Patents Examined by Dale W Hilgendorf
  • Patent number: 11594133
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for monitoring a dedicated roadway the runs in parallel to a railroad. In some implementations, a system includes a central server, an interface, and sensors. The interface receives data from a railroad system that manages the railroad parallel to the dedicated roadway. The sensors are positioned in a fixed location relative to the dedicated roadway. Each sensor can detect vehicles in a first field of view on the dedicated roadway. For each detected vehicle, each sensor can generate sensor data based on the detected vehicle in the dedicated roadway and the data received at the interface. Each sensor can generate observational data and instruct the detected vehicle to switch to an enhanced processing mode. Each sensor can determine an action for the detected vehicle to take based on the generated observational data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Cavnue Technology, LLC
    Inventors: David Kiley, Mathew O'Sullivan
  • Patent number: 11592791
    Abstract: A system for flight control system using simulator data for an electric aircraft is presented. The system includes a computing device, the computing device configured to receive a plurality of measured flight data, simulate a plurality of aircraft performance model outputs as a function of a flight simulator and the plurality of measured flight data, determine a moment datum as a function of the plurality of measured flight data and the plurality of aircraft performance model outputs, generate an allocation command datum as a function of the moment datum and the plurality of aircraft performance model outputs, and perform a torque allocation on a flight component of a plurality of flight components as a function of the allocation command and the moment datum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: Herman Wiegman
  • Patent number: 11590964
    Abstract: A method for performing automatic valet parking, which includes selecting a road scenario applicable to a roadway; notifying a driver to release manual control elements of a motor vehicle and to leave the motor vehicle; checking whether the control elements have been released and the driver has left the motor vehicle and, in this case, entering an EXPLORE mode in which the motor vehicle is slowly driven autonomously and searches for a free car space or a parking space using the vehicle's own environmental sensors, before the motor vehicle is placed in a parking position; and then to change from the EXPLORE mode to a PARKING mode in which the motor vehicle is parked in the car space or in the parking space from the parking position by means of the longitudinal and lateral controllers and using the environmental data previously obtained from the environmental sensors in the EXPLORE mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Frederic Stefan, Michael Marbaix, Evangelos Bitsanis, Turgay Aslandere, Alain Chevalier
  • Patent number: 11584177
    Abstract: A system for assisting in aligning a vehicle for hitching with a trailer includes a steering system that adjusts a vehicle steering angle, a braking system that adjusts a vehicle speed, an imaging system that receives image data of a drawbar assembly being receivable in a hitch receiver, and a controller. The controller is configured to detect an edge of the drawbar assembly from the image data, target an endpoint at a fixed offset from the edge and a stationary point on the vehicle, and maneuver, via the steering and braking systems, the vehicle along a path to align the endpoint with the trailer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Luke Niewiadomski, Nikhil Nagraj Rao, Lihui Chen, Roger Arnold Trombley
  • Patent number: 11577782
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for performing an assisted driving trailer reversing operation including a camera operative to capture an image, an interactive user interface operative to display a graphical user interface and to receive a user input, a processor operative to generate the graphical user interface in response to the user input, the user input being indicative of a trailer destination, to generate a left maneuverability margin and a right maneuverability margin in response to a trailer dimension and a hitch angle, and a projected trailer path in response to the trailer destination, wherein the graphical user interface includes the image and a plurality of graphics overlaid on the image indicative of the left maneuverability margin, the right maneuverability margin, the projected trailer path and the trailer destination, and a vehicle controller operative to perform a trailer reversing operation in response to the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Avesta Goodarzi, Steffen P Lindenthal, Akram M. Abdel-Rahman, Utkarsh Saini, Jomo Hanley, Norman J. Weigert
  • Patent number: 11572044
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating non-electric control signals for a brake system, which has a first supply source, including: at least one interface configured to be connected to a pressure accumulator; and at least one interface to output the control signals; in which the apparatus is configured to be supplied via a second supply source. Also described are a related module and an electronic brake system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUER NUTZFAHRZEUGE GMBH
    Inventors: Falk Hecker, Adnan Mustapha, Oliver Jundt, Rüdiger Weis, Jürgen Steinberger
  • Patent number: 11574549
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for guiding or otherwise assisting operation of an aircraft when diverting from a flight plan. One method involves determining a gliding trajectory for the aircraft based at least in part on a current altitude of the aircraft, providing a graphical representation of the gliding trajectory for the aircraft, identifying a plurality of landing locations within a range defined by the gliding trajectory from the aircraft, and for each landing location of the plurality of landing locations, providing a graphical representation of a respective landing location with respect to the gliding trajectory at a respective altitude associated with the respective landing location and at a respective distance with respect to a graphical representation of the aircraft corresponding to a respective geographic distance between a current location of the aircraft and the respective landing location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Thea Feyereisen, Rakshit R, Gang He
  • Patent number: 11565807
    Abstract: An exchange network comprising a plurality of exchange stations, in which each of the exchange stations comprises at least one drone operative to function as a flying crane, a temporary storage space, and at least one designated stopping area for on-road vehicles operative to carry cargo. Each of the exchange stations uses the respective local crane-drones to unload cargo from certain vehicles arriving at one of the respective local designated stopping areas, temporary store the cargo, and then load the cargo onboard certain other vehicles arriving at one of the respective local designated stopping areas, thereby exchanging carriers, and thus generating a transport route for the cargo which is the combination of different parts of transport routes of different carriers. The exchange network may use predetermined routes of many scheduled carriers to plan a routing scheme for the cargo, thereby propagating the cargo between exchange stations in a networked fashion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Inventor: Gal Zuckerman
  • Patent number: 11565420
    Abstract: A smart container yard includes systems for intelligently controlling operations of vehicles in the container yard using teleoperation and/or autonomous operations. A remote support server controls remote support sessions associated with vehicles in the container yard to provide teleoperation support for loading and unloading operations. Aerial drones may be utilized to maintain positions above a teleoperated vehicle and act as signal re-transmitters. An augmented reality view may be provided at a teleoperator workstation to enable a teleoperator to control vehicle operations in the smart container yard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Phantom Auto Inc.
    Inventors: Joe Grundfest, Shay Magzimof, David Parunakian, Michael Kris, Elrom Silvera
  • Patent number: 11565725
    Abstract: A method of controlling switching to a manual driving mode in an autonomous vehicle provided with a foldable pedal device is provided. In the method, when a signal for switching a driving mode from an autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode is generated in an autonomous vehicle provided with a foldable accelerator pedal device and a foldable brake pedal device, whether it is possible to switch the driving mode to the manual driving mode is determined by checking safety conditions; when the safety conditions are satisfied, it is determined whether a pop-up position of a pad of the foldable accelerator pedal device and a pop-up position of a pad of the foldable brake pedal device are normal pop-up positions, respectively; and only when the positions are the respective normal pop-up positions, the driving mode is switched to the manual driving mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Eun Sik Kim
  • Patent number: 11566906
    Abstract: An approach is provided for generating/breaking vehicle paths on a limited graph area. The approach, for example, determining an expected frequency of location data collected from a sensor of a vehicle traveling on a roadway, wherein the location data include a plurality of probe points that are time-sequenced. The approach also involves detecting an exit or an entry of the vehicle on the roadway based on comparing the expected frequency to an observed frequency of the location data on at least one portion of the roadway. The approach further involves initiating an identification, a creation, a breaking, or a combination thereof of a path constructed from the location data based on the detecting of the exit or the entry of the vehicle. The approach further involves providing the path as an output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventors: Ömer Mubarek, Colin Watts-Fitzgerald
  • Patent number: 11562574
    Abstract: A vehicle behavior of a monitored vehicle is learned. A vehicle illumination of the monitored vehicle is detected and monitored. If a light-pattern occurs in the detected vehicle illumination, wherein the light-pattern corresponds to a frequency, intensity and/or color dependent glowing of the vehicle illumination, and further wherein the light-pattern starts with a flashing up of the detected vehicle illumination and ends after a certain time without glowing of the respective part of the detected vehicle illumination, then the method further monitors the light-pattern; monitors a vehicle movement of the monitored vehicle during the occurrence of the light-pattern; and compares the monitored light-pattern with a known light-pattern from a light-pattern data entry stored in an light-pattern database. If the comparison results in the monitored light-pattern being unknown, the method stores the light-pattern and the vehicle movement together as a new light-pattern data entry in the light-pattern database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Mandar Pitale
  • Patent number: 11551459
    Abstract: A computer system obtains a plurality of road images captured by one or more cameras attached to one or more vehicles. The one or more vehicles execute a model that facilitates driving of the one or more vehicles. For each road image of the plurality of road images, the computer system determines, in the road image, a fraction of pixels having an ambiguous lane marker classification. Based on the fraction of pixels, the computer system determines whether the road image is an ambiguous image for lane marker classification. In accordance with a determination that the road image is an ambiguous image for lane marker classification, the computer system enables labeling of the image and adds the labeled image into a corpus of training images for retraining the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: PlusAI, Inc.
    Inventor: Inderjot Singh Saggu
  • Patent number: 11548498
    Abstract: A dynamic vehicle stability control system for a vehicle may include an active wing extending laterally relative to a longitudinal centerline of the vehicle and configured to be rotatable to change an angle of attack relative to wind passing over the vehicle parallel to the longitudinal centerline, a repositioning assembly operably coupling the active wing to the vehicle, and a controller operably coupled to components and/or a sensor network of the vehicle to receive status information about the vehicle. The repositioning assembly may be operated based on a wing angle command received by the controller responsive to execution of a plurality of control algorithms executed by the controller. The controller may be configured to determine the wing angle command based on respective wing angle requests generated by each of the control algorithms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Titus, Steven Thompson, Michael Sylvester, Rick Dempsey
  • Patent number: 11543264
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method comprises detecting, at a processor of an autonomous vehicle, a discrepancy between a map and a property sensed by at least one sensor onboard the autonomous vehicle, the property being associated with an external environment of the autonomous vehicle. In response to detecting the discrepancy, and based on the discrepancy, an annotation for the map is generated via the processor. A signal representing the annotation is caused to be transmit to a compute device that is remote from the autonomous vehicle. A signal representing a map update is received from the compute device that is remote form the autonomous vehicle. The map update is generated based on the annotation, the map update (1) including replacement information for a region of the map associated with the annotation, and (2) not including replacement information for a remainder of the map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: PlusAI, Inc.
    Inventors: Mianwei Zhou, Yibo Chen
  • Patent number: 11542121
    Abstract: A method and system for inspecting and monitoring an elevator installation includes sending an autonomous flying object having at least one sensor to the elevator installation, and granting access to a hoistway of the elevator installation to the autonomous flying object. The autonomous flying object is positioned within the hoistway, and data collected by the associated sensor is sent to a remote elevator service center. The autonomous flying object and the associated sensor can be used to monitor and inspect the elevator installation on a temporary basis, for example for a specific number of hours, days or weeks. Once the autonomous flying object has gained access to the hoistway, the elevator installation can resume normal operation thereby keeping downtime to a minimum. After completing its tasks at one elevator installation, the autonomous flying object can be directed by the remote elevator service center to monitor and inspect another elevator installation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: INVENTIO AG
    Inventors: Astrid Sonnenmoser, Martin Kusserow, Reto Tschuppert
  • Patent number: 11541876
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an electronic stability control method for a vehicle for performing vehicular electronic stability control simply by adjusting driving force and braking power that are generated by a driving device of the vehicle without use of a driving force distributing method between front, rear, left, or right vehicle wheels. To this end, the vehicular electronic stability control method includes determining a vehicular state value indicating a driving state of a vehicle from information collected from the vehicle, comparing the determined vehicle state value with a first reference value, and controlling an operation of a driving device for generating driving force for driving the vehicle by the controller when the vehicle state value is greater than the first reference value to adjust driving force for preventing understeer or oversteer of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ji Won Oh, Jeong Soo Eo
  • Patent number: 11531865
    Abstract: Systems and methods for parallel autonomy of a vehicle are disclosed herein. One embodiment receives input data, the input data including at least one of sensor data and structured input data; encodes the input data into an intermediate embedding space using a first neural network; inputs the intermediate embedding space to a first behavior model and a second behavior model, the first behavior model producing a first behavior output, the second behavior model producing a second behavior output; combines the first behavior output and the second behavior output using an ideal-behavior model to produce an ideal behavior for the vehicle; and controls one or more aspects of operation of the vehicle based, at least in part, on the ideal behavior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen G. McGill, Jr., Guy Rosman, Luke S. Fletcher, John Joseph Leonard
  • Patent number: 11527156
    Abstract: Systems and methods of traffic light detection/perception are provided for detecting traffic lights states and/or transitions for different traffic light layouts. Basic traffic light information can be obtained regarding, e.g., the existence of a traffic light(s) at an intersection being approached by a vehicle, and which bulb(s) may apply to/control a particular lane of traffic at the intersection. Based on that information, bulb-specific or bulbwise detection can be performed. Upon determining the existence of a traffic light, specific bulbs within or making up the traffic light can be detected, and their various states can be predicted or estimated relative to a corresponding bulb group. The various states can then be simplified and output as a message(s) upon which autonomous control of a vehicle can be based.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Kun-Hsin Chen, Hai Jin, Shunsho Kaku, Takaaki Tagawa, Ryan W. Wolcott, Hiroshi Yasuda
  • Patent number: 11527164
    Abstract: Human-machine interface for required time of arrival (RTA) constraint negotiation. Embodiments present critical RTA information and results of associated data calculations to the pilot in a concise and informative manner using a dialogue box with intuitive graphical displays. Embodiments present critical RTA information to assist a pilot in negotiating the RTA constraint with air traffic controllers, accepting the clearance, and having confidence in the system that it will achieve the defined RTA constraint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Sivakumar Kanagarajan, Richard Snyder, Joshua Gavroy, Chunyu Sheng, Ivan Wyatt