Real-time traffic condition measurement
View Patent ↗In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for 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 time two, 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 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.
1. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing 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;
indentifying 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; and
Step Two: iteratively performing Step One, in real-time, at a time interval to calculate a real-time traffic condition measure.
2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the real-time traffic condition measure is measure of traffic density.
3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the measure of traffic density is used to predict a travel time.
4. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the travel time prediction is based at least in part on the measure of traffic density and at least one parameter.
5. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the at least one parameter is a time of day corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.
6. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the at least one parameter is a day of the week corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.
7. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the at least one parameter is a weather condition corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.
8. The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the at least one parameter is a road condition corresponding to the real-time calculation of the traffic condition measure.
9. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing 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;
indentifying 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 user request from a user's cell phone for traffic condition information associated with the route; and
presenting the real-time traffic condition measure to the display of the user's cell phone.
10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the real-time traffic condition measure presented to the display of the user's cell phone is created upon receipt of the user's request.
11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the user request is a manual request.
12. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the user request is an automated request that is sent from the user's cell phone upon the user's cell phone entering a geographic location.
13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the geographic location is a geographic region.
14. Further comprising the computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the real-time traffic condition measure presented to the display of the user's cell phone derives from a second user's prior request for the same traffic information.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the second user's request is a manual request.
16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the second user's request is an automated request that is sent from the second user's cell phone upon the second user's cell phone entering a geographic location.
17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the geographic location is a geographic region.
18. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing 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;
indentifying 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 user request from a user's cell phone for traffic condition information associated with the route; and
presenting the real-time traffic condition measure to the 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 a cell phone tower from which the user's request was received.
19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the presented real-time traffic condition measure is calculated upon receipt of the user's request.
20. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the presented real-time traffic condition measure was calculated prior to receiving the user's request.