Method for supplementing a piece of object information assigned to an object and method for selecting objects in surroundings of a vehicle

• US 10,009,580 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2013
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Offenhaeuser, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): LUO, KATE H
• Application Number:
  US14/420,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20150229885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method for supplementing a piece of object information assigned to an object situated in surroundings of a vehicle includes: reading in a piece of sensor information; evaluating the sensor information; and expanding the object information. In the step of reading in, the piece of sensor information represents a response of a driver of the vehicle to an object situated in a viewing direction of the driver. In the step of evaluating, the sensor information is evaluated to obtain a piece of detection information representing whether the driver has detected the object. In the step of expanding, the object information is expanded with the piece of detection information.

Claims

1. A method for supplementing object information which is assigned to objects situated in surroundings of a vehicle, comprising:

reading in a piece of sensor information which represents a response of a driver of the vehicle to the objects situated in a viewing direction of the driver;

evaluating the sensor information to obtain respective detection information for each of the objects, the detection information for each of the objects including an indication of whether the driver has detected the object;

expanding the object information of each of the objects with the respective detection information; and

displaying, on a display device of the vehicle, a representation of only those of the objects whose detection information indicates that the driver has not detected the object while simultaneously omitting the display of the others of the objects.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein in the step of evaluating, each of the respective detection information represents a likelihood that the object is detected by the driver.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein in the step of reading in, the sensor information represents a spatial position of a fixation axis of an eye region of the driver, and wherein in the step of evaluating, a residence time is evaluated, during which the fixation axis is directed at the each of the objects.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein in the step of evaluating, each of the respective detection information indicates no detection of the respective object when the fixation axis is directed at the object for a period shorter than the detection duration, and the detection information indicates a detection of the respective object when the fixation axis is directed at the object for a period longer than the detection duration.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein in the step of evaluating, each of the detection information which indicates the detection of the respective object by the driver is set to the state of no detection of the respective object when the fixation axis is not directed at the respective object for a period longer than a specified attention span.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein in the step of evaluating, the respective detection information indicates a non-detection of the respective object when a position of the respective object relative to the vehicle changes by more than a predetermined value and the fixation axis is not directed at the respective object within a specified response time.

7. A method for selecting an object group in surroundings of a vehicle, comprising;

providing, by an object detection function of the vehicle, object information on objects in the surroundings of the vehicle;

expanding the object information on the objects in the surroundings of the vehicle by;

reading in a piece of sensor information which represents a response of a driver of the vehicle to each respective object in the surroundings of the vehicle;

evaluating the sensor information to obtain a piece of detection information, the detection information including an indication of whether the driver has detected the respective object; and

expanding the object information for each respective object in the surroundings of the vehicle with the piece of detection information;

selecting, among the objects in surroundings of the vehicle, only those particular ones of the objects whose detection information indicates the driver has not detected the particular objects, wherein the selected particular objects form the object group, the other objects in the surroundings of the vehicle being omitted from the object group; and

providing the object information of the object group to a driver assistance system of the vehicle.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein:

in the step of selecting, hazardous objects are selected which have not been detected by the driver and for which a collision hazard exists; and

in the step of providing, a collision signal is provided for the driver assistance system of the vehicle using the object information of the hazardous objects.

9. A device for selecting an object group in surroundings of a vehicle, comprising;

a control unit including a processor configured to perform the following;

providing, by an object detection function of the vehicle, object information on objects in the surroundings of the vehicle;

expanding the object information on the objects in surroundings of the vehicle by;

reading in a piece of sensor information which represents a response of a driver of the vehicle to each respective object in the surroundings of the vehicle;

evaluating the sensor information to obtain a piece of detection information, the detection information including an indication of whether the driver has detected the respective object; and

expanding the object information for each respective objection in the surroundings of the vehicle with the piece of detection information;

selecting, among the objects in surroundings of the vehicle, only those particular one of the objects whose detection information indicates the driver has not detected the particular objects, wherein the selected particular objects form the object group, the other objects in the surroundings of the vehicle being omitted from the object group; and

providing the object information of the object group to a driver assistance system of the vehicle.

10. A non-transitory, computer-readable data storage medium storing a computer program having program codes which, when executed on a computer, perform a method for selecting an object group in surroundings of a vehicle, the method comprising;

providing, by an object detection function of the vehicle, object information on objects in the surroundings of the vehicle;

expanding the object information on the objects in the surroundings of the vehicle by;

reading in a piece of sensor information which represents a response of a driver of the vehicle to each respective object in the surroundings of the vehicle;

evaluating the sensor information to obtain a piece of detection information, the detection information including an indication of whether the driver has detected the respective object; and

expanding the object information for each respective objection in the surroundings of the vehicle with the piece of detection information;

selecting, among the objects in the surroundings of the vehicle, particular ones of the objects whose detection information indicates the driver has not detected the particular objects, wherein the selected particular objects form the object group, the other objects in the surroundings of the vehicle being omitted from the object group; and

providing the object information of the object group to a driver assistance system of the vehicle.