US 11,987,266 B2
Distributed processing of vehicle sensor data
Lars Stephen Watts, Ibaraki (JP); Kota Irie, Ibaraki (JP); and Hidetoshi Arima, Ibaraki (JP)
Assigned to HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD., Hitachinaka (JP)
Filed by Hitachi Astemo, Ltd., Ibaraki (JP)
Filed on Feb. 25, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/680,503.
Prior Publication US 2023/0271628 A1, Aug. 31, 2023
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); G06V 10/70 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [G06V 10/87 (2022.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); B60W 2520/06 (2013.01); B60W 2520/10 (2013.01); B60W 2720/24 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for processing sensor data in a vehicle, the system comprising:
a first electronic control unit (ECU) able to communicate with a plurality of zone ECUs, wherein the first ECU has a higher data processing capability than respective zone ECUs of the plurality of zone ECUs, each respective zone ECU associated with a respective zone of a plurality of zones associated with the vehicle, wherein a set of zone sensors is associated with each respective zone to provide zone sensor data to the respective zone ECU associated with the respective zone, and wherein at least one zone sensor in each set of zone sensors is configured to detect whether an object is present in the respective zone, and if so, the location of the object relative to the vehicle, the first ECU including a processor configured by executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the processor of the first ECU, the zone sensor data from each set of zone sensors of each of the zones of the plurality of zones;
based on an indicated driving mode of the vehicle, selecting, by the processor of the first ECU, the zone sensor data of a first zone of the plurality of zones;
performing, by the processor of the first ECU, recognition on the zone sensor data of the first zone to determine first recognition information;
receiving, by the processor of the first ECU, second recognition information from the respective zone ECUs associated with the respective zones of the plurality of zones, the second recognition information being based on results of recognition processing by the respective zone ECUs of the respective zone sensor data; and
sending, by the processor of the first ECU, based at least on the first recognition information and the second recognition information, at least one control signal to at least one vehicle actuator.