Patents Examined by Christopher George Fees
  • Patent number: 11935419
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides for holding pattern detection and management by identifying from flight data for an aircraft that the aircraft has performed a first turn, followed by a leg traverse, and followed by a second turn in a direction circuitous to the first turn and indicating that the aircraft is in a holding pattern and/or identifying from flight data that the aircraft has passed within a predefined distance of a fixpoint and in response to identifying that the aircraft has performed a turn in a known direction associated with a historical holding pattern charted from the fixpoint, indicating that the aircraft is in a holding pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Jakub Dziecielski, Michal Kowalewski, Piotr Mazur, Anna Neumann, Anna Meringer, Jonasz Rudnick
  • Patent number: 11928869
    Abstract: The disclosure discloses a historical map utilization method based on a vision robot, including: S1, the vision robot is controlled to continuously collect image of a preset road sign of a preset working area, and road sign information of the preset road sign is obtained; S2, the obtained road sign information is transmitted to a first map positioning system and a second map positioning system; S3, the first map positioning system and the second map positioning system are controlled to respectively process corresponding road sign information, thereby obtaining first pose information and second pose information; S4, the first pose information and the second pose information under the same preset road sign are selected, and a transformation relationship formula of the first pose information and the second pose information is calculated; and S5, the historical map is controlled to perform a corresponding transformation operation, and subsequent motion control is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: AMICRO SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ming Li, Qinwei Lai
  • Patent number: 11897472
    Abstract: A method for controlling a drive motor in a motor vehicle may include the steps: determining driving situation information which describes a static friction and/or a frictional connection of at least one wheel of the motor vehicle and/or a speed of the motor vehicle, determining a minimum speed of the drive motor as a function of the driving situation information, and regulating or controlling the speed of the drive motor as a function of the minimum speed, in particular such that the speed is always greater than the minimum speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Clemens Burow, Jürgen Bader, Moritz Reiff, Raphael Kis, Siegfried Pint
  • Patent number: 11899464
    Abstract: Techniques for operation of a vehicle using machine learning with motion planning include storing, using one or more processors of a vehicle located within an environment, a plurality of constraints for operating the vehicle within the environment. One or more sensors of the vehicle receive sensor data describing the environment. The one or more processors extract a feature vector from the stored plurality of constraints and the received sensor data. The feature vector includes a first feature describing an object located within the environment. A machine learning circuit of the vehicle is used to generate a first motion segment based on the feature vector. A number of violations of the stored plurality of constraints is below a threshold. The one or more processors operate the vehicle in accordance with the generated first motion segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Motional AD LLC
    Inventors: Sourabh Vora, Oscar Olof Beijbom, Shih-Yuan Liu, Tichakorn Wongpiromsarn, Daniele De Francesco, Scott D. Pendleton
  • Patent number: 11853065
    Abstract: A method for assisting a driver of a vehicle with driving of the vehicle is disclosed, in which the surroundings of the vehicle are detected. The detection of the surroundings comprises the course of driving paths as well as movement data relating to other road users. Historic data obtained at least from past driving maneuvers by road users in the detected surroundings are called up for the surroundings, the detected surroundings of the vehicle are analyzed and a traffic situation of the vehicle in relation to at least one second road user of the other detected road users is determined. A likely driving maneuver of the second road user is predicted based on the called-up historic data and the current traffic situation, and a control signal for assisting the driver with driving of the vehicle is generated depending on the predicted driving maneuver of the second road user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Stephan Max, Thorben Günzel
  • Patent number: 11840248
    Abstract: A method for operating a powertrain of an autonomous vehicle is described. In one example, the autonomous driver may supply a torque request and a torque or power urgency assessment to a powertrain controller. The powertrain controller may monitor vehicle control system parameters based on the driver demand torque and the torque or power urgency assessment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Scott Steadmon Thompson, Robert Roy Jentz, David Hancock
  • Patent number: 11809184
    Abstract: A system and method for automatically engaging an autonomous driving mode in a vehicle is disclosed. The method includes monitoring a driver and switching to the autonomous driving mode if an unsafe driving condition is detected. The method can include monitoring biometric data. The method can also include monitoring behavioral data using one or more kinds of vehicle sensors. The system and method ensure a vehicle is safely driven even if a driver experiences a health episode that could leave them unable to safely operate the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Sean Carl Mitchem, Gregory Brian Meyer, Will Kerns Maney, Jr, Ruthie D. Lyle, Deborah Schulz, Brian J. Osterkamp, Timothy Blair Chalmers
  • Patent number: 11810454
    Abstract: A map data construction method and device, where the method includes obtaining first basic safety information packets of a vehicle, where the first basic safety information packets include an information packet of the vehicle that is collected when a safety event occurs, obtaining first basic safety information data from the first basic safety information packets, where the first basic safety information data includes parameter information of the vehicle and extended safety information, the parameter information of the vehicle indicates a driving state and an appearance information of the vehicle, and the extended safety information is used to indicate a safety state of the vehicle and a safety state of a road, and performing model processing based on the first basic safety information data to generate the map data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zhenchun Liu, Jingwei Zhou
  • Patent number: 11747142
    Abstract: A device including microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors are used in dead reckoning in conditions where Global Positioning System (GPS) signals or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are lost. The device is capable of tracking the location of the device after the GPS/GNSS signals are lost by using MEMS sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. By calculating a misalignment angle between a forward axis of a sensor frame of the device and a forward axis of a vehicle frame using the data received from the MEMS sensors, the device can accurately calculate the location of a user or the vehicle of the device even without the GPS/GNSS signals. Accordingly, a device capable of tracking the location of the user riding in the vehicle in GPS/GNSS signals absent environment can be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignees: STMICROELECTRONICS, INC., STMICROELECTRONICS S.r.l.
    Inventors: Mahaveer Jain, Mahesh Chowdhary, Roberto Mura, Nicola Matteo Palella, Leonardo Colombo
  • Patent number: 11718151
    Abstract: A determination device according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes a vehicle extraction unit that determines whether a predetermined attached matter is on a transparent member of a vehicle, based on first image information that is about a periphery of the vehicle and that is picked up through the transparent member by a camera mounted on the vehicle and second image information that is about a periphery of another vehicle surrounding the vehicle and that is picked up by a camera mounted on the other vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shin Sakurada
  • Patent number: 11709258
    Abstract: The disclosure includes embodiments for a location data correction service for connected vehicles. A method includes receiving, by an operation center via a serverless ad-hoc vehicular network, a first wireless message that includes legacy location data that describes a geographic location of a legacy vehicle. The method includes causing a rich sensor set included in the operation center to record sensor data describing the geographic locations of objects in a roadway environment. The method includes determining correction data that describes a variance between the geographic location of the legacy vehicle as described by the sensor data and the legacy location data. The method includes transmitting a second wireless message to the legacy vehicle, wherein the second wireless message includes the correction data so that the legacy vehicle receives a benefit by correcting the legacy location data to minimize the variance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Inventors: Rui Guo, Mahmoud Ashour, Ahmed Sakr, Bin Cheng, Hongsheng Lu, Prashant Tiwari
  • Patent number: 11670163
    Abstract: The present subject matter relates to a method of predicting a traffic behaviour in a road system, comprising the following steps carried out by at least one processor connected to a database, which contains a set of traffic profiles: clustering the traffic profiles; calculating a significance value; if the significance value of a tag is higher than a threshold value, assigning this tag as a characteristic vector to this cluster; receiving a request having one or more request tags; determining a cluster by means of matching the request tag/s to the characteristic vectors of the clusters; and outputting a predicted traffic behaviour based on the determined cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: KAPSCH TRAFFICCOM AG
    Inventors: Carlos Gil Aguirrebeitia, Rubén García Casado
  • Patent number: 11645927
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides predictive flight diversion management by: receiving weather data for a zone of air traffic control; receiving flight tracking data for a plurality of aircraft travelling in the zone of air traffic control; determining capacity rates for a plurality of airports in the zone of air traffic control, based on the flight tracking data; and in response to receiving a diversion trigger from a predictive model predicting a diversion event: determining, based on the weather data, the flight tracking data, and the capacity rates, a subset of aircraft from the plurality of aircraft that are to be diverted from original destinations in the zone of air traffic control to new destinations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Anna Meringer, Jonasz Rudnik, Piotr Mazur, Jakub Dziecielski
  • Patent number: 11623689
    Abstract: An automated steering device is provided usable in conjunction with power equipment machines. By way of example, the automated steering device can provide user-assisted steering for a power equipment machine to maintain tight parallel paths. The user-assisted steering can be defined relative to an initial vector traversed through user directed operation of the power equipment machine, independent of or at least in part independent of a predefined area of operation for the power equipment machine. Position location data refined by local terrestrial positioning system correction devices, or onboard rotational correction devices can be provided to obtain high positioning accuracy, and minimal path deviation. As a result, highly accurate pathing can be provided by way of the disclosed automated steering devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: MTD PRODUCTS INC
    Inventors: Zachary A. Lyzen, Adam J. Woodrum
  • Patent number: 11592839
    Abstract: The processor supplies flight commands to the flight control system by selectively blending pilot input with control signals from the autopilot. The processor generates a projected recovery trajectory through successive iterations, each beginning at the current aircraft location and using a recovery constraint selectable by the processor to influences a degree of flight aggressiveness. A detection system that identifies and invokes a state of threat existence if a threat exists along the projected recovery trajectory. The processor during threat existence in a first iteration commands an initial soft recovery, with permitted blended pilot input. If the threat exists on subsequent iteration, the processor commands a more aggressive recovery while attenuating blended pilot input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin Prosser, Thomas Landers, Alborz Sakhaei, Abhishek Vaidya, Blake Finlayson
  • Patent number: 11567505
    Abstract: Process for clearing an autonomous machine including first evaluating operation at a high curvature offline location. Following acceptable operation, the machine is placed into service and evaluated at a worksite. Following acceptable worksite operation, online operating speed of the machine is increased incrementally, and performance reevaluated. Following acceptable performance characteristics, online operating speed of the machine continues to be increased and revaluated until the machine reaches maximum designated operating speed, or is evaluated as unacceptable, in which case the machine continues to operate at the last acceptable online operating speed and identifies the unacceptable performance characteristic for further evaluation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Sagar Chowdhury, Matthew D. Johnson, Joshua C. Struble, Philip Wallstedt, Bryan J. Everett
  • Patent number: 11466775
    Abstract: Technologies for steering sensors in a sensor carrier structure on an autonomous vehicle (AV) are described herein. In some examples, a sensor positioning platform on an AV can include an actuator system including a motor; a belt mechanically engaged to a set of pulleys such that operation of the motor results in the belt driving a first rotational movement of at least one of the pulleys, which, in turn, causes a second rotational movement of a sensor carrier structure; a motor controller that receives instructions for controlling the motor to reposition the sensor carrier structure and sending control signals to the motor to perform the repositioning of the sensor carrier structure; and a bundle of cables coiled within a central bore of the actuator system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: GM Cruise Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Nathaniel Barrett Herse, Joel F. Jensen
  • Patent number: 11440537
    Abstract: An apparatus for estimating a position in an automated valet parking system includes a front camera processor processing a front image of a vehicle, a surround view monitor (SVM) processor recognizing a short-distance lane and stop line by processing a surround view image of the vehicle, a map data unit storing a high definition map, and a controller downloading a map including an area set as a parking zone from the map data unit when the entry of the vehicle to a parking lot is identified and correcting a position measurement value of the vehicle by performing map matching based on results of the recognition and processing of the front camera processor and SVM processor and the parking lot map of the map data unit when an automated valet parking start position is recognized based on the recognized short-distance lane and stop line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Dong Wook Kim
  • Patent number: 11442448
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for providing an alarm about a positioning fault in a self-moving device. A self-moving device is configured to autonomously move, based on positioning of the self-moving device, inside a working region defined on a map. The method includes: receiving positioning data from a satellite positioning system to locate the self-moving device; detecting whether a positioning fault occurs in the self-moving device; and in response to a detected positioning fault that occurs in the self-moving device, providing an alarm about the positioning fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Positec Power Tools (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mingming He, Yong Shao, Chang Zhou, Yiyun Tan, Fangshi Liu, Shiping Jiao
  • Patent number: 11397136
    Abstract: A steering force module on a vehicle test bench including a first main body and a transverse force actuator that is displaceable relative thereto. A transverse force being generated by a displacement of the transverse force actuator relative to the first main body, by means of which the transverse force can be applied to the steering system. Furthermore, a drivetrain module is present which consists of a second main body and a drive actuator that is rotatable relative thereto, the drive actuator being rotationally fixable by means of a second mechanical interface to a drive axle of the drivetrain, a torque that is independent of the transverse force being generated by a rotation of the drive actuator relative to the second main body is applied to the drive axle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: AVL List GmbH
    Inventors: Christian Schyr, Tobias Düser, Thomas Reinhold Weck, Bernhard Schick