GB2469327A

GB2469327A - A portable navigation device proactively determining adverse traffic conditions

Info

Publication number: GB2469327A
Application number: GB0906193A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patrick Weissert
Original assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
Current assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
Priority date: 2009-04-09
Filing date: 2009-04-09
Publication date: 2010-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 2029-04-09
Also published as: GB2469327B; GB0906193D0

Abstract

A portable navigation device configured for use in a communications network, comprises, an analysis means arranged to: determine a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the portable device; recognise at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determine conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route. In this way, journey patterns can be recognised, and proactively pre-empted, in order to obtain relevant traffic information which can be communicated to a user of the device before they commence a journey. The route travelled by the device may be determined by one or more of: GPS positional information, cell handover information, and data entered by a user of the device. The portable navigation device may comprise a mobile telephone or PDA with a navigator client. In an alternative embodiment, the analysis means may be a component of a network element, such as an analysis server, which is in communicable relation to each mobile terminal with a compatible navigation function.

Description

REAL-TIME TRAFFIC NAVIGATION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method in the field of traffic navigation. The present invention more particularly relates to a system and method for enabling a mobile terminal to provide traffic navigation information.

Background

Various arrangements have been devised which provide traffic information to users. For instance, portable GPS turn-by-turn navigation systems, such as Tom-T0mTM plot a road route for a user, upon the user entering their intended destination. Live traffic services can be provided in conjunction with these navigation systems, such that where the user subscribes to the live traffic service, any problems on the road route can highlighted and brought to the user's attention.

The user can then determine an alternative route where necessary, and where possible.

However, such turn-by-turn applications that do integrate traffic data, only integrate the information once the navigation system has been started and a destination selected. Users are likely to activate their navigation system on routes they do not know well, and routes a user does not travel regularly, but not necessarily for commuting and frequency driven routes. Therefore, the provision of traffic information only upon activation of the navigation system is not always convenient, and can also be time consuming, particularly where the user needs to activate their navigation system just to see the current traffic conditions en-route.

For frequently travelled routes, services are now being offered whereby traffic updates for a road of interest are sent by SMS to a user's mobile phone. These services, such as offered on www.traffic-update.co.uk, require the user to send an SMS identifying the road of interest to the service provider, who in turn replies with an SMS providing the requested traffic information. A problem with this service is that it only provides information on a road-by-road basis, and so to obtain the necessary traffic information for a user's entire route would depend upon the number of different roads travelled on, and so could be both costly and time consuming. A further problem is that for updates to be obtained, new requests for the information need to be transmitted.

Another service provided on www.trafficmaster.co.uk allows a user to designate a number of roads of interest, and also to designate a preferred time when the user wishes to receive alerts. The user can also specific a minimum delay length that triggers any alerts.

Whilst this approach allows a user to tailor the notifications to a reasonable extent, it is not always sufficient. For instance, it is not always adequate to deliver traffic updates at set times, because commuters may not always drive at exactly the same time, but around 15 to 30 minutes earlier or later from a certain time. Within these minutes traffic conditions can change significantly. The user could call up their traffic provider to obtain a traffic update outside of their stipulated preferred time, but this is not always convenient, and the user would also need to remember to do so.

A further problem with existing traffic notification services is that since they require the user to specifically designate the roads of interest and a travel time of interest, these services are not necessarily accurate and can be error prone, as the user may have many road options and may not travel on exactly the same route every time. Accordingly it may be time consuming for the user to designate all possible roads of interest, or may forget to designate some routes that he nonetheless travels frequently.

There is therefore a need to overcome or alleviate at least one of the problems of existing traffic navigation systems and services.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect the present invention provides in a communication network, an analysis engine configured to communicate with a navigational engine associated with a mobile terminal, the analysis engine configured to: determine a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the mobile terminal; recognise at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determine conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a mobile terminal including a navigation engine configured for use in a communications network, the terminal further including an analysis engine configured to: determine a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the mobile terminal; recognise at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determine conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.

According to a third aspect the present invention provides a method of operating a portable navigation device configured for use in a communications network, the method including: determining a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the portable device; recognising at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determining conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.

According to a fourth aspect the present invention provides in a communication network, a network element configured for use with a mobile terminal, the network element including an analysis engine configured to: determine a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the mobile terminal; recognise at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determine conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.

These aspects of the invention therefore provide a navigational system and method that is configured to recognise journey patterns and proactively pre-empt recognised user journeys by obtaining relevant traffic information, in order to notify users of any traffic problems before commencing their journeys.

Advantageously, through the recognition of regular travel routes, the user is able to avoid the need to specifically program their navigation system with routes of interest to them, with a view to obtaining traffic information regarding those routes. Further, the user is relieved of the need to remember to obtain traffic information before embarking on a journey, where the journey is a regular one, as the system may be configured to schedule obtaining traffic updates at one or more times before a known departure time or time period.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a screen shot of a mobile terminal notification that may be utilised in conjunction with embodiments of the invention; and Figure 2 is a diagrammatic drawing of key elements of a mobile telecommunications network in which embodiments of the present invention may be utilised.

Detailed Description

The present invention has particular application to portable devices, such as mobile telephones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) with a navigator client or dedicated traffic navigation devices, usable in a mobile telecommunications network. A first embodiment of the invention will now be described in relation to such a portable device utilising a telecommunications network to obtain traffic information.

In this regard, a device with a traffic navigation function has an additional learning functionality implemented by an analysis engine, in that it is configured to recognise any patterns that develop through usage of the traffic navigation device.

This learning functionality, and the other functionalities of these embodiments of the invention, may be part of the navigator application or provided as a separate but compatible application. The analysis engine is configured to recognise regular routes entered into or navigated by the navigator application, and also preferably to recognise the time of day/day of the week that the route is initiated.

For instance, the analysis engine may be configured to recognise a route as a regular route once it has been entered and/or navigated on at least two different occasions. The analysis engine may also recognise a time/day of the week pattern to the regular route. As an example, the engine may also record a route from a user's home to a workplace a couple of times, and vice versa, and also record a time that these routes are commenced and/or finalised. Once the routes have been undertaken a plurality of times, the engine may be able to determine a time window applicable to the commencement of each of the routes. That is, a time window of, say 15 minutes, may apply to the user's route from home to work, whereas the route from the workplace to home may be initiated in a time window of, say an hour. Further, the engine may also recognise that the home/workplace journeys are only undertaken on certain days of the week.

The analysis engine may be configured to recognise a route simply by determining the starting and destination points. For example, these determined starting and destination points could be geographical coordinates or postcodes entered by a user of the terminal. The postcode example would be particularly applicable to the United Kingdom where a postcode, such as Ni 9NH, typically corresponds to a particular street or section of a street, and so is quite a specific locality.

Alternatively, the determination of the user's route may be established by other means. For instance: i) a GPS trace of the user's route may be obtained using satellite navigation and recorded; ii) cell handover may be used to trace movements of the user's terminal; iii) through the cells that the mobile terminal is registered to at given times of the day.; and/or iv) routes that the user has looked up on their navigation device, but not necessarily navigated to, may also be recorded.

Advantageously the cell handover and cell registration techniques can be used for navigation devices even when their GPS functionality is switched off Further, the cell registration technique is a simple technique to implement, but which can nevertheless give a very accurate prediction of where that person might be on certain days and/or times of the day. Therefore, based upon this information, traffic in a previously registered cell and adjacent cells could be specifically monitored at the applicable times of day.

The determined data is preferably stored in a storage means, such as a permanent memory associated with the traffic navigation application. The data is stored in a form that is readily comparable so that the commonality between routes can be recognised. For instance, the analysis engine may be configured to regularly scan the logged routes, and once a route is found to be logged at least twice, the route may be stored as a "recognised route". Preferably the recognised routes are also stored in conjunction with the times they were travelled, or a travel time window, where the route has been travelled several times and the times are close (e.g. within a predetermined margin of an hour).

Once a route is recognised, the analysis engine may be further configured to monitor traffic for each recognised route at or around the recognised travel time or time window, as applicable, and proactively notify the user whenever traffic conditions on the route are adverse. Ideally the engine is configured to monitor traffic conditions in a time period leading up to the recognised departure time or time window. In this way, the engine can proactively determine traffic conditions before a user is likely to be embarking on their journey, and where traffic conditions are adverse, advise the user before they take steps to set off.

Alternatively, the user may be notified of the traffic situation even when the conditions are fine.

For instance, if a route has previously been travelled at 5pm, the analysis engine may determine a status of the route (e.g. traffic conditions) half an hour before this known travel time. Further traffic status checks may be determined intermittently as required. This allows the user to make an informed decision as to whether it would be better to use a different route or delay the journey, therefore enabling the user to better manage their time.

It is preferable that this monitoring functionality provided by the analysis engine is able to operate separately to the navigation system on the user's portable terminal, so that the notifications may be provided to the user without requiring the user to activate the navigation system.

The user can be advised by any suitable means. For instance, the analysis engine on the portable device may transmit a text message to the user's mobile terminal (particularly where the two devices are different) or a message may be displayed on the portable device, preferably together with an audible warning. An example of a warning message that may be provided and displayed on a mobile terminal's screen is illustrated in Figure 1. The message displayed on the user's mobile terminal in this example is "We have detected heavy traffic on your route <home>.

Start navigator now?" Upon receiving this notification, the user has the option of starting the navigator application, for instance to view the problem and/or to view an alternative route proposed. Once the navigator client is activated, it may display projected travel times on the usual route, and indicate potential detours, for instance. Alternatively, the user can make use of a "snooze" facility that may be provided by the traffic monitoring application. This snooze" facility allows the user to defer any further traffic alerts for the applicable route for a certain period of time. This snooze facility is particularly useful where the user decides to delay their journey.

Again with reference to Figure 1, the second terminal screen illustrates an example of how the snooze facility may be implemented. In this Figure, if the user selects "no" in response to "Start navigator now?" the user may then be given the option of having the traffic application check the traffic situation for the route of interest in a user-selectable time, for instance in 10 minutes, 30 minutes an hour etc. Of course, an option for the snooze facility not to be implemented, so that the user receives no more traffic n may also be possible.

Further, the analysis engine may further have a timing mechanism that is configured to reschedule the traffic conditions check, even when the conditions are fine, in case the situation changes. For instance, the timing mechanism may be configured to check the traffic conditions half an hour before a user is likely to depart on the route and then five minutes before, even when the first check was clear. These checking times may be set by a default, or be user designated.

To obtain the traffic status information, the analysis engine preferably initiates a query with an established traffic service provider via the telecommunications network. The user may have a subscription with the traffic service provider, or the traffic service provider may charge the user on a "pay-as-you-use" arrangement.

The traffic service needs to be compatible with the portable device's navigator client so that the traffic status information can be seamlessly incorporated into the navigational functionality.

Figure 2 illustrates an example telecommunications network configuration with which the mobile terminal may interact in order to obtain the traffic information.

The mobile device (UE) is shown in Figure 2 at 1. The mobile device may be any suitable portable device, including a handheld mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), dedicated traffic navigation device or a laptop computer equipped with a network connectivity datacard.

The telecommunications network illustrated includes a number of base stations, where each base station (BS) serves a respective cell of the cellular/mobile telecommunication network. The mobile terminal will register with a BS, typically the one providing it with the strongest signal (usually, but not necessarily, the closest BS) in order to be able to send and receive communications across the telecommunications network. It is this cell registration information at the serving base station at any given point in time that can be used to track the movements of the mobile terminal when detecting recognised routes.

In a GSM mobile telecommunications network, each base station includes a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (B SC). A BSC may control more than one BTS. The BTSs and BSCs comprise the radio access network.

In a UMTS mobile telecommunications network, each base station comprises a node B and a radio network controller (RNC). An RNC may control more than one node B. The node B's and RNC's comprise the radio access network.

In the proposed LTE mobile telecommunications network, each base station comprises an eNode B which combines the RNC and Node B ftinctionalities. The base stations are arranged in groups and each group of base stations is likely to be controlled by a Mobility Management Entity (MME) and a User Plane Entity (UPE).

These are example of the mobile networks that the embodiments of the present invention may be utilised in. The exact network configuration is not essential to the invention, so of course other mobile network configurations are possible.

Conventionally, in a GSM/UMTS network, the base stations are arranged in groups and each group of base stations is controlled by one serving GPRS support node (SGSN), such as SGSN 16 for base stations 3, 4 and 5. As shown in Figure 1, the network has another SGSN 18, which is controlling a further three base stations 7, 8 and 9. In practice, the network will incorporate many more SGSNs and base stations than shown in Figure 1.

The SGSNs 16 and 18 are provided to support communications in the packet switched domain -such as GPRS data transmissions. The SGSNs 16 and 18 are in turn connected to a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN -not shown), which provides a gateway to data networks, such as the Internet, and it is typically across this framework that the mobile terminal is able to request and/or receive the traffic status information from a remote traffic monitoring and management server, for instance.

Each mobile terminal, to be communicable with the telecommunications network, is typically provided with a smart card or SIM which identifies the subscriber to the network. In this regard, the SIM card is pre-programmed with a unique identification number, the "International Mobile Subscriber Identity" (IMSI), for use by the network. When a terminal is registered with a BS, a home location register (HLR) 10 in the network stores this IMSI, along with the BS identity, so that the traffic status information can be correctly directed towards the mobile terminal.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, rather than the analysis engine being provided on the mobile terminal, the analysis engine is a component of a network element, which is in communicable relation to each mobile terminal with a compatible navigation function.

In this embodiment, the network element performs an equivalent functionality to that just described, in that it configured to recognise regular routes entered into or navigated by the navigator application, and also preferably to recognise the time of day/day of the week that the route is initiated. In this regard the network element analysis engine can be configured to receive and collect data by: a) tracking the cells that a mobile terminal is registered to. This may be reported to the network element by the mobile terminal itself; or another network element; and/or b) tracking routes that the use is actually navigating. This infonnation would typically be reported by the navigation application on the mobile terminal.

The analysis server would typically record all tracked routes and routes of interest, preferably in association with times/dates of interest, for future reference and use.

The network element in relation to which the analysis engine is provided could be suitable component of the communication network, such as a SGSN or the core network. Typically the network element would be a server associated with the network component.

A particular advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that the navigator engines on the mobile terminals need not have as high a processing power, as would be required if the functionality were provided on the terminal itself. This of course reduces the cost of the navigator engines, and ensures more processing power is available on the mobile terminal. A further advantage is that a single network analysis engine would be able to provide multiple mobile terminals with the navigator analysis functionality, again providing processing savings. A still further advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that with a network-based analysis engine, existing navigation systems can be readily upgraded in order to be able to make use of the additional functionality provided by the network analysis engine. The upgrading of existing navigation systems could, for instance, through a subscription to the additional analysis engine functionality.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention are to be considered as illustrative of the invention, and that changes and additions are within the scope of the invention. For instance, alternatively or in addition to learned user routes, the portable device operating in accordance with this first embodiment of the invention may further be applied to monitor pre-designated routes.

The embodiments of the invention have been described in relation to traffic problems on road routes. It is to be appreciated that the traffic problems in this regard is to be interpreted broadly and can be considered to encompass traffic jams and road works. Further, the embodiments of the invention may be applied to other forms of transport, including transport routes via trains, buses trams and air transport and any combination thereof.

The embodiments of the invention, where implemented on a portable device, such as a mobile phone with a navigator client, may be realised in hardware or software or a combination of both.

Further, the routes and travel times learned by the analysis engine are preferably able to be updated by the engine. For instance if a user is tending to depart for work earlier than previously recorded, the engine may update the travel time, or extend the travel time window. Alternatively, or in addition, the times and routes may be modifiable by the user.

Additionally, whilst it is preferable that the mobile terminal is directly communicable with a mobile telecommunications network, it is also within the scope of the invention for the mobile terminal to utilise low powered short range radio access technology such as Bluetooth, UWB (UltraWideBand), Wi-Fi, DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications), or near field communication (NFC) wireless systems. Wide area wireless systems, such as WiBro (Wireless Broadband), WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave access) and metropolitan WiFi may also be used.

Further although the embodiments of the invention have been described in relation to recognising the recurrence of an entire route, it is also within the scope of the invention to recognise only a portion of a previously travelled route, but preferably a major portion. This would advantageous where a user travels the majority of a route along the same path, but has a few different options for the final portion, for example. That is, the user may travel home along the same route, but in the final couple of miles, many variations may be used, such as travelling home via the supermarket may be one option, via a takeaway food shop may be a second option and via the post office may be a third option. The determining application may implement this by setting a minimum route match requirement, for example 70%, which may be required for an entire section or only segments of the entire route.

Claims

CLAIMS1. In a communication network, an analysis engine configured to communicate with a navigational engine associated with a mobile terminal, the analysis engine configured to: determine a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by the mobile terminal; recognise at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determine conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.
2. The analysis engine of claim 2 further configured to: (i) record a departure time for which the recognised route is travelled as the travel time; and/or (ii) determine the travel time window based upon a number of departure times for which the recognised route has been travelled.
3. The analysis engine of claim 1 or 2 wherein the conditions determined by the analysis engine include current traffic conditions applicable to at least a portion of the recognised route.
4. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim wherein the analysis engine is configured to determine the plurality of routes from data entered by a user of the terminal or navigated by the navigation engine.
5. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim wherein the analysis engine is configured to determine a route travelled by the terminal using one or more of the following: a) GPS positional information tracked over a period of time; b) cell handover information tracked over a period of time c) the cells that the mobile terminal is registered to at given times; and d) data entered by a user of the terminal.
6. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim wherein the analysis engine being further configured to convey a notification to a user of the terminal when the determined conditions are adverse.
7. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim further including a timing engine configured to schedule the route conditions determination at at least one time period preceding the travel time or travel time window.
8. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim wherein the analysis engine is configured on the mobile terminal, such as a mobile telephone with a navigator client, a PDA with a navigator client or a portable dedicated traffic navigation device.
9. The analysis engine of any one preceding claim wherein the analysis engine is a component of the navigation engine.
10. A method of operating a portable navigation device configured for use in a communications network, the method including: determining a plurality of routes travelled, or to be travelled, by theportable device;recognising at least one recurrence of at least a portion of a route in the plurality of determined routes; and determining conditions relating to the recognised route at or before a travel time or travel time window relating to the route.
11. The method of claim 10 further including: (i) recording a departure time for which the recognised route is travelled as the travel time; and/or (ii) determining the travel time window based upon a number of departure times for which the recognised route has been travelled.
12. The method of claim 10 or 11 wherein the conditions determined include current traffic conditions applicable to at least a portion of the recognised route.
13. The method of any one of claims 10 to 12 wherein the plurality of routes are determined from data entered by a user of the terminal or navigated by the navigation engine.
14. The method of any one of claims 10 to 13 wherein the route travelled by the terminal is determined using one or more of the following: a) GPS positional information tracked over a period of time; b) cell handover information tracked over a period of time; and c) data entered by a user of the terminal.
15. The method of any one of claims 10 to 14 further including conveying a notification to a user of the terminal when the determined conditions are adverse.
16. The method of any one of claims 10 to 16 further including scheduling the route conditions determination at at least one time period preceding the travel time or travel time window.
17. A mobile terminal having an analysis engine according to any one of claims 1 to 9.
18. A network element having an analysis engine according to any one of claims 1 to 7.
19. An application configured for use on a mobile terminal, the application configured to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 16.
20. An analysis engine substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
21. A method substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.