Patents Examined by Truc M Do
  • Patent number: 10688987
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for generating a surroundings map (12) of a surroundings area (8) of a motor vehicle (1), in which method the surroundings area (8) is captured by way of at least one sensor, in particular ultrasound sensor (5, 6, 14, 15), on the motor vehicle, wherein capturing of the surroundings area (8) by way of the at least one sensor (5, 6, 14, 15) is performed at at least two different points in time (T1, T2), and in a manner dependent on said surroundings clearance situations detected in each case in a manner dependent on items of sensor information at the points in time (T1, T2), a decision is made as regards whether an object (11, 13) which is at least supposedly situated in the surroundings area (8) in at least one surroundings clearance situation is, upon an updating of the surroundings map (12), displayed on the then updated surroundings map (12). The invention also relates to a driver assistance system (2) and to a motor vehicle (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH
    Inventors: Jean-Francois Bariant, Markus Heimberger, Roland Geiger, Anto Michael
  • Patent number: 10688981
    Abstract: A method of controlling a mode transition of a hybrid vehicle includes determining whether a mode transition from a first mode to a second mode is required based on a first torque, the first torque being a current required torque. A second torque, which is a required torque expected to be generated at a near-future time from a current time, is also determined. A predicted gear shift time point and a predicted engagement time point of an engine clutch are determined based on the second torque. The mode transition to the second mode is performed when it is determined that the mode transition to the second mode is required and the predicted engagement time point is earlier than the predicted gear shift time point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Jea Mun Lee, Joon Young Park, Ji Hoon Kang
  • Patent number: 10676100
    Abstract: A control system and diagnostic method for a hybrid vehicle having a hybrid powertrain each utilize a controller comprising (i) a hybrid control processor (HCP) and (ii) a motor control processor (MCP), a monitoring circuit that is distinct from the controller and is configured to monitor operation of the HCP and the MCP, and a gate drive circuit that is distinct from the controller and the monitoring circuit and is configured to enable/disable torque output by the hybrid powertrain based on first, second, and third independent shutoff signals. A diagnostic method performs a shutoff line integrity verification routine by performing six steps corresponding to different combinations of shutoff signals in a predetermined test sequence. These shutoff signals are provided to three independent shutoff lines, which are connected between (i) the gate drive circuit and (ii) the HCP, the MCP, and the monitoring circuit, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: FCA US LLC
    Inventors: Mayuresh Karandikar, Shawn X Duan, Feisel Weslati
  • Patent number: 10654453
    Abstract: Systems and methods for implementing a low-latency braking action for an autonomous vehicle are provided. A computing system can include a vehicle autonomy system comprising one or more processors configured to determine a motion plan for an autonomous vehicle based at least in part on sensor data from one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle. The computing system can further include a low-latency braking system comprising one or more processors configured to determine that the autonomous vehicle has a likelihood of colliding with an object in a surrounding environment based at least in part on a previously-determined motion plan obtained from the vehicle autonomy system. In response to determining that the autonomous vehicle has a likelihood of colliding with the object in the surrounding environment, the low-latency braking system can further be configured to implement a braking action for the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: UATC LLC
    Inventors: Narek Melik-Barkhudarov, Michael W. Bode, Randy Warner, Dillon Collins, Anurag Kumar, Carl Knox Wellington
  • Patent number: 10654474
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus and a vehicle control method are disclosed. The vehicle control apparatus includes an inputter, a setting module, a determiner, and a controller. The inputter receives at least one collision avoidance operation signal from a collision avoidance device, and receives information about a current object detected by a sensing device. The setting module establishes a collision sensitive region for each driver upon receiving an ON mode signal from among the collision avoidance operation signals. The determiner determines whether the received current object information is present in a range of the established collision sensitive region for each driver. If the current object information is present in the range of the established collision sensitive region for each driver, the controller controls the collision avoidance device to perform a collision avoidance operation at a target time point earlier than a predetermined reference time point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: MANDO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Seo Yeon Jeon
  • Patent number: 10640952
    Abstract: A system for moving material with a work implement includes an image display device, an operator input device, and a position sensor. A controller is configured to determine a position of a work surface at a work site, display a portion of the work site on the image display device including an operational location at the work area, modify a position of the operational location on the image display device with the operator input device to define a modified operational location, generate a material movement plan based upon the position of the work surface and modified operational location, and generate command instructions to move the machine according to the material movement plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Seth J. Redenbo, Troy K. Becicka, Mo Wei, Kyle Edwards, Michael Taylor
  • Patent number: 10633027
    Abstract: A method and device are disclosed. Vehicle sensor data may be compared with a threshold value. When the vehicle sensor data exceeds the threshold value, selecting an appearance mode of a plurality of appearance modes, and applying the first appearance mode to virtual lane marker data to produce enhanced virtual marker data. The enhanced virtual marker data may be transmitted for display by a vehicle graphical user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventor: Todd J. Rowell
  • Patent number: 10634772
    Abstract: A light detection and ranging (lidar) system is provided that is incorporated into a vehicle and which is configured to efficiently adapt to varying road conditions as well as potential obstacles that may lie in the vehicle's pathway. The system employs a spatial light modulator (SLM) to create a plurality of illumination zones within the system's field of view. The SLM allows the lidar system to alter the size of each illumination zone as well as the light intensity within each of the zones as required by road conditions and potential obstacles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: ATIEVA, INC.
    Inventors: Wiebke Eckstein, Hans-Christoph Eckstein, Eric Magnus Bach
  • Patent number: 10609862
    Abstract: The invention discloses a self-moving robot, comprising a light emitter, emitting light in a specific wavelength range to the ground; an image capturing device, matched with the light emitter to receive the light in a specific wavelength range to form an image based on the light in a specific wavelength range; and the controller comprises a ground type recognizing module, which extracts features in the image to recognize the ground type in the image. By disposing the light emitter and the image capturing device which are matched to emit and receive the light in a specific wavelength range, an influence of the ambient light on the image is reduced, such that the self-moving robot can accurately recognize the ground type at every moment and in every location, even at night when there is no light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: POSITEC TECHNOLOGY (CHINA) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xinyu Wu, Ruiqing Fu, Huiwen Guo, Shuanglong Wu, Yong Shao, Gen Sun
  • Patent number: 10597019
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus is provided with: a controller (i) configured to set first brake fluid pressure associated with wheels on one of left and right sides out of a plurality of wheels to be higher than second brake fluid pressure associated with wheels on the other side in order to turn a vehicle in one direction, and configured (ii) to then increase the second brake fluid pressure by using a fluid pressure difference between the first brake fluid pressure and the second brake fluid pressure, and (iii) to set the first brake fluid pressure to be lower than the second brake fluid pressure while holding the second brake fluid pressure in order to turn the vehicle in another direction, which is different from the one direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hironori Ito, Akira Nagae, Ryo Inomata, Masayuki Ikeda
  • Patent number: 10599138
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for enabling unmanned and optionally-manned cargo delivery to personnel on the ground. For example, an aircraft may be used to provide rapid response cargo delivery to widely separated small units in demanding and unpredictable conditions that pose unacceptable risks to both ground resupply personnel and aircrew. Together with a ground vehicle, packages from the aircraft may be deployed to ground personnel in disbursed operating locations without exposing the ground personnel to the aircraft's open landing zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation
    Inventor: William Bosworth
  • Patent number: 10589743
    Abstract: A vehicle travel control apparatus includes an anomaly monitoring section for determining, through monitoring, whether or not a driver is in an anomalous state in which the driver has lost his or her ability to drive the vehicle, and a deceleration section for automatically stopping the vehicle by decelerating the vehicle after a final anomaly determined time which is a point in time when the anomaly monitoring section finally determines that the driver is in the anomalous state. The deceleration section prohibits deceleration of the vehicle in the case where the deceleration section determines that the vehicle is present in the deceleration prohibited section after the final anomaly determination time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hirotada Otake
  • Patent number: 10589820
    Abstract: A control method comprises at least one detection of activation of the pushing aid. When activation is detected, in the subsequent step a velocity of the electric vehicle and/or a constant starting torque are/is generated by actuation of the electric motor. The generated velocity of the pushing aid as a result of the actuation is dependent on the engaged transmission ratio of the gearshift. In order to adapt the velocity, the control method comprises sensing the current motor rotational speed of the electric motor and sensing the current velocity of the electric bicycle. The engaged transmission ratio is determined as a function of the sensed motor rotational speed and the sensed velocity. The adaptation of the velocity of the electric bicycle occurs in the subsequent step as a result of regulation of the electric motor as a function of the transmission ratio and the maximum velocity, which is not exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Daniel Baumgaertner, Rinaldo Greiner
  • Patent number: 10577020
    Abstract: A driving assist apparatus of a vehicle of the invention sets a predicted route predicted for the vehicle to move and performs an attention operation to a driver when a time predicted for the vehicle to reach a point where a moving object crosses the predicted route is smaller than or equal to a threshold time. The apparatus predicts a radius of a route predicted for the vehicle to move as a left turn radius when the vehicle turns left and sets a route curved along an arc having the left turn radius as the predicted route. The apparatus predicts the radius of the route predicted for the vehicle to move as a right turn radius when the vehicle turns right and sets the route curved along the arc having the right turn radius as the predicted route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuji Ikedo, Tomonori Akiyama, Ryo Morishita
  • Patent number: 10539958
    Abstract: A system and method for interrupting a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based automatic steering mode of a hydraulic steering system on a vehicle. When a steering wheel is manually turned by an operator, pressurized hydraulic fluid from a steering directional control valve activates an interrupter having an interrupter valve. The interrupter valve blocks pressurized fluid flow to the automatic steering system, thus overriding automatic steering and giving the operator full manual steering control via the steering wheel. The hydraulic interrupt system is mechanical with no electronic elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: AGJUNCTION LLC
    Inventors: Joshua M. Gattis, Steven A. Koch
  • Patent number: 10535260
    Abstract: A vehicle may request road rules information from local jurisdiction information servers and compile the road rules information into compiled rules for a current location of the vehicle. The vehicle may also monitor system bus activity to identify occurrence of a road situation; determine whether a driving behavior is in conflict with a compiled rule corresponding to the road situation for the current location of the vehicle. When a conflict is detected, the vehicle may invoke an interaction associated with the compiled rule to address the driving behavior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Perry Robinson MacNeille, David Allen Kowalski, Oleg Yurievitch Gusikhin
  • Patent number: 10525945
    Abstract: A brake control system may comprise an inertial sensor coupled to an axle and configured to measure a linear acceleration of the axle and an antiskid control (ASK) in electronic communication with the inertial sensor, wherein at least one of the inertial sensor or the ASK calculate a linear velocity of the axle based on the linear acceleration, and the ASK uses the linear velocity to calculate a wheel slip speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Goodrich Corporation
    Inventors: Efrem E Ayichew, Michael Kordik, Marc Georgin, Paul L Summers
  • Patent number: 10509417
    Abstract: Inspections of towers with unmanned aerial vehicles is challenging because judging the distance to narrow tower members, phase conductors, or guy wires is very difficult for people. These flights may be automated by first creating a three dimensional model of the tower from a scan; determining a safe standoff distance for the unmanned aerial vehicle; generating flight segments to provide complete inspection coverage of the tower while maintaining the standoff distance; and then safely and accurately flying the segments in most wind conditions by using location correction messages from remote reference stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Inventor: Izak Van Cruyningen
  • Patent number: 10500973
    Abstract: An electric vehicle and a control method of the electric vehicle are provided. The electric vehicle includes a battery, a charger configured to supply power of the battery to a user terminal, an input configured to receive a destination from a user, and a controller configured to calculate an estimated amount of power consumed for traveling of the electric vehicle and an estimated amount of power consumed for supplying power to the user terminal in a case that the electric vehicle travels to the destination. The controller is configured to determine a charging method of the charger based on a current amount of charge of the battery, the estimated amount of power consumed for travelling of the electric vehicle, and the estimated amount of power consumed for supplying power to the user terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Company
    Inventor: Myoung-Kyoung Ji
  • Patent number: 10502145
    Abstract: A fuel and bleed controller is provided. The fuel and bleed controller includes a processor and a memory. The memory stores program instructions thereon. The program instructions are executable by the processor to cause the fuel and bleed controller to send status requests to systems of the aircraft. The systems comprise a bleed system and bleed user controllers. The program instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the fuel and bleed controller to receive status responses from the systems of the aircraft and determine fuel requirements based on the status responses in advance of operational needs by the systems of the aircraft. The program instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the fuel and bleed controller to control engines of the aircraft based on the fuel requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Robert M. DeRoy, Adam Woods