Drive Capability Patents (Class 340/576)
  • Patent number: 11963759
    Abstract: A state determination device includes: an extraction unit that extracts a face region representing a region corresponding to a face from each of a plurality of frames successively obtained by capturing images of a user's face, extracts face feature points representing parts of the face from the face region, calculates a face feature value extraction region as a region where a change occurs in the face region when the user is in an unawakened state based on the face feature points, and extracts a face feature value as a feature value from the face feature value extraction region; a state determination unit that determines whether the user is in the unawakened state or not based on the face feature value in each of the plurality of frames and previously generated determination information; and an output unit that outputs a determination result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Shunya Osawa, Takahiro Otsuka
  • Patent number: 11954482
    Abstract: According to certain aspects, a computer-implemented method for operating an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle may be provided. With the customer's permission, an identity of a vehicle operator may be identified and a vehicle operator profile may be retrieved. Operating data regarding autonomous operation features operating the vehicle may be received from vehicle-mounted sensors. When a request to disable an autonomous feature is received, a risk level for the autonomous feature is determined and compared with a driver behavior setting for the autonomous feature stored in the vehicle operator profile. Based upon the risk level comparison, the autonomous vehicle retains control of vehicle or the autonomous feature is disengaged depending upon which is the safer driver—the autonomous vehicle or the vehicle human occupant. As a result, unsafe disengagement of self-driving functionality for autonomous vehicles may be alleviated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
    Inventors: Brian Mark Fields, Chien Che Huang, Mohamed A. Wazeer, Shawn C. Bennett, Steven Cielocha, Ronny S. Bryant, Stephen Kohaus, Terry Quakenbush, Richard A. Novak, Aaron Scott Chan, Craig M. Main, Weixin Wu, Torri Wollenschlager, Carol Marie Csanda, Stacey Gorsuch, Todd Binion
  • Patent number: 11951993
    Abstract: A vehicular driver monitoring system includes a camera and an electronic control unit. The camera is disposed at an interior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle. The system detects changes at the driver's eyes via processing of image data captured by the camera and determines driver attentiveness based at least in part on detected changes at the driver's eyes. The system functions as a remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) system. Based at least in part on the determined driver attentiveness, and responsive to monitoring the heart rate of the driver, the system determines impairment of the driver's capability to operate the vehicle. The system generates an alert responsive to (i) determination, via the rPPG system, that the driver's heart rate changes greater than a threshold change over a predetermined period of time and/or (ii) determination, via processing of image data captured by the camera, that driver attentiveness is below a threshold level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Magna Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Yuesheng Lu
  • Patent number: 11945383
    Abstract: A control system of a travelling system includes a directional controller, a first sensor, a second sensor, an image-capturing module and a preprocessor. The first sensor is disposed on a reference position. The second sensor and the image-capturing module are disposed on the directional controller. The preprocessor compares a first directional data from the first sensor and a second directional data from the second sensor to obtain a difference value, and provides a photographing parameter to the image-capturing module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: ABILITY ENTERPRISE CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Cheng-Chang Wu
  • Patent number: 11943691
    Abstract: In one aspect, a system for receiving communications while a user operates a motor vehicle is provided. The system may include (1) a BLUETOOTH interface configured to establish a connection to a BLUETOOTH device associated with the motor vehicle, (2) a wireless communication interface configured to receive a wireless communication from a remote device, and (3) a processor coupled to the wireless communication interface and the BLUETOOTH interface, and configured to: (a) determine the user is operating the motor vehicle based upon the connection to the BLUETOOTH device, and (b) suppress a notification of the user of receipt of the wireless communication while the user is operating the motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
    Inventor: Frankie Lockenour
  • Patent number: 11938820
    Abstract: A system for controlling a vehicle includes a microphone, at least one vehicle component, and an interface system communicatively coupled to the microphone and the at least one vehicle component, the interface system configured to detect, via the microphone, an utterance of a vocal command by an occupant of the vehicle, transmit the utterance to at least one of a virtual personal assistant (VPA) of the vehicle and a VPA of a mobile device positioned within the vehicle, receive control signals from at least one of the VPA of the vehicle and the VPA of the mobile device, the control signals generated according to the vocal command, and transmit the control signals to the at least one vehicle component for controlling the at least one vehicle component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rajesh Biswal, Arindam Dasgupta
  • Patent number: 11943420
    Abstract: A user monitoring system receives a first data stream from a first recording device and a second data stream from a second recording device. Each of the first data stream and the second data stream include data relating to an eye of the user. The first data stream and the second data stream overlap temporally. The system processes the first data stream to determine a first blink sequence of the user, processes the second data stream to determine a second blink sequence of the user, and compares the first blink sequence and the second blink sequence to detect a blink pattern present in both the first blink sequence and the second blink sequence. The system determines a temporal offset of the first data stream and the second data stream by comparing respective positions of the blink pattern in the first data stream and the second data stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Tobii AB
    Inventors: Jonas Högström, Erik Alsmyr
  • Patent number: 11933974
    Abstract: An object is to provide an electronic device capable of recognizing a user's facial feature accurately. A glasses-type electronic device includes a first optical component, a second optical component, a frame, an imaging device, a feature extraction unit, and an emotion estimation unit. The frame is in contact with a side surface of the first optical component and a side surface of the second optical component. The imaging device is in contact with the frame and has a function of detecting part of a user's face. The feature extraction unit has a function of extracting a feature of the user's face from the detected part of the user's face. The emotion estimation unit has a function of estimating information on the user from the extracted feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Takayuki Ikeda, Hidetomo Kobayashi, Hideaki Shishido, Kiyotaka Kimura, Takashi Nakagawa, Kosei Nei, Kentaro Hayashi
  • Patent number: 11932139
    Abstract: A device for controlling a vehicle includes a first sensor that senses boarding of a driver, a second sensor that senses alcohol contained in exhalation of the driver, and a controller that sets a location of a seat such that a distance from the second sensor to the driver becomes a predetermined distance. The vehicle control device may control the seat location such that a distance between the driver and a sensing device is maintained to be equal to or less than the predetermined distance when measuring the alcohol to allow the alcoholic ingredient of the driver to be accurately measured, and may arouse awareness of the driver of the alcohol measurement as the seat location is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Gyun Ha Kim
  • Patent number: 11935248
    Abstract: System and methods are provided for detecting occupancy state in a vehicle having an interior passenger compartment the systems and methods include analyzing data of the interior passenger compartment to yield at least one probability of a current occupancy state of said vehicle and further analyzing additional data of the interior passenger compartment to yield predicted probabilities of said occupancy state of said vehicle, wherein each probability of the predicted probabilities relate to the probability of changing said current occupancy state to different occupancy state combining the current at least one probability of the current occupancy state with the predicted probabilities of the occupancy state to yield an updated probability of an updated occupancy state of said vehicle; determining the current occupancy state based on said updated probability of an updated occupancy state of said vehicle and generating an output to control one or more devices or applications based on the determined occupancy sta
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: GENTEX CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yuval Gronau
  • Patent number: 11934576
    Abstract: In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method includes measuring brain activity for a target frequency and a second harmonic frequency based on a default value of display parameters for a plurality of icons, determining whether a strength of the target frequency and the second harmonic frequency are below a threshold level, and modifying one or more display parameters in response to the strength of the target frequency and the second harmonic frequency being below the threshold level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignees: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HEALTH CENTER
    Inventors: Insoo Kim, Hossein Hamidi Shishavan, Kia Golzari, Muhamed Farooq, Ercan M. Dede
  • Patent number: 11919423
    Abstract: An example operation includes one or more of validating, by a transport, a weight distribution of an individual on a bottom of a seat, a position of the individual against a back of the seat and a pressure exerted by the individual on a steering wheel of the transport, and when the weight distribution, the position and the pressure are above a threshold, altering, by the transport, a use of the transport.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventor: Stephen Paul McFarland, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11904877
    Abstract: A vehicle and a method of operating a system operably connected to a personal medical device having a sensor is provided. The vehicle includes an indicator device having at least one of an audio device or visual indicator device. A medical device display interface is coupled to communicate with the personal medical device. A controller is operably coupled to the medical device display interface and the indicator device. The controller is operable to receive a first signal from the medical device display interface and activate the indicator device in response to the first signal including data regarding an undesired condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Inventor: Arnold Chase
  • Patent number: 11906318
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to technology for a navigation system that enhances the safety of drivers using fatigue detection mapping. The navigation system accesses data sources storing map data a route for drivers of one or more first vehicles. Based on the map data, a personalized fatigue map for a driver of a second vehicle is generated based on the map data. The personalized fatigue map displays predicted driver fatigue of the driver of the second vehicle on the route. Drivers in the first and second vehicles are monitored to detect driver fatigue and a level of the driver fatigue is measured according to a calculated fatigue score. When driver fatigue is detected, a recommendation is output to the driver of the second vehicle that is based on the level of the driver fatigue. The personalized fatigue map is updated to reflect the recommendation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chengcheng Jia, Lei Yang, Hai Yu, Wei Huang
  • Patent number: 11896549
    Abstract: A seat device includes a massage mechanism configured to massage a first muscle and a vibration generation mechanism configured to administer a vibratory stimulus having a frequency that causes muscle tone to a second muscle, the second muscle being an antagonist muscle of the first muscle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: AISIN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuo Noso, Takashi Ogiso, Hideaki Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11900468
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for enabling obtainment of a more appropriate compensation for a service. An information processing apparatus includes a reception unit configured to receive health state information regarding a health state of a user, a calculation unit configured to calculate a compensation for a service on the basis of the health state information before getting-in to a vehicle by the user or before presenting the compensation for the service regarding the getting-in to a vehicle to the user, and a transmission unit configured to transmit information indicating the compensation for the service. The present technology can be applied to automobile insurance services.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masato Kimishima
  • Patent number: 11902501
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a controller coupled to a stereoscopic image viewer. The stereoscopic image viewer includes a viewing lens, an image capture unit, and a plurality of light sources. The image capture unit is configured to capture image frames. The controller receives the captured image frames. The controller is configured to switch light output from one of the plurality of light sources to another one of the plurality of light sources if a corneal reflection in a captured image frame intersects a fixed reflection in the captured image frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Heath Feather, Randal P. Goldberg, Alexandre V. Matveev
  • Patent number: 11899206
    Abstract: A display device of the disclosure is a display device to be mounted on a vehicle, and includes a display panel, a first input unit, a second input unit, a third input unit, and a controller. The first input unit is configured so as to acquire an engine rotation speed. The second input unit is configured so as to acquire a vehicle speed. The third input unit is configured so as to acquire a shift position of a transmission of a vehicle. The controller is configured so that a first image representing the engine rotation speed and one or more second images representing the vehicle speed are combined and a combined image is displayed on the display panel. The controller is configured so that switching of the second images is carried out based on the shift position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventors: Kaoru Kusafuka, Sunao Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 11891060
    Abstract: An apparatus includes at least one camera configured to capture an image of a traffic lane in front of a vehicle. The apparatus also includes a vehicle behavior prediction controller configured to determine lane boundaries and road curvature for a segment of a traffic lane occupied by the vehicle from the captured image and prior captured images; determine lateral distances of the vehicle from the lane boundaries and a rate of departure of the vehicle from the occupied traffic lane that is accurate for the determined road curvature; determine a time to line crossing for the vehicle from the lateral distances and the rate of departure; and activate a lane departure warning indicator based on the determined time to line crossing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Canoo Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Kilsoo Kim, Jongmoo Choi, Lei Cao, Mayukh Sattiraju, Dheemanth Uppalapati, Aviral Singh
  • Patent number: 11884285
    Abstract: Described herein are various techniques, including systems and non-transitory instructions, that, in response to obtaining information regarding a potential collision between a vehicle and an object, obtain data describing the vehicle for a time period extending before and after a time of the potential collision. The system may determine a likelihood that the potential collision is a non-collision event based on the data describing the vehicle by performing one or more assessments. The assessments may include telematics monitor assessment, driver behavior assessment, road surface feature assessment, trip correlation assessment, and/or context assessment. In response to determining that the likelihood indicates that the potential collision is not a non-collision event, the system may trigger one or more actions responding to the potential collision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Geotab Inc.
    Inventors: Willem Petersen, Harjot Singh Parmar, Amish Vijay Patel, Meghan Frances Fotak, Paul Stobbe, Robert Spencer Hockin
  • Patent number: 11885689
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a wearable device with combined sensing capabilities, which includes a wearable assembly and at least one multi-function sensor module. The wearable assembly is suitable to be worn on apart of a user's body. The wearable assembly includes at least one light-transmissible window. The multi-function sensor module is located inside the wearable assembly, for performing an image sensing function and an infrared temperature sensing function. The multi-function sensor module includes an image sensor module for sensing a physical or a biological feature of an object through the light-transmissible window by way of image sensing; and an infrared temperature sensor module for sensing temperature through the light-transmissible window by way of infrared temperature sensing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: PIXART IMAGING INCORPORATION
    Inventors: Chih-Ming Sun, Ming-Han Tsai
  • Patent number: 11881093
    Abstract: A vehicle system includes: smoke sensors located at different locations within a passenger cabin of a vehicle and configured to measure amounts of cigarette smoke at the locations, respectively, within the passenger cabin of the vehicle; and a smoking module configured to, based on the measured amounts of cigarette smoke, determine that: a smoking event occurred at a first location within the passenger cabin; and the smoking event did not occur at a second location that is different than the first location within the passenger cabin of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: DENSO International America, Inc.
    Inventors: Sibu Varughese, Martín Nespolo, Thomas Krzyzak, Gareth Webb, Wilson Yim, Matthew Johnson
  • Patent number: 11878699
    Abstract: A system may include sensors that may acquire health data related to an individual. The system may also include a processor that may receive trip data associated with a current location of the individual and a destination location for the individual, traffic condition data associated with routes between the current location and the destination location, and weather related data associated with the routes. The processor may also receive the health data from the sensors and determine whether the individual is associated with a driver assessment score above a threshold based on the trip data, the traffic condition data, the weather data, the health data, or any combination thereof. The processor may then send an activation signal to a vehicle control system in response to the driver assessment score being above the threshold, such that the activation signal may enable the vehicle control system to control operations of a vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Seth E. Ethington, William Daniel Farmer, Pooja Krishnaswamy, Timothy Shiveley, Anto Chirayil Thomas, Daniel Scott Veibell
  • Patent number: 11874271
    Abstract: In an aspect, an apparatus for human performance exhalation sensing is presented. An apparatus includes a housing. A housing includes an inlet tube configured to receive exhaled gas from an individual. A housing includes a sensing device positioned within an inlet tube, wherein the sensing device is configured to detect a breath parameter. A housing includes at least a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the at least a processor. A memory contains instructions configuring at least a processor to receive a breath parameter from a sensing device through a communicative connection. At least a processor is configured to compare a breath parameter to a performance metric. At least a processor is configured to generate a performance determination of an individual as a function of a comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Inventors: Bradford R. Everman, Brian Scott Bradke
  • Patent number: 11875548
    Abstract: A system for an attention-based perception includes a camera device configured to provide an image of an operating environment of a vehicle. The system further includes a computerized device monitoring the image, analyzing sensor data to identify a feature in the image as corresponding to an object in the operating environment and assign a score for the feature based upon an identification, a location, or a behavior of the object. The computerized device is further operable to define candidate regions of interest upon the image, correlate the score for the feature to the candidate regions of interest to accrue a total region score, select some of the candidate regions for analysis based upon the total region scores, and analyze the portion of the candidate regions to generate a path of travel output. The system further includes a device controlling the vehicle based upon the output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Wei Tong, Shige Wang, Shuqing Zeng
  • Patent number: 11866055
    Abstract: A vehicle device may execute one or more neural networks (and/or other artificial intelligence), based on input from one or more of the cameras and/or other sensors, to intelligently detect safety events in real-time. The one or more neural networks may be an ensemble neural network that includes neural networks for detecting a head and hand of a user, neural networks for detecting hand actions of the user, neural networks for detecting the head pose of the user, neural networks for predicting an occurrence of an event, and neural networks for predicting a start time and end time of the event. Further, the neural networks can be segmented into a modular neural network based on metadata. The segmentation of the neural network can define a thin layer of the modular neural network to enable independent tuning of the thin layer of the modular neural network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Samsara Inc.
    Inventors: Sharan Srinivasan, Brian Tuan, John Bicket, Jing Wang, Muhammad Ali Akhtar, Abner Ayala Acevedo, Bruce Kellerman, Vincent Shieh
  • Patent number: 11858349
    Abstract: A head-up display system for displaying graphics upon a windscreen of a vehicle to provide a driver with a gamified experience includes a driver monitoring system including one or more cameras that determine a location of a head of the driver of the vehicle and an eye location of the driver, a graphic projection module for generating images upon the windscreen of the vehicle, and one or more controllers in electronic communication with the driver monitoring system and the graphic projection module. The controller executes instructions to instruct the graphic projection module to generate a vertical alignment graphic upon the windscreen of the vehicle. The vertical alignment graphic indicates when the eye location of the driver is positioned at a nominal height of an eyebox of the head-up display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Guy N. Kennerly, Kai-Han Chang, James W. Wells, Thomas A Seder
  • Patent number: 11861916
    Abstract: A method for monitoring driver alertness in a vehicle is disclosed. Image data representing images of an eye of a driver are obtained, the images having been captured while the driver is operating the vehicle. An eye openness measure of the eye of the driver is computed, based on the image data. A determination is made that the driver is in an unsafe state for driving based on the eye openness measure, and an alert is generated, while the driver is operating the vehicle, based on determining that the driver is in the unsafe state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sai Anitha Kiron Vedantam, Sivashankar Yoganathan, Anand Ganesan Kaygee
  • Patent number: 11851057
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a method for operating a lane-keeping assistance device of a motor vehicle including activating a lane-keeping assistance device, and checking whether at least one predefinable enabling criterion for enabling an actuation of the lane-keeping assistance device for triggering a steering intervention is fulfilled in response to a trigger signal for actuating the lane-keeping assistance device for triggering a steering intervention being established. The method includes enabling an actuation of the lane-keeping assistance device for triggering a steering intervention in response to at least one predefinable enabling criterion for enabling an actuation of the lane-keeping assistance device being fulfilled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Reimund Limbacher, Artur Burczyk
  • Patent number: 11853645
    Abstract: A machine is configured to identify a media file that, when played to a user, is likely to modify an emotional or physical state of the user to or towards a target emotional or physical state. The machine accesses play counts that quantify playbacks of media files for the user. The playbacks may be locally performed or detected by the machine from ambient sound. The machine accesses arousal scores of the media files and determines a distribution of the play counts over the arousal scores. The machine uses one or more relative maxima in the distribution in selecting a target arousal score for the user based on contextual data that describes an activity of the user. The machine selects one or more media files based on the target arousal score. The machine may then cause the selected media file to be played to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Gracenote, Inc.
    Inventors: Aneesh Vartakavi, Peter C. DiMaria, Michael Gubman, Markus K. Cremer, Cameron Aubrey Summers, Gregoire Tronel
  • Patent number: 11847840
    Abstract: A distracted driver can be informed of his or her distraction by a visual notification. It can be detected whether a driver of a vehicle is focused on a non-critical object located within the vehicle. In response to detecting that the driver of the vehicle is focused on a non-critical object located within the vehicle, an amount of time the driver is focused on the non-critical object can be determined. When the amount of time exceeds a threshold amount of time, a visual notification of distracted driving can be caused to be presented on or visually adjacent to the non-critical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yasuda, Manuel Ludwig Kuehner
  • Patent number: 11845398
    Abstract: An embodiment vehicle control system includes a drinking measurement terminal provided in a vehicle, a user terminal including a photographing unit, and a server configured to determine whether to approve a key authority for the vehicle to a user based on a facial image of the user, in response to a key authority request for the vehicle and the facial image of the user being received from the user terminal, generate a door control signal for the vehicle based on whether the key authority for the user has been approved, determine whether the user meets driving suitability requirements based on a drinking measurement result provided by the drinking measurement terminal and the facial image of the user received from the user terminal, and generate a driving control signal based on whether the user meets the driving suitability requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventor: Jaegwan Kim
  • Patent number: 11847211
    Abstract: A platform comprising numerous reconfigurable circuit components arranged to operate as primary and redundant circuits is provided. The platform further comprises security circuitry arranged to monitor the primary circuit for anomalies and reconfigurable circuit arranged to disconnect the primary circuit from a bus responsive to detection of an anomaly. Furthermore, the present disclosure provides for the quarantine, refurbishment and designation as redundant, the anomalous circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Marcio Juliato, Manoj Sastry, Shabbir Ahmed, Christopher Gutierrez, Qian Wang, Vuk Lesi
  • Patent number: 11845442
    Abstract: Systems and methods for driver presence and position detection are disclosed herein. A method can include determining a presence and a position of a driver in a sensing zone of a vehicle using a sensor platform integrated into the vehicle, determining when the position of the driver indicates that the driver is not in a fully-seated position relative to a driver's seat of the vehicle, and selectively adjusting a vehicle parameter of the vehicle based on the driver not being in a fully-seated position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ryan Edwin Hanson, Pietro Buttolo, John Robert Van Wiemeersch
  • Patent number: 11840145
    Abstract: A system for providing driver status to a driver of a vehicle includes a data processor, a plurality of sensors mounted within the vehicle and adapted to send vehicle information to the data processor, a driver monitoring system within the vehicle adapted to send driver information to the data processor, the data processor further adapted to collect information from external sources via a wireless data communication network, and a driver state display adapted to receive information from the data processor and to display a short-term status indicator, a long-term status indicator and contextual information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Daniel S. Glaser, Joseph F. Szczerba, James V. Roell, Maureen Elizabeth August, Paul Gill, Yi Guo Glaser
  • Patent number: 11834059
    Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a vehicle using a smart shoe device. For example, some embodiments of the application may monitor operation of a vehicle system and monitor operation of a smart shoe device. The process may determine that the smart shoe device is within a threshold period of time of performing an future action associated with commanding movement of the vehicle and enable a response by the vehicle based on the future action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Manuel Ludwig Kuehner, Hiroshi Yasuda
  • Patent number: 11837231
    Abstract: Methods and systems for determining an emotion of a human driver of a vehicle and using the emotion for generating a vehicle response, is provided. One example method includes processing captured voice data from the human driver over a period of time while the human driver operates the vehicle. The method includes analyzing the voice data to assist in prediction of the emotion of the human driver. The method includes generating the vehicle response. The vehicle response is selected in part based on the emotion that was predicted for the human driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Emerging Automotive, LLC
    Inventors: Angel A. Penilla, Albert S. Penilla
  • Patent number: 11834073
    Abstract: The autonomous driving system includes an internal vehicle camera, a vehicle detection device, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial direction or a line of sight of the driver, judge whether the driver has checked safety of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the angle, and control autonomous driving of the vehicle. The processor is configured to start a lane change of the vehicle when it is judged that the driver has checked the safety of the surroundings of the vehicle. The processor is configured to judge that the driver has checked the safety when a first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has not been detected in a destination lane, and judge that the driver has checked the safety when a second condition more severe than the first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has been detected in the destination lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yutaro Tsugawa, Kenichiroh Hara, Kazuhiro Tomosue
  • Patent number: 11834053
    Abstract: An electronic device for monitoring the behavior of a driver is adapted to be carried on board a vehicle and to be connected to a sensor of at least one image of the driver's head and to at least one light source positioned within a passenger compartment of the vehicle. The monitoring device includes: a module for detecting abnormal behavior of the driver, from at least one image of his head acquired by the image sensor(s); a stimulation module configured, following the detection of said abnormal behavior, to command the emission of at least one light signal by switching on at least one respective light source according to an initial stimulation level; and a module for evaluating a reaction of the driver, on the basis of at least one image of the driver's head following the emission of the light signal(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: FAURECIA INTERIEUR INDUSTRIE
    Inventors: Omar Ben Abdelaziz, Nour Besbes
  • Patent number: 11827230
    Abstract: A system and method of detecting an anti-circumvention attempt associated with an ignition interlock device of a vehicle. The method comprises detecting an electrical parameter associated with an electrical power state of the vehicle electrical system that includes the ignition interlock device having at least a relay device and a controller device electrically interconnected within the vehicle electrical system; comparing, responsive to the detecting, the electrical parameter to a threshold condition; inferring an IID circumvention event in accordance with the electrical parameter being one of above and below the threshold condition, and reporting, responsive to the inferring, the IID circumvention event to a central monitoring server computing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Consumer Safety Technology, LLC
    Inventors: David Livingston Smith, Carol A. Vokes
  • Patent number: 11820383
    Abstract: Apparatus detecting driving incapability state of a driver includes: a head detection portion that successively detects a head portion, which is higher than a neck of the driver, based on an image of a driver's seat captured by an imaging device mounted in a vehicle; and an out-of-frame state detection portion that detects that the driver is incapable of driving, when the head portion detected by the head detection portion is out of a predetermined scope in the image during travelling of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroto Banno, Takuhiro Omi, Yutaka Munaoka, Takeshi Enya
  • Patent number: 11823468
    Abstract: A driver status warning system includes a memory storing camera position data; an integrated controller configured to generate a motor driving signal corresponding to the camera position data; a camera assembly embedded in an A-pillar of a vehicle and including an electric motor configured to generate a rotational force according to the motor driving signal, a screw bar configured to be rotated by the rotational force, and a camera configured to be moved upward or downward on the A-pillar by the rotation of the screw bar assembly; and a facial recognition module configured to analyze an image of a driver's face captured by the camera to sense the driver's condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Myeong Nam Woo
  • Patent number: 11813088
    Abstract: A grip includes a core that forms a structure of the grip and has electrical conductivity, a sensing electrode for detecting a biological signal of a user, and a ground electrode that is connected with a reference voltage portion. The core, the sensing electrode and the ground electrode are insulated from one another. The core is disposed inside the grip, and the sensing electrode is exposed on a surface of the grip. The sensing electrode and the core are connected with one another via a voltage follower circuit. The ground electrode is located at such a position that the core is able to reduce a parasitic capacitance which would be formed between the ground electrode and the sensing electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYODA GOSEI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chikara Saburi, Rie Ono, Takamitsu Murai, Tatsuya Nobunaga, Kentaro Mizuno
  • Patent number: 11816725
    Abstract: The method for managing the rental of vehicles (1), comprising at least one step of collecting at least one point of data relating to the vehicle (1), one step of transferring said data to a rental vehicle management center (4), and one step of sending at least one instruction from the management center (4) to the vehicle, characterized in that it also comprises at least one step of collecting and sending at least one point of data relating to the user of the vehicle (1) to the management center (4) and one step of sending the user a final updated rate according to the data received by the management center (4). The invention also relates to a device for implementing the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: LOJELIS HOLDING
    Inventor: Sylvain Jourdy
  • Patent number: 11807277
    Abstract: Provided is a driving assistance apparatus (a control unit (100)) for a vehicle capable of hands-off driving that lets a driver take his or her hands off the steering wheel. The driving assistance apparatus includes a processor (10) configured to determine, on the basis of sensor information indicating a state of the driver, whether or not the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring of the vehicle during the hands-off driving, warn the driver through a notification device when it is determined that the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring, and notify the driver, through the notification device, of a request for holding the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichiroh Hara, Naruhisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tomosue, Shunichiroh Sawai, Naoki Nishimura, Takanori Kusakabe, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Shogo Konishi, Hirofumi Mori
  • Patent number: 11807090
    Abstract: A test system for detecting impairment aboard a motor vehicle includes an electronic control unit (ECU) and sensors in communication therewith. The sensors are positioned within a vehicle interior, and include at least a touch screen and a microphone, and possibly an eye-tracking camera. In response to receiving a start request indicative of a requested start event of the motor vehicle, the ECU executes instructions to initiate a cognitive response test via the sensors. The ECU determines a test score of a driver during the test while the motor vehicle remains off, compares the test score to baseline scores to determine a passing or failing test result, and executes a control action aboard the motor vehicle in response to the passing or failing test result. The ECU may disable or immobilize the motor vehicle in response to the failing test result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Patrick Minjeur, David H. Clifford
  • Patent number: 11810596
    Abstract: A method for training a speech-emotion recognition classifier under a continuously updatable and re-trainable ASER machine learning model. The quantified training data is generated by first processing the utterances of a human speech source and the associated texts in an emotion evaluation and rating process with normalization; then, extracting the features of the utterance; quantifying the feature attributes of the extracted features by labelling, tagging, and weighting the feature attributes, with their values assigned under measurable scales. The quantified training data comprises the normalized results of the emotion evaluation and rating process, the extracted features, the quantified emotional feature attributes, and the hash values of the quantified emotional feature attributes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited
    Inventors: Ironside Hoi Yeung Lam, Ho Pong Sze, Chun Chung Ho
  • Patent number: 11801013
    Abstract: A system and method of deploying a portable breath alcohol monitoring device. The method comprises inferring a rate of motion associated with the portable breath alcohol monitoring device; initiating, at a display screen of the portable breath alcohol monitoring device when the rate of motion is above a predetermined threshold, a request for a breath sample; determining, responsive to the request for the breath sample at the portable breath alcohol monitoring device, a violation; and reporting the violation to a remote server communicatively coupled to the portable breath alcohol monitoring device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Consumer Safety Technology, LLC
    Inventor: Kimberly Williams
  • Patent number: 11793468
    Abstract: A system and method of deploying a portable monitoring device. The method comprises inferring a rate of motion associated with the portable monitoring device; initiating, at a display screen of the portable monitoring device when the rate of motion is above a predetermined threshold, an image capture request; determining, responsive to the image capture request, a violation; and reporting the violation to a remote server communicatively coupled to the portable monitoring device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Consumer Safety Technology, LLC
    Inventor: Kimberly Williams
  • Patent number: 11789009
    Abstract: Embodiments include breath intoxicant monitoring systems and methods of operating a breath intoxicant monitoring system. In an embodiment, a breath intoxicant monitoring system, includes a first detection element, a second detection element, and a control module. The first detection element can be operable to detect a level of an intoxicant in a user's breath and to provide a continuous signal indicating the level of intoxicant. The second detection element can be operable to detect a level of the intoxicant. The second detection element includes a different type of element than the first detection element. The second detection element can have greater accuracy than the first detection element. The control module to selectively operate the second detection element based on the signal received from the first detection element, and to indicate whether the level of intoxicant in the user's breath exceeds a threshold. Other embodiments are also included herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Consumer Safety Technology, LLC
    Inventors: Scott Ruland, Douglas Edward DeVries