Patents by Inventor Ken HITSU

Ken HITSU 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).

  • Pathfinding apparatus, pathfinding method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
    Patent number: 12681498
    Abstract: A pathfinding apparatus acquires vehicle information, map information, obstacle information. The vehicle information includes a current location and a goal location for multiple vehicles. The map information includes a map of a target space. The obstacle information includes history of locations of one or more moving obstacles. The pathfinding apparatus generates one or more obstacle path for each moving obstacle during a target time window, and generates multiple candidate path sets each of which includes a vehicle path during the target time window for each vehicle. The vehicle path is conflict-free with the other vehicle paths and the obstacle paths. The pathfinding apparatus evaluates the candidate path sets through a heuristic search of continuations of the vehicles paths in the candidate path sets, selects one of the candidate path sets based their evaluations, and outputs the selected candidate path set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2026
    Assignees: NEC CORPORATION, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
    Inventors: Ryota Higa, Shinji Nakadai, Ken Hitsu
  • PATHFINDING APPARATUS, PATHFINDING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM
    Publication number: 20250053179
    Abstract: A pathfinding apparatus acquires vehicle information, map information, obstacle information. The vehicle information includes a current location and a goal location for multiple vehicles. The map information includes a map of a target space. The obstacle information includes history of locations of one or more moving obstacles. The pathfinding apparatus generates one or more obstacle path for each moving obstacle during a target time window, and generates multiple candidate path sets each of which includes a vehicle path during the target time window for each vehicle. The vehicle path is conflict-free with the other vehicle paths and the obstacle paths. The pathfinding apparatus evaluates the candidate path sets through a heuristic search of continuations of the vehicles paths in the candidate path sets, selects one of the candidate path sets based their evaluations, and outputs the selected candidate path set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2022
    Publication date: February 13, 2025
    Applicants: NEC Corporation, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Ryota HIGA, Shinji NAKADAI, Ken HITSU