Patents by Inventor John E. Ball

John E. Ball 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).

  • Patent number: 11747820
    Abstract: An improved retrofit assembly for ground support equipment providing autonomous operation of the logistics ground support equipment (GSE). The assembly has a refit control system attached to the GSE (with a vehicle dynamics control processor and a data preprocessing control processor), retrofitted proprioceptive sensors coupled to the vehicle dynamics control processor monitoring operating parameters and characteristics of the GSE, retrofitted exteroceptive sensors coupled to the data preprocessing control processor that monitor an exterior environment of the GSE, and refit actuators for different control elements on the GSE and to autonomously alter motion of the GSE. The refit control system programmatically receives sensor data from the proprioceptive sensors and exteroceptive sensors; optimizes a path for the GSE based upon the different sensor data; and activates at least one of the actuators according to the optimized path for the GSE.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Reuben F. Burch, V, Sherif Abelwahed, John E. Ball, Matt Doude, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard McKinney
  • Publication number: 20210397196
    Abstract: An improved retrofit assembly for ground support equipment providing autonomous operation of the logistics ground support equipment (GSE). The assembly has a refit control system attached to the GSE (with a vehicle dynamics control processor and a data preprocessing control processor), retrofitted proprioceptive sensors coupled to the vehicle dynamics control processor monitoring operating parameters and characteristics of the GSE, retrofitted exteroceptive sensors coupled to the data preprocessing control processor that monitor an exterior environment of the GSE, and refit actuators for different control elements on the GSE and to autonomously alter motion of the GSE. The refit control system programmatically receives sensor data from the proprioceptive sensors and exteroceptive sensors; optimizes a path for the GSE based upon the different sensor data; and activates at least one of the actuators according to the optimized path for the GSE.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Inventors: Reuben F. Burch, V, Sherif Abelwahed, John E. Ball, Matt Doude, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard McKinney
  • Patent number: 11157011
    Abstract: An improved retrofit assembly for ground support equipment providing autonomous operation of the logistics ground support equipment (GSE). The assembly has a refit control system attached to the GSE (with a vehicle dynamics control processor and a data preprocessing control processor), retrofitted proprioceptive sensors coupled to the vehicle dynamics control processor monitoring operating parameters and characteristics of the GSE, retrofitted exteroceptive sensors coupled to the data preprocessing control processor that monitor an exterior environment of the GSE, and refit actuators for different control elements on the GSE and to autonomously alter motion of the GSE. The refit control system programmatically receives sensor data from the proprioceptive sensors and exteroceptive sensors; optimizes a path for the GSE based upon the different sensor data; and activates at least one of the actuators according to the optimized path for the GSE.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Inventors: Reuben F. Burch, V, Sherif Abelwahed, John E. Ball, Matt Doude, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard McKinney
  • Patent number: 10761538
    Abstract: Enhanced systems and methods for collision avoidance of a high value asset with reflective beacons around it using multi-sensor data fusion on a mobile industrial vehicle. The system has a sensing processing system with a LiDAR and camera sensors, and a multi-processor module responsive to the different sensors. The sensing processing system fuses the different sensor data to locate the reflective beacons. A model predictive controller on the vehicle determines possible control solutions where each defines a threshold allowable speed for the vehicle at discrete moments based upon an estimated path to a breaching point projected from the reflective beacons, and then identifies an optimal one of the control solutions based upon a performance cost function and associated with an optimal threshold allowable speed. The system has a vehicle actuator configured to respond and alter vehicle movement to avoid a collision when the vehicle exceeds the optimal threshold allowable speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: John E. Ball, Reuben F. Burch, V, Lucas D. Cagle, Collin S. Davenport, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Andrew R. Hegman, Andrew M. LeClair, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard G. McKinney, Tasmia Reza, Jian Shi, Pan Wei, Dennison W. Iacomini
  • Publication number: 20200033872
    Abstract: An improved retrofit assembly for ground support equipment providing autonomous operation of the logistics ground support equipment (GSE). The assembly has a refit control system attached to the GSE (with a vehicle dynamics control processor and a data preprocessing control processor), retrofitted proprioceptive sensors coupled to the vehicle dynamics control processor monitoring operating parameters and characteristics of the GSE, retrofitted exteroceptive sensors coupled to the data preprocessing control processor that monitor an exterior environment of the GSE, and refit actuators for different control elements on the GSE and to autonomously alter motion of the GSE. The refit control system programmatically receives sensor data from the proprioceptive sensors and exteroceptive sensors; optimizes a path for the GSE based upon the different sensor data; and activates at least one of the actuators according to the optimized path for the GSE.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Reuben F. Burch, V, Sherif Abelwahed, John E. Ball, Matt Doude, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard McKinney
  • Publication number: 20190265714
    Abstract: Enhanced systems and methods for collision avoidance of a high value asset with reflective beacons around it using multi-sensor data fusion on a mobile industrial vehicle. The system has a sensing processing system with a LiDAR and camera sensors, and a multi-processor module responsive to the different sensors. The sensing processing system fuses the different sensor data to locate the reflective beacons. A model predictive controller on the vehicle determines possible control solutions where each defines a threshold allowable speed for the vehicle at discrete moments based upon an estimated path to a breaching point projected from the reflective beacons, and then identifies an optimal one of the control solutions based upon a performance cost function and associated with an optimal threshold allowable speed. The system has a vehicle actuator configured to respond and alter vehicle movement to avoid a collision when the vehicle exceeds the optimal threshold allowable speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: John E. Ball, Reuben F. Burch, V, Lucas D. Cagle, Collin S. Davenport, James R. Gafford, Tyler J. Hannis, Andrew R. Hegman, Andrew M. LeClair, Yucheng Liu, Michael S. Mazzola, Howard G. McKinney, Tasmia Reza, Jian Shi, Pan Wei, Dennison W. Iacomini
  • Patent number: 6138128
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to sharing and organizing world wide web pages using a number of distinctive characters, each having an interest. In a preferred embodiment, each distinctive character is initialized by associating with it one or more web pages that collectively characterize the interest of the character. After initialization, each web page viewed by the user is assessed for each of the distinctive characters. The assessment process involves, for a single distinctive character, determining whether the web page viewed by the user exhibits at least a threshold level of similarity to web pages already associated with the distinctive character. The assessment process further involves associating the viewed web page with the distinctive character if the viewed web page exhibits at least a threshold level of similarity to the web pages already associated with the distinctive character.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2000
    Assignee: Microsoft Corp.
    Inventors: Michael Perkowitz, John E. Ball