ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,441,324, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to STMicroelectronics S.r.l. (Agrate Brianza, Italy).
"Device and method for automatic detection of road conditions for vehicle applications" was invented by Fabio Passaniti (Syracuse, Italy) and Enrico Rosario Alessi (Catania, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A road condition detection device, to be coupled to the wheel of a vehicle, is provided with: an electrostatic charge variation sensor, to provide a charge variation signal indicative of an electrostatic charge variation associated with the rotation of the wheel; and a processing unit, coupled to the electrostatic charge variation sensor...