Patents Examined by Yufeng Zhang
  • Patent number: 11215985
    Abstract: An apparatus for remote support of autonomous operation of a vehicle is described. The apparatus includes a processor that performs a method including receiving a query to define a path for the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling along a route from an origin to a destination in a vehicle transportation network, the query comprising multiple points including at least a start point and an end point of the path, obtaining a satellite image of a portion of a geographical area that encompasses the multiple points, determining, using the satellite image, static obstacles within the portion of the geographical area, the static obstacles defining navigable areas within the vehicle transportation network, generating the path through each of the multiple points such that the path is located within at least one navigable area of the navigable areas, and transmitting the path for use by the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignees: Nissan North America, Inc., Renault S.A.S.
    Inventors: Aude Laurent, Kevin Poulet, Omar Bentahar, Siddharth Thakur
  • Patent number: 11203351
    Abstract: A control device of an automatic drive vehicle includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires power generator information as information on a power generator provided in the automatic drive vehicle; an operation control unit that switches between a first state in which automatic driving of the automatic drive vehicle is executed without restriction and a second state in which the automatic driving is partially or entirely restricted; and a determination unit that determines whether to perform switching to the second state by the operation control unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuharu Higashitani, Noriaki Ikemoto, Tomomi Hase
  • Patent number: 11199857
    Abstract: A vehicle management apparatus includes: a communication unit communicating with a vehicle with lodging capability; a vehicle management control unit creating a travel plan based on information transmitted from a user terminal operated by a user, and managing travel of the vehicle; and an emergency vehicle management unit managing so that an emergency vehicle is deployed at a position so as to arrive at a route, on which the vehicle moves according to the travel plan, within a predetermined arrival time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Katsuya Terahata, Yushi Seki, Yoshihiro Sakayanagi, Koichi Ueda, Shuntaro Shinohara, Ryoko Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 11198424
    Abstract: A method for operating a hybrid electric vehicle including an electric machine, a battery and an internal combustion engine, the load point of which is shifted upward to drive the electric machine for charging the battery in the generator mode, wherein a target state of charge of the battery is specified; a required target charging capacity is determined; the load point of the internal combustion engine initially is only shifted upward within an engine-map range of the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Michael Vogt, Alexander Kruse, Stefan Appel, Christopher Hohm
  • Patent number: 11194346
    Abstract: An angular speed acquisition device acquires the angular speed about a road surface perpendicular axis of a leaning vehicle. The leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body frame capable of leaning in a vehicle left-right direction and a steering shaft which steers at least one of a front wheel unit and a rear wheel unit. An angular speed acquisition device, which is mountable on the leaning vehicle, includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores the relationship between the steering angle, which is a rotation angle about the rotational axis of the steering shaft, the vehicle speed of the leaning vehicle, and the angular speed ? about the road surface perpendicular axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenji Katsuki
  • Patent number: 11192532
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a vehicle control system capable of improving driving stability and providing safe fun driving to a driver by varying and controlling a regenerative braking torque generated by a motor during coasting. The vehicle control system according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes: a motor configured to provide a driving force to a wheel; a wheel sensor configured to detect a rotational speed of the wheel; and a controller configured to control the motor to generate a first regenerative braking torque during coasting, and to control the motor to generate a second regenerative braking torque lower than the first regenerative braking torque when a wheel slip of the wheel is detected based on an output of the wheel sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: MANDO CORPORATION
    Inventor: In Hye Park
  • Patent number: 11188074
    Abstract: A system includes one or more processors that are configured to receive data from one or more sensors, to determine whether one or more characteristics of a driver or an occupant indicate driving control of a vehicle should transfer from the driver based on the data, and to enable a remote operator to control operation of the vehicle in response to determining that the driving control should transfer from the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Andy Benavidez, Jessica Gisela Ellinor Nunn, Michael Livingston
  • Patent number: 11173895
    Abstract: A parking support apparatus configured to perform a parking control for automatically parking a vehicle in a target parking position. The parking support control is provided with: a detector configured to obtain a signal of a vehicle external sensor that can detect at least one of a movement and a voice/sound of a user who is outside the vehicle and to determine whether or not the at least one of the movement and the voice/sound of the user matches a parking instruction action set in advance, thereby detecting a particular parking instruction action of the user; and a starter configured to start the parking control if the parking instruction action is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tatsuya Sugano
  • Patent number: 11170652
    Abstract: System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving vehicle routing for a mobility service. In one embodiment, a method includes, in response to receiving a routing request for the mobility service, determining candidate vehicles and candidate routes for the candidate vehicles to fulfill the routing request. The method includes evaluating the candidate routes using a meta-heuristic that modifies and assesses the candidate routes according to at least a fitness function defines attributes for constraining the candidate routes. The method includes providing a solution route from the candidate routes upon the solution route satisfying at least one solution condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Toyota Connected North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Mathew D. Gardner, Taylor G. Smith
  • Patent number: 11167763
    Abstract: A coasting driving control method and system for a vehicle may determine virtual engine RPM for a current driving state using engine RPM, vehicle speed, and gear stage information by a controller when coasting is started with the clutch in the neutral position and outputs a downshifting instruction signal for a gear stage by the controller when the virtual engine RPM is less than a coasting engine RPM which is greater than an idling RPM by a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Chan Hee Won, Jung Sup Byun, Sang Wook Nam, Kwan Ho Lee, Seong Kyu Park
  • Patent number: 11155185
    Abstract: A method of controlling movement of a first component of a vehicle, the first component being a squab or a bulkhead of a rear seat of a vehicle seating arrangement. The method involves receiving a signal indicative of a state of a second component of the vehicle and receiving a request to move the bulkhead so that the seat is in a folded condition. The squab of the rear seat is moved into engagement with the bulkhead of the rear seat prior to moving the bulkhead; and movement of the bulkhead is commenced in accordance with the request and in dependence on the signal indicative of the state of the second component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: JAGUAR LAND ROVER LIMITED
    Inventors: Nigel Rose, Sheraz Ahmed, Vinay Vaidya
  • Patent number: 11148626
    Abstract: A method of controlling an airbag inflator, may include determining, when an occupant is accommodated on a seat, whether the weight of the occupant is in which of first to fourth weight ranges sequentially allocated by a controller, performing a first logic for operating an inflator at the lowest one of three intensities by the controller when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the lightest first weight range, and performing a second logic for operating the inflator at the intermediate intensity or a third logic for operating the inflator at the highest intensity by the controller, according to conditions such as a position of a seat, a state of operation of a recliner, a collision condition, a collision pulse, and wearing of a belt, when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the third or fourth weight range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventor: Jun Yeol Choi
  • Patent number: 11150647
    Abstract: Embodiments herein disclose methods and systems to avoid congestion in an area by a plurality of robots awaiting access to a common resource. A current robot action and a sensor data of one of the plurality of robots is received at a cloud node. Based on the received current robot action and the sensor data, a determination is made whether the one of the plurality of robots has to access the common resource. Next, a spatial query is executed at the cloud node to determine a location in the area for positioning the one of the plurality of robots awaiting access to the common resource based on a static spatial condition that requires a congestion-free movement when the robot is positioned at the location in the area. Next, based on a collaboratively determined priority order, the common resource is accessed by the one of the plurality of robots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Rapyuta Robotics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hendrik Skubch
  • Patent number: 11117616
    Abstract: A lane maintaining assistance device 1 is provided with the following: a first assistance unit that performs steering assistance of a vehicle by hydraulic pressure; a second assistance unit that performs steering assistance of the vehicle using a motor; and a steering assistance control unit 83 that reduces the steering assistance amount of the first assistance unit and starts steering assistance by the second assistance unit if the vehicle is determined to have entered a curve on the basis of a captured image in which a portion of the lane which is forward in the vehicle advancing-direction is captured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: ISUZU MOTORS LIMITED
    Inventor: Teruhiko Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11112797
    Abstract: A method for evaluating safety performance of an autonomous vehicle including comparing first sensor data characterizing a driver-operation of a vehicle to a first threshold to obtain a first driving quality value, comparing second sensor data characterizing an autonomous-vehicle-operation to a second threshold to obtain a second driving quality value, and determining, based at least in part on a comparing of the first and second driving quality values to each other, a safety performance of the autonomous-operated vehicle relative to the driver-operated vehicle, and a corresponding system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Inventor: Amitai Yisrael Bin-Nun
  • Patent number: 11084492
    Abstract: An automated driving assist apparatus includes a traffic information acquirer, a traffic congestion determiner, a distance comparator, a lane-change start determiner, and a lane-change controller. When the traffic congestion determiner determines that a passing lane adjacent to a lane regulation zone is congested, the distance comparator calculates a distance to the lane regulation zone and an estimated distance to a traffic queue based on road traffic information acquired by the traffic information acquirer, and compares the distance to the lane regulation zone with the estimated distance to the traffic queue. When the distance to the lane regulation zone is longer than the estimated distance to the traffic queue, the lane-change start determiner determines whether the estimated distance to the traffic queue reaches a lane-change start distance. When the estimated distance to the traffic queue reaches the lane-change start distance, the lane-change controller causes the own vehicle to change lanes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masato Mizoguchi
  • Patent number: 11064858
    Abstract: A robot cleaner and a traveling algorithm of the robot cleaner having wheels capable of moving in all directions to have enhanced traveling ability in various directions includes a body unit, a sensor provided to be rotatable with respect to the body unit to sense obstacles, a multi-directional moving wheel provided at a lower portion of the body unit to move the body unit in various directions, and a controller configured to determine a traveling route of the robot cleaner to avoid the detected obstacles and control the multi-directional moving wheel when the traveling route is determined so that the robot cleaner moves to the determined traveling route in a state where the body unit is not rotated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sang Sik Yoon, Jae Yun So, Sung Wook Kang, Bong-Gyo Seo
  • Patent number: 11062603
    Abstract: Provided is an object detection device for a vehicle or an object detection system for a vehicle. The object detection device for a vehicle includes a vehicle position recognition unit that is provided in the first vehicle and recognizes the position of a second vehicle, an information acquisition unit that is provided in the first vehicle and acquires object position information regarding an external object that is generated based on a result of detection of the external object by an object position detection unit of the second vehicle, and a position identification unit that identifies a position of the external object based on the position of the second vehicle recognized by the vehicle position recognition unit and the object position information acquired by the information acquisition unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yuuya Fukami
  • Patent number: 11059374
    Abstract: The present invention is to make it possible to effectively recover regenerative energy and improve a fuel efficiency. Thus, there is provided an HCM 50 of a hybrid vehicle, in which the hybrid vehicle includes: an engine; a drive wheel to which a driving force of the engine is transmittable; a motor to which the driving force from the engine is transmittable and which is capable of transmitting a driving force to the drive wheel; and a battery which supplies power for driving the motor and stores power generated by the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Sakamoto, Hideki Sekiguchi, Yasuaki Sato
  • Patent number: 11052906
    Abstract: A dynamic roll over control system generates ground speed signals indicative of a current speed and compares the current speed to a desired speed. The desired speed is determined based upon the machine characteristics, the payload of the bed, the yaw rate of the bed, the pitch rate of the bed, and the roll angle of the bed. When the current speed of the machine exceeds the desired speed, the controller generates prime mover control signals to control operation of the prime mover to slow the machine so the current speed does not exceed the desired speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen P. Schueth, Joel L. Skalet, Rodney L. Menold, Anthony J. Weltzer