Patents Assigned to National Instruments
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Patent number: 10686572Abstract: A base station (BS) having a plurality of antennas transmits a plurality of spatial streams. Each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UE estimates common phase error (CPE) of each of two or more of the plurality of spatial streams, measures correlations of the estimated CPE among the two or more of the plurality of spatial streams, and provides feedback about the CPE correlations to the BS. The BS uses the CPE correlation feedback to allocate phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) ports and to map the allocated PTRS ports to demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports corresponding to the plurality of spatial streams.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2018Date of Patent: June 16, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Achim Nahler
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Patent number: 10629161Abstract: Hardware may be created with different clock speeds used for different components of the system. Clock and throughput requirements on the interface circuitry of hardware components may set limits which are lower requirements for functional components. It may be advantageous to use more or fewer of some functional blocks or interface circuits in order to reduce cost, increase performance or reliability, reduce the requirements for additional parts, or other beneficial factors. Accordingly, it may be advantageous to generate hardware utilizing more than a single clock frequency. Generating instructions which indicate different clock frequencies for separate components may be difficult or time consuming; generating these instructions automatically may provide significant benefits in time savings, increased productivity, increased performance of hardware, or other benefits.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2017Date of Patent: April 21, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Hojin Kee, Tai A. Ly, Adrian P. Deac, Adam T. Arnesen
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Patent number: 10621025Abstract: A system may include a data acquisition hardware device (DAQ) for acquiring sample data and/or generating control signals, and a host system with memory that may store data samples and information associated with the DAQ and host system operations. The DAQ may push hardware status information to host memory, triggered by predetermined events taking place in the DAQ, e.g. timing events or interrupts. The DAQ may update dedicated buffers in host memory with status data for any of these events. The pushed status information may be read in a manner that allows detection of race conditions, and may be used to handle data acquisition, output control signaling, and interrupts as required without the host system having to query the DAQ. The DAQ may also detect data timing errors and report those data timing errors back to the host system, and also provide improved output operations using counters.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 2018Date of Patent: April 14, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Rafael Castro Scorsi, Hector M. Rubio, Gerardo Daniel Domene-Ramirez
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Patent number: 10624094Abstract: Embodiments are described of devices and methods for processing a signal using a plurality of vector signal generators (VSGs). A digital signal may be provided to a plurality of signal paths, each of which may process a respective frequency band of the signal, the respective frequency bands having regions of overlap. The gain and phase of each signal path may be adjusted such that continuity of phase and magnitude are preserved through the regions of overlap. The adjustment of gain and phase may be accomplished by a complex multiply with a complex calibration constant. The calibration constant may be determined for each signal path by comparing the gain and phase of one or more calibration tones generated within each region of overlap. Each signal path may comprise a VSG to convert the respective signal to an analog signal, which may be combined to obtain a composite signal.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2018Date of Patent: April 14, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Stephen L. Dark, Daniel J. Baker, Johnathan R. W. Ammerman
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Patent number: 10616896Abstract: A base station radio transceiver transceives beams with a UE. In a first beam set of wide beam reference signals (RS), each wide beam RS direction is unique, and in a second beam set of narrow beam RS, each narrow beam RS direction is unique and the width of the narrow beam RS is narrower than the width of the wide beam RS. A linkage uniquely links each narrow beam RS to a wide beam RS. The direction of each narrow beam RS is spatially nested within the width of the wide beam RS to which it is uniquely linked. A processor uses the first and second beam sets in a beam management process in which one of the narrow beam RS is selected for the UE and the wide beam RS uniquely linked to the selected narrow beam RS is selected for the UE according to the linkage.Type: GrantFiled: May 3, 2018Date of Patent: April 7, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Achim Nahler
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Patent number: 10567065Abstract: A processor in a UE evaluates a radio frequency beam quality metric against a threshold, switches from a first beam to a second beam in response to determining the metric falls below the threshold, and transmits to a base station (BS) a report that includes beam measurements. The report indicates the UE has performed the switching and that the beam measurements are with respect to the second beam. A processor in a UE/BS associates narrower and broader beams, uses the narrower beam, rather than the broader beam, to transfer user data between the BS and the UE, evaluates a beam quality metric of the narrower beam against the threshold, and switches to using the broader beam, rather than the narrower beam, to transfer user data between the BS and the UE in response to determining the beam quality metric of the narrower beam falls below the threshold.Type: GrantFiled: August 10, 2018Date of Patent: February 18, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Achim Nahler, James Wesley McCoy
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Patent number: 10567148Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to use of digital predistortion in the context of full-duplex radio. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes one or more antennas and is configured to simultaneously transmit and receive wireless signals via at least partially overlapping frequency resources using the one or more antennas. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes receive chain circuitry that is configured to process both wireless signals transmitted by the apparatus via the one or more antennas and over-the-air wireless signals from one or more other computing devices. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes one or more processing elements configured to determine one or more digital predistortion parameters based on the wireless signals transmitted by the apparatus via the one or more antennas and processed by the receive chain circuitry and apply predistortion to transmitted wireless signals based on the one or more digital predistortion parameters.Type: GrantFiled: December 29, 2017Date of Patent: February 18, 2020Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: James Wesley McCoy, Takao Inoue, Jaeweon Kim
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Patent number: 10505695Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to channel quality reporting for full-duplex (FD) wireless communications. In some embodiments an apparatus (e.g., a mobile device) is configured to receive a reference signal in a wireless communication and determine one or more signal quality indicators for FD communications based on a measured SINR of the reference signal and one or more self-interference cancelation levels. The apparatus may determine the one or more self-interference cancelation levels based on the transmit power of signals transmitted by the apparatus and residual power after SIC. The SIC levels may include both analog and digital SIC levels, which may be separately determined. One or more modulation and coding schemes may be determined based on the effective SINR. In some embodiments, multiple effective SINRs are determined for multiple different transmission modulation orders used by the apparatus.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2018Date of Patent: December 10, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: MinKeun Chung, Jaeweon Kim, James W. McCoy, Ahsan Aziz
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Patent number: 10503549Abstract: A method and system for scheduling a time critical task. The system may include a processing unit, a hardware assist scheduler, and a memory coupled to both the processing unit and the hardware assist scheduler. The method may include receiving timing information for executing the time critical task, the time critical task executing program instructions via a thread on a core of a processing unit and scheduling the time critical task based on the received timing information. The method may further include programming a lateness timer, waiting for a wakeup time to obtain and notifying the processing unit of the scheduling. Additionally, the method may include executing, on the core of the processing unit, the time critical task in accordance with the scheduling, monitoring the lateness timer, and asserting a thread execution interrupt in response to the lateness timer expiring, thereby suspending execution of the time critical task.Type: GrantFiled: July 5, 2018Date of Patent: December 10, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Sundeep Chandhoke, Herbert K. Salmon, IV
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Patent number: 10467059Abstract: A method for determining timing constraints in dataflow models is disclosed. The method includes receiving node information specifying a plurality of dataflow nodes, as well as coupling between various ones of the dataflow nodes. The method further comprising receiving timing information specifying timing constraints for at least some of the dataflow nodes. Based on the node information, the couplings between the nodes, and the timing information, a timeline dependency graph (TDG). The timeline dependency graph illustrates a timeline, mappings between nodes with side effects to firing times of those nodes on the timeline, and dependencies between nodes.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2017Date of Patent: November 5, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Patricia Derler, Kaushik Ravindran, Hugo A. Andrade, Ankita Prasad, Arkadeb Ghosal, Trung N. Tran, Rhishikesh Limaye, Jacob Kornerup
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Patent number: 10447513Abstract: A wireless device receives a frequency division multiplexed (FDM) symbol of constituent equalized FDM data subcarriers. A modulation scheme constellation diagram is subdivided into two or more regions. For each of the regions, a subset of the subcarriers that fall within the region are extracted and a respective region-specific CPE estimate is computed thereon. The respective region-specific CPE estimates are averaged to produce an overall CPE estimate used to compensate the subcarriers. Furthermore, a first CPE estimate is computed using pilot symbols embedded in a first received FDM symbol and is used to compensate the subcarriers. A following second FDM symbol that has no embedded pilot symbols is compensated using the first CPE estimate, and a second CPE estimate is computed using a blind estimation method on the second FDM symbol compensated subcarriers, which are compensated using the second CPE estimate.Type: GrantFiled: December 27, 2017Date of Patent: October 15, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Achim Nahler
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Patent number: 10447352Abstract: A wireless cellular base station (BS) transmitter transmits a downlink calibration pilot symbol. A receiver receives from a user equipment (UE) an uplink calibration pilot symbol and an effective downlink channel estimate transmitted by the UE. The effective downlink channel estimate is computed by the UE using the downlink calibration pilot symbol received from the BS. Processing devices compute an effective uplink channel estimate using the uplink calibration pilot symbol received from the UE and compute channel reciprocity calibration coefficients using the effective downlink channel estimate received from the UE and the effective uplink channel estimate computed by the BS. The BS includes multiple antennas, and the BS computes the channel reciprocity calibration coefficients for each antenna. Alternatively, the uplink channel estimate received by the BS is an inverted version of the effective downlink channel estimate, which the processing devices use for channel reciprocity compensation.Type: GrantFiled: August 10, 2017Date of Patent: October 15, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Karl F. Nieman, Junmo Sung
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Patent number: 10436874Abstract: Systems and methods for calibration and operation of a source-measure unit (SMU). The system may include a functional unit and output terminals coupled to the functional unit. An excitation signal may be applied to a capacitor by the SMU. The capacitor may be included in a calibration circuit. The method may include obtaining one or more of a current calibration coefficient (CCC) or a voltage calibration coefficient (VCC). The CCC may correspond to a current-range setting and the VCC may correspond to a voltage-range setting. The CCC may be obtained from a value of a first current and a value of a second current developed in the capacitor responsive to the excitation signal. The VCC may be obtained from a value of a first voltage and a value of a second voltage developed across the capacitor responsive to the excitation signal.Type: GrantFiled: January 8, 2019Date of Patent: October 8, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Christopher G. Regier, Pablo Limon
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Patent number: 10396867Abstract: A method for reducing complexity of downlink signal demodulation in a multiuser (MU) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system includes a base station acquiring uplink (UL) channel state information (CSI) of a MIMO channel between the base station and a user equipment (UE), deriving downlink (DL) CSI from the UL CSI, and transmitting orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) radio subframes using MIMO pre-equalization based on the DL CSI. The UE performs downlink reciprocity correction of the OFDM subframes received from the base station using a single complex phasor estimate and performs downlink data demodulation of the downlink reciprocity corrected OFDM subframes without performing additional MIMO equalization.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2017Date of Patent: August 27, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Nikhil U. Kundargi, Karl F. Nieman
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Patent number: 10394643Abstract: System and method for auto-calculating uncertainty of a measurement performed by a measurement device. The measurement device initiates a measurement or measurements. In response to the measurement initiation, a driver of the measurement device sends an error specification request to each of a plurality of hardware modules involved in the measurement. Each of the plurality of hardware modules determines the requested error specifications based on a current configuration of the respective hardware module. The measurement device then calculates an uncertainty associated with the measurement or measurements based on the error specifications.Type: GrantFiled: August 16, 2017Date of Patent: August 27, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventor: Robert W. Hamner
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Patent number: 10393781Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for impedance generation comprising impedance generation means arranged for receiving an input clock signal and for generating at least one parameter at a frequency derived from the input clock signal, impedance tuning means arranged for receiving the at least one parameter, for synthesizing an impedance based on the received at least one parameter and for outputting the synthesized impedance to a device under test.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 2014Date of Patent: August 27, 2019Assignee: National Instruments Ireland Resources LimitedInventor: Marc Vanden Bossche
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Patent number: 10371733Abstract: The noise figure for a radio frequency device may be obtained through power measurements. A signal flow graph based upon the S-parameter information of the entire RF system may be constructed. The S-parameter information may be representative of the microwave termination, the device, the measurement instrument and any losses due to additional components such as connecting cables/attenuators/switches, etc. The signal flow graph includes proper placement and values of the source nodes corresponding to each RF sub-system enumerated above. Noise figure measurements may include a calibration step and a measurement step. During the calibration step the noise figure and the noise temperature of the measurement instrument used for the measurement may be obtained. During the measurement step, the noise figure and the noise temperature of the device may be obtained based at least on the noise figure and noise temperature of the measurement instrument obtained during the calibration step.Type: GrantFiled: January 4, 2017Date of Patent: August 6, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Prabhat Pal, Vinay Kumar Velkuru, Brian J. Avenell
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Patent number: 10374456Abstract: An embedded system may distribute, e.g. at the point of coupling to a main power grid, information corresponding to one or more operational parameters (e.g. phase angle, frequency, amplitude, etc.) of a power delivery device to other power delivery devices, using a deterministic communication link. Updates of some or all of the information may be transmitted at future or past points in time, for example at defined time intervals. Time synchronization methods, e.g. a locked instantaneous interpolation mechanism may be used to create a coordinated time, shared among all power delivery devices. Various operating parameter mismatches, e.g. a phase mismatch between power delivery devices delivering power to the power grid, may thereby be reduced to less than a specified, negligible value. This creates tight time synchronization between the power delivery devices and allows them to interoperate in a manner that stabilizes rather than destabilizes the power grid.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2017Date of Patent: August 6, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Brian C. MacCleery, Todd J. Walter, Burt D. Snover
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Patent number: 10367525Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to encoding communications. In some embodiments, for different rows of an encoding matrix, the following operations are performed: generate a set of operations for entries in the row, where the set of operations includes respective operations to be performed on the entries for multiplication of the matrix by a vector, propagate values of entries in the encoding matrix into the set of operations, and simplify ones of the set of operations based on the propagated values to generate an output set of operations. In some embodiments, the output sets of operations are usable to encode input data for communication over a medium. In some embodiments, the disclosed techniques facilitate loop unrolling within compiler memory constraints. In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., a mobile device) is configured with the output sets of operations.Type: GrantFiled: May 29, 2015Date of Patent: July 30, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: David C. Uliana, Newton G. Petersen, Tai A. Ly, Hojin Kee, Adam T. Arnesen, Dustyn K. Blasig, Gandiinaa Gumenjav
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Patent number: 10338110Abstract: A source-measure unit (SMU) may be implemented with digital control loops and circuitry to digitally compensate for the impact of input bias current on current measurements. One or more buffers having well-defined characteristics with respect to certain parameters which may affect the current measurements may be used in the output signal path of the SMU where a shunt voltage developed across a current sense element is measured. For example, the buffers may conduct/develop respective input bias currents that change perceptibly and predictably with temperature. By measuring the temperature and adjusting a control voltage—which is used to develop the shunt voltage—according to the temperature measurements, the impact of the input bias current[s] on the current measurement[s] may be reduced to negligible levels and/or may be eliminated.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2016Date of Patent: July 2, 2019Assignee: National Instruments CorporationInventors: Pablo E. Limon-Garcia-Viesca, Christopher G. Regier