Method for allocating control in a system of systems

• US 9,454,152 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TTTech Computertechnik AG
• Original Assignee: FTS Computertechnik GmbH
• Inventors: Kopetz, Hermann
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stroud, James E
• Application Number:
  US14/776,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026181A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 701/24
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0006 Digital architecture hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0016 State machine analysis
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0072 Controller asks driver to take over
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/229 Attention level, e.g. attentive to driving, reading or sleeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/00 Input parameters relating to data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/12 Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0059 Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for allocating control in a system-of-systems, in particular a dynamic system-of-systems consisting of a physical system PS, an autonomous control system CS, a human operator HO, a monitor component MK and an actuator controller AST, or comprising a physical system PS, an autonomous control system CS, a human operator HO, a monitor component MK and an actuator controller AST, wherein the CS uses a sensor system assigned thereto to cyclically monitor surroundings and/or the physical system itself and creates an internal model of the surroundings and/or the PS on the basis of this monitoring and performs an analysis of this model in order to determine control values for the AST and a criticality index KI of the scenario in a cycle, in particular in the current cycle, and wherein the MK cyclically monitors the HO and/or the actions thereof, in particular the current actions thereof, in order to determine an engagement index EI of the HO in a cycle, in particular in the current cycle, on the basis of this monitoring, and wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the HO when EI>KI.

Claims

1. A method for allocating control in a dynamic system-of-systems or other system-of-systems consisting of a physical system (PS), an autonomous control system CS, an operator (160), a monitor component (MK) (140) and an actuator controller AST (100), wherein the CS comprises a first memory apparatus coupled to a first processor, and wherein the MK comprises a second memory apparatus coupled to a second processor, the method comprising:

the CS using a sensor system (110, 120) assigned thereto to cyclically monitor surroundings and/or the physical system and creates an internal model of the surroundings and/or the PS on the basis of this monitoring and performing analysis of this model, by the first processor, to determine control values for the AST (100) and a criticality index (KI) of the scenario in a cycle, and

the MK (140) cyclically monitoring the (160) and/or actions thereof, to determine, by the second processor, an engagement index EI of the operator (160) in the cycle, on the basis of this monitoring, wherein EI and KI may adopt standardised values between 0 and 1, wherein KI=0 represents the lowest criticality and KI=1 represents the highest criticality, and wherein EI=0 indicates that the operator (160) is not engaged, and EI=1 indicates that the operator (160) is fully engaged, and wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the operator (160) when EI>

KI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operator (160) gives control to the CS when EI≦

EI_limit and KI≧

EI.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the criticality index KI is derived, by the first processor, from the interval between now and the LIA (last instant of action).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the engagement index EI of the operator (160) is derived, by the second processor, from an optical attentiveness index (OAI) of the operator (160) and a motor attentiveness index MAI of the operator (160).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the optical attentiveness index (OAI) of the operator (160) is determined by the monitoring of a line of sight of the operator (160).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the motor attentiveness index (MAI) of the operator (160) is determined by the monitoring of the control values output by the operator (160).

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the optical attentiveness index (OAI) of the operator (160) and the motor attentiveness index (MAI) of the operator (160) are exponentially smoothed over time.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor system (110, 120) assigned to the CS cyclically monitors surroundings of the physical system.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the cycle is a current cycle and wherein the EI is indicative of engagement of the operator in a current cycle.

8. A dynamic system-of-systems or other systems-of-systems consisting of:

a physical system (PS);

an autonomous control system (CS) comprising a first memory apparatus coupled to a first processor;

an operator (160);

a monitor component (MK) (140) comprising a second memory apparatus coupled to a second processor; and

an actuator controller (AST) (100),

wherein in order to allocate the control the CS uses a sensor system (110, 120) assigned thereto to cyclically monitor and create an internal model of the surroundings and/or the PS on the basis of the monitoring and performs, by the first processor, analysis of this model to determine control values for the AST (100) and a criticality index (KI) of the scenario in a cycle, and wherein the MK cyclically monitors the operator (160) and/or actions thereof, to determine, by the second processor, an engagement index (EI) of the operator (160) in the cycle, on the basis of this monitoring, wherein EI and KI may adopt standardised values between 0 and 1, wherein KI=0 represents the lowest criticality and KI=1 represents the highest criticality, and wherein EI=0 indicates that the operator (160) is not engaged, and EI=1 indicates that the operator (160) is fully engaged, and wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the operator (160) when EI>

KI.

9. The system-of-systems of claim 8, wherein the HO (160) gives control to the CS when EI≦

EI_limit and KI≧

EI.

10. A motor vehicle or other vehicle, comprising at least one of the systems-of-systems of claim 8.

12. A method for allocating control in a dynamic system-of-systems or other system-of-systems which comprises a physical system (PS), an autonomous control system (CS), an operator operator (160), a monitor component (MK) (140) and an actuator controller (AST) (100), wherein the CS comprises a first memory apparatus coupled to a first processor, and wherein the MK comprises a second memory apparatus coupled to a second processor, the method comprising:

the CS using a sensor system (110, 120) assigned thereto to cyclically monitor surroundings and/or the physical system and creates an internal model of the surroundings and/or the PS on the basis of this monitoring and performing analysis of this model, by the first processor, to determine control values for the AST (100) and a criticality index KI of the scenario in a cycle, and

the MK (140) cyclically monitors the operator (160) and/or actions thereof, to determine, by the second processor, an engagement index EI of the operator (160) in the cycle, on the basis of this monitoring, wherein EI and KI may adopt standardised values between 0 and 1, wherein KI=0 represents the lowest criticality and KI=1 represents the highest criticality, and wherein EI=0 indicates that the operator (160) is not engaged, and EI=1 indicates that the operator (160) is fully engaged, and wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the operator (160) when EI>

KI.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensor system (110, 120) assigned to the CS cyclically monitors surroundings of the physical system.

14. A dynamic or other system-of-systems comprising:

a physical system (PS);

an autonomous control system (CS) comprising a first memory apparatus coupled to a first processor;

a monitor component (MK) (140) comprising a second memory apparatus coupled to a second processor; and

an actuator controller (AST) (100), wherein in order to allocate the control the CS uses a sensor system (110, 120) assigned thereto to cyclically monitor and create an internal model of the surroundings and/or the PS on the basis of the monitoring and performs, by the first processor, analysis of this model to determine control values for the AST (100) and a criticality index KI of the scenario in a cycle, and wherein the MK cyclically monitors an operator operator (160) and/or actions thereof, to determine, by the second processor, an engagement index (EI) of the operator (160) in the cycle, on the basis of this monitoring, wherein EI and KI may adopt standardised values between 0 and 1, wherein KI=0 represents the lowest criticality and KI=1 represents the highest criticality, and wherein EI=0 indicates that the operator (160) is not engaged, and EI=1 indicates that the operator (160) is fully engaged, and wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the operator (160) when EI>

KI.

15. The system-of-systems of claim 14, wherein the operator (160) gives control to the CS when EI≦

EI_limit and KI≧

EI.

16. A motor vehicle or other vehicle comprising at least one of the systems-of-systems of claim 14.

17. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that upon execution by at least one processor configure the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a sensor system configured to clinically monitor at least one of a physical system PS or surroundings, sensor data;

creating, by the at least one processor, an internal model of at least one of the PS or the surroundings based on the sensor data;

performing analysis on the internal model;

determining control values for an actuator controller (AST) and a criticality index (KI) of a scenario in a cycle based at least in part on the analysis;

receiving, from a monitor component (MK) configured to clinically monitor actions of an operator, data indicative of one or more actions;

determining an engagement index EI of the operator in the cycle based on the data indicative of the one or more actions, wherein the control over the PS is allocated to the operator in response to determining that EI>

KI.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein values for EI and KI are between 0 and 1, wherein KI having a value of zero is indicative of a lowest criticality and KI having a value of 1 is indicative of the highest criticality, and wherein EI having a value of 0 is indicative of that the operator being not engaged, and EI having a value of 1 is indicative of the operator being fully engaged.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the cycle is a current cycle and wherein the EI is indicative of engagement of the operator in a current cycle.