Virtual models for communications between autonomous vehicles and external observers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11501495-B2
Application number	US-202016864016-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2020
Priority date	May 10, 2019
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods for interactions between an autonomous vehicle and one or more external observers include virtual models of drivers the autonomous vehicle. The virtual models may be generated by the autonomous vehicle and displayed to one or more external observers, and in some cases using devices worn by the external observers. The virtual models may facilitate interactions between the external observers and the autonomous vehicle using gestures or other visual cues. The virtual models may be encrypted with characteristics of an external observer, such as the external observer's face image, iris, or other representative features. Multiple virtual models for multiple external observers may be simultaneously used for multiple communications while preventing interference due to possible overlap of the multiple virtual models.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for communicating between one or more vehicles and one or more external observers, comprising:
a memory configured to store data; and
a processor configured to:
detect a first external observer for communicating with a vehicle;
obtain, for the vehicle, a first virtual model for communicating with the first external observer;
encrypt, based on one or more characteristics of the first external observer, the first virtual model to generate an encrypted first virtual model; and
communicate with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model, wherein a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model are visible to the first external observer and are prevented from being visible to one or more other external observers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to communicate with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model, the processor is configured to:
decrypting frames of the encrypted first virtual model based on the one or more characteristics of the first external observer; and
projecting the decrypted frames of first virtual model towards the first external observer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein, to project the decrypted frames of the first virtual model towards the first external observer, the processor is configured to:
detect a field of view of the first external observer; and
project a foveated rendering of the decrypted frames of the first virtual model to the first external observer based on the field of view.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
detect a second external observer for communicating with the vehicle;
obtain, for the vehicle, a second virtual model for communicating with the second external observer;
encrypt, based on one or more characteristics of the second external observer, the second virtual model to generate an encrypted second virtual model; and
communicate with the second external observer using the encrypted second virtual model simultaneously with communicating with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
project a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model towards the first external observer;
project a second set of frames of the encrypted second virtual model towards the second external observer; and
prevent the first set of frames from overlapping the second set of frames.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes the vehicle.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes a computing device of the vehicle.

8. A method of communication between one or more vehicles and one or more external observers, the method comprising:
detecting a first external observer for communicating with a vehicle;
obtaining, for the vehicle, a first virtual model for communicating with the first external observer;
encrypting, based on one or more characteristics of the first external observer, the first virtual model to generate an encrypted first virtual model; and
communicating with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model, wherein a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model are visible to the first external observer and are prevented from being visible to one or more other external observers.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein communicating with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model comprises:
decrypting frames of the encrypted first virtual model based on the one or more characteristics of the first external observer; and
projecting the decrypted frames of first virtual model towards the first external observer.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein projecting the decrypted frames of the first virtual model towards the first external observer comprises:
detecting a field of view of the first external observer; and
projecting a foveated rendering of the decrypted frames of the first virtual model to the first external observer based on the field of view.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
detecting a second external observer for communicating with the vehicle;
obtaining, for the vehicle, a second virtual model for communicating with the second external observer;
encrypting, based on one or more characteristics of the second external observer, the second virtual model to generate an encrypted second virtual model; and
communicating with the second external observer using the encrypted second virtual model simultaneously with communicating with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
projecting a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model towards the first external observer;
projecting a second set of frames of the encrypted second virtual model towards the second external observer; and
preventing the first set of frames from overlapping the second set of frames.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
detect a first external observer for communicating with a vehicle;
obtain, for the vehicle, a first virtual model for communicating with the first external observer;
encrypt, based on one or more characteristics of the first external observer, the first virtual model to generate an encrypted first virtual model; and
communicate with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model, wherein a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model are visible to the first external observer and are prevented from being visible to one or more other external observers.

14. An apparatus for communicating between one or more vehicles and one or more external observers, comprising:
means for detecting a first external observer for communicating with a vehicle;
means for obtaining, for the vehicle, a first virtual model for communicating with the first external observer;
means for encrypting, based on one or more characteristics of the first external observer, the first virtual model to generate an encrypted first virtual model; and
means for communicating with the first external observer using the encrypted first virtual model, wherein a first set of frames of the encrypted first virtual model are visible to the first external observer and are prevented from being visible to one or more other external observers.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Banerjee Debdeep
• Kandhadai Ananthapadmanabhan Arasanipalai

Classifications

• G06F3/011 Primary

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G06V20/20

  in augmented reality scenes · CPC title

• G06V40/18

  Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris · CPC title

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• G06V10/82

  using neural networks · CPC title