Delimiter-based occupancy mapping

Abstract

An occupancy map processing method includes: obtaining an occupancy map of a region including a plurality of cells corresponding to a sub-region, each cell including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type of the sub-region, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells; and providing occupancy information from the apparatus, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter unit and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter units or not.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 18 / 472,903, filed on September 22, 2023, entitled “DELIMITER-BASED OCCUPANCYMAPPING,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 410,843, filed on September 28, 2022, entitled “DELIMITER-BASED OCCUPANCY MAPPING,” both of which are assigned to the assignee of this application and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Background Art

[0003] Vehicles are becoming increasingly intelligent as the industry moves toward deploying increasingly sophisticated autonomous driving technologies that are capable of operating the vehicle with little or no human input, thus being semi-autonomous or fully autonomous driving technologies. Fully and semi-autonomous driving vehicles may be able to detect information about their location and surroundings (e.g., using ultrasound, radar, lidar, SPS (satellite positioning system), and / or odometer, and / or one or more sensors such as accelerometers, cameras, etc.). Fully and semi-autonomous driving vehicles typically include a control system to interpret information about the vehicle's environment, thereby identifying hazards and determining a navigation path to follow.

[0004] A driving assistance system can mitigate driving risks for the driver of the ego vehicle (i.e., a vehicle configured to perceive the vehicle's environment) and / or other road users. A driving assistance system may include one or more active devices and / or one or more passive devices that can be used to determine the ego vehicle's environment and, for semi-autonomous driving vehicles, can notify the driver of situations that may be able to be handled. A driving assistance system may be configured to control various aspects of driving safety and / or driver state monitoring. For example, a driving assistance system (e.g., as part of an active cruise control system) may control the speed of the ego vehicle to maintain at least a desired interval (in distance or time) between the ego vehicle and another vehicle. A driving assistance system may monitor the surroundings of the ego vehicle, for example, to maintain situational awareness of the ego vehicle. Situational awareness can be used to inform the driver of problems, such as another vehicle being in the driver's blind spot area, another vehicle being on a collision path with the ego vehicle, and so on. Situational awareness may include information about the ego vehicle (e.g., speed, position, heading) and / or other vehicles or objects (e.g., position, speed, heading, size, object type, etc.).

[0005] The state of the ego vehicle may be used as input to a number of driver assistance functions, such as an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). Downstream driver assistance systems such as ADAS may be safety critical and / or may provide information to the driver of the vehicle and / or control the vehicle in some manner. Summary of the invention

[0006] An example apparatus includes: a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: obtain an occupancy map of an area, the occupancy map including a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type including one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and provide occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-area information indicating a location of the sub-area of ​​the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0007] An example occupancy map processing method includes: obtaining an occupancy map of an area at an apparatus, the occupancy map including a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type including one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and providing occupancy information from the apparatus, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, for each of the delimiter cells, the first occupancy information including sub-area information indicating a location of the sub-area of ​​the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0008] Another example apparatus includes: means for obtaining an occupancy map of an area, the occupancy map including a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type including one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and means for providing occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-area information indicating a location of the sub-area of ​​the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0009] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause a processor to: obtain an occupancy map of an area, the occupancy map including a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type including one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and provide occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-area information indicating a location of the sub-area of ​​the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a top view of the example ego vehicle.

[0011] Figure 2 is a block diagram of components of an example device, wherein Figure 1 The ego vehicle shown may be an example.

[0012] Figure 3 is a block diagram of the components of an example send / receive point.

[0013] Figure 4 is a block diagram of the components of a server.

[0014] Figure 5 is a block diagram of an example device.

[0015] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example geographic environment.

[0016] Figure 7 It is divided into a grid Figure 6 A diagram of the geographical environment shown.

[0017] Figure 8 is corresponding to Figure 7 An example of an occupancy map for the grid shown.

[0018] Fig. 9 is used for Figure 8 An example of an occupancy information table for an occupancy map is shown.

[0019] Fig.10 It is a block diagram of the autonomous driving technology stack.

[0020] Fig.11 is corresponding to Figure 7 An example of a delimiter-based occupancy map for the area shown.

[0021] Fig.12 is corresponding to Figure 7 Another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map for the region shown.

[0022] Fig.13 is corresponding to Figure 7 Another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map for the region shown.

[0023] Fig.14 is corresponding to Figure 7 Another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map for the region shown.

[0024] Fig.15 is corresponding to Figure 7 A portion of another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map for a region is shown.

[0025] Fig.16 is used for Fig.15 An example of an occupancy information table of an occupancy map of which a portion is shown.

[0026] Fig.17 is a flow chart of an example occupancy map processing method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] This article discusses techniques for providing occupancy information for a geographic area. For example, occupancy information of occupants (if any) of a sub-area of ​​an indicated area may be obtained and analyzed to determine delimiter cells corresponding to sub-areas along boundaries between sub-areas with different (non-identical) occupant types (one or more occupants). For example, boundaries between static objects and free space, between mobile objects and free space, between mobile objects and occluded sub-areas, between mobile objects and sub-areas of unknown occupancy, etc. may be determined. Occupancy information corresponding to a boundary (e.g., for a delimiter cell) may be provided by a device (such as a vehicle), such as internally from one part of the device to another part of the device (e.g., within a processor of the device) or externally to an entity external to the device. Occupancy information for non-delimiter cells may or may not be provided together with occupancy information for delimiter cells. Occupancy information for less than all non-delimiter cells may be provided together with occupancy information for delimiter cells. Compression of the occupancy grid may be achieved using a connected component approach. However, other configurations may be used.

[0028] Items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. The amount of occupancy information for a region that is stored and / or transmitted may be reduced compared to the occupancy information for the entire region, e.g., to save storage costs and / or save data transmission bandwidth. The amount of occupancy information that is stored and / or transmitted may be reduced without losing resolution regarding the occupancy of the region. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every specific implementation according to the present disclosure necessarily provides any, much less all, of the capabilities discussed.

[0029] Reference Figure 1, the ego vehicle 100 includes an ego vehicle driving assistance system 110. The driving assistance system 110 may include a plurality of different types of sensors mounted at appropriate locations on the ego vehicle 100. For example, the system 110 may include: a pair of divergent and outwardly directed radar sensors 121 mounted at respective front corners of the vehicle 100, a similar pair of divergent and outwardly directed radar sensors 122 mounted at respective rear corners of the vehicle, a forwardly directed LRR sensor 123 (long range radar) mounted centrally at the front of the vehicle 100, and a pair of substantially forwardly directed optical sensors 124 (cameras) forming part of a SVS 126 (stereo vision system), which may be mounted, for example, in the region of an upper edge of a windshield 128 of the vehicle 100. Each of the sensors 121 may include an LRR and / or an SRR (short range radar). The various sensors 121-124 may be operably connected to a central electronic control system, which is typically provided in the form of an ECU 140 (electronic control unit) mounted at a convenient location within the vehicle 100. In the particular arrangement illustrated, front and rear sensors 121 , 122 are connected to ECU 140 via one or more conventional controller area network (CAN) buses 150 , and sensors of LRR sensor 123 and SVS 126 are connected to ECU 140 via a serial bus 160 (eg, a faster FlexRay serial bus).

[0030] In general, the various sensors 121-124 may be used to provide various different types of driver assistance functions under the control of the ECU 140. For example, the sensors 121-124 and the ECU 140 may provide blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance assistance, lane departure protection, and / or rear collision mitigation.

[0031] The CAN bus 150 may be regarded by the ECU 140 as a sensor that provides vehicle parameters to the ECU 140. For example, a GPS module may also be connected to the ECU 140 as a sensor to provide geographic location parameters to the ECU 140.

[0032] Also refer to Figure 2, the device 200 (which may be a mobile device such as a user equipment (UE) such as a vehicle user equipment (VUE)) includes a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (which includes a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a positioning device (PD) 219. The processor 210, the memory 211, the sensor 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the positioning device 219 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., the camera 218, the positioning device 219, and / or one or more sensors in the sensor 213, etc.) may be omitted from the device 200. The processor 210 may include one or more hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 210 may include multiple processors, including a general / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230 to 234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include, for example, a processor for RF (radio frequency) sensing (where one or more (cellular) wireless signals and reflections transmitted are used to identify, map, and / or track objects) and / or ultrasound, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connections (or even more SIMs). For example, a SIM (subscriber identity module or subscriber identity module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the device 200 to obtain a connection. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, an optical disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 may store software 212, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform these functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description herein may refer to the processor 210 performing a function, but this includes other specific implementations, such as a specific implementation in which the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the processor 210 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230 to 234 performing the function.The description herein may refer to device 200 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of device 200 performing that function. Processor 210 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 211. The functionality of processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0033] Figure 2 The configuration of the device 200 shown is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, an example configuration of the UE may include one or more of the processors 230 to 234 in the processor 210, the memory 211, and the wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations may include one or more of the processors 230 to 234 in the processor 210, the memory 211, the wireless transceiver, and one or more of the following: sensor 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219, and / or wired transceiver.

[0034] The device 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of signals to be up-converted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the general / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0035] The device 200 may include a sensor 213, which may include, for example, one or more sensors of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors, etc. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of the device 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., three-dimensional gyroscopes). The sensor 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., three-dimensional magnetometers) to determine orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes (e.g., to support one or more compass applications). Environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. The sensor 213 may generate analog and / or digital signals, indications of which may be stored in the memory 211 and processed by the DSP 231 and / or the general / application processor 230 to support one or more applications (such as, for example, applications involving positioning and / or navigation operations).

[0036] Sensor 213 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. The information detected by sensor 213 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. Sensor 213 may be used to determine whether device 200 is fixed (stationary) or moving and / or whether to report certain useful information about the mobility of device 200 to LMF (location management function). For example, based on the information obtained / measured by sensor 213, device 200 may notify / report to LMF that device 200 has detected movement or that device 200 has moved, and report relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning implemented by sensor 213, or sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination). In another example, for relative positioning information, sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to device 200, etc.

[0037] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the device 200, which may be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the device 200, respectively. The linear acceleration measurements and rotational speed measurements of the device 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the device 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and displacement may be integrated to track the position of the device 200. For example, a reference position of the device 200 at a certain moment may be determined, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other components), and measurements obtained from the accelerometers and gyroscopes after that moment may be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the device 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the device 200 relative to the reference position.

[0038] The magnetometer can determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the device 200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide a digital compass for the device 200. The magnetometer may include a two-dimensional magnetometer, which is configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may include a three-dimensional magnetometer, which is configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide a component for sensing a magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0039] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248 and converting signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. The wireless transmitter 242 includes appropriate components (e.g., a power amplifier and a digital-to-analog converter). The wireless receiver 244 includes appropriate components (e.g., one or more amplifiers, one or more frequency filters, and an analog-to-digital converter). The wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi ® Short-range wireless communication technology, WiFi ® Direct connection (WiFi ® -D)、Bluetooth ® Short-range wireless communication technology, Zigbee ®Short-range wireless communication technology, etc. The new radio may use millimeter wave frequencies and / or frequencies below 6 GHz. The wired transceiver 250 may include a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, for example, a network interface that can be used to communicate with an NG-RAN (Next Generation Radio Access Network) to transmit communications to the NG-RAN and receive communications from the NG-RAN. The wired transmitter 252 may include a plurality of transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include a plurality of receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, for example, via an optical connection and / or an electrical connection. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244 and / or the antenna 246 may include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers and / or multiple antennas, respectively, for transmitting and / or receiving appropriate signals, respectively.

[0040] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices (such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc.). The user interface 216 may include more than one of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the device 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 in response to actions from the user to be processed by the DSP 231 and / or the general / application processor 230. Similarly, an application hosted on the device 200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device, which includes, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuit, an analog-to-digital circuit, an amplifier, and / or a gain control circuit (including more than one of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on, for example, a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216 .

[0041] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signal 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 is configured to convert the SPS signal 260 from a wireless signal to a wired signal (e.g., an electrical signal or an optical signal) and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 in whole or in part to estimate the location of the device 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the location of the device 200 by performing trilateration using the SPS signal 260. The general / application processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more special-purpose processors (not shown) may be utilized in conjunction with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal in whole or in part, and / or calculate the estimated location of the device 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals obtained from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general / application processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more special-purpose processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use in processing measurements to estimate the location of the device 200.

[0042] The device 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. The camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge coupled device or a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuits, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Additionally or alternatively, the video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing the captured images. The video processor 233 may decode / decompress the stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown) (e.g., of the user interface 216).

[0043] Positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the position of device 200, the movement of device 200, and / or the relative position of device 200, and / or time. For example, PD 219 may communicate with SPS receiver 217 and / or include a portion or all of an SPS receiver. PD 219 may work appropriately with processor 210 and memory 211 to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only refer to PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. PD 219 may be additionally or alternatively configured to determine the position of device 200 using ground-based signals (e.g., at least some wireless signals 248) for trilateration, assisted acquisition, and use of SPS signals 260, or both. PD 219 may be configured to determine the position of device 200 based on the unit of a serving base station (e.g., a cell center) and / or another technology (such as E-CID). The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the device 200 using one or more images from the camera 218 and image recognition combined with known locations of landmarks (e.g., natural landmarks (such as mountains) and / or artificial landmarks (such as buildings, bridges, streets), etc.). The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the device 200 using one or more other techniques (e.g., relying on the self-reported location of the UE (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)), and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of the device 200. The PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.), which may sense the orientation and / or movement of the device 200 and provide an indication of the orientation and / or movement, and the processor 210 (e.g., general / application processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use the indication to determine the movement of the device 200 (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector). The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined positioning and / or movement. The functionality of PD 219 may be provided in various ways and / or configurations, such as by general / application processor 230, transceiver 215, SPS receiver 217, and / or another component of device 200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0044] Also refer to Figure 3An example of a TRP 300 for a base station (e.g., a gNB (generic Node B) and / or ng-eNB (next generation evolved Node B)) includes a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include a plurality of processors (e.g., including a general / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, such as Figure 2 ). The memory 311 may be a non-transitory storage medium that may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 may store software 312, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform the various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform these functions, for example, when compiled and executed.

[0045] The description herein may refer to processor 310 performing a function, but this includes other specific implementations, such as a specific implementation in which processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to processor 310 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors included in processor 310 performing the function. This specification may refer to TRP 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of TRP 300 (e.g., processor 310 and memory 311) performing the function. Processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 311. The functionality of processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0046] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and converting signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to operate in accordance with a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi ® Short-range wireless communication technology, WiFi ® Direct connection (WiFi ® -D)、Bluetooth ® Short-range wireless communication technology, Zigbee ® The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communication, for example, a network interface that can be used to communicate with the NG-RAN to transmit communications to, for example, the LMF and / or one or more other network entities and receive communications therefrom. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0047] Figure 3The configuration of the TRP 300 shown is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that the TRP 300 may be configured to perform several functions or that the TRP performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF and / or the device 200 (i.e., the LMF and / or the device 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0048] Also refer to Figure 4 , the server 400 (LMF may be an example thereof) may include: a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 420 (the bus may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include a plurality of processors (e.g., including a general / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, such as Figure 2 410). The memory 411 may be a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 may store software 412, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured to cause the processor 410 to perform these functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, but this includes other specific implementations, such as specific implementations in which the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 410 performing the functions. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing the functions. The processor 410 may include a memory with stored instructions as a supplement and / or replacement for the memory 411. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0049] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and converting signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to operate in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi ® Short-range wireless communication technology, WiFi ® Direct connection (WiFi ® -D)、Bluetooth ® Short-range wireless communication technology, Zigbee ® The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, for example, a network interface that can be used to communicate with the NG-RAN to transmit and receive communications to, for example, the TRP 300 and / or one or more other network entities. The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0050] This specification may refer to processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which processor 410 executes software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. This specification may refer to server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of server 400 (e.g., processor 410 and memory 411) performing that function.

[0051] Figure 4 The configuration of the server 400 shown is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Additionally or alternatively, the description herein discusses that the server 400 is configured to perform several functions or that the server performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or the device 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or the device 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0052] refer to Figure 5 , device 500 includes a processor 510, a transceiver 520, a memory 530, and a sensor 540, which are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 550. Even if mentioned in the singular, processor 510 may include one or more processors, transceiver 520 may include one or more transceivers (e.g., one or more transmitters and / or one or more receivers), and memory 530 may include one or more memories. Device 500 may take any of a variety of forms, such as a mobile device, such as a vehicle UE (VUE). Device 500 may include Figure 5 The components shown, and may include one or more other components, such as Figure 2 246, or a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246, or a wireless transmitter 242, a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246, or a wireless transmitter 242, a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246. Additionally or alternatively, the transceiver 520 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. The memory 530 may be configured similarly to the memory 211, for example, including software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 510 to perform functions.

[0053] This specification may refer to the processor 510 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as an implementation in which the processor 510 executes software (stored in the memory 530) and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the device 500 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the device 500 (e.g., the processor 510 and the memory 530) performing that function. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530 and, where appropriate, the transceiver 520) may include an occupancy information unit 560 (which may include an ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) for the VUE). The occupancy information unit 560 is further discussed herein, and this specification may refer to the occupancy information unit 560 as performing one or more functions, and / or generally to the processor 510 or generally to the device 500 as performing any of the functions of the occupancy information unit 560, where the device 500 is configured to perform those functions.

[0054] Also refer to Figure 6 , a geographic environment 600 (a driving environment in this example) includes a plurality of mobile wireless communication devices, here vehicles 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, a building 610, an RSU 612 (roadside unit), and a street sign 620 (e.g., a stop sign). The RSU 612 may be configured similarly to the TRP 300, but may have less functionality and / or a shorter range than the TRP 300 (e.g., a base station-based TRP). One or more of the vehicles 601-609 may be configured to perform autonomous driving. A vehicle whose prospect is being considered (e.g., for environmental assessment, autonomous driving, etc.) may be referred to as an observer vehicle or an ego vehicle. An ego vehicle (such as vehicle 601) may assess an area around the ego vehicle for one or more desired purposes (e.g., to facilitate autonomous driving). Vehicle 601 may be an example of device 500. Vehicle 601 can divide the area around the vehicle into multiple sub-areas and evaluate whether an object occupies each sub-area, and if so, determine one or more characteristics of the object (e.g., size, shape (e.g., dimensions (possibly including height)), speed (speed and direction), object type (bicycle, car, truck, etc.), etc.).

[0055] Also refer to Figure 7 and Figure 8, an area 700 that spans a portion of the environment 600 in this example may be evaluated to determine an occupancy grid 800 (also referred to as an occupancy map) that indicates the type of occupants in each of a plurality of sub-areas of the area 700. For example, the area 700 may be divided into a grid (which may be referred to as an occupancy grid) where the sub-areas 710 may have similar (e.g., identical) sizes and shapes, or may have two or more sizes and / or shapes (e.g., a sub-area is smaller near an ego vehicle (e.g., vehicle 601) and larger away from the ego vehicle, and / or a sub-area near the ego vehicle has a different shape than a sub-area further away from the ego vehicle). The area 700 and grid 800 may be of regular shape (e.g., rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc.) and / or may be divided into sub-areas of the same shape, regular shape for convenience (e.g., to simplify calculations), although other shaped areas / grids (e.g., irregular shapes) and / or sub-areas (e.g., irregular shapes, multiple different regular shapes, or a combination of one or more irregular shapes and one or more regular shapes) may be used. For example, sub-region 710 may have a rectangular (e.g., square) shape. Region 700 may be any of a variety of sizes and have any of a variety of granularity of sub-regions. For example, region 700 may be a rectangle (e.g., square) with each side being approximately 100 m. As another example, while region 700 is shown as having sub-regions 710 that are square with each side being approximately 1 m, sub-regions of other sizes may be used, including much smaller sub-regions. For example, square sub-regions that are approximately 25 cm per side may be used. In this example, region 700 is divided into M rows (here, parallel to Figure 8 The x-axis is shown in 24 rows), each row has N columns (here it refers to the parallel Figure 8 23 columns on the y-axis shown).

[0056] Each of the sub-areas 710 may correspond to a corresponding cell 810 in the occupancy map, and information about what, if anything, occupies each of the sub-areas 710 may be obtained so as to populate the cell 810 of the occupancy map 800 with an occupancy indication indicating the type of occupant corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell. The information about what, if anything, occupies each of the sub-areas 710 may be obtained from one or more of a variety of sources. For example, the occupancy information may be obtained from one or more sensor measurements from one or more of the sensors 540 of the device 500. As another example, the occupancy information may be obtained by one or more other devices and transmitted to the device 500. For example, one or more of the vehicles 602-609 may transmit the occupancy information to the vehicle 601, for example, via C-V2X communication. As another example, RSU 612 may collect occupancy information (e.g., from one or more sensors of RSU 612 and / or from communications with one or more of vehicles 602-609 and / or one or more other devices) and transmit the collected information to vehicle 601, for example, directly and / or via one or more network entities (e.g., TRP).

[0057] like Figure 8 As shown, each of the cells 810 may include occupancy information indicating the type of occupant of the sub-area 710 corresponding to the cell 810. As an example, the occupancy information may indicate that the corresponding sub-area 710 is occupied by a static object (S), or may indicate that the corresponding sub-area 710 is occupied by a moving or potentially moving object (M), or may indicate that the corresponding sub-area 710 is occupied by the ego vehicle (E). If no object occupies the corresponding sub-area 710, the occupancy information may indicate free space (F), if there is no information about the possible occupant of the corresponding sub-area 710 (or the available information about the occupant is uncertain, if any), the occupancy information may indicate unknown (U), or may indicate that the corresponding sub-area 710 is obscured (O) (including being partially but not completely obscured) (e.g., outside the line of sight of the ego vehicle). The occupancy information may indicate that the corresponding sub-area 710 is a boundary sub-area, at the periphery 720 of the area 700. The occupancy information of the boundary cell (corresponding to the boundary sub-area) may also indicate the occupant type, for example, BS of the boundary occupied by a static object, BF of the boundary occupied by free space, etc. For example, each of the boundary cells 821, 822 indicates that the corresponding boundary cell 821, 822 is a boundary cell and is occupied by free space. Figure 8, only the boundary cells 821, 822 of all the boundary cells are labeled for clarity of the figure. If the sub-area 710 was previously in view and is now occluded, the occupancy information may indicate occluded rather than unknown. The occupancy information may indicate multiple occupant types, for example, if the sub-area 710 was previously determined to be occupied by a mobile object but the sub-area 710 is now occluded, the mobile is occluded. In the example occupancy map 800, Figure 6 The vehicle 601 shown is the ego vehicle and has been able to determine occupancy information for all cells 810. In the occupancy map 800, cells 810 that are not marked (for clarity of the diagram) may be free space, unknown, or occluded.

[0058] Also refer to Fig. 9 In this example, the occupancy information table 900 of the occupancy map 800 includes entries 9101-910 corresponding to the cell 810 of the occupancy map 800. 552 , each entry includes occupancy information. In this example, there are 552 entries because there are 24 rows and 23 columns (24x23=552) in the occupancy map 800. Also in this example, the occupancy information includes a cell location field 920, an occupant type field 930, an occupant size field 940, an occupant speed field 950, and a confidence field 960. The cell location field 920 indicates the cell location as a row number and a column number. If the cell location is implied, for example, if the number of cells 810 is known and the sequence of cells 810 in the table 900 is known, the cell location field 920 can be omitted from the table 900. The occupant type field 930 indicates one or more occupant types of various available occupant types, such as free space (F), moving object (M), static object (S), unknown (U), occupant (O), or self-vehicle (E). The occupant size field 940 may include the height of the occupant in the corresponding cell 810. The occupant speed field 950 may indicate the speed of the occupant of the corresponding cell 810. Confidence field 960 may, for example, indicate a confidence level that the occupant type indicated in occupant type field 930 is correct. For another example, confidence field 960 may indicate a confidence level that the occupant size and / or occupant velocity is correct (e.g., a minimum confidence that all indicated information is correct). For another example, confidence field 960 may be represented by a probability value. For another example, confidence field 960 may include more than one value, such as a confidence value and a likelihood value as in Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. As shown, entry 9101 is for the first row and first column of occupancy map 800 (as indicated in cell location field 920), which corresponds to sub-area 710 occupied by free space as indicated in occupant type field 930. Additionally, entry 9102 corresponds to sub-area 710 occupied by free space, entry 9104 corresponds to sub-area 710 occupied by free space. 92Corresponding to the sub-area 710 occupied by a static object (in this example, a building 610), entry 910 168 Corresponding to the sub-area 710 occupied by the moving object (in this example, the front of the vehicle 603), the entry 910 171 corresponds to the sub-area 710 occupied by the mobile object (in this example, the rear of the vehicle 603), and entry 910 552 corresponds to the boundary cell 822 and thus to the sub-area 710 occupied by free space. Item 910 92 Indicates that the height of the building 610 in the indicated cell 810 is 10 m and the speed of the building is 0 m / s. The speed field 950 may be a null value for a static object. Entry 910 168 ,910 171 Indicates that the height of the vehicle 603 in the corresponding unit 810 is 1.3m and 1.8m, and the 180° direction of the vehicle 603 ( Figure 6 As can be seen from table 900, there is a large amount of information used to characterize occupancy map 800, which may occupy a large amount of memory and will occupy a large amount of communication bandwidth to provide occupancy information from one device to another, such as between devices (e.g., within processor 510 to perform one or more functions, and / or from device 500 to another device, such as a network entity such as TRP 300 or server 400).

[0059] Also refer to Fig.10, the autonomous driving technology stack 1000 includes a positioning engine 1010, a perception engine 1020, a driving planner 1030, and a motion controller 1040. The autonomous driving technology stack 1000 may be implemented by a processor 510 (e.g., appropriate hardware and / or firmware, etc.), possibly in combination with a memory 530 (e.g., processor-readable instructions stored on the memory 530). The positioning engine 1010 may receive position and / or motion inputs, such as GNSS measurements, IMU measurements, and / or CAN (controller area network) measurements, and road information (e.g., lanes and traffic signs). The perception engine 1020 may use one or more inputs from one or more sensors in the sensor 540 (such as inputs from one or more cameras and / or from one or more radars) to determine perception information (e.g., objects, object locations, etc.) and combine such information with information provided by the positioning engine 1010 in the sensor fusion unit 1022 to determine an occupancy map 800 (including occupancy information such as an occupancy table). The perception engine 1020 may provide the occupancy information to the driving planner 1030 and / or to one or more entities external to the device 500. The driving planner 1030 may use the provided occupancy information and the input from the position engine to predict object behavior and determine the planned behavior. The driving planner 1030 may use the predicted and planned behavior to plan the movement of the device 500 and provide the motion planning information to the motion controller 1040, which may control the movement of the device 500 (e.g., braking, acceleration, steering) based on the motion planning information. Because the perception engine 1020 may provide the occupancy information to the driving planner 1030 and / or to one or more entities external to the device 500, it is desirable to limit the amount of occupancy information, for example to save storage space and / or communication bandwidth. This is particularly true because the perception engine 1020 may repeatedly provide the occupancy information, for example, at a rate of 20 Hz (thus every 50 ms).

[0060] The occupancy information unit 560 may be configured to determine and / or provide a reduced set of occupancy information. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may be configured to determine components of the occupancy map that are delimiters between different types of occupants. The components may indicate boundaries between cells of different occupant types in the occupancy map. The components may be connected components, which may be composed of cells that are classified as free space that forms a boundary of an area containing only the ego vehicle or other free space cells. Components are connected because connected components form a continuous boundary where each cell forming the boundary is adjacent to at least two other cells. For example, cells may be connected if they touch, such as by sharing an edge (or at least portions of a corresponding edge) or a corner (e.g., Fig.14Cells 1411, 1412 are shown in the figure), then the cells may be adjacent to each other. Cells at the boundary between different occupant types may be referred to as delimiter cells, where the delimiter cell has a different occupant type than at least one adjacent cell (e.g., an obscured cell and an adjacent free space cell, or an obscured free space cell and an adjacent free space cell). Occupancy information cell 560 may be populated with occupancy information of the delimiter cell (e.g., Fig. 9 ) without populating occupancy information for non-delimiter cells. A device receiving delimiter-based occupancy information may infer the occupant type of cells whose occupant type is not explicitly specified in the delimiter-based occupancy information. The occupancy information unit 560 may not populate (or at least not transmit) occupancy information for cells whose occupant type may be inferred, for example, based on knowledge of the delimiter cell location and the occupant type of the delimiter cell and possibly the size of the object. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may not populate cells within an object, or cells in areas between delimiting boundaries that indicate changes in occupant type.

[0061] To populate the occupancy information of the occupancy map, the occupancy information unit 560 may not store the occupancy map. For example, the occupancy map may correspond to which of the cells (e.g., from the occupancy map 800) the occupancy information unit 560 provides occupancy information to another device (e.g., another part of the processor 510 or to an entity external to the device 500), such as from the information unit 560.

[0062] Reference Fig.11 , see further Figures 6 to 8 , the delimiter-based occupancy map 1100 is similar to the occupancy map 800, with occluded cells 1110 indicated. In this example, cells 1120 corresponding to vehicles 602, 603 are occluded by vehicle 604 (e.g., a fire truck). When occluded, cells 1130 occupied by building 610 can be confidently indicated as occupied by a static object (and can also be indicated as occupied). Similarly, if the device 500 knows the size of the vehicle 602, for example, if the vehicle 602 provides length and width information to the device 500, the cells of the occluded vehicle 602 may include an occupant type of a mobile object. An occupancy map, such as occupancy map 1100, may include occupancy information for fewer than all of the cells of the map. For example, an occupancy information cell 560 may not be populated. Fig.111140, because the occupant types of those cells can be inferred, such as cells to the left of occluded cell 1140 adjacent to, above, and below cell 1150 corresponding to vehicle 602, because such cells can all be inferred to be occluded (although other occupant types can be indicated for confidently known cells, such as cell 1130). As another example, indication of boundary cells can be omitted from the occupancy map if the boundary cells can be inferred, for example, based on the known occupancy map size.

[0063] For delimiter-based occupancy maps, various specific implementations are possible. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 can be populated with occupancy information only for delimiter cells, or only for delimiter cells and cells with at least a threshold confidence (e.g., at least 90% confidence), for example, due to the occupancy of cells being observed by device 500, or the occupancy of cells observed by another device providing occupancy information to device 500, or the occupancy can be confidently inferred by device 500 (e.g., some cells occupied by objects being observed by device 500 and the size of the objects is known to device 500). For example, for occupancy map 1100, the occupancy information unit 560 is populated with occupancy information for cells of vehicles 602, 608, 609 (e.g., if the size of vehicles 602, 606 is known to device 500), but not for cells of vehicles 603, 604.

[0064] Also refer to Fig.12 As another example of a specific implementation of a delimiter-based occupancy map, the occupancy information cell 560 may be populated with only the occupancy information of the delimiter cells within the line of sight of one or more of the sensors 540 of the device 500 (e.g., the vehicle 601). Figure 7 As shown, the sensor line of sight of vehicle 601 may be constrained by vehicle 602 to the boundaries indicated by lines 731, 732, and may be constrained to the rear of vehicle 608, the rear of a portion of the side of vehicle 609, and street sign 620. Thus, occupancy information cells 560 may only be populated with occupancy information for cells shown in occupancy map 1200.

[0065] Also refer to Fig.13 As another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map implementation, the occupancy information unit 560 may be populated with only the occupancy information of the delimiter cells within the line of sight of one or more of the sensors 540 of the device 500 and the cells with at least a threshold confidence level. Fig.13As shown, occupancy information cells 560 may populate occupancy map 1300 with occupancy information for cells 1310 corresponding to vehicles 601, 602, 608, 609, street signs 620, and occlusion boundaries, and cells 1330 corresponding to building 610. In this example, device 500 has no confidence in the occupant type of the portion of vehicle 608 that is not visible to device 500 (here, vehicle 601).

[0066] Also refer to Fig.14 As another example of a specific implementation of a delimiter-based occupancy map, the occupancy information unit 560 may be configured with occupancy information of all delimiter units or all delimiter units within the visual range of the device 500 (eg, Fig.14 ) to fill the occupancy map (here, occupancy map 1400) without filling the free space or ego vehicle cells enclosed by the free space connected components. Here, for simplicity, each non-boundary cell has a single occupant type, but a cell may have multiple occupant types, and if at least one neighboring cell has an occupant type that is different from the multiple occupant types of the multiple occupant type cell, the multiple occupant type cell may be included in the occupancy map 1400, regardless of whether the neighboring cells have a single occupant type or multiple occupant types.

[0067] The occupancy information unit 560 may be configured to output only the free space (including the boundary / free space) connected components of the occupancy map as the connected output. For example, a cell located on the boundary 1420 includes a set of connected components. The connected output may be only the connected components in the line of sight (LOS) of the ego vehicle, or may include one or more other connected component sets that are non-line of sight (NLOS) with the ego vehicle but each have a high confidence value (e.g., above a threshold confidence value). The connected output may exclude the ego vehicle and free space cells within the boundary (surrounded by the connected component cells). In addition to the cells of the connected component cells located on the boundary of the occupancy map, the cells adjacent to the connected component cells outside the boundary defined by the connected component cells (e.g., outside the area 1430 defined by the boundary 1420) will be non-free space cells (e.g., occluded, unknown, moving objects, static objects, etc.). For any particular cell in the connected output, information about the occupancy type of the cells adjacent to the particular cell may be provided, which may help inform any device receiving the connected output (e.g., the motion planning unit of the driving planner 1030).

[0068] Also refer to Fig.15 and Fig.16As another example of a delimiter-based occupancy map implementation, the occupancy information unit 560 may populate the occupancy map with delimiter cell occupancy information including an indication of the occupant type of one or more adjacent cells. For example, for each of the occupancy maps 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, the occupancy information unit 560 may include occupancy information for each populated cell, e.g., occupancy information similar to Fig. 9 shown and about Fig. 9 As another example, instead of filling adjacent delimiter cells with occupancy information, occupancy information cell 560 may fill delimiter cells with information about the location and occupant type of one or more adjacent delimiter cells. For example, occupancy information cell 560 may only fill Fig.15 The unit shown in FIG. 1300 is a portion 1500 of which is occupied by Fig.15 . For each filled cell, the occupancy information cell 560 may indicate the occupant type of one or more neighboring cells. For example, for a filled cell, the occupancy information cell 560 may indicate the occupant type of each neighboring cell (e.g., cells to the left, right, above, and below the filled cell, but not diagonally to the filled cell, or including cells diagonally to the filled cell). For example, for filled cells 1510, 1530, entries 1610, 1630 in the occupancy information table 1600 may include in the neighboring occupant type field 1650 an indication of the occupant type of each of the four neighboring cells to the left (L), above (A), right (R), and below (B) of the filled cells 1510, 1530, respectively. The neighboring occupant type field 1650 may therefore include an indication of the occupant type of each of the one or more neighboring cells, as well as the relative position of such one or more neighboring cells (relative to the position of the filled cell). The relative position may not be explicitly indicated by the occupancy information. For example, if the relative position can be inferred (e.g., where all unpopulated adjacent cells have the same occupant type), the relative position may be omitted. As another example, the occupancy information cell 560 may indicate the occupant type only for adjacent delimiter cells that are also unpopulated (i.e., for which occupancy information is provided in the occupancy map). For example, for a filled cell 1520, the entry 1620 in the table 1600 may indicate the occupant type (F) of the cell to the right of the filled cell 1520 in the adjacent occupant type field 1650, but not the occupant type of the cell to the left, above, or below the filled cell 1520, because those cells are filled and therefore will have corresponding entries in the table 1600 with corresponding occupancy information. In this way, the occupancy map may include occupancy information in less than all delimiter cells, and memory and / or bandwidth may be saved to store and / or transmit the occupancy information of the occupancy map.

[0069] Providing occupancy information according to any of the occupancy maps 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 may reduce the information provided relative to the occupancy map 800. By providing occupancy information for delimiter cells and not providing occupancy information for at least some non-delimiter cells, memory and / or bandwidth used to store and / or transmit occupancy information may be reduced. For example, because the occupancy information of the occupancy map 800 may be reproduced from the provided delimiter-based occupancy information, the resolution of the occupancy map 800 may not be lost even though the amount of information transmitted may be reduced.

[0070] Reference Fig.17 , and further refer to Figures 1 to 16 , the occupancy map processing method 1700 includes the stages shown. However, the method 1700 is an example and not a limitation. The method 1700 can be modified, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, performing one or more stages concurrently, and / or by splitting one or more stages into multiple stages.

[0071] At stage 1710, method 1700 includes obtaining, at the device, an occupancy map of the area, the occupancy map including a plurality of cells corresponding to a sub-area of ​​the area, each cell of the plurality of cells including an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type including one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells including delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type. For example, occupancy information unit 560 may collect occupancy information by processing sensor measurements (e.g., camera images, GNSS measurements, radar measurements, lidar (light detection and ranging) measurements, etc.) from sensor 540 and / or may receive occupancy information from one or more entities external to device 500 (e.g., RSU 612, one or more of vehicles 602-609, etc.). The occupancy information includes information about occupants of cells of a geographic area (e.g., corresponding to a sub-area 710 of the area 700). The cells include delimiter cells arranged along the boundaries of differences in cell occupant types, where the occupant types of adjacent cells are not the same, i.e., one or more occupant sets of a cell are different from one or more occupant sets of adjacent cells. The delimiter cells may be identified, for example, by an occupancy information unit 560. The occupancy map may be stored (e.g., buffered) for analysis, for example, to determine what occupancy information to provide (e.g., occupancy information of which cells). The processor 510, which may be combined with a memory 530, may be combined with a transceiver 520 (e.g., a wireless receiver and antenna such as a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246), and / or may be combined with a sensor 540 (e.g., one or more cameras, one or more radars, an SPS receiver 217, etc.), may include components for obtaining an occupancy map.

[0072] At stage 1720, method 1700 includes providing, from the device, occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of a sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating a corresponding first occupant type. For example, occupancy information unit 560 (e.g., perception engine 1020) may provide occupancy information for the delimiter cells and possibly some but not all of the non-delimiter cells (e.g., as for example, Fig. 9 and / or Fig.16, discussed above). This can save memory and / or bandwidth for storing and / or providing occupancy information, which is to be analyzed by one or more other devices (e.g., a driving planner, another device in device 500, and / or one or more devices external to device 500) to determine desired information, such as motion control (e.g., for collision avoidance, traffic flow, etc.). Processing time can also be saved to transmit and / or analyze occupancy information, thereby transmitting occupancy information in less time and / or making decisions based on occupancy information more quickly than transmitting occupancy information for all cells in an occupancy map. Processor 510 (possibly in combination with memory 530, and possibly in combination with transceiver 520 (e.g., a wireless transmitter and antenna such as wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246)) may include components for providing occupancy information.

[0073] Implementations of method 1700 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, providing occupancy information includes providing only a portion of first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of a delimiter cell, wherein a delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with a corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle in the plurality of cells. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may provide occupancy information only for cells arranged along the boundary 1420. This may significantly reduce the amount of information transmitted (e.g., within the device 500 and / or outside the device 500), possibly while maintaining the resolution provided by the entire occupancy map 1400. In another example implementation, the method 1700 includes providing at least a corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell of the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information for each of the delimiter cells. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may provide occupancy information for the delimiter cell and one or more indications of occupant types of adjacent cells having a different occupant type than the delimiter cell, for example, as shown in table 1600. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530, and possibly in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., a wireless transmitter and antenna such as the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246)) may include means for providing at least the corresponding second occupant type. In another example implementation, the method 1700 includes providing an indication of a position of each of the at least one cell arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell relative to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information for each of the delimiter cells. For example, occupancy information element 560 may provide the location of neighboring elements providing occupant types relative to delimiter elements, either explicitly or implicitly (e.g., as in table 1600). Processor 510 (possibly in conjunction with memory 530, and possibly in conjunction with transceiver 520 (e.g., a wireless transmitter and antenna such as wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246)) may include components for providing an indication of the location.

[0074] Additionally or alternatively, an implementation of method 1700 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, providing occupancy information includes providing only first occupancy information. For example, occupancy information unit 560 may provide occupancy information only for delimiter cells, for example, as in occupancy map 1300 (only for sight-distance delimiter cells), or as in occupancy map 1100 (for delimiter cells with at least a threshold level of confidence). This can help save memory and / or transmission bandwidth, save costs and / or save processing time to transmit information and / or analyze occupancy information (e.g., for driving prediction and / or planning and / or other desired uses). Therefore, faster decisions can be made based on occupancy information compared to transmitting occupancy information for all cells or more than just delimiter cells. In another example implementation, method 1700 includes providing third occupancy information from the device to corresponding boundary cells arranged along the perimeter of the area in non-delimiter cells, the third occupancy information indicating the location and occupant type of the boundary cells. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may provide occupancy information for boundary cells even if occupancy information for these cells would not be provided. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530 and possibly in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., a wireless transmitter and antenna such as the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246)) may include a component for providing third occupancy information. In another example implementation, providing occupancy information includes providing occupancy information from a first portion of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack to a second portion of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack. For example, the processor 510 may transmit the occupancy information internally to the device 500, for example, the perception engine 1020 may provide the occupancy information to the driving planner 1030. In another example implementation, providing occupancy information includes wirelessly providing occupancy information from the vehicle to a network entity. For example, the occupancy information unit 560 may provide occupancy information to a network entity such as a TRP 300 (e.g., RSU 612), a server, etc. (e.g., via the TRP 300) via the transceiver 520. In another example implementation, providing occupancy information includes providing first occupancy information for less than all delimiter cells in the occupancy map. For example, occupancy information for one of the adjacent delimiter cells may be provided. The occupancy information may include an indication of the occupant type and location of one or more adjacent delimiter cells, for example, as shown in table 1600. This may be accomplished, for example, by transmitting more data in the delimiter cell occupancy information table entry (e.g., more than the entry 910). 168 Compared to entry 1610), the transmission occupies fewer table entries to save storage and / or transmission bandwidth.

[0075] Specific implementation examples

[0076] Specific implementation examples are provided in the following numbered clauses.

[0077] Clause 1. A device, comprising:

[0078] Memory; and

[0079] a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to:

[0080] obtaining an occupancy map for a region, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-regions of the region, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-region of the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and

[0081] Occupancy information is provided, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0082] Clause 2. An apparatus according to clause 1, wherein, in order to provide the occupancy information, the processor is configured to provide only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

[0083] Clause 3. An apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell among the plurality of cells that is arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each delimiter cell among the delimiter cells.

[0084] Clause 4. An apparatus according to clause 3, wherein the processor is configured to provide an indication of the position of each of the at least one cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell relative to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

[0085] Clause 5. The apparatus of clause 1, wherein, of the first occupancy information and the second occupancy information, the processor is configured to provide only the first occupancy information.

[0086] Clause 6. An apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the processor is further configured to provide third occupancy information to corresponding boundary cells in the non-delimiter cells arranged along the perimeter of the area, the third occupancy information indicating the location and occupant type of the boundary cells.

[0087] Clause 7. An apparatus as described in clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the occupancy information from a first portion of an autonomous driving technology stack of a vehicle to a second portion of the autonomous driving technology stack of the vehicle.

[0088] Clause 8. The apparatus of clause 1, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit a wireless signal, wherein the processor is configured to wirelessly provide the occupancy information to a network entity via the transmitter.

[0089] Clause 9. The apparatus of Clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

[0090] Clause 10. A method for processing an occupancy map, the method comprising:

[0091] obtaining, at a device, an occupancy map of an area, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to a sub-area of ​​the area, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a respective first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a respective second occupant type different from the respective first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a respective third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the respective third occupant type; and

[0092] Occupancy information is provided from the apparatus, the occupancy information comprising first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information comprising, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0093] Clause 11. An occupancy map processing method according to clause 10, wherein providing the occupancy information includes providing only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

[0094] Clause 12. An occupancy map processing method according to clause 10, the method further comprising providing at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell in the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each delimiter cell in the delimiter cells.

[0095] Clause 13. An occupancy map processing method according to clause 12, the method also includes providing an indication of the position of each of the at least one cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell relative to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

[0096] Clause 14. The occupancy map processing method according to clause 10, wherein providing the occupancy information comprises providing only the first occupancy information.

[0097] Clause 15. The occupancy map processing method according to clause 10, further comprising providing third occupancy information from the device to corresponding boundary cells in the non-delimiter cells arranged along the perimeter of the area, the third occupancy information indicating the location and occupant type of the boundary cells.

[0098] Clause 16. An occupancy map processing method according to Clause 10, wherein providing the occupancy information includes providing the occupancy information from a first part of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack to a second part of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack.

[0099] Clause 17. The occupancy map processing method of Clause 10, wherein providing the occupancy information comprises wirelessly transmitting the occupancy information from the vehicle to a network entity.

[0100] Clause 18. The occupancy map processing method of Clause 10, wherein providing the occupancy information comprises providing the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

[0101] Clause 19. An apparatus, comprising:

[0102] means for obtaining an occupancy map for an area, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and

[0103] means for providing occupancy information, the occupancy information comprising first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information comprising, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0104] Clause 20. An apparatus according to clause 19, wherein the component for providing the occupancy information includes a component for providing only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

[0105] Clause 21. An apparatus according to clause 19, further comprising a component for providing at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell among the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each delimiter cell among the delimiter cells.

[0106] Clause 22. An apparatus according to clause 21, further comprising a component for providing an indication of the position of each of the at least one unit arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter unit relative to the corresponding delimiter unit as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter units.

[0107] Clause 23. The apparatus of clause 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for providing only the first occupancy information.

[0108] Clause 24. The apparatus of clause 19, further comprising means for providing third occupancy information to corresponding ones of the non-delimiter cells arranged along the perimeter of the area, the third occupancy information indicating a location and an occupant type of the boundary cells.

[0109] Clause 25. An apparatus according to clause 19, wherein the component for providing the occupancy information includes a component for providing the occupancy information from a first portion of an autonomous driving technology stack of a vehicle to a second portion of the autonomous driving technology stack of the vehicle.

[0110] Clause 26. The apparatus of Clause 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for wirelessly transmitting the occupancy information from a vehicle to a network entity.

[0111] Clause 27. The apparatus of Clause 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for providing the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

[0112] Clause 28. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor to:

[0113] obtaining an occupancy map for a region, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-regions of the region, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-region of the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and

[0114] Occupancy information is provided, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

[0115] Clause 29. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium according to clause 28, wherein the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

[0116] Clause 30. A non-volatile processor-readable storage medium according to Clause 28, wherein the non-volatile processor-readable storage medium also includes processor-readable instructions, which cause the processor to provide at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell among the multiple cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each delimiter cell among the delimiter cells.

[0117] Clause 31. A non-volatile processor-readable storage medium according to clause 30, wherein the non-volatile processor-readable storage medium further comprises processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions cause the processor to provide an indication of the position of each of the at least one unit arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter unit relative to the corresponding delimiter unit as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter units.

[0118] Clause 32. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of Clause 28, wherein the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide only the first occupancy information.

[0119] Clause 33. A non-volatile processor-readable storage medium according to Clause 28, wherein the non-volatile processor-readable storage medium also includes processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions cause the processor to provide third occupancy information to corresponding boundary cells in the non-delimiter cells arranged along the perimeter of the area, wherein the third occupancy information indicates the location and occupant type of the boundary cells.

[0120] Clause 34. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium according to clause 28, wherein the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information from a first portion of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack to a second portion of the vehicle's autonomous driving technology stack.

[0121] Clause 35. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium as described in Clause 28, wherein the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy message include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to wirelessly transmit the occupancy information from the vehicle to a network entity.

[0122] Clause 36. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium as described in Clause 28, wherein the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

[0123] Other considerations

[0124] Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the above functions can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hard wiring, or any combination thereof. Features that implement the functions can also be physically located at different locations, including being distributed so that various parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0125] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Therefore, a device referred to in the singular (e.g., "device", "the / the device"), included in the claims, includes at least one (i.e., one or more) of such devices (e.g., "processor" includes at least one processor (e.g., one processor, two processors, etc.), "the / the processor" includes at least one processor, "memory" includes at least one memory, "the / the memory" includes at least one memory, etc.). The phrases "at least one" and "one or more" are used interchangeably, and so that "at least one" referent and "one or more" referent include specific implementations with one referent and specific implementations with multiple referents. For example, "at least one processor" and "one or more processors" each include specific implementations with one processor and specific implementations with multiple processors.

[0126] As used herein, the terms “includes”, “comprising” and “including” indicate the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0127] Likewise, as used herein, "or" used in a list of items (possibly followed by "at least one of" or followed by "one or more of") indicates a disjunctive list, so that, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C," or a list of "one or more of A, B, or C," or a list of "A or B or C" means A or B or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination having more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a statement that an item (e.g., a processor) is configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B, or a statement that an item is configured to perform function A or function B means that the item may be configured to perform the function with respect to A, or may be configured to perform the function with respect to B, or may be configured to perform the functions with respect to both A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure A or measure B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select which of A and B to measure or both). Similarly, a statement about a component for measuring at least one of A or B includes: a component for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or a component for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or a component for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which of A and B to measure or both). As another example, a statement that an item (e.g., a processor) is configured to perform at least one of function X or to perform function Y means that the item may be configured to perform function X, or may be configured to perform function Y, or may be configured to perform function X and perform function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of X or Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and measure Y (and may be configured to select which or both of X and Y to measure).

[0128] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a statement that a function or operation is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions other than the stated item or condition.

[0129] Substantial changes may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, in software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.) executed by a processor, or in both. In addition, connections with other computing devices such as network input / output devices may be adopted. Unless otherwise indicated, components (functional or otherwise) shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as being connected or communicating with each other are communicatively coupled. That is, these components may be connected directly or indirectly to achieve communication between them.

[0130] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, features described with respect to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of a configuration may be combined in a similar manner. In addition, technology is constantly evolving, and therefore many elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure or claims.

[0131] Specific details are given in the description of this article to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including specific implementations). However, the configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary details to avoid confusing these configurations. The description of this article provides example configurations without limiting the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. On the contrary, the previous description of the configuration provides a description for implementing the described technology. Various changes can be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements.

[0132] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to a processor for execution, and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., as signals). In many specific implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0133] After describing several example configurations, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over the application of the present disclosure or otherwise modify the application of the present disclosure. In addition, several operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0134] Unless otherwise indicated, "approximately" and / or "about" as used herein in reference to a measurable value (such as an amount, a duration of time, etc.) encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or 0.1% from the specified value, as appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other specific implementations described herein. Unless otherwise indicated, "substantially" as used herein in reference to a measurable value (such as an amount, a duration of time, a physical property (such as frequency), etc.) also encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, as appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other specific implementations described herein.

[0135] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or above) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value higher than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly less than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value lower than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system.

Claims

1. A device, comprising: Memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: obtaining an occupancy map for a region, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to a sub-region of the region, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-region of the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; as well as Occupancy information is provided, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: In order to provide the occupancy information, the processor is configured to provide only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is configured to provide at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell of the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein: The processor is configured to provide, as part of the occupancy information for each of the delimiter cells, an indication of a position of each of the at least one cell arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell relative to the corresponding delimiter cell.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: Of the first occupancy information and the second occupancy information, the processor is configured to provide only the first occupancy information.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is further configured to provide third occupancy information to corresponding boundary cells of the non-delimiter cells arranged along a perimeter of the area, the third occupancy information indicating a location and an occupant type of the boundary cells.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide the occupancy information from a first portion of an autonomous driving technology stack of a vehicle to a second portion of the autonomous driving technology stack of the vehicle.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit a wireless signal, wherein the processor is configured to wirelessly provide the occupancy information to a network entity via the transmitter.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is configured to provide the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

10. A method for processing an occupancy map, the method comprising: obtaining, at a device, an occupancy map of an area, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to a sub-area of ​​the area, each cell of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a respective first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a respective second occupant type different from the respective first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a respective third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the respective third occupant type; as well as Occupancy information is provided from the apparatus, the occupancy information comprising first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information comprising, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

11. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, wherein providing the occupancy information comprises providing only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or ego vehicle among the multiple cells.

12. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, further comprising providing at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell of the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

13. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 12, further comprising providing an indication of a position of each of the at least one cell arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell relative to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

14. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, wherein: Providing the occupancy information includes providing only the first occupancy information.

15. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, further comprising providing third occupancy information from the device to corresponding boundary cells arranged along the periphery of the area in the non-delimiter cells, the third occupancy information indicating the location and occupant type of the boundary cells.

16. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, wherein: Providing the occupancy information includes providing the occupancy information from a first portion of an autonomous driving technology stack of a vehicle to a second portion of the autonomous driving technology stack of the vehicle.

17. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, wherein: Providing the occupancy information includes wirelessly transmitting the occupancy information from the vehicle to a network entity.

18. The occupancy map processing method according to claim 10, wherein: Providing the occupancy information includes providing the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

19. A device, comprising: means for obtaining an occupancy map for an area, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-areas of the area, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-area of ​​the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a respective first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a respective second occupant type different from the respective first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a respective third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the respective third occupant type; and means for providing occupancy information, the occupancy information comprising first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information comprising, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the component for providing the occupancy information includes a component for providing only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space, and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for providing at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one cell of the plurality of cells arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

22. An apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising a component for providing an indication of the position of each of the at least one unit arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter unit relative to the corresponding delimiter unit as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter units.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for providing only the first occupancy information.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for providing third occupancy information to corresponding boundary cells in the non-delimiter cells arranged along a perimeter of the area, the third occupancy information indicating a location and an occupant type of the boundary cells.

25. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the component for providing the occupancy information includes a component for providing the occupancy information from a first portion of an autonomous driving technology stack of a vehicle to a second portion of the autonomous driving technology stack of the vehicle.

26. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for wirelessly transmitting the occupancy information from a vehicle to a network entity.

27. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for providing the occupancy information comprises means for providing the first occupancy information to less than all of the delimiter cells in the occupancy map.

28. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor to: obtaining an occupancy map for a region, the occupancy map comprising a plurality of cells corresponding to sub-regions of the region, each of the plurality of cells comprising an occupancy indication indicating an occupant type corresponding to the sub-region of the cell, each occupant type comprising one or more types of occupants of a corresponding one of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of cells comprising delimiter cells and non-delimiter cells, each delimiter cell having a corresponding first occupant type and arranged adjacent to at least one cell of the plurality of cells having a corresponding second occupant type different from the corresponding first occupant type, and each non-delimiter cell having a corresponding third occupant type and arranged adjacent only to cells of the plurality of cells having the corresponding third occupant type; and Occupancy information is provided, the occupancy information including first occupancy information corresponding to the delimiter cells and second occupancy information corresponding to less than all of the non-delimiter cells or excluding the second occupancy information, the first occupancy information including, for each of the delimiter cells, sub-region information indicating a location of the sub-region of the delimiter cell and occupant type information indicating the corresponding first occupant type.

29. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein: The processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide the occupancy information include processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide only a portion of the first occupancy information corresponding to one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell, wherein the delimiter cell in each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell has an occupancy type of free space or boundary and free space and is adjacent to at least two other delimiter cells in the corresponding connected component set of the delimiter cell, and each of the one or more connected component sets of the delimiter cell covers an area that only includes cells with the corresponding occupant type of free space or self-vehicle among the multiple cells.

30. The non-volatile processor-readable storage medium of claim 28, further comprising processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to provide at least the corresponding second occupant type of at least one of the plurality of cells that is arranged adjacent to the corresponding delimiter cell as part of the occupancy information of each of the delimiter cells.

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