588 results about "Forward looking" patented technology

The monitored use of a vehicle provides accurate and reliable data that can be used to determine the insurable risk of a vehicle operator. What is disclosed is a system and method for monitoring vehicle operation and using the collected data to calculate a driver score. The driver score can then be applied to ascertain the risk of insuring a particular driver, as well as being used as a tool for defining or adjusting the terms of an insurance policy for an insured driver. The collection of data such as the times the vehicle is operated, the locations the vehicle is operated and the speeds or other characteristics of how the vehicle is operated can all be used to calculate the driver score. By installing a vehicle monitor within a vehicle and extracting this or similar data, more accurate and profitable insurance policies can be developed.

The present invention includes a number of embodiments for improving vehicle situational awareness at intersections. A first embodiment may comprise a lens fitted at the top of the windshield or outside the vehicle, for refracting the light to the driver, so the driver may more easily see signals, signage and other features of an intersection, as well as other traffic. A second embodiment of the invention is used as an aid to prompt the driver that a light has changed. In a third embodiment, the light change sensor may be combined with other vehicle status information. As the car comes to a stop, the route guidance system may determine if the vehicle is at or in the vicinity of an intersection. Depending on the route guidance database, the system may also know whether or not there are traffic lights at the intersection. Using the vehicle's on board forward-looking radar sensor, the system may then determine if it is first in line at the intersection. In a fourth embodiment the system may be part of a portable after-market routing device. In a fifth embodiment the system, either portable or fixed, may be used to detect changes in the intensity of the brake lights of the vehicle ahead.

A driver alert for mitigating driver distraction is issued based on a proportion of off-road gaze time and the duration of a current off-road gaze. The driver alert is ordinarily issued when the proportion of off-road gaze exceeds a threshold, but is not issued if the driver's gaze has been off-road for at least a reference time. In vehicles equipped with forward-looking object detection, the driver alert is also not issued if the closing speed of an in-path object exceeds a calibrated closing rate.

A forward-looking method and system is provided for determining an economically optimal energy dispatching schema to meet the combined demands of heating, cooling and electrical by an energy plant and a facilities plant. The optimal energy dispatching schema is determined for each of a plurality of incremental time segments defined in a forward-looking time period by optimizing these loads. The schema can be used for real time energy dispatching by the energy plant, in an existing energy plant optimization, and / or a new energy plant planning and design over the forward looking time period or any other forward-looking time period.

Forward-looking ultrasound transducers are positioned at the tip of a transseptal catheter to facilitate transseptal puncture and interventions within the left atrium, pulmonary veins and mitral valve. Catheter devices and systems are guided by forward-looking ultrasound or optical coherence tomography imaging for penetrating from one location within a mammalian patient's body to another location, and / or performing diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. A penetrator, diagnostic, or interventional device (eg. probe, biopsy apparatus, electrode, needle) is positioned at the catheter tip and is advanceable from the catheter to a target location outside of the lumen in which the catheter is positioned. The imaging probe uses forward-looking ultrasound or optical coherence tomography that allows one to locate both the target and the medical device. The operator may then adjust the position and / or rotational orientation of the catheter such that when the medical device is subsequently advanced it will either enter or be deployed at the target location.

Balloon cannula systems may be used for accessing and visualizing the spine and related methods of treatment, including a forward-looking balloon system for creating a working space and the balloon system having atraumatic dissection capability to allow visualization in spine. The devices and methods described may be used, for example, to perform annulus repair, herniated disc excision, and denervation of neurological tissue; to dispense pharmacological agents and / or cell or tissue therapy agents; to diagnose disc degeneration and bony degeneration, spinal stenosis, and nucleus decompression, and to perform disc augmentation.

A method for estimating unknown parameters (pan angle (ψ), instantaneous tilt angle (τ) and road geometry of an upcoming road segment) for a vehicle object detection system. The vehicle object detection system is preferably a forward looking, radar-cued vision system having a camera, a radar sensor and an processing unit. The method first estimates the pan angle (ψ), then corrects the coordinates from a radar track so that pan angle (ψ) can be treated as zero, and finally solves a least squares problem that determines best estimates for instantaneous tilt angle (τ) and road geometry. Estimating these parameters enables the vehicle object detection system to identify, interpret and locate objects in a more accurate and efficient manner.