Systems and methods for anonymizing navigation information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11972022-B2
Application number	US-202117522512-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2021
Priority date	Mar 5, 2018
Publication date	Apr 30, 2024
Grant date	Apr 30, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for collecting anonymized drive information. A processing device may be configured to receive outputs from one or more sensors; determine at least one motion representation for the host vehicle based on the outputs; receive at least one image representative of an environment of the host vehicle; analyze the at least one image to determine at least one road characteristic associated with a road section; assemble first road segment information relative to a first portion of the road section, wherein the first portion of the road section is separated from a starting point associated with a route traveled by the host vehicle; assemble second road segment information relative to a second portion of the road section; and cause transmission of the first road segment information and the second road segment information to a server for assembly of an autonomous vehicle road navigation model.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A navigation system for collecting anonymized drive information relative to a road section traversed by a host vehicle, the navigation system comprising:
at least one processor comprising circuitry and a memory, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to:
receive outputs provided by one or more sensors, the outputs being indicative of motion of the host vehicle;
determine at least one motion representation for the host vehicle based, at least in part, on the outputs from the one or more sensors;
receive at least one image acquired by a camera, the at least one image being representative of an environment of the host vehicle along the road section;
analyze the at least one image to determine at least one road characteristic associated with the road section;
determine a starting point for a first portion of the road section, the starting point for the first portion of the road section being different from a starting point of a route traveled by the host vehicle along the road section;
assemble first road segment information relative to the first portion of the road section, wherein the first road segment information includes the determined at least one motion representation for the host vehicle and the determined at least one road characteristic relative to the first portion of the road section;
determine a starting point for a second portion of the road section, the starting point for the second portion of the road section being different from an ending point of the first portion of the road section;
assemble second road segment information relative to the second portion of the road section, wherein the second road segment information includes the determined at least one motion representation for the host vehicle and the determined at least one road characteristic relative to the second portion of the road section; and
cause transmission of the first road segment information and the second road segment information to a server remotely located relative to the host vehicle for assembly of an autonomous vehicle road navigation model.

2. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the starting point for the second portion of the road section is spatially separated from the ending point of the first portion of the road section by a third portion of the road section and the memory further includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to:
forgo transmission to the server of assembled road segment information relating to the third portion of the road section.

3. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the starting point for the first portion of the road section is spatially separated from the starting point of the route traveled by the host vehicle based on a predetermined distance from the starting point of the route traveled by the host vehicle.

4. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the starting point for the first portion of the road section is spatially separated from the starting point of the route traveled by the host vehicle by a distance determined from a temporal delay relative to the starting point of the route traveled by the host vehicle.

5. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the ending point for the first portion of the road section is spatially separated from the starting point for the second portion of the road section by a distance of at least 1 km.

6. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one motion representation for the host vehicle includes a determined trajectory for the host vehicle.

7. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one motion representation for the host vehicle includes an ego-motion representation for the host vehicle relative to a predetermined coordinate system.

8. The navigation system of claim 7 , wherein the ego-motion representation for the host vehicle is determined for six degrees of freedom.

9. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors include a GPS sensor.

10. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of a speed sensor or an accelerometer.

11. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the determined at least one road characteristic includes a lane characteristic including an indicator of one or more of a detected lane split, lane merge, dashed lane marking line, solid lane marking line, road surface color within a lane, lane line color, lane direction, or lane type.

12. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the determined at least one road characteristic includes an indicator of a road edge location.

13. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the determined at least one road characteristic includes a landmark identifier.

14. The navigation system of claim 13 , wherein the landmark identifier includes at least one of a landmark type or a landmark location.

15. The navigation system of claim 14 , wherein the landmark type includes at least one of a traffic signal, pole, road marking, stop line, or sign.

16. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the determined at least one road characteristic includes a temporary road characteristic comprising an indicator of a weather condition along the road section.

17. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the indicator of weather condition is associated with at least one of snow, rain, fog, or sun glare.

18. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the road section and the second portion of the road section each have a length of at least 2 km.

19. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the road section and the second portion of the road section each have a length randomly determined by the at least one processor.

20. The navigation system of claim 19 , wherein the randomly determined length falls within +/−0.5 km of a predetermined length.

21. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to receive, from the remotely located server, the autonomous vehicle road navigation model and cause at least one navigational maneuver by the host vehicle based on the autonomous vehicle road navigation model.

22. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to begin assembly of the first road segment information after a predetermined delay.

23. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to forego transmission to the server of a final assembly of road segment information where the final assembly of road segment information is representative of an end of a drive by the host vehicle.

24. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the circuitry cause the at least one processor to forego transmission to the server of an initial assembly of road segment information where the initial assembly of road segment information includes a representation of a beginning of a drive by the host vehicle.

25. A method for collecting anonymized drive information relative to a road section traversed by a host vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving outputs provided by one or more sensors, the outputs being in

Assignees

• Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Viente Kfir
• Harel Eli
• Tamir Achiya Tal
• Schwartz Maxim
• Shapira Dori
• Nehushtan Nimrod
• Gdalyahu Yoram
• Braunstein Daniel

Classifications

• G05D2111/10

  Optical signals · CPC title

• G05D2101/10

  using artificial intelligence [AI] techniques · CPC title

• H04W4/44

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title

• H04W4/027

  using movement velocity, acceleration information · CPC title

• G06V20/582

  of traffic signs · CPC title