Patents Examined by David Merlino
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Patent number: 8930142Abstract: A method for obtaining a many-to-many route searching process with a reasonable amount of computation. The method includes preparing a graph expressing road segments as edges and route intersections as nodes, the weight of each road segment being approximated by a monotonically increased piecewise linear function, searching the graph for the shortest routes, establishing the obtained routes as a set of routes to be processed, solving an objective function so as to minimize the maximum value obtained by dividing the required time from each departure point to each destination point by the shortest required time with respect to the set of a plurality of departure points and destination points, and removing those routes whose minimum cost is greater than or equal to that of the current best solution, and any unused routes added in the previous iteration, while repeating the solving of the objective function.Type: GrantFiled: November 8, 2011Date of Patent: January 6, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventor: Takayuki Yoshizumi
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Patent number: 8924064Abstract: A shovel includes an internal combustion engine, a hydraulic pump connected to the internal-combustion engine, a generator connected to the internal-combustion engine, and a control part that controls the generator. The control part increases an electric generation load of the generator before a hydraulic load of the hydraulic pump increases.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2013Date of Patent: December 30, 2014Assignee: Sumitomo(S.H.I.) Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hideto Magaki, Ryuji Shiratani
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Patent number: 8918237Abstract: Systems and methods that can be used in a Positive Train Control system to continuously monitor train integrity and end of train location using radio frequency (RF) ranging techniques to determine the line of sight distance between the head end and the end of the train. The systems and methods allow PTC controlled trains to maintain positive length of train awareness and to determine if a portion of the train separates unintentionally. The systems and methods can be implemented on existing RF infrastructure used on trains, without impacting existing messaging traffic, adding bandwidth or power requirements. The systems and methods work on stretched trains running on tangent or straight track, as well as on foreshortened trains running on curved track.Type: GrantFiled: March 15, 2013Date of Patent: December 23, 2014Assignee: Lockheed Martin CorporationInventor: Charles W. Morris
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Patent number: 8886461Abstract: A method for detecting inland barrier (16, 16?) crossings (24, 26, 30) using speed layers from community input probe traces in combination with a digital map. Inland barrier crossing specifications are detected and/or validated using information about the speed of probes that actually cross the barrier (16, 16?). A bridge (26) across the inland barrier (16) is inferred if the velocity average for barrier crossing probe traces is greater than an established threshold value. Conversely, a ferry (24) is inferred if the average velocity for barrier crossing probe traces is less than the established threshold value. When there is a prominent gap in the data for the barrier crossing probe traces, a tunnel (30) is inferred.Type: GrantFiled: June 22, 2010Date of Patent: November 11, 2014Assignee: TomTom Polska Sp. z.o.o.Inventor: Ćukasz Twardowski
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Patent number: 8880246Abstract: Methods and apparatus are presented for spacecraft operation in which a control problem is formulated using a control law or steering law as a path constraint or as a dynamic constraint, and the control problem is solved to provide a guidance command trajectory for use in operating spacecraft control momentum gyroscopes to guide the spacecraft from an initial state to a desired final state.Type: GrantFiled: August 14, 2013Date of Patent: November 4, 2014Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the NavyInventors: Mark Karpenko, Isaac Michael Ross
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Patent number: 8818644Abstract: A seating determination apparatus includes a transition processing unit 29 configured to make a transition of the state between a first seating determination state in which an airbag apparatus is brought into an operation-permitted state and the second seating determination state in which the airbag apparatus is in the operation-prohibited state when a transition condition on the basis of a magnitude relationship between a seat load and a preset threshold value is satisfied, and configured to prohibit the transition of the state between the first seating determination state and the second eating determination state when the direction of variation of the seat load is determined to have inverted before a predetermined time set in advance has elapsed from a time point when the transition condition is satisfied.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2013Date of Patent: August 26, 2014Assignee: Aisin Seiki Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Hiroyuki Fujii, Takahiro Izuno, Isao Honda, Yoshiaki Tomatsu, Yusuke Takahashi
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Patent number: 8812178Abstract: A method for automatic yaw axis control in aircraft with mechanical controls, said aircraft including a yaw actuator to control orientation of a yaw control surface and deliver a measured value of the torque on the control surface, a yaw trim actuator driving movement of a yaw trim control surface limiting the force applied by the yaw actuator to orient the yaw control surface, and sensors supplying an estimate of a lateral yaw force, includes calculating a setpoint value for the position of the yaw control surface determined by the estimated lateral force, an estimated torque of the yaw actuator determined by the measured value of the torque of the yaw actuator and a measured position of the yaw control surface, the estimated torque calculated having a lower oscillation dynamic range than the measured torque, and a trim command for activating/deactivating the yaw trim actuator determined by the estimated torque.Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2013Date of Patent: August 19, 2014Assignee: ThalesInventors: Yannick Meret, Arnaud Bonnafoux, Christophe Simon
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Patent number: 8788124Abstract: Systems and methods for the calculation of the approach speed during air to air refueling maneuvers. The systems comprise: a) capturing means of a sequence of digital photograms of the approach operation scenario calibrated in order to determine the real distance corresponding to a pixel of a photogram; b) computational means configured for obtaining the coordinates of the relative trajectory of the receiver aircraft with respect of the tanker aircraft, by means of a sequence of photograms of the approach operation obtained by said capturing means and calculating the speed difference between receiver aircraft and tanker aircraft based on the trajectory defined by the coordinates recorded in said process b1). The invention also refers to the methods for calculating the approach speed.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2013Date of Patent: July 22, 2014Assignee: EADS Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A.Inventors: Francisca Coll Herrero, Jose Maria Miranda Orte
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Patent number: 8781709Abstract: A monitoring method for monitoring a filter of a feed circuit for feeding an aircraft engine with fuel, the method including: detecting clogging of the filter; issuing an indication message; determining a current stage from among a plurality of successive stages of a mission of the aircraft, including at least a stage during which clogging of the filter is not capable of being caused by ice, and a stage during which clogging of the filter might be caused by ice; and in response to detecting clogging, determining the type of clogging as a function of the current stage; wherein during the issuing an indication message, the message that is issued depends on the type of clogging.Type: GrantFiled: November 21, 2011Date of Patent: July 15, 2014Assignee: SNECMAInventors: Kim Florentin, Karim Soyah
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Patent number: 8731809Abstract: A traffic congestion prediction method including the steps of: detecting an acceleration of a vehicle; calculating a power spectrum corresponding to a frequency from a frequency analysis of the detected acceleration; calculating a simple linear regression line of the power spectrum and calculating a maximum value of an amount of change in a gradient of the simple linear regression line in a predetermined frequency range as a maximum gradient value; detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a vehicle ahead; estimating an inter-vehicle distance distribution from the detected inter-vehicle distance by using a distribution estimation method; calculating a minimum value of covariance value from the estimated inter-vehicle distance distribution; estimating a distribution of a group of vehicles ahead from a correlation between the minimum value of covariance value and the maximum gradient value; and performing a real-time traffic congestion prediction based on the distribution of the group of vehicType: GrantFiled: December 9, 2011Date of Patent: May 20, 2014Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Inventor: Takamasa Koshizen
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Patent number: 8725324Abstract: Disclosed is a load compensating device in railway vehicles, the device including a pressure sensor detecting an air spring pressure in response to loads of the vehicles, an estimation unit outputting an estimated railway vehicle load by estimating each load of a plurality of railway vehicles, and a detection unit outputting a railway vehicle load by detection of fault in the pressure sensor.Type: GrantFiled: April 3, 2013Date of Patent: May 13, 2014Assignee: LSIS Co., Ltd.Inventors: Jong Chul Jung, Yong Gee Cho
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Patent number: 8725414Abstract: In an information processing device, when a positional information acquiring unit acquires positional information calculated from GPS signals and the like, a movement area setting unit sets a movement area with a size corresponding to a distance between a current location and a destination. When the positional information acquiring unit acquires positional information indicating a current location after setting this movement area, a judgment unit judges whether the positional information is within the movement area. Then, as a result of this judgment, in a case of being within the movement area, a display control unit executes display control of a display unit so as to display on a map the positional information, and in a case of being outside of the movement area, so as not to display on the map the positional information.Type: GrantFiled: March 17, 2013Date of Patent: May 13, 2014Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shimpei Matsuda, Takeahi Matsue, Munetaka Seo