Granted Patent B2

US 12,523,521 · App. 18/005,417 · Granted Jan 13, 2026

Inventors: Stefan Sellhusen (Sunnyvale, CA); Roland Werner (Sindelfingen, DE); Christoph Doerr (Cologne, DE); Florian Dumas (Herrenberg, DE)

Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH

G01G19/086

Abstract

Claims (30)

1 . A method for detecting an unsecured load in a vehicle that can be operated in an automated manner, the method comprising:

receiving, with a controller of the vehicle, at least one of lateral accelerations and longitudinal accelerations of the vehicle acquired by at least one acceleration sensor;

starting, with the controller, a time interval in response to a threshold value being exceeded by one of the lateral accelerations and the longitudinal accelerations, the starting including calculating a start time and an end time of the time interval;

receiving, with the controller, during the time interval, measurement data acquired by at least one sensor and calculating, with the controller, derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data;

counting, with the controller, an event in response to the derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data exceeding the threshold value;

detecting, with the controller, the unsecured load in the vehicle in response to a minimum number of events being counted during the time interval; and

autonomously operating, with the controller, the vehicle to at least one of (i) bring the vehicle to a stop or (ii) reduce vehicle dynamics in response to detecting the unsecured load.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the time interval one of (i) has a start time with a time offset of t 0 =√{square root over (b i a y )} and an end time of t end =√{square root over (3b i a y )} when the threshold value is exceeded by the lateral acceleration, and (ii) has a start time with a time offset of t 0 =√{square root over (l i a x )} and an end time of t end =√{square root over (3l i a x )} when the threshold value is exceeded by the longitudinal acceleration, where l is a length of a cargo space, b is a width of the cargo space of the vehicle, a x is the longitudinal accelerations, and a y is the lateral accelerations.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , the calculating further comprising:

calculating the derivatives with respect to time of the measurement data using at least one differentiator.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , the receiving measurement data further comprising:

receiving, during the time interval, the measurement data from at least one of the at least one acceleration sensor, a sound sensor, a microphone, and a travel sensor.

5 . The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

in response to the minimum number of events being counted during the time interval, generating control commands configured to output a warning message.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the travel sensor is a travel sensor of a wheel suspension of the vehicle.

7 . A controller for detecting an unsecured load in a vehicle that can be operated in an automated manner, the controller being configured to:

receive measurement data including at least one of lateral accelerations and longitudinal accelerations of the vehicle acquired by at least one acceleration sensor;

start a time interval in response to a threshold value being exceeded by one of the lateral accelerations and the longitudinal accelerations, the start of the time interval including calculating a start time and an end time of the time interval;

during the time interval, receive measurement data acquired by at least one sensor and calculate derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data;

count an event in response to the derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data exceeding the threshold value;

detect the unsecured load in the vehicle in response to a minimum number of events being counted during the time interval; and

autonomously operate the vehicle to at least one of (i) bring the vehicle to a stop or (ii) reduce vehicle dynamics in response to detecting the unsecured load.

8 . The controller according to claim 7 , wherein the controller executes a computer program stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium.

9 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that stores a computer program for detecting an unsecured load in a vehicle that can be operated in an automated manner, the computer program comprising commands that, when executed by one of a computer and a controller, cause the one of the computer and the controller to:

receive measurement data including at least one of lateral accelerations and longitudinal accelerations of the vehicle acquired by at least one acceleration sensor;

start a time interval in response to a threshold value being exceeded by one of the lateral accelerations and the longitudinal accelerations, the starting including calculating a start time and an end time of the time interval;

during the time interval, receive measurement data acquired by at least one sensor and calculate derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data;

count an event in response to the derivatives with respect to time of the received measurement data exceeding the threshold value;

detect the unsecured load in the vehicle in response to a minimum number of events being counted during the time interval; and

autonomously operate the vehicle to at least one of (i) bring the vehicle to a stop or (ii) reduce vehicle dynamics in response to detecting the unsecured load.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (25)