Patent Strategy Archives - Foresight Valuation Group

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,858,498: Autonomous Vehicle Loading with Smart Transportation Platforms (Ford Global Technologies)

Posted on February 2, 2024 9:36 pmModified on February 2, 2024 9:36 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

Disclaimer: This blog was created for informational purposes only and does not represent Foresight’s or the author’s opinion regarding the validity, quality or enforceability of any particular patent covered in this blog. Foresight is not a law firm and no portion of the information contained in this blog was intended to serve as legal opinion.

One of the most memorable scenes from the HBO cult show “Silicon Valley” has a character named Jared summon an autonomous car which, in a twisted turn of events, had its route hijacked by its operator who rerouted it into a container ship, leading poor Jared to find himself unable to break free and finally emerge in the middle of the ocean surrounded by containers and robots! This week we are looking at a patent held by Ford Global Technologies carrying the patent number 11,858,498 and titled Autonomous Vehicle Loading with Smart Transportation Platforms, which could have prevented the situation that Jared found himself in. Ford Global Technologies operates as a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and owns, manages, and commercializes patents and copyrights for Ford Motors. This patent was selected because it highlights a feature of autonomous operations that many people likely overlook, the benefit and cost savings such features can bring to the automotive manufacturer as opposed to the purchaser. Moreover, it highlights the potential revenue generation potential that intellectual property can bring to a patent holder.

Ford Global Technologies’ patent is focused on an application of self-driving that has been featured by other automotive companies, such as “Smart Summon” by Tesla, where the owner can activate this function and have their vehicle drive itself to your location, or a target destination, autonomously. These features have been marketed as a convenience tool to help move your vehicle out of a tight parking spot, through puddles, or to bring your vehicle closer to you while you are carrying packages. However, based on the details contained in the Ford patent, if these features are used by the manufacturer, it is possible to increase the speed of transporting vehicles as well as increase the safety and efficiency of a process that nearly all vehicles go through prior to arriving at the dealership. As seen in the image below, the concept behind this patent is relatively straightforward, by using autonomous driving to load vehicles onto transportation platforms, no longer is there a need for human drivers to move vehicles one-by-one onto the platform.

The patent itself describes the problem that this patent is seeking to solve; namely, the logistical hurdles inherent with loading and unloading vehicles at the scale and throughput required of a major automotive manufacturing company. The logistical hurdles mentioned in the patent specification include damage due to accidents or carelessness when loading and unloading vehicles on transportation platforms such as rail cars, shipping containers and trailers. Additionally, the description notes that this process of loading and unloading vehicles that are being shipped from manufacturers to dealerships or customers requires significantly manpower and time. According to information published on Ford’s website, the company assembled more than 1.8 million vehicles in the US in 2022 and every one of these vehicles need to be transported to a dealership or customer and this process currently involves an employee of physically sitting in each vehicle to load and another person responsible for the unloading process at the point of destination.

The patent is targeting this time, manpower and cost of damage issue by leveraging current and future autonomous features. The embodiments described in the patents do not require autonomy of this process. One example found in the patent requires a driver to be present to select the vehicle to be loaded and then has the option of activating a self-loading system found on the infotainment system and then the driver acts in a supervisory role, having that ability to take control of the vehicle if needed. However, the real benefits to Ford, and other manufacturers or transportation entities that may license the technology, is found in the fully autonomous embodiment. In this embodiment, a small number of employees act as coordinators who are able to select vehicles to activate a self-loading program. Once activated, the vehicle turns on, identifies the instructions related to the assigned transportation platform and order of loading and then the system will orchestrate the loading sequence of one or more vehicles. Within this embodiment, human involvement is limited to designing the specific program for loading on a given day and a confirmation process to ensure that the process is running smoothly. Such a process removes the requirement for a 1:1 ratio of human interactions per loaded vehicle and enables a small number of employees to act in a supervisory role. Not only does Ford benefit from the reduced manpower and time needed for loading, but also benefits from the precision driving that is expected from a vehicle once full autonomy is achieved. An additional benefit to Ford would be the ability to license this technology to its network of dealerships and transportation partners to increase efficiencies across the entire network while also having the option to license the technology to other automotive companies who have embraced full autonomous driving capabilities within their vehicles. So next time you summon an autonomous ride, you can rest assured that you will not end up like Jared!

Have you come across any interesting patents you would like us to feature in future blogs or did you invent a technology you would like featured? Please send us an email at media@foresightvaluation.com or call our office at (650) 561-3374.

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,859,986: System and Method for Delivery by Autonomous Vehicles (General Motors)

Posted on January 26, 2024 4:37 pmModified on January 26, 2024 4:37 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

In this week’s blog we are returning to the automotive space which was featured in the first blog post of this series (which covered Rivian’s Spare Wheel Container application). This week we are looking at a patent held by GM Cruise Holdings LLC carrying the patent number 11,859,986 and titled System and Method for Delivery by Autonomous Vehicles. This patent could provide a glimpse into the future of autonomous delivery logistics. GM Cruise Holdings LLC manufactures and commercializes autonomous vehicles for deployment in ride-sharing environments. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in San Francisco, California. GM Cruise Holdings LLC operates as a subsidiary of General Motors Company according to data provided by S&P Capital IQ.

GM’s patent is focused on a future application of autonomous vehicles and the system and method of utilizing these vehicles to perform tasks typically done by the individual or by a gig economy worker. The focus of this patent is primarily on the method of facilitating autonomous deliveries using a cubby based delivery assembly that is transported by an autonomous vehicles. The system seeks to overcome some of the limitations of autonomous delivery systems on the market today, namely those based on small robotic platforms or drone platforms. These limitations focus on the capacity constraints of most robotic and drone platforms which restricts the size of the delivery as well as limits the delivery to a small number of packages and/or destinations. These current platforms are also geographically limited due to range logistical considerations, and also typically function in a small geofenced area that requires training of the delivery platform to navigate the sidewalks in the case of robotic platforms, and the airspace for drone platforms. As depicted in the patent images shown below, as well as images pulled from the GM Cruise website, it appears that GM has taken a different route and is planning to implement this patented system in a larger vehicle designed to operate in normal city traffic.

Operating as a traditional, albeit driverless, vehicle enables GM to utilize an existing platform that is already scheduled for use as a driverless taxi vehicle in Japan starting in 2026, and adapt the vehicle to either service a different function or to serve multiple functions by providing taxi services when delivery demand is low and switching to delivery services when passenger demand increases.

As seen in the image above, the patent is outlining the ways in which this service may be facilitate through a control panel alerting the user where their delivery is located. In the patent, a system is described that allows for the authentication of a user receiving a delivery and authorizing the user to access one or more items in a specific cubby. The system described in the patent is one that is pretty straightforward to interact with as a user, and while this may seem like a system out of a sci-fi movie, the increased use of autonomous services occurring around us today, coupled to the growing demand and expectation for near-real-time delivery of orders, highlights the likely demand for such a system as found in this patent. Moreover, with multiple companies working together, such as is the case for the Cruise Origin being developed for the autonomous taxi service in Japan which is being developed through a collaboration between Honda, GM and Cruise, it is likely that in the coming years we will begin to see autonomous vehicles delivering our Walmart, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s orders right to our driveway.

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Granted Patent 11,861,255: Wearable Device for Facilitating Enhanced Interaction (Apple Inc.)

Posted on January 18, 2024 3:38 pmModified on January 18, 2024 3:38 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

In this week’s blog, we are following up on our first post in the series highlighting Rivian’s Spare Wheel Containers for a Vehicle (link to blog) patent application with a newly issued patent from Apple titled Wearable Device for Facilitating Enhanced Interaction. Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide and reported $383 billion in total revenues in fiscal year 2023, based on the company’s most recent annual report. In addition to the traditional offerings many of us use throughout our day, Apple is debuting a new form of content consumption, computer usage and productivity called the Vision Pro which is set to start accepting pre-orders on January 19^th. The Vision Pro is a form of spatial computing that utilizes artificial intelligence and computer vision to combine virtual content with the physical world. Many will view this technology as the next step in Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) and we have seen early forms of this technology in products such as Magic Leap or Oculus (now Meta Quest). While this blog is not an endorsement of the future of spatial computing, Apple’s participation in the market is a sign of market traction and likely growth in rollout of consumer products targeting the typical use of personal computers rather than being driven by gaming applications, which is the reason this patent was selected to be highlighted in this blog series.

As seen in the images below, the issued patent, which was filed in 2018, addresses the person to person interaction element that is anticipated when a user has a computing device covering the majority of their face. Given the intent of this device to be used in a similar manner in which our phones and computers are currently being used, there needs to be a way to allow personal interaction in a fashion that is not currently available in most VR or other head devices. To overcome this issue and to provide the user with awareness of and engagement with the real-world, the patent presents a system with internal and external cameras and displays to facilitate interaction between the wearer and another person or environment.

In order to allow the device to be a practical device for any number of targeted uses, isolating the wearer from the environment while also preventing those surrounding the user to interact with the user in a traditional way, requires the device to have the ability to show human expression which is a critical component of person to person interaction. One could easily argue that such a system is unnecessary but the same has been said about a myriad of technologies that have emerged over the past 10-20 years that we utilize every day, whether that is a personal assistant like Siri or a toaster with an interactive display. The inventive process should not be limited by current habit of the consumer, but rather, the inventive process should anticipate and nudge the consumer into seeing the value and purpose of the underlying inventive concept. This can be seen in other images from the patent copied below. Is it necessary to display the wearer’s facial expressions as if the wearer’s eyes were that of a lion? No, but it is a feature that consumers immediately understand due to the similarity to the endless number of filters we can apply to our faces during facetime or other video calls. Will this lead to enjoyable mishaps like the lawyer on a zoom conference in District Court that could not figure out how turn off the cat filter? It remains to be seen how the consumer interacts with the facial features of the Vision Pro and whether these features are “facilitating enhanced interaction” as the patent’s title says.

Lynn’s Picks: Foresight’s Patent of the Week – US Patent Application 17/852,089: Spare Wheel Containers for a Vehicle (Rivian Automotive)

Posted on January 12, 2024 7:01 pmModified on January 12, 2024 7:17 pmby Lynn Dudinsky

In this week’s blog, we are kicking off the Lynn’s Picks blog series by highlighting a recent filing by Rivian Automotive carrying the US patent application number 17/852,089 titled: “Spare Wheel Containers for a Vehicle”. Rivian Automotive, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles and accessories. The company offers several models of electric pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles. It provides Rivian Commercial Vehicle platform for Electric Delivery Van with collaboration with Amazon.com, Inc. The company sells its products directly to customers in the consumer and commercial markets. Rivian Automotive, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is based in Irvine, California. In fiscal Year 2023, Rivian reported $3.8 billion in revenues, based on the company’s most recent annual report.

As seen in the images below, the patent application, which was filed in June of 2022, relates to a container built into a spare tire holder that would enable the user to utilize the space inside the tire that is typically used exclusively to simply hold the spare tire. In the system seeking patent protection, this traditionally unused space would now provide storage through a “plurality of containers each comprising a respective container type” and electrical components that would allow the vehicle to identify the container type. The patent specification includes a variety of different applications for these containers including, but not limited to: fluid container configured to transfer water, coolant, lubricant or other fluids between the vehicle and the container; a storage container that could hold a first aid kit or toolbox; an identifier tag such as RFID as well as an auxiliary battery coupled to the vehicle’s electrical system. As you review the specification of the patent, you will see a number of potential applications to this technology and probably can come up with a few that you would like to see in your vehicle.

It is important to note that this is a pending patent application that has no guarantee of issuance and even if a patent is issued, the final claim language may look very different from the proposed claim language due to the existence of prior art that may require modifications to the proposed claim language. That being said, we selected this application for the first of this series because it highlights the relative simplicity that often is tied to innovation. In this case, an engineer likely saw an open space that is rarely used for anything other than to cover the spare tire (for example, any Jeep Wrangler you see on the road is either displaying the tire or the tire cover with either JEEP or some personal message being displayed) and sought out to create a use for that empty space. The fundamental concept here is to make use of available space, a concept we all can relate to. It is a great example of finding way to improve things you interact with every day and finding ways to protect those improvements.

Have you come across any interesting patents you would like us to feature in future blogs? Please send us an email at media@foresightvaluation.com or call our office at (650) 561-3374.