Patent Issued for Glare Detection System And Methods For Automated Vehicular Control (USPTO 10,522,034)

2020 JAN 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,522,034, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Krunic, Veljko (Boulder, CO); Gibson, Timothy W. (Barrington, IL); Chintakindi, Sunil (Fremont, CA); Hayes, Howard (Glencoe, IL).

This patent was filed on August 21, 2018 and was published online on January 13, 2020.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Encountering glare during the operation of a vehicle can greatly diminish visibility of the road and surrounding environment to the operator of the vehicle. This impairment increases the risk of accidents to both the vehicle encountering the glare and surrounding vehicles. Techniques for reducing the effect of glare may simply diminish glare as it encountered. Such techniques, however, do not predict or anticipate glare and take action in response.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below.

“Various aspects to improving vehicle operation by identifying and avoiding potential exposure to glare. Aspects of the disclosure relate to methods, computer-readable media, systems, and apparatuses for determining a glare factor based on real-time or near real-time navigational analysis using sensor data, digital image data, and a map database. In some arrangements, the system may be a glare factor system that includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the glare detection system to perform glare analysis.

“In some aspects the computing device may determine one or more real-time factors and real-time data associated with the one or more real-time factors. These factors may include weather, time of day, day of the week, traffic information, geographic information, vehicle information, surrounding structures, or additional factors that may influence exposure to glare. The collection and storing of real-time data will allow for the development of a portfolio of historical data that may be used in predictive analysis for determining an anticipated amount of glare along a route. In some aspects, the system may be a glare detection system that includes at least one processor, and at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the glare detection system to perform glare analysis.

“In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, a sensor system may record, based on a vehicle traveling a segment of a road, the amount of glare which the operator of the vehicle would experience. In different aspects the operation of the vehicle may be manual by a user, fully automated by a control system, or at least partially automated such that certain subsystems or controls are automatic. A sensor system may also record, based on a vehicle traveling a segment of a road, environmental data that influences exposure to glare. The glare data and environmental data may be communicated to a server where it may be stored and/or analyzed. In some aspects, the server may receive current environmental data from a network, a vehicle, a server, or other source, and may perform analysis comparing the current environmental data to the stored historical data to predict an anticipated amount of glare.

“In at least some aspects, a system may analyze sensor data, real-time environmental data, and a map database in order to create a glare factor map. In different aspects this glare factor map may be based on historical data, current data, or a combination of both. In some aspects the system may use the glare factor map to generate recommended route segment combinations for a vehicle traveling to a destination to reduce exposure to glare. In different aspects the vehicle may be manually operated or autonomously operated.

“In some aspects the system may receive predefined navigational data from a map database system in order to determine potential route segment combinations. The system may analyze glare data to generate a glare factor map assigning glare data to individual route segments. In some aspects a vehicle will communicate a starting point and a destination to the system. The system may analyze the glare factors associated with routes between the starting point and destination to determine a recommended route. In some aspects, at least one of the route segments may be recalculated in response to an update to the real-time data. The system may communicate the recommended route to the vehicle where it may be displayed to a user or received at an autonomous control system.

“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A navigation apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: at least one processor; a data store storing glare data characterizing glare encountered at a plurality of routes; and, a memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the navigation apparatus to: determine a first route associated with a first location of the vehicle; obtain, from the data store, a first portion of the glare data that is associated with the first route; determine, based on the first portion of the glare data, a glare factor for the first route; and, send, to the vehicle, a first command that is based on the glare factor for the first route, wherein receipt of the first command at the vehicle causes the vehicle to switch between a first operation state and a second operation state.

“2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the instructions when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: determine a second route associated with a second location of the vehicle; obtain, from the data store, a second portion of the glare data that is associated with the second route; determine, based on the second portion of the glare data, a glare factor for the second route; and, send, to the vehicle, a second command that is based on the glare factor for the second route.

“3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the instructions when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to receive environmental data associated with the first route, and wherein the glare factor determined for the first route is further based on the environmental data.

“4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the environmental data comprises at least one of weather data, traffic data, time-of-day data, day-of-the week data, topographic data, or road data.

“5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: receive new glare data characterizing glare encountered while traveling along a route; store, in the data store, the new glare data; and, update, based on the new glare data, the glare factor for the route at which the glare was encountered.

“6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to send to the vehicle a new command that is based on the new glare data characterizing the glare encountered while traveling along the route.

“7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: receive, indication of a location and a destination; determine, based on the location and the destination, a plurality of possible routes from the location to the destination; select, based on a corresponding glare factor determined for each route of the plurality of possible routes, a recommended route from the location to the destination; and, indicate, to the vehicle, the recommended route.

“8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein receipt of an indication of the recommended route at the vehicle causes the vehicle to display the recommended route on a display device.

“9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein selecting the recommended route comprises comparing the corresponding glare factor to a glare factor threshold.

“10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the glare factor threshold is received from the vehicle based on an input from a first user associated with the vehicle.

“11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: receive additional glare data and additional environmental data associated with the first route; and, send, to the vehicle, a new command based on at least one of the additional glare data or the additional environmental data associated with the first route.

“12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first operation state is an autonomous operation of the vehicle by an autonomous vehicle control system of the vehicle and the second operation state is a manual operation of the vehicle by a driver of the vehicle.

“13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the autonomous operation of the vehicle includes automating at least one feature of vehicle operation.

“14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the glare data characterizing glare encountered at a plurality of routes was encountered by a plurality of vehicles traveling along the plurality of routes.

“15. A method of navigating a vehicle, the method comprising: storing, at a data store, glare data characterizing glare encountered at a plurality of routes; determining a first route associated with a first location of a vehicle; obtaining, from the data store, a first portion of the glare data that is associated with the first route; determining, based on the first portion of the glare data, a glare factor for the first route; and, sending, to the vehicle, a first command that is based on the glare factor for the first route, wherein receipt of the first command at the vehicle causes the vehicle to switch between a first operation state and a second operation state.

“16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving indication of a location and a destination; determining a plurality of possible routes from the location to the destination; selecting, based on a corresponding glare factor determined for each route of the plurality of possible routes, a recommended route from the location to the destination; and, indicating, to the vehicle, the recommended route.

“17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving new glare data characterizing glare encountered while traveling along a route; storing, in the data store, the new glare data; and, updating, based on the new glare data, the glare factor for the route at which the glare was encountered.

“18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining a second route associated with a second location of the vehicle; obtaining, from the data store, a second portion of the glare data that is associated with the second route; determining, based on the second portion of the glare data, a glare factor for the second route; and, sending, to the vehicle, a second command that is based on the glare factor for the second route.

“19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving additional glare data and additional environmental data associated with the first route; and, sending, to the vehicle, a new command based on at least one of the additional glare data or the additional environmental data associated with the first route.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Krunic, Veljko; Gibson, Timothy W.; Chintakindi, Sunil; Hayes, Howard. Glare Detection System And Methods For Automated Vehicular Control. U.S. Patent Number 10,522,034, filed August 21, 2018, and published online on January 13, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,522,034.PN.&OS=PN/10,522,034RS=PN/10,522,034

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