Method For Detection Of An Object Near A Road User

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting an object (303, 304) in the vicinity of a road user. The method recognizes objects (303, 304) detected by the sensor unit (101) with the object recognition unit (102) of a device (100), stores detected objects (303, 304) in an object list with the memory unit (103), transfers the object list with the transfer unit (104) to a data cloud (306), determines a position of the first road user, transmits the position of the first road user to the data cloud (306), identifies an object (303, 304) near the first traffic participant in the data cloud (306) using the object list, transmits a position and an object type of the identified object (303, 304) from the data cloud (306) to a mobile device of the first road user and displays the object (303, 304) and its position on the mobile device of the first road user.

Claims

1. Method for recognizing an object (303, 304) in the vicinity of a first road user using an device (100) for recognizing an object (303, 304) which is carried along by the first or a second road user, the device comprising a sensor unit (101) configured to detect objects (303, 304) in a vicinity of the road user, an object recognition unit (102) configured for object recognition of objects (303, 304) detected with the sensor unit (101), a memory unit (103) configured for storing recognized objects (303, 304) in an object list, and a transmission unit (104) configured for transmitting the object list, the method comprising the step of: detecting objects (303, 304) in an environment of the first road user with the sensor unit (101) of the device (100), recognizing the objects (303, 304) detected by the sensor unit (101) with the object recognition unit (102) of the device (100), storing the detected objects (303, 304) in an object list with the memory unit (103) of the device (100), transferring the object list with the transfer unit (104) of the device (100) to a data cloud (306), determining a position of the first road user, transmitting the position of the first road user to the data cloud (306), identifying an object (303, 304) near the first traffic participant in the data cloud (306) using the object list, transmitting a position and an object type of the identified object (303, 304) from the data cloud (306) to a mobile device of the first road user; and displaying the object (303, 304) and its position on the mobile device of the first road user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the device (100) is arranged at a vehicle (301).

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the vehicle (301) is a two-wheeled vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the vehicle (301) is a bicycle.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the device (100) is arranged at or in a lighting device (302) of the vehicle (301).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit (101) of the device (100) comprises a camera, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor and/or a radio module.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit (104) of the device (100) is constructed and arranged for transmitting the object list to a data cloud via a first radio link, in particular via a mobile radio link.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit (104) of the device (100) is constructed and arranged for transmitting the object list to a mobile device (305) via a second radio link.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the second radio link is a Bluetooth link, or a WLAN link.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: warning of the first road user, if a displayed object falls below a minimum distance from the first road user, and/or is located in a rear area of the first road user, and/or is approaching the first road user at high speed.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein data describing, for the object (303, 304), the type of the object (303, 304), a position of the object (303, 304) and/or a speed of the object (303, 304) and/or a direction of a movement of the object (303, 304), respectively, is stored in the object list.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the object list is first transmitted from the transmission unit (104) to a mobile device (305) of the road user carrying the device (100).

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the object list is transmitted to the data cloud (306) from the mobile device (305) of the road user carrying the device (100) via a cellular connection.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the position and the object type of the identified object (303, 304) are transmitted from the data cloud (306) to the mobile device of the first road user via a cellular connection.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] Embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to drawings. Thereby show:

[0041] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an device for detecting an object in the vicinity of a road user,

[0042] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the process according to the invention,

[0043] FIG. 3 shows the use of an device according to the invention on a vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0044] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an device 100 for detecting an object in the vicinity of a road user according to one embodiment of the invention. The device 100 has the following functional units shown in FIG. 1: a sensor unit 101, an object recognition unit 102, a memory unit 103, and a transmission unit 104.

[0045] The device 100 can be arranged on a vehicle, for example. The vehicle is, for example, a two-wheeled vehicle, in particular a bicycle. The device can be arranged, for example, on or in a lighting device or separately on the vehicle or, for example, integrated in the vehicle frame.

[0046] The sensor unit 101 is arranged to detect objects in an environment of the road user. For example, the sensor unit 101 has a camera, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor and/or a radio module of a V2X communication for this purpose.

[0047] The object recognition unit 102 is set up for object recognition of objects detected with the sensor unit 101. For example, the object recognition unit 102 is set up to evaluate sensor signals from a camera, a radar sensor, and/or a lidar sensor of the sensor unit 101 and/or radio signals from V2X communication.

[0048] The memory unit 103 is arranged to store detected objects in an object list. For example, the memory unit 103 is set up to store data in the object list that describes the type of object (object type), a position of the object and/or a speed and/or a direction of the object for each object. The position of the object and/or the speed and/or the direction of the object are thereby described relative to the road user, for example.

[0049] For example, the memory unit 103 has a non-volatile memory, which may be an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory). Alternatively, the memory unit 103 may also have another type of memory, for example a flash EEPROM or a hard disk. In particular, the memory unit 103 may have more than one of the aforementioned memories.

[0050] The transmission unit 104 is set up for transmitting the object list to a mobile device. For example, the transmission unit 104 is arranged to transmit the object list to the mobile device via a radio connection, in particular via a Bluetooth connection, a WLAN connection, or an NFC connection.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart 200 of a method comprising method steps 201 to 210 for detecting an object in the vicinity of a road user according to one embodiment of the invention. The method is carried out using an device 100 described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0052] The process steps 201 to 210 are also described below with reference to FIG. 3.

[0053] FIG. 3. illustrates a use 300 of the device 100. The device 100 is arranged on a vehicle 301 of the road user. In the illustrated use 300 of the device 100, the vehicle 301 is an electric bicycle and the device 100 is arranged on a lighting device 302 of the electric bicycle, which comprises a rear light of the electric bicycle. The sensor unit 101 of the device 100 is used to detect objects 303, 304 in an environment of the road user. FIG. 3 shows an example of an object 303 detected by a camera, a radar sensor, or a lidar sensor of the sensor unit 101. Further, the sensor unit 101 has a radio module of a V2X communication, for example, a radio module for ITS-G5/DSRC or a PC5 interface. FIG. 3 shows an example of an object 304 with which the sensor unit 101 communicates via the radio module. The transmission unit 104 of the device 100 communicates with a mobile device 305 of the road user via a radio connection, for example via a Bluetooth connection, a WLAN connection or an NFC connection. The mobile device 305 communicates with a data cloud 306 via a cellular connection.

[0054] In a first method step 201, objects 303, 304 in an environment of the road user are detected with the sensor unit 101 of the device 100. For example, objects 303, 304 are detected with a camera, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, and/or a radio module of a V2X communication of the sensor unit 101.

[0055] In a second method step 202, objects 303, 304 detected with the sensor unit 101 are recognized with the object recognition unit 102 of the device 100.

[0056] In a third method step 203, objects 303, 304 detected with the object detection unit 102 are stored in an object list with the storage unit 103 of the device 100. For example, data describing, for an object 303, 304, the object type of the object 303, 304, a position of the object 303, 304 and/or a velocity of the object 303, 304 and/or a direction of the object 303, 304, respectively, are stored in the object list.

[0057] In this regard, the position of the object 303, 304 may be described relative to the road user, for example. For example, the position of the object 303, 304 is described by a distance of the object 303, 304 from the road user and a direction in which the object 303, 304 is located as seen from the road user. The direction is thereby described, for example, by an angle in a coordinate system related to the road user. Also, the speed of the object 303, 304 can be described relative to the road user, that is, as a relative speed between the object 303, 304 and the road user.

[0058] In a fourth method step 204, the object list is transmitted with the transmission unit 104 of the device 100 to a mobile device 305 of the road user carried by the road user. For example, the object list is transmitted with the transmission unit 104 to the mobile device 305 via a radio connection, for example via a Bluetooth connection, a WLAN connection, or an NFC connection.

[0059] In a fifth method step 205, the object list is transferred from the mobile device 305 to a data cloud 306. For example, the object list is transferred from the mobile device 305 to the data cloud 306 via a cellular connection.

[0060] In a sixth method step 206, a position of the road user is determined. For example, the mobile device 305 comprises a position determination unit with which the position of the road user is determined. Alternatively, the device 100 comprises a position determination unit with which the position of the road user is determined.

[0061] The position of the road user is determined with the position determination unit using, for example, one or more navigation satellite systems, for example using GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and/or Galileo. In this case, the position determination unit has a receiver for satellite signals transmitted by navigation satellites of the navigation satellite systems. The position determination unit is used to obtain position coordinates from the satellite signals it receives, which represent a geographical position of the position determination unit.

[0062] In a seventh method step 207, the position of the road user is transmitted to the data cloud 306 using the road user's mobile device 305. In this process, if the position of the road user is not determined using a position determination unit of the mobile device 305, the position is first transmitted to the mobile device 305 and then transmitted from the mobile device 305 to the data cloud 306. For example, if the position of the road user is determined using a position determination unit of the device 100, the position is first transmitted to the mobile device 305 using the transmission unit 104 of the device 100.

[0063] In an eighth method step 208, an object 303, 304 in the vicinity of the road user is identified in the data cloud 306. For this purpose, the object list transferred to the data cloud 306 in the fifth method step 205 is used. Furthermore, additional object lists transferred to the data cloud 306 may be used in this process, for example object lists transferred to the data cloud 306 by other road users. If multiple object lists for objects 303, 304 in the environment of the road user are present in the data cloud 306, these object lists are fused in the data cloud 306, for example, to form an environment description of the environment of the road user, that is, the object lists are combined with each other to form a more comprehensive environment description. This environment description is then used in the data cloud 306 to identify an object 303, 304 in the vicinity of the road user.

[0064] In a ninth method step 209, a position and an object type of the object 303, 304 identified in the eighth method step 208 are transmitted from the data cloud 306 to the mobile device 305 of the road user. For example, the position and the object type of the identified object 303, 304 are transmitted from the data cloud 306 to the mobile device 305 of the road user via a cellular connection.

[0065] In a tenth method step 210, the object 303, 304 identified in the eighth method step 208 and its position are displayed on the mobile device 305 of the road user. In addition, the road user can be warned acoustically, visually and/or haptic, for example if the object 303, 304 falls below a minimum distance from the road user, and/or is located in a rear area of the road user and/or is approaching the road user at high speed.

[0066] The embodiment of the method according to the invention described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 may be modified to an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention in which an object 303, 304 in the vicinity of a first road user is identified using an object list created with an device 100 carried by a second road user and transmitted to the data cloud 306 with a mobile device of the second road user.

[0067] In this alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention, the method steps 201 to 205 are carried out with the device 100 carried by the second road user and the mobile device of the second road user. Thus, objects 303, 304 in the vicinity of the first road user with the device 100 carried by the second road user are detected, recognized and stored in an object list. This object list is transmitted to the mobile device of the second road user and from the mobile device of the second road user to the data cloud 306.

[0068] The further method steps 206 to 210 are then carried out in accordance with the first embodiment of the method according to the invention. Here, in method steps 206 and 207, a position of the first road user is determined and transferred to the data cloud 306, the position of the first road user being determined, for example, using a position determination unit of a mobile device of the first road user. In the method step 208, analogously to the first embodiment of the method according to the invention, an object 303, 304 in the vicinity of the first road user is identified in the data cloud 306. In the method step 209, the position and the object type of the object identified in the method step 208 are transmitted from the data cloud 306 to the mobile device of the first road user. In the method step 210, the object 303, 304 identified in the eighth method step 208 and its position are displayed on the mobile device 305 of the first road user, and a warning is generated for the first road user. In the second embodiment of the method according to the invention, the first road user thus does not need to carry the device 100 himself.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0069] 100 Device [0070] 101 Sensor unit [0071] 102 Object detection unit [0072] 103 Memory unit [0073] 104 Transmission unit [0074] 200 Flowchart [0075] 201 to 210 Procedure step [0076] 300 Use of a device [0077] 301 Vehicle [0078] 302 Lighting device [0079] 303, 304 Object [0080] 305 Mobile device [0081] 306 Data cloud