Patents by Inventor Paul Vernaza

Paul Vernaza 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).

  • Publication number: 20230227061
    Abstract: Techniques for improving the performance of an autonomous vehicle (AV) are described herein. A system can determine a plan for the AV in a driving scenario that optimizes an initial cost function of a control algorithm of the AV. The system can obtain data describing an observed human driving path in the driving scenario. Additionally, the system can determine for each cost dimension in the plurality of cost dimensions, a quantity that compares the estimated cost to the observed cost of the observed human driving path. Moreover, the system can determine a function of a sum of the quantities determined for each cost dimension in the plurality of cost dimensions. Subsequently, the system can use an optimization algorithm to adjust one or more weights of the plurality of weights applied to the plurality of cost dimensions to optimize the function of the sum of the quantities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2022
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Inventors: Brian D. Ziebart, Paul Vernaza
  • Patent number: 11462112
    Abstract: A method is provided in an Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS). The method extracts, from an input video stream including a plurality of images using a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), shared features across different perception tasks. The perception tasks include object detection and other perception tasks. The method concurrently solves, using the multi-task CNN, the different perception tasks in a single pass by concurrently processing corresponding ones of the shared features by respective different branches of the multi-task CNN to provide a plurality of different perception task outputs. Each respective different branch corresponds to a respective one of the different perception tasks. The method forms a parametric representation of a driving scene as at least one top-view map responsive to the plurality of different perception task outputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Samuel Schulter, Paul Vernaza, Buyu Liu, Pan Ji, Yi-Hsuan Tsai, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 11189171
    Abstract: Systems and methods for vehicle behavior prediction include an imaging device that captures images of a vehicle in traffic. A processing device including policy stored in a memory of the processing device in communication with the imaging device stochastically models future behavior of the vehicle based on the captured images. A policy simulator in communication with the processing device simulates the policy as a reparameterized pushforward policy of a base distribution. An evaluator receives the simulated policy from the policy simulator and performs cross-entropy optimization on the future behavior of the vehicle by analyzing the simulated policy and updating the policy according to cross-entropy error. An alert system retrieves the future behavior of the vehicle and recognizes hazardous trajectories of the future trajectories and generates an audible alert using a speaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Nicholas Rhinehart
  • Patent number: 11049265
    Abstract: Systems and methods for training and evaluating a deep generative model with an architecture consisting of two complementary density estimators are provided. The method includes receiving a probabilistic model of vehicle motion, and training, by a processing device, a first density estimator and a second density estimator jointly based on the probabilistic model of vehicle motion. The first density estimator determines a distribution of outcomes and the second density estimator estimates sample quality. The method also includes identifying by the second density estimator spurious modes in the probabilistic model of vehicle motion. The probabilistic model of vehicle motion is adjusted to eliminate the spurious modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Nicholas Rhinehart, Anqi Liu, Kihyuk Sohn
  • Patent number: 10832084
    Abstract: A method for estimating dense 3D geometric correspondences between two input point clouds by employing a 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is presented. The method includes, during a training phase, transforming the two input point clouds into truncated distance function voxel grid representations, feeding the truncated distance function voxel grid representations into individual feature extraction layers with tied weights, extracting low-level features from a first feature extraction layer, extracting high-level features from a second feature extraction layer, normalizing the extracted low-level features and high-level features, and applying deep supervision of multiple contrastive losses and multiple hard negative mining modules at the first and second feature extraction layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Mohammed E. Fathy Salem, Muhammad Zeeshan Zia, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Publication number: 20200286383
    Abstract: A method is provided in an Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS). The method extracts, from an input video stream including a plurality of images using a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), shared features across different perception tasks. The perception tasks include object detection and other perception tasks. The method concurrently solves, using the multi-task CNN, the different perception tasks in a single pass by concurrently processing corresponding ones of the shared features by respective different branches of the multi-task CNN to provide a plurality of different perception task outputs. Each respective different branch corresponds to a respective one of the different perception tasks. The method forms a parametric representation of a driving scene as at least one top-view map responsive to the plurality of different perception task outputs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Samuel Schulter, Paul Vernaza, Buyu Liu, Pan Ji, Yi-Hsuan Tsai, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10762359
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting traffic scenarios include an image capturing device which captures two or more images of an area of a traffic environment with each image having a different view of vehicles and a road in the traffic environment. A hierarchical feature extractor concurrently extracts features at multiple neural network layers from each of the images, with the features including geometric features and semantic features, and for estimating correspondences between semantic features for each of the images and refining the estimated correspondences with correspondences between the geometric features of each of the images to generate refined correspondence estimates. A traffic localization module uses the refined correspondence estimates to determine locations of vehicles in the environment in three dimensions to automatically determine a traffic scenario according to the locations of vehicles. A notification device generates a notification of the traffic scenario.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Mohammed E. F. Salem, Muhammad Zeeshan Zia, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10739773
    Abstract: Systems and methods for predicting vehicle behavior includes capturing images of a vehicle in traffic using an imaging device. Future behavior of the vehicle is stochastically modeled using a processing device including an energy-based model stored in a memory of the processing device. The energy-based model includes generating a distribution of possible future trajectories of the vehicle using a generator, sampling the distribution of possible future trajectories according to an energy value of each trajectory in the distribution of possible future trajectories an energy model to determine probable future trajectories, and optimizing parameters of each of the generator and the energy model using an optimizer. A user is audibly alerted with a speaker upon an alert system recognizing hazardous trajectories of the probable future trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Wongun Choi, Nicholas Rhinehart
  • Patent number: 10705531
    Abstract: Systems and methods for predicting vehicle behavior includes capturing images of a vehicle in traffic using an imaging device. Future behavior of the vehicle is stochastically modeled using a processing device including an energy-based model stored in a memory of the processing device. The energy-based model includes generating a distribution of possible future trajectories of the vehicle using a generator, sampling the distribution of possible future trajectories according to an energy value of each trajectory in the distribution of possible future trajectories an energy model to determine probable future trajectories, and optimizing parameters of each of the generator and the energy model using an optimizer. A user is audibly alerted with a speaker upon an alert system recognizing hazardous trajectories of the probable future trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Wongun Choi, Nicholas Rhinehart
  • Patent number: 10678257
    Abstract: Systems and methods for generating an occlusion-aware bird's eye view map of a road scene include identifying foreground objects and background objects in an input image to extract foreground features and background features corresponding to the foreground objects and the background objects, respectively. The foreground objects are masked from the input image with a mask. Occluded objects and depths of the occluded objects are inferred by predicting semantic features and depths in masked areas of the masked image according to contextual information related to the background features visible in the masked image. The foreground objects and the background objects are mapped to a three-dimensional space according to locations of each of the foreground objects, the background objects and occluded objects using the inferred depths. A bird's eye view is generated from the three-dimensional space and displayed with a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Samuel Schulter, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker, Menghua Zhai
  • Patent number: 10678256
    Abstract: Systems and methods for generating an occlusion-aware bird's eye view map of a road scene include identifying foreground objects and background objects in an input image to extract foreground features and background features corresponding to the foreground objects and the background objects, respectively. The foreground objects are masked from the input image with a mask. Occluded objects and depths of the occluded objects are inferred by predicting semantic features and depths in masked areas of the masked image according to contextual information related to the background features visible in the masked image. The foreground objects and the background objects are mapped to a three-dimensional space according to locations of each of the foreground objects, the background objects and occluded objects using the inferred depths. A bird's eye view is generated from the three-dimensional space and displayed with a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Samuel Schulter, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker, Menghua Zhai
  • Patent number: 10679075
    Abstract: Systems and methods for correspondence estimation and flexible ground modeling include communicating two-dimensional (2D) images of an environment to a correspondence estimation module, including a first image and a second image captured by an image capturing device. First features, including geometric features and semantic features, are hierarchically extract from the first image with a first convolutional neural network (CNN) according to activation map weights, and second features, including geometric features and semantic features, are hierarchically extracted from the second image with a second CNN according to the activation map weights. Correspondences between the first features and the second features are estimated, including hierarchical fusing of geometric correspondences and semantic correspondences. A 3-dimensional (3D) model of a terrain is estimated using the estimated correspondences belonging to the terrain surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Mohammed E. F. Salem, Muhammad Zeeshan Zia, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10595037
    Abstract: Methods and systems for predicting a trajectory include determining prediction samples for agents in a scene based on a past trajectory. The prediction samples are ranked according to a likelihood score that incorporates interactions between agents and semantic scene context. The prediction samples are iteratively refined using a regression function that accumulates scene context and agent interactions across iterations. A response activity is triggered when the prediction samples satisfy a predetermined condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Wongun Choi, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker, Namhoon Lee
  • Publication number: 20200058156
    Abstract: A method for estimating dense 3D geometric correspondences between two input point clouds by employing a 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is presented. The method includes, during a training phase, transforming the two input point clouds into truncated distance function voxel grid representations, feeding the truncated distance function voxel grid representations into individual feature extraction layers with tied weights, extracting low-level features from a first feature extraction layer, extracting high-level features from a second feature extraction layer, normalizing the extracted low-level features and high-level features, and applying deep supervision of multiple contrastive losses and multiple hard negative mining modules at the first and second feature extraction layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Inventors: Quoc-Huy Tran, Mohammed E. Fathy Salem, Muhammad Zeeshan Zia, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Publication number: 20190355134
    Abstract: Systems and methods for training and evaluating a deep generative model with an architecture consisting of two complementary density estimators are provided. The method includes receiving a probabilistic model of vehicle motion, and training, by a processing device, a first density estimator and a second density estimator jointly based on the probabilistic model of vehicle motion. The first density estimator determines a distribution of outcomes and the second density estimator estimates sample quality. The method also includes identifying by the second density estimator spurious modes in the probabilistic model of vehicle motion. The probabilistic model of vehicle motion is adjusted to eliminate the spurious modes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Nicholas Rhinehart, Anqi Liu, Kihyuk Sohn
  • Publication number: 20190287404
    Abstract: Systems and methods for vehicle behavior prediction include an imaging device that captures images of a vehicle in traffic. A processing device including policy stored in a memory of the processing device in communication with the imaging device stochastically models future behavior of the vehicle based on the captured images. A policy simulator in communication with the processing device simulates the policy as a reparameterized pushforward policy of a base distribution. An evaluator receives the simulated policy from the policy simulator and performs cross-entropy optimization on the future behavior of the vehicle by analyzing the simulated policy and updating the policy according to cross-entropy error. An alert system retrieves the future behavior of the vehicle and recognizes hazardous trajectories of the future trajectories and generates an audible alert using a speaker.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Nicholas Rhinehart
  • Patent number: 10402983
    Abstract: A surveillance system and method are provided. The surveillance system includes at least one camera configured to capture a set of images of a given target area that includes a set of objects to be tracked. The surveillance system includes a memory storing a learning model configured to perform multi-object tracking by jointly learning arbitrarily parameterized and differentiable cost functions for all variables in a linear program that associates object detections with bounding boxes to form trajectories. The surveillance system includes a processor configured to perform surveillance of the target area to (i) detect the objects and track locations of the objects by applying the learning model to the images in a surveillance task that uses the multi-object tracking, and (ii), provide a listing of the objects and their locations for surveillance task. A bi-level optimization is used to minimize a loss defined on a solution of the linear program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Samuel Schulter, Wongun Choi, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10402690
    Abstract: Systems and methods for training semantic segmentation. Embodiments of the present invention include predicting semantic labeling of each pixel in each of at least one training image using a semantic segmentation model. Further included is predicting semantic boundaries at boundary pixels of objects in the at least one training image using a semantic boundary model concurrently with predicting the semantic labeling. Also included is propagating sparse labels to every pixel in the at least one training image using the predicted semantic boundaries. Additionally, the embodiments include optimizing a loss function according the predicted semantic labeling and the propagated sparse labels to concurrently train the semantic segmentation model and the semantic boundary model to accurately and efficiently generate a learned semantic segmentation model from sparsely annotated training images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10332264
    Abstract: A multi-object tracking system and method are provided. The multi-object tracking system includes at least one camera configured to capture a set of input images of a set of objects to be tracked. The multi-object tracking system further includes a memory storing a learning model configured to perform multi-object tracking by jointly learning arbitrarily parameterized and differentiable cost functions for all variables in a linear program that associates object detections with bounding boxes to form trajectories. The multi-object tracking system also includes a processor configured to (i) detect the objects and track locations of the objects by applying the learning model to the set of input images in a multi-object tracking task, and (ii), provide a listing of the objects and the locations of the objects for the multi-object tracking task. A bi-level optimization is used to minimize a loss defined on a solution of the linear program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Samuel Schulter, Wongun Choi, Paul Vernaza, Manmohan Chandraker
  • Patent number: 10290106
    Abstract: Methods and systems for monitoring a video feed include capturing input data representing a monitored area using one or more cameras to produce an input data set comprising individual images. Initial segmentation scores are determined for each image of the input data set using a neural network, with each image being assigned an initial segmentation score for each of multiple segmentation classes. Final segmentation scores are determined for each image of the input data set by enforcing a smoothness criterion. The input data set is segmented in accordance with the final segmentation scores. It is determined whether an alert condition is met based on segmented data set. An alert is generated if the alert condition is met.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Paul Vernaza