Enabling dynamic sensor discovery in autonomous devices

• US 10,067,512 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2017
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kohlenberg, Tobias, Iyer, Ravishankar R., Kim, James Jin-koo
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US15/808,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20180067497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 299 Days
• Field of Search: 701 25
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for enabling sensor discovery in autonomous devices herein. An example system for enabling dynamic sensor discovery including a client that includes an autonomous device. The autonomous device is capable of navigating from a current location to a destination location using sensor data. The client provides a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route and receives respective sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors selected by a data server based on the request. The client subscribes to a data feed of a sensor of the set of selected sensors along the planned route based on sensor information corresponding to the sensor and client analyzes the data feed to determine whether to proceed with the planned route.

Claims

1. A method of enabling dynamic sensor discovery by an autonomous device, the method comprising:

providing a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route;

receiving respective sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors selected by a data server based on the request, the set of selected sensors including only those that the autonomous device is authorized to access; and

subscribing to a data feed of a sensor of the set of selected sensors along the planned route based on sensor information corresponding to the sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the data feed to determine whether to proceed with the planned route.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further includes a desired sensor type, wherein the set of selected sensors selected by the data server is further based on the desired sensor type.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, responsive to detection of an obstacle, providing a second request for sensor information for sensors along a second planned route and receiving respective sensor information for each of a second set of selected sensors selected by the data server based on the second request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor information for the sensor of the set of selected sensors includes at least one of an application program interface or a query interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the set of selected sensors is outside a detection range of the autonomous device.

7. A method of enabling dynamic sensor discovery by an autonomous device, the method comprising:

receiving a request for the sensor information for sensors along a planned route from a client that includes an autonomous device, the autonomous device capable of navigating from a current location to a destination location using sensor data; and

selecting the set of selected sensors of a plurality of sensors along the planned route responsive to the request, withholding sensor information for a sensor of the plurality of sensors to which the client is restricted from accessing based on whether the client is authorized to obtain data from the sensor of the plurality of sensors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the request further includes a desired sensor type, and the method comprises:

selecting the set of sensors of the plurality of sensors along the planned route based on the desired sensor type.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a second request for sensor information for sensors along a second planned route; and

selecting a second set of selected sensors of the plurality of sensors along the second planned route responsive to the second request.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving the sensor information from each of the plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor information includes at least one of a location, an orientation, or a range.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the sensor information from the sensor of the plurality of sensors includes a sensor type and a data type.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the sensor information from the sensor of the plurality of sensors includes an application program interface or a query interface.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the sensor information from the sensor of the plurality of sensors includes a list of available channels.

14. A device to enable dynamic sensor discovery comprising:

a server communication interface to control a transceiver to provide a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route and to receive respective sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors selected by a data server based on the request, the set of selected sensors including only those that the device is authorized to access, and the transceiver incorporated into the device;

a sensor communication interface to control the transceiver to subscribe to a data feed of a sensor of the set of selected sensors along the planned route based on sensor information corresponding to the sensor; and

an obstacle avoidance interface to analyze the data feed to determine whether to proceed with the planned route.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the request further includes a desired sensor type, wherein the set of selected sensors selected by the data server is further based on the desired sensor type.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein, responsive to detection of an obstacle by the obstacle avoidance interface, the server communication interface controls the transceiver to provide a second request for sensor information for sensors along a second planned route and receives respective sensor information for each of a second set of selected sensors selected by the data server based on the second request.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein at least one of the set of selected sensors is outside a detection range of the autonomous device.

18. A method to enable dynamic sensor discovery comprising:

receiving a registration message from each of a plurality of sensors, the registration message including respective sensor information;

creating a respective entry in a database for each of the plurality of sensors, each respective entry in the database to include the respective sensor information of the corresponding sensor of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to a request from a device for sensor information for sensors along a planned route, querying the database to select a set of sensors of the plurality of sensors based on the request, the set of selected sensors to include only those that the device is authorized to access.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

creating a map of the plurality of sensors from the database; and

selecting the sensors from the map.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the registration message includes at least one of a sensor type, a data type, a location, an orientation, a range, an application program interface, or a query interface.