Patents by Inventor Brian C. Becker

Brian C. Becker has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12259694
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2024
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
  • Patent number: 12214808
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
  • Publication number: 20240369977
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2024
    Publication date: November 7, 2024
    Inventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
  • Patent number: 12131487
    Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
  • Patent number: 12055945
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventor: Brian C. Becker
  • Publication number: 20240239377
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2024
    Publication date: July 18, 2024
    Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
  • Patent number: 12007728
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
  • Patent number: 11964673
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
  • Publication number: 20240087378
    Abstract: An example method includes (a) generating a request to obtain log data descriptive of operation of an autonomous vehicle control system in a subject scenario, the log data indexed by an indexing parameter; (b) submitting the request to a log repository service, the log repository service configured to receive the request and serve, responsive to the request, log metadata; (c) loading, based on the log metadata and an index value of the indexing parameter, a log data sketch associated with the index value; and (d) loading, based on the log metadata and the index value, and responsive to an inspection indicator, detailed log data associated with the index value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2023
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Peter VanTuyl Bentley, Matthew Thomas Bradley, Nathan Falk, Jack Wyatt Harris, Marion Le Borgne, Timothy Patrick Wojtaszek
  • Publication number: 20230242160
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
  • Publication number: 20230236602
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2023
    Publication date: July 27, 2023
    Inventor: Brian C. Becker
  • Patent number: 11625045
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventor: Brian C. Becker
  • Patent number: 11597406
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
  • Patent number: 11577723
    Abstract: Systems, device, and methods for trajectory association and tracking are provided. A method can include obtaining input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more first objects for a first time step and input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more second objects for a second time step subsequent to the first time step. The method can include generating, using a machine-learned model, a temporally-consistent trajectory for at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects based at least in part on the input data and determining a third predicted trajectory for the at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects for at least the second time step based at least in part on the temporally-consistent trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Sida Zhang, Gregory P. Meyer, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker
  • Publication number: 20220245950
    Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2022
    Publication date: August 4, 2022
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
  • Publication number: 20220215756
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
  • Patent number: 11348339
    Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
  • Patent number: 11326888
    Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices for operating an autonomous vehicle are provided. For example, a vehicle computing system can receive sensor data including information based on sensor outputs associated with detection of objects in an environment by sensors of a vehicle. Inflection points can be determined based at least in part on the sensor data. The inflection points can correspond to portions of the objects that occlude detection of the environment beyond the portions of the objects. A set of polar coordinates can be determined for each of the one or more inflection points. The set of polar coordinates can include a distance from the sensors to a portion of the objects and an angle of the sensor with respect to the portion of the objects. Furthermore, sparse map data including the set of polar coordinates can be generated based on the set of polar coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker
  • Patent number: 11315431
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
  • Publication number: 20210402991
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for trajectory association and tracking are provided. A method can include method can include obtaining input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more first objects for a first time step and input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more second objects for a second time step subsequent to the first time step. The method can include generating, using a machine-learned model, a temporally-consistent trajectory for at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects based at least in part on the input data and determining a third predicted trajectory for the at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects for at least the second time step based at least in part on the temporally-consistent trajectory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Sidney Zhang, Gregory P. Meyer, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker