# US 11,443,150 B2 · Automotive sensor integration module

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- Number: US 11,443,150 B2
- Document ID: US11443150B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/726,703
- Filed: 2019-12-24
- Published: 2021-04-29
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2019-10-24
- Assignees: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Young Shin Kim; Won Gyum Kim; Kyung Rin Kim; Sung Eun Jo
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11443150B2

## CPC

- G01S 13/865: {Combination of radar systems with lidar systems}
- G01S 13/86: Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
- G05B 23/0205: {by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults}
- G05B 23/0221: {Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods}
- G06F 18/21: Design or setup of recognition systems or techniques; Extraction of features in feature space; Blind source separation
- G06F 18/25: Fusion techniques
- G06V 10/80: Fusion, i.e. combining data from various sources at the sensor level, preprocessing level, feature extraction level or classification level (multimodal speaker identification or verification G10L17/10)
- G06V 10/98: Detection or correction of errors, e.g. by rescanning the pattern or by human intervention; Evaluation of the quality of the acquired patterns
- G06V 20/56: exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
- G06V 20/58: Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
- G06V 20/588: {Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road}
- B60W 2050/0215: {Sensor drifts or sensor failures}
- G01S 13/867: {Combination of radar systems with cameras}
- G01S 13/931: of land vehicles
- G05B 2219/2637: Vehicle, car, auto, wheelchair
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT

## Abstract

An automotive sensor integration module including a plurality of sensors which differ in at least one of a sensing period or an output data format, and a signal processing unit, which simultaneously outputs, as sensing data, pieces of detection data respectively output from the plurality of sensors on the basis of the sensing period of any one of the plurality of sensors, determines whether each region of an outer cover corresponding to a location of each of the plurality of sensors is contaminated on the basis of the pieces of detection data, and outputs a determination result as contamination data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An automotive sensor integration module comprising:
a circuit board;
a plurality of sensors that are provided on the circuit board and differing from each other in at least one of a sensing period or an output data format;
an outer cover coupled to a front surface of the automotive sensor integration module and covering the circuit board and the plurality of sensors;
a signal processor configured to determine whether each region of the outer cover corresponding to a location of each of the plurality of sensors is contaminated on the basis of pieces of detection data outputted from each of the plurality of sensors; and
a cleaning device configured to eject water toward a region of the outer cover that is contaminated on the basis of the determination,
wherein the signal processor increases or decreases a determination frequency for determining whether each region of the outer cover is contaminated on the basis of external environment data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 1, wherein the cleaning device comprises:
a body; and
a sprayer that is moved towards or away from the body, and including a liquid spray nozzle configured to eject the water such that a position of the liquid spray nozzle is varied according to a position of the sprayer.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 1, wherein the signal processor receives and stores the pieces of detection data, and simultaneously outputs the stored pieces of detection data to an upper-level control device that is configured to control driving of a vehicle, on the basis of the sensing period of any one of the plurality of sensors.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 1, wherein the signal processor compares data values of current data and previous data of each of the pieces of detection data and determines whether each region of the outer cover corresponding to the location of each of the plurality of sensors is contaminated on the basis of the comparison.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 4, wherein:
the signal processor comprises an output synchronization unit and a contamination identification unit;
the output synchronization unit is configured to receive and store the pieces of detection data, and output the stored pieces of detection data to the contamination identification unit on the basis of any one of the pieces of detection data; and
the contamination identification unit is configured to receive and store the pieces of detection data, compare data values of the pieces of detection data output from the plurality of sensors with the stored pieces of detection data, and determine whether each region of the outer cover corresponding to the location of each of the plurality of sensors is contaminated on the basis of the comparison.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 1, wherein the signal processor increases, according to the external environment data, the determination frequency in an environment in which dirt or other foreign matter easily adheres to the outer cover in comparison with an environment in which it is difficult for the dirt or other foreign matter to adhere to the outer cover.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 6, wherein:
the external environment data comprises data related to weather, a road condition, a temperature, and a humidity; and
the signal processor increases, according to the external environment data, the determination frequency in a case in which it rains, a vehicle is traveling on an unpaved road, the temperature is low, or the humidity is high in comparison with a case in which it does not rain, the vehicle is traveling on a paved road, the temperature is high, or the humidity is low.

### Claim 8

An automotive sensor integration module comprising:
a circuit board;
a plurality of sensors that are provided on the circuit board and differing from each other in at least one of a sensing period or an output data format;
an outer cover coupled to a front surface of the automotive sensor integration module and covering the circuit board and the plurality of sensors;
a signal processor configured to determine whether each region of the outer cover corresponding to a location of each of the plurality of sensors is contaminated on the basis of pieces of detection data outputted from each of the plurality of sensors; and
a cleaning device configured to eject water toward a region of the outer cover that is contaminated on the basis of the determination,
wherein the signal processor increases or decreases a determination frequency for determining whether each region of the outer cover is contaminated on the basis of an arrangement location of each of the plurality of sensors.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 8, wherein the signal processor increases the determination frequency for sensors arranged at a lower position among the plurality of sensors in comparison with sensors arranged at a higher position.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 9, wherein the signal processor comprises:
a plurality of sensor output storage units configured to receive and store each of the pieces of detection data output from the plurality of sensors;
a plurality of comparison units configured to compare the pieces of detection data output from the plurality of sensors with the stored pieces of detection data output from the plurality of sensor output storage units; and
a plurality of output control units configured to output, as the contamination data, outputs from the plurality of comparison units, and increase or decrease the output frequency of the contamination data according to the external environment data and the arrangement location of each of the plurality of sensors.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The automotive sensor integration module of claim 9, wherein the plurality of sensors include at least two of an infrared camera, an optical camera, a lidar, or a radar.