Patents Examined by Shahira Baajour
  • Patent number: 11537140
    Abstract: A device includes an external sensor to scan an environment so as to periodically output scan data, a storage to store an environmental map, and a location estimation device to match the sensor data against the environmental map read from the storage so as to estimate a location and an attitude of the vehicle. The location estimation device determines predicted values of a current location and a current estimation of the vehicle in accordance with a history of estimated locations and estimated attitudes of the vehicle, and performs the matching by using the predicted values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: NIDEC-SHIMPO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinji Suzuki, Tetsuo Saeki, Masaji Nakatani
  • Patent number: 11531354
    Abstract: Provided is a map generation unit that generates an attribute-attached occupancy grid map including an existence probability of an obstacle in a space around a moving body for each grid, and an attribute of the obstacle labelled in the occupancy grid map. A position estimation unit that estimates a position of the moving body by matching in a shape of a non-moving body and the attribute between the attribute-attached occupancy grid map and a pre-map that is the attribute-attached occupancy grid map prepared beforehand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shingo Tsurumi
  • Patent number: 11530924
    Abstract: A method for updating a high definition map according to one embodiment comprises: obtaining a two-dimensional image that captures a target area corresponding to at least a part of an area expressed by a three-dimensional high definition map, generating a three-dimensional local landmark map of the target area from a position of a landmark in the two-dimensional image, based on a position and an orientation of a photographing device which has captured the two-dimensional image and updating the high definition map with reference to the local landmark map corresponding to the target area of the three-dimensional high definition map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: SK TELECOM CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Seongsoo Lee
  • Patent number: 11526163
    Abstract: A submersible remotely operable vehicle used for inspection of liquid cooled electrical transformers can include a number of separate cameras and sensors for mapping and navigating the internal structure of the transformer with liquid coolant remaining in the transformer. The remotely operable vehicle can be wirelessly controlled to perform various inspection functions while the number of cameras provide video streams for processing to produce a three dimensional field of view based on an observation position of the remotely operable vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ENERGY SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge, Carlos W. Morato, Luiz Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Biao Zhang, Saumya Sharma, Gregory F. Rossano
  • Patent number: 11525687
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for determining correction values for a number of sensors of a traveling motor vehicle. The method being based on backward calculation. The disclosure further relates to a method for determining a position of a motor vehicle, using the correction values. The disclosure also relates to an associated electronic control device and to an associated non-volatile computer-readable storage medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG
    Inventor: Ulrich Stählin
  • Patent number: 11513510
    Abstract: Embodiments of this application describe a motor vehicle self-driving method and a terminal device. The method may include obtaining, by a terminal device, vehicle external-environment data of a position of a motor vehicle and initial positioning precision of the motor vehicle. The method may also include determining, by the terminal device, a target driving parameter of the motor vehicle based on the vehicle external-environment data and the initial positioning precision. Furthermore, the method may include controlling, by the terminal device, the motor vehicle to drive based on the target driving parameter. In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device determines the target driving parameter of the motor vehicle based on the vehicle external-environment data and the initial positioning precision. In this way, the target driving parameter varies with the vehicle external-environment data, and further matches an external environment, thereby improving self-driving safety of the motor vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jiali Fu
  • Patent number: 11513525
    Abstract: A main server for controlling laser irradiation of a movement path of a robot, the main server including a communication unit configured to communicate with a camera module and a laser irradiation module; and a controller configured to: receive, via the communication unit, an image of a robot captured by the camera module, identify a location of the robot in the image captured by the camera module, generate a movement path of the robot based on sensing information, and transmit, via the communication unit, movement path information to the laser irradiation module for outputting the movement path to a vicinity of the robot with a laser for the robot to follow, in which the sensing information includes first information about an obstacle sensed by the camera module or second information about the obstacle sensed by the laser irradiation module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Gyuho Eoh, Dong Ki Noh, Seungmin Baek, Jeong Sik Choi
  • Patent number: 11493933
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for driving on the basis of characteristics of a driving surface, and a robot for implementing the same, and a method for driving on the basis of characteristics of a driving surface, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, comprises the steps in which: a sensing module of the robot senses an adjacent driving surface to generate characteristic information of the driving surface, and a control unit of the robot stores position and characteristic information of the driving surface in a map storage of the robot; the controller of the robot sets a function to be applied to the driving surface in response to the characteristic information of the driving surface, or generates a movement path selectively including the driving surface corresponding to start and end points of the robot; and the controller controls a moving unit and a functional unit of the robot according to the set function or the movement path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Changhyeon Lee, Byungkon Sohn, Kyung Man Yu
  • Patent number: 11474528
    Abstract: A behavior control method for controlling a behavior of a vehicle comprising: specifying a blind-spot region as blind-spot of an environment recognition portion along a travel route for the vehicle; determining a jump-out possibility of a moving object to the travel route from the blind-spot region; performing a possibility reduction behavior to lower the jump-out possibility, in response to that the jump-out possibility is confirmed; and performing a travel behavior compliant with the travel route after starting the possibility reduction behavior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Daisuke Tokumochi
  • Patent number: 11475717
    Abstract: In one aspect, a system for detecting worn or damaged components of an agricultural machine may include first and second acoustic sensors positioned at first and second locations on the agricultural machine, respectively, with the second location being spaced apart from the first location. A controller of the system may be configured to determine a first acoustic parameter associated with the first location of the agricultural machine based on acoustic data received from the first acoustic sensor. The controller may also be configured to determine a second acoustic parameter associated with the second location of the agricultural machine based on acoustic data received from the second acoustic sensor. Furthermore, the controller may be configured to determine a component of the agricultural machine is worn or damaged when the first acoustic parameter differs from the second acoustic parameter by a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC
    Inventors: Joshua David Harmon, Huiyan Wu
  • Patent number: 11454987
    Abstract: A self-driving coordination system and the control method thereof are disclosed. The system and the control method are applied to an all-self-driving vehicle fleet. The self-driving coordination system comprises a leader control device, a follower control device, and a server. The leader control device is mounted in a leader. The follower control device is mounted in a follower. The leader control device and the follower control device communicate with each other for bidirectional data transmission. The server communicates with the leader control device and the follower control device for respective bidirectional data transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH & TESTING CENTER
    Inventors: Wei-Hsuan Chang, Rong-Terng Juang
  • Patent number: 11448511
    Abstract: A robot configured for multi-robot pose estimation execute iteratively the primary particle filter and the secondary particle filter independently from each other to update the pose estimations in the primary and the secondary particles. In response to each encounter of the robot with a neighboring robot, the robot receives neighboring particles of a particle filter of the neighboring robot identifying poses and likelihoods of the poses of the neighboring robot and replaces the primary particles of the primary particle filter with the secondary particles fused with the neighboring particles. The robot outputs its pose according to the primary particles of the primary particle filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Milutin Pajovic, Philip Orlik
  • Patent number: 11402842
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for dynamically adjusting effective sensor coverage coordinates of a sensor used to assist in navigating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) in response to environmental conditions that may affect the ideal operation of the sensor. An ADV includes a navigation system and a safety monitor system that monitors some, or all, of the navigation system, including monitoring: dynamic adjustment of effective sensor coverage coordinates of a sensor and localization of the ADV within a high-definition map. The ADV safety monitor system further determines safety-critical objects surrounding the ADV, determines safe areas to navigate the ADV, and ensures that the ADV navigates only to safe areas. An automated system performance monitor determines whether to pass-through ADV navigation control commands, limit one or more control commands, or perform a fail-operational behavior, based on the ADV safety monitor systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: BAIDU USA LLC
    Inventors: Xiaodong Liu, Ning Qu
  • Patent number: 11374688
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a data transmission method and a data transmission device for an intelligent driving vehicle, and a device. The method includes: acquiring data to be transmitted; encoding the data to be transmitted to generate encoded data; generating a check digit according to the data to be transmitted; adding the encoded data to a data packet, wherein a trailer of the data packet comprises the check digit; and transmitting the data packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Apollo Intelligent Driving Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yifeng Shi, Xing Hu, Haisong Wang, Lei Fang, Ji Tao
  • Patent number: 11366480
    Abstract: A method for navigating a vehicle through a predefined path in an environment. The predefined path includes a plurality of predefined points. The method includes generating a distance database, enabling the predefined path by enabling each of the plurality of predefined points, navigating the vehicle to a first point, and navigating the vehicle from the first point to a second point. The distance database is associated with the predefined path. The first point and the second point are located on the predefined path. Navigating the vehicle from the first point to the second point includes repeating an iterative navigation process until a termination condition is satisfied. The termination condition includes a total traveled distance of the vehicle obtained from odometer data of the vehicle exceeding a termination threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Inventor: Mazdak Hooshang
  • Patent number: 11360473
    Abstract: A vehicle controller device is provided including a travel control section configured to control autonomous driving and remote driving, a biometric information acquisition section configured to acquire biometric information of an occupant, a state determination section configured to determine, based on the biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquisition section, whether or not an abnormality predicted state has arisen in which manual driving by operation by the occupant is predicted to become compromised and also whether or not an abnormal state has arisen in which manual driving is compromised, a notification section configured to notify an operation device of a determined state in cases in which either the abnormality predicted state or the abnormal state is determined to have arisen, and a reception section capable of receiving operation-ready information indicating that operation by a remote operator is possible from the operation device in response to the notification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Hanawa, Yasuki Nakagawa, Makoto Matsushita, Yusuke Yokota, Tomoyuki Kuriyama, Tae Sugimura
  • Patent number: 11340623
    Abstract: A method for controlling a vehicle based on a driver-centric model is presented. The method includes generating a trajectory for the vehicle and receiving an input from a driver. The method also includes generating a velocity profile and an acceleration profile based on a combination of the trajectory and the input. The method further includes controlling the vehicle based on the velocity profile and the acceleration profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Logan Michael Ellis, Huihua Zhao, Avinash Balachandran
  • Patent number: 11340082
    Abstract: According to an aspect of an embodiment, operations may comprise for each of the set of geographic X-positions, accessing an HD map of a geographical region surrounding the geographic X-position, determining a convergence range for the geographic X-position, and storing the convergence range for the geographic X-position in the HD map. The operations may also comprise accessing the HD map, predicting a next geographic X-position of a target vehicle, predicting a covariance of the predicted next geographic X-position, accessing the convergence range for the geographic X-position in the HD map closest to the predicted next geographic X-position, estimating a current geographic X-position of the target vehicle by performing a localization algorithm, and determining a confidence value for the estimated current geographic X-position of the target vehicle based on the predicted next geographic X-position, the predicted covariance, and the accessed convergence range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: NVIDIA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mark Wheeler, Derik Schroeter
  • Patent number: 11340078
    Abstract: An approach is provided for path recovery when using map-based dynamic location sampling. The approach, for instance, involves initiating a capture of a current location of a vehicle on a road segment by a location sensor based on a keep-alive sampling rate. The location sensor is configured to operate at a sampling rate that is reduced from a default sampling rate in addition to the keep-alive sampling rate. The approach also involves determining a predicted location of the vehicle based on an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle at an end node of the road segment. The estimated time of arrival is based on historical traversal time data for the road segment. The approach further involves reconfiguring the location sensor to operate at the default sampling frequency based on determining that the predicted location differs from the current location by more than a threshold distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: HERE Global B.V.
    Inventors: Daniel Schmidt, Marina Ousov Fridin, Yelena Shnaider, Inna Branevich, Alexander Maryanovsky, Marcelo Savignano
  • Patent number: 11340622
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining respective importance scores for a plurality of agents in a vicinity of an autonomous vehicle navigating through an environment. The respective importance scores characterize a relative impact of each agent on planned trajectories generated by a planning subsystem of the autonomous vehicle. In one aspect, a method comprises providing different states of an environment as input to the planning subsystem and obtaining as output from the planning subsystem corresponding planned trajectories. Importance scores for the one or more agents that are in one state but not in the other are determined based on a measure of difference between the planned trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Khaled Refaat, Kai Ding, Stephane Ross