Patents by Inventor Philip M. Headley

Philip M. Headley 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: 8831831
    Abstract: A method of controlling a vehicle and trailer assembly comprises initiating an input mode for a trailer backing system. A first set of data points, a second set of data points, and a third set of data points are input into the trailer backing system. The input mode for the trailer backing system is ended. An intended backing path is determined based upon the first, second, and third set of data points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Philip M. Headley
  • Publication number: 20140172234
    Abstract: A pedestrian protection system from a vehicle utilizes GPS data to reduce the number of false positive detections for impacting an object determined to be a pedestrian. The GPS data is used to focus on area of increased and/or decreased pedestrian presence to alter a reaction threshold for the vehicle. Additionally, the GPS data can be used for more accurate analysis of the likelihood of an impact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Publication date: June 19, 2014
    Applicant: CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Philip M. Headley, David L. Agnew
  • Publication number: 20130158803
    Abstract: A method of controlling a vehicle and trailer assembly comprises initiating an input mode for a trailer backing system. A first set of data points, a second set of data points, and a third set of data points are input into the trailer backing system. The input mode for the trailer backing system is ended. An intended backing path is determined based upon the first, second, and third set of data points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2011
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Applicant: CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventor: Philip M. Headley
  • Patent number: 5264767
    Abstract: An improved method of controlling an electro-hydraulic control system by developing a motor control command in relation to the desired force to be exerted by an electric motor on a mechanical element whose displacement determines the hydraulic pressure. The control command is comprised of two magnitude signals. The first magnitude signal must be sufficient to exert enough force to overcome a static friction characteristic of the mechanical element, and the second magnitude signal is selected to achieve a desired average current or voltage over that control period. The time constant for the control command is less than the mechanical time constant of the system, but greater than the the electrical time constant of the system. The control command may be implemented by using either current or voltage control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1993
    Assignees: General Motors Corporation, Delco Electronics Corp.
    Inventors: Yuen-Kwok Chin, William C. Lin, Philip M. Headley, Prakash K. Kulkarni, David M. Sidlosky
  • Patent number: 5063514
    Abstract: In a vehicle anti-lock brake controller, a differential slip between the wheels on each side of an axle is sensed to detect a yaw condition and the wheel with the lower slip value is identified as the high coefficient wheel. In response to a detected yaw condition, the monitored value of slip of the high coefficient wheel is controlled about a target slip value that has an initial value less than the critical slip value at the beginning of antilock controlled braking to minimize longitudinal force imbalance and which is thereafter ramped to the critical slip value to maximize longitudinal braking forces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 5, 1991
    Assignees: General Motors Corporation, Delco Electronics Corp.
    Inventors: Philip M. Headley, Prakash K. Kulkarni
  • Patent number: 4989923
    Abstract: A method for determining an accurate vehicle speed, based upon the wheel speed data, for vehicle antilock systems in which the integrity of each individual wheel speed value is verified before including that wheel speed value in the reference speed calculation. Reference speed is then computed as a function of only those wheel speed values which have been successfully accepted into the calculation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 5, 1991
    Assignees: General Motors Corporation, Delco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Alan J. Lee, Philip M. Headley
  • Patent number: 4824184
    Abstract: An anti-lock braking control system is described in which the braking pressure cycle is filtered by limiting the minimum time period of each brake pressure cycle. The period from the time a brake pressure release phase is initiated until the next brake pressure release phase is called for is timed. If the time is less than a predetermined value, the brake pressure is held constant until the minimum time period has expired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1987
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1989
    Assignees: General Motors Corporation, Delco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Peter J. Spadafora, Philip M. Headley, Alan J. Lee, Jill G. Hersberger