Vehicle interior and exterior monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020406902-A1
Application number	US-202017017040-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 10, 2020
Priority date	Jul 20, 2016
Publication date	Dec 31, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A LIDAR sensor is mountable to a vehicle exterior with a field of view including a vehicle interior view first portion and a vehicle exterior view first portion. Data can be received from the LIDAR sensor. A state of a vehicle occupant can be determined based at least in part on data from the LIDAR sensor.

First claim

1 . A system comprising:
a LIDAR sensor mountable to a vehicle exterior with a field of view including a vehicle interior view first portion and a vehicle exterior view first portion.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the LIDAR sensor includes a light transmitter and a light receiver, the light transmitter arranged to transmit light to, and the light receiver arranged to receive reflected light from, each of the vehicle interior view first portion and the vehicle exterior view first portion.

3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle body having a pillar, wherein the LIDAR sensor is mounted to the pillar.

4 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an exterior side mirror holder, wherein the LIDAR sensor is mounted to the exterior side mirror holder.

5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second LIDAR sensor mounted to the vehicle exterior and having a vehicle interior view second portion and a vehicle exterior view second portion.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein at least one of (a) the vehicle interior view first portion and the vehicle interior view second portion have no overlap and (b) the vehicle exterior view first portion and the vehicle exterior view second portion have no overlap.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller including a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor, including instructions to:
receive data from the first LIDAR sensor mountable to the vehicle exterior with the field of view including the vehicle interior view first portion and the vehicle exterior view first portion; and determine a state of a vehicle occupant based at least in part on data from the first LIDAR sensor.

8 . The system of claim 7 , the instructions further including instructions to:
receive data from a second LIDAR sensor mountable to the vehicle exterior with a second field of view including a vehicle interior view second portion and a vehicle exterior view second portion; and use the data from the second LIDAR sensor to determine a vehicle occupant state.

9 . The system of claim 7 , the instructions further including instructions to generate a three dimensional model of the vehicle occupant.

10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further programmed to determine a number of occupants in a vehicle interior.

11 . The system of claim 7 , the instructions further including instructions to:
determine that the vehicle occupant is in an unexpected state; and perform an action to bring the vehicle occupant from the unexpected state to an expected state.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the action includes actuating a haptic module.

13 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further programmed to use the data to create a three dimensional model of an area surrounding the vehicle exterior.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the three dimensional model includes data indicating at least one of distance and size of an object in the area surrounding the vehicle exterior.

15 - 20 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Mcbride James Robert

Classifications

• G01S17/42 Primary

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G06V20/597

  Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness · CPC title

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S17/89 Primary

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• B60Q9/00

  Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 {, e.g. haptic signalling} · CPC title