Allowing drivers or driverless vehicles to see what is on the other side of an obstruction that they are driving near, using direct vehicle-to-vehicle sharing of environment data

• US 10,586,117 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2017
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bletzer, Nicholas J., Floyd, Christopher G., Warwick, Malcolm M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahi, Shan E
• Application Number:
  US15/817,602
• Publication Number:
  US 20180096600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 348 36
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/27 providing all-round vision, e.g. using omnidirectional cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/102 using 360 degree surveillance camera system
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/301 combining image information with other obstacle sensor information, e.g. using RADAR/LIDAR/SONAR sensors for estimating risk of collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/50 characterised by the display information being shared, e.g. external display, data transfer to other traffic participants or centralised traffic controller
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

In a vehicle communication system of vehicles, vehicles share environment data such as their location data and 360 degree view of the world with other vehicles using direct vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) real-time data streams. A displayable map of potentially dangerous obstructions on the surrounding roadway is formed using in vehicle environment sensors allowing a driver or the controls of a driverless vehicle to be warned of the danger. A map of blind spots is built up to speed up the processing of incoming data in order to create a more complete picture of surrounding vehicles. Shared data is used to position each vehicle relative to the target vehicle. By sharing obstruction maps between vehicles, a more complete picture of the roadway can be displayed—and one vehicle can in effect “see” through another vehicle or an obstruction.

Claims

1. A computer program product for building a 360 degree direct view surrounding a target vehicle using direct vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) real-time data streams, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving from one or more sensors attached to the target vehicle a sensor real-time data stream;

building a 360 degree direct view around the target vehicle based on the received sensor real-time data stream, wherein the 360 degree direct view includes a blind spot, defined by a visual obstruction beyond which another vehicle may be located;

receiving from a second vehicle a first V2V real-time data stream that includes data representing a 360 degree direct view around the second vehicle, and a position of origin of the second vehicle relative to the target vehicle, wherein the target vehicle and the another vehicle in the blind spot are within the 360 degree direct view around the second vehicle;

receiving from the second vehicle a second V2V real-time data stream that includes a composite data stream representing the first V2V real-time data stream and a 360 degree direct view around the another vehicle, and

forming based on the received first and the received second V2V real-time data streams and the position of origin of the second vehicle relative to the target vehicle, a composite 360 degree direct view around the target vehicle in which information representing the blind spot is replaced with a representation of a 360 degree direct view around the target vehicle without the obstruction and the location where the another vehicle is located enabling the target vehicle to see beyond the blind spot.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors are selected from the group consisting of radar sensor, video camera, and ultrasound sensor.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the target vehicle is a driverless vehicle.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the position of origin of the second vehicle relative to the target vehicle, the first V2V real-time data stream, and the second V2V real-time data stream are transmitted from respective locations at the second vehicle.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising displaying the 360 degree view around the target vehicle.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein additional positions of origin are second vehicles, additional first V2V real-time data streams, and additional second V2V real-time data streams from additional second vehicle are received until any remaining blind spots are replaced.