Encoded representation of traffic data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9863780-B2
Application number	US-201213632090-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2012
Priority date	Jun 10, 2012
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

A mapping program for execution by at least one processing unit of a device is described. The mapping program selects a traffic segment defined in a first data structure describing congestion in an area of a map. The mapping program identifies a portion of a road in the map area that corresponds to the traffic segment by using a second data structure to correlate the traffic segment in the first data structure to the road that is defined in a third data structure. The mapping program defines a traffic congestion representation to render for the identified road portion, based on data about the corresponding road in the third data structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a mapping program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
in a first data structure that defines traffic segments for an area of a map for display, selecting a particular traffic segment;
in a second data structure that defines a plurality of roads in the map area, identifying a portion of a road in the map area that corresponds to the particular traffic segment, said identifying comprising using a third data structure that stores linking data to correlate the particular traffic segment that is defined in the first data structure to the road portion that is defined in the second data structure; and
rendering the particular traffic segment on the map with the identified road portion.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first data structure further defines traffic congestion for each traffic segment, wherein the set of instructions for rendering the particular traffic segment comprises a set of instructions for generating a traffic congestion representation on the map along the identified road portion by using traffic congestion that is defined in the first data structure for the particular traffic segment.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the set of instructions for rendering the particular traffic segment further comprises a set of instructions for using a definition of the road portion in the second data structure to generate the traffic congestion representation.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the set of instructions for using the definition of the road portion comprises a set of instructions for using the road portion definition to generate the traffic congestion representation to run parallel to said identified road portion.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for determining that the map is being displayed at a particular zoom level that will result in the identified road portion being too narrow for the traffic congestion representation to be laid over the identified road portion.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5 ,
wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for changing the zoom level to make the road portion wider or narrower,
wherein the set of instructions for using the definition of the road portion comprises a set of instructions for using the road portion definition to generate the traffic congestion representation to lie over said identified road portion when the zoom level changes and makes the road portion wide enough for placing the traffic congestion representation over the identified road portion.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the set of instructions for using the road portion definition comprises a set of instructions for using the road portion definition to generate the traffic congestion representation to lie over said identified road portion.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:
receiving the first data structure that defines the traffic segments, the second data structure that defines the plurality of roads, and the third data structure that links the traffic segments defined in the first data structure to the roads defined in the second data structure; and
iteratively performing the selecting, identifying and rendering operations for each of the traffic segments in the first data structure in order to generate traffic representations for the selected traffic segments.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the set of instructions for receiving the data structures comprises sets of instructions for identifying a particular view of the map for rendering and identifying at least one data structure that describes at least one map feature needed for the particular view.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 ,
wherein the identified data structure is the second data structure that defines the roads,
wherein the set of instructions for identifying at least one data structure comprises a set of instructions for identifying all data structures that describe all features in the map that are needed to generate the particular view of the map.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program further comprises sets of instructions for:
defining a virtual camera to represent a particular view of the map for rendering; and
specifying at least the identified portion of the road as a feature to render in the particular view along with a traffic congestion representation before concurrently rendering the identified road portion and the traffic congestion representation.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 ,
wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions for defining a three-dimensional (3D) scene that contains the identified road portion and the traffic congestion representation,
wherein the virtual camera defines a particular perspective view in the 3D scene.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the first data structure further defines traffic congestion for different portions of each traffic segment;
wherein the set of instructions for selecting the particular traffic segment comprises a set of instructions for selecting, from the first data structure, a portion of the particular traffic segment;
wherein the set of instructions for identifying the road portion comprises a set of instructions for using the data stored in the third data structure to correlate the selected portion of the particular traffic segment to the road portion; and
wherein the set of instructions for rendering the particular traffic segment comprises a set of instructions for generating a traffic congestion representation for the selected portion of the particular traffic segment based on the traffic congestion defined in the first data structure, the correlation data stored in the third data structure, and the road defined in the second data structure.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first data structure further defines a color value that specifies a color for each traffic congestion.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the set of instructions for generating the traffic congestion representation for the selected portion of the particular traffic segment comprises a set of instructions for rendering the selected portion in a particular color by using a color value that is defined in the first data structure for the selected portion.

16. A method of defining traffic along roads in a map, the method comprising:
identifying, by a computer, a plurality of traffic segments for a plurality of roads;
identifying different groupings of the traffic segments; and
for each group of traffic segments, defining a traffic tile that stores data that specify the traffic segments of the group and traffic congestion along the traffic segments of the group, said traffic segments data in the traffic tile linked to road data stored in a road tile through linking data stored in a linking tile.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:
from a set of sources, obtaining traffic congestion data for the plurality of roads; and
specifying traffic congestion along the traffic segments based on the obtained data.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Prestor Uros
• Mccabe J Paul

Classifications

• G01C21/3694

  Output thereof on a road map · CPC title

• G08G1/096741

  where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle · CPC title

• G01C21/3626

  Details of the output of route guidance instructions (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G01C21/367

  Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker · CPC title

• G08G1/096716 Primary

  where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control · CPC title