The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Aug. 22, 2023

Filed:

Apr. 15, 2020
Applicant:

Liquid Robotics, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Inventor:

Christopher David Cencula, Roseville, CA (US);

Assignee:

Liquid Robotics, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B62D 15/02 (2006.01); G01C 21/36 (2006.01); B60W 60/00 (2020.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B62D 15/024 (2013.01); B60W 60/0011 (2020.02); B60W 60/0025 (2020.02); B62D 15/025 (2013.01); G01C 21/3605 (2013.01);
Abstract

Navigation of a solar vehicle is provided by obtaining a target geographic destination for the vehicle having one or more photovoltaic solar arrays; obtaining configuration data defining a target solar vector relative to a reference frame of the vehicle; identifying a current geographic positioning of the vehicle via a geo-positioning system of the vehicle, including a current geographic location and a current geographic orientation of the vehicle; identifying a current solar vector relative to the reference frame of the vehicle; and during at least a portion of a solar day, outputting a steering command for the vehicle for an indirect path from the current geographic location toward the target geographic destination that is based, at least in part, on a comparison of the current solar vector to the target solar vector. The steering command can be presented to a human operator or programmatically implemented by an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.


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