COMPUTER VISION MONITORING FOR A COMPUTER VISION SYSTEM

• US 20170305438A1
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Published: 10/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TTTech Auto AG (TTTech Computertechnik AG)
• Original Assignee: FTS Computertechnik GmbH
• Inventors: POLEDNA, Stefan, STEINER, Wilfried, LETTNER, Manfred, AYHAN, Mehmed
• Application Number:
  US15/521,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20170305438A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/021 Means for detecting failure or malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0215 Sensor drifts or sensor failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/022 Actuator failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0295 Inhibiting action of specific actuators or systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/217 Validation; Performance evaluation; Active pattern learning techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/776 Validation; Performance evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/98 Detection or correction of errors, e.g. by rescanning the pattern or by human intervention; Evaluation of the quality of the acquired patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle

Abstract

Method for monitoring a computer vision system (CVS), said computer vision system (CVS) being part of a vehicle control system (VCS) of a vehicle (1000) that is used to maneuver said vehicle (1000) in 3D-space (3000), said computer vision system (CVS) being configured to monitor a surrounding area of the vehicle in real time and said computer vision monitor (CVM) monitoring the behavior of the computer vision system (CVS), comprising the steps of a.) providing the computer vision monitor (CVM) with information concerning a position (LM_POS) of at least one landmark (2000) in the 3D-space (3000), wherein said information is provided by a source, said source being independent of the computer vision system (CVS), b.) providing the computer vision monitor (CVM) with information concerning a current position (CUR_POS) of the vehicle (1000), c.) selecting based on steps a.) and b.) at least one landmark which falls within the range of vision of the computer vision system (CVS), d.) classifying the computer vision system (CVS) as being faulty when the computer vision system (CVS) fails to detect a configurable number of selected landmarks (2000).

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a computer vision system (CVS) by a computer vision monitor (CVM), said computer vision system (CVS) being part of a vehicle control system (VCS) of a vehicle (1000) that is used to maneuver said vehicle (1000) in 3D-space (3000),

said computer vision system (CVS) being configured to monitor a surrounding area of the vehicle in real time and

said computer vision monitor (CVM) monitoring the behavior of the computer vision system (CVS),

the method comprising the steps of

a.) providing the computer vision monitor (CVM) with information concerning an expected position (LM_POS) of at least one landmark (2000) with regard to the 3D-space (3000), wherein said information is provided by a source, said source being independent of the computer vision system (CVS),

b.) providing the computer vision monitor (CVM) with information concerning a current position (CUR_POS) of the vehicle (1000) with regard to the 3D-space,

c.) selecting based on steps a.) and b.) at least one landmark which falls within the range of vision of the computer vision system (CVS),

d.) classifying the computer vision system (CVS) as being faulty when the computer vision system (CVS) fails to detect a configurable number of selected landmarks (2000).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in step d) the computer vision monitor (CVM) uses the information of steps a) and b) to determine an expectancy value with reference to at least one selected land mark (2000) and wherein said expectancy value is compared with information provided by the computer vision system (CVS), wherein the computer vision monitor classifies the computer vision system (CVS) as being faulty when the difference between the expectancy value and the information provided by the computer vision system (CVS) exceeds a predetermined threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer vision monitor (CVM) uses natural landmarks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein artificial landmarks are explicitly placed in the 3D-space as part of the computer vision monitor (CVM) method.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein in case that the computer vision monitor (CVM) detects a failure of the computer vision system (CVS) the vehicle control system (VCS) brings the vehicle into a safe state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in step a.) knowledge of the position (LM_POS) of at least one landmark (2000) is provided by a landmark maintenance center (4000), said landmark maintenance center (4000) being configured to document misbehaviors as reported by one or many computer vision monitors CVM of one or many vehicles, wherein the vehicle communicates/reports the computer vision system (CVS) detected failures and corresponding landmarks (2000) to the landmark maintenance center (4000).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the maintenance center (4000) triggers a maintenance activity, such as sending a repair crew to the damaged landmark'"'"'s site.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein in step b.) knowledge of the current position (CUR_POS) of the vehicle (1000) is provided by means of a Global Positioning System (GPS) system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in step b.) knowledge of the current position (CUR_POS) of the vehicle (1000) is provided by a landmark (2000), in particular by means of a wireless connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein in step a.) knowledge of the position (LM_POS) of at least one landmark (2000) is provided by a landmark (2000), in particular by means of a wireless connection.

11. A system for monitoring a computer vision system (CVS) comprising a computer vision monitor (CVM), said computer vision system (CVS) being part of a vehicle control system (VCS) of a vehicle (1000), said computer vision system (CVS) being configured to monitor a surrounding area of the vehicle in real time, said system being configured to perform the method of claim 1.