Patents by Inventor Thomas Frank Doherty

Thomas Frank Doherty 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: 12158765
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for managing task assignments for a fleet of haul trucks at a mine site. An assignment engine may: receive state data for a haul truck including haul weight data and second state data for the mine site that is indicative of a plurality of available tasks and associated task material weight data; assign a task to the haul truck by inputting the state data into a trained reinforcement-learning model, wherein: the model has been trained to learn an assignment policy that optimizes a reward function, such that the learned policy accounts for vehicle performance variance due to changing vehicle haul weight and/or road conditions; and cause the at least one haul truck to be operated according to the at least one task assignment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Jacob Wulf, Cameron T Lane, Andrew Seungyul Yun, Greg Davis, Thomas Frank Doherty, Darryl Collins
  • Patent number: 12023769
    Abstract: A drilling detection system may include a drilling detection circuitry including one or more detection processors configured to receive a vibration signal indicative of vibration associated with a drilling machine configured to drill holes into a substrate and receive a movement signal indicative of movement of the drilling machine relative to one or more positions on the substrate. The one or more detection processors may also be configured to determine vibration associated with the drilling machine, and determine movement associated with the drilling machine. The one or more detection processors may also be configured to determine, based at least in part on the vibration associated with the drilling machine and the movement associated with the drilling machine, the drilling machine has drilled holes into the substrate and a position on the substrate at which the drilling machine has drilled the holes into the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Global Mining LLC.
    Inventors: Thomas Frank Doherty, Ben Lincoln Clare, Darryl Victor Collins
  • Patent number: 11280616
    Abstract: An operating status identification system for a machine includes a position sensing module configured to generate a first signal value corresponding to a speed of the machine. The operating status identification system also includes a motion sensing module configured to generate a second signal value corresponding to at least one motion parameter of the machine. The operating status identification system further includes a control module communicably coupled to each of the position sensing module and the motion sensing module. The control module is configured to receive the first signal value and the second signal value. The control module is further configured to identify whether the machine is in at least one of an operating state and a non-operating state based on a combination of the first and second signal values. The control module is configured to identify that the machine is in the operating state when the machine is stationary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Frank Doherty, Darryl Victor Collins, Michael Siemer
  • Publication number: 20210252659
    Abstract: A drilling detection system may include a drilling detection circuitry including one or more detection processors configured to receive a vibration signal indicative of vibration associated with a drilling machine configured to drill holes into a substrate and receive a movement signal indicative of movement of the drilling machine relative to one or more positions on the substrate. The one or more detection processors may also be configured to determine vibration associated with the drilling machine, and determine movement associated with the drilling machine. The one or more detection processors may also be configured to determine, based at least in part on the vibration associated with the drilling machine and the movement associated with the drilling machine, the drilling machine has drilled holes into the substrate and a position on the substrate at which the drilling machine has drilled the holes into the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Applicant: Caterpillar Global Mining LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Frank Doherty, Ben Lincoln Clare, Darryl Victor Collins
  • Publication number: 20190331494
    Abstract: An operating status identification system for a machine includes a position sensing module configured to generate a first signal value corresponding to a speed of the machine. The operating status identification system also includes a motion sensing nodule configured to generate a second signal value corresponding to at least one motion parameter of the machine. The operating status identification system further includes a control module communicably coupled to each of the position sensing module and the motion sensing module. The control module is configured to receive the first signal value and the second signal value. The control module is further configured to identify whether the machine is in at least one of an operating state and a non-operating state based on a combination of the first and second signal values. The control module is configured to identify that the machine is in the operating state when the machine is stationary.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Frank Doherty, Darryl Victor Collins, Michael Siemer
  • Patent number: 10115225
    Abstract: A system and method of onboard and offboard visualization of material characteristics in mining is provided. According to one aspect, the method includes a step of providing a voxel representation of a mining area. The voxel representation includes a plurality of voxels. At least one voxel of the plurality of voxels is compared to a geological model of the mining area, and at least one material characteristic is assigned to the at least one voxel based on the geological model of the mining area. In another aspect, the method includes calculating a volume of extracted material, assigning at least one quantified material characteristic to the volume of extracted material based on a geological model, and displaying a visual representation of the volume of extracted material and at least one quantified material characteristic using a visualization tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Kiriaco Rodrigo Dario Jarami Orellana, John Steven Harpour, Scott Andrew Kirkman, Thomas Frank Doherty
  • Publication number: 20180075543
    Abstract: A system and method of optimizing fleet operation at a mining site is provided. The system includes a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute steps of identifying a forthcoming dig area including material to be extracted by a digging tool, assigning at least one quantified material characteristic to the material to be extracted, and assigning a truck movement based on the at least one quantified material characteristic. The at least one quantified material characteristic of the extracted material is used to assign truck movement, including material flow to processors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Inventors: Kiriaco Rodrigo Dario Jarami Orellana, John Steven Harpour, Scott Andrew Kirkman, Thomas Frank Doherty
  • Publication number: 20180068484
    Abstract: A system and method of onboard and offboard visualization of material characteristics in mining is provided. According to one aspect, the method includes a step of providing a voxel representation of a mining area. The voxel representation includes a plurality of voxels. At least one voxel of the plurality of voxels is compared to a geological model of the mining area, and at least one material characteristic is assigned to the at least one voxel based on the geological model of the mining area. In another aspect, the method includes calculating a volume of extracted material, assigning at least one quantified material characteristic to the volume of extracted material based on a geological model, and displaying a visual representation of the volume of extracted material and at least one quantified material characteristic using a visualization tool.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2016
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Kiriaco Rodrigo Dario Jarami Orellana, John Steven Harpour, Scott Andrew Kirkman, Thomas Frank Doherty