AU5196600A

AU5196600A - Method for requesting and revising traffic reports

Info

Publication number: AU5196600A
Application number: AU51966/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Stefan Goss; Bernd Hessing
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 1999-08-12
Filing date: 2000-08-11
Publication date: 2001-02-15
Also published as: DE19937370A1; EP1076325A2; EP1076325A3; EP1076325B1; JP2001084478A; ATE268038T1; DE50006570D1

Abstract

The method involves sending a traffic message request from a radio device and a service provider providing at least one message via a base station that is transmitted to the radio device. The traffic message is transmitted as a TMC message by radio, esp. as a short message. The request contains information about the intended use of the toll roads and/or the type of vehicle and/or the length of the position code and only corresp. return traffic messages are transmitted.

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH Actual Inventors: Bernd Hessing; Stefan Goss Address for Service: CALLINAN LAWRIE, 711 High Street, Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Invention Title: METHOD FOR REQUESTING AND REVISING TRAFFIC REPORTS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- 10/08/00,tdl 1464.cs,l -2- Method for requesting and revising traffic reports Prior Art The invention relates to a method for requesting and processing traffic reports.

A method and arrangement for the information of mobile subscribers are known from Australian Patent Application No. 56507/98. Here, data between a central station unit and a mobile subscriber unit are transmitted automatically or upon request. In particular, this data is to serve the transmission of traffic reports to the mobile subscriber. In principle there are coco two possible methods. On the one hand to provide the mobile subscriber with all instructions concerning the movement of traffic so that the participant in traffic is totally dependent on information from central station. The other 15 possibility is that the participant in the traffic carries a navigation device in his S" vehicle by means of which it is possible to receive information as to his present location and that of his destination. In this case, the central station is only used to transmit information to oneself from the central station which could lead to a hindrance in the trip, in particular traffic jams, closed roads, 20 detours or disturbances in traffic flow dependent on weather. This information can be transmitted in clear text or in a reduced form in which only codes are used and these codes are then converted in the receiver to complete texts. A measure of this kind is described, for example, in the DE- OS 35 36 820. For the transmission and reception of the information, each participant should have a radio device enabling the reception of messages.

Such a device can be a customary mobile radio device; it can however also be a transmitter, which transmits information to a central station, and, for example, radio receivers, which are able to receive individualised messages.

In this case, the central station, after processing the request can beam the information over a radio transmitter and, on the basis of the individual identification code, sees to it that the message be only evaluated from the receiver which is correspondingly individualised.

10/08/00,td 11464.specif,2 -3- Summary of the Invention According to the invention there is provided a method for requesting and processing traffic reports in which a traffic report request is transmitted by a radio device and at least one traffic report is transmitted by a service provider via a base station to the radio device, the traffic report being transmitted particularly as a short message, preferably a TMC message over radio, wherein the vehicle report request involves information on the intended use of roads subject to tolls and/or the type of vehicle (and/or the length of the area code and that, as feedback, only traffic reports are transmitted which correspond to the traffic report request.

Advantages of the invention 15 An advantage resulting from the measure is that, on the basis of the oooo information transmitted to the central station, only information is transmitted over the central station, which the driver wants to hear. Not all traffic .*"information will be therefore announced to him but only the information for his route. This will also be limited in that not all traffic information is relevant for 20 the driver because he does not want to use roads subject to tolls and/or cannot in certain parts be used by heavy vehicles or his receiver is only in a position to evaluation certain information in an area code and not other information. Achieved by means of the measure of the invention is that the message is kept considerably smaller and transmission capacity is spared.

This has the result that the request in the central station, because of the minimal claim of the transmission channel, is more economical than if all information, whether required or not, is to be transmitted.

It is advantageous, therefore, to transmit the traffic report request only on demand. By this means the user has control over how often he requests information. Particularly when, after the request, he establishes that traffic obstructions are not expected, it is often enough that repeated requests are 10108/00,tdl 1464.specif,3 not necessary until after a long period of driving. The user of the device is therefore in a position to transmit the requests according to his wishes.

The making of traffic report requests in given time delays represents another advantage. By this means the driver of a vehicle is relieved of responsibility to input information. He need not always think when a new traffic report is necessary, rather, dependent on the route he is travelling along or at certain times a request is undertaken according to traffic hindrances, so that the driver is continuously advised concerning the latest happenings in the traffic, 10 especially on new hindrances on the roads, without needing to think of it cO.l himself.

Another advantage is, on the basis of the input traffic reports, to calculate a route from a current point to a destination point. Here, the traffic jams and 15 hindrances, which were transmitted on the basis of the traffic request, will be taken into account with the ascertaining of the route. It is further advantageous not to transmit all the traffic reports, which correspond to the request criteria, but only those traffic reports, which lie in a given corridor between the present point and the destination point. By this means the 20 number of traffic reports are further limited whereby it is to be ensured that the corridor is so chosen that possible and sensible bypasses are ascertained.

Drawing An embodiment of the invention is depicted in the drawing and described in some detail in the following description. Figure 1 shows a vehicle mobile radio device and a central radio transmission system, Figures 2 and 3 the construction of the data word which is transmitted from the mobile participant to the central station, Figure 4 the construction of the data word which is returned from the central station to the mobile participant and Figure 5 a section of a map with explanations as to how the invention operates.

10/08/00,td 1464.specif,4 Description of the embodiment Figure 1 shows a mobile radio device 4 inbuilt into a vehicle not shown, which is in a position to transmit radio transmissions over an antenna 5 and to receive them. By mobile radio device one is to understand radio devices, which operated according to the GSM or AMPS standards, however also individualised radio receivers, eg. DAB receivers which have one channel or where the emission of the transmission signal takes place on another mobile radio channel. The mobile radio device 4 is connected to a navigation device S 10 6, the navigation device being in a position, based on the present position of the vehicle and a predetermined destination, to determine a route which the t vehicle is to traverse. The navigation device 6 is connected to a mass memory 7 to this end. The mass memory 7 contains information about roads of a certain geographical area in digital form. Further, the memory contains 15 information in data groups for the evaluation of transmitted traffic reports in 999e coded form, these traffic reports being received, encoded, in the radio receiver 4. Details concerning this are described in the DE-OS 35 36 820.

Furthermore, in the memory 7 information on the area code of the encoded 9 transmitted traffic reports are stored in the data groups and their connections 20 with the area codes of the digital map. Figure 1 further shows a base station 2, which is in a position to receive radio signals from the mobile radio device 4 and to return reports to the mobile radio device 4. The base station can, alongside a mobile base station of a mobile radio network, also be a radio transmitter, eg. a DAB transmitter, which can transmit individualised reports with a feedback channel receiver or a mobile radio receiver. The base station 2 is connected to a memory 1, information on traffic disturbances and hindrances being read in, encoded and made available for transmission.

If the driver of a vehicle now begins a trip and has input his destination into the navigation system, a connection with the base station 2 will be made either manually, if the driver has programmed it by the pressing of a button, or automatically by the user of the mobile device 4.

10/08/00,tdl 1464.specif,5 A radiogram is now sent to the base station 2 according to Figure 2. The radiogram according to Figure 2 has a header 10 with which the base station can recognise from which type of message a request is made. Furthermore, the message in accordance with Figure 2 has a field for the data type 11.

The data type 11 indicates how the piece of data 12 and 13 of the radiogram from the mobile station to the base station is built. On the basis of this information, the base station is now in a position on the one hand to identify the information to be sent and, on the other, to recognise the request profile.

The transmitted radiogram is evaluated according to data type 11 by the corresponding service provider in the base station.

The piece of data 12 is depicted in Figure 3 in greater detail. In the embodiment the piece of data 12 comprises a contents field 14 that indicates which of the possible data can be transmitted at all. In part 15 is transmitted whether the user wants to use roads on which tolls are payable or not. In part 16 the vehicle type is transmitted. Here is indicated in what type of vehicle the mobile radio device 4 is installed, eg. whether it is a truck, a bus or a private car. Furthermore, by this means it can be transmitted whether 20 the vehicle is pulling a trailer or not. Finally, in the piece of data 17 the size of the desired area code transmission is requested. By this means it is possible also to cope with individual requests with respect to the transmission of the area code. If, for example, only one memory CD of a limited region is available for the navigation device 6, then via the area code information it can be requested that the area coordinates are to be transmitted with only very few bytes, as only the area code of a certain region can be evaluated. If, on the other hand, for example, data on the whole of Europe is available in the memory, it is not enough that information concerning an area code is transmitted, since it cannot be known whether this area code is meant for France, Great Britain or Germany. In this case extended area codes greater in the scope are to be transmitted. As this is not always absolutely necessary, as is mentioned above, an input of information concerning whether the area 1 OI8/IOOtdl 1464.specif,6 code should be only 8 bits, 16 bits or 32 bits wide, further transmission capacity is saved. Further transmissions are possible in part 18 of the data word. It is therefore particularly possible to transmit the present position of the vehicle and the destination. With this information, the traffic information can be limited to a corridor between the present point and the destination point so that not all traffic information need be transmitted. By this means also, savings made in the transmission time taken are possible.

The received data is now evaluated by the service provider in the base station 2 and tested according to relevant and required traffic information in the memory 1. The traffic information, which contains the length and other details of obstructions in traffic, are now transmitted on the basis of Figure 4 to the mobile radio device. By this means the data word according to Figure 4 receives a header 20, the header 20 containing information on the mobile 15 radio device to which data is made available. Then at position 21 the number of traffic reports is indicated. At point 22 content information is transmitted.

This content information relates in particular to information which indicates the following data so that it can be correctly interpreted by the navigation device. A considerably piece of information which should be provided here is 20 the release number, so that it can be recognised for which version of the database of the area code the subsequently transmitted data relates to. In particular by means of changes of name coming about over time and changes in the way roads run and in highway entry and exit ramps difficulties can come about. Traffic reports will now be transmitted on position 23. By this means the number of traffic reports are, in principle, unlimited. On the basis of the given limitations, it is, however, very much reduced.

This will be explained on the basis of Figure 5. The present location of a vehicle on the road 30 is indicated with the letter S. The point Z on the road 32 is provided as the destination. The navigation system has now calculated that the quickest way from the present position S to the destination Z leads via the roads 30, 31 and 32. If there is a traffic jam on the road 31, this will 1 O/08/00,td 11464.specif,7 -8be conveyed on the basis of the request of the data telegram according to Figure 2 in the data telegram according to Figure 4. The navigation system will then calculate an alternative route which involves the roads 30, 33, 34 and 32. The broken line on the road 34 is to show that we are dealing here with a road subject to a toll. If there is also traffic congestion on the road subject to a toll, then this message is not transmitted if the driver of the vehicle has indicated in the data telegram according to Figure 2 that he does not want to use roads for which a toll is payable. In this case, he would automatically select another route and travel from the street 30 to the street 33 and follow it until the street 32 has been reached, in order to reach the destination Z. The transmission of the traffic congestion on the road for which tolls are payable 34 is then unnecessary as he does not want to use °:9i the road subject to a toll fee and has excluded it by, for example, information provided in his navigation system. Further, let us assume that the street 31 is 15 blocked to heavy vehicles. If, at position 16 of the data telegram according to Figure 3, it is indicated that the type of vehicle is a truck, then the user is not advised of the traffic congestion, because the truck is not permitted to drive on road 31 in any case and a traffic jam advice is unnecessary. He does receive a report of congestion on road 34, however, as the truck driver has 20 indicated that he is prepared to use roads for which tolls are payable, the road 34. In this case the truck driver receives the congestion report with respect to road 34.

On the basis of this simply chosen embodiment, it is clear that it is possible through the transmission of additional information to reduce substantially the amount of data to be transmitted from a service provider to the vehicle, decreasing transmission time on the one hand and contributing to the saving of costs on the other.

lO/08/00,td 11464.specif,8

Claims

1. A method for requesting and processing traffic reports in which a traffic report request is transmitted by a radio device and at least one traffic report is transmitted by a service provider via a base station to the radio device, the traffic report being transmitted particularly as a short message, preferably a TMC message over radio, wherein the vehicle report request involves information on the intended use of roads subject to tolls and/or the type of vehicle (and/or the length of the area code and that, as feedback, only traffic reports are transmitted which correspond to the traffic report request. cO0 S.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the traffic report @000 request is sent upon demand.

3. The method according to Claim 1, wherein the traffic report request is sent automatically, preferably in preset intervals. *000 oooo o 0g*•

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a route from the current point to the destination point is planned on the basis of the requested traffic reports. S 20 The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the present point and the destination point are transmitted with the traffic report and that only traffic reports are transmitted in a corridor between the present point and the destination point. Dated this 11th day of August, 2000. ROBERT BOSCH GMBH By their Patent Attorneys: CALLINAN LAWRIE (d4 lz~&ijf&, 10/08/00,td 11464.specif,9