Patent Application
20240013070
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of roadside event prediction, associated methods and apparatus, and in particular, concerns, for example, an apparatus configured to predict events in which vehicles damage roadside objects based on attributes of surroundings of the roadside objects, the vehicles, route maneuver information associated with the vehicles, and other contextual information.
Roadside objects, such as sign posts, traffic light posts, streetlight posts, and other landmarks disposed within peripherals of roads, are subject to becoming damaged due to proximity thereof with respect to traffic. When such objects are damaged, reports indicating such occurrences may not be immediately submitted to entities that provide maintenance for public way infrastructures. As such, drivers that rely on such roadside objects may encounter adverse events within roadways including the roadside objects.
The listing or discussion of a prior-published document or any background in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document or background is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.
According to a first aspect, an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code instructions is described. The computer program code instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to: receive historical data indicating events in which first vehicles damaged first roadside objects, the historical data indicating first attributes associated with surroundings of the first roadside objects, second attributes associated with the first vehicles, and route maneuver information associated with the first vehicles; and using the historical data, train a machine learning model to generate output data as a function of input data, wherein the input data indicate a second roadside object and contextual information associated with the second roadside object, and wherein the output data indicates a likelihood in which one or more second vehicles will damage the second roadside object.
According to a second aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer program code instructions stored therein is described. The computer program code instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive input data indicating a first roadside object and contextual information associated with the first roadside object; and cause a machine learning model to generate output data as a function of the input data, wherein the output data indicate a likelihood in which one or more first vehicles will damage the first roadside object, wherein the machine learning model is trained to generate the output data as a function of the input data by using historical data indicating events in which second vehicles damaged second roadside objects, and wherein the historical data indicate first attributes associated with surroundings of the second roadside objects, second attributes associated with the second vehicles, and route maneuver information associated with the second vehicles.
According to a third aspect, a method of providing a map layer is described. The method includes: receiving input data indicating a first roadside object and contextual information associated with the first roadside object; causing a machine learning model to generate output data as a function of the input data, wherein the output data indicate a likelihood in which one or more first vehicles will damage the first roadside object, wherein the machine learning model is trained to generate the output data as a function of the input data by using historical data indicating events in which second vehicles damaged second roadside objects, and wherein the historical data indicate first attributes associated with surroundings of the second roadside objects, second attributes associated with the second vehicles, and route maneuver information associated with the second vehicles; and updating the map layer to include a datapoint indicating the output data at a location of the first roadside object.
Also, a computer program product may be provided. For example, a computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps described herein.
Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply by illustrating a number of particular embodiments and implementations, including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. The invention is also capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details can be modified in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.
The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated or understood by the skilled person.
Corresponding computer programs (which may or may not be recorded on a carrier) for implementing one or more of the methods disclosed herein are also within the present disclosure and encompassed by one or more of the described example embodiments.
The present disclosure includes one or more corresponding aspects, example embodiments or features in isolation or in various combinations whether or not specifically stated (including claimed) in that combination or in isolation. Corresponding means for performing one or more of the discussed functions are also within the present disclosure.
The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings:
As discussed above, drivers may encounter adverse events within roadways including damaged roadside objects. Additionally, entities, such as departments of transportation, that plan, design, and construct such roadside objects within roadways may not account for contextual information regarding surroundings of the roadside object. For example, the contextual information may indicate that vehicles frequently drive over a curb within an intersection due to the curvature of the intersection. The entities may not consider such information and construct a roadside object proximate to the curb, thereby increasing the likelihood in which the roadside objects are damaged by vehicles that frequently drive over the curb at the intersection. Therefore, there is a need in the art that predicts locations in which roadside objects are likely to become damaged by vehicles and inform drivers and the entities regarding such prediction. Systems and methods for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects will be described in detail, herein.
In the illustrated embodiment, the system 100 comprises a user equipment (UE) 101 that may include or be associated with an application 103. In one embodiment, the UE 101 has connectivity to the assessment platform 123 via the communication network 121. The assessment platform 123 performs one or more functions associated with predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE 101 may be any type of mobile terminal or fixed terminal such as a mobile handset, station, unit, device, multimedia computer, multimedia tablet, Internet node, communicator, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, netbook computer, tablet computer, personal communication system (PCS) device, personal digital assistants (PDAs), audio/video player, digital camera/camcorder, positioning device, fitness device, television receiver, radio broadcast receiver, electronic book device, game device, devices associated with or integrated with a vehicle (e.g., as part of an infotainment system of the vehicle), or any combination thereof, including the accessories and peripherals of these devices. In one embodiment, the UE 101 can be an in-vehicle navigation system, a personal navigation device (PND), a portable navigation device, a cellular telephone, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a watch, a camera, a computer, and/or other device that can perform navigation-related functions, such as digital routing and map display. In one embodiment, the UE 101 can be a cellular telephone. A user may use the UE 101 for navigation functions, for example, road link map updates. It should be appreciated that the UE 101 can support any type of interface to the user (such as “wearable” devices, etc.).
In the illustrated embodiment, the application 103 may be any type of application that is executable by the UE 101, such as a mapping application, a location-based service application, a navigation application, a content provisioning service, a camera/imaging application, a media player application, a social networking application, a calendar application, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, one of the applications 103 at the UE 101 may act as a client for the assessment platform 123 and perform one or more functions associated with the functions of the assessment platform 123 by interacting with the assessment platform 123 over the communication network 121. The application 103 may be used convey information regarding predictions of events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. For example, the application 103 may indicate a likelihood in which vehicles will damage roadside objects at roadways including the roadside objects and provide notifications informing drivers regarding the likelihood. In such example, the notification may also include suggestions for the drivers to drive with extra caution at locations proximate to the roadside objects.
The vehicle 105 may be a standard gasoline powered vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and/or any other mobility implement type of vehicle. The vehicle 105 includes parts related to mobility, such as a powertrain with an engine, a transmission, a suspension, a driveshaft, and/or wheels, etc. The vehicle 105 may be a non-autonomous vehicle or an autonomous vehicle. The term autonomous vehicle may refer to a self-driving or driverless mode in which no passengers are required to be on board to operate the vehicle. An autonomous vehicle may be referred to as a robot vehicle or an automated vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may include passengers, but no driver is necessary. These autonomous vehicles may park themselves or move cargo between locations without a human operator. Autonomous vehicles may include multiple modes and transition between the modes. The autonomous vehicle may steer, brake, or accelerate the vehicle based on the position of the vehicle in order, and may respond to lane marking indicators (lane marking type, lane marking intensity, lane marking color, lane marking offset, lane marking width, or other characteristics) and driving commands or navigation commands. In one embodiment, the vehicle 105 may be assigned with an autonomous level. An autonomous level of a vehicle can be a Level 0 autonomous level that corresponds to a negligible automation for the vehicle, a Level 1 autonomous level that corresponds to a certain degree of driver assistance for the vehicle 105, a Level 2 autonomous level that corresponds to partial automation for the vehicle, a Level 3 autonomous level that corresponds to conditional automation for the vehicle, a Level 4 autonomous level that corresponds to high automation for the vehicle, a Level 5 autonomous level that corresponds to full automation for the vehicle, and/or another sub-level associated with a degree of autonomous driving for the vehicle.
In one embodiment, the UE 101 may be integrated in the vehicle 105, which may include assisted driving vehicles such as autonomous vehicles, highly assisted driving (HAD), and advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). Any of these assisted driving systems may be incorporated into the UE 101. Alternatively, an assisted driving device may be included in the vehicle 105. The assisted driving device may include memory, a processor, and systems to communicate with the UE 101. In one embodiment, the vehicle 105 may be an HAD vehicle or an ADAS vehicle. An HAD vehicle may refer to a vehicle that does not completely replace the human operator. Instead, in a highly assisted driving mode, a vehicle may perform some driving functions and the human operator may perform some driving functions. Such vehicle may also be driven in a manual mode in which the human operator exercises a degree of control over the movement of the vehicle. The vehicle 105 may also include a completely driverless mode. The HAD vehicle may control the vehicle through steering or braking in response to the on the position of the vehicle and may respond to lane marking indicators (lane marking type, lane marking intensity, lane marking color, lane marking offset, lane marking width, or other characteristics) and driving commands or navigation commands. Similarly, ADAS vehicles include one or more partially automated systems in which the vehicle alerts the driver. The features are designed to avoid collisions automatically. Features may include adaptive cruise control, automate braking, or steering adjustments to keep the driver in the correct lane. ADAS vehicles may issue warnings for the driver based on the position of the vehicle or based on the lane marking indicators (lane marking type, lane marking intensity, lane marking color, lane marking offset, lane marking width, or other characteristics) and driving commands or navigation commands.
In one embodiment, the vehicle 105 includes sensors 107, an on-board communication platform 109, and an on-board computing platform 111. The sensors 107 may include image sensors (e.g., electronic imaging devices of both analog and digital types, which include digital cameras, camera modules, camera phones, thermal imaging devices, radar, sonar, lidar, etc.), a network detection sensor for detecting wireless signals or receivers for different short-range communications (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, near field communication (NFC), etc.), temporal information sensors, an audio recorder for gathering audio data, velocity sensors, light sensors, oriental sensors augmented with height sensor and acceleration sensor, traction sensor, suspension sensor, tilt sensors to detect the degree of incline or decline of the vehicle 105 along a path of travel, etc. In a further embodiment, one or more of the sensors 107 about the perimeter of the vehicle 105 may detect the relative distance of the vehicle 105 from stationary objects (e.g., construct, wall, etc.), road objects, lanes, or roadways, the presence of other vehicles, pedestrians, traffic lights, road features (e.g., curves) and any other objects, or a combination thereof. Said sensors 107 may also detect orientations of such objects. In one embodiment, the vehicle 105 may include GPS receivers to obtain geographic coordinates from satellites 127 for determining current location and time associated with the vehicle 105. Further, the location can be determined by a triangulation system such as A-GPS, Cell of Origin, or other location extrapolation technologies.
The on-board communications platform 109 includes wired or wireless network interfaces to enable communication with external networks. The on-board communications platform 109 also includes hardware (e.g., processors, memory, storage, antenna, etc.) and software to control the wired or wireless network interfaces. In the illustrated example, the on-board communications platform 109 includes one or more communication controllers (not illustrated) for standards-based networks (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G networks, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m); Near Field Communication (NFC); local area wireless network (including IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac or others), dedicated short range communication (DSRC), and Wireless Gigabit (IEEE 802.11ad), etc.). In some examples, the on-board communications platform 109 includes a wired or wireless interface (e.g., an auxiliary port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, a Bluetooth® wireless node, etc.) to communicatively couple with the UE 101.
The on-board computing platform 111 performs one or more functions associated with the vehicle 105. In one embodiment, the on-board computing platform 109 may aggregate sensor data generated by at least one of the sensors 107 and transmit the sensor data via the on-board communications platform 109. The on-board computing platform 109 may receive control signals for performing one or more of the functions from the assessment platform 123, the UE 101, the services platform 115, one or more of the content providers 119a-119n, or a combination thereof via the on-board communication platform 111. The on-board computing platform 111 includes at least one processor or controller and memory (not illustrated). The processor or controller may be any suitable processing device or set of processing devices such as, but not limited to: a microprocessor, a microcontroller-based platform, a suitable integrated circuit, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The memory may be volatile memory (e.g., RAM, which can include non-volatile RAM, magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, and any other suitable forms); non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASH memory, EPROMs, EEPROMs, non-volatile solid-state memory, etc.), unalterable memory (e.g., EPROMs), read-only memory, and/or high-capacity storage devices (e.g., hard drives, solid state drives, etc). In some examples, the memory includes multiple kinds of memory, particularly volatile memory and non-volatile memory.
The detection entity 113 may be another vehicle, a drone, a user equipment, a road-side sensor, or a device mounted on a stationary object within or proximate to a road segment (e.g., a traffic light post, a sign post, a post, a building, etc.). The detection entity 113 includes one or more image sensors such as electronic imaging devices of both analog and digital types, which include digital cameras, camera modules, camera phones, thermal imaging devices, radar, sonar, lidar, etc. The detection entity 113 may further include a network detection sensor for detecting wireless signals or receivers for different short-range communications (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Li-Fi, near field communication (NFC), etc.), temporal information sensors, an audio recorder for gathering audio data, velocity sensors, light sensors, oriental sensors augmented with height sensor and acceleration sensor, tilt sensors to detect the degree of incline or decline of the detection entity 113 along a path of travel, etc. In a further embodiment, sensors about the perimeter of the detection entity 113 may detect the relative distance of the detection entity 113 from road objects, lanes, or roadways, the presence of other vehicles, pedestrians, traffic lights, road features (e.g., curves) and any other objects, or a combination thereof. Said sensors may also detect orientations of such objects. In one embodiment, the detection entity 113 may include GPS receivers to obtain geographic coordinates from satellites 127 for determining current location and time associated with the detection entity 113. Further, the location can be determined by a triangulation system such as A-GPS, Cell of Origin, or other location extrapolation technologies. The detection entity 113 may further include a receiver and a transmitter for maintaining communication with the assessment platform 123 and/or other components within the system 100.
The services platform 115 may provide one or more services 117a-117n (collectively referred to as services 117), such as mapping services, navigation services, travel planning services, weather-based services, emergency-based services, notification services, social networking services, content (e.g., audio, video, images, etc.) provisioning services, application services, storage services, contextual information determination services, location-based services, information-based services, etc. In one embodiment, the services platform 115 may be an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) platform. In one embodiment the one or more service 117 may be sensor data collection services. By way of example, vehicle sensor data provided by the sensors 107 may be transferred to the UE 101, the assessment platform 123, the database 125, or other entities communicatively coupled to the communication network 121 through the service platform 115. In one embodiment, the services platform 115 uses the output data generated by of the assessment platform 123 to provide services such as navigation, mapping, other location-based services, etc.
In one embodiment, the content providers 119a-119n (collectively referred to as content providers 119) may provide content or data (e.g., including geographic data, parametric representations of mapped features, etc.) to the UE 101, the vehicle 105, services platform 115, the vehicle 105, the database 125, the assessment platform 123, or the combination thereof. In one embodiment, the content provided may be any type of content, such as map content, textual content, audio content, video content, image content, etc. In one embodiment, the content providers 119 may provide content that may aid in predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects, and/or other related characteristics. In one embodiment, the content providers 119 may also store content associated with the UE 101, the vehicle 105, services platform 115, the assessment platform 123, the database 125, or the combination thereof. In another embodiment, the content providers 119 may manage access to a central repository of data, and offer a consistent, standard interface to data, such as a repository of the database 125.
The communication network 121 of system 100 includes one or more networks such as a data network, a wireless network, a telephony network, or any combination thereof. The data network may be any local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), a public data network (e.g., the Internet), short range wireless network, or any other suitable packet-switched network, such as a commercially owned, proprietary packet-switched network, e.g., a proprietary cable or fiber-optic network, and the like, or any combination thereof. In addition, the wireless network may be, for example, a cellular network and may employ various technologies including enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitable wireless medium, e.g., worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G networks, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), wireless LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth®, Internet Protocol (IP) data casting, satellite, mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), and the like, or any combination thereof.
In the illustrated embodiment, the assessment platform 123 may be a platform with multiple interconnected components. The assessment platform 123 may include multiple servers, intelligent networking devices, computing devices, components and corresponding software for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. It should be appreciated that that the assessment platform 123 may be a separate entity of the system 100, included within the UE 101 (e.g., as part of the applications 103), included within the vehicle 105 (e.g., as part of an application stored in the memory of the on-board computing platform 111), included within the services platform 115 (e.g., as part of an application stored in server memory for the services platform 115), included within the content providers 119 (e.g., as part of an application stored in sever memory for the content providers 119), other platforms embodying a power supplier (not illustrated), or a combination thereof.
The assessment platform 123 is capable of: (1) acquiring historical data indicating events in which vehicles damaged roadside objects; (2) using the historical data to train a machine learning model to predict events in which vehicles damage roadside objects as a function of contextual information associated with the roadside objects; and (3) cause the machine learning model to predict event in which vehicles damage roadside objects; and (4) providing applications based on the prediction. The assessment platform 123 embodies a machine learning model and trains the machine learning model to output the prediction by using historical data as training data set.
The historical data indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, the context in which said event has occurred. Specifically, the historical data may indicate attributes associated with a surrounding of the roadside object. Such attributes may include road attributes of a road, where the roadside object is within the peripheral of the road. The road attributes may indicate: (1) a type of road (e.g., a road segment or a node); (2) a curvature of the road; (3) a classification of the road; (4) traffic rules associated with the road; (5) a number of lanes with the road; (6) dimensions of the road; (7) one or more points-of-interest (POIs) associated with the road (e.g., information indicating whether a road segment or a node is directly connected to a POI or indirectly connected to the POI through one or more other road segments or nodes); (8) a number of bike lanes within the road and dimensions thereof; (9) a number of parking spaces within the road and dimensions thereof; (10) types of road markings within the road; (11) conditions of the surface of the road (e.g., presence of cracks, potholes, faded lane markings, etc.); or (12) a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the attributes may indicate dimensions of the roadside object, position of the roadside object relative to the road, orientation of the roadside object, etc. In one embodiment, the attributes may further indicate presence of POIs or other infrastructures (e.g., walls, beams, bridges, etc.) within the peripheral of the road, dimensions of the POIs or the infrastructures, orientations of the POIs or the infrastructures, position of the POIs or the infrastructures relative to the roadside object, whether the POIs or the infrastructures obscures the roadside object at certain angles, etc. The assessment platform 123 may receive information indicating the attributes associated with the surrounding of the roadside object from sensor data acquired within the location of the event in which the vehicle damaged the roadside object and during the period of the event. In one embodiment, the sensor data that are acquired prior to and/or after the period of the event may be considered for determining the attributes associated with the surrounding of the roadside object. In one embodiment, the sensor data may be acquired by one or more sensors equipped by the vehicle, one or more sensors equipped by one or more detection entities 113 that was within the event in which the vehicle damaged the roadside object and during the period of the event, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the information indicating the attributes associated with the surrounding of the roadside object may be acquired from the services platform 115, one or more the content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
The historical data further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, vehicle attributes associated with the vehicle. The vehicle attributes may indicate: (1) a type of vehicle; (2) a classification of the vehicle; (3) dimensions of the vehicle; (4) a wheel width of the vehicle; (5) a number of wheels equipped by the vehicle; (6) a curb weight of the vehicle; (7) other vehicle specifications; (8) whether the vehicle has a cargo space; (9) dimensions of the cargo space; (10) whether the cargo space is enclosed or partially enclosed; (11) distances at which the body of the vehicle extends outwardly relative to the wheels of the vehicle (e.g., the outermost wheels of the vehicle); or (12) a combination thereof. The historical data may further indicate additional information associated with the vehicle, such as: (1) whether the vehicle was carrying a load within a cargo space of the vehicle; (2) dimensions of the load; (3) whether the vehicle was overloaded (e.g., load weight exceeds regulations or dimensions of the load extend outside the cargo space of the vehicle); (4) whether the vehicle was connected to a trailer or one or more semi-trailers; (5) dimensions of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (6) a number of wheels equipped by the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (7) a wheel width of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (8) distances at which the body of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers extends outwardly relative to the wheels of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; or (9) a combination thereof. The assessment platform 123 may receive information indicating the vehicle attributes associated with the vehicle that damaged the roadside object from the vehicle, sensor data acquired by one or more sensors of one or more detection entities 113 that was within the location of the event during the period of the event, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the assessment platform 123 acquires the information indicating the vehicle attributes from the services platform 115, one or more the content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
The historical data further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, route maneuver information associated with the vehicle. The route maneuver information may indicate a manner in which the vehicle traversed a route. The route maneuver information may also indicate a route to one or more destinations that is designated for the vehicle and/or the user thereof. The route maneuver information may indicate one or more POIs at which the vehicle is scheduled to arrive at. The route maneuver information may indicate a pattern at which the vehicle traverses at one or more periods of a day. For example, the route maneuver information may indicate that the vehicle traverses a designated route for each day of Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. The route maneuver information may indicate one or more road segments and/or nodes that define the route of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the route maneuver information may indicate maneuvers executed by the vehicle at a location including the roadside object. For example, the route maneuver information may indicate that the vehicle has made sharp turns at certain intersections within the route or that the vehicle has speeded up or braked excessively at certain road segments within the route. By way of another example, the route maneuver information may also indicate proximity at which the vehicle was maneuvered relative to a peripheral of a one or more road segments within the route. The assessment platform 123 may receive the route maneuver information associated with the vehicle that damaged the roadside object from the vehicle, sensor data acquired by one or more sensors of one or more detection entities 113 that was within one or more portions of the route, or a combination thereof.
The historical data further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, attributes associated with a driver of the vehicle. The driver attributes may indicate patterns at which the driver of the vehicle maneuvers the vehicle within various road geometries. For example, the driver attributes may indicate that the driver tends to make sharp turns at certain intersections and that the driver tends to drive closer to an edge of a lane. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the vehicle to contact a curb, a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the vehicle over a terrain that is not designated for vehicles, or a combination thereof. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has disobeyed traffic rules while maneuvering a vehicle (e.g., driving over the speed limit), a number of occurrences in which the driver was involved in a vehicle-related accident, or a combination thereof. The assessment platform 123 may receive information indicating attributes of the driver of the vehicle that damaged the roadside object from the vehicle, sensor data acquired by one or more sensors of one or more detection entities 113 that was within one or more portions of the route, the services platform 115, one or more the content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
The historical data further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, additional contextual information, such as: (1) a speed at which the vehicle was moving during the period of the event; (2) a weather condition of the event; (3) sun angle and sun intensity level with respect to the location of the event; (4) the severity of the damaged roadside object (e.g., a post having a minor scratch versus a post that has collapsed); (5) a time, day, and month in which the event has occurred; (6) a season in which the event has occurred; or (7) a combination thereof. The weather condition and the sun angle and sun intensity level may indicate a degree at which the visibility for the driver of the vehicle was impacted. For example, a glare rendered from intense sun rays or adverse weather conditions such as snow or heavy rain may impact visibility for a driver, thereby increasing the chance in which the driver maneuvers a vehicle to collide with a roadside object. The assessment platform 123 may receive information indicating the additional contextual information from the vehicle, sensor data acquired by one or more sensors of one or more detection entities 113 that was within one or more portions of the route, the services platform 115, one or more the content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
The machine learning model receives the historical data and transforms the historical data into machine-readable and generalizable vectors. The machine learning model renders context around the historical data such that commonalities can be detected. Once the machine learning model translates the historical data into a vector format suitable to be used as a feature vector for machine learning, the assessment platform 123 trains the machine learning model on resulting pairs (i.e., observations as seen in the historical data and desired output value). For example, a desired output value may be defined by a number of expected events in which vehicles damage roadside objects within a given road segment or node, and observations may be defined by aggregating all occurrences of past events in which vehicles damaged roadside objects on a particular road segment or node during a particular setting (e.g., all occurrences having the same vector representation). In one embodiment, the machine learning model may incorporate supervised machine learning techniques. In one embodiment, the machine learning model may incorporate a standard regression or classification task.
Once the machine learning model is trained, the machine learning model may receive input data including a request for predicting one or more events in which vehicles damage one or more roadside objects. The input data may include, for each roadside object, attribute data indicating attributes associated with surroundings of the roadside object (e.g., road attributes associated with a road segment or node within a location of said roadside object) and attribute data indicating attributes associated with said roadside object (e.g., type of roadside object, dimensions thereof, etc.). The input data may also include vehicle attribute data of vehicles associated with the event. The vehicles associated with the event refer to vehicles that are currently traversing the location including said roadside object, vehicles that are estimated to traverse the location (e.g., based on routing information associated with the vehicles), vehicles that have traversed the location within a predetermined period, or a combination thereof. The input data may further include, for each vehicle associated with the event, route maneuver information and driver attribute data associated with said vehicle. The input data may include additional information, such as: (1) a speed at which vehicles move at the location of the roadside object; (2) a weather condition impacting the location of the roadside object; (3) sun angle and sun intensity level with respect to the location of the location of the roadside object; or (4) a combination thereof. The machine learning model may receive the input data from the UE 101, the vehicle 105, one or more detection entities 113 within the location of the roadside object, the services platform 115, one or more content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
Returning to
The assessment platform 123 is capable of generating notifications and/or other types of information based on an output of the machine learning model. The assessment platform 123 may transmit the notifications to the UE 101 and/or a user interface associated with the vehicle 105. The notification may include sound notification, display notification, vibration, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the assessment platform 123 may cause the UE 101 and/or the user interface associated with the vehicle 105 to generate a visual representation indicating the output of the machine learning model. For example,
The assessment platform 123 can be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. Though depicted as a separate entity in
In the illustrated embodiment, the database 125 stores information on road links (e.g., road length, road breadth, slope information, curvature information, geographic attributes, etc.), probe data for one or more road links (e.g., traffic density information), POIs, and other types map-related features. In one embodiment, the database 125 may include any multiple types of information that can provide means for aiding in predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. It should be appreciated that the information stored in the database 125 may be acquired from any of the elements within the system 100, other vehicles, sensors, database, or a combination thereof.
In one embodiment, the UE 101, the vehicle 105, the detection entity 113, the services platform 115, the content providers 119, the assessment platform 123 communicate with each other and other components of the communication network 121 using well known, new or still developing protocols. In this context, a protocol includes a set of rules defining how the network nodes within the communication network 121 interact with each other based on information sent over the communication links. The protocols are effective at different layers of operation within each node, from generating and receiving physical signals of various types, to selecting a link for transferring those signals, to the format of information indicated by those signals, to identifying which software application executing on a computer system sends or receives the information. The conceptually different layers of protocols for exchanging information over a network are described in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model.
Communications between the network nodes are typically affected by exchanging discrete packets of data. Each packet typically comprises (1) header information associated with a particular protocol, and (2) payload information that follows the header information and contains information that may be processed independently of that particular protocol. In some protocols, the packet includes (3) trailer information following the payload and indicating the end of the payload information. The header includes information such as the source of the packet, its destination, the length of the payload, and other properties used by the protocol. Often, the data in the payload for the particular protocol includes a header and payload for a different protocol associated with a different, higher layer of the OSI Reference Model. The header for a particular protocol typically indicates a type for the next protocol contained in its payload. The higher layer protocol is said to be encapsulated in the lower layer protocol. The headers included in a packet traversing multiple heterogeneous networks, such as the Internet, typically include a physical (layer 1) header, a data-link (layer 2) header, an internetwork (layer 3) header and a transport (layer 4) header, and various application (layer 5, layer 6 and layer 7) headers as defined by the OSI Reference Model.
In one embodiment, geographic features (e.g., two-dimensional or three-dimensional features) are represented using polygons (e.g., two-dimensional features) or polygon extrusions (e.g., three-dimensional features). For example, the edges of the polygons correspond to the boundaries or edges of the respective geographic feature. In the case of a building, a two-dimensional polygon can be used to represent a footprint of the building, and a three-dimensional polygon extrusion can be used to represent the three-dimensional surfaces of the building. It is contemplated that although various embodiments are discussed with respect to two-dimensional polygons, it is contemplated that the embodiments are also applicable to three-dimensional polygon extrusions, models, routes, etc. Accordingly, the terms polygons and polygon extrusions/models as used herein can be used interchangeably.
In one embodiment, the following terminology applies to the representation of geographic features in the database 125.
“Node”— A point that terminates a link.
“Line segment”— A line connecting two points.
“Link” (or “edge”)— A contiguous, non-branching string of one or more line segments terminating in a node at each end.
“Shape point”— A point along a link between two nodes (e.g., used to alter a shape of the link without defining new nodes).
“Oriented link”— A link that has a starting node (referred to as the “reference node”) and an ending node (referred to as the “non reference node”).
“Simple polygon”—An interior area of an outer boundary formed by a string of oriented links that begins and ends in one node. In one embodiment, a simple polygon does not cross itself.
“Polygon”—An area bounded by an outer boundary and none or at least one interior boundary (e.g., a hole or island). In one embodiment, a polygon is constructed from one outer simple polygon and none or at least one inner simple polygon. A polygon is simple if it just consists of one simple polygon, or complex if it has at least one inner simple polygon.
In one embodiment, the database 125 follows certain conventions. For example, links do not cross themselves and do not cross each other except at a node or vertex. Also, there are no duplicated shape points, nodes, or links. Two links that connect each other have a common node or vertex. In the database 125, overlapping geographic features are represented by overlapping polygons. When polygons overlap, the boundary of one polygon crosses the boundary of the other polygon. In the database 125, the location at which the boundary of one polygon intersects they boundary of another polygon is represented by a node. In one embodiment, a node may be used to represent other locations along the boundary of a polygon than a location at which the boundary of the polygon intersects the boundary of another polygon. In one embodiment, a shape point is not used to represent a point at which the boundary of a polygon intersects the boundary of another polygon.
In one embodiment, the database 125 is presented according to a hierarchical or multi-level tile projection. More specifically, in one embodiment, the database 125 may be defined according to a normalized Mercator projection. Other projections may be used. In one embodiment, a map tile grid of a Mercator or similar projection can a multilevel grid. Each cell or tile in a level of the map tile grid is divisible into the same number of tiles of that same level of grid. In other words, the initial level of the map tile grid (e.g., a level at the lowest zoom level) is divisible into four cells or rectangles. Each of those cells are in turn divisible into four cells, and so on until the highest zoom level of the projection is reached.
In one embodiment, the map tile grid may be numbered in a systematic fashion to define a tile identifier (tile ID). For example, the top left tile may be numbered 00, the top right tile may be numbered 01, the bottom left tile may be numbered 10, and the bottom right tile may be numbered 11. In one embodiment, each cell is divided into four rectangles and numbered by concatenating the parent tile ID and the new tile position. A variety of numbering schemes also is possible. Any number of levels with increasingly smaller geographic areas may represent the map tile grid. Any level (n) of the map tile grid has 2(n+1) cells. Accordingly, any tile of the level (n) has a geographic area of A/2(n+1) where A is the total geographic area of the world or the total area of the map tile grids. Because of the numbering system, the exact position of any tile in any level of the map tile grid or projection may be uniquely determined from the tile ID.
As shown, the database 125 includes node data records 401, road segment or link data records 403, POI data records 405, roadside event records 407, and indexes 411, for example. More, fewer or different data records can be provided. In one embodiment, additional data records (not shown) can include cartographic (“carto”) data records, routing data, and maneuver data. In one embodiment, the indexes 411 may improve the speed of data retrieval operations in the database 125. In one embodiment, the indexes 411 may be used to quickly locate data without having to search every row in the database 125 every time it is accessed.
In exemplary embodiments, the road segment data records 403 are links or segments representing roads, streets, or paths, as can be used in the calculated route or recorded route maneuver information for determination of one or more personalized routes. The node data records 401 are end points (such as intersections) corresponding to the respective links or segments of the road segment data records 403. The road link data records 403 and the node data records 401 represent a road network, such as used by vehicles, cars, and/or other entities. Alternatively, the database 125 can contain path segment and node data records or other data that represent pedestrian paths or areas in addition to or instead of the vehicle road record data, for example. In one embodiment, the road or path segments can include an altitude component to extend to paths or road into three-dimensional space (e.g., to cover changes in altitude and contours of different map features, and/or to cover paths traversing a three-dimensional airspace).
Links, segments, and nodes can be associated with attributes, such as geographic coordinates, a number of road objects (e.g., road markings, road signs, traffic light posts, etc.), types of road objects, traffic directions for one or more portions of the links, segments, and nodes, traffic history associated with the links, segments, and nodes, street names, address ranges, speed limits, turn restrictions at intersections, presence of roadworks, and other navigation related attributes, as well as POIs, such as gasoline stations, hotels, restaurants, museums, stadiums, offices, automobile dealerships, auto repair shops, factories, buildings, stores, parks, etc. The database 125 can include data about the POIs and their respective locations in the POI data records 205. The database 125 can also include data about places, such as cities, towns, or other communities, and other geographic features, such as bodies of water, mountain ranges, etc. Such place or feature data can be part of the POI data records 405 or can be associated with POIs or POI data records 405 (such as a data point used for displaying or representing a position of a city).
The roadside event records 407 include historical data indicating events in which vehicles damaged roadside objects. The roadside event records 407 may indicate attributes associated with a surrounding of the roadside object. Such attributes may include road attributes of a road, where the roadside object is within the peripheral of the road. In one embodiment, the attributes may further indicate presence of POIs or other infrastructures (e.g., walls, beams, bridges, etc.) within the peripheral of the road, dimensions of the POIs or the infrastructures, orientations of the POIs or the infrastructures, position of the POIs or the infrastructures relative to the roadside object, whether the POIs or the infrastructures obscures the roadside object at certain angles, etc. The roadside event records 407 further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, vehicle attributes associated with the vehicle. The historical data may further indicate additional information associated with the vehicle, such as: (1) whether the vehicle was carrying a load within a cargo space of the vehicle; (2) dimensions of the load; (3) whether the vehicle was overloaded (e.g., load weight exceeds regulations or dimensions of the load extends outside the cargo space of the vehicle); (4) whether the vehicle was connected to a trailer or one or more semi-trailers; (5) dimensions of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (6) a number of wheels equipped by the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (7) a wheel width of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (8) distances at which the body of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers extends outwardly relative to the wheels of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; or (9) a combination thereof. The roadside event records 407 further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, route maneuver information associated with the vehicle. The route maneuver information may indicate a manner in which the vehicle traversed a route. The route maneuver information may also indicate a route to one or more destinations that is designated for the vehicle and/or the user thereof. The route maneuver information may indicate one or more POIs at which the vehicle is scheduled to arrive at. The route maneuver information may indicate a pattern at which the vehicle traverses at one or more periods of a day. The roadside event records 407 further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, attributes associated with a driver of the vehicle. The driver attributes may indicate patterns at which the driver of the vehicle maneuvers the vehicle within various road geometries. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the vehicle to contact a curb, a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the vehicle over a terrain that is not designated for vehicles, or a combination thereof. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has disobeyed traffic rules while maneuvering a vehicle (e.g., driving over the speed limit), a number of occurrences in which the driver was involved in a vehicle-related accident, or a combination thereof. The roadside event records 407 further indicate, for each event in which a vehicle damaged a roadside object, additional contextual information, such as: (1) a speed at which the vehicle was moving during the period of the event; (2) a weather condition of the event; (3) sun angle and sun intensity level with respect to the location of the event; (4) the severity of the damaged roadside object (e.g., a post having a minor scratch versus a post that has collapsed); (5) a time, day, and month in which the event has occurred; (6) a season in which the event has occurred; or (7) a combination thereof.
In one embodiment, the database 125 can be maintained by the services platform 115 and/or one or more of the content providers 119 in association with a map developer. The map developer can collect geographic data to generate and enhance the database 125. There can be different ways used by the map developer to collect data. These ways can include obtaining data from other sources, such as municipalities or respective geographic authorities. In addition, the map developer can employ field personnel to travel by vehicle along roads throughout the geographic region to observe attributes associated with one or more road segments and/or record information about them, for example. Also, remote sensing, such as aerial or satellite photography, can be used.
The database 125 can be a master database stored in a format that facilitates updating, maintenance, and development. For example, the master database or data in the master database can be in an Oracle spatial format or other spatial format (e.g., accommodating different map layers), such as for development or production purposes. The Oracle spatial format or development/production database can be compiled into a delivery format, such as a geographic data files (GDF) format. The data in the production and/or delivery formats can be compiled or further compiled to form database products or databases, which can be used in end user navigation devices or systems.
For example, geographic data is compiled (such as into a platform specification format (PSF) format) to organize and/or configure the data for performing navigation-related functions and/or services, such as route calculation, route guidance, map display, speed calculation, distance and travel time functions, and other functions, by a navigation device, such as by the vehicle 105, for example. The navigation-related functions can correspond to vehicle navigation, pedestrian navigation, or other types of navigation. The compilation to produce the end user databases can be performed by a party or entity separate from the map developer. For example, a customer of the map developer, such as a navigation device developer or other end user device developer, can perform compilation on a received database in a delivery format to produce one or more compiled navigation databases.
The processes described herein for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects may be advantageously implemented via software, hardware (e.g., general processor, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc.), firmware, or a combination thereof.
In step 501, the assessment platform 123 receives historical data indicating events in which first vehicles damaged first roadside objects. The historical data may indicate attributes associated with surroundings of the first roadside objects. Such attributes may include road attributes of a road, where the roadside object is within the peripheral of the road. In one embodiment, the historical data may further indicate presence of POIs or other infrastructures (e.g., walls, beams, bridges, etc.) within the peripheral of the road, dimensions of the POIs or the infrastructures, orientations of the POIs or the infrastructures, position of the POIs or the infrastructures relative to the first roadside objects, whether the POIs or the infrastructures obscures the roadside object at certain viewing directions within the road, etc. The historical data further indicate, for each event in which first vehicle damaged first roadside object, vehicle attributes associated with the first vehicle. The historical data may further indicate additional information associated with the first vehicle, such as: (1) whether the first vehicle was carrying a load within a cargo space of the vehicle; (2) dimensions of the load; (3) whether the first vehicle was overloaded; (4) whether the first vehicle was connected to a trailer or one or more semi-trailers; (5) dimensions of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (6) a number of wheels equipped by the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (7) a wheel width of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; (8) distances at which the body of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers extends outwardly relative to the wheels of the trailer or the one or more semi-trailers; or (9) a combination thereof. The historical data further indicate, for each event in which the first vehicle damaged first roadside object, route maneuver information associated with the first vehicle. The route maneuver information may indicate a manner in which the first vehicle traversed a route. The route maneuver information may also indicate a route to one or more destinations that is designated for the first vehicle and/or the user thereof. The route maneuver information may indicate one or more POIs at which the first vehicle is scheduled to arrive at. The route maneuver information may indicate a pattern at which the first vehicle traverses at one or more periods of a day. The historical data further indicate, for each event in which the first vehicle damaged the first roadside object, attributes associated with a driver of the first vehicle. The driver attributes may indicate patterns at which the driver of the first vehicle maneuvers the first vehicle within various road geometries. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the first vehicle to contact a curb, a number of occurrences in which the driver has maneuvered the first vehicle over a terrain that is not designated for vehicles, or a combination thereof. The driver attributes may also indicate a number of occurrences in which the driver has disobeyed traffic rules while maneuvering the first vehicle (e.g., driving over the speed limit), a number of occurrences in which the driver was involved in a vehicle-related accident, or a combination thereof. The historical data further indicate, for each event in which the first vehicle damaged the first roadside object, additional contextual information, such as: (1) a speed at which the first vehicle was moving during the period of the event; (2) a weather condition of the event; (3) sun angle and sun intensity level with respect to the location of the event; (4) the severity of the damaged first roadside object; (5) a time, day, and month in which the event has occurred; (6) a season in which the event has occurred; or (7) a combination thereof.
In step 503, the assessment platform 123 trains a machine learning model to generate output data as a function of input data by using the historical data. The input data indicate a second roadside object and contextual information associated with the second roadside object, and the output data indicates a likelihood in which one or more second vehicles will damage the second roadside object. In one embodiment, the assessment platform 123 transforms the historical data into machine-readable and generalizable vectors. The machine learning model renders context around the historical data such that commonalities can be detected. Once the machine learning model translates the historical data into a vector format suitable to be used as a feature vector for machine learning, the assessment platform 123 trains the machine learning model on resulting pairs (i.e., observations as seen in the historical data and desired output value). In one embodiment, the machine learning model may incorporate a standard regression or classification task.
In step 601, the assessment platform 123 receives input data indicating a first roadside object and contextual information associated with the first roadside object. Such data may be acquired by one or more detection entities 113 that is within the surrounding of the first roadside object, the services platform 115, the content providers 119, the database 125, or a combination thereof.
In step 603, the assessment platform 123 causes a machine learning model to generate output data as a function of the input data. The output data indicate a likelihood in which one or more first vehicles will damage the first roadside object. The machine learning model is trained to generate the output data as a function of the input data by using historical data indicating events in which second vehicles damaged second roadside objects.
In step 605, the assessment platform 123 updates the map layer to include a datapoint indicating the output data at a location of the first roadside object. In one embodiment, the map layer includes one or more other datapoints indicating one or more other likelihoods in which the one or more first vehicles will damage one or more third roadside objects.
The system, apparatus, and methods described herein enable a system to reliably predict events in which vehicles damage roadside objects, such as streetlights, signposts, traffic light posts, etc., thereby providing notifications to vehicles traversing locations of the events and mitigating occurrences in which the roadside objects become damaged. Additionally, since the prediction provides insight as to types of attributes that increase likelihoods in which roadside objects become damaged by vehicles, the prediction is particularly useful for entities that design, construct, and maintain roadway infrastructures.
The processes described herein may be advantageously implemented via software, hardware, firmware or a combination of software and/or firmware and/or hardware. For example, the processes described herein, may be advantageously implemented via processor(s), Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc. Such exemplary hardware for performing the described functions is detailed below.
A bus 710 includes one or more parallel conductors of information so that information is transferred quickly among devices coupled to the bus 710. One or more processors 702 for processing information is coupled with the bus 710.
A processor (or multiple processors) 702 performs a set of operations on information as specified by computer program code related to predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. The computer program code is a set of instructions or statements providing instructions for the operation of the processor and/or the computer system to perform specified functions. The code, for example, may be written in a computer programming language that is compiled into a native instruction set of the processor. The code may also be written directly using the native instruction set (e.g., machine language). The set of operations include bringing information in from the bus 710 and placing information on the bus 710. The set of operations also typically include comparing two or more units of information, shifting positions of units of information, and combining two or more units of information, such as by addition or multiplication or logical operations like OR, exclusive OR (XOR), and AND. Each operation of the set of operations that can be performed by the processor is represented to the processor by information called instructions, such as an operation code of one or more digits. A sequence of operations to be executed by the processor 702, such as a sequence of operation codes, constitute processor instructions, also called computer system instructions or, simply, computer instructions. Processors may be implemented as mechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical, chemical, or quantum components, among others, alone or in combination.
Computer system 700 also includes a memory 704 coupled to bus 710. The memory 704, such as a random access memory (RAM) or any other dynamic storage device, stores information including processor instructions for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. Dynamic memory allows information stored therein to be changed by the computer system 700. RAM allows a unit of information stored at a location called a memory address to be stored and retrieved independently of information at neighboring addresses. The memory 704 is also used by the processor 702 to store temporary values during execution of processor instructions. The computer system 700 also includes a read only memory (ROM) 706 or any other static storage device coupled to the bus 77 for storing static information, including instructions, that is not changed by the computer system 700. Some memory is composed of volatile storage that loses the information stored thereon when power is lost. Also coupled to bus 710 is a non-volatile (persistent) storage device 708, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk or flash card, for storing information, including instructions, that persists even when the computer system 700 is turned off or otherwise loses power.
Information, including instructions for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects, is provided to the bus 710 for use by the processor from an external input device 712, such as a keyboard containing alphanumeric keys operated by a human user, a microphone, an Infrared (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, a touch screen, or a sensor. A sensor detects conditions in its vicinity and transforms those detections into physical expression compatible with the measurable phenomenon used to represent information in computer system 700. Other external devices coupled to bus 710, used primarily for interacting with humans, include a display device 714, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, a plasma screen, or a printer for presenting text or images, and a pointing device 716, such as a mouse, a trackball, cursor direction keys, or a motion sensor, for controlling a position of a small cursor image presented on the display 714 and issuing commands associated with graphical elements presented on the display 714, and one or more camera sensors 794 for capturing, recording and causing to store one or more still and/or moving images (e.g., videos, movies, etc.) which also may comprise audio recordings. In some embodiments, for example, in embodiments in which the computer system 700 performs all functions automatically without human input, one or more of external input device 712, display device 714 and pointing device 716 may be omitted.
In the illustrated embodiment, special purpose hardware, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 720, is coupled to bus 710. The special purpose hardware is configured to perform operations not performed by processor 702 quickly enough for special purposes. Examples of ASICs include graphics accelerator cards for generating images for display 714, cryptographic boards for encrypting and decrypting messages sent over a network, speech recognition, and interfaces to special external devices, such as robotic arms and medical scanning equipment that repeatedly perform some complex sequence of operations that are more efficiently implemented in hardware.
Computer system 700 also includes one or more instances of a communications interface 770 coupled to bus 710. Communication interface 770 provides a one-way or two-way communication coupling to a variety of external devices that operate with their own processors, such as printers, scanners and external disks. In general the coupling is with a network link 778 that is connected to a local network 780 to which a variety of external devices with their own processors are connected. For example, communication interface 770 may be a parallel port or a serial port or a universal serial bus (USB) port on a personal computer. In some embodiments, communications interface 770 is an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a digital subscriber line (DSL) card or a telephone modem that provides an information communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. In some embodiments, a communication interface 770 is a cable modem that converts signals on bus 710 into signals for a communication connection over a coaxial cable or into optical signals for a communication connection over a fiber optic cable. As another example, communications interface 770 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN, such as Ethernet. Wireless links may also be implemented. For wireless links, the communications interface 770 sends or receives or both sends and receives electrical, acoustic or electromagnetic signals, including infrared and optical signals, that carry information streams, such as digital data. For example, in wireless handheld devices, such as mobile telephones like cell phones, the communications interface 770 includes a radio band electromagnetic transmitter and receiver called a radio transceiver. In certain embodiments, the communications interface 770 enables connection to the communication network 121 for predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects to the UE 101.
The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing information to processor 702, including instructions for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to computer-readable storage medium (e.g., non-volatile media, volatile media), and transmission media. Non-transitory media, such as non-volatile media, include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 708. Volatile media include, for example, dynamic memory 704. Transmission media include, for example, twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optic cables, and carrier waves that travel through space without wires or cables, such as acoustic waves and electromagnetic waves, including radio, optical and infrared waves. Signals include man-made transient variations in amplitude, frequency, phase, polarization or other physical properties transmitted through the transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, optical mark sheets, any other physical medium with patterns of holes or other optically recognizable indicia, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer can read. The term computer-readable storage medium is used herein to refer to any computer-readable medium except transmission media.
Logic encoded in one or more tangible media includes one or both of processor instructions on a computer-readable storage media and special purpose hardware, such as ASIC 720.
Network link 778 typically provides information communication using transmission media through one or more networks to other devices that use or process the information. For example, network link 778 may provide a connection through local network 780 to a host computer 782 or to equipment 784 operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISP equipment 784 in turn provides data communication services through the public, world-wide packet-switching communication network of networks now commonly referred to as the Internet 790.
A computer called a server host 782 connected to the Internet hosts a process that provides a service in response to information received over the Internet. For example, server host 782 hosts a process that provides information representing video data for presentation at display 714. It is contemplated that the components of system 700 can be deployed in various configurations within other computer systems, e.g., host 782 and server 792.
At least some embodiments of the invention are related to the use of computer system 700 for implementing some or all of the techniques described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, those techniques are performed by computer system 700 in response to processor 702 executing one or more sequences of one or more processor instructions contained in memory 704. Such instructions, also called computer instructions, software and program code, may be read into memory 704 from another computer-readable medium such as storage device 708 or network link 778. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in memory 704 causes processor 702 to perform one or more of the method steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hardware, such as ASIC 720, may be used in place of or in combination with software to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software, unless otherwise explicitly stated herein.
The signals transmitted over network link 778 and other networks through communications interface 770, carry information to and from computer system 700. Computer system 700 can send and receive information, including program code, through the networks 780, 790 among others, through network link 778 and communications interface 770. In an example using the Internet 790, a server host 782 transmits program code for a particular application, requested by a message sent from computer 700, through Internet 790, ISP equipment 784, local network 780 and communications interface 770. The received code may be executed by processor 702 as it is received, or may be stored in memory 704 or in storage device 708 or any other non-volatile storage for later execution, or both. In this manner, computer system 700 may obtain application program code in the form of signals on a carrier wave.
Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequence of instructions or data or both to processor 702 for execution. For example, instructions and data may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer such as host 782. The remote computer loads the instructions and data into its dynamic memory and sends the instructions and data over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to the computer system 700 receives the instructions and data on a telephone line and uses an infra-red transmitter to convert the instructions and data to a signal on an infra-red carrier wave serving as the network link 778. An infrared detector serving as communications interface 770 receives the instructions and data carried in the infrared signal and places information representing the instructions and data onto bus 710. Bus 710 carries the information to memory 704 from which processor 702 retrieves and executes the instructions using some of the data sent with the instructions. The instructions and data received in memory 704 may optionally be stored on storage device 708, either before or after execution by the processor 702.
In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 800 includes a communication mechanism such as a bus 801 for passing information among the components of the chip set 800. A processor 803 has connectivity to the bus 801 to execute instructions and process information stored in, for example, a memory 805. The processor 803 may include one or more processing cores with each core configured to perform independently. A multi-core processor enables multiprocessing within a single physical package. Examples of a multi-core processor include two, four, eight, or greater numbers of processing cores. Alternatively or in addition, the processor 803 may include one or more microprocessors configured in tandem via the bus 801 to enable independent execution of instructions, pipelining, and multithreading. The processor 803 may also be accompanied with one or more specialized components to perform certain processing functions and tasks such as one or more digital signal processors (DSP) 807, or one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) 809. A DSP 807 typically is configured to process real-world signals (e.g., sound) in real-time independently of the processor 803. Similarly, an ASIC 809 can be configured to performed specialized functions not easily performed by a more general purpose processor. Other specialized components to aid in performing the inventive functions described herein may include one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), one or more controllers, or one or more other special-purpose computer chips.
In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 800 includes merely one or more processors and some software and/or firmware supporting and/or relating to and/or for the one or more processors. The processor 803 and accompanying components have connectivity to the memory 805 via the bus 801. The memory 805 includes both dynamic memory (e.g., RAM, magnetic disk, writable optical disk, etc.) and static memory (e.g., ROM, CD-ROM, etc.) for storing executable instructions that when executed perform the inventive steps described herein to predict events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. The memory 805 also stores the data associated with or generated by the execution of the inventive steps.
Pertinent internal components of the telephone include a Main Control Unit (MCU) 903, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 905, and a receiver/transmitter unit including a microphone gain control unit and a speaker gain control unit. A main display unit 907 provides a display to the user in support of various applications and mobile terminal functions that perform or support the steps of predicting events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. The display 907 includes display circuitry configured to display at least a portion of a user interface of the mobile terminal (e.g., mobile telephone). Additionally, the display 907 and display circuitry are configured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile terminal. An audio function circuitry 909 includes a microphone 911 and microphone amplifier that amplifies the speech signal output from the microphone 911. The amplified speech signal output from the microphone 911 is fed to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 913.
A radio section 915 amplifies power and converts frequency in order to communicate with a base station, which is included in a mobile communication system, via antenna 917. The power amplifier (PA) 919 and the transmitter/modulation circuitry are operationally responsive to the MCU 903, with an output from the PA 919 coupled to the duplexer 921 or circulator or antenna switch, as known in the art. The PA 919 also couples to a battery interface and power control unit 920.
In use, a user of mobile terminal 901 speaks into the microphone 911 and his or her voice along with any detected background noise is converted into an analog voltage. The analog voltage is then converted into a digital signal through the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) 923. The control unit 903 routes the digital signal into the DSP 905 for processing therein, such as speech encoding, channel encoding, encrypting, and interleaving. In one embodiment, the processed voice signals are encoded, by units not separately shown, using a cellular transmission protocol such as enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitable wireless medium, e.g., microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity (WiFi), satellite, and the like, or any combination thereof.
The encoded signals are then routed to an equalizer 925 for compensation of any frequency-dependent impairments that occur during transmission though the air such as phase and amplitude distortion. After equalizing the bit stream, the modulator 927 combines the signal with a RF signal generated in the RF interface 929. The modulator 927 generates a sine wave by way of frequency or phase modulation. In order to prepare the signal for transmission, an up-converter 931 combines the sine wave output from the modulator 927 with another sine wave generated by a synthesizer 933 to achieve the desired frequency of transmission. The signal is then sent through a PA 919 to increase the signal to an appropriate power level. In practical systems, the PA 919 acts as a variable gain amplifier whose gain is controlled by the DSP 905 from information received from a network base station. The signal is then filtered within the duplexer 921 and optionally sent to an antenna coupler 935 to match impedances to provide maximum power transfer. Finally, the signal is transmitted via antenna 917 to a local base station. An automatic gain control (AGC) can be supplied to control the gain of the final stages of the receiver. The signals may be forwarded from there to a remote telephone which may be another cellular telephone, any other mobile phone or a land-line connected to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or other telephony networks.
Voice signals transmitted to the mobile terminal 901 are received via antenna 917 and immediately amplified by a low noise amplifier (LNA) 937. A down-converter 939 lowers the carrier frequency while the demodulator 941 strips away the RF leaving only a digital bit stream. The signal then goes through the equalizer 925 and is processed by the DSP 905. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) 943 converts the signal and the resulting output is transmitted to the user through the speaker 945, all under control of a Main Control Unit (MCU) 903 which can be implemented as a Central Processing Unit (CPU).
The MCU 903 receives various signals including input signals from the keyboard 947. The keyboard 947 and/or the MCU 903 in combination with other user input components (e.g., the microphone 911) comprise a user interface circuitry for managing user input. The MCU 903 runs a user interface software to facilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobile terminal 901 to predict events in which vehicles damage roadside objects. The MCU 903 also delivers a display command and a switch command to the display 907 and to the speech output switching controller, respectively. Further, the MCU 903 exchanges information with the DSP 905 and can access an optionally incorporated SIM card 949 and a memory 951. In addition, the MCU 903 executes various control functions required of the terminal. The DSP 905 may, depending upon the implementation, perform any of a variety of conventional digital processing functions on the voice signals. Additionally, DSP 905 determines the background noise level of the local environment from the signals detected by microphone 911 and sets the gain of microphone 911 to a level selected to compensate for the natural tendency of the user of the mobile terminal 901.
The CODEC 913 includes the ADC 923 and DAC 943. The memory 951 stores various data including call incoming tone data and is capable of storing other data including music data received via, e.g., the global Internet. The software module could reside in RAM memory, flash memory, registers, or any other form of writable storage medium known in the art. The memory device 951 may be, but not limited to, a single memory, CD, DVD, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, optical storage, magnetic disk storage, flash memory storage, or any other non-volatile storage medium capable of storing digital data.
An optionally incorporated SIM card 949 carries, for instance, important information, such as the cellular phone number, the carrier supplying service, subscription details, and security information. The SIM card 949 serves primarily to identify the mobile terminal 901 on a radio network. The card 949 also contains a memory for storing a personal telephone number registry, text messages, and user specific mobile terminal settings.
Further, one or more camera sensors 953 may be incorporated onto the mobile station 901 wherein the one or more camera sensors may be placed at one or more locations on the mobile station. Generally, the camera sensors may be utilized to capture, record, and cause to store one or more still and/or moving images (e.g., videos, movies, etc.) which also may comprise audio recordings.
While the invention has been described in connection with a number of embodiments and implementations, the invention is not so limited but covers various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements, which fall within the purview of the appended claims. Although features of the invention are expressed in certain combinations among the claims, it is contemplated that these features can be arranged in any combination and order.
