General Purpose Robotics Operating System With Unmanned And Autonomous Vehicle Extensions

Patent No. US11314251 (titled "General Purpose Robotics Operating System With Unmanned And Autonomous Vehicle Extensions") was filed by Perrone Robotics Inc on Jun 25, 2019.

’251 is related to the field of operating systems, particularly those used in robotics and automation . The patent addresses the need for a broad, cost-effective solution for programming and implementing software and hardware in these fields, especially for autonomous vehicles. Existing solutions often lack the flexibility and standardization required for rapid deployment and integration of robotics and automation solutions.

The underlying idea behind ’251 is to create a general-purpose robotics operating system (GPROS) that provides a standardized platform for integrating diverse robotics and automation applications. This involves offering generic software services, configurable application services, and a plug-and-play architecture for extensions, enabling developers to focus on custom business logic rather than low-level implementation details.

The claims of ’251 focus on a method of using a GPROS on a vehicle, an autonomous vehicle comprising a GPROS, a method of manufacturing an autonomous vehicle, and an apparatus operable in an autonomous vehicle. The claims cover the configuration and management of servomechanisms for steering, braking, and throttle control, all managed by the GPROS and its configurable application services.

In practice, the invention involves connecting servomechanisms to control a vehicle's steering, braking, and throttle. A movement plan is developed to govern these servomechanisms, and the GPROS manages the application threads and various services like traffic sign handling and obstacle avoidance. The GPROS is designed to be highly configurable, allowing for both static and dynamic adaptation, and uses a generic abstraction for accessing configuration data, ensuring independence from the underlying hardware.

The invention differentiates itself from prior approaches by providing a completely configurable and extensible platform that automates application configuration, assembly, construction, deployment, and management. This allows for rapid development and deployment of robotics and automation applications, reducing the time and cost associated with integrating software and hardware components. The GPROS also facilitates communication between robotic agents and humans, and enables dynamic reconfiguration and code updates over a network.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the mid-2000s when ’251 was filed, robotics and automation systems were typically implemented using monolithic architectures, at a time when integration between vertical applications and underlying platforms, as well as between software platforms and plug-and-play hardware, was a non-trivial task. Systems commonly relied on specific solutions for specific needs, rather than a broad, general-purpose platform. Hardware or software constraints made rapid deployment and integration of end-user robotics solutions challenging.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner allowed the claims because, after reviewing the application and the prior art, they determined that the prior art references, either individually or in combination, did not disclose the specific arrangement of elements/steps in the same combination as a whole, as specified in the independent claims. The examiner stated that the application was directed to a non-obvious improvement over the prior art and that a hypothetical prior art rejection would require impermissible hindsight reasoning.

Claims

This patent contains 21 claims, with independent claims numbered 1, 2, 14, and 21. The independent claims are generally directed to a method of using a robotics operating system on a vehicle, an autonomous vehicle, a method of manufacturing an autonomous vehicle, and an apparatus operable in an autonomous vehicle. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the features and functionalities described in the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)	Support for Specification	Interpretation
Brake servomechanism (Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 14, Claim 21)	“Either built-in, generically configurable, or add-on extensions for encapsulating sensor, actuator, and behavioral conduct are loaded, assembled, linked-in, and managed by the robotics and automation platform. During online or active operations, data is read from sensors synchronously or asynchronously, behavioral conduct is executed, and actuators are able to be commanded or controlled to actuate.”	A mechanism connected to the vehicle that applies and releases the brake based on a movement plan.
Movement plan (Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 14, Claim 21)	“Rather than traditional algorithm-based techniques, which are limited and far removed from natural human thinking, rules engine technology can use proximity and location data, sensor data, navigation rules defined offline by humans, and newly defined navigation rules defined online by humans to determine what movement planning actions should be undertaken.”	A plan configured to control the steering servomechanism, the brake servomechanism, and the throttle servomechanism.
Steering servomechanism (Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 14, Claim 21)	“Either built-in, generically configurable, or add-on extensions for encapsulating sensor, actuator, and behavioral conduct are loaded, assembled, linked-in, and managed by the robotics and automation platform. During online or active operations, data is read from sensors synchronously or asynchronously, behavioral conduct is executed, and actuators are able to be commanded or controlled to actuate.”	A mechanism connected to the vehicle that controls the steering mechanism based on a movement plan.
Throttle servomechanism (Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 14, Claim 21)	“Either built-in, generically configurable, or add-on extensions for encapsulating sensor, actuator, and behavioral conduct are loaded, assembled, linked-in, and managed by the robotics and automation platform. During online or active operations, data is read from sensors synchronously or asynchronously, behavioral conduct is executed, and actuators are able to be commanded or controlled to actuate.”	A mechanism connected to the vehicle that increases and decreases the throttle based on a movement plan.
Traffic sign handling service (Claim 1)	“A vertical robotics and automation application framework (VRAF) extension of GPROS provides services common to a specific vertical robotics and automation application domain. A set of robotics and automation services specific to a particular vertical application domain, such as unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), that may be commonly leveraged by any robotics and automation application in a vertical application domain are provided by a VRAF.”	A service that is managed using the movement plan and the steering servomechanism, the brake servomechanism, and the throttle servomechanism.

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US11314251

PERRONE ROBOTICS INC

Application Number: US16451491
Filing Date: Jun 25, 2019
Status: Granted
Expiry Date: Feb 27, 2026
External Links: Slate, USPTO, Google Patents

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