Dynamic Map Sensor Control for Autonomous Vehicle Power Saving

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Solution Overview

Problem

The increasing complexity of sensing targets in autonomous traveling systems leads to inefficient acquisition of necessary information, resulting in excessive power consumption by mobile bodies.

Innovation Solution

An information processing system that utilizes a dynamic map managed by a cloud server to efficiently provide necessary information to mobile bodies, adjusting the operation of installed sensors based on detected events and changing sensor parameters to optimize power usage and information acquisition.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If the mobile body acquires information on all surrounding objects using multiple sensors, then the completeness of environmental information is improved, but the power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecompleteness of environmental informationVSAvoidpower consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and prioritizes only the necessary information from the complete environmental data. The priority determination unit identifies which objects and information are essential for the mobile body's current task, extracting only those elements for detailed processing while ignoring others, thus reducing power consumption while maintaining information completeness where needed

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies different processing qualities to different regions of the environment. High-priority objects receive detailed sensor processing and analysis, while low-priority objects receive minimal or no processing. This local differentiation of information quality allows the system to maintain necessary environmental awareness while significantly reducing overall power consumption

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Measurement precision

If the mobile body uses multiple sensors to detect various objects, then the accuracy of environmental perception is improved, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of environmental perceptionVSAvoidsensor system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the environmental perception task into multiple priority levels. Different sensor types are assigned to detect different object categories based on priority. The processing pipeline is segmented into priority determination, selective detection, and differentiated analysis stages, allowing accurate perception of critical objects while simplifying the overall system architecture

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system employs sensors with multi-functional capabilities that can detect multiple types of objects and environmental conditions. A single sensor system is designed to perform various detection functions (object detection, distance measurement, environmental monitoring) depending on the detected priority level, reducing the total number of specialized sensors needed while maintaining perception accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Speed

If the mobile body processes all sensed information in real-time, then the responsiveness to environmental changes is improved, but the processing load increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresponsiveness to environmental changesVSAvoidprocessing load
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary prioritization of environmental objects before full processing. The priority determination unit pre-identifies which objects require immediate attention based on their relevance to the mobile body's mission. This preliminary sorting allows the system to prepare for rapid response to high-priority events while avoiding unnecessary processing of low-priority data, reducing overall processing load while maintaining responsiveness

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements periodic processing at different priority levels. High-priority objects are processed continuously with high frequency to ensure immediate responsiveness. Low-priority objects are processed periodically at lower frequencies or only when changes exceed certain thresholds. This multi-rate periodic processing maintains system responsiveness to critical events while significantly reducing average processing load

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentEP4047581B1Information processing system, information processing method, and information processing device
Publication Date: 2025.11.26 SONY GROUP CORP
  • EP4047581B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4047581B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP4047581B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

An information processing system includes a detector (131) configured to detect an occurrence of an event on the basis of a dynamic map (300) with three-dimensional geospatial information and additional information associated with each other, the additional information being used to be capable of supporting traveling of a mobile body, an environmental information acquisition unit (an installed apparatus 530) configured to acquire environmental information indicating a surrounding environment of a mobile body (500), and a setting unit (132) configured to set a parameter of an environmental information acquisition unit (the installed apparatus 530) depending on the detected event.