ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,388,171, issued on Aug. 12, was assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Aichi-Ken, Japan).
"Vehicle upper structure" was invented by Hiroki Hyodo (Toyota, Japan), Masaya Miura (Toyota, Japan), Koichiro Ueno (Nagoya, Japan) and Shintaro Kitakata (Nissin, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vehicle upper structure comprising: a roof panel having a communication opening and at least one bead; and a communication device fixed to the roof panel such that the communication device does not protrude beyond a design surface of the roof panel to an exterior of the vehicle, wherein the communication device is located within the communication opening in...