Patents Examined by Amelia Vorce
  • Patent number: 11977387
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide for controlling an autonomous vehicle to respond to queuing behaviors at pickup or drop-off locations. As an example, a request to pick up or drop off a passenger at a location may be received. The location may be determined to likely have a queue for picking up and dropping off passengers. Based on sensor data received from a perception system, whether a queue exists at the location may be determined. Once it is determined that a queue exists, it may be determined whether to join the queue to avoid inconveniencing other road users. Based on the determination to join the queue, the vehicle may be controlled to join the queue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: John Wesley Dyer, Michael Epstein
  • Patent number: 11960289
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a moving robot including a body which forms an appearance, a traveler which moves the body with respect to a traveling surface in a traveling area, a sensing unit which acquires environment information of the traveling area, and a controller which sets a parameter tailored to the traveling area according to the environment information and performs pattern traveling of the traveling area. Accordingly, even when information on an environment in which the moving robot is installed is not obtained from a manufacture in advance, the moving robot can directly obtain information on the corresponding environment and set an optimum parameter according to the environment to increase efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Jaehoon Lee, Kyuchun Choi, Jongjin Woo, Dongseong Kim, Hyungsub Kim, Seungin Shin, Kyungman Yu, Jaehoon Jeong, Dongkyun Nam
  • Patent number: 11959769
    Abstract: An information processing device includes processing circuitry configured to acquire feature measurement information indicating locations of features including a road having a boundary and trajectory information indicating a trajectory along the road. Additionally, the processing circuitry is further configured to generate candidate location information indicating locations of candidate elements for the boundary, based on the acquired feature measurement information. Further, the processing circuitry is configured to select candidate elements from among the candidate elements indicated by the generated candidate location information, based on the acquired trajectory information. Finally, the processing circuitry is configured to generate boundary location information indicating determined locations of the boundary, using the selected candidate elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masashi Watanabe, Yukako Takahashi, Takuma Kadoya
  • Patent number: 11953336
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a vehicle and a control method thereof. The vehicle includes a battery, a navigation system, and a control device connected to the battery and the navigation system. The control device is configured to receive information on a point of departure, a destination of the vehicle, a first desired distance to empty (DTE) at a stopover, and a second desired DTE at the destination of the vehicle for charging the battery, configured to generate a virtual driving route of the vehicle, in which a first charging station is designated as a virtual stopover, through the navigation system based on the received information, and configured to output the virtual driving route as a recommended driving route of the vehicle based on an estimated state of charge (SOC) of the battery corresponding to the virtual driving route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventor: Kyeongsoo Song
  • Patent number: 11947366
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) severe low-power protection method and a UAV. The method includes: first acquiring ground environment information when the UAV is in a severe low-power protection state, and then obtaining landing safety judgment information according to the ground environment information, and further controlling a flight state of the UAV according to the landing safety judgment information to realize a safe landing of the UAV. The foregoing method reduces the probability of explosion of the UAV, avoids injury accidents, and improves flight safety when the UAV is in a severe low-power state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: AUTEL ROBOTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Minghua Lu, Tianbao Zhang
  • Patent number: 11940800
    Abstract: An autonomous cleaning robot includes a controller configured to execute instructions to perform operations including moving the autonomous cleaning robot along a first portion of a path toward a waypoint, detecting, with a ranging sensor of the autonomous cleaning robot, an obstacle along the path between the first portion of the path and a second portion of the path, navigating the autonomous cleaning robot about the obstacle along a trajectory that maintains at least a clearance distance between the autonomous cleaning robot and the obstacle, and moving the autonomous cleaning robot along the second portion of the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: iRobot Corporation
    Inventor: Justin H. Kearns
  • Patent number: 11932262
    Abstract: Stochastic nonlinear model predictive control (SNMPC) allows to directly take uncertainty of the dynamics and/or of the system's environment into account, e.g., by including probabilistic chance constraints. However, SNMPC requires the approximate computation of the probability distributions for the state variables that are propagated through the nonlinear system dynamics. This invention proposes the use of Gaussian-assumed density filters (ADF) to perform high-accuracy propagation of mean and covariance information of the state variables through the nonlinear system dynamics, resulting in a tractable SNMPC approach with improved control performance. In addition, the use of a matrix factorization for the covariance matrix variables in the constrained optimal control problem (OCP) formulation guarantees positive definiteness of the full trajectory of covariance matrices in each iteration of any optimization algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Rien Quirynen, Karl Berntorp
  • Patent number: 11932280
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle (AV) system includes an AV control system that resolves unique situations encountered while operating as a ride hail provider. The AV control system includes an artificial intelligence (AI) agent programmed to receive a situation data set as an input from vehicle sensors or from another AI agent. The situation data set can include a generic representation of information describing and characterizing the circumstances and details of the current situation. The system may access a knowledge library having catalogued prior situation data sets describing situations encountered by the AV or other vehicles in a fleet. The AV control system may search the knowledge library for similar situations encountered by a fleet vehicle. Once a similar situation is identified, the AV control system may identify one or more remedies that were executed to handle the prior situation, and execute the remedy to address the current situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Hao Howard Yang, Tavan Eftekhar, Yiming Duan, Roy Hwang
  • Patent number: 11933617
    Abstract: Systems and methods for autonomous lane level navigation are disclosed. In one aspect, a control system for an autonomous vehicle includes a processor and a computer-readable memory configured to cause the processor to receive a partial high-definition (HD) map that defines a plurality of lane segments that together represent one or more lanes of a roadway, the partial HD map including at least a current lane segment. The processor is also configured to generate auxiliary global information for each of the lane segments in the partial HD map. The processor is further configured to generate a subgraph including a plurality of possible routes between the current lane segment and the destination lane segment using the partial HD map and the auxiliary global information, select one of the possible routes for navigation based on the auxiliary global information, and generate lane level navigation information based on the selected route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignees: TuSimple, Inc., Beijing Tusen Zhitu Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yufei Zhao, Fan Mo, Xuren Zhou
  • Patent number: 11919337
    Abstract: A tire damage detection method includes a preliminary stage comprising: performing tests involving test tire impacts against/on different obstacles at different motor vehicle speeds; measuring/acquiring test-related wheel speeds during the performed tests; computing test-related normalized wheel speeds based on the test-related wheel speeds; and determining a predefined tire damage model based on the test-related normalized wheel speeds corresponding to the test tire impacts and of associated test-related average wheel speeds. A tire damage detection stage comprises: acquiring signals indicative of a motor vehicle wheel speed; computing, based on quantities indicative of the wheel speed, a normalized wheel speed indicative of a ratio of the wheel speed to an average wheel speed indicative of motor vehicle speed; and detecting potential damage to a tire of the wheel based on the predefined tire damage model and on the normalized wheel speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Bridgestone Europe N.V/S.A.
    Inventors: Lorenzo Alleva, Marco Pascucci
  • Patent number: 11919526
    Abstract: Techniques are discussed herein for detecting and measuring faults within vehicle drive systems. In various implementations, actuator feedback monitors and/or vehicle performance monitors are used individually or in combination to determine faults within acceleration systems, braking systems, and/or steering systems of a vehicle. Different monitors may use different algorithms, models, and input data from the vehicle during operation, to compare a predicted drive system output to a corresponding measured output. Additionally, monitors may include associated sets of disable conditions used to distinguish drive system faults from other driving conditions. The outputs from actuator feedback monitors, vehicle performance monitors, and disable conditions may be analyzed to detect drive system faults and control the vehicle to address the faults and control the safe operation of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: ZOOX, INC.
    Inventors: Kshitij Agarwal, David Martins Belo, Michael Isaac Mizrahi, Matthew Nathaniel Dickerson
  • Patent number: 11920325
    Abstract: A construction machine is provided that can cause each hydraulic actuator to accurately operate according to operation by an operator in combined operation in which a hydraulic fluid of a hydraulic pump is subjected to flow dividing and is supplied to plural hydraulic actuators. A controller 10, in a case of determining that combined operation is being carried out, controls a regulator 7a in such a manner that the delivery flow rate of a hydraulic pump 7 becomes larger than the total target flow rate of plural hydraulic actuators 4a, 5a, and 6a, and controls the respective opening amounts of plural directional control valves 8a1, 8a3, and 8a5 in such a manner that the difference between the respective target flow rates of the plural hydraulic actuators and the respective inflow flow rates of the plural hydraulic actuators sensed by velocity sensors 12 to 14 becomes small.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Kanazawa, Hidekazu Moriki, Takaaki Chiba, Shinya Imura
  • Patent number: 11915600
    Abstract: Provided is a flight device that performs, on the basis of a determination that a distance to another flight device is within a predetermined distance, a predetermined avoidance action to avoid the other flight device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventor: Toi Kanda
  • Patent number: 11906008
    Abstract: A brake pad state estimation device estimates a brake pad state including at least one of a wear volume and a temperature of a brake pad of a vehicle. The brake pad state estimation device performs: a brake pad state calculation process calculating the brake pad state based on sensor detection information during braking; and an information output process storing the brake pad state information in a storage and/or transmitting the brake pad state information to the outside. The brake pad state estimation device variably sets a processing frequency of at least one of the brake pad state calculation process and the information output process. The processing frequency when a vehicle speed is lower is lower than the processing frequency when the vehicle speed is higher, or the processing frequency when a brake pressure is lower is lower than the processing frequency when the brake pressure is higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Noriyoshi Matsui
  • Patent number: 11898861
    Abstract: A road zone assessment device has a processor configured to select a first road zone from among multiple first road zones representing a first road associated with a vehicle navigation route, and connected with a second road zone representing a second road different from the first road, on a location-estimating map used for a vehicle, to determine whether or not the navigation route extends from the selected first road zone to the second road zone, to identify other first road zone associated with the navigation route from the selected first road zone forward on the destination location side of the navigation route, and to release association between the other first road zone and the navigation route when the selected first road zone is connected with the second road zone and the navigation route extends from the selected first road zone to the second road zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao Kashu, Hiroaki Sakakibara, Yasutaka Teramae, Hiroki Ukai, Masahiro Goto
  • Patent number: 11897469
    Abstract: A method and system for operating a vehicle's trailer reverse assist system is disclosed, including receiving vehicle sensor system data from one or more sensors supported by the vehicle. Based upon the received vehicle sensor data, a trailer pitch angle and a trailer roll angle of a coupled trailer are estimated relative to the vehicle. Surface unevenness of a surface traversed by the vehicle and the trailer is estimated, based upon the estimated trailer pitch angle and the estimated trailer roll angle. One or more parameters of the trailer reverse assist system or of the tow vehicle are adjusted based upon the estimated road surface variance. The trailer reverse assist system of the tow vehicle is subsequently operated using the adjusted one or more parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Continental Autonomous Mobility US, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Diessner, Brandon Herzog
  • Patent number: 11899454
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle traverses a vehicle transportation network using a multi-objective policy based on a model for specific scenarios. The multi-objective policy includes a topographical map that shows a relationship between at least two objectives. The autonomous vehicle receives a candidate vehicle control action associated with each of the at least two objectives. The autonomous vehicle selects a vehicle control action based on a buffer value that is associated with the at least two objectives. The autonomous vehicle traverses a portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the selected vehicle control action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignees: Nissan North America, Inc., The University of Massachusetts, Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Kyle Hollins Wray, Stefan Witwicki, Shlomo Zilberstein
  • Patent number: 11897484
    Abstract: A vehicle occupant assistance apparatus predicts acceleration occurring when a vehicle is traveling. When a make-up mode is activated, assistance information is notified before a predetermined value of the acceleration occurs, based on predicted values of the acceleration. Thus, since the assistance information is notified to an occupant before the vehicle shakes due to the predetermined value of the acceleration, assistance taking a shake of the vehicle into consideration can be rendered to the occupant who applies make-up when the vehicle is traveling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Teiko Inoue, Mitsuyoshi Ohno
  • Patent number: 11897448
    Abstract: A system, method, and apparatus can provide control signaling to control one or more autonomous machines during a plurality of predefined periods of time. Each of the one or more autonomous machines can be controlled according to a maximized productivity level for each task performed by the autonomous machine while at the same time generating sound during performance of the task at the maximized productivity level no louder than respective maximum noise limit levels specific for the plurality of predefined periods of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventor: Sean A. Randleman
  • Patent number: 11897366
    Abstract: There is provided a method for controlling an electric vehicle. The method includes receiving a regenerative braking activation indicator. If the regenerative braking activation indicator is affirmative, the method includes applying regenerative braking at an initial level to an electric motor of the electric vehicle. The method also includes obtaining a vehicle motion parameter of the electric vehicle measured when the regenerative braking is being applied. In addition, the method includes changing the regenerative braking to a modified level based on the vehicle motion parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: ACCELERATED SYSTEMS INC.
    Inventors: Silvio Rotilli Filho, Tim Lambert, Muhammad Ikhlas