Vehicle Control, Guidance, Operation, Or Indication Patents (Class 701/1)
  • Patent number: 11338857
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method are configured for estimating a slope angle of a road. The slope angle of a road is estimated based on a longitudinal slope angle of the road which is calculated based on a Kinematic model, an effective weight corresponding to a control amount of a driver and a filter constant to estimate the slope angle of the road with higher precision in the case of a U-turn, rapid acceleration, or rapid deceleration in which a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle is remarkably increased. The apparatus includes a controller to estimate the slope angle of the road, based on a longitudinal slope angle of the road which is calculated based on a Kinematic model, an effective weight corresponding to a control amount of a driver and a filter constant, and an output device to output the estimated slope angle of the road.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sang Heon Lee, Wan Ki Cho
  • Patent number: 11341782
    Abstract: A navigation apparatus includes a log information acquisition portion acquiring log information including position information and time information at predetermined time intervals, a storage storing the log information, a transmitter transmitting the log information, and a transmitter controller transmitting to a server an excess piece of the log information exceeding a predetermined number in reverse chronological order of the time information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: MICWARE CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Makino
  • Patent number: 11341482
    Abstract: Provided are systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computer program products associated with and configured to the technical field of special purpose machines that facilitate generation and provision of application program interfaces (or APIs). The APIs automatically compare the geographic position of a user resource with a known database of events to determine the likelihood that the user is attending the event. In response to determining that the likelihood exceeds a predetermined limit, the APIs communicate notifications to update user information to service providers, such as financial networks, to improve the performance of the user's portable financial devices and reduce financial fraud associated with offline transactions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Visa International Service Association
    Inventor: Kelvan Patrick Howard
  • Patent number: 11342866
    Abstract: A method for operating a pressure control device in a vehicle, in particular in a motor vehicle, wherein current is supplied by an energy source of the vehicle for operating the pressure control device, as a result of which the pressure control device carries out at least one pressure control function, for which at least two actuators of the pressure control device are actuated, wherein at least one current required at maximum for actuating the actuator is determined for each actuator and current budget management for actuating the actuators and/or for carrying out the pressure control functions is performed by the determined currents required at maximum. In addition, the invention relates to a pressure control device for carrying out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Inventors: Sascha Dickten, Alexander Kühn, Aleksandar Stanojkovski, Robert Schmidt, Bartosz Maj
  • Patent number: 11338918
    Abstract: A system for airspace tolling determines a presence of an aerial vehicle in a monitored airspace and determines a unique identity of the aerial vehicle. The system then determines an operator of the aerial vehicle and accesses an account associated with the operator. The system applies a charge to the account of the operator in response to the detection and identification of the aerial vehicle in the monitored airspace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Katie J. Maxwell, Scott D. Harlan, John S. Lear, Luther John Durkop, III, Scott G. Barnes
  • Patent number: 11341783
    Abstract: A guidance system provides a driver of a vehicle with guidance on a driving operation, and includes a server device that accumulates past traveling records on a traveling road on which the vehicle travels, an acquisition device that acquires a current state of the vehicle, and a notification device that notifies the driver, while driving, of the operation content determined based on the current state of the vehicle and the past traveling records.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Naoya Inoue
  • Patent number: 11332163
    Abstract: An in-vehicle device is mounted on a vehicle capable of automated driving, and comprises an incident detection processing unit which acquires vehicle information representing a control state of the vehicle, and detects an incident that occurred in the vehicle based on the vehicle information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Kawauchi, Yasushi Nagai, Nobuyoshi Morita, Makoto Kayashima
  • Patent number: 11335190
    Abstract: An acquisition unit acquires vehicle information related to a vehicle. An in-vehicle storage unit is provided in the vehicle and stores therein the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit. A transmission unit transmits the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit to an off-vehicle server located at an outside of the vehicle. A classification unit classifies the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit into information for transmission to be transmitted to the off-vehicle server or information for storage to be stored in the in-vehicle storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takahiro Iwaki, You Yanagida
  • Patent number: 11332132
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle navigates an intersection in which occlusions block the vehicle's ability to detect moving objects. The vehicle handles this by generating a phantom obstacle behind the occlusion. The vehicle will predict the speed of the phantom obstacle and use the predicted speed to assess whether the phantom obstacle may collide with the vehicle. If a collision is a risk, the vehicle will slow or stop until it confirms that either (a) the phantom obstacle is not a real obstacle or (b) the vehicle can proceed at a speed that avoids the collision. To determine which occlusions shield real objects, the system may use a rasterized visibility grid of the area to identify occlusions that may accommodate the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Argo AI, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Petroff, Neal Seegmiller, Albert Costa, Christopher Cunningham, G. Peter K. Carr, Sameer Bardapurkar
  • Patent number: 11335104
    Abstract: An embodiment takes the form of a training server that presents a video comprising a plurality of frames, each comprising a respective scene representation of a scene at a respective time. The scene representations comprise respective representations of a feature in the scene. The training server presents a respective gaze representation of a driver gaze for each frame. The gaze representations comprise respective representations of driver gaze locations at the times of the respective scene representations. The training server generates an awareness prediction via a neural network based on the driver gaze locations, the awareness prediction reflecting a predicted driver awareness of the feature. The training server receives an awareness indication associated with the video and the gaze representations, and trains the neural network based on a comparison of the awareness prediction with the awareness indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.
    Inventors: Stephen G. McGill, Guy Rosman, Simon Stent, Luke S. Fletcher, Deepak Edakkattil Gopinath
  • Patent number: 11336484
    Abstract: A relay device is one of relay devices each including (i) a common port connected to a terminal and (ii) two ring ports connected to other relay devices via communication lines. Upon receiving via the common port a frame whose destination is a terminal connected to a different relay device under one of the communication lines being abnormal, the relay device transmits the frame via both (i) one of the ring ports bypassing the abnormal communication line and (ii) a communication bus. In contrast, upon receiving a frame, whose destination is a terminal connected with the relay device, via one of the ring ports and a frame, whose destination is the terminal connected with the relay device, via the communication bus, the relay device determines whether the frames match. If the frames match, the relay device transfers the matched frame to the terminal via the common port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshifumi Kaku
  • Patent number: 11336656
    Abstract: A verification apparatus for a vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication device, designed to verify received V2X messages and configured to conduct the verification of received V2X messages depending on a determined temperature value. A V2X communication device including the verification apparatus, a corresponding method and the use of the verification apparatus or communication device as also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Ulrich Stählin
  • Patent number: 11327181
    Abstract: A method includes obtaining position information of a first vehicle collected in real time by a first positioning system during a first trip on a route, post-processing the collected position information to determine corrected position data of the first vehicle during the first trip, computing position errors of the first positioning system at a plurality of locations during the first trip, determining integrity performance of the first positioning system at the plurality of locations, and providing the integrity performance of the first positioning system at the plurality of locations to the first vehicle or a second vehicle for determining real-time integrity performance of the first positioning system on the first vehicle or a second positioning system on the second vehicle at the plurality of locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Valeo Comfort and Driving Assistance
    Inventor: Shahram Rezaei
  • Patent number: 11327467
    Abstract: An information processing device including a communication portion capable of receiving sensor data detected from a plurality of sensors arranged in predetermined regions and transmitting control signals to a plurality of actuators arranged around the sensors such that the actuators are, at least one by one, associated with each of the sensors. The information processing device further includes a control portion that performs control such that the sensor arranged in a specific region determined not to have an ideal situation is specified on the basis of the sensor data detected from the plurality of sensors, the actuator corresponding to the specified sensor is specified from the plurality of actuators, and the control signal for bringing the specific region into the ideal situation is generated and transmitted to the specified actuator through the communication portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hideyuki Ono
  • Patent number: 11325598
    Abstract: A travel assisting method for a vehicle which is executed by a processor, comprising: generating a vehicle speed command value based on vehicle information of a subject vehicle; calculating the vehicle speed command value at a predetermined time (a look-ahead time) ahead of a current time based on information of a feature existing ahead of the subject vehicle in a travelling direction, as a look-ahead vehicle speed command value; and controlling the subject vehicle based on the look-ahead vehicle speed command value. Further, a lighting state of a traffic light located around the subject vehicle is detected, and the look-ahead time is set based on the lighting state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akinobu Goto, Takashi Fukushige, Satoshi Tange
  • Patent number: 11325589
    Abstract: This vehicle control device comprises: action amount determination units that determine evasive action amounts indicating the degree of evasive action relative to a recognized obstacle; and a travel control unit that performs travel control whereby a vehicle is caused to take evasive action corresponding to the determined evasive action amount. The action amount determination units determine the amount of evasive action, according to user preferences for the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaaki Nagashima, Hideki Matsunaga, Takeru Goto, Hirokiyo Kasahara, Yoshimitsu Murahashi
  • Patent number: 11325491
    Abstract: A charging station for an electric vehicle includes a passive alignment mechanism that includes a longitudinal translation stage that allows motion in a longitudinal direction, a charging plug connected to the passive alignment mechanism, and a releasable connector. The releasable connector resists motion of the longitudinal translation stage in a connected position when a magnitude of an external force applied in the longitudinal direction is below a threshold. The releasable connector moves from the connected position to a released position to allow motion of the longitudinal translation stage when the magnitude of the external force applied in the longitudinal direction is above the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew M. Torok, Foster D. Collins, William M. Price
  • Patent number: 11327173
    Abstract: An object detection device includes: a transmission unit transmitting a first transmission wave; a reception unit receiving a first reception wave reflected by an object; a signal processing unit sampling a first processing target signal according to the first reception wave and acquiring a difference signal based on a difference between the first processing target signal for at least one sample at a certain detection timing, and the first processing target signal for a plurality of samples in at least one of first and second periods; a threshold setting unit setting a threshold as a comparison target with the value of the difference signal, based on variation in the values of the first processing target signal for the plurality of samples; and a detection unit detecting information about the object at the detection timing based on a comparison result between the value of the difference signal and the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: AISIN CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ippei Sugae
  • Patent number: 11325471
    Abstract: A method for displaying a safety zone in front of a transportation vehicle or object. The safety zone is shown on a display unit. The safety zone is displayed as a grid and the end of the grid that is remote from the transportation vehicle indicates the end of the safety zone at the measured speed, taking into consideration the determined driving situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Inventors: Astrid Kassner, Matthias Henning, Norwin Schmidt
  • Patent number: 11324981
    Abstract: A readiness monitoring system for a fire apparatus includes a processing circuit that has programmed instructions to acquire fluid level data indicating at least one of a water level within a water tank, a fire suppressing agent level within an agent tank, a fuel level within a fuel tank, or a diesel exhaust fluid level within a diesel exhaust fluid reservoir of the fire apparatus; acquire fault data indicating any active faults with components of the fire apparatus; acquire maintenance data indicating whether maintenance is due or overdue; acquire exercise data indicating an elapsed time since the fire apparatus was last exercised; and determine a readiness score for the fire apparatus based on the fluid level data, the fault data, the maintenance data, and the exercise data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Oshkosh Corporation
    Inventors: David R. Kay, Eric R. Linsmeier, Chad T. Dolphin
  • Patent number: 11325601
    Abstract: A method for producing an overtaking probability collection, having the following steps: recording a respective driving characteristic in a multiplicity of motor vehicles passing through at least one route section at a geographical position; assigning the respective motor vehicles to overtaking vehicles or to non-overtaking vehicles on the basis of the respective driving characteristic; determining a ratio between the overtaking vehicles and the non-overtaking vehicles; and entering the ratio into the overtaking probability collection as an overtaking probability for the route section at the geographical position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Inventor: Stefan Grubwinkler
  • Patent number: 11325634
    Abstract: A vehicle system comprising a steering wheel that includes: i) a hub adapted to be mounted on a steering column of the vehicle system; ii) a steering wheel rim coupled to the hub; and iii) a first control movably coupled to the hub. The first control moves from a first position proximate a first location on the steering wheel rim to a second position proximate a second location on the steering wheel rim. This maintains the first control in proximity to a first hand of a driver as the first hand moves from the first location to the second location on the steering wheel rim. The vehicle system further comprises a control module configured to move the first control from the first position to the second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Joseph F. Szczerba, Ki Hyun Ahn
  • Patent number: 11318627
    Abstract: A sensor unit, a control method, and a recording medium are provided for reducing data amount of failure diagnosis data while detecting a failure of a device performing work while moving more reliably. The disclosure includes an output limiting part outputting the failure diagnosis data only for a period in which an absolute value of the acceleration is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventor: Hidekatsu Nogami
  • Patent number: 11318925
    Abstract: A vehicle power distribution control method, apparatus and system are provided. The method includes: acquiring an image of a road surface on which a vehicle drives currently, and recognizing, according to the image of the road surface, the type of the road surface on which the vehicle drives currently; starting a corresponding terrain mode in an all-terrain adaptive mode according to the current type of the road surface; determining a power distribution strategy corresponding to the current terrain mode according to a correspondence between terrain modes and preset power distribution strategies; and switching a center differential of the vehicle to a corresponding locking mode according to the current power distribution strategy, and distributing, in the locking mode, torques to front and rear axles of the vehicle according to a torque distribution curve corresponding to the current power distribution strategy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Lingtao Han, Chao Ding, Qiang Ren, Wei Xu, Ted S Huang, Chunyun Zheng
  • Patent number: 11323456
    Abstract: Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing a telemetry hub, and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementing a telemetry hub that obtains sensor data from a plurality of sources and that determines one or more first actions to take in response to receiving the first sensor data. In operation, a telemetry hub might receive first sensor data from one or more sensors. The telemetry hub may determine whether the first sensor data can be trusted and whether the first sensor data is valid. Based on a determination that the first sensor data can be trusted and is valid, the telemetry hub might analyze the first sensor data to determine one or more first actions to take. The telemetry hub might then implement the one or more first actions based at least in part on the analysis of the first sensor data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
    Inventors: Kevin M. McBride, Steven M. Casey, Stephen Opferman, Hunter Rudd, James E. Sutherland
  • Patent number: 11315350
    Abstract: A method for assessing driver fatigue is implemented by a processor and includes steps of: based on images of a driver captured by an image capturing device, obtaining an entry of physiological information that indicates a physiological state of the driver; based on one of the images of the driver, obtaining an entry of facial expression information that indicates an emotional state of the driver; based on one of the images of the driver, obtaining an entry of behavioral information that indicates driver behavior of the driver; and based on the entry of physiological information, the entry of facial expression information and the entry of behavioral information, obtaining a fatigue score that indicates a level of fatigue of the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: NATIONAL CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Bing-Fei Wu, Kuan-Hung Chen, Po-Wei Huang, Yin-Cheng Tsai
  • Patent number: 11313690
    Abstract: Embodiments include a method that identifies a route between a destination and a current location and quantizes the route into two or more road segments. The method includes characterizing the two or more road segments according to propulsion resources available to a vehicle generating at least two energy paths across the route based on the characterization of the two or more road segments. The method also includes providing an optimized energy path from the at least two energy paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventor: Anthony H. Heap
  • Patent number: 11312213
    Abstract: The disclosed computer-implemented method may include receiving sensor data associated with a mobile device associated with a vehicle, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of an angular velocity vector, a linear acceleration vector, and a rotational acceleration vector recorded over a period of time, determining an event signature based on the sensor data, and detecting a door closing event associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the event signature. Other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Lyft, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Jonathan DiCarlo, Romain Clement, Mikael Kjell Anders Thor
  • Patent number: 11316926
    Abstract: An in-vehicle network system includes a plurality of controllers configured to perform control of a vehicle, a plurality of transfer paths connected to the controllers, a relay device configured to relay data between the transfer paths, the relay device being connected to the transfer paths, a vehicle state detection unit configured to detect a predetermined state of the vehicle, a first specifying unit configured to specify the controller that transmits data with a low transmission priority in the predetermined state detected by the vehicle state detection unit or a transfer path other than a transfer path that transfers data related to the predetermined state detected by the vehicle state detection unit, and a first communication controller configured to cause the controller specified by the first specifying unit to suppress communication of data or suppress communication of data to the transfer path specified by the first specifying unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshifumi Omori, Yoshiro Hirata
  • Patent number: 11307669
    Abstract: Provided is an electronic device comprising a sensor configured to detect a gesture without touching an own device and a controller configured to determine a hand of a user used for operation according to a driver's seat position and determine, according to the hand of the user used for operation, a direction of the gesture based on an output from the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventors: Taro Iio, Yuya Yamaguchi, Ryohei Nakamura, Tsuneo Miyashita, Yasuhiro Ueno, Shigeki Tanabe, Hideki Morita, Isao Masuike, Koutaro Yamauchi, Manabu Sakuma
  • Patent number: 11305770
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a drive device for traveling, and a control device configured to control the drive device so that the vehicle travels with a target driving force based on an accelerator operation amount. The control device is configured to set the target driving force such that a change in the target driving force with respect to a change in the accelerator operation amount is gentler in a case where steady traveling is desired as compared with a case where the steady traveling is not desired. Therefore, in a case where the steady traveling is desired, a variation of a vehicle speed with respect to a slight variation of the accelerator operation amount can be gentle and continuous steady traveling can be facilitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takahiko Hirasawa, Keiji Kaita
  • Patent number: 11307590
    Abstract: A computing system that analyzes the network effects of avoidance areas on autonomous vehicle routing is described herein. The computing system includes a data store that comprises a set of avoidance areas through which the autonomous vehicle is prohibited from being routed. A grouping system identifies groups of avoidance areas. A graph construction system constructs a graph representation of the avoidance area groups. A ranking algorithm is evaluated over the graph representation to generate a ranking of the avoidance area groups by relative impact on routing metrics for routes through an operational area of the autonomous vehicle. A mapping vehicle can be dispatched to resolve avoidance areas in avoidance area groups indicating in the ranking as having a greater impact on routing metrics than other avoidance area groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: GM CRUISE HOLDINGS LLC
    Inventors: Alexander John Bowe, Lucio Otavio Marchioro Rech
  • Patent number: 11308807
    Abstract: To enable a risk of collision between moving objects such as a pedestrian and a vehicle to be quickly and accurately determined in a roadside device, when the roadside device receives a message including state information indicating that a pedestrian is in a risky state from a pedestrian terminal, the roadside device acquires position information of a vehicle present around the pedestrian in the risky state based on a result of detecting vehicles on roads by a radar, determines a risk of collision between the pedestrian in the risky state and the vehicle based on the position information of the vehicle, and when the risk of collision exists, transmits a message including alarm information indicating that the risk of collision exists to the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Weijie Liu, Tsuyoshi Ueno
  • Patent number: 11305602
    Abstract: A system for testing a suspension system of a vehicle includes an inertial measurement module and a suspension fault detection module. The inertial measurement module is configured to, while the vehicle is not moving, collect sensor data from one or more inertial measurement sensors for different states of the suspension system. The sensor data is indicative of inertial states of the vehicle while the suspension system is in each of the different states. The suspension fault detection module is configured to, based on the sensor data and a set of thresholds, determine whether a fault exists with the suspension system, isolate and identify the fault, and perform a countermeasure based on the detection of the fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Xinyu Du, Lichao Mai, Brian K. Saylor, Arvind Sharma, Kevin A. Cansiani
  • Patent number: 11299171
    Abstract: A driving support control device of a vehicle is provided including an acquiring unit configured to acquire a traveling state of the vehicle which is detected and a traveling environment of the vehicle, and a control unit, configured to, in a case where zero-point learning of a yaw rate sensor has not been completed, cause a driving support unit to execute collision avoidance support using a reduced operational area reduced from a reference operational area which becomes a reference in view of an error of the yaw rate sensor as an operational area of collision avoidance support, and the traveling state of the vehicle and the traveling environment of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kei Kamiya, Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 11292497
    Abstract: A communication system includes a data manager unit, a private interface, and an open interface. The data manager unit is configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle and to manage a transmission of data from a control system of the vehicle to a plurality of applications. The private interface is configured to communicably couple the data manager unit to the control system of the vehicle, and to limit communication with the control system via a connection protocol, wherein the connection protocol is configured to prevent direct communication between the data manager unit and an application that does not use the connection protocol. The open interface is configured to communicably couple the data manager unit and the plurality of applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Todd Goodermuth, Richard Hooker
  • Patent number: 11292353
    Abstract: Provided is a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server connected to a user terminal and a plurality of charging-vehicle terminals, the method including (a) analyzing a fuel usage pattern of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle related to the user terminal and predicting a fuel charging time of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis of the fuel usage pattern; (b) determining a charging location and a charging-performing vehicle terminal at the fuel charging time on the basis of location information of the user terminal, and providing the user terminal with a charging alarm including information regarding the charging location and the charging-performing vehicle terminal; and (c) providing the charging-performing vehicle terminal with the information regarding the user terminal and the charging location when a charging request is received from the user terminal in response to the charging alarm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Hylium Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Seo Young Kim
  • Patent number: 11294382
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining routes to destinations for a vehicle may: generate output signals; obtain road information for a set of roads; determine presence information that indicates whether one or more passengers are present in the vehicle; determine the location information of the vehicle; obtain a target destination that represents a location the vehicle is intended to reach; determine a first route including a first subset of the set of roads; determine a second route including a second subset of the set of roads; and control the vehicle autonomously to traverse the vehicle along either the first route or the second route in accordance with whether one or more passengers are present in the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Urano, Kentaro Ichikawa, Junya Ueno
  • Patent number: 11295561
    Abstract: A vehicle evaluation method and equipment, the vehicle evaluation method comprises: obtaining current vehicle data of a target vehicle, wherein the current vehicle data includes a vehicle identification; obtaining historical vehicle data of the target vehicle according to the vehicle identification; determining an authenticity of the current vehicle data according to the historical vehicle data; and evaluating the target vehicle according to a determination of the authenticity, and generating an evaluation report of the target vehicle. In the present solution, a detection and an evaluation of the vehicle can be implemented more comprehensively, and an accuracy of vehicle evaluation can be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Shenzhen Launch Software Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Jun Liu, Zewei Wei, Wei Zhan
  • Patent number: 11295312
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for accumulating and maintaining funds (e.g., money, a money proxy or a combination thereof) in a vehicle maintenance savings account. The account funds may be used to pay for the costs of maintaining and/or operating a vehicle (e.g., costs of maintenance and operation associated with ownership, leasing or renting a vehicle) and/or driver safety. For instance, the balance of the account may be used to pay for driver's education, driver's safety courses, attention improvement/maintenance courses, visual acuity improvement/maintenance courses, vehicle maintenance, repair, inspections, registration, check-ups, replacement parts, emissions testing, government stickers, taxes, license plates, insurance premiums, insurance deductibles, safety products, sensors/monitors, disposal fees, new vehicles of a certain type, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company
    Inventors: Michael P. Aabram, Grady Irey
  • Patent number: 11287784
    Abstract: A monitoring system is configured to monitor a property. The monitoring system includes a sensor that is located at the property and that is configured to generate sensor data that reflects an environmental condition at the property. The monitoring system includes a monitor control unit that is configured to receive the sensor data. The monitor control unit is configured to analyze the sensor data. The monitor control unit is configured to, based on analyzing the sensor data, determine that a resident of the property is likely to perform an action that includes interacting with a vehicle. The monitor control unit is configured to, based on the action, determine a configuration for the vehicle. The monitor control unit is configured to transmit, to the vehicle, an instruction to configure the vehicle according to the configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Alarm.com Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert Nathan Picardi, Matthew Daniel Correnti
  • Patent number: 11285935
    Abstract: A driving support apparatus (12) has: a setting device (122) for setting a first target position (31) on the basis of a first sign object (21), if the first sign object requesting a vehicle (1) to stop is detected; and a supporting device (123) for performing a first deceleration control for decelerating the vehicle to a first target speed before the vehicle reaches the first target position, if a second sign object (22) representing a stop position is detected during a period when the first decelerating control is performed, the setting device sets a second target position (32) on the basis of the second sign object and the supporting device performs a second decelerating control for decelerating the vehicle to a second target speed before the vehicle reaches the second target position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiko Adachi
  • Patent number: 11287814
    Abstract: An autonomous vehicle configured to perform a lane change maneuver is described herein. The autonomous vehicle includes several different types of sensor systems, such as image, lidar, radar, sonar, infrared, and GPS. The autonomous vehicle additionally includes a computing system that executes instructions on a lane change detection system and a control system. The lane change detection system includes a region of interest module and an object trajectory module for determining whether the autonomous vehicle will collide with another object if the autonomous vehicle maneuvers into an adjacent lane. An instruction module of the lane change detection system is further used to facilitate operational control of a mechanical system of the autonomous vehicle, such as an engine or a steering system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Drew Gross, Shiva Ghose, Sohrab Haghighat
  • Patent number: 11285938
    Abstract: A method for controlling a vehicle when driving on a bend, includes determining bend information, wherein the bend information characterizes a further course of the bend in a direction of travel after a current position of the vehicle, determining predicted lateral acceleration values based on the bend information, wherein each of the predicted lateral acceleration values indicates a lateral acceleration predicted to act on the vehicle at a respective one of a plurality of future positions over the further course of the bend, and determining the probability of overturning at the future positions based on the predicted lateral acceleration values by comparing the predicted lateral acceleration values with a lateral acceleration limit value. A roll stability control system outputs a reduced deceleration request if the predicted lateral acceleration values undershoot the lateral acceleration limit value at least in certain regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: ZF CV SYSTEMS EUROPE BV
    Inventors: Michael Heise, Tobias Munko, Klaus Plaehn
  • Patent number: 11285368
    Abstract: An address direction guiding apparatus includes: an azimuth sensor configured to measure an azimuth; a light output unit configured to output light; and a control unit configured to control the light output unit to output light differently depending on an angle between a target azimuth and the azimuth measured by the azimuth sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: VC INC.
    Inventors: Juno Kim, Hohyeong Lee, Choong Jin Lee, Jeongho Park
  • Patent number: 11285969
    Abstract: A method for automatically controlling a vehicle to provide a safety zone to an individual. The method detects, at the vehicle, a condition indicating that an individual outside of the vehicle is in distress. In response, one or more vehicle services are automatically made available to the individual. A corresponding system is also disclosed and claimed herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Daniel Boccuccia
  • Patent number: 11285971
    Abstract: An in-vehicle device is mounted on a vehicle capable of automated driving, and comprises an incident detection processing unit which acquires vehicle information representing a control state of the vehicle, and detects an incident that occurred in the vehicle based on the vehicle information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: CLARION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Kawauchi, Yasushi Nagai, Nobuyoshi Morita, Makoto Kayashima
  • Patent number: 11282145
    Abstract: In an illustrative embodiment, an automated system provides for automatic negotiation, benchmarking, compliance, and auditing. The system may include computing systems and devices for receiving a request for transmitting a message to a remote party, and in response, providing a customization user interface including a message template with editable and non-editable input fields as well as a document selection interface for linking documents to the message. Message recipients associated with the remote party may be identified as having security access permissions corresponding to access parameters for the linked documents. In response to receiving inputs for the editable input fields, the message template may be converted to a message transmission format for transmitting the message with the one or more linked documents and transmitted to the remote party. The message and linked documents may be stored in at least one portion of a data repository.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: AON SINGAPORE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT PTE., LTD.
    Inventors: Bryon Gerard Ehrhart, Nichole Benson
  • Patent number: 11279280
    Abstract: In one example, a computing device includes one or more user input detection components, and one or more processors configured to receive an indication of a first user input detected by the one or more user input detection components, responsive to receiving the indication of the first user input, adjust a level of an attention buffer at a defined rate; responsive to determining that the level of the attention buffer satisfies a first threshold, prevent further interaction with a user interface of the computing device, responsive to determining that an indication of a second user input has not been received within a time period, adjust a level of the attention buffer, and responsive to determining that the level of the attention buffer satisfies a second threshold, allow further interaction with the user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Gregory Neiswander, Sabrina Silk Billinghurst, Yuan Hang Li, Daniel Holle, Yan Yan, Jorge Taketoshi Furuya Mariche, Jia Wei Tam, Stefan Day Dierauf, Rasekh Rifaat, Ian Douglas Barlow
  • Patent number: 11280283
    Abstract: An engine control system and method includes sensing the quality of fuel in the engine relative to emissions, by for example sensing the level of an emission related constituent, such as sulfur. A fuel quality sensor detects a fuel quality of a fuel, such as the sulfur level the fuel, and provides a signal in response to the fuel quality. The engine control system also includes a navigation device to determine whether an engine is located in a regulated or non-regulated region. The engine control system receives the signal and controls engine operation by, for example, enabling or disabling one or more engine algorithms to improve performance of the engine based on the fuel quality signal or, in other embodiments, the combination of the fuel quality and the location of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: CUMMINS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
    Inventor: Jennifer K. Light-Holets