Patents Assigned to U-BLOX AG
  • 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: 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: 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
  • Patent number: 11513235
    Abstract: An apparatus for vector tracking a plurality of satellite signals received by a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver from a plurality of satellites and a method for use thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Zhenlan Cheng
  • Publication number: 20220252733
    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: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Applicant: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Thomas KAUFMANN
  • Patent number: 11385358
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an antenna assembly including an antenna configured to receive a signal and, based on the received signal, generate a first linearly polarized signal at a first feed point and a second linearly polarized signal at a second feed point; and a switching circuit configured to periodically switch between the first feed point and the second feed point to select a polarized signal between the first and second polarized signals at a point in time based on a switching signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventor: Thomas Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11387555
    Abstract: A multiband patch antenna, a method for receiving radio frequency signals in multiple bands by a multiband patch antenna and a method of producing a patch element are disclosed. The antenna comprises a substrate layer having a first surface and a second surface and a base element on the first surface. A multi-resonance patch element comprising a pattern of outward extending resonance formations is provided on the second surface. At least two proximity feed elements configured for connection to a multiband hybrid coupler circuit and extending within the substrate layer from the first surface to the second surface are also provided. The multi-resonance patch element is configured to leave areas where the proximity feed elements extend to the second surface uncovered by the multi-resonance patch element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Thomas Kaufmann, Timo Saarnimo
  • Patent number: 11374613
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a receiver chain includes an input node and a transmitter chain comprising a tap and output nodes. An auxiliary transmitter chain comprises an auxiliary input node coupled to the tap node, an adaptive filter unit and a signal output coupled to the input node. The filter unit includes an interpolation processor, and an adaptive filter and a coefficient processor coupled to the receiver chain and the adaptive filter. The transmitter chain generates a first waveform comprising a plurality of frequency-separated signals. Contemporaneously, the auxiliary chain applies a second waveform comprising another plurality of frequency-separated signals at the input node. The receiver chain receives a composite waveform comprising a waveform coupled from the output node and the second waveform. The first waveform lacks signals required for determination of coefficients of the filter whose frequencies coincide with the another plurality of signals of the second waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Chunqing Zhang, Leo Laughlin
  • Publication number: 20220179098
    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: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Applicant: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Zhenlan CHENG, Aku LEVOLA, Clemens BUERGI, Paula SYRJARINNE
  • Patent number: 11353594
    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: July 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Thomas Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11314273
    Abstract: Disclosed is a power supply switching circuit comprising: a first switch pair configured to selectively connect a first power supply node to an output node; a second switch pair configured to selectively connect a second power supply node to the output node; and a switch control circuit configured to: respectively control first and second switches of the first switch pair by a first control signal and a second control signal; respectively control first and second switches of the second switch pair by a third control signal and a fourth control signal; and selectively connect one of the first power supply node or the second power supply node to the output node by at least one of (a) the first and second control signals or (b) the third and fourth control signals. At least one of the second control signal or the fourth control signal is powered via the output node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Filippo Neri
  • Patent number: 11269046
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for assisting positioning or timing calculations. In one aspect the invention provides a method for assisting a determination of a position or a time, the method comprising: obtaining first phase information, the first phase information characterizing a first phase of a first wireless signal transmitted by a transmitter at a first frequency and received by a first receiver at a first location; and obtaining second phase information, the second phase information characterizing a second phase of a second wireless signal transmitted by the transmitter at a second, different frequency and received by a second receiver at a second, different location. The method further comprises comparing the first phase information with the second phase information to produce phase comparison information; and using the phase comparison information to assist in the determination of a position or a time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Christopher Marshall
  • Patent number: 11265093
    Abstract: A method for compensating group delay variations in a CDMA spread spectrum receiver, comprising: receiving an RF signal; generating an ideal replica signal; filtering the RF signal by one or more filters; obtaining an ideal auto-correlation function (ACF) of the ideal replica signal; distorting the ideal ACF to generate a distorted ACF by a filtering model of the one or more filters; aligning the ideal ACF and the distorted ACF; calculating a set of correction factors based on a ratio of the ideal ACF and the distorted ACF; calculating a cross-correlation signal based on the filtered RF signal and the ideal replica signal; and obtaining a compensated correlation signal by applying the set of correction factors to the cross-correlation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Clemens Buergi
  • Patent number: 11187810
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for tracking a plurality of satellite signals received by a Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS, receiver from a plurality of satellites, each satellite signal being processed in a different one of a plurality of channels (100a-k; 300a-k) of the GNSS receiver. At least one summing unit (116, 120; 356, 358, 360; 366) is configured to sum corresponding correlation values from each of a plurality of sets of correlation values, each set from one of the plurality of channels, to determine a plurality of summed correlation values, wherein each correlation value in a set represents a correlation between a signal derived from a corresponding one of the plurality of received satellite signals, and one of a plurality of replica signals each based on a known position and/or velocity of the GNSS receiver and one of a plurality of estimated receiver timing parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Zhenlan Cheng
  • Patent number: 11175413
    Abstract: Two wireless signals are received from transmitters in different locations transmitting at different frequencies. Phase information from the two signals is gathered for use in positioning and/or timing calculations. Calibration information is preferably also gathered to support the calculations. Information about the rate of change of phase may be gathered for use in velocity and timing drift calculations. The transmitters may be stations in a wireless infrastructure network. Assistance information may be gathered and shared to support the interception of uplink/downlink signals from the stations. Also disclosed are User Equipment, Base Stations, remote supporting services, elliptic hyperbolic relationships for interpreting and using the spatial variation of the phase difference, and positioning engines for use in the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventors: Christopher Marshall, Marco Driusso
  • Patent number: 11146422
    Abstract: An OFDM communication system, includes: a smoothing filter; an equalizer; processors; and a memory containing instructions causing the processors to perform steps of: providing to the smoothing filter a plurality of channel response estimates, each corresponding to a symbol and a channel; receiving a plurality of filtered channel response estimates, each corresponding to a value of the channel response estimate; calculating a plurality of error vectors, each having a plurality of error values, each error value being a difference between the channel response estimate and the filtered channel response estimate; obtaining a mean error vector having a plurality of mean error values, each corresponding to a subcarrier for all symbols; calculating a power of each subcarrier based on the mean error values of the mean error vector; comparing the power of each subcarrier to a threshold power; and adjusting the bandwidth of the smoothing filter based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventor: Dimitris Kalogiros
  • Patent number: 11139590
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an antenna assembly including an antenna configured to receive a signal and generate, at a plurality of feed points of the antenna, a plurality of corresponding polarized signals having respective polarization directions different from each other, using the received signal; and a switching circuit configured to periodically switch between the plurality of feed points to select a corresponding one of the polarized signals among the plurality of polarized signals at a point of time based on a switching signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: U-BLOX AG
    Inventors: Thomas Kaufmann, Roderick Bryant
  • Patent number: 11129007
    Abstract: A monitoring apparatus (116) for a network of communications-enabled devices includes: a processing resource (200) arranged to support a data selection module (214) and a data analysis module (216). The apparatus (116) also includes a communications interface (218) operably coupled to the processing resource (200) and arranged to receive a plurality of data fragments. The plurality of data fragments each bear a respective device identifier and associated observation data, the plurality of data fragments respectively including a plurality of unique device identifiers. The data selection module (214) is arranged to read the respective identifiers of the plurality of data fragments and the associated observation data and to identify a set of the plurality of data fragments generated as a result of a common device characteristic. The data analysis module (216) is arranged to analyse the set of the plurality of data fragments identified by the data selection module in order to detect anomalous device activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: u-blox AG
    Inventor: Eugene Pascal Herczog