Edge computing aided radio congestion mitigation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210943-B2
Application number	US-202016806186-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2020
Priority date	Mar 2, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A computing device includes a camera configured to capture images of an area of a road, the area defining a geofence; and a processor, configured to responsive to detecting a traffic density within the geofence exceeding a predefined threshold, wirelessly broadcast a directional message within the geofence to request vehicles located within the geofence to temporarily disable individual messaging services having low priorities identified in the directional message, analyze vehicle traffic using images captured by the camera to detect a predefined traffic situation, responsive to detecting the predefined traffic situation initiated by one of the vehicles, generate a safety message reflecting the traffic situation, and broadcast the safety message to vehicles within the geofence.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device, comprising:
a camera configured to capture images of an area of a road, the area defining a geofence; and
a processor, configured to
responsive to detecting a traffic density within the geofence exceeding a predefined threshold, wirelessly broadcast a directional message within the geofence to request vehicles located within the geofence to temporarily disable individual messaging services having low priorities identified in the directional message,
analyze vehicle traffic using images captured by the camera to detect a predefined traffic situation,
responsive to detecting the predefined traffic situation initiated by one of the vehicles, generate a safety message reflecting the traffic situation, and
broadcast the safety message to vehicles within the geofence.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the predefined threshold using a weather condition of the geofence.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the weather condition from a cloud server.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
obtain navigation traffic data for a predefined area of road connected to the geofence from a cloud server; and
broadcast the navigation traffic data to the vehicles within the geofence.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
responsive to detecting the traffic density is below the predefined threshold, broadcast an instruction message requesting the vehicles within the geofence to restore individual messaging services.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the directional message includes information indicative of a boundary of the geofence.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the directional message includes a timer indicative of the duration for the vehicles to disable the individual messaging services.

8. The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
broadcast a second directional message to the vehicles within the geofence before the timer expires to renew the timer.

9. A vehicle, comprising:
a wireless transceiver; and
a controller configured to
responsive to receiving a directional message, via the wireless transceiver, broadcasted from an edge-computing device, activate a collective messaging mode by disabling individual messaging services having predefined low priorities identified in the directional message,
responsive to receiving a safety message broadcasted from the edge-computing device, perform an autonomous driving maneuver using the safety message, and
responsive to detecting a restoration condition being met, deactivate the collective messaging mode by restoring the individual messaging services.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
responsive to receiving traffic data broadcasted from the edge-computing device, plan a navigation route using the traffic data.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the restoration condition is met by the vehicle receiving an instruction message from the edge-computing device.

12. The vehicle of claim 9 , further comprising:
a location controller configured to calculate a vehicle location,
wherein directional message includes information about a geofence within which the individual messaging services to be disabled, and the restoration condition is met by the controller verifying the vehicle location is outside the geofence.

13. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the directional message includes a timer indicative of a duration to disable the individual messaging services, the restoration condition is met by the controller verifying an expiration of the timer.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
responsive to receiving a second directional message from the edge-computing device, renew the timer to continue to disable the individual messaging services.

15. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in the collective messaging mode,
refrain from generating a basic safety messaging having a first priority within the low priorities identified in the directional message,
generate a service message having a second low priority within the low priorities identified in the directional message, and
refrain from sending the service message, until the collective messaging mode is deactivated.

16. A method, comprising:
capturing, via a camera, images covering an area of a road;
analyzing, via a processor, the images to evaluate a traffic density in the area;
responsive to detecting the traffic density exceeding a predefined threshold, broadcasting, via a wireless transceiver, a directional message within the area to request vehicles located within the area to temporarily disable individual messaging services having low priorities identified in the directional message;
responsive to detecting a predefined traffic situation initiated by one of the vehicles, generating, via the processor, a safety message reflecting the traffic situation;
broadcasting, via the wireless transceiver, the safety message to vehicles within the area; and
responsive to detecting the traffic density is below the predefined threshold, broadcasting an instruction message requesting the vehicles within the area to restore individual messaging services.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
obtaining, via a wired connection, navigation traffic data for road traffic adjacent to the area from a cloud server; and
broadcasting, via the wireless transceiver, the navigation traffic data to the vehicles within the area.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising adjusting the predefined threshold using a weather condition of the area obtained from a cloud server.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the directional message includes information indicative of a boundary of the area.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the directional message includes a timer indicative of a duration for the vehicles to disable the individual messaging services, the method further comprising broadcasting, via the wireless transceiver, a second directional message to the vehicles within the area before the timer expires to renew the timer.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lei Oliver
• Datta Gupta Somak
• Slyusar Vladyslav
• Rao Jayanthi

Classifications

• H04W28/084

  among network function virtualisation [NFV] entities; among edge computing entities, e.g. multi-access edge computing · CPC title

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• H04W4/40 Primary

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• G08G1/091 Primary

  Traffic information broadcasting (broadcasting communication H04H) · CPC title

• G08G1/04

  using optical or ultrasonic detectors · CPC title