Patents by Inventor Graham K. SMITH

Graham K. SMITH has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11617154
    Abstract: A method and measuring station to determine the geo-location of a wanted target station in the presence of rogue responder stations are disclosed. One method includes: transmitting a packet with a fictitious address not corresponding to the wanted target station address; transmitting a packet with the wanted target station address; determining at least one of: a first difference between a round trip time (RTT) associated with a response packet from a responder station and an RTT associated with a response packet from the wanted target station; and a second difference between a time of arrival (TOA) associated with the responder station's response packet and a TOA associated with the wanted target station's response packet; and distinguishing between the response from the responder station and the response from the wanted target station based on at least at least one of the first difference and the second difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan Busser, Mark Passler, Olivia Fernandez, Graham K. Smith, Steven Romanow
  • Publication number: 20230087126
    Abstract: A method and wireless devices (WDs) for geo-location of wireless devices are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method in a first WD includes: transmitting a sequence of ranging signals and receiving a plurality of ranging response signals from a second WD, the ranging response signals being responsive to the ranging signals. For each of the plurality of ranging response signals, a received sequence of bits is determined. A correlation between the received sequence of bits and an expected sequence of bits is determined. The method also includes determining a subset of the plurality of received sequences of bits deemed not to arise from noise, and determining the subset being based at least in part on the correlations. The method also includes determining a distance between the first WD and the second WD based at least in part on a plurality of received sequences in the subset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2022
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Mark PASSLER, Graham K. SMITH, Ryan BUSSER, Olivia TURNER, Steven ROMANOW
  • Publication number: 20230092629
    Abstract: A method in a measuring station is described. The method includes determining a plurality of Time of Flights (TOFs) corresponding to plurality of beacons and determining an overall circular error probability ellipse (CEP) based at least in part upon a plurality of times of departure and a corresponding plurality of measuring station positions for each TOF. The method further includes determining at least one individual CEP of a plurality of individual CEPs if at least one of a predetermined time has elapsed and the measuring station has travelled a predetermined distance and determining a merged CEP, where the merged CEP includes the plurality of individual CEPs. Further, the merged CEP is determined to be a better CEP if the merged CEP is more consistent with the plurality of individual CEPs than with the overall CEP. The better CEP is usable to determine a location of a wireless device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2022
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Mark PASSLER, Nicholas D. BOYER, Graham K. SMITH
  • Patent number: 11581907
    Abstract: A method in a first wireless device (WD) supporting wireless communication with a second WD is described. A plurality of wireless packets is received from the second WD including at least a first wireless packet. At least another wireless packet of the plurality of wireless packets is one of a retry packet and a repeat packet of the first packet. Each wireless packet of the plurality of wireless packets includes a plurality of bits and a first group of bits. For each received wireless packet, the plurality of bits corresponding to the received wireless packet is de-spread, and the first group of bits is correlated with a predetermined group of bits. The method further includes performing a majority vote based on the correlation of the first group of bits of each received wireless packet and creating a corrected packet based in part on the majority vote.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Graham K. Smith
  • Patent number: 11553453
    Abstract: A method in a wireless device (WD) is described. The method is performed for determining a geo-location of a target station using round-trip times (RTTs) of a plurality of signals transmitted by the WD to the target station and a plurality of response signals received from the target station. The method includes determining expected time domain symbols of an expected response signal, and, for each transmitted signal of the plurality of signals, determining a first time, opening a reception window for receiving a response signal, receiving the response signal within the reception window, frequency shifting the expected time domain symbols, and cross-correlating the time domain symbols with the frequency shifted expected time domain symbols. In addition, the method includes determining a peak correlation value, a second time, and the RTT for each one of the transmitted plurality of signals based at least on the first time and the second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Graham K. Smith, Ryan Busser, Olivia Fernandez
  • Patent number: 11546735
    Abstract: A method and wireless devices (WDs) for geo-location of wireless devices are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method in a first WD includes: transmitting a sequence of ranging signals and receiving a plurality of ranging response signals from a second WD, the ranging response signals being responsive to the ranging signals. For each of the plurality of ranging response signals, a received sequence of bits is determined. A correlation between the received sequence of bits and an expected sequence of bits is determined. The method also includes determining a subset of the plurality of received sequences of bits deemed not to arise from noise, and determining the subset being based at least in part on the correlations. The method also includes determining a distance between the first WD and the second WD based at least in part on a plurality of received sequences in the subset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Passler, Graham K. Smith, Ryan Busser, Olivia Fernandez, Steven Romanow
  • Publication number: 20220394475
    Abstract: A method implemented in a monitoring station is described. The monitoring station is configurable to monitor a communication between a first wireless device and a second wireless device. The method includes receiving a packet from the first wireless device, the packet being addressed to the second wireless device and determining whether the received packet meets at least one criterion of one packet that is to be blocked. The method further includes transmitting a blocking signal when the received packet meets the at least one criterion of the one packet that is to be blocked. The blocking signal causes an interference with a reception, at the second wireless device, of at least one field of the received packet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2022
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventors: Ryan BUSSER, Olivia TURNER, Graham K. SMITH
  • Publication number: 20220361138
    Abstract: A method implemented in a first wireless device is described. The method includes transmitting a plurality of paging requests, receiving a first plurality of bit streams, and performing a first correlation, during a reception window, of each bit stream. When a correlation threshold is exceeded, a synchronization packet is transmitted, a bit stream received, and a second correlation performed. When a third time difference between a first time difference and a second time difference is within a predetermined time difference range, a plurality of poll packets is transmitted, a second plurality of bit streams received, and a third correlation is performed of each bit stream of the second plurality of bit streams with a second expected bit stream. The method further includes determining a correlation time of a maximum correlation value of each poll packet and determining the plurality of RTTs corresponding to the plurality of poll pockets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2022
    Publication date: November 10, 2022
    Inventors: Graham K. SMITH, Joaquin PRENDES, Mark PASSLER, Nikolaos GLANTZIS
  • Publication number: 20220200632
    Abstract: A method in a first wireless device (WD) supporting wireless communication with a second WD is described. A plurality of wireless packets is received from the second WD including at least a first wireless packet. At least another wireless packet of the plurality of wireless packets is one of a retry packet and a repeat packet of the first packet. Each wireless packet of the plurality of wireless packets includes a plurality of bits and a first group of bits. For each received wireless packet, the plurality of bits corresponding to the received wireless packet is de-spread, and the first group of bits is correlated with a predetermined group of bits. The method further includes performing a majority vote based on the correlation of the first group of bits of each received wireless packet and creating a corrected packet based in part on the majority vote.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventor: Graham K. SMITH
  • Publication number: 20220196825
    Abstract: A method in a first wireless device (WD) is described. The method includes determining a plurality of expected response signals, each having a scrambling seed number and an expected sequence of time domain symbols; receiving a plurality of response signals; determining a plurality of frequency shifted time domain samples, cross-correlating each frequency shifted time domain sample with the expected sequence of time domain symbols, for each scrambling seed number of each expected response signal; determining a maximum correlation value for each frequency shift and each frequency shifted time domain sample; summing the maximum correlation value for each frequency shift, each frequency shifted time domain sample, and each response signal; determining a peak correlation value based on the summed maximum correlation value; and determining at least the round trip time associated with the plurality of ranging signals based at least in part on the peak correlation value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Graham K. SMITH, Ryan BUSSER, Olivia FERNANDEZ
  • Patent number: 11346934
    Abstract: A method for determining reception window timing using a measuring station receiving an antenna beam width, receiving an antenna tilt angle, receiving an altitude A, determining a far projection angle ?f, determining a near projection angle ?n, and determining a far projection range corresponding to the far projection angle ?f and based at least upon the values of ?f and A. The method further includes determining a near projection range corresponding to the near projection angle ?n and based at least upon the values of ?n and A, determining an end time of a reception window based at least upon the value of the far projection range the reception window being a window of time in which a response from the target station is expected to be received, and determining a start time of the reception window based at least upon the value of the near projection range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Olivia Desiree Fernandez, Graham K Smith
  • Publication number: 20220141796
    Abstract: A method and measuring station to determine the geo-location of a wanted target station in the presence of rogue responder stations are disclosed. One method includes: transmitting a packet with a fictitious address not corresponding to the wanted target station address; transmitting a packet with the wanted target station address; determining at least one of: a first difference between a round trip time (RTT) associated with a response packet from a responder station and an RTT associated with a response packet from the wanted target station; and a second difference between a time of arrival (TOA) associated with the responder station's response packet and a TOA associated with the wanted target station's response packet; and distinguishing between the response from the responder station and the response from the wanted target station based on at least at least one of the first difference and the second difference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2021
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Ryan BUSSER, Mark PASSLER, Olivia FERNANDEZ, Graham K. SMITH, Steven ROMANOW
  • Publication number: 20220110087
    Abstract: A method in a wireless device (WD) is described. The method is performed for determining a geo-location of a target station using round-trip times (RTTs) of a plurality of signals transmitted by the WD to the target station and a plurality of response signals received from the target station. The method includes determining expected time domain symbols of an expected response signal, and, for each transmitted signal of the plurality of signals, determining a first time, opening a reception window for receiving a response signal, receiving the response signal within the reception window, frequency shifting the expected time domain symbols, and cross-correlating the time domain symbols with the frequency shifted expected time domain symbols. In addition, the method includes determining a peak correlation value, a second time, and the RTT for each one of the transmitted plurality of signals based at least on the first time and the second time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Publication date: April 7, 2022
    Inventors: Graham K. SMITH, Ryan BUSSER, Olivia FERNANDEZ
  • Publication number: 20220078743
    Abstract: A method in a wireless device (WD) is described. The method is at least for determining a geo-location of a target station using round-trip times (RTTs) of a plurality of signals transmitted by the WD and a plurality of response signals received from the target station corresponding to the plurality of signals transmitted by the WD. The method includes determining an expected response signal, and, for each transmitted signal of the plurality of signals, determining that a response signal type matches an expected response signal type, cross-correlating a set of samples of the response signal, searching for a predetermined characteristic of the expected response signal, and correlating at least a subset of bits of the set of bits of the received response signal with the set of expected bits of the expected response signal. Further, a peak rolling sum correlation and the RTTs are determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2021
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Inventors: Olivia FERNANDEZ, Ryan BUSSER, Graham K. SMITH
  • Publication number: 20220070622
    Abstract: A method and wireless devices (WDs) for geo-location of wireless devices are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method in a first WD includes: transmitting a sequence of ranging signals and receiving a plurality of ranging response signals from a second WD, the ranging response signals being responsive to the ranging signals. For each of the plurality of ranging response signals, a received sequence of bits is determined. A correlation between the received sequence of bits and an expected sequence of bits is determined. The method also includes determining a subset of the plurality of received sequences of bits deemed not to arise from noise, and determining the subset being based at least in part on the correlations. The method also includes determining a distance between the first WD and the second WD based at least in part on a plurality of received sequences in the subset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Mark PASSLER, Graham K. SMITH, Ryan BUSSER, Olivia FERNANDEZ, Steven ROMANOW
  • Patent number: 11249128
    Abstract: A method and computer for determining a ground coverage footprint of a beam of an antenna mounted above the ground are disclosed. A method includes determining the far projection distance based at least in part on beam width and tilt angle, the far projection distance being a lesser of: a first distance from the antenna to the ground of a 3 dB far projection; two times a second distance from the antenna to the ground of a 3 dB near projection; and a third distance from the antenna to the ground of a projection of the maximum antenna gain multiplied by the square root of two. A ground footprint of the beam is determined based at least in part on the determined far projection distance. The method further includes causing the antenna to be pointed based at least in part on the determined ground footprint of the beam of the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven M. Romanow, Mark Passler, Graham K. Smith
  • Publication number: 20210255308
    Abstract: A method for determining reception window timing using a measuring station receiving an antenna beam width, receiving an antenna tilt angle, receiving an altitude A, determining a far projection angle ?f, determining a near projection angle ?n, and determining a far projection range corresponding to the far projection angle ?f and based at least upon the values of ?f and A.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Olivia Desiree FERNANDEZ, Graham K SMITH
  • Patent number: 11012109
    Abstract: A method and devices are disclosed that increase the range of active geo-location from the airborne measuring station as compared with known methods by increasing the effective receive sensitivity of the airborne measuring station. In one embodiment this may be accomplished by transmitting a predetermined ranging packet and correlating the raw received bit stream of the response packet with the predetermined bit stream. In one embodiment, the disclosed method applies to the reception of IEEE 802.11 direct sequence spread spectrum DSSS ACK and DSSS CTS packets in response to DSSS data null and DSSS RTS packets respectively, in the 2.4 GHz band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Graham K. Smith
  • Publication number: 20210025930
    Abstract: A method and computer for determining a ground coverage footprint of a beam of an antenna mounted above the ground are disclosed. A method includes determining the far projection distance based at least in part on beam width and tilt angle, the far projection distance being a lesser of: a first distance from the antenna to the ground of a 3 dB far projection; two times a second distance from the antenna to the ground of a 3 dB near projection; and a third distance from the antenna to the ground of a projection of the maximum antenna gain multiplied by the square root of two. A ground footprint of the beam is determined based at least in part on the determined far projection distance. The method further includes causing the antenna to be pointed based at least in part on the determined ground footprint of the beam of the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Steven M. ROMANOW, Mark PASSLER, Graham K. SMITH
  • Patent number: 10847866
    Abstract: A method and computer for pointing a beam of a directional antenna located above ground is disclosed. A method includes receiving a beam width 2?, and determining an angle ?max where ?max+? is an angle for a projection of maximum signal strength on the ground. ?max is based on the beam width 2? and tilt angle ?. The method also includes determining an effective ground beam width defined by a total relative gain of the directional antenna and the above the ground to ground range being at half the maximum signal strength on the ground at angles above and below ?max. The method further includes determining a ground footprint of the beam based at least on part on the determined effective ground beam width, and causing the antenna to be pointed based at least in part on the determined ground footprint of the beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: SR Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Passler, Graham K. Smith, Steven M. Romanow