US 11,885,910 B2
Hybrid-view LIDAR-based object detection
Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Pittsburgh, PA (US); Ankit Laddha, Pittsburgh, PA (US); Gregory P. Meyer, Pittsburgh, PA (US); and Eric Randall Kee, Pittsburgh, PA (US)
Assigned to UATC, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA (US)
Filed by UATC, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA (US)
Filed on Oct. 9, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/067,135.
Application 17/067,135 is a continuation of application No. 15/907,966, filed on Feb. 28, 2018, granted, now 10,809,361.
Application 15/907,966 is a continuation in part of application No. 15/609,256, filed on May 31, 2017, granted, now 10,310,087, issued on Jun. 4, 2019.
Application 15/609,256 is a continuation in part of application No. 15/609,141, filed on May 31, 2017, abandoned.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/579,528, filed on Oct. 31, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0025989 A1, Jan. 28, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 7/41 (2006.01); G01S 7/4861 (2020.01); G01S 13/931 (2020.01); G01S 7/48 (2006.01); G01S 13/89 (2006.01); G01S 13/86 (2006.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G06F 18/2413 (2023.01); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); G06V 10/82 (2022.01)
CPC G01S 7/417 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4802 (2013.01); G01S 7/4861 (2013.01); G01S 13/865 (2013.01); G01S 13/867 (2013.01); G01S 13/89 (2013.01); G01S 13/931 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G06F 18/24133 (2023.01); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); G06V 10/82 (2022.01); G01S 2013/932 (2020.01); G01S 2013/9318 (2020.01); G01S 2013/9319 (2020.01); G01S 2013/9322 (2020.01); G01S 2013/9324 (2020.01); G01S 2013/93185 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for detecting objects of interest, comprising:
accessing, by a computing system that comprises one or more computing devices, a predetermined set of objects of interest;
receiving, by the computer system, LIDAR data from one or more LIDAR systems configured to transmit ranging signals relative to an autonomous vehicle, wherein the LIDAR data includes a plurality of LIDAR points detected by the one or more LIDAR systems;
generating, by the computing system, a top-view representation of the LIDAR data that is discretized into a grid of multiple cells;
determining, by the computing system, one or more cell statistics characterizing the LIDAR data corresponding to the cells, the one or more cell statistics characterizing respective LIDAR data corresponding to a respective cell and comprising one or more parameters associated with a distribution of a plurality of detected LIDAR data points within the respective cell, a power of the plurality of detected LIDAR data points, or an intensity of the plurality of detected LIDAR data points projected onto the respective cell;
determining, by the computing system, based at least in part on the one or more cell statistics, whether the cell includes at least one object included in the predetermined set of objects of interest; and
controlling, by the computing system, one or more vehicle controls of the autonomous vehicle based, at least in part, on a determination whether the cell includes at least one object included in the predetermined set of objects of interest.