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US 8,898,016 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for two-stage planning
AssigneeApplied Minds, LLC
InventorsAdrian Kaehler, Kjerstin Williams, Mark E. Duttweiler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plan through a space having a near field and a far field is determined. Using a sensor device, measurements of the far field are obtained and stored in an electronic memory. A processor uses the measurements to determine the viability of each far field plan among a plurality of candidate far field plans. The processor also determines a flexibility score for each of the candidate far field plans and selects a composite plan comprising the viable far field plan having a highest flexibility score among the viable candidate far field plans.
Claims16
A computer implemented method of determining a plan through a space comprising a near field and a far field, comprising:
- with a sensor device, obtaining measurements of said far field and storing said measurements in an electronic memory;
- with a processor, determining, based on said measurements of said far field, the viability of each far field plan among a plurality of candidate far field plans;
- with a sensor device, obtaining measurements of said near field;
- with said processor, determining, based on said measurements of said near field, the viability of each near field plan among a plurality of candidate near field plans;
- with said processor, determining a flexibility score for each of said candidate far field plans;
- and
- with said processor, selecting a composite plan comprising a far field plan having the highest flexibility score among those candidate far field plans that have been determined to be viable and a near field plan selected from a plurality of candidate near field plans, the selected near field plan having been determined to be viable and being compatible with said far field plan having the highest flexibility score, said candidate near field plans comprising a set of candidate maneuvers, wherein each candidate maneuver is a transition in said near field between a current microlane and a destination microlane selected from among all microlanes, including said current microlane;
- with said processor, selecting the composite plan by further comparing a quantitative cost of said candidate maneuver within said composite plan, when two or more far field plans share the highest flexibility score.
5 more elements
An apparatus determining a plan through a space comprising a near field and a far field, comprising:
- a processor configured for determining, based on measurements taken with a sensor device obtaining measurements of said far field, the viability of each far field plan among a plurality of candidate far field plans;
- said processor configured for determining, based on measurements taken with a sensor device of said near field, the viability of each near field plan among a plurality of candidate near field plans;
- said processor configured for determining a flexibility score for each of said candidate far field plans;
- and
- said processor configured for selecting a composite plan comprising a far field plan having the highest flexibility score among those candidate far field plans that have been determined to be viable and a near field plan selected from a plurality of candidate near field plans, the selected near field plan having been determined to be viable and being compatible with said far field plan having the highest flexibility score, said candidate near field plans comprising a set of candidate maneuvers, wherein each candidate maneuver is a transition in said near field between a current microlane and a destination microlane selected from among all microlanes, including said current microlane;
- said processor further configured for selecting the composite plan by further comparing a quantitative cost of said candidate maneuver within said composite plan, when two or more far field plans share the highest flexibility score.
3 more elements
A computer implemented two-stage planning method, comprising:
- a processor selecting a composite plan from among a set of candidate composite plans, wherein each candidate composite plan is formed from a union of a near field plan, selected from among a set of candidate near field plans, and a far field plan, selected from among a set of candidate far field plans;
- said processor obtaining measurements of near and far fields, wherein said near field is characterized by a high degree of fidelity in the measurements obtained and said far field is characterized by a relatively low degree of fidelity in the measurements obtained;
- said processor determining the viability of each of said candidate near field plans;
- said processor eliminating from consideration those near field plans determined to be non-viable, said processor performing the viability determination using said measurements of said near field;
- in parallel, said processor determining the adjacency of candidate far field plans, wherein said processor considers a first far field plan adjacent to a second far field plan if it is possible to transition directly from said first far field plan to said second far field plan upon arrival at a boundary between said near and far fields;
- said processor determining the viability of each candidate far field plan and eliminating from consideration those far field plans determined to be non-viable;
- said processor performing the viability determination using said measurements of said far field, wherein said viability of said candidate far field plans is thus determined based on the most easily resolved features of said far field;
- said processor determining a flexibility score for each of the far field plans determined to be viable, said flexibility score is computed as the distance between the far field plan and the nearest non-viable far field plan;
- and
- said processor selecting a composite plan that includes a viable near field pan and a far field plan with the highest flexibility score.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.