Patents by Inventor Alan Hanniffy

Alan Hanniffy has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230154197
    Abstract: A method for providing a yaw angle (105a) between a first vehicle (110) coupled to a second vehicle (100), comprises: receiving an image of the first vehicle from a camera (101) mounted on the second vehicle; performing (210) a polar transformation on the image to form a polar image (400) in a polar space having an origin corresponding to a location of a pivot point (303) of the coupling (302) to the second vehicle in the received image coordinate space; estimating (230) an optical coupling angle by analysing the content of the polar image; receiving a signal from an odometer (102) mounted on the first or second vehicle; estimating a kinematic coupling angle from the signal and a kinematic model of the first vehicle and the coupled second vehicle; and combining the estimated optical coupling angle and the estimated kinematic coupling angle to provide the coupling angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2021
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Applicant: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Henrik Marschner, Vera Stehr, Ana Robleda, Yerai Berenguer, Enrique Romay-Castineira, Daniel Garcia, Alan Murphy, Alan Hanniffy, Swaroop Shivamurthy
  • Patent number: 11554718
    Abstract: For driver assistance for a combination (8) with a motor vehicle (9) and a trailer (10), a first camera image (19) and a second camera image (20) are generated. A combined image (21) is generated by means of a computing unit (13) by superimposing the camera images (19, 20) such that the second camera image (20) covers a subsection of the first camera image (19), wherein a hitch angle (14) of the combination (8) is determined by means of the computing unit (13). State data of the combination (8) are determined by means of a sensor system (17) and it is determined whether the combination (8) moves forward or backward. The hitch angle (14) is determined based on the state data, if the combination (8) moves forward and based on a change of time-dependent image data, if the combination moves backward. A position of the subsection is determined depending on the hitch angle (14).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Naveen Kuruba, Alan Murphy, Alan Hanniffy
  • Publication number: 20220266749
    Abstract: For driver assistance for a combination (8) with a motor vehicle (9) and a trailer (10), a first camera image (19) and a second camera image (20) are generated. A combined image (21) is generated by means of a computing unit (13) by superimposing the camera images (19, 20) such that the second camera image (20) covers a subsection of the first camera image (19), wherein a hitch angle (14) of the combination (8) is determined by means of the computing unit (13). State data of the combination (8) are determined by means of a sensor system (17) and it is determined whether the combination (8) moves forward or backward. The hitch angle (14) is determined based on the state data, if the combination (8) moves forward and based on a change of time-dependent image data, if the combination moves backward. A position of the subsection is determined depending on the hitch angle (14).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Applicant: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Naveen Kuruba, Alan Murphy, Alan Hanniffy
  • Patent number: 10682954
    Abstract: The operation of combinations of a vehicle and a trailer is to be rendered safer. For this purpose a method for reproducing images from backward cameras of a combination of a vehicle and a trailer is suggested. A first image (RV) from a first backward camera, which is arranged on the vehicle, and a second image (TR) from a second backward camera are simultaneously reproduced on a display unit in the vehicle. For the reproduction a predeterminable window (F) of the display unit is used in order to represent exclusively the second image (TR) from the second camera of the trailer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Brian Finan, Alan Hanniffy
  • Patent number: 10589680
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for providing at least one information from an environmental region (8) of a motor vehicle (2) to a driver of the motor vehicle (2), wherein at least one first image (B3) captured by a vehicle-side camera system (6) and at least one second image (B4) captured by a vehicle-external camera system (7) situated within the field of view (19a, 19b) of the vehicle-side camera system (6) are received in the method, wherein an image-in-image representation (B5) is generated from the at least one first image (B3) and the at least one second image (B4) for displaying on a vehicle-side display device (13) as the at least one information, wherein a first image region (21) for displaying the at least one first image (B3) and a second image region (22) separate from the first image region (21) for displaying the at least one second image (B4) are determined for the image-in-image representation (B5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Enda Peter Ward, Alan Hanniffy, Mike Togher
  • Publication number: 20190255998
    Abstract: The operation of combinations of a vehicle and a trailer is to be rendered safer. For this purpose a method for reproducing images from backward cameras of a combination of a vehicle and a trailer is suggested. A first image (RV) from a first backward camera, which is arranged on the vehicle, and a second image (TR) from a second backward camera are simultaneously reproduced on a display unit in the vehicle. For the reproduction a predeterminable window (F) of the display unit is used in order to represent exclusively the second image (TR) from the second camera of the trailer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Applicant: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Brian Finan, Alan Hanniffy
  • Publication number: 20180186290
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for providing at least one information from an environmental region (8) of a motor vehicle (2) to a driver of the motor vehicle (2), wherein at least one first image (B3) captured by a vehicle-side camera system (6) and at least one second image (B4) captured by a vehicle-external camera system (7) situated within the field of view (19a, 19b) of the vehicle-side camera system (6) are received in the method, wherein an image-in-image representation (B5) is generated from the at least one first image (B3) and the at least one second image (B4) for displaying on a vehicle-side display device (13) as the at least one information, wherein a first image region (21) for displaying the at least one first image (B3) and a second image region (22) separate from the first image region (21) for displaying the at least one second image (B4) are determined for the image-in-image representation (B5).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Publication date: July 5, 2018
    Applicant: Connaught Electronics Ltd.
    Inventors: Enda Peter Ward, Alan Hanniffy, Mike Togher