Patents Examined by Jean-Paul Cass
  • Patent number: 11921238
    Abstract: A method of lidar imaging pulses a scene with laser pulse sequences from a laser light source. Reflected light from the scene is measured for each laser pulse to form a sequence of time resolved light signals. Adjoining time bins in the time resolved light signals are combined to form super time bins. A three dimensional image of the scene is created from distances determined based on maximum intensity super time bins. One or more objects are located within the image. For each object, the time resolved light signals are combined to form a single object time resolved light signal from which to determine distance to the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: THE CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY, INC.
    Inventors: Joseph Hollmann, Zachary R. Hoffman
  • Patent number: 11908034
    Abstract: A computer system can receive requests for transport from computing devices of users while the users ride a transit vehicle. The system can determine a rate of travel of the transit vehicle based on location data received from the computing device of a user riding the transit vehicle. Based at least in part on the rate of travel of the transit vehicle, the system can determine a first estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the user to the start location. The system can further receive location data from computing devices associated with available vehicles within a proximity of a start location of the user, and select one of vehicles to service the request when the ETA of the vehicle is within a threshold amount of time of the first ETA.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Nuri Kim, Christopher Haugli, Rachel Lin, Hasrat Godil, Jeffrey Wolski, Amos Barreto
  • Patent number: 11887493
    Abstract: According to one implementation of the present disclosure, a method for formation flight is disclosed. The method includes: during flight, arranging for a first aircraft to fly into a proximity range of a second aircraft; and determining first aircraft positioning based on power consumption data of the first aircraft, where the first aircraft positioning corresponds to power-reducing formation flight of the first aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: TEXTRON INNOVATIONS INC.
    Inventors: Kip Gregory Campbell, Juan Li
  • Patent number: 11884417
    Abstract: A system and method for emergency manual flight direction to a non-pilot enables the non-pilot an ability to safely land an aircraft after an event causing a single pilot of the aircraft to become unable to perform pilot tasks. The emergency flight director (EFD) receives inputs from a plurality of sources and displays information, maneuver, configuration and communication commands to the non-pilot on a flight deck display. Inputs to the system include aircraft state data as well as airport and current weather information associated with each available airport. The EFD determines an appropriate emergency landing runway and presents simplified commands coupled with animated aircraft specific graphics to the non-pilot to manually fly the aircraft to a safe landing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel B. Goldman
  • Patent number: 11879745
    Abstract: The disclosure is generally directed to systems and methods for facilitating travel over a last leg of a journey. In one example embodiment, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) captures an image of an area to be traversed by an individual during the final leg of the journey. The image is evaluated to identify a hindrance that may be encountered by the individual in the area. A pre-emptive action may be taken to address the hindrance before reaching the area. The pre-emptive action, may, for example, include using the UAV and/or a terrestrial robot to assist the individual traverse the area. The assistance may be provided in various ways such as by use of the terrestrial robot to transport the individual and/or a personal item of the individual through the area, and/or by use of the UAV to provide instructions to guide the individual through the area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Aed M. Dudar, Fling Finn Tseng
  • Patent number: 11875688
    Abstract: A system, method, node, and computer program for determining a flight start policy to be applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, (10) is described. The UAV (10) is associated with a first UAV-Application Server, UAV-AS (100) maintaining a flight policy applicable for the geographical service area (150) where the UAV (10) is located. The method comprising the first UAV-AS (100) determining whether the UAV (10) is going to leave the geographical service area (150) towards a second geographical service area (150), wherein the second geographical service area (150) is associated with a second UAV-AS (130). If so querying by the first UAV-AS (100) a flight policy applicable for the second geographical service area (150) from the second UAV-AS (130), and instructing a received flight policy applicable for the second geographical service to the UAV (10), before the UAV (10) has entered the second geographical service area (150).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
    Inventors: Jens Poscher, Ralph Detke, Stefan Eichinger, Pedro Tercero
  • Patent number: 11868138
    Abstract: Various embodiments for controlling a state of an autonomous vehicle that is to meet a user are provided. A receiver receives location information indicating a current location of the user. A memory stores a plurality of states of the autonomous vehicle. Each of the states at least one of visually or audibly distinguishes the autonomous vehicle. A sensor senses an environment of the autonomous vehicle to obtain environment information. A distance from a place of meeting the user to the current location of the user is calculated based on the location information. A first state is selected in accordance with the environment information. The autonomous vehicle is caused to change from a second state to the first state when the distance from the place of meeting the user to the current location of the user becomes smaller than or equal to a predetermined distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
    Inventors: Kazunobu Konishi, Shuhei Matsui, Yuta Shimotsuma
  • Patent number: 11868145
    Abstract: A reliability map is generated by superimposing or associating populations or other intrinsic data is superimposed or associated with a geographic map of a region, which is divided into a grid having cells of uniform size. Densities of towns, cities or other geospatial areas are determined and assigned to cells of the grid, which have sizes corresponding to minimum dimensions of a corridor required for travel by an aerial vehicle. When a mission requiring travel from an origin to a destination within the region is identified, one or more paths of a safe route between the origin and the destination are selected based on the reliability map. The safe route is selected to avoid areas of high population density or locations of critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals or public safety buildings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Javier Alonso Lopez, Pragyana K. Mishra
  • Patent number: 11852485
    Abstract: An inertial navigation system (INS) device includes three or more atomic interferometer inertial sensors, three or more atomic interferometer gravity gradiometers, and a processor. Three or more atomic interferometer inertial sensors obtain raw inertial measurements for three or more components of linear acceleration and three or more components of rotation. Three or more atomic interferometer gravity gradiometers obtain raw measurements for three or more components of the gravity gradient tensor. The processor is configured to determine position using the raw inertial measurements and the raw gravity gradient measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: AOSense, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark A. Kasevich, Matthew Todd Cashen, Christopher Jekeli
  • Patent number: 11852500
    Abstract: Eyewear having a light array and vibration sensors for indicating to a user when to turn left and right, such as when the eyewear is operating a navigation map application, that improves the user experience of eyewear devices for user's having partial blindness or complete blindness. To compensate for partial blindness, the front portion of the eyewear frame, such as the bridge, may include the light array, where the left portion of the light array is illuminated to indicate to the user to turn left. The right portion of the light array is illuminated to indicate to the user to turn right. To compensate for complete user's having complete blindness, the eyewear has a vibration device on each side of the eyewear, such as in the temples, which selectively vibrate to indicate when the user should turn left and right.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Pomes, Yu Jiang Tham
  • Patent number: 11834060
    Abstract: A method includes determining a travel state of a subject vehicle based on vehicle data and selecting one or more desired topics from a set of subscriptions based on the travel state. The set of subscriptions include one or more topics stored in a database, and the one or more desired topics are selected from among the one or more topics. The method further includes subscribing to the one or more desired topics provided by a remote server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignees: DENSO International America, Inc., DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takahisa Yamashiro
  • Patent number: 11836955
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining a sign type of an unfamiliar sign. The system may include one or more processors. The one or more processors may be configured to receive an image and identify image data corresponding to a traffic sign in the image. The image data corresponding to the traffic sign may be input in a sign type model. The processors may determine that the sign type model was unable to identify a type of the traffic sign and determine one or more attributes of the traffic sign. The one or more attributes of the traffic sign may be compared to known attributes of other traffic signs and based on this comparison, a sign type of the traffic sign may be determined. The vehicle may be controlled in an autonomous driving mode based on the sign type of the traffic sign.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Zhinan Xu, Maya Kabkab, Chen Wu, Woojong Koh
  • Patent number: 11835946
    Abstract: A system for redistributing electrical load in an electric aircraft. The system includes a ring bus and a controller communicatively connected to the ring bus. The ring bus includes a plurality of bus sections including a first bus section and a second bus section. The controller is configured to receive a fault datum indicative of a fault associated with one of a first energy source and a second energy source, actuate, as a function of the fault datum, at least a switch to electrically connect the first bus section and the second bus section so as to form an electrical merger of the first bus section and the second bus section, and redistribute the electrical load to compensate for the fault associated with one of the first energy source and the second energy source. A method of redistributing electrical load in an electric aircraft is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Timothy Gerard Richter, Sean Donovan
  • Patent number: 11823578
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system for maintaining railway situational awareness, includes a ground station configured to be mounted to a train, a UAV including a sensor, a processor, and a memory. The sensor is configured to provide a signal indicative of condition and/or an event. The memory contains instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the system to: selectively deploy the UAV, from the ground station mounted to the train, receive the signal from the sensor; and determine a condition and/or an event, relative to the train, based on the sensed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: EASY AERIAL INC.
    Inventor: Ido Gur
  • Patent number: 11820365
    Abstract: A system for a host vehicle includes a processor programmed to receive, from an image capture device, an image representative of an environment of the host vehicle, detect at least one obstacle in the environment of the host vehicle based on an analysis of the at least one image, determine a velocity of the host vehicle and a predicted path for the host vehicle, monitor a driver input to at least one of a throttle control, a brake control, or a steering control associated with the host vehicle, and determine whether the driver input would result in the host vehicle navigating within a proximity buffer relative to the at least one obstacle, wherein the proximity buffer is determined based on the determined velocity, a maximum acceleration capacity of the host vehicle, and a maximum braking capacity of the host vehicle, and a reaction time associated with the host vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd.
    Inventors: Shai Shalev-Shwartz, Shaked Shammah, Amnon Shashua
  • Patent number: 11821747
    Abstract: To provide personalized data for display on a map, a server device obtains location data for a user and identifies locations that are familiar to the user based on the frequency and recency in which the user visits the locations. The server device then provides the familiar locations in search results/suggestions and annotates the familiar locations with a description of a relationship between the familiar location and the user. The server device also includes the familiar locations as landmarks for performing maneuvers in a set of navigation instructions. Furthermore, the server device provides a familiar location as a frame of reference on a map display when a user selects another location nearby the familiar location. Moreover, the server device includes a familiar location as an intermediate destination when the user request navigation directions to a final destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Haroon Baig, Ankit Gupta
  • Patent number: 11823581
    Abstract: A drone flight plan between an origin and destination is evaluated with respect to planned routes of connected vehicles. The drone flight path is calculated such that it includes one or more docking segments on one or more vehicles. For multiple vehicles, multiple permutations of docking segments may be evaluated and assigned scores according to risk, drone flying time, timing issues, and other factors. A permutation having a score indicating higher desirability may be selected. The one or more vehicles may be autonomous and routes of the one or more vehicles may be adjusted in order to provide suitable docking segments for the drone flight path. The destination of the drone flight path may also be adjusted in order to permit docking on one or more vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Inventors: Connie Zeng, Jacob Knickerbocker, Razia Shaik, Kevin Marx
  • Patent number: 11820405
    Abstract: An integrated control apparatus for an autonomous vehicle includes a mobile control device 10, which is a portable device manipulated by a user, configured to perform steering, speed change, acceleration and braking of the vehicle, and a touch-type stationary display device 20 manipulated in a touch manner by the user and configured to perform functions other than the steering, the speed change, the acceleration and the braking of the vehicle when the vehicle is shifted from an autonomous driving mode to a manual driving mode. A steering dial switch and a speed change slide switch of the mobile control device are manipulated in a manner different from that in which an acceleration button switch and a braking button switch of the mobile control device are manipulated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION, SL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eun Sik Kim, Seok Woo Ye, Jae Hoon Jung, Ji Hoon Yang
  • Patent number: 11817001
    Abstract: Broadcasting geolocation information of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the UAV by determining current geolocation of the UAV by communicating with a geolocation service and utilizing the geolocation service to geolocate the UAV. Then the UAV prepares a radio frame that includes geolocation information identifying the current geolocation of the UAV and other information associated with the UAV using a radio protocol of one of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio protocol, a WiFi radio protocol, a wireless personal area network protocol and a low-power wide-area network protocol and transmits the radio frame to broadcast the current geolocation of the UAV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Heikki Mahkonen, Ravi Manghirmalani, Attila Takács
  • Patent number: 11814158
    Abstract: A system for determining areas of discrepancy in flight for an electric aircraft is presented. The system includes a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor is communicatively connected to a flight component and configured to detect a measured flight and generate a flight phase datum. The system further includes a computing device communicatively connected to the plurality of sensors, wherein the computing device is configured to determine, by a flight phase machine-learning model, a flight phase discrepancy datum. The computing device is configured to train the flight phase machine-learning using a flight phase training set, wherein the flight phase training set correlates a flight phase to a flight standard and output the flight phase discrepancy datum. The computing device is further configured to identify an anomalous performance phase as a function of the flight phase discrepancy datum and generate a discrepancy response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Alexander Hoekje List, Vincent Moeykens