Patents Examined by Ian Jen
  • Patent number: 11891062
    Abstract: A velocity adjustment system for adjusting a driving velocity of a includes a driver control device configured to receive actuation input from a driver, the actuation input including an actuation parameter. The system further includes an actuation sensor configured to detect the actuation parameter and to output a sensor signal and a velocity control device configured to record the sensor signal and evaluate the actuation input. The velocity control device is designed to compare the actuation parameter with a reference value and to output, based on the comparison, a request signal to an engine control device or a braking request signal to brake control device of a brake system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: ZF CV SYSTEMS EUROPE BV
    Inventors: Nikolai Flaum, Ralph-Carsten Luelfing, Gerd Schuenemann, Torsten Wallbaum
  • Patent number: 11892305
    Abstract: In one or more embodiments, one or more systems, methods, and/or processes may determine that a first vehicle is unsafe to continue navigating to the drop-off location while the first vehicle is traveling en-route to transport one or more passengers to a drop-off location. Based on this determination, an intermediate area for the one or more passengers to be dropped off by the first vehicle and picked up by a second vehicle is determined. Instructions are then provided to the first vehicle to cause the first vehicle to navigate to the intermediate area. Further, instructions are provided to the second vehicle to navigate at least in proximity to the intermediate area to pick up the one or more passengers, and navigate to the drop-off location after picking up the one or more passengers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Lyft, Inc.
    Inventor: Alexander Thomas Starns
  • Patent number: 11887477
    Abstract: A device, system and method for controlling autonomous vehicles using a visual notification device. A movement detector is used to detect a user gesture of a user. A controller in communication with the movement detector is used to control a visual notification device to provide a visual indication of the user gesture combined with authentication data stored at a memory, to visually instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform an action associated with the user gesture upon verification of the authentication data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Piotr Fiszer, Mateusz Smetek, Tomasz Wicherski
  • Patent number: 11884413
    Abstract: A method is provided for operating a vehicle that includes rotors driven by actuators to cause the vehicle to move. The method includes determining rotational speeds at which to drive the rotors to achieve a controlled movement of the vehicle. The rotational speeds include a rotational speed for a rotor of a pair of the rotors driven by a pair of the actuators. The method includes monitoring the rotational speed to detect that the rotational speed has approached or reached a defined avoid band of rotational speeds, and biasing the rotational speed to produce at least one biased rotational speed for respective rotors of the pair that is outside the defined avoid band. The method includes generating commands for the actuators based on the rotational speeds, and modifying the commands including those of the commands for the pair of the actuators based on the at least one biased rotational speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: David H. Mason, Eric L. Hathaway, Roger W. Lacy, Brandon R. Brown, Michael J. Duffy
  • Patent number: 11878705
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for generating a test case (TC) for dynamic verification of an autonomous driving system are provided. The method includes receiving an input signal and generating a temporary TC based on the input signal. A confirmed TC is determined based on a first output signal corresponding to the input signal and a second output signal corresponding to the temporary TC. A final TC is determined by re-arranging the confirmed TC and the final TC is transmitted to an external device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation, Hyundai Autoever Corp.
    Inventors: Hong Yeol Lim, Bong Ju Kim
  • Patent number: 11873082
    Abstract: In an example, a propulsion system for controlling maneuvers of a tilt rotor aircraft includes one or more processors and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the propulsion system to perform functions. The functions include making a determination that changing an orientation of the tilt rotor aircraft is necessary to perform an instructed flight maneuver. The functions also include causing, in response to the determination, a rotor of the tilt rotor aircraft to provide a thrust, thereby applying a torque to the tilt rotor aircraft that changes the orientation of the tilt rotor aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Douglas Famularo, Jose Antonio Turalba
  • Patent number: 11858574
    Abstract: Provided is a steering control device and a steering control method that can suppress the deterioration of the turning responsiveness at the initial stage of steering that may occur in a four-wheel steering vehicle and improve the steering stability when the front and rear wheels of the four-wheel steering vehicle are controlled in the same phase. A steering control device 1 of a vehicle that controls a rear wheel steering angle based on a front wheel steering angle includes a control unit 19 that controls an amount obtained by dividing an integrated value of a change in the rear wheel steering angle in a second steering section where an absolute value of the front wheel steering angle is constant and/or decreases by a time to be larger than an amount obtained by dividing an integrated value of a change in the rear wheel steering angle in a first steering section where the absolute value of the front wheel steering angle increases by a time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Go Sakayori, Junya Takahashi, Hiroshi Nakano, Tomoaki Fujibayashi
  • Patent number: 11851073
    Abstract: A system for a vehicle includes a plurality of sensors onboard the vehicle and a controller. A first sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to detect lane markings on a roadway. The controller is configured to store data from the plurality of sensors. In response to receiving an indication indicating a misdetection of lane markings on the roadway based on data received from the first sensor, the controller is configured to execute in parallel a plurality of procedures configured to detect a plurality of causes for the misdetection of lane markings, respectively, based on the stored data; isolate one of the causes as a root cause for the misdetection of lane markings; and provide a response for mitigating the misdetection of lane markings on the roadway based on the root cause for the misdetection of lane markings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Wen-Chiao Lin, Zhongyu Yang, Yao Hu, Xinyu Du, Yilu Zhang
  • Patent number: 11845454
    Abstract: Embodiments for operational envelope detection (OED) with situational assessment are disclosed. Embodiments herein relate to an operational envelope detector that is configured to receive, as inputs, information related to sensors of the system and information related to operational design domain (ODD) requirements. The OED then compares the information related to sensors of the system to the information related to the ODD requirements, and identifies whether the system is operating within its ODD or whether a remedial action is appropriate to adjust the ODD requirements based on the current sensor information. Other embodiments are described and/or claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Motional AD LLC
    Inventors: You Hong Eng, James Guo Ming Fu, Scott D. Pendleton, Yu Pan
  • Patent number: 11847841
    Abstract: A method includes, as a robot encounters an object, creating a probabilistic object model to identify, localize, and manipulate the object, the probabilistic object model using light fields to enable efficient inference for object detection and localization while incorporating information from every pixel observed from across multiple camera locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Brown University
    Inventors: Stefanie Tellex, John Oberlin
  • Patent number: 11844495
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting an error in a surgical system. The surgical system includes a manipulator with a base and a plurality of links and the manipulator supports a surgical tool. The system includes a navigation system with a tracker and a localizer to monitor a state of the tracker. Controller(s) determine values of a first transform between a state of the base of the manipulator and a state of one or both of the localizer and the tracker of the navigation system. The controller(s) determine values of a second transform between the state of the localizer and the state of the tracker. The controller(s) combine values of the first transform and the second transform to determine whether an error has occurred relating to one or both of the manipulator and the localizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: MAKO Surgical Corp.
    Inventor: Michael Dale Dozeman
  • Patent number: 11840324
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for controlling an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. In one embodiment, a system comprises a processor, a first inceptor, communicatively coupled to the processor, the first inceptor configured to accept longitudinal and lateral linear movements as manual input and provide corresponding signals to the processor, and a second inceptor, communicatively coupled to the processor, the second inceptor configured to accept longitudinal and lateral linear movements as manual input and provide corresponding signals to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to control a heading of an aircraft using a signal received from the second inceptor corresponding to lateral linear movement of the second inceptor. Some embodiments may additionally include at least one sensor and a thumb stick for each inceptor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Archer Aviation, Inc.
    Inventors: Nathan Thomas Depenbusch, Jeffery Scott Greenwood
  • Patent number: 11842528
    Abstract: An online system builds a high definition (HD) map for a geographical region based on sensor data captured by a plurality of autonomous vehicles driving through a geographical region. The autonomous vehicles detect map discrepancies based on differences in the surroundings observed using sensor data compared to the high definition map and send messages describing these map discrepancies to the online system. The online system updates existing occupancy maps to improve the accuracy of the occupancy maps (OMaps), and to thereby improve passenger and pedestrian safety. While vehicles are in motion, they can continuously collect data about their surroundings. When new data is available from the various vehicles within a fleet, this can be updated in a local representation of the occupancy map and can be passed to the online HD map system (e.g., in the cloud) for updating the master occupancy map shared by all of the vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: NVIDIA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mark Damon Wheeler, Xiaqing Wu
  • Patent number: 11840338
    Abstract: A method for managing the propulsive power of an aircraft, the aircraft extending longitudinally along an axis X from the rear forwards and comprising at least two lateral propulsion systems each comprising a fan, each lateral propulsion system having a fan rotation speed N2 and at least one rear propulsion system configured to ingest a boundary layer of said aircraft, the rear propulsion system comprising a fan having a fan rotation speed N3, the management system comprising, during a cruising phase P4, a step of adjusting the rotation speed N3 of the rear propulsion system according to the following formula N3=a*N2 in which a is a constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: SAFRAN
    Inventors: Khaled Zarati, Panagiotis Giannakakis
  • Patent number: 11840226
    Abstract: A travel control device carries out a travel control for a vehicle based on detected lane boundary lines. A first prescribed position, an absolute vehicle position and an absolute vehicle azimuth angle are stored while changing from a state where the lane boundary lines can be detected to a state where the lane boundary lines cannot be detected. A second prescribed position is stored while changing from a state in which the lane boundary lines cannot be detected to a state in which the lane boundary lines can be detected. The host vehicle is controlled to travel along a travel path connecting the first prescribed position and the second prescribed position where a current absolute position and a current absolute azimuth angle of the host vehicle do not deviate by a prescribed value or more from the stored absolute position and the stored absolute azimuth angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Chikao Tsuchiya, Shoichi Takei
  • Patent number: 11832782
    Abstract: In order to solve the problem of the present invention, a vacuum cleaner that performs autonomous driving according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a main body; a driving unit for driving the main body; a camera for detecting 3-dimensional coordinate information; a memory for storing pattern information related to a recharging station; and a control unit which compares the 3-dimensional coordinate information detected by the camera and the pattern information stored in the memory and related to the recharging station, and which determines, on the basis of the comparison result, whether or not the recharging station is positioned in the vicinity of the main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Woochan Jun
  • Patent number: 11828607
    Abstract: A memory stores, in advance, target line information indicating an arrangement target of an object to be conveyed and related to a target line denoted by at least one of a curve or a polyline. A controller is configured to: calculate, based on the target line information, target information which is at least one of information about a target coordinate of the object and information about a target direction of the object; calculate, based on the at least one of the coordinate of the object and the direction of the object detected by the detector, detection information which is comparable with the target information; calculate a deviation of the detection information from the target information; and cause a display to display a moving direction of the object which allows the deviation to decrease.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuhiro Fukuo, Yoichiro Yamazaki, Koji Yamashita, Yusuke Kamimura, Shingo Sekiguchi, Takayuki Iino, Hiroshi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 11827234
    Abstract: Provided is a device that prevents a vehicle behavior from being unstable when an operation is continued using a degeneration function at a time of failure of a drive unit command value generation function in an autonomous driving system. A future actuator command value outputted by a main function unit for generating a drive unit command value and a simple actuator command value outputted by the degeneration function of generating a drive unit command value are synthesized using a weighting factor that changes with time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Teppei Hirotsu, Nobuyasu Kanekawa, Atsushi Arata
  • Patent number: 11828731
    Abstract: A method of performing a selected task in a tank at least partially filled with an energetic substance includes, in part, configuring a mobile platform to be inherently safe by positioning spark-generating components in either or both of: (i) an inherently safe enclosure that prevents a spark occurring inside the inherently safe enclosure from passing to an exterior of the inherently safe enclosure, and (ii) a spark-neutralizing body formed of at least one non-flammable substance and positioned inside an enclosure, the spark-neutralizing body blocking direct contact between a spark from the enclosed spark-generating component and an energetic substance from occurring inside the at least one enclosure. The method also includes positioning at least one spark-generating component not inside any inherently safe enclosure that prevents a spark occurring inside the inherently safe enclosure from passing to an exterior of the inherently safe enclosure. The sparks are capable of igniting the energetic substances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: TANKBOTS, INC.
    Inventors: John W. Meyers, Robert T. Effinger, IV, Donald A. Pontrelli
  • Patent number: 11813740
    Abstract: A camera and a robot system are provided. The camera includes a camera body attached to a tip of a robot arm and a camera unit housed in the camera body. The camera unit has a plurality camera devices that are different in optical characteristics for imaging a workpiece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: I-PRO CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Mizusawa, Hiroyuki Ishihara, Yoshihiro Inoue, Shinichi Tsukahara, Tatsuo Kamei, Yuki Yoshikuni