Patents Assigned to Trimble Inc.
  • Patent number: 10817732
    Abstract: An image may be obtained from one or more cameras coupled to a first vehicle. The image may be provided as input to a machine learning algorithm configured to determine whether an object depicted in the image corresponds to another vehicle and to determine size information and location information for the object. Output from the machine learning algorithm enables obtaining features including size and location information for a second vehicle that is identified in the image. The features may be used to determine whether the second vehicle is depicted within a predetermined region of the image including a predicted travel path of the first vehicle. The features may also be used to determine whether the second vehicle is within a predetermined proximity of the first vehicle. Thereafter, a determination may be generated as to whether there is a significant risk of collision between the first vehicle and the second vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Miles Porter, Anne Hunt
  • Patent number: 10788591
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses and computer programs are disclosed for estimating, or at least for generating information usable to estimate, the heading of at least one axis of interest of a rigid body. Rigid body is equipped with an antenna of a navigation satellite system (NSS) receiver, and with sensor equipment comprising sensors such as a gyroscope, an angle sensor, and accelerometers, depending on the form of the invention. Rigid body is subject to a known motion comprising causing a point's horizontal position to change, the point being referred to as “point B”, while keeping another point's position, the point being referred to as “point A”, fixed relative to the Earth. Considering the motion constraint, an estimation of the heading is generated using sensor equipment data and NSS receiver data. The estimation of the heading may for example be used to estimate the position of any point of rigid body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventor: Lorenz Görcke
  • Patent number: 10780914
    Abstract: A method of detecting steering wheel angle instability in an auto-guided vehicle includes measuring a steering wheel angle at a plurality of time instances within a pre-determined time window to obtain an array of values of the steering wheel angle, performing a frequency analysis of the array of values of the steering wheel angle to obtain a frequency spectrum of the steering wheel angle, comparing the frequency spectrum of the steering wheel angle to a pre-defined threshold frequency spectrum to determine whether a magnitude of the frequency spectrum of the steering wheel angle at any frequency exceeds a magnitude of the threshold frequency spectrum, and upon determining that a magnitude of the frequency spectrum of the steering wheel angle at one or more frequencies exceeds a magnitude of the pre-defined threshold frequency spectrum, determining that a steering wheel angle instability is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Brandon Sights, Justin Creaby
  • Patent number: 10782417
    Abstract: Methods for determining corrected positions of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover using a GNSS base station and one or more GNSS reference stations include determining a statistical representation of position measurements from the GNSS reference stations and an instantaneous position measurement from the GNSS reference stations. A position correction is determined based on the statistical representation and the instantaneous position measurement. A corrected position of the GNSS rover is determined based on a position of the GNSS rover and the position correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Cash, Stuart Riley, Vivek Nadkarni
  • Patent number: 10775299
    Abstract: A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is added to a weed control system for calibrating the weed control system. A detector generates an electrical signal based on receiving light emitted by the LED. An electronically-tunable capacitor of a bandpass filter is adjusted based the signal received from the detector to adjust a center frequency of the bandpass filter so that light from an optical source, different from the LED, can more efficiently be detected by the weed control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventor: James G. Quaderer
  • Patent number: 10761213
    Abstract: A navigation satellite system, one or more NSS reference station is set out for providing information to one or more rover receivers. The NSS reference station comprises a processing unit configured to determine one or more first range intervals representing first ambiguity windows based on estimated atmospheric effects, and determine one or more second range intervals representing a second ambiguity window smaller than each of the first ambiguity windows based on uncertainties of range measurements within a predetermined previous period. The NSS reference station further comprises a transmission unit configured to transmit, to the NSS rover receivers, first messages each comprising a modulo a first ambiguity window, and transmission of two first messages, to range measurement transmit between the NSS rover receiver, a plurality of second messages, each second message comprising a range measurement modulo one of the second ambiguity windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventor: Kendall Ferguson
  • Patent number: 10761543
    Abstract: Systems and methods for steering a mobile agricultural machine to align a guidance point with a guidance line. One method includes setting the guidance point and setting the guidance line. The method also includes receiving, from an orientation sensor mounted on the mobile agricultural machine, orientation information including one or both of a pitch angle and a roll angle of the mobile agricultural machine. The method further includes calculating an orientation correction based on the orientation information. The method also includes modifying the guidance point using the orientation correction and steering the mobile agricultural machine to align the modified guidance point with the guidance line and/or modifying the guidance line using the orientation correction and steering the mobile agricultural machine to align the guidance point with the modified guidance line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Dietrich Schaff, Doug Brewer, Jeremy Hopper
  • Patent number: 10755057
    Abstract: A system for managing kinematic assets is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system comprises an electronic identification device associated with an asset. The system further comprises a container comprising a reader disposed within the container for receiving a unique identification of the identification device. The container further comprises a reader node for maintaining an inventory record comprising the asset and for generating a report when the asset is not detected by said reader. The report further comprises a location of the container when said report is generated. The system further comprises a kinematic asset management platform comprising an asset registry for storing data conveyed by the report and a reports engine for generating a second report conveying the location of said container when the report is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: James C. Reynolds, Gary Dennis, Prakash Iyer
  • Patent number: 10753752
    Abstract: A system for providing manual guidance of a vehicle includes a first inertial measurement unit (IMU) attached to a steering wheel, a second IMU attached to a fixed part of the vehicle, a global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receiver, a data storage device for storing a pre-planned path, and a feedback module. The feedback module is configured to determine a current angle of the steering wheel, determine a deviation of the current position of the vehicle from the pre-planned path, determine a current heading of the vehicle, determine a current velocity of the vehicle, and determine a desired angle of the steering wheel relative to the vehicle. The system further includes a user interface configured to provide a visual indication of the desired angle of the steering wheel or a deviation of the current angle of the steering wheel from the desired angle of the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Michael F. Cash, Shannon Smith
  • Patent number: 10705222
    Abstract: A GNSS receiver for generating distance estimates from multiple GNSS satellites. The GNSS receiver includes an antenna and an RF front end coupled to the antenna configured to generate a plurality of samples related to a received signal. The GNSS receiver includes a correlator coupled to the RF front end configured to perform various operations including performing three correlations on the plurality of samples with three local code to generate three correlation results, where the three local codes are shifted in time or distance with respect to each other. The GNSS receiver includes a processor for defining a first slope using the first correlation result and the second correlation result, defining a second slope using the second correlation result and the third correlation result, and defining a code discriminator as a sum of the first slope and the second slope.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: William Lentz, Nicholas Talbot
  • Patent number: 10690498
    Abstract: An automatic point layout system identifies points and their coordinates using vertical planes of laser light. Laser controllers aim vertical laser light planes that will cross at any desired point on the jobsite floor. The user views a virtual jobsite illustration on a remote controller touchscreen display, and selects a point of interest. Commands are sent to the two laser controllers, which aim their laser transmitters at that point of interest, showing visible laser light lines that intersect directly at the point of interest, for staking. The user selects a second point of interest on the touchscreen display, commanding the laser transmitters to rotate to a new set of coordinates. The user performs these functions seamlessly; the remote controller allows the user to quickly move from one point of interest to the next, without having changing to any other operating mode between the identifying and staking of each new point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble, Inc.
    Inventors: Jamin Michael Turner, Kevin Marc Morrissey, Chris William Snyder, Ayman Zuhdi Hajmousa
  • Patent number: 10686976
    Abstract: A system for use on a vehicle comprising a tractor and a trailer comprises a communications device that effects communications between the system and a remote system. The communications device is configured to receive data from the remote system. An event detector is configured to generate a trigger signal in response to detecting occurrence of predetermined events. An onboard computer is coupled to the communications device, the event detector, a media recorder, and a computer of the vehicle. One or more image capture devices at the vehicle are communicatively coupled to one or both of the onboard computer and the media recorder. The onboard computer is configured to adjust one or more parameters of the image capture devices and/or modify one or more parameters of the event detector based at least in part on the data received from the remote system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Michael D. Nalepka, Ricky L. Ochsendorf
  • Patent number: 10677944
    Abstract: Novel solutions, which can include devices, systems, methods, than can measure earthquakes and other displacement events. Some solutions feature the integration of real-time, high-rate global navigation satellite system (“GNSS”) displacement information with acceleration and/or velocity data within a single device to create very high-rate displacement records. The mating of these two instruments allows the creation of a new, very high-rate displacement measurement device that has the full-scale displacement characteristics of GNSS and high-precision dynamic motions of seismic technologies. Such a device can be used for earthquake early warning studies and other mission critical applications, such as volcano monitoring, building, bridge and dam monitoring systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Michael E. Jackson, Paul Passmore, Hans-Gerd Dünck-Kerst
  • Patent number: 10671948
    Abstract: Methods and systems for asset and work flow management are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method for work cycle management includes creating one or more work zones, creating a work cycle of events between the created work zones, creating an operating schedule for the events of work cycle at the zones, monitoring activity at the work zones and comparing the activity to the operating schedule and identifying schedule violations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Walton
  • Patent number: 10670734
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method carried out by a navigation satellite system (NSS) receiver or a processing entity receiving data therefrom, for estimating parameters useful to determine a position. The NSS receiver observes NSS signals from NSS satellites over multiple epochs. A first filter, called “timely estimator”, and second filter, called “precise estimator” and delayed with respect to the timely estimator, are operated. The estimators use state variables, and make use of NSS signals observed by the NSS receiver or information derived therefrom. The precise estimator further computes its state variable values based on observations that are not derived from NSS signals observed by the NSS receiver. The values of some of the state variables computed by the timely estimator are recurrently replaced by values from the precise estimator. A corresponding system is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Markus Glocker, Nicholas Charles Talbot, Bruno Scherzinger
  • Patent number: 10663985
    Abstract: A fluid network exchange system for efficiently exchanging fluid in a fluid network for prevention of hygiene risks. The system includes a source and a plurality of sinks. The system also includes flow meters for determining the flow rate at each of the sinks and automatic flushing devices for flushing fluid at each of the sinks. The system determines an order and a flushing time for the plurality of sinks to be flushed. The sinks are flushed starting with the sink with the highest flow rate and ending with the sink with the lowest flow rate. Flushing times are determined based on the length of different pathways corresponding to different sinks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Markus Struzyna, Georg Hewelt
  • Patent number: 10665085
    Abstract: Systems and methods are directed to recording data at a plurality of in-service vehicles operating within a plurality of predetermined regions for which users of a plurality of mobile devices are responsible, analyzing, at the vehicles, the recorded data for violation of one of a plurality of predetermined safety parameters by the vehicles, and transmitting, to a central server, data associated with a safety parameter violation by a vehicle in violation of one of the predetermined safety parameters. A safety event alert is generated at the central server for the vehicle in violation in response to receiving the transmitted data, and the safety event alert is communicated from the central office to a mobile device authorized by the central office to receive the safety event alert for the predetermined region within which the violation occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventor: Randy Boyles
  • Patent number: 10656133
    Abstract: Methods for controlling a plant detection system include determining a target phase delay based on a first phase delay of reflected portions of a first light beam and a second phase delay of reflected portions of a second light beam. A composite light beam comprising the first light beam and the second light beam is emitter towards bare soil, and reflected portions of the composite light beam are detected. An intensity of at least one of the first light beam or the second light beam is adjusted so that a phase delay of the composite light beam is approximately equal to the target phase delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: James G. Quaderer, Aubrey Jason Calder, Xin Zhao
  • Patent number: 10657729
    Abstract: A method of synchronizing an animation sequence with a video includes placing a virtual camera in a 3D model of a site captured in the video at the same location and the same orientation as those of a video camera that captured the video, generating a set of virtual frames of the animation sequence by projecting the 3D model onto a scene frame from a viewpoint of the virtual camera, for each of a plurality of virtual key frames, placing a virtual object corresponding to a moving object captured in the video in the 3D model at a respective location that matches with the respective position of the moving object in a corresponding key frame of the video, and playing the set of virtual frames by stepping through time such that the plurality of virtual key frames is in synch with the plurality of key frames of the video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Augusto Op den Bosch, Paula Kohan
  • Patent number: D891954
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Trimble Inc.
    Inventors: Melissa Ruzzi, Kenneth S. Bradley, James G. Quaderer, Daniel Rodriguez, Chao Y. Lee, Kenneth R. Agur