Patents by Inventor Ryan Estep

Ryan Estep 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: 20220107635
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, system and methods for determining relative pose of materials handling vehicles in an industrial environment may include utilizing UWB antenna array systems respective mounted on the materials handling vehicles to send mutually received information to determine the relative pose between the vehicles, determining one or more fields of each materials handling vehicle, and determining one or more overlapping fields between the materials handling vehicles based on the determined one or more fields and the relative pose. A vehicle control may be implemented based on the determined relative pose and the overlapping fields as a field enforcement, such as a control action to avoid collision between the vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Publication date: April 7, 2022
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Ryan Estep, Justin Bennett, Mike Etienne Ciholas, Ben Morelli, Chad Lefeld, Trisha Marie Luthman
  • Publication number: 20220108613
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, system and methods for determining relative pose of materials handling vehicles in an industrial environment may include utilizing UWB antenna array systems respective mounted on the materials handling vehicles to send mutually received information to determine the relative pose between the vehicles, determining one or more fields of each materials handling vehicle, and determining one or more overlapping fields between the materials handling vehicles based on the determined one or more fields and the relative pose. A vehicle control may be implemented based on the determined relative pose and the overlapping fields as a field enforcement, such as a control action to avoid collision between the vehicles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Publication date: April 7, 2022
    Inventors: Ryan Estep, Justin Bennett, Mike Etienne Ciholas, Ben Morelli, Chad Lefeld, Trisha Marie Luthman
  • Patent number: 10962368
    Abstract: Warehouse mapping tools according to the present disclosure comprise a mobile mapping interface and a mobile computing device in communication with the mobile mapping interface. The mobile computing device can be configured to access waypoint data comprising location coordinates of a set of mapping waypoints, present graphical representations of the set of mapping waypoints at discrete locations in a representation of a warehouse environment, access mobile mapping data representing an elapsed travel path, access error metric data, present a graphical representation of the error metric data, and indicate a validation state of the elapsed travel path segment. In other embodiments, a warehouse mapping tool comprises a remote computer that is configured to communicate with a mapping vehicle and that can be used to facilitate navigation, localization, or odometry correction with respect to an industrial vehicle in the warehouse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Callum Robinson, Amit Philip, Ryan Estep, Lisa Wong
  • Patent number: 10614588
    Abstract: A method for vehicle positioning or navigation utilizing associated feature pairs may include creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving an initial set of camera data from the camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each pair from the UV space information with pairs from each of the plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of the industrial facility map, calculating a best estimate poses from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position and setting a seed position as the current localized position. The navigation of the materials handling vehicle is tracked and/or navigated along the inventory transit surface navigate in at least a partially automated manner utilizing the current localized position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: CROWN EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz
  • Publication number: 20190368876
    Abstract: Warehouse mapping tools according to the present disclosure comprise a mobile mapping interface and a mobile computing device in communication with the mobile mapping interface. The mobile computing device can be configured to access waypoint data comprising location coordinates of a set of mapping waypoints, present graphical representations of the set of mapping waypoints at discrete locations in a representation of a warehouse environment, access mobile mapping data representing an elapsed travel path, access error metric data, present a graphical representation of the error metric data, and indicate a validation state of the elapsed travel path segment. In other embodiments, a warehouse mapping tool comprises a remote computer that is configured to communicate with a mapping vehicle and that can be used to facilitate navigation, localization, or odometry correction with respect to an industrial vehicle in the warehouse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Callum Robinson, Amit Philip, Ryan Estep, Lisa Wong
  • Patent number: 10429188
    Abstract: Warehouse mapping tools according to the present disclosure comprise a mobile mapping interface and a mobile computing device in communication with the mobile mapping interface. The mobile computing device can be configured to access waypoint data comprising location coordinates of a set of mapping waypoints, present graphical representations of the set of mapping waypoints at discrete locations in a representation of a warehouse environment, access mobile mapping data representing an elapsed travel path, access error metric data, present a graphical representation of the error metric data, and indicate a validation state of the elapsed travel path segment. In other embodiments, a warehouse mapping tool comprises a remote computer that is configured to communicate with a mapping vehicle and that can be used to facilitate navigation, localization, or odometry correction with respect to an industrial vehicle in the warehouse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: CROWN EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Callum Robinson, Amit Philip, Ryan Estep, Lisa Wong
  • Publication number: 20180283872
    Abstract: Warehouse mapping tools according to the present disclosure comprise a mobile mapping interface and a mobile computing device in communication with the mobile mapping interface. The mobile computing device can be configured to access waypoint data comprising location coordinates of a set of mapping waypoints, present graphical representations of the set of mapping waypoints at discrete locations in a representation of a warehouse environment, access mobile mapping data representing an elapsed travel path, access error metric data, present a graphical representation of the error metric data, and indicate a validation state of the elapsed travel path segment. In other embodiments, a warehouse mapping tool comprises a remote computer that is configured to communicate with a mapping vehicle and that can be used to facilitate navigation, localization, or odometry correction with respect to an industrial vehicle in the warehouse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Callum Robinson, Amit Philip, Ryan Estep, Lisa Wong
  • Publication number: 20180247428
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, a method for vehicle positioning or navigation utilizing associated feature pairs may include creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving an initial set of camera data from the camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each pair from the UV space information with pairs from each of the plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of the industrial facility map, calculating a best estimate poses from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position and setting a seed position as the current localized position. The navigation of the materials handling vehicle is tracked and/or navigated along the inventory transit surface navigate in at least a partially automated manner utilizing the current localized position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Applicant: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz
  • Patent number: 9984467
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, a method for vehicle positioning or navigation utilizing associated feature pairs may include creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving an initial set of camera data from the camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each pair from the UV space information with pairs from each of the plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of the industrial facility map, calculating a best estimate poses from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position and setting a seed position as the current localized position. The navigation of the materials handling vehicle is tracked and/or navigated along the inventory transit surface navigate in at least a partially automated manner utilizing the current localized position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz
  • Patent number: 9349181
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, a method for lost vehicle recovery utilizing associated feature pairs may include, for a materials handling vehicle determined to be lost, creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving a subsequent set of camera data from a camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each formed pair with pairs from each of a plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of an industrial facility map. The method may further include calculating a best estimate pose from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs based on a highest-rated pair of the plurality of associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position, updating the seed position as the current localized position, and operating the materials handling vehicle utilizing the updated seed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Crown Equipment Limited
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz
  • Publication number: 20150379704
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, a method for lost vehicle recovery utilizing associated feature pairs may include, for a materials handling vehicle determined to be lost, creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving a subsequent set of camera data from a camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each formed pair with pairs from each of a plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of an industrial facility map. The method may further include calculating a best estimate pose from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs based on a highest-rated pair of the plurality of associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position, updating the seed position as the current localized position, and operating the materials handling vehicle utilizing the updated seed position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Applicant: CROWN EQUIPMENT LIMITED
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz
  • Publication number: 20150379715
    Abstract: According to the embodiments described herein, a method for vehicle positioning or navigation utilizing associated feature pairs may include creating a plurality of associated feature pairs by retrieving an initial set of camera data from the camera comprising two-dimensional UV space information, forming pairs from the UV space information, and associating each pair from the UV space information with pairs from each of the plurality of three-dimensional global feature points of the industrial facility map, calculating a best estimate poses from calculated vehicle poses of the associated feature pairs, using an accumulated odometry to update the best estimate pose to a current localized position and setting a seed position as the current localized position. The navigation of the materials handling vehicle is tracked and/or navigated along the inventory transit surface navigate in at least a partially automated manner utilizing the current localized position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Applicant: CROWN EQUIPMENT LIMITED
    Inventors: Kashyap Chandrasekar, Ryan Estep, Jacob Thomson, Lucas Waltz