Patents Examined by Gertrude Arthur
  • Patent number: 11440556
    Abstract: A trailed vehicle comprises a cargo area, a wheeled axle assembly supporting the cargo area, a hitch assembly configured to secure the trailed vehicle to a tow vehicle, and a weight sensing system comprising a weight processing module and a user interface. The weight processing module comprises a processor and non-transitory computer readable storage comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the weight processing module to execute an axle-specific vehicle weight determination, an axle-specific vehicle weight display presented at the user interface, a hitch-specific vehicle weight determination, a hitch-specific vehicle weight display presented at the user interface, a hitch-specific weight percentage determination, a hitch-specific weight percentage display presented at the user interface, a total weight determination, a total weight display presented at the user interface, an available cargo weight determination, and an available cargo weight display presented at the user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Thor Tech, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Bullock, Jon Brock
  • Patent number: 11440413
    Abstract: An adjusting apparatus for an electrically operated utility vehicle, which has a front axle; at least two rear axles; at least one electric motor for driving the rear axles; and a battery to supply the electric motor with electrical power; including: an adjusting device to adjust a level of at least one of the rear axles from the roadway; in which the adjusting device is configured to identify a recovery mode in which the electric motor functions as a generator and is driven by the two rear axles in order to charge the battery; and in which the adjusting device is configured, when a recovery mode has been identified, to adjust the level and a load of the at least one adjustable rear axle so that the recovery is optimized. Also described is a related method and an electrically operated utility vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Knorr-Bremse Systeme Fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH
    Inventors: Peter Csontos, Denes Vanyi, Richard Budafoki, Zoltán Nógrádi, Melinda Hajos
  • Patent number: 11441335
    Abstract: In a vehicular portable device, a display unit is controlled to display an icon representing an instruction to an in-vehicle device when detecting that an acceleration equal to or greater than an activation threshold occurs in the vehicular portable device, a pressing force at an icon selection position, which is a position where the icon is selected by a touch sensor, is detected, and a control signal instructing execution of a command corresponding to the icon being selected is transmitted based on detection of the pressing force in a state where the icon is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tetsuyuki Anzai
  • Patent number: 11433702
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for holonomic drivetrain modules for mobile robots. In one embodiment, an example mobile robot may include a chassis, and a holonomic drivetrain module removably coupled to the chassis. The holonomic drivetrain module may include a first drive wheel having a caster angle of substantially zero, a first bearing block assembly vertically aligned with the first drive wheel, and a first steer motor coupled to the first bearing block assembly and vertically aligned with the first drive wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Sekich, Phillip Walkemeyer, Jacob Blacksberg, Jonathan McQueen, Nima Keivan
  • Patent number: 11433315
    Abstract: An amusement vehicle, retrofittable hardware gamification attachment, and method for simulating power-ups in-game virtual vehicle enhancements and virtual weaponry for improved racing experience are disclosed. Amusement vehicle comprises sensor-specific transmitters/receivers for communicating with other amusement vehicles moving in amusement environment. Amusement vehicle comprises a processor simulating power-ups in-game virtual vehicle enhancements and virtual weaponry based on sensor-specific signals transmitted to or received from other amusement vehicles. Power-ups and virtual weaponry are simulated by increasing/decreasing speed, causing damage, providing temporary protection from damage, freezing weaponry, and deactivating weaponry the amusement vehicle for pre-defined time corresponding to sensor-specific signals transmitted to or received from other amusement vehicles in gaming event of amusement environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: EMOTIONAL IDEAS, INC.
    Inventors: Joshua Jermaine Nelson, Joseph M. Giannuzzi, Quintus William McKeel
  • Patent number: 11433767
    Abstract: A vehicle kill switch assembly includes a switch that is coupled to a vehicle. The switch is positioned beneath a driver's seat of the vehicle and the switch is electrically coupled to the ignition system of the vehicle. The ignition system is turned off when the switch is disengaged. A biasing unit is coupled to the vehicle and the driver's seat is coupled to the biasing unit. The biasing unit biases the driver's seat upwardly in the vehicle and the biasing unit is compressed when the driver sits in the driver's seat. The switch is engaged when the biasing unit is compressed to facilitate the vehicle to be driven. Conversely, the switch is disengaged when the biasing unit biases the driver's seat upwardly to inhibit the vehicle from being driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Inventor: George Rodriguez
  • Patent number: 11427088
    Abstract: A movable structure driving unit is a movable structure driving unit used for a movable structure, including: an electric motor that is electrically connected to a power supply and that drives a front wheel; a rear-side motive power source that drives a rear wheel; a jump detector that detects a jump of the front wheel from ground; and a motor controller that controls driving of the electric motor. The motor controller stops supply of a driving current from the power supply to the electric motor when the jump of the front wheel from the ground is detected in a state in which driving of the front wheel and the rear wheel is instructed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: KANZAKI KOKYUKOKI MFG. CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Kamada, Michio Tsukamoto, Masaru Iida
  • Patent number: 11429099
    Abstract: A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Outrider Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew F. Smith, Lawrence S. Klein, Stephen A. Langenderfer, Martin E. Sotola, Vikas Bahl, Mark H. Rosenblum, Peter James, Dale Rowley, Matthew S. Johannes, Gary Seminara, Jeremy M. Nett
  • Patent number: 11427979
    Abstract: A plow collateral damage mitigating system for the minimization of collateral damage done by otherwise routine and/or careless usage of a plow blade is disclosed herein. In one or more embodiments, the system includes a signal transmission cable configured to be disposed around a periphery of an area that is to be plowed; one or more receivers on a snow plow device or vehicle that are configured to receive at least one signal conveyed by the signal transmission cable; at least one actuator controlling an orientation of a plow blade of the snow plow device; and a control unit configured to automatically control the orientation of the plow blade by means of adjusting the at least one actuator based upon the at least one signal of the signal transmission cable so as to avoid damaging a boundary feature and/or obstruction disposed at the periphery of the area being plowed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Inventor: Chris Lee Nelson
  • Patent number: 11427238
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for determining ancillary subdivision/districts may include obtaining route data associated with one or more vehicle network operators operating one or more subdivisions/districts over which the vehicle group may travel, determining an ancillary subdivision/district of the one or more subdivisions/districts that are not included in the route data by any of the one or more vehicle network operators, receiving route data for the vehicle network operator associated with the ancillary subdivision/district, and communicating with one or more wayside interface units in the ancillary subdivision/district based on the route data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ann K. Grimm, Rebecca W. Dreasher
  • Patent number: 11420560
    Abstract: A work screen display system including a position information obtaining unit for obtaining position information on a work vehicle based on positioning correction information supplied from a first reference station; a region shape determination unit for determining a shape of a specific region where the work vehicle performs autonomous travel, based on positioning correction information supplied from a second reference station; and a display control unit for displaying, on a display unit, a specific region indication section indicating the specific region determined by the region shape determination unit. The display control unit displays the specific region indication section in a display mode that varies between a case where the first and second reference stations are identical and a case where the first and second reference stations are not identical.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: YANMAR POWER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yasuto Nishii
  • Patent number: 11413972
    Abstract: A powertrain backlash control system is provided for use with an electric vehicle (EV), where the EV uses at least one powertrain to provide forward vehicle motion and at least one additional powertrain to provide rearward vehicle motion. The control system eliminates backlash by maintaining a positive motor torque within each powertrain when the vehicle is in-gear, thus applying a minimum forward torque demand to the powertrain dedicated to forward motion and applying a minimum reverse torque demand to the powertrain dedicated to rearward motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Atieva, Inc.
    Inventor: Jean-Philippe Gauthier
  • Patent number: 11409286
    Abstract: Systems, methods, computer program products, and apparatuses for low latency, fully reconfigurable hardware logic for ensemble classification methods, such as random forests. An apparatus may comprise circuitry for an interconnect and circuitry for a random forest implemented in hardware. The random forest comprising a plurality of decision trees connected via the interconnect, each decision tree comprising a plurality of nodes connected via the interconnect. A first decision tree of the plurality of decision trees comprising a first node of the plurality of nodes to: receive a plurality of elements of feature data via the interconnect, select a first element of feature data, of the plurality of elements of feature data, based on a configuration of the first node, and generate an output based on the first element of feature data, an operation, and a reference value, the operation and reference value specified in the configuration of the first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Marcio Juliato, Christopher Gutierrez, Shabbir Ahmed, Manoj Sastry, Liuyang Yang, Xiruo Liu
  • Patent number: 11409304
    Abstract: The described techniques relate to predicting object behavior based on top-down representations of an environment comprising top-down representations of image features in the environment. For example, a top-down representation may comprise a multi-channel image that includes semantic map information along with additional information for a target object and/or other objects in an environment. A top-down image feature representation may also be a multi-channel image that incorporates various tensors for different image features with channels of the multi-channel image, and may be generated directly from an input image. A prediction component can generate predictions of object behavior based at least in part on the top-down image feature representation, and in some cases, can generate predictions based on the top-down image feature representation together with the additional top-down representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Zoox, Inc.
    Inventors: Tianyi Cai, James William Vaisey Philbin, Kai Zhenyu Wang
  • Patent number: 11410526
    Abstract: A dynamic rollover zone detection system that is easily attached to mobile machinery and dynamically detects a rollover zone around the mobile machinery. The system detects humans and objects within the rollover zone using one or more pre-trained machine learning models in order to prevent accidents and potential collisions between machinery and people or objects in the rollover zone. If a human or obstacle is identified in the rollover zone, an alert or warning is provided and/or the mobile machinery is disabled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: LANTERN HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventor: Chad Thomas Green
  • Patent number: 11407369
    Abstract: A server includes a memory storing a shared pool of user defined vehicle settings packages and may determine, from the shared pool, one or more settings packages meeting a search request. For each determined settings package, the server may determine compatibility of the determined settings package with configurable systems of a vehicle associated with the search request. The server may also present a selectable list of determined settings packages that are also determined to have a predefined minimum level of compatibility with the vehicle and download a selected settings package to the vehicle, responsive to selection of the selected settings package from the selectable list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Lewis Boston, Ali Soloukmofrad, Nayaz Khalid Ahmed, Phillip Morris
  • Patent number: 11402542
    Abstract: The systems and methods described herein provide a mechanism for collecting information from a diverse suite of sensors and systems, calculating the current precipitation, atmospheric water vapor, or precipitable water and other atmospheric-based phenomena based upon these sensor readings, and predicting future precipitation and atmospheric-based phenomena.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: The Tomorrow Companies Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel Rothenberg
  • Patent number: 11396245
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a hybrid vehicle-to-grid and mobility service request system includes a receiving module, a transport module, a charging module, and a grant module. The receiving module receives a transport request and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) request. The transport request is associated with transport from an origin to a destination using a vehicle. The V2G energy request is associated with providing charge from the vehicle to source equipment at a charging location. The transport module determines a first numerical value associated with remuneration for the transport. The charging module determines a second numerical value associated with remuneration for providing the charge. The grant module compares the first numerical value associated with the transport request to the second numerical value associated with the V2G energy request. The grant module grants the transport request or the V2G energy request based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryan Douglas Roy Harty, Jeremy Whaling, Robert Uyeki, Sruthi Raju Nadimpalli
  • Patent number: 11392145
    Abstract: Unmanned vehicles can be terrestrial, aerial, nautical, or multi-mode. Unmanned vehicles may be used to survey a property in response to or in anticipation of a threat. For example, an unmanned vehicle may analyze information about the property and based on the information deter theft of items on the property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Richard Daniel Graham, Kade Scott, Matthew Flachsbart
  • Patent number: 11383721
    Abstract: A method for controlling vehicle systems includes receiving monitoring information from one or more monitoring systems and determining a plurality of driver states based on the monitoring information from the one or more monitoring systems. The method includes determining a combined driver state based on the plurality of driver states and modifying control of one or more vehicle systems based on the combined driver state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kin C. Fung, Timothy J. Dick