Google Inc. v. Traffic Information LLC

Filing 52

Brief Plaintiff's Opening Claim Construction Brief. Filed by Google Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E part1, # 6 Exhibit E part 2, # 7 Exhibit E part 3, # 8 Exhibit E part 4, # 9 Exhibit E part 5, # 10 Exhibit F part 1, # 11 Exhibit F part 2, # 12 Exhibit G, # 13 Exhibit H) (Markley, Julia)

Google Inc. v. Traffic Information LLC

Doc. 52 Att. 5

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UTILITY PATENT APPLICATION TRANSMITTAL
onry ior new non-provisional applEaltolls under 37cFRs l .53(b))

Attomey Docket No.

Identifter
7"E

First lnventor

BW):7116.004 I or Application I DeKocK, el alI

ISYSTEM FOR PROVIDING TRAFFIC INFORMATTON

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Exprcss Mail Label No. 1EL472157366US
Assistant Commissbner for Pa&nts

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APPLICATION ELEMENTS
See MPEP drapter 600 coneeming utility patent appli@lion @ntents-

ADDRESSTO: goxPatentApplbation
V\bshington, D.C. 20231

E'Fee Transmittal Form (e.9. PIO/SB/l7)
(Submit an wiginal and a duplicate for fee pro@ssing)

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Microfiche Computer Program (Appendh)

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Specification

Totat Pages

l. Nucleotide and/or Amino Acid Sequence Submission
,if applicable, all neoessary)

l,prefened anangement #t forth below) - Descriptive Title of the lnvention - Ctoss References to Related Applicationg - Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research - Reference to Microfiche Appendix - Background ofthe lnvention - Brief Summary of the Invention - Brief Description of the Drawings (lf l?/ed) - Detailed Description - Claim(s) - Abstract of the Disclosure

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Computer readable copy Paper copy (identical to computer copy) Statement verifying identity of above copies

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Assignment Papers (cover sheet & documen(s))

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37CFR$3.73{b)Statement
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Powerof Attomey

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English translation document (if applicable\ lnformation Stalement 0DS) /PTO 1449

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Drawing(s) (35 USC

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Total Pages

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Disclosure E

Copbs of IDS Citations

Oath or Declaration

Total Pages

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PreliminaryAmendment

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Navly executed (original or copy)
Copy from a prior application (37 CFR $1.63(d) (for continuation/divisional with Box 16 campletedl

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Retum Receipl Postcard (MPEP 503) (should be spcificatly itenEed)
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Deletion of lnventor{s} Signed statement attached deleting invento(s) named in the prior application, see 37 CFR SS1.53(dX2) and 1.33(b)

Staternents
(PTOIsbn9-12)

Entity I

Statement filed in prior application. Status still proper and desired.

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Certified Copy of Priority Document(s) (itfore@n prionU b claimd)

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irlfity f6s. a smatr entity statement b reqotred (37 CfR 51.24, elecept Fone filed in a pderr appllcation b refed upon (37 CFR
$1.28)

5. El Other - Check for $504

16- lf a CONTINUING APPLICATION, cnec* appropriate box, and supply lhe requisit information belorv and

In a pteliminary amerdment

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Continuation D Divisional D

Priorapphcation informalion: Group No./ArtUnit For CONTINUATION or DIVISIONALAPPS onlv: The entire disdosure ot$e priorapplicalion, fom which an oab ordeclaration is supplied under Box 4b, is considered a pad of lhe disdosure of fte ac@mpanying conlinuation or drvbional appl'rcatbn and is lEreby Incorporated by reference. The Incorpolation can onlv be rdied upon when a portion has been inadverGntly omitted trom the submited applition parts.

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Exhibit E Page 1 of 311
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IN THE I'NITED STATES PATENT AI{D

TRADEI{ARK OFFICE

PATEIiflT EXJAMINING OPER,ATIONS
PATE}WT APPTICATION

Applicant
F'r_IeO

: DeKOCK, et al : (Concurrently Herewith) :

Group Art Unit: Examiner:

Serial No.:
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SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING TRAFFIC INFORMATION
STATEMEICT OF STATUS AS SMJAI,I. ETflTITY IN ACCORDANCE WITH 37 CFR 51.27.

STATEMEI\II| OF:

I-, Ehe undersigned, hereby verify I
am:

that:

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one of the inventors of Lhe above-identified invention and I qualify as an independent inventor in aceordance with 37 CFR Sl" - 9 (c) an individual assignee/licensee/owner of exclusive/ nonexcl_usive rightE in the above-j-denLified invention and I would be classified as an independent-had in accordance with 37 cFR S1'9(c) if r i;;;t-; invention mad.e Ehe above-identified

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of the , that said Company qualifies as a small business concern as de-finira-in 37 cFR S1'9(d) in that the of employees of saj-d Company CFR llglYgittg those 51'9(d)' "n*U". affiliatls, as defined in 37 of its does not exceed sdO persons, and that said Company is the assignee of elclusive rights in the aboveidentified invention

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that said I hawe not assigned, granted, conweyed, or licensed any rights in the invention excepL Lo: A partnership comprised of four individuals' namely Kevin L. Russell, Bruce W- beKock, Richard 'J' Qian' and Wes
AND
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AND that r am under no obligation under contract or law to assign, grant, corrvey, or license any rights in the invention except Lo: A partnership comprised of four individuals, namely Kevin L- Russell, Bruce W. DeKock, Richard,f- Qian, and Wes
Okamot,o.

I hereby declare that all statements made herein of my own knowledge are true and that all statements made on iir.formation and belief are believed to be true; and further that these statemenEs were made with the knowledge that willful false statsements and the like so made are punishable-by 18 fine or imprisonment, or both, under Section 1001- of Title stateof the United StaLes Code and that suckr willful false or any jeopardize the validity of the application ments may patent issued thereon.
DATED:

April l3

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Bruce

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April lZ ,
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DATED:

Richard

fxfriUit f Page 3 of 31 1

1

SYSTEM FOR PROVTDTNG TRAFFIC INFORMATION

date of Prowisional Application Serial No. 60/L30,399 filed April 19, 1,999, Serial No. 60/L55,868 filed November 22, L999, and Serial No. 60/L89,9:-3 filed March 16, 2000 are claimed.
BACKGROUND

The priority

OF THE INVENTION

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The present invention refates to a system for providing traffic informaEion, and more particularly a system for providing traffic information to a plurality of mobile users connected to a network. Commuters have a need for information relating to the congestion and traffic which they may encounLer on a cornrnute over a road, a hi-ghway, or a freeway. Unfortunately, the prior art methods of providing traffic information to commuters do not a1low commuters to

ewaluate the extent to which there is congestion on highway on which the commuter may wish to travel.
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of providing traffic information congisLs of radio reports. A radio station may broadcast traffic report,s, such as from a helicopter thaE rnonitors traffic conditj-ons over portions of a freeway. Unfortunately, these reports are usually intermitlent in natute. Accordingly, to hear the report, tLre commuter must be listening to the radio station at the time the report is being broadcast on the radio. Further, Ltre extent of the information provided is severely limited to broad generalizations. For example, the informaLion provided during the broadcast may be limited to the area being currently viewed by t.he reporter, or Lhe information may be based on a previous view at a prior time of another portion of the freeway. Some broadcasts may include mul-tiple observers of different portions of the freeway, yet t.hese systems also provide incompleLe information relaLing to overall traffic patterns- In addition, the information provided is vague, subjective,
One known method Exhibit E Page 4 of 311

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and usually limited to broad generalities relating to

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flow. Another knovvn traffic information system rs prowided by telewision broadcasts. In these systems, television stations may mount video cameras pointed at certain portions of a freeway, or flray broadcast video images from a helicopter. The televisi-on station may periodically broadcast traffic reports and include in the t.raffic report a view of different portions of the freeway from the video cameras. Again, this system provides little useful information Lo a eommuter. The commuter must be watching the broadcast at the time the j-nformation is being transmitted- However, by the tj-me the commuter aetually gets inEo his vehicle and enLers a potentially congested area, Lhe traffic may have changedFurther, the information provided is limited to tkrose areas where the traffic is being moniLored and may consist of stale information. Often the video image is limited to a small portion of t.he road, and shows traffic flowing in a single direction. Yet another method to provide traffic informatiOn is to provide a website that is accessible using the Internet that contains traffic information. While these tlnpes of systems have the advantage of provi-ding more up to date information, these systems typically provide a map for a large area- Thus, for a person commuLing in a car, the system displays traffic information for marry areas not of interest to the commuter. In addition, these t14pes of systems require manipulation by the commuLer to find the relevant traffic information. For example, while the map rnay allow the commuter Lo zoom in on a particular area, the user must prowide inputs to tLre system to instruct the system to zoom in on a particular area. However, a commuter whO is actiwely driving cannot operate a computer and drj-ve at the same time. In addition, these systems may rely on manual entry of data received from subjective traffic
Exhibit E Page 5 of 31 1

traffic

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.3 reports and/or Eraffic sensors. Thus this method may additionally suffer from added cost due to manua] Iabor, incorrect enLry of data. and slow response to quickly changing t.raffic conditions. Fan et. al., U.S. Patent No. 5,959,577, disclose a system for processing position and trawel related information through a data processing statiort on a data network. In particular, Fan et al. teach the use of a GPS receiver to obtain a measured position fix of a mobile unit. The measured position fix is reported to the data processing station which associates the reported position with a map of the area. T1pically, the measured positj-on of the mobile units is marked and identified by a marker on the map. The area map is then stored in the data processing staEion and made available for access by authorized monitor units or mobile units- An authorized monitor unit may request a specific area map. This perrnits shipping compani-es to monitor the location of their fleet and permits the mobile units to identify their current location in relation to a map, which is particularly suited for ttre application of navJ-gation to a particular destination. In addition, Fan et al- teach that the measured position data Lransmitted from Lhe mob'ile units may be used to calculate the speeds at which the vehicles travel. The collective speed data from ttre mobile units is then available for use by the moniLor units, such as those at the shipping company, to route the wehicles away from traffic congestions and diversions- In this manner, the dispatcher at the shipping company, to which Fan et al. teaches the data is avail_able to, may use the collective speed data to decide which vehicles to conLact in order to reroute themWesterlage et aI . , U. S. Patent Nos. 5, O9"7 ,37'1 and 5 ,987,377, disclose a system for determining an expected tsime of arrival of a vehicle equipped with a mobile unit.

Exhibit E Page 6 of 31 1
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Zijderhand, U. S. PatenL No. 5,4O2 ,1I'7 , discloses a method of col-lecting traffic informaLion to determine an origin-destination matrice withouL infringing upon the privacy of tLre users. Mandhyan et aI., U.S. PaLent No. 5,539,645, is related to moniLoring movemenL of Eraffic along predetermined rouEes, where indiwidual moving elements can move with a high degree of discretion as to speed except when congestion, accident or Lhe like l-imit. speeds- Mandhyan et aI. uses the deplolzment of calibrant vehicles for colLecting and reporting information which describes vehicle speeds actually being experienced along the routes of interest where the data are processed sLatistically as a function of the time of day. The output provides baseline data against which observations at a particular time, category, weather, event, and location can be compared, to ident.ify the existence of abnormal conditions, and to quantify Lhe abnormaliLy- To deEermine abnormal conditions, Mandhryan et al. teach the use of probe wehicles. fn particular, Mandhyan et al. is applicable to monitoring the flow of motor vehicles along roads which are subjecL to delays of sufficient freguency and severity that correction action or dissemination of information announcing a delay are economically desirable. UnfortunaLely, the use of probe vehicles may be expensiwe and the relevancy of the daEa is limited to the availability of the probe vehicles. Lappenbusch et al., U.S. Patent No- 5,982,298, disclose a traffic information system having servers Ehat makes traffj-c data, images, and video ctips awailable to a user interface on elient devices. Lappenbusch et al' envision that the client devices are personal or desktop computers, network computers, set-Eop boxes, or intelligent telewisions. The user interface includes a road map showing a plurality of road segments that a user can int.eractively select. Vehicular speed information is provided to tlre system from traffic sensors monitoring
Exhibit E Page 7 of 311

the traffic. In addition, the user interface has a road image area that changes as the user selects different foad segmenL.s to show recent images of a currenLly selected road segment. Unfortunately, the system taught by Lappenbusch et a1. is complicaEed to operate and requires signifi-canL user interactsion Eo provide relevanL daLa, which is suitable for such "stationary" tradit.ional
computi-ng devices.
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Smith, ilr. et a1 ., U.S. Patent No. 5,774,827, disclose a system to alleviate the need for sophisticated route guidance sysLems, where the commuter has a positioning system as well asr a map database in a car. A cent.ral facj-1it.y receives and sLores current traffic information for preselected commuter routes from warious current traffic information sources, such as local police authorj-ties, toll-way authorit.ies, spotters, or sensors deployed on the road ways to detect Lraffic ffow. To achieve the elimination of sophisticated route guidance systems a portable device receiwes a traveL time only for preselected commuter routes from the central facilityIn this manner, Smith, .fr. et al . Eeach that each user receiwes only the traffic information that is relevant to the user's preselected cornrnuter routes. If desired, the preselected commuter routes may be presented as a sel of route segmenes, where each of the segments is coded to indicate commute time. fn response, the user may choose an alternative route known by him that is different from any..'preselected commuter routses. Smith, .Tr. et al . furLher suggest. that a GPS enabled portable unit for transmitLing a present poeition of the portable device to ttre central facility such thaL the central facility uses each present position Lo calculate at least a portion of the current t,ravel information. By matching multiple positions of the portable device with known positions on the preselected route and measuring the time between two consecutive matched positions the central facility can obtain up-to-the minute traffic information to be used in

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broadcasting future trawel times to other users of preselected commuter routes. UnforLunately, Lhe system taught by Smith, ,Jr. et al. requires the user Lo def ine a set of preselecLed commuter routes for each route to be t.raveled, which may be difficult if the user is unfamiliar with the area. In addition, Smith, .Tr. et af . teach that the user should select alternative routes Llrat are known to the rlser, presumably if the commute time of the preselected eomnruter routes are too long, which is difficult if the user is not alreadv familiar wi-th the
area.

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Piet.zsch eL al . , U. S. Patent No. 5 ' 673 , O39 , discl-ose a syst.em for dlmamic monitoring of the total traffic in a stretch of road equipped with monitoring and information-provision system, as well- as warnings to drivers, and hence the possibility of regrrlaLing the The system does not require ttrat the vehicles traffic. be equipped with appropriate sensors and transmitting
eguipment.

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vehi-c1e. The vehicle includes a data transmiLter for sending a data providing dewice traweling data of the vehicle when,the vehicle passes over the vicinity of the data providing device and a data receiver for recej-ving data sent from the daba providing device. The traveling data may include vehicle pass time or vehicle pass time and speed. The data providing devices laid on the road include a receiver for receivj-ng the Eraveling data from the vehicle and a transmitter for sending other passing vehicles the traveling data. A control center communicating through the data prowiding devices laid on the road can use the received traffic data from the vehicles to predict the occurrence of traffic congestion based on the pass time and speed of a vehicle. It is assumed that at a certain point, vehicles were traveling
Exhibit E Page 9 of 31 1
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Akutsu et al., U.S. Patent No. 5,987,374, disclose a vehicle travel-ing guidance sysLem that includes data providing devices laid on a road and

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smoothly at a certain time and the speed of each vehicle has decreased drastically at, Lhe next time. fn this case it i-s expected that traffic congestion will occur in the vicinity of that point. Therefore, smooth travel can be achieved by, for example, communicating to each vehicle data etc. indicating blpasses in order not to worsen

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traffic congestion. Therefore, a vehicle operator can gain knowledge of Lhe traveling state of a vehicle which has already passed over that point and adjust Lravel considering E,raffic flow. While all of the abowe systems prowide some degree of traffic information for a contmuter, newerttreless the above systems do not prowide an efficienE method of coltecting and presenting objective traffic information to a commuter. What is desired, Lherefore, is a system for prowiding traffic information which allows a commuter to obtain inforrnation at any Lime desired by the commuLer, that provides information relating Eo a plurality of points along a road, that prowides information relating Lo different traffic lewels, t.hat provides information that is particularly relevant to t,he cornmuter, and thaL provides the information in an easily understood format that may be easily utilized by a commuter while drivingBRIEF
SUMMARY

25

OF THE INYENTION

The present invention overcomes the limitsations of ,the prior art by providing a system for providing
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traffic j-nformation to a plurality of users connected to a network. In a first aspecL the present invenEion provides a system comprised of a plurality of traffic rnonitors, each comprising at least a traffic detector and a transmitter, tshe traffic detector generating a signal in response to vehicular traffic and the transmitLer transmitLing tlre signal. The system also includes a receiver that receives Lhe signals from the Lraffic rnonitors. A cornputer system is connected to the receiver
Exhibit E Page 10 of311
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and is also connected to the net,work. The computer system, i-n response to a requesE signal received from one of the users, transmits in response thereto information representati-ve of the signals transmitted by the traffic monitors. In a second separate aspect of the invention, a system provides traffic information to a plurality of users connecLed to a network. Traffic is detected at each of a plurality of locations along a road and a signal is generated at each of t.he Locations representative of the traffic aL each of the locations. Each of the signals is transmitted from each of the plurality of locations to a'receiver. TLrese signals are sent from Lhe receiver to a computer system. The computer system receives a request from one of the users for traffic information. In response to the reguest, the computer system t.ransmits information representative of Lhe traffic at each of the plurality of locations to the user. In a t.hird separate aspect of the invention, a system prowides traffic information to a plurali-xy of users connected to a network. The system comprises a plurality of mobile user stations, each mobile user station being associated with the display, a global positioning system receiver and a communicating device to a1low each of the mobile user etations to send and receive signals. A compuLer system is interconnected

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with another communicat,ing device in the network. The computer system is capable of sending and receiving signals to the mobile user stations using the other communicating device in the network. The compuLer system maintains a map database and a traffic lnformation database. The traffic information database contains information repregentative of traffic data at a plurality of locations. At least one of the mobile user stations prowides a request to the computer system for information togetkrer with the respective geographic location of the
Exhibit E Page 11 of 311
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mobile user station. fn response to the requesL, the computer sysLem provldes to the mobile user slation information representative of selected portions of the map database and selected portions of Ehe traffic information database based on the respective geographic The location of the requesting mobile user station. mobile user stat,ion then displays graphically on the display information representative of selected portions of the map database and selected portions of the traffic information daLabase. The Eraffic information daLabase may be derived from information obtained from sLationary traffic monitors, mobile user st,at,ions, or a combination thereof . information to be The mobile user station allows traffic displayed in a variety of manners. The' display can al-so show graphically the location of the car on the display. The user may select among different modes for di-splaying information on t,he displaytraffic The various aspects of the presenL inventi-on have one or more of Lhe following advantages. The present invention al-Iows a commuLer to obtain traffi-c information at any time, without waiting for a report to be broadcast. The present invention also allows detailed information relating to traffic conditions based on such as the average measurements of the traffic, vehicular speed or traffic density, to be supplied for a plurality of locations along a road. The invention also al}ows the convenient display of information in a readily understood form to the user, such as a graphical display' The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invenLion, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

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Exhibit E Page 12 of 311
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VfEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an exempLdry embodiment of a syst,em for providing traffic information.

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FIG. Z *fro*= a front elevational view of an exemplary traffic monitor. FIG. 3 shows an exemplary display for a user station. FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a mobiLe user uniL of Ehe present invention. FIG. 5 is a partial electrical schematic for a traffic monitor of FIG. 2. FIG- 6 is an alternative exemplary display' FIG. 7 shows a schemati-c view of another exemplary embodimenE of a series of traffic monitors along a road: FIG. 8 shows anot.her exemplary display for a

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user station. FIG. 9 is a flow chart for a method of processing video data to yield traffic information. FIG. 1-0 is a flow chart for an alternatiwe method of processing video data to yield traffic
]Itlormacton ' FIG- l-1 is a schemaEic representatj-on of a road sensors and wehicles at different system hawing traffic locations alonq the road. FIG. l-2 is a combined map and traffi-c information database representative of the road system depicted in FIG. 11-. FIG. L3 is an exemplary embodiment of a centered display FIG. L4 is an exemplary embodiment of an offset display. FIG. 15 is an exemplary embodiment of a look ahead display.

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e"f,iOit Page 13 of311
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Fre. 16 j-s a schematic dj-agram of a mobile user station having alternative mechanisms for i-nputting commands to the user station.
DETAILED DESCRIPTTON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

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Referring now to the figures, wherein l-ike numerals refer to like elements, FIG. 1 strows a schematic diagram of the system l0 for providing traffic information to a plurality of user statsions 52 connected to a network 50. A plurality of traffic monitors 20 are arranged at spaced apart locations along a road 12. The traffic monitors 20 measure traffic information by detecting Ehe speed (velocity) or frequency of vehicles traweling along the road (freeway or highway) a2. For example, in one embodiment, the Lrafflc monitors 20 may detecL the speed of individual vehicles 14 traveling along the road 12 - Alternatively, the traffic monitors 20 may measure the freguency with which the indiwidual wehicles 14 pass specified points along the road l-2. FIG. 2 shows a front elevational wiew of an exemplary embodiment of a traffic monitor 20- The Eraffic moniLor 20 has a detector 22 for measuring or FIG. 2 shows two different otherwise sensing traffic. embodiments 22A and 228 of a detector 22. The detector 22 may be any tlpe of measuring device which is capable of measuring or otherwise sensing traffic and generating a signal representaLive of or capable of being used to deLermine the traffic conditions. For example, the detector 22 could measure the average speed of the wehi_c1es (cars or trucks) 14 at locations along the road L2, or it could measure the indiwidual speed (welocities) of eactr vehicle 14. The detector 22 may deLect vehicle freguency, that is, the frequency at which vehicles pass a cerLain point., or may measure traffic flow, consisting of the number of vehicles passing a certain point for a unj-t of time (e.g-, vehicles per second). The detector 22 may use any suitable techni-que to measure traffic
Exhibit E Page 14 of 311
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cond.itions (data). For in one embodiment, the "-";i", detector 22A could employ radio waves, light waves (optical or infrared), microwaves, sound waves, analog signals, digital signals, doppler shifts, or any other tlrpe of system to measure traffic conditj-ons (data) . In one embodiment, the detector 22A uses a.transmitted beam to measure the welocity of the vehicles 14 passing al-ong the road 12, such as wit.h a commercial radar gun or speed detector commonly used by police. Alt.ernatively, the detector ?2A may detect when cars having magnetic tags or markers pass. Ttre detector 22A may either detect signals reflected from the vehicle or signals transmitted by the vehicles The traffic moniLar 20 is shown with an alternatiwe embodiment 228 consisting of one or more pressure sensj-tive detectors which extends across the road l-2. Preferably two spaced apart detectors are positioned at a predetermined spaeing to make the velocity determination readily available. The pressure sensitive detector 22F detects when a vehicle passes over the detecluor 228. Such a pressure sensitive detecLor may be used alone or in combination with detector 224 Lo measure the frequency or speed (velocity) of the traffic passing along the road 1-2. Likewise, the detector 22A may be used afone or in combination with the detectror 228 to measure Lhe frequency or speed (velocj-ty) of the traffic passing along the road 1-2. Alternatively, det.ector 228 could be a wire loop buried in the road to measure changing magnetic fields ae veLricles pass over the 1oop. The detector 22 may measure traffic conditions in a single lane of a freeway or road, or may measure average traffic information across several lanes. The detector 22 could aLso be embedded in each lane of a road or freeway, such as with a pressure sensitive detector 228. Alternatively, individual detecLors could be embedded in a roadway which would sense signals or
Exhibit E Page 15 of 31 1
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conditions generated by passing vehicles. For example, each vehicle coul-d include a magnet or could incLude a signaling device which would be detected by the detector, which could be an electromagneti-c sensor or a signal receiver. Referring to FIG. 5, the traffic monitors 20 may also include a processor and a memory for colfecting, processj-ng, and storing traffic information provided by the detecLor 22. The Eraffic monitor 2O preferably further includes a transmitter 26 for transmitting the traffic information collected by the d.etector 22. The Lransmittrer 25 may be any type of device capable of transmitting or otherwise providing data in either digital or analog form, either t.hrough the air or through a conducLor- For example, the transmitter could be a digital or analog cel1u1ar transmitter, a radio transmitter, a microwave Lransmitter, or a transmitter connected to a wire, such as a eoaxial cabfe or a telephone line. The transmitEer 26 is shown as transmitting the signals through the air to a receiver 30, Alternatively, the tsransrnitt.er 26 could transmit the daLa to an intermediate receiver before being transmitted to the receiver 30. For example, several traffic monitors 20 could transmit traffic information in a daisy chain manner from one end of a road 12 to the last traffic monitor 20 at the other end of the road before being transmitted to receiver 30. To faciliEate this tlpe of transmission most traffic monitors 20 would require a receiver. Alternatiwely, one or more traffi-c monitors 20 could t,ransmit data to otLrer traffic monitors 20, vrhich in turn Lransmit the data to the receiver 30. In order Lo conserve power, the transmiLter 25 and the detectors 22 preferably transmit and sense information periodically rather than continuously. Further, the traffic information generaLed by the detector 22 is preferably averaged, or otherwise statistically modified,
Exhibit E Page 16 of 31 1
16

t4

10

over a period of time so as Lo limit the amounL of data that needs to be transmitted. and increase its accuracy. In one embodiment,, the traffic monitoring unit 20 may furt.her include a video camera 29. The video camera 29 is also connected to the LransmiEter 25, so that. t.he transmit.ter 26 may transmit signals corresponding to the image sensed by the video camera 29. Alternatively, the traffic monitors 20 may be replaced by video cameras 29. Multiple images may be obtained by a video camera and the speed of the vetricles L4 determined based on image analysis of multiple frames from the vj-deo
camera (s)
.

15

zw

25

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35

preferred t)pe of monitor 20 utilizes signals from a digital video camera to provide the Lraffic information. Traffic-related information may be obtained by analyzing the video sequences from the monitoring video cameras 29. The information may include how fast the traffic moves and how congegted the road isThe speed of the traffic may be derived by measuri-ng ttre speed of vehicl-es in the video. The degree of congestion may be estimated by counting the number of vehicles in the video. This in-vention provides two algorithms for estimating traffic speed and road congestion based on video input.. The first algorithm is based on optical flow and its flow diagram is shown in Figure 9. First, the algorithm performs camera calibration based on the input video of the road and the physical measurements of certain markings on the road. Then Lhe a1-gorithm (1) t.akes a number of frames from the input video, (2) computes optical flow; (3) estimates camera motion whi-ch may be caused by wind, etc., (4) estimaLes independent vehicle motion after compensating the camera moLion; (5) estimates traffic speed based on the averaged vehicle moEion and the camera paramegers obtained from the camera cal_ibration step; estimates road congest.ion by counting
One

Exhibit E Page 17 ot311
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the number of independent motion components; and {6) outputs the estimated speed and congest.ion resufts. The second algorithm is based on motion blob tracking and it.s bock diagram is shown in Figure 10. First, the algorithm performs camera calibration based on the i-nput video of the road and the physical measuremenLs of certain markings on the road. The algorithm (1) takes a number of frames from the input video, (2\ estimates camera motion; (3) detect,s independent motion blobs after compensating the camera motion; (4) tracks motion blobs; (5) estimates traffic speed based on the averaged blob motion and the camera parameters obtained from the camera cal-ibrat,ion step; estimates road congestion by counting the number of independent moEion blobs; and (6) outputs the estimated speed and congestion regults. Traffic monitor 20 further includes a power supply 24. The power supply 24 is preferably a battery, or may alternatively be a power line, such as a 12 or t2a volt power tine. The traffic monitor 20 is shown with an optional solar power supply 28. The power supply 24 ot 28 prowides Lhe power necessary for the detecLors 22A and,/or 228, the transmitter 25, and any other electronics, such as a computser system and/ot video
camera.

z3

The receiver 3O receives the signals from the traffic monitors 20 and/or video cameras 29. The receiver 30 may be any device capable of receiving informatsion (data) such as irr either an analog or a digital form. For example, the receiver 30 may be a

30

35

digital or analog cellular receiver, a standard phone, a radio receiver, an anLenna, or a data port capable of receiving analog or digital information, such as Lhat transmiEted pursuant to a data protocol The receiwer 30 receives the information from the Craffic monitors 20 and/or video cameras 29 and passes that information to a computer system 40. The computer system 40 preferably includes a processor (such

Exhibit E Page 18 of 31 1
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as a general purpose processor, ASIC, DSP, ecc.), a clock, a power supply, and a memory. The compucer systsem 40 preferably has a portr 42, or any tlpe of interconnection, to interconnecL Lhe compuLer system 40 with the network 50. Preferably, the computer system 40 includes information representative of the road 12 along which the traffic monitors 20 are located, such as a map database. The computer syst,em 40 receiwes tlee traffic information transmitted by the respective traffic monitors 20. The information transmj-tted by the traffic monitors 20 includes the location or identi-fication of each particular traffic monitor 20 togeLher with the data represenEaEiwe of the traffic data provided by the detector ZZ and./or video camera 29 aE each traffic monitor 20. The computer system 40 may manipulaLe the traffic inforrnation in some manner. as necessary, so as Lo prowide awerage speeds or other statistical data- In the event of video, the computer system 40 may process t.he images to determine the speed of wehicles- A1so, the vid.eo may be provided. Alternatively, the user stations may process tkre traffic information. In one embodiment, boLh the receiver 26 of the traffic monitors and the transmitter 3o of computer system are each capable of receiwing and transmitting data- This a11ows for two way communication between the monitor 20 and the computer dystem 40. Thus, the computer system 40 could remotely operate the tra.ffic moniLor 20 to change settings, diagnose problems, and otherwise provide inpuE to traffic moniLor 20 to facilitate colleetion of traffic data. For example, the wideo camera 29 could be remotely positioned to view a traffic lane of interest. Traffic information may be provided to users in any suitable manner, such as Ehe examples that follow. A user station 52 is connected to the network 50. Preferably, the user station 52 includes a graphic display unit 54 (see FIG. 3). For example, the user

Exhibit E Page 19 of311
19

L7

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20

z)

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35

station 52 may be a standard personal computer with a display monitor 54. The network 50 is preferably the Internet. However, the network 50 could also be a locaf area network or any other tlpe of closed or open network, or could also be the telephone neEwork. The user station 52 sends a signal over the network 50 to the computer system 40 reguesting traffic information. In response Co receivj-ng a request from the user station 52, the computer system 40 transmits traffic information representative of the traffic information collected by the various traffic monitors 20 to the requesting user station 52. The computer system 40 may transmit average speeds detected by each of the traffic monitors 20 at each of their respective locations. The traffic information may be presented to the user as a rareb page. The compuLer system may send traffic information corresponding to only some of the traffic monitors- The user may select which portions of the road 1-2 are of interest, and the computer sysLem 40 may transmiL traffic information corresponding to that portion of the road 12. FIG. 3 shows an exemplary display 54 displaying the traffic information provid.ed by the computer system 40. The computer system 40 provides data from its memory which is representative of the road !2, sucLr as data from a map database, which is displayed as a road l-12 on the display 54. The computer system 40 also provides traffic information collected by eactr, or a selected set, of the respecLive traffic monitors 20 which is displayed in portions 114a-l-l-4d and/or tkre traffic information deriwed from individual mobile user stations having a global positioning system locator as descrj-bed in detail below. In t}.e exemplary display sLrown i-n FIG. 3, the portions 1-1-4a-114d display different colors or patterns representative of average vehicle speeds (for example' in miles per hour) a]ong dif f erent portions of the road l-12 ' Of course, the d.j-splay may display other types of information, such as traffib flow (vehicles per second)
Exhibit E Page 20 of 311
20

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5U

Jf,

or vehicle frequency. The display 54 roay include informat.ion in eiLher graphical or texL format Lo indicate t.he portion of the road displayed, such as location of milepost markers or place names 115. Whil-e the dispJ-ay 54 shows one format for displaying the information, other formaLs for presenting the information may likewise be used, as desired. rt is not necessary to provide a graphical representation of the'road 12. Instead, information coufd be provided in a Lextuaf manner, such as, for example, mile post locat.ions for each of the traffic monitors 20 and presenting textual traffic information for each location. Thus, the system may operate as fo11ows. The traffic monitors 2o detecL or otherwise sense traffic to provide traffic information- The traffic monitors 20 may detects or otherwise calculate wehicle speed, average vehj-c1e speed, traffic flow, vehicle frequency, or other The traffic monitors data representative of the traffic. 20 may sample either continuously, or may sample aL intervals to consen/e power. The transmitter 26 transmits tkre signals prowided by the traffic monitors 20 to the receiver 30 either continuously or at intervals. Such signals may be either transmitted direcLly to the receiver 30, or may be transmitsted through other traffic monitorg 20. The receiver 30 receiwes the signals received by the various traffic monitors 20 and passes these signals to the computer sysEem 40. The computer system 40 receives the daLa from the traffic monitors 20. The computer system may calculate or process the traffic information for the users, as necessary. It is noL necessary for the traffic monitors 2O to calculate traffic data, if desired. In response to a request from a user station 52, the computer system 40 provides the traffic informaLion ower tLre network 50 to the user station 52. The system 10 has many adwantages. It al-lows a user to receive ConLemporaneous traffic information from
L"r'init Page 21 of 311
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a pluraLity of locaEions. It aL1ows the user to obtain immediate information rather than waiting for the broadcast of informaLion at specified times. Further, the amount of information provided by the system is far superior to that provided by any other traf,fic reporting system. A user can obtain immediate and contemporaneous Lraffic conditions, such as average vehicular speed, traffic flow, or vehicle frequency, for a plurality of locations along a road. Where traffic monitors are provided along several different roads. a commuter may then select among the various alEernative routes, depending on the traffic conditions for each road- The system also does not rely on the manual input of information, and thus provides information more accurately and more quickly. It also eliminates subjective descriptions of traffic information by providing measured data representative of traffic conditions. In one embodiment, the computer system 40 also receives the signals generated by the video cameras 29 at the respective traffic monitors 20. FIG- 3 shows an exemplary d.isplay 54 in which a video image L29 Ls provided. In this embodiment, the user may select from which traffic rnoniLoring unit 20 the video image t29 is to be received from. For example, a user could initially select to view the image generated by the video camera at a first location, and then later view the image transmitt.ed by anoLher video camera 29, preferably at another traffic monitor 20, at a different locatsion' The system 10 preferably further includes the ability to send messages about road condiLions' FIG' 3 shows such an exemplary message 1-30 in text format ' The computer system 40 is capable of storing data messages and transmitting the data messages with the traffic information. The data messages would indicaLe items of parLicular interest to the commuLer- For example, the text message 130 could indicate that there was an i"ninit

i
22

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accident at a particular location or mi1epostr, that construetion was occurring at anoLher location or milepost, or Lhat highway conditions were partieularly severe and that alternative routes should be selected. The system l-0 could provide multiple messages t,hrough which ttre user coufd scroLl- so as Lo receive different messages in addition to the traffic information received from the various traffic monitors 20. In anoLher embodiment, the user station 52 includes a voice syrrthesizer capable of reading the messages to Etre user. fn yet another embodiment, the sysEem 1O may also provide additional graphical informati-on relating to traffic conditions. For example, the computer system 40 could transmit the location of an accident or consLruction site along the road 12. The information would be displayed on display 54 as an icon or other symbol at the location indicating the presence of an accj-dent or highway constructrion. such an icon j-s shown at 140 in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the computer system could also display an icon representative of a restagrant, gas station, hospital, rest area' or roadside attraction. In such a sysLem, the computer system woufd contain or be linked to a database containing such information. The information could be displayed automatically, or in response to a reguest for such information from a user. In another exemplary embodiment, Ehe computer system 4o automatically generates Lraffic reporEs to be sent to the user station 52 at predetermined times' For example, a user may indicate that it wishes to receive a uraffic report every morning at 7:30 a.m. The compuLer system 40 automatically sends to the user staLion 52 at the predeLermined time (7:30 d'IIl ., for example) the traffic information collected from the traffic monitoring units 20. The information could be sent to be displayed, such as in FIG. 3, or could be sent alternatively j'n a text or graphical format via e-mail. The Lraffic report
Exhibit E Page 23 of 311
23

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20

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also be provided in a format specific to the userrs geographic region and/or user's driving habits, such as anticipated (potential) rouLe to be traveled. The computer system 40 may also automatically send Lhe traffic information to a display in the user's vehicle in response to sorne event, such as turning on the vehicle, time, key press, etc. In another embodiment, the compuLer system 40 allows a user to cafculatre the amount of time necessary to travel from one location to anoLher location afong the road 1_2. The user sends a request Eo the cornputer system 40 indicating the two locations along the road along which travel is desired. The user may, for example, indicate on the display by highli-ghting the two locations on the road 112 using a computer mouse. AlternaLively, the two locations may include the userts current location, as determined by a vehicle based GPS system, so LLrat only the destination needs to be entered' The computer system 40 ttren calculates the anticipated amount of time it witl Eake Lo travel from one point to the other point based upon the traffic data collected by the various traffic monitors 20 between ttre two locations. In addition, the syst.em may calculate alternative routes in order to deterrnine the fastest route in vi-ew of Lhe traffic inforrnation. TLre computer system 40 then sends a signal back to the user station 52 Eo indicate the amounL of time t.haE the trravel from the first to the second location will take. The route deLermined as the best may be overlaid on a map to assisE the user in Lravel ' In yet another embodiment of the invenLion' FIG. 7 strows a divided freeway with wehicle traffic flowing in opposite directions in each of the divided sectj-ons. Each section of the freeway 12 has mulLiple Ianes tzA-1-Zc. The traffic monitors 20 measure traffic in each of the lanes L2?!-L?C of eackr section 12 0f the divided freeway. The monitors 20 may measure traffic on only one portion of the divided freeway, or may measure
may
Exhibit E Page 24 of 311
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22

traffic conditions i-n each of trhe lanes of eactr of the sections of the divided freeway. The monitor used Lo measure traffic in multiple lanec may be a digital video
camera.

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FIG. 8 shows yeL another embodiment of a display 54, which displays trafflc informaLion for eacLr individual lane of t.he divided freeway shown in FIG. 7. For example, in display 54, Lhe traffic conditions in each individ.ual lane 112A-l-12C is displayed for the road section l-l-2. By displaying conditj-ons for each particular Lane, the sysEem has the advantage of allowing the user to anticipate particular lane problems which may occur ahead, such as a wreck 140 in lane 1-L2C- In addition, irt an alternative embodiment, the display 54 is eapable of displaying the individual location of each individual vehicle on the road 1-1-2. FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of a uEer station 52. User station 52 is a mobile unit in a car 60. User station 52 has transmitting and,/or receiving units 64 for communicati-ng wit,h the network 50 ' Such transmitting and receiving units 64 may be any devices capable of transmitting digital or analog data' such as. for example, a digiLal or analog cel-lular phone' The user staLion 52 may also be contained wit.hin a car 50 that further includes an associated gtobal posiEioning sysuem (GPS) receiwer 52 ' The GPS receiver 62 receiwes signals from GPS satellites ?o which enable the GPS receiver to d.etermine its l0cation. when a commuter requests traffic information using the mobile user slation 52, the request for traffic information may include the location of the user as determined by the GPS receiver 62. Wtren the computer system 40 receives this requesL, it provides traffic information back to the mobil-e user st.ation 52 based on the location of tlre car 60 as prowided by the GPS receiver 62. AlLernatively' the computer system 40 may provide traffic information to the user station 52 which in combination with the
Exhibit E Page 25 of 311
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position determined by the GPS recej-ver 52 displays suitable data to Lhe user on a display or audibly. The user station may also be a cellular phone with an integrated or associated GPS. FIG. 5 shows a representative display of the traffic i-nformation provided by the computer system 40 ' The information provided is essent.ially the same as that shown in FIG. 3, except Lhat the display 54 contains at l_51 the position of the car 50. The mobj-le user sEation 52 provides a significant advantage in that it allows Lhe commuter Eo immediately determine traffic information in Lhe commuterrs immediate vicinity based on the eommuLer's present location. The commuLer does not have to waiE for a periodic traffic report. Further, Eraffic condiLions are provided aE a plurality of locations, and the information is contemporaneous. Based on the receipt of such information, the commuter may decide to use an alLernate route rather than continue on ttre .current
f reeway.

20

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Thus, in tLre ernbodiment shown in FIG ' 4 , the system provides the relevanL traffic information to t'he commuter or user on a Limely basis. The display may be tailored to provide t.he information for tfre current location of the commuter, together with the upcoming traffic that lies ahead. In a preferred embodiment, the system obtains traffic informaLion from users that have a GPs receiver 62. In this system, whenever a user station 52 requests traffic information from the computer s)rstem 4O, the computer system 40 associates a velocity (speed) of that particular user with its current locatrion. The velocity may be determined Ehrough a variety of methods' In one sysLem, when the user requesEs traffic informatsion, tshe user station 52 supplies not only i-ts location but also its current velocity. The user station 52 may obtain its current velocity in any fashion- For example, the user station 52 may track its location over time using the GPS
Exhibit E Page 26 of 311
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receiver 62, and also keep track of the time associated with each locaEion by using an internal clock. The velocity could then be calculated by simpJ-y dividing the difference beEween respectiwe locations by respective times. Alternatively, the user station 52 may be connected to the vehicle's speedometer or odometer. and measure velocity using information provided by the Alternatively, the cornputer system 40 vehicle 60 itself. itself cou}d calculate the velocity of each user' In such a system, each user station 52 woufd prowide the computer system 40 with a unique identification code together witsh its location. The computer system 40 then associaLes a time using an internal clock with each location reported by each user. Preferably, the GPS Iocation is sent together with the current time at the user statrion so that delays incurred in transmission do not change the result. The velocity of each user could then be calculated by calculating the difference in Iocation for a particular user (ident.ified by its unique identi-fication code) by the respective times associated wit,h each of these locations. Thus, ttre computer system 40 develops a database consisting of the locatsion of a plurality of users together with the respective velociLies of each of the users. The computer system 40 thus tras traffic information consisting at least of the welocity of the traffic for a plurality of locations corresponding to the focations for each of the reporting users' ft is preferred in such a system that each user station 52 would contribute to the database, buL the computer system could use data frorn fewer than all of the user stations 52 either requesting information or operating' The syst,em may thus use the information received from the user stations 52 either to calibrate tLre traffic information provided by monitors 20, or Lo supplement the Lraffic information provided by the traffic monitors 20. Alternatively, where the number of users is sufficiently
Exhibit E Page 27 of 311
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monitors 20 may no longer be necessary, because Lhe users themselves through mobile user stations 52 and GPS receivers 52 provide enough traffic information to generate useful displays of traffic information. Thus, the system may provide traffic information without the use of monitors 20 at all, relying solely on information derived from the mobile user stations 52. With,a large number of users at a plurality of different locations, the computer system 40 woul-d develop a database having a large number of velocities associated with a large number of geographic Iocations. Ideally, if every eommuter on a road had a user station 52 with a GPS receiver 52, the eomputer system 40 would provide not only velocity data but also traffic density or traffic frequency data. Even without every vehicle having a user station 52 providing data to the computer system 40, traffic density or traffic freguency could be calculated using statistical techniques that correlate the reporting user sLations 52 with known traffic Patterns. Thus, the combination of the mobile user staLion 52, GPS receiver and transmitting and receiving units 64 provides an especially advantageous method for collecting traffi-c information- SurprisinglY, this system is eapable of providing traffic information that is superior to that collected by stationary sensors' This is because traffic information may be potentially collected at, more locations based on the number of mobile user staLions 52, and because individual vehicle speed can be monitored rather than average vehicle speed' In addition, the system has a significant cost advantage in that it is not necessary to install traffic monj-tors 20' or aL least the number of traffic monitors 20 that are necessary can be substantially reduced' The systrem al-so provides automatic traffic reporting, and tshus does not rely on the manual input of daLa. Furthermore' Lhe svstem is low maintenance, since there are no Lraffic

large, the traffic

Exhibit E Page 28 of 311
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monitors 20 to maintain. The system j-s also particularly robust, in that if a particular mobile user station 52 malfunctions, t.raffic information can stil-I be collected for al-l locations based on data reported by other mobile users. In contrast, if a stationary sensor 20 fails, no data can be collected from that location. Thus, the collection of traffic data from a plurality of mobile user stations 52 ta create a traffic information database provid.es surprising advantages and a superior system for prowiding traffic information. fn the system described above using mobile user stations 52 in wehicles, Lhe user st.ation may initiate contact wit.h the computer system 40 by initiating a telephone call- to the computer system 40. Alternatively' the computer system 40 could initiate a call to tLre user stsation 52, such as over the Internet using a web browser. The user st.ation 52 would respond with an appropriate signal if information was requested' The user station 52 could a1so, even if. no information was desired, prowi-d.e its currenL location (preferably with current time), and optionally its welocity as well, Lo allow the computer system 40 to gather additional traffic information. This would be useful in the case of vehicle based lnternet browsing for other purposes so that the traffic inforrnation would be updaLed for thaE user and others. In yet another alternative, the user station 52 would initiate the request to the computer system 40' indicating that traffic information was desired' The computer syscem 40 would then respond at a series of timed. intervals for a set length of time, for example, providing updates every two minutes for thirty minutes' rn yet another alternative embodiment of the system 10, ttre mobile user station 52 is a cellular telephone. The computer system 40 includes a woice synthesizer. A user may telephone the compuLer system 40 over a celluIar telephone network. In response Lo a request for highway cond'itions, the computer sysLem 40
Exhibit E Page 29 of 311
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27

generates a traffic report and transmits the information using the voice slmthesizer so tkrat the traffi-c information may be heard and understood over the
commuLer's cellular telephone. The location of the user may be determined by an associated GPS receiver, or

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alternatively by triangulating the locaLion of the user by measuring the distance between the user and seweral different transmission receiving towers j-n different cells. In yet another embodiment of the present invention Lhe computer system 40 or user station 52 may calculate the best route, such as the fastest, beLween a starting poinC and a desLinaLion based on the current traf f ic conditions. This functionalit.y may furttrer be provided in the mobile user stat,ion 52 in the car 60 so that the driver may calculate the best route to accommodate for changing traffic conditions' This also assists the driver in unfamiliar cities where he may be unfami-liar with anticipated traffic patterns' The functionality of prowiding current traffic conditions and/or best route calculations may be overl-aid on maps available for GPS systems, household computers, and mobile user stations. In addition, an early warning system may be incorporated into tkre computer system, user station, or mobile user station to prowide warning of impending traffic jams, such as the resuLt of a traffic accident' For example, if the average vehicle speed on a portion of a road ahead of a driver is less than a preselecLed velocit.y, such as 25 mph, the computer system 40 may send a warning signal to the mobile user station 52 ' Alternatively, a velocity less than a preselected percentage or ot.her measure of the anticipated velocity f.or the particular road may be used as the warning basis ' It is also envisioned within ttre scope of tt.e invention that data communications may be accompllshed using radio broadcasts, preferably encoded in some manner'
Exhibit E Page 30 of 31 1
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Preferably, Lhe computer system 40 andlor the mobile user station 52 in a vehicle 50 has stored in its associated memory a map daEabase representative of the road or highway network that conLains longiLude and latitude informatj-on associated with various geographic l-ocations on the map. This allows easy integralion of traffic data that has assocj-ated longitude and l-atitude information- For example, along a parLicul-ar section of a highway, the map database contdins the latitude and longitude of selected locations of the highway. The latitude and longitude of the various traffic sensors 20 may be predetermined. When data representative of the traffic aL a particular sensor 2O is received, the computer system 40 can easily display Ehe traffic information for that particular location on the map by associating the geographic location of the sensor 20 with Lhe longitude and latitude information contained in the map database. , Similarly, where traffic informaLion is deriwed from individual mobile user stations 52 in vehicles 60 which report laLitude and longitude derived from the mobile GPS receivers 62, the computer system 40 can easily associate the traffic information receiwed' from the mobile user station 52 with the map database based on the user's reporLed laLiLude and tongitude' TLrus, by utilizing a map database Lhat contains latitude and longitude information for various locations, the system can easlly overlay traffic information on top of the displayed map data by associating the geographic data (Iatitude and longitude) corresponding to the tsraffic information with the geographic data corresponding to the ,
map.

35

such a system' FIG' l-l- shows schematically a section of a road having various locations 2aL-2L8- Along the road are positioned various sensors 2oa-2Od. whose geographic locations have been determined. Traveling along the road are a variety of users 4Ol-404 having respective user staLions and GPS FIGS. 1-l- Lo l-2 illustrate

i"r'iuit L
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receivers. FIG. L2 illustrates one embodiment of a map and traffic informaEion database that may be deweloped to provide traffic information ower ttre network to individual users- Each of Lhe various locations (or road segments) 2oL-218 has an associated tongitude and latitude. In addition, the database may optionally contain the associated road, as well as optionally the direction that traffic moves at that location {for example, using a 360 degree compass, 0 degrees would represenL straightr north while 90 degrees would represent straighE east). The database also includes traffic information, such as the average wehicle velocity calculated for that location. Thus, for example, referring to FIG, 11, the traffic monitor 2Oa may be used Eo provide the vehicle velocity for locatri-on 2O2' User 401- may be used to provide the vehicle velocity at location 2l-0. Of course, while a database has been illustrated that cornbines both map and traffic information, the system could use two or more databases containing portions of the information, suckr as a separate map database and a separate traffic information database. An example of a map daLabase useful with such a sysLem is Etak Map@ from soNY@' The map database could reside on either or both the compuLer system 40 or the mobile user station 52. information from Wtren a user requests traffic the computer system 40, Lhe computer system 40 transmits the requested data based on either the geographic location of the user, or for the geographic location requested by the user. The computer system 40 either sends the raw traffic data requested by the user' or sends a signal representative of the map and/or traffj-c database which may be used by the user station 52 to represent the map and traffic information on the display
54.

Exhibit E Page 32of311
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The advantage of using a map database that contains longitude and l-atitude information associated with various locaLions on a map is that the system al-l-ows easy and auEomatic integration of traffic informaLion, either to a database or for display. Thus, traffic

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information may be collected from an j-ndividual user who provides the longitude and latitude for that user based on informaLion derived from the user's GPS receiver 52. The computer system then matches the location of the user to the map database based on the received longitude and latitude information. The compuLer system 40 can trhen overlay the traffic information data recei-wed from the usier onto the map daLabase based upon the provided longitude and latitude information. TLrus, the system al-l-ows Lraffic information to be updated for a map database, even though the routes of Lhe indivi-dual users are not predetermined. In other words, it is not necessary Lo know the particular route of an indi-vidual user in order to eollect useful traffic information and to update a Lraffic information database' The traffic information database may be configured to provide traffic information to optimize the analysis of traffic information both by }ocation and time. The spacing of the locations for which traffic information is associated may be eit'her every half-mile' mile, etc. The spacing depends on the locations of ground based Lraffic moniEors and the number of cars traweling through a particular spacing' If, for example' there are traffic monitors spaced every half-mile, then Ehe traffic information database may report traffic information for each of those locations. However, for a section of road that does not have traffic monitors, the spacing of the locations associating traffic informaLion depends on the frequency of vehicles passing along the highway and which are reporting traffic conditions' For example, where the traffic density is high, there will be a large number of vehicles from which to gather data' and
Exhibit E Page 33 of 31 1
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accordingly the spacing between locations may be smal-l, such as L/4 mi1e. However, where the traffic density is 1ow, th.ere may be few vehicles from which to gather data, and thus the spacing may be 1arge, such as 3 miles ' The traffic informaLion database may be configured so that the spacing is optimized