Enabling dynamic sensor discovery in autonomous devices

• US 9,817,403 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2016
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kohlenberg, Tobias, Iyer, Ravishankar R., Kim, James Jin-koo
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US15/087,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20170285656A1
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23, 701 25, 701 70, 700245, 700246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for enabling sensor discovery in autonomous devices herein. An example system for enabling dynamic sensor discovery including a client that includes an autonomous device. The autonomous device is capable of navigating from a current location to a destination location using sensor data. The client provides a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route and receives respective sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors selected by a data server based on the request. The client subscribes to a data feed of a sensor of the set of selected sensors along the planned route based on sensor information corresponding to the sensor and client analyzes the data feed to determine whether to proceed with the planned route.

Claims

1. A device to enable dynamic sensor discovery comprising:

an autonomous device including a transceiver, the autonomous device capable of navigating from a current location to a destination location using sensor data;

a server communication interface to control the transceiver to provide a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route and to receive respective sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors selected by a data server based on the request, the set of selected sensors including only those that the device is authorized to access;

a sensor communication interface to control the transceiver to subscribe to a data feed of a sensor of the set of selected sensors along the planned route based on sensor information corresponding to the sensor; and

an obstacle avoidance interface to analyze the data feed to determine whether to proceed with the planned route.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the request further includes a desired sensor type, wherein the set of selected sensors selected by the data server is further based on the desired sensor type.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein, responsive to detection of an obstacle by the obstacle avoidance interface, the server communication interface controls the transceiver to provide a second request for sensor information for sensors along a second planned route and receives respective sensor information for each of a second set of selected sensors selected by the data server based on the second request.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensor information liar the sensor of the set of selected sensors includes at least one of an application program interface or a query interface.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the set of selected sensors is outside a detection range of the autonomous device.

6. A system to enable dynamic sensor discovery comprising:

a device interface controlling a transceiver to receive a request for the sensor information for sensors along a planned route from a device that includes an autonomous device that is capable of navigating from a current location to a destination location using sensor data, the device interface controlling the transceiver further to provide sensor information for each of a set of selected sensors to a client; and

a sensor selection module to select the set of selected sensors of a plurality of sensors along the planned route responsive to the request, and to withhold sensor information for a sensor of the plurality of sensors to which the client is restricted from accessing based on whether the client is authorized to obtain data from the sensor of the plurality of sensors.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the request further includes a desired sensor type, wherein the sensor selection module selects the set of sensors of the plurality of sensors along the planned route based on the desired sensor type.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the device interface controlling the transceiver receives a second request for sensor information for sensors along a second planned route and provides the sensor information for each of a second set of selected sensors to the client, wherein the sensor selection module selects a second set of selected sensors of the plurality of sensors along the second planned route responsive to the second request.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising a sensor communication interface controlling the transceiver to receive the sensor information from each of the plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor information includes at least one of a location, an orientation, or a range.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the sensor information or the sensor of the plurality of sensors includes a sensor type and a data type.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the sensor information from the sensor of the plurality of sensors includes an application program interface or a query interface.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor selection module constricted a map of the plurality of sensors from the database and selects the set of selected sensors based on locations on the map of the plurality of sensors.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor selection module maintains a list of available channels for a sensor of the plurality of sensors.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed on a machine cause the machine to perform operations including:

receive a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route from a client, wherein the client includes an autonomous device capable of navigating an environment without human input;

select sensors of a plurality of sensors along the planned route, withholding sensor information for a sensor of the plurality of sensors to which the client is restricted from accessing based on whether the client is authorized to obtain data from the sensor of the plurality of sensors; and

provide sensor information for the selected sensors to the client.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, including instructions that, when executed on the machine, cause the machine to perform operations including querying a database to determine which of the plurality of sensors are along the planned route.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, including instructions that, when executed on the machine, cause the machine to perform operations including providing a data feed of a sensor of the selected sensors to the client.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, including instructions that, when executed on the machine, cause the machine to perform operations including allocating a channel of a data feed from a sensor of the selected sensors to the client.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, including instructions that, when executed on the machine, cause the machine to perform operations including:

receiving a registration message from a sensor of the plurality of sensors, the registration message including respective sensor information for the sensor; and

creating an entry in the database for the sensor, the entry including the sensor information.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving a registration message from each of a plurality sensors, the registration message ng respective sensor information;

creating a respective entry in a database for each of the plurality of sensors, each respective entry in the database includes the respective sensor information of the corresponding sensor of the plurality of sensors; and

responsive to a request for sensor information for sensors along a planned route, querying the database to select sensors of the plurality of sensors based on the request, restricting access to a sensor of the plurality of sensors that has no available channels.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

creating a map of the plurality of sensors from the database; and

selecting the sensors from the map.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the registration message includes at least one of a sensor type, a data type, a location, an orientation, a range, an application program interface, or a query interface.