Patents by Inventor Michael G. Kean

Michael G. Kean 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: 10952021
    Abstract: A method and system of position determination of an implement on a work vehicle. The method includes determining a position of a first radio frequency (RF) device relative to a local reference frame using ultra-wideband ranging between the first RF device and at least one additional RF device. The first RF device is coupled to a fixed location on the implement, and the additional RF device is mounted at a fixed location relative to the local reference frame. The implement is controllably movable relative to the local reference frame. A position and orientated of the implement is determined relative to the local reference frame based at least in part on the determined position of the first RF device relative to the local reference frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Mark J. Cherney
  • Publication number: 20210071393
    Abstract: An excavator includes a rotatable house and a bucket operably coupled to the house. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is operably coupled to the excavator and is configured to provide at least one IMU signal indicative of rotation of the house. A backup camera is disposed to provide a video signal relative to an area behind the excavator. A controller is coupled to the IMU and operably coupled to the backup camera. The controller is configured to receive the at least one IMU signal from the IMU and to generate a position output based on the at least one IMU signal and the video signal from the backup camera.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Applicant: Deere & Company
    Inventor: Michael G. Kean
  • Publication number: 20210071390
    Abstract: An excavator includes a rotatable house and a bucket operably coupled to the rotatable house. The excavator also includes one or more swing sensors configured to provide at least one rotation sensor signal indicative of rotation of the rotatable house and one or more controllers coupled to the sensor. The one or more controllers being configured to implement inertia determination logic that determines the inertia of a portion of the excavator and control signal generator logic that generates a control signal to control the excavator, based on the inertia of the portion of the excavator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventor: Michael G. KEAN
  • Publication number: 20210071394
    Abstract: A method of controlling a mobile work machine on a worksite including receiving an indication of an object detected on the worksite, determining a location of the object relative to the mobile work machine, receiving an image of the worksite, correlating the determined location of the object to a portion of the image, and generating a control signal that controls a display device to display a representation of the image with a visual object indicator that represents the detected object on the portion of the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Drew F. Harwell, Cale Darling
  • Publication number: 20210072764
    Abstract: A method of controlling a mobile work machine on a worksite includes receiving an indication of an object detected on the worksite, determining a location of the object relative to the mobile work machine, receiving an image of the worksite, correlating the determined location of the object to a portion of the image, evaluating the object by performing image processing of the portion of the image, and generating a control signal that controls the mobile work machine based on the evaluation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventor: Michael G. KEAN
  • Patent number: 10882468
    Abstract: A composite panoramic vision system utilized onboard a work vehicle includes a display device, a vehicle-mounted camera array, and a controller. The vehicle-mounted camera array includes, in turn, first and second vehicle cameras having partially overlapping fields of view and positioned to capture first and second camera feeds, respectively, of the work vehicle's exterior environment from different first vantage points. During operation of the composite panoramic vision system, the controller receives the first and second camera feeds from the first and second cameras, respectively; generates a composite panoramic image of the work vehicle's exterior environment from at least the first and second camera feeds; and then presents the composite panoramic image on the display device for viewing by an operator of the work vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventors: Nathaniel M. Czarnecki, John M. Hageman, Michael G. Kean
  • Patent number: 10870968
    Abstract: A control system and a method of synchronously operating a plurality of actuators of a work vehicle in a coordinated operation to move an implement. The method includes determining an acceleration parameter for the actuators based at least partly on a control effort associated with the control commands sent to the actuators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventor: Michael G. Kean
  • Publication number: 20200363820
    Abstract: A sensor data processing and control system acquires data from multiple, disparate sources on a worksite. A plurality of different data pipes are generated for different action systems. The action systems receive data through a corresponding data pipe and generate action signals, based upon aggregated and fused data received through the data pipe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Inventors: Kenneth BARNES, Michael G. KEAN, Reginald M. BINDL
  • Patent number: 10831213
    Abstract: A targeted loading assistance system includes a work machine having a load carrying mechanism. The system includes a sensor that detects a location of the target loading zone relative to the work machine and generates a location signal indicative of the location of the work machine. The system also includes a path calculation component that receives the location signal and calculates a control path for the work machine to reach the target loading zone. The system also includes a control component that generates a control signal to guide the work machine along the control path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Mark J. Cherney
  • Publication number: 20200347578
    Abstract: A mobile work machine includes a frame; ground engaging elements movably supported by the frame and driven by a power source to drive movement of the machine; a moveable element movably supported by the frame to move relative to the frame; an actuator coupled to the moveable element to controllably drive movement of the moveable element; a control system that generates an actuator control signal, indicative of a commanded movement of the actuator, and provides the actuator control signal to the actuator to control the actuator to perform the commanded movement; a terrain identifier configured to identify a characteristic of terrain in a geographic area around the machine; and a stability system that determines whether the commanded movement will result in an unstable state of the machine based on the characteristic of the terrain and, if so, generates a restriction signal, restricting the commanded movement to avoid the unstable state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Michael G. KEAN, Mark J. CHERNEY
  • Publication number: 20200346578
    Abstract: A work vehicle includes a vehicle frame and an operator control station coupled to the vehicle frame. An implement arm assembly is affixed to the vehicle frame outside the operator control station. The implement arm assembly is movable relative to the vehicle frame and the operator control station. The implement arm assembly has an exterior surface. The work vehicle includes at least one sensor to detect positional information of the implement arm assembly. A visual indicator is positioned on the exterior surface. A power source of the work vehicle is in selective communication with the visual indicator to power the visual indicator. The work vehicle further includes a controller to receive a signal from the at least one sensor indicative of the positional information and electrically couple the power source to the visual indicator in response to a portion of the implement am assembly reaching a threshold position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Zimin W. Vilar, Bret Teusink
  • Publication number: 20200347580
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for determining an actual pose of an articulating boom arm using an artificial intelligence mechanism (e.g., a neural network) trained to determine the actual pose of the articulating boom arm based on captured image data. In some implementations, an electronic processor is configured to control movement of the articulating boom arm based at least in part on pose information determined by applying the image-based neural network. In some implementations, an electronic processor is configured to train the neural network by using, as training data, captured image data and output signals from sensors indicative of measured positions of the components of the articulating boom arm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Calin Raszga, Adam G. Harwood, Michael G. Kean, John M. Hageman, Justin Sticksel
  • Patent number: 10767348
    Abstract: A mobile work machine includes a frame, a set of ground engaging elements movably supported by the frame and driven to drive movement of the mobile work machine, a movable element movably supported by the frame to move relative to the frame, and an actuator coupled to the movable element to controllably drive movement of the movable element. The mobile work machine also includes a control system that generates an actuator control signal, indicative of a commanded movement of the actuator, and provides the actuator control signal to the actuator to control the actuator to perform the commanded movement. Further, the mobile work machine includes a stability system, coupled to the control system, that determines whether the commanded movement will result in an unstable state of the mobile work machine and, if so, generates a restriction signal, restricting the commanded movement to avoid the unstable state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Mark J. Cherney
  • Publication number: 20200270844
    Abstract: Graders and methods of operation thereof are disclosed herein. A grader includes a chassis, a saddle linkage, and a motion measurement system. The saddle linkage is supported for movement relative to the chassis and includes a mount movably coupled to the chassis, first and second arms each movably coupled to the mount, and a crossbar movably coupled to each of the first and second arms. The mount has a lock pin aperture, each of the first and second arms has a locking hole, and the crossbar has a plurality of locking holes. The lock pin aperture may be aligned with one locking hole of the first arm, the second arm, or the crossbar to position the saddle linkage in use of the grader. The motion measurement system is coupled to the saddle linkage and configured to measure movement or position of one or more components of the grader in use thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Michael D. Peat, David A. Veasy
  • Publication number: 20200270847
    Abstract: Graders and methods of operation thereof are disclosed herein. A grader includes a chassis, a saddle linkage, and a motion measurement system. The saddle linkage is supported for movement relative to the chassis and includes a mount movably coupled to the chassis, first and second arms each movably coupled to the mount, and a crossbar movably coupled to each of the first and second arms. The mount has a lock pin aperture, each of the first and second arms has a locking hole, and the crossbar has a plurality of locking holes. The lock pin aperture may be aligned with one locking hole of the first arm, the second arm, or the crossbar to position the saddle linkage in use of the grader. The motion measurement system is coupled to the saddle linkage and configured to measure movement or position of one or more components of the grader in use thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Michael D. Peat, David A. Veasy
  • Patent number: 10733991
    Abstract: A mobile construction machine detects a speech processing trigger. It then performs speech processing (such as speech recognition and natural language understanding, speech synthesis, etc.) based on the detected speech processing trigger, to generate a speech processing result. A control signal generator generates control signals based on the speech processing result. The control signals can be used to control the mobile construction machine, to control another mobile construction machine, to provide information to a remote server location, or to aggregate information from multiple remote server locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Mark J. Cherney, Keith N. Chaston, Michael G. Kean, Douglas K. Wink, Sean P. West, John M. Hageman, Scott S. Hendron
  • Patent number: 10723226
    Abstract: A pattern recognition system receives an image captured by an image capture device, of an operator and the operator is identified. Operator information is accessed, based upon the identified operator, and a control signal is generated to control a mobile machine, based upon the operator information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Joshua C. Heitsman, Reginald M. Bindl, Keith N. Chaston, Michael G. Kean, John M. Hageman, Mark J. Cherney, Sean P. West
  • Publication number: 20200223312
    Abstract: A pattern recognition system receives an image captured by an image capture device, of an operator and the operator is identified. Operator information is accessed, based upon the identified operator, and a control signal is generated to control a mobile machine, based upon the operator information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Publication date: July 16, 2020
    Inventors: Joshua C. HEITSMAN, Reginald M. Bindl, Keith N. Chaston, Michael G. Kean, John M. Hageman, Mark J. Cherney, Sean P. West
  • Publication number: 20200226350
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for identifying a behavior of a machine. A computer system receives a signal indicative of operation of a field machine and applies a deep learning algorithm to identify a pattern in a collection of signals stored on a computer-readable memory. The collection of signals includes the received signal indicative of operation of the field machine and other signals. A series of targeted tests are performed using a test machine while monitoring a signal indicative of operation of the test machine. A behavior is identified during the series of targeted tests that produces a signal that matches the pattern identified by the deep learning algorithm. An occurrence of the behavior is then automatically identified in the field machine in response to detecting the pattern in the received signal indicative of operation of the field machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2019
    Publication date: July 16, 2020
    Inventors: Michael G. Kean, Robert A. Hamilton, Keith N. Chaston, Sean Mairet, Francois Stander
  • Publication number: 20200223311
    Abstract: A pattern recognition system receives an image captured by an image capture device, of an operator and the operator is identified. Operator information is accessed, based upon the identified operator, and a control signal is generated to control a mobile machine, based upon the operator information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2019
    Publication date: July 16, 2020
    Inventors: Joshua C. Heitsman, Reginald M. Bindl, Keith N. Chaston, Michael G. Kean, John M. Hageman, Mark J. Cherney, Sean P. West