IP Library Granted Patent US 11,458,988
Granted Patent B2
US 11,458,988 · App. 16/671,983 · Granted Oct 4, 2022

Controlling an automated vehicle using visual anchors

Inventors: John Hayes (Mountain View, CA); Volkmar Uhlig (Cupertino, CA); Akash J. Sagar (Redwood City, CA); Nima Soltani (Los Gatos, CA); Feng Tian (Foster City, CA)
Assignee: Ghost Locomotion Inc.
B60W60/001G06N20/00B60W2420/42B60W2556/25
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,458,988
App. No.
16/671,983
Granted
Oct 4, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Controlling an automated vehicle using visual anchors, including receiving, from one or more cameras of an autonomous vehicle, first video data; identifying one or more visual anchors in the first video data; determining one or more differentials between the one or more visual anchors and one or more predicted visual anchors; and determining, based on the one or more differentials, one or more control operations for the autonomous vehicle to reduce the one or more differentials.

Claims (38)

1. A method for controlling an automated vehicle using visual anchors, comprising:

receiving, from one or more cameras of an autonomous vehicle, first video data;

identifying one or more visual anchors in the first video data;

determining one or more predicted visual anchors based on sensor data comprising second video data and data from one or more non-camera sensors, wherein the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises a predicted location of the one or more visual anchors, wherein the second video data occurs before the first video data;

determining one or more differentials between the one or more visual anchors and the one or more predicted visual anchors;

determining, based on the one or more differentials, one or more control operations for the autonomous vehicle to reduce the one or more differentials; and

applying the one or more control operations.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more differentials comprise one or more pixel width differentials, one or more pixel height differentials, one or more pixel area differentials, or one or more vector differentials.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises providing the sensor data as input to a machine learning model.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises sensor data received within a time window ending at a time offset relative to a current time.

5. An apparatus for controlling an automated vehicle using visual anchors, the apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to carry out steps comprising:

receiving, from one or more cameras of an autonomous vehicle, first video data;

identifying one or more visual anchors in the first video data;

determining one or more predicted visual anchors based on sensor data comprising second video data and data from one or more non-camera sensors, wherein the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises a predicted location of the one or more visual anchors, wherein the second video data occurs before the first video data;

determining one or more differentials between the one or more visual anchors and the one or more predicted visual anchors;

determining, based on the one or more differentials, one or more control operations for the autonomous vehicle to reduce the one or more differentials; and

applying the one or more control operations.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more differentials comprise one or more pixel width differentials, one or more pixel height differentials, one or more pixel area differentials, or one or more vector differentials.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein determining the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises providing the sensor data as input to a machine learning model.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the sensor data comprises sensor data received within a time window ending at a time offset relative to a current time.

9. An autonomous vehicle for detecting out-of-model scenarios for an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

an apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to carry out steps comprising:

receiving, from one or more cameras of an autonomous vehicle, first video data;

identifying one or more visual anchors in the first video data;

determining one or more predicted visual anchors based on sensor data comprising second video data and data from one or more non-camera sensors, wherein the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises a predicted location of the one or more visual anchors, wherein the second video data occurs before the first video data;

determining one or more differentials between the one or more visual anchors and the one or more predicted visual anchors;

determining, based on the one or more differentials, one or more control operations for the autonomous vehicle to reduce the one or more differentials; and

applying the one or more control operations.

10. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the one or more differentials comprise one or more pixel width differentials, one or more pixel height differentials, one or more pixel area differentials, or one or more vector differentials.

11. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9 , wherein determining the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises providing the sensor data as input to a machine learning model.

12. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the sensor data comprises sensor data received within a time window ending at a time offset relative to a current time.

13. A computer program product disposed upon a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions for detecting out-of-model scenarios for an autonomous vehicle that, when executed, cause a computer system of the autonomous vehicle to perform a method comprising:

receiving, from one or more cameras of an autonomous vehicle, first video data;

identifying one or more visual anchors in the first video data;

determining one or more predicted visual anchors based on sensor data comprising second video data and data from one or more non-camera sensors, wherein the one or more predicted visual anchors comprises a predicted location of the one or more visual anchors, wherein the second video data occurs before the first video data;

determining one or more differentials between the one or more visual anchors and the one or more predicted visual anchors;

determining, based on the one or more differentials, one or more control operations for the autonomous vehicle to reduce the one or more differentials; and

applying the one or more control operations.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2024
From: GHOST AUTONOMY, INC.
To: APPLIED INTUITION, INC.
Reel/Frame 068982/0647 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Aug 8, 2022
From: GHOST LOCOMOTION INC.
To: GHOST AUTONOMY INC.
Reel/Frame 061118/0665 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 1, 2019
From: HAYES, JOHN; UHLIG, VOLKMAR; SAGAR, AKASH J.; SOLTANI, NIMA; TIAN, FENG
To: GHOST LOCOMOTION INC.
Reel/Frame 050893/0249 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62900076 · Sep 13, 2019
Related Publication 20210080969A1 · Mar 18, 2021
Cited By (1)
US 12,711,730