Patents Examined by Tiffany P Young
  • Patent number: 12263868
    Abstract: A method includes receiving sensed vehicle-state data, actuation-command data, and surface-coefficient data from a plurality of remote vehicles, inputting the sensed vehicle-state data, the actuation-command data, and the surface-coefficient data into a self-supervised recurrent neural network (RNN) to predict vehicle states of a host vehicle in a plurality of driving scenarios, and commanding the host vehicle to move autonomously according to a trajectory determined using the vehicle states predicted using the self-supervised RNN.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Shuqing Zeng, Yubiao Zhang, Bakhtiar B. Litkouhi
  • Patent number: 12252145
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for generating sensor data for controlling an autonomous vehicle in an environment is provided, such as driverless transport vehicles in a factory for example. Sensor positions of static sensors and the sensors of autonomous vehicles are defined in a global coordinate system on the basis of an environment model, such as a BIM model for example. Sensor data is centrally generated in this global coordinate system for all sensors as a function of these sensor positions. The sensor data is then transformed into a local coordinate system of an autonomous vehicle and transferred for controlling the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Andrés Botero Halblaub, Hermann Georg Mayer, Jan Christoph Wehrstedt
  • Patent number: 12252036
    Abstract: A system for heating a battery in a vehicle supplying driving power by a motor as a vehicle-driving source is provided. The system includes a big-data server configured to receive driving information of the vehicle and to determine an estimated driving start time of the vehicle and required output required at an initial driving stage of the vehicle based on the received driving information, and a controller, installed in the vehicle and configured to provide the driving information to the big-data server, to receive the estimated driving start time and the required output provided from the big-data server, and to derive a heating time of the battery, required to ensure the required output, based on the a temperature and an SoC of the battery installed in the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventor: Hyun Soo Park
  • Patent number: 12250905
    Abstract: One or more information maps are obtained by an agricultural work machine. The one or more information maps map one or more agricultural characteristic values at different geographic locations of a field. An in-situ sensor on the agricultural work machine senses an agricultural characteristic as the agricultural work machine moves through the field. A predictive map generator generates a predictive map that predicts a predictive agricultural characteristic at different locations in the field based on a relationship between the values in the one or more information maps and the agricultural characteristic sensed by the in-situ sensor. The predictive map can be output and used in automated machine control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Noel W. Anderson, Nathan R Vandike, Bhanu Kiran Reddy Palla
  • Patent number: 12246704
    Abstract: A parking assistance method includes: detecting, from an image of surroundings of a vehicle, a first target object position; detecting a first image capturing situation when the image is captured; with respect to a second target object position of a target object detected from a past image of surroundings of a target parking position in a past, retrieving one or more combinations of a relative positional relationship between the second target object position and the target parking position and a second image capturing situation when the past image is captured; selecting, the relative positional relationship combined with the second image capturing situation having a difference from the first image capturing situation less than or equal to a predetermined difference; and calculating, based on the selected relative positional relationship and the first target object position, a relative position between a current position of the vehicle and the target parking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Watanabe, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Muku Takeda
  • Patent number: 12249097
    Abstract: An object-collection system is disclosed. The system including a vehicle connected to a bucket, a camera connected to the vehicle, and an object picking assembly configured to pick up objects off of ground. The system further includes a processor that obtains object information for identified objects, guides the object-collection system over a target geographical area toward the identified objects based on the object information, captures images of the ground relative to the object picker as the object-collection system is guided towards the identified objects, identifies a target object in the images, tracks movement of the target object across the images as the object-collection system is guided towards the identified objects, and employs the tracked movement of the target object to instruct the object picker to pick up the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: TerraClear Inc.
    Inventors: Brent Ronald Frei, Dwight Galen McMaster, Michael Racine, Jacobus du Preez, William David Dimmit, Isabelle Butterfield, Clifford Holmgren, Dafydd Daniel Rhys-Jones, Thayne Kollmorgen, Vivek Ullal Nayak
  • Patent number: 12240358
    Abstract: A method for operating a vehicle seat device for motor vehicles, which has a vehicle seat with a seat part and a backrest, associated with the seat part, and at least one actuator which is associated with the seat part and/or the backrest and by means of which the vehicle seat can be brought automatically into a sitting position and into a reclining position, wherein the movement takes place as a function of a desired position that can be specified by a user and of at least one detectable vehicle seat state. It is provided that a current temperature is monitored as the vehicle seat state and that if the monitored temperature falls below a limit temperature, the vehicle seat is brought into a sitting position or left in a current sitting position regardless of the desired position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Tomas Barkow, Christian Busch
  • Patent number: 12240537
    Abstract: A steering control device includes a base axial force calculator, a limiting axial force calculator, and a final axial force calculator. The limiting axial force calculator includes a steering angle holder, a reference angle calculator, a final difference calculator, and an axial force calculator. The steering angle holder is configured to hold a steering angle at the time of limiting a turning operation of the turning wheels when the turning operation is limited. The reference angle calculator is configured to calculate a reference angle. The final difference calculator is configured to calculate a final difference which is a final difference between the reference angle and the current steering angle. The axial force calculator is configured to calculate a limiting axial force based on a value of the final difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignees: JTEKT CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Matsuda, Isao Namikawa, Koji Anraku, Tomoyuki Iida, Masaharu Yamashita, Kenji Shibata
  • Patent number: 12241228
    Abstract: An electric or hybrid working machine includes a ground engaging structure, an electrical source of power, an electric motor arrangement, one or more hydraulically actuated devices, and a hydraulic pump configured to supply hydraulic fluid to the one or more hydraulically actuated devices. The working machine also includes a transmission operable to transmit drive from the electric motor arrangement to the ground engaging structure and the hydraulic pump. The transmission has a first input member connected to a first electric motor, a drive train comprising a first input gear connected to the first input member, and a coupling device connected between the first input member and the first input gear to selectively adjust transmission of drive to the hydraulic pump and the ground engaging structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: J. C. Bamford Excavators Limited
    Inventors: Alan Geoffrey Williams, Kevin Ford
  • Patent number: 12240453
    Abstract: A computer is programmed to, in response to a navigation feature being active for a route, prompt an operator of the vehicle to activate a driver-assist feature of the vehicle. For example, the computer can output a message via a user interface indicating that the driver-assist feature is available to be used. The computer is further programmed to receive an input indicating a destination, determine the route for the vehicle from a current location of the vehicle to the destination, and activate the navigation feature to output guidance instructing the operator to follow the route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Denis Lewandowski, Jordan Barrett, Brendan Francis Diamond, Keith Weston, Anthony Maraldo
  • Patent number: 12233893
    Abstract: A pedal system for a vehicle that is configured to be driven in an at least part-automated manner. The pedal system includes a driving pedal and a brake pedal. The pedal system is allocated a representation function between a pedal actuation and control parameters for the longitudinal control of the vehicle. The pedal system is configured so as, when the vehicle is being operated, to vary the representation function between the pedal actuation and the control parameters for the longitudinal control of the vehicle in dependence upon a variable that represents the degree of automation of the driving mode of the vehicle and at least a first condition for restricting the representation function of the pedal actuation and/or at least a second condition for eliminating the restriction of the representation unction of the pedal actuation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Alexander Augst, Reiner Friedrich, Claus Dorrer
  • Patent number: 12236791
    Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, systems, and program products are disclosed for dynamic selection of an aeronautical data provider. An apparatus includes a processor and a memory that stores code executable by the processor to receive a first stream of real-time aeronautical data from a first aeronautical data provider, receive at least one second stream of real-time aeronautical data from at least one second aeronautical data provider simultaneously with the first stream, provide data from the first stream and the at least one second stream to a decision model for predicting which data has a higher accuracy, and switch using data from the first stream to data from one of the at least one second streams in response to the one of the at least one second streams having a higher predicted accuracy than the first stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Pablo Costas, Javier Lopez Leones, Alejandro Guemes Jimenez
  • Patent number: 12236789
    Abstract: A method for controlling rights of an autonomous vehicle includes acquiring, via a network, identification information for identifying a user or a terminal of the user, and dispatching request information that indicates a dispatch request for the autonomous vehicle issued by the user. The method further includes selecting the autonomous vehicle to be dispatched to the user from among multiple autonomous vehicles based on the dispatch request information, and assigning a control right for the selected autonomous vehicle, to the user or the terminal, based on the identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
    Inventor: Shunsuke Kuhara
  • Patent number: 12223674
    Abstract: Methods and systems for jointly estimating a pose and a shape of an object perceived by an autonomous vehicle are described. The system includes data and program code collectively defining a neural network which has been trained to jointly estimate a pose and a shape of a plurality of objects from incomplete point cloud data. The neural network includes a trained shared encoder neural network, a trained pose decoder neural network, and a trained shape decoder neural network. The method includes receiving an incomplete point cloud representation of an object, inputting the point cloud data into the trained shared encoder, outputting a code representative of the point cloud data. The method also includes generating an estimated pose and shape of the object based on the code. The pose includes at least a heading or a translation and the shape includes a denser point cloud representation of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: Volkswagen Group of America Investments, LLC
    Inventors: Hunter Goforth, Xiaoyan Hu, Michael Happold
  • Patent number: 12222724
    Abstract: A mobile body control device includes: an observation trajectory acquisition unit that acquires, a trajectory along which the subject walks; a basic trajectory acquisition unit that acquires, a basic trajectory that matches the observation trajectory; a subject predicted trajectory acquisition unit that acquires a trajectory along which the subject walks after the current time point based on the specific basic trajectory; a prediction reliability calculation unit that calculates a prediction reliability based on uncertainty added along the subject predicted trajectory; a target trajectory acquisition unit that acquires, a trajectory formed by a target position of a mobile body set ahead of the subject in a traveling direction of the subject; and a control-command-sequence-generating unit that generates a control command sequence using an evaluation function that uses as input the subject predicted trajectory, prediction reliability, target trajectory, and a control trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignees: AISIN CORPORATION, KEIO UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Kuno, Yutaka Watanabe, Masaki Takahashi, Ayanori Yorozu, Shunichi Sekiguchi
  • Patent number: 12208811
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods for determining an estimated weight of a vehicle. The methods comprise operating at least one processor to: receive vehicle data associated with the vehicle, the vehicle data comprising a plurality of vehicle parameters collected during operation of the vehicle; identify one or more vehicle maneuvers based on the vehicle data, each vehicle maneuver being associated with a portion of the vehicle data; and use at least one machine learning model to determine the estimated weight of the vehicle based on the portion of the vehicle data associated with each of the one or more vehicle maneuvers, the at least one machine learning model trained using training data associated with a plurality of previous vehicle maneuvers. Also disclosed are systems for implementing methods of the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2024
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: Geotab Inc.
    Inventors: Yifeng Ge, Mohammad Salman Sabahi, Vinay Kiran Manjunath, Willem Petersen
  • Patent number: 12202511
    Abstract: A system and corresponding method for autonomous driving of a vehicle are provided. The system comprises at least one neural network (NN) that generates at least one output for controlling the autonomous driving. The system further comprises a main data path that routes bulk sensor data to the at least one NN and a low-latency data path with reduced latency relative to the main data path. The low-latency data path routes limited sensor data to the at least one NN which, in turn, employs the limited sensor data to improve performance of the at least one NN's processing of the bulk sensor data for generating the at least one output. Improving performance of the at least one NN's processing of the bulk sensor data enables the system to, for example, identify a safety hazard sooner, enabling the autonomous driving to divert the vehicle and avoid contact with the safety hazard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte, Ltd.
    Inventor: William Knox Ladd
  • Patent number: 12195315
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an unmanned transport vehicle includes: a moving body capable of autonomously traveling on a floor surface and having a docking portion connecting to the object; a detection sensor capable of detecting an approach side support leg, wherein, of the plurality of support legs in the object, a pair of support legs located on a docking side of the moving body are designated as approach side support legs, and a pair of support legs located on a side opposite to a docking side in a traveling direction of the moving body is used as depth side support legs; and a control device connected to the moving body and a first detection sensor. The moving body has a height capable of entering a bottom space surrounded by a lower surface of the load plate of the object, the plurality of support legs, and the floor surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Takafumi Sonoura, Daisuke Yamamoto, Hideki Ogawa
  • Patent number: 12187301
    Abstract: A method of implementing distributed AI or ML learning for autonomous vehicles is disclosed. An AI or ML model specific to a location or a type of the location is generated at a vehicle. In response to a detection that the vehicle is within a proximity to a road side unit (RSU) associated with the location or the type of the location or the vehicle is within a proximity to an additional vehicle that is present or anticipated to be present at the location or the type of the location, causing an AI or ML model transmission to the additional vehicle or the RSU. Based on the causing the AI or ML model reception, causing deployment of an additional AI or ML model in the vehicle to optimize the vehicle for the location or the type of the location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Nageen Himayat, Maruti Gupta Hyde, Ravikumar Balakrishnan, Mustafa Akdeniz, Marcin Spoczynski
  • Patent number: 12185654
    Abstract: Speed control of machines and associated implements during transitions of agricultural parameters is described herein. In one embodiment, a processing system comprises processing logic to execute instructions for processing agricultural data and performing speed control of a machine and associated implement during a transition period for adjusting a setting of an agricultural parameter. A communication unit is coupled to the processing logic. The communication unit to transmit and receive data from the implement. The processing logic is configured to execute instructions to adjust the setting of the agricultural parameter and to determine a desired speed control during the transition period based on at least one of a desired transition distance and productivity during the transition period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: Precision Planting LLC
    Inventor: Ryan Allgaier