IP Library Granted Patent US 12,405,115
Granted Patent B2
US 12,405,115 · App. 18/004,614 · Granted Sep 2, 2025

Systems, methods and devices for map-based object's localization deep learning and object's motion trajectories on geospatial maps using neural network

Inventors: Alper Yilmaz (Lewis Center, OH); Bing Zha (Columbus, OH)
Assignee: Ohio State Innovation Foundation
G01C21/30G01C21/1656G06N3/0442G06N3/063
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,405,115
App. No.
18/004,614
Granted
Sep 2, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An object of initial unknown position on a map may be determined by traversing through moving and turning to establish motion trajectory to reduce its spatial uncertainty to a single location that would fit only to a certain map trajectory. An artificial neural network model learns from object motion on different map topologies may establish the object's end-to-end positioning from embedding map topologies and object motion. The proposed method includes learning potential motion patterns from the map and perform trajectory classification in the map's edge-space. Two different trajectory representations, namely angle representation and augmented angle representation (incorporates distance traversed) are considered and both a Graph Neural Network and an RNN are trained from the map for each representation to compare their performances. The results from the actual visual-inertial odometry have shown that the proposed approach is able to learn the map and localize the object based on its motion trajectories.

Claims (51)

1. A method for generating object absolute positioning, comprising:

in response to receiving motion based relative position signals {s 1 , s 2 . . . s n } generated by the at least one device of an object that traverses within a map M, wherein the map M is represented as a graph G, comprising a plurality of nodes V={v 1 , v 2 . . . v n } and a plurality of edges E={e 1 , e 2 . . . e n }, wherein: each of the nodes {v 1 , v 2 . . . v n } is assigned with a unique identification which represents a place and other features attributed to that place at a certain time sequence, and each of the edges {e 1 , e 2 . . . e n } is assigned with a unique identification which represents a traversable path between the nodes,

executing by a processor, an algorithm stored in a memory of at least one device of the object to perform steps, comprising:

extracting, by the processor of the at least one device of the object, the motion based relative position signals {s 1 , s 2 . . . s n } generated from the at least one device of the object to obtain time sequenced edges { . . . e i−1 , e i , e i+1 , e i+2 . . . } and nodes { . . . v i−1 , v i , v i+1 , v i+2 . . . } information traversed by the object at time t at node v i , such that the object at the at node v i either makes a turn or continues to move in one direction, wherein the node v i is associated with a distance l i traversed and a turning angle (which represents directional information formed at the node v i between a previous edge e i−1 and a next edge e i+1 of the object has traversed;

generating, by the processor, a relative motion trajectory T r of the object over n nodes {v 1 , v 2 . . . v n } from one or both of n−1 distances {l 1 , l 2 . . . l n−1 } and n−2 turning angles {φ1 . . . φn−2} computed from the motion based relative position signals {s 1 , s 2 . . . s n };

quantizing the n−2 turning angles {φ1 . . . φn−2} to identify a given discrete bin for each relative motion trajectory T r at the time t from a plurality of discrete bins;

training a neural network model that maps the graph G to an embedding space Z based on object traversable edges {e 1 , e 2 . . . e n } and nodes {v 1 , v 2 . . . v n } to learn object's motion trajectories j on the map M; and

generating a geolocation A x of the object according to the trained neural network within the map M and the embedding space Z.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the trained neural network comprising a trained Graph Neural Network (GNN) model utilizing a message passing mechanism that fires neurons by processing the time sequenced edges { . . . e i−1 , e i , e i+1 , e i+2 . . . } and nodes { . . . v i−1 , v i , v i+1 , v i+2 . . . } at the time t i to learn or estimate the geolocation A x of the object on the map M.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the trained Graph Neural Network that learns or estimates the geolocation A x of the object on the map M is defined by a non-linear function ƒ:

ƒ: X→Y based on the message passing mechanism,

wherein X is an input feature sequence: X=(φ1, φ2, . . . φn) or X={l 1 , l 2 . . . l n−1 }, where φl∈R, (i=1, 2 . . . n), n is a length of sequence, and φl is ith angle, wherein l 1 , l 2 . . . l n−1 are distances of the sequence;

wherein Y is an output position label: Y=e i , e i ∈E, where E={e 1 , e 2 . . . e n } is the output label space, k is the number of edges in the at least one defined map.

4. The method according to claim 2 , comprising using a softmax function:

P

(

Y

=

i

l

z

)

=

softmax

(

z

)

=

e

z

j

=

0

k

e

z

to calculate a probability of each edge with a final output which corresponds to unique edge ID in a given map graph, where, z is the final linear output, Y=i represents the edge ID and is equal to i.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the trained neural network comprising a trained Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) model comprising layers of neurons having feedback loops for processing one-time sequenced edge e i and node v i at the time t to learn or estimate the location A x of the object on the map M.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the trained Recurrent Neural Network model processes the input sequence x t at an instance of time t, and an output sequence generated at the time instant t depends on all previous hidden states h t−1 inputs, the non-linear function ƒ, and produces a new state through a non-linear activation function ƒ and g:

h t =ƒ( W·x t +U·h t−1 +b h );

y t =g ( V·h t +b y )

where, U; V; W are weighted matrices, h t and y t are hidden output and final output, and b h and b y are bias terms.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the trained RNN further comprising a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network or a transformer network which uses internal cyclic mechanisms and attention mechanisms, wherein each angle φ1 in the sequence generated by a preprocessing phase is fed into the LSTM network one by one.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one device of the object that generates the motion based relative position signals {s 1 , s 2 . . . s n } comprises one or a combination of: a fixed image camera, a video camera, a mobile smart phone, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) structured light sensors (depth sensors) or a sound navigating ranges (SONAR) (under water depth sensors) that measure two dimensional (2-D) or three dimensional (3D) accelerations and gyroscope, a visual inertial odometer.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising using one or both of distances {l 1 , l 2 . . . l n−1 } between nodes or augmented angle representation in the turn angle φi to improve accuracy, wherein the motion based relative position signals {s 1 , s 2 . . . s n } are generated in two dimensional (2-D) and three dimensional (3-D) space . . . .

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the map M is generated from inputs from one or a combination of: a blue print, geographical information system, a fixed image picture, motion images, an OpenStreetMap (OSM), Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), Global Positioning System (GPS), Indoor Positioning System (IPS), under water topographical map and visual Odometry (VO).

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 28, 2025
From: YILMAZ, ALPER; ZHA, BING
To: OHIO STATE INNOVATION FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 070368/0270 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 63064656 · Aug 12, 2020
Provisional Application 63049005 · Jul 7, 2020
Related Publication 20230243658A1 · Aug 3, 2023
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US 12,660,735