Contactless obstacle detection for power doors and the like
First Claim
1. A method to contactlessly determine whether a movable door in a motor vehicle is at risk of contacting an avoidable object during door movement, the method comprising the following steps:
- (a) for each said door, disposing at least one time-of-flight (TOF) system with a field of view (FOV) adequately wide to acquire in real-time at least one depth image of at least a portion of a three-dimensional contact zone within which an avoidable object, if present, would be contacted by at least part of said door when said door is moving, an avoidable object being an object excluding said door and a vehicle door frame associated with said door;
(b) providing said TOF system with a software executable algorithm that uses said depth image acquired at step (a) to determine whether at least a portion of an avoidable object is present within a portion of said contact zone when said door is moving such that door-avoidable object contact may occur unless prevented; and
(c) generating a control signal if step (b) determines presence of at least a portion of said avoidable object within a portion of said contact zone, said control signal coupleable to a mechanism to facilitate at least one of (i) retarding present motion of said door, (ii) reversing direction of present motion of said door, and (iii) halting motion of said door;
whereby likelihood of damage resulting from contact between said avoidable object and said door is reduced, while ignoring other objects within said FOV.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Time-of-flight (TOF) three-dimensional sensing systems are deployed on or in a motor vehicle to image contact zones associated with potential contact between an avoidable object and the vehicle or vehicle frame and/or remotely controllable motorized moving door or liftgate. An algorithm processes depth data acquired by each TOF system to determine whether an avoidable object is in the associated contact zone. If present, a control signal issues to halt or reverse the mechanism moving the door. A stored database preferably includes a depth image of the contact zone absent any object, an image of the door, and volume of the door. Database images are compared to newly acquired depth images to identify pixel sensors whose depth values are statistically unlikely to represent background or the door. Pixels within the contact zone so identified are an object, and the control signal is issued.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method to contactlessly determine whether a movable door in a motor vehicle is at risk of contacting an avoidable object during door movement, the method comprising the following steps:
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(a) for each said door, disposing at least one time-of-flight (TOF) system with a field of view (FOV) adequately wide to acquire in real-time at least one depth image of at least a portion of a three-dimensional contact zone within which an avoidable object, if present, would be contacted by at least part of said door when said door is moving, an avoidable object being an object excluding said door and a vehicle door frame associated with said door; (b) providing said TOF system with a software executable algorithm that uses said depth image acquired at step (a) to determine whether at least a portion of an avoidable object is present within a portion of said contact zone when said door is moving such that door-avoidable object contact may occur unless prevented; and (c) generating a control signal if step (b) determines presence of at least a portion of said avoidable object within a portion of said contact zone, said control signal coupleable to a mechanism to facilitate at least one of (i) retarding present motion of said door, (ii) reversing direction of present motion of said door, and (iii) halting motion of said door; whereby likelihood of damage resulting from contact between said avoidable object and said door is reduced, while ignoring other objects within said FOV. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
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10. A system to contactlessly determine whether a movable door in a motor vehicle is at risk of contacting an avoidable object during door movement, the system comprising:
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at least one time-of-flight (TOF) system with a field of view (FOV) adequately wide to acquire in real-time at least one depth image of at least a portion of a three-dimensional contact zone within which an avoidable object, if present, would be contacted by at least part of said door when said door is moving, an avoidable object being an object excluding said door and a vehicle door frame associated with said door, said TOF system disposed on said motor vehicle so as to obtain said at least one depth image; a processor; memory, executable by said processor, storing at least a software executable algorithm that uses said acquired depth image to determine whether at least a portion of an avoidable object is present within a portion of said contact zone when said door is moving such that door-avoidable object contact may occur unless prevented; and means for generating a control signal if said algorithm determines presence of at least a portion of said avoidable object within a portion of said contact zone, said control signal coupleable to a mechanism to facilitate at least one of (i) retarding present motion of said door, (ii) reversing direction of present motion of said door, and (iii) halting motion of said door; whereby likelihood of damage resulting from contact between said avoidable object and said door is reduced. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system to contactlessly determine whether a movable door in a motor vehicle is at risk of contacting an avoidable object during door movement, the system comprising:
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at least one time-of-flight (TOF) system with a field of view (FOV) adequately wide to acquire in real-time at least one depth image of at least a portion of a three-dimensional contact zone within which an avoidable object, if present, would be contacted by at least part of said door when said door is moving, an avoidable object being an object excluding said door and a vehicle door frame associated with said door, said TOF system disposed on said motor vehicle so as to obtain said at least one depth image on a location selected from a group consisting of (i) an interior portion of said motor vehicle, (ii) an exterior portion of said motor vehicle, (iii) an interior portion of a sliding door of said motor vehicle, (iv) an exterior portion of a sliding door of said motor vehicle, (v) an interior portion of a pivotable tailgate of said motor vehicle, and (vi) an exterior portion of a pivotable tailgate of said motor vehicle; a processor; memory, executable by said processor, storing at least a software executable algorithm that uses said acquired depth image to determine whether at least a portion of an avoidable object is present within a portion of said contact zone when said door is moving such that door-avoidable object contact may occur unless prevented, said algorithm able to dynamically alter dimensions of said contact zone as a function of at least one door parameter; and means for generating a control signal if said algorithm determines presence of at least a portion of said avoidable object within a portion of said contact zone, said control signal coupleable to a mechanism to facilitate at least one of (i) retarding present motion of said door, (ii) reversing direction of present motion of said door, and (iii) halting motion of said door; whereby likelihood of damage resulting from contact between said avoidable object and said door is reduced. door. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification