ADAS · SDV · Radar · V2X · EV
Investigate what has been disclosed before you build, file or commit.
Vehicle innovation now spans sensing, embedded software, power electronics, connectivity and computing. Hashi IP Solutions runs technology-focused prior art searches across patent and relevant non-patent literature, so automotive R&D and IP teams can review earlier disclosures with structured, traceable findings.
Industry challenge
A
A single vehicle function — say, keeping a car centred in its lane — can be built from different combinations of cameras, radar, processors, software and actuator control. A useful search follows the function and its variants, not one component list.
B
Comparable solutions may appear in filings about electronics, sensing, embedded software, semiconductors, communications or energy management, rather than under an obvious automotive heading.
C
An ECU in one document is a control module, domain controller or vehicle computer in another. Equivalent mechanisms are also described in robotics, aerospace or industrial automation. Searches therefore expand terms, acronyms and classifications deliberately.
D
Software-defined architectures blur where a feature lives. Relevant prior art for an OTA or middleware invention may be framed as general computing, while a sensor-fusion method may be claimed as a signal-processing technique.
E
A structured search helps teams find relevant disclosures, compare technical features and inform patentability and product decisions. It does not guarantee patentability, freedom to operate, grant or the avoidance of infringement.
Coverage
01
Adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, lane detection, sensor fusion, object detection, perception algorithms, driver monitoring, parking assistance, trajectory planning and automated-driving control — a frequent focus of prior art search for autonomous driving technologies.
02
Centralised and zonal architectures, automotive operating systems, hardware–software abstraction, middleware, service-oriented architectures, OTA updates, software lifecycle management and vehicle computing platforms — core territory for a software-defined vehicle patent search.
Software prior art search03
Radar applications in bands such as 24 GHz and 76–81 GHz where relevant, FMCW and MIMO radar, signal processing, target classification, interference mitigation, imaging radar, LiDAR and camera-based perception. These bands are examples, not the full scope of automotive radar.
04
V2V, V2I, V2N and V2P communication, connected vehicle platforms, telematics, in-vehicle networking, cybersecurity, remote diagnostics and connected mobility services — where a connected car patent search often meets cellular and Wi-Fi literature.
Telecom prior art search05
Digital instrument clusters, head-up displays, infotainment, HMI, voice interfaces, driver personalisation, multi-display orchestration, in-cabin sensing and integrated cockpit computing.
06
Battery management systems, thermal management, charging systems, onboard chargers, DC-DC converters, traction inverters, electric drives, regenerative braking, power semiconductor applications and energy optimisation for an electric vehicle prior art search.
07
Edge AI, automotive machine learning, real-time embedded software, compute platforms, AI accelerators, fault detection, predictive maintenance, functional-safety-related control implementations and efficient onboard inference.
08
Automotive Ethernet, CAN, LIN, zonal architectures, ECUs, high-performance computing, gateway systems, time-sensitive networking and in-vehicle data processing.
09
State-of-charge and state-of-health estimation, battery diagnostics, thermal and charging optimisation, energy prediction, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and intelligent energy-management control.
010
Vehicle cybersecurity, automotive digital twins, intelligent transportation interfaces, advanced driver monitoring, predictive maintenance, new mobility platforms and other emerging automotive inventions.
Sources & terminology
Search objectives
Investigate earlier disclosures relevant to the technical features of a proposed automotive invention before or during patent drafting.
Patentability searchExplore existing approaches to a defined engineering problem, subsystem, control method or vehicle architecture.
Help technical teams understand relevant earlier solutions and identify directions for further investigation.
Review publicly available patent and technical disclosures in selected technology areas or from selected competitors, subject to an agreed scope.
When the question is where a whole technology area is moving rather than what came before one invention, a landscape study is the better fit.
Patent landscapeWorkflow
01
Identify the automotive application, technical problem, proposed solution, key features, implementation options and search objective.
02
Establish technical concepts, synonyms, terminology, potential patent classifications, jurisdictions and date constraints where applicable.
03
Investigate relevant patent publications and available family information using a strategy tailored to the invention.
04
Review suitable non-patent literature and other agreed public technical sources where relevant and accessible.
05
Organise the most relevant results, explain technical similarities and differences, and provide traceable references for R&D, patent or legal review.
Deliverables
Who it's for
Investigate earlier technical disclosures before advancing vehicle-system innovations into filing or production programmes.
Assess prior disclosures relevant to components, sensing, control systems and electronic architectures you supply.
Investigate algorithms, signal processing, sensing configurations and perception-related inventions.
Explore earlier disclosures on automotive processors, SoCs, power electronics and embedded computing.
Investigate battery, charging, energy-management and electric-drive innovations.
Review earlier disclosures involving vehicle software platforms, middleware and software-defined architectures.
Obtain structured technical findings to inform further professional review and patent-related decisions.
Why Hashi IP
Scope starts from the actual engineering problem and the invention's technical features.
Inventions spanning software, electronics, sensing, communications and vehicle systems are searched across those fields.
Findings are organised so technical and IP stakeholders can review them quickly.
Both patent literature and appropriate public technical disclosures are considered within the agreed scope.
Findings can lead into patent analytics, FTO, invalidity, novelty or other existing services where appropriate.
Start a search
Please don't share confidential invention details when booking. A short, non-confidential summary is enough to scope the work. See our privacy policy.
FAQ
They are structured searches of patent publications and relevant public technical literature focused on a vehicle technology — for example a perception method, a battery-management algorithm or a zonal architecture — with the findings mapped against the features of the invention under review.
ADAS functions are usually combinations of known sensors, processors and control logic. Knowing which combinations and algorithms have already been disclosed helps teams identify what is genuinely distinctive before investing in drafting or further development.
Yes. Searches can cover middleware, service-oriented architectures, OTA update mechanisms, virtualisation and vehicle computing platforms. Because these ideas are often described in general computing terms, the search extends beyond automotive-specific wording.
The search breaks the invention into its waveform, antenna configuration, signal-processing chain and classification or fusion steps, then searches each with technical synonyms and classifications across patent and research literature, including non-automotive radar where it is relevant.
Yes — including state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation, thermal management, charging control, inverters, DC-DC conversion and vehicle-to-grid concepts. Relevant disclosures may also come from stationary storage and power-electronics fields.
They can, depending on the agreed scope. Research papers, conference proceedings, publicly accessible standards-related documents and dated product literature may be reviewed where relevant and accessible. Not every database or document is searchable, and confidential material is never available.
A prior art search looks for earlier disclosures relevant to a specific invention. A landscape study maps a whole technology area — who is filing, where activity is growing and where gaps may exist — to support strategy rather than a single filing decision.
No. A prior art search looks backwards at earlier disclosures. A freedom-to-operate search examines in-force patent claims that a product might fall within, and any legal opinion on infringement risk remains with qualified patent counsel.
To scope the work, a short, non-confidential outline is enough: the vehicle system or subsystem, the problem addressed, the general approach, target jurisdictions and the decision the search should support. Detailed disclosures follow once confidentiality terms are in place.
Typically before committing significant engineering resources to a new approach, before drafting a patent application, or before a design freeze. The right timing and scope depend on the invention, the search objective and how much technical detail is available.