and a land-line network 30. The land-line network 30 is comprised of interconnected local, tandem and toll switches (not shown) that enable a s telephone call to be completed to a wired telephone set (such as set 80) or to be forwarded to wireless network 20. The latter includes modular software and hardware components designed to provide radio channels for communications between mobile end-user devices and other devices connected to the communications switching system of FIG. 1.
Wireless network 20 may be an analog communications system using, for example, the o Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) analog cellular radio standard. A detailed description of an AMPS-based communications system is provided in Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 58, No. 1, January 1979, pp. 1-14. Alternatively, wireless network 20 may be a digital communications system implementing well-known code division multiple access (CDMA) or time-division multiple access (TDMA) techniques.
s Additional information on TDMA and CDMA access techniques can be found in AT&T Technical JournaL Vol. 72, No. 4, July/August 1993, pp. 19-26.
The wireless network 20 is comprised of a number of base stations 1 to 12, each one of which includes a transceiver, an antenna complex (antenna and tower), and a controller that are arranged to wirelessly communicate with mobile end-user devices 90-20 93 when they are located in the radio coverage area of one of the base stations. Thatradio coverage area is referred to in the art as a "cell" for cellular networks and "microcells" for Personal Communications Network (PCN). As the points of access and egress for signals transmitted to, and received from, wireless network 20, base stations 1-12 perform certain call setup functions that include initial channel ~ ignment and 2s supervision of the wireless link establishment.
At the heart of wireless network 20 is wireless switch 50 that monitors and coordinates the operations of the base stations 1-12. It includes a processor 55 (whose -functions are described below) and a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 52 which provides -seamless communications paths for calls (that span the wireless network 20 and the land-lines network 30) by "bridging" radio channels (from wireless network 20) with "wire"
channels (from land-line communications network 30).
Of particular importance among the components of wireless switch 50 is processor 55 that executes some of the call processing instructions shown in FIGs. 3, 4, 5 described below. The processor 55 includes a CPU 101 and a storage area 100. CPU 101 coordinates some of the call processing functions performed by base stations 1-12.
Storage area 100 contains, in addition to the processing instructions illustrated in FIGs. 3-o 5 (contained in general storage area 106), registration and cell counters 104 and 105 and registration and cell timer complexes 102 and 103. The counters and timers may be implemented, for example, as a series of EEPROMs which store the individual values of the counters for each cell and the individual values of the timers for each mobile end-user device in an active-busy state. Other functions performed by CPU 101 include theregistration procedure and hand-off operations that allow wireless network 20 to identify, validate and track the location of wireless end-user devices 90-93 within specific radio coverage areas as these devices move within the geographical area covered by thewireless network.
A well-known registration procedure is the Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register (HLR/VLR) method. In the HLR/VLR method, a location area is assigned to a collection of cells, such as base stations 1-12. According to the HLR/VLR
method, an active-idle mobile (i. e., a device that is energized but that is not emitting or receiving speech or data signals) needs to register at the time the device is energized or when the device enters a new location area. Hence, when wireless switch 50 needs to 2s complete a call to one of the mobile devices 90-93, it broadcasts a paging signal only to the cells associated with the locatiori area where the mobile device is registered. When one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 registers, CPU 101 of wireless switch 50 increments an appropriate counter in registration counter 104 by "one" and starts an apl)lo~liate timer in the registration timer complex 102. Conversely, when a mobile device is powered off or exits a location area, the processor 55 of wireless switch 50 decrements the registration counter by "one" and sends a signal to the registration complex 102 to cause the timer associated with that device to reset.
s The hand-off operations are performed by CPU 101 in cooperation with base stations 1-12. Each one of the base stations 1-12 is arranged to measure and assess the strength of signals received from an active-busy mobile device. Hence, as a mobile end-user device crosses the boundary of one of the base stations 1-12 to enter another one of these base stations, the ~iminished strength of the signal received by the exiting cell lo impels CPU 101 of wireless switch 50 to initiate the hand-offprocedure which assigns a radio channel from the new base station for communications with the mobile end-user device. Processor 55 is arranged to increment by "one" a cell counter for a cell whenever one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 initiates a call from a location within the coverageareaofthatcell. CPU101 also incrementsby "one" the ~plopl;ate counter in cell counter 105 when one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 (in an active-busy state) enters the radio coverage area of that cell. In that case, CPU 101 also records the cell number of the previous cell to identify the direction being traveled by the user of the mobile end-user device. The mobile end-user devices 90-93 may be cellular telephone sets, two-way pagers, multimedia wireless devices or even low-mobility portable communications devices when wireless network 20 is a Personal Communications Network (PCN).
As mentioned above, processor 55 also includes a registration timer complex 102 and a cell timer complex 103 which are comprised of a series of EEPROMs with clocks that are associated with particular mobile end-user devices in specific situations. For 2s example, CPU 101 starts a timer for one of mobile end-user devices 90-93 when that device registers. Similarly, when one of mobile end-user devices 90-93 initiates a call or enters a new cell, CPU 101 starts a timer for that device. Both types of timers are designed to reset upon receiving a particular type of signal from CPU 101. That signal is emitted by CPU 101 to a) a registration timer when a user powers off an energized mobile end-user device, and b) to a cell timer when an active-busy mobile end-user device leaves a cell or is turned off. Even though the cell timer complex 103 is shown as part of the wireless switch 50, it is to be understood that it may be implemented as a stand-alone s device or may be alternatively included in a processor of each of the base stations 1-12.
Cell timer 103 is arranged to forward a signal to CPU 101 when a timer has exceeded a particular threshold. The value associated with that threshold is based on past average period of time for a driver, for example, to traverse that cell under similar conditions, such as same time-of-day, same day-of the-week and same day-of-the-year. This past o average period of time that is hereinafter referred to as "past average analog equivalent amount of time" is forwarded periodically by CPU 101 to cell timer complex 103.
Connected to wireless switch 50 is a Voice Information System (VIS) 53 that is arranged to a) initiate calls to mobile end-user devices 90-93 when a particular event occurs, b) receive calls and prompt callers for specific information by asking questions 15 based on a set of modules in a transaction script, c) collect information from a caller in the form of speech input or Dual Tone Multi Frequency, and d) forward collected information to processor 55.
In addition to the registration and cell counters, processor 55 also stores the table of FIG. 2 which correlates particular cells (shown in the leftmost column) to sections of a 20 thoroughfare (depicted in the second leftmost column). Although the table of FIG. 2 shows only one major thoroughfare per cell, it is to be understood that more than one major thoroughfare may be served by one cel}. In that latter case, the strength of the signal received by one of the base stations 1-12 may be used to distinguish which mobile end-user devices are traveling on which thoroughfare. Of course, when a cell serves more 2s than one major thoroughfare, each one of those thoroughfares has its own reference points, alternate routing information and adjacent cells entry in the table of FIG. 2.
The table of FIG. 2 also includes reference points (shown as the middle column of ~ ..
FIG. 2) which identify-the general boundaries of a section of a thoroughfare served by a particular cell. The reference points may be well-known streets, or exit numbers of a highway. Illustrated in the rightmost column of FIG. 2 are adjacent cells whose function in the road bottleneck identification and estimation process is described in detail below.
s Suffice to say for now that those adjacent cells are oriented in the same direction as the cell serving a particular section of the thoroughfare. By way of example, if highway 1 (shown in the top row of FIG. 2) is oriented in the north-south direction, adjacent cells 2 and 1 are cells that are located to the north and south, respectively, of cell 3. The table of FIG. 2 also includes alternate routing information that represents other thoroughfares 0 oriented in the same direction as the section of a thoroughfare served by a particular cell.
Optionally, the alternate route information may be implemented, for example, as pointers to stored digital maps associated with the geographical area served by a particular cell.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of illustrative instructions executed by some of the components of the communications switching system of FIG. 1 to collect information on wireless end-user devices located within the radio coverage area of the wireless network of FIG. 1. The information collection process contemplated by the invention is initiated in step 301 when a user turns on one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93. This triggers the registration procedure, in step 302, which causes CPU 101 to increment by "one" the ~plopl;ate counter in registration counter 104 for the location area of the device. If the user initiates a call, as determined in step 303, CPU 101 proceeds, in step 306, to increment by "one" a counter in cell counter 105, and to start a timer in the cell timer complex 103 in step 307. If the user does not initiate a call, a determination is then made, in step 304, as to whether the energized device has been powered off. If so, theregistration counter is decremented by "one" to end the inforrnation collection process.
2s After a call has been initiated (as determined in step 303), the applop,;ate counter in the cell counter incremented (as shown in step 306) and the timer started (as indicated in step 307), the call is monitored by CPU 101 to determine in step 308 whether the device has left the cell. If so, CPU 101, in step 312, sends a signal to cell timer complex lo 2 ~ 83284 103 to stop the timer for the device, and to decrement by "one" the counter for the cell exited by the device. Thereafter, a determination is made in step 313 as to whether the device has entered a new cell. If so, steps 306 through 308 are repeated. Otherwise, steps 304 and 305 (as needed) are performed. When it is determined, in step 308, that the device has not left the cell, CPU 101 performs a test in step 309 to ascertain whether the amount of time indicated by the timer exceeds a pre-determined threshold represented by the past average analog equivalent amount of time for devices in that cell. When the result of that test is negative, step 308 and other subsequent steps are performed as needed. If the result of the test is positive, CPU 101 performs a second test to determine 0 whether the exception counter has already been incremented for the device in question. If so, step 308 and other subsequent steps are performed as needed. Otherwise, an exception counter is incremented by one in step 310, and step 308 is repeated.
One of the road traffic estimation and delivery processes of the invention is initiated in step 401, when CPU 101 compares the value indicated by the cell counter for a particular cell (called "cell count A") to the expected average number of active-busy devices (B) in that cell under equivalent analog conditions, such as time-of-day, day-of-week, day-of-year. CPU 101 determines in step 402 whether the value of the cell counter A exceeds the expected average B by more than 25%. It should be noted that this.percentage value is provided for illustrative and pedagogical purposes only and therefore do not limit the scope of the invention. If the value of the cell counter A exceeds the expected average B by more than 25%, CPU 101 retrieves the cell profile in step 403 and identifies the direction of a potential traffic jam in step 404. This is done by comparing the value of the cell counter in each of the adjacent cells (indicated by the cell profile) to - ~ the respective expected analog equivalent average of each adjacent cell. The adjacent cells in question are located in the same general direction in which traffic flows in the thoroughfare. Hence, if traffic on a road flows-in the north-south direction, and the adjacent cell to the north of the cell of interest is experiencing higher than the analog equivalent average traffic level, while the adjacent cell to the south of the cell of interest is experiencing wireless traffic level lower than or equal to the analog equivalent average wireless traffic level, a conclusion is reached that the potential traffic jam on the section of the road is in the northbound direction.
If it is determined in step 405 that the value of the cell counter exceeds the expected average by more than an illustrative value of 50%, in step 406 a message that is s indicative of presence of bottlenecks in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered to subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s).
If, however, it is determined in step 405 that the cell count is less than 50 %, then a warning message that is indicative of the presence of a potential bottleneck in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered in step 407 to lo subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s). The format in which those messages may be delivered is described below.
It is worth noting that in some instances the registration counter may be used as well to estimate road traffic conditions. For example, when the location area covers a geographical area that can be associated with a section of a thoroughfare, the number of active-idle mobile devices registered in that location area may be used to estimate road traffic conditions on that section of the thoroughfare. Alternatively, when a wireless network implements a registration scheme that requires mobile devices to register at the cell level, as opposed to location area level, the technique described in conjunction with FIG. 4 could also be used.
A second road traffic estimation and delivery process of the invention is initiated in step 501 when CPU 101 compares the value of the exception counter C to the cell count A. When the exception counter has a value that is more than 25% of the value of - - the cell counter, as determined in step 502, CPU 101, in step 503, retrieves the cell profile table of FIG. 2. Thereafter, CPU 101, in step 504, identifies the direction of a potential traffic jam using the techniques described earlier. If the value of the exception counter is over half the value of the exception counter, as determined in step 505, then a message that is indicative of presence of bottlenecks in the section of the thoroughfare (indicated - by the cell profile) is delivered to subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s). If however, it is determined in step 505 that the cell count is less than 50 %, then in step 507 a warning message that is indicative of the presence of a potential bottleneck in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered to 5 subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s).
The aforementioned messages may be delivered in audible format via a call initiated by Voice Information System 53 to a subscriber. The message may also include alternate routing information (associated with the cell) to allow the subscriber to avoid the congested section of the thoroughfare. When the mobile end-user device is a wireless lo data terminal~ the message may be delivered in graphical format in the form of a digitàl map indicating the location of the bottleneck and directions to other less congested roads.
When call waiting features are available for the mobile end-user devices 90-93, an ~propl;ate road condition message may be delivered to a subscriber even when themobile end-user device of the subscriber is in an active-busy state. Similarly, when the mobile end-user device has simultaneous voice data capability, a digital map can be delivered to a monitor connected to the mobile end-user device even when the device is in an active-busy state.
It should be noted that the values of the exception counter that trigger the road traffic estimation and message delivery process are provided for illustrative and 20 pedagogical purposes and therefore do not limit the scope of the invention when other values are used.
It is also worth noting that a combination of the techniques described in ' conjunction of FIGs. 4 and 5 could be used to implement the principles of the invention.
For example, a message indicative of presence of bottleneck in a section of a 25 thoroughfare (associated with a cell profile) could be delivered to subscribers in that cell when both conditions of a two-prong test are satisfied. The first condition may require, for example, that a certain number of active-busy devices in a cell exceed the past _ 13 2 1 83284 average analog amount-of time spent in that cell while the second condition may dictate that the number of active-busy devices in a cell exceed the expected average (analog equivalent) number of active-busy devices by a certain percentage value.
According to one aspect of the invention, users may subscribe to the road traffic 5 estimation and delivery service of the invention by pre-registering for the service. Hence, when a bottleneck occurs on a road that is associated in a cell where the mobile end-user device of the subscriber is active, Voice Information System 53 delivers one of the messages described above to the subscriber. Alternatively, the user may provide an itinerary by speech input or DTMF signal to Voice Information Service 53 which delivers 0 al~propliate messages (received from CPU 101) to the subscriber whenever congestion occurs in sections of the road associated with that itinerary.
The foregoing is to be construed as only being illustrative embodiments of this invention. Persons skilled in the art can easily conceive of alternative arrangements providing functionality similar to this embodiment without any deviation from the 5 fundamental principles or the scope of this invention.
Technical Field This invention relates to communications systems and more particularly to a method and a system for estim~ting and delivering road condition information to s commumcahons servlces users.
Back~round Of the Invention Recent developments in satellite systems technology, such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT), have provided the impetus for the creation of a wide variety of mobile communications services. These services o include personal satellite telephone services and global positioning service (GPS).
Prominent among the services provided under the umbrella of global positioning are real-time locator and navigation services for automobile drivers and pedestrians, not to mention security- and military-related applications. The real-time locator service identifies the relative position of a device within a few feet of the real coordinates of the 15 device. By contrast, the navigation service provides directions to an end-user (in the form of digital maps, for example) based on a user's position as well as traffic congestion with respect to that position. Unfortunately, market acceptance of global positioning service has been slower than anticipated by the GPS planners and designers. This is primarily because global positioning service providers have to spread the high cost of procuring 20 and launching (LEO) satellites over a small customer base.
In an attempt to offer similar services at a lower price, systems designers havedeveloped a surface transportation monitoring system called "Intelligent VehicleHighway System" (IVHS). That system uses video-based detection devices and road sensors to collect real-time traffic data and to deliver warning and alternate route 25 information to users when traffic congestion occurs. The infrastructure for the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System is probably less costly than the infrastructure of the Global Positioning System, which would lead to an expectation of lower cost for IVHS-based _ service. Sadly, IVHS developers have found out that because IVHS service is limited to congestion detection/management and traffic reporting, the IVHS customer base may even be smaller than the one for GPS. Hence, the smaller IVHS customer base may operate to vitiate any competitive advantage IVHS may enjoy over GPS. This issue is s further complicated by the fact that major radio stations broadcast periodic traffic condition reports targeted at drivers on major metropolitan highways. Thus, it is unlikely that radio listeners on the road would pay for a service that is available to them practically free-of-charge, unless the service includes features heretofore unavailable. The radio stations typically receive the traffic report information that they broadcast from sources o such as reporters on board strategically located helicopters. Alas, the radio-broadcast traffic information reporting service is delivered primarily during rush hours, and is targeted primarily to listeners on major highways. The delivery time and scope of the radio-broadcast information operate to make that information worthless to drivers who are traveling either during non-rush hours, or on a congested secondary highway or a suburban road. In addition, the radio-broadcast traffic information reporting service does not offer detailed alternate paths to allow targeted drivers/listeners to avoid the congested area. Furthermore, the radio-broadcast traffic information "ages" rapidly (typically, far more rapidly than the radio-broadcast report frequency) as new accidents occur and old ones no longer hamper road traffic. Thus, a problem of the prior art is lack of an 20 "anytime, anywhere" solution that allows delivery of road congestion information to users without deploying a new costly information collection infrastructure.
Summary of the Invention The present invention is directed to a system which estimates traffic conditions in - the thoroughfares located in one or more radio coverage areas of a wireless 25 communications network based on an analysis of real-time and past traffic information carried on, and collected by, the wireless communications network. The data collection process is performed as part of the registration operation and hand-off procedure carried out by the wireless communications network. Data analyzed may include, for example, _ actual (current) and expected (past average) number of a) active-busy wireless end-user devices in one or more cells at a particular period of time, and b) active-idle wireless end-user devices registered in a location area of the wireless communications network.
In an embodiment of the principles of the invention, an inference of traffic 5 congestion is made when the number of wireless end-user devices active in a cell or location area exceeds a given threshold. For example, the ratio of actual to expected registered number of wireless devices that are active-busy in a cell and/or active- idle in a location area may be indicative of a bottleneck in one or more major roads located in that cell or in that location area. Furthermore, the same ratio in adjacent cells or location 0 areas provides orientation information regarding bottlenecks on that road. For example, when a cell A and its adjacent cell B to the north are experiencing higher than expected communications traffic while adjacent cell C that is located to the south of A is experiencing communications traffic level equal to or lower than an expected level, an inference is made that a bottleneck is present in the northbound section of the highway or the major road located in cell A. The inference of road traffic congestion based on higher than expected traffic level in particular coverage areas of a wireless network is supported by empirical studies which tend to indicate a direct correlation between traffic jams on a road and increased wireless network traffic in a cell where the congested section of that road is located. The expected traffic level for a cell is derived from past historical data 20 collected by a wireless communications network. The expected traffic level also takes into consideration time-dependent factors, such as time-of-day, day-of-week, day-of-year.
Other variables factored in the determination of the threshold level include scheduled events, such as parades and road repairs.
, In another embodiment of the invention, an inference of traffic congestion on a 25 road within the coverage area of a cell or location area is made when a significant number of wireless devices spend higher than expected amount of time to traverse that cell or location area. The expected amount of time for a wireless device to traverse a cell is based on past historical data which factors therein time-dependent parameters, such as ~ 2~3~4 time-of-day, day-of-week and day-of-year.
According to one aspect of the invention, a user may subscribe to the on-demand traffic reporting service which allows the user to be alerted of possible congestion on any road of an itinerary provided by the user. The itinerary may list, for example, dirre.~ cells in which the 5 subscriber is expected to travel within particular time intervals.
According to another aspect of the invention, a subscriber may receive unsolicited traffic reports of road congestion and alternate routing information whenever the current cell (location area) in which the subscriber is located and/or cells (location areas) adjacent to that current cell (location area) are experiencing higher than expected wireless traffic.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining road traffic conditions in thoroughfares located in radio coverage areas served by a wireless communications network including a plurality of base stations, each serving a cell in the radio coverage areas and a wireless switch coupled to the plurality of base stations, said method comprising the steps of: receiving from each of a plurality of cells, via said wireless switch coupled lS to a base station associated with the cell, real-time registration and cell activity data from active mobile end-user devices currently located in each of said plurality of cells served by the wireless communications network; and estim~ting road traffic conditions in at least one thoroughfare located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas based on a comparison of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to past analog equivalent information previously collected by said wireless 20 communications network for said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for determining road traffic conditions in a geographic area corresponding to a plurality of radio coverage % ~
4a areas served by a wireless communications system including a plurality of base stations and a wireless switch coupled to the base stations, the system comprising: a wireless traffic monitor, coupled to said wireless switch and which tracks a current flow of active mobile end-user devices entering and exiting at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas which are served by the wireless communications 5 system, and in which a plurality of roads are located; a processor which compares said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area to a past average flow previously collected by said wireless communications system for said at least one radio coverage area under substantially similar time conditions; and means responsive to said comparison for assessing road traffic conditions in said at least one radio coverage area.
10 Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 shows in block diagram format a communications switching system arranged in accordance with the invention to estimate traffic conditions in the thoroughfares located in the radio coverage area of the wireless component of the communications switching system;
FIG. 2 illustrates a table that maps particular cells or location areas to sections of a 1 5 thoroughfare;
FIG. 3 presents in flow diagram format illustrative instructions executed by a processor in the network of FIG. I to collect information on wireless end-user devices located within the radio coverage area of the wireless component of the communications switching system; and FIGs. 4 and 5 present in flow diagram format instructions executed by different components 20 of the network of FIG. 1 to deliver traffic information to a subscriber in accordance with the Invention.
~, .
_ Detailed Description Shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 is a communications switching system that includes a wireless network 20 and a land-line network 30. The land-line network 30 is comprised of interconnected local, tandem and toll switches (not shown) that enable a s telephone call to be completed to a wired telephone set (such as set 80) or to be forwarded to wireless network 20. The latter includes modular software and hardware components designed to provide radio channels for communications between mobile end-user devices and other devices connected to the communications switching system of FIG. 1.
Wireless network 20 may be an analog communications system using, for example, the o Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) analog cellular radio standard. A detailed description of an AMPS-based communications system is provided in Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 58, No. 1, January 1979, pp. 1-14. Alternatively, wireless network 20 may be a digital communications system implementing well-known code division multiple access (CDMA) or time-division multiple access (TDMA) techniques.
s Additional information on TDMA and CDMA access techniques can be found in AT&T Technical JournaL Vol. 72, No. 4, July/August 1993, pp. 19-26.
The wireless network 20 is comprised of a number of base stations 1 to 12, each one of which includes a transceiver, an antenna complex (antenna and tower), and a controller that are arranged to wirelessly communicate with mobile end-user devices 90-20 93 when they are located in the radio coverage area of one of the base stations. Thatradio coverage area is referred to in the art as a "cell" for cellular networks and "microcells" for Personal Communications Network (PCN). As the points of access and egress for signals transmitted to, and received from, wireless network 20, base stations 1-12 perform certain call setup functions that include initial channel ~ ignment and 2s supervision of the wireless link establishment.
At the heart of wireless network 20 is wireless switch 50 that monitors and coordinates the operations of the base stations 1-12. It includes a processor 55 (whose -functions are described below) and a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 52 which provides -seamless communications paths for calls (that span the wireless network 20 and the land-lines network 30) by "bridging" radio channels (from wireless network 20) with "wire"
channels (from land-line communications network 30).
Of particular importance among the components of wireless switch 50 is processor 55 that executes some of the call processing instructions shown in FIGs. 3, 4, 5 described below. The processor 55 includes a CPU 101 and a storage area 100. CPU 101 coordinates some of the call processing functions performed by base stations 1-12.
Storage area 100 contains, in addition to the processing instructions illustrated in FIGs. 3-o 5 (contained in general storage area 106), registration and cell counters 104 and 105 and registration and cell timer complexes 102 and 103. The counters and timers may be implemented, for example, as a series of EEPROMs which store the individual values of the counters for each cell and the individual values of the timers for each mobile end-user device in an active-busy state. Other functions performed by CPU 101 include theregistration procedure and hand-off operations that allow wireless network 20 to identify, validate and track the location of wireless end-user devices 90-93 within specific radio coverage areas as these devices move within the geographical area covered by thewireless network.
A well-known registration procedure is the Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register (HLR/VLR) method. In the HLR/VLR method, a location area is assigned to a collection of cells, such as base stations 1-12. According to the HLR/VLR
method, an active-idle mobile (i. e., a device that is energized but that is not emitting or receiving speech or data signals) needs to register at the time the device is energized or when the device enters a new location area. Hence, when wireless switch 50 needs to 2s complete a call to one of the mobile devices 90-93, it broadcasts a paging signal only to the cells associated with the locatiori area where the mobile device is registered. When one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 registers, CPU 101 of wireless switch 50 increments an appropriate counter in registration counter 104 by "one" and starts an apl)lo~liate timer in the registration timer complex 102. Conversely, when a mobile device is powered off or exits a location area, the processor 55 of wireless switch 50 decrements the registration counter by "one" and sends a signal to the registration complex 102 to cause the timer associated with that device to reset.
s The hand-off operations are performed by CPU 101 in cooperation with base stations 1-12. Each one of the base stations 1-12 is arranged to measure and assess the strength of signals received from an active-busy mobile device. Hence, as a mobile end-user device crosses the boundary of one of the base stations 1-12 to enter another one of these base stations, the ~iminished strength of the signal received by the exiting cell lo impels CPU 101 of wireless switch 50 to initiate the hand-offprocedure which assigns a radio channel from the new base station for communications with the mobile end-user device. Processor 55 is arranged to increment by "one" a cell counter for a cell whenever one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 initiates a call from a location within the coverageareaofthatcell. CPU101 also incrementsby "one" the ~plopl;ate counter in cell counter 105 when one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93 (in an active-busy state) enters the radio coverage area of that cell. In that case, CPU 101 also records the cell number of the previous cell to identify the direction being traveled by the user of the mobile end-user device. The mobile end-user devices 90-93 may be cellular telephone sets, two-way pagers, multimedia wireless devices or even low-mobility portable communications devices when wireless network 20 is a Personal Communications Network (PCN).
As mentioned above, processor 55 also includes a registration timer complex 102 and a cell timer complex 103 which are comprised of a series of EEPROMs with clocks that are associated with particular mobile end-user devices in specific situations. For 2s example, CPU 101 starts a timer for one of mobile end-user devices 90-93 when that device registers. Similarly, when one of mobile end-user devices 90-93 initiates a call or enters a new cell, CPU 101 starts a timer for that device. Both types of timers are designed to reset upon receiving a particular type of signal from CPU 101. That signal is emitted by CPU 101 to a) a registration timer when a user powers off an energized mobile end-user device, and b) to a cell timer when an active-busy mobile end-user device leaves a cell or is turned off. Even though the cell timer complex 103 is shown as part of the wireless switch 50, it is to be understood that it may be implemented as a stand-alone s device or may be alternatively included in a processor of each of the base stations 1-12.
Cell timer 103 is arranged to forward a signal to CPU 101 when a timer has exceeded a particular threshold. The value associated with that threshold is based on past average period of time for a driver, for example, to traverse that cell under similar conditions, such as same time-of-day, same day-of the-week and same day-of-the-year. This past o average period of time that is hereinafter referred to as "past average analog equivalent amount of time" is forwarded periodically by CPU 101 to cell timer complex 103.
Connected to wireless switch 50 is a Voice Information System (VIS) 53 that is arranged to a) initiate calls to mobile end-user devices 90-93 when a particular event occurs, b) receive calls and prompt callers for specific information by asking questions 15 based on a set of modules in a transaction script, c) collect information from a caller in the form of speech input or Dual Tone Multi Frequency, and d) forward collected information to processor 55.
In addition to the registration and cell counters, processor 55 also stores the table of FIG. 2 which correlates particular cells (shown in the leftmost column) to sections of a 20 thoroughfare (depicted in the second leftmost column). Although the table of FIG. 2 shows only one major thoroughfare per cell, it is to be understood that more than one major thoroughfare may be served by one cel}. In that latter case, the strength of the signal received by one of the base stations 1-12 may be used to distinguish which mobile end-user devices are traveling on which thoroughfare. Of course, when a cell serves more 2s than one major thoroughfare, each one of those thoroughfares has its own reference points, alternate routing information and adjacent cells entry in the table of FIG. 2.
The table of FIG. 2 also includes reference points (shown as the middle column of ~ ..
FIG. 2) which identify-the general boundaries of a section of a thoroughfare served by a particular cell. The reference points may be well-known streets, or exit numbers of a highway. Illustrated in the rightmost column of FIG. 2 are adjacent cells whose function in the road bottleneck identification and estimation process is described in detail below.
s Suffice to say for now that those adjacent cells are oriented in the same direction as the cell serving a particular section of the thoroughfare. By way of example, if highway 1 (shown in the top row of FIG. 2) is oriented in the north-south direction, adjacent cells 2 and 1 are cells that are located to the north and south, respectively, of cell 3. The table of FIG. 2 also includes alternate routing information that represents other thoroughfares 0 oriented in the same direction as the section of a thoroughfare served by a particular cell.
Optionally, the alternate route information may be implemented, for example, as pointers to stored digital maps associated with the geographical area served by a particular cell.
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of illustrative instructions executed by some of the components of the communications switching system of FIG. 1 to collect information on wireless end-user devices located within the radio coverage area of the wireless network of FIG. 1. The information collection process contemplated by the invention is initiated in step 301 when a user turns on one of the mobile end-user devices 90-93. This triggers the registration procedure, in step 302, which causes CPU 101 to increment by "one" the ~plopl;ate counter in registration counter 104 for the location area of the device. If the user initiates a call, as determined in step 303, CPU 101 proceeds, in step 306, to increment by "one" a counter in cell counter 105, and to start a timer in the cell timer complex 103 in step 307. If the user does not initiate a call, a determination is then made, in step 304, as to whether the energized device has been powered off. If so, theregistration counter is decremented by "one" to end the inforrnation collection process.
2s After a call has been initiated (as determined in step 303), the applop,;ate counter in the cell counter incremented (as shown in step 306) and the timer started (as indicated in step 307), the call is monitored by CPU 101 to determine in step 308 whether the device has left the cell. If so, CPU 101, in step 312, sends a signal to cell timer complex lo 2 ~ 83284 103 to stop the timer for the device, and to decrement by "one" the counter for the cell exited by the device. Thereafter, a determination is made in step 313 as to whether the device has entered a new cell. If so, steps 306 through 308 are repeated. Otherwise, steps 304 and 305 (as needed) are performed. When it is determined, in step 308, that the device has not left the cell, CPU 101 performs a test in step 309 to ascertain whether the amount of time indicated by the timer exceeds a pre-determined threshold represented by the past average analog equivalent amount of time for devices in that cell. When the result of that test is negative, step 308 and other subsequent steps are performed as needed. If the result of the test is positive, CPU 101 performs a second test to determine 0 whether the exception counter has already been incremented for the device in question. If so, step 308 and other subsequent steps are performed as needed. Otherwise, an exception counter is incremented by one in step 310, and step 308 is repeated.
One of the road traffic estimation and delivery processes of the invention is initiated in step 401, when CPU 101 compares the value indicated by the cell counter for a particular cell (called "cell count A") to the expected average number of active-busy devices (B) in that cell under equivalent analog conditions, such as time-of-day, day-of-week, day-of-year. CPU 101 determines in step 402 whether the value of the cell counter A exceeds the expected average B by more than 25%. It should be noted that this.percentage value is provided for illustrative and pedagogical purposes only and therefore do not limit the scope of the invention. If the value of the cell counter A exceeds the expected average B by more than 25%, CPU 101 retrieves the cell profile in step 403 and identifies the direction of a potential traffic jam in step 404. This is done by comparing the value of the cell counter in each of the adjacent cells (indicated by the cell profile) to - ~ the respective expected analog equivalent average of each adjacent cell. The adjacent cells in question are located in the same general direction in which traffic flows in the thoroughfare. Hence, if traffic on a road flows-in the north-south direction, and the adjacent cell to the north of the cell of interest is experiencing higher than the analog equivalent average traffic level, while the adjacent cell to the south of the cell of interest is experiencing wireless traffic level lower than or equal to the analog equivalent average wireless traffic level, a conclusion is reached that the potential traffic jam on the section of the road is in the northbound direction.
If it is determined in step 405 that the value of the cell counter exceeds the expected average by more than an illustrative value of 50%, in step 406 a message that is s indicative of presence of bottlenecks in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered to subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s).
If, however, it is determined in step 405 that the cell count is less than 50 %, then a warning message that is indicative of the presence of a potential bottleneck in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered in step 407 to lo subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s). The format in which those messages may be delivered is described below.
It is worth noting that in some instances the registration counter may be used as well to estimate road traffic conditions. For example, when the location area covers a geographical area that can be associated with a section of a thoroughfare, the number of active-idle mobile devices registered in that location area may be used to estimate road traffic conditions on that section of the thoroughfare. Alternatively, when a wireless network implements a registration scheme that requires mobile devices to register at the cell level, as opposed to location area level, the technique described in conjunction with FIG. 4 could also be used.
A second road traffic estimation and delivery process of the invention is initiated in step 501 when CPU 101 compares the value of the exception counter C to the cell count A. When the exception counter has a value that is more than 25% of the value of - - the cell counter, as determined in step 502, CPU 101, in step 503, retrieves the cell profile table of FIG. 2. Thereafter, CPU 101, in step 504, identifies the direction of a potential traffic jam using the techniques described earlier. If the value of the exception counter is over half the value of the exception counter, as determined in step 505, then a message that is indicative of presence of bottlenecks in the section of the thoroughfare (indicated - by the cell profile) is delivered to subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s). If however, it is determined in step 505 that the cell count is less than 50 %, then in step 507 a warning message that is indicative of the presence of a potential bottleneck in the section of the thoroughfare (associated with the cell profile) is delivered to 5 subscribers in that cell and other affected adjacent cell(s).
The aforementioned messages may be delivered in audible format via a call initiated by Voice Information System 53 to a subscriber. The message may also include alternate routing information (associated with the cell) to allow the subscriber to avoid the congested section of the thoroughfare. When the mobile end-user device is a wireless lo data terminal~ the message may be delivered in graphical format in the form of a digitàl map indicating the location of the bottleneck and directions to other less congested roads.
When call waiting features are available for the mobile end-user devices 90-93, an ~propl;ate road condition message may be delivered to a subscriber even when themobile end-user device of the subscriber is in an active-busy state. Similarly, when the mobile end-user device has simultaneous voice data capability, a digital map can be delivered to a monitor connected to the mobile end-user device even when the device is in an active-busy state.
It should be noted that the values of the exception counter that trigger the road traffic estimation and message delivery process are provided for illustrative and 20 pedagogical purposes and therefore do not limit the scope of the invention when other values are used.
It is also worth noting that a combination of the techniques described in ' conjunction of FIGs. 4 and 5 could be used to implement the principles of the invention.
For example, a message indicative of presence of bottleneck in a section of a 25 thoroughfare (associated with a cell profile) could be delivered to subscribers in that cell when both conditions of a two-prong test are satisfied. The first condition may require, for example, that a certain number of active-busy devices in a cell exceed the past _ 13 2 1 83284 average analog amount-of time spent in that cell while the second condition may dictate that the number of active-busy devices in a cell exceed the expected average (analog equivalent) number of active-busy devices by a certain percentage value.
According to one aspect of the invention, users may subscribe to the road traffic 5 estimation and delivery service of the invention by pre-registering for the service. Hence, when a bottleneck occurs on a road that is associated in a cell where the mobile end-user device of the subscriber is active, Voice Information System 53 delivers one of the messages described above to the subscriber. Alternatively, the user may provide an itinerary by speech input or DTMF signal to Voice Information Service 53 which delivers 0 al~propliate messages (received from CPU 101) to the subscriber whenever congestion occurs in sections of the road associated with that itinerary.
The foregoing is to be construed as only being illustrative embodiments of this invention. Persons skilled in the art can easily conceive of alternative arrangements providing functionality similar to this embodiment without any deviation from the 5 fundamental principles or the scope of this invention.
Claims (20)
1. A method of determining road traffic conditions in thoroughfares located in radio coverage areas served by a wireless communications network including a plurality of base stations, each serving a cell in the radio coverage areas and a wireless switch coupled to the plurality of base stations, said method comprising the steps of:
receiving from each of a plurality of cells, via said wireless switch coupled to a base station associated with the cell, real-time registration and cell activity data from active mobile end-user devices currently located in each of said plurality of cells served by the wireless communications network; and estimating road traffic conditions in at least one thoroughfare located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas based on a comparison of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to past analog equivalent information previously collected by said wireless communications network for said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
receiving from each of a plurality of cells, via said wireless switch coupled to a base station associated with the cell, real-time registration and cell activity data from active mobile end-user devices currently located in each of said plurality of cells served by the wireless communications network; and estimating road traffic conditions in at least one thoroughfare located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas based on a comparison of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to past analog equivalent information previously collected by said wireless communications network for said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein information associated with said estimated roadtraffic conditions is delivered to at least one user of one of said mobile end-user devices.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said information associated with said estimated road traffic conditions is delivered in audible format to said at least one user of one of said mobile end-user devices.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein said information associated with said estimated road traffic conditions is delivered in graphical format to said at least one user of one of said mobile end-user devices.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein said information associated with said estimated road traffic conditions is delivered to said at least one user of one of said mobile end-user devices when said one of said mobile end-user devices is in an active-busy state.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said estimating step further includes the steps of:
tallying at least a portion of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to determine a total number of mobile end-user devices that are active in at least one of said radio coverage areas within a given time period; and determining whether said total number of active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas exceeds a first threshold indicated by said past analog information for said at least one cell.
tallying at least a portion of said real-time registration and cells' activity data to determine a total number of mobile end-user devices that are active in at least one of said radio coverage areas within a given time period; and determining whether said total number of active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas exceeds a first threshold indicated by said past analog information for said at least one cell.
7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of:
establishing that a bottleneck is present in at least one section of at least one of said thoroughfares located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas when said total number of active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas exceeds said first threshold by a given percentage.
establishing that a bottleneck is present in at least one section of at least one of said thoroughfares located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas when said total number of active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas exceeds said first threshold by a given percentage.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said cells' activity data include amount of time spent by at least one active mobile end-user device in at least one cell.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:
counting a total number of said active mobile end-user devices that individually spend in said at least one cell an amount of time that exceeds a second threshold indicated by said past analog equivalent information for said at least one cell; and ascertaining that a bottleneck is present in at least one section of at least one thoroughfare associated with said at least one cell if said total number is higher than a given percentage of a count of all mobile end-user devices active in said at least one cell.
counting a total number of said active mobile end-user devices that individually spend in said at least one cell an amount of time that exceeds a second threshold indicated by said past analog equivalent information for said at least one cell; and ascertaining that a bottleneck is present in at least one section of at least one thoroughfare associated with said at least one cell if said total number is higher than a given percentage of a count of all mobile end-user devices active in said at least one cell.
10. The method of claim 7 or 9 further comprising the step of:
identifying a direction of said at least one thoroughfare in which said bottleneck is present, said identification being based on a relative amount of current wireless traffic in at least two cells that are adjacent to said at least one cell.
identifying a direction of said at least one thoroughfare in which said bottleneck is present, said identification being based on a relative amount of current wireless traffic in at least two cells that are adjacent to said at least one cell.
11. A system for determining road traffic conditions in a geographic area corresponding to a plurality of radio coverage areas served by a wireless communications system including a plurality of base stations and a wireless switch coupled to the base stations, the system comprising:
a wireless traffic monitor, coupled to said wireless switch and which tracks a current flow of active mobile end-user devices entering and exiting at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas which are served by the wireless communications system, and in which a plurality of roads are located;
a processor which compares said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area to a past average flow previously collected by said wireless communications system for said at least one radio coverage area under substantially similar time conditions; and means responsive to said comparison for assessing road traffic conditions in said at least one radio coverage area.
a wireless traffic monitor, coupled to said wireless switch and which tracks a current flow of active mobile end-user devices entering and exiting at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas which are served by the wireless communications system, and in which a plurality of roads are located;
a processor which compares said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area to a past average flow previously collected by said wireless communications system for said at least one radio coverage area under substantially similar time conditions; and means responsive to said comparison for assessing road traffic conditions in said at least one radio coverage area.
12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a voice information system for delivering to at least one user of said active mobile end-user devices a message indicative of a bottleneck condition in at least one section of at least one of said roads when said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area exceeds said past average flow for said at least one radio coverage area by a given percentage.
a voice information system for delivering to at least one user of said active mobile end-user devices a message indicative of a bottleneck condition in at least one section of at least one of said roads when said current flow for said at least one radio coverage area exceeds said past average flow for said at least one radio coverage area by a given percentage.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein said at least one section of said at least one of said roads is associated with at least one coverage area identified by a table contained in a storage area of said processor.
14. A system for estimating road conditions in a geographical area corresponding to a plurality of radio coverage areas served by a wireless communications network including a plurality of base stations and a wireless switch coupled to the base stations, said system comprising:
a wireless traffic monitor coupled to said wireless switch that keeps track of at least one of the following wireless activity data: a) currently active mobile end-user devices in at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas of a wireless communications network, and b) amount of time spent by each currently active mobile end user-device in at least one of said coverage areas;
a processor that performs at least one of a plurality of functions which include a) comparing an expected average number of active mobile end-user devices in at least one of said radio coverage areas to a total tracked number of said currently active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas, and b) determining a total count of active mobile end-user devices in at least one of said radio coverage areas that spend a higher than expected amount of time in said at least one of said radio coverage areas; and means responsive to at least one of said functions for estimating traffic road conditions in thoroughfares located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
a wireless traffic monitor coupled to said wireless switch that keeps track of at least one of the following wireless activity data: a) currently active mobile end-user devices in at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas of a wireless communications network, and b) amount of time spent by each currently active mobile end user-device in at least one of said coverage areas;
a processor that performs at least one of a plurality of functions which include a) comparing an expected average number of active mobile end-user devices in at least one of said radio coverage areas to a total tracked number of said currently active mobile end-user devices in said at least one of said radio coverage areas, and b) determining a total count of active mobile end-user devices in at least one of said radio coverage areas that spend a higher than expected amount of time in said at least one of said radio coverage areas; and means responsive to at least one of said functions for estimating traffic road conditions in thoroughfares located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas.
15. The system of claim 14 further comprising:
a voice information system that delivers information associated with said estimated traffic road conditions to selected users of said active mobile end-user devices.
a voice information system that delivers information associated with said estimated traffic road conditions to selected users of said active mobile end-user devices.
16. The system of claim 14 further comprising:
a storage area that contains a table that correlates said radio coverage areas to particular sections of said thoroughfares so that traffic road conditions can be estimated for said particular sections of said thoroughfares.
a storage area that contains a table that correlates said radio coverage areas to particular sections of said thoroughfares so that traffic road conditions can be estimated for said particular sections of said thoroughfares.
17. The system of claim 14 wherein said expected average number of active mobile end-user devices in each one of said radio coverage areas is based on past analog equivalent data previously collected by said wireless communications network.
18. The system of claim 14 wherein said expected amount of time spent by a mobile end-user device in one of said radio coverage areas is based on past analog equivalent data previously collected by said wireless communications network.
19. A method of estimating traffic conditions in thoroughfares located in the radio coverage areas of a wireless communications network that includes a plurality of base stations and a wireless switch coupled to said base stations, said method comprising the steps of:
receiving, via at least one of the base stations and the wireless switch communications signals from a plurality of wireless devices that are active in at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas; and determining that a bottleneck traffic condition is present in at least one section of said thoroughfares when a count of said active devices located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas associated with said at least one section of said thoroughfares exceeds a selected threshold.
receiving, via at least one of the base stations and the wireless switch communications signals from a plurality of wireless devices that are active in at least one of a plurality of radio coverage areas; and determining that a bottleneck traffic condition is present in at least one section of said thoroughfares when a count of said active devices located in said at least one of said radio coverage areas associated with said at least one section of said thoroughfares exceeds a selected threshold.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein information associated with said bottleneck traffic condition is delivered to at least one user of one of said active wireless devices.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US528,292 | 1983-08-31 | ||
| US08/528,292 US5732383A (en) | 1995-09-14 | 1995-09-14 | Traffic information estimation and reporting system |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2183284A1 CA2183284A1 (en) | 1997-03-15 |
| CA2183284C true CA2183284C (en) | 1999-07-27 |
Family
ID=24105061
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002183284A Expired - Lifetime CA2183284C (en) | 1995-09-14 | 1996-08-14 | Traffic information estimation and reporting system |
Country Status (5)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US5732383A (en) |
| EP (1) | EP0763807B2 (en) |
| JP (1) | JPH09128679A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2183284C (en) |
| DE (1) | DE69611274T3 (en) |
Families Citing this family (129)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6108554A (en) * | 1995-11-14 | 2000-08-22 | Sony Corporation | Information providing system |
| JP2848318B2 (en) * | 1996-03-05 | 1999-01-20 | 三菱電機株式会社 | In-vehicle travel control device |
| US5982298A (en) | 1996-11-14 | 1999-11-09 | Microsoft Corporation | Interactive traffic display and trip planner |
| DE19727388B4 (en) * | 1997-06-27 | 2004-08-12 | Deutsche Telekom Ag | Remote query system for providing information about traffic conditions |
| FI105384B (en) * | 1997-10-03 | 2000-07-31 | Nokia Networks Oy | A method for determining the location of a terminal and a cellular radio system |
| NO980890L (en) * | 1998-02-27 | 1999-08-30 | Ericsson Telefon Ab L M | Measurement of traffic and transport |
| ATE297102T1 (en) * | 1998-04-17 | 2005-06-15 | Motorola Inc | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF |
| DE19836089A1 (en) * | 1998-07-31 | 2000-02-03 | Inst Halbleiterphysik Gmbh | Procedure for determining dynamic traffic information |
| US6363248B1 (en) | 1998-12-28 | 2002-03-26 | Lucent Technologies Inc. | Intelligent cellular forwarding system |
| US6246954B1 (en) * | 1999-01-28 | 2001-06-12 | International Business Machines Corporation | Time multiplexed global positioning system for control of traffic lights |
| US6384739B1 (en) | 1999-05-10 | 2002-05-07 | Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation | Traffic monitoring system and method |
| GB9914812D0 (en) * | 1999-06-25 | 1999-08-25 | Kew Michael J | Traffic monitoring |
| US6317058B1 (en) | 1999-09-15 | 2001-11-13 | Jerome H. Lemelson | Intelligent traffic control and warning system and method |
| US6341255B1 (en) | 1999-09-27 | 2002-01-22 | Decell, Inc. | Apparatus and methods for providing route guidance to vehicles |
| KR20010103141A (en) * | 2000-01-27 | 2001-11-23 | 최중인 | Multi-User telephonic mutual load traffic guide communication system under Voice menu environment |
| US6282486B1 (en) | 2000-04-03 | 2001-08-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Distributed system and method for detecting traffic patterns |
| US6349246B1 (en) | 2000-04-24 | 2002-02-19 | International Business Machines Corporation | Preemptive control of a vehicle computer system based on local and environmental sensing |
| US6718258B1 (en) * | 2000-06-08 | 2004-04-06 | Navigation Technologies Corp | Method and system for obtaining user feedback regarding geographic data |
| JP2002015215A (en) * | 2000-06-30 | 2002-01-18 | Hitachi Ltd | Multimedia information distribution system and portable information terminal device |
| IL137123A (en) | 2000-07-02 | 2009-07-20 | Ofer Avni | Method for monitoring cellular communications and system therefor |
| US6600982B1 (en) | 2000-08-23 | 2003-07-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | System, method and article of manufacture to provide output according to trip information |
| DE10042232A1 (en) * | 2000-08-28 | 2002-04-04 | Siemens Ag | Method and device for route / route planning for road users |
| US6587781B2 (en) | 2000-08-28 | 2003-07-01 | Estimotion, Inc. | Method and system for modeling and processing vehicular traffic data and information and applying thereof |
| KR100349010B1 (en) * | 2000-08-28 | 2002-08-14 | 모빌토크(주) | Method Of Providing Real-time Traffic Information Using A Mobile Phone Through Wireless Internet |
| WO2002043026A1 (en) * | 2000-11-24 | 2002-05-30 | Nokia Corporation | Traffic monitoring |
| EP1213905B1 (en) * | 2000-12-06 | 2011-08-17 | Siemens AG | Location dependent data collection |
| DE10110434A1 (en) * | 2001-03-05 | 2002-09-19 | Siemens Ag | Method and device for traffic analysis |
| DE10114016A1 (en) * | 2001-03-22 | 2002-10-10 | Vodafone Ag | Method for generating traffic information |
| US7079945B1 (en) | 2001-04-17 | 2006-07-18 | Navteq North America, Llc | Geographic database including data indicating wireless coverage and method and system for use thereof |
| US7643834B2 (en) * | 2001-07-16 | 2010-01-05 | Wavemarket, Inc. | System for providing alert-based services to mobile stations in a wireless communications network |
| WO2003024132A1 (en) | 2001-09-13 | 2003-03-20 | Airsage, Inc. | System and method for providing traffic information using operational data of a wireless network |
| US7187935B1 (en) | 2001-10-16 | 2007-03-06 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and software for low bandwidth presence via aggregation and profiling |
| US7107081B1 (en) | 2001-10-18 | 2006-09-12 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US7127271B1 (en) | 2001-10-18 | 2006-10-24 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US7466992B1 (en) | 2001-10-18 | 2008-12-16 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| FI114832B (en) * | 2001-11-05 | 2004-12-31 | Elisa Matkapuhelinpalvelut Oy | Method and system for collecting traffic information |
| US20030100990A1 (en) * | 2001-11-28 | 2003-05-29 | Clapper Edward O. | Using cellular network to estimate traffic flow |
| US20030145127A1 (en) * | 2002-01-03 | 2003-07-31 | Unice W. Kyle | Method and computer program product for providing a device driver |
| GB0220062D0 (en) * | 2002-08-29 | 2002-10-09 | Itis Holdings Plc | Traffic scheduling system |
| AU2003259357B2 (en) * | 2002-08-29 | 2009-08-13 | Inrix Uk Limited | Apparatus and method for providing traffic information |
| US20040073361A1 (en) | 2002-10-15 | 2004-04-15 | Assimakis Tzamaloukas | Enhanced mobile communication device, and transportation application thereof |
| US8229512B1 (en) | 2003-02-08 | 2012-07-24 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| KR100546480B1 (en) * | 2003-03-28 | 2006-01-26 | 에스케이 텔레콤주식회사 | Method for obtaining traffic information by using call data record of mobile |
| US8241128B1 (en) | 2003-04-03 | 2012-08-14 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US7076365B2 (en) * | 2003-05-12 | 2006-07-11 | Circumnav Networks, Inc. | Enhanced dead reckoning method |
| US6862500B2 (en) * | 2003-05-12 | 2005-03-01 | Circumnav Networks, Inc. | Methods for communicating between elements in a hierarchical floating car data network |
| US6925378B2 (en) * | 2003-05-12 | 2005-08-02 | Circumnav Networks, Inc. | Enhanced mobile communication device with extended radio, and applications |
| US7188026B2 (en) * | 2003-05-12 | 2007-03-06 | Dash Navigation, Inc. | Hierarchical floating car data network |
| US7197320B2 (en) * | 2003-07-02 | 2007-03-27 | Joseph Joseph | System for managing traffic patterns using cellular telephones |
| US8090402B1 (en) | 2003-09-26 | 2012-01-03 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US8121635B1 (en) | 2003-11-22 | 2012-02-21 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US8041348B1 (en) | 2004-03-23 | 2011-10-18 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US7620402B2 (en) * | 2004-07-09 | 2009-11-17 | Itis Uk Limited | System and method for geographically locating a mobile device |
| US7912630B2 (en) * | 2004-12-14 | 2011-03-22 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and system for performing programmatic actions based upon vehicle approximate locations |
| US7212916B2 (en) * | 2004-12-14 | 2007-05-01 | International Business Machines Corporation | Obtaining contextual vehicle information |
| US8370054B2 (en) * | 2005-03-24 | 2013-02-05 | Google Inc. | User location driven identification of service vehicles |
| US20060221918A1 (en) * | 2005-04-01 | 2006-10-05 | Hitachi, Ltd. | System, method and computer program product for providing content to a remote device |
| ES2494117T3 (en) * | 2005-06-23 | 2014-09-15 | Airsage, Inc. | Method and system to use cellular data for transport planning and engineering |
| US8046162B2 (en) * | 2005-11-04 | 2011-10-25 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Data broadcast method for traffic information |
| US8437958B2 (en) * | 2005-11-14 | 2013-05-07 | General Motors Llc | Method and system for providing wireless connection conditions along a navigation route |
| DE102006010572A1 (en) * | 2006-03-06 | 2007-09-13 | Gerhard Lauche | Traffic guidance system for use in vehicle, has data processing unit transmitting processed data to application unit over communication unit, where application unit uses data for computing vehicle travel route |
| US20100076878A1 (en) * | 2006-09-12 | 2010-03-25 | Itis Holdings Plc | Apparatus and method for implementing a road pricing scheme |
| US8417442B2 (en) * | 2006-09-19 | 2013-04-09 | Intuitive Control Systems, Llc | Collection, monitoring, analyzing and reporting of traffic data via vehicle sensor devices placed at multiple remote locations |
| US20080102855A1 (en) * | 2006-10-30 | 2008-05-01 | Microsoft Corporation | Location Mapping of Federated Devices |
| US8041807B2 (en) * | 2006-11-02 | 2011-10-18 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method, system and program product for determining a number of concurrent users accessing a system |
| US10318965B2 (en) * | 2007-01-31 | 2019-06-11 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and apparatus for providing location specific information |
| US7890089B1 (en) | 2007-05-03 | 2011-02-15 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US8676273B1 (en) | 2007-08-24 | 2014-03-18 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US8892112B2 (en) | 2011-07-21 | 2014-11-18 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Selection of a radio access bearer resource based on radio access bearer resource historical information |
| US8639214B1 (en) | 2007-10-26 | 2014-01-28 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| WO2009057219A1 (en) * | 2007-11-01 | 2009-05-07 | Fujitsu Limited | Traffic control method, traffic control program, and traffic control device |
| EP2232457B1 (en) * | 2007-12-20 | 2013-02-20 | Telecom Italia S.p.A. | Method and system for forecasting travel times on roads |
| EP2235708B1 (en) | 2007-12-20 | 2014-06-04 | Telecom Italia S.p.A. | Method and system for estimating road traffic |
| WO2009083028A1 (en) * | 2007-12-27 | 2009-07-09 | Telecom Italia S.P.A. | Method and system for determining road traffic jams based on information derived from a plmn |
| US8718928B2 (en) * | 2008-04-23 | 2014-05-06 | Verizon Patent And Licensing Inc. | Traffic monitoring systems and methods |
| US8543157B1 (en) | 2008-05-09 | 2013-09-24 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device which notifies its pin-point location or geographic area in accordance with user selection |
| US8340726B1 (en) | 2008-06-30 | 2012-12-25 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| US8452307B1 (en) | 2008-07-02 | 2013-05-28 | Iwao Fujisaki | Communication device |
| DE102008049493B4 (en) * | 2008-09-30 | 2010-06-02 | Vodafone Holding Gmbh | Method for generating geographic identification points |
| US8121599B2 (en) * | 2008-12-24 | 2012-02-21 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | System and method for inferring wireless trajectories in a cellular telephone network |
| US8326319B2 (en) * | 2009-01-23 | 2012-12-04 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Compensation of propagation delays of wireless signals |
| GB0901588D0 (en) | 2009-02-02 | 2009-03-11 | Itis Holdings Plc | Apparatus and methods for providing journey information |
| US8296046B2 (en) | 2009-12-08 | 2012-10-23 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Cellular-based live traffic service |
| US9053513B2 (en) | 2010-02-25 | 2015-06-09 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Fraud analysis for a location aware transaction |
| US8254959B2 (en) | 2010-02-25 | 2012-08-28 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Timed fingerprint locating for idle-state user equipment in wireless networks |
| US8224349B2 (en) | 2010-02-25 | 2012-07-17 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Timed fingerprint locating in wireless networks |
| US9008684B2 (en) | 2010-02-25 | 2015-04-14 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Sharing timed fingerprint location information |
| US9196157B2 (en) | 2010-02-25 | 2015-11-24 | AT&T Mobolity II LLC | Transportation analytics employing timed fingerprint location information |
| US8447328B2 (en) | 2010-08-27 | 2013-05-21 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Location estimation of a mobile device in a UMTS network |
| US8725174B2 (en) | 2010-10-23 | 2014-05-13 | Wavemarket, Inc. | Mobile device alert generation system and method |
| US9009629B2 (en) | 2010-12-01 | 2015-04-14 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Motion-based user interface feature subsets |
| US8509806B2 (en) | 2010-12-14 | 2013-08-13 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Classifying the position of a wireless device |
| US8620568B2 (en) | 2010-12-28 | 2013-12-31 | Telenav, Inc. | Navigation system with congestion estimation mechanism and method of operation thereof |
| GB2492369B (en) | 2011-06-29 | 2014-04-02 | Itis Holdings Plc | Method and system for collecting traffic data |
| US8612410B2 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2013-12-17 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Dynamic content selection through timed fingerprint location data |
| US9462497B2 (en) | 2011-07-01 | 2016-10-04 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Subscriber data analysis and graphical rendering |
| US9064234B2 (en) * | 2011-07-13 | 2015-06-23 | Right Intel Corporation | Systems and methods for the analysis and dissemination of data within a networked community |
| US8897802B2 (en) | 2011-07-21 | 2014-11-25 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Selection of a radio access technology resource based on radio access technology resource historical information |
| US8761799B2 (en) | 2011-07-21 | 2014-06-24 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Location analytics employing timed fingerprint location information |
| US9519043B2 (en) | 2011-07-21 | 2016-12-13 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Estimating network based locating error in wireless networks |
| WO2013020082A2 (en) * | 2011-08-04 | 2013-02-07 | Connors Robert W | Content changeable smart phone application for navigable venues and multi-party navigational system |
| US8923134B2 (en) | 2011-08-29 | 2014-12-30 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Prioritizing network failure tickets using mobile location data |
| US8666390B2 (en) | 2011-08-29 | 2014-03-04 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Ticketing mobile call failures based on geolocated event data |
| US8762048B2 (en) | 2011-10-28 | 2014-06-24 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Automatic travel time and routing determinations in a wireless network |
| US8909247B2 (en) | 2011-11-08 | 2014-12-09 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Location based sharing of a network access credential |
| US9026133B2 (en) | 2011-11-28 | 2015-05-05 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Handset agent calibration for timing based locating systems |
| US8970432B2 (en) | 2011-11-28 | 2015-03-03 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Femtocell calibration for timing based locating systems |
| US8925104B2 (en) | 2012-04-13 | 2014-12-30 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Event driven permissive sharing of information |
| US8929827B2 (en) | 2012-06-04 | 2015-01-06 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Adaptive calibration of measurements for a wireless radio network |
| US9094929B2 (en) | 2012-06-12 | 2015-07-28 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Event tagging for mobile networks |
| US9326263B2 (en) | 2012-06-13 | 2016-04-26 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data |
| US9046592B2 (en) | 2012-06-13 | 2015-06-02 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Timed fingerprint locating at user equipment |
| US8938258B2 (en) | 2012-06-14 | 2015-01-20 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Reference based location information for a wireless network |
| US8897805B2 (en) | 2012-06-15 | 2014-11-25 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Geographic redundancy determination for time based location information in a wireless radio network |
| US9408174B2 (en) | 2012-06-19 | 2016-08-02 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Facilitation of timed fingerprint mobile device locating |
| US8892054B2 (en) | 2012-07-17 | 2014-11-18 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Facilitation of delay error correction in timing-based location systems |
| US9351223B2 (en) | 2012-07-25 | 2016-05-24 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Assignment of hierarchical cell structures employing geolocation techniques |
| US9330565B2 (en) * | 2013-09-18 | 2016-05-03 | Iteris, Inc. | Traffic bottleneck detection and classification on a transportation network graph |
| US20160265925A1 (en) * | 2013-11-12 | 2016-09-15 | Jianjun Ma | Scheduling download of data of an on-line service |
| US9403482B2 (en) | 2013-11-22 | 2016-08-02 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Enhanced view for connected cars |
| US9510152B2 (en) | 2014-04-11 | 2016-11-29 | Location Labs, Inc. | System and method for scheduling location measurements |
| CN104301945B (en) * | 2014-09-24 | 2018-05-11 | 上海华为技术有限公司 | A kind of timer duration method of adjustment and base station |
| US9336679B1 (en) * | 2014-12-17 | 2016-05-10 | Ariba, Inc. | Measuring traffic condition based on mobile devices connection information |
| US9351111B1 (en) | 2015-03-06 | 2016-05-24 | At&T Mobility Ii Llc | Access to mobile location related information |
| CN106157657A (en) * | 2015-04-14 | 2016-11-23 | 香港生产力促进局 | A kind of moving state identification system and method for mobile subscriber |
| US9801075B2 (en) * | 2016-02-29 | 2017-10-24 | Hughes Network Systems, Llc | Sizing satellite beam capacity |
| DE102016110331B3 (en) * | 2016-06-03 | 2017-06-22 | CooDriver GmbH | Method and system for determining risk areas in road traffic |
| CN106373396A (en) * | 2016-09-26 | 2017-02-01 | 北京东土科技股份有限公司 | Intelligent traffic cloud control system-based control server |
| US10516972B1 (en) | 2018-06-01 | 2019-12-24 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. | Employing an alternate identifier for subscription access to mobile location information |
Family Cites Families (15)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5023900A (en) † | 1989-12-07 | 1991-06-11 | Tayloe Daniel R | Cellular radiotelephone diagnostic system |
| US5095532A (en) * | 1989-12-29 | 1992-03-10 | Robert Bosch Gmbh | Method and apparatus for route-selective reproduction of broadcast traffic announcements |
| US5131020A (en) * | 1989-12-29 | 1992-07-14 | Smartroutes Systems Limited Partnership | Method of and system for providing continually updated traffic or other information to telephonically and other communications-linked customers |
| US5182555A (en) * | 1990-07-26 | 1993-01-26 | Farradyne Systems, Inc. | Cell messaging process for an in-vehicle traffic congestion information system |
| US5177685A (en) * | 1990-08-09 | 1993-01-05 | Massachusetts Institute Of Technology | Automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions |
| US5155689A (en) * | 1991-01-17 | 1992-10-13 | By-Word Technologies, Inc. | Vehicle locating and communicating method and apparatus |
| WO1992014215A1 (en) * | 1991-02-01 | 1992-08-20 | Peterson Thomas D | Method and apparatus for providing shortest elapsed time route information to users |
| EP0516215B1 (en) * | 1991-05-27 | 1997-10-01 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Method of collecting traffic information, and system for performing the method |
| KR920022001A (en) * | 1991-05-27 | 1992-12-19 | 프레데릭 얀 스미트 | Traffic information collection method and system for performing this method |
| US5465289A (en) * | 1993-03-05 | 1995-11-07 | E-Systems, Inc. | Cellular based traffic sensor system |
| US5327144A (en) † | 1993-05-07 | 1994-07-05 | Associated Rt, Inc. | Cellular telephone location system |
| SE500769C2 (en) † | 1993-06-21 | 1994-08-29 | Televerket | Procedure for locating mobile stations in digital telecommunications networks |
| US5420794A (en) * | 1993-06-30 | 1995-05-30 | James; Robert D. | Automated highway system for controlling the operating parameters of a vehicle |
| US5539645A (en) * | 1993-11-19 | 1996-07-23 | Philips Electronics North America Corporation | Traffic monitoring system with reduced communications requirements |
| US5572450A (en) * | 1995-06-06 | 1996-11-05 | Worthy; David G. | RF car counting system and method therefor |
-
1995
- 1995-09-14 US US08/528,292 patent/US5732383A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1996
- 1996-08-14 CA CA002183284A patent/CA2183284C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1996-08-28 EP EP96113768A patent/EP0763807B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1996-08-28 DE DE69611274T patent/DE69611274T3/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1996-09-13 JP JP8242430A patent/JPH09128679A/en active Pending
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| EP0763807B2 (en) | 2006-08-16 |
| EP0763807A1 (en) | 1997-03-19 |
| JPH09128679A (en) | 1997-05-16 |
| US5732383A (en) | 1998-03-24 |
| EP0763807B1 (en) | 2000-12-20 |
| DE69611274D1 (en) | 2001-01-25 |
| DE69611274T2 (en) | 2001-08-09 |
| CA2183284A1 (en) | 1997-03-15 |
| DE69611274T3 (en) | 2007-03-15 |
| MX9603902A (en) | 1997-07-31 |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CA2183284C (en) | Traffic information estimation and reporting system | |
| KR100546480B1 (en) | Method for obtaining traffic information by using call data record of mobile | |
| FI114832B (en) | Method and system for collecting traffic information | |
| JP3959997B2 (en) | Vehicle traffic monitoring system and method | |
| US8340718B2 (en) | Method and system for estimating road traffic | |
| EP1316079B1 (en) | Method and system for providing traffic and related information | |
| US6842620B2 (en) | System and method for providing traffic information using operational data of a wireless network | |
| US6442394B1 (en) | Systems and methods for providing vehicular traffic information to a mobile station (MS) through a wireless telecommunications network | |
| CN100403811C (en) | Method and network element for providing location services using predetermined portions of broadcast signal | |
| CN102262819A (en) | Method and device for determining real-time passing time of road based on mobile communication network | |
| US8538377B2 (en) | Method and system for determining road traffic jams based on information derived from a PLMN | |
| CN105075296A (en) | Localized network service | |
| CN103891319A (en) | Method and device for determining a position for a charging station | |
| US20230199513A1 (en) | Method and system for calculating origin-destination matrices exploiting mobile communication network data | |
| US8150610B2 (en) | System and related method for road traffic monitoring | |
| US6813247B1 (en) | Traffic reporting system and method over wireless communication systems | |
| CN115333604B (en) | Satellite terminal monitoring method, system, device and storage medium | |
| US7069017B2 (en) | Traffic information collecting and providing system and method utilizing PCS network system | |
| Aguiléra et al. | Estimating the quality of service of underground transit systems with cellular network data | |
| MXPA96003902A (en) | System for estimating and reporting traf information | |
| CN114299722B (en) | Road condition prediction method, system, device and storage medium | |
| EP1611765B1 (en) | Method for obtaining traffic information using billing information of mobile terminal | |
| CN116913074A (en) | Traffic information prompting method, device, equipment and computer readable storage medium | |
| CA2335981A1 (en) | Method in a radio telecommunications network of providing signal strength and mobile station information to a monitoring agency | |
| CN116017419A (en) | User identification code information determining method and device |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| MKEX | Expiry |
Effective date: 20160815 |