Patents Assigned to For Global Technologies, LLC
  • Publication number: 20240416894
    Abstract: Systems and methods for implementing reverse dig mode and/or reverse drive mode. Reverse dig mode may involve determining an inner front wheel and outer front wheel relative to steering controls and simultaneously applying a forward torque to the inner front wheel of the vehicle and a reverse torque to the outer front wheel of the vehicle. Reverse drive mode may involve determining steering controls of a vehicle and applying inverted controls to the rear wheels of the vehicle that provides a simulated sense that the driver is handling the vehicle in the forward direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Aed M. Dudar, Thomas G. Leone
  • Publication number: 20240417556
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed towards thermoplastic compositions comprising: a virgin raw polymer, wherein the virgin raw polymer comprises a hydrogenation-catalyst treated polyethylene and a recycled polyethylene wherein the recycled polyethylene comprises either a first blend of polyethylenes recovered from post-consumer material, a second blend of polyethylenes recovered from pre-consumer material, or a combination of the first and second blends.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2022
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Dow Global Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Yongchao Zeng, Andrew T. Heitsch, Bo Liu, Mridula Kapur
  • Publication number: 20240416997
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a vehicle body having a wheel well. The vehicle includes a linear actuator supported by the vehicle body vehicle-rearward of the wheel well. The vehicle includes a first member extending between a first end and a second end, the first end pivotally connected to the vehicle body. The vehicle includes a second member extending between a first end and a second end, the first end of the second member pivotally connected to the second end of the first member, the second end of the second member connected to the linear actuator. The linear actuator, the first member, and the second member movable from a stowed position toward the wheel well to a deployed position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mohammad Omar Faruque, S.M. Iskander Farooq, Dean M. Jaradi
  • Publication number: 20240416787
    Abstract: Systems and methods for optimizing transportation efficiency, for example, in the context of energy shortages. Techniques described herein may involve determining a high-price threshold is exceeded, identifying different vehicle types (e.g., high-efficiency vehicles, large battery capacity vehicles, etc.), prioritizing vehicles designated for charging and discharging, respectively, setting vehicle calibrations accordingly, and tracking/reporting performance relative to baselines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Dominique Meroux, Kai Wu, Chen Zhang
  • Publication number: 20240416716
    Abstract: A telescopic duct for a vehicle, the telescopic duct comprising a first duct fluidly coupled with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning unit. The first duct comprises a flanged rim, a first body extending outwardly from the flanged rim, at least one stop tab coupled with the first body, and a first gasket. The telescopic duct comprises a second duct slidably coupled with the first duct. The second duct comprises a second body engaged with the first gasket, at least one catch tab coupled with the second body, and a catch pin coupled with the second body. The telescopic duct further comprises a third duct slidably coupled with the second duct. The third duct comprises a second gasket coupled with the third duct, the second gasket engaged with the second duct, and a third body defining a groove, the groove slidably engaged with the catch pin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Scott A. Clark
  • Publication number: 20240417054
    Abstract: A surveillance system is disclosed. The surveillance system may include a power source, a tether and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The tether may include tether proximal distal ends. The tether may obtain power from the power source via a tether connection unit connected to the tether distal end. The UAV may be removably attached to the tether proximal end and configured to obtain power from the tether. The UAV may obtain a trigger signal to follow a target object. The UAV may maneuver UAV movement to follow the target object responsive to obtaining the trigger signal. The UAV may additionally determine that a distance between the UAV and the tether connection unit may be equivalent to a tether length when the UAV may be following the target object. The UAV may detach from the tether when the distance may be equivalent to the tether length.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: John Robert Van Wiemeersch, Robert Bruce Kleve, Brendan Diamond, Keith Weston, Stuart C. Salter
  • Publication number: 20240419166
    Abstract: A fleet management system is disclosed. The system may include a transceiver configured to receive vehicle information from each vehicle of a vehicle fleet and environmental condition information associated with each vehicle. The fleet management system may further include a processor configured to obtain the vehicle information and the environmental condition information, and predict a future vehicle efficiency and a future vehicle health of each vehicle. Based on the prediction, the processor may calculate first resources required to operate the vehicle fleet according to a current fleet allocation. The processor may determine an updated fleet allocation for the vehicle fleet, and calculate second resources required to operate the vehicle fleet according to the updated fleet allocation. The processor may transmit an instruction to at least vehicle of the vehicle fleet to re-locate based on the updated fleet allocation when the second resources may be less than the first resources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stuart C. Salter, Sanjay Dayal, Pietro Buttolo, Ryan O'Gorman, Brendan Diamond, Peter Phung
  • Publication number: 20240416763
    Abstract: A system for an electrified vehicle, such as a battery electric vehicle (BEV), includes an inverter configured to drive a motor having motor windings with electrical power from a battery according to a configuration of a power switch of the inverter. The system further includes a capacitor connected between a center-tap of the battery and a neutral-point of the motor winding whereby the capacitor and the motor windings form an LC circuit. The system further includes a controller configured to operate the power switch in a zero-current-switching mode with a switching frequency dependent on a resonant frequency of the LC circuit to thereby cause electrical current to circulate between the battery, the inverter, and the motor which heats the battery and the motor windings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Baoming Ge, Petros G. Taskas
  • Publication number: 20240416849
    Abstract: A vehicle includes at least one camera that captures at least one image of a region external to the vehicle. The vehicle includes an environmental control system of the vehicle having at least one of lighting control and climate control for the vehicle. The vehicle includes control circuitry configured to process a first set of images of the plurality of images at a first sampling rate, determine a brightness condition of the region external to the vehicle based on processing the first set of images, process a second set of images of the plurality of images at a second sampling rate different than the first sampling rate, detect a shift in the brightness condition based on the second set of images, and control the environmental control system in response to the shift in the brightness condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mahmoud Yousef Ghannam, Robert Schroeter, Justin Miller, Anna Marie-Sophia Hoff
  • Publication number: 20240416718
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a compartment having a first space having a first environmental condition and a second space having a second environmental condition. At least one camera captures a first image of a first part of a region external to the vehicle and a second image of a second part of the region. The first part of the region aligns with the first space, and the second part of the region aligns with the second space. An environmental control system of the vehicle has at least one of lighting control and climate control. Control circuitry is configured to determine brightness conditions of the region based on the first image and the second image and control the environmental control system to adjust the environmental conditions based on the brightness conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Robert Schroeter, Mahmoud Yousef Ghannam, Justin Miller
  • Publication number: 20240419171
    Abstract: A docking system is provided. The docking system includes a docking station and an autonomous mobile robot (AMR). The AMR includes a body, a mount movably coupled to the body, a sensor coupled to the mount and having a field-of-view, a processor, and a memory. The memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including employ the sensor to scan the docking station, cause the mount to move independently with respect to the body in order to center the field-of-view on the docking station, and dock the AMR at the docking station using the centered field-of-view.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Sanghyun Hong, Kurt Michael Lundeen
  • Publication number: 20240420285
    Abstract: A first image of a scene captured by a first camera is received. The first image is resized to have an instantaneous field of view (IFoV) corresponding to the IFoV of a second image of the scene captured by a second camera. A distortion-corrected resized first image is constructed. A resampled distortion-corrected, resized first image is constructed to provide a resampled, distortion-corrected, resized first image, thereby registering first image to the second image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mark Gehrke, David Hiskens
  • Publication number: 20240416855
    Abstract: A vehicle having a vehicle power system is disclosed. The vehicle may include a battery and the vehicle power system configured to transfer power from the battery to an external accessory connected to the vehicle power system. The vehicle may further include a processor configured to obtain a vehicle power system usage rule set or a vehicle power system usage request from a user device associated with a user to use the vehicle power system, via a wireless communication network. The processor may be further configured to control a vehicle power system operation based on the vehicle power system usage rule set or the vehicle power system usage request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: December 19, 2024
    Applicant: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stuart C. Salter, Vyas Darshan Shenoy, Brendan Diamond, Todd Ansbacher, David Celinske
  • Patent number: 12169986
    Abstract: A computer is programmed to receive a plurality of first values for a respective plurality of variables transmitted over a communications network of a vehicle; determine a similarity measure between the first values and a plurality of second values of the variables; determine whether to transmit a collection of data transmitted over the communications network based on the similarity measure; and, upon so determining, transmit the collection of data to a server remote from the vehicle. The second values are a most similar set of values from an activation surface for a feature of the vehicle. The activation surface is a surface in a space defined by the variables dividing the space into regions in which activation of the feature is more or less likely than not, respectively, to have occurred when the variables have values in that region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicolas Salciccioli, David Michael Herman, Yashanshu Jain, Aaron L. Mills
  • Patent number: 12168389
    Abstract: A ventilation system and method of purging volatile organic compounds from an interior space of the vehicle. The ventilation space including an air extractor connected to a vehicle wall and having an interior side within the interior space defined by the vehicle wall, a fan attached to the interior side, and a controller configured to operate in a shipping mode to activate the fan to generate ventilation flow through the air extractor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Scott Christopher Sterbenz, Eric Jay MacLean, Daniel Ferretti, Timothy James Hallifax, Gary D. Mullen
  • Patent number: 12170456
    Abstract: An energy system of a building includes a power storage device, and a controller that, during a period of time for which energy costs are lowest, charges a power storage device to a maximum state of charge, and during a period of time for which energy costs are not lowest and an immediate subsequent period of time is predicted to have higher energy costs, charges the power storage device to a target state of charge that is less than the maximum state of charge and that depends on predicted power demand during the subsequent period of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Lan Yu, Michael W. Degner
  • Patent number: 12168408
    Abstract: A mold assembly, for an overhead console button carrier having a unitary body, includes a cavity side and a core side. The core side includes at least one zero draft core insert, a first buried retractor mechanism and a first slide mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Satyanarayana Raju Vemulapati, Todd Jared Konet, Derren Woods, Wei Xu, Alex Lince
  • Patent number: 12169574
    Abstract: The disclosure is generally directed to systems and methods associated with communicating privacy rights pertaining to data captured from a vehicle. An example method executed by a processor of a data capture apparatus in a vehicle can include capturing an image. In an example scenario, the image may include an individual who is located outside the vehicle. Furthermore, in some cases, the image can be a part of a video clip containing multiple images. The method further includes generating an identifier for identifying the image(s). The identifier can be a machine-readable symbol such as, for example, a QR-code symbol or a barcode. A notification that includes the identifier may be generated and conveyed to the individual for use by the individual to exercise his/her rights to privacy with respect to the images in which he/she is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Katharina Mitschker, Ryan Sorsby, David Michael Herman
  • Patent number: 12168377
    Abstract: The disclosure generally pertains to a robotic vehicle. An example robotic vehicle has a base platform that includes at least a chassis, an actuator, a sensor, and a controller. The chassis includes a first wheel that is attached to a first section of the chassis and further includes a second wheel attached to a second section of the chassis. The actuator has a proximal end attached to the first section of the chassis and a distal end attached to the second section of the chassis. The sensor is configured to obtain information associated with a stair structure located on a traversal path of the robotic vehicle. The controller evaluates the information obtained by the sensor and operates the actuator to vary a separation distance between the first section of the chassis and the second section of the chassis so as to enable the robotic vehicle to traverse the stair structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Smruti Panigrahi, Kurt Lundeen, Sanghyun Hong, Yifan Chen
  • Patent number: 12169754
    Abstract: This disclosure is generally directed to systems and methods related to tool tracking. In an example embodiment, a method may involve detecting, by a tool monitoring device, a failure of a wireless communication system included in a tool that is stored in an enclosure. The tool monitoring device may determine that the failure is attributable to a temperature in the enclosure being outside an operating temperature range of the wireless communication system. A notification of the failure and/or a description of a cause for the failure may be displayed on a display screen of the tool monitoring device and/or transmitted to a tool tracking device. In an example implementation, the tool tracking device is located outside a vehicle, the enclosure is a toolbox placed in the vehicle, and the tool monitoring device, which is configured to monitor an operational status of the wireless communication system, is located in the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: John Robert Van Wiemeersch, Jake Schwartz, Aaron Matthew DeLong