Patents Examined by Nuzhat Pervin
  • Patent number: 11782147
    Abstract: An object detection apparatus in a vehicle is provided. The object detection apparatus includes one or more sensors configured to detect at least one object located on at least three rows of seats in the vehicle, the one or more sensors being positioned on a ceiling of the vehicle. The object detection apparatus further includes a circuit configured to determine whether or not the at least one object detected is a living-object. A number of the one or more sensors is less than a number of the at least three rows of seats.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Murata, Hidekuni Yomo
  • Patent number: 11774570
    Abstract: A method for operating an angle resolving radar device for automotive applications comprises: routing at least a first and second antenna signal between a radar circuit and an antenna device, wherein the first and second antenna signals are routed via a common signal port of the radar circuit; transducing between the first antenna signal and a first radiation field, the first radiation field having a first phase center, and between the second antenna signal and a second radiation field, the second radiation field having a second phase center, wherein a location of the second phase center is shifted with respect to a location of the first phase center; constructing at least one angle resolving virtual antenna array using the location of the first phase center as a first antenna position and the location of the second phase center of the second radiation field as a second antenna position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Aptiv Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Dennis Vollbracht, Alexander Ioffe
  • Patent number: 11770160
    Abstract: A hidden chamber detector includes a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFMCW) radar, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging processor, and a time division multiple access (TDMA) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna array, including a plurality of transmitting and receiving (Tx-Rx) antenna pairs. A Tx-Rx antenna pair is selected, in a time division manner, as a Tx antenna and an Rx antenna for the LFMCW radar. The LFMCW radar is configured to transmit an illumination signal, receive an echo signal, convert the echo signal to a baseband signal, collect baseband samples, and send the collected samples to the SAR imaging processor. The SAR imaging processor is configured to receive the collected samples, collect structure/configuration of the antenna array and scanning information, and form an SAR image based on the collected samples, the structure/configuration of the antenna array, and the scanning information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: INTELLIGENT FUSION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Xingping Lin, Genshe Chen, Khanh Pham, Erik Blasch, Zhonghai Wang
  • Patent number: 11762084
    Abstract: A vehicle radar system (3) and method including a first and second radar sensor arrangement (4a, 4b). Each radar sensor arrangement (4a, 4b) includes at least two transmitter antenna devices (10a1, 10a2) and at least two receiver antenna devices (13a1, 13a2, 13a3, 13a4), where each receiver antenna device (13a1, 13a2, 13a3, 13a4) has a corresponding boresight extension (46a, 46b) that is perpendicular to an antenna plane (57). Each receiver antenna device (13a1, 13a2, 13a3, 13a4) has a corresponding antenna radiation pattern (47a, 47b) that has a lower gain (48a, 48b) in its boresight extension (46a, 46b) than at a certain corresponding first maximum gain azimuth angle (?1a, ?1b) where there is a first maximum gain (49a, 49b). Each radar sensor arrangement (4a, 4b) is mounted such that each first maximum gain (49a, 49b) is directed along a corresponding first maximum gain extension (51a, 51b), such that an overlap part (56) of the antenna radiation patterns (47a, 47b) is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Arriver Software AB
    Inventors: Walter Poiger, Juergen Maisel
  • Patent number: 11762083
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for determining a position of an object, which comprises at least one non-linear component, in particular one semiconductor component, which, when irradiated with high-frequency transmitted signals from at least two different positions, produces and emits object signals having twice and/or three times the frequency of the respective transmitted signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH
    Inventors: Jürgen Schmitz, Markus Jung, Michael Camp, Alexander Graf, Ellen Dudek
  • Patent number: 11754704
    Abstract: The synthetic aperture radar image processing device includes time-series analysis unit which extracts persistent scatterers from time-series observation data for the observation direction for an observation area observed from multiple observation directions by a radar, and calculating displacement speeds of the extracted persistent scatterers, clustering unit which generates reflection point clusters by clustering extracted persistent scatterers based on their phase and position, distance calculation unit which calculates a distance between each of the persistent scatterers included in the reflection point clusters and each structure included in the observation area, representative value calculation unit which calculates each representative value for the distance between each persistent scatterer and each structure, for each reflection point cluster, and corresponding structure determination unit which associates the structure corresponding to the smallest representative value with the persistent scatterer,
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke Ikefuji, Taichi Tanaka, Osamu Hoshuyama
  • Patent number: 11741843
    Abstract: An example autonomous or remotely piloted aircraft includes a virtual aperture radar system including a plurality of antennas relationally positioned on one or more surfaces of the aircraft such that individual beams from each of the plurality of antennas scan respective volumes around the aircraft and the respective volumes together substantially form an ellipsoidal field of regard around the aircraft, and a computing device having one or more processors configured to execute instructions stored in memory for performing functions of: combining the respective volumes together to form an image representative of the ellipsoidal field of regard around the aircraft, and identifying one or more objects within the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Ian A. Wilson, Samet M. Ayhan
  • Patent number: 11740327
    Abstract: Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for determining one or more attributes of at least one target based on eigenspace analysis of radar signals are presented. In some embodiments, a subset of eigenvectors to use for forming a signal or noise subspace is identified based on principal component analysis. In some embodiments, the subset of eigenvectors is identified based on estimating the total number of targets using a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) or other spectral analysis technique. In some embodiments, a DFT is used to identify areas of interest in which to perform eigenspace analysis. In some embodiments, a DFT is used to estimate one attribute of a target, and eigenspace analysis is performed to estimate a different attribute of the target, with the results being combined to generate a multi-dimensional representation of a field of view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Volodimir Slobodyanyuk, Roberto Rimini, Udara Fernando, Nitin Jonathan Myers, Vijay Varadarajan
  • Patent number: 11726201
    Abstract: A method for operating a radar sensor in a motor vehicle, in which in a SAR measuring mode according to the principle of the synthetic aperture, objects, including stationary objects, are located with high angular resolution. The same radar sensor is operated in time-shifted manner or concurrently in the SAR measuring mode and in a Doppler measuring mode, the relative speeds of objects, including moving objects, being measured with a time resolution in the Doppler measuring mode that is greater than the time resolution in the SAR measuring mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Daniel Schindler, Gor Hakobyan, Johannes Fink, Kai Penske, Michael Schoor, Armin Himmelstoss
  • Patent number: 11726200
    Abstract: A direct line-of-sight (DLOS) radio frequency (RF) signal component and a reflected RF signal component of an RF carrier signal are received from a transmitter. The reflected component is reflected from a point on the surface of the earth. The DLOS component is converted to a digital DLOS intermediate frequency (IF) signal and the reflected component that is converted to a digital reflected IF signal. Modeled reference signal parameters are generated using the digital DLOS IF signal and known locations of the one or more antennas, the transmitter, and the point. A reference signal is generated based on the modeled reference signal parameters and feedback of a previously estimated phase correction (??). The reference signal is correlated with the digital reflected IF signal to produce in-phase and quadrature-phase correlation results. Estimated carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N0) and ?? values are calculated for the digital reflected IF signal from the correlation results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of Colorado, A Body Corporate
    Inventors: Yang Wang, Yu T. Morton
  • Patent number: 11726174
    Abstract: Example embodiments described herein involve techniques for removing transmit phase noise. A system may cause a printed circuit board (PCB) to supply a signal enabling the transmission line to couple the signal to the radar unit and the delay line to couple the signal to the quadrature coupler. The radar unit may use the signal to transmit a radar signal on a radio channel having a centered radio frequency while the quadrature coupler uses the signal to produce an output from the quadrature coupler. The system may estimate phase noise relative to the radio channel having the centered RF based on the output from the quadrature coupler, receive, from the radar unit, a radar reflection corresponding to the radar signal, and determine information representative of one or more objects in an environment based on the radar reflection and the phase noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Timothy Campbell, Edwin Lim
  • Patent number: 11719798
    Abstract: Described is an machine-readable storage media having instruction stored thereon, that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an operation comprising: sequentially transmit, in a first mode, at least two first probe request messages in at least two beam steering directions, respectively, towards a device; and receive, from the device, at least two first probe response messages in response to transmitting the at least two first probe request messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Noam S Brousard, Daniel Cohn, Tom Harel
  • Patent number: 11719810
    Abstract: A method for using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to perform a maneuver in a land vehicle is provided. The method includes: receiving digitized radar return data from a radar transmission from a SAR onboard the vehicle; accumulating a plurality of frames of the digitized radar return data; applying a RADON transform to the accumulated plurality of frames of the digitized radar return data and odometry data from the vehicle to generate transformed frames of data for each three-dimensional point, wherein the RADON transform is configured to perform coherent integration for each three-dimensional point, project a radar trajectory onto each three-dimensional point, and project Doppler information onto each three-dimensional point; generating a two-dimensional map of an area covered by the radar transmission from the SAR based on the transformed frames of data for each three-dimensional point; and performing a maneuver with the land vehicle by applying the generated two-dimensional map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Oren Longman, Igal Bilik
  • Patent number: 11714181
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described to identify motion events on a sloped surface, such as a mountainside, using transmitted and received radio frequency (RF) chirps. A one-dimensional array of receive antennas can be digitally beamformed to determine azimuth information of received reflected chirps. Elevation information can be determined based on time-of-flight measurements of received reflected chirps and known distances to locations on the sloped surface. Motion events may be characterized by deviations in return power levels and/or return phase shifts. The systems and methods may, for example, be used to provide real-time detection of avalanches and/or landslides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Inventors: David Long, Jordan Hill
  • Patent number: 11714189
    Abstract: An aerial vehicle system for mapping an object buried in a subterranean surface, the aerial vehicle system including an aerial vehicle, an electronic sensor, a processor, and a memory. The memory includes instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the system to receive a first input data set by the electronic sensor, the first input data set based on an electromagnetic signal and geographic location data, generate a raw image based on the first input data set, and compare the raw image to a calibration data set, the calibration data set based on material calibration data. The material calibration data is based on unique spectral reflection patterns of an object in a controlled environment at predefined heights and subterranean conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: BGA TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Saikumar Padmanabhan, Srinivas Sridhar
  • Patent number: 11709248
    Abstract: A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that cause processors to obtain an N×M range matrix comprising radar data indexed by velocity and antenna and an M×S steering matrix comprising expected phases indexed by antenna and hypothesis angle. For each unique X×Y range slice corresponding to a particular set of X velocities, processors store the particular range slice in a first buffer. For each unique Y×Z steering slice corresponding to a particular set of Y antenna, processors store the particular steering slice in a second buffer. The processors perform beamforming operations on the range, steering, and intermediate slices, storing the result in a third buffer as the intermediate slice. After each steering and range slice for the particular set of X velocities has been iterated through, the processors store the intermediate slice as a beamforming slice for the particular set of X velocities and the hypothesis angles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Jasbir Singh
  • Patent number: 11709257
    Abstract: A method for detecting the environment of a motor vehicle utilizing a radar system includes bringing about frequency modulation utilizing an oscillator and generating a sequence of transmission-frequency-modulated transmit signals, which each having the same nominal frequency profile, apart from a variation in frequency position. Received signals for object detection are evaluated. A one time-discrete signal per transmit signal is used which includes information about the frequency profile of the transmit signal and which is generated by sampling of an analog signal or by reading out of a free-running counter at predetermined points in time. These time-discrete signals are unnormalized by way of the transmit signals with regard to the position of their phase and/or their initial value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH
    Inventor: Markus Wintermantel
  • Patent number: 11709254
    Abstract: This invention is directed to an image processing apparatus that generates an evaluation index of a persistent scatterer likelihood without any influence of a large phase change with respect to a target whose displacement is nonlinear, a target whose elevation is high, or a target whose displacement is large. The image processing apparatus includes a phase array accumulator that accumulates phase arrays of respective pixels over a plurality of images, a clustering unit that classifies the respective pixels into a plurality of clusters based on the phase arrays, and a phase correlation calculator that calculates a correlation between a phase change in each of the plurality of clusters and the phase array at the respective pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Taichi Tanaka, Osamu Hoshuyama
  • Patent number: 11709243
    Abstract: An occupancy detection apparatus has a switch, a first antenna, a second antenna, a transmitter, and a motion detection circuit. The occupancy detection apparatus monitors for a first motion in a first region using the first antenna using a first motion detection parameter. When no first motion is sensed by the monitoring using the first antenna, the occupancy detection apparatus monitors for a second motion in a second region using the second antenna using a second motion detection parameter. When no second motion is sensed by monitoring using the second antenna, the occupancy detection apparatus designates a space, which encompasses the second region, as unoccupied. The first region and the second region overlap one another, and the first motion detection parameter is different from the second motion detection parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: RichWave Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Tse-Peng Chen
  • Patent number: 11709141
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes methods and systems, including computer-implemented methods, computer program products, and computer systems, for measuring a water cut for hydrocarbon fluid in a production pipe. One method includes transmitting a microwave through a first waveguide attached to a production pipe, wherein the microwave is directed to the hydrocarbon fluid in the production pipe; and obtaining, measurement results based on reflection or propagation of the microwave, wherein the measurement results are used to determine a water cut of the hydrocarbon fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventor: Jose Oliverio Alvarez