RU2594046C2 - System for driving style description of vehicle drivers - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a description of driving style of vehicle driver. System has a processor for description of track vehicle connected to GPS module. Processor defines one or more values of average speed of vehicle driver, number of times, which one or more values of average speed of driver exceed average speed of vehicle on one or more sections of road. Determination of track vehicle driver comprises loading one or more GPS points or initial paths, performing search in range for each point of GPS, determination of one or more unique GPS binding points for each point of GPS, determining one or more assumed vehicle paths for each unique GPS binding point and determination of vehicle path of assumed paths of vehicle.

EFFECT: creation of system for evaluation of risk for vehicle driver.

20 cl, 10 dwg

Description

PRIORITY REQUEST

This application is a partial continuation and claims priority on the basis of US patent application No. 13/548716 filed July 13, 2012, which claims priority on the basis of European patent application No. 12154654.3, filed February 9, 2012, all contents which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present patent application for an industrial invention relates to a system for evaluating a risk indicator associated with a driving style of a vehicle driver.

The present patent application for an industrial invention relates to a system for evaluating a risk indicator associated with a driving style of a vehicle driver.

Satellite navigation systems for vehicles that operate on the GPS protocol to indicate the exact position of a vehicle in the territory are widely known on the market.

Satellite positioning devices, which are also used as anti-theft devices to signal the position of a stolen vehicle, are widely known on the market.

Accident detectors (collision sensors) for vehicles are also known, typically in the form of accelerometers that detect a sudden change in vehicle acceleration indicating a collision. Said collision sensors are usually connected to the airbags of the vehicle.

Also known are mobile phones embedded in the vehicle that operate on the GSM or GPRS protocol to make phone calls from the vehicle.

US2005 / 037730, WO2009 / 133450, GB2390208, US202 / 037707 disclose devices mounted in a vehicle to signal an accident to an appropriate institution, such as emergency service, police, etc.

However, none of the aforementioned documents of the prior art discloses the use of said devices for assessing a risk indicator for a driver of a vehicle.

As a rule, insurance policies are issued by insurance companies based on the accident rate of a vehicle driver. Therefore, it would be desirable for insurance companies to have a system capable of objectively assessing the accident rate of a vehicle driver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a risk indicator system for a vehicle driver that is reliable and easy to create and use.

This problem is solved in accordance with the invention with the characteristics claimed in independent claim 1.

Preferred embodiments are described in the dependent claims.

In accordance with the invention, the vehicle driver’s risk score assessment system uses an accelerometer to detect vehicle acceleration and deceleration, GPS to detect vehicle position and speed, and a GSM / GPRS module to send the detected data to an operations center that calculates a risk score estimate from the driver of the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional characteristics of the invention will become apparent from the following description, which relates only to an explanatory, but not limiting embodiment, illustrated in the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a housing used to house a device for implementing a process in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing function blocks and operation of a device for implementing a process in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process implemented by an operations center;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an operations center in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for determining a vehicle path in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for determining one or more unique GPS anchor points for each GPS point in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for associating GPS points with one or more GPS anchor points in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for determining one or more estimated vehicle paths for each unique GPS anchor point in accordance with one or more embodiments; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a map matching system for determining a vehicle path in accordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description of the invention provides for many different embodiments or examples of various features of the disclosed subject matter. Specific examples of components and circuits are described below to simplify the present disclosure. They are examples and are not intended to be limiting.

This description of the embodiments is intended to be studied in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire description. In the description, relative terms, for example, “before”, “after”, “above”, “below”, “up”, “down”, “upper” and “lower”, as well as their derivatives (for example, “horizontally”, “ down, up, etc.), should be interpreted as referring to the orientation described in that case or which is shown in the drawing in question. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require the system to be created or managed in a specific orientation. Terms with respect to attachments, connections, and the like, such as “connected” and “interconnected,” refer to a mutual arrangement in which components are attached to each other either directly or indirectly through intermediate components, unless explicitly described otherwise.

With reference to the aforementioned drawings, an apparatus for carrying out a process in accordance with the invention is described, indicated in general position (1).

As shown in FIG. 1, the device (1) comprises a container body (2) and a support connector (3).

The container body (2) comprises a base (4) and a cover (5) and is configured to accommodate all functional blocks shown in FIG. 2, as illustrated below.

Returning to FIG. 1, the support connector (3) is attached to the windshield (100) of the vehicle with adhesive tape. As shown in FIG. 2, electrical contacts (6) are provided in the support connector (3) for contacting with the electrical contacts (6a) of the complementary connector (7) provided on the basis of the container body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the support connector (3) is connected to the batteries (101) of the vehicle via electric cables.

Returning to FIG. 1, the device (1), if desired, can be equipped with a Bluetooth communication module (9), which can be inserted into a special connector (10) of the housing base (2).

As shown in FIG. 2, the Bluetooth communication module (9) interacts with the Bluetooth transmission module (102) connected to the extraction device (103) configured to extract vehicle information from the vehicle control unit.

The housing (2) contains a microcontroller (20), an accelerometer (21), a module (22) of GPS satellites, a power supply unit (23) and a GSM / GPRS module (24) of mobile telephony.

The microcontroller (20) controls the operation of all devices in the device (1).

The accelerometer (21) is preferably a three-axis, configured to detect sudden accelerations or decelerations of the vehicle, indicating improper driving or an accident.

The GPS satellite module (22) is equipped with an integrated GPS antenna (25) to detect the exact position of the vehicle.

The power supply unit (23) contains a voltage generator (26), which takes 9-36 V energy from the vehicle battery (101) and converts it for the corresponding power supply to all devices contained in the device body. The power supply unit (23) also comprises a backup rechargeable battery (27) contained in the housing (2).

The GSM / GPRS mobile telephony module (24) contains a built-in GSM antenna (28) for connecting to a mobile telephony network. The GSM / GPRS mobile telephony module (24) also contains one audio input (29) and one audio output (30) of the “hands-free” type. As shown in FIG. 1, the audio input (29) and audio output (30) are connected respectively to a microphone (31) and a loudspeaker (32) mounted on the walls of the housing cover (5). The GSM / GPRS mobile telephony module (24) is configured to connect to a help center in such a way as to send messages and / or associate a vehicle driver with a help center.

The installation of the device (1) on the windshield (100) of the vehicle involves placing the microphone (31) and the speaker (32) in the best position for use by the driver.

The device (1) contains a data storage device (34). The storage device (34) may be a serial NAND flash memory.

If desired, the device (1) may include an LED unit (33), a buzzer (35) and an emergency button (36).

The LED unit (33), the buzzer (35) and the emergency button (36) are mounted on the wall of the housing cover (5) to be accessible to the user. The emergency button (36) is connected to the mobile telephony module (24) for communication of the driver with the help center.

Returning to FIG. 1, it must be taken into account that the support connector (3), the base (4) and the housing cover (5) are connected to each other by means of a key or anti-burglar screw. In addition, the microcontroller (20) constantly monitors the electrical contacts (6, 6a) of the connector (3) and the housing (2) in order to detect a possible attempt to disconnect the housing from the connector or breaking.

The operation of the device (1) is described below.

GPS module (22) constantly detects the exact position of the vehicle. When the vehicle crashes, the accelerometer (21) detects the accident and sends a signal to the microcontroller (20). The microcontroller (20) activates the GSM / GPRS module (24), which sends an alarm to the help center along with the exact position of the vehicle detected by the GPS module (22). Therefore, a help center can provide quick assistance to a vehicle. In addition, the driver communicates with the help center via module (24) GSM / GPRS.

The device (1) according to the invention allows the following functions:

In case of theft, determine the location of the vehicle using the GPS module (22).

Collect data for recording vehicle use (kilometers traveled by type of road and time of use) and collect data for assessing the “driving style” from the driver through the Bluetooth communication module (9).

Send the mentioned information to the remote station via the GSM / GPRS module (24).

Detect attempted removal and / or hacking by means of a microcontroller (20) connected to electrical contacts.

Generate an alarm in case of deletion and / or hacking by means of a buzzer (35) and send an alarm to a remote station via GSM / GPRS module (24).

Activate an emergency call using the emergency button (36) and the GSM / GPRS module (24).

Detect a collision (collision detection: impact with acceleration above 2.5g) using an accelerometer (21).

Build an alarm in the event of a collision with a buzzer (35); send the collision information to the remote station using the GSM / GPRS module (24) and, in the event of a collision, establish a speakerphone connection with external support operators using the emergency button (36) and the GSM / GPRS module (24).

The software installed in the device (1) offers a number of security and fleet management functionalities that can be used through the operations center.

Locating and tracking vehicles on request. The peripheral unit can be interrogated via GSM / GPRS channels to update the GPS position and the status of the built-in device.

Collision detection. The embedded system detects a collision event by means of an accelerometer (21).

Automatic emergency call. The system makes an automatic call to the operations center. Information includes date, location and type of vehicle.

Manual emergency call. The system is equipped with an emergency button (36) for the user to make an emergency call.

Sending lifeguards. After performing the necessary checks, the operational center sends a rescue tool (ambulance, fire brigade, technical assistance vehicle) in accordance with the type of accident.

Other alarm events. The peripheral unit controls other types of alarms, for example:

Theft (moving and / or raising a vehicle).

Breaking.

Removing the battery. Also in this case, an emergency call is made to the operations center, which includes information about the position of the vehicle.

Reports and travel history. The individual movements made by the vehicle (start-up and jamming) are recorded. The position is measured every 2 seconds, and the position history is sent with a configurable frequency at least every 7 minutes. Each dimension includes latitude, longitude, speed, and date. By means of an in-house coding system, the traffic generated for the transmission of the mentioned data does not exceed 300 Kb per month, provided that the average use of the vehicle is about 2 hours per day.

As shown in FIG. 3, the microprocessor (20) comprises a sampling device (200) and a comparator (201). The device (200) samples interrogates the accelerometer (21) with a frequency of 800 to 1200 Hz. Measurements of accelerations (A) detected by the accelerometer (21) are processed by the microprocessor (20), which is responsible for identifying sudden accelerations / decelerations performed by the driver and indicating improper driving, and very sharp accelerations and decelerations performed by the vehicle and indicating a collision.

During installation of the device (1), the rotation matrix is automatically determined to switch from the reference system of the accelerometer (21) to the reference system of the vehicle. The rotation matrix is necessary for projecting acceleration measurements from the accelerometer reference system (X _a Y _a Z _a ) to the vehicle reference system (XYZ), provided that in the vehicle reference system the X axis corresponds to the direction of travel and the Y axis is orthogonal and coplanar to the X axis Accelerometer (21) detects the acceleration vector v _a (x, y, z) along three axes in the X _a Y _a Z _a reference frame. The vector v _{a is} projected into the XYZ reference system of the vehicle, obtaining the vector v _v (x, y, z). Component X of the vector v _v represents the instantaneous acceleration recorded in the direction of travel of the vehicle and is useful for evaluating sudden accelerations and braking. Acceleration is detected if the component X of the vector v _v is positive, while deceleration is detected if the component (X) of the vector v _v is negative. To identify a collision, the system takes into account the module of the vector v _v . Two elements are sent to comparator (201), i.e., the component x of the vector v _v and the module v _v . Component X is compared with threshold values S1, S2, and module v _{v is} compared with threshold value S3. The first threshold value (S1) indicates sudden acceleration and is set to approximately ½g. The second threshold value (S2) indicates a sudden deceleration and is set to approximately −1g. The third threshold value (S3) indicates a very sharp acceleration / deceleration, indicating a possible collision, and is set to approximately 2g.

If the component X of the vector v _{v is} greater than the first threshold value (S1), then the comparator (201) sends to the storage device (34) a signal (A) indicating a sudden acceleration. If the component X of the vector v _{v is} less than the second threshold value (S2), then the comparator (201) sends a signal (D) to the storage device (34), indicating a sudden slowdown. If the module of the vector v _{v is} greater than the third threshold value (S3), then the comparator (201) sends to the storage device (34) a signal (I) indicating a collision.

If the comparator (201) detects that the module of the vector v _v exceeds the third threshold value (S3), then the microcontroller (20) writes the entire set of measured acceleration data to the storage device (34) in the range between 10 seconds before and 3 seconds after the moment in which is exceeded by a threshold value. Then, the microcontroller (20) locally records an event in the storage device (34), identifying it as a collision event (I).

The values of sudden acceleration (A), values of sudden deceleration (B) and collision event (I) are sent to the operations center (300) via the GSM / GPRS module (24).

The microprocessor (20) polls the GPS (22) at a frequency of approximately 1-10 Hz. GPS (22) detects three values: latitude (L), longitude (G) and vehicle speed (V). Measurements of latitude (L), longitude (G) and speed (V) obtained by GPS (22) are recorded in a storage device (34) so that they are sequentially sent to a remote operations center (300) via the GSM / GPRS module (24).

If the GPS signal is not available, then the vehicle speed (V) is detected by the information extraction device (103) in the vehicle control unit and sent to the storage device (34) in the device via Bluetooth modules (102, 9).

At programmable intervals or upon request from a remote operations center (300), the device (1) sends the received data to the operations center (300) via the GSM / GPRS module (24). The remote operations center (300) receives data from the device (1) and writes them to a database in order to provide them for calculating the risk indicator associated with the driving style of the vehicle driver. The calculation of the risk indicator is performed at regular intervals when the operations center (300) has collected a significant amount of data. In some embodiments, the database is stored on the storage medium 1004.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process implemented by an operations center 300. As shown in FIG. 4, the operations center 300 receives the first latitude (L), first longitude (G) and vehicle speed (V) detected by GPS (22). In some embodiments, each data point of a first latitude (L) and first longitude (G) detected by GPS (22) is projected onto a digital map 400 using a map matching algorithm. In some embodiments, each data point of a first latitude (L) and first longitude (G) is associated with a corresponding GPS node. In some embodiments, the GPS node is the coordinates corresponding to the first latitude (L) and first longitude (G). In some embodiments, the error introduced by GPS (22) is reduced by projecting each data point of the first latitude (L) and first longitude (G) using a digital map 400 and restoring the vehicle's path so that the restored vehicle's path adheres to one or more road maps extracted from an external road network. In some embodiments, each data point of a first latitude (L) is mapped to a corresponding second latitude (L *). In some embodiments, each data point of the first longitude (G) is converted to a corresponding second longitude (G *). In some embodiments, each of the corresponding second latitude (L *) and the corresponding second longitude (G *) are associated with a corresponding unique GPS anchor point. In some embodiments, the unique GPS anchor point is the coordinates corresponding to the second latitude (L *) and second longitude (G *). In some embodiments, each of the GPS nodes is mapped to a corresponding element of one or more of several unique GPS anchor points. In some embodiments, the error introduced by GPS (22) is reduced by converting one or more GPS nodes to one or more unique GPS anchor points on digital map 400 using a second map matching algorithm (for example, shown as method 500 in FIG. 5 )

In some embodiments, GPS data projected onto a map (e.g., first latitude (L), first longitude (G), second latitude (L *) or second longitude (G *), vehicle speed (V) detected by the GPS or unit vehicle control, vehicle speed (V *) as determined by digital map 400, sudden accelerations and decelerations (A, D) and collision events (I) detected by the accelerometer) are used to obtain parameters indicating the driving style of the vehicle driver .

In some embodiments, accelerations (A) and decelerations (D) are counted in this way to get the number (Nii), and also accidents (I) are counted in this way to get the number of crashes (Nxiv).

In some embodiments, the following information is obtained from the latitude (L) and longitude (G) detected by GPS (22) and is projected onto the map, following the vehicle’s path on the map: total number of kilometers traveled by the vehicle and kilometers traveled by the vehicle on different types of roads, such as motorways, suburban roads, city roads, one-way streets, two-way streets. Information is also obtained about the vehicle’s passage, that is, the number of times that the vehicle passes a roundabout or roundabout.

In some embodiments, the first latitude (L), the first longitude (G) and speed (V) detected by several devices (1) installed in circulating vehicles, and the second latitude (L *) or second longitude (G *) or speed the vehicle (V *) is used by the system in the operations center (300) to calculate the average speed (V _M ) for each section of the road of the digital map, that is, the speed supported by most users on a particular section of the road. In some embodiments, vehicle speed (V *) is determined between each unique GPS anchor point from at least a second latitude (L *) and a second longitude (G *). For example, the vehicle speed (V *) is determined by the formula 1:

$$V*=\frac{S_{current}-S_{previous}}{T_{current}-T_{previous}}\left(\mathrm{one}\right)$$

Where V * is the vehicle speed between the current unique GPS anchor point and the previous unique GPS anchor point, S _current is the current unique GPS anchor point, S _previous is the previous unique GPS anchor point, T _current is the time for the current unique GPS anchor, and T _previous - time for the previous unique GPS anchor point. In some embodiments, V * is the average vehicle speed between the current unique GPS anchor point and the previous unique GPS anchor point. In some embodiments, the average vehicle speed (V *) is determined from at least the vehicle path.

Consistently, by comparing the speed (V) values detected by GPS (22) or the information extraction device (103) with the average speed (V _M ) on the section of road along which the vehicle is moving, or the vehicle speed (V *), we obtain information about the number of times that an individual driver exceeds speed (the deviation of the speed of an individual user from average behavior). In some embodiments, the implementation determines the number of times that one or more values of the average vehicle driver speed (V *) exceed the average vehicle speed in one or more sections of the road (V _M ). In some embodiments, a number of times is determined that one or more average speed (V) values detected by GPS (22) exceed the average vehicle speed in one or more sections of the road (V _M ). In some embodiments, a vehicle driver's driving style is described from at least one or more average speed (V *) values of the vehicle driver. In some embodiments, the driving style of a vehicle driver is described from at least one or more speed values (V) detected by GPS (22).

In addition, by comparing the speed values (V) detected by GPS (22) or the speed values (V *) detected by the information extraction device (103) with the roads traveled by the vehicle detected from the maps, information on the average speed at various types of roads, such as motorways, suburban roads, city roads.

The following parameters are calculated by a computer program in the operations center (300):

i. Total kilometers traveled

ii. Number of sudden accelerations (A) and / or decelerations (D) / total kilometers

iii. The number of times that speed is exceeded

iv. Kilometers on motorways / total kilometers

v. Kilometers covered by suburban roads / total kilometers

vi. Kilometers traveled on city roads / total kilometers

vii. Number of intersections / kilometers traveled

viii. Number of roundabouts / kilometers traveled

ix. Kilometers traveled on one-way roads / total kilometers

x. Kilometers traveled on two-way roads / total kilometers

xi. Motorway average speed

xii. Suburban average speed

xiii. Average speed on city roads

xiv. Number of Accidents (I)

These parameters (T _i ... T _xiv ) are members of a polynomial of the type P = K ₁ T _i + K ₂ T _ii + ... K ₁₄ T _xiv . The result of the polynomial is a value that matches the driver’s driving style.

The coefficients (K1 ... K14) are determined in accordance with the analysis, which should be carried out on a significant sample of test users with a predetermined known behavior. For example, you can schedule a calibration operation of a model with n typologies of different users traveling within one week: the first subset of users who adhere to the driving style with great care, the second subset that adheres to normal behavior, and the third subset that adheres to risky behavior.

Therefore, it will be possible to collect three subsets of homogeneous data, and then calculate the characteristic value of the driving style (P) for three different risk classes (cautious, normal, risky). Therefore, the determination of the K coefficients is such that these coefficients linearly or polynomially interpolate intermediate user behaviors, and the polynomial provides a number between 0 and 10 representing the user's risk P = 0 (low risk); P = 10 (high risk).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an operations center 500 in accordance with one or more embodiments. In some embodiments, the operations center 500 is an embodiment of the remote operations center 300 shown in FIG. 3 and 4. The operations center 500 includes a map matching system 502. In some embodiments, a map matching system 502 determines a vehicle path by implementing a method 600, 700, 800, or 900. In some embodiments, a map matching system 502 is an embodiment of the digital card 400 shown in FIG. four.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method 600 for determining a vehicle path in accordance with one or more embodiments. In some embodiments, the method 600 is implemented by a map matching system 502. Method 600 begins at block 602, wherein one or more GPS points or one or more source paths are loaded into a map mapping system 502. In some embodiments, GPS points are received by the operations center 500. In some embodiments, the source path is a connection of one or more sections of the road. In some embodiments, the source path comprises one or more contemplated vehicle paths. In some embodiments, a road section is part of a road. In some embodiments, a road section corresponds to a portion of the road located between two or more road intersections. In some embodiments, a road network comprises one or more road sections.

In some embodiments, each of the GPS nodes (e.g., latitude (L) and longitude (G)) received by the operations center 300 is divided into two or more groups. In some embodiments, two or more groups comprise GPS points and associated GPS points.

In some embodiments, the implementation of the GPS points correspond to GPS nodes that are not associated with one or more sections of the road. In some embodiments, GPS nodes that are not associated with one or more road sections correspond to GPS nodes that do not touch one or more road sections. In some embodiments, GPS points have not been accurately determined by GPS unit (22). In some embodiments, the map matching system 502 uses GPS points to correct GPS points determined by the GPS unit (22). In some embodiments, the map matching system 502 uses GPS points to correct the estimated path determined by the operations center 500.

In some embodiments, the associated GPS points correspond to GPS nodes associated with one or more sections of the road. In some embodiments, GPS nodes associated with one or more road sections correspond to GPS nodes that are in contact with one or more road sections. In some embodiments, the associated GPS points have been accurately determined by the GPS unit (22).

At 604, a range search is performed for each GPS point from one or more GPS points. In some embodiments, a range search identifies one or more road sections in the range of each GPS point. In some embodiments, the range is a radius from each GPS point. The range search performed by step 604 comprises step 604a, step 604b, and step 604c.

At 604a, a circle of radius r is created around each of the GPS points. In some embodiments, each GPS point is a circle center.

At 604b, the vehicle path determination method determines whether a circle partially surrounds one or more road sections. If the method of determining the path of the vehicle determines that the circle partially surrounds one or more sections of the road, then the operation proceeds to step 606. If the method of determining the path of the vehicle determines that the circle does not surround at least partially one or more sections of the road, then the operation proceeds to step 604c.

At 604c, each of the GPS points is discarded. In some embodiments, each GPS point is discarded since the GPS point is not associated with one or more sections of the road. In some embodiments, the dropped GPS point is an erroneous data point. Then, operation proceeds to block 610.

At 606, one or more unique GPS anchor points are determined for each of one or more GPS points. In some embodiments, each of the one or more unique GPS anchor points is a transformation of a corresponding element of one or more GPS points into one or more road sections. In some embodiments, each of one or more GPS points is associated with a corresponding element of one or more unique GPS anchor points.

At 608, one or more estimated vehicle paths are determined for each of one or more unique GPS anchor points. In some embodiments, each of one or more intended vehicle paths is an intended vehicle path based on each of one or more unique GPS anchor points.

At 610, the vehicle path determination method determines if there are more GPS points. If the method for determining the vehicle path determines that one or more GPS points are unavailable, then operation proceeds to step 612. If the system for the method for determining the vehicle path determines that one or more GPS points are available, operation proceeds to step 602.

At 612, a vehicle path is determined from one or more contemplated vehicle paths. In some embodiments, a vehicle path is determined by selecting a vehicle path from one or more contemplated vehicle paths in accordance with the first relevant information. In some embodiments, the first relevant information comprises a minimum value.

In some embodiments, each intended vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths is associated with a corresponding element of one or more values. In some embodiments, the minimum value is the minimum value of the corresponding element of one or more values. In some embodiments, each corresponding element of one or more values for each estimated vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths comprises the sum of one or more distances. In some embodiments, each distance from one or more distances is the distance between each of the GPS points from one or more GPS points and each of the corresponding unique GPS anchor points from one or more unique GPS anchor points contained in each of one or more intended paths vehicle.

In some embodiments, the corresponding element of one or more values for each estimated vehicle path from one or more estimated vehicle paths is a calculated error for each of one or more estimated paths. In some embodiments, the calculated error is minimized by selecting one or more paths associated with the minimum calculated error.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method 700 for determining each of one or more unique GPS anchor points for each GPS point from one or more GPS points in accordance with one or more embodiments. Method 700 is an embodiment of step 606 shown in FIG. 6. The method 700 begins with step 702, in which each of one or more GPS points is associated with one or more GPS anchor points. In some embodiments, each GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points is a mapping of the GPS point from one or more GPS points.

At 704, each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is set. In some embodiments, each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is set by selecting a GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points in accordance with the second relevant information. In some embodiments, the second relevant information comprises a minimum distance between each GPS point from one or more GPS points and each GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method 800 for associating each of one or more GPS points with one or more GPS anchor points in accordance with one or more embodiments. Method 800 is an embodiment of step 702 shown in FIG. 7. The method 800 begins with step 802, which performs a geometric projection of each GPS point from one or more GPS points to each of one or more sections of the road.

At 804, each geometric projection of each GPS point from one or more GPS points is associated with each GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method 900 for determining one or more intended vehicle paths for each of one or more unique GPS anchor points in accordance with one or more embodiments. Method 900 is an embodiment of step 608 shown in FIG. 6. The method 900 begins at block 902, wherein the method for determining one or more estimated vehicle paths for each of one or more unique GPS anchor points determines whether each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is in contact with one or more source paths. If the method for determining the vehicle path determines that each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is in contact with one or more source paths, then operation proceeds to step 904. If the method for determining the vehicle path determines that each of one or more unique anchor points If the GPS is not in contact with one or more of the source paths, operation proceeds to step 910. In some embodiments, each of the one or more source paths contains one or more previously assumed paths nsportnogo means. In some embodiments, one or more previously contemplated vehicle paths is a previous intended vehicle path associated with another set of one or more GPS points or another set of one or more unique GPS anchor points.

At 904, one or more intended vehicle paths are generated. In some embodiments, one or more intended vehicle paths comprise one or more source paths. In some embodiments, each of one or more contemplated vehicle paths is associated with a corresponding element of one or more values.

In some embodiments, the implementation of the corresponding element of one or more values for each estimated vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths contains the sum of one or more distances. In some embodiments, each distance from one or more distances is the distance between each of the GPS points from one or more GPS points and each of the corresponding unique GPS anchor points from one or more unique GPS anchor points contained in each of one or more intended paths vehicle. In some embodiments, the corresponding element of one or more values for each estimated vehicle path from one or more estimated vehicle paths is a calculated error for each of one or more estimated paths.

At 906, one or more candidate vehicle paths are ranked according to third relevant information. In some embodiments, the third relevant information comprises a corresponding element of one or more values associated with each intended vehicle path from one or more estimated vehicle paths. In some embodiments, the calculated error is minimized by ranking one or more estimated vehicle paths in accordance with the calculated error and selecting one or more paths associated with the minimum calculated error (eg, step 612 of FIG. 6).

At 908, a method for determining one or more estimated vehicle paths for each of one or more unique GPS anchor points determines whether there are more unique GPS anchor points. If the method for determining one or more prospective vehicle paths for each of one or more unique GPS anchor points determines that there are still unique GPS anchor points, then operation proceeds to step 902. If the method for determining one or more prospective vehicle paths for each of if one or more unique GPS anchor points determines that there are no more unique GPS anchor points, operation proceeds to step 910.

At 910, one or more estimated vehicle paths are displayed. In some embodiments, a map matching system 502 displays one or more prospective vehicle paths at an operations center 300.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a map matching system 1000 for determining a vehicle path in accordance with one or more embodiments. In some embodiments, the card matching system 1000 is an embodiment of the card matching system 502 shown in FIG. 5. In some embodiments, the card mapping system 1000 is a universal computing device that implements the method 600 of FIG. 6, method 700 of FIG. 7, method 800 of FIG. 8 or method 900 of FIG. 900 in accordance with one or more embodiments. The card mapping system 1000 includes a hardware processor 1002 and a permanent computer-readable storage medium 1004 encoded by a computer program code 1006 (i.e., storing it), i.e., a set of executable instructions. The computer-readable storage medium 1004 is also encoded by commands 1007 to interact with the operations center 500. The processor 1002 is electrically connected to the computer-readable storage medium 1004 via a bus 1008. Also, the processor 1002 is electrically connected to an input / output interface 1010 via a bus 1008. The network interface 1012 is also electrically connected with processor 1002 via bus 1008. Network interface 1012 is connected to network 1014 so that processor 1002 and computer-readable storage medium 1004 can connect to external elements throughout and 1014. The processor 1002 is configured to execute computer program code 1006 encoded on a computer readable medium 1004 so that the card matching system 1000 is used to perform part or all of the steps that are described, for example, in method 600, method 700, method 800, or way 900.

In one or more embodiments, the processor 1002 is a central processing unit (CPU), a multiprocessor system, a distributed processing system, a specialized integrated circuit (ASIC), and / or a suitable processing unit.

In one or more embodiments, the computer-readable medium 1004 is an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, and / or semiconductor system (or device). For example, a computer-readable storage medium 1004 includes a semiconductor or solid state storage device, a magnetic tape, a removable diskette, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), a hard magnetic disk and / or an optical disk. In one or more embodiments using an optical disc, a computer-readable medium 1004 includes read-only media on a compact disc (CD-ROM), readable / writable compact disc (CD-R / W) and / or digital universal ( DVD).

In one or more embodiments, the storage medium 1004 stores a computer program code 1006 configured to cause the card mapping system 1000 to execute a method 600, a method 700, a method 800, or a method 900. In one or more embodiments, the storage medium 1004 also stores information, necessary to execute method 600, method 700, method 800 or method 900, as well as information generated during method 600, method 700, method 800 or method 900, for example, GPS points 1016, source paths 1018, sections 1020 to Ogi, road network 1022, point 1024 Binding GPS, unique point of 1026 GPS anchor, prospective path 1028 of the vehicle and the path 1030 of the vehicle, and / or a set of executable instructions for performing the work in the process 600, the method 700, method 800 or method 900.

In one or more embodiments, the storage medium 1004 stores instructions 1007 for interacting with external machines. Commands 1007 enable processor 1002 to generate instructions read by external machines to efficiently implement method 600, method 700, method 800, or method 900 during a vehicle path determination process.

The card mapping system 1000 includes an input / output interface 1010. An I / O interface 1010 is connected to external circuits. In one or more embodiments, the input / output interface 1010 includes a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, a touch screen, and / or cursor keys for transmitting information and commands to a processor 1002.

The card mapping system 1000 also includes a network interface 1012 connected to a processor 1002. A network interface 1012 allows the system 1000 to exchange information with a network 1014 to which one or more other computer systems are connected. Network interface 1012 includes wireless network interfaces, for example, Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, or WCDMA; or wired network interfaces, such as Ethernet, USB, or IEEE-1394. In one or more embodiments, method 600, method 700, method 800, or method 900 are implemented in two or more systems 1000, and information, for example, GPS points 1016, source paths 1018, road sections 1020, road network 1022, GPS anchor points 1024, unique GPS anchor points 1026, estimated vehicle paths 1028 and vehicle path 1030, are exchanged between different systems 1000 over network 1014.

System 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more GPS points 1016 via an I / O interface 1010. Information is transmitted to processor 1002 via bus 1008 to form one or more GPS points 1016. One or more GPS points 1016 are then stored on a computer-readable medium 1004 as GPS points 1016. The system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more of the source paths 1018 via an input / output interface 1010. Information is transmitted to the processor 1002 via bus 1008 to form one or more source paths 1018. One or more source paths 1018 are then stored on a computer-readable medium 1004 as source paths 1018. The card mapping system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more sections 1020 of the road, through the interface 1010 input / output. Information is stored on a computer-readable medium 1004 as road sections 1020. The map matching system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more road networks via an I / O interface 1010. The information is stored on a computer-readable medium 1004 as a road network 1022. The map matching system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more GPS anchor points via an I / O interface 1010. The information is stored on a computer readable medium 1004 as a GPS anchor point 1024. The map matching system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with one or more unique GPS anchor points via an I / O interface 1010. Information is stored on a computer readable medium 1004 as unique GPS anchor points 1026. The map matching system 1000 is configured to receive information related to one or more intended vehicle paths via an I / O interface 1010. Information is stored on a computer-readable medium 1004 as the intended vehicle paths 1028. The map matching system 1000 is configured to receive information associated with a vehicle path via an input / output interface 1010. Information is stored on a computer readable medium 1004 as a vehicle path 1030.

One skilled in the art will understand that the order of steps in method 600, method 700, method 800, or method 900 is adjustable. In addition, one skilled in the art will appreciate that additional steps can be included in method 600, method 700, method 800, or method 900 without departing from the scope of this description.

One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the disclosed embodiments realize one or more of the above advantages. After reading the above description of the invention, one skilled in the art will be able to envision various changes, equivalent replacements, and various other embodiments that are broadly described herein. Therefore, it is understood that the legal protection provided is limited only by the definition contained in the appended claims and their equivalents.

One aspect of this description relates to a method for describing a driving style of a vehicle driver, comprising: determining a path of a vehicle driver using a processor, determining one or more average speeds of a vehicle driver at least from a vehicle path, determining a number of times that is one or more than the average speed of the vehicle driver exceeds the average speed of the vehicle in one or more directions, and the description of the style I am driving a vehicle driver from at least one or more average speed values of a vehicle driver. Determining a vehicle driver’s path includes loading one or more GPS points or one or more source paths, performing a search in the range for each GPS point from one or more GPS points, determining one or more unique GPS anchor points for each GPS point from one or more GPS points, determining one or more prospective vehicle paths for each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points, and determining a vehicle path from one or more probable paths of the vehicle, the path of the vehicle being the path of the vehicle driver. In addition, each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points is a transformation of the corresponding GPS point from one or more GPS points. A range search identifies one or more road sections in the range of each GPS point from one or more GPS points. Also, each source path from one or more source paths is a connection of one or more source road sections in a road network.

Claims (20)

1. A method for describing a driving style (P) of a vehicle driver, comprising the following steps, in which:
determine the path of the driver of the vehicle through the processor, on which:
loading one or more GPS points or one or more source paths, each source path of one or more source paths being a connection of one or more source road sections in a road network;
performing a search in the range for each GPS point from one or more GPS points, the search in the range identifying one or more road sections in the range of each GPS point from one or more GPS points;
determining one or more unique GPS anchor points for each GPS point from one or more GPS points, wherein each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points is a transformation of the corresponding GPS point from one or more GPS points;
determining one or more estimated vehicle paths for each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points;
determining a vehicle path from one or more intended vehicle paths, the vehicle path being the path of the vehicle driver;
determining one or more average speed values from the vehicle driver at least from the vehicle path;
determine the number of times that one or more values of the average speed of the driver of the vehicle exceeds the average speed of the vehicle in one or more sections of the road; and
describe a driving style of a vehicle driver from at least one or more average speed values of a vehicle driver. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining a vehicle path from one or more intended vehicle paths comprises a step of:
selecting a vehicle path from one or more intended vehicle paths in accordance with the first relevant information. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first relevant information comprises a minimum value;
wherein each proposed vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths is associated with a corresponding element of one or more values;
each corresponding element of one or more costs for each proposed vehicle path from one or more estimated vehicle paths contains the sum of one or more distances, each distance from one or more distances being between each of the GPS points from one or more GPS points and each of the respective unique GPS anchor points from one or more unique GPS anchor points contained on each of one or more intended vehicle paths ; and
wherein the minimum value is the minimum value of the corresponding element of one or more values. 4. The method according to p. 1, in which the search in the range for each GPS point from one or more GPS points comprises the steps of:
create a circle with a certain radius;
determining whether the circle partially surrounds one or more sections of the road; and
discard each GPS point from one or more GPS points if the circle does not surround at least partially one or more sections of the road. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points for each GPS point from one or more GPS points, comprises the steps of:
associating each GPS point from one or more GPS points with one or more GPS reference points, wherein each GPS reference point from one or more GPS reference points is a transformation of a GPS point from one or more GPS points; and
set each unique GPS anchor point from one or more unique GPS anchor points, on which the GPS anchor point is selected from one or more GPS anchor points in accordance with the second relevant information. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of associating each GPS point from one or more GPS points with one or more GPS anchor points, comprises the steps of:
performing a geometric projection of each GPS point from one or more GPS points onto each of one or more road sections; and
associate each geometric projection of each GPS point from one or more GPS points with each GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second relevant information comprises a minimum distance between each GPS point from one or more GPS points and each GPS anchor point from one or more GPS anchor points. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining one or more prospective vehicle paths for each of the one or more unique GPS anchor points comprises the steps of:
determining whether each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is in contact with one or more source paths;
form one or more proposed vehicle paths containing one or more source paths if each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is in contact with one or more source paths; and
ranking one or more prospective vehicle paths in accordance with third relevant information if each of one or more unique GPS anchor points is in contact with one or more source paths; and
each prospective vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths being associated with a corresponding element of one or more values. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the third relevant information is an appropriate element of one or more values. 10. The method according to p. 8, in which each corresponding element of one or more costs for each proposed vehicle path of one or more estimated vehicle paths contains the sum of one or more distances, each distance of one or more distances is between each of GPS points from one or more GPS points and each of the corresponding unique GPS anchor points from one or more unique GPS anchor points contained in each of one or more proposed transport paths Tailor tools. 11. The method according to claim 1, in which each of the GPS points from one or more GPS points is not associated with one or more sections of the road. 12. The method according to p. 1, in which each of the GPS points from one or more GPS points is not in contact with one or more sections of the road. 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more source paths comprise one or more previously contemplated vehicle paths. 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
a) detecting acceleration (X, v _v ) of the vehicle by means of an accelerometer (21),
b) comparing said acceleration (X, v _v ) with preset thresholds (S1, S2, S3) to detect sudden accelerations / decelerations (A, D) indicating inappropriate driving and very sharp accelerations / decelerations (I), indicating an accident
c) detecting the latitude (L), longitude (G) and speed (V) of the vehicle via the GPS module (22),
d) storing said sudden accelerations / decelerations (A, D) and very sharp accelerations / decelerations (I) and said values of latitude (L), longitude (G) and speed (V) of the vehicle in the storage device (34),
e) transferring the aforementioned values (A, D, I, L, G, V) stored in the memory to the remote operation center (300) via the GSM / GPRS module (24) in such a way as to calculate the information on the number of sudden accelerations / decelerations (Tii) and the number of accidents (Tiv),
f) projection of the latitude (L) and longitude (G) values detected by GPS (22) on a digital map in such a way that, following the route of the vehicle on the map, obtain information about:
total number of kilometers traveled by the vehicle (Ti);
kilometers traveled by the vehicle on different types of roads (Tiv, Tv, Tvi, Tix, Tx);
Driving a vehicle at a roundabout or roundabout (Tvii, Tviii);
g) determining the number of times that one or more speed values detected by the GPS unit exceed the average vehicle speed in one or more sections of the road;
h) comparing the values of speed (V) detected by GPS (22) with the roads traveled by a vehicle found from maps to obtain information (Txi, Txii, Txiii) about average speed on various types of roads,
a description of the driving style of the vehicle driver from at least one or more speed values detected by the GPS module;
forming a polynomial (P) with the values of the information obtained in steps (e, f, g, h), which is a description of the driving style of the vehicle driver,
moreover, if the GPS signal is not available for the GPS module (22), then the vehicle speed (V) is detected by the information extraction device (103) connected to the vehicle control unit and sent to the storage device (34) in the device via the modules (102, 9) Bluetooth. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said threshold values (2) comprise:
a first threshold value (S1) indicating sudden acceleration;
a second threshold value (S2) indicating a sudden deceleration; and
the third threshold value (S3) indicating a very sharp acceleration / deceleration that occurs during an accident. 16. The method according to p. 15, in which said accelerometer (21) detects the acceleration vector v _a (x, y, z) in its reference system along three axes, which, through rotation, is converted to the vector v _v (x, y, z) accelerations in the vehicle reference frame, the component (X) of the vector (v _v ) corresponding to the measurement of instantaneous acceleration in the direction of vehicle movement and compared with the first threshold value (S1) and the second threshold value (S2) to detect sudden accelerations (A) and decelerations (D), respectively, and the second (v _v ) is compared with the third threshold value (S3) mentioned above to detect very sharp accelerations / decelerations (I) indicative of an accident. 17. The method according to p. 16, in which the module of the vector (v _v ) exceeds the third threshold value (S3), all accelerations / decelerations (A, D), measured in the time interval containing the moment when the third threshold value (S3) is exceeded are recorded in the storage device (34). 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said acceleration / deceleration measurement interval (A, D) is between 10 s and 3 s after the moment when the third threshold value is exceeded (S3). 19. The method of claim 15, wherein said first threshold value (S1) is 1 / 2g, said second threshold value (S2) is -1 / 2g, and said third threshold value (S3) is 2g. 20. The method according to p. 14, in which the accelerometer (21) is interrogated with a frequency between 800 and 1200 Hz, and said GPS module (22) is interrogated with a frequency between 1 and 10 Hz.

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