Patents Examined by Harry Liu
  • Patent number: 9889355
    Abstract: The disclosure herein provides a golf GPS device with a sensor mechanism to automatically switch between video and audio only modes of the device. More particularly, when a player attaches the golf GPS device to a piece of clothing or hat, the device automatically switches to audio-only mode. When the player detaches the golf GPS device, the device automatically switches to video mode, with or without audio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: DECA SYSTEM, INC.
    Inventors: Gi Su Lee, Jun Ha Park, Seung Jin Kim
  • Patent number: 9880256
    Abstract: Systems and methods can support coprocessing radio signals and video to identify and locate a radio transmitter. Positions and orientations for cameras and RF sensors may be maintained. An RF signature associated with the radio transmitter may be received from the RF sensors to determine an RF persona. A first physical location for the radio transmitter may be estimated according to a physical radio propagation model operating on RF signals. A video stream from one or more of the cameras may be received. An individual may be identified in the video stream using computer vision techniques. A second physical location for the radio transmitter may be estimated from the video stream. Relationships may be established between the first physical location and the second physical location and between the RF persona and the identified individual. The relationships may be presented to an operator interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Bastille Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert John Baxley, Christopher Jay Rouland, Michael Thomas Engle
  • Patent number: 9869746
    Abstract: A method for estimating an angle of arrival of multiple targets moving at a high speed includes defining a range and a resolving power of an angle of arrival and an angular velocity of a plurality of direction finding targets (S1100), setting minimum values of the angle of arrival and the angular velocity within the range to be a set angle of arrival and a set angular velocity (S1200), and adding angle of arrival resolution and angular velocity resolution to the set angle of arrival and the set angular velocity, respectively, deriving a two-dimensional spatial spectrum of a transformed incident signal using a pre-steered vector until the angle of arrival and the angular velocity become a maximum value, and estimating a peak value of the spatial spectrum as a measured angle of arrival and a measured angular velocity of the target (S1300).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: AGNECY FOR DEFENCE DEVELOPMENT
    Inventors: Jae-Hyoun Ha, Woong Park, Sang-Min Kim, Yong-Jae Lee
  • Patent number: 9864066
    Abstract: Assisted-GPS for a portable biometric monitoring device is provided. The portable biometric monitoring device may obtain updated ephemeris data from an associated secondary device via a short-range, low-power communication protocol. The secondary device may be a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Various rules may control when the ephemeris data is updated. The ephemeris data may be used in the calculation of the global position of the portable biometric monitoring device. Additionally, the portable biometric monitoring device may communicate downloaded position fixing data to the associated secondary device. The associated secondary device may then calculate the global position from the position fixing data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Fitbit, Inc.
    Inventors: James Park, Heiko Gernot Albert Panther, Shelten Gee Jao Yuen
  • Patent number: 9866336
    Abstract: A phased array antenna system includes an array of antennas having first antenna and second antennas disposed equidistantly from a third antenna. The first antenna is associated with a first gain and a first phase and the second antenna is associated with a second gain and a second phase. The first antenna receives a first reference signal corresponding to a calibration reference signal transmitted by the third antenna, and the second antenna receives a second reference signal corresponding to the calibration reference signal transmitted by the third antenna. The second receiver module is configured to adjust the second gain and the second phase associated with the second antenna to match the first gain and the first phase associated with the first antenna by comparing the first reference signal received by the first antenna with the second reference signal received by the second antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Arnd Geis, Arnold R. Feldman
  • Patent number: 9864040
    Abstract: Systems and methods for correcting a location of a terminal are provided. In various aspects, a processor in a position correction apparatus may associate a reference position with the terminal, and determine a range for the terminal based on the reference position. The processor may also associate a second position with the terminal, and determine if the second position associated with the terminal is outside the determined range for the terminal based on the reference position. Upon a determination that indicates that the second position is outside the determined range, the processor may correct the second position to a corrected position associated with the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masanori Katsu, Masatomo Kurata, Takashi Ogata, Yasutaka Fukumoto, Tomoharu Ohsumi
  • Patent number: 9851449
    Abstract: Methods that determine position of network devices in a robust manner may include a method for determining a position of a remote radio head. The method may include generating position values of the remote radio head based on signals received by a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver, and generating additional position values of the remote radio head from a supplemental positioning unit. The method may include determining whether an error of at least one of the position values exceeds a threshold, and storing a last position value from position values having an error within the threshold, in response to determining that the error of at least one of the position values exceeds the threshold. The method may further include calculating an updated position value of the remote radio head based on at least one of the additional position values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.
    Inventors: Donna L. Polehn, Thomas H. Tan
  • Patent number: 9853357
    Abstract: A method is provided for using an antenna array to create two beams (a first beam and a second beam). In one aspect, the method uses dual polarization beam forming, which allows for many degrees of freedom in designing a desired power pattern. The method is well suited for systems with multiple radio chains (e.g., systems with active antennas). The method is also well suited for multi-port systems such as TD-SCDMA. In some embodiments, the method produces two beams where (a) the shape of the power beam pattern for the first beam and the shape of the power beam pattern for the second beam are the same (or substantially the same) in a plurality of directions of interest and (b) the beams have orthogonal (or substantially orthogonal) polarizations in the coverage area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
    Inventors: Sven Petersson, Bjorn Johannisson
  • Patent number: 9851447
    Abstract: A method for determining assistance data to facilitate processing of radio-navigation signals from a set of radio-navigational satellites of a reference network, each radio-navigational satellite broadcasting at least a first radio-navigation signal on a first frequency and a second radio-navigation signal on a second frequency, the second frequency being distinct from the first frequency, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: CENTRE NATIONAL D'ETUDES SPATIALES
    Inventors: Denis Laurichesse, Flavien Mercier
  • Patent number: 9841490
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for detecting direction of movement. The system includes at least two radio frequency identification (RFID) readers arranged in different locations. The RFID readers transmit respective location signals from their locations and receive corresponding response signals from a portable electronic device (PED) when the PED is within range to receive the corresponding location signals, respectively. The system includes a controller configured to determine whether the individual response signals received by the RFID readers respectively satisfy a predetermined condition at a first time and a second time subsequent to the first time. The controller is also configured to determine a direction of movement of the portable electronic device relative to the locations of the RFID readers during the first and second times based on whether the response signals respectively satisfy the predetermined condition at the first and second times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON INC.
    Inventors: John C. Swartz, Anthony Hefner, Charles W. Richards, IV, Gary Jason Myers, Matthias Welsh
  • Patent number: 9829581
    Abstract: Enhancing search capacity of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. A method for searching satellite signals in a receiver includes performing a plurality of searches sequentially. The method also includes storing a result from each search of the plurality of searches in a consecutive section of a memory. Further, the method includes detecting free sections in the memory. The method also includes concatenating the free sections in the memory to yield a concatenated free section. Moreover, the method includes allocating the concatenated free section for performing an additional search.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Jasbir Singh, Jawaharlal Tangudu, Aravind Ganesan
  • Patent number: 9829563
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a positioning method, including: determining, by a positioning server, positioning signal configuration information; sending, by the positioning server, the positioning signal configuration information to a positioning signal sending entity; obtaining, by the positioning server, a measurement estimation result of a shortest transmission path between a positioning signal measurement entity and the positioning signal sending entity; and positioning, by the positioning server, a terminal by using the measurement estimation result of the shortest transmission path, where the terminal is one of the positioning signal measurement entity and the positioning signal sending entity. The embodiments of the present invention can resist an NLOS path deviation and a positioning signal strength loss and an SINR loss, so as to improve the positioning accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Dengkun Xiao, Jie Cui, Yongtong Wu
  • Patent number: 9823335
    Abstract: A vehicle system includes: an in-vehicle apparatus having a signal transmission unit that transmits different pulse pattern signals from multiple transmitting antennas; and a portable device having a receiving unit that receives the signals. The in-vehicle apparatus or the portable device includes a portable device position identification unit that identifies a position of the portable device according to the signals. The portable device includes a frequency-to-voltage conversion unit that outputs a voltage corresponding to a frequency of each signal. The portable device position identification unit includes: a first storage unit that preliminary stores voltage change patterns corresponding to the frequencies of the signals in relation to positions of the vehicle; and a first position estimation unit that compares the voltage change patterns of the frequency-to-voltage conversion unit with the voltage change patterns in the first storage unit, and estimates the position of the portable device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, SOKEN, INC.
    Inventors: Munenori Matsumoto, Kouji Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 9817126
    Abstract: The invention, in some embodiments, relates to the field of global navigation satellite systems, and more particularly to the field of methods and devices for identifying whether a satellite in a global navigation satellite system has a line of sight to a specific global navigation satellite system receiver (LOS satellite) or does not have a line of sight to the global navigation satellite system receiver (NLOS satellite).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Ariel-University Research and Development Company Ltd.
    Inventors: Boaz Ben Moshe, Nir Shvalb
  • Patent number: 9819083
    Abstract: A method and apparatus in one example uses adaptive digital beamforming with a plurality of heterogeneous antennas which are more affordable and flexible and do not require the use of a nuller antenna. The method uses adaptive, multi-beam digital beamforming without knowledge of a signal direction or aperture of the antena. The method works with arbitrary antenna elements in arbitrary locations and does not require any a priori antenna model. The method also optimizes signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the received signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Yenming Chen, John M. Trippett, Scott Siegrist
  • Patent number: 9810760
    Abstract: Various technologies pertaining to computing angle of arrival of radio signals are described. A system that is configured for computing the angle of arrival of a radio signal includes a cylindrical sheath wrapped around a cylindrical object, where the cylindrical sheath acts as a ground plane. The system further includes a plurality of antennas that are positioned about an exterior surface of the cylindrical sheath, and receivers respectively coupled to the antennas. The receivers output measurements pertaining to the radio signal. A processing circuit receives the measurements and computes the angle of arrival of the radio signal based upon the measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: John J. Borchardt, David K. Steele
  • Patent number: 9810762
    Abstract: Disclosed are apparatus and methods for providing outputs; e.g., location estimates, based on measurement bins (MBs) determined by a computing device. An MB can be associated with a wireless signal emitter (WSE), and can include a mean signal strength value (SSV) and a standard deviation of SSVs for each WSE associated with the MB. The computing device can designate a WSE. The computing device can determine a collection of the MBs associated with the designated WSE. The computing device can train a mean Gaussian process for the designated WSE based on the mean SSV and the standard deviation of SSVs of the collection of MBs. The mean Gaussian process can be associated with a covariance matrix having a diagonal entry based on a standard deviation of SSVs of an MB in the collection of MBs. The computing device can provide an estimated location based on the trained mean Gaussian process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Brian John Julian
  • Patent number: 9810788
    Abstract: Positioning systems and methods for estimating an altitude of a receiver. In some embodiments, pressure and temperature information from a network of sensors is received by the receiver, and the pressure and temperature information from the network of sensors is used along with pressure information measured at a position of the receiver to estimate the altitude of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: NextNav, LLC
    Inventors: Arun Raghupathy, Subramanian S. Meiyappan, Thomas Wolf
  • Patent number: 9804272
    Abstract: A modal antenna is implemented to provide a variable radiation pattern for improved global positioning system (GPS) signal reception. A multitude of antenna radiation patterns generated from a modal antenna provide the capability to optimally acquire GPS signals across a wide range of angles of arrival. Minimum radiation pattern roll-off is observed from the composite pattern generated from the multiple patterns. An algorithm is described that reduces the acquisition time for a location fix for cold and hot start conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Ethertronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Laurent Desclos, Sebastian Rowson, Jeffrey Shamblin
  • Patent number: 9804270
    Abstract: Techniques for acquiring Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals at a mobile device are provided. An example process according to these techniques includes receiving sensor data from at least one sensor of the mobile device, determining one or more blocked zones based on the sensor data in which at least a portion of signals from at least one space vehicle (SV) are blocked by an obstruction, selecting one or more SVs from SV information based on the one or more blocked zones, and attempting to acquire signals from the one or more SVs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Richard Dominic Wietfeldt, George Chrisikos