Patents Assigned to U-BLOX AG
  • Patent number: 11936122
    Abstract: An antenna is provided comprising a substrate formed of a dielectric material. The substrate has an upper surface, a lower surface, and one or more side surfaces connecting the upper surface with the lower surface. The antenna further comprises a conductive patch on the upper surface of the substrate; a first conductive strip on one of the one or more side surfaces; and a second conductive strip on one of the one or more side surfaces. The first and second conductive strips are arranged at opposing sides of the conductive patch. The antenna further comprises a ground plane, wherein the first and second conductive strips are galvanically isolated from the conductive patch and galvanically connected to the ground plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Thomas Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11927679
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for synchronizing an encoded signal, in particular a GNSS signal. The method comprises receiving an input signal comprising a first signal component and a second signal component, wherein a sequence of N bits of the first signal component and a sequence of M bits of the second signal component are known a priori. The method further comprises determining a first logical sequence based on a plurality of cross-product operations formed between pairs of vectors obtained from a plurality of received symbols of the first signal component and the second signal component of the received input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Oliver With
  • Patent number: 11929541
    Abstract: An antenna includes an optically transparent substrate layer having a first surface and an opposing second surface; a radiating element having a first mesh structure and disposed on the first surface of the substrate layer; a ground plane having a second mesh structure formed on the second surface of the substrate layer; at least two feed lines configured to connect the radiating element to an external circuit; and at least two stubs connected to the radiating element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Thomas Kaufmann, Seyedali Malakooti, Christophe Fumeaux
  • Patent number: 11885890
    Abstract: A method for determining a protection level of a position estimate using a single epoch of GNSS measurements, the method includes: specifying a prior probability density P(x) of a state x; specifying a system model h(x) that relates the state x to observables z of the measurements; quantifying quality metrics q associated with the measurements; specifying a non-Gaussian residual error probability density model ƒ(r|?, q) and fitting model parameters ? using a set of experimental data; and defining a posterior probability density P(x|z, q, ?); estimating the state x; and computing the protection level by integrating the posterior probability density P(x|z, q, ?) over the state x.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Ian Sheret, Olivier Julien, Rod Bryant, Chris Hide
  • Patent number: 11888661
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for demodulating a wireless signal modulated by phase-shift keying. The signal comprises a plurality of symbols. The method includes: obtaining a first sequence of samples based on the signal; converting the first sequence of samples to a first sequence of frequency domain samples; selecting, as a decision variable, the sample that has the maximum magnitude among the first sequence of frequency domain samples; and identifying a symbol or a symbol-transition based on the decision variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Zhenlan Cheng
  • Patent number: 11863535
    Abstract: A system and a method for secure communications over a network, the method comprising: receiving a data packet from a first device, the data packet comprising an encrypted data part and a metadata part, the metadata part comprising a cleartext part and removable metadata, the removable metadata comprising a network access code that is authenticatable by means of a network access key; validating the data packet, wherein validating the data packet comprises authenticating the network access code using the network access key; removing the removable metadata from the data packet after validating the data packet, thereby altering the data packet; and transmitting the altered data packet to a second device. The system comprises a first, a second, and a third device. The third device may comprise a receiver and a transmitter, and a validator that comprises a processor and a memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Hariharasudhan Vigneswaran
  • Patent number: 11689226
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for transmitting signals, the transmitter including a memory storing instructions and a controller configured to execute the instructions to cause the transmitter to determine whether a value of transmitter power is less than a threshold, responsive to a determination that the value of transmitter power is less than the threshold: mix a baseband signal with a first oscillator signal to produce a very-low intermediate frequency (VLIF) signal; mix the VLIF signal with a second oscillator signal to produce a radio frequency (RF) signal, and transmit the RF signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Norman Beamish, Robert Ronan, Graham Smith
  • Patent number: 11662475
    Abstract: A navigation receiver, a navigation system and a method of time stamping asynchronous sensor measurements is provided. Sensor measurement data is received at a first port. A signal pulse is received at a second port. The signal pulse represents a time of measurement according to a first time domain of the received sensor measurement data. Based on the received signal pulse, a timestamp according to a second time domain is generated. The generated timestamp is associated in the second time domain with the received sensor measurement data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Alexander Somieski, Christoph Schmid, Etienne Favey
  • Patent number: 11637360
    Abstract: An antenna includes a substrate layer having a first surface and an opposite second surface, the second surface having a metallization layer; a conductive layer disposed on the first surface of the substrate layer; a slot formed in the conductive layer, the slot including a first part and a second part that are symmetric to each other about a diagonal of the conductive layer; and at least one feed point on the conductive layer and spaced from the slot by a predetermined distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Thomas Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11619744
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for detecting a potential fault in a positioning device, the apparatus including at least one memory for storing instructions, and at least one controller configured to execute the instructions to perform operations including obtaining information about a received signal received by the positioning device, the information including at least one of a control parameter or an estimation of bias based on the received signal; determining whether the potential fault is detected, based on the information and a detection threshold; and in response to a determination that the potential fault is detected, generating an indication that the potential fault is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Thomas Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11601307
    Abstract: Disclosed are Methods and apparatuses for estimating one or more characteristics of the communications channel. The method comprises receiving a first wireless signal transmitted by a transmitter at a first set of frequencies in a first time slot; and receiving a second wireless signal transmitted by the transmitter at a second set of frequencies in a second time slot. The second set of frequencies partially overlaps with the first set of frequencies and the second time slot is different from the first time slot. The method further comprises jointly processing the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal to estimate the one or more characteristics of the communications channel. Corresponding apparatuses are configured to implement the methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: u-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Christopher Marshall, Alessandro Pin, Roberto Rinaldo, Marco Driusso, Alessandro Biason
  • Patent number: 11592578
    Abstract: A method of determining a posterior error probability distribution for a parameter measured by a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. The method comprises receiving a value for each of one or more GNSS measurement quality indicators associated with the GNSS measurement of the parameter. The or each received measurement quality indicator value is provided as an input into a multivariate probability distribution model to determine the posterior error probability distribution for the GNSS measurement, wherein the variates of the multivariate probability distribution model comprise error for said parameter, and the or each measurement quality indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Seppo Turunen
  • Patent number: 11585944
    Abstract: A method of and a receiver for mitigating multipath interference in a global navigation satellite system. In accordance with an embodiment, GNSS signals are received from a plurality of satellites in at least two frequency bands. A likelihood indicator is determined which is indicative of how likely the received GNSS signals are affected by multipath interference. In response to the likelihood indicator, all GNSS signals from at least one frequency band of the at least two frequency bands are discounted. The received GNSS signals are processed by taking into account said discounting of all GNSS signals in the at least one frequency band. The discounting may include assigning less weight to the discounted frequency bands or disregarding each of the discounted frequency bands in their entirety.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Paula Syrjärinne, Christoph J. Schmid
  • Patent number: 11579311
    Abstract: Methods, devices, systems, media, and receivers for processing GNSS signals are described. One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for processing satellite signals of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the method comprising: receiving a first GNSS signal transmitted in a first GNSS operational band by a satellite of the GNSS and a second GNSS signal transmitted in a second GNSS operational band by the satellite; tracking the first GNSS signal; generating, from the tracking of the first GNSS signal, tracking parameters for the first GNSS signal; and decoding, at least based on the tracking parameters for the first GNSS signal, the second GNSS signal, wherein the first GNSS operational band is one of L1 band, L2 band or L5 band, and the second GNSS operational band is L6 band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Zhenlan Cheng, Aku Levola, Clemens Buergi, Paula Syrjarinne
  • Patent number: 11579309
    Abstract: A tracking loop and associated method for tracking a satellite signal in a GNSS receiver and for determining a line-of-sight (LOS) signal from a plurality of satellite signals received by the GNSS receiver from a satellite. One or more first correlators perform a correlation between a code signal derived from one of the received satellite signals and a plurality of corresponding replica code signals to determine a plurality of code correlation sums comprising a prompt code correlation sum, one or more early code correlation sums and one or more late code correlation sums. One or more second correlators correlate the plurality of code correlation sums with a plurality of replica carrier signals, each having a different Doppler frequency offset, to determine, for each of the plurality of code correlation sums, a set of correlation magnitudes at frequencies of the plurality of replica carrier signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Zhenlan Cheng, Kaspar Giger, Roderick C. Bryant
  • Patent number: 11575385
    Abstract: An electronic device includes: a first input node configured to receive a dock signal; a second input node configured to receive an activation signal or a deactivation signal; a filter circuit responsive to: (a) the activation signal to activate the filter circuit to block the dock signal; or (b) the deactivation signal to deactivate the filter circuit to pass the dock signal; and an output node configured for coupling to a synchronous I/O interface of an integrated circuit to control operation of the synchronous I/O interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Aneeb Sohail, Hariharasudhan Vigneswaran
  • Patent number: 11573594
    Abstract: A method for providing a reference clock signal, comprising: generating, by an oscillator, a first clock signal having a first frequency, the first clock signal being coupled to a frequency synthesizer; generating, by the frequency synthesizer, a second clock signal based on the first clock signal, the second clock signal having a second frequency different from the first frequency; outputting a reference clock signal to one or more components of an electronic device, the reference clock signal being one of the first clock signal or the second clock signal; identifying one or more spurious frequency components; and monitoring the reference clock signal for a presence of the one or more spurious frequency components, the monitoring comprising: in response to determining the presence of at least one of the one or more spurious frequency components, selecting a different one of the first clock signal or the second clock signal to be the reference clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Norman Beamish, Brian Morley
  • Patent number: 11567164
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for sharing assistance information relating to an uplink signal transmitted by a first User Equipment. The assistance information may be used to assist a wireless communication device to intercept the uplink signal and measure its time of arrival. The assistance information may be used to assist in the calculation of a position or time, based on the measured time of arrival.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Christopher Marshall, Pascal Herczog, Dusko Vujadinovic
  • Patent number: 11553351
    Abstract: A secure indoor positioning device, system and method. A mobile electronic device is detected entering into proximity of a stationary electronic device. In response, a plurality of secure session parameters is negotiated via two-way wireless communication between the stationary electronic device and the mobile electronic device. One or more of the negotiated plurality of secure session parameters is communicated to one or more other stationary electronic devices. At one or more of the plurality of stationary electronic devices, secure messages broadcasted by the mobile electronic device are received. These messages are decrypted or authenticated using one or more of the negotiated secure session parameters and are used to determine a position of the mobile electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Hariharasudhan Vigneswaran, Peter Karlsson
  • Patent number: 11536852
    Abstract: A GNSS receiver having test signal based failure detection, comprises: a signal generator configured to generate a test signal, the test signal having characteristics of a GNSS signal; one of more amplifiers configured to amplify the test signal; a signal chain configured to receive the amplified test signal at an input node of the signal chain and process the received test signal; and a signal processor configured to: monitor the test signal by: obtaining one or more output signals of the device at one or more output node; recovering the test signal from the one or more output signals, and determining whether one or more errors occurred based on parameters of the recovered test signal based on parameters of the recovered test signal; identify a device failure based on the determined one or more errors; and generate notifications relating to the device failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Zhenlan Cheng, Toni Huovinen, Eero Aho, Thomas Brauner, Barbara Baggini