Patents Examined by Wae L Louie
  • Patent number: 11702138
    Abstract: A method for providing lane keeping support to enable improved one-hand operation of a vehicle is described. The method includes detecting a one-hand location of a vehicle operator on a steering wheel of the vehicle. The method also includes determining a level of control of the vehicle operator on the steering wheel during the one-hand operation of the vehicle. The method further includes adjusting a level of compensation applied to the steering wheel to facilitate the one-hand operation of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yasuda, Manuel Ludwig Kuehner
  • Patent number: 11693422
    Abstract: A sensor apparatus for an autonomously operated commercial vehicle to allow panoramic capture of surroundings of the commercial vehicle, including: radar units mountable in front corner areas of the vehicle; downwardly directed cameras having a fisheye objective, mountable on front upper corner areas of the vehicle; at least one rearwardly directed sensor mounted on a section of the vehicle to allow rearward image capture; and an evaluation module to evaluate image data from the radar units, the downwardly directed cameras and the at least one rearwardly directed sensor to achieve the panoramic capture of the surroundings of the vehicle; in which the radar units and the at least one rearwardly directed sensor capture all points in a surrounding area of the vehicle, and wherein the downwardly directed cameras capture all points in the surrounding area of the vehicle. Also described are a related commercial vehicle, method and computer readable medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUER NUTZFAHRZEUGE GMBH
    Inventors: Levente Balogh, Huba Nemeth, Csaba Horvath, Viktor Tihanyi
  • Patent number: 11694484
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for helping a user determine whether a vehicle is subject to a safety recall and assisting the user with addressing incomplete safety recalls. A vehicle identification number (VIN) may be extracted from an image of a vehicle captured by a user electronic device and used to request safety recall information from a remote information system, which may provide a list of recalls associated with the vehicle. A list of nearby service centers may be identified based on the physical location of the user electronic device, and service appointments to address any incomplete recalls may be scheduled, either automatically or in response to user input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventor: Dexter Moon
  • Patent number: 11691636
    Abstract: A system is provided generating a context-dependent experience for a vehicle driver, e.g., to relax or enhance the driver's mental state. A system controller is configured to receive driving context data regarding a driving situation from various driving context data sources. The driving context data may include vehicle operation data, e.g., generated by vehicle-based sensors, and environmental data regarding an environment external to the vehicle, e.g., received wirelessly from a remote server. The system controller may identify content triggering events based on (a) the received driver context data and (b) a set of content triggering rules. For each content triggering event, the system controller may select one or more human-perceivable contents elements (e.g., audio clips, seat massage settings, or air conditioner settings), and control one or more content output devices (e.g., speakers, seat massage system, or vehicle HVAC system) to output the selected content element(s) to the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Morten Troestrup Winther, Josephine Clara Elisabeth Nitschke, Joerg Christian Wolf
  • Patent number: 11685362
    Abstract: A computer for managing the drive train of a hybrid vehicle including an internal combustion engine, an electric machine and a battery. The drive train being capable of operating in a plurality of charging or discharging modes of the battery, the computer determines a set of probabilities of activation of the mode, determines the value of the speed of the electric motor for each mode, determines a set of electrical powers of the electric machine, calculates an energy consumption reduction indicator, determines the torque requested by the driver, the value of the speed of the internal combustion engine and the speed of the vehicle, determines a torque to be applied to the electric machine, and sends a command to the electric machine on the basis of the torque to be applied to the electric machine determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Inventor: Paul Boucharel
  • Patent number: 11667307
    Abstract: A method for controlling autonomous driving for an autonomous driving vehicle, includes collecting sensing information on autonomous driving in an autonomous driving mode, calculating an initial longitudinal control value based on the sensing information on the autonomous driving, correcting the initial longitudinal control value based on the sensing information, and performing a longitudinal driving control by transmitting the corrected longitudinal control value to a lower controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Dong Hoon Kang
  • Patent number: 11654955
    Abstract: A control apparatus of a vehicle including a steering operator is provided. The control apparatus includes an environment detection unit configured to detect a surrounding environment of the vehicle, a travel control unit configured to execute automatic steering control based on the surrounding environment, and an operation detection unit configured to detect a first operation and a second operation by a driver. The travel control unit can take a first state in which automatic steering control is not performed, a second state in which automatic steering control is performed on condition of the second operation, and a third state in which automatic steering control is performed without condition of the second operation. The travel control unit transitions from the third state to the first state on condition of the first operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takuma Kobayashi, Yoshifumi Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11648946
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an intelligent vehicle platoon lane change performance evaluation method. First, an intelligent vehicle platoon lane change performance test scenario is established; secondly, a three-degree of freedom nonlinear dynamics model is established according to motion characteristics of intelligent vehicles in a platoon lane change process; further, an improved adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm is utilized to perform filter estimation on state variables of positions and velocities of platoon vehicles; and finally, based on accurately recursive vehicle motion state parameters, evaluation indexes for platoon lane change performance are proposed and quantified, and an evaluation system for platoon lane change performance is constructed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Xu Li, Weiming Hu, Qimin Xu, Kun Wei
  • Patent number: 11645909
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a method, apparatus and electronic device for early-warning, relates to the field of internet of vehicle and used for an intelligent traffic scenario. The specific implementations are: determining a target object crossing a road at a current moment, the road crossed by the target object being a first road; determining a target area based on a location of the target object; determining a target vehicle on the first road based on locations of vehicles on the first road as well as the target area; and sending an early-warning message to the target vehicle. It is using the locations of vehicles on the first road as well as the location of the target object crossing the road to determine the target vehicle during determination of the target vehicle among the vehicles on the first road, in order to send early-warning message to the target vehicle to achieve early-warning of the target vehicle and increase precision of the early-warning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Beijing Baidu Netcom Science Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Deguo Xia, Jizhou Huang, Hui Zhao, Liuhui Zhang, Hongxia Bai, Yuting Liu
  • Patent number: 11634146
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and system for integrated path planning and path tracking control of an autonomous vehicle. The method includes: obtaining five input control variables and eleven system state variables of an autonomous vehicle at current time; constructing a vehicle path planning-tracking integrated state model according to the obtained variables at the current time; enveloping external contours of two autonomous vehicles using elliptical envelope curves to determine elliptical vehicle envelope curves of the two autonomous vehicles, respectively; determining time to collision (TTC) between the vehicles according to elliptical vehicle envelope curves and vehicle driving states; establishing an objective function of a model prediction controller (MPC) according to the model; and solving the objective function based on the TTC, and determining input control variables to the MPC at the next time. Autonomous vehicle collision avoidance can be achieved according to the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Inventors: Yechen Qin, Yiwei Huang, Ehsan Hashemi, Amir Khajepour, Zhenfeng Wang
  • Patent number: 11636757
    Abstract: Systems and methods for optimizing traffic flow through an intersection are disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving positional data indicating a current location of a first vehicle intending to pass through the intersection, receiving directional data indicating an intended direction of the first vehicle through the intersection from the current location, determining, based on the positional data and the directional data, whether an intended path of the first vehicle through the intersection interferes with an alternative path through the intersection, and adjusting a traffic signal at the intersection to decrease an amount of time to pass through the intersection via the alternative path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Atsuhide Kobashi, Christopher Ostafew, Stefan Witwicki
  • Patent number: 11634137
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to a method, an apparatus, a computer program, a base station and a vehicle for providing information related to an approaching vehicle. The method comprises Receiving (110) information related to a velocity of a plurality of vehicles. The method further comprises Determining (120) the information related to the approaching vehicle based on the information related to the velocity of the plurality of vehicles. The information related to the approaching vehicle indicates a presence of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles having a velocity higher than an average velocity of the plurality of vehicles. The method further comprises Providing (130) the information related to the approaching vehicle to at least a subset of vehicles of the plurality of vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Teodor Buburuzan, Thorsten Hehn, Roman Alieiev, Ernst Zielinski, Joakim Cerwall
  • Patent number: 11631324
    Abstract: System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving right-of-way determinations at an intersection. In one embodiment, a method includes acquire, in a lead vehicle that is a cloud leader of a micro-cloud, observations about the intersection for a set of vehicles including at least one remote vehicle. The set of vehicles are approaching the intersection. The remote vehicle and the lead vehicle are members of the micro-cloud. The method includes deriving an assignment of right-of-ways indicating an order about how the set of vehicles may proceed through the intersection. The method includes providing the assignment to at least the remote vehicle to control right-of-way at the intersection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Takamasa Higuchi, Seyhan Ucar, Chang-Heng Wang, Onur Altintas
  • Patent number: 11623643
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for controlling articulation of an articulated vehicle may prevent jackknifing of the articulated vehicle driven backwards. The apparatus includes a hitch angle calculator configured to calculate a desired hitch angle based on a steering angle and a speed of the articulated vehicle, an error calculator configured to calculate an error between the desired hitch angle and an actual hitch angle of the articulated vehicle, a moment generator configured to generate a moment for controlling the articulation of the articulated vehicle based on the error, and an articulation controller configured to control the articulation of the articulated vehicle based on the moment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Byung Jun Sung
  • Patent number: 11597397
    Abstract: The vehicle assistance system includes an infrastructure sensor installed in a predetermined place to detect an obstacle, an onboard apparatus connected to an onboard sensor which is mounted on the vehicle and which detects an obstacle, and a server installed in a place different from that of the infrastructure sensor. In the infrastructure sensor, the abnormality determination unit compares the first obstacle information related to the obstacle detected by the sensor unit and the second obstacle information related to the obstacle detected by the onboard sensor existing in a location different from that of the sensor unit, and determines whether or not the sensor unit or the onboard sensor is abnormal based on the result of this comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro Kondo, Takashi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11600176
    Abstract: A communication system includes a motor vehicle, a portable communication adapter separate from the motor vehicle and able to be coupled reversibly to a control device of the motor vehicle via a communication interface, and a vehicle-external coordination device. The communication adapter receives motor vehicle data describing a traffic behavior and/or a traffic environment of the motor vehicle from the control device. The communication adapter includes a transmission/reception unit and transmits the motor vehicle data to the vehicle-external coordination device via the transmission/reception unit and receives warning data generated by the vehicle-external coordination device which describes a traffic behavior and/or a traffic environment of another motor vehicle. The communication adapter initiates a traffic-coordinating measure based on the warning data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventor: Moritz Otto
  • Patent number: 11597423
    Abstract: A steering apparatus includes a steering wheel, a support frame, a frame fixation part, and a steering transmission part. The support frame rotatably supports the steering wheel. The frame fixation part fixes the support frame to a vehicle body. The steering transmission part transmits a rotation of the steering wheel relative to the support frame to a steering mechanism of a wheel. The support frame and the frame fixation part are arranged at a position that does not overlap with a rotation center axis line of the steering wheel in a front view of the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Seiji Kobata, Yuya Obayashi
  • Patent number: 11598648
    Abstract: A method detects a lane for a transverse guidance of a vehicle. The transverse guidance of the vehicle is based on a roadway model. The method has the steps of ascertaining one or more features which are suitable for influencing the detection of the lane; detecting a lane on the basis of a sensor system of the vehicle; and ascertaining the roadway model on the basis of the detected lane and the ascertained one or more features. The method optionally has the steps of additionally receiving navigation data and transversely guiding the vehicle on the basis of the ascertained roadway model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Christoph Pietruska, Jan-Ullrich Schamburek, Robert Siegl, Michal Siwak
  • Patent number: 11590858
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods and associated systems for operating a battery exchange station. The present method includes (1) receiving a ratio associated with a plurality of vehicles served by the battery exchange station; and (2) based on the ratio, storing different sets of information in memories associated with the batteries respectively, in accordance with received ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Gogoro Inc.
    Inventors: En-Yi Liao, Bo-Yu Chu, Chien-Chung Chen
  • Patent number: 11565670
    Abstract: An electric braking system (1) for braking an aircraft, the system comprising: a brake (3) comprising an electromechanical actuator (5) designed so that when it applies a force to the friction members (4) that is less than or equal to a first maximum threshold, no degradation of the actuator occurs, and when it applies a force to the friction members (4) that is greater than the first maximum threshold, degradation is likely to occur; control means (7) configurable to occupy a first mode in which the controlled braking force cannot exceed the first maximum threshold, and to occupy a second mode in which the controlled braking force can reach the second maximum threshold; and configuration means (10) arranged to configure the control means (7) to occupy the second mode when in a situation preceding a potential interruption of takeoff (RTO) of the aircraft, and otherwise to occupy the first mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: SAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS
    Inventors: Nathanaƫl Richard, Romain Presle