Using Vehicle Sensor Data to Monitor Pedestrian Health

• US 20180137372A1
• Filed: 12/01/2016
• Published: 05/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NIO Technology Company Limited (Shanghai Anbin Technology Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NextEV USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Newman, Austin
• Granted Patent: US 10,694,357 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/143 Sensing or illuminating at different wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/144 Movement detection for video coding H04N19/503; analysis of motion in general G06T7/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring pedestrians based upon information is collected by a wide array of sensors already included in modern motor vehicles. Also included, is a system of monitoring pedestrians by aggregating data collected by an array of vehicles.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring pedestrian health comprising:

one or more thermal imagers,

one or more high definition imagers,

a real time communication interface,

a short range communication interface, and

a vehicle computer communicatively coupled to the one or more thermal imagers, the one or more high definition imagers, the real time communication interface and the short range communication interface;

wherein the vehicle computer;

acquires a plurality of thermal images from the one or more thermal imagers,

acquires a plurality of high definition images form the one or more high definition imagers,

determines if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians,

selectively displays an alert on a display communicatively coupled to the vehicle computer based on the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images containing one or more pedestrians, and

selectively transmits via the real time interface the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to a database server based on the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images containing one or more pedestrians.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle computer further:

selectively transmits via the short range communication interface the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to the database server on a condition that the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images do not contain one or more pedestrians.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle computer further:

if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images are determined to contain one or more pedestrians, analyzes the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to determine if the one or more pedestrians is displaying a predetermined pedestrian behavior; and

wherein the selectively transmits via the real time interface is further based on the one or more pedestrians displaying the predetermined behavior.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the predetermined behavior is selected from the group containing hazard behavior, injured behavior, and criminal behavior.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle computer further:

determines if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a thermal signature of the one or more pedestrians.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle computer further:

determines if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a kinematic profile of the one or more pedestrians.

7. A method for monitoring pedestrian health comprising:

acquiring, by a vehicle computer, a plurality of thermal images from one or more thermal imagers;

acquiring, by the vehicle computer, a plurality of high definition images from one or more high definition imagers,

determining, by the vehicle computer, if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians,

selectively displaying, by the vehicle computer, an alert on a display communicatively coupled to the vehicle computer based on the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images containing one or more pedestrians; and

selectively transmits via a real time interface of the vehicle computer the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to a database server based on the images containing one or more pedestrians.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

selectively transmitting via a short range communication interface of the vehicle computer the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to the database server on a condition that the images do not contain one or more pedestrians.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images are determined to contain one or more pedestrians, analyzing, by the vehicle computer, the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to determine if the one or more pedestrians is displaying a predetermined pedestrian behavior; and

wherein the selectively transmitting via the real time interface is further based on the one or more pedestrians displaying the predetermined behavior.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined behavior is selected from the group containing hazard behavior, injured behavior, and criminal behavior.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining, by the vehicle computer, if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a thermal signature of the one or more pedestrians.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining, by the vehicle computer, if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a kinematic profile of the one or more pedestrians.

13. A system for monitoring pedestrian health comprising:

a plurality of vehicles, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles includes;

one or more thermal imagers,

one or more high definition imagers,

a real time communication interface,

a short range communication interface, and

a vehicle computer communicatively coupled to the one or more thermal imagers, the one or more high definition imagers, the real time communication interface and the short range communication interface; and

a database server communicatively coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the database server includes;

a communication interface,

a memory,

storage, and

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the storage and the communication interface;

wherein the processor of the database server;

receives, via the communication interface, a plurality of images from the plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of images include images acquired by the one or more high definition imagers and the high definition imagers,

aggregates the plurality of images based on geolocation information and temporal information provided by the plurality of vehicles to form aggregated data,

analyzes the aggregated data to determine pedestrian behavior, and

selectively alerts emergency service providers based on the determined pedestrian behavior.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles:

acquire a plurality of thermal images from the one or more thermal imagers,

acquire a plurality of high definition images from the one or more high definition imagers,

determines if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians, and

selectively transmit via the real time interface the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to the database server based on the images containing one or more pedestrians

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles further:

selectively transmit via the short range communication interface the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to the database server on a condition that the images do not contain one or more pedestrians.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the determined pedestrian behavior is selected from the group containing hazard behavior, injured behavior, and criminal behavior.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of vehicles further:

if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images are determined to contain one or more pedestrians, analyze the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images to determine if the one or more pedestrians is displaying a predetermined behavior; and

wherein the selectively transmit via the real time interface is further based on the one or more pedestrians displaying the predetermined behavior.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the predetermined behavior is selected from the group containing hazard behavior, injured behavior, and criminal behavior.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of vehicles determine if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a thermal signature of the one or more pedestrians.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of vehicles determine if the plurality of thermal images and the plurality of high definition images contain one or more pedestrians based on a kinematic profile of the one or more pedestrians.