High Integrity Coordination System for Multiple Off-Road Vehicles
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a library of machine behaviors, wherein the library of machine behaviors comprises a plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with one or more tasks and a plurality of specific behaviors associated with one or more subtasks for carrying out aspects of the one or more tasks;
a communications unit, wherein the communications unit is capable of establishing an access link, wherein the access link enables a plurality of controllable vehicles to access the plurality of coordinating behaviors and the plurality of specific behaviors; and
a download module, wherein the download module is capable of downloading at least one of the plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with the one or more tasks and at least one of the plurality of specific behaviors associated with the one or more subtasks to each controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The illustrative embodiments provide a method and apparatus for controlling and coordinating multiple vehicles. In one illustrative embodiment, machine behaviors are assigned to multiple vehicles performing a task. The vehicles are coordinated to perform the task using the assigned behaviors and a number of signals received from other vehicles and the environment during performance of the task. In another illustrative embodiment, a role is identified for each vehicle in a group of vehicles. A number of machine behaviors are assigned to each vehicle depending upon the identified role for the vehicle. The machine behaviors are selected from coordinating machine behaviors stored in a behavior library. Each vehicle is then coordinated to perform the task according to the role and machine behaviors assigned.
114 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a library of machine behaviors, wherein the library of machine behaviors comprises a plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with one or more tasks and a plurality of specific behaviors associated with one or more subtasks for carrying out aspects of the one or more tasks; a communications unit, wherein the communications unit is capable of establishing an access link, wherein the access link enables a plurality of controllable vehicles to access the plurality of coordinating behaviors and the plurality of specific behaviors; and a download module, wherein the download module is capable of downloading at least one of the plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with the one or more tasks and at least one of the plurality of specific behaviors associated with the one or more subtasks to each controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for coordinating a plurality of controllable vehicles to perform a task, the method comprising:
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accessing a library of machine behaviors comprising a plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with one or more tasks and a plurality of specific behaviors associated with one or more subtasks for carrying out aspects of the one or more tasks; and downloading at least one of the plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with the one or more tasks and at least one of the plurality of specific behaviors associated with the one or more subtasks to each controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for coordinating a plurality of controllable vehicles to perform a task, the method comprising:
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identifying a role assigned to a controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles; selecting one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors from a plurality of coordinating behaviors, a number of subtasks for performing the number of tasks, and a number of specific behaviors for use by the plurality of controllable vehicles, wherein the one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors are associated with the role assigned, wherein the plurality of coordinating behaviors is associated with the number of tasks, and wherein the number of specific behaviors is associated with the number of subtasks; and downloading the one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors that are associated with the role assigned to each controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A method for coordinating a plurality of controllable vehicles to perform a task, the method comprising:
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assigning a role to a controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles to perform the task; and selecting a number of coordinating behaviors and a number of specific behaviors from a library of machine behaviors that are associated with the role assigned. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer recordable storage medium; program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for accessing a library of machine behaviors comprising a plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with one or more tasks and a plurality of specific behaviors associated with one or more subtasks for carrying out aspects of the one or more tasks; and program code for downloading at least one of the plurality of coordinating behaviors associated with the one or more tasks and at least one of the plurality of specific behaviors associated with the one or more subtasks to each controllable vehicle in a plurality of controllable vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer recordable storage medium; program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for identifying a role assigned to a controllable vehicle in a plurality of controllable vehicles; program code for selecting one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors from a plurality of coordinating behaviors, a number of subtasks for performing the number of tasks, and a number of specific behaviors for use by the plurality of controllable vehicles, wherein the one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors are associated with the role assigned, wherein the plurality of coordinating behaviors is associated with the number of tasks, and wherein the number of specific behaviors is associated with the number of subtasks; and program code for downloading the one or more coordinating behaviors, subtasks, and specific behaviors that are associated with the role assigned to each controllable vehicle in the plurality of controllable vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification