Navigation using sensor fusion

• US 10,330,489 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Andersson, Eve Astrid, Burkhardt, Casey John, Lundblad, John Ove Peter Nilsson, Tseng, David, Chen, Charles L., Zheng, Ying, Raman, Tiruvilwamalai Venkatram
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Application Number:
  US15/585,451
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0408 transmitting the signals by non-mechanical means from the wheel or tyre to a vehicle body mounted receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/005 specially adapted for viewing traffic-lights
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/04 specially adapted for measuring length or width of objects while moving
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/14 for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures G01B11/26 takes precedence; rangefinders G01C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/2755 using photoelectric detection means
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1656 with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/00 Measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, persons, animals or other moving solid bodies, e.g. using odometers, using pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/20 Image signal generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/40 Circuit details for pick-up tubes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/04 Synchronising for television systems using pulse code modulation H04N7/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/067 Arrangements or circuits at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/073 for mutually locking plural sources of synchronising signals, e.g. studios or relay stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/265 : Mixing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 : Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/023 : in a chair, pillow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 : Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 : using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 : for collecting sensor information

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for resolving erroneous movement signals and for providing navigation instructions. One of the methods includes receiving data from two or more sensors, synchronizing the received data, determining a first subset of the synchronized data from the camera for a particular period of time and a second subset of the synchronized data from the other sensor for the particular period of time, comparing the first subset with the second subset to determine whether the first subset and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, based on determining that the first subset and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, selecting data for one of the sensors based on a sensor priority scheme for the sensors, and resolving the erroneous movement signal based on the selected data for the one of the sensors.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

two or more sensors comprising a camera and another sensor;

a data processing apparatus; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium in data communication with the data processing apparatus and storing instructions executable by the data processing apparatus and upon such execution cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

receiving data from the two or more sensors;

synchronizing the received data from the two or more sensors so that the data from the camera corresponds in time to the data from the other sensor;

determining a first subset of the synchronized data from the camera for a period of time and a second subset of the synchronized data from the other sensor for the period of time, the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data each being representative of movement of the apparatus and the first subset of the synchronized data being representative of objects in a physical area surrounding a physical location of the apparatus;

determining a plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data;

determining, using at least the first subset of the synchronized data, that at least one of the plurality of feature points represents a moving object; and

creating a map using one or more of the plurality of feature points, the one or more of the plurality of feature points not including the at least one of the plurality of feature points that represents the moving object.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data comprises:

comparing the first subset of the synchronized data with the second subset of the synchronized data to determine whether the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal; and

based on determining that the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in the one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises detecting the plurality of feature points in two or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises:

determining a sensor priority scheme for the two or more sensors;

determining, using the sensor priority scheme, that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor; and

selecting the first subset of the synchronized data in response to determining that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations comprising:

receiving second data from the two or more sensors;

synchronizing the received second data from the two or more sensors so that the second data from the camera corresponds in time to the second data from a third sensor;

determining a third subset of the synchronized second data from the camera for a second period of time and a fourth subset of the synchronized second data from the third sensor for the second period of time;

comparing the third subset of the synchronized second data with the fourth subset of the synchronized second data to determine whether the third subset and the fourth subset indicate an erroneous movement signal;

based on determining that the third subset and the fourth subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, selecting, from the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data, third data for one of the sensors, the selection based on a sensor priority scheme for the sensors;

determining that the selected third data for one of the sensors indicate that the apparatus is not moving; and

discarding the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data in response to determining that the selected third data for one of the sensors indicate that the apparatus is not moving.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein discarding the first subset and the second subset of the synchronized second data comprises determining not to update the map using the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations comprising determining navigation instructions using one or more of the plurality of feature points.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein determining the navigation instructions using one or more of the plurality of feature points comprises determining the navigation instructions using one or more of the at least one of the plurality of feature points that represents the moving object.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a computer, data from two or more sensors included in the computer, the two or more sensors including a camera and another sensor;

synchronizing the received data from the two or more sensors so that the data from the camera corresponds in time to the data from the other sensor;

determining a first subset of the synchronized data from the camera for a period of time and a second subset of the synchronized data from the other sensor for the period of time, the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data each being representative of movement of the computer and the first subset of the synchronized data being representative of objects in a physical area surrounding a physical location of the computer;

determining a plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data;

determining, using at least the first subset of the synchronized data, that at least one of the plurality of feature points represents a moving object; and

creating a map using one or more of the plurality of feature points, the one or more of the plurality of feature points not including the at least one of the plurality of feature points that represents the moving object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data comprises:

comparing the first subset of the synchronized data with the second subset of the synchronized data to determine whether the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal; and

based on determining that the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in the one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises detecting the plurality of feature points in two or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises:

determining a sensor priority scheme for the two or more sensors;

determining, using the sensor priority scheme, that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor; and

selecting the first subset of the synchronized data in response to determining that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor.

13. The method of claim 9, comprising:

receiving second data from the two or more sensors;

synchronizing the received second data from the two or more sensors so that the second data from the camera corresponds in time to the second data from a third sensor;

determining a third subset of the synchronized second data from the camera for a second period of time and a fourth subset of the synchronized second data from the third sensor for the second period of time;

comparing the third subset of the synchronized second data with the fourth subset of the synchronized second data to determine whether the third subset and the fourth subset indicate an erroneous movement signal;

based on determining that the third subset and the fourth subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, selecting, from the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data, third data for one of the sensors, the selection based on a sensor priority scheme for the sensors;

determining that the selected third data for one of the sensors indicate that the computer is not moving; and

discarding the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data in response to determining that the selected third data for one of the sensors indicate that the computer is not moving.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein discarding the first subset and the second subset of the synchronized second data comprises determining not to update the map using the third subset and the fourth subset of the synchronized second data.

15. The method of claim 9, comprising determining navigation instructions using one or more of the plurality of feature points.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the navigation instructions using one or more of the plurality of feature points comprises determining the navigation instructions using one or more of the at least one of the plurality of feature points that represents the moving object.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer and upon such execution cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving data from two or more sensors included in the computer, the two or more sensors including a camera and another sensor;

synchronizing the received data from the two or more sensors so that the data from the camera corresponds in time to the data from the other sensor;

determining a first subset of the synchronized data from the camera for a period of time and a second subset of the synchronized data from the other sensor for the period of time, the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data each being representative of movement of the computer and the first subset of the synchronized data being representative of objects in a physical area surrounding a physical location of the computer;

determining a plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data;

determining, using at least the first subset of the synchronized data, that at least one of the plurality of feature points represents a moving object; and

creating a map using one or more of the plurality of feature points, the one or more of the plurality of feature points not including the at least one of the plurality of feature points that represents the moving object.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein determining the plurality of feature points of the physical area using at least the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset of the synchronized data comprises:

comparing the first subset of the synchronized data with the second subset of the synchronized data to determine whether the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal; and

based on determining that the first subset of the synchronized data and the second subset indicate an erroneous movement signal, detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in the one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises detecting the plurality of feature points in two or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein detecting the plurality of feature points in one or more images captured by the camera and represented by the first subset of the synchronized data comprises:

determining a sensor priority scheme for the two or more sensors;

determining, using the sensor priority scheme, that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor; and

selecting the first subset of the synchronized data in response to determining that the camera has a higher priority than the other sensor.