Processing Sensor Information for Object Detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020175286-A1
Application number	US-201916701021-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 2, 2019
Priority date	Nov 30, 2018
Publication date	Jun 4, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods of processing vehicle sensor information for object detection may include capturing generating a feature map based on captured sensor information, associating with each pixel of the feature map a prior box having a set of two or more width priors and a set of two or more height priors, determining a confidence value of each height prior and each width prior, outputting an indication of a detected object based on a highest confidence height prior and a highest confidence width prior, and performing a vehicle operation based on the output indication of a detected object. Embodiments may include determining for each pixel of the feature map one or more prior boxes having a center value, a size value, and a set of orientation priors, determining a confidence value for each orientation prior, and outputting an indication of the orientation of a detected object based on the highest confidence orientation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of processing sensor information for object detection, comprising:
capturing, by a sensor, sensor information regarding an environment around the sensor; generating, by a processor, a feature map based on the sensor information; associating, by the processor, with each pixel of the feature map a prior box comprising a set of two or more width priors and a set of two or more height priors; determining, by the processor, a confidence value of each height prior and each width prior; outputting, by the processor, an indication of a detected object based on a highest confidence height prior from among the set of height priors and a highest confidence width prior from among the set of width priors; and taking an action based on the output indication of a detected object.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein taking an action based on the output indication of a detected object comprises:
performing, by the processor, a vehicle operation based on the output indication of a detected object.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the highest confidence height prior from the set of two or more height priors; and selecting the highest confidence width prior from the set of two or more width priors.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a height refinement value for each of the set of height priors; and determining a width refinement value for each of the set of width priors.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
refining the highest confidence height prior with the height refinement value; and refining the highest confidence width prior with the width refinement value.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein outputting an indication of a detected object based on a highest confidence height prior from among the set of height priors and a highest confidence width prior from among the set of width priors comprises:
outputting the indication of a detected object comprising the refined highest confidence height prior and the refined highest confidence width prior.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the prior box associated with each pixel further comprises a center value.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining for each prior box a center value refinement; and refining the center value with the determined center value refinement.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining for each prior box one or more object classifications; and determining for each of the one or more object classifications a confidence value.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the output indication of a detected object comprises one or more of a height confidence value and a width confidence value.

11 . A vehicle control unit, comprising:
a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor information from a sensor;
generating a feature map based on the sensor information;
associating with each pixel of the feature map a prior box comprising a set of two or more width priors and a set of two or more height priors;
determining a confidence value of each height prior and each width prior;
outputting an indication of a detected object based on a highest confidence height prior from among the set of height priors and a highest confidence width prior from among the set of width priors; and
taking an action based on the output indication of a detected object.

12 . The vehicle control unit of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that taking an action based on the output indication of a detected object comprises:
performing a vehicle operation based on the output indication of a detected object.

13 . The vehicle control unit system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
selecting the highest confidence height prior from the set of two or more height priors; and selecting the highest confidence width prior from the set of two or more width priors.

14 . The vehicle control unit of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
determining a height refinement value for each of the set of height priors; and determining a width refinement value for each of the set of width priors.

15 . The vehicle control unit of claim 14 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
refining the highest confidence height prior with the height refinement value; and refining the highest confidence width prior with the width refinement value.

16 . The vehicle control unit of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that outputting an indication of a detected object based on a highest confidence height prior from among the set of height priors and a highest confidence width prior from among the set of width priors comprises:
outputting the indication of a detected object comprising the refined highest confidence height prior and the refined highest confidence width prior.

17 . The vehicle control unit of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that each associated prior box further comprises a center value.

18 . The vehicle control unit of claim 17 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
determining for each prior box a center value refinement; and refining the center value with the determined center value refinement.

19 . The vehicle control unit of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
determining for each prior box one or more object classifications; and determining for each of the one or more object classifications a confidence value.

20 . The vehicle control unit of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the output indication of a detected object comprises one or more of a height confidence value and a width confidence value.

21 . A method of processing vehicle sensor information for object detection, comprising:
capturing, by a sensor, sensor information regarding an environment around the sensor; generating, by a processor, a feature map based on the sensor information; associating, by the processor, with each pixel of the feature map, one or more prior boxes comprising a center value, a size value, and a set of orientation priors; determining, by the processor, a confidence value for each orientation prior; outputting, by the processor, an indication of a detected object based on the highest confidence orientation; and performing, by the processor, a vehicle operation based on the output indication of a detected object.

22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
selecting for each prior box a highest confidence orientation prior from among the set of orientation priors.

23 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
determining an orientation refinement for each of the set of orientation priors.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Major Bence
• Fontijne Daniel Hendricus Franciscus
• Sukhavasi Ravi Teja
• Ansari Amin

Classifications

• G06T2207/30252

  Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle · CPC title

• G06K9/00791 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/6267

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T7/60

  Analysis of geometric attributes · CPC title

• G06T7/70

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title