Re-routing autonomous vehicles using dynamic routing and memory management

• US 10,495,474 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2018
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Szubbocsev, Zoltan
• Primary Examiner(s): Sarwar, Babar
• Application Number:
  US15/919,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20190277643A1
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0016 of the vehicle or its occupants
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for navigating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) that utilizes ADV an-onboard computer and/or one or more ADV control system nodes in an ADV network platform. The on-board computer receives sensor data concerning one or more occupants occupying an ADV and/or the ADV itself and, upon a detection of an event, automatically initiates a dynamic routing algorithm that utilizes artificial intelligence to re-route the ADV to another destination, for example a healthcare facility. One or more embodiment of the system and method include an ADV on-board computer and/or one or more ADV network platform nodes that utilize in-memory processing to aid in the generation of routing, health and navigational information to advantageously navigate an ADV.

Claims

1. A system to route an autonomous driving vehicle, comprising:

an on-board computer comprising;

one or more processors programmed to autonomously navigate a vehicle along a current route to a predetermined first destination;

one or more sensor devices communicatively coupled to the on-board computer;

wherein at least one of the one or more processors is programmed to;

determine a current vehicle location that represents a current geographical location of the vehicle;

automatically re-route the vehicle from the current vehicle location to a qualifying healthcare facility in response to a detection of an event utilizing data received by the one or more sensor devices;

wherein the at least one of the one or more processors, in response to the detection of an event, is programmed to

generate mapping information for a first geographical area (n=1) that represents a geographical area that measures a first predetermined distance from the current vehicle location;

identify, utilizing the mapping information, a first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the first geographical area;

wherein the at least one of the one or more processors, in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities, is programmed to;

retrieve a predetermined healthcare condition set that represents one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions that are associated with the event and apply the healthcare condition set to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine the qualifying healthcare facility; and

automatically re-route the vehicle to the qualifying healthcare facility;

a data storage device communicatively coupled to the one or more processors for retrievably storing data; and

an in-memory processing system that includes the at least one of the one or more processors to perform in-memory processing of data received from one or more devices included in the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more processors, in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities, is programmed to:

apply the healthcare condition set to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine a qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the qualifying healthcare conditions;

generate a first qualifying healthcare route set that represents a set of one or more healthcare qualifying routes that the vehicle can navigate from the current vehicle location to each of the geographical locations of the healthcare facilities included in the set of qualifying healthcare facilities, wherein each healthcare qualifying route includes one or more navigable pathways between the current vehicle location and the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

analyze information concerning the one or more navigable pathways included in each healthcare qualifying route included in the qualifying healthcare route set and generate a healthcare qualifying route time for each healthcare qualifying route that represents a time that it will take the vehicle from its current vehicle location to navigate the healthcare qualifying route to reach the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

determine, from the one or more healthcare qualifying route times, a shortest time;

automatically set the healthcare qualifying route associated with the shortest time as the current route;

automatically set the geographical location of the healthcare facility associated with the shortest time as the current destination, and navigate the vehicle to reach the current destination.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one of the one more processors is programmed to:

in response to identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the geographical area (n) and not identifying the qualifying healthcare set;

determine if the geographical location for each of the one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at a distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than a predetermined maximum safety distance; and

in response to determining that the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at a distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance;

remove the one or more healthcare facilities that reside at distances greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance from the set of healthcare facilities to identify a pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities that include one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities;

remove one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions from the healthcare condition set; and

if one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions remain, apply the remaining weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualified set of healthcare facilities to determine the qualifying healthcare facility set.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one of one more processors is programmed to:

in response to determining that the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at a distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than a predetermined maximum safety distance;

determine the qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities by;

in a series of one or more successive application steps, removing one weighted qualifying healthcare condition from the healthcare condition set (p) in each successive application step by,

in response to one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions remaining such that p>

0,

applying the remaining weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x, wherein x is a number 1 to p) to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualified set of healthcare facilities in each successive step until one or more of the pre-qualifying healthcare facilities meets all of the healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set; and

setting the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set as the qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one more processors are programmed to:

in response to none of the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities included in the pre-qualified set of healthcare facilities meeting one or more of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare condition set,

set the first set of healthcare facilities as the qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one more processors is programmed to:

in response to not identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1) that represents the geographical area that measures a first distance from the current vehicle location;

generate mapping information for a second geographical area (n=2) that represents a geographical area that measures a second distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than the first geographical area (n=1) by a predetermined distance (X) from the current vehicle location; and

identify the first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the second geographical area (n=2).

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one more processors is programmed to:

in response to not identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1);

generate mapping information for a series of one or more successive geographical areas (n=m, where m is greater than

     1) and utilize mapping information that corresponds to each successive geographical area until the first set of healthcare facilities is identified, wherein each successive geographical area represents a geographical area that is larger than the previous geographical area (n=m−

1, where m is greater than

     1) in succession by the predetermined distance (X) when measured from the current vehicle location.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one more processors are programmed to

initiate a monitoring mode wherein the at least one of the one more processors is ready to receive health data concerning a person'"'"'s one or more vital signs from the one or more sensor devices;

calibrate the one or more sensor devices with respect to one or more of the person'"'"'s vital signs to obtain a normal range for the one or more vital signs; and

process the received health data to determine in real time if one or more events is detected, wherein the process includes;

analyzing the health data to determine measurements of the one or more vital signs; and

comparing the current measurement of the one or more vital signs to a predetermined normal range of the one or more vital signs for the person.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more sensor devices comprise:

a wearable sensor device comprising;

one or more sensors configured to monitor a person'"'"'s health and generate health data; and

an interface configured to transmit the generated data to the on-board computer;

wherein the at least one of the one more processors is programmed to determine, based upon the received data, whether an event has been detected.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein an event includes at least one of a myocardial infarction, a stroke, heart failure, hypoglycemia, a hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state, diabetic ketoacidosis and an epileptic seizure.

11. A processor implemented method for routing an autonomous driving vehicle comprising:

autonomously navigating a passenger vehicle along a current route that ends at a predetermined first destination using routing information generated by at least on processor of one or more processors;

determining a current vehicle location that represents the current geographical location of the vehicle;

detecting an event using data received from one or more sensor devices communicatively coupled to the at least one processor of one or more processors; and

in response to detecting the event,

generating mapping information utilizing information retrieved from a storage device for a first geographical area (n=1) that represents a geographical area that measures a first predetermined distance from the current vehicle location;

utilizing the mapping information to identify a first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the first geographical area;

in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities,

retrieving a predetermined healthcare condition set (p) that represents one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions that are associated with the event;

applying the healthcare condition set to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine a qualifying healthcare facility;

performing in-memory processing using an in-memory processing system that includes the at least one processor of one or more processors to process data received from one or more devices communicatively coupled to the at least one processor of one or more processors to assist in the generation of routing information; and

automatically re-routing the vehicle from the current vehicle location to a second destination that is the geographical location of the qualifying healthcare facility using routing information generated by the in-memory processing system.

12. The processor implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities,

applying, by the at least one processor of the one or more processors, the healthcare condition set (p) to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine a qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the qualifying healthcare conditions;

generating, by the in-memory processing system, a first qualifying healthcare route set that represents a set of one or more healthcare qualifying routes that the vehicle can navigate from the current vehicle location to each of the geographical locations of the healthcare facilities included in the set of qualifying healthcare facilities, wherein each healthcare qualifying route includes one or more navigable pathways between the current vehicle location and the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

analyzing available navigable pathway information that represents information concerning the one or more navigable pathways included in each healthcare qualifying route included in the qualifying healthcare route set;

generating, by the in-memory processing system utilizing at least a portion of the navigable pathway information, a healthcare qualifying route time for each healthcare qualifying route that represents a time that it will take the vehicle from the current vehicle location to navigate the healthcare qualifying route to reach the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

determining, from the one or more healthcare qualifying route times, a shortest time;

automatically setting the healthcare qualifying route associated with the shortest time as the current route;

automatically setting the geographical location of the healthcare facility associated with the shortest time as the second destination; and

navigating the vehicle to reach the second destination.

13. The processor implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1) and not identifying the qualifying healthcare set,

determining if the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at a distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than a predetermined maximum safety distance;

in response to determining that the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at distances from the current vehicle location that are greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance,

removing the one or more healthcare facilities that reside at distances greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance from the first set of healthcare facilities to identify a pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities that include one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities; and

determining, from the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities, the qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities by performing a series of one or more successive application steps, the application steps including;

applying the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set (p) to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities;

in response to not identifying at least one pre-qualifying healthcare facility that meets all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions, removing one weighted qualifying healthcare condition from the healthcare condition set (p) to create healthcare condition set (p−

x, x is a number from 1 to p) and applying the remaining weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x, wherein x wherein x is a number from 2 to p) to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities in each successive step in the series of successive steps to determine the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the remaining healthcare conditions; and

in response to one or more of the pre-qualifying healthcare facilities meeting all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x), setting the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions in the healthcare conditions set as the qualifying healthcare facility set.

14. The processor implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to not identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1) that represents the geographical area that measures a first distance from the current vehicle location,

generating mapping information for a second geographical area that represents a second geographical area (n=2) that measures a second distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than the first geographical area by a predetermined distance from the current vehicle location; and

identifying the first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the second geographical area.

15. The processor implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

initiating, by the at least one of the one or more processors, a monitoring mode wherein the at least one processor is ready to receive health data concerning a person'"'"'s one or more vital signs from at least one of the one or more sensor devices;

calibrating the at least one of the one or more sensor devices with respect to the person'"'"'s vital signs to obtain a normal range for the person for one or more of that person'"'"'s vital signs;

processing, by the in-memory system that includes the at least one processor, the received health data in real time; and

determining, by the at least one processor, if one or more events is detected based upon received health data, wherein processing includes;

analyzing the health data to determine measurements of the one or more vital signs; and

comparing the current measurement of the one or more vital signs to the predetermined normal range for the person;

wherein the at least one of one or more sensor devices is configured to monitor the person'"'"'s health and generate health data, and transmit the generated health data to the at least one processor.

16. A computer program product for routing an autonomous driving vehicle, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by at least one of one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

autonomously navigating a passenger vehicle along a current route that ends at a predetermined first destination using routing information;

determining a current vehicle location that represents the current geographical location of the vehicle;

detecting an event in real time using data received from one or more sensor devices; and

in response to detecting the event,

generating mapping information utilizing information retrieved from a storage device for a first geographical area (n=1) that represents a geographical area that measures a first predetermined distance from the current vehicle location;

utilizing the mapping information to identify a first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the first geographical area;

in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities,

retrieving a predetermined healthcare condition set (p) that represents one or more weighted qualifying healthcare conditions that are associated with the event;

applying the healthcare condition set to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine a qualifying healthcare facility;

performing in-memory processing using an in-memory processing system to process data received from one or more devices to assist in the generation of routing information; and

automatically re-routing the vehicle from the current vehicle location to a second destination that is the geographical location of the qualifying healthcare facility using routing information generated by the in-memory processing system.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to the identification of the first set of healthcare facilities,

applying the healthcare condition set (p) to each identified healthcare facility included in the first set of healthcare facilities to determine a qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the qualifying healthcare conditions;

generating, by the in-memory processing system, a first qualifying healthcare route set that represents a set of one or more healthcare qualifying routes that the vehicle can navigate from the current vehicle location to each of the geographical locations of the healthcare facilities included in the set of qualifying healthcare facilities, wherein each healthcare qualifying route includes one or more navigable pathways between the current vehicle location and the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

analyzing available navigable pathway information that represents information concerning the one or more navigable pathways included in each healthcare qualifying route included in the qualifying healthcare route set;

generating, by the in-memory processing system utilizing at least a portion of the navigable pathway information, a healthcare qualifying route time for each healthcare qualifying route that represents a time that it will take the vehicle from the current vehicle location to navigate the healthcare qualifying route to reach the corresponding qualifying healthcare facility;

determining, from the one or more healthcare qualifying route times, a shortest time;

automatically setting the healthcare qualifying route associated with the shortest time as the current route;

automatically setting the geographical location of the healthcare facility associated with the shortest time as the second destination; and

navigating the vehicle to reach the second destination.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to not identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1) that represents the geographical area that measures a first distance from the current vehicle location,

generating mapping information for a second geographical area that represents a second geographical area (n=2) that measures a second distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than the first geographical area by a predetermined distance from the current vehicle location; and

identifying the first set of healthcare facilities that represents one or more healthcare facilities that have geographical locations within the second geographical area.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to identifying the first set of healthcare facilities in the first geographical area (n=1) and not identifying the qualifying healthcare set,

determining if the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at a distance from the current vehicle location that is greater than a predetermined maximum safety distance;

in response to determining that the geographical location for one or more of the healthcare facilities included in the first set of healthcare facilities resides at distances from the current vehicle location that are greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance,

removing the one or more healthcare facilities that reside at distances greater than the predetermined maximum safety distance from the first set of healthcare facilities to identify a pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities that include one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities; and

determining, from the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities, the qualifying healthcare facility set that includes one or more qualifying healthcare facilities by performing a series of one or more successive application steps, the application steps including;

applying the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set (p) to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities;

in response to not identifying at least one pre-qualifying healthcare facility that meets all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions, removing one weighted qualifying healthcare condition from the healthcare condition set (p) to create healthcare condition set (p−

x, x is a number from 1 to p) and applying the remaining weighted qualifying healthcare conditions included in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x) to each identified pre-qualifying healthcare facility included in the pre-qualifying set of healthcare facilities in each successive step in the series of successive steps to determine the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the remaining healthcare conditions; and

in response to any one or more of the pre-qualifying healthcare facilities meeting all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x) at any successive application step, setting the one or more pre-qualifying healthcare facilities that meet all of the weighted qualifying healthcare conditions in the healthcare conditions set (p−

x) as the qualifying healthcare facility set.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

initiating a monitoring mode wherein health data concerning a person'"'"'s one or more vital signs is received from at least one of the one or more sensor devices;

calibrating the at least one of the one or more sensor devices with respect to the person'"'"'s vital signs to obtain a normal range for the person for one or more of that person'"'"'s vital signs;

processing, by the in-memory system, the received health data in real time; and

determining if one or more events is detected based upon received health data, wherein processing includes;

analyzing the health data to determine measurements of the one or more vital signs; and

comparing the current measurement of the one or more vital signs to the predetermined normal range for the person, wherein the at least one of one or more sensor devices is configured to monitor the person'"'"'s health and generate health data, and transmit the generated health data to the at least one processor.