Patent Publication Number: US-7595741-B2

Title: Traffic violation information system

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application claims priority of European Patent Application Ser. No. 04 027 861.6, filed on Nov. 24, 2004, titled DRIVER INFORMATION SYSTEM, which is incorporated by reference in this application in its entirety. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to computer-based navigation systems and more particularly to a driver information system for providing driving information to the driver of a vehicle. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Computer-based navigation systems provide end users with various navigation functions and features. These navigation systems normally determine an optimum route from a starting location to a destination location in a geographic region by using the input from the driver and from a position detecting unit, e.g., a GPS system. The navigation system may also provide the end user with additional information, some of which may include traffic rules, such as speed limits. However, the driver may not understand the consequences for failing to comply with traffic rules. Drivers are especially at a disadvantage in foreign countries where a minor violation of traffic rules may have consequences of which a driver is not aware. Accordingly, a need exists for a driver information system that informs the driver of traffic rule violations and the consequences the violation of traffic rules. 
     SUMMARY 
     A driver information system is described that provides traffic rules and traffic violation information to a driver of a vehicle. The driver information system includes a traffic rule database of traffic rules for geographical regions. The system further includes a position detecting unit for detecting the position of the vehicle. The driver information system also includes a driving parameter detecting unit that detects at least one driving parameter of the vehicle and a control unit that extracts relevant traffic rules for the detected vehicle position from the traffic rule database. The driver information system compares the extracted traffic rules to the detected at least one driving parameter to detect a traffic rule violation. The driver information system further includes a traffic rule violation significance judgment unit for judging the significance of a traffic rule violation detected by the control unit and for deciding whether information regarding the detected traffic rule violation is presented to the driver. 
     Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of one example of one implementation of a driver information system; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating examples of different steps that may be utilized to provide driving information to a driver; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating more detailed example steps of a driver may be informed of different traffic rules and the corresponding sanctions; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating more detailed example steps of a driver information system; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the steps how, in detail, a driver may be informed of a traffic rule violation and of the corresponding sanction; and 
         FIG. 6 . is a continuation of the flowchart of  FIG. 5  illustrating the steps how, in detail, a driver may be informed of a traffic rule violation and of the corresponding sanction. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In  FIG. 1 , a driver information system  100  is schematically shown. The driver information system could be part of a vehicle navigation system incorporated in many present-day vehicles. The driver information system  100  includes a geographical database  110  having map data  111 . The map data  111  represents physical features of geographical regions and comprise all the data necessary for guiding a driver from a present location to a predetermined destination location. Furthermore, a position detecting unit  115  is provided that is able to detect the present position of the vehicle, e.g., by using GPS signals in combination with signals from a steering wheel sensor and from a speedometer. It should be understood that any other possibility of detecting the present position of the vehicle could be used. Furthermore, a driving parameter detecting unit  120  is provided that detects at least one driving parameter. In the present context, driving parameter could be a parameter relating to the vehicle or relating to the driver. Examples of a driving parameter could be vehicle speed, engine speed, the type of vehicle used by the driver, driver-related information, e.g., age or years of driving experience, and whether the driver uses a mobile phone while driving, etc. In general, the more driving parameters are controlled, the better the traffic rules can be supervised. 
     The driver information system may further include a traffic rule database  130 . The traffic rule database  130  includes traffic rules  131  and the corresponding possible sanctions  132  resulting from the non-observance of a traffic rule. In the illustrated example, the traffic rule database and the geographical database are indicated as separate units. However, it is also possible that one database is used comprising the map data  111 , the traffic rules  131  and the sanctions  132 . There are many different ways of arranging the traffic rules  131  and the corresponding sanctions  132 . The traffic rule database  130  may also have position information, so that based on the position detected by the position detecting unit  115  the traffic rules  131  for this position can be extracted from the traffic rule database  130 . 
     The different databases can either be installed inside the vehicle, or, it is also possible that the traffic rule database or the geographical database be arranged at a centralized server unit, this server unit being used by many vehicles. It is also possible that the vehicle, when it enters a predetermined geographical region, receives the traffic rules  131  and the corresponding sanctions  132  via an interface or communication unit  135  provided in the vehicle. There are many different ways of exchanging data by using wireless communication protocol. Any way of exchanging data could be used, by which the traffic rules and the corresponding sanctions can be transferred to the vehicle and to the driver information system  100 . 
     In some cases, the traffic rules and/or the corresponding sanctions may depend on the vehicle itself or on the driver using the vehicle. The vehicle or the driver may have special permits that allow the use of roads closed to other vehicles, or the driver may be an inexperienced driver, so that for this driver other speed limitations are valid than are for more experienced drivers. Therefore, a memory unit  140  may be included for storing vehicle-related or driver-related data  141 . 
     In many cases, the driver may not want to be informed of every small traffic rule violation, e.g., the driver drives several kilometers/hour (1 to 5 km/h) too fast. As a consequence, it may be determined whether the information regarding the detected traffic rule violation is presented to the driver. To this end, a traffic rule violation significance judgment unit  150  may be provided. The driver may be able to configure the system by setting a sanction limit value. All traffic rule violations and the corresponding sanctions are then judged as to their significance, i.e., whether the respective sanction is higher than the sanction limit value. If the sanction resulting from a traffic rule violation is lower than the sanction limit value, the traffic rule violation significance judgment unit  150  judges the traffic rule violation as not being significant. When a traffic rule violation is judged to be significant, an information unit  155  informs the driver of the traffic rule violation. The information unit  155  may inform the driver of a detected driving parameter that does not comply with the traffic rules in combination with the corresponding sanction resulting from the non-observance of the traffic rule. 
     There are different ways of informing the driver of a traffic rule violation and the sanction. One possibility way is to display the traffic rule violation and its sanction on a display unit that is normally provided in a vehicle navigation system. Furthermore, the way of informing the driver may depend on the value of the sanction. The driver may visually and/or audibly be warned of a traffic rule violation. If the traffic rule violation is considered to be important, the color of the display informing the driver may be changed, e.g., from green over orange to red, or any other parts of the dashboard or the dashboard illumination could be used to inform the driver of a traffic rule violation. 
     Furthermore, a vehicle control unit  160  may be provided that may actively control the different driving parameters, if needed. The vehicle control unit  160  may change the vehicle speed, if the actual vehicle speed exceeds the speed limit by a certain amount, or may actuate and turn on or off the lights of the vehicle. It should be understood that there are many other driving parameters that the vehicle control unit  160  could control when the traffic rule violation significance judgment unit  150  considers a traffic rule violation to be important. 
     A parameter variation information unit  190  may be provided that informs the driver when a variation of the driving parameter would lead to another sanction. For instance, unit  190  can inform the driver that by lowering the speed by a certain amount a speeding ticket can be avoided. 
     Furthermore, a central control unit  170  may be provided for controlling the proper functioning of the whole driver information system  100 . The different limits shown in  FIG. 1  are connected to each other and can communicate to each other by using a centralized bus system  180 . 
     In  FIG. 2 , the different steps are shown that can be used for deciding whether information regarding a detected traffic rule violation is presented to the driver. To determine what traffic rules should be applied, the actual vehicle position is detected in step  210 . For some traffic rules, it is sufficient to know the country in which the vehicle is driven, for other traffic rules, such as speed limits, the vehicle position has to be detected in more detail, i.e., the road on which the vehicle is driven has to be determined. Other traffic rules apply for a whole country, e.g., whether the lights have also to be turned on during daytime, or whether driving and using a cellular phone at the same time is allowed or not. In step  220 , at least one driving parameter is detected by the driving parameter detecting unit  120 . Preferably, several different driving parameters may be detected at the same time, so that the violation of different traffic rules can be considered. 
     In step  230 , the traffic rules for the vehicle position are extracted from the traffic rule database  130 . The traffic rules can be organized and stored in the traffic rule database  130  in different ways. The traffic rules could be stored depending on the geographical region, i.e., the traffic rules that are valid for the whole country and traffic rules that only apply in certain geographic areas. The traffic rules could also be organized depending on the different driving parameters which should be considered, i.e., traffic rules for the speed limits, traffic rules for parking, etc. Depending on the detected driving parameter and on the accuracy of the detected vehicle position the traffic rules relevant for the vehicle position are extracted. In the next step  240 , these traffic rules are then compared to the detected at least one driving parameter or driving parameters. Preferably, different driving parameters are detected, so that the different traffic rules can be considered and taken into consideration for judging the significance of the traffic rule violation in step  250 . In step  250 , it may also be decided whether the information regarding the detected traffic rule violation is presented to the driver or not. In this step  250 , the significance of the resulting traffic rule violation may be considered in the case that more than one driving parameter does not comply with the traffic rules in step  240 . The traffic rule violation significance judgment unit  150  bases its decision whether the driver is informed on the resulting traffic rule violation. 
     The way of determining whether the information regarding the detected traffic rule violation is presented to the driver or not is explained in  FIG. 3  in more detail. As already discussed in connection with  FIG. 2 , the traffic rules are compared to the driving parameter as shown in step  240  of  FIG. 2 . In step  310 , the violated traffic rule is extracted after the traffic rules are compared to the present driving parameters. Together with the extracted traffic rule the corresponding driving parameter is extracted in step  310 . In step  320  the sanction or sanctions for non-observance of the traffic rule or traffic rules are determined. When it is decided in step  310  that more than one traffic rule has been violated, all the possible sanctions relating to the non-observance of the traffic rules are determined in step  320  and are summed up. 
     In step  330 , a sanction limit value is determined. This sanction limit value may be set by the driver, so that the driver himself/herself can set a limit above which he/she wants to be informed of a traffic rule violation. In step  340 , the sanctions determined in step  320  are compared to the sanction limit value. If the determined sanction or the determined sanctions or the sum of them are greater than the sanction limit value, the driver will be informed in step  350  of a possible traffic rule violation and the corresponding sanction due to the non-observance of the traffic rule. The driver is then able to adapt the driving parameter or the respective driving parameters in accordance with the rules. 
     If the determined sanction is lower or smaller than the sanction limit value, the driver is not informed of the possible traffic rule violation. It may be the case that the driver does not want to be informed when he/she does not comply with the rules (e.g. when the actual vehicle speed exceeds the speed limit by a very small amount). The system then returns to step  240  and continues to compare the traffic rules to the driving parameters. 
     In  FIG. 4 , another additional feature of the invention is shown in more detail. As explained in connection with  FIG. 3 , the sanctions for the non-observance of the traffic rule or traffic rules are determined in step  320 . In another step  410  it may be asked whether a small change of the driving parameter resulting in a sanction would change the sanction itself. It may be possible that when lowering the vehicle speed by a small amount (e.g. between 1 and 10 km/h), the corresponding sanction would also change. Normally, the sanctions are divided into different groups, e.g., a first sanction for exceeding the speed limit by 10 to 20%, another sanction for exceeding the speed limit from 21 to 30%, etc. In the steps shown in  FIG. 4 , the driver can be informed that by changing the detected driving parameter by a certain amount the corresponding sanction would also be changed. If it is detected in step  410  that a small change of the driving parameter changes the sanction, the driver may be informed in step  420  how to change the driving parameter to avoid a certain consequence. The steps shown in  FIG. 4  help to avoid unnecessarily high sanctions due to traffic rule violations. The driver can adapt the driving parameter accordingly, so that the corresponding sanction resulting from the non-observance of the traffic rule can either be lowered or prevented. 
     In  FIG. 5 , the different steps of informing the driver of a traffic rule violation are shown in more detail. As discussed in connection with  FIG. 2 , the vehicle position is detected in step  210 . In step  510 , the vehicle position is determined in a geographical sense from the map. For example, the vehicle position determined in step  510  may inform the road on which the vehicle is moving. The vehicle position determined in step  510  preferably permits a correlation between the vehicle position and the traffic rules that apply. This information may permit a determination of the speed limit, the direction the vehicle is allowed to move in, the places where the vehicle is allowed to park, etc. The determination of the exact position of the vehicle on the map in step  510  allows extraction of the corresponding traffic rules assigned to the map data in step  520 . Additionally, the driving parameters may be detected as shown in step  530 . 
     The traffic rules that apply may also depend on vehicle-related or driver-related data, which may be extracted in step  540 . The system may access the memory unit  140  to extract the vehicle/driver-related data  141 . In some countries there exists a traffic rule violation system in which repeated traffic rule violations are prosecuted more seriously than it would be the case for only one traffic rule violation. Due to this fact it may be important to consider driver- or traffic-related data. To exactly determine the sanctions, this parameter influencing the sanction has to be considered. 
     In step  550 , the traffic rules are then compared to the driving parameter or to the driving parameters. The flowchart of  FIG. 5  is continued in  FIG. 6 . When the driving parameters and the vehicle- or driver-related data are known, it is possible to determine the sanction resulting from the non-observance of one or more traffic rules (step  610 ). In step  620 , it is determined whether the sanctions determined in step  610  are higher than a preset sanction limit value, as already discussed in connection with  FIG. 3 . If this is not the case, the driver will not be informed and the system continues as shown in the Figure with the letter B continuing on top of  FIG. 5 , so that the vehicle position is detected. If it is determined that the sanctions resulting from the non-observance of the traffic rule are greater than a sanction limit value (step  620 ), it may be asked in step  630  whether the driving parameter which is the reason for the sanction should be controlled automatically. This could be the case when the traffic rule violation and the corresponding possible sanction are considered to be of high significance. If the driving parameter is to be controlled automatically, the driving parameter will be adapted in step  640 . After adapting the driving parameter, the way of informing the driver of the changed driving parameter and/or of the possible sanction has to be determined (step  650 ). This is also the case when it is decided in step  630  that the driving parameter should not be automatically controlled. 
     The driver may have configured the system in such a way that for different sanctions different ways of informing the driver are provided. It is possible to use different colors for different sanctions, e.g., a low sanction could be displayed in green color, a more severe sanction could be displayed in orange, a quite severe sanction could be displayed in red, etc. There are many different other ways of informing the driver of a possible sanction resulting from the non-observance of a traffic rule. Furthermore, it is possible to use the audio system of the vehicle to inform the driver of the sanction. Furthermore, other functions of a dashboard, e.g. the lightening of the dashboard, could be changed in order to inform the driver of a possible sanction. After determining the way of informing the driver in step  650 , the driver is informed in step  660  of the possible sanction. 
     The system may also, according to the need of the driver, inform the driver of possible sanctions. The driver can configure the system in such a way that in all the cases, where the resulting sanction which may be due to different traffic rule violations is higher than a threshold value set by the driver, the driver will be informed. The driver can therefore easily avoid driving situations, which would lead to unwanted sanctions. 
     Persons skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that one or more processes, sub-processes, or process steps described in connection with  FIGS. 4-6  may be performed by hardware and/or software. Any software implementations may be executed within a processor or plurality of processor. Examples of a processor include but are not limited to microprocessor, general purpose processor, combination of processors, DSP, any logic or decision processing unit regardless of method of operation, instructions execution/system/apparatus/device and/or ASIC. If the process is performed by software, the software may reside in software memory (not shown) in the device used to execute the software. The software in software memory may include an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions (i.e., “logic” that may be implemented either in digital form such as digital circuitry or source code or optical circuitry or chemical or biochemical in analog form such as analog circuitry or an analog source such an analog electrical, sound or video signal), and may selectively be embodied in any signal-bearing (such as a machine-readable and/or computer-readable) medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that may selectively fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” and/or “signal-bearing medium” (herein known as a “signal-bearing medium”) is any means that may contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The signal-bearing medium may selectively be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, air, water, or propagation medium. More specific examples, but nonetheless a non-exhaustive list, of computer-readable media would include the following: an electrical connection (electronic) having one or more wires; a portable computer diskette (magnetic); a RAM (electronic); a read-only memory “ROM” (electronic); an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) (electronic); an optical fiber (optical); and a portable compact disc read-only memory “CDROM” “DVD” (optical). Note that the computer-readable medium may even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. Additionally, it is appreciated by those skilled in the art that a signal-bearing medium may include carrier wave signals on propagated signals in telecommunication and/or network distributed systems. These propagated signals may be computer (i.e., machine) data signals embodied in the carrier wave signal. The computer/machine data signals may include data or software that is transported or interacts with the carrier wave signal. 
     It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more implementations are possible within the scope of this invention than those set forth above. The foregoing description of an implementation has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not exhaustive and does not limit the claimed inventions to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above description or may be acquired from practicing the invention. For example, the described implementation includes software but the invention may be implemented as a combination of hardware and software or in hardware alone. Note also that the implementation may vary between systems. The claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.