IP Library › Granted Patent US 8,457,871
Granted Patent B2
US 8,457,871 · App. 13/188,886 · Granted Jun 4, 2013

Real-time traffic condition measurement and presentation of sponsored content

Inventor: Edward H. Nortrup (Stoneham, MA)
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,457,871
App. No.
13/188,886
Granted
Jun 4, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for identifying a plurality of locations for each of a plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate a cell phone within the plurality of automobiles, calculating a vehicle speed for each of the plurality of automobiles using the first and second locations already identified, and creating a traffic condition measure for a route in proximity to the first and second locations. The computer program product may repeat this process in real-time to calculate a real-time traffic condition measure that may be a traffic density measure the computer program product may use to predict a travel time, and may display the real-time traffic condition measure on the user's cell phone along with product availability data from a store or stores in proximity to the route and can include where such stores are located with the roadway presentation.

Claims (17)

1. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed on one or more computers, performs the steps of:

Step One: identifying a first location, at time one, of a plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate a cell phone within each of the plurality of automobiles;

identifying a second location, at a time two, subsequent to time one, for each of the plurality of automobiles using cell phone tower triangulation to locate the cell phone within each of the plurality of automobiles;

calculating a vehicle speed for each of the plurality of automobiles using the first location at time one and the second location at time two;

using the calculated vehicle speed for each of the plurality of automobiles to create a traffic condition measure for a route in proximity to the first and second locations;

Step Two: iteratively performing Step One, in real-time, at a time interval to calculate a real-time traffic condition measure;

receiving a signal from a user's cell phone at a cell phone tower indicating that a user has entered a geographic location; and

presenting the real-time traffic condition measure to a display of the user's cell phone, wherein the presented real-time traffic condition measure is selected from a plurality of real-time traffic conditions measures based at least in part on the presented real-time traffic condition measure containing traffic data relating to a geographic area in proximity to the user's geographic location.

2. Further comprising the computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the presented real-time traffic condition measure is calculated upon receipt of the signal indicating that the user has entered the geographic location.

3. Further comprising the computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the presented real-time traffic condition measure was calculated prior to receipt of the signal indicating that the user has entered the geographic location.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the real-time traffic condition measure is a measure of traffic density.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the measure of traffic density is used to predict a travel time.

6. The computer program product of claim 5 , wherein the travel time prediction is based at least in part on the measure of traffic density and at least one parameter.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the at least one parameter is a time of day corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the at least one parameter is a day of the week corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.

9. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the at least one parameter is a weather condition corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.

10. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the at least one parameter is a road condition corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 6, 2021
From: BLACKBIRD TECH LLC
To: NORTRUP, EDWARD H.
Reel/Frame 057712/0521 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 8, 2017
From: NORTRUP, EDWARD H
To: BLACKBIRD TECH LLC
Reel/Frame 042654/0077 →
Continuity (7)
Continuation 13019869 · Feb 2, 2011
Continuation 12391745 · Feb 24, 2009
Continuation 11052547 · Feb 7, 2005
Provisional Application 60541990 · Feb 5, 2004
Provisional Application 60578494 · Jun 10, 2004
Provisional Application 60617857 · Oct 12, 2004
Related Publication 20110282746A1 · Nov 17, 2011