Patents Examined by Jay Khandpur
  • Patent number: 11590984
    Abstract: A control system and method for controlling a vehicle subsystem are provided. The control system includes a remote parameter sensor configured to generate a remote parameter signal indicative of a value of a universal parameter associated with an environment in which a vehicle is operating. The system further includes a local parameter sensor configured to generate a local parameter signal indicative of the value of the universal parameter and a local controller. The controller is configured to receive the local parameter signal along a first signal path, receive the remote parameter signal and a command signal configured for controlling a function of the vehicle subsystem along a second signal path, compare the local and remote parameter signals and implement the function of the vehicle subsystem responsive to the command signal if the remote parameter signal meets a predetermined condition relative to the local parameter signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
    Inventors: Daniel P. Zula, Nianqing Zhou, Vadim V. Nikiforov, Rajkumar Senthilkumar
  • Patent number: 11592527
    Abstract: A headlamp module of a vehicle includes a housing including a window, an illumination submodule disposed inside the housing and configured to provide illumination light to be transmitted through the window toward a scene in front of the vehicle, and a first LiDAR sensor disposed inside the housing and laterally displaced from the illumination submodule. The first LiDAR sensor includes one or more laser sources configured to emit laser beams to be transmitted through the window toward the scene, the laser beams being reflected off of one or more objects in the scene, thereby generating return laser beams to be transmitted through the window toward the first LiDAR sensor and one or more detectors configured to receive and detect the return laser beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Inventors: Mark A. McCord, Jun Pei, Liqun Han, Dongyi Liao, Wei Wei
  • Patent number: 11577752
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for adjusting fully automatic vehicle guidance functions, which are realized by means of a vehicle system of a motor vehicle, during the operation of the motor vehicles in a predefined navigation environment. A stationary infrastructure device that communicates with the motor vehicles is associated with the navigation environment. Function limits of each vehicle guidance function are defined by means of limit operation parameters of the vehicle guidance function. Current traffic situation information describing dynamic objects in the navigation environment is determined by the infrastructure device by means of environment sensors of the navigation environment. The current traffic situation information is used, together with a digital map describing stationary objects and properties of the navigation environment, to determine at least one piece of risk information for each motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Audi AG
    Inventors: Florian Schuller, Christian Feist
  • Patent number: 11568752
    Abstract: A gateway retrieval alert device is configured for use in an aircraft ground support system. The gateway retrieval alert device is connected to an intercom gateway, either through a direct wireless connection or through a direct connection to a headset of a tug operator, the headset in turn being wirelessly connected to the intercom gateway. The integrity of the wireless link to the intercom gateway is monitored, and when the integrity of the link falls below a set threshold, an alert is issued. The alert is issued externally to the communication network between the ground crew and pilot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: David Clark Company Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert A. Daigle, Nick Cannata
  • Patent number: 11535258
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product for determining a rain event warning are described herein. In the context of a method, an indication of the rain event warning for one or more locations may be received. The method may obtain, for a respective rain event warning, sensor data corresponding to a weather condition within a region that includes the location with which the respective rain event warning is associated. The method may evaluate the sensor data to determine whether the sensor data is indicative of the weather condition (e.g., rain). The method may determine a rain event warning confidence based at least in part on evaluation of the sensor data. The method may cause the rain event warning to be published in an instance in which the rain event warning confidence satisfies a confidence threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: HERE GLOBAL B.V.
    Inventors: Leon Stenneth, Amarnath Nayak, Alex Averbuch, Ram Marappan
  • Patent number: 11531358
    Abstract: An approach is provided for calculating a payload survivability estimate and generating aerial routes based on the payload survivability estimate. The approach, for example, involves processing data, such as map data representing the geographic area to identify at least one map feature, at least one material corresponding with the at least one map feature, or a combination thereof. The payload survivability estimate can be based on real-time data, historical data, or a combination thereof. The approach also involves generating a map data layer of a geographic database based on the payload survivability estimate. The approach further involves providing the map data layer as an output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventor: Donta White
  • Patent number: 11532235
    Abstract: A flight deck system for providing task management assistance in managing the flight path to the flight crew is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Barbara Holder, Stephen Whitlow, Christopher Heine, Steven Crouch, Kelsey Keberle
  • Patent number: 11511754
    Abstract: A seat determining apparatus includes a travel route determining unit configured to determine a travel route of a vehicle such that the travel route runs by way of a scheduled boarding point and scheduled alighting point of each of a plurality of users scheduled to ride the vehicle, the scheduled boarding point being a point at which the user is scheduled to get on the vehicle, the scheduled alighting point being a point at which the user is scheduled to get off the vehicle; a boarding and alighting order determining unit configured to determine alighting order, in which the users get off the vehicle, based on the travel route and the scheduled alighting point of each of the users; and a seat determining unit configured to determine a seat according to the alighting order for each of the users when each of the users rides the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keiji Yamashita, Koichi Ikemoto, Koji Taguchi, Shin Sakurada, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 11511756
    Abstract: A vehicle system is disclosed herein. A display panel is disposed on the exterior of the vehicle and is configured as a user interface for receiving inputs from a user. An occupant detection device is configured to detect the position of an occupant of the vehicle. A controller is configured to receive a request for pickup from a potential passenger via a first communication; register authorization information based on the first communication; receive a request for vehicle access via a second communication that includes authorization information; and control one or more doors of the vehicle to allow the potential passenger access to the vehicle via the one or more doors in response to the authorization information registered based on the first communication corresponding to the authorization information from the second communication, wherein the controller allows access via the one or more doors based on the position of the occupant detected by the occupant detection device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Kristopher Karl Brown, Steven Wayne Friedlander, Ali Hassani, Kirk Leonard, Stuart C. Salter
  • Patent number: 11511746
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for a follower vehicle (2) following a lead vehicle, comprising—determining a position (PL) and a heading (HL) of the lead vehicle (1), —determining a position (PF) and a heading (HF) of the follower vehicle (2), —subsequently establishing a path for the follower vehicle (2) by fitting a curve (C1) to said positions (PL, PF) and said headings (HL, HF), —and controlling the follower vehicle (2) so as to move along the established path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Volvo Truck Corporation
    Inventors: Wilhelm Wiberg, Stefan Bergquist, Edvin Valtersson, Mats Sköld
  • Patent number: 11506505
    Abstract: A method for generation of a vehicle path for a vehicle. The method includes, using an excursion planning processor to perform generating a grid of attitude constraint masks, wherein each attitude constraint mask corresponds to a respective possible attitude of the vehicle. The method also includes defining a distance function between two points on a vehicle path, such that the vehicle path defines a change in orientation of the vehicle, determining a vehicle path component, of the vehicle path, between the two points having a selected cost, selecting a vehicle path in the grid of attitude constraint masks from the vehicle path component, and generating an excursion plan so that the vehicle travels along the vehicle path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Brian K. Pheiffer, Neal Carlson
  • Patent number: 11491985
    Abstract: A process for sensor sharing for an autonomous lane change is provided. The process includes, within a dynamic controller of a host vehicle, monitoring sensors of the host vehicle, establishing communication between the host vehicle and a confederate vehicle on a same roadway as the host vehicle, monitoring sensors of the confederate vehicle, within the dynamic controller of the host vehicle, utilizing data from the sensors of the host vehicle and data from the sensors of the confederate vehicle to initiate a lane change maneuver for the host vehicle, and executing the lane change maneuver for the host vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Mohammad Naserian, Curtis L. Hay, Sayyed Rouhollah Jafari Tafti, Allan K. Lewis
  • Patent number: 11486721
    Abstract: Transportation systems have artificial intelligence including neural networks for recognition and classification of objects and behavior including natural language processing and computer vision systems. The transportation systems involve sets of complex chemical processes, mechanical systems, and interactions with behaviors of operators. System-level interactions and behaviors are classified, predicted and optimized using neural networks and other artificial intelligence systems through selective deployment, as well as hybrids and combinations of the artificial intelligence systems, neural networks, expert systems, cognitive systems, genetic algorithms and deep learning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Strong Force Intellectual Capital, LLC
    Inventor: Charles Howard Cella
  • Patent number: 11479359
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a UAV operation route planning method, a UAV pesticide spreading planning method and device for providing improvements on the operation accuracy of UAV. The UAV operation route method comprises steps of: obtaining a plurality of sub-areas of an operation area of a UAV; exhausting operation orders of the sub-areas and waypoint sequences in each of the sub-areas, respectively; planning routes according to the operation orders of the sub-areas and the waypoint sequences in each of the sub-areas to obtain all routes in the operation area; and determining a route in all the routes having a total voyage meeting a preset constraint condition as an optimal operation route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Bo Xu, Tong Liu
  • Patent number: 11458964
    Abstract: A driver assistance device, a driver assistance method, and a driver assistance system according to the present invention make it possible to: determine a distribution of a risk of a vehicle departing from a drivable width of a road on which the vehicle travels based on driving environment factors including a road curvature and a friction coefficient of a road surface of a curve approaching the vehicle; calculate an operation variable of an actuator related to a steering operation of the vehicle based on the distribution of the risk; and output the operation variable to the actuator. This enables steering control based on potential risk evaluation made by taking into account a risk that the controllability of the vehicle may decrease when the vehicle travels on a curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoshi Kashiwamura
  • Patent number: 11454972
    Abstract: A method and system for providing a companion autonomous vehicle are described. In one embodiment, a method includes linking a companion autonomous vehicle to at least one vehicle, device, or user. The companion autonomous vehicle is tethered to the at least one vehicle, device, or user such that the companion autonomous vehicle is configured to stay within a predetermined range of the at least one vehicle, device, or user. The method further includes operating the companion autonomous vehicle to travel along with the tethered at least one vehicle, device, or user within the predetermined range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takero Arima, Christopher Tarchala
  • Patent number: 11448766
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a system and methods for generating three dimensional (3D) images with increased composite vertical field of view and composite resolution for a spinning three-dimensional sensor, based on actuating the sensor to generate a plurality of sensor axis orientations as a function of rotation of the actuator. The output data from the sensor, such as a spinning LIDAR, is transformable as a function of the actuator angle to generate three dimensional imagery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Homeland Security
    Inventors: William T. Sutherland, John Bray
  • Patent number: 11351987
    Abstract: In one embodiment, an autonomous vehicle (AV) system determines that a collision between itself and another object is imminent based on data obtained from sensors attached to the AV. The AV system determines an optimal vehicle orientation for the collision, determines a vehicle path to position the vehicle in the optimal vehicle orientation, and autonomously controls the vehicle to travel along the determined vehicle path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher J. Cormack, Jeffrey R. Jackson, Stanley T. Mo
  • Patent number: 11338855
    Abstract: A three-point-turn is planned and executed in the operation of an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV). A candidate route from a start point and going through an end point is determined, the start point and the end point being in lanes associated with opposite travel directions. The candidate route is categorized into partially overlapping first, second, and third segments. A total cost associated with the candidate route is determined based at least in part on the first and second segments. Whether the total cost is below a threshold cost is determined. In response to a determination that the total cost is below the threshold cost, the three-point-turn is planned based on the candidate route. Further, driving signals are generated based at least in part on the planned three-point-turn to control operations of the ADV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignees: BAIDU USA LLC, BAIDU.COM TIMES TECHNOLOGY (BELING) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Lin Ma, Fan Zhu, Xin Xu
  • Patent number: 11318952
    Abstract: A controller receives sensor data during a ride and provides it to a server system. A passenger further provides feedback concerning the ride in the form of some or all of an overall rating, flagging of ride anomalies, and flagging of road anomalies. The sensor data and feedback are input to a training algorithm, such as a deep reinforcement learning algorithm, which updates an artificial intelligence (AI) model. The updated model is then propagated to controllers of one or more autonomous vehicle which then perform autonomous navigation and collision avoidance using the updated AI model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Ford GLobal Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Guy Hotson, Maryam Moosaei, Vidya Nariyambut Murali, Jinesh J. Jain