Patents Examined by Anne Marie Antonucci
  • Patent number: 11977171
    Abstract: Systems and methods for inertial navigation aided by signals of opportunity (SOOP). One system includes a network operations center (NOC), a reference station, and mobile user equipment. Another system includes a NOC and user equipment without a reference station. In the latter system, the NOC comprises an antenna, a NOC receiver that generates SOOP data derived from SOOP, a computer system that generates SOOP source location/ephemeris data and inter-source clock bias data based on SOOP data generated by the NOC receiver, and a communication device to broadcast the data. The user equipment comprises an antenna, a navigation receiver that generates SOOP data derived from SOOP detected by the antenna of the user equipment, and a navigation computer system that calculates a navigation solution, including a SOOP-derived estimated position of the user equipment, based on SOOP source location/ephemeris data and inter-source clock bias data broadcasted by the NOC and SOOP data generated by the navigation receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Rongsheng Li
  • 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: 11974519
    Abstract: A robotic lawnmower system comprising a charging station (210) and a robotic lawnmower (100), the charging station comprising a signal generator (240) to which a navigation signal cable (260; 250) is to be connected, the signal generator (240) being configured to transmit a signal (265; 245) through the navigation signal cable (260; 250), and the robotic lawnmower (100) comprising: a propulsion system (130, 50); a sensor (170) configured to sense field values of magnetic fields generated by the signal (265; 245) in the navigation signal cable (260; 250); and a controller (110) configured to determine that the robotic lawnmower (100) is in a docking position; record the field value(s) of the sensed signal; control the propulsion system (130, 150) to reverse out of said docking position; and to control the propulsion system (130,150) to enter into said docking position by sensing a current field value; comparing the current field value to the stored field value(s); and determining how to navigate the robotic la
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: HUSQVARNA AB
    Inventor: Jonas Holgersson
  • Patent number: 11977385
    Abstract: The disclosed technology provides solutions for vehicle routing and in particular, for facilitating obstacle avoidance maneuvering by an autonomous vehicle (AV). In some implementations, a process of the disclosed technology can include steps for collecting environmental data about an environment around an autonomous vehicle, wherein the environmental data comprises data pertaining to a roadway navigated by the autonomous vehicle and one or more other vehicles navigating the roadway, processing the environmental data to generate an area grid comprising one or more grid sections, wherein each grid section corresponds with a different area of the roadway, and determining a risk-profile for the one or more grid sections based on the environmental data. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: GM Cruise Holdings LLC
    Inventor: Hariprasad Govardhanam
  • Patent number: 11971718
    Abstract: A control system, a control method, and a program capable of lowering difficulty of a user's work on an autonomous mobile robot having a placement part are provided. A control system for controlling an autonomous mobile robot including a placement part on which a load is placed includes a user recognition unit configured to recognize a user of the placement part, a feature information acquisition unit configured to acquire feature information of the recognized user, and an operation control unit configured to control a height of the placement part based on the feature information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Iwamoto, Yuta Itozawa, Hirotaka Komura
  • Patent number: 11970302
    Abstract: A system for semi-automatically closing flexible containers includes a continuous deformable web and a semi-automatic device for closing containers with the web. The device includes a frame having a slot for receiving an open end of one container at a time, feeding means for feeding the web, web cutting means and deforming and closing means. The web has labels integrally joined thereto at a substantially constant distance from each other, to thereby form a labeled web having a predetermined cross section. The cutting means are configured to cut the web into sections whose length is equal to the distance and to form labeled clips with the labels located halfway of the sections, The deforming and closing means are coordinated with the cutting means to deform and close each labeled clip around the open end of one container at a time while keeping the labels centered on each container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: COMI PAK ENGINEERING S.R.L.—UNIPERSONALE
    Inventors: Maria Teresa Zanella, Silvia Zanella
  • Patent number: 11971730
    Abstract: A method for automated assignment of a staging pad to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes: launching the UAV from a launch location; tracking a drift of the UAV from the launch location; determining a subsequent position of the UAV after the launching based upon geofiducial navigation; calculating an estimated position of the launch location by offsetting the subsequent position by the drift; attempting to match the estimated position to an available staging pad of a plurality of staging pads; and assigning the UAV to the available staging pad when the estimated position successfully matches to the available staging pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: WING Aviation LLC
    Inventors: Reia Cho, Kevin Jenkins, Damien Jourdan
  • Patent number: 11970837
    Abstract: A working machine control device includes a camera that obtains a captured image by imaging a particular part that is a part of a lower travelling body, and a controller, in which the controller includes a setting unit that sets a target slewing angle of an upper slewing body with respect to the lower travelling body, and a display control unit that causes a display unit to display a display screen in which a target image indicating a target position of the particular part is displayed in a superimposed manner at a position on the captured image, the position being where the particular part is displayed when a slewing angle of the upper slewing body with respect to the lower travelling body reaches the target slewing angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Ueda, Seiji Saiki, Hideki Yoshihara
  • Patent number: 11964774
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicle safety protection technologies, and in particular, to an unmanned aerial vehicle safety protection method and apparatus and an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method includes: obtaining ultrasonic information and a flight status of an unmanned aerial vehicle, where the flight status includes a normal flight state and a descending state; and performing safety protection on the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the ultrasonic information and the flight status. The implementation can reduce an occurrence probability that an unmanned aerial vehicle crashes at a high altitude when ultrasound encounters abnormalities to get out of control at the high altitude and fail to descend, rise, move to the left or move to the right and land without slowing down to violently hit the ground, so that the safety of the unmanned aerial vehicle is enhanced, and user experience is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: AUTEL ROBOTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tianbao Zhang, Yingjie Li, Gang Chen
  • Patent number: 11965748
    Abstract: A transportation system includes: a vehicle hub including a plurality of connection slots. The vehicle hub is configured such that, in response to vehicles being parked respectively in the connection slots, the vehicle hub is connected to interior spaces of the vehicles through the connection slots, the vehicles are categorized by use, and the connection slots are grouped by category such that connection slots grouped together by category, among the connection slots, are disposed adjacent to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yong Kwan Ji
  • Patent number: 11964775
    Abstract: Proposed are a mobile object, an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program that are capable of improving the accuracy of determining whether to land a drone aircraft on a landing surface. The mobile object of the present technology includes a control unit. The control unit calculates a temporal change of a landing surface from images in which the landing surface for the mobile object is imaged in time series by an imaging unit of the mobile object in a hovering state, and determines whether to land the mobile object on the landing surface on the basis of the calculated temporal change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Erio Akanuma, Keisuke Maeda
  • Patent number: 11965744
    Abstract: The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for indoor positioning. The method includes obtaining a first location of a subject at a first time point. The method also includes determining one or more motion parameters associated with the subject at least based on one or more sensors carried by the subject. The method further includes determining, based on the first location of the subject and the one or more motion parameters associated with the subject, a second location of the subject at a second time point after the first time point. The method still further includes adjusting, at least based on surroundings information associated with the subject at the second time point, the second location of the subject to determine a target location of the subject.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: BEIJING DIDI INFINITY TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiaoqiang Teng, Rongzhi Wang, Jiankuan Li, Zhiwei Ruan, Zongyue Liu, Jun Zhang, Pengfei Xu, Shenggang Bao, Chao Liu
  • Patent number: 11967161
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to a system of a delivery device for combining sensor data from various types of sensors to generate a map that enables the delivery device to navigate from a first location to a second location to deliver an item to the second location. The system obtains data from RGB, LIDAR, and depth sensors and combines this sensor data according to various algorithms to detect objects in an environment of the delivery device, generate point cloud and pose information associated with the detected objects, and generates object boundary data for the detected objects. The system further identifies object states for the detected object and generates the map for the environment based on the detected object, the generated object proposal data, the labeled point cloud data, and the object states. The generated map may be provided to other systems to navigate the delivery device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hakan Boyraz, Baoyuan Liu, Xiaohan Nie, Sheng Chen
  • Patent number: 11960296
    Abstract: A method executable by an autonomous mobile device includes moving in a work environment, obtaining environmental data acquired by a sensing device, and determining whether the sensing device is in a suspected ineffective state based on the environmental data. The method also includes based on a determination that the sensing device is in the suspected ineffective state, rotating at a same location for a first predetermined spin angle. The method also includes obtaining an estimated rotation angle based on one or more motion parameters acquired by a dead reckoning sensor, comparing the estimated rotation angle with the first predetermined spin angle, and based on a determination that a difference between the estimated rotation angle and the first predetermined spin angle is greater than a first predetermined threshold value, executing escape instructions to move backwardly for a first predetermined distance and move along a curve or a folded line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: QFEELTECH (BEIJING) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shuailing Li, Wulin Tian, Huizhong An, Xin Wu, Yiming Zhang, Zhen Chen
  • Patent number: 11959767
    Abstract: A map information assessment device has a processor configured to match a plurality of first zones representing a first road in a first map, with second zones representing a second road in a second map, the matching being made by using locations on the second road that are closest to the starting points of the first zones as the starting points, and using zones having the same lengths as the first zones, as the second zones corresponding to the first zones, to calculate zone adjacent distances between the end points of the second zones and the starting points of other second zones adjacent to those second zones, and to determine that positional information for the first road in a first zone is different from positional information for the second road in a second zone corresponding to that first zone, when the zone adjacent distance is greater than a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takao Kashu, Hiroaki Sakakibara, Yasutaka Teramae, Hiroki Ukai, Masahiro Goto
  • Patent number: 11959256
    Abstract: An operative target position of a leading end device supposed by an operator of a working machine is estimated with high accuracy. The controller calculates a prospective locus region on the basis of respective detection results of a posture detecting part and a manipulation detecting part. The prospective locus region is a region based on a prospective locus along which a leading end device is prospected to shift. The controller calculates a gaze point region on the basis of a detection result of a sight detecting part. The gaze point region is a region based on a gaze point of an operator. The controller sets a target position in a region where the prospective locus region and the gaze point region overlap each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Koji Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11960298
    Abstract: An integrated speed prediction framework based on historical traffic data mining and real-time V2I communications for CAVs. The present framework provides multi-horizon speed predictions with different fidelity over short and long horizons. The present multi-horizon speed prediction is integrated with an economic model predictive control (MPC) strategy for the battery thermal management (BTM) of connected and automated electric vehicles (EVs) as a case study. The simulation results over real-world urban driving cycles confirm the enhanced prediction performance of the present data mining strategy over long prediction horizons. Despite the uncertainty in long-range CAV speed predictions, the vehicle level simulation results show that 14% and 19% energy savings can be accumulated sequentially through eco-driving and BTM optimization (eco-cooling), respectively, when compared with normal-driving and conventional BTM strategy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    Inventors: Mohammad Reza Amini, Yiheng Feng, Zhen Yang, Ilya Kolmanovsky, Jing Sun
  • Patent number: 11960288
    Abstract: An autonomous mobile device (AMD) moves around a physical space while performing tasks. The AMD may have sensors with fields of view (FOVs) that are forward-facing. As the AMD moves forward, a safe region is determined based on data from those forward-facing sensors. The safe region describes a geographical area clear of obstacles during recent travel. Before moving outside of the current FOV, the AMD determines whether a move outside of the current FOV keeps the AMD within the safe region. For example, if a path that is outside the current FOV would result in the AMD moving outside the safe region, the AMD modifies the path until poses associated with the path result in the AMD staying within the safe region. The resulting safe path may then be used by the AMD to safely move outside the current FOV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Yue Hu, Jong Jin Park, Daimian Wang, Roopesh Athipatla Pattabhi, Jingyu Qiao, Changsheng Shen
  • Patent number: 11953902
    Abstract: In various aspects, a first set of attributes associated with a target location are determined. The target location is a location that one or more items are to be delivered to by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The first set of attributes are compared with a second set of attributes. The second set of attributes indicate attributes of each UAV of a plurality of UAVs. Based on the comparing, a UAV, of the plurality of UAVs, is recommended to deliver the one or more items to the target location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
    Inventor: Jerome Ferguson
  • Patent number: 11953338
    Abstract: A remote initialization system and method for a vehicle system receive trip data for an upcoming trip at an off-board device. Using the off-board device, the trip data is communicated to the different back-office systems, and one or more of mandatory directives or software configuration requirements are received at the off-board device from the different back-office systems. An initialization data set that includes at least some of the trip data and at least some of the one or more of the mandatory directives or the software configuration requirements is communicated from the off-board device to an onboard controller of the vehicle system. The initialization data set is configured to be used by the onboard controller to control movement of the vehicle system in the different sets of the routes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Janmejay Tripathy, Jeffrey D. Kernwein, Ann K. Grimm, Phillip A. Burgart