Transmission of targeted roadway alerts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9959756-B2
Application number	US-201514872628-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2015
Priority date	Oct 1, 2015
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmission of targeted roadway alerts. A server receives a first description of an incident. The server determines an impact area of the incident based on the description. The server generates a geographic polygon based on the impact are of the incident. The server overlays the geographic polygon on a first cellular map and transmits an alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the geographic polygon.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a first description of an incident;
determining an impact area of the incident based on the first description, the impact area comprising one or more road segments;
generating a geographic polygon based on the impact area of the incident, the geographic polygon describing an area different than the impact area;
overlaying the geographic polygon on a first cellular map;
transmitting an alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the geographic polygon;
overlaying the geographic polygon on a second cellular map, wherein the second cellular map includes different coverage patterns than the first cellular map; and
transmitting the alert message to a device within a cell of the second cellular map that contain at least a portion of the geographic polygon.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating an updated impact area of the incident at a subsequent time;
generating an updated geographic polygon based on the updated impact area;
overlaying the updated geographic polygon on the first cellular map; and
transmitting an updated alert message to one or more devices located within a cell of the first cellular map that contains at least a portion of the updated dynamic geographic polygon.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first description of the incident is received from a sensor integrated within a vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an impact area comprises:
using the first description, current traffic data, and historical flow data to predict a traffic pattern as a result of the incident; and
determining a geographic area where current traffic is affected by the predicted traffic pattern.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the geographic area is comprised of one or more road segments.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising using weather data to predict the traffic pattern.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alert message has a timeout, wherein after the timeout expires, the alert message is not transmitted.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic geographic polygon is archived to use for future incidents.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alert message includes information that alters a route of the device.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second description of the incident, wherein determining an impact area of the incident is based on the first description and second description.

11. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs; the at least one memory configured to store the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform:
receiving a description of an incident;
generating an impact area of the incident based on the description;
generating a geographic polygon based on the impact area of the incident, the geographic polygon different than the impact area;
transmitting an alert message and the geographic polygon to a first cellular provider; and
transmitting an alert message and the geographic polygon to a second cellular provider;
wherein the first cellular provider and second cellular provider maintain different cellular patterns of coverage for the geographic polygon.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to cause the apparatus to further perform:
generating an updated impact area of the incident at a second time;
generating an updated geographic polygon based on the updated impact area; and
transmitting the alert message and the updated geographic polygon to the first cellular provider.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the alert message has a timeout, wherein after the timeout expires, the alert message is not transmitted.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein generating an impact area comprises:
using current traffic and historical flow information to predict a traffic pattern as a result of the incident; and
determining the geographic area where current traffic is affected by the traffic pattern.

Assignees

• Here Global Bv

Inventors

• Filley George
• Moran Kevin
• Belkin Anatoly

Classifications

• G08G1/0141

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title

• G08G1/096844

  where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data · CPC title

• G08G1/096741

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

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• G08G1/096805 Primary

  where the transmitted instructions are used to compute a route · CPC title