Patents Examined by Yuen Wong
  • Patent number: 10699578
    Abstract: The likelihood of a collision of a vehicle colliding with an object in front of an own vehicle is determined, and an emergency braking control for avoiding a collision with the object is started in accordance with the determination results. A determination is made as to whether travel environment conditions have been established, from the location at which the vehicle is currently travelling, the situation behind the vehicle, and, the travel state of the vehicle, and the braking control is released when the likelihood of a collision dropped to a predetermined safety level during the period from the start of the emergency braking control until the own vehicle stops, and when the travel environment conditions have been established.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriyasu Noto, Tetsuya Tokuda, Yasuhiko Mukai
  • Patent number: 10690502
    Abstract: A method for operating a vehicle in order to draw up a digital map of a parking lot, the vehicle driving within the parking lot ascertaining data pertaining to its driving route within the parking lot and transmitting the ascertained data via a communications network to a map server, so that the map server is able to draw up a digital map of the parking lot on the basis of the data. A corresponding device is also described. A method for drawing up a digital map of a parking lot, a map server, and a computer program are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Manuel Maier, Stefan Nordbruch
  • Patent number: 10692371
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for determining operation of an autonomous vehicle based on user profiles. In one example, a computer-implemented method of applying user profiles for autonomous vehicle operation is provided. The method includes receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a trip request from a user; retrieving, by the computing system, a user profile associated with the user; determining, by the computing system, one or more trip attribute settings based at least in part on the user profile; and providing, by the computing system, the determined one or more trip attribute settings to a vehicle computing system for determining autonomous vehicle operation during a trip associated with the trip request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Molly Castle Nix, Sean Chin, Dennis Zhao, Emily Cairns Duff Bartel
  • Patent number: 10681864
    Abstract: A ground working system has at least one self-driving ground working device with a drive, a control unit and an in-device battery for supplying energy to the ground working device. An operating region (A), within which the ground working device travels automatically along a traveling path (W), is determined by an edge boundary. At least one charging station for charging the battery of the ground working device via an electrical energy-transferring charging connection is provided. The charging connection is also configured as a data connection for the transmission of data packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG
    Inventors: Sebastian Matt, Samuel Zoettl, Klaus Melser, Peter Ritzer
  • Patent number: 10679434
    Abstract: A device diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes: a diagnosis model selecting unit that selects a diagnosis model for diagnosing a moving device in accordance with a driving environment of the device; and a diagnosis unit that inputs operation data of the device to the selected diagnosis model, receives an output of a diagnosis result for the device from the diagnosis model, and diagnoses the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Mariko Okude, Takehisa Nishida, Masayoshi Ishikawa, Kazuo Muto, Atsushi Katou
  • Patent number: 10656640
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for centralized control of autonomous vehicles. In some embodiments, a system and method allow an autonomous control system on-board an autonomous vehicle to pass control of the autonomous vehicle to an offboard panel of experts upon encountering an anomaly. In some embodiments, a system and method allow a regulatory entity to proactively distribute rules and requirements to autonomous vehicles while operating within a regulated space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Applied Minds, LLC
    Inventor: Bran Ferren
  • Patent number: 10647322
    Abstract: A backward driving assist apparatus for a vehicle may include: a vehicle speed sensor configured to measure a vehicle speed by counting a wheel pulse of a wheel; a steering angle sensor configured to measure a steering angle of a steering wheel; a yaw rate sensor configured to measure a yaw rate of the vehicle during driving; a driving trace storage configured to store driving trace data generated during forward driving; and a controller configured to estimate the position of the ego vehicle, interpolate the driving trace data generated at each preset distance, store the driving trace data in the driving trace storage, read the driving trace data from the driving trace storage during backward driving, generate a target steering angle by compensating for a direction angle error from the ego vehicle position, and output the target steering angle to an MDPS controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Je Seok Kim, Jeong Ku Kim
  • Patent number: 10649641
    Abstract: An agricultural machine, such as a tractor, is disclosed. The agricultural machine includes a driver assistance system, which comprises an input/output unit for specifying an agricultural working task by an operator and for performing the settings relating to an agricultural working task by the operator. The input/output unit displays virtual operating elements, making the settings possible, and the information corresponding to the settings to be made. Further, the input/output unit includes a set-up assistant unit, which allows the operator to set up the driver assistance system using the virtual operating elements. Further, the set-up assistant unit may be configured depending on the working task determined by the operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: CLAAS Tractor SAS
    Inventors: Arnaud Cabrespine, Pierre Noyer, Christian Ehlert, Jan Carsten Wieckhorst, Christopher Armbrust, Kalle Weiland, Bernd Schoch, Josef Maier
  • Patent number: 10640147
    Abstract: A method for operating a lane-keeping assistance system of a vehicle includes: detecting at least two lane markings in a traffic space ahead of the vehicle using a sensor system; recognizing the separation of a primary lane into a first secondary lane and a second secondary lane based on the at least two detected lane markings; selecting one of the secondary lanes, including detecting and analyzing a signal representing an instantaneous driver intention; calculating a target trajectory of the selected secondary lane; activating a steering device of the vehicle for guiding the vehicle along the calculated target trajectory of the selected secondary lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Chengxuan Fu
  • Patent number: 10633002
    Abstract: A driving analysis server may be configured to receive vehicle operation data from mobile devices respectively disposed within the vehicles, and may use the data to group the vehicles into multiple groups. A driving pattern for each vehicle may be established and compared against a group driving pattern of its corresponding group to identify outliers. A driver score the outliers may be adjusted positively or negatively based on whether the outlier behaved in a manner more or less safe than its group. Further, unsafe driving events performed by the outlier that were the result of another vehicle's unsafe driving event may be ignored or positively accounted for in determining or adjusting the outlier's driver score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company
    Inventor: Dana Ferguson
  • Patent number: 10633232
    Abstract: Systems and methods for a floor conveyor include a sensor device and a control unit, wherein the control unit is operable to control the travel functions of the floor conveyor, wherein the sensor device is arranged to be able to provide the control unit with sensor data, wherein the sensor device is arranged such that it can detect objects in a plane. The plane is arranged to a have a follow section and a steer away section. And the floor conveyor is arranged such that it can determine an object to follow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Material Handling Manufacturing Sweden AB
    Inventors: Göran Valfridsson, Terence Rogers
  • Patent number: 10632981
    Abstract: An automatic braking system including: a control unit for controlling at least some of the brakes of a vehicle; and a contact sensor for detecting an impact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Inventor: Thomas Jeffrey Lowe
  • Patent number: 10636297
    Abstract: Systems and methods for traffic congestion avoidance may use cooperative autonomous driving based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication to resolve deadlock conditions. The method may include automatically detecting, by a given autonomous vehicle, that the given vehicle is deadlocked, initiating, by the given vehicle, formation of a coordination group including the given vehicle, a front vehicle traveling in the same driving lane as the given vehicle, and an assistant autonomous vehicle traveling in a lane adjacent to the lane in which the given vehicle and the front vehicle are traveling, and sending, by the given vehicle using vehicle-to-vehicle communication, a cooperative driving task request to initiate actions by the autonomous vehicles in the coordination group to resolve the deadlock condition. The actions may include modifying a driving plan of an autonomous vehicle in the coordination group and initiating a speed negotiation with an autonomous vehicle in the coordination group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Nannan Wang, Xi Wang, Qiong Zhang, Paparao Palacharla, Tadashi Ikeuchi
  • Patent number: 10634504
    Abstract: Systems and methods for electronically mapping a facility are presented. The method comprises obtaining a CAD file that includes graphical representations of a facility. An occupancy-map image is generated based on the CAD file. A sensor, such as a sensor on a self-driving vehicle, is used to detect a sensed feature within the facility. Based on the sensed feature, the occupancy-map image can be updated, since the sensed feature was not one of the known features in the CAD file prior to the sensed feature being detected by the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: CLEARPATH ROBOTICS INC.
    Inventors: Adel Fakih, Ryan Christopher Gariepy
  • Patent number: 10618508
    Abstract: A control apparatus for a vehicle includes: a decider; and a rotation speed controller. The decider is configured to decide on a basis of a traveling state of the vehicle that a wheel which is spun is coupled to a drive source to increase a number of driving wheels. The rotation speed controller is configured to decide increase a rotation speed of the drive source in advance in accordance with an information of a vehicle behavior unstableness degree which is acquired from an outside of the vehicle before the wheel is coupled to the drive source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ienaga, Shinichi Sakaguchi, Takahiro Kobayashi, Takeshi Yoneda, Junya Ogasahara
  • Patent number: 10614707
    Abstract: The present invention may be a method, a computer system, and a computer program product for grouping a plurality moving objects capable of communicating with a server computer. The server computer performs the method comprising: predicting travel routes of the plurality of moving objects, using current traveling data and travel history data; grouping the plurality of moving objects into at least one group, using the predicted travel routes; determining a representative moving object in each group; and communicating with the representative moving object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Asuka Tokunaga, Satoshi Hosokawa, Shoichiro Watanabe, Yasutaka Nishimura
  • Patent number: 10611366
    Abstract: A method for preventing a rollover of a vehicle or a tractor-trailer combination in curves, by counteracting a rollover risk of the vehicle by independent regulating interventions, performed without action by a vehicle driver, in a regulation system that actuates the drive and/or the brakes of the vehicle, the method including: capturing the current driving situation and the current load of the vehicle or the tractor-trailer combination as to the current driving position of the vehicle or the tractor-trailer combination, ascertaining a maximum admissible transverse acceleration at the current driving position, at which maximum admissible transverse acceleration the vehicle or the tractor-trailer combination just does not roll over, as to the current driving situation and the current load of the vehicle or the tractor-trailer combination. Also described is a related apparatus for preventing a rollover of a vehicle or a tractor-trailer combination in curves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUER NUTZFAHRZEUGE GMBH
    Inventors: Oliver Jundt, Daniel Thum, Jonas Leibbrand
  • Patent number: 10611267
    Abstract: A temperature increasing system for vehicle batteries includes a drive motor, first and second batteries, first and second temperature increasing units, and a controller. The drive motor can output a driving force for driving a drive wheel of a vehicle. The first battery can supply electric power to the drive motor. The second battery has a capacity smaller than a capacity of the first battery. The first and second temperature increasing units can increase, respectively, the temperatures of the first and second batteries by using electric power from the second battery. While the vehicle is parked, the controller heats the first battery by using the first temperature increasing unit if the temperature of the first battery is below a first value when the vehicle starts moving, and heats the second battery by using the second temperature increasing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenta Wakabayashi, Fumiyuki Moriya
  • Patent number: 10604175
    Abstract: Technical solutions are described for providing failsafe assist torque in steering systems. An example method includes determining, by a first controller, a first assist torque signal using a first set of torque sensor signals from a first sensor and a second set of torque sensor signals from a second sensor, the first sensor corresponding to the first controller, and the second sensor corresponding to a second controller. The method further includes determining, by the second controller, a second assist torque signal using the first and second sets of torque sensor signals. Further the method includes generating, by a motor, an assist torque using the first and second assist torque signals, and in response to the first controller receiving a diagnostic signal indicating a failure of the first torque sensor, determining by the first controller, the first assist torque signal using only the second set of torque sensor signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation
    Inventors: Keyur R. Patel, Anthony J. Champagne, Tejas M. Varunjikar
  • Patent number: 10597845
    Abstract: An implement vibration system and method is disclosed that includes a vibration activation device; an electrohydraulic mechanism and a controller. The controller monitors the vibration activation device and sends movement signals to the electrohydraulic mechanism to control implement movement. When the vibration activation device is activated, the controller sends vibration signals to the electrohydraulic mechanism to cause the implement to vibrate. An operator control can send implement commands where the movement signals are based on the implement commands, and when vibration is activated the controller can superimpose the vibration signals on the movement signals. The vibration signals can cause a hydraulic cylinder to repeatedly extend and retract. An electrohydraulic control valve can receive the movement signals and control hydraulic flow to the hydraulic cylinder based on the movement signals. The vibration signals can be complementary signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Aaron R. Kenkel, David J. Myers, Timothy K. Dreger