Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8312953B1/en
Timestamp: 2020-08-04 09:20:27
Document Index: 10044032

Matched Legal Cases: ['§119', 'application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'application No. 60']

US8312953B1 - System for storing and retrieving a personal-transportation vehicle - Google Patents
US8312953B1
US8312953B1 US12/180,091 US18009108A US8312953B1 US 8312953 B1 US8312953 B1 US 8312953B1 US 18009108 A US18009108 A US 18009108A US 8312953 B1 US8312953 B1 US 8312953B1
US12/180,091
2008-07-25 Priority to US12/180,091 priority patent/US8312953B1/en
2008-07-25 Application filed by FS Partners LLC filed Critical FS Partners LLC
2011-06-07 Assigned to COOK TECHNOLOGIES, INC. reassignment COOK TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: MARTIN, MICHAEL T., PANZARELLA, THOMAS A., PANZARELLA, THOMAS A., JR.
2012-07-23 Assigned to HARMAR MOBILITY, LLC, FREEDOM MOBILITY, LLC, HARMAR ACCESS, LLC, HARMAR SUMMIT, LLC reassignment HARMAR MOBILITY, LLC RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
2012-11-20 Publication of US8312953B1 publication Critical patent/US8312953B1/en
238000004642 transportation engineering Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 90
This is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/215,428, filed Aug. 29, 2005, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional application No. 60/692,386, filed Jun. 20, 2005 (now abandoned), and U.S. provisional application No. 60/605,042, filed Aug. 27, 2004 . The contents of each of these applications is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Personal-transportation vehicles are commonly used by persons with ambulatory difficulties or other disabilities. Personal-transportation vehicles are often transported using a motor vehicle such as a van, pickup truck, passenger car, etc. (hereinafter referred to as a σtransporting vehicleμ).
Retrieving the personal-transportation vehicle from the lift and carrier assembly can present difficulties for a mobility-impaired user. More particularly, it may be difficult or impossible for a mobility-impaired user to move from the driver s position (or some other location) in the transporting vehicle to the lift and carrier assembly, to retrieve the personal-transportation vehicle. It may also be difficult or impossible for the user to move from the lift and carrier assembly to the driver s position (or some other location), after the personal transportation vehicle has been stored on the lift and carrier assembly. Hence, a mobility-impaired user may be unable to travel in the transporting vehicle when assistance to load and unload the user s personal transportation vehicle is unavailable to the user at the origin or destination of the trip.
The present invention provides a system for automatically transferring a personal-transportation vehicle, such as a power chair, between a first and a second position proximate a motor vehicle such as a minivan. The system can be used to transfer the personal-transportation vehicle between a first position on a lift and carrier assembly mounted on the motor vehicle, and a second position proximate a door of the motor vehicle, so that the user can transfer to and from the personal-transportation vehicle with minimal physical effort and movement. The system can generate guidance information for the personal-transportation vehicle based on position information generated by sensors located on one or both of the personal-transportation vehicle and the motor vehicle.
FIG. 27 is a magnified view of the area designated σAμ in FIG. 18A;
The system 10 can be used to facilitate movement of the power chair 100 between a first position on a lift and carrier assembly 104 mounted on the minivan 101, and a second position proximate a side door 103 of the minivan 101. (The power chair is depicted in the first and second positions in FIGS. 16A and 21A, respectively.) The driver of the minivan 101 can transfer between the power chair 100, and a specially-configured driver s seat when the power chair 100 is in the second position. The system 10 can thus permit a mobility-impaired user to remotely store and retrieve the power chair 100 without assistance from another individual.
The system 10 can be operated in different modes that provide varying degrees of automation in the transfer of the power chair 100. For example, the system 10 can facilitate fully automated transfer of the power chair 100 between the first and second positions. In other words, the system 10 can allow the user to initiate transfer of the power chair 100 without a need for any action other than activating the system 10. Automated transfer, as discussed below, can be facilitated by a combination of image-based control (σvision modeμ), and control based on range and displacement measurements obtained by instrumentation mounted on the power chair 100 (σchair modeμ).
The second computing device 18 can include, for example, an EBC 363 1-GHz Processor Embedded Controller available from NEXCOM International Co., Ltd.; a 512 MB PC133 SODIMM memory module available from Crucial Technologies; a COMPACT FLASH™ 2-GB compact flash card available from Transcend Online Store; an HESC104 power supply available from Tri-M Engineering and Systems Inc.; a 4I30 four-channel quadrature counter card available from Mesa electronics; and a Diamond-MM 12-bit Analog I/O PC/104 Module available from Diamond Systems Corp. The use of this particular hardware in connection with the second computing device 18 is specified for exemplary purposes only. Other types of hardware can be used in the alternative.
The system 10 can be used in connection with a seat system 17 (see FIG. 4). The seat system 17 can be used in lieu of the OEM driver s seat in the minivan 101. The seat system 17 comprises a seat 26. The seat system 17 also comprises an actuating mechanism 27 that moves the seat 26 between a first position (FIG. 11A) and a second position (FIG. 23A). The seat 26, when in the first position, places the user in a position suitable for operating the minivan 101. In other words, the position of the seat 26 when in the first position is substantially identical to the position of the OEM driver s seat.
The output of the processor 36 of the vision system 14 can be transmitted to the first computing device 12 by, for example, an IEEE 1394 standard σFirewireμ serial link, or other suitable means.
The first computing device 12 can be programmed to recognize the fiducial markings 38 using a two-dimensional pattern matching technique. More particularly, given an image I, an m×n fiducial pattern, or template T, and an m×n block region B∈I , the similarity of an image block B to the template T is calculated as
where and denote the mean and standard deviation of the pixel intensity values for T and B. This is referred to as the normalized intensity distribution (NID), and models both changes in scene brightness and contrast. The fiducial position in the image is then determined from B*=arg min(ε) ∀B∈I. Depending on the size and resolution of the charge coupled devices (CCDs) used in the camera 34, it is believed that the positions of the fiducial markings 38 can be estimated with a resolution approximately 2 mm or greater.
The first computing device 12 can be programmed to include a feature tracker, to supplement the above-described pattern matching technique. The feature tracker can use, for example, a Harris corner detector. In particular, the first computing device 12 can compute the locally averaged moment matrix computed from the image gradients, and then combine the eigenvalues of the moment matrix to compute a corner σstrength, μ of which maximum values indicate the corner positions.
A suitable rangefinder 20 can be obtained, for example, from SICK AG of Dusseldorf, Germany as the LMS200 or LMS100 rangefinder. The rangefinder 20 is mounted on the power chair 100 so that the rangefinder 20 can provide an indication of the spacing between the power chair 100, and the left side 112 of the minivan 101.
Further details of lift and carrier assemblies suitable for use as part of the system 10 are included in U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,215, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 60/278,621, filed Mar. 26, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,202, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 60/475,308 filed Jun. 3, 2003; and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/177,128, filed Jul. 8, 2005. The contents of each of these documents is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
A docking device 122 can be used to secure the power chair 100 in position on the platform 118 (see FIG. 18B). The docking device 122 can include a first portion mounted on the platform 118, and a second portion mounted on the power chair 100. The first and second portions can include complementary mating features to that allow the first portion to securely engage the second portion on a selective basis. The mating features can be disengaged by one or more electric solenoids 123, when the user wishes to drive or otherwise move the power chair 100 off of the platform 118.
Further details of docking devices suitable for use as part of the system 10 are included in U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,666; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,466, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 60/473,674, filed May 27, 2003, and U.S. provisional application No. 60/547,514, filed Feb. 25, 2004. The contents of each of these documents is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The minivan 101 is preferably equipped with a device 113 for actuating, i.e., opening and closing, the liftgate 102 on an automated basis (se FIG. 7A). A device suitable for this purpose can be obtained, for example, from Courtland Mobility Services, Inc. of Burlington, Ontario (Canada), as the LOAD N GO Power Hatch Assist.
1. A system for guiding a personal-transportation vehicle between a first and a second position proximate a motor vehicle, comprising:
a vision system capable of being mounted on the motor vehicle and comprising a camera and a processor communicatively coupled to the camera, for generating information representing a visual image of the personal-transportation vehicle;
a first computing device communicatively coupled to the vision system for generating guidance information for the personal-transportation vehicle and guiding the personal-transportation vehicle along a first portion of a predetermined course based on the information representing a visual image of the personal-transportation vehicle;
a proximity sensor capable of being mounted on the personal-transportation vehicle for generating information relating to an actual distance between the personal-transportation vehicle and the motor vehicle;
an odometry system for determining a displacement of the personal-transportation vehicle; and
a second computing device communicatively coupled to the proximity sensor and the odometry system for generating guidance information for the personal-transportation vehicle and guiding the personal-transportation vehicle along a second portion of the predetermined course based on: a difference between the actual and a predetermined desired distance between the personal-transportation vehicle and the motor vehicle; and the displacement of the personal-transportation vehicle.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the proximity sensor is a laser rangefinder.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second computing device can guide the personal-transportation vehicle along the second portion of the predetermined course by comparing the actual distance of the personal-transportation vehicle from the motor vehicle as determined by the proximity sensor to the predetermined desired distance of the personal-transportation vehicle from the motor vehicle, and generating guidance information for the personal-transportation vehicle to reduce a difference between the actual distance of the personal-transportation vehicle from the motor vehicle and the predetermined desired distance of the personal-transportation vehicle from the motor vehicle.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the second computing device has information stored therein representing a profile of a side of the motor vehicle, and the second computing device can guide the personal-transportation vehicle along the second portion of the predetermined course based on the information representing a profile of a side of the motor vehicle.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computing device can guide the personal-transportation vehicle onto and off of a platform of a lift and carrier assembly mounted on the motor vehicle by determining a position and an orientation of the personal-transportation vehicle in relation to the first portion of the predetermined course based on the information representing a visual image of the personal-transportation vehicle, and generating guidance information for the personal-transportation vehicle to direct the personal-transportation vehicle toward the first portion of the predetermined course.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first computing device is configured to determine a position and an orientation of the personal-transportation vehicle within a field of view of the camera by recognizing a physical feature of the personal-transportation vehicle using a two-dimensional pattern matching technique.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first computing device is further configured to determine the position and the orientation of the personal-transportation vehicle within the field of view of the camera using a feature tracker.
8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a wireless communication system including a wireless bridge communicatively coupled to the second computing device, and a wireless Ethernet router communicatively coupled to the first computing device, and the wireless bridge and the wireless Ethernet router communicate over a local Ethernet network using a UDP over IP protocol.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor of the vision system and the first computing device are communicatively coupled by way of an IEEE 1394 standard Firewire serial link.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a lift and carrier assembly capable of being mounted on the motor vehicle for supporting the personal-transportation vehicle on the motor vehicle.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the second computing device generates a corrective action based on a magnitude and direction of a position error represented by the difference between the actual and the predetermined desired distance between the personal-transportation vehicle and the motor vehicle.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the odometry system comprises an encoder for measuring an angular displacement of a wheel of the personal-transportation vehicle, and a gyroscope for determining an orientation of the personal-transportation vehicle.
13. A system for guiding a personal-transportation vehicle between a first and a second position proximate a motor vehicle, comprising:
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