# US 2014/0195146 A1 · Preventative traffic congestion social networking improvement system within a community

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- Number: US 2014/0195146 A1
- Document ID: US20140195146A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/210,112
- Filed: 2014-03-13
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2008-06-02
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Travis M. Grigsby; Frank L. Jania; Lisa Seacat Deluca
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140195146A1

## CPC

- G01C 21/28: with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
- G01C 21/3484: {Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles}
- G01C 21/3492: {employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968)}
- G08G 1/096822: {where the segments of the route are transmitted to the vehicle at different locations and times}
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})

## Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for transmitting traffic congestion routing data to a community of global positioning system (GPS) devices. Community routing logic of a community routing system (CRS) receives a route request containing the current location and desired destination of a GPS device. The CRS may use the community routing logic to determine a path that the user of the GPS device should travel on to best minimize driving time and traffic conditions for a community of users of the CRS. The CRS considers road capacity, current traffic conditions, and historical traffic data for roads and alternate roads along a preferred route. The CRS also considers routes previously taken by the GPS device. Additionally, the CRS may receive information about routes taken by other GPS devices to further improve future routes of the community of GPS devices.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for optimizing travel time for a community of GPS devices, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a particular GPS device, a selection of one or more alternate routes in use by one or more GPS devices of a subset of GPS devices within a community of GPS devices, wherein the subset of GPS devices and the particular GPS device are part of a same social network, wherein a social network is a group of users associated with a corresponding group of GPS devices that are collectively registered with the community routing system, and wherein each GPS device in the community is associated with a vehicle;
providing a selection to the particular GPS device of a currently selected route and the one or more alternate routes in use by the other devices in the subset of GPS devices; and
receiving a selection of an alternate optimized route from the one or more alternate routes in use by the subset of GPS devices.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying a preferred route for directing the one or more vehicles in the community to the desired destination;
evaluating alternate roads that can be taken off the preferred route to reach the desired destination;
receiving a current traffic congestion information from a traffic congestion information provider;
determining one or more locations where traffic levels along the preferred route exceed normal levels along the preferred route at the current time;

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a route request from one or more GPS devices within the community of GPS devices, wherein the route request contains: a current location of the GPS device; a desired destination of the GPS device; and a maximum re-routing distance permitted from a typical route while traveling to the desired destination; and
determining one or more vehicles in the community traveling along the preferred route.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
creating at least two optimized routes to reach a desired destination, wherein the at least two optimized routes provides routing instructions to minimize driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmitting a first optimized route to reach the desired destination to a second subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices; and
transmitting a second optimized route to reach the desired destination to a third subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, further comprising:
receiving updated traffic congestion information;
determining whether the traffic congestion information has substantially changed;
in response to determining the current traffic congestion information has substantially changed, modifying the at least two optimized routes to minimize the overall driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmitting the modified first optimized route to the second subset of GPS devices; and
transmitting the modified second optimized route to the third subset of GPS devices.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
retrieving, from a calendar component of a same social network, schedule information of other users of the same social network; and
transmitting, to the particular GPS device, one or more carpool suggestions, wherein the carpool suggestions identify one or more other GPS devices within the same social network typically travelling along a same optimized route to reach the desired destination;

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting identification information of a user of each alternate route to the particular GPS device, wherein the identification information contains a name of the user of each alternate route.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying one or more past optimized routes travelled by the particular GPS device;
selecting one of a longer route for the particular GPS device and a shorter route for the particular GPS device, wherein the selected one of the longer route and the shorted route normalizes typical travel time for the community of GPS devices; and
transmitting the selected one of the longer route and the shorter route to the particular GPS device

### Claim 9

A community routing system comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor;
a transceiver to connect and exchange information with a community of global positioning system (GPS) devices; and
a processing logic executing on the processor configured to:
transmit, to a particular GPS device, a selection of one or more alternate routes in use by one or more GPS devices of a subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices, wherein the subset of GPS devices and the particular GPS device are part of a same social network, wherein a social network is a group of users associated with a corresponding group of GPS devices that are collectively registered with the community routing system, and wherein each GPS device in the community is associated with a vehicle;
provide a selection to the particular GPS device of a currently selected route and the one or more alternate routes in use by the subset of GPS devices; and
receive a selection of an alternate optimized route from the one or more alternate routes in use by the subset of GPS devices.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The community routing system of claim 9, the processing logic further configured to:
identify a preferred route for directing the one or more vehicles in the community to the desired destination;
evaluate alternate roads that can be taken off the preferred route to reach the desired destination;
receive a current traffic congestion information from a traffic congestion information provider;
determine one or more locations where traffic levels along the preferred route exceed normal levels along the preferred route at the current time; and
in response to the GPS device reaching the desired destination, receive information of an actual route taken by the GPS device.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The community routing system of claim 9, the processing logic further configured to:
create at least two optimized routes to reach a desired destination, wherein the at least two optimized routes provides routing instructions to minimize driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmit a first optimized route to reach the desired destination to a second subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices; and
transmit a second optimized route to reach the desired destination to a third subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The community routing system of claim 9, the processing logic further configured to:
receive updated traffic congestion information;
determine whether the traffic congestion information has substantially changed;
in response to determining the current traffic congestion information has substantially changed, modify the at least two optimized routes to minimize the overall driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmit the modified first optimized route to the second subset of GPS devices; and
transmit the modified second optimized route to the third subset of GPS devices.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The community routing system of claim 9, the processing logic further configured to:
receive a route request from one or more GPS devices within the community of GPS devices, wherein the route request contains: a current location of the GPS device; the desired destination of the GPS device; and a maximum re-routing distance permitted from a typical route while traveling to the desired destination; and
determine one or more vehicles in the community traveling along the preferred route.
interface with a database of the same social network to facilitate improved carpool and route recommendations amongst GPS devices subscribed to the same social network, wherein the database of the same social network is stored on an external network separate from the community routing system;
retrieve, from a calendar component of the same social network, schedule information of other users of the same social network;
transmit, to the particular GPS device, one or more carpool suggestions, wherein the carpool suggestions identify one or more other GPS devices within the same social network typically travelling along a same optimized route to reach the desired destination; and
transmit identification information of a user of each alternate route to the particular GPS device, wherein the identification information contains a name of the user of each alternate route.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The community routing system of claim 8, the processing logic further configured to:
identify one or more past optimized routes travelled by the particular GPS device;
select one of a longer route for the particular GPS device and a shorter route for the particular GPS device, wherein the selected one of the longer route and the shorted route normalizes typical travel time for the community of GPS devices; and
transmit the selected one of the longer route and the shorter route to the particular GPS device.

### Claim 15

A method for optimizing travel time for a community of GPS devices, the method comprising:
retrieving, from a calendar component of a same social network, schedule information of other users of the same social network, wherein the same social network facilitates improved carpool and route recommendations amongst GPS devices subscribed to the same social network, and a database of the same social network is stored on an external network separate from the community routing system; and
transmitting, to the particular GPS device, one or more carpool suggestions, wherein the carpool suggestions identify one or more other GPS devices within the same social network typically travelling along a same optimized route to reach the desired destination.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
creating at least two optimized routes to reach a desired destination, wherein the at least two optimized routes provides routing instructions to minimize driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmitting a first optimized route to reach the desired destination to a first subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices;
transmitting a second optimized route to reach the desired destination to a second subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices;

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
transmitting, to a particular GPS device, a selection of one or more alternate routes in use by one or more GPS devices of a third subset of GPS devices within the community of GPS devices, wherein the third subset of GPS devices and the particular GPS device are part of a same social network, wherein a social network is a group of users associated with a corresponding group of GPS devices that are collectively registered with the community routing system;
transmitting identification information of a user of each alternate route to the particular GPS device, wherein the identification information contains a name of the user of each alternate route;
providing a selection to the particular GPS device of a currently selected route and the one or more alternate routes in use by the third subset of GPS devices; and
receiving a selection of an alternate optimized route from the one or more alternate routes in use by the third subset of GPS devices;
wherein each GPS device in the community is associated with a vehicle.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving a route request from one or more GPS devices within the community of GPS devices, wherein the route request contains: a current location of the GPS device; a desired destination of the GPS device; and a maximum re-routing distance permitted from a typical route while traveling to the desired destination;
identifying a preferred route for directing the one or more vehicles in the community to the desired destination;
determining one or more vehicles in the community traveling along the preferred route;
evaluating alternate roads that can be taken off the preferred route to reach the desired destination;
receiving a current traffic congestion information from a traffic congestion information provider;
determining one or more locations where traffic levels along the preferred route exceed normal levels along the preferred route at the current time;
in response to the GPS device reaching the desired destination, receiving information of an actual route taken by the GPS device;
receiving updated traffic congestion information;
determining whether the traffic congestion information has substantially changed;
in response to determining the current traffic congestion information has substantially changed, modifying the at least two optimized routes to minimize the overall driving time for the community of GPS devices;
transmitting the modified first optimized route to the first subset of GPS devices; and
transmitting the modified second optimized route to the second subset of GPS devices.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
analyzing a vehicle capacity for each of the roads along the preferred route; and retrieving one or more similar routes previously taken by the GPS device.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
identifying one or more past optimized routes travelled by the particular GPS device;
in response to identifying the one or more past optimized routes travelled by the particular GPS device, selecting one of a longer route for the particular GPS device and a shorter route for the particular GPS device, wherein the selected one of the longer route and the shorted route normalizes typical travel time for the community of GPS devices; and
transmitting the selected one of the longer route and the shorter route to the particular GPS device.