US 11,734,017 B1
Methods and systems for processing vehicle sensor data across multiple digital signal processing cores virtually arranged in segments based on a type of sensor
Peter Brinkmann, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 7, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/113,470.
Int. Cl. G06F 9/38 (2018.01); G06F 9/30 (2018.01); G06F 9/345 (2018.01); G01S 13/931 (2020.01); G06F 9/50 (2006.01); G06F 9/48 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 9/3891 (2013.01) [G01S 13/931 (2013.01); G06F 9/30079 (2013.01); G06F 9/30087 (2013.01); G06F 9/345 (2013.01); G06F 9/4812 (2013.01); G06F 9/4881 (2013.01); G06F 9/5077 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a computing system and from a sensor coupled to a vehicle, sensor data representing an environment of the vehicle, wherein the computing system is located onboard the vehicle and includes a plurality of digital signal processing (DSP) cores, wherein a processing pipeline for the sensor data includes a first stage and a second stage, and wherein the plurality of DSP cores are virtually arranged into a first segment and a second segment based on a type of the sensor such that each segment includes a set of DSP cores arranged in a linear order;
processing, by the computing system, the sensor data using the plurality of DSP cores and the processing pipeline, wherein DSP cores from the first segment are configured to:
(i) initiate processing the first stage of the sensor data sequentially based on the linear order until at least two DSP cores from the first segment are processing portions of the first stage in parallel,
(ii) collate outputs from each DSP core from the first segment to produce a first stage output, and
(iii) provide a first signal to the second segment based on producing the first stage output, and
wherein responsive to receiving the first signal from the first segment, DSP cores from the second segment are configured to:
(i) initiate processing the second stage of the sensor data sequentially based on the linear order until at least two DSP cores from the second segment are processing portions of the second stage in parallel,
(ii) collate outputs from each DSP core from the second segment to produce a second stage output, and
(iii) provide a second signal based on producing the second stage output;
receiving, at the computing system, the second signal from the second segment; and
responsive to receiving the second signal, controlling the vehicle based at least in part on a combination of the first stage output and the second stage output.