Enhanced view for connected cars

• US 9,866,782 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2016
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shahraray, Behzad, Abella, Alicia, Gibbon, David Crawford, Gilbert, Mazin E., Johnston, Michael J., Schroeter, Horst J., Wilpon, Jay Gordon
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Hee-Yong
• Application Number:
  US15/212,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20160330394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• Field of Search: 348148
• 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 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: B60R 2300/8093 for obstacle warning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44 Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards H04N5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Network connectivity is used to share relevant visual and other sensory information between vehicles, as well as delivering relevant information provided by network services to create an enhanced view of the vehicle'"'"'s surroundings. The enhanced view is presented to the occupants of the vehicle to provide an improved driving experience and/or enable the occupants to take proper action (e.g., avoid obstacles, identify traffic delays, etc.). In one example, the enhanced view comprises information that is not visible to the naked eye and/or cannot be currently sensed by the vehicle'"'"'s sensors (e.g., due to a partial or blocked view, low visibility conditions, hardware capabilities of the vehicle'"'"'s sensors, position of the vehicle'"'"'s sensors, etc.).

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining first sensor data captured via a first sensor of a first vehicle, wherein the first sensor is classified as being a first type of sensor, and wherein the first sensor data is captured during a first time period that is determined to satisfy a defined daylight criterion, and

facilitating a transmission of the first sensor data to a second vehicle, wherein the first sensor data is to be combined with second sensor data captured via a second sensor of the second vehicle to generate enhanced sensor data, and wherein the second sensor is classified as being a second type of sensor that is different from the first type, and wherein the second sensor data is captured during a second time period that is determined to fail to satisfy the defined daylight criterion.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor data is determined to be captured during daytime and the second sensor data is determined to be captured during nighttime.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the network device of the wireless communication network is a cellular network device of a cellular communication network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor data is employable to improve a resolution of the second sensor data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the enhanced sensor data provides three-dimensional depth data associated with an obstacle on a road.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the facilitating comprises facilitating the transmission in response to determining that the second vehicle does not comprise a third sensor classified as being the first type of sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the facilitating comprises facilitating the transmission in response to determining that the second vehicle comprises a third sensor that is classified as being the first type of sensor and in response to determining that the third sensor does not satisfy an operation criterion for sensors of the first type of sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining location data representing a location of the second vehicle, and wherein the facilitating comprises facilitating the transmission in response to the location data being determined to satisfy a defined location criterion.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the facilitating comprises facilitating the transmission during a defined time period.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the facilitating comprises broadcasting the first sensor data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the enhanced sensor data is formatted to be presented via an output interface of the second vehicle.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, first sensor data captured via a first sensor of a first vehicle;

receiving, by the system, second sensor data captured via a second sensor of a second vehicle;

based on first timestamp data related to the first sensor data, determining, by the system, that the first sensor data has been captured during a first time period that satisfies a defined daytime criterion;

based on second timestamp data related to the first sensor data, verifying, by the system, that the second sensor data has been captured during a second time period that fails to satisfy the defined daytime criterion; and

in response to the determining and the verifying, aggregating, by the system, the first sensor data and the second sensor data to generate aggregated sensor data, wherein the first sensor is classified as being a first type of sensor and the second sensor is classified as being a second type of sensor that is different from the first type.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving the first sensor data comprises receiving the first sensor data associated with a specified area and the receiving the second sensor data comprises receiving the second sensor data associated with the specified area.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the aggregating comprises aggregating in response to determining that the second sensor data is different from the first sensor data, and wherein the determining that the second sensor data is different is based on comparing first metadata relating to the first sensor data with second metadata relating to the second sensor data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the aggregating comprises aggregating in response to determining that the first sensor and the second sensor have different hardware capabilities.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

facilitating, by the system, a transmission of the aggregated sensor data to a third vehicle, wherein the aggregated sensor data is presentable via an interface associated with the third vehicle.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a network device of a wireless communication network facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving, from a first vehicle, first sensor data that is sensed by a first type of sensor of the first vehicle;

receiving, from a second vehicle, second sensor data that is sensed by a second type of sensor of the second vehicle;

determining that the first sensor data has been captured during a first time period that satisfies a defined daytime criterion and that the second sensor data has been captured during a second time period that does not satisfy the defined daytime criterion; and

in response to the determining and based on combining the first sensor data with the second sensor data, determining combined sensor data.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the determining the combined sensor data comprises determining the combined sensor data in response to determining, based on comparing first metadata related to the first sensor data with second metadata related to the second sensor data, that the first sensor data does not satisfy a defined quality criterion.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first sensor data and the second sensor data are associated with a common geographical area.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing the combined sensor data to a third vehicle that is determined to be located within the common geographical area.