Tom Tom International B.v.

Tomtom Navigation B.v.

Tomtom Traffic B.v.

Applied Generics Limited

Thomas Bruce Watson Adam

Ian Malcolm Atkinson

Michael Joseph Dixon

Owen Robert Dando

The present invention combines the geographical coverage possible with fixed, pre-defined route segment costs (e.g. the legal speed limit) with, wherever possible, richer time dependent costs. A user of, for example, a portable navigation device, can therefore continue route planning as before to virtually any destination in a country covered by the stored map database, but wherever possible, can also use traffic data with time-dependent costs, so that the effect of congestion with any time predictability can be accurately taken into account as an automatic, background process. It leaves the user to simply carry on driving, following the guidance offered by the navigation device, without needing to be concerned about congestion that exists now, and whether it will impact his journey.

Method of planning a route to a destination

Traffic monitoring system and method

A subscriber database, in at least one embodiment, stores RF level and timing advance information associated with all mobile telephones on a network. A location parameters database stores location data that associates different physical locations with RF levels/timing advance data that have been measured or inferred for those locations. The subscriber database is then interpreted for the purpose of establishing the location of a specific mobile telephone at a given time by matching the RF level/timing advance data for that specific mobile telephone against the location parameters database. This generates the location of the mobile telephone. The interpretation or querying of the subscriber database only occurs, however, when there is a request to establish the location of a specific mobile telephone, and not as an automated process applied to all mobile telephones on a network.

Method of finding a physical location of a mobile telephone at a given time

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring vehicular traffic flow in a road network in an area served by a mobile telecommunications device network having a call management system provided with a mobile telecommunications device positioning system providing positional data for active mobile telecommunications devices . The method comprises capturing geographical positioning data for individual active devices carried aboard vehicles and converting these into probability vectors representing the likelihood of the vehicle having arrived at any of the possible road components of the road network compatible with the geographical positional data. As the vehicle travels along, this process is repeated and new probability vectors constructed based on the probability of any of the available routes between the new probability vector road component position and the immediately preceding probability vector road component position. The expected transit time &Dgr;t for the available routes are computed and compared with actual transit times &Dgr;t to provide delay factors for the available routes and thereby the road components thereof. Average delay factors are obtained by making use of data obtained for other vehicles thereby to provide a report indicative of the degree of traffic congestion and delay on the roads. The invention also provides apparatus and computer software program products for use in implementing the invention.

Traffic flow monitoring

Growing community of inventors

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Thomas Bruce Watson Adam