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Title:
VEHICLES TURN ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2019/162739
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
The present invention relates to Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF), a device comprising of components that enhance drivability, maneuverability, safety, ride-ability, and overall quality of the ride of a payload, payloads, passenger, or passengers when a vehicle changes direction while it is moving or is stationary including in preparation of parallel parking. It achieves such end by inducing or improving the adaptability of the vehicle that includes bankability, flexibility, and maneuverability of the vehicle or its subsystems, which, individually or in any combination, constitute Adaptability Components of VTF (ACVTF). It also includes one or more sensors, which are sub-components of Drivability Components of VTF (DCVTF) tasked to sense one or more features related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or the environment in which the vehicle is moving, being driven, or a combination thereof that may even be substituted by senses of perception of a human or living beings. DCVTF also includes one or more processors, tasked to receive and process one or more features and to generate one or more decision-making outputs that enable turning the vehicle when used as an input to one or more vehicle subsystems or one or more controlling signals for controlling one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle, which may also be substituted by the nervous system of living beings. Additionally, DCVTF may include actuators or effectors that interact with the vehicle or its subsystems to make necessary changes in its driving dynamics that put the turn-ability into effect.

Inventors:
DAS PAVANI (IN)
Application Number:
PCT/IB2018/057918
Publication Date:
August 29, 2019
Filing Date:
October 12, 2018
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
DAS PAVANI (IN)
International Classes:
B60W10/00; B60W10/22; B60W40/08; B62D6/00
Domestic Patent References:
WO2012031150A22012-03-08
WO2014064095A12014-05-01
Foreign References:
EP1711386B12009-02-04
US3430724A1969-03-04
US20130079988A12013-03-28
JP5892482B22016-03-23
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
SINGHAL, Gaurav (IN)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

I claim to have invented the following.

Claim 1. A Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF) device to facilitate turn-ability of a vehicle

- by acting on the vehicle or one or more of its subsystems;

- as a subsystem or subsystems or part of a subsystem of the vehicle;

- comprising of:

- a composition of necessary components— Adaptability Components of VTF (ACVTF) that adapt or enhance the vehicle or one or more of its subsystems; and

- a composition of components— Drivability Components of VTF (DCVTF) that control ACVTF, the vehicle or one or more of its subsystems, or both.

Claim 2. The Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF) device according to claim 1, having ACVTF components comprising at least one of:

- Bankability components, which refer to means by which a vehicle can lean, controllably, towards one of its longitudinal sides;

- Flexibility components, which refer to means by which a vehicle can controllably shrink one of its sides, expand the other side, or do both concerning its longitudinal body, body part, body parts, or the outer shell (OS); and

- Maneuverability components, which refer to means by which a vehicle can controllably turn its longitudinal body, body part, or OS in the same or different directions by same or different degree or degrees.

Claim 3. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in one or more of the claims 1 or 2, having DCVTF components comprising some or all of:

- sensors to sense one or more features related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or the environment in which the vehicle is stationary, moving, or being influenced as regards the business goals by the driver of the vehicle, or a combination thereof;

- processors to receive and process one or more features and generate: - decision-making outputs that enable turning or otherwise of the vehicle when used as an input to one or more vehicle subsystems;

or

- controlling signal or signals for controlling one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle.

Claim 4. The Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in any of the claims 2 or 3 where bankability components comprise of one or more Telescopic Connector Springs (TCS), the height of which can be individually adjusted and ends of which are fixed to the OS and the axle or axles.

Claim 5. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in any of the claims 2 to 4 where flexibility components comprise, optionally, of firm or rigid section or sections (FRS) and extendable and shrinkable section or sections (ESS), being mechanism to bend or increase or decrease length of one side of longitudinal OS of the vehicle relative to the other, which are embodied, without limitations, with the help of:

- couplings like how railway carriages are attached together;

- springs;

- multiple panels that slide over one another like a hand of cards;

- fan-folding like bellows;

- foldable material like cloth;

- malleable material like soft plastic.

Claim 6. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in any of the claims 2 to 5 where maneuverability components are provided by independent angular movements of all axles, as if a steering is attached to each of them, which is controlled with or without application of DCVTF that enable the vehicle with rotation of different axles and/or longitudinal OS in same, opposite, or other directions such as at a right angle to its length thereby allowing sidewise movement that facilitates parallel parking.

Claim 7. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the DCVTF is adapted to control the vehicle by acting directly on it where its output matches with input required by the vehicle. Claim 8. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (VTF) device in any of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the DCVTF comprises a correction or control module being one that senses various factors and/or features to sub-optimize by applying corrective inputs to the vehicle continuously, periodically, or episodically where examples of such factors and/or features are related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or its environment, such as:

- the angle of turn;

- the tilt of the surface near the turn for a land vehicle;

- the speed of the vehicle;

- the condition of the vehicle;

- the condition of the surface for a land vehicle;

- any other relevant conditions.

Claim 9. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator device in any of the claims 1 to 8, wherein the component, DCVTF, is further enabled with predicting and learning such as but not limited to employing Artificial Intelligence and/or Machine Learning (AI/ L) that shall involve supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement learning to predict and/or learn input to vehicle subsystems directly or via protocols and/or signals.

Claim 10. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator device according to any of the claims 1 to 9, wherein inputs to it comprises biological inputs or signals coming from:

- the driver or drivers who may or may not be passengers or occupants,

- the passenger, passengers, the occupant, or occupants, or

- both including

- actions or signals from hand, feet, or body parts;

- electrical signals emanating from one or more of

- the central nervous system, via an electrode;

- electroocular signals, via an electrode;

- other Living Being-Machine Interfaces or Living Being-Computer Interfaces where the living being can be human and is adapted to be applied - manually,

- autonomically, or

- both such as when applying an action is considered optimum by the correction module.

Claim 11. The Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator device according to any of the claims 1 to 10, wherein it is adapted to stop the vehicle quickly and with little or no loss of control such as skidding:

- by decelerating velocity of a vehicle by turning it

- addressing effects of centrifugal force by enabling ACVTF, especially bankability

- thereby reducing or avoiding dependence on braking including Antilock Braking System a.k.a. ABS

and

- optionally leveraging DCVTF to activate ACVTF components in a preset sequence by so deciding, e.g., by pressing a button.

Claim 12. The device— Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator— according to any of the claims 1 to 11, wherein it is adapted to realize curvilinear, e.g., elliptical or circular, runways for airplanes:

- by implementing ACVTF components, e.g., bankability, rather than tilting the runway

- where the latter requires the tilt of a runway to vary depending on the instant speed of a plane and other conditions during takeoff or landing that is difficult if not impossible to realize; and

- while ACVTF shall dynamically adapt the plane

- e.g., to bank the plane depending on its instant speed and other applicable parameters thereby obviating dependency on runway tilting; and

- by optionally employing DCVTF to actuate ACVTF components and other subsystems in a precise fashion. Claim 13. One or more computer program products to work with the DCVTF according to any of the claims 1 to 12, for use with computers, which includes:

- one or more data storage units that are adapted to store the computer program product, data, or both;

- one or more data processors that are adapted to execute the computer program product;

- one or more of means of data communication among programs or others in combination with

- one or more sensors to sense one or more features related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or the environment in which the vehicle is stationary, moving, or being driven by the driver or drivers of the vehicle, or a combination thereof to

- process the sensed features, parameters, or both;

- generate one or more decision-making outputs that enable turning the vehicle when used as an input to one or more vehicle subsystems; or

- generate one or more controlling signals for controlling one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle, to

- actuate at least one of the interfaces with various subsystems of the vehicle, including:

- computer-computer interface,

- computer-mechanical interface, and

- computer-human interface,

- to iterate further, i.e., sense and feedback features, parameters, or both about the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or the environment of the vehicle, or a combination thereof, to the processors to determine if:

- the goal or threshold is reached indicating stoppage of iterations; or

- otherwise.

Claim 14. A vehicle comprising the Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF) device according to any of the claims 1 to 12, wherein such vehicle belongs to a selection of: - a vehicle with zero or more wheels;

- a surface vehicle;

- a terrestrial vehicle;

- an extra-terrestrial vehicle; and

- a vehicle that is partially or fully submerged in a fluid or field, wherein the fluid or field may, without limitation, be:

- air,

- water, and

- the magnetic field, e.g., in case of a magnetically levitated vehicle.

Claim 15. The vehicle according to claim 14 further comprising of one or more structures, capsules, or compartments for carrying a payload, payloads, a passenger, or passengers that are insulated from physical stress, disfiguration, passenger discomfort, or lack of safety or security of passengers or payloads by being compartmentalized and insulated from OS by being suspended or decoupled from OS or ESS.

Description:
TITLE OF INVENTION

VEHICLES TURN ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention encompasses various fields of knowledge such as Newton’s laws of motion, dynamics, fluid dynamics, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), computer-computer interaction, machine-computer interaction, robotic systems, various sensors, various actuators or effectors, neurotransmitters, electrooculography, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), various system interface protocols, modular information system design, information system integration, vehicular mechanics, vehicular subsystems, onboard or other including network computers, airplane subsystems, ship subsystems, submarine subsystems, space vehicle subsystems, Virtual Reality used to guide extra-terrestrial vehicles, and Economics.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A vehicle is construed as one that is intended to transport payloads (living beings or goods) from a set of points in space-time to another, being self-driven or driven by a driver, who may be a passenger or maybe not. Again, it may be one that is preparing for parking and stationary or moving slowly. Maybe it drives by itself or driven by one or a team of drivers, e.g. with an airliner, a ship, or a submarine— herein all these classes are referred to as‘driver’ unless the context indicates differently— where its driver essentially provides meaningfulness to its operation or manages business served by a vehicle. When a vehicle changes direction while in motion being in a force field such as gravity, it accelerates under a centripetal force.

Consequently, it would experience a centrifugal force. To compensate for the latter, adaptability of some or all the following types of— bankability, flexibility, and maneuverability— may be applied by the vehicle. Bankability is construed as the instrumentality to make a vehicle bank or lean towards one side— left (port side) or right (starboard side). Flexibility would make longitudinal— in the direction of motion— body or outer shell of the vehicle to expand or contract differentially: part, parts, or the whole of the longitudinal body may expand or contract on either port or starboard side while the opposite side may do the opposite or remain unaltered. Maneuverability would make the front, the middle, the rear, or any longitudinal section or sections of the vehicle to turn in the same direction, different directions, by the same angle, or by different angles to optimize turning of the vehicle.

Adaptability may be driven by one or more parameters such as the angle of the turn or the speed of the vehicle under a force field such as gravity.

Flexibility and maneuverability may even help planes and submarines to turn better.

Bankability may allow curved— including circular— runways for takeoff or landing of planes that could replace linear runways that have ends, where such ends may cause an accident if planes take longer runways than provided.

Among other things, the following shortcomings related to turning a vehicle may be addressed by a composite device.

1. Two-wheeled surface vehicles bank depending on the angle of turning and the speed of the vehicle, where manual skills of the rider decide the extent of banking that is too much dependency on human skills.

2. Often surfaces on which vehicles travel are sloped near a curve even though it may not provide adequate compensation for all driving conditions, e.g., a high-speed turn, a slippery surface, etc.

3. When a car parallel-parks, it may need to squeeze between two other cars parked with an opening between them not enough to drive straight in and needs reversing since the rear wheels cannot be steered like the front pair, which is inconvenient. Again, when a vehicle takes a turn around an object, non-turn-ability of all but the front wheels does not allow it to come close to the obstacle for fear of scraping its body against the obstacle.

4. When a vehicle applies brake suddenly, it may lose control— Antilock Braking System (ABS) or similar technology is used to address such situation, which may be helped by the invention by converting the deceleration into a centripetal force by turning the vehicle and addressing the reactive centrifugal force through adaptability. The above and several other use cases, some of which may be yet to discover, bring about the need for an improved system.

THE OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is a composite device, styled Vehicle Turn-ability Facilitator (VTF), which enhances some or all of drivability, maneuverability in the generic sense, safety, ride-ability, and overall quality associated with turning of a vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is a composite device, styled Vehicle Turning Facilitator (VTF) representing systems and methods to facilitate turning of a vehicle whether the vehicle is stationary or on the move. VTF may include one or more sensors tasked to sense one or more features related to the vehicle, driving— autonomously or through the direct influence of a living being, called ‘driver’— of the vehicle or the environment in which the vehicle is turning. VTF also includes one or more processors tasked to receive and process one or more features and generates one or more decision-making outputs or controlling signals that sub optimize— optimize within certain limits, similar to the concept of ‘Bounded Rationality’ propounded by Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate in Economics in 1978— and control turning of the vehicle when used as an input to the vehicle or one or more of its subsystems that is augmented to mandatorily include adaptability: bankability, maneuverability, and flexibility. Such enhancements of the vehicle or its subsystems may be construed as actuator components of VTF that may be implicit in the following discussions. At least one of such components is necessary for embodying VTF.

In a preferred embodiment, one or more processors are tasked to further process— generally with condition-based recursion— one or more decision-making outputs into inputs to control one or more factors, feature, or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle to sub optimize turning of the vehicle.

In another preferred embodiment, one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle include bankability of the vehicle that relates to leaning of the vehicle suitably, using one or more means of leaning provided by VTF, to sub-optimize turning the vehicle. In another preferred embodiment, one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle includes flexibility of the vehicle that relates to differentially shrinking or expanding the outer shell of the body of the vehicle made flexible by VTF.

In another preferred embodiment, one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving the vehicle while turning the vehicle include maneuverability of a wheeled or wheel less vehicle that relates to turning of different longitudinal sections of the vehicle in different directions, in the same direction, in gradually changing directions, or any combination thereof.

In another preferred embodiment, there is a correction module, tasked to process— recursively until the fulfillment of some conditions— one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving the vehicle, generate one or more corrected factors or features related to the vehicle or driving the vehicle, or both.

In yet another preferred embodiment, one or more factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle include the speed of the vehicle.

In yet another preferred embodiment, one or more features related to a surface vehicle, driving of the same vehicle or an environment— in which the vehicle moves— includes at least one of: the angle of turn, tilt of the surface in a direction perpendicular to travel, speed of the vehicle, physical condition of the road such as slipperiness, physical condition of the vehicle, direction of the wind relative to the direction of the vehicle, speed of the wind that befalls the vehicle, angle of leaning of the vehicle at a particular instance, or a combination thereof.

In yet another preferred embodiment, one or more features related to the driver driving the vehicle includes an electrical impulse emanating from the Central Nervous System (CNS) of the driver or one or more mechanical outputs from one or more organs such as hands, feet, or a combination thereof.

In even another embodiment, the adaptability and VTF, individually or in any combination, may augment or replace the effect of the Antilock Braking System and other safety features. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig.l is a block diagram that focuses explicitly on one of the embodiments of Drivability Components of Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (DCVTF)— where Adaptability Components of Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator (ACVTF) are implicit— for facilitating turning of a vehicle. Please note that the“correction module” can also be construed as the“monitoring and controlling module.”

Fig. 2(a) - 2(e), 4(a), 4(b), 5(a), 5(b), 6, 7(a) - 7(c), 8, and 9(a) - 9(c) focuses on embodiments of ACVTF, where DCVTF components may be explicit, implicit, or absent.

Fig.2(a), 2(b), and 2(d) are schematic diagrams of longitudinal cross-sectional views of a four-wheeled vehicle.

Fig.2(c) and 2(e) are schematic diagrams of vertical cross-sectional views of a four-wheeled vehicle.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the functioning of an embodiment of VTF— a composite of both ACVTF and DCVTF— that facilitates turning of a vehicle.

Fig.4(a) and 4(b) are horizontal and vertical cross-sections of a four-wheeled vehicle.

Figs.5(a) and 5(b) are schematic diagrams of a four-wheeled vehicle showing a non- orthogonal, serpentine, or parallel movement of a vehicle.

Fig.6 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle, having more than four wheels that turn around while staying close to an obstruction.

Fig. 7(a), 7(b), and 7(c) are schematic diagrams of a three-wheeled vehicle while turning.

Fig.8 is a schematic diagram of a two-wheeled vehicle.

Fig.9(a), 9(b), and 9(c) are schematic diagrams of a wheeled, wheel-less, surface, or submerged vehicle. Fig. 10 depicts the logical flow of the method to facilitate turning of a vehicle, while the vehicle is on move or stationary, with the help of an embodiment of VTF.

Fig. 11(a), 11(b), 11(c), 11(d), and 11(e) illustrates how a vehicle— with the help of VTF— can address a situation that may potentially lead to loss of control of the vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred and other sample modes for carrying out the present invention are illustrated— regarding embodiments— in Figs. 1 to 11(a) - 11(e). The embodiments are described herein for illustrative purpose only and are subject to many other variations. It is to be understood that various omissions and substitutions of equivalents would be contemplated as expedient under the circumstances while such applications or implementations are in the spirit or the scope of the present invention. Further, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the description and should not be regarded as limiting. Any heading utilized within this description is for convenience only and has no limiting effect, legal or otherwise.

The terms“a”,“an”,“the”, or usage of singular or plural numbers herein do not denote a limitation of quantity or a specific object such as a vehicle but the presence of zero or more of the referenced objects, unless indicated to the contrary by the context, or to the generic class to which such an object belongs.

The word“vehicle” referred to herein means the whole or any part or parts of the vehicle or one or more of its subsystems.

The sense of optimality or sub-optimality mentioned herein as one of the desired outcomes may be construed to be similar to the concept of Bounded Rationality as propounded by Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate in Economics in 1978. Thus, it is presumed that all parameters that can influence outcomes may not be known and the invention would try to optimize accepting such limitation. However, the invention would continuously, periodically, or episodically monitor outcomes and conditionally recurse the steps— may even learn parameters or factors and their weight— as and when necessary. The word“driver” herein refers to whoever contributes to meeting the business goals of a vehicle that may include without limitation one or more living beings traveling with the vehicle or controlling it remotely as with drones.

The word“wheel” herein refers to the wheel, wheels, or body parts of a vehicle that takes a direct or most important role in turning the vehicle.

The word“axle” herein refers to the part or parts of a vehicle that takes most important— after wheel or wheels— role in turning a vehicle with the help of wheel or wheels.

The usage of the word“outer shell” or“OS” herein refers to the part of the part of the body that is built on the chassis or similar and houses the passenger or payload compartments.

The correction module or similar meaning descriptions herein may also be construed as the monitoring and controlling module that may determine if the sensed parameters indicate further— corrective or otherwise— actuation or not.

The present invention is styled VTF or Vehicle Tum-ability Facilitator that improves the tum-ability of a vehicle such as but not limited to vehicles without wheels, surface vehicles, two-wheeled vehicles, three- wheeled vehicles, four-wheeled vehicles, vehicles having more than four wheels, ships, submarines, aircrafts, vehicles that are autonomous or are run remotely including drones or those capable of operating on other planets, or space vehicles. Further, VTF facilitates in improving payload or passenger accommodation within the vehicle under various conditions.

While explaining the figures, references may be made to the elements which are disclosed in other figures too.

Fig.l is an illustration of an embodiment of Drivability Components of VTF (DCVTF) 2, which, enhances sensing and processing capability of a vehicle, depicted as enclosed by the broken-border rectangle 2a, to facilitate turning of a vehicle while the vehicle is stationary or on the move. DCVTF 2 includes the following sub-components: sensors 4, processors 6, the correction module 8, and actuators or effectors 12 that may include Adaptability Components of VTF (AC VTF). When a vehicle is stationary or moving, the sensors 4 would continuously, periodically, or episodically sense features such as but not limited to the ones depicted by lOa, lOb, lOc, lOd such as but not limited to: the temperature of the brake lining, the proximity to an obstruction, or the alcohol content in the blood of those influencing the business objectives of the vehicle— driver in common parlance— that are related to: the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, the environment in which the vehicle moves, the driver or influencer of the business objectives of the vehicle, or a combination thereof and convert them into parameters suitable for subsequent processing. Thus, the processor 6 would receive data, e.g., lOa, lOb, lOc, and lOd, being outputs from sensors 4. After receiving such data that may change over time, the processor 6 would process the same and produce outputs l4a for the actuators or effectors 12 that may represent enhancements of the vehicle or its subsystems 1 and may include but are not limited to subsystems such as: the steering, the brake, or the accelerator, and is depicted in Embodiment A. Outputs l4a or l4b (see Embodiment B below) from the processor 6 may or may not require adaptation or changes e.g., w.r.t. interfaces or protocols, to serve as input to the vehicle or its subsystems 1; hence, the line adjoining these two may be construed as a simple connector or an adaptor. In another embodiment, the features lOa, lOb, lOc, lOd plausibly related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, or the environment in which the vehicle is moving may include, but are not limited to, the angle of turn of the road, the angle of banking of the road surface, the speed of the vehicle, the physical condition of the road, the physical condition of the vehicle, the direction and strength of the wind falling on the vehicle, the angle of leaning of the vehicle at the instance, or a combination thereof.

In yet another embodiment, the features lOd related to the drivers driving the vehicle may include electrical impulses emanating from the Central Nervous System (CNS) of the ‘drivers’ influencing the business goals of the vehicle and/or one or more mechanical outputs from one or more organs such as hands and/or feet. The embodiment refers to a class of embodiments where some or all of the DCVTF 2 are replaced by existing components of the vehicle or its subsystems 1 and sense-organs and decisions of its‘drivers.’

In Embodiment B— that may coexist with Embodiment A— the processors 6 may compare periodically, continuously, or episodically the factors or features lOa, lOb, lOc, lOd related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle to predetermined, learnt, or normal values to find a possible match, conformity, threshold, or otherwise. Any out-of-the-normal-range of values may necessitate taking a course-correction through further recursion or a course of action to be called here as panic that may include sending local or global alerts, stopping the vehicle, etc. In one embodiment, if the factors or features do not conform to predetermined or learned values, then the processors provide these factors or features to the correction module 8. The correction module 8 processes the factors or features that eventually generates a different set of factors or features l4b about the vehicle or driving of the vehicle. Such corrected factors or features l4b are applied using the actuators or effectors 12. It should be noted that outputs from the actuators 12 may require adapting before being applied to the vehicle 1 or vehicle subsystems 1.

The factors or features lOa, lOb related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle 1 may include a degree of bankability of the vehicle that relates to leaning of the vehicle 1 required for turning the vehicle 1 using one or more means of leaning— being an independent member of Adaptability Components of VTF (ACVTF)— provided with the vehicle or its subsystems 1. In another embodiment, the factors, or features lOa, lOb related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle 1 may include a degree of flexibility of the vehicle that relates to shrinking of one side of the body of the vehicle or expansion of the opposite side of the body of the vehicle or both, where the body of the vehicle has or comprises of flexible parts, being another independent member of the set of ACVTF components. In another embodiment, the factors, or features lOa, lOb related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle 1 may include a degree of maneuverability that relates to turning of consecutive longitudinal sections of the vehicle 1 in same or different directions or turning a consecutive set of wheels of a wheeled vehicle 1 in the same or different directions, or a combination thereof, being another independent member of the set ACVTF. In one embodiment, the factors, or features lOa, lOb related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle may include speed of the vehicle 1.

In yet another embodiment, the above-mentioned vehicle 1 may include, but is not limited to, a two- wheeled vehicle, a three- wheeled vehicle, a four-wheeled vehicle, a wheel-less surface vehicle, an extra-terrestrial vehicle, a vehicle having more than four wheels, a vehicle designed for traversing on or under water, another fluid e.g. air, a field e.g. electromagnetic field, or a spacecraft, without departing from the scope of the disclosure. ACVTF, which provides adaptability to the vehicle, its subsystem, or subsystems, is described below. It may be noted that at least one of the ACVTF components is necessary to embody the VTF.

Fig. 2(a) illustrates the horizontal cross-section of an embodiment of a four-wheeled vehicle that is an instance of the vehicle 1 and will be referred to as the vehicle herein for brevity, having ACVTF. The four-wheeled vehicle 1 includes components such as, but not limited to, an outer shell OS 18, extendable and shrinkable sections ESS 20, firm or rigid sections FRS 22, and wheels W 24. It should be noted that in an alternate embodiment the outer shell 18 may be a composition of ESS 20, FRS 22 without wheels 24. Arrowheads 26 indicate directions of travel (DOT) even as such directions need not be limited only to those shown.

The ESS 20 bends and increases or decreases in length by its construction such as but not limited to use of couplings and spring -buffers, multiple panels that slide over one another like a pack of cards, fan-foldable panels like bellows, or continuously foldable material such as cloth. FRS 22 does not permit bending or change of length. It may be mentioned that there are one or more ESS 20— including the whole of the length of a vehicle— and zero or more FRS 22 components on either side of the longitudinal body of a vehicle 1 that has ESS. Wheels 24, if present, are used for connecting the vehicle 1 to the surface 50 on which the vehicle 1 travels. It should be noted that the vehicle 1 may travel longitudinally, i.e. in the direction of its length or side-wise, i.e. in the direction of its width, as indicated by arrows 26 of the DOT, a combination of which would realize traveling or turn in any direction.

With the help of Fig. 2(b), the horizontal cross-sectional view of several embodiments of a four-wheeled vehicle 1 is illustrated while turning port-wise, left, or anticlockwise. In one of the embodiments, when the four-wheeled vehicle 1 turns port-wise— the ESS 30 on the starboard or right side, i.e. the side opposite to the direction of turning elongates relative to the port side ESS 28. In another embodiment, the port side ESS 28 may shrink relative to the starboard side ESS 30. In yet another embodiment, both of the previous two embodiments may happen together. Again, in an embodiment, the front axle 32, connected to front wheels, if present, may turn port-wise, i.e., the direction of turning. In another embodiment, the rear axle 34 connected to rear wheels may turn starboard-wise, i.e., the direction opposite to turning. It should be noted that arrowheads 36 may indicate forward or backward sense of direction.

The turning of the front 32 and the rear 34 axles may or may not be simultaneous or by the same degree. Thus, for example, while entering a turn, the front axle may turn first while the rear axle does not, in mid-tum, both front and rear axles may turn in opposite direction, and near the end of turn, the front axle may straighten first while the rear axle may still be angled.

Fig. 2(c) depicts a vertical, transverse cross-section view of a few embodiments of a four- wheeled vehicle— a special case of 1— turning towards left, i.e. port-wise. The view of the four-wheeled vehicle reveals Telescopic Connector Springs (TCS) 38, 46. The TCS 38, 46 denote parts that are fixed with body 40 of the four-wheeled vehicle 1 at one end and to a swiveling fulcrum 42a, 42b of the axle 44 at the other end in such fashion that one of the TCS 38, 46 may contract or expand between the two ends relative to the opposite TCS 46, 38, respectively, which is on the opposite sides of the body 40 of the four-wheeled vehicle 1. In one embodiment, the port-side TCS 38 may contract relative to the starboard-side TCS 46 while turning port-wise. In another embodiment, the starboard-side TCS 46 may expand relative to the port-side TCS 38 for the same effect. In yet another embodiment the port-side TCS 38 may contract, and the starboard- side TCS 46 may expand at the same time while turning port-wise. The last embodiment, which is the generic case with first two being two extremes, would be referred in general. To effect turning port-wise, in an embodiment, the axle 44 with wheels 24 near fulcrum 42a may be contracted in the direction of turning, being the port-side in this case. In another embodiment, the axle 44 with wheels 24 near fulcrum 42b on the starboard- side may be expanded for turning port-wise. In yet another, generic, embodiment, both of the previous applications may be simultaneous.

In case of turning starboard-wise, in an embodiment, the starboard-side TCS 46 may contract. In another embodiment, the port-side TCS 38 may expand. In a generic embodiment, both the previous applications may be simultaneous. The effect of these would be that the wheels 24 are pushed down— relative to the body or OS 18— in the direction away from turning, relative to the wheels 24 on the opposite side. Overall, a purpose of VTF 2 would be served through the stated embodiments or any other that effects in the vehicle 1 banking or leaning to the side of turning irrespective of the surface 50 on which its wheels 24 rest being sloped by the required angle or not. It may be noted that the four-wheeled vehicle 1 in the previous embodiments moves on a surface 50 under a gravitational or other force fields. The arrowheads 52 indicate forward and backward direction of the turn. The vector 54 indicates a geometrical representation of a component-vector of weight, the centripetal force, which tends to neutralize the centrifugal force experienced by the vehicle 1 because of turning, only while moving. Other orthogonal component-vector 56 of weight 58 acts downwards.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the technique mentioned above of a four- wheeled vehicle 1 turning port-wise applies to a vehicle 1 turning starboard-wise as well, without departing from the scope of the disclosure. These are illustrated in Fig. 2(d) and 2(e).

Vide Fig. 3, and as discussed above, application of bankability (a) , flexibility ( b ), and maneuverability (c) may depend on zero or more factors or features such as but not limited to the angle of turn (d), the speed of the vehicle (e), the condition of the surface on which it travels (/), the condition of the vehicle ( g ), and the environment ( h ). In a preferred embodiment DCVTF (2) computes the component ( a, b, c ) of the vector s º ( a, b, c, d , ... ) using the component ( d , e,f, g, h, ... ) as the ones having relative dependency, which may be taken as inputs or independent variables whereas (a, b, c ) may be taken as outputs or dependent variables. Extending such notion of relative dependency, the component (a, b, c, d, e ) may be computed from other factors or features having more relative dependency. For example, road and vehicle conditions, crosswinds (environment), etc. may restrict even the speed of the vehicle and the angle of turn. In an independent embodiment that may be paired with the previous one, each element of v º (a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, ... ) is an ordered pair e.g. a º a l a 2 ), b º ( b l b 2 ), ... , h º ( h h 2 ), ... , where one of the components denotes a specific aspect e.g., bankability, flexibility, cross-wind, etc., of turn-ability of the vehicle and the other is a number denoting primacy i.e., the relative order of consideration. An algebraic representation of the embodiment could be a matrix with columns denoting ordered pairs of aspects (subscript 1) and primacy-indicator (subscript 2), as follows:

Fig 3 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the DCVTF 2 using predictive or other technologies e.g., artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), or multiple technologies, in order to enable collaborative functioning of a vehicle 1 and its subsystems 1, which is fortified with DCVTF 2, while taking or contemplating a turn. At step 60, when the vehicle 1 starts or commits to start an angular movement or turn, sensors s(a 1 ), s(h 1 ), s(c 1 ), ... of various aspects, parameter, or features a l b l c l ..., in step 64, receive data into DCVTF 2, as shown in step 62. Thus, s(a 1 ) may indicate the amount of pressure on the accelerator pedal, may provide the angle of turn of the steering wheel, etc. For all j, s(a j ~ ) provides quantitative or qualitative parameters regarding the vehicle 1 or its subsystems 1. An example of qualitative data regarding an aspect is threshold of tire-slippage that predicts safety or otherwise of the turn and provides output in a qualitative (Boolean) result such as‘safe’ or ‘unsafe.’ The step 66 in the diagram illustrates an embodiment related to the previous step 64 where data from sensors are represented discretely ... , where i = 1, 2, ... represents the i -th measurement of q x ’s, where x = a l b i , c 1 , ... . In another, parallel, embodiment of the previous step 64, data may be measured continuously— analogous to a complex or vector field in Mathematics. At the step 68, , all the data are provided to a man or machine-created program p m that processes inputs from previous step as the function

P m ) giving rise to the vector id, at step 70. The superscript i indicates the ordinal number of the time the vector is measured.

At step 72, in one embodiment, if the factors or features represented by the vector id compare favorably with a predetermined, learnt, or threshold value, then it may be construed that no correction is necessary indicating that the process terminates at step 74. In another embodiment, step 72 may decide if none of the values are out of the normal or clusters— in the parlance of artificial intelligence machine learning (AI/ L)— that would stop iteration at step 74. In either case, if the condition of stopping is not met then the vector id or components may be fed as input (as shown by step 76) to a correction module in the step 78 enabling one or more actuators a(a“ l ) for a“ l , a(hj“) for b, etc. until the terminating condition in the step 74 is fulfilled. It should be noted that a, b, c may be bankability, flexibility, and maneuverability; however, other factors and features of high primacy e.g., the speed of the vehicle, may be included in the correction module. Thus, until all correction modules i.e., the actuators or effectors 12 included in the correction module 8, optionally adapted by control factors, have corrections to make, the step 80 causes the step 62 to be repeated with i = i + 1 until such iteration stops by fulfilling conditions of step 72 to move to step 74.

An embodiment of enabling DCVTF with AI/ML is following. It may be apparent to one skilled in the art that one or more processing p ai may use artificial intelligence algorithms and process a corpus of training data to generate an initial machine-created program p m . Further, the process would use data generated during operations to make p m learn continuously or repeatedly. In this embodiment, the objective would be to induct, in addition to deduct, u l since for a moving vehicle, any sensed data becomes potentially stale when an actuation is based on the sensed data and if the presumptive courses provide desired output should be used to learn.

Fig.4(a) and Fig. 4(b) illustrates, orthogonal— w.r.t. the normal direction of movement— i.e. side- wise movements of a four-wheeled vehicle 1 with ACVTF. The four-wheeled vehicle 1 turns the wheels 82, 84 left or right at the right angle, which is useful for parallel parking in a tight place. In one embodiment, the wheels 82, 84 turn perpendicular— as shown by arrows 86— to the longitudinal direction of the body. In another embodiment, the TCS 38, 46 both elongates 88 to lift the body up to make room for the wheels 82, 84 to turn in the wheel-well of a wheeled vehicle 1. Once the wheeled vehicle 1 reaches the right spot, the wheels 82, 84 turn back to position indicated by 24 again and the TCS (38, 46) comes back to their normal shape. In yet another embodiment, during the parking movement various sensors determine the adequacy of space for such maneuver as well as surface condition such as potholes, slipperiness, etc., and provide feedback. A related embodiment would have three wheels or more than four wheels with little or no change otherwise.

Figs.5(a) and 5(b) show a non-orthogonal parallel movement of a four-wheeled vehicle 1. The four-wheeled vehicle 1 has front wheels 90 and rear wheels 92 which would be parallel to one another while turning alternately towards the right and the left. In one embodiment, diagonally opposite ESSes 94 and 96 may simultaneously elongate, contract, or perform both operations while those on the same side would do the opposite— if one contracts the other would expand and vice-versa. The purpose of such turning maneuver is to allow a zig-zag movement that is intended to move the vehicle to one side by making ESS 20 expand and contract alternately, that makes parallel parking possible in a tight spot. Further, arrowheads

98 indicate the direction of travel (DOT). The embodiments can be applied to two, three, or more than four wheelers with little or no change.

Fig.6 shows ACVTF helping turning of a vehicle having more than four wheels 100. While taking a left turn, forward or backward, the wheels at the two ends of the turning point or obstacle may turn in a manner illustrated in Fig. 2(b, c, d, and e) and corresponding explanation, vide supra. Further, the pair of wheels in between would turn by an angle determined by the angles of turn of the two pair of wheels on either side of it. In an embodiment, the angle of turn of the three consecutive pairs of wheels may create an arithmetic progression— weighted by the distance of the middle pair from the two ends— except for mechanical or other limitations. Thus, subject to limitations, with reference to the middle pair of wheels, the two on either side of it would turn by angles +1-^a and - l 2 a, in some scale of angular measurement where signs denote sense of measurements, anticlockwise or clockwise, l l l 2 denote distances of either pair from the middle pair of wheels, a is angular measurement in some scale, and a = 0 for the middle pair. It may be noted that it would be the mirror image of the illustration for a vehicle turning right.

In some embodiments, a vehicle may have more than one pairs of ESS 102— the ones on the same side as the direction of turn would contract and/or the ones on the opposite to it would expand. Similarly, the extension or contraction of TCS will work in a manner similar to discussions above, vide Fig. 2(c) and related elaboration. The block 104 indicates an obstruction that may be avoided without taking a wide turn, as customary for a large vehicle.

In a class of embodiments, DCVTF 2 may determine the angle of turn of each wheel, timings thereof, speed while turning, and other parameters affecting turning, in order to control vehicle subsystems, especially ACVTF components. Thus, DCVTF may turn front wheels but keep the rear ones unturned while entering a turn. Similarly, it may straighten the front wheels but keep rear wheels turning near the end of the turn. It is common knowledge that wheels that are on the same side as the turn— port side wheels for a left turn and starboard side ones for a right turn— would turn by a more acute angle than the ones on the opposite side that may also be controlled by DCVTF.

Fig. 7(a)-(c) illustrate an embodiment of a three- wheeled vehicle 1 enabled with ACVTF, having either one wheel 106 in front, and two wheels 106 in back or vice-versa, depending on the direction 108 of travel. Based on the speed of the vehicle, angle of turn, and any other relevant condition, the outer of the two ESSes 110— there could be more than one ESSes on either side— would expand relative to the inner one. Similarly, the outer TCS 112 would extend relative to the inner TCS 114. As a special case, the wheels 116 that touch the surface 118 would tilt.

Fig. 8 illustrates an embodiment of both DCVTF and ACVTF-enabled two-wheeled vehicle, the rear wheel 120 of which can turn. Hence, turn-ability of such vehicle depends on turning both the front wheel 122 and the rear wheel 120. When an input w.r.t. changing direction 124 is applied through the handlebar 126 near the front wheel, ACVTF would enable any one or both of front or rear wheels to turn. DCVTF 2 may translate the intention to turn into actual turning of the vehicle and continuously control various parameters, in conjunction with ACVTF, especially bankability. Thus, as a special case of the embodiment, DCVTF 2 would not allow the two-wheeler to go off-balance, irrespective of the skills of the rider. Another special case would be where DCVTF 2 would learn from the riding data with the application of AFML.

A preferred embodiment of DCVTF 2-enabled two-wheeler would be more pervasive since a two-wheeler would require constantly turning while in motion to balance it. Hence, for such vehicles, a preferred embodiment would depend on DCVTF 2— more than riding skills— to keep it from losing balance while on the move.

Further, ACVTF used in two-wheeled vehicles facilitate their turning in a tighter curve. This is shown by one of the embodiments where the angle of the handlebar 126 may turn by a lesser or greater degree than either or both wheels 120, 122. Here, the angle of turn of the handlebar 126 was taken as an input to ACVTF while angles of turn of the wheel or wheels are output. In an independent embodiment, to compensate for banking, an arm 128, on which a seat 130 is fixed, curves from one side or another to move the center of gravity suitably. Thus, for a left turn, the arm 128 shall curve towards the left, and for a right turn, the arm 128 shall curve towards the right. In this case, the bend-ability of the arm 128 is considered flexibility. It may be embodied differently with the objective of allowing adjustment of the center of gravity to neutralized centrifugal force while turning sharply.

An embodiment of DCVTF 2-enabled two-wheeled vehicle can move in both forward and backward directions 124. A preferred independent embodiment performs continuous self balancing by DCVTF 2 through a set of sensors and actuators that require minimal skills of the rider. Further, bendability of the arm 128, compensates for banking of the two-wheeled vehicles. For example, in a motorcycle racing scenario, the riders’ feet or knees need not touch or come close to the ground and thereby result in enhanced safety and comfort.

Fig. 9(a)-(c) illustrates an embodiment of ACVTF-enabled wheeled, wheel-less or surface vehicles such as, but not limited to, hovercrafts, ships, normal or magnetic levitation trains, large trucks, etc. It may be noted that some of the vehicles can move in a magnetic field, a fluid medium such as the air, the water, or on the surface while being not at all, partially, or fully immersed in the medium. Such vehicles follow a straight course while cruising and reduce speed significantly while turning, particularly if they are large. Smaller boats may have a curved underbelly that facilitates in banking while turning at cruising speeds. Such variation of speed may disrupt traffic flow and may be avoided with VTF.

Further, as illustrated in Fig. 9(a)-(c), an embodiment of the FRS 132 and the ESS 134 may envelope multiple passenger compartments 136 that enable the vehicle to take sharp turns by extending outer ESS 138 and/or contracting inner ESS 140 so that the vehicle remains within inviolable boundaries 300 of the path of the vehicle. Also, the vehicle can take a narrow and serpentine course 142 by extending and contracting longitudinal ESS’es 138, 140 alternatively. All such maneuvers would, generally, be automated, i.e., carried out by DCVTF vide Fig. 1. The abovementioned embodiment would, without limitation, encompass turning of large wheel-less or wheeled vehicles, in which case the passenger compartments 136 could be multiple that ensure the ride-quality of payloads or passengers while ensuring tum-ability of such vehicle without significantly reducing speed. In preferred embodiments, such compartments 136 would be suspended or otherwise insulated from turning of the OS 18. However, a vehicle, small or big, can have a single such compartment 136, too. In an embodiment, the accommodation of payloads or passengers of a vehicle that is undergoing a turning, the vehicle uses ESSes, the ESSes divide the payload or passenger or payload compartment 136 into two parts. Without restriction, if one ESS is used on each side of a vehicle, then there would be two payload or passenger compartments 136. Similarly, n + 1 is the number of compartments if the number of ESSes on each side is n (as shown in

Fig.9(a)-(c)). However, this is not a rule: thus, for example, a single-compartment vehicle may have multiple ESSes in such case e.g. when the compartment is embedded deep inside the OS 18. It is possible that the payload or passenger compartments 136 and the OS 18 move or turn in different ways or directions while a vehicle is turning. In one embodiment, when the vehicle turns in a direction, there would be a gradual progression of turning angles as shown in Fig.9 (b). In another embodiment, when the vehicle moves in a serpentine fashion, the passenger compartments 136 turn in different directions.

In an embodiment of ACVTF-enabled vehicles such as airplanes during takeoff or landing, banking forms a major aspect of turning. Without another embodiment that uses flexibility, turning may create stress on longitudinal body parts of a large airliner that may even result in at least partial loss of tum-ability. During takeoff or landing, a large plane takes a considerably long stretch of linear runway, which is not easy to provide. In a scenario, while takeoff or touchdown, a large aircraft that has ACVTF may use a curved (including elliptical, circular, or semi-elliptical) runway that can have a much shorter perimeter. This is because, with an elliptical or circular runway, the plane may make more than one round without the fear of driving off the runway. As part of ACVTF-enablement, bankability would mean that the runway may not require any slope if the wheels would have TCS. Since a plane would have continuously changing ground speed during takeoff or landing, without the invention, the tilt of a curved runway needs to change to match the requirements of the speeding or slowing plane, which is a reason behind straight runways.

In case of vehicles such as spacecraft, an embodiment of ACVTF may not expect a gravitational field during most of the time of its journey; hence, it may not require banking while traveling in outer space. However, a spacecraft would still be benefited by ESS. Moreover, an embodiment of a spacecraft would be benefited by the use of one or more passenger compartments 136. Extra-terrestrial vehicles such as the Mars Rover can use an embodiment of VTF (ACVTF and DCVTF 2). It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the VTF mentioned above applies to any vehicle as mentioned above, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Fig. 10 illustrates a flowchart showing a method that facilitates turning of a vehicle irrespective of whether the vehicle is on the move. At step 146, features related to the vehicle, driving of the vehicle, an environment in which the vehicle is moving, or a driver imparting a reason or business objective to the vehicle, or a combination thereof, is sensed by the sensors 4. At step 148, the features related to the vehicle are received by the processors 6. Successively, at step 150, the features related to the vehicle processed by the processors 6., At step 152, based on the processing, decision-making outputs are generated that enable turning of the vehicle when used as an input to the vehicle subsystems or as controlling signals for controlling the factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle. After that, at step 154, the processors 6 processes the decision making outputs and control the factors or features related to the vehicle or driving of the vehicle while turning the vehicle.

Fig. 11(a) - (e) illustrate a preferred embodiment that involves braking or turning of a vehicle 160 that may potentially lead to loss of control of the vehicle such as skidding. Antilock Braking System and related technology currently address a similar situation. The direction of motion 161 in Fig. 11(a) may be in a straight line or in a curve with considerable momentum 162 in one direction, generally the direction of motion 161. Locking wheels or body-parts in contact with the surroundings through applying brake would cause friction between the surroundings, e.g., the surface on which a wheeled vehicle would travel, and whole or part of the outer shell, e.g., wheels of a wheeled vehicle. If such friction cannot act as the force to decelerate the vehicle quickly enough, then it would come to an uncontrollably moving state or skidding. An embodiment of AC VTF by the vehicle itself (as an embodiment of DC VTF) or by a driver to move different parts of the longitudinal sections of the outer shell in different directions (l64a, l64b) can address the situation by turning the vehicle whereby the induced centripetal force would decelerate the forward motion. However, it would also create a centrifugal force that would act on the vehicle. Nevertheless, ACVTF would be used to counteract such force with or without DCVTF, which is illustrated in Fig. 11(b), 11(d), 11(e). Fig. 11(b) shows two sets, on each side, of ESS like Fig. 2(b) and Fig. 2(d). Fig. 11(d) and Fig. 11(e) have multiple such sections, three of which are depicted even as such sections can be more. Due to maneuverability, supported by flexibility, the vehicle 160 would trace a path that curvilinear rather than straight. Thus, the momentum 162 would be neutralized— at least partially— by the centripetal force due to change of path to a curve and would be reacted by a centrifugal force 165, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175. In the case as depicted by Fig. 11(b), Fig.

11(d), or Fig. 11(e), either all arrows representing centrifugal force point roughly to the same direction, vide Fig. 11(b) and Fig. 11(e), or in different directions, vide Fig. 11(d). Such centrifugal forces may be neutralized, fully or additionally, by banking as illustrated in Fig.

11(c). Here, the outer shell 166 tilts giving rise to two components of the weight 167 of the vehicle, one acting parallel to the vertical orientation 169 of the vehicle 160 and the other being the centripetal force 168. In a vehicle with serpentine motion, vide Fig. 11(d), even one centrifugal force 172 may tend to compensate another 170, 171.