Patents Examined by Mary Cheung
  • Patent number: 10867512
    Abstract: The invention provides systems and methods for an Intelligent Road Infrastructure System (IRIS), which facilitates vehicle operations and control for connected automated vehicle highway (CAVH) systems. IRIS systems and methods provide vehicles with individually customized information and real-time control instructions for vehicle to fulfill the driving tasks such as car following, lane changing, and route guidance. IRIS systems and methods also manage transportation operations and management services for both freeways and urban arterials. In some embodiments, the IRIS comprises or consists of one of more of the following physical subsystems: (1) Roadside unit (RSU) network, (2) Traffic Control Unit (TCU) and Traffic Control Center (TCC) network, (3) vehicle onboard unit (OBU), (4) traffic operations centers (TOCs), and (5) cloud information and computing services.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: CAVH LLC
    Inventors: Bin Ran, Yang Cheng, Shen Li, Zhen Zhang, Fan Ding, Huachun Tan, Yuankai Wu, Shuoxuan Dong, Linhui Ye, Xiaotian Li, Tianyi Chen, Kunsong Shi
  • Patent number: 10850587
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for conducting an evaporative emissions test on a fuel system in a vehicle. In one example, in response to a determination, based on the prevailing vehicle and ambient thermal conditions, that altering vehicle height may increase pressure or vacuum build during a pressure or vacuum build phase of an engine off natural vacuum test, employing the vehicle's active suspension to make said height adjustments. In this way the accuracy of engine off natural vacuum testing can be improved, and the conditions under which such testing can be efficaciously conducted increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Aed M. Dudar
  • Patent number: 10843722
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle steering mechanism are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer implemented method includes obtaining, by a computing system that includes one or more computing devices, data associated with a steering mechanism of an autonomous vehicle. The method includes identifying, by the computing system, a rate of change associated with the steering mechanism of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data associated with the steering mechanism. The method includes determining, by the computing system, that the rate of change exceeds a rate limit associated with the steering mechanism of the autonomous vehicle. In response to determining that the rate of change exceeds the rate limit, the method includes adjusting, by the computing system, the steering mechanism of the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas G. Letwin
  • Patent number: 10845797
    Abstract: [Object] To propose a novel and improved information processing device, a novel and improved information processing method, and a novel and improved transportation system capable of realizing more stable article transportation in article transportation by unmanned flyers. [Solution] Provided is an information processing device including: a display information control unit configured to control display of a screen used for a user to select a container to be conveyed by an unmanned flyer from candidates for the container on a basis of the candidates for the container accommodating an article and conveyed by the unmanned flyer in article transportation by the unmanned flyer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masatoshi Takashima
  • Patent number: 10843810
    Abstract: A method and a system for anticipating entry of a rotorcraft into a vortex domain, the rotorcraft having a main rotor with blades. After previously determining a specific frequency characterizing the proximity of a vortex domain, measurements are acquired of at least one parameter serving to characterize variation of the flow of air in the environment of the main rotor. Thereafter, the measurements are analyzed in order to isolate frequencies characteristic of the variation of each parameter, and the presence of the specific frequency is detected among the characteristic frequencies. Where appropriate, an alarm can then be issued in order to inform a pilot of the rotorcraft of the proximity of the vortex domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: AIRBUS HELICOPTERS
    Inventor: Hugo Quaranta
  • Patent number: 10836270
    Abstract: The drone implemented border patrol solution is projected to be more effective at preventing successful border penetrations over very long distances than any attempted solution. It requires functionally zero infrastructure investment. It can be deployed in six months or less and it costs less than $100,000 a mile to implement (vs. 15 million a mile for a physical wall, or 4 million a mile for a virtual fence (a 97% price reduction)).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: BRINC DRONES, INC.
    Inventor: Blake Resnick
  • Patent number: 10836401
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for controlling operation of a vehicle. The system may include an interior data collection component configured to collected interior configuration data representing an interior space of the vehicle, a vehicle operation control configured to control actions of the vehicle, and one or more processors configured to determine, by processing the interior vehicle configuration data, an interior vehicle configuration of the vehicle, and cause the vehicle operation controller to cause the vehicle to take a specific action based on the interior vehicle configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY
    Inventors: Scott T. Christensen, Brian M. Fields, Stephen R. Prevatt, Steve Roberson
  • Patent number: 10818110
    Abstract: A vehicle can produce a user interface that provides details about the autonomous driving benefits for a journey at the end of each trip and can keep a log of autonomous driving (AD) and manual driving (MD) history. The metrics that would be monitored and displayed may include one or more, but is not limited to, a time on the road, a time in traffic, money spent on electricity for a battery, a time in manual mode, a time in autonomous mode, multiple stops, hard accelerations, hard brakes, a time spent above the speed limit, routes taken, multiple stops along the way, regenerated energy, non-regenerated energy used, etc. The journey summary may include autonomous safety benefits that are unique to an AD vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: NIO USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Robin Bigio, Zachury B. Minjack, Timothy J. Meador, Daniel Paul Nacamuli
  • Patent number: 10818111
    Abstract: A method of determining if a vehicle's performance has been modified, the method comprising: acquiring operational data comprised in communications signals transmitted over a vehicle's in-vehicle network during operation of the vehicle; processing the operational data to determine an operational profile for the vehicle that characterizes actual operation of the vehicle; and determining based on the operational profile if the vehicle performance has undergone modification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Argus Cyber Security Ltd.
    Inventor: Yaron Galula
  • Patent number: 10793165
    Abstract: During autonomous driving of a vehicle, useful Information is presented to an occupant. An image generator in driving assistance device generates a first image representing an action the vehicle is capable of executing depending on a travel environment during autonomous driving and a second image representing a basis of the action. Image output unit outputs the first image and the second image generated by the image generator to notification device in the vehicle in association with each other. The action vehicle is capable of executing may be selected from among action candidates by a driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuya Watanabe, Koichi Emura, Masanaga Tsuji, Toshiya Mori, Wataru Nakai
  • Patent number: 10782411
    Abstract: Various examples are directed to systems and methods for determining a pose of a vehicle. A first localizer may generate a first pose estimate for the vehicle based at least in part on a comparison of first remote sensor data to a first reference data. A second localizer may generate a second pose estimate for the vehicle based at least in part on a comparison of second remote sensor data to a second reference data. A pose state estimator may generate a vehicle pose for the vehicle based at least in part on a first previous pose of the vehicle, the first pose estimate, and the second pose estimate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Rachel Ahn, David Prasser, Peter Hansen, Robert Zlot, Ethan Duff Eade
  • Patent number: 10769555
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing actions in response to charging events, such as charging events associated with a specific electric vehicle and/or a specific charging station, are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods may receive a request from an electric vehicle to identify a charging station from which to charge a battery of the electric vehicle, provide information associated with the electric vehicle to one or more charging stations proximate to the electric vehicle, receive from the one or more charging stations information identifying parameters associated with potential charging events provided by the one or more charging stations, and provide the information identifying the parameters associated with potential charging events provided by the one or more charging stations to the electric vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: RECARGO, INC.
    Inventors: Nick Wild, Forrest North
  • Patent number: 10768668
    Abstract: A robot system with a robot that has a camera and a remote control station that can connect to the robot. The connection can include a plurality of privileges. The system further includes a server that controls which privileges are provided to the remote control station. The privileges may include the ability to control the robot, joint in a multi-cast session and the reception of audio/video from the robot. The privileges can be established and edited through a manager control station. The server may contain a database that defines groups of remote control station that can be connected to groups of robots. The database can be edited to vary the stations and robots within a group. The system may also allow for connectivity between a remote control station at a user programmable time window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: INTOUCH TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: John Cody Herzog, Blair Whitney, Yulun Wang, Charles S. Jordan, Marco Pinter
  • Patent number: 10755584
    Abstract: An apparatus, system and method for managing airspace for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The apparatus, system and method may include a platform comprising at least records of certified administratively acceptable requestors of restricted use of the airspace for UAVs, a plurality of airspace management rules for UAVs, and a broadcaster for providing notifications over at least one telecommunications network; and a plurality of applications, each instantiated by a processor on one of a plurality of corresponded devices by non-transitory computing code, wherein the plurality of corresponded devices comprises at least a plurality of mobile devices. A first of the plurality of applications may be capable of receiving the restricted UAV use request from a requestor within a physical area of the restricted UAV use request, and of forwarding the restricted UAV use request and an identification of the requestor to the platform over the at least one telecommunications network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ken Harold Stewart, Vineet Mehta
  • Patent number: 10754037
    Abstract: A method for processing point clouds having variable spatial distributions of scan lines includes receiving a point cloud portion corresponding to an object in a vehicle environment, the point cloud portion including scan lines arranged according to a particular spatial distribution. The method also includes constructing a voxel grid corresponding to the received point cloud portion. The voxel grid includes a plurality of volumes in a stacked, three-dimensional arrangement, and constructing the voxel grid includes (i) determining an initial classification of the object, (ii) setting one or more parameters of the voxel grid based on the initial classification, and (iii) associating each volume of the plurality of volumes with an attribute specifying how many points, from the point cloud portion, fall within that volume. The method also includes generating, using the constructed voxel grid, signals descriptive of a current state of the environment through which the vehicle is moving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Luminar Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin Englard, Eric C. Danziger
  • Patent number: 10748421
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for estimating distribution of urban road travel time in considering operation state of taxi, and belongs to the technical field of urban transportation planning and management. The distributions of path travel time are respectively estimated according to different operation states of the taxi. When the distribution of the path travel time is estimated, adjacent road sections in the road network are not independent. In the present invention, the Markov model is added to describe the correlation of the travel time distribution between the adjacent road sections, so as to increase science and accuracy of the estimation result. In the present invention, the weight is set according to the proportion of the number of the vehicles under two different operation states to obtain the final distribution of the path travel time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: DALIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Shaopeng Zhong, Haimin Jun, Kai Liu, Quanzhi Wang, Kun Wang, Yanquan Zou, Lu Zhang, Tianli Tang
  • Patent number: 10724458
    Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a hybrid powertrain of a vehicle that includes an engine and a motor/generator are described. The systems and methods may judge whether or not to generate an engine start request when an engine is stopped in response to present vehicle operating conditions and predicted vehicle operating conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Yanan Zhao, Chen Zhang, Xiaoyong Wang
  • Patent number: 10723353
    Abstract: Rear lateral detection (RLL) ECU 10 determines whether or not a lane change assist control (LCA) is being performed. The RLDECU 10 sets a performing condition for performing a rear-end pre-crash safety control (rear PCS control) to a moderate performing condition when the LCA is being performed, and sets the performing condition of the rear PCS control to a normal performing condition when the LCA is not being performed. The moderate performing condition is set such that the rear PCS control is performed more easily compared with the normal performing condition. For example, in the moderate performing condition, a detection area of a target vehicle which is a vehicle subject to the rear PCS control is expanded compared with the detection area in the normal performing condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koji Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 10717339
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus for managing climate control. The control system includes one or more sensors that are configured to measure sunload energy. The control system includes a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit that is configured to output air with an airflow rate into the cabin of the vehicle. The electronic control unit is configured to obtain the amount of sunload energy and obtain a blower map based on the amount of sunload energy. The electronic control unit is configured to determine the airflow rate based on the obtained blower map and an expected temperature. The electronic control unit is configured to control the airflow rate to adjust an air temperature within the cabin of the vehicle to reach the expected temperature therefore increasing the fuel efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Netsanet S. Chevers, Hidekazu Hirabayashi, David W. Cosgrave, Stefan Young
  • Patent number: 10689110
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to drones, and more particularly to method and system for performing inspection and maintenance tasks of three-dimensional structures (3D) using drones. In one embodiment, a method for performing a task with respect to a 3D structure is disclosed. The method includes receiving a simulated 3D view of the 3D structure. The simulated 3D view comprises a hierarchy of augmented views to different degrees. The method further includes configuring one or more paths for performing a task on the 3D structure based on the hierarchy of augmented views, historical data on substantially similar tasks, and a capability of the at least one drone. The method further includes learning maneuverability and operations with respect to the one or more paths and the task based on the historical data on substantially similar tasks, and effecting performance of the task based on the learning through the at least one drone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Wipro Limited
    Inventors: Sethuraman Ulaganathan, Manjunath Ramachandra