Patents Examined by Erin F Heard
  • Patent number: 11215704
    Abstract: An ultra-wideband (“UWB”) communication system comprising a transmitter and a receiver having two antennas. An UWB signal transmitted by the transmitter is received at each of the antennas. By comparing the carrier phases of the received signals, the phase difference can be determined. From this phase difference and the known distance, d, between the antennas, the Cartesian (x,y) location of the transmitter relative to the receiver can be directly determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: DecaWave, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael McLaughlin, Gavin Marrow, Igor Dotlic
  • Patent number: 11215694
    Abstract: A radar unit (100, 300) is described that comprises: a frequency generation circuit (103, 106, 303, 306) configured to generate a millimetre wave, mmW, frequency modulated continuous wave, FMCW, transmit signal comprising a plurality of chirps; a transmitter circuit (108, 102, 308, 302) configured to transmit the generated mmW FMCW transmit signal: a receiver circuit (104, 110, 304, 310) configured to receive an echo of the mmW FMCW transmit signal; and a built-in self-test, BIST, circuit (140, 340) coupled to the receiver circuit (104, 110, 304, 310) and configured to process the echo of the mmW FMCW transmit signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Jan-Peter Schat, Abdellatif Zanati
  • Patent number: 11209573
    Abstract: One example includes an aircraft navigation system associated with an aircraft. The system includes a radio receiver configured to receive a radio signal that propagates from a remote transmitter through a portion of atmosphere to the aircraft. The system also includes an occultation processor configured to process the radio signal to determine a hazardous characteristic of the portion of the atmosphere through which the radio signal propagates. The system further includes an inertial navigation system (INS) configured to detect an intended flight path through the portion of the atmosphere and to provide a warning alarm in response to a determination of the intended flight path through the portion of the atmosphere comprising the determined hazardous characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Francis E. Fendell
  • Patent number: 11209519
    Abstract: An illustrative example sensor device includes a transmitter and a receiver having at least one lobe and at least null. A cover near the transmitter and the receiver includes a surface facing toward the transmitter and the receiver. The surface is at an angle relative to the receiver to direct at least some radiation transmitted by the transmitter and reflected from the surface toward the at least one null of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: APTIV TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
    Inventors: Zhengyu Peng, James F. Searcy
  • Patent number: 11199617
    Abstract: A radar sensor for motor vehicles, having a signal generator that is configured to generate a radar signal that contains a cyclically repeating sequence of N wave trains, where j=1, . . . , N, which are transmitted successively at time intervals T?c,j and which occupy respective frequency bands that differ from one another in terms of their center frequencies fc,j, wherein the relationship applicable to the time intervals T?c,j and the center frequencies fc,j is: T?c,j*fc,j=X, where the parameter X is constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Gor Hakobyan, Karim Adel Dawood Armanious, Michael Schoor
  • Patent number: 11194032
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices are provided for detecting the presence of an object near an electronic device. A radio frequency (RF) system of an electronic device may include a first circuit that includes one or more transmission paths for transmitting a reference signal external to the electronic device. The RF system may include a second circuit that includes one or more receiving paths for receiving a reflection signal based on the reference signal. The RF system may also include a processor that may instruct the RF system to perform a comparison between the reference signal and the reflection signal, determine whether the object is in proximity based at least in part on whether comparison results exceed a comparison threshold, and decrease power output by the RF system below the comparison threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Berke Cetinoneri, Ioannis Sarkas, Qishan Yu
  • Patent number: 11194038
    Abstract: A multistatic array topology and image reconstruction process for fast 3D near field microwave imaging are presented. Together, the techniques allow for hardware efficient realization of an electrically large aperture and video-rate image reconstruction. The array topology samples the scene on a regular grid of phase centers, using a tiling of multistatic arrays. Following a multistatic-to-monostatic correction, the sampled data can then be processed with the well-known and highly efficient monostatic Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) imaging algorithm. In this work, the approach is described and validated experimentally with the formation of high quality microwave images. The scheme is more than two orders of magnitude more computationally efficient than the backprojection method. In fact, it is so efficient that a cluster of four commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) graphical processing units (GPUs) can render a 3D image of a human-sized scene in 0.048-0.101 seconds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: William F. Moulder, James D. Krieger, Denise T. Maurais-Galejs, Huy T. Nguyen, Jeffrey S. Herd
  • Patent number: 11194014
    Abstract: A method and apparatus that measure M coupled channels of radar polarization data ({tilde over (y)}), that is a subset, which is less than the full set of received coupled channels. Sparse recovery operations are performed on the measured M coupled channels of radar polarization data ({tilde over (y)}) and a representation of a set of more than M channels of radar polarization data is generated from the sparse recovery performed on the subset of coupled channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Julie Ann Jackson, Forest A. Lee-Elkin
  • Patent number: 11187798
    Abstract: A method for synthetic aperture radar signal processing includes storing signal responses of a radar signal in a memory buffer, wherein the stored signal responses are represented by a two-dimensional signal in an azimuth dimension and a range dimension. The method further includes frequency filtering the two-dimensional signal in the azimuth dimension. In addition, the method includes applying a Fourier transformation to the frequency filtered signal in the range dimension. The method further includes generating a synthetic aperture radar image based on the Fourier transformed frequency filtered signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Inventor: Florian Fembacher
  • Patent number: 11187796
    Abstract: A radio detection and ranging (radar) operating apparatus includes: radar sensors configured to receive signals reflected from an object; and a processor configured to generate Doppler maps for the radar sensors based on the reflected signals and estimate a time difference between the radar sensors based on the generated Doppler maps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Sungdo Choi
  • Patent number: 11175407
    Abstract: Geofence crossing-based control systems and techniques are described herein. For example, a geofence crossing control technique may include receiving a location signal indicative of a range of locations in which a mobile computing device is located; receiving a velocity signal indicative of a speed and direction of the mobile computing device; generating, for each of a plurality of candidate geofence crossing times, a performance indicator based on the location signal, the velocity signal, and a boundary of the geofence; selecting a geofence crossing time from the plurality of candidate geofence crossing times based on the performance indicators; and transmitting a control signal representative of the geofence crossing time. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: YuHuan Huang, Ke Han, Ke Ding
  • Patent number: 11169259
    Abstract: A method is described for determining the presence and/or properties of one or multiple objects in the surroundings of a motor vehicle, the method including the following steps: —determining and/or receiving a driving speed of the motor vehicle; —emitting measuring beams by a measuring device of the motor vehicle; —receiving reflected and/or scattered back measuring beams by the measuring device; —determining a Euclidean distance of the one object or of the multiple objects from the measuring device based on the reflected and/or scattered back measuring beams; —determining the relative velocity of the one or of the multiple objects in relation to the motor vehicle based on the reflected and/or scattered back measuring beams; —calculating a sum of squares D2, the sum of squares D2 being the sum of the square of the distance of the respective object from the measuring device in a first direction perpendicular to a driving direction of the motor vehicle and of the square of the distance of the respective object
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Marcus Steffen Reiher
  • Patent number: 11169245
    Abstract: A method for simulating a trajectory of a radar target includes the procedures of determining a simulated trajectory of the simulated target and determining a simulating vehicle trajectory for a simulating vehicle. The simulating vehicle trajectory is defined according to a simulation profile. The simulation profile at least includes a spatial simulation profile and a signal delay profile. The method further includes the procedures of maneuvering the simulating vehicle according the spatial simulation profile, receiving a radar signal by the simulating vehicle and retransmitting a signal toward the radar at least according to the signal delay profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: ELBIT SYSTEMS EW AND SIGINT-ELISRA LTD
    Inventors: Roy Glass, Reuel Manela
  • Patent number: 11163050
    Abstract: Techniques for estimating one or more backscatter signals reflected from one or more objects are disclosed. In one example, a backscatter sensor includes, in part, a receiver for receiving a composite signal comprising one or more reflections of a transmitted signal, each reflection being reflected by one of a plurality of objects; and a processor configured to estimate at least a first backscatter component of the composite signal using a progressive interference cancellation technique. The first backscatter component of the composite signal corresponds to a reflection of the transmitted signal from a first object. In one embodiment, the backscatter sensor includes multiple receivers and/or one or more transmitters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Dinesh Bharadia, Kiran Joshi, Sachin Katti
  • Patent number: 11163038
    Abstract: Provided is an antenna which includes a plurality of radiating portions which are formed on a substrate and a plurality of dielectric lenses for respectively converting a spherical wave radiated from each radiating portion into a plane wave, wherein the shape of a cross section of each dielectric lens perpendicular to a radiation direction of a beam is formed in a shape which radiates a beam which is narrower in a second direction than in a first direction orthogonal to the second direction, and the plurality of dielectric lenses are arranged side by side in the second direction so that beams radiated from the respective dielectric lenses are synthesized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Kuriyama, Hideyuki Nagaishi, Akira Kitayama, Hiroshi Kuroda
  • Patent number: 11163052
    Abstract: In an example, the present invention provides an FMCW sensor apparatus. The apparatus has at least three transceiver modules. Each of the transceiver modules has an antenna array to be configured to sense a back scatter of electromagnetic energy from spatial location of a zero degree location in relation to a mid point of the device through a 360 degrees range where each antenna array is configured to sense a 120 degree range. In an example, each of the antenna array has a support member, a plurality of receiving antenna, a receiver integrated circuit coupled to the receiving antenna and configured to receive an incoming FMCW signal and covert the incoming FMCW signal into a base band signal, and a plurality of transmitting antenna. Each antenna array has a transmitter integrated circuit coupled to the transmitting antenna to transmit an outgoing FMCW signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Koko Home, Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley Michael Eckert, Luca Rigazio, Neal Khosla, Kiran Joshi, Lenin Patra
  • Patent number: 11163039
    Abstract: A radar apparatus that detects an object using radiated waves includes: an antenna surface that includes an element unit that emits a radiated wave for a radar; and a cover member that covers the antenna surface to protect the element unit. The cover member includes an inner refractive surface that is an inner side surface of the cover member on which an undesired wave is incident and is formed into a shape that refracts the undesired wave incident on the inner refractive surface so as to advance towards antenna rear. The antenna rear is a side opposite an antenna front that is a side on which the radiated wave is emitted, with the antenna surface as a boundary. Undesired waves are radiated waves that are emitted outside a range of a predetermined solid angle relative to a normal direction of the antenna surface from a center of the antenna surface from which the radiated waves are emitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiya Sakai, Kazumasa Sakurai, Asahi Kondo, Kazushi Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 11158944
    Abstract: A circuit is described herein. In accordance with one embodiment the circuit includes two or more RF channels, wherein each channel includes an input node, a phase shifter and an output node. Each channel is configured to receive an RF oscillator signal at the input node and to provide an RF output signal at the output node. The circuit further includes an RF combiner circuit that is coupled with the outputs of the RF channels and configured to generate a combined signal representing a combination of the RF output signals, and a monitor circuit that includes a mixer and is configured to receive and down-convert the combined signal using an RF reference signal. Thus a mixer output signal is generated that depends on the phases of the RF output signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Inventors: Jochen O. Schrattenecker, Niels Christoffers, Vincenzo Fiore, Bernhard Gstoettenbauer, Helmut Kollmann, Alexander Melzer, Alexander Onic, Rainer Stuhlberger, Mathias Zinnoecker
  • Patent number: 11156712
    Abstract: A detection method for detecting heading based on sensor data of a radar sensor is provided. The radar sensor provides sensor data in form of a range to range rate spectrum. Two clusters of spectrum cells or recognition points are determined. The spectrum cells or recognition points of a first cluster and a second cluster have an intensity value. The spectrum cells or recognition points of the first cluster are arranged on a first linear stretch. The spectrum cells or recognition points of the second cluster are arranged on a second linear stretch. A first slope gradient is determined for the spectrum cells or recognition points in the first cluster. A second slope gradient is determined for the spectrum cells or recognition points in the second cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Klas Alenljung, Ola Thomson
  • Patent number: 11156710
    Abstract: A millimeter wave imaging apparatus, including: a crystal oscillator, a power divider, a millimeter wave transceiver, a local-oscillation signal processor, a second frequency mixer and an image processor; the power divider performs power distribution on an oscillation signal generated by the crystal oscillator, and outputs a clock trigger signal and a local-oscillation signal; the local-oscillation signal processor processes the local-oscillation signal and outputs a second local-oscillation signal; the millimeter wave transceiver unit processes an echo signal reflected by an object to be detected, and outputs a first intermediate-frequency signal; the second frequency mixer mixes the second local-oscillation signal and the first intermediate-frequency signal, and outputs a second intermediate-frequency signal; the image processor processes the second intermediate-frequency signal, and images the object to be detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignees: CHINA COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., SHENZHEN INSTITUTE OF TERAHERTZ TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Juncheng Liu, Chao Sun, Chunchao Qi