Autonomous vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12367607-B2
Application number	US-202117367654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2021
Priority date	Jul 6, 2021
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

A method of autonomous vehicle control, comprising: receiving an image of a lenticular human-imperceptible marker embedded in an element of an environment that an autonomous vehicle is moving in, the marker having a pattern usable for determining positional data of the moving vehicle, the image captured using human-invisible light, analyzing the received image of the human-imperceptible marker, and controlling the autonomous vehicle based on the analyzed image of the human-imperceptible marker.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of autonomous vehicle control, the method comprising:
receiving an image of a lenticular human-imperceptible marker covered by a layer opaque to human-visible light and embedded in an element of an environment that an autonomous vehicle is moving in, wherein the opaque layer covers an entire area of a lens array of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker, wherein the marker having a pattern usable for determining positional data of the moving vehicle, the image captured using human-invisible light and wherein said image is based on a plurality of different base images, each one of the plurality of base images is arranged into a plurality of strips, indexed by line indexes such that each strip corresponds to a sequence of one or more of the lines, said pattern is made of a plurality of strips of repetitively alternating order of the plurality of base images, such that from each different viewing angle of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker a different one of the plurality of different base images is viewed;
analyzing the received image of the human-imperceptible marker; and
controlling the autonomous vehicle based on the analyzed image of the human-imperceptible marker.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing comprises determining at least one of the group consisting of a location of the vehicle, a velocity of the vehicle, and an attitude of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: capturing the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using human-invisible light.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer opaque to human-visible light is at least partially transparent to human invisible light.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer opaque to human-visible light is at least partially transparent to Near Infrared (NIR) light.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer opaque to human-visible light is at least partially transparent to light in the 700-1000 nanometer wavelength range.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer opaque to human-visible light is at least partially transparent to Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) light.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer opaque to human-visible light is at least partially transparent to light in the 1000-3000 nanometer wavelength range.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the human-imperceptible marker is embedded in at least one of the group consisting of: a traffic sign, a road mark, a fence, a street light, a traffic light, a pole, and a road barrier.

10. A system for autonomous vehicle control, the system comprising:
a processing circuitry; and
a memory in communication with said processing circuitry, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the system to:
receive an image of a lenticular human-imperceptible marker covered by a layer opaque to human-visible light and embedded in an element of an environment that an autonomous vehicle is moving in, wherein the opaque layer covers an entire area of a lens array of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker, wherein the marker having a pattern usable for determining positional data of the moving vehicle, the image captured using human-invisible light and wherein said image is based on a plurality of different base images, each one of the plurality of base images is arranged into a plurality of strips, indexed by line indexes such that each strip corresponds to a sequence of one or more of the lines, said pattern is made of a plurality of strips of repetitively alternating order of the plurality of base images, such that from each different viewing angle of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker a different one of the plurality of different base images is viewed;
analyze the received image of the human-imperceptible marker; and

control the autonomous vehicle based on the analyzed image of the human-imperceptible marker.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: an image capturing device in communication with said processing circuitry, configured to capture the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using human-invisible light.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: an image capturing device in communication with said processing circuitry, configured to capture the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using Near-Infrared (NIR) light.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: an image capturing device in communication with said processing circuitry, configured to capture the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using light in the 700-1000 nanometer wavelength range.

14. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: an image capturing device in communication with said processing circuitry, configured to capture the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) light.

15. The system of claim 10 , further comprising: an image capturing device in communication with said processing circuitry, configured to capture the image of the human-imperceptible marker embedded in the element of the environment, using light in the 1000-3000 nanometer wavelength range.

16. An element of an environment of autonomous vehicle movement, comprising:
a lenticular marker covered by a layer opaque to human-visible light but at least partially transparent to human invisible light, wherein the opaque layer covers an entire area of a lens array of said lenticular marker, wherein the marker having a pattern usable for determining positional data of a vehicle moving in the environment and wherein said marker is based on a plurality of different base images, each one of the plurality of base images is arranged into a plurality of strips, indexed by line indexes such that each strip corresponds to a sequence of one or more of the lines, said pattern is made of a plurality of strips of repetitively alternating order of the plurality of base images, such that from each different viewing angle of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker a different one of the plurality of different base images is viewed.

17. The element of claim 16 , wherein said layer is opaque to human-visible light but at least partially transparent to at least one of Near Infrared (NIR) light and Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) light.

18. The element of claim 16 , wherein said layer is opaque to human-visible light but at least partially transparent to light in the 700-1000 nanometer wavelength range.

19. The element of claim 16 , wherein said layer is opaque to human-visible light but at least partially transparent to light in the 1000-3000 nanometer wavelength range.

20. The element of claim 16 , wherein the element is at least one of the group consisting of: a traffic sign, a road mark, a fence, a street light, a traffic light, a pole, and a road barrier.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein said layer covering said lenticular human-imperceptible marker has a curvature that matches a curvature of said lens array of said lenticular human-imperceptible marker.

Assignees

• Nec Corp America

Inventors

• Lev Tsvi

Classifications

• B60W2420/403

  Image sensing, e.g. optical camera · CPC title

• B60W2552/53

  Road markings, e.g. lane marker or crosswalk · CPC title

• B60W2555/60

  Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way · CPC title

• B60W2520/16

  Pitch · CPC title

• B60W2520/12

  Lateral speed · CPC title