Patents Examined by James Trammell
  • Patent number: 9229452
    Abstract: A vehicle comprises a trailer angle detection apparatus and a trailer backup control system coupled to the trailer angle detection apparatus. The trailer angle detection apparatus is configured for outputting a signal generated as a function of an angle between the vehicle and a trailer towably attached to the vehicle. The trailer backup control system includes a jackknife enabling condition detector and a jackknife counter-measures controller. The jackknife counter-measures controller alters a setting of at least one vehicle operating parameter for alleviating an adverse jackknife condition during backing of the trailer by the vehicle when the jackknife enabling condition detector determines that a jackknife enabling condition has been attained at a particular point in time during backing of the trailer by the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, The Regents of the University of Michigan
    Inventors: Matt Y. Rupp, David Dean Smit, Roger Arnold Trombley, Thomas Edward Pilutti, Erick Michael Lavoie, Taehyun Shim
  • Patent number: 9227639
    Abstract: A system and method for separating a vehicle system into separate vehicle segments, separately moving the vehicle segments, and re-connecting the vehicle segments without initiation of a brake penalty application are provided. The system and method communicate a suspend command signal between vehicle segments to suspend operations of vehicles in a cooperative mode. The vehicles in the vehicle system are decoupled into plural separate vehicle segments. The system and method also move one or more of the vehicle segments separately from one or more other vehicle segments. The vehicle segments are reconnected to form the vehicle system, and the system and method communicate a reconnect command signal between the vehicle segments to resume operations in the cooperative mode, without incurring a penalty brake application of the vehicle system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Robert Francis Bryant, Jared Klineman Cooper, Frank Wawrzyniak, Tara Lauren Wawrzyniak
  • Patent number: 9227579
    Abstract: A hybrid vehicle communications network including a combination of wired and wireless ECUs and wired and wireless peripherals. A communications backbone, either a CAN bus or a powerline, is electrically coupled to each of the ECUs. The wireless peripherals provide wireless signals to all of the wireless ECUs and each wireless ECU provides data messages on the backbone based on the signals received from the wireless peripherals to be received by a target ECU. Also, one or more of the ECUs puts messages on the backbone to be transmitted wirelessly by all of the wireless ECUs to be received by a wireless peripheral.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Moshe Laifenfeld, Eilon Riess
  • Patent number: 9221538
    Abstract: A flight control system controls flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle by control signals of the unmanned aerial vehicle itself and from a ground facility. The unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground facility are each provided with at least one flight control unit (FCU) capable of controlling driving of an airframe actuator based on a sensor output signal from an airframe sensor. The at least one FCU on the unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one FCU of the ground facility constitute a redundant system for flight control function. In the redundant system one of the at least one FCU on the unmanned aerial vehicle serves as a main unit. In the case where a malfunction has occurred in an FCU that performs flight control on the unmanned aerial vehicle, the ground facility is capable of causing another FCU to take over flight control function from the FCU.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinei Takahashi, Kenshi Miyata, Akitoshi Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 9221439
    Abstract: A road surface frictional coefficient estimating apparatus includes a device which determines a first estimated value of a to-be-compared external force acting on a vehicle due to the resultant force of road surface reaction forces using a determined frictional coefficient estimated value and the like, and a device which determines a second estimated value of the to-be-compared external force from the observed value of motional state amounts of the vehicle that define an inertial force corresponding to the to-be-compared external force. The estimated value of a road surface frictional coefficient is updated based on the difference between the first estimated value and the second estimated value. When the first estimated value and the second estimated value have opposite polarities, the updating of the estimated value of the road surface frictional coefficient based on the difference is not carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toru Takenaka, Yoshihiro Mori, Hiroyuki Urabe
  • Patent number: 9221410
    Abstract: A vehicle with an internal combustion engine, with a physical onboard power supply system and with at least one electrical energy source, wherein electrical consumers are integrated in the physical onboard power supply system and the physical onboard power supply system comprises a switchable terminal 15, wherein, when the terminal 15 is actuated and the internal combustion engine is switched off or when the internal combustion engine is running at a low rotational speed, each of the electrical consumers is assignable by a control device to either a first group of electrical consumers or a second group of electrical consumers, an electrical consumer of the first group is at least partly able to be switched on and off by a user, an electrical consumer of the second group cannot be switched by the user, and an electrical consumer which is switched on at least partly can be supplied with electrical power from the at least one electrical energy source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Susanne Woitsch, Joachim Froeschl, Guido Boehm, Alfons Brunner
  • Patent number: 9223748
    Abstract: In order to further improve followability of an actual vehicle speed with respect to a commanded vehicle speed at a starting time point, the present invention is provided with a vehicle speed control part that, a predetermined time before the starting time point that is a time when the commanded vehicle speed rises from zero, sets a clutch position of a vehicle to an initial intermediate position where power is partially transmitted, and at and during a certain period of time after the starting time point, performs clutch feedback control that changes the clutch position depending on a deviation between the actual vehicle speed and the commanded vehicle speed so as to make the actual vehicle speed follow the commanded vehicle speed, wherein the vehicle speed control part sets the initial intermediate position depending on rising commanded acceleration that is a time rate of change at the time when a value of the commanded vehicle speed rises from zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Horiba, Ltd.
    Inventor: Takao Konishi
  • Patent number: 9221463
    Abstract: Disclosed are an automatic speed controllable vehicle and a speed controlling method thereof. The vehicle collects vehicle information and transmitted collected vehicle information to an RSE, and the RSE receives vehicle information from each vehicle within a management section and transmits again, to each vehicle, information required for each vehicle to adjust a speed. The vehicle receiving information required to adjust the speed may adjust the speed of the vehicle based on the received information and may display a warning notification for a driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: A Ra Choi
  • Patent number: 9217650
    Abstract: An information processing system includes a center server, a first moving object that performs communication with the center server, and a second moving object that performs communication with the center server. The first moving object includes a submission information acquisition unit that acquires submission information related to a travel guiding, and a submission information transmission unit that transmits the submission information to the center server. The center server includes a guiding information accumulation unit that accumulates guiding information which is based on the submission information. The second moving object includes a travel guiding execution unit that executes the travel guiding for the second moving object with respect to the traveling route to the preset destination. The travel guiding execution unit executes the travel guiding using the guiding information of the guiding information accumulation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroki Nakashima, Teruhide Hayashida, Kengo Hayashi, Koichi Nakao
  • Patent number: 9213977
    Abstract: Transaction processing involves receiving data from an access transaction application of a portable consumer device, wherein the received data comprises data from an access transaction data string that includes a transit verification value wherein, with the exception of the transit verification value, the access transaction data string is substantially similar to a retail data string comprising retail data, wherein the access application data string is adapted for use with an access transaction processing system and the retail data string is adapted for use with a retail processing system. The transaction processing involves processing access transaction application data for selective authorization of the transaction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Visa U.S.A. Inc.
    Inventors: Ayman Hammad, Philip B. Dixon
  • Patent number: 9211888
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus includes an engine and a motor generator, and controls a hybrid vehicle in which the engine is started by starting torque outputted from the motor generator. The apparatus includes a prestart control section which makes the motor generator output prestart torque smaller than the starting torque before the engine is started by the starting torque, a balance determination section which determines whether or not compression torque caused by pressure in a cylinder of the engine and the prestart torque are balanced with each other, and a start-up control section which makes the motor generator output the starting torque, after the balance determination section determines that the compression torque and the prestart torque are balanced with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takuya Gotou, Kazunari Izumi
  • Patent number: 9208601
    Abstract: Road network data can include two dimensional (2D) coordinates corresponding to junctions and non-junctions in the road network. Height values for roads at junctions can be obtained from optimizing a cost function or as input. Height values for roads at non-junction locations can be obtained from a height function defined using the height values for the junctions. Pitch, yaw, and roll vectors can be obtained for non-junction locations using the height function, the 2D coordinates, and one or more road parameters, respectively. These vectors can define a coordinate frame for the road, along with which a width can provide points for defining polygons for the road. Road surface data can be constructed from the polygons. The polygons can be provided to a device display for rendering of a three dimensional image of navigation data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Imran A. Pirwani
  • Patent number: 9207094
    Abstract: Road height values for a road network area are generated based on locations of junctions and stacking orders of roads in junctions in which at least one road passes over another road. A cost function can be optimized to obtain height values for each road of each junction. The cost function can be constrained such that roads of the grade separated crossings satisfy the stacking order designated for the roads and to have a minimum distance between roads having consecutive stacking order values. The obtained height values can be used for rendering a three-dimensional map of a part of the road network area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Imran A. Pirwani, Paul S. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 9206583
    Abstract: A void protection system for a mining shovel having an operator input device includes an independent metering valve assembly including one or more fluid source-cylinder valves for fluidly connecting the fluid source to the hydraulic cylinder. The system also includes a sensor assembly for monitoring the fluid pressure within the rod end and the head end of the hydraulic cylinder, and a control module. The control module is configured to monitor movement of the operator input device, monitor pressure within the hydraulic cylinder, increase the opening of the corresponding fluid source-cylinder valve and increase fluid flow from the fluid source to fill corresponding end of the hydraulic cylinder until pressure in the corresponding end of the hydraulic cylinder is above a first threshold pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Caterpillar Global Mining LLC
    Inventors: Matthew J. Beschorner, Bryan A. Johnson, Brett J. Janson, Brandon Z. Barnes, Rustu Cesur
  • Patent number: 9205836
    Abstract: A method is provided for controlling a driving distance between a host vehicle and a first vehicle driving in front of the host vehicle, the host vehicle driving at a driving speed and at the driving distance to the first vehicle. The host vehicle includes a system for controlling the driving distance and a fuel saving system, wherein the system for controlling the driving distance is adapted to retain the driving distance at not less than a preset minimum safety distance, and wherein the fuel saving system includes an automatic speed increasing function which in case of fulfillment of a set of conditions automatically increases the driving speed in order to utilize kinetic energy inherent in the host vehicle to save fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB
    Inventors: Anders Eriksson, Johan Bjernetun
  • Patent number: 9207954
    Abstract: An aircraft data acquisition and/or transmission system comprises a memory having stored therein a first state machine configuration comprising a first allocation between a plurality of transition criteria objects stored in a first area of the memory and a plurality of state objects stored in a second area of the memory separate from the first area. A processor is coupled to the memory and at least one application executable by the processor causes a first data acquisition and/or transmission behavior in the aircraft by running the first state machine configuration, receives a second state machine configuration comprising a second allocation between the plurality of transition criteria objects and the plurality of state objects, and causes a second data acquisition and/or transmission behavior in the aircraft by running the second state machine configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP
    Inventors: James Mood, Jeffrey R. Vahue
  • Patent number: 9208624
    Abstract: One embodiment is directed to a method of authenticating a vehicle telematics device. The method includes receiving, at a server, identifying information for a vehicle telematics device and receiving, at the server, information identifying an account to which the vehicle telematics device is to be associated. The method also includes authenticating the vehicle telematics device by finalizing an association between the vehicle telematics device and the account if data that is specified for authentication is received at the server from the vehicle telematics device and if that data is obtained by the vehicle telematics device within a time window that is specified for authentication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Zubie, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael John Rude, Ari Abram Silkey
  • Patent number: 9207095
    Abstract: An integrated navigation and collision avoidance system for a source object may include a navigation module and a collision avoidance module. The collision avoidance module may identify an external object that could possibly collide with the source object. The collision avoidance module may determine a likelihood of collision with the external object based on navigation information received from the navigation module. The navigation module may receive information pertaining to the likelihood of collision determination from the collision avoidance module and determine whether to include collision avoidance information and/or modify navigation instructions to generate a navigation output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Harman International Industries, Incorporated
    Inventor: Craig Gunther
  • Patent number: 9198346
    Abstract: A control system is provided for starting electrically powered implements on a vehicle such as a grass mowing machine with electrically powered cutting reels. The electric motors are started at intervals, rather than simultaneously. The intervals between starting each electric motor may be based on pre-defined criteria such as a fixed time constant, voltage, current or speed input from a motor controller for each implement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventor: Robert A. Henson
  • Patent number: 9199744
    Abstract: A method and a device (50) for issuing a terrain avoidance warning for a rotary wing aircraft (100) during which at least one bundle (N1, N2) of possible avoidance trajectories for said aircraft (100) is prepared in order to avoid a collision between said aircraft (100) and the relief (70) being overflown. A warning is then triggered as soon as said relief (70) being overflown is found to be at a distance from any one of said bundles (N1, N2) of possible avoidance trajectories that is less than a predetermined distance (Mv). Said avoidance trajectories are determined on the basis of a predetermined avoidance maneuver and on the basis of states of said aircraft (100), said predetermined avoidance maneuver being performed at a predetermined maximum power of said aircraft (100).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Airbus Helicopters
    Inventor: Jean-Paul Petillon