Patents Examined by John Q. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 9694639
    Abstract: A distributed active suspension control system is provided. The control system is based on a distributed, processor-based controller that is coupled to an electronic suspension actuator. The controller processes sensor data at the distributed node, making processing decisions for the wheel actuator it is associated with. Concurrently, multiple distributed controllers on a common network communicate such that vehicle-level control (such as roll mitigation) may be achieved. Local processing at the distributed controller has the advantage of reducing latency and response time to localized sensing and events, while also reducing the processing load and cost requirements of a central node. The topology of the distributed active suspension controller contained herein has been designed to respond to fault modes with fault-safe mechanisms that prevent node-level failure from propagating to system-level fault. Systems, algorithms, and methods for accomplishing this distributed and fault-safe processing are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: ClearMotion, Inc.
    Inventors: William G. Near, Vladimir Gorelik, Jonathan R. Leehey, Marco Giovanardi, Matthew D. Cole
  • Patent number: 9650040
    Abstract: A collision mitigation apparatus includes an object detecting section for detecting a collision object present in front of an own vehicle on which the collision mitigation apparatus is mounted, a drive assisting section that performs drive assist for avoiding a collision between the collision object detected by the object detecting section and the own vehicle or mitigates damage to the own vehicle due to the collision, an operation state detecting section for detecting an operation state of the own vehicle, and a timing setting section for setting start timing to start the drive assist by the drive assisting section in accordance with the operation state detected by the operation state detecting section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akitoshi Minemura, Norio Tsuchida
  • Patent number: 9646429
    Abstract: Apparatus, a method and a computer program product periodically determine one or more temperature thresholds and configuration settings attributable to one or more user equipment coupled to a vehicle. The one or more determined temperature thresholds and configuration settings are sent to the one or more user equipment in a thermal management scheme message. The one or more user equipment are adapted to adjust an operational threshold in response to the received thermal management scheme message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Seppo Rousu, Timo Juntunen
  • Patent number: 9637111
    Abstract: A method selects one or more power sources in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) at a particular moment in time for a current route to optimize energy consumption for the HEV, wherein the HEV includes one or more electric engines (EC) and one or more internal combustion engines, by first determining, in an off-line processor, a regression model that predicts a terminal cost of a state along a route from features associated with the route and the vehicle, using a computed true costs-to-go of multiple states from multitude of real or imaginary routes. In an online processor in the HEV, truncated dynamic programming is performed using the regression model to estimate a terminal cost at an end of a truncated time horizon for a current route. Then, one or more of the power sources are selected for the one or more EC and the one or more ICE based on a minimal cost-to-go of a current state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Nikolaev Nikovski, Amir massoud Farahmand
  • Patent number: 9638538
    Abstract: A street-level view can realistically reflect that objects occlude depicted route paths. Such objects can include guardrails, buildings, or any of a variety of other objects as described herein. A superior user experience that portrays route paths while taking real-world geometry into account can result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ana Lilia Otero Diaz, Hae Jin Lee, Luis Eduardo Cabrera-Cordon, Doyop Kim
  • Patent number: 9630600
    Abstract: A central control entity controls all actuators of a chassis control system of a motor vehicle. To select a combination of actuator operations best suited for influencing the handling of the motor vehicle, the effect of a change of settings of motor vehicle actuators on the handling is predicted by an observer device configured to receive at least one sensor signal from a sensor via a signal input and, depending on the sensor signal, to determine at least one estimated value for a slip resistance of the motor vehicle. The controller is configured by operating the controller in a test motor vehicle that has a sensor for a measured variable, for which the observer device determines an estimated value. The estimated values from the controller are then compared with corresponding measured values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventor: Anron Obermüller
  • Patent number: 9620017
    Abstract: A merge assistance system for a vehicle. The system includes a camera configured to monitor an area, at least one sensor configured to detect information about at least one moving target object, an electronic control unit having a processor in electronic communication with the camera and the sensor to receive information about the monitored area and the at least one moving target object. The system also includes a computer readable medium storing instructions that cause the processor to receive information about a velocity and an acceleration of the vehicle, determine a merging location based on the information received from the camera, determine a velocity and an acceleration of the at the least one moving target object based on the information from the at least one sensor, identify a merge assist situation, and initiate a merge driving maneuver to control the vehicle during the merge assist situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Vern Trageser
  • Patent number: 9604637
    Abstract: A vehicle acceleration suppression device and a vehicle acceleration suppression method are provided to be capable of suppressing a degradation in a drive performance and suppressing acceleration at the time of an incorrect manipulation of an accelerator, at the time of parking. Based on a parking frame certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty that there is a parking frame in a vehicle travel direction and a parking frame entering certainty degree indicative of a degree of certainty that the vehicle enters the parking frame, a total certainty degree indicative of a total degree of certainty of the parking frame certainty degree and the parking frame entering certainty degree is set. As the total certainty degree is higher, a suppression degree of the vehicle acceleration to be controlled in response to a manipulation amount of an accelerator pedal manipulated by a driver to instruct a drive force is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Fukata, Yasuhisa Hayakawa, Akira Morimoto, Daisuke Tanaka, Daisuke Oiki
  • Patent number: 9606541
    Abstract: A docking station (20) and a robot (22) for docking therein, include corresponding transmission parts. These transmission parts are for the transmission of energy, such as electricity, for recharging the robot (22), and/or signals, for operating the robot (22), the energy and/or signals passing between the docking station and the robot (22). The docking station (20) and robot (22) are such that the docking of the robot (22) in the docking station (20) is at a horizontal orientation, as the transmission part on the robot (22) includes laterally protruding docking contacts that contact corresponding laterally oriented contact arms of the docking station (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: F Robotics Acquisitions Ltd.
    Inventor: Shai Abramson
  • Patent number: 9599476
    Abstract: A system and method for generating a seamless road network of a large geographical area includes a plurality of GPS probe traces extending across a geographical area. The probe traces are divided into sub-sets base on criteria, such as accuracy. A plurality of threads simultaneously employ the sub-sets traces to generate an independent network of the entire geographical area. The networks generated using sub-sets having a high accuracy are preferred over networks generating using sub-sets having a lower accuracy. The independent networks are combined to form a seamless networks of road segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: TomTom Global Content B.V.
    Inventors: Heiko Mund, Hannes Scharmann
  • Patent number: 9593953
    Abstract: A method of operation of a navigation system includes: determining a location indicator within a geographic area; determining a traversal position based on a distance from an inanimate object location; determining a position error based on calculating a distance difference between the location indicator and the traversal position; determining an adjustment factor based on an error magnitude of the position error; and generating an update position with a control unit based on updating the location indicator with the adjustment factor for displaying on the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Telenav, Inc.
    Inventors: Shane-Woei Lee, Yi-Chung Chao
  • Patent number: 9587960
    Abstract: A system for piloting an aircraft during an autonomous approach for the purpose of landing. The piloting system has a flight guidance computer that directly computes, with the aid of a position indication and of information characterizing a virtual approach axis, linear deviations. Another computer computes aircraft piloting instructions using the linear deviations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS
    Inventors: Vincent Markiton, Franck Laine, Edith Renault
  • Patent number: 9586455
    Abstract: A camera takes an image or images of a region including a vehicle (vehicle-in-front) running in front of a driver's own vehicle. A wheel information acquiring unit acquires the positional information of a wheel or wheels of the vehicle-in-front in the image taken by the camera. More specifically, the boundary between the wheels of the vehicle-in-front and the road surface. The processing for detecting the boundary is done by use of the difference in the brightness between the wheels and the road surface of the vehicle-in-front. A camera attitude correcting unit corrects the detected boundary by use of a self-calibration function, and a road surface condition estimating unit estimates the conditions of the road surface on which the vehicle-in-front is traveling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Haruhiko Sugai, Tomoyuki Nakamura
  • Patent number: 9586563
    Abstract: An autonomous moving apparatus and an autonomous movement system has a configuration which prevents disabled autonomous moving apparatuses from traveling unexpectedly during collection. An autonomous moving apparatus 1 includes a wheel locking unit 116 which locks the wheels at the time of stop, a manipulation unit 119 which is provided at a location where manipulation thereof is enabled from the outside of the autonomous moving apparatus 1, and a wheel lock releasing unit 118 which releases the lock of the wheels when the manipulation unit 119 is manipulated by force from the outside. In addition, the wheel lock releasing unit 118 releases the lock of the wheels when force equal to or more than a predetermined value is applied to the manipulation unit 119 and maintains the lock of the wheels when the force applied to the manipulation unit 119 is less than the predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Hitachi, ltd.
    Inventors: Masaki Kanai, Masatsugu Arai, Ryoko Ichinose, Yukihiko Ono
  • Patent number: 9579978
    Abstract: The present invention is an in-vehicle charger for detecting ground faults originating in sections in which alternating current is flowing. This device is an in-vehicle charger (100) for charging a vehicle-mounted battery, wherein the device is provided with: a bridge rectifier (14) for converting alternating current supplied from a power source to direct current; a ground fault detecting circuit (21) for outputting a test voltage when a test current flows in a circuit in the in-vehicle charger (100) and, based on changes in the test current in response to the presence or absence of a ground fault resistor, for detecting a ground fault in the circuit of the in-vehicle charger (100); and a controller (23) for controlling the ground fault sensing circuit (21) so as to output a test voltage exceeding the forward voltage of a diode provided by the bridge rectifier (14).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Nishio, Osamu Ohashi, Noriaki Asaoka, Akihiro Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9581458
    Abstract: A method of operation of a navigation system includes: determining a travel context with a control unit for traveling through a geographic region; generating a mental model for the travel context; and determining a guidance landmark based on the mental model for providing a navigation guidance for presenting on a device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Telenav, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Stewart Aist, Jose Sebastian, Aliasgar Mumtaz Husain, Casey Carter
  • Patent number: 9573469
    Abstract: A mechanically reconfigurable instrument cluster is provided. The mechanically reconfigurable instrument cluster includes a first display portion to display information of a first type, the first display portion includes a stem about the first display portion's axis driven by a motor; a second display portion to display information of a second type, the second display portion being configured to move in an inward and outward direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Bianchi, Dale O. Cramer, Alexander Albanese, Royce Duchante′ Channey, James Paul Farell
  • Patent number: 9569973
    Abstract: The present disclosure is generally directed to a method of generating and displaying a parachute flare drift vector symbol on a navigation display of the aircraft capable of deploying a flare relative to a real-time navigation map. The flare drift vector symbol includes a flare ignition forward/aft distance relative to the aircraft deploying the flare, a flare ignition left/right distance relative to the aircraft deploying the flare, a flare burn vector distance, and a flare burn vector direction. The flare drift vector symbol is generating based on the flare parameters, the wind parameters, the flare drift distance, the flare drift direction and the aircraft parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Douglas J. Eaton, Jr., Scott T. Dubeck
  • Patent number: 9563203
    Abstract: Buoyant sensor networks are described, comprising floating buoys with sensors and energy harvesting capabilities. The buoys can control their buoyancy and motion, and can organize communication in a distributed fashion. Some buoys may have tethered underwater vehicles with a smart spooling system that allows the vehicles to dive deep underwater while remaining in communication and connection with the buoys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: California Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Faranak Davoodi, Farhooman Davoudi
  • Patent number: 9556589
    Abstract: A working machine comprising a ground engaging structure and a propulsion system for moving the working machine via the ground engaging structure. A body is supported on the ground engaging structure, and a working arm is connected to the body and has a carriage at one end for receiving an attachment. A control system is provided for selectively and variably oscillating the carriage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: J. C. Bamford Excavators Limited
    Inventors: Graham Mark Brooks, Richard Brooks, Samuel Josef Bell