System and method for detecting vehicle intrusions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12434666-B2
Application number	US-202318154385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2023
Priority date	Jan 13, 2023
Publication date	Oct 7, 2025
Grant date	Oct 7, 2025

Abstract

A method includes instructing a vehicle to autonomously navigate to a given parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces, setting the given parking space to an occupied state in response to the vehicle being positioned within the given parking space, and obtaining infrastructure sensor data from an infrastructure sensor. The method includes determining whether the given parking space has transitioned from the occupied state to the unoccupied state based on the infrastructure sensor data, and in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state: obtaining location data from the vehicle, determining whether the vehicle is located at a predefined location based on the location data, and instructing the vehicle to perform a vehicle intrusion routine in response to the vehicle not being located at the predefined location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring vehicle intrusions in a parking lot comprising a plurality of parking spaces, the method comprising:
instructing a vehicle to autonomously navigate to a given parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces;
setting the given parking space to an occupied state in response to the vehicle being positioned within the given parking space;
obtaining infrastructure sensor data from an infrastructure sensor, wherein the infrastructure sensor data includes information indicating a parking state of each of the plurality of parking spaces, and wherein the parking state is one of the occupied state and an unoccupied state;
determining whether the given parking space has transitioned from the occupied state to the unoccupied state based on the infrastructure sensor data; and
in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state:
obtaining location data from the vehicle;
determining whether the vehicle is located at a predefined location based on the location data; and
instructing the vehicle to perform a vehicle intrusion routine in response to the vehicle not being located at the predefined location.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether the vehicle has transitioned from an off state to an on state in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising performing the vehicle intrusion routine in response to determining the vehicle has not transitioned from the off state to the on state.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein instructing the vehicle to perform the vehicle intrusion routine comprises:
instructing the vehicle to transition to an on state; and
instructing the vehicle to broadcast sensor data from one or more sensors of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more sensors includes an image sensor, wherein the sensor data is image data, and wherein the method further comprises:
obtaining the image data from the image sensor; and
determining a probability of the vehicle intrusion based on the image data.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the image data is associated with an interior of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the image data is associated with an exterior of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising deactivating one or more functions of the vehicle in response to the probability of the vehicle intrusion being greater than a threshold probability value.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor, wherein the sensor data is GNSS data, and wherein the method further comprises:
obtaining the GNSS data from the GNSS sensor of the vehicle; and
determining a probability of the vehicle intrusion based on the GNSS data.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising deactivating one or more functions of the vehicle in response to the probability of the vehicle intrusion being greater than a threshold probability value.

11. A system for monitoring vehicle intrusions in a parking lot comprising a plurality of parking spaces, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more nontransitory computer-readable mediums comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions comprise:
instructing a vehicle to autonomously navigate to a given parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces;
setting the given parking space to an occupied state in response to the vehicle being positioned within the given parking space;
obtaining infrastructure sensor data from an infrastructure sensor, wherein the infrastructure sensor data includes information indicating a parking state of each of the plurality of parking spaces, and wherein the parking state is one of the occupied state and an unoccupied state;
determining whether the given parking space has transitioned from the occupied state to the unoccupied state based on the infrastructure sensor data; and
in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state:
obtaining location data from the vehicle;
determining whether the vehicle is located at a predefined location based on the location data;
instructing the vehicle to transition to an on state;
instructing the vehicle to broadcast sensor data from one or more sensors of the vehicle; and
instructing the vehicle to perform a vehicle intrusion routine in response to the vehicle not being located at the predefined location.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further comprise determining whether the vehicle has transitioned from an off state to an on state in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise performing the vehicle intrusion routine in response to determining the vehicle has not transitioned from the off state to the on state.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more sensors includes an image sensor, wherein the sensor data is image data, and wherein the instructions further comprise:
obtaining the image data from the image sensor; and
determining a probability of the vehicle intrusion based on the image data.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the image data is associated with an interior of the vehicle.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the image data is associated with an exterior of the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further comprise deactivating one or more functions of the vehicle in response to the probability of the vehicle intrusion being greater than a threshold probability value.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensor, wherein the sensor data is GNSS data, and wherein the instructions further comprise:
obtaining the GNSS data from the GNSS sensor of the vehicle; and
determining a probability of the vehicle intrusion based on the GNSS data.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions further comprise deactivating one or more functions of the vehicle in response to the probability of the vehicle intrusion being greater than a threshold probability value.

20. A method for monitoring vehicle intrusions in a parking lot comprising a plurality of parking spaces, the method comprising:
instructing a vehicle to autonomously navigate to a given parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces;
setting the given parking space to an occupied state in response to the vehicle being positioned within the given parking space;
obtaining infrastructure sensor data from an infrastructure sensor, wherein the infrastructure sensor data includes information indicating a parking state of each of the plurality of parking spaces, and wherein the parking state is one of the occupied state and an unoccupied state;
determining whether the given parking space has transitioned from the occupied state to the unoccupied state based on the infrastructure sensor data; and
in response to determining the given parking space has transitioned to the unoccupied state:
obtaining location data from the vehicle;
determining whether the vehicle is located at a predefined location based on the location data;
instructing the vehicle to transition to an on state;
instructing the vehicle to broadcast sensor

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Bandi Krishna
• Menon Meghna
• Bolger Bryan Michael
• Hamilton Brennan

Classifications

• B60W60/001

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title

• B60R25/01

  operating on vehicle systems or fittings, e.g. on doors, seats or windscreens · CPC title

• B60W30/06

  Automatic manoeuvring for parking · CPC title

• G08G1/14

  indicating individual free spaces in parking areas · CPC title

• B60R25/305 Primary

  using a camera · CPC title