IP Library Granted Patent US 12,461,523
Granted Patent B2
US 12,461,523 · App. 18/053,436 · Granted Nov 4, 2025

Orchestrating vehicles and remote operating clients

Inventors: Christian Eggenberger (Wil, CH); Kavitha Hassan Yogaraj (Bangalore, IN); Aaron K. Baughman (Cary, NC); Markus Van Kempen (Toronto, CA)
Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
G05D1/0038G05D1/0027G06V20/54G06V20/56G08G1/0112H04N7/181
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,461,523
App. No.
18/053,436
Granted
Nov 4, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A computer-implemented method for orchestrating operation of multiple vehicles includes generating a single display image stream based on multiple image streams, each image stream corresponding to a respective vehicle, the vehicles being assigned to be controlled by a remote operating client. The method further includes receiving, from the remote operating client, a vehicle operation instruction in response to the single display image stream being displayed by the remote operating client. The method further includes transmitting, to at least one vehicle from the multiple vehicles, the operation instruction to manipulate operation of the at least one vehicle.

Claims (32)

1 . A computer-implemented method for orchestrating operation of a plurality of vehicles, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of image streams, each image stream corresponding to a respective vehicle from the plurality of vehicles being assigned to be controlled by a remote operating client;

generating a single display image stream by extracting semantically relevant aspects of each image stream corresponding to the respective vehicles and consolidating the extracted aspects into a unified image representation that excludes non-relevant aspects not extracted from the plurality of image streams;

receiving, from the remote operating client, a vehicle operation instruction in response to the single display image stream being displayed by the remote operating client; and

transmitting, to at least one vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, the operation instruction to manipulate operation of the at least one vehicle.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , generating natural language text describing the surroundings captured in the single display image stream, and generating a plurality of possible operation instructions based on the words, wherein the operation instruction output from the remote operating client is selected from the plurality of possible operation instructions, and wherein the operation instruction changes at least a speed and a heading of the at least one vehicle.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the single display image stream further comprises augmenting a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with information extracted from a second image stream from the plurality of images.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the information extracted from the second image stream is selected based on the information being categorized as at least one of an urgent concern, a safety concern, and a user-preference.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the single display image stream further comprises transforming a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with reference to a second image stream from the plurality of images.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the remote operating client comprises a plurality of remote operating clients.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of image streams comprises a first image stream captured by an image capturing device mounted on a first vehicle from the plurality of vehicles.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of image streams comprises a second image stream captured by an image capturing device stationed along a route of the first vehicle.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vehicles is assigned to the remote operating client based on a matching matrix.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises generating an alert for the remote operating client to provide the operation instruction in response to detecting a potential hazard in the single display image stream using computer vision.

11 . A system comprising:

a computer server configured to orchestrate operation of a plurality of vehicles based on instructions from a remote operating client by performing a computer-implemented method that comprises:

receiving a plurality of image streams, each image stream corresponding to a respective vehicle from the plurality of vehicles being assigned to be controlled by a remote operating client;

generating a single display image stream by extracting semantically relevant aspects of each image stream corresponding to the respective vehicles and consolidating the extracted aspects into a unified image representation that excludes non-relevant aspects not extracted from the plurality of image streams;

receiving, from the remote operating client, a vehicle operation instruction in response to the single display image stream being displayed by the remote operating client; and

transmitting, to at least one vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, the operation instruction to manipulate operation of the at least one vehicle.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein generating the single display image stream further comprises augmenting a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with information extracted from a second image stream from the plurality of images.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein generating the single display image stream further comprises transforming a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with reference to a second image stream from the plurality of images.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of image streams comprises a first image stream captured by an image capturing device mounted on a first vehicle from the plurality of vehicles.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of image streams comprises a second image stream captured by an image capturing device stationed along a route of the first vehicle.

16 . A computer program product comprising a memory device with computer-executable instructions therein, the computer-executable instructions when executed by a processing unit perform a method to orchestrate operation of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of image streams, each image stream corresponding to a respective vehicle from the plurality of vehicles being assigned to be controlled by a remote operating client;

generating a single display image stream by extracting semantically relevant aspects of each image stream corresponding to the respective vehicles and consolidating the extracted aspects into a unified image representation that excludes non-relevant aspects not extracted from the plurality of image streams;

receiving, from the remote operating client, a vehicle operation instruction in response to the single display image stream being displayed by the remote operating client; and

transmitting, to at least one vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, the operation instruction to manipulate operation of the at least one vehicle.

17 . The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein generating the single display image stream further comprises augmenting a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with information extracted from a second image stream from the plurality of images.

18 . The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein generating the single display image stream further comprises transforming a first image stream from the plurality of image streams with reference to a second image stream from the plurality of images.

19 . The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises generating an alert for the remote operating client to provide the operation instruction in response to detecting a potential hazard in the single display image stream using computer vision.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 8, 2022
From: EGGENBERGER, CHRISTIAN; YOGARAJ, KAVITHA HASSAN; BAUGHMAN, AARON K.; VAN KEMPEN, MARKUS
To: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 061690/0021 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240160203A1 · May 16, 2024
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