Computation of travel routes, durations, and plans over multiple contexts

Abstract

A route planning system comprises a receiver component that receives a request for directions between a beginning point and a destination point. An analysis component analyzes a traffic system representation that varies as context varies and outputs expected amounts of travel time between the beginning point and the destination point for multiple contexts based at least in part upon the analysis. A method is described herein that includes techniques for searching over routes and trip start times simultaneously so as to identity start times and routes associated with maximal expected value, or equivalently minimum expected cost, given preferences encoded about one or more of the leaving time, the travel time, and the arrival time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system that comprises:
 a data repository configured to store a plurality of driving profiles;   a profile matching component configured to:
 receive driving preferences of a user; 
 analyze the driving preferences of the user; and 
 map the user to a driving profile of the plurality of driving profiles stored in the data repository based on the driving preferences of the user; and 
   an analysis component configured to:
 determine a route based on the driving profile and a request for directions; and 
 provide the route and one or more associated travel times to the user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , that further comprises a receiver component configured to receive the request for directions from the user, the request for directions comprising at least one of an origination point and a destination point. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , that further comprises:
 a traffic system representation, configured to be dynamically updated based at least in part on the driving profile or contextual information, that comprises:
 one or more roadway segments associated with a plurality of routes respectively; 
 one or more characteristics of the one or more roadway segments; and 
 at least one of one or more weights associated with the one or more characteristics of the one or more roadway segments, or a probability distribution associated with the one or more characteristics of the one or more roadway segments. 
   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the analysis component is further configured to:
 determine one or more temporal parameters associated with the plurality of routes based on the contextual information; and   determine the route from the plurality of routes.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more weights of the traffic system representation are updated based on the driving profile; and
 wherein the analysis component is further configured to determine the route from the plurality of routes based on the updated weights.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the profile matching component is configured to receive a driving preference of the driving preferences of a user from at least one sensor configured to accumulate data associated with the driving preference of the driving preferences of the user. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the profile matching component is configured to receive a driving preference of the driving preferences of a user from at least one of:
 one or more answers to a questionnaire completed by the user, or   demographic information of the user.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis component is configured to provide the route and the one or more associated travel times to the user that includes an associated travel time and an associated start time for each of two different instances of contextual information associated with the route. 
     
     
         9 . A method for providing a user with timing parameters related to a journey over multiple contexts, the method comprising:
 determining a driving profile of the user based on one or more driving preferences of the user;   determining a route for the journey based on the driving profile, information related to multiple contexts, and a request for directions from the user, the information comprising two or more of weather conditions, a time of day, a day of the week, calendar information, traffic flow, and major non-traffic events; and   providing the route and one or more associated timing parameters to the user.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the route comprises:
 determining a plurality of routes in a traffic system representation;   constraining the plurality of routes based on a correlation between the driving profile and the information; and   selecting the route from the plurality of routes.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein providing the one or more associated timing parameters comprises providing the one or more associated timing parameters with at least one context based on the information. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the preferences of the user are obtained by analyzing data collected from sensors and comprise at least one of:
 a preferred route of the user, an average speed of the user compared to a posted speed limit, or an average speed of the user related to traffic congestion.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the preferences of the user are obtained by analyzing responses of the user to a questionnaire, or
 wherein the preferences of the user are obtained from demographics information of the user comprising at least one of an age of the user, a regular area of driving of the user, or a roadway characteristic preference.   
     
     
         14 . At least one computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:
 receiving a request, from a user, for directions between an origination point and a destination point;   accessing driving preferences of the user;   searching for a plurality of candidate routes between the origination point and the destination point, the searching being constrained by the user driving preferences and based at least in part upon contextual information, the plurality of candidate routes having a plurality of start times associated therewith; and   selecting a route of the plurality of candidate routes and a start time of the plurality of start times to provide to the user based on a duration of a journey associated with the selected route and the selected start time.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the user driving preferences comprise preferences of the user obtained by analyzing data collected from sensors. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the preferences of the user obtained by analyzing data collected from sensors comprise at least one of:
 a preferred route of the user;   an average speed of the user compared to a posted speed limit; or   an average speed of the user related to traffic congestion.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the user driving preferences comprise preferences of the user obtained by analyzing responses of the user to a questionnaire. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the user driving preferences comprise predicted preferences based on demographics of the user. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the demographics of the user comprise at least one of:
 an age of the user;   a regular area of driving of the user; or   a roadway characteristic preference.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the contextual information comprises one or more of weather conditions, a time of day, a day of the week, calendar information, traffic flow, and major non-traffic events.