Interesting Tesla Patents

[Doug_G]

US Patent # 8,095,278

Stumbled across this while looking for something else... it might be fun to browse through Tesla's patents to see what else is there.

A method and apparatus for controlling a particular vehicle function, for example the adjustment of a vehicle seat, using a graphical user interface (GUI) is provided. The GUI is activating by toggling a control, switch intuitively linked to the particular vehicle function. The control switch is separate from, and not proximate to, the GUI. When the GUI is activated by toggling the control switch, a control screen specific to the particular vehicle function is displayed on the GUI.

So they might be planning use the touchscreen to perform seat adjustments, similar to the Pano roof control. That would be cool!

 

[Mycroft]

So they might be planning use the touchscreen to perform seat adjustments, similar to the Pano roof control. That would be cool!

Or it could be specifically for the pano roof control, (and receptacle door for that matter), but they didn't want to mention it in the paper.

 

[Doug_G]

Or it could be specifically for the pano roof control, (and receptacle door for that matter), but they didn't want to mention it in the paper.

Yes, the patent is general enough that it would be applicable to the Pano roof controls.

Most of their patents, not surprisingly, are about battery safety, monitoring, etc. A couple of them look like they might have some other interesting stuff... when I have time I'll dig further.

 

[Citizen-T]

Just an FYI, if you haven't worked in a business that does a lot of patents, they very rarely have anything to do with what the company actually plans to implement. Where I work, we are encouraged to file patents for any worthy idea at all. Even if it is completely unrelated to your job or the product you are working on.

The real purpose of patents is that you can use them as a club against competitors, and to protect yourself. We stockpile patents for the "just in case". Google learned that lesson the hard way, and that's why they are running around buying up any patent that has anything to do with a phone. So if someone sues them for feature x in Android, they can say, well you are infringing on our patent for feature y in your product.

I know, its sad. But the truth is that the way the patent legislation is written, it encourages companies to collect them even if they don't intend to implement them. It's all about mutual assured destruction.

That's why IBM never gets sued for patent infringement. If you have a product in pretty much any industry, you are probably infringing on a number of IBM's patents. They have a gargantuan patent portfolio from all industries on all topics, and have been awarded more patents than any other company each year for the last like 15 years straight.

 

[Doug_G]

Just an FYI, if you haven't worked in a business that does a lot of patents, they very rarely have anything to do with what the company actually plans to implement. Where I work, we are encouraged to file patents for any worthy idea at all. Even if it is completely unrelated to your job or the product you are working on.

The real purpose of patents is that you can use them as a club against competitors, and to protect yourself. We stockpile patents for the "just in case".

Yes, you're quite right; I have personal experience with this. At a company I worked for years ago, someone sent us a patent asking us to license it. Management brought it to me for an opinion, as I was co-inventor on several related patents. It wasn't the same as our design, but there was one claim that was a bit uncomfortably close to what we were doing. I offered the opinion that they couldn't build a workable unit without infringing on our patents.

The company's lawyers recommended a simple response: send them our patents and ask them to license our stuff. Worked like a charm - we never heard from them again. And today those devices are the company's main product!

As for this particular Tesla patent, it looked to me like they were in fact already using it for the Pano roof... and just threw in some idle speculation about the seats since the patent talked about them as a specific example.

 

[Citizen-T]

Yeah, I don't disagree. Just want to prevent us from becoming like those Apple fanboy forums where they speculate what product Apple is working on based on the most recent patent filing. That's a fool's game.

 

[Bearman]

All wheel drive electric vehicle

I think it was discussed in another thread and we have an upcoming model x, so i thought this might be of interest if it hasn't been posted yet.
Patent US20100187905 - All wheel drive electric vehicle power assist drive system - Google Patents

 

[ggr]

All wheel drive electric vehicle

I think it was discussed in another thread and we have an upcoming model x, so i thought this might be of interest if it hasn't been posted yet.
Patent US20100187905 - All wheel drive electric vehicle power assist drive system - Google Patents

That is just a publication, not an issued patent. It may or may not ever get granted.

 

[pharma5]

That is just a publication, not an issued patent. It may or may not ever get granted.

And an abandoned application at that, as of 5/24. Published application 20100222953 is the living branch in this chain of prosection, from app#12/782413.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Still, from some of the power and torque charts in that application, there is going to be some serious butt-kicking going on with the Tesla AWD system -- it looks to be much more sophisticated than merely replicating the existing motor on the front axle. If I understand the application correctly, it even appears that they're developing a split-axle approach for the RWD that will be a marked improvement.

 

[neroden]

*sigh* And here I am getting a first-generation car with an inferior drivetrain.

Oh well. I suspect AWD will be less and less relevant as we get less and less winter. We haven't had snow last overnight yet this year. And perhaps simpler means easier to maintain.

 

[rabar10]

TESLA MOTORS INC. - Patent applications (Patentdocs) - A nice list of patent apps filed by TM, listed in reverse chronological order. (from another thread -- thanks Lloyd)

Another list: Advanced Patent Search - PatentStorm - searching for patents granted, as well as applications, assigned to Tesla Motors, Inc.

They have some patent activity at the battery cell design/manufacturing level. I guess this is for sharing/licensing to their cell-mfg partners for now, as they claim to want to stay out of the cell manufacturing business, but it also opens up some options for them in the future. This can also relate to earlier comments in this thread re: "if you think of it and it's novel, file a patent app, even if we don't plan to implement it".

Of course the vast bulk of patents is at the battery-pack-integration and EV powertrain design level.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

A couple of new patents from Jan 17 (link above)

...'A system and method for notifying a designated party when an electric vehicle charging operation is unexpectedly disrupted is provided. The system monitors the connection between the electric vehicle and the external battery pack charging source, issues a command to a notification system to send a notification message....'

emphasis mine .. external battery charging source. pretty cool, I know there have been comments about superchargers w/ battery banks. I haven't seen them yet but here is an addition to 'prove' the external battery to EV charging.

 

[Johan]

A couple of new patents from Jan 17 (link above)

...'A system and method for notifying a designated party when an electric vehicle charging operation is unexpectedly disrupted is provided. The system monitors the connection between the electric vehicle and the external battery pack charging source, issues a command to a notification system to send a notification message....'

emphasis mine .. external battery charging source. pretty cool, I know there have been comments about superchargers w/ battery banks. I haven't seen them yet but here is an addition to 'prove' the external battery to EV charging.

You could be reading it wrong. Perhaps the sentence is to be understood like this: the external battery pack charging source = the device which is external with regards to the car, which charges the battery pack (that is inside of the car) - i.e. a Supercharger as they are today.

In other words they are patenting a functionality in the App (?) that alerts you if someone manages to pull out the cable or otherwise break the connection between the charger and car, while you are away from the car.