{
  "patent_number": "US 6302230",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Self-Balancing Vehicles Warn Users Before They Tip Over",
  "original_title": "Personal mobility vehicles and methods",
  "summary": "A safety system for self-balancing vehicles that monitors how much 'room' the machine has left to accelerate before it loses its ability to stay upright.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a safety mechanism for vehicles that are inherently unstable, like a Segway. Because these machines rely on active motors to stay upright, they have a physical limit to how fast they can accelerate to compensate for a lean. The system calculates a 'balancing margin'—the gap between the vehicle's current speed and the maximum speed it can reach while still maintaining balance. If that gap gets too small, the system triggers an alarm, such as a beeping sound or a physical 'ripple' vibration in the motors, to warn the rider to slow down.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover vehicles that are inherently stable, such as four-wheeled cars or bicycles with kickstands.",
    "Does not cover systems that automatically stop the vehicle without providing a warning to the user.",
    "Does not cover non-motorized balancing devices like a standard unicycle or tightrope walker."
  ],
  "filed": "1999-06-04",
  "granted": "2001-10-16",
  "expires": "2019-06-04",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "Deka Products LP",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/deka-products-lp",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Dean L. Kamen",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/dean-l-kamen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Robert R. Ambrogi",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/robert-r-ambrogi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Robert J. Duggan",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/robert-j-duggan"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Douglas Field",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/j-douglas-field"
    },
    {
      "name": "Richard Kurt Heinzmann",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/richard-kurt-heinzmann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Burl Amesbury",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/burl-amesbury"
    },
    {
      "name": "Christopher C. Langenfeld",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/christopher-c-langenfeld"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 172,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "mechanical",
    "automotive"
  ],
  "abstract": "An automatically balancing vehicle having a headroom monitor. The headroom monitor determines the difference between the maximum velocity of the vehicle and the present velocity of the vehicle. An alarm receives a signal from the headroom monitor and produces a warning when the headroom falls below a specified limit.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/6302230/segway-personal-transporter",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/6302230/segway-personal-transporter/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US6302230",
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}