Systems for analyzing vehicle traffic between geographic regions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11527153-B1
Application number	US-202117375302-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2021
Priority date	Jun 1, 2021
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

A traffic analysis system analyzes location data from a plurality of vehicles to determine journeys made by the vehicles. Vehicles may make one or more rest stops during a journey. The traffic analysis system compares rest periods to journey criteria to determine whether a rest period delineates the end of a journey, or whether a rest period is still within the journey. In this way, a plurality of trips can be chained together into a journey to provide more accurate analysis of traffic patterns.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising: at least one processor; an output device; at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to: receive an identification of a first geographic region; receive an identification of a second geographic region different from the first geographic region; determine a number of vehicle journeys by a plurality of vehicles, from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region, in at least a time interval, by: receiving location data for the plurality of vehicles, the location data indicative of a succession of a plurality of trips travelled by each vehicle and indicative of at least one rest period of each vehicle wherein the respective vehicle is not moving, each trip in the plurality of trips being separated from a preceding trip by a respective rest period of the at least one rest period; determining, for each vehicle in the plurality of vehicles, a respective number of journeys travelled from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region by the vehicle, by: comparing each rest period of the at least one rest period for the vehicle to journey criteria; and tabulating a respective number of journeys by the vehicle from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region, where one journey includes one or more successive trips of the plurality of trips, each of the successive trips separated from each other by a respective rest period of the at least one rest period which satisfies the journey criteria, and the successive trips together representing travel between the first geographic region and the second geographic region; generating traffic analysis results based on a determined number of journeys, and output, by the output device the traffic analysis results to a user of the system to provide the user with information regarding traffic patterns between the two regions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to receive an identification of a third geographic region, wherein:
the first geographic region, the second geographic region, and the third geographic region are different; and
successive trips together counted as a journey represent travel between the first geographic region and the second geographic region, through the third geographic region.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to receive an identification of a plurality of additional geographic regions, wherein:
the first geographic region, the second geographic region, and the plurality of additional geographic regions are different from each other; and
successive trips together counted as a journey represent travel between the first geographic region and the second geographic region, through at least one of the plurality of additional geographic regions.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein successive trips together counted as a journey represent travel between the first geographic region and the second geographic region, through each of the plurality of additional geographic regions.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions which cause the system to determine the number of vehicle journeys by the plurality of vehicles from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region cause the system to:
determine the number of vehicle journeys by the plurality of vehicles from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region by summing together each respective tabulated number of journeys by each vehicle from the first geographic region to the second geographic region, and each respective tabulated number of journeys by each vehicle from the second geographic region to the first geographic region.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein:
the determined number of vehicle journeys by the plurality of vehicles from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region are representative of a total number of vehicle journeys by a total quantity of vehicles from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region; and
the instructions further cause the system to estimate the total number of vehicle journeys from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region based on the determined number of vehicle journeys by the plurality of vehicles from the first geographic region to the second geographic region and from the second geographic region to the first geographic region.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the identification of the first geographic region and the identification of the second geographic region are received by the system as operator inputs.

Assignees

• Geotab Inc

Inventors

• Shah Shweta Pravinchandra
• Lewis Daniel J
• Pilon-Bignell Jean
• Tehrani Pooria Poorsarvi
• Liu Chien An
• Bradley Robert
• Branch Terence Michael

Classifications

• G08G1/0129

  for creating historical data or processing based on historical data · CPC title

• G08G1/0141 Primary

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title

• G08G1/207

  with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries · CPC title

• G08G1/0112 Primary

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

• G06Q10/047

  Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem · CPC title