WO2007116219A2

WO2007116219A2 - Telematics system

Info

Publication number: WO2007116219A2
Application number: PCT/GB2007/001326
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jaafar Elmirghani
Original assignee: Uws Ventures Limited
Priority date: 2006-04-08
Filing date: 2007-04-10
Publication date: 2007-10-18
Also published as: GB2436909A; GB0607114D0; WO2007116219A3

Abstract

A system for providing a wireless communication network for supporting wireless data communication to and from an interface located in or on a vehicle travelling along a journey- path, the system comprising a plurality of wireless transceivers located in spaced apart relation relative to each other in the vicinity of said journey-path, each transceiver defining an area of network coverage along said journey path, the system further comprising means for causing wireless data communication between said interface and a second transceiver defining a second area of network coverage to commence substantially simultaneously with the cessation of wireless data communication between said interface and a first transceiver defining a first area of network coverage as said vehicle travels from said first area of network coverage into said second area of network coverage.

Description

Telematics System

The present invention relates generally to telematics, and more specifically to a feature rich telematics system, with increased data capabilities, and its supporting infrastructure.

Telematics refers to wireless communication systems, designed for the collection and dissemination of information, particularly in vehicle-based electronic systems, including vehicle tracking and positioning, online vehicle navigation and information systems and emergency assistance. Telematics is revolutionising transport in the same way that communications and computing have transformed information transmission and sharing.

Telematics is currently used for a wide range of applications, especially in modern vehicles. Vehicle navigation and j ourney-time estimation is currently the predominant application, with systems generally operating by way of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology (that offers a very limited data capacity of 56 Kbit's), whilst third generation systems can operate at a more reasonable 384 Kbit/s. In comparison to present day data rates available for internet usage, however, these figures are primitive.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a road-targeted high speed data network, for access to the internet and other data services, with a high data rate relative to prior art systems.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-media user interface, that provides user-access to telematic technology and provides a means for generating an in-car, high speed wireless network to interface with roadside wireless infrastructure.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a statistical traffic analyser to provide travel information and other services to an in-car user. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a system for providing a wireless communication network for supporting wireless data communication to and from an interface located in or on a vehicle travelling along a journey-path, the system comprising a plurality of wireless transceivers located in spaced apart relation relative to each other in the vicinity of said journey-path, each transceiver defining an area of network coverage along said journey path, the system further comprising means for causing wireless data communication between said interface and a second transceiver defining a second area of network coverage to commence substantially simultaneously with the cessation of wireless data communication between said interface and a first transceiver defining a first area of network coverage as said vehicle travels from said first area of network coverage into said second area of network coverage.

Also in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a multi-media user interface for use in or on a vehicle travelling along a journey-path, for receiving selected data from and/or sending selected data to a wireless communication network provided by a system according to any of the preceding claims in respect of said journey path, the interface comprising means for receiving said data from and/or sending said data to said wireless communication network , display means for displaying said data, and means for causing data communication between said interface and a second transceiver of said wireless communication network to commence substantially simultaneously with the cessation of data communication between said interface and a first transceiver.

Also in accordance with the present invention there is provided a system for computing an estimated journey time in respect of a vehicle travelling along a journey path between a first location and a second location, the system comprising receiving means for receiving data representative of traffic conditions in said journey path between said first and said second locations, at least one algorithm, and output means for outputting a signal generated by said at least one algorithm, wherein said at least one algorithm generates an output signal representative of said journey time in relation to said data representative of said traffic conditions in said journey path, said output signal dynamically adapting in relation to change in said data representative of said traffic conditions in said journey path such that said output signal is a substantially dynamically-accurate representation of said journey time between said first and said second locations.

Thus the above mentioned objects are achieved by:

Providing a number of cellular interface nodes, thereby creating a road-targeted wireless network along a stretch of highway, each node interfacing with a common fibre optic cable running adjacent to the road. These nodes operate by means of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) and/or Free Space Optics (FSO) to provide a data rate in the region of 100 Mbit/s to an in-car user.

Providing an in-car user interface, comprising a fixed or mobile terminal with rich multimedia front end capabilities that provides a user with access to a range of telematic technologies and other data, video and voice services. The fixed or mobile terminal further provides an in-car high speed wireless network with a data rate in the region of 400 Mbit/s, based on UWB wireless technology, for interface with the roadside wireless infrastructure (road-targeted wireless network along a stretch of highway) and with other portable devices in the vehicle that require online access and multimedia services.

Providing a statistical traffic analyser comprising software incorporating statistical analysis algorithms that use real time data from inductive loops situated under the highway to produce journey time predictions, information for ramp entry control, motorway speed control and traffic grooming. The algorithms are integrated into the above mentioned in-car terminal that may be either fixed or mobile.

Preferably, each area of network coverage is a relatively short range area of network coverage and beneficially adjacent areas of network coverage overlap so as to provide a continuous block of network coverage. The transceivers preferably comprise ultra wide band (UWB) and/or free space optics (FSO) transceivers, beneficially configured to communicate to said interface data received from an optical data carrier located in the vicinity of said journey-path, preferably with a data transfer rate between a transceiver and said interface in the order of lOOMbits/sec.

Beneficially, said interface further comprises means for defining a wireless data communication network substantially within said vehicle travelling along a journey path, said wireless data communication network enabling portable wireless devices located substantially within said vehicle to receive selected data from and/or send selected data to said wireless data communication network.

Preferably, said data representative of traffic conditions includes data relating to volume of traffic and/or speed of travel of traffic in said journey path and beneficially said data is received, via a wireless communication network, from an optical data carrier located in the vicinity of said journey-path. Said data is preferably generated from signals received from respective inductive loops provided below the surface of said journey-path, wherein electromagnetic waves from an inductive loop are reflected back by vehicles passing over said inductive loop to generate said signals. The system is preferably provided in an interface for use in or on said vehicle, said interface including means for displaying data representative of said estimated journey time.

These and other aspects of the present invention will be apparent from, and elucidated with reference to, the embodiments described herein. An embodiment of the present will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a still image of a section of motorway, captured by a road-side camera, upon which is drawn representations of a roadside fibre cable along with its wireless infrastructure and under-road inductive loops; Figure 2 is a diagram of a motorway section, identifying the individual areas that are used for determination of traffic flow rate and density; and

Figure 3 is a schematic plan diagram of a section of highway, showing the placement of interface nodes and their associated cell range, placement of inductive loops and their associated areas and cell handover points.

Referring to Figure 1, a still image of a section of highway 10 is shown having a fibre optic 'backbone' cable, also known as an Optical Carrier (OC) 20 running between the opposing lanes, along the length of the central reservation. OCs 20 are currently provided on many new stretches of public highway, and are being installed on many older stretches, to enable roadside optical transmissions. An OC can be categorised by its data capacity, and included in this range at the smaller end is an OC3 capable of transmitting 155Mb/s and at the larger end an OC48 capable of transmitting 2488Mb/s. These OCs 20 presently serve to carry information from a number of inductive loops 40 (or closely situated pairs of loops) placed underneath the roads surface, via interconnections 30, to traffic control centres where such information is generally used to indicate traffic density and speed. They also provide a data highway for road-side cameras, transmitters for in-car devices and other road-side equipment.

A plurality of cellular interface nodes 50 are connected to the OC 20 and may be mounted on camera masts and/or other suitable locations along the length of the motorway. Nodes 50 comprise UWB, FSO and/or WiMax transceivers that generate a road-targeted high speed cellular wireless network within a proximity of the transceiver, enabling devices to connect with the node via radio waves and/or optical transmissions. UWB is preferred to other Radio Frequency (RF) classifications as a result of the extremely short nature of the pulses, which produce a signal with a very wide effective bandwidth. By virtue of the mathematics involved in determining the spectrum of a pulsed signal, the bandwidth of a signal increases as the pulse width narrows. Also, due to the low duty cycle of UWB, the average transmitted power is very low, resulting in low power consumption. Other potential implementations of UWB include CDMA and OFDM which offers multi band features and allows maintenance of the broadband low power features of UWB. Furthermore, UWB signals have a low susceptibility to multipath interference, and do not require a line of sight for signal completion, unlike FSO, however, FSO provides for a greater transmission range without the same reduction in data capacity, hence a combination of the two can produce complimentary results. These wireless networks provide a data transfer rate in the region of 70 - 100 Mbit/s, within a operating cell 140 radius of 300m. The nodes 50 are situated sequentially along a stretch of highway 10 at regular intervals such that each cell 140 (a cell referring to the transmission area generated by a transceiver) just overlaps it's adjacent cells 140, enough so to provide a substantially continuous wireless network with no areas of zero coverage . A node's 50 cell radius may be increased to 1000m by choosing a different transceiver, thereby decreasing the number of nodes 50 required to provide the same length of network, however this incurs a substantially proportional decrease in. the data rate offered by the wireless network (data capacity and cell area being, effectively, a trade-off). The 300m cells 140 are approximately one fifth of the size of second generation cellular cells, but offer a data capacity of comparative magnitude. Such a data capacity enables, amongst other services, a vast range of multimedia services to be accessed through the node 50 and supplied to a terminal within a vehicle 70 passing through the cell.

The road-targeted wireless network may be secured to some level, with means provided to 'validate' wireless users attempting to gain access to the network such that only subscribers can access the whole or part of it, or that certain services may be restricted. This may be facilitated using a key system, whereby an access key is provided, to subscribers/authorised users, that must be present in the user terminal, at a hardware and/or software level, in order to permit access to the network. Alternately, the network may be free to access, or may operate a pay-as-you-use system.

Referring now to Figure 3, because the wireless network cells 140 are reasonably small in size (to provide such high data transfer rates), a car 70 travelling at a reasonable rate will pass though a cell 140 in very little time. This leads to a situation where a user's terminal must communicate with a node 50 while the vehicle is within the nodes 50 cell 140 area, and seamlessly handover to the subsequent node 50 as it exits the first cell 140 and enters the second. In order to facilitate this, powerful signal processing algorithms in the form of medium access control (MAC) protocols are required to define handover procedures 130, for which it is necessary to determine the direction of travel. This is aided by an algorithm utilising the information generated by under-surface inductive loops 40, based on a prior art UWS motion prediction algorithm, designed to exploit the inductive loops in small cells with high speed vehicular traffic. The MAC protocols further govern how the spectrum is shared amongst users, such that the data capacity is proportionately distributed amongst users within the cell 140, possibly in accordance with a subscription level, application priority or based upon other rationalisation.

A multimedia user interface is located within a mobile vehicle 70 and may be either fixed or mobile. This takes the form of a terminal (with rich front end multimedia capabilities) that can be used to exploit the large data capacity available. The terminal provides user access to telematic services such as j ourney times, traffic density and other types of information relevant to travel, as well as enabling access to other data, video and voice services. The terminal further provides an in-car high speed wireless network, also based on UWB technology, permitting data rates in the region of 400 Mbit/s over a maximum of 1 Om that may be utilised by portable devices in the vehicle, such as PDA's, smart phones, laptops and other devices that require online access, multimedia and broadcast services. The in-car network may also be secured to stop other users in an adjacent car (i.e. within the 10m) from accessing it or the like. The terminal interfaces with the road-targeted high speed cellular wireless network as the car enters its cell 140, and as so it exits, a handover 130 algorithm facilitates it's sequential shift to the next network.

It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that a fast moving car (that is propagating electromagnet waves, as is the case) will exhibit a high doppler phase shift that has to be accounted for to enable a successful interface between a wireless in-car network and the road- targeted wireless network. The signal processing algorithms address this, possibly by means of active phase or frequency management, however any suitable method for accommodating the apparent change in frequency or wavelength of the propagated waves may be used.

Referring to Figure 2, a traffic analyser comprising software incorporating statistical analysis algorithms is utilised to predict journey times for a vehicle. The analyser utilises real time data generated by the inductive loops 40, which is fed to an Information Processing (IP) centre where it is used to map traffic flow and density. A stretch of highway 100 is divided into a plurality of areas 110, each with one or more inductive loops 40 therein, such that each area 110 provides information regarding the state of traffic on that area 110 of highway. An area 110 that has clear moving traffic is defined by a certain colour, for example green, and accordingly there is a scale of colours for different traffic states through to j ammed, which may be red. The algorithm(s) for predicting journey times are stored as software on the fixed of mobile multimedia user interface within a vehicle. To predict a journey time, the algorithms may use information relating to the area 110 the vehicle in question is in to determine its initial situation, by communicating with the IP centre via the wireless network. It then looks at the areas 110 ahead to calculate the time to complete the journey in accordance with the traffic state in the journey-path. As this calculation uses real time information, the estimated journey time will be refreshed at regular intervals, thereby providing an accurate estimation in relation to dynamic change in the state of traffic on the highway.

The IP centre contains further algorithms that are used for ramp entry control, motorway speed control and traffic grooming measures. A person skilled in the art will be familiar with such systems.

Ramp entry control seeks to regulate the flow of vehicles at highway ramps, in order to achieve some operational goal such as balancing demand and capacity or enhancing safety. Highway ramps represent the only opportunity for vehicles to legally enter or leave a highway facility (other than when two or more merge), and therefore are the only points where positive control can be exercised.

Motorway speed control is essentially aprocedure for governing traffic speed through sections of highway according to factors such as traffic density and accidents or accident probability. It seeks to permit optimum flowthrough on the highway and increase motorist safety. There are many Advanced Technologies and Travel (ATT) systems available, including Variable Speed Limits (VSL), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Autonomous Intelligent Cruise Control (AICC), Infrastructure Based ATT systems, all of which aim to primarily reduce the number of lane changes and braking related delays that add to an overall j ourney time and increase the probability of an accident. Most ATT systems can be utilised to work in parallel with the statistical analysis algorithms to enable more efficient use of the highways.

The algorithms for these services are stored at IP centres and are valuable to control centres, emergency services and planning authorities.

The various algorithms may further incorporate a number plate recognition facility, that utilises the various cameras situated along a stretch of highway 10. This feature can be used to aid in any of the above mentioned services, as well as providing specific vehicle tracking that may prove desirable to certain emergency services and/or government departments. In one embodiment a driver may be able to use such a recognition system to track his own journey, possibly having images sent and/or recorded from each camera he passes. The system described herein could also be used for enabling accurate traffic and road tolling, roadside assistance notification and/or automatic air bag deployment notification to emergency services in the event of an accident, providing the location and accident vehicular data. A further application would be vehicle analysis for the police and/or intelligence services that require a certain vehicle to be identified and/or located and tracked.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiment illustrates rather than limits the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be capable of designing many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Li the claims, any reference signs placed in parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claims. The word "comprising" and "comprises", and the like, does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in any claim or the specification as a whole. The singular reference of an element does not exclude the plural reference of such elements and vice-versa. The invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In a device claim enumerating several means, several of these means maybe embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A system for providing a wireless communication network for supporting wireless data communication to and from an interface located in or on a vehicle travelling along a journey-path, the system comprising a plurality of wireless transceivers located in spaced apart relation relative to each other in the vicinity of said journey-path, each transceiver defining an area of network coverage along said journey path, the system further comprising means for causing wireless data communication between said interface and a second transceiver defining a second area of network coverage to commence substantially simultaneously with the cessation of wireless data communication between said interface and a first transceiver defining a first area of network coverage as said vehicle travels from said first area of network coverage into said second area of network coverage.

2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein each area of network coverage is a relatively short range area of network coverage.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein adj acent areas of network coverage overlap so as to provide a continuous block of network coverage.

4. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said transceivers comprise ultra wide band (UWB) and/or free space optics (FSO) transceivers.

5. A system according to any of the preceding claims configured to communicate to said interface data received from an optical data carrier located in the vicinity of said journey-path.

6. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the data transfer rate between a transceiver and said interface is in the order of lOOMbits/sec.

7. A multi-media user interface for use in or on a vehicle travelling along a journey-path, for receiving selected data from and/or sending selected data to a wireless communication network provided by a system according to any of the preceding claims in respect of said j ourney path, the interface comprising means for receiving said data from and/or sending said data to said wireless communication network , display means for displaying said data, and means for causing data communication between said interface and a second transceiver of said wireless communication network to commence substantially simultaneously with the cessation of data communication between said interface and a first transceiver.

8. A multi-media user interface according to claim 7, wherein said interface further comprises means for defining a wireless data communication network substantially within said vehicle travelling along a journey path, said wireless data communication network enabling portable wireless devices located substantially within said vehicle to receive selected data from and/or send selected data to said wireless data communication network.

9. A system for computing an estimated journey time in respect of a vehicle travelling along a journey path between a first location and a second location, the system comprising receiving means for receiving data representative of traffic conditions in said journey path between said first and said second locations, at least one algorithm, and output means for outputting a signal generated by said at least one algorithm, wherein said at least one algorithm generates an output signal representative of said journey time in relation to said data representative of said traffic conditions in said j ourney path, said output signal dynamically adapting in relation to change in said data representative of said traffic conditions in said j ourney path such that said output signal is a substantially dynamically-accurate representation of said journey time between said first and said second locations.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein said data representative of traffic conditions includes data relating to volume of traffic and/or speed of travel of traffic in said journey path.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein said data is received, via a wireless communication network, from an optical data carrier located in the vicinity of said journey-path.

12. A system according to claim 11 , wherein said data is generated from signals received from respective inductive loops provided below the surface of said journey-path, wherein electromagnetic waves from an inductive loop are reflected back by vehicles passing over said inductive loop to generate said signals.

13 A system according to any of claims 8 to 11 , provided in an interface for use in or on said vehicle, said interface including means for displaying data representative of said estimated journey time.