Inrix Inc.

Inrix, Inx.

Kush G Parikh

Oliver B Downs

Craig H Chapman

Robert Cahn

Jesse S Hersch

Christopher Laurence Scofield

William J Schwebel

Kevin James Foreman

Techniques are described for using information regarding road traffic and other types of transportation-related information to determine and/or assess alternative inter-modal passenger travel options in a geographic area that supports multiple modes of transportation. For example, a particular user may have multiple alternatives for travel from a starting location to a destination location in the geographic area, including to use alternative modes of transportation (e.g., private vehicle, bus, train, walking, etc.) for some or all of the travel, and these alternatives may have different travel-related characteristics in different situations (e.g., depending on current road traffic; mass transit schedules and current actual deviations; travel-related fees for gas, parking, mass transit, etc; parking availability; etc.). Multiple alternative travel options are thus assessed for a given situation based on multiple types of information, enabling one or more preferred travel options for the given situation to be identified and used.

Assessing inter-modal passenger travel options

Techniques are described for assessing road traffic conditions in various ways based on obtained traffic-related data, such as data samples from vehicles and other mobile data sources traveling on the roads and/or from one or more other sources (such as physical sensors near to or embedded in the roads). The road traffic conditions assessment based on obtained data samples may include various filtering and/or conditioning of the data samples, and various inferences and probabilistic determinations of traffic-related characteristics of interest from the data samples. In some situations, the inferences include repeatedly determining current traffic flow characteristics and/or predicted future traffic flow characteristics for road segments of interest during time periods of interest, such as to determine average traffic speed, traffic volume and/or occupancy, and include weighting various data samples in various ways (e.g., based on a latency of the data samples and/or a source of the data samples).

Filtering road traffic data from multiple data sources

Assessing road traffic speed using data from multiple data sources

Detecting unrepresentative road traffic condition data

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for determining whether a vehicle comprises a sufficient amount of fuel to reach a destination. Making such a determination may comprise, among other things, estimating an amount of fuel required to reach the destination and/or estimating a rate of consumption along a travel route. Such estimates may be based upon factors external to the vehicle, including, among other things, topology of the travel route, current and/or predicted traffic patterns along the travel route, and/or driving habits of a user or others whom have navigated a similar route (or at least a portion of the route). When it is determined that the vehicle comprises an insufficient amount of fuel, a refueling notice indicative of the determination may be provided. In one embodiment, such a refueling may also suggest possible refueling stations along the travel route.

Fuel consumption calculations and warnings

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems for parking based route navigation and/or parking resource management are disclosed to facilitate navigation to parking spots associated with a destination and/or management of respective parking spots. Navigation may be provided to a parking spot based upon parking criteria (e.g., such as distance to a destination and/or costs associated with the parking spot). Additionally, navigation (e.g., instructions, alternate transport, such as public transit) from the parking spot to the destination may be provided. Parking spots may be reserved by a parking management system based upon reservations received through a parking based route navigation system. Travelers may be re-routed based upon parking factors (e.g., traffic around a parking location, parking density, etc.). Accordingly, travelers may be routed to a destination in a more efficient manner and/or a management system may price and/or allocate parking spots in a desired manner.

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Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Kush G Parikh