Patents Examined by Jonathan M Dager
  • Patent number: 11186267
    Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a driveline of a hybrid vehicle are described. In one example, a torque of an engine is adjusted in response to an error between an actual electric machine torque and a minimum electric machine torque plus an offset torque. The reduction of engine torque may be performed when a driveline is operating in a speed control mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Rajit Johri, Fazal Syed
  • Patent number: 11187542
    Abstract: An apparatus and methods provide trajectory data for a geographic area. Multiple probe data sets are received or identified from one or more mobile devices. The probe data sets include time values in a first sequence associated with location values in the first sequence. At least one of the probe data sets is modified to reverse the location values such that the modified probe data set includes time values in a first sequence associated with location values in a second sequence. A location clustering algorithm is performed on the plurality of probe data sets and the modified probe data set based on the location values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventors: Tessa Berry, Matei Stroila, Onur Derin, Bo Xu
  • Patent number: 11189167
    Abstract: A system and connected user mobile device interface for tracking one or more shuttle buses and providing a visual display thereof along with estimated times of arrival at the connected user's location or at the shuttle bus stop closest to the connected user. The tracking system is a learning-based model that tracks vehicle movement to estimate arrival time at pre-determined geo-fence locations based on historical behavior for similar time periods and conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: AVIS BUDGET CAR RENTAL, LLC
    Inventor: John Turato
  • Patent number: 11180151
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling a lane change of a vehicle includes: a sensor to sense an external vehicle, an input device to receive a lane change command from a driver of the vehicle, and a control circuit to be electrically connected with the sensor and the input device. The control circuit may receive the lane change command using the input device, calculate a minimum operation speed for lane change control, and determine whether to accelerate the vehicle based on a distance between a preceding vehicle which is traveling on the same lane as the vehicle and the vehicle, when a driving speed of the vehicle is lower than the minimum operation speed when receiving the lane change command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sung Min Park, Na Eun Yang, Jin Su Jeong
  • Patent number: 11173922
    Abstract: Achieved is a vehicle control device capable of performing seamless automatic driving control even when an operation abnormality occurs in an operation processing unit in a vehicle control device, and improving safety. When operation processing of an actuator control command is performed by two microcomputers of microcomputers 11b and 12b in synchronization, and a monitoring circuit 11m detects an abnormality of the microcomputer 11b, a communication circuit 11c that communicates the actuator control command of the microcomputer 11b to a brake control unit 13 or the like is latched in a disabled state, and the actuator control command from an icon 12b is transmitted to the brake control unit 13 or the like via the communication circuit 12c. The disabled state of the communication circuit 11c is maintained until an IGNSW or an automatic driving SW of the vehicle toggles, and until that time, the actuator control command from the microcomputer 12b is transmitted to the brake control unit 13 or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Sakamoto, Tatsuya Horiguchi, Takeshi Yamakawa
  • Patent number: 11169539
    Abstract: A plurality of autonomous mobile robots includes a first mobile robot having a first module for transmitting and receiving an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) signal, and a second mobile robot having a second module for transmitting and receiving the UWB signal. The second mobile robot follows the first mobile robot using the UWB signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Donghoon Kwak, Jaehwan Ko, Hyukdo Kweon
  • Patent number: 11167758
    Abstract: A vehicle position correction device corrects a position error of an host vehicle provided with a navigation control unit that includes a target route corrector that corrects a target route. The target route corrector detects a lane boundary of a lane in which the host vehicle travels. The target route corrector compares positional relationships between a detect lane boundary and a target route on a map, and calculates a lateral correction amount for the target route in situations where the target route is within a prescribed distance of the lane boundary, or in situations where the target route is on an opposite side of the lane boundary to the host vehicle. Upon calculating the lateral correction amount, the target route corrector moves the target route sideways in a lateral direction by the lateral correction amount to correct the target route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Fukushige, Satoshi Tange
  • Patent number: 11161721
    Abstract: A method for ascertaining the load capacity of a functional element of a crane, the load capacity of a sub-assembly of a crane or the load capacity of a crane, wherein: a maximum bearing load is calculated for a specifically occurring configuration and/or specifically occurring state parameters and/or specifically occurring operating parameters on the basis of a predetermined formula; and the calculation is verified on the basis of stored bearing load values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Manitowoc Crane Group France SAS
    Inventors: Christoph Edeler, Frank Richter, Frank C. Schnittker
  • Patent number: 11161525
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for foreground extraction from a point cloud (e.g., a LiDAR point cloud) using surface fitting. In an embodiment, one or more processors of a vehicle can receive point cloud data from one or more vehicle sensors. The one or more processors can identify points in the point cloud data as foreground points or ground points using a spatial Kalman filter to capture changes in the terrain. A route or trajectory in a driving area for the vehicle can be generated using the identified foreground points and ground points. A vehicle controller can control the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling on the route or trajectory in the driving area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Motional AD LLC
    Inventors: Abbas Shikari, Jiaxin Li, Thomas Koelbaek Jespersen
  • Patent number: 11162399
    Abstract: A vehicle may include a driving motor supplying driving force to vehicle wheel; a power converter using a coil provided in the driving motor to transform power input from the external power source; a battery charged according to counter electromotive force of the driving motor in a regenerative braking mode, charged according to the power transformed by the power converter in a charging mode, and supplying driving power to the driving motor in a driving mode; an oil pump supplying oil to the driving motor; a detector detecting temperature of the oil; and a controller controlling the oil pump to be operated in a warm-up mode when the oil temperature detected by the detector is less than a first threshold temperature and the battery is in the charging mode, and applying reference power to the oil pump to move the oil to the driving motor in the warm-up mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Sunghyun Ahn, Haksung Lee, Yeonho Kim, Jong Hyun Kim
  • Patent number: 11155184
    Abstract: The present invention relates in general to the adjustment of vehicle seat and steering wheel positions, and in particular relates to an apparatus and method for automatic adjustment of driver sitting posture. The method for automatic adjustment of driver sitting posture according to the present invention comprises the following steps: determining an ergonomic parameter corresponding to a user; calculating a seat position parameter according to the ergonomic parameter; adjusting a seat position according to the seat position parameter; calculating a steering wheel position parameter according to the ergonomic parameter; and adjusting a steering wheel position according to the steering wheel position parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Tao Wang
  • Patent number: 11155171
    Abstract: In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a vehicle power system, which includes an electric motor, a primary power source that energizes the electric motor, wherein the primary power source employs a turbine to generate electricity, a second power source that supplements the primary power source to energize the electric motor, and a control component that monitors power provided to the electric motor by the primary power source, that determines that additional power needs to be provided to the electric motor in order to meet a driving requirement, and that directs additional power from the second power source to the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Inventors: Yung Yeung, Bo Ruan, Junhua Chen, Robert McKeirnan, Junwen Hou, Artur Bagumyan
  • Patent number: 11151886
    Abstract: A collision avoidance system includes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a UAV controller, and a safety data aggregator. The UAV includes a positional sensor, and is coupled to communicate positional data to the UAV controller, and receive commands from the UAV controller. The safety data aggregator is coupled to communicate with the UAV controller, wherein the safety data aggregator collects positional data from one or more UAV controllers, stores collected positional data in a safety data buffer, and extracts spatially relevant positional data in response to a request from the UAV controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: BOTLINK, LLC
    Inventor: Alexander J. Kube
  • Patent number: 11150663
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system could create or exacerbate a hazardous driving situation due to incorrect machine learning, algorithm design, sensor limitations, environmental conditions or other factors. This technology presents solutions that use machine learning to detect when the autonomous driving system is in this state e.g., erratic or reckless driving and other behavior, in order to take remedial action to prevent a hazard such as a collision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Philip Shirvani, Richard Bramley, John Montrym, Nirmal Saxena
  • Patent number: 11150664
    Abstract: A processor coupled to memory is configured to receive image data based on an image captured by a camera of a vehicle. The image data is used as a basis of an input to a trained machine learning model trained to predict a three-dimensional trajectory of a machine learning feature. The three-dimensional trajectory of the machine learning feature is provided for automatically controlling the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Tesla, Inc.
    Inventors: Ashok Kumar Elluswamy, Matthew Bauch, Christopher Payne, Andrej Karpathy, Dhaval Shroff, Arvind Ramanandan, James Robert Howard Hakewill
  • Patent number: 11143328
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for determining a scheduled maintenance session for a proportional actuator includes transmitting a command signal to a controller of the proportional actuator and generating, using the controller, a drive signal for controlling the proportional actuator using the command signal. The position of a component actuator of the proportional actuator is changed, on the basis of the drive signal, and the position of the component actuator is measured, using a sensor, and a position feedback signal is generated on the basis of the measurement. A condition indicator is estimated, with a processor, using only one of the command signal, the drive signal, or the position feedback signal. A health indicator is estimated, with the processor, using the condition indicator, and a scheduled maintenance session of the proportional actuator is determined, with the processor, using the health indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Jan Neuzil, Tomas Puller, Eric Arnett, Tomas Rudolecky, Veronika Poliakova
  • Patent number: 11145207
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for requesting and granting priority between a host vehicle and other vehicles, and to a system which implements the method. The host vehicle, through the use of on-board vehicle sensors, detects and identifies an impeding vehicle which interferes with the host vehicle's path. The host vehicle transmits a priority request to the impeding vehicle. The priority request includes a remuneration offer. The impeding vehicle evaluates the priority request, including the sufficiency of the host vehicle's remuneration offer, and grants or denies the host vehicle's priority request. If granted, the impeding vehicle modifies its path to be less impeding to the host vehicle, for example by assuming a cooperative path that lets the host vehicle pass the impeding vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Swoppz, LLC
    Inventor: Peter Jumpertz
  • Patent number: 11144061
    Abstract: There is a need for a work vehicle that allows accurate traveling time management in a work site traveling. A work vehicle includes a vehicle body mounting a traveling mechanism, an implement mounted on the vehicle body and configured to effect a ground work on a work site, a satellite positioning module 80 for outputting positioning data, a traveling distance calculation section 51 for calculating a traveling distance of the vehicle body based on the positioning data, a traveling time calculation section 52 for calculating an actual distance traveling time from a time required for traveling of traveling distance calculated by the traveling distance calculation section 51 and a work management section 50 for managing the ground work based on the actual distance traveling time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Kubota Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Shinkai, Kotaro Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11142204
    Abstract: In a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method, the vehicle control device comprises a lane recognition unit adapted to recognize lane types of a host vehicle lane and an adjacent lane, a control condition setting unit adapted to set first to third control conditions in order to make a lane change depending on the lane types that were recognized by the lane recognition unit, and a vehicle control unit adapted to carry out a lane change control with respect to a host vehicle on the basis of the first to third control conditions set by the control condition setting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Marina Saikyo, Hiroshi Miura, Toshifumi Suzuki, Suguru Yanagihara
  • Patent number: 11142207
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for adjusting noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) limits for a vehicle based on an occupancy level of the vehicle. The occupancy level is inferred based on a number of occupants and their position within a vehicle, and further based on a degree of interaction of a primary occupant with vehicle controls. As the occupancy level decreases, NVH constraints for operating the vehicle are reduced and one or more vehicle operating parameters nay be based on the reduced NVH constraints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stuart N. Ford, Adam Nathan Banker