Patents Examined by Lail A Kleinman
  • Patent number: 10493849
    Abstract: A battery system is configured to be mounted on a vehicle. The battery system includes a secondary battery, a detection device, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform communication with an external device that accumulates temperature history data of other vehicle, and is configured to acquire, when the battery temperature of the temperature history data of the vehicle contains an abnormal value, the temperature history data of the other vehicle within a period in which the battery temperature of the temperature history data of the vehicle contains the abnormal value, from the external device, and execute correction of the abnormal value of the battery temperature based on the temperature history data acquired from the external device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryo Kanada, Takanori Soejima
  • Patent number: 10479347
    Abstract: A method of protecting the high voltage DC bus of a hybrid vehicle as well as to a hybrid vehicle and controller configured to implement the method. The method involves detecting a plurality of requests to start the vehicle and, in response to at least the first request, precharging and energizing the high voltage DC bus without starting the engine. When one or more further requests are detected the engine is started and the high voltage DC bus is energized if each of the further requests is detected within a respective predetermined time interval from the preceding request. Starting the engine provides an audible feedback to the driver that the vehicle is ready for operation, thereby preventing overheating of the precharging circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Limited
    Inventor: Richard Wain
  • Patent number: 10481612
    Abstract: Described herein are an apparatus and a method of fulfilling an order. The method includes: determining, by circuitry of an information processing apparatus, the order to be processed; selecting an operator station where the order will be fulfilled, a rack that includes an item required to fulfill the order, and a vehicle to transport the rack to the operator station; transmitting at least a portion of a transportation path to the selected vehicle; and monitoring locations of the selected vehicle along the transportation path based on marker information received for each marker of a plurality of markers that is detected by the selected vehicle, wherein the plurality of markers is located at predetermined positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: GREY ORANGE PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Akash Gupta, Wolfgang Kurt Hoeltgen, Samay Kohli, Gaurav Kejriwal, Srijan Choudhary, Tushar Agrawal, Swarnik
  • Patent number: 10480423
    Abstract: A control system (10) of a turbopropeller (1) including: a centralized control (24) configured to slave the screw propeller power PRW of the turbopropeller (1) to the screw propeller power set point PRWref and the screw propeller rotation speed XNP of the turbopropeller (1) to the screw propeller rotation speed set point XNPref, the centralized control (24) supplying fuel flow rate WF and screw propeller pitch ? controls for the turbopropeller (1); a screw propeller rotation speed error limiter (12) saturating the screw propeller rotation speed error ?XNP with a limiting value ? ? ? XNP sat ? ( min ? / ? max ) ; and a screw propeller power error limiter (11) saturating the screw propeller power error ?PRW with a limiting value ? ? ? PRW sat ? ( min ? / ? max ) .
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES
    Inventor: Bogdan Christian Liacu
  • Patent number: 10482801
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a vehicle mirror includes an on-board diagnostics (OBD) transceiver and one or more processors. The processors access OBD data received by the OBD transceiver from an OBD port of a vehicle. The processors further monitor the OBD data to determine whether communications with the OBD port have been lost, determine an OBD speed of the vehicle, and determine an RPM of an engine of the vehicle. The processors further determine a GPS speed of the vehicle from a GPS transceiver. When communications with the OBD port are lost, the processors transition the vehicle mirror to a sleep power state. When communications with the OBD port have not been lost, the processors transition the vehicle mirror to the sleep power state when the OBD speed is determined to be zero for at least a first predetermined amount of time and the RPM of the engine is determined to be less than a threshold RPM amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Solera Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Thomas Mader, Daniel Jun-Hyun Kim, Anthony Aquila, Neal Jonathon Lowell
  • Patent number: 10472801
    Abstract: An excavator includes at least one gyro sensor for sensing the incline of equipment; a swing motor for rotating an upper body of the excavator; a first pressure sensor for sensing an operating pressure value applied to the swing motor; a swing joystick for driving the swing motor; a second pressure sensor for sensing a manipulation value inputted into the swing joystick; and a controller, wherein the controller receives pieces of information sensed by the gyro sensors, the first pressure sensor, and the second pressure sensor, and detects the operating pressure value of the swing motor, sensed through the first pressure sensor, so as to notify a worker of the time at which lubricating oil is added if a maximum manipulation value is inputted into the swing joystick for a minimum measuring time or more in a swing friction force measurement mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Volvo Construction Equipment AB
    Inventor: Ji-Yun Kim
  • Patent number: 10464606
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a guide path for guiding a vehicle along a predetermined path to a precise parking position. Disclosed herein is a guide path which can be mounted on a garage wall, and a housing including a laser which may be mounted on a vehicle and used to target the guide path while parking. Also disclosed are embodiments where the guide path is mounted on a vehicle, and a laser is mounted on the garage wall. Further disclosed are embodiments in which the vehicle includes a video camera for capturing a target fixed to a garage wall, and a microprocessor which overlays a virtual guide path. Further disclosure relates to a microprocessor configured to recognize the vehicle's position relative to the target fixed to a garage wall, via a camera feed, and for automatically guiding the vehicle along the path to the parking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Inventor: Robert E. Griffith
  • Patent number: 10467907
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for platoon initialization, redundant lane departure control, and redundant communication operation. A platooning initiation strategy requires continuous communication between vehicles for a more than a pre-defined duration, a demonstration of an operable brake light on the leading vehicle, and command control profile compatibility between the vehicles before allowing the vehicles to mutually platoon or to join an existing platoon. A set of computer readable labels visible to a Lane Departure System placed on a lead vehicle are used by a following vehicle when lane markings become invisible to sensors. A redundant brake lamp operable in a non-visible spectrum is provided for platooning. A specific brake lamp for use exclusively for platooning purposes may be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
    Inventors: Andrew J. Pilkington, T. Stephen Miller, Jr., Scott Szymczak, Michael K. Lesher, Adedapo A. Alabi
  • Patent number: 10457371
    Abstract: For a vessel steering apparatus for performing a movement control to move a vessel to a target position on the basis of a signal of a GPS apparatus, a movement control stop area, a buffer area adjacent to the movement control stop area, and a movement-controlling area adjacent to the buffer area are set on the basis of the distance from the target position, wherein in the movement control stop area, thrust generation by a propulsion apparatus is stopped; in the movement-controlling area, thrust is generated by the propulsion apparatus; and in the buffer area, thrust is generated by the propulsion apparatus of the vessel for movement control only in the case where the vessel moves from the movement-controlling area to the buffer area, then stays in the buffer area, and moves in a direction away from the target position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: YANMAR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naohiro Hara, Hiroaki Wakahara, Jun Watanabe, Gakuji Tamura
  • Patent number: 10451426
    Abstract: A method and device for determining a spatial position of a mobile unit, the spatial position being determined within a predefined orientation system, as a function of a predetermined number of parameters; a sufficiently known spatial position of the mobile unit being determined, using a subset of the predetermined number of parameters, as a function of operating state values, which represent the operating state of the mobile unit, and/or of surrounding-area values, which represent the surrounding area of the mobile unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Carsten Hasberg, Stefan Nordbruch
  • Patent number: 10449873
    Abstract: A cooling apparatus for an in-vehicle device includes a cooler, a traffic congestion determining unit, a cooling amount calculator, and a cooler controller. The cooling amount calculator calculates first and second cooling amounts respectively based on a heat-generation amount of a heat-generating device and a noise level inside a vehicle. The cooler controller controls the cooler on the basis of a set cooling amount. The cooler controller controls the cooler to cool the heat-generating device on the basis of the set cooling amount larger than the first cooling amount and equal to or smaller than the second cooling amount and limits a decrease rate of the set cooling amount to be smaller than an increase rate of the set cooling amount, on a condition that the traveling road is determined by the traffic congestion determining unit as being congested and the first cooling amount is smaller than the second cooling amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Fumiyuki Moriya, Yuichi Tanaka, Hiroshi Ienaga
  • Patent number: 10449956
    Abstract: A computing device in a vehicle can determine one or more objects based on 3D data points by determining a joint Bayesian probability of each of the one or more objects, conditioned on previously determined objects, and pilot the vehicle based on the determined one or more objects, wherein the objects have parameters including locations, sizes, poses, speeds, directions and predicted paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Kevin Wyffels
  • Patent number: 10427553
    Abstract: A vehicle seat includes a seat bottom and a seat back coupled to the seat bottom to extend away from the seat bottom. The seat back includes a backrest an a headrest coupled to the backrest to locate the backrest between the headrest and the seat bottom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Faurecia Automotive Seating, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffery T. Bonk, Dale J. Frye, Jared A. Judson, Timothy J. Moulton, Todd Zeilinger, Matthew Shinew
  • Patent number: 10427692
    Abstract: A module capable of operating on one of first and second vehicles includes an input table having a superset of input elements, with a first subset of input elements related to a first set of hardware devices on the first vehicle and a second subset related to a second set of hardware devices on the second vehicle. The module includes at least one configuration table with configuration elements corresponding to ones of the superset of input elements, wherein each configuration element has data related to transforming a value associated with an input element. The module includes vehicle function input elements related to function inputs utilized on the vehicles; and structure for determining a value of an input element corresponding to a function input element, transforming the value to a transformed value and linking the transformed value with the corresponding function input element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Mark E. Addison, Walter Conley, III, Karl L. Dammeyer, Joe K. Hammer, Stephen T. Mangette
  • Patent number: 10426080
    Abstract: A mobile turf sprayer operates to spray a product onto a turf site. In some embodiments the mobile turf sprayer identifies a plurality of regions of the turf site to be sprayed and automatically sprays product onto those regions as the mobile turf sprayer moves about the turf site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: The Toro Company
    Inventors: William J. Jugovich, Todd A. Otto, Steven R. Peterson, Brannon W. Polk, Steve A. Swinney, II
  • Patent number: 10421472
    Abstract: A visual diagnostic system for a railroad network is disclosed. The visual diagnostic system may have a sensor associated with a train asset in the railroad network and configured to generate a signal indicative of an operational status of the train asset, and a user interface associated with the train asset. The visual diagnostic system may also have a controller in communication with the sensor and the user interface. The controller may be configured to display on the user interface a graphical representation of the train asset in response to the signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: Progress Rail Locomotive Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Shubs, James David Seaton, David Matthew Roenspies
  • Patent number: 10423473
    Abstract: A method for controlling a gas turbine engine having a constrained model based control (CMBC) system. The method including obtaining information about a current and previous states of the engine, updating model data information in the CMBC and a parameter estimation system based on the obtained information, and identifying trends in the data based on the information. The method also includes diagnosing the engine, based on the identified trends, determining at least one of a new constraint, objective, initial condition, model characteristic, prediction horizon, and control horizon for the control system based on the diagnosing step if the diagnosing step identified a fault condition, and adapting the CMBC system based on the at least one new constraint, objective, initial condition, model characteristic, prediction and control horizon. The method further includes generating at least on control command based on the adapting and commanding an actuator based on the control command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sorin C. Bengea, Tyler J. Selstad, Timothy J. Crowley
  • Patent number: 10414408
    Abstract: Real-time feedback may be generated during a driving session from status data collected via one or more sensors. This feedback data may include various metrics related to a student's driving skills, which may be utilized to generate tagged driving events. A user may also manually enter tagged driving events. The tagged driving events may include real-time information based on the collected status data, such as acceleration, braking, cornering data, descriptions entered by the user. The location of these tagged driving events may be mapped in real time. Sensors used to collect this data may be integrated within the device displaying the feedback or located on another device, in which case the status data may be communicated to the device displaying the feedback. The displayed real-time feedback may be viewed by an instructor to assess a student's driving skills in real time and to calculate a driver feedback score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY
    Inventors: Brian Mark Fields, Steve Roberson, Abhishek Harish, Hyunji Lim, Matthew James Waughtel
  • Patent number: 10407066
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus mounted to an own vehicle to control the own vehicle according to a position of other vehicle ahead of the own vehicle is provided. The device includes a setting means setting a parameter indicating a position of the other vehicle relative to the own vehicle in a lateral direction perpendicular to the path of the own vehicle, a determination means determining whether the other vehicle is in the path of the own vehicle based on the parameter, a detection means detecting whether a relative movement has been made in the lateral direction by at least one of the own vehicle and the other vehicle, and a correction means correcting the parameter when a relative movement has been made in the lateral direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro Tokimasa, Toyoharu Katsukura, Yoshihisa Ogata, Youhei Masui, Taku Sakima, Takeshi Nanami, Takashi Nishida
  • Patent number: 10399559
    Abstract: A system and method of controlling engine clutch engagement during TCS operation of a hybrid vehicle are provided. The method includes determining whether a TCS is operating and upon determining that the TCS is operating, determining a compensation value for early engagement of an engine clutch during the TCS operation based on a difference between a front wheel speed and a rear wheel speed and a slip amount of front wheels. Additionally, the method includes determining whether engagement of the engine clutch is capable of being started based on the compensation value and starting the engine clutch engagement. Since the engagement of the engine clutch is controlled based on the speed of non-drive wheels during TCS operation, the engagement stability of the engine clutch is improved and the amount of time required to engage the engine clutch is decreased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Teh Hwan Cho, Sang Joon Kim, Gwang Il Du, Ji Hoon Kang, Seong Ik Park