Patents Examined by Gertrude A. Jeanglaude
  • Patent number: 7269512
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus is configured to measure a Doppler shift in the frequency of a radio wave from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite and a pseudo-distance between the satellite and a measuring point by using the signal therefrom, and calculate the position of the measuring point by using the Doppler shift combined with the pseudo-distance
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Shinichiro Mori, Fumio Nagashima
  • Patent number: 7269511
    Abstract: A data detection circuit within a global positioning system (GPS) satellite receiver operates to detect and decode data sent in a spread spectrum signal. The data detection circuit receives input from a radio receiver, the information containing data from a plurality of satellites. The data is supplied to a circular memory device, which determines which data corresponds to which satellite. The memory device sends the received signal to a matched filter, which decodes the signal received from each satellite. This signal is analyzed to determine whether a phase inversion due to data modulation on the received signal is present. The phase inversion can occur at boundaries, known as data epochs, in the received signal, and corresponds to data in the received signal. This data contains information relating to the position of each satellite and is collected by the data detection circuit for use by the GPS receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: SIRF Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul A. Underbrink, Steven A. Gronemeyer
  • Patent number: 7269502
    Abstract: A traffic signal control method and system reduces the delay time of a transit vehicle at an intersection by incorporating an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system to trigger a traffic signal priority (TSP) strategy with a chain of mobile events to determine the correct timing, location, conditions, and/or other mobile events that may trigger a TSP action. The traffic signal control can also be used to notify vehicle status in passenger/traveler information systems such as street signs, to monitor the wait time at an intersection or bus stop, and in any application that relates to vehicle entry into a given location and a consequence of actions that may be associated with the location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: Siemens VDO Automotive Corporation
    Inventors: Kee Zhang, Timothy V. McLaren
  • Patent number: 7266430
    Abstract: A vehicle control system and method for facilitating operation of a vehicle by a driver with a potentially debilitating condition. At least one sensor provides sensor data corresponding to at least one of a vehicle condition or a driver condition. A database includes potentially debilitating condition data and symptoms data corresponding thereto. A central processing unit is in data communication with the database and the at least one sensor. The central processing monitors the operation of the vehicle by the driver based on the sensor data and the database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sara H. Basson, Peter G. Fairweather, Dimitri Kanevsky
  • Patent number: 7266453
    Abstract: An ACC system includes a radar device for detecting an object in front of a subject vehicle, locus estimator for estimating a travel locus of the subject vehicle, detection area setter for setting a predetermined detection area in front of the subject vehicle based on the travel locus of the subject vehicle, obstacle extractor for extracting a preceding vehicle based on a detection result of the radar device and the detection area, and acceleration/deceleration intention detector for detecting an intention of an occupant to accelerate or decelerate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kiichiro Sawamoto, Shigeru Inoue, Hiroshi Satoh
  • Patent number: 7266451
    Abstract: A shock resistant device. A printed circuit board comprising electronics and a frequency reference is rigidly mounted to a central support member. The electronics can be mounted to both surfaces of the printed circuit board. The central support member is mounted to an enclosure via wire rope isolators. The central support member is designed to maximize rigidity at minimum mass. The central support member can comprise a thin wall metal mesh or honeycomb. At least a portion of the central support member directly contacts the printed circuit board beneath the frequency reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Martin Clarence Bringuel, Shelomon Patrick Doblack
  • Patent number: 7263439
    Abstract: In an image control system, with a reactive force on an input device that controls a pointer in a display, a bilateral communication of a pointing device can prevent a sense of discomfort while the system is used by an operator. When a screen image is switched from an image A to an image B, the pointing device activates the reactive force data for the image B after a predetermined amount of time based on the type or the amount of the image data of the screen image B. This enables the application of the reactive force for the image B in synchronization with generation of the screen image B, and thus gives an appropriate reactive force to the input portion of the pointing device when the screen images are being replaced from the image A to the image B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masato Yoshida
  • Patent number: 7263437
    Abstract: The invention provides a useful vehicle dispatching system. Server 60 estimates an approximate location of a passenger on the basis of the area code transmitted from server 40. Server 60 transmits a list of landmarks located in the area corresponding to the area code, and the list is thereby provided to the passenger carrying mobile station 10. The passenger selects a desired landmark to which a vehicle should be dispatched. Server 60 determines the location of the landmark by referring to the landmark database; and determines which vehicles 20 are located proximate to the landmark by referring to the vehicle database. Server 60 transmits the information on the determined vehicles 20 to mobile station 10, and the information is thereby provided to the passenger. The passenger selects a desired vehicle 20 to make a telephone call to the driver of vehicle 20. Thus, the passenger may directly talk to the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignees: NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Tokyo MK Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahito Hirose, Tsuyoshi Souma, Yoshihiro Ogiso, Masaaki Aoki
  • Patent number: 7263414
    Abstract: A method and device for controlling the attitude of an aircraft may employ spoilers that are arranged on the wings of the aircraft and whose respective angular positions can be adjusted by controllable actuators. A command attitude determining section determines a command attitude of the aircraft corresponding to an attitude that the aircraft must achieve. A command position calculator calculates command positions of the spoilers, corresponding to particular angular positions of the spoilers, making it possible to bring the aircraft to the command attitude. A control instruction calculator calculates control instructions for the controllable actuators, making it possible to bring the spoilers into the command positions, and applies the control instructions to the spoiler actuators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: Airbus France
    Inventors: Stéphane Chardon, Jean-Philippe Sabathier
  • Patent number: 7263418
    Abstract: A method is provided for providing image data for visualizing a defective part and/or a repair process and/or a maintenance service of a road-bound vehicle, in particular a car or motorcycle. The aim is to reduce the translation costs for repair manuals. The method is characterized by the following: digital data is provided for at least two vehicle parts, in particular CAD data, vector data or another form of digital data suitable for visualizing is provided; digital data on the location of said two vehicle parts with respect to each other is also provided; a first selection element is provided for selecting a first repair operation from a plurality thereof, data, i.e., image data of the first stage of said first repair operation is provided, afterwards image data of the second stage of the first repair operation is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Eckhard Steinmeier, Ralf Rachholz, Birsen Goek, Martin Kulessa, Bernhard Hoess
  • Patent number: 7260476
    Abstract: A shock resistant device. A printed circuit board comprising electronics and a frequency reference is rigidly mounted to a central support member. The electronics can be mounted to both surfaces of the printed circuit board. The central support member is mounted to an enclosure via wire rope isolators. The central support member is designed to maximize rigidity at minimum mass. The central support member can comprise a thin wall metal mesh or honeycomb. At least a portion of the central support member directly contacts the printed circuit board beneath the frequency reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Martin Clarence Bringuel, Shelomon Patrick Doblack
  • Patent number: 7260463
    Abstract: A plant control system provides an enhanced capability of compensation for disturbance that abruptly changes. A controller includes a disturbance predictor for calculating a predicted value of disturbance on the basis of a drag force of a release spring and an assisting force of a compensation spring that are predicted on the basis of a clutch stroke, an adaptive disturbance observer for calculating an estimated value of disturbance on the basis of the estimated value of disturbance, a voltage to be applied to a motor, and the clutch stroke, and a sliding mode controller, which determines the voltage to be applied to the motor by carrying out control for making the clutch stroke follow a clutch stroke target value by determining the voltage to be applied to the motor by sliding mode control on the basis of the clutch stroke, the predicted value of disturbance, and the estimated value of disturbance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Yasui, Kanako Shimojo
  • Patent number: 7254470
    Abstract: A method for generatig a fault tolerant sensor signal for a motor control system in a vehicle steering system. The method includes receiving at least three sensor signals indicative of a sensed parameter and generating a plurality of parameter pair signals responsive to the at least one sensor signal of the at least three sensor signals. Additionally, the method includes selecting one parameter pair signal of the plurality of parameter pair signals and generating a measured parameter signal responsive to the selecting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark P. Colosky
  • Patent number: 7251561
    Abstract: A method for displaying a map on a mobile client device. The method includes storing map data on a server, the map data including road data with respect to roads of multiple different road types. The server determines a route from a starting point to a destination within an area covered by the map data, the route including one or more route segments. The server defines a corridor map including the route segments and the roads of the different road types that are within different, respective distances, determined by the road types, of the route segments. The server downloads the road data with respect to the route segments and the roads of the different road types included in the corridor map to the client device. The client device, using the downloaded road data, renders one or more images, each image comprising at least a respective portion of the corridor map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Telmap Ltd.
    Inventors: Emanuel Dotan, Michael Menachem Kupferman, Tal Elad
  • Patent number: 7251559
    Abstract: When traveling to a destination reported in a television broadcast or the like, the user has had to make a memo while watching the television and, when actually traveling by car, the user has had to enter necessary information into an in-vehicle terminal by looking at the memo. A broadcast provider broadcasts a travel program together with travel destination information related to it, and a television terminal presents the received broadcast and travel destination information to the user. If the user desires to travel to the destination thus presented, the television terminal downloads the received travel destination information into a memory card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetsugu Maekawa, Yoshifumi Hirose, Shinichi Yoshizawa, Kenji Mizutani, Yumi Wakita
  • Patent number: 7251552
    Abstract: A vehicle diagnostic display unit including a case, a display screen disposed within a front portion of the case, and a main support coupled to a side of the case for allowing a user to lift the vehicle diagnostic display unit with one hand. A navigation pad is disposed on a front surface of the main support, and the main support is configured to allow the user to simultaneously lift the diagnostic display unit and access the navigation pad with a thumb. The display unit also includes a user-replaceable, transparent protective cover that attaches to the front portion of the case over the display screen. The display unit and the protective cover include novel features that allow the protective cover to be replaced by a user without having to return the display unit to the manufacturer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Snap-On Incorporated
    Inventors: Gordon F. Schmeisser, Ed Cahill
  • Patent number: 7248966
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation system is disclosed. An ordered plurality of interconnected segments providing a route from an origin to a destination is obtained. A guidance message for each of the segments is formed. The step of forming the guidance message comprises determining whether to reference a previous segment and adding a reference to a current segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Navteq North America, LLC
    Inventors: Steven P. Devries, James M. Herbst, Karen A. Hopkins, Suzanne M. McGrath, Ellen M. Bauer, James R. Bennett, Jason M. Borak
  • Patent number: 7248951
    Abstract: A carrier, such as an autonomous surface treatment device, e.g., a robotic vacuum cleaner, has motive units, such as wheels, for transporting the carrier over a field of operation. The state of the carrier, which can be its position on the field of operation, is determined based, at least in part, on the actual track width of the motive units which will change depending on the carrier's driving mode. For example, when the carrier is operating in a driving mode where it is turning, the actual track width of the motive units will be different from the actual track width of those units when the carrier is proceeding straight ahead. A determination is made of the driving mode in which the carrier is operating at the time its state is to be determined, and the actual track width of the motive units that corresponds to that driving mode is employed in determining the state of the carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Aktiebolaget Electrolux
    Inventor: Jarl Huldén
  • Patent number: 7248965
    Abstract: Disclosed is a arrangements of map information supply device for mobile units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaaki Tanizaki, Kishiko Maruyama, Shigeru Shimada
  • Patent number: 7246008
    Abstract: A system and method for describing local area geo-reference features and landmarks in providing high resolution asset location information. Geo-image data is integrated to a mapping application and geo-reference data to add more detailed scale levels to the map. The geo-image data includes geo-images and its features to provide more detailed references to the asset and support the larger references of the geo-reference data. To describe a geo-reference landmark, an original landmark representation is selected with a center point and a radius. The asset location points located at the original landmark representation are compiled along with the asset location points generated by events occurring at the landmark to create a point set. The point set replaces the original landmark representation when a prescribed number of points is reached. The asset location points that are within a specified distance from any of the points in the point set are added to the point set to complete the landmark representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert H. Daubert, Thomas F. Doyle