Situation-aware departure time calculation using traffic data
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile device users face challenges in determining the optimal departure time for appointments, as existing technologies do not effectively account for real-time and predicted traffic conditions, leading to potential late arrivals.
Innovation Solution
A system that integrates a mobile device with a server to provide a 'when to leave' alarm, which calculates the fastest route and displays a countdown timer on the device, incorporating real-time, historic, and predicted traffic data to ensure timely arrival, using a combination of GPS, APIs, and data services to synchronize appointment data and traffic information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mobile device provides basic PIM functions and static route information, then the device maintains simplicity and low resource consumption, but it cannot provide real-time situation-aware departure time recommendations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that handles complex computations for determining departure times. The server receives appointment data from the mobile device's PIM, calculates optimal departure times based on traffic conditions and route information, and sends recommendations back to the device. This mediator approach allows the mobile device to provide accurate real-time departure recommendations without bearing the computational burden, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and device complexity.
2Reliability
If the system uses static traffic data and historical averages, then computational resources are conserved and processing is faster, but the departure time recommendations become outdated and inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating route information and storing it in the mobile device's memory before it is needed. When the user requests a departure time recommendation, the system retrieves this pre-stored route data and combines it with current traffic conditions from the server, rather than calculating everything in real-time. This approach maintains high accuracy while reducing energy consumption during the actual recommendation process.
3Loss of information
If the system integrates real-time traffic data, dynamic route calculation, and PIM synchronization, then accurate situation-aware departure time recommendations are achieved, but the device complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into distinct functional modules: a PIM module for managing appointment data, a navigation module for handling route information, a traffic data module for receiving real-time traffic conditions, and a departure time calculation module for integrating all data sources. Each module operates independently and communicates through standardized interfaces, allowing the complex system to maintain completeness of data while managing complexity through modular architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for providing a mobile device user with a “when to leave” alarm on his or her mobile device. The user has scheduled an appointment at a given time and location in the user's personal information manager (PIM) executing on the mobile device. A representative PIM is a calendar on the mobile device. The “when to leave” alarm is provided to the end user in the form of a display widget (or “countdown alarm”) that automatically activates a given time (e.g., 30 minutes) before a latest departure time for an event in the user's PIM.