Patents Assigned to Link Labs, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20240319353
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for coordinating dual wireless communications protocols when implementing a time difference of arrival (TDOA) framework for ranging between nodes. A first of the protocols (e.g., BLE) can be used for transmission of synchronization and TDOA schedules that prescribe synchronization and TDOA frames. The synchronization and TDOA frames can then be executed according to a second of the protocols (e.g., UWB), thus exemplifying an efficiency in energy consumption owing to an absence of transitioning between the first and second protocols transmissions throughout the schedules.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2023
    Publication date: September 26, 2024
    Applicant: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. BLOECHL
  • Patent number: 12078713
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for coordinating dual wireless communications protocols when implementing a time difference of arrival (TDOA) framework for ranging between nodes. A first of the protocols (e.g., BLE) can be used for transmission of synchronization and TDOA schedules that prescribe synchronization and TDOA frames. The synchronization and TDOA frames can then be executed according to a second of the protocols (e.g., UWB), thus exemplifying an efficiency in energy consumption owing to an absence of transitioning between the first and second protocols transmissions throughout the schedules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O Bloechl
  • Patent number: 11877233
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for selectively coordinating operations of wireless communications nodes according to a plurality of included wireless communications protocols. Such selective coordination encompasses transitioning transmit and receive windows to be operable according to a respective protocol depending upon the occurrence of a ranging operation, whereas the transitioning is targeted at conserving energy consumption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 11852713
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for coordinating dual wireless communications protocols when implementing a time difference of arrival framework for ranging between nodes. A first of the protocols (e.g., BLE) can be used to initiate synchronization and measurement staging, while ensuing calculations according to such synchronization and measurement can be conducted according a second of the protocols (e.g., UWB). In these regards, transitioning between the aforementioned protocols can result in a conservation of air time involved in an entirety of TDOA processes, and thus a conservation of energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 11778540
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods including a secure sensor filtering capability within an BLE hub device capable of determining its geographic position and also capable of communicating directly with a cloud services application. The hub device periodically performs BLE scanning for advertisements from devices in proximity to the hub device but only collects and processes advertisement data from end nodes that match the filter requirements configured within the hub device while ignoring advertisements from any end nodes not matching the filter requirements configured within the hub device. In addition, digital leash and custody capabilities are provided with respect to the hub device such that improvements in connection with resource utilization (e.g. power, bandwidth, processor usage) may be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan Zanski, Patrick Li
  • Patent number: 11743804
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods including a secure sensor filtering capability within an BLE hub device capable of determining its geographic position and also capable of communicating directly with a cloud services application. The hub device periodically performs BLE scanning for advertisements from devices in proximity to the hub device but only collects and processes advertisement data from end nodes that match the filter requirements configured within the hub device while ignoring advertisements from any end nodes not matching the filter requirements configured within the hub device. In addition, digital leash and custody capabilities are provided with respect to the hub device such that improvements in connection with resource utilization (e.g. power, bandwidth, processor usage) may be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan Zanski, Patrick Li
  • Patent number: 11550016
    Abstract: A communications system, including at least one tag and a plurality of beacons. The tags are configured to detect beacon advertisement messages, initiate a connection with at least one of the plurality of and transmit a Constant Tone (CT) to the at least one of the plurality of beacons. The tag is further configured to determine a location thereof based on the sampled CT from both the beacon and the tag and then report the location via the one of the beacons and/or an access point. Phase ranging mitigation techniques which include hop duplication, hop interpolation and ADC DC offset correction are employed so as to provide more accurate ranging values even in the case where there are many other devices in local proximity and which are competing for use of the same RF channels as those used by the tags and beacons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 11412472
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for generating phase-coherent signaling via invocation of a respective phase synchronization calibration factor among wireless communications nodes. The calibration factor substantially and simultaneously removes an effect of multipath interference and propagation phase shift as between the nodes, thus allowing a direct correlation of phase with respect thereto in a subsequent phase-based ranging regime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Publication number: 20210405143
    Abstract: A communications system, including at least one tag and a plurality of beacons. The tags are configured to detect beacon advertisement messages, initiate a connection with at least one of the plurality of and transmit a Constant Tone (CT) to the at least one of the plurality of beacons. The tag is further configured to determine a location thereof based on the sampled CT from both the beacon and the tag and then report the location via the one of the beacons and/or an access point. Phase ranging mitigation techniques which include hop duplication, hop interpolation and ADC DC offset correction are employed so as to provide more accurate ranging values even in the case where there are many other devices in local proximity and which are competing for use of the same RF channels as those used by the tags and beacons.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Applicant: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 11105917
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for generating phase-coherent signaling when ranging between a transmitting node and a receiving node during wireless communication. Phase coherence is established in response to phase adjustment of a signal to be transmitted from the receiving node, in which such adjustment is commensurate with at least an amount of phase attributable to signaling transmitted by the transmitted node and received at the receiving node. Phase shift attributable to the signaling is compensated for upon receipt of the signaling at a tag in communication with the receiving node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 10985787
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for generating phase-coherent signaling when ranging between a transmitting node and a receiving node during wireless communication. Phase coherence is established in response to phase adjustment of a signal to be transmitted from the receiving node, in which such adjustment is commensurate with at least an amount of phase attributable to signaling transmitted by the transmitted node and received at the receiving node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 10986467
    Abstract: Provided are a system and method for geolocation of a tag relative to a predetermined threshold based upon receipt of duplicate beacon transmission for a same channel. In response to the duplicate transmission, the tag determines relative phase shift resulting from difference in path length, and evaluates correlation of a highest magnitude phase shift to the absence of any difference in path length to assess proximity of the tag with respect to the aforementioned predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark O. Bloechl, Patrick Li
  • Patent number: 10887860
    Abstract: Provided are a wireless communications node (WCN) and a method therefor achieving optimized estimation of coordinate location of the WCN relative to wireless communications with a plurality of reference points (RPs). To do so, the WCN coordinates clustering of such RPs, and determines an estimated coordinate location of the WCN based on one or more RPs of selected ones of clusters each having a centroid thereof that is measured as being most proximate the WCN when compared with unselected clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 10873949
    Abstract: A system incorporating a watchdog and power throttling capability which is implemented to ensure that network devices do not consume their entire battery capacity prior to the minimum expected battery life associated with the battery/device. The system includes capabilities for monitoring predicted remaining battery life in each associated device as well as the ability to control various functionalities within the device and the timing of events so as to guarantee minimum operating life for the device. This watchdog/throttling capability is implemented in such a way as to minimize the impact to device behavior and system operating parameters as much as possible while still enforcing minimum device/battery lifetime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick Li, Ryan Zanski
  • Patent number: 10862520
    Abstract: Provided are a wireless communications node (WCN) and a method therefor achieving mitigation of multipath interference via optimized estimation of coordinate location of the WCN relative to wireless communications with a plurality of reference points (RPs). To do so, the WCN effects a constrained gradient descent with respect to phase ranging measurements to one or more of the plurality to minimize a cost of error associated with the obtaining of such measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 10845451
    Abstract: A communications system, including at least one tag and a plurality of beacons. The tags are configured to detect beacon advertisement messages, initiate a connection with at least one of the plurality of and transmit a Constant Tone (CT) to the at least one of the plurality of beacons. The tag is further configured to determine a location thereof based on the sampled CT from both the beacon and the tag and then report the location via the one of the beacons and/or an access point. Phase ranging mitigation techniques which include hop duplication, hop interpolation and ADC DC offset correction are employed so as to provide more accurate ranging values even in the case where there are many other devices in local proximity and which are competing for use of the same RF channels as those used by the tags and beacons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark O. Bloechl
  • Patent number: 10708970
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for reversing the conventional roles of central and peripheral devices in a BLE network. Doing so includes implementing an end node (EN) as the sole initiator of a connection between a particular EN and a particular access point (AP). Such implementation includes determining a location of the EN, in which that location is resolved by the EN and defined with respect to exchanges of Constant Tone Extensions (CTEs) between the EN and reference points (RPs).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Bloechl, Ricardo Luna, Jr., Patrick Li, Brian Emery Ray
  • Publication number: 20200113006
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for reversing the conventional roles of central and peripheral devices in a BLE network. Doing so includes implementing an end node (EN) as the sole initiator of a connection between a particular EN and a particular access point (AP). Such implementation includes determining a location of the EN, in which that location is resolved by the EN and defined with respect to exchanges of Constant Tone Extensions (CTEs) between the EN and reference points (RPs).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: Link Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark BLOECHL, Ricardo LUNA, JR., Patrick LI, Brian Emery RAY
  • Patent number: 10506498
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for reversing the conventional roles of central and peripheral devices in a BLE network. Doing so includes implementing an end node (EN) as the sole initiator of a connection between a particular EN and a particular access point (AP). Such implementation includes determining a location of the EN, in which that location is resolved by the EN and defined with respect to association with a reference point (RP) enabled to transmit an ultrasonic waveform serving as the primary basis for the location determination according to detection by the EN of a pseudo-random sequence derived from the MAC ID of the RP.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: LINK LABS, INC.
    Inventors: Mark Bloechl, Ricardo Luna, Jr., Patrick Li, Brian Emery Ray
  • Patent number: 10499196
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods for reversing the conventional roles of central and peripheral devices in a BLE network. Doing so includes implementing an end node (EN) as the sole initiator of a connection between a particular EN and a particular access point (AP). Such implementation includes determining a location of the EN based on position information for multiple reference points (RPs), which may in instances be supplied by the AP. Advantageously, the relative positioning is more particularly based on the received signal strengths (RSS) of beacon advertisement messages broadcast from the RPs, and refined by each of the position information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: LINK LABS, INC.
    Inventors: Mark Bloechl, Scott Wohler, Ricardo Luna, Jr., Patrick Li