Attitude Change Suppressive Control (e.g., Antiroll Or Antipitch) Patents (Class 701/38)
  • Patent number: 12157484
    Abstract: A roll-over alert system for a vehicle when navigating a curve in a road. The system includes a transceiver, a memory, and a control module. The transceiver is configured to receive a map message including a general curve speed recommendation for the curve. The memory is configured to store the map message and vehicle-specific data relevant to safely navigating the curve. The control module is configured to: (i) calculate a vehicle-specific curve speed based on the vehicle-specific data and the general curve speed recommendation included in the map message; and (ii) generate an alert to an operator of the vehicle when an actual vehicle speed exceeds the vehicle-specific curve speed during navigation of the curve by the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dhyana Ramamurthy, Aaron Weinfield, Brian Gallagher, Susan Graham
  • Patent number: 12151529
    Abstract: The present invention achieves suspension control that allows for synchronization of the roll and the pitch of a vehicle. This suspension control device that controls the damping force of a suspension comprises: a target pitch angle calculation unit that calculates a target pitch angle with reference to a roll angle signal; and a target control amount computation unit that calculates the roll posture target control amount referred to for controlling the damping force of the suspension by referring to a steering torque signal and the target pitch angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ken Isshiki, Kyoichi Tagami, Noal Van Nguyen, Eishi Ishimaru
  • Patent number: 12152371
    Abstract: A power machine can include a frame, a lift arm, and one or more electrical devices for control of one or more work elements. The electrical devices can be controlled to improve positional accuracy for work elements during work operations, to improve power management and customer experience (e.g., to provide smoother ride during drive operations), and to provide float functionality for work elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: Doosan Bobcat North America, Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher Young
  • Patent number: 12128727
    Abstract: Method to control active shock absorbers of a road vehicle. Each active shock absorber is part of a suspension connecting a frame to a hub of a wheel and is provided with an actuator. The control method comprises the steps of: determining a longitudinal acceleration and a transverse acceleration of the road vehicle; establishing a desired roll angle based on the transverse acceleration; and establishing a desired pitch angle based on the longitudinal acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: FERRARI S.P.A.
    Inventors: Federico Favalli, Francesca Mincigrucci
  • Patent number: 12110031
    Abstract: Systems and methods for measuring how level a trailer is and providing trailer levelling guidance. The systems and methods include a vehicle comprising a vehicle levelness estimator, a trailer connectable to the vehicle and a rear facing camera mounted on the vehicle. The methods and systems include capturing an image of the trailer using the rear facing camera, receiving a vehicle levelness parameter from the vehicle levelness estimator of the vehicle, determining a rotation angle of the trailer relative to the vehicle based on the image, determining an estimated trailer levelness parameter based on the rotation angle and the vehicle levelness parameter, and outputting the estimated trailer levelness parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Mohamed A. Naiel, Yun Qian Miao, Cristinel Padurariu, Alaa M. Khamis
  • Patent number: 12018441
    Abstract: A method for determining and monitoring output of a milling machine comprises sensing an operating parameter of a milling machine with a sensor, transmitting data from the sensor of the milling machine to an off-board location, determining a performance parameter of the milling machine from the data at the off-board location, transmitting the performance parameter to the milling machine, and displaying the performance parameter on a display screen of the milling machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Paving Products Inc.
    Inventors: Nathan L. Mashek, Eric S. Engelmann
  • Patent number: 12005981
    Abstract: A tiltable vehicle is configured to transform between an autonomous mode and a rideable mode by pivoting the handlebars and steering column of the vehicle about a pitch axis. In the autonomous mode, the steering column is folded back toward the chassis and a tiltable chassis of the vehicle is prevented from tilting. In the rideable mode, the steering column is unfolded and the chassis is free to tilt. In some examples, a tiltable vehicle includes features beneficial for vehicle-sharing, such as parking devices or a basket. These features may be included on any suitable vehicle and are not limited to use on transforming vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: Sway Motorsports LLC
    Inventors: Kyle Jonathan Doerksen, Joseph Wilcox
  • Patent number: 11987168
    Abstract: A bank angle of a vehicle can be accurately calculated using yaw axis data and roll axis data, and based on the calculated bank angle, vehicle illumination optics can be controlled to maintain a pattern of distributed light from the illumination optics to be generally horizontal. The calculated bank angle may be zeroed when the yaw axis data equals zero. The improved pattern of distributed light from the illumination optics illuminates a more natural field of view for the vehicle driver during a bank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: J.W. SPEAKER CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kevin Jay McWithey, Bradley William Kay, Dragolsav Popovic
  • Patent number: 11945278
    Abstract: An acceleration of a head of an occupant of a vehicle relative to the vehicle is determined based on data describing motion of the vehicle and respective poses of the head from a plurality of consecutive frames of image data. A vehicle suspension is adjusted based on the determined acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Robert Parenti, Faizan Shaik, Medha Karkare
  • Patent number: 11945274
    Abstract: A vehicle roll control apparatus comprises a pair of left and right active suspensions for applying vertical forces in opposite phases to left and right wheels of a rear axle of the vehicle, and a controller for controlling the active suspensions. The controller increases control amounts of the active suspensions so as to increase roll stiffness of the rear axle in accordance with an increase in a lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle. When the lateral acceleration increases beyond the low acceleration range to the high acceleration range, the controller decreases the gain of the control amounts of the active suspensions with respect to the lateral acceleration in accordance with the increase in the lateral acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Furuta
  • Patent number: 11913793
    Abstract: In a route generating system a work vehicle setting unit sets a vehicle information on a tractor. An altitude information obtaining unit obtains altitude information on a field where an autonomous travel route is to be generated. A traveling direction setting unit sets a traveling direction of the tractor in the field. A region setting unit sets, in the field, a plurality of regions including a work region where autonomous work paths in parallel with the traveling direction are generated and headlands where connection paths each connecting corresponding ones of the autonomous work paths are generated. The region setting unit sets the widths of the headlands (headland widths) based on the vehicle information, the altitude information, and the traveling direction, the widths of the headlands extending in parallel with the traveling direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshifumi Hiramatsu
  • Patent number: 11912090
    Abstract: A damping control device for a vehicle calculates a combined control force by adding together a control force when a front wheel passes through a predicted passing position and a control force when a rear wheel passes through a predicted passing position, and calculates a final control force for the front wheel and a final control force for the rear wheel by distributing the combined control force at a predetermined distribution ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Furuta
  • Patent number: 11884121
    Abstract: An ECU includes: a road surface height measurer which measures road surface heights at three or more points along a vehicle-width direction in front of a tire mounted on a wheel; a position detector which detects a position at which a difference of the road surface height from an adjacent road surface height is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold among the road surface heights at three or more points measured by the road surface height measurer; and a road surface condition determiner which excludes a value of the road surface height at the position at which the difference detected by the position detector is equal to or larger than the predetermined threshold, and determines a condition of the road surface based on the road surface heights at positions at each of which the difference from an adjacent road surface height is smaller than the predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuya Konada, Takashi Yanagi, Ryosuke Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 11872861
    Abstract: An ECU includes: a road surface height measurer which measures road surface heights at three or more points along a vehicle-width direction in front of a tire mounted on a wheel; a position detector which detects a position at which a difference of the road surface height from an adjacent road surface height is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold among the road surface heights at three or more points measured by the road surface height measurer; and a corrector which corrects the road surface height at a position at which the difference detected by the position detector is equal to or larger than the predetermined threshold to a predetermined height.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuya Konada, Takashi Yanagi, Ryosuke Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 11873008
    Abstract: A representation of a first set of weights associated with a vehicle prior to a drive are received, the vehicle including a plurality of axles, a plurality of wheels attached to the plurality of axles, and a load. A warning is caused to be output in response to at least one weight from the first set of weights being outside a predetermined range. Longitudinal and lateral dynamics associated with the vehicle during the drive are determined. A second set of weights associated with at least one axle from the plurality of axles during the drive are determined. A determination is made if at least one remedial action should be performed based on the longitudinal dynamics, the lateral dynamics, and the second set of weights. In response to determining that the at least one remedial action should be performed, the at least one remedial action is caused to be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: PlusAI, Inc.
    Inventors: Siva Bhargav Ravella, Xiaoyu Huang, Amit Kumar
  • Patent number: 11865891
    Abstract: A system for active roll control for a vehicle body is provided and includes a sensor operable to monitor a tilt of the body and a suspension system. The suspension system includes an active sway bar including a first bar portion, a second bar portion, and an active roll control motor disposed between the first bar portion and the second bar portion. The active roll control motor is operable to turn the first bar portion in relation to the second bar portion. The system further includes a computerized active roll control controller which is operative to monitor a driving mode including one of straight-line driving and rounding a curve on a road, monitor an output of the sensor, determine a desired roll moment based upon the driving mode and the output of the sensor, and control the active roll control motor based upon the desired roll moment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Robert G. Izak, Nojan Medinei, Larry G. Gepfrey, Bo Yu
  • Patent number: 11814036
    Abstract: A control method of a vehicle includes determining a look-ahead time, calculating a predicted passage position by using specific vehicle information having at least a position of a wheel at the current time point, velocity of the vehicle, and the proceeding direction of the vehicle, acquiring a road surface displacement-associated value at the predicted passage position, calculating a final target control force based on the road surface displacement-associated value at the predicted passage position, and controlling a control force generator based on the final target control force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Furuta
  • Patent number: 11679820
    Abstract: A spring-damper system includes at least a differential cylinder (4), a hydraulic accumulator (26) and a control valve device (1, 2). By at least one motor-pump unit (22), pressure fluid can be supplied to the annular end (6) or both the annular end (6) and the piston end (8) of the differential cylinder (4) in a closed circuit using the control valve device (1, 2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: HYDAC MOBILHYDRAULIK GMBH
    Inventor: Alexander Streit
  • Patent number: 11667277
    Abstract: In a driving assistance control apparatus for a vehicle, an acquisition unit is configured to acquire a detected traveling state of the vehicle and a detected traveling environment of the vehicle. A control unit is configured to, when a curvature radius of a travel trajectory of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined radius threshold, cause a driving assistance unit to perform collision avoidance assistance using, as an activation area of the collision avoidance assistance, a reduced activation area obtained by reducing a reference activation area, and when determining that the vehicle is making a constant turn, cause the driving assistance unit to perform the collision avoidance assistance by using the traveling state of the vehicle and the traveling environment of the vehicle and the reference activation area even if the curvature radius of the travel trajectory is equal to or less than the radius threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kei Kamiya, Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 11618297
    Abstract: A method of operating an adjustable roll stabilizer for a motor vehicle. The stabilizer has an actuator which can be rotated through a system angle about a rotational axis to apply a system torque and rotate two stabilizer sections relative to one another about the axis. The stabilizer sections are coupled at a radial distance from the axis to a respective wheel suspension, and depending on the system angle and under the external influence of movements of the wheel suspensions, twist relative to one another through a stabilizer angle. In the context of a perturbation magnitude regulation, the actuator is controlled based on the stabilizer angle determined from height levels of the wheels, by virtue of a stored relationship for the roll stabilizer and/or motor vehicle. The plausibility of the stored relationship between the wheel height levels and the stabilizer angle is checked by a model calculation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventors: Philip Niemeyer, Stefan Lekon
  • Patent number: 11618527
    Abstract: A control device is configured to control a damping force of a damping device using a difference between a front-rear acceleration of a vehicle main body and a rotational acceleration of a vehicle wheel, the damping device being configured to dampen a force generated between the vehicle main body and the vehicle wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Tokuhara, Kimitoshi Sato, Yosuke Murakami
  • Patent number: 11584184
    Abstract: A control method for hybrid electromagnetic suspension. The method provides four modes for hybrid electromagnetic suspension: a comfort mode, a sport mode, a combined mode, and an energy feedback mode. A driver can switch between the four modes as desired. For the comfort, sport, and combined modes, hybrid control is adopted, and two sub-modes are provided: an active control mode and a semi-active control mode. A switching condition between the two sub-modes is determined by using a novel parameter Cact and comparing the same against a maximum equivalent electromagnetic damping coefficient Ceqmax of a linear motor. The present invention solves the problem of achieving a balance between suspension comfort and tire traction, and meets the demands of different operating conditions and users by enabling manual mode switching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Jiangsu University
    Inventors: Ruochen Wang, Yuchen Qian, Xiangpeng Meng, Zeyu Sun, Jian Xie, Long Chen
  • Patent number: 11578974
    Abstract: A road inclination estimating apparatus is configured to acquire power spectrum density of vertical vibration by a frequency analysis based on the detected vertical acceleration of the sprung mass of a vehicle. The apparatus is configured to determine that a first estimation condition is satisfied, when the power spectrum density has two of the acquired peak frequencies, wherein, one of the two of the peak frequencies is within a predetermined first frequency range, and the other one of the two of the peak frequencies is within a predetermined second frequency range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshihisa Yamada
  • Patent number: 11565694
    Abstract: A cruise control method for a hybrid vehicle is provided. The method includes detecting a preceding vehicle and estimating the speed of the preceding vehicle from the information input from a preceding vehicle detecting unit in the on state of a cruise mode and a PnG mode. An upper limit target vehicle speed and a lower limit target vehicle speed are determined from the estimated speed of the preceding vehicle. The driving source of the vehicle is operated to alternately repeat the acceleration (pulse phase) and deceleration (glide phase) of the vehicle between the determined upper limit target vehicle speed and lower limit target vehicle speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Jeong Soo Eo, Sung Jae Kim, Ji Won Oh
  • Patent number: 11560198
    Abstract: A tiltable vehicle has a pair of front wheels coupled to a tiltable chassis by a tilt linkage, such that the pair of front wheels and the chassis are configured to tilt in unison with respect to a roll axis of the chassis. The tilt linkage includes a four-bar linkage having a pair of upper bar segments coupled to the chassis at spaced-apart respective inboard joints. In some examples, the inboard joints of the upper bar segments are each disposed outboard of a central chassis joint of a lower bar of the tilt linkage. An orientation sensor is configured to detect directional information regarding a net force vector applied to the chassis, and a tilt actuator operatively coupled to the chassis and configured to selectively tilt the chassis. A controller is configured to selectively control the tilt actuator based on the directional information from the orientation sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: Sway Motorsports LLC
    Inventors: Kyle Jonathan Doerksen, Joseph Wilcox
  • Patent number: 11554779
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling backward driving of a vehicle including: a driving trajectory generation unit configured to generate a driving trajectory for backward driving of an ego vehicle on a target path, using sensing information acquired while the ego vehicle drives forward along the target path; and a control unit configured to control the backward driving of the ego vehicle on the target path according to the driving trajectory generated by the driving trajectory generation unit, correct the driving trajectory using driving information of another vehicle, which has driven backward on the target path before the ego vehicle, when a change on the target path is sensed in comparison to during the forward driving of the ego vehicle during the process of controlling the backward driving of the ego vehicle, and control the backward driving of the ego vehicle according to the corrected driving trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jeong Ku Kim
  • Patent number: 11447062
    Abstract: A bank angle of a vehicle can be accurately calculated using yaw axis data and roll axis data, and based on the calculated bank angle, vehicle illumination optics can be controlled to maintain a pattern of distributed light from the illumination optics to be generally horizontal. The calculated bank angle may be zeroed when the yaw axis data equals zero. The improved pattern of distributed light from the illumination optics illuminates a more natural field of view for the vehicle driver during a bank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: J.W. SPEAKER CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kevin Jay McWithey, Bradley William Kay, Dragolsav Popovic
  • Patent number: 11407410
    Abstract: A method for estimating an accident risk of an autonomous driving unit produces helpful results with fewer autonomous driving cycles. From driving values, which have been determined from monitoring at least one driving parameter of the driving unit during autonomous driving, an autonomous-driving quantity is determined quantifying an autonomous-driving quality of the driving of the driving unit. The autonomous-driving quantity is associated with a plurality of manual-driving quantities, which have been determined from the same driving parameter during manual driving periods of different driving units. An autonomous-driving accident rate value is determined from accident rate values associated to those manual-driving quantities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Inventor: Walter Steven Rosenbaum
  • Patent number: 11318943
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is mounted on a vehicle including a driving actuator configured to apply a driving force and a braking actuator configured to apply a braking force. The vehicle control device includes a processor. The processor is configured to correct, when a predetermined condition including at least that the vehicle is decelerating is satisfied, the required driving force and the required braking force so as to increase the required driving force and the required braking force such that a sum of a magnitude of the required driving force and a magnitude of the required braking force is equal to or larger than a magnitude of the component of the gravity acting on the vehicle in the movement direction of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takahiro Yokota
  • Patent number: 11260839
    Abstract: Provided is a brake control apparatus configured to: set a target slip degree of each of three wheels other than an outer front wheel to a slip degree of the outer front wheel; perform feedback control so that an actual slip degree of each of the three wheels becomes close to the target slip degree; and decrease a feedback control amount of a wheel which is to be controlled to increase an anti-spin yaw moment when an understeer suppression condition is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Advics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Hara, Hiroaki Nagase, Kei Amamoto
  • Patent number: 11203244
    Abstract: A damping control apparatus includes a control device for controlling actuators that generate forces acting between a vehicle body and wheels. The control device stores a single wheel model of a vehicle including a skyhook device having a damper, a spring and an inerter. The control device calculates a product of an acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor and an equivalent mass of the inerter, a product of a once integrated value of the acceleration and a damping coefficient of the damper, a product of a twice integrated value of the acceleration and, a spring constant of the spring as target damping forces to be applied to a sprung mass, and controls the actuators based on target generative forces based on the target damping forces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Etsuo Katsuyama
  • Patent number: 11193814
    Abstract: A device for identifying obstacles for rail vehicles includes a force measuring device that generates a collision force measuring signal in the event of a collision between a collision beam of the rail vehicle and a mass of the collision object, where the collision force measuring signal is directed to an evaluation device together with a rail vehicle speed signal and the evaluation device is configured to integrate the collision force measuring signal via an integrator located in the evaluation device and by using the rail vehicle speed signal in order to determine the mass of the collision object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: SIEMENS MOBILITY AUSTRIA GMBH
    Inventor: Gerard Salzgeber
  • Patent number: 11155255
    Abstract: A drive system includes: a drive device including an electric motor; and a torque controller that controls operations of the electric motor to control torque output from the electric motor. The torque controller includes a target-motor-torque determiner that determines target motor torque based on a sum of motor requested torque and a value obtained by multiplying a gain by sprung-portion-vibration-control torque. The target motor torque is a target value of the torque output from the electric motor. The motor requested torque is determined based on vehicle requested torque requested for driving of the vehicle. The torque controller includes a gain determiner that determines the gain to a value that is less when an absolute value of the motor requested torque is small with respect to the sprung-portion-vibration-control torque than when the absolute value is large with respect to the sprung-portion-vibration-control torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hirofumi Momose
  • Patent number: 11153116
    Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for retrofitting a vehicle are presented. The method relates to a vehicle with a factory-installed first apparatus which communicates with a factory-installed second apparatus through a vehicle data bus using a first message. The method includes electrically disconnecting the vehicle data bus between the first apparatus and the second apparatus and electrically connecting a retrofit apparatus to the vehicle data bus. The method further includes transmitting a second message from the retrofit apparatus to the first apparatus which is indistinguishable from the first message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: Sucxess LLC
    Inventor: Axel Nix
  • Patent number: 11110913
    Abstract: A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame includes at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Polaris Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Brian D. Krosschell, Jonathon P. Graus, Steven R. Franker, Jill Kolesnikov, Maxim Kolesnikov, Keijiro Ikebe, Elaine M. Scott, Joseph Paul Nuxoll
  • Patent number: 11100591
    Abstract: Methods and systems for monitoring use, determining risk, and recommending usage levels of one or more autonomous (and/or semi-autonomous) operation features of a vehicle are provided. According to certain aspects, operating data from sensors within the vehicle may be used to determine risks associated with use of the features, which may include use at particular levels or with certain settings. The operating data may further be used to determine optimal or suggested use levels for the features. When the actual and suggested use levels differ, an alert may be generated and presented to the vehicle operator indicating suggested changes. The vehicle operator may then change the use levels or select an option to change the usage to the suggested use levels. The response of the vehicle operator may be used to determine or adjust aspects of an insurance policy associated with the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY
    Inventors: Blake Konrardy, Scott T. Christensen, Gregory Hayward, Scott Farris
  • Patent number: 11097588
    Abstract: An air suspension system which includes the ability to adjust the working air volume, pressure, and spring rate of one or more air springs to reduce or eliminate various types of vehicle oscillations. Switchable or variable volume air spring assemblies have the ability to change air spring volumes, which results in changes in air spring rates, and therefore changes in normal loads applied to each wheel. Changes in wheel normal loads change wheel traction (slip) and vehicle dynamics (pitch, roll, yaw displacement, rate and acceleration). The spring rate of one or more of the air spring assemblies is adjusted automatically when a vehicle oscillation is detected. This vehicle oscillation is calculated from the raw vehicle signals, or another vehicle module may detect the oscillation and send a command to the air suspension module to change the spring rates. This changes the natural frequency of the vehicle, dampening the oscillation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Conrad Tuhro, Daniel Gregory Goodrich, Patrick Alan Crane
  • Patent number: 11065930
    Abstract: Presented herein are systems and methods for controlling a response (e.g., a roll, a pitch) of a vehicle body to a driver input. In one aspect, a method for controlling the response of the vehicle body is presented, the method comprising receiving an input (e.g., a steering wheel input, a pedal input) from an operator of a vehicle and modifying an aspect (e.g., a roll angle, a pitch angle, a roll rate, a pitch rate) of the response of the vehicle body, the modified aspect having a value based, at least partially, on the input. In another aspect, a controlled vehicle is presented comprising a vehicle body and one or more actuators configured to apply a torque to the vehicle body, the torque having a direction and/or magnitude based, at least partially, on a driver input (e.g. steering command, braking command, and/or acceleration command).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: ClearMotion, Inc.
    Inventors: Marco Giovanardi, Matthew Jo Taylor, Jaganath Chandrasekar
  • Patent number: 11052718
    Abstract: An active suspension control unit may include an actuator having an active roll stabilization (ARS) structure to variably adjust response characteristics of a suspension, and a controller for determining a driving situation of a vehicle through information input from a sensor, and determining a final desired control value of the actuator based on a desired relative suspension vertical force value set in advance according to the driving situation and a difference value generated by a difference between left and right wheel's relative suspension vertical velocities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motors Company, Kia Corporation
    Inventors: Hui Kwon Lee, Woo Kyun Kim, Min Su Lee
  • Patent number: 11052942
    Abstract: A tiltable vehicle is configured to transform between an autonomous mode and a rideable mode by pivoting the handlebars and steering column of the vehicle about a pitch axis. In the autonomous mode, the steering column is folded back toward the chassis and a tiltable chassis of the vehicle is prevented from tilting. In the rideable mode, the steering column is unfolded and the chassis is free to tilt. In some examples, a tiltable vehicle includes features beneficial for vehicle-sharing, such as parking devices or a basket. These features may be included on any suitable vehicle and are not limited to use on transforming vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Sway Motorsports LLC
    Inventors: Kyle Jonathan Doerksen, Joseph Wilcox
  • Patent number: 11013170
    Abstract: To properly determine a state in which driving of the work unit should be prohibited in power equipment, the power equipment (1) includes: a main body (2); a work unit provided on the main body; a work motor (8) that drives the work unit; a tilt angle detector (41) that detects a tilt angle of the main body; and a control unit (10) that drive-controls the work motor, wherein the control unit performs prohibition control to prohibit driving of the work motor when the tilt angle becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined tilt angle determination value and a change rate of the tilt angle becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined change rate determination value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Fukano, Masato Takeda, Keisuke Muraoka
  • Patent number: 10987987
    Abstract: A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame are disclosed. The vehicle including at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Polaris Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathon P. Graus, David D. Helgeson, Alex R. Scheuerell
  • Patent number: 10971014
    Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to methods, systems, and apparatuses for automated or assisted driving and more particularly relates to identification, localization, and navigation with respect to bollard receivers. A method for detecting bollard receivers includes receiving perception data from one or more perception sensors of a vehicle. The method includes determining, based on the perception data, a location of one or more bollard receivers in relation to a body of the vehicle. The method also includes providing an indication of the location of the one or more bollard receivers to one or more of a driver and component or system that makes driving maneuver decisions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Harpreetsingh Banvait, Scott Vincent Myers, Ashley Elizabeth Micks, Sneha Kadetotad
  • Patent number: 10953886
    Abstract: A vehicle localization system includes: an electronic control unit estimating a vehicle position including a longitudinal position on a map in an extension direction of a road on which the vehicle is traveling and a lateral position on the map in a lateral direction of the road; and a storage device storing a map database including map information. The electronic control unit obtains a vehicle speed and a pitch angle of the vehicle, perceives a measured position of the vehicle on the map based on a measurement result of a positioning device mounted on the vehicle and the vehicle speed, and estimates the longitudinal position from comparison between a rate of change in pitch angle of the vehicle along the road and a rate of change in height on the map along the road, based on the measured position, the map information, and the pitch angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koki Suwabe, Toshiki Matsui
  • Patent number: 10940734
    Abstract: A suspension control system includes: a suspension that couples a sprung structure and an unsprung structure of a vehicle; a stabilizer; and a control unit configured to estimate a stroke speed, wherein the vehicle includes first wheels and second wheels, the suspension includes first suspensions provided for the first wheels and second suspensions provided for the second wheels, the stabilizer includes a first stabilizer bar that couples the first suspensions, the control unit includes: indirect stabilizer force calculation unit configured to calculate an indirect stabilizer force received by each of the second suspensions in conjunction with a posture change of the sprung structure; sum calculation unit configured to calculate a sum of forces acting on each of the second suspensions; and an observer configured to receive the sum and output an estimation value of a stroke speed of each of the second suspensions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroki Furuta
  • Patent number: 10935378
    Abstract: A system for generating a ground truth dataset for motion planning is disclosed. The system includes: a collecting module configured to collect LiDAR scans; a detecting module configured to detect two pose estimates that are closest to LiDAR scan accusation time; a determining module configured to determine LiDAR's poses based on an interpolation; and a transforming module configured to transform LiDAR raw scans into undistorted LiDAR scans.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: TUSIMPLE, INC.
    Inventors: Fuheng Deng, Renyuan Zhang, Lei Nie, Yuhe Jin
  • Patent number: 10933906
    Abstract: A damping reduction apparatus for a motor driven power steering (MDPS) may include: a natural vibration frequency detection unit configured to detect a natural vibration frequency from a motor current by variably controlling a bandwidth according to a steering condition; a damping compensation unit configured to additionally compensate for a damping value outputted from a damping unit according to a vehicle speed; and a compensation output unit configured to inversely compensate for an output of the MDPS according to the natural vibration frequency outputted from the natural vibration frequency output unit, and add the compensation to an output of the damping compensation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tae Hong Kim
  • Patent number: 10922986
    Abstract: A system includes a first smart sensor, a second smart sensor, and at least one image processor. The first smart sensor is configured to sense light in a forward direction and to capture an image during a first time period. The second sensor is configured to sense light in the forward direction and to capture a second image during the first time period. The at least one image processor is configured to identify at least one object in the first and second image, to determine a first size of the at least one object in the first image and a second size of the at least one object in the second image, and to determine a distance of the at least one object from the aircraft based upon the first size and the second size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Simmons Precision Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Rutkiewicz, Todd Anthony Ell, Joseph T. Pesik
  • Patent number: 10894571
    Abstract: A leaning vehicle includes a vehicle body, a left wheel, a right wheel, a leaning mechanism, a leaning drive mechanism and a leaning brake mechanism. The leaning drive mechanism includes a drive source. The leaning drive mechanism includes a gear, rotary shafts, and a gear casing member. The leaning brake mechanism includes a brake member and a resistance applying member. The gear and the rotary shaft of the leaning drive mechanism and the brake member of the leaning brake mechanism are supported by the vehicle body in a rotatable manner by way of the gear casing member of the leaning drive mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shuhei Kanehara, Yukihide Fukuhara, Nobuo Hara, Takeshi Toyota
  • Patent number: 10745021
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for estimating a suspension displacement. An example apparatus includes a suspension motion determiner module programmed to output a signal to a first suspension assembly of a vehicle based on a first deflection of the first suspension assembly, the first deflection calculated based on a calculation and a second deflection of a second suspension assembly of the vehicle, the calculation selected based on whether the vehicle is utilized in a first mode or a second mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Ahmed Mohamed, Joseph M. Raad, Russ Lee Norton, Jorge Rivas