Patents Examined by Alex C Dunn
  • Patent number: 10647212
    Abstract: An output prediction device for a fuel cell includes: a first acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a first required output of the fuel cell, the first required output being calculated based on a predicted vehicle speed or a predicted acceleration of a vehicle on a scheduled traveling route for the vehicle, the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell as a dynamic power source; a second acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a second required output of the fuel cell, the second required output being required by an air-conditioning device of the vehicle; and a calculation circuitry configured to calculate a parameter correlated with a predicted output value of the fuel cell, based on the first required output and the second required output, the predicted output value being predicted as an output on the scheduled traveling route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaaki Matsusue, Yasushi Araki, Masayuki Ito
  • Patent number: 10643463
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for determining a road work area characteristic set comprising at least one characteristic associated with a road work area. The method comprises: determining a starting position of the road work area, receiving actual vehicle status information from each vehicle in a vehicle set, wherein each vehicle in the vehicle set has passed or is determined to pass the starting position of the road work area, the actual vehicle status information being generated by an individual generation component associated with the vehicle, the actual vehicle status information comprising vehicle position data for the vehicle, determining an actual vehicle status information set from the actual vehicle status information of each vehicle in the vehicle set, and determining the road work area characteristic set using the actual vehicle status information set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: VOLVO CAR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sebastian Thelen, Erik Israelsson
  • Patent number: 10640145
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are described for situation dependent wheel angle (?w) control by a HAD or ADA system of a road vehicle, the HAD or ADA system configured to receive internal state data as well as ambient information or map data, and generates a penalty measure based thereupon. A lateral controller receives a desired path and outputs a wheel angle request (?w,r). A PSCM includes a wheel angle controller configured to receive the wheel angle request (?w,r), wheel angle (?w) and wheel angle rate ({dot over (?)}w) data, and output an overlay torque request to a motor controller of a steering system. The lateral controller calculates gain parameters (I?w, I{dot over (?)}w) based on the penalty measure and outputs these to the wheel angle controller. The wheel angle controller receives and uses the gain parameters (I?w, I{dot over (?)}w) in control loops thereof to adjust the bandwidth of the wheel angle controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: VOLVO CAR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Lars Johannesson Mardh, Malin Haglund
  • Patent number: 10642269
    Abstract: A method for localizing and navigating a vehicle on underdeveloped or unmarked roads. The method includes: gathering image data with non-hyperspectral image sensors and audio data of a current scene; classifying the current scene based on the gathered image data and audio data to identify a stored scene model that most closely corresponds to the current scene; and setting spectral range of hyperspectral image sensors based on a spectral range used to capture a stored scene model that most closely corresponds to the current scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: DENSO International America, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Lull, Shawn Hunt
  • Patent number: 10632913
    Abstract: A method for controlling an operating vehicle includes: (a) determining, via a controller, a confidence level that the light of the other vehicle is ON based on images captured by a camera of the operating vehicle; and (b) controlling, via the controller, an alarm of the operating vehicle based on the confidence level that the light of the other vehicle is ON.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Syed B. Mehdi, Yasen Hu, Upali P. Mudalige
  • Patent number: 10625773
    Abstract: A steer torque manager (STM) for an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) of a road vehicle and a method therefor. A driver in the loop functionality determines when to hand over control to a driver. A wheel angle controller uses an ADAS wheel angle request to produce an overlay torque request to be added to a torque request from an electrical power assisted steering. The STM is arranged to receive an assistance torque related signal. When driver assistance is provided by the ADAS, the STM is arranged to feed forward and subtract from the overlay torque request a feed forward signal scaled to be a scaled version of the assistance torque related signal, using a scale factor in the range from 0 to 1 that assumes a lower value if a measure of driver activity indicates high driver activity and a higher value if the measure indicates low driver activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Volvo Car Corporation
    Inventors: Lars Johannesson Mardh, Malin Haglund
  • Patent number: 10618412
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling a regenerative braking of a vehicle includes a sensor detecting information about forward driving environment, and a controller configured to: calculate an estimated time-to-collision between a forward vehicle and an ego vehicle when the forward vehicle is detected by the sensor, compare a first regenerative braking level determined based on the estimated time-to-collision with a second regenerative braking level determined based on distance information about the forward vehicle; determine a final regenerative braking level depending on the compared result; and control a regenerative braking drive based on the determined final regenerative braking level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Soo Lim Han, In Seok Park, Woo Cheol Cho, Chang Yu Kim, Seung Jae Yoo
  • Patent number: 10613227
    Abstract: The present application discloses a method and apparatus for positioning a vehicle. An implementation of the method comprises: obtaining laser point cloud data of a laser point cloud collected by a laser radar on a vehicle, and obtaining an initial pose of a center point of the laser radar; calculating a matching probability between projection data corresponding to each sampling pose and map data of a reflected value map respectively; and calculating an optimal pose based on the matching probability between the projection data corresponding to the each sampling pose and the map data of the reflected value map, and determining a position of the vehicle based on the optimal pose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Guowei Wan, Hao Wang, Shiyu Song, Baoqiang Xu
  • Patent number: 10601367
    Abstract: A system for redirecting sunlight to a mobile platform includes a satellite and a mobile platform including a first RF antenna that transmits a message including a position and velocity of the mobile platform on the path, along with a time of transmission, and a photovoltaic cell that receives and converts light into electrical energy. The satellite includes a second RF antenna that receives the message, an optical channel, a collector system coupled to the optical channel and that gathers sunlight into the optical channel, a diffuser system coupled to the optical channel and that diffuses light therefrom to generate a beam of light, and a processor coupled to the second RF antenna. The processor computes a target position of the mobile platform based on the position, the velocity, and the time of transmission, and instructs the diffuser system to direct the beam to the target position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Ralf René Shu-Zhong Cabos, Nils Kneuper
  • Patent number: 10593215
    Abstract: A request for transport services that identifies a rider, an origin, and a destination is received from a client device. Eligibility of the request to be serviced by a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is determined based on the origin and the destination. A transportation system determines a first and a second hub for a leg of the transport request serviced by the VTOL aircraft and calculates a set of candidate routes from the first hub to the second hub. A provisioned route is selected from among the set of candidate routes based on network and environmental parameters and objectives including pre-determined acceptable noise levels, weather, and the presence and planned routes of other VTOL aircrafts along each of the candidate routes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Ian Villa
  • Patent number: 10589786
    Abstract: A steering assist device includes a driving support ECU. The driving support ECU is configured to determine on whether or not accelerator operation is performed during execution of a lane change assist control. The driving support ECU is configured to prohibit execution of an original lane return assist control, when the driving support ECU determines that the accelerator operation has been performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shota Fujii
  • Patent number: 10589778
    Abstract: A vehicle is provided. The vehicle may include an engine that is configured to auto-stop and auto-start. The system may also include a controller programmed to power an electrical actuator coupled to a steering mechanism to synchronize a drive angle of the vehicle and a steering wheel angle of the vehicle, in response to a parameter indicative of a likelihood of a wheel slip event exceeding a threshold and the steering-wheel angle being greater than a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Siraj Siddiqui, Ahmed Awadi, Hussam Makkiya, Hafiz Shafeek Khafagy, Garrett Tietz
  • Patent number: 10583829
    Abstract: A parking assistance system for a vehicle includes: an object detection apparatus; at least one processor; and a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations that include: generating, through the object detection apparatus, information regarding an object located outside the vehicle; determining, based on the information regarding the object located outside the vehicle, that a parking space available outside the vehicle is a diagonal parking space; and generating a diagonal parking path for the vehicle to enter the parking space available outside the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Ilho Kim, Daebum Kim, Jinkyo Lee
  • Patent number: 10586365
    Abstract: An example system includes an electronic device and a server. The electronic device includes a display; a first communicator; and a first controller configured to: control to transmit, to the server, location data identifying locations of the electronic device. The server includes a second communicator; and a second controller configured to: control to receive the location data; identify a course of travel; link photograph images to locations on the course of travel; and control to transmit to the electronic device the course of travel and the photograph images. The first controller of the electronic device is configured to control to receive the course of travel and the photograph images and to control to display on the display, at the same time, a map image, the course of travel, and one or more of the photograph images linked to a selected location on the course of travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Woo-Yong Chang, Seung-dong Yu, Se-jun Park, Min-jeong Moon
  • Patent number: 10585440
    Abstract: There is provided a driver-support system for use with a human-operated material-transport vehicle, and methods for using the same. The system has at least one sensor, a human-vehicle interface, and a transceiver for communicating with a fleet-management system. The system also has a processor that is configured to provide a mapping application and a localization application based on information received from the sensor. The mapping application and localization application may be provided in a single localization-and-mapping (“SLAM”) application, which may obtain input from the sensor, for example, when the sensor is an optical sensor such as a LiDAR or video camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: CLEARPATH ROBOTICS INC.
    Inventors: Ryan Christopher Gariepy, Matthew Allen Rendall, Simon Drexler, Roydyn Clayton, Shahab Kaynama
  • Patent number: 10577016
    Abstract: An electric power steering system includes a control for providing a calculated torque assist demand in the event of failure of a steering wheel torque sensor. The control is responsive to one or more of a vehicle speed, a steering column position, a steering column velocity, a gear lever position, a vehicle yaw rate and a vehicle lateral acceleration for generating the calculated torque assist demand. The control is operable to modify the torque assist demand by providing one or more of (a) friction and inertial compensation, (b) vehicle oversteer compensation, (c) reverse motion compensation, (d) damping compensation and (e) self steer prevention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: TRW Automotive U.S. LLC
    Inventors: Anand Naik, Arnold Spieker, Tim Sworn
  • Patent number: 10577852
    Abstract: A method and apparatus that prevent a collision with a hitch accessory are provided. The method includes: detecting an input to open a gate or detecting a gate opening motion, determining whether hitch accessory is present in a path of the gate opening motion, and in response to determining that the hitch accessory is absent from the path, opening the gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Allan K. Lewis, Derek L. Patterson, Donald R. Gignac, Mohammad Naserian
  • Patent number: 10569752
    Abstract: A method for controlling a driver assistance system is provided, as is a corresponding driver assistance system and a computer program product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: VOLVO TRUCK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kristoffer Tagesson
  • Patent number: 10573102
    Abstract: A fuel maintenance guide system is provided in a hybrid vehicle in which a shift to a fuel maintenance mode prioritizing consumption of fuel is automatically performed under a predetermined condition regardless of a driver's intention. The fuel maintenance guide system includes an information notification unit configured to perform notification of information urging consumption of the fuel, and a control unit configured to estimate a time to shift automatically to the fuel maintenance mode and to begin to perform notifying actuation of the information notification unit a predetermined period of time before the estimated time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI JIDOSHA KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideki Mito, Naoki Miyamoto
  • Patent number: 10562538
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining object motion and controlling autonomous vehicles are provided. In one example embodiment, a computing system includes processor(s) and one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that collectively store instructions that when executed by the processor(s) cause the computing system to perform operations. The operations include obtaining data associated with a first object and one or more second objects within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle. The operations include determining an interaction between the first object and the one or more second objects based at least in part on the data. The operations include determining one or more predicted trajectories of the first object within the surrounding environment based at least in part on the interaction between the first object and the one or more second objects. The operations include outputting data indicative of the one or more predicted trajectories of the first object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Tian Lan, Galen Clark Haynes, Alexander David Styler