Patents Examined by Kyle K Tsui
  • Patent number: 8280597
    Abstract: A control apparatus of an automatic transmission has an engagement part, a power-ON/OFF state judgment section and a control section controlling a capacity of the engagement part. The control section compares an actual input revolution speed difference absolute value of an absolute value of a difference between an input revolution speed when engaged and an actual input revolution speed with a target input revolution speed difference absolute value of an absolute value of a difference between the input revolution speed when engaged and a target input revolution speed, then a deviation is determined by subtracting the target input revolution speed difference absolute value from the actual input revolution speed difference absolute value. When the deviation is positive, the capacity is increased. When the deviation is negative, the capacity is reduced. When the deviation is zero, a previous capacity that is set before the comparison of the both absolute values is maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., JATCO Ltd
    Inventors: Seiichiro Takahashi, Tatsuo Ochiai, Masaaki Uchida, Masato Koga, Ryoji Kadono, Tateki Jozaki, Hideaki Suzuki, Ryousuke Nonomura, Mamiko Inoue
  • Patent number: 8280608
    Abstract: A system is installed in a vehicle having an internal combustion engine, a transmission, and a clutch. The system restarts, according to at least one engine restart condition is met, the internal combustion engine that has been automatically controlled for stop thereof. The system includes a restart-condition determiner configured to determine that, as the at least one engine restart condition, an operation of the clutch is started by a driver of the vehicle for shifting the second state to the first state. The system includes a state detector configured to detect an operated state of the clutch during the clutch is shifted from a disengagement state to an engagement state. The system includes a restart controller configured to determine whether to enable or disable the restart of the internal combustion engine according to the operated state of the clutch detected by the state detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Senda, Kenji Kawahara, Akira Kato, Masayuki Tomura, Masanori Yamamura
  • Patent number: 8275527
    Abstract: A transmission modeling system includes an in-gear module that determines an in-gear acceleration when a vehicle is in gear. A shift module determines a shift acceleration based on a clutch torque when the vehicle is shifting between gears. A shaft acceleration determination module determines a shaft acceleration based on at least one of the in-gear acceleration and the shift acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Inventor: Kumaraswamy V. Hebbale
  • Patent number: 8260520
    Abstract: A heavy vehicle trailer antilock braking system module includes a module control port receiving a pressure signal, a module exhaust port fluidly communicating with atmosphere, a first switching valve, a second switching valve, a relay valve, and control logic. The first switching valve includes an input port and an output port. The first switching valve input port fluidly communicates with the module control port. The second switching valve includes an input port and an output port. The second switching valve output port fluidly communicates with the module exhaust port. A relay valve includes a supply port, a delivery port, an exhaust port, and a control port. The relay valve control port fluidly communicates with the first switching valve output port and the second switching valve input port. The delivery port fluidly communicates with the supply port and the exhaust port as a function of a pressure signal at the relay valve control port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
    Inventor: Charles E. Eberling
  • Patent number: 8244417
    Abstract: Embodiments of invention disclose a system and a method for formation-keeping of a spacecraft in response to a displacement of the spacecraft to a displaced pose with respect to at least one direction of the displacement, wherein the spacecraft is configured to issue a compensative force by generating a command to issue a compensative force. The compensative force is determined as a function of a sum of the base force configured for maintaining the spacecraft in the displaced pose with respect to the direction of the displacement and an excess force configured for optimizing the formation-keeping with respect to the direction of the displacement of the spacecraft at the displaced pose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Christian Chilan
  • Patent number: 8229635
    Abstract: A control device of a transmission is capable of instantaneously correcting a torque shortly after starting a motor, and properly correcting a gear operation shortly after starting (at transient time) even in case of coil temperature change. The device includes a gear change end determination unit, a motor stop determination unit, and a coil resistance estimation unit of estimating a coil resistance of the motor alternately by repeating at regular intervals a state of application of a predetermined voltage to the motor during stop before start of gear change and a state of no application; and when the motor is determined stop by the determination units, an initial value of a command voltage to be applied to the motor after start of gear change is corrected in a predetermined time period in accordance with a coil resistance value having been calculated by the coil resistance estimation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Horii, Shiro Yonezawa, Takeru Okabe, Osamu Ishikawa, Tomohisa Shoda, Nozomu Kamioka, Yasufumi Ogawa
  • Patent number: 8224564
    Abstract: A control unit sets a current total risk function for each of white lines, guardrails, side walls, and three-dimensional objects existing around a vehicle, estimates a temporal change in the position of each object, and calculates a minimum of the total risk function at the vehicle position for each time. An objective function is generated for the time, and a turning control amount that minimizes the objective function at the time is calculated as a turning control amount of the vehicle. Risk functions provided when the vehicle moves by the turning control amount are set for respective routes. A final avoidance route is selected from the risk functions of the routes, and steering and braking are controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toyokazu Ogasawara, Yuichiro Tsukasaki
  • Patent number: 8219278
    Abstract: The NOx sensor malfunction diagnostic device includes a control section. The control section performs the supplying of an excess amount of reducing agent, which is more than an amount required to reduce adsorbed NOx in a NOx reduction catalyst when a predetermined amount of NOx has been adsorbed in the NOx catalyst, and detects malfunctions of the NOx sensor based on NOx sensor output signal when the excess amount of reduction agent is supplied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sawada, Shinichiro Imamura
  • Patent number: 8219303
    Abstract: A hybrid powertrain system includes an internal combustion engine operatively connected to a second torque machine to transmit torque to an output member. A method for operating the hybrid powertrain system includes monitoring an operator torque request, determining an output torque command based upon the operator torque request, commanding a transition between an engine-off state and an engine-on state, monitoring an engine crank angle, spinning the engine unfueled, estimating cylinder pressure based upon the engine crank angle during the spinning of the engine, predicting a cylinder pulse torque based upon the cylinder pressure, determining a cancellation torque for the second torque machine based upon the predicted cylinder pulse torque, and controlling motor torque output from the second torque machine based upon the cancellation torque and the output torque command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignees: GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Daimler AG, Chrysler Group LLC, Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: R. Travis Schwenke, Todd D. Brandel
  • Patent number: 8209074
    Abstract: A robot includes: a main body; a traveling mechanism attached to the main body to move the main body; an image pickup device which picks up an image of an object in a space including a traveling plane; an object detector which detects the object existing in the space based on an image picked up by the image pickup device; a distance calculator which calculates a distance to the object detected by the object detector; a degree of caution setting device which sets a degree of caution with respect to the object detected by the object detector based on the image picked up by the image pickup device and the distance calculated by the distance calculator; and a controller which controls the traveling mechanism based on the degree of caution set by the degree of caution setting device and the distance calculated by the distance calculator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Takafumi Sonoura
  • Patent number: 8185298
    Abstract: Hybrid-heuristic optimization of competing portfolios of flight paths for flights through one or more sectors of an airspace represented by an air traffic system. In one embodiment, a hybrid-heuristic optimization process (100) includes one or more heuristic based processes (110), a genetic optimization process (120), an evaluation process involving an approximation model (130), an optimal portfolio selection process (140) and a validation process involving simulation (150) of the air traffic system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Pratik D. Jha, Alexander Suchkov, Rajesh Venkat Subbu, John Michael Lizzi, Jingqiao Zhang, Ian Crook, Abderrazak Tibichte
  • Patent number: 8160768
    Abstract: A device for determining a value of a binary item, delivered in a redundant manner by two distinct determination mechanisms, and representative of a parameter of a system, the binary item being equal to a first or a second value when the parameter lies respectively in a first or a second range of values, the first and second ranges of values being separated by a transient range of values in which the transitions of value of the binary item transmitted respectively by the determination mechanisms occur. The system includes a state machine that assigns, when one of the determination mechanisms delivers a binary item devoid of any transition of value on account of a malfunction, respectively the first or second predetermined value delivered by the other determination mechanism, which is operating normally, when the parameter lies in the first or second range of values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Renault S.A.S.
    Inventor: Christophe Dang Van Nhan