Patents Examined by Wae Louie
  • Patent number: 9976865
    Abstract: A vehicle communication system facilitates hands-free interaction with a mobile device in a vehicle or elsewhere. Users interact with the system by speaking to it. The system processes text and processes commands. The system supports Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free use. The system handles telephone calls, email, and SMS text messages. The user can customize the device via a user profile stored on an Internet web server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: RIDETONES, INC.
    Inventors: Otman A. Basir, William Ben Miners
  • Patent number: 9868353
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method may include receiving input to a vehicle-associated computing system (VACS) touch-sensitive display, requesting adjustment to a powered state of an accessory device connected to a switch module; providing, responsive to the input, a command from a vehicle computing system to the switch module, running on the VACS, to adjust a controlled output of the switch module; and updating the user interface to reflect a result of the command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Joey Ray Grover
  • Patent number: 9845148
    Abstract: An aircraft landing gear longitudinal force control system for an aircraft having landing gears with braking and/or driving wheel(s). The system includes an error-based force controller having feedback for minimising any error between the demanded force and the actual force achieved by the force control system. The feedback may be derived from force sensors on the landing gear for direct measurement of the landing gear longitudinal force. The force control system may include an aircraft level landing gear total force controller and/or a landing gear level force controller for each actuated landing gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignees: Airbus Operations Limited, Airbus Operations SAS
    Inventors: Miguel Angel Gama-Valdez, Louis-Emmanuel Romana, Andrea Damiani
  • Patent number: 9829331
    Abstract: In some aspects, a processor may receive a starting point and an ending point from a runner. The processor may receive calorie information from the runner. The processor may receive pace information from the runner. The processor may receive a mile marker input from the runner. The processor may display a he route based on the starting point and the ending point. The processor may display the number of calories burned based on the route and the calorie information. The processor may display a pace of running the route based on the route and the calorie information. The processor may display a mile marker on the route in response to the first mile marker input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Strategic Design Federation W, Inc.
    Inventors: Sandra Lynn McBride, Thomas Charles McBride
  • Patent number: 9811083
    Abstract: A system and method is provided for the establishment of a fleet of networked unmanned vehicles. The system provides at least one vehicle control device configured to interface with a third party unmanned vehicle and establish communications with other unmanned vehicles and with remote control stations. A plurality of vehicle control devices may be used with a plurality of remote control stations to establish a networked fleet of unmanned vehicles. Communication between the networked vehicles may include control information, sensor information, and mission information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Easy Aerial Inc.
    Inventors: Ivan Stamatovski, Mohammad Hefny
  • Patent number: 9802694
    Abstract: A system and method for estimating rotor mixing commands for an aircraft includes receiving signals indicative of reference commands from one or more controllers; receiving signals indicative of airspeed and sideslip angle for the aircraft, the sideslip angle being indicative of a direction of flight for the aircraft; calculating a sine and cosine of the sideslip angle; determining gains for roll and pitch as a function of the airspeed, the determining including referencing a look-up table that indexes the gain constants with the airspeed; and determining the one or more rotor mixing commands from the determined gains, the one or more rotor mixing commands being applied synchronously to the rotors in the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Matthew T. Luszcz, Matthew A. White, Kenneth S. Wittmer
  • Patent number: 9802524
    Abstract: A method for implementing an operation of a body of a machine includes receiving data indicating an operation of a positioning mode actuator to facilitate movement of the body from a first position, determining activation state of a multi-auto mode to actuate a first auto lower mode to operate a hoist system to lower the body automatically and a first auto raise mode to operate the hoist system to raise the body automatically. The method includes determining the first auto lower mode is selected according to the data indicating the operation of the positioning mode actuator, and causing a hoist system to actively lower the body from the first position to a second position and passively lower the body from the second position to a third position, independent of the activation state of the multi-auto mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan Anderson, Kurt Winckler, Rodney Menold, Joel Skalet, Timothy Schwartz
  • Patent number: 9801000
    Abstract: An automobile intelligent control instrument and an intelligent management system based on Internet of Things and belongs to an automobile instrument includes: a master controller of the automobile intelligent control instrument terminal based on the Internet of Things, wherein the master controller of the automobile intelligent control instrument terminal based on the Internet of Things is respectively accessed to many function modules inside an automobile and is further accessed to an information safety management module. The information safety management module is accessed to a signal base station, which is accessed to a remote control terminal. The master controller of the automobile intelligent control instrument terminal based on the Internet of Things transmits various data and control commands to the remote control terminal through the information safety management module and a mobile communication module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: CHENGDU QINCHUAN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Zehua Shao
  • Patent number: 9788481
    Abstract: A robotic mower navigation system has a plurality of landmark tags sequentially spaced along or inside a boundary wire. Each landmark tag has a unique identifier. The robotic mower has a detector for detecting the landmark tags, and a vehicle control unit having memory storing data for each of the landmark tags including the unique identifiers, a departure angle and a distance from the landmark tag to another non-sequential landmark tag. The vehicle control unit determines the shortest route to a specified destination based on the stored landmark tag data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Colin E. Das, David A. Johnson
  • Patent number: 9783201
    Abstract: A method for an overtaking assistant for a vehicle is provided. The vehicle is equipped with environment sensing systems for detecting objects in the own and an adjacent lane on the sides and at the rear of the vehicle. The space in front of the vehicle is preferably detected by environmental sensors as well. Autonomous cutting into an adjacent lane is only initiated if a first vehicle is detected in the adjacent lane. The first vehicle is taken as a reference for a speed of vehicles in the passing lane. It is also assumed that a second vehicle that approaches the first vehicle fast in the same lane has detected the first vehicle and will adjust its speed to the speed of the first vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventors: Stefan Heinrich, Stefan Hegemann, Marc Fischer
  • Patent number: 9786192
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle can transition between operational modes. The readiness of a vehicle driver for a transition can be assessed, particularly when transitioning from a first operational mode to a second operational mode that has a greater degree of manual involvement than the first operational mode. It can be determined whether an operational mode transition event has occurred while the vehicle is operating in the first operational mode. Responsive to determining that an operational mode transition event has occurred, an audial sample from a vehicle driver can be collected. It can be determined whether the vehicle driver is ready or non-ready to provide the greater degree of manual involvement for the second operational mode based on the collected audial sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
    Inventor: Emery Charles Gulash
  • Patent number: 9776712
    Abstract: A rotary wing aircraft including a vehicle vibration control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: LORD Corporation
    Inventors: Mark R. Jolly, Russell E. Altieri, Askari Badre-Alam, Douglas E. Ivers, Doug A. Swanson, Daniel Mellinger, Andrew D. Meyers
  • Patent number: 9776628
    Abstract: A method of automatically starting an internal combustion engine of a hybrid vehicle includes defining a rotational engine speed profile to represent a desired engine speed during a starting event with a hybrid system controller, and communicating the rotational engine speed profile to an engine controller. The internal combustion engine is rotated with an electric propulsion motor of the hybrid vehicle. A spark correction offset is calculated with the engine controller based on the rotational engine speed profile. The internal combustion engine is fired with the calculated spark correction offset for a pre-determined number of firing events, with the engine controller, as the rotational speed of the engine increases. The rotational speed of the internal combustion engine is controlled with the hybrid system controller after the pre-determined number of firing events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventor: R. Anthony Hansen
  • Patent number: 9751506
    Abstract: A system and method for warning a driver of a host vehicle of a potential collision with other vehicles when turning at an intersection. The method includes determining if the host vehicle is likely to turn at the intersection, and if so, segmenting the intersection into a plurality of different regions, where each region has a different level of collision threat risk. The method obtains the speed, velocity and position of the host vehicle and any relevant remote vehicles in the intersection. The method determines a predicted path of the host vehicle and the predicted path of the remote vehicles. The method then determines whether the host vehicle and the remote vehicles will simultaneously occupy a collision zone in the intersection based on the predicted paths, and if so, issues a warning to the driver of the collision risk or apply vehicle controls to avoid or mitigate the collision risk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Upali Priyantha Mudalige, Thanura Ranmal Elvitigala
  • Patent number: 9752881
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for locating points of interest using an ad-hoc network is provided. An exemplary method includes establishing an ad-hoc network between mobile devices and fixed location devices, wherein the fixed location devices are associated with points of interest. A distance from a mobile device to a point of interest is determined based, at least in part, on the number of hops between the mobile device and other mobile devices to reach the point of interest. A direction to the point of interest is determined based, at least in part, on the number of hops between mobile devices proximate to the mobile device and the point of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Catalin Moraru, Silviu Petria
  • Patent number: 9738314
    Abstract: A travel control apparatus for a vehicle includes: a map information storage unit that stores map information; a vehicle position information obtaining unit that obtains position information indicating a position of the vehicle; a traveling road information obtaining unit that obtains traveling road information relating to a traveling road of the vehicle on the basis of the map information and the position information of the vehicle; a target traveling route setting unit that sets a target traveling route of the vehicle on the basis of the traveling road information of the vehicle; a vehicle traveling route estimating unit that estimates an traveling route of the vehicle on the basis of motion information relating to the vehicle; and a controller that performs control so as to reduce a deviation between the target traveling route of the vehicle and the estimated traveling route of the vehicle on the basis of the deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hajime Oyama
  • Patent number: 9725091
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods herein relate to vehicle speed management. The apparatus includes a projection module structured to determine a future road load for a vehicle based on horizon data regarding an attribute of a route of the vehicle at a future location of the vehicle. The apparatus also includes a vehicle drafting module structured to determine a drafting road load for the vehicle based on drafting data regarding operation of a second vehicle. The apparatus further includes a vehicle speed management module structured to determine and provide a vehicle speed adjustment to an output device of the vehicle to at least one of facilitate and maintain a drafting arrangement between the vehicle and the second vehicle responsive to at least one of the future road load and the drafting road load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Cummins, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Reed Dempsey, Kenneth Follen, Vivek A. Sujan
  • Patent number: 9725058
    Abstract: A method and a control unit for triggering a passenger protection arrangement for a vehicle are described. A crash type is determined as a function of a first signal of a centrally disposed first acceleration sensor system and of a second signal of a second acceleration sensor system disposed in the side region of the vehicle. The triggering of the passenger protection arrangement takes place as a function of the crash type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Christof Kaerner, Josef Kolatschek
  • Patent number: 9714024
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for controlling a hybrid electric vehicle are provided. The apparatus includes a navigation device that provides information regarding a gradient, a speed limit, and a traffic speed of a road. An accelerator pedal position detector detects a position of an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal position detector detects a position of a brake pedal. A vehicle speed detector detects a vehicle speed, a state of charge (SOC) detector detects an SOC of a battery, and a gear stage detector detects a gear stage that is currently engaged. A controller operates the hybrid vehicle based on signals of the navigation device, the accelerator pedal position detector, the brake pedal position detector, the vehicle speed detector, the SOC detector, and the gear stage detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Dong Pil Yoon, Jeamun Lee, Kwang Hun Choi, Tae Soo Kim, Kyu Hwan Jo, Jungwook Kim
  • Patent number: 9701289
    Abstract: A method for determining a vehicle reference speed and a vehicle controller having such a method, in which directly or indirectly determined or estimated vehicle status signals, including weighting factors associated with each of the vehicle status signals, are merged in a merging module, wherein the merging module includes at least two stochastic estimators, which exchange signals with one another that correspond to physical vehicle parameters, wherein the association of the estimators is selected in accordance with a physics model for the vehicle behavior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG
    Inventors: Chen Zhang, Julien Levrier, Philipp Keβler