Sensor and autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11442167-B2
Application number	US-201916565987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2019
Priority date	Sep 12, 2018
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle having a sensor and a sensor having a plurality of light transmitters and a plurality of light receivers that are arranged in a common housing, with the optical axes of the light transmitters and light receivers being arranged in parallel or in fan form in different angle directions having angular intervals, whereby a protected field is formed, and having a control and evaluation unit for monitoring and evaluating the protected field, wherein a camera is connected to the control and evaluation unit, with camera images of the camera being evaluated by the control and evaluation unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensor comprising:
a plurality of light transmitters and a plurality of light receivers arranged in a common housing, with the optical axes of the light transmitters and light receivers arranged in parallel or in fan form in different angle directions having angular intervals, whereby a protected field is formed; and
a control and evaluation unit for monitoring and evaluating the protected field,
wherein a camera is connected to the control and evaluation unit, with camera images of the camera being evaluated by the control and evaluation unit,
and wherein a plurality of switchable protected fields are provided, with the protected fields being switched over in dependence on the detected camera image, and with the field of view of the camera directed to the protected field and at least the region of the protected field detected by the camera.

2. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a sensor in accordance with the time of flight process.

3. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the camera is arranged in the housing.

4. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein an event in the protected field starts a recording of the camera.

5. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a recording mode of the camera is settable in the control and evaluation unit.

6. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the camera recordings of the camera that have led to an intervention in the protected field are evaluated by the control and evaluation unit.

7. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a repetition rate of recordings for the camera is changeable in the control and evaluation unit.

8. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the control and evaluation unit carries out a code recognition on the basis of the camera recording; and wherein symbols of a barcode or of a matrix code can be identified by the control and evaluation unit.

9. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the control and evaluation unit carries out an object recognition on the basis of the camera recording of the camera and distinguishes permitted objects from unpermitted objects and suppresses an object determination signal of the sensor with permitted objects.

10. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the camera is a camera in accordance with the time of flight process.

11. The sensor in accordance with claim 1 , wherein an output interface for measured data is provided.

12. An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a sensor, having a plurality of light transmitters and a plurality of light receivers arranged in a common housing, with the optical axes of the light transmitters and light receivers arranged in parallel or in fan form in different angle directions having angular intervals, whereby a protected field is formed; and
the sensor further having a control and evaluation unit for monitoring and evaluating the protected field,
wherein a camera is connected to the control and evaluation unit, with camera images of the camera being evaluated by the control and evaluation unit,
and wherein a plurality of switchable protected fields are provided, with the protected fields being switched over in dependence on the detected camera image, and with the field of view of the camera directed to the protected field ( 6 ) and at least the region of the protected field detected by the camera.

13. The autonomous vehicle in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the sensor is a sensor in accordance with the time of flight process.

Assignees

• Sick Ag

Inventors

• Pfister Michael

Classifications

• G01S7/4815 Primary

  using multiple transmitters · CPC title

• G06V20/58

  Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads · CPC title

• G06V10/147

  Details of sensors, e.g. sensor lenses (fingerprint or palmprint sensors G06V40/13; vascular sensors G06V40/145; eye sensors G06V40/19) · CPC title

• G01S17/04 Primary

  Systems determining the presence of a target · CPC title

• G01S17/08

  for measuring distance only (indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48) · CPC title