Attention Weighting for Trajectory Prediction Across Time Steps

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing trajectory prediction methods for vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians in automotive applications lack efficiency and reliability, particularly due to the unreliability of single captures and the need to account for temporal dependencies and interactions among multiple agents.

Innovation Solution

A method for determining weights in an attention-based trajectory prediction system that utilizes a sequence of captures, including recursive normalization and exponential normalization techniques, to integrate temporal information and improve prediction accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional trajectory prediction methods are used, then computational complexity is reduced, but prediction reliability and accuracy deteriorate due to inability to account for temporal dependencies

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetrajectory prediction reliabilityVSAvoidcomputational complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the trajectory prediction problem into distinct temporal components by processing individual captures separately with unique attention weights. Each capture is treated as an independent observation that contributes differently to the final prediction, allowing temporal dependencies to be modeled without requiring complex global processing of the entire sequence simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies preliminary normalization to individual capture weights before combining them in the attention mechanism. By pre-processing each capture's weight contribution and normalizing it independently, the system simplifies the overall computational process while maintaining the ability to account for temporal variations in capture quality and relevance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If single capture methods are used, then processing speed is improved, but prediction accuracy deteriorates due to unreliability of single captures

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprediction accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple individual capture assessments into a unified trajectory prediction by combining their respective attention weights. Each capture provides a partial assessment of the trajectory, and the attention mechanism merges these assessments with appropriate weighting, achieving higher accuracy than any single capture could provide alone while maintaining efficient processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter of capture reliability by assigning different attention weights to different captures based on their individual qualities and temporal contexts. This allows the system to dynamically adjust the contribution of each capture to the final prediction, improving overall accuracy by emphasizing reliable captures and downweighting unreliable ones without requiring equal processing time for all captures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If comprehensive sequence analysis is performed, then temporal dependency modeling is improved, but computational efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetemporal dependency modelingVSAvoidcomputational efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the essential temporal dependency information from the sequence of captures by focusing on individual capture weights and their normalized contributions. Rather than analyzing complex temporal relationships between all captures simultaneously, the method extracts and processes each capture's individual weight contribution separately, maintaining temporal modeling capability while significantly reducing computational complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by processing only the necessary weight normalization for each capture individually rather than performing comprehensive sequence analysis. This partial processing approach captures the essential temporal dependencies needed for accurate prediction while avoiding the excessive computational burden of analyzing all possible temporal relationships in the sequence.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP4024321B1Method and system for determining weights for an attention based method for trajectory prediction
Publication Date: 2026.04.22 APTIV TECHNOLOGIES LTD
  • EP4024321B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4024321B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4024321B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A computer implemented method for determining weights for an attention based method for trajectory prediction comprises the following steps carried out by computer hardware components: receiving a sequence of a plurality of captures taken by a sensor; determining an unnormalized weight for a first capture of the sequence based on the first capture of the sequence; and determining a normalized weight for the first capture of the sequence based on the unnormalized weight for the first capture of the sequence and a normalized weight for a second capture of the sequence.