Determination of a road work area characteristic set

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10643463-B2
Application number	US-201815958422-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2018
Priority date	Apr 27, 2017
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for determining a road work area characteristic set comprising at least one characteristic associated with a road work area. The method comprises: determining a starting position of the road work area, receiving actual vehicle status information from each vehicle in a vehicle set, wherein each vehicle in the vehicle set has passed or is determined to pass the starting position of the road work area, the actual vehicle status information being generated by an individual generation component associated with the vehicle, the actual vehicle status information comprising vehicle position data for the vehicle, determining an actual vehicle status information set from the actual vehicle status information of each vehicle in the vehicle set, and determining the road work area characteristic set using the actual vehicle status information set.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining a road work area characteristic set comprising at least one characteristic associated with a road work area, wherein the road work area characteristic set comprises a geographical extension of the road work area and/or an actual driving speed for at least a portion of the road work area, the method comprising:
determining a starting position of the road work area, wherein the starting position is determined using starting position data received from road work equipment or a road work vehicle or wherein the starting position of the road work area is determined using starting position data received from an individual generation component associated with a vehicle;
receiving actual vehicle status information from each vehicle in a vehicle set, wherein each vehicle in the vehicle set has passed or is determined to pass the starting position of the road work area, the actual vehicle status information being generated by an individual generation component associated with the vehicle, the actual vehicle status information comprising vehicle position data for the vehicle;
determining an actual vehicle status information set from the actual vehicle status information of each vehicle in the vehicle set, wherein the actual vehicle status information set comprises at least one of:
actual vehicle speed data for each vehicle in the vehicle set,
information indicative of presence and/or position of one or more objects indicative of a road work, or
distance to vehicle-in-front for each vehicle in the vehicle set; and

determining the road work area characteristic set using the actual vehicle status information set.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises comparing the actual vehicle status information set to an expected status for a road segment associated with the starting position of the road work area and wherein the feature of determining the road work area characteristic set comprises comparing the vehicle status information set to the expected status.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the expected status comprises a speed limit associated with the road segment.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual vehicle status information set further comprises actual vehicle lane centreline information indicative of at least the number and location of vehicle lane centrelines along which the vehicles in the vehicle set travel.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising comparing the actual vehicle status information set to an expected status for a road segment associated with the starting position of the road work area, wherein determining the road work area characteristic set comprises comparing the vehicle status information set to the expected status, and wherein the method comprises one or more of the following:
comparing an actual distance between two adjacent vehicle lane centrelines in the actual vehicle lane centreline information to an expected distance between two centrelines for the road segment;
comparing an actual distribution among vehicle lane centrelines in the actual vehicle lane centreline information to an expected distribution among the centrelines for the road segment;
comparing a number of separate centrelines to an expected number of separate centrelines for the road segment, and
comparing the actual position of an actual vehicle lane centreline in the actual vehicle lane centreline information to an expected position of the centreline for the road segment.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising comparing the actual vehicle status information set to an expected status for a road segment associated with the starting position of the road work area, wherein determining the road work area characteristic set comprises comparing the vehicle status information set to the expected status, and wherein the expected status comprises a pre-determined distance to vehicle-in-front.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the starting position data comprises detection of presence and/or position of a road work marker.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the road work marker comprises a cone, a road work sign or a road work panel.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each vehicle in the vehicle set is connected to a cellular network.

10. A method for informing an information receiver of a road work area characteristic set, the method comprising:
determining the road work area characteristic set according to claim 1 ; and
issuing a signal indicative of the road work area characteristic set to the information receiver.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the information receiver is a vehicle.

12. A system for determining a road work area characteristic set comprising at least one characteristic associated with a road work area, wherein the road work area characteristic set comprises a geographical extension of the road work area and/or an actual driving speed for at least a portion of the road work area, the system comprising:
circuitry configured so that the system is operable to:
receive information indicative of a starting position of the road work area, wherein the starting position is determined using staring position data received from road work equipment or a road work vehicle or wherein the starting position of the road work area is determined using starting position data received from an individual generation component associated with a vehicle;
receive actual vehicle status information from each vehicle in a vehicle set when each vehicle in the vehicle set has passed or is determined to pass the starting position of the road work area, the actual vehicle status information being generated by an individual generation component associated with the vehicle, the actual vehicle status information comprising vehicle position data for the vehicle;
determine an actual vehicle status information set from the actual vehicle status information of each vehicle in the vehicle set, wherein the actual vehicle status information set comprises at least one of:
actual vehicle speed data for each vehicle in the vehicle set,
information indicative of the presence and/or position of one or more objects indicative of a road work, or
distance to vehicle-in-front for each vehicle in the vehicle set; and

determine the road work area characteristic set using the actual vehicle status information set.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the starting position of the road work area is determined using starting position data received from the individual generation component associated with the vehicle, and wherein the vehicle is a vehicle in the vehicle set.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is performed using a system comprising a server.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is performed using a system comprising circuitry and memory, which includes operating instructions executable by the circuitry.

16. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the starting position of the road work area is determined using starting position data received from the individual generation component associated with the vehicle, and wherein the vehicle is a vehicle in the vehicle set.

17. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the circuitry comprises one or more processors and associated memory.

18. A method for determining a road work area characteristic set comprising at least one characteristic associated with a road work area, the method comprising:
determining a starting

Assignees

• Volvo Car Corp

Inventors

• Thelen Sebastian
• Israelsson Erik

Classifications

• G08G1/0967

  Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits (transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G07C5/08

  Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time · CPC title

• G08G1/0112

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title

• G08G1/0141

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title

• G01C21/26 Primary

  specially adapted for navigation in a road network · CPC title