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CN-122029451-A - System for determining vehicle occupancy

CN122029451ACN 122029451 ACN122029451 ACN 122029451ACN-122029451-A

Abstract

One subject of the invention is a system for determining occupancy of a motor vehicle by means of a presence sensor, the system being configured to implement the steps of-generating a point cloud (50) based on data originating from the presence sensor, in particular a radar, -detecting any point associated with an external target located outside a predetermined detection area (60) in the point cloud generated in the previous step.

Inventors

  • T. Kasmi
  • N. Tuyati

Assignees

  • 法雷奥舒适驾驶助手公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20241015
Priority Date
20231016

Claims (12)

  1. 1. A system (1) for determining a presence state inside a motor vehicle (V) by means of a presence sensor (10), the system being configured to implement the steps of: generating a point cloud (50) from data from the presence sensors, in particular radars, Detecting any point in the point cloud generated in the previous step associated with an external object located outside the predetermined detection area (60), -In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, removing points associated with an external target (40) and located within a predetermined detection area (60) from the point cloud to provide a filtered point cloud (51), and then processing the filtered point cloud in a step of detecting a presence state in the vehicle to detect a potential presence of the target (40) within the motor vehicle, or -In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, in case it is confirmed in the point cloud that a point associated with an external target (40) and located within a predetermined detection area (60) is detected, forcing generation of data indicating "no presence detected inside the vehicle".
  2. 2. The system (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein the detection area (60) of the sensor (10) corresponds to the interior of the passenger compartment of the vehicle (V), in particular is delimited by a volume, such as a parallelepiped, in particular a cuboid, substantially corresponding to the contour of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
  3. 3. The system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sensor (10), in particular radar, is configured to detect a point in the detection area (60) where a behavior can represent the presence of a person (in particular respiration).
  4. 4. The system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the system (1) for determining a presence state is configured to generate clusters of points of a point cloud and track them, in particular in order to identify parasitic points.
  5. 5. The system (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein parasitic points occurring within the detection area (60) in relation to external targets (40) in the point cloud (50) are removed in the processing of the point cloud.
  6. 6. The system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is configured to determine whether a set of points, in particular based on movements of the points, is related to a person (target) inside the vehicle or to a person (target) outside the vehicle, e.g. by which movements of points with a specific vector are determined to be associated with a person outside the vehicle.
  7. 7. The system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is configured to identify parasitic points resulting from waves emitted by the sensor being reflected on the external person (40), these parasitic points exhibiting specific movements of approach and departure, which are characteristic of a person walking beside the vehicle.
  8. 8. The system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is configured to compare a detected point cloud (50), in particular a dynamic feature thereof, with a stored catalog in order to determine whether the point cloud or a cluster of point clouds belongs to a target in the vehicle, in particular via artificial intelligence.
  9. 9. The system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in case it is confirmed in the point cloud (50) that a point associated with an external target and located within the predetermined detection area (60) is detected, data indicating "no presence detected inside the vehicle" is forcedly generated even if a parasitic point associated with an external target is detected while a person is detected in the vehicle (V).
  10. 10. The system (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein the system (1) is configured such that the post-processing steps of the new presence detection are periodically repeated such that the above mentioned forcing prevents potential alarms only during periods of the external target interference detection.
  11. 11. The system (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the system is designed to generate an alarm signal based on the detected presence status and in particular an audible sound signal in the environment of the vehicle or a message sent to a smart phone or a help centre.
  12. 12. A method for determining the presence status inside a motor vehicle (V) by means of a presence sensor (10), comprising the steps of: generating a point cloud (50) from data from the presence sensors, in particular radars, Detecting any point in the point cloud generated in the previous step associated with an external object located outside the predetermined detection area (60), -In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, removing points associated with an external target and located within a predetermined detection area (60) from the point cloud to provide a filtered point cloud, and then processing the filtered point cloud in the step of detecting the presence in the vehicle to detect the potential presence of the target within the motor vehicle, or -In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, in case it is verified in the point cloud that a point associated with an external target and located within a predetermined detection area (60) is detected, forced generation of data indicating "no presence detected inside the vehicle", in particular even if someone is in the vehicle.

Description

System for determining vehicle occupancy Technical Field The present invention relates to a system for determining the presence status of an interior of a motor vehicle. Background It is known to detect the presence of a living body, in particular a person, in a motor vehicle, and to issue an alarm after this detection if the person is forgotten in the motor vehicle. Such detection and such alarm make it possible to increase passenger safety, in particular avoiding the risk of forgetting the child in the motor vehicle. Such detection may for example use a radar present in the interior of the motor vehicle. In particular, there is a need to prevent false positives. Such false positives may occur when a person outside the vehicle passes near the radar and the radar detects the person outside the vehicle. Thus, if a person is considered to be inside the vehicle, although outside the vehicle, the detection may cause confusion. This is because the radar inside the vehicle can capture the reflection of waves from a person outside the vehicle. False positives may also occur when strong winds create vibrations inside the vehicle. Of course, such false positives are undesirable. Disclosure of Invention The invention is particularly aimed at preventing such false positives. The invention therefore relates to a system for determining the presence status of the interior of a motor vehicle by means of a presence sensor, which system is configured to carry out the following steps: generating a point cloud from data from presence sensors (in particular radars), Detecting any points associated with external targets located outside the predetermined detection area in the point cloud generated in the previous step, In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, points associated with an external target and located within a predetermined detection area are removed from the point cloud to provide a filtered point cloud, which is then processed in the step of detecting the presence status in the vehicle to detect the potential presence of an object inside the motor vehicle, or In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, in case it is ascertained that a point associated with an external target and located within a predetermined detection area is detected in the point cloud, the generation of data indicating "no presence detected inside the vehicle", in particular even if someone is in the vehicle, is forced. By means of the invention, false alarms can be avoided when the sensor, in particular a radar, captures a point originating for example from a person outside the vehicle. The invention makes it possible to disregard points relating to persons outside the vehicle, which can be achieved by removing these points from the detected point cloud, and also by forcing the generation of "undetected" information, whether or not a person is in the vehicle. In the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it can be said that the present invention enables shielding of parasitic points generated by the presence of a person outside the vehicle. In the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the point generated by the presence of a person outside the vehicle is not shielded, but the absence information is forcibly provided to avoid false positives in the case where the vehicle interior is unmanned. In general, the present invention makes it possible to prevent false positives due to parasitic detection of a person or object moving in the immediate vicinity of a vehicle. According to one aspect of the invention, the detection area of the sensor corresponds to the interior of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. According to one aspect of the invention, the detection area is delimited by a volume, for example a parallelepiped, in particular a cuboid, which substantially corresponds to the contour of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. According to one aspect of the invention, the presence sensor (in particular a radar) is thus configured to detect the presence in the entire passenger compartment of the vehicle, in particular the potential presence of a person on the front seat and the rear seat. According to one aspect of the invention, the detection of presence is performed based on points identified by the presence sensor and located within the detection area. It should be noted that a person passing outside and close to the vehicle easily creates parasitic points in the detection area that are captured by the radar, since radar waves are reflected from the person toward the inside of the vehicle. It is the presence of these parasitic points that may produce false positives. According to one aspect of the invention, the sensor (in particular the radar) is configured to detect a point in the detection area whose behaviour represents the presence of a person (in particular respiration). Parasitic points associated with the presence and movement of people near the car may be undesirably interpreted