Patents by Inventor William Robert McKinney

William Robert McKinney 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).

  • Telemetry of diagnostic messages from a mobile asset to a remote station
    Patent number: 6781513
    Abstract: A telemeter for telemetry of diagnostic messages from a mobile asset to a remote station comprises a processor coupled to the output of one or more condition sensors. The processor converts the output of the condition sensors to a diagnostic message, and provides the diagnostic message at a processor output. A transmitter is coupled to the processor output. The transmitter is adapted to transmit the diagnostic messages in the Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) frequency band. An exemplary embodiment of a telemetry system of the invention comprises a telemeter adapted to transmit diagnostic messages in the ISM frequency band, and a remote station including a receiver for receiving the diagnostic messages in the ISM band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2004
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Richard August Korkosz, John Erik Hershey, William Robert McKinney, Sr., Bruce Gunter Schings, Harold Woodruff Tomlinson, Jr., Charles McDonald Puckette, Naofal Mohammed Wassel Al-Dhahir, John Anderson Fergus Ross
  • System and method for directing an adaptive antenna array
    Patent number: 6426720
    Abstract: A system for directing a receiving lobe of an adaptive antenna array toward an aircraft in flight includes an aircraft position vector calculator and an antenna weight vector generator. The aircraft position vector calculator receives aircraft position information from an aircraft tracking service and calculates, based upon the aircraft position information it receives, an aircraft position vector g. An antenna weight vector generator receives the aircraft position vector g from the aircraft position vector calculator and generates, based upon the aircraft position vector g, an antenna element weight vector w. The antenna weight vector w is applied to the elements of an adaptive antenna array to direct a receiving lobe of the array towards an aircraft in flight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John Anderson Fergus Ross, John Erik Hershey, Richard August Korkosz, Naofal Mohammed Wassel Al-Dhahir, William Robert McKinney, Bruce Gunter Schings
  • Telemetry of diagnostic messages from a mobile asset to a remote station
    Patent number: 6262659
    Abstract: A telemeter for telemetry of diagnostic messages from a mobile asset to a remote station comprises a processor coupled to the output of one or more condition sensors. The processor converts the output of the condition sensors to a diagnostic message, and provides the diagnostic message at a processor output. A transmitter is coupled to the processor output. The transmitter is adapted to transmit the diagnostic messages in the Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) frequency band. An exemplary embodiment of a telemetry system of the invention comprises a telemeter adapted to transmit diagnostic messages in the ISM frequency band, and a remote station including a receiver for receiving the diagnostic messages in the ISM band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2001
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Richard August Korkosz, William Robert McKinney, Sr., Bruce Gunther Schings, John Anderson Fergus Ross, Naofal Mohammed Wassel Al-Dhahir, Harold Woodruff Tomlinson, Charles McDonald Puckette, John Erik Hershey