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US 10,850,633 B2Granted
Automated electric vehicle charging system and method
AssigneeInterim Designs Inc.
InventorsJoseph C. Haddad, Daniel B. Lysak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for charging an electric vehicle includes identifying vehicle information corresponding to the electric vehicle based on an electronic image of the electric vehicle, retrieving from an electronically stored database a location of a charging port on the electric vehicle based on the vehicle information, and robotically moving a charging connector according to the retrieved location to engage the charging port of the electric vehicle to charge a battery.
Claims20
A system for charging an electric vehicle, comprising:
- a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader configured to read an RFID tag mounted on the electric vehicle;
- an electronic database;
- a processor configured to identify vehicle information corresponding to the electric vehicle using data read from the RFID tag by the RFID reader, and retrieve from the electronic database a location of a charging port on the electric vehicle based on the vehicle information;
- a first camera configured to acquire an electronic image of the electric vehicle;
- and
- a robotic arm configured to move a charging connector to engage the charging port of the electric vehicle to charge a battery based on the retrieved location,
- wherein the processor is configured to identify the vehicle information corresponding to the electric vehicle using both the electronic image of the electric vehicle and the data read from the RFID tag,
- wherein the processor is configured to identify the vehicle information by:
- comparing the electronic image of the electric vehicle with a plurality of vehicle model candidates stored in the electronic database;
- calculating a similarity measurement for each of the vehicle model candidates stored in the electronic database;
- and
- selecting a vehicle model candidate having a highest similarity measurement, wherein the vehicle information is identified using the selected vehicle model candidate.
9 more elements
A method of charging an electric vehicle, comprising:
- reading a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag mounted on the electric vehicle;
- identifying vehicle information corresponding to the electric vehicle using data read from the RFID tag;
- retrieving from an electronic database a location of a charging port on the electric vehicle based on the vehicle information;
- robotically moving a charging connector to engage the charging port of the electric vehicle to charge a battery based on the retrieved location;
- and
- acquiring an electronic image of the electric vehicle,
- wherein the vehicle information corresponding to the electric vehicle is identified using both the electronic image of the vehicle and the data read from the RFID tag,
- wherein identifying the vehicle information comprises:
- comparing the electronic image of the electric vehicle with a plurality of vehicle model candidates stored in the electronic database;
- calculating a similarity measurement for each of the vehicle model candidates stored in the electronic database;
- and
- selecting a vehicle model candidate having a highest similarity measurement, wherein the vehicle information is identified using the selected vehicle model candidate.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.