FR3076789A1 - "Process for processing sensor data of a vehicle" - Google Patents

Abstract

Vehicle sensor data processing method A sensor data processing method of a vehicle (1a, 1b) according to which a processing priority is assigned to sensor data that can be generated or generated at using at least one sensor installation (2a, 2b), which is fixed by an installation (3) external to the vehicle so that these data are processed according to their priority using an installation treatment (5a, 5b) of the vehicle (1a, 1b). Figure for abstract: Figure 1

Description

Title of the invention: "Method for processing data from vehicle sensors"

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for processing data from vehicle sensors.

The invention also relates to a sensor data processing system.

The invention also relates to a sensor data processing device applicable to a vehicle, in particular to a motor vehicle.

Although the present invention can be applied in general to any devices, it will be described below in relation to a motor vehicle. State of the art [0005] Current vehicles are equipped with several sensors, in particular in the form of ABS sensors, temperature sensors or similar sensors, the data of which are collected by the vehicle which operates them. In particular, for the partially or completely autonomous driving of vehicles, an increasing amount of data is required to be stored in the vehicle's memory and to be processed.

SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for processing sensor data from a vehicle according to which a processing priority is assigned to sensor data capable of being generated or which are generated. using at least one sensor installation (2a, 2b), and which is fixed by an installation external to the vehicle so that this data is processed according to their priority using a processing installation of the vehicle.

According to one development, the invention also relates to a sensor data processing system comprising at least one vehicle equipped with a sensor installation designed to generate sensor data and having a processing installation for processing sensor data, in particular according to any one of the preceding claims, and an installation external to the vehicle, connected to the vehicle processing installation and designed to assign to the sensor data generated or likely to be it, a processing priority so that this data is processed according to their processing priority by the vehicle processing facility.

According to another development, the invention relates to a sensor data processing device, in particular applicable to a vehicle, in particular a vehicle with a mobile comprising a sensor installation for generating sensor data, a processing installation for processing the sensor data and, a communication installation linked on the one hand to the processing installation and on the other hand to an installation external to the vehicle and which is designed to receive processing priority for generated sensor data or likely to be from the vehicle and transmit them to the processing installation so that the sensor data are processed according to their processing priority by the processing installation. The invention aims to optimize the performance of the data and in particular we can fix the data and their degree of compression for the efficient use of vehicle memory, regardless of the processing priorities set by an external installation, in particular a cloud service a similar service. Another advantage is to allow efficient use of the computing and memory resources of the vehicle.

According to an advantageous development, the processing priority is fixed as a function of the processing capacities of the vehicle processing installation, in particular of the available computing power and / or the memory space available in the processing installation. of the vehicle and / or the bandwidth of the external communication link. This makes it possible to adapt the processing of sensor data flexibly to the vehicle's variable processing capacities. If the processed sensor data must be transmitted to an external computing installation for processing, this processing and / or the generation of sensor data may be given priority.

According to another advantageous development, the processing priority is adapted according to the state of movement of the vehicle. If a vehicle is, for example, stationary, for autonomous operation of the vehicle, it will suffice low computing power. During this time, it will be possible to record and compress, if necessary, process beforehand, sensor data supplied by other sensors and which will then be either processed or transmitted to an installation external to the vehicle for further processing.

According to another advantageous development, the processing priority is adapted to regular time intervals and / or according to events fixed beforehand and / or according to requests. This allows, in a particularly flexible way, to adapt the processing priority, in particular very closely to the variable external conditions.

According to another development, the processing priority of at least part of the generated sensor data is set by the user of the vehicle, which allows optimal use of the critical data for driving. For example, the accessory functions of the vehicle such as multimedia applications, comfort functions or similar functions may be given lower priority at the request of the driver and certain accessory functions of the vehicle may be appreciated in relation to each other by the driver according to his needs.

According to another advantageous development, the installation external to the vehicle requests sensor data from a set of other vehicles corresponding at least to a predefined data type and balances the data obtained according to their type. This makes it possible, for example, to recognize vehicles which are traveling in close proximity to one another or one after the other using sensor data, for example, GPS signals and compensate for their sensor data, for example, for meteorology, pavement characteristics or the like. This data can be transmitted to a traffic center which switches the data correspondingly, for example, according to a speed limit, dynamically over a segment of the road journey.

According to another advantageous development, in the event of a predefined match of the compensated data, the processing priority is lowered for the type of compensated data in at least one of the respective vehicles. If, for example, the data is sufficiently precise or corresponds to each other in a predefined manner, it will be possible to lower, in a corresponding manner, the generation of the sensor data and / or their processing in one or more vehicles because there will be available sufficient precise data for the treatment facility external to the vehicle. This will make better use of the resources of the various vehicles.

According to another advantageous development, the sensor data, generated or likely to be, and / or the types of data available from the vehicle sensor data are displayed by an installation external to the vehicle and according to the parameters. predefined, this installation transfers the sensor data generated or likely to be generated and / or the types of data available for the vehicle sensor data and in particular uses this data. Thus, it is, for example, possible that the vehicle provides information concerning an installation external to the vehicle and that this can be requested by the data. The requested data can then be transmitted regularly, for example, by the vehicle to the installation external to the vehicle until the installation external to the vehicle displays the vehicle indicating to it that no other data or data of a certain type are no longer required.

According to another advantageous development, the sensor data generated or likely to be generated, and / or the types of sensor data available are transmitted at regular time intervals and / or as a function of events fixed beforehand. and / or at the request of the vehicle to the installation external to the vehicle. Thus, for example, an installation external to the vehicle may request data corresponding to other vehicles if the meteorological data of the vehicle is entered which is not unequivocal or contradictory. Thus, the reliability of the processing of the sensor data and, where appropriate, of the services associated with this data is increased.

According to another advantageous development, using the installation of sensors, rain, light, position, orientation, temperature, speed and / or acceleration are detected, in particular at using an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a radar sensor or the like. This makes it possible to generate a large amount of interesting data in a flexible manner.

Brief description of the drawings The present invention will be described below, in detail with the aid of exemplary embodiments represented in the appended drawings in which:

- [Figure 1] is a diagram of a processing system according to an embodiment of the invention,

- [Figure 2a] shows a flowchart with the steps of a method corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention,

- [Figure 2b] is a diagram of the main function for managing different functions with steps of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention,

- [Figures 3a-3c] show the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention,

- [Figure 4] shows an installation external to a vehicle corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention, and

- [Figure 5] shows a device for processing sensor data for their use in a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of embodiments of the invention [Figure 1] schematically shows a processing system corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 1] shows a processing system (10) comprising an installation (3) external to the vehicle as well as two vehicles (la, lb.) Each vehicle (la, lb) has a sensor installation ( 2a, 2b), a processing installation (5a, 5b) and one or more processors as well as a communication installation (6a, 6b) which is in communication link (4a, 4b) with the installation (3) external to the vehicle. Each vehicle 1a (1b) further comprises one or more memories (7a, 7b), for example, a hard disk for multimedia data, a RAM memory for navigation data, etc.

[Figure 2a] shows a flowchart with the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention and [Figure 2b] shows schematically the main function of management of the different functions with the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2] shows the steps (100) for data collection if the memory resources are sufficient for this. The collected data is then saved in the memory (7a, 7b) if there is enough memory space available for this. In detail, in the first step (101) we collect the data. In a second step (102), it is checked whether the memories (7a, 7b) have enough available data space. If there is not enough memory space available, we collect the other data generated by the installation of sensors. In a third step (103), it is checked whether there is still enough computing capacity in the vehicle (la, lb) to collect or provide the available data. If the place in memory or the computing capacity is not sufficient, in a fourth step (104) they are grouped together to then store them in memory in the memory (7a, 7b) according to a fifth step (105).

The reference (200) designates the steps for processing data by a particularly intensive processing in calculation. For this, in step (202), we first check whether the data to be processed is available and whether there is enough step memory space (203) and enough step computing power (204) to process step data (201 and 205). When the data is completely processed, the data in step (206) is stored in memory in the memory (7a, 7b).

The references in the series (300) relate to the steps of transmitting data as soon as the preprocessed data are available, if there is sufficient computing capacity for transmitting the data and if the bandwidth is sufficient. In detail, it is checked whether the data is available step (302) to be sent, if there is sufficient bandwidth available step (303) and if there is sufficient computing power step (304) ) available to send the data. If these conditions are met, the data is sent in stages (301 and 305) by extracting the data from the memory (7a, 7b) and by sending them.

The rule that applies to all stages (100, 200, 300) is as follows: different data or different types of data, for example, location data, temperature data, etc. may receive different processing priorities by the installation external to the vehicle and which will be adapted according to the available memory, the computing power, the processing installation.

If, for example, due to a lack of availability or an overload of a resource, that is to say the computing capacity, the memory or the bandwidth, this would result in too long a delay, the functions (100, 200, 300) are ejected and the stored data is erased, which in other words is synonymous with reduced durability of the data and functions (100, 200, 300). This can be, for example, implemented by a priority of negative data processing.

Durability is a parameter that can be assigned to a function (100, 200, 300.) If a function (100, 200, 300) is unnecessary, the service provider (3) can also send information to other vehicles for which this function is no longer important and which will be rejected.

A function can be assigned a durability which also depends on the current state, the situation or the like, in particular by making a parameter assignment. This is how a function will, for example, only be necessary for a determined time at a certain place to be also requested or executed and to be rejected when leaving this period, the place or one of the similar elements.

The respective steps described under the references (100, 200, 300) can be carried out independently of each other. A main function (400) can thus monitor and regulate the different stages (100, 200, 300) and their interaction.

[Figure 2b] shows a main function (500) subordinate which manages the functions (400, 401, 402), issued by a vehicle.

In a vehicle one can have several functions (400, 401, 402) having different priorities and different dependencies on the characteristics of the instant, that is to say the current instant of the situation or d analogous elements, such as, for example, place, time, temperature, The subordinate main function (500) can then process, stop or eject none, one or more of the functions (400, 401, 402), then having the highest priorities and the characteristics of a suitable time such as, for example, the place, the time, the temperature, it is also possible to envisage recording, for example, the images of cameras of zones of interest during the movement and to deposit them in a free memory, currently available of a multimedia unit of the vehicle because this unit still has a free memory. If the computing power is then available, this data will be used, processed and sent to free up the memory again. If no computing power is available, but if there is a new higher priority request to collect the data, the previously collected data will be rejected. As the degree of compression and / or the interest of the data may have different priorities (in other words different processing priorities), the vehicle can be optimized both from the point of view of its available computing power, but also of its memory available and the data channel available to send the data. As the amount of interesting data available in the vehicle can exceed the amount of usable data that can be sent, we will achieve optimal use of the vehicle as a sensor or in other words as a data provider, particularly if its computing power, its memory capacity and its data link bandwidth are used to the maximum.

We can thus consider coupling the data collection to an economic model and the value of the data depends on their interest. If the vehicle is moving, for example, in a less frequented region, the corresponding data could be temporarily of high importance and thus receive a higher processing priority: an example is the capture of image information seen by the vehicle . If these regions in which the vehicle travels have not previously provided any image or are, however, known to be of interest for images, then the corresponding service assigns its data a high priority, that is to say a high processing priority and evaluates them, if necessary, with a higher monetary value. The driver may, for example, be rewarded correspondingly if his vehicle provides such data. When the vehicle leaves the region again, the processing priority will be reduced again, which means that collection, processing requiring a lot of calculation and / or sending will be operations made with reduced priority, or even completely stopped.

[Figures 3a-3c] show the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

[Figures 3a-3c] show two vehicles (la, lb) connected, for example by communication links (4a, 4b) to an installation (3) external to the vehicle in the form of a service provider (3). The two vehicles (la, lb) thus serve as data provider to the service provider (3) and respectively comprise a service coordination unit (lia, 1 lb) to ensure the coordination of the service data with the service provider ( 3) as described in [Figure 5]. In a first step (Sla, Slb), the two vehicles (la, lb) provide their services via the communication link (4a, 4b) based, for example, on the computing power, the available memory space, independence from customers or the like (Figure 3a). In a second step (S2a, S2b) according to FIG. 3b, the service provider (3) launches a desired service to the vehicle (la, lb) by transmitting a corresponding initialization code for the service to the vehicle (la, lb). It can, for example, contain processing priorities for the desired data. The vehicle (la, lb) then provides the corresponding service or the corresponding data to the service provider (3). If the data or the service is no longer necessary, the service provider (3) sends, in a third step (S3a, S3b) a deactivation code corresponding to the vehicle (la, lb). The vehicle (la, lb) then terminates the availability of data or service.

[Figure 4] shows an installation external to the vehicle corresponding to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 4] shows, in detail and schematically, an installation external to the vehicle (3) in the form of a service provider (3.) The service provider (3) has components for managing services (31) and a service plan (32). The management components (31) include other computation components (31111) for managing vehicles with the corresponding services (3111) as well as a main service action unit (311). The service plan component (32) in turn comprises subcomponents 321-324 depending on the position (reference 321), the time / date (reference 322) of the events (reference 323) as well as external conditions ( reference 324) such as, for example, temperature or various services.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the service provider (3) will provide services which correspond to different data from different sources. This data can be vehicle data (la, lb). The source of the data may depend on the nature of the services. There are services which require data depending on the place, time, state of events, etc. Depending on the location, the time, the state, the events as well as the availability of resources, we will have for different vehicles (la, lb) the possibility of performing services. The vehicles (la, lb) can in particular regularly transmit to the service provider (3) their available and freed resources; the supplier then generates the best possible service from the resources offered and selects the possible vehicles (la, lb) to mission them with partial missions (collection and if necessary preprocessing of data) and to set processing priorities. If the service provider (3) generates a service, the service manager (31) orders the service. It selects the target vehicles (la, lb) for the sub-functions and sends these sub-functions by the service campaign manager (311) to one or more target vehicles (la, lb). The use of the vehicles (la, lb), more precisely the resources of these vehicles by the service provider (3) can also be recorded in currency, for example, be attributed to the owners of the vehicles (la, lb).

The examples of services are as follows:

- at the start of a snowstorm in a region, it is interesting to have data concerning the grip coefficient, rain / snow and temperature if the vehicles are staying in the corresponding region in which the snow is announced (the sensors possibly concerned in the vehicles are the following: rain / light sensor, GPS, temperature).

- if there is a traffic jam on the motorway, for example, a very high traffic density on peripheral deviation routes, and which are important for a traffic / navigation service (the sensors possibly concerned in the vehicle are the cameras, ultrasonic sensor, radar sensor, GPS, speed, traffic direction.

- if the lights go out on a road, vehicles parked on that road can automatically activate their parking lights if there is sufficient computing power / energy capacity available. If the computing power is sufficient, the camera system can also enter a person to increase the lighting intensity if a person appears. This entry of people could be done with a lower processing priority so that if the computing power decreases again, there will only be the switching on of the parking lights because these have a higher processing priority.

[Figure 5] shows a sensor data processing device used in a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In detail, Figure 5 shows a vehicle (1) in schematic form which has a service coordination unit (11) configured to provide services or data (9) for a service provider (3). The service coordination unit (11) has a service management installation (5 ') and a resource management installation (5 ”) which in turn have a communication installation (6), a communication installation memory (7), a calculation installation (5) and a vehicle condition determination installation (8). The communication installation 6 comprises a mobile telephony module (6 ’) and a WLAN mobile 6”. The memory installation (7) comprises a multimedia data memory (7 ") and a vehicle data memory (7"). The vehicle condition determination installation (8) comprises several modules (8 ’, 8”, 8 ”’, 8 ””); the module (8 ’) determines the state of movement, that is to say it determines whether the vehicle is moving, whether it is parked or whether it is stationary; another module (8 ”) determines the state of the available energy whether it is electrical energy or the level of the tank or the like; another module (8 ’”) is designed for navigation to determine, for example, the position of the vehicle and / or part or a segment of the planned route.

In detail, the service management installation (5 ') is designed for functions, services, actions of the vehicle control unit which collect data, process it beforehand and / or transmit it for management, the resource management installation (5 ”) designed to manage the corresponding resources according to their processing priority as indicated above.

In summary, at least one of the embodiments has at least one of the following advantages:

- dynamic and efficient use of a vehicle's memory or computing power,

- very great flexibility, simple implementation, very high efficiency.

Claims (1)

[Claim 1] [Claim 2] [Claim 3] [Claim 4] [Claim 5] [Claim 6] [Claim 7] claims Method for processing sensor data from a vehicle (la, lb) according to which processing priority is assigned to sensor data capable of being generated or which is generated using at least one sensor installation (2a, 2b), and which is fixed by an installation (3) external to the vehicle so that this data is processed according to their priority using a processing installation (5a, 5b) of the vehicle (the , lb). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing priority is dynamically adapted to the variable processing capacities of the vehicle (la, lb), in particular the available computing power and / or the memory space available in the 'treatment facility (2a, 2b) of the vehicle and / or the bandwidth of an external communication link (4a, 4b). Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the processing priority is adapted to the state of movement of the vehicle. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the processing priority is dynamically adapted at regular time intervals and / or according to events fixed beforehand and / or according to a request . Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the processing priority is fixed at least for part of the sensor data generated or likely to be generated by the user of the vehicle (la, lb). Method according to one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the installation external to the vehicle requests, from a set of other vehicles (la, lb), sensor data of at least one predefined type of data and compensates for the data obtained according to their type. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that for a predetermined match of the compensated data, [Claim 8] [Claim 9] [Claim 10] [Claim 11] [Claim 12] lowers the processing priority in at least one respective vehicles (la, lb). Method according to one of claims 6-7, characterized in that the sensor data generated or likely to be generated and / or the types of data available from the vehicle sensor data (la, lb) are displayed by installation (3) external to the vehicle and depending on the predefined parameters, it requests the sensor data generated or likely to be generated and / or the types of data available from the vehicle sensor data (la, lb) and in particular exploits them. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the sensor data generated or likely to be generated and / or the sensor data of available data type are transmitted at regular intervals and / or according to events fixed beforehand. and / or request from the vehicle (la, lb) to the installation (3) external to the vehicle. Method according to one of claims 1-9, according to which by means of the installation of sensors (2a, 2b) rain, light, position, orientation, temperature, speed and / are detected or acceleration in particular using an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor or a radar sensor or the like. Sensor data processing system (10) comprising at least one vehicle (la, lb) equipped with a sensor installation (2a, 2b) designed to generate sensor data and having a processing installation (5a, 5b) for processing sensor data, in particular according to any one of the preceding claims, and an installation (3) external to the vehicle, connected to the processing installation (5a, 5b) of the vehicle (la, lb) and designed to allocate to the sensor data generated or likely to be generated, a processing priority so that this data is processed as a function of their processing priority by the processing installation (5a, 5b) of the vehicle (la, lb). Device for processing sensor data, in particular according to the method of one of claims 1 to 10, applicable to a vehicle (la, lb), in particular a motor vehicle comprising: a sensor installation (2a, 2b) for generating sensor data, a processing installation (5a, 5b) for processing the sensor data, and a communication installation (6a, 6b) connected on the one hand to the processing installation (5a, 5b) and on the other hand to an installation (3) external to the vehicle and designed to receive processing priority for sensor data generated or likely to be from the vehicle and transmit them to the processing installation (5a, 5b) so that the sensor data are processed according to their processing priority by the processing installation (5a, 5b).