Method and System for Adaptive Self-Propelled Vehicles

Abstract

A method and system for self-propelled vehicles infers mobility aspects, such as speed and direction, of physical objects represented in digital maps. The physical objects may be further interpreted from pictorial-based information through the application of computer-implemented neural networks. Information is delivered to adaptive systems embodied within self-propelled vehicles that is based upon the mobility inferences and the interpretations from the pictorial information. Explanations for the delivered information comprising the system's reasoning and/or references to mobility inferences may also be delivered.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 accessing automatically a digital map comprising representations of a plurality of physical objects and geographic location information that is associated with each of the plurality of physical objects;   inferring automatically a speed and a direction for each of the plurality of physical objects from the geographic location information;   accessing automatically pictorial-based information, wherein the pictorial-based information comprises a representation of at least one of the plurality of physical objects;   interpreting automatically the pictorial-based information by application of a computer-implemented neural network;   generating automatically information that is based upon the interpretation of the pictorial-based information and the inferred speed and direction of each of the plurality of physical objects; and   delivering the information to a computer-implemented system that is embodied within a first self-propelled vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 inferring automatically the speed and direction for each of the plurality of physical objects from the geographic location information, wherein at least one of the plurality of physical objects comprises a person.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating automatically the information, wherein the generating of the information is further based upon an automatic inference of a preference of a user of the first self-propelled vehicle, wherein the inference of the preference is based upon a plurality of usage behaviors.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 generating automatically the information, wherein the generating of the information is further based upon the automatic inference of the preference of the user of the first self-propelled vehicle, wherein the inference of the preference is based upon the plurality of usage behaviors, wherein at least one of the plurality of behaviors comprises a geographic location of the user.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating automatically the information, wherein the generating of the information is further based upon an automatically inferred focus of attention of the user.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 delivering the information, wherein the information is further delivered to a computer-implemented system that is embodied within a second self-propelled vehicle.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating a natural language-based explanation for the generating of the information, wherein the explanation comprises reasoning that is associated with the information; and   delivering the explanation to a person.   
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented system comprising one or more processors configured to:
 access a digital map comprising representations of a plurality of physical objects and geographic location information that is associated with each of the plurality of physical objects;   infer a speed and a direction for each of the plurality of physical objects from the geographic location information;   access pictorial-based information, wherein the pictorial-based information comprises a representation of at least one of the plurality of physical objects;   interpret the pictorial-based information by application of a computer-implemented neural network;   generate information that is based upon the interpretation of the pictorial-based information and the inferred speed and direction of each of the plurality of physical objects; and   deliver the information to a computer-implemented system that is embodied within a first self-propelled vehicle.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate the information, wherein the information comprises an expected transit time to one of the plurality of physical objects. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate the information, wherein the generation of the information is further based upon an automatic inference of a preference of a user of the first self-propelled vehicle, wherein the inference of the preference is based upon a plurality of usage behaviors. 
 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate the information, wherein the generation of the information is further based upon the automatic inference of the preference of the user of the first self-propelled vehicle, wherein the inference of the preference is based upon the plurality of usage behaviors, wherein at least one of the plurality of usage behaviors is a geographic location of the user. 
 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate the information, wherein the generation of the information is further based upon an automatically inferred focus of attention of the user. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate a natural language-based explanation for the generation of the information, wherein the explanation comprises reasoning that is associated with the information; and 
 deliver the explanation to a person. 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  comprising the one or more processors, further configured to:
 generate the natural language-based explanation for the generation of the information, wherein the explanation further comprises a reference to the inferred speed of at least one physical object of the plurality of physical objects. 
 
     
     
         15 . A first self-propelled vehicle, comprising:
 a global positioning system receiver;   one or more processors configured to:   access a digital map comprising representations of a plurality of physical objects and geographic location information that is associated with each of the plurality of physical objects;   access an automatically inferred speed and direction for each of the plurality of physical objects that is inferred from the geographic location information;   access pictorial-based information, wherein the pictorial-based information comprises a representation of at least one of the plurality of physical objects;   interpret the pictorial-based information by application of a computer-implemented neural network; and   generate information that is based upon the interpretation of the pictorial-based information and the inferred speed and direction of each of the plurality of physical objects; and   adapt the first self-propelled vehicle based upon the generated information.   
     
     
         16 . The first self-propelled vehicle of  claim 15 , further comprising the one or more processors configured to:
 determine the geographic location of the first self-propelled vehicle from data that is provided by the geographic positioning system;   infer an expected transit time between the first self-propelled vehicle and one of the physical objects of the plurality of physical objects; and   generate the information, wherein the generated information is further based on the inferred expected transit time.   
     
     
         17 . The first self-propelled vehicle of  claim 15 , further comprising the one or more processors configured to:
 access the inferred speed and direction for each of the plurality of physical objects, wherein at least one of the plurality of physical objects comprises a person.   
     
     
         18 . The first self-propelled vehicle of  claim 15 , further comprising the one or more processors configured to:
 generate the information, wherein the generation of the information is further based upon an automatic inference of a preference of a user of the first self-propelled vehicle, wherein the inference of the preference is based upon a plurality of usage behaviors.   
     
     
         19 . The first self-propelled vehicle of  claim 15 , further comprising the one or more processors configured to:
 deliver the generated information to a second self-propelled vehicle; and   receive a response to the delivery of the generated information from the second self-propelled vehicle.   
     
     
         20 . The first self-propelled vehicle of  claim 19 , further comprising the one or more processors configured to:
 adapt the first self-propelled vehicle based upon the response from the second self-propelled vehicle.