Patents Examined by Ian Jen
  • Patent number: 11718393
    Abstract: A method and a system for providing a rotorcraft with assistance in taking off from a slope. The rotorcraft includes at least one lift rotor provided with a plurality of blades, control devices for controlling the pitches of the blades, and landing gear provided with at least three ground contact members. The method comprises a step of measuring a piece of information relating to the forces to which each ground contact member is subjected during a landing phase for landing on the slope, a step of measuring at least one piece of information relating to the pitches of the blades during the landing phase, and a control step for controlling the pitches of the blades during the takeoff phase during which the rotorcraft takes off after the landing as a function of the measurements taken during the landing in order to enable a takeoff to be performed that is safe and simplified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: AIRBUS HELICOPTERS
    Inventors: Jacques Bellera, Nicolas Queiras
  • Patent number: 11714427
    Abstract: A distributed control system with supplemental attitude adjustment including an aircraft control having an engaged state and a disengaged state. The system also including a plurality of flight components and a plurality of aircraft components communicatively connected to the plurality of flight components, wherein each aircraft component is configured to receive an aircraft command and generate a response command directing the flight components as a function of supplemental attitude. The supplemental attitude based at least in part on the engagement datum and generating a supplemental attitude includes choosing a position supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is disengaged and choosing a velocity supplemental attitude if the aircraft control is engaged. In generating the response command, the aircraft attitude is combined with the supplemental attitude to obtain an aggregate attitude, and the aircraft component is configured to generate the response command based on the aggregate attitude.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: Herman Wiegman
  • Patent number: 11703344
    Abstract: In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a landmark position estimating method performed by a landmark position estimating apparatus. The method comprises, identifying a first type landmark and a second type landmark from an image, captured by an image capturing device of a vehicle, including various landmarks on a driving route, estimating a three-dimensional position of the identified first type landmark based on a plurality of the images on which the first type landmark is identified and a digital map including a driving area of the vehicle, and estimating a position of the identified second type landmark on a virtual plane including the three-dimensional position of the first type landmark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Seongsoo Lee
  • Patent number: 11702191
    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: December 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: ARCHER AVIATION, INC.
    Inventors: Nathan Thomas Depenbusch, Jeffery Scott Greenwood
  • Patent number: 11702192
    Abstract: Some aspects relate to systems and methods for fly-by-wire reversionary flight control including a pilot control, a plurality of sensors configured to: sense control data associated with the pilot control, and transmit the control data, a first actuator communicative with the plurality of sensors configured to receive the control data, determine a first command datum as a function of the control data and a distributed control algorithm, and actuate a first control element according to the first command datum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventors: Joshua E. Auerbach, Andrew Giroux, Chris Townsend, Timothy Gerard Richter, Matthew John Sheppard
  • Patent number: 11697423
    Abstract: An in-vehicle communication system includes a first relay apparatus installed in a first area of a vehicle, and a second relay apparatus installed in a second area and are connected via a communication main line. A main control apparatus and an auxiliary control apparatus are connected to the first relay apparatus and a controlled apparatus is connected to the second relay apparatus, each connected via a communication branch line. The first input apparatus is installed in the first area and inputs information to the main control apparatus and the auxiliary control apparatus. The second input apparatus is installed in the second area and inputs information to the main control apparatus and the auxiliary control apparatus via the first relay apparatus and the second relay apparatus. The first relay apparatus and the controlled apparatus communicate via an auxiliary communication line provided into both the first area and the second area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kosei Maekawa
  • Patent number: 11698645
    Abstract: A method for hovering an aircraft having at least one wing and at least one rotary wing and at least one propeller, the aircraft comprising an autopilot system. The method comprises keeping the aircraft hovering, with the autopilot system, in the setpoint position, keeping the aircraft hovering in this way comprising controlling, with the autopilot system, a pitch of blades of the at least one propeller irrespective of the setpoint pitch angle and controlling, with the autopilot system, a pitch of blades of the at least one rotary wing as a function at least of the setpoint pitch angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: AIRBUS HELICOPTERS
    Inventor: Kamel Abdelli
  • Patent number: 11679780
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products for navigating a vehicle are disclosed. The methods include extracting lane segment data associated with lane segments of a vector map that are within a region of interest, and analyzing the lane segment data and a heading of the vehicle to determine whether motion of the vehicle satisfies a condition. The condition can be associated with (i) an association between the heading of the vehicle and a direction of travel of a lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle and/or (ii) a minimum stopping distance to an imminent traffic control measure in the lane that corresponds to the current location of the vehicle. When the motion does not satisfy the condition, the methods include causing the vehicle to perform a motion correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: ARGO AI, LLC
    Inventors: Colen McAlister, David Breeden, Thomas Petroff, Christopher Cunningham, Patrick Barone, Arek Sredzki, Neal Seegmiller, Xi Cai
  • Patent number: 11679890
    Abstract: A command model connected to plurality of flight components of an electric aircraft and comprises a circuitry configured to detect a predicted state and a measured state datum, transmit predicted state datum to an actuator model, and transmit measured state datum to a plant model. An actuator model connected to the sensor configured to receive the predicted state datum and generate a performance datum. A plant model connected to the sensor configured to receive measured state datum and performance datum from the actuator model, transmit a feedback path to controller, and generate an inconsistency datum as a function of the measured state datum and the performance datum. A controller communicatively connected to the sensor, wherein the controller is configured to receive the inconsistency datum from the plant model and apply a torque to the aircraft as a function of the inconsistency datum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: BETA AIR, LLC
    Inventor: Collin Freiheit
  • Patent number: 11673267
    Abstract: A system includes a robot with a robot arm having multiple joints and an end effector to carry a substrate. A processing device is to build, with respect to a joint space for the multiple joints and the end effector, a graph of reachable positions and sub-paths between the reachable positions, wherein the reachable positions and the sub-paths satisfy Cartesian limits within the joint space. The processing device is to determine, by executing a graph optimization algorithm on the graph, multiple paths, each made up of a group of the sub-paths and having one of a shortest distance or a lowest cost between a start point and an end point of the end effector. The processing device is to select a path, of the multiple paths, through the graph that minimizes a move time of the end effector between the start point and the end point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Omar Abdul-hadi, Adam Christopher Cranmer, Gregory John Freeman
  • Patent number: 11667303
    Abstract: Systems and methods for testing a hands-off detection algorithm. The method includes determining a plurality of system behavior test conditions for the algorithm and selecting an orthogonal array defining a plurality of test cases based on the plurality of system behavior test conditions. The method includes generating, for each of the test cases, an expected test outcome. The method includes for each of the test cases, conducting a test of with the vehicle based on the orthogonal array to generate a plurality of actual test outcomes and generating a response table based on the test outcomes, including a plurality of system behavior test condition interactions. The method includes determining, for each of the interactions, a result rating based on the expected test outcomes and the actual test outcomes and identifying, within the response table, which one or more of the test conditions exhibits a high failure condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Matthew James Fenton, Trevor J. Nill
  • Patent number: 11670162
    Abstract: An automated vehicle control distributed network node, that includes at least two modems for communicating with two neighboring roadside nodes on the same side of the roadway; at least one antenna for communicating with vehicles via a wireless connection; pattern recognition processing operative to detect patterns using image data from a plurality of high speed, high resolution video cameras that include night vision; vehicle prediction processing, operatively coupled to the pattern recognition processing, operative to predict vehicle location, velocity and direction using the pattern recognition processing; and a vehicle controller, operatively coupled to the vehicle prediction processing to receive vehicle prediction data, and to the at least one antenna, operative to send acceleration, deceleration and steering control signals to a plurality of vehicles in response to vehicle prediction data received from the vehicle prediction processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: LEMKO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shaowei Pan, Brian Ponte
  • Patent number: 11667253
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for transmitting signals in a vehicle to vehicle (V2V)/vehicle to everything (V2X) communication system. The method includes receiving a handover command message from a base station, the handover command message comprising information on a first resource pool, selecting a resource for transmitting data from a second resource pool without sensing the second resource pool, if the handover command message further comprises information on the second resource pool, and transmitting the data based on the resource for transmitting data from the second resource pool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Anil Agiwal
  • Patent number: 11660758
    Abstract: A robot includes: a base having a plurality of wheels; a body having a bottom portion coupled above the base, and a top portion above the bottom portion, the top portion configured to support food and/or drink; a first camera at the bottom portion, wherein the first camera is oriented to view upward; and a second camera at the top portion, wherein the second camera is configured to view upward.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Bear Robotics, Inc.
    Inventors: John Jungwoo Ha, Fangwei Li, Brennand Pierce, Jungju Oh
  • Patent number: 11660746
    Abstract: A robot includes a first driving source, a second driving source, an output portion to which both rotation of the first driving source and rotation of the second driving source are transmitted, and a control device configured to execute a first process and a second process. In the first process, the control device controls the first driving source and the second driving source such that when the output portion is rotated toward a predetermined direction, a rotational direction of the output portion is limited to the predetermined direction. In the second process, the control device controls the first driving source and the second driving source such that when the output portion is rotated toward a predetermined direction, the output portion is able to rotate toward a direction opposite to the predetermined direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tsutomu Osaka
  • Patent number: 11662731
    Abstract: Systems and methods described herein relate to controlling a robot. One embodiment receives an initial state of the robot, an initial nominal control trajectory of the robot, and a Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence bound between a modeled probability distribution for a stochastic disturbance and an unknown actual probability distribution for the stochastic disturbance; solves a bilevel optimization problem subject to the modeled probability distribution and the KL divergence bound using an iterative Linear-Exponential-Quadratic-Gaussian (iLEQG) algorithm and a cross-entropy process, the iLEQG algorithm outputting an updated nominal control trajectory, the cross-entropy process outputting a risk-sensitivity parameter; and controls operation of the robot based, at least in part, on the updated nominal control trajectory and the risk-sensitivity parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Haruki Nishimura, Negar Zahedi Mehr, Adrien David Gaidon, Mac Schwager
  • Patent number: 11654556
    Abstract: A determination apparatus acquires, as acquired data, the state of force and moment applied to a manipulator and the state of the position and the posture in an operation when a force control of an industrial robot is carried out, and creates an evaluation function that evaluates the quality of the operation of the industrial robot based on the acquired data. Then, it creates determination data for the acquired data using the evaluation function, and creates state data used for machine learning based on the acquired data. Then, it generates a learning model for determining a quality of an operation of the industrial robot using the state data and the determination data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mikito Hane, Takashi Satou
  • Patent number: 11657621
    Abstract: A method controls a motor vehicle including a plurality of sensors for acquiring raw data relative to the environment of the vehicle and a computational unit for receiving the raw data acquired by the sensors. The method includes: the computational unit receives the raw data and processes the raw data to deduce therefrom pieces of information relative to the environment of the vehicle and coefficients of probability of error in the deduction of each piece of information, and settings for controlling the vehicle are generated depending on the pieces of information and the probability coefficients. For at least one of the sensors, a quality coefficient relative to the quality of the raw data sent by this sensor is determined, the reliability of the control settings is estimated, and a decision is made to correct or not correct the control settings depending on the estimated reliability of the control settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignees: Renault s.a.s., NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Katrin Matthes
  • Patent number: 11638993
    Abstract: A method for operating a robotic system including determining an initial pose of a target object based on imaging data; calculating a confidence measure associated with an accuracy of the initial pose; and determining that the confidence measure fails to satisfy a sufficiency condition; and deriving a motion plan accordingly for scanning an object identifier while transferring the target object from a start location to a task location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: MUJIN, Inc.
    Inventor: Rosen Diankov
  • Patent number: 11634217
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a tilt rotor that is aft of a wing and that is attached to the wing via a pylon. The tilt rotor has an adjustable maximum downward angle from horizontal that is less than or equal to 60° and that is set via a setting associated with a flight computer. The vehicle takes off and lands using at least some lift from the wing and from the tilt rotor. In response to a change to the adjustable maximum downward angle, via the setting associated with the flight computer, which produces a new maximum downward angle: the flight computer updates an actuator authority database associated with the flight computer to reflect the new maximum downward angle. Using the updated actuator authority database that reflects the new maximum downward angle, the flight computer generates a rotor control signal for the tilt rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Kitty Hawk Corporation
    Inventors: Pranay Sinha, Damon Vander Lind