Dual assessment for early collision warning

• US 20080312832A1
• Filed: 06/12/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Liu, Juan, Greene, Daniel H., Reich, James E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,881,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0006 Digital architecture hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/726 Multiple target tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates warning of collision between a primary principal and one or more non-primary principals. The system includes a triggering mechanism and a preliminary assessment mechanism. During operation, the triggering mechanism determines whether a trigger condition is met based on the state of the primary principal. When the trigger condition is met, the preliminary assessment mechanism generates one or more collision scenarios associated with the trigger condition, assesses a preliminary probability of collision in a collision scenario, and, based on the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario, activates a specialized assessment mechanism to assess a refined probability of collision in the collision scenario.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating warning of collision between a primary principal and one or more non-primary principals, comprising:

a triggering mechanism configured to determine whether a trigger condition is met based on the state of the primary principal; and

a preliminary assessment mechanism, wherein when the trigger condition is met, the preliminary assessment mechanism is configured to;

generate one or more collision scenarios associated with the trigger condition;

assess a preliminary probability of collision in a collision scenario; and

based on the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario, activate a specialized assessment mechanism to assess a refined probability of collision in the collision scenario.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein the specialized assessment mechanism is configured to assess a collision time and/or collision severity in the collision scenario.

3. The system of claim 1,

wherein while assessing the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario, the preliminary assessment mechanism is configured to assess a number of future states of the primary principal and a non-primary principal based on the current and past states of the primary and non-primary principals.

4. The system of claim 1,

wherein when the trigger condition is met, the preliminary assessment mechanism is further configured to determine a time and/or severity of collision in the collision scenario.

5. The system of claim 1,

wherein while activating the specialized assessment mechanism, the preliminary assessment mechanism is configured to select a probabilistic model and/or algorithms for filtering and prediction to be applied by the specialized assessment mechanism.

6. The system of claim 1,

wherein when the trigger condition is met, the preliminary assessment mechanism is further configured, prior to activating the specialized assessment mechanism, to rank different collision scenarios based on one or more of:

the preliminary probability of collision,

a collision time,

a collision severity,

a benefit of avoiding a collision.

7. The system of claim 1,

wherein while assessing the preliminary probability of collision, the preliminary assessment mechanism is configured to perform a geometric assessment of the collision scenario.

8. The system of claim 1,

wherein while assessing the refined probability of collision, the specialized assessment mechanism is configured to perform a statistical assessment of the collision scenario.

9. The system of claim 1,

wherein while activating the specialized assessment mechanism, the preliminary assessment mechanism is configured to pass one or more dynamics models and a set of parameters representing the states of the primary and non-primary principals to the specialized assessment mechanism.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a trigger-condition generation mechanism configured to generate one or more trigger conditions based on a set of surrounding information, or the state of the primary principal, or both.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a surrounding-information collection mechanism configured to obtain the surrounding information based on information received from an external source.

12. The system of claim 1,

wherein the state of a principal includes one or more of:

a location of the principal;

a velocity of the principal; and

an acceleration of the principal.

13. A method for facilitating warning of collision between a primary principal and one or more non-primary principals, comprising:

determining whether a trigger condition is met based on the state of the primary principal; and

when the trigger condition is met, performing following operations in association with a preliminary assessment mechanism;

generating one or more collision scenarios associated with the trigger condition;

assessing a preliminary probability of collision in a collision scenario; and

based on the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario, activating a specialized assessment mechanism to assess a refined probability of collision in the collision scenario.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the operations performed in association with the preliminary assessment mechanism further include assessing a collision time and/or collision severity in the collision scenario.

15. The method of claim 13,

wherein while assessing the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario comprises assessing a number of future states of the primary principal and a non-primary principal based on the current and past states of the primary and non-primary principals.

16. The method of claim 13,

wherein the operations performed in association with the preliminary assessment mechanism further include determining a time and/or severity of collision in the collision scenario.

17. The method of claim 13,

wherein activating the specialized assessment mechanism comprises selecting a probabilistic model and/or algorithms for filtering and prediction to be applied by the specialized assessment mechanism.

18. The method of claim 13,

wherein the operations performed in association with the preliminary assessment mechanism further include ranking, prior to activating the specialized assessment mechanism, different collision scenarios based on one or more of:

the preliminary probability of collision,

a collision time,

a collision severity, and

a benefit of avoiding a collision.

19. The method of claim 13,

wherein assessing the preliminary probability of collision comprises performing a geometric assessment of the collision scenario.

20. The method of claim 13,

wherein assessing the refined probability of collision comprises performing a statistical assessment of the collision scenario.

21. The method of claim 13,

wherein activating the specialized assessment mechanism comprises passing one or more dynamics models and a set of parameters representing the states of the primary and non-primary principals to the specialized assessment mechanism.

22. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating one or more trigger conditions based on a set of surrounding information, or the state of the primary principal, or both.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

obtaining the surrounding information based on information received from an external source.

24. The method of claim 13

wherein the state of a principal includes one or more of:

a location of the principal;

a velocity of the principal; and

an acceleration of the principal.

25. A computer system for facilitating warning of collision between a primary principal and one or more non-primary principals, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a triggering mechanism configured to determine whether a trigger condition is met based on the state of the primary principal; and

a preliminary assessor, wherein when the trigger condition is met, the preliminary assessor mechanism is configured to;

generate one or more collision scenarios associated with the trigger condition;

assess a preliminary probability of collision in a collision scenario; and

based on the preliminary probability of collision in the collision scenario, activate a specialized assessor to assess a refined probability of collision in the collision scenario.