Patents Examined by Kenneth J Malkowski
  • Patent number: 11226207
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed for synchronizing map updates for a navigating autonomous vehicle. A management service on a managing node can receive an update to a portion of a first map, where a limited visibility map, which is a subset of the first map, can be determined based on a geographical area around an autonomous vehicle navigating a route. The limited visibility map can be synchronized among all the nodes while the autonomous vehicle is using the limited visibility map by the management service delivering, to a plurality of downstream nodes, the update to the limited visibility map when the update does not modify a portion of the limited visibility map, and by bypassing, to the plurality of downstream nodes, the update to the limited visibility map when the update modifies a portion of the limited visibility map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: GM Cruise Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Roman Sergeev, Andrew Robinson, Lucio Rech Marchioro Rech
  • Patent number: 11226634
    Abstract: A route examination system includes a thermographic camera configured to be logically or mechanically coupled with a vehicle that travels along a route. The thermographic camera is also configured to sense infrared radiation emitted or reflected from the route and to generate a sensed thermal signature representative of the infrared radiation that is sensed. The system also includes a computer readable memory device configured to store a designated thermal signature representative of infrared radiation emitted from a segment of the route that is not damaged. The system also includes an analysis processor configured to determine a condition of a first portion of the route relative to other portions of the route at least in part by comparing the sensed thermal signature and the designated thermal signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: TRANSPORTATION IP HOLDINGS, LLC
    Inventors: Dattaraj Jagdish Rao, Nidhi Naithani, Anju Bind, Sreyashi Dey Chaki
  • Patent number: 11226630
    Abstract: An approach is provided for localizing a vehicle pose on a map. The approach involves, receiving an input specifying the vehicle pose with respect to a road lane of the map. The approach also involves searching over a set of candidate lateral offsets to select a lateral offset that minimizes a lateral error between the vehicle position with the lateral offset applied and a lateral location of the road lane, wherein the lateral location and the travel direction of the lane are determined from the map. The approach further involves searching over a set of candidate vehicle headings at the selected lateral offset to select a vehicle heading that minimizes a heading error. The approach further involves determining a local optimum of the vehicle pose based on the selected lateral offset and vehicle heading, wherein the vehicle pose is localized to the map based on the local optimum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventors: Anirudh Viswanathan, Matt Mott
  • Patent number: 11214250
    Abstract: A travel support device including a memory that stores section information including information on a position along a traveling direction of a lane and connection information, sign information indicating contents indicated by a sign, and related information including information associating the section information with the sign information, the related information further including specifying information and regulation information, and processing circuitry that specifies a current location of a vehicle using the sign information in response to determining that the specifying information indicates that the sign can be used to specify the position of the vehicle traveling at the predetermined point, and guides the vehicle using the sign information in response to determining that the regulation information indicates that the sign contents correspond to the regulation on the vehicle traveling at the predetermined point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: ZENRIN CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hideyuki Togawa
  • Patent number: 11206171
    Abstract: Systems and methods for dynamic device programming in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment includes a vehicle telematics device including a processor, a memory containing a dynamic telematics messaging application, a plurality of accumulators, and a communications interface, wherein the dynamic telematics messaging application directs the processor to obtain a first message data describing a requested set of sensor data using the communications interface, dynamically reconfigure the plurality of accumulators to measure the requested set of sensor data, and transmit a second message data describing the measured set of sensor data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: CalAmp Corp.
    Inventors: Dean Zywicki, Robert Shields
  • Patent number: 11203271
    Abstract: An apparatus for displaying a distance to empty of a vehicle includes a controller configured to: estimate a mass of the vehicle, which increases or decreases while the vehicle is running; to calculate a driving energy consumption using a past-learned energy consumption based on a mass level corresponding to the increase or decrease in mass of the vehicle while the vehicle is running, and a current energy consumption of the vehicle; to calculate the distance to empty of the vehicle based on the driving energy consumption; to determine whether to update the distance to empty displayed on a display based on the mass level while the vehicle is running; and to update display information on the display based on the distance to empty.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jung Min Cha, Deok Keun Shin, Jae Seok You
  • Patent number: 11199585
    Abstract: Diagnosing whether controllers of internal vehicle systems are the source of failures detected by a system control managing a vehicle such as a spacecraft. Highspeed data is received via at a field programmable gate array (FPGA) embedded in an assembly of the vehicle. The FPGA includes a controller and a digital diagnostic interface. In one embodiment, the diagnostic interface utilizes Very Highspeed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) for performance modeling of a controller configured to control at least one internal system within the vehicle. The VHDL performance models the controller. Upon receiving an indication of a failure, the performance modeling of the controller is used to ascertain whether or not the controller is the source of the failure. Disassembly of the assembly housing the internal system is not required in order to ascertain whether or not the controller is the source of the failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Robert P. Wichowski, Timothy A. Roberts, Darren Woodman, Nicholas Van Derzee
  • Patent number: 11201031
    Abstract: Some embodiments include a structure, comprising: an insulator forming at least a part of a wall of a vacuum chamber, the insulator having a first end and a second end wider than the first end; a first conductive structure disposed at the first end of the insulator; and a second conductive structure disposed at the second end of the insulator, contacting the insulator, and including at least a portion surrounded by the insulator; wherein: a portion of an outer surface of the insulator extends radially outward from a triple junction between the insulator, the second conductive structure, and a medium contacting the outer surface of the insulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Varex Imaging Corporation
    Inventor: Wayne R. Hansen
  • Patent number: 11182624
    Abstract: A method and system for constructing a transverse topological relationship and a memory are provided. In the method, lane group data in a high-definition map is acquired; for each lane group, a shared boundary line group of two adjacent lanes is sequentially extracted, and the number of parallel boundary line elements is determined; if the number is 1, a transverse topological relationship between the two adjacent lanes is not generated, otherwise the number and types of boundary line units on the parallel boundary line elements are determined; and if the number of the boundary line units is 1, the transverse topological relationship between the two adjacent lanes is generated, otherwise segmentation processing is performed on the lane group along a lane direction, and the transverse topological relationship between two adjacent lanes in each of segments, which are obtained by the segmentation processing on the lane group, is sequentially generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: WUHHAN KOTEL BIG DATE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cheng Zhang, Xiaoyan Liu, Fen Liu
  • Patent number: 11180119
    Abstract: Systems and methods are directed to obtaining autonomous vehicle sensor data of an autonomous vehicle. In these system and methods that include determining a direction of motion of a vehicle based on a predicted navigational position of the vehicle, determining, based at least in part on the predicted navigational position, a change in a future light positional information that may be received by one or more sensors compared to a current light positional information being received by the one or more sensors and cleaning the one or more sensors of the vehicle prior to the change in the future light positional information and prior to the vehicle reaching the predicted navigational position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: Pony AI Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Dingli
  • Patent number: 11180160
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a path for parking is planned in operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV). The operations comprises: determining a plurality of sample points; determining a plurality of candidate paths connecting a start point and an end point for parking, each of the candidate paths passing through one of the sample points; determining a cost associated with each of the plurality of candidate paths; determining one or more candidate paths from the plurality of candidate paths that meet a boundary check requirement; selecting as the planned path a candidate path associated with a lowest cost that meets the boundary check requirement; determining a speed profile based on the planned path and an environment of the ADV; and generating driving signals based at least in part on the speed profile to control operations of the ADV to perform parking along the planned path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignees: BAIDU USA LLC, BAIDU.COM TIMES TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Lin Ma, Fan Zhu, Xin Xu
  • Patent number: 11170986
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to an apparatus, method and process for detecting rare earth elements. The system includes an LED powered by a first power source and a focusing lens in optical communication with the LED. A shortpass filter is in optical communication with the focusing lens; and a fiber bifurcated cable in optical communication with the shortpass filter. The system includes a probe tip in optical communication with the fiber bifurcated cable and a sample; a first aspheric lens in optical communication with the fiber bifurcated cable. A longpass filter is in optical communication with the first aspheric lens and a second aspheric lens in optical communication with the longpass filter. The system includes a spectrometer connected to a power source, where the spectrometer is in optical communication with the second aspheric lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: U.S. Department of Energy
    Inventors: John C Ahern, Paul R Ohodnicki, Jr., John P Baltrus, Jacob Lorenzi Poole
  • Patent number: 11167764
    Abstract: A vehicle control system includes a control part in which a public road mode that is selected at a time of traveling on a public road and a non-public road mode of a setting that is suitable for a travel in a non-public road region are set as a travel mode, wherein the control part is configured to allow a safety protection component of a vehicle to perform a normal operation that is required at a time of traveling on a public road when the public road mode is selected and is configured to allow the safety protection component to perform an alarm operation that is different from the normal operation when the non-public road mode is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kyosuke Inada, Fuyuki Hosokawa
  • Patent number: 11167767
    Abstract: An object is to reduce a current detection error of a current sensor while suppressing upsizing of a power conversion device equipped with the current sensor. A power conversion device includes a power conversion circuit; a conductor to transmit current to the circuit; and a coreless current sensor to detect the current. The coreless current sensor includes: a magnetic field detection portion; and a shield portion facing the magnetic field detection portion. The conductor includes: a first conductor portion that passes through a space between the magnetic field detection portion and shield portion; and a second conductor portion connected to the first conductor portion via a first bent portion, and the first bent portion is formed such that the space between the magnetic field detection portion and shield portion is not disposed in a direction perpendicular to a face of the second conductor portion closest to the shield portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Takaya Ishii, Masahito Mitsuhashi
  • Patent number: 11161511
    Abstract: A method for assisting an operation at least of one transportation vehicle, a corresponding assist system and the corresponding transportation vehicle. Respective environmental data are collected by transportation vehicles in areas in which two roads meet. A respective priority action is automatically determined from the environmental data for the areas. The determined priority actions are used to automatically determine priority rules for the areas. The determined priority rules are provided to at least one transportation vehicle to be operated to assist the operation of the transportation vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Inventors: Stephan Max, Thorben Günzel, Sven Klomp
  • Patent number: 11142198
    Abstract: A lane keep control apparatus includes a first calculator. The first calculator includes a first determiner, a second determiner, a third determiner, and a second calculator. The first determiner is configured to determine whether a preceding vehicle travels on a traveling lane of an own vehicle. The second determiner is configured to determine whether a blinker of the preceding vehicle blinks. The third determiner is configured to determine whether widening of one or both of lane lines is present. The second calculator is configured to set, on a condition that the blinker of the preceding vehicle is determined as blinking and the widening is determined as being present, a target traveling course on the basis of one of the lane lines positioned on opposite side of the other of the lane lines that is positioned on a side on which the blinker of the preceding vehicle is determined as blinking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiro Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11142211
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for vehicle rider behavioral monitoring. A behavioral monitoring system uses sensor data received from vehicles to monitor the behavior of the vehicle riders (e.g., vehicle operator and/or vehicle passengers) and performs predetermined actions if undesirable behavior is detected. For example, the behavioral monitoring system can transmit a notification or generate a record if inappropriate language or actions are detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Samsara Networks Inc.
    Inventors: Hendrika Makilya, Katherine Heddleston, Claire Nord, Anthony Washington, Jennifer Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11137759
    Abstract: Autonomous driving techniques comprise determining a Form of Way (FOW) classification of a road along which a vehicle is traveling and when the determined FOW classification is FOW 1 or FOW 9, permitting level 2 autonomous driving of the vehicle. When the determined FOW classification is FOW 2, the techniques determine whether a set of operating conditions relating to autonomous driving satisfies a set of criteria that assesses a set of upcoming stubs along a future section of the road along which the vehicle will potentially travel are satisfied and when the set of criteria are satisfied, permitting level 2 autonomous driving of the vehicle and when the set of criteria are not initially satisfied or are subsequently no longer satisfied, not permitting or at least temporarily interrupting level 2 autonomous driving of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: FCA US LLC
    Inventors: Michael E O'Boyle, Gerald L Sielagoski
  • Patent number: 11118924
    Abstract: A method and a system for predicting traffic conditions of a geographical area are provided. Position information, received from devices of corresponding vehicles that are traversing between road segments of a road network including at least first and second road segments, is located on a directed graph of the road network. Further, first and second times are determined based on the located position information on the directed graph. A traffic time of the first road segment is determined based on an average of time differences of the first and second times of each of the one or more first vehicles after filtering out a time period between the first and second times. The traffic conditions of the road network are predicted based on the determined traffic time of each of the road segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: ANI TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED
    Inventor: Anand Sharma
  • Patent number: 11117612
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for attenuating dither noise in a steering system. An example method includes computing multiple filter parameters, each filter parameter based on a corresponding signal in the steering system. The method further includes determining at least one final filter parameter from the plurality of filter parameters by arbitrating the plurality of filter parameters. The method further includes dynamically configuring a filter using the at least one final filter parameter. Further, the method includes filtering a motor torque command using the filter, a filtered motor torque command being applied to a motor to generate a corresponding amount of torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation
    Inventors: Prerit Pramod, Michael Eickholt, Krishna MPK Namburi, Matthew A. Tompkins