Patents Examined by B. M. M Hannan
  • Patent number: 11654566
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for decomposing learned robotic activities into smaller sub-activities that can be used independently. In one example, a method may include storing simulation data comprising an activity of a robot during a training simulation performed via a robotic simulator, decompose the activity into a plurality of sub-activities that are performed by the robot during the training simulation based on changes in behavior of the robot identified within the simulation data, and generating and storing a plurality of programs for executing the plurality of sub-activities, respectively, in the storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Bradford Wayne Miller
  • Patent number: 11639175
    Abstract: A method of controlling a vehicle when the vehicle passes over a speed bump, may include: dividing sections of the road into a first section within a first time period before the front wheel of the vehicle collides with the speed bump, a second section while the front wheel collides with the speed bump, a third section within a second time period before the rear wheel collides with the speed bump, and a fourth section while the rear wheel collides with the speed bump; and controlling and distributing at least one of suspension damping force, driving power and braking force to the front wheel and the rear wheel for each of the first section, the second section, the third section and the fourth section to reduce the amount of impact to be applied when the vehicle collides with the speed bump and to reduce a vertical motion of the vehicle that occurs while the vehicle goes over the speed bump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventors: In-Su Kim, Myung-Ki Yeom
  • Patent number: 11636762
    Abstract: An image display device includes: an external sensor data acquisition unit acquired external sensor data detected at a first time point; an internal sensor data acquisition unit acquired internal sensor data detected at the first time point; a determination unit determined a position of the vehicle at a second time point that is a future time point after a predetermined time has elapsed from the first time point, based on the internal sensor data at the first time point; and a display control unit displayed a monitoring image indicating surroundings of the vehicle on the display unit based on the external sensor data at the first time point, wherein, the display control unit superimposes an object indicating the position of the vehicle at the second time point at the position on the monitoring image corresponding to the position of the vehicle at the second time point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hojung Jung, Hiromitsu Urano, Sho Otaki
  • Patent number: 11634115
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a control device and method of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) to which Downhill Brake Control (DBC) is applied, and determines whether to perform a braking control of the HEV, by comparing a current vehicle speed of the HEV with a target vehicle speed of the HEV upon operating a DBC function, calculates a braking demand amount based on a difference between the current vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed when the braking control is determined, and controls a vehicle speed of the HEV by determining whether to perform cooperative control of a regenerative braking and a brake hydraulic braking, based on the braking demand amount and a maximum regenerative braking possible amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Jae Young Choi, Gwang Il Du, Hoon Han
  • Patent number: 11623631
    Abstract: A system for controlling an internal combustion engine start threshold in a parallel hybrid-electric vehicle. A predetermined conditions tracking module determines whether or not conditions of a plurality of predetermined conditions exist. Responsive to a determination that the conditions exist, a required power estimation module estimates a next acceleration required by the vehicle and a final power requirement for the next acceleration. A propulsion system control module determines if the estimated final power requirement is between a first amount of electric motor power available at a predetermined base engine start threshold and a second amount of electric motor power available at a predetermined elevated engine start threshold. If the estimated final power requirement is between the first and second amounts of power, operation of the vehicle is controlled so as to ensure that the engine start threshold is at the predetermined elevated threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas S. Hawley
  • Patent number: 11618437
    Abstract: A control apparatus of a power transmission system for a vehicle calculates estimated driving force while taking account of inertia loss torque and a transmission efficiency, during execution of automatic parking control for automatically parking the vehicle at a target parking position. During execution of automatic parking control, the control apparatus sets a traveling mode to a gear traveling mode in which power is transmitted via a gear mechanism, or sets the traveling mode to a belt traveling mode in which power is transmitted via a stepless speed change mechanism, and fixes the speed ratio of the stepless speed change mechanism to the lowest-side speed ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Honda, Ryosuke Saito
  • Patent number: 11613250
    Abstract: A system, method, infrastructure, and vehicle for supporting automated valet parking are provided. The automated valet parking method may include: establishing, by a vehicle, a communication with an infrastructure facility; receiving, by the vehicle, a target position and a guide route from the infrastructure facility after the communication is established; performing, by the vehicle, an autonomous driving based on the guide route; and parking, by the vehicle, at the target position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Dae Gil Cho
  • Patent number: 11602842
    Abstract: Disclosed is a lifting robot that includes a housing and a tray. The housing includes a side wall formed by a plurality of enclosing side panels, a projection of the side wall on a horizontal plane is a regular polygon, and at least one of the plurality of side panels is provided with a connection device for connecting to a side panel of another lifting robot. Further disclosed is a robot system including a plurality of the lifting robot described above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: BEIJING GEEKPLUS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kun Wang
  • Patent number: 11600182
    Abstract: A vehicle allocation service system includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire biological information and positional information of a user, a selection unit configured to select a moving object to be provided to the user based on the biological information, a decision unit configured to acquire priority added to a satisfied condition of the biological information of the user and decide an order of vehicle allocation for the selected moving object according to the priority, and an instruction unit configured to instruct the selected moving object to move according to the positional information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinichiro Fujii, Hiroe Fukui, Takashi Goto, Tatsuya Shigekiyo, Kuniaki Jinnai, Naoto Sasagawa
  • Patent number: 11597092
    Abstract: Systems and methods relating to an end-of-arm-tool that can be used in connection with the automated handling of vehicles, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are disclosed. The described systems and methods can include an end-of-arm-tool which may include a load cell coupled to an end effector, such that forces and torques exerted on the end effector are translated onto the load cell. The measurement of forces and torques exerted on the end effector can facilitate determining various information in connection with the aerial vehicle, such as inertial properties or parameters associated with the aerial vehicle, the quality of the engagement between the end effector and the aerial vehicle, as well as diagnostic information in connection with the aerial vehicle. Additionally, the use of a load cell to measure forces and torques exerted on the end effector can eliminate the need to utilize traditional contact sensors typically required on the contact surfaces of an end-of-arm tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Ine.
    Inventors: David L. Alspaugh, Dipan M. Shah, Pragyana K. Mishra
  • Patent number: 11590972
    Abstract: In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a vehicle is provided that includes a body, a drive system, and a control system for controlling the adaptive cruise control functionality for the vehicle. The drive system is disposed within the body, and has adaptive cruise control functionality. The control system includes: one or more sensors disposed onboard the vehicle and configured to obtain sensor data for monitoring a driver of the vehicle while the vehicle is stopped during adaptive cruise control operation while a target vehicle in front of the vehicle has stopped; and a processor coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to provide instructions for automatically resuming movement of the vehicle, when the target vehicle resumes movement, based on the monitoring of the driver of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Ming Zhao, Mark A. Schang, Sung-Tu Ho
  • Patent number: 11580724
    Abstract: A method for controlling a robotic device is presented. The method includes positioning the robotic device within a task environment. The method also includes mapping descriptors of a task image of a scene in the task environment to a teaching image of a teaching environment. The method further includes defining a relative transform between the task image and the teaching image based on the mapping. Furthermore, the method includes updating parameters of a set of parameterized behaviors based on the relative transform to perform a task corresponding to the teaching image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Jeremy Ma, Josh Petersen, Umashankar Nagarajan, Michael Laskey, Daniel Helmick, James Borders, Krishna Shankar, Kevin Stone, Max Bajracharya
  • Patent number: 11572056
    Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods for the provision of data particularly for use in generating a blockchain environment for tracking emissions of a hybrid electric vehicle. The systems and methods include reading in position data representing a geographical position of a hybrid electric vehicle, reading in operating data representing an operating state of a drivetrain of the hybrid electric vehicle, forming a data block at least comprising the position data and the operating data, and adding the data block to a blockchain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Alexandra Holz, Roy Hendrikx, Martin Wiecker, Stuart Easson, Detlef Kuck
  • Patent number: 11565418
    Abstract: A robot system includes a robot configured to operate in cooperation with a person, a specifying section configured to specify a person present in a region at a predetermined distance from the robot, and a control section configured to decelerate or stop the operation of the robot when the presence of the person in the region is specified by the specifying section. The control section changes the distance based on a result of specifying the person by the specifying section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Inventor: Isamu Sejimo
  • Patent number: 11559182
    Abstract: An autonomous floor cleaner can include a housing, a drive system for autonomously moving the housing over the surface to be cleaned, and a controller for controlling the operation of the autonomous floor cleaner. The drive system can include at least one drive wheel for driving the housing across a surface to be cleaned. The drive wheel can be selectively moved from an engaged or in-use position to a disengaged or maintenance position. In the disengaged or maintenance position, the wheel is disengaged from the autonomously moveable housing such that it can be pivoted, extended, removed, or otherwise moved farther away from the autonomously moveable housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: BISSELL Inc.
    Inventors: Steven M. Johnson, Todd R. VanTongeren, Matthew Haverkamp
  • Patent number: 11560152
    Abstract: A method for controlling movement of an autonomous vehicle includes: estimating a set of tire force margins with respect to each wheel of the vehicle and a set of dynamic chassis margins associated with a chassis module of the vehicle; based on the margins, determining whether the vehicle is capable of moving in accordance with a decision command; when the determination is negative, outputting a request for update of the decision command; and when an updated decision command has not been received, calculating a set of marginal actuating signals based on the decision command, the margins, required slip angles respectively for the wheels and a center of percussion of the vehicle so as to make the autonomous vehicle move accordingly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH & TESTING CENTER
    Inventors: Chien-Hung Yu, Jin-Yan Hsu, Tong-Kai Jhang, Chi-Chun Huang
  • Patent number: 11554482
    Abstract: Example implementations described herein are directed to a simulation environment for a real world system involving one or more robots and one or more sensors. Scenarios are loaded into a simulation environment having one or more virtual robots corresponding to the one or more robots, and one or more virtual sensors corresponding to the one or more virtual system to train a control strategy model from reinforcement learning, which is subsequently deployed to the real world environment. In cases of failure of the real world environment, the failures are provided to the simulation environment to generate an updated control strategy model for the real world environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Heming Chen, Yi-Chu Chang
  • Patent number: 11553824
    Abstract: An automatic guiding method for a self-propelled apparatus (10) is provided. The self-propelled apparatus (10) turns and irradiates when a signal light emitted by a charging dock (20) is sensed by a flank sensor (103), and changes its turn direction when another different signal light from the charging dock (20) is sensed by a forward sensor (102). The charging dock (20) switches to emit another signal light different from the signal light currently emitted when each time is triggered by the signal light emitted by the self-propelled apparatus (10). Repeatedly execute the above actions and make the self-propelled apparatus approach the light-emitting unit (202) until the self-propelled apparatus (10) reaches a charging position. It can accurately guide the self-propelled apparatus (10) to the charging position by arranging only two sensors on the self-propelled apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: POWER LOGIC TECH, INC.
    Inventors: Wen-Faung Hsu, Chia-Heng Hsu, Hung-Chou Chen
  • Patent number: 11554771
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle includes an engine, an electric machine configured to apply a negative torque during regenerative braking, and a multi-speed transmission coupled to the engine and having multiple discrete gear ratios. A controller is programmed to, in response to a request to decelerate the vehicle, command a shift of the transmission to a one of the gear ratios that is predetermined to rotate the electric machine at a speed that generates a regenerative-braking torque corresponding to a target deceleration of the vehicle without application of friction brakes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Dashwood Crisp, James Christopher Wilkins, Tom Leroy, Jonathan James Hall
  • Patent number: 11550335
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a biped robot and its moving method and apparatus. The method includes: calculating a motion state of each servo of legs of a biped robot according to an actual trajectory of the biped robot, and controlling the servo to rotate to the corresponding motion state. The scheme enables the biped robot to achieve flexible controls to the biped robot according to the received real-time external feedbacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP LTD
    Inventors: Youjun Xiong, Chunyu Chen, Yizhang Liu, Ligang Ge, Zheng Xie, Jianxin Pang