Patents Examined by Harry Liu
  • Patent number: 8810453
    Abstract: A method and system for provision of a notification based on location of a target device and heuristic information, the method maintaining, in a storage module, a location profile of a target mobile device based on heuristic information for the target mobile device; receiving the current location of the target mobile device; verifying whether the current location deviates from the location profile; and if the current location deviates from the location profile, triggering a notification to an observer device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventor: Andrey Li
  • Patent number: 8803737
    Abstract: Among other disclosed subject matter, a method includes detecting that a location is to be determined. The method includes selecting at least one among multiple location determination techniques based on a selection criterion. The method includes causing the location to be determined using the selected location determination technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Alan Bush, Ronald Keryuan Huang, Daryl Mun-Kid Low
  • Patent number: 8797210
    Abstract: A remote tracking system is described including one or more remote tracking devices and a monitoring center. The remote tracking device includes a tamper-resistant housing intended to be held securely to a wearer by a strap, a positioning system receiver in the housing and operable to receive signals indicative of the location of the remote tracking device, a cellular transceiver in the housing and operable to communicate with the monitoring center, and a processor in the housing and in electrical communication with the positioning system receiver and the cellular transceiver, the processor operable to monitor a status for the remote tracking device. The remote tracking system is able to compare the location of the remote tracking device with a set of pre-programmed rules and establish a two-way voice communication between the wearer and the monitoring center upon the occurrence of certain programmable conditions in the remote tracking system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: SecureAlert, Inc.
    Inventors: David Derrick, Bruce Derrick
  • Patent number: 8791857
    Abstract: To track the location of a terminal in an indoor space by using a pseudo GPS signal transmitter, a GPS signal sent from an artificial satellite is received, and a clock signal of the artificial satellite is extracted from the received GPS signal to perform synchronization with the artificial satellite. Once synchronization with the artificial satellite is performed, a pseudo GPS signal is generated, and the transmission time of the pseudo GPS signal is controlled. The GPS signal is sent to the terminal located in the indoor space by a plurality of transmitting antennas based on the controlled transmission time, thereby enabling the terminal located in the indoor space to track its location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Sang Hyun Mo, Heyung Sub Lee, Jae Heum Lee, Seung-Il Myong, Hoe-Sung Yang, Kang Bok Lee, Cheol Sig Pyo
  • Patent number: 8786495
    Abstract: Provided are architectures, systems, methods, and computer program products for real-time object locating and position determination using frequency channel diversity for transmitting and receiving position determination signals including bursts of location signals. Channelized frequency diversity of a short burst of small location signals that “hop” across multiple frequency channels is used to collectively produce a quasi-wideband position determination signal. Object tags operating with frequency channel diversity for transmitting location signals of position determination signals require low power consumption, but can still efficiently provide adequate position determination signals for reliable position determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Zebra Enterprise Solutions Corp.
    Inventors: David S. Wisherd, James J. O'Hagan
  • Patent number: 8779974
    Abstract: A piezoelectric oscillator includes: a piezoelectric resonator; a storage unit that stores temperature compensation data used for specifying frequency-temperature characteristics of the piezoelectric resonator therein; a temperature compensation circuit; a voltage-controlled oscillation circuit that oscillates the piezoelectric resonator and controls an oscillation frequency of the piezoelectric resonator based on an oscillation control voltage; and a power source control unit that controls so as to supply a power source voltage to the temperature compensation circuit or so as not to supply the power source voltage to at least a part of the temperature compensation circuit based on a control signal transmitted from the outside, wherein the temperature compensation voltage is supplied as the oscillation control voltage to the voltage-controlled oscillation circuit in synchronization with a period during which the power source voltage is supplied to the temperature compensation circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuyoshi Terasawa, Manabu Oka
  • Patent number: 8779971
    Abstract: A method for determining a spatial orientation of a body, including receiving, by receiving equipment located with the body, at least three electromagnetic signal sets, each of the received signal sets having been transmitted by a different one of at least three separate transmitters at different locations, detecting, for each one of the received signal sets, information that partially defines a direction from the body to the transmitter from which the signal set was received, the detected information including one of two angles that fully define an arrival direction from which the body received the signal set in relation to a body frame, the detected information not including a second of the two angles, and determining the spatial orientation of the body, including yaw, pitch, and roll angles relative to a navigation frame, using the detected information for each one of the received signal sets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Inventor: Robert J. Wellington
  • Patent number: 8779978
    Abstract: An apparatus for use in transmit beamforming to a beamformee having NR receive antennas. The apparatus includes a controller configured to i) construct a partial channel matrix that describes a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) channel between a beamformer and M receive antennas, wherein M is less than NR, and ii) generate L independent vectors using the partial channel matrix, wherein L is a rank of the partial channel matrix. When a number NS of one or more streams is greater than L, the controller is further configured to i) select the L independent vectors as steering vectors to steer L streams of the plurality of streams, and ii) select NS?L orthogonal vectors in a null space of the L independent vectors as steering vectors to steer a remainder of the streams in the plurality of streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Jongwon Lee, Rohit U. Nabar
  • Patent number: 8779970
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for identifying an estimated location of a mobile device. A first wireless communication signal of a first type is received, and a second wireless communication signal of a second type is received, the second type differing from the first type. A first candidate location of the mobile device and a first accuracy metric are determined based on the first wireless communication signal, and a second candidate location of the mobile device and a second accuracy metric are determined based on the second wireless communication signal. An estimated location of the mobile device is determined based on the first candidate location, the first accuracy metric, the second candidate location, and the second accuracy metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Yerachmiel Yeshayahu, Shimeon Greenberg
  • Patent number: 8779976
    Abstract: An antenna system includes: an orthogonal multi-polarization antenna configured to output independent double orthogonal polarizations through two independent input/output terminals; an antenna main control unit configured to perform a polarization control algorithm, collect and analyze information for polarization control, and provide polarization control information; and a polarization control unit configured to perform independent amplitude and phase control with regard to a pair of independent channels connected to the orthogonal multi-polarization antenna, based on the polarization control information received from the antenna main control unit, so that various polarizations are formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignees: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Soon-Young Eom, Young-Bae Jung, Soon-Ik Jeon, Jae-Ick Choi, Yong-Sik Shin
  • Patent number: 8773305
    Abstract: A GPS carrier-tracking method comprising: acquiring a GPS signal from a satellite with a receiver in acquisition mode when the signal strength of the GPS signal is equal to or above a carrier/noise (C/N0) threshold; tracking the carrier frequency of the GPS signal while the receiver in a tracking mode when the signal strength of the GPS signal is above the C/N0 threshold; recording carrier frequency values while the receiver is in tracking mode; predicting a current Doppler shift based on the recorded values when the signal strength of the GPS signal drops below the C/N0 threshold for a time period t; and resuming, without the receiver re-entering acquisition mode, tracking of the GPS signal after time t and once the signal strength of the GPS signal is again equal to or above the C/N0 threshold, wherein the resumed tracking is based on the predicted Doppler shift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Rohan Yash Ramlall
  • Patent number: 8773303
    Abstract: The present application relates to tracking a position of a device, e.g. for detecting slow and rapid earth deformation, by making use of a recursive filter having the filter characteristic adapted to a detected type of motion. If the motion of the position tracking device is rapid, the filter characteristic is set such that the rapid motion can be tracked with the necessary speed. On the other hand, if the motion is slow, e.g. during times of a normal tectonic drift, the filter characteristic is set such that the motion is slowly tracked with the advantage of efficient noise reduction, i.e. noise in the input signal is effectively barred and does not pass through the filter to the output signal. Thus, in times of rapid motion the convergence speed of the filter output signal to the input signal is set high for fast convergence and in times of slow motion the convergence speed of the filter output signal to the input signal is set low for a slow convergence. The filter may be a Kalman filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Ken Doucet, Ulrich Vollath
  • Patent number: 8766852
    Abstract: An electronic device including a first antenna, a second antenna, a first sensor, a signal processing module and an antenna control module is provided. The first antenna has a function of transmitting a wireless signal and is disposed on a first side of the electronic device. The second antenna is disposed on a second side of the electronic device. The first sensor detects whether a first object is around the first antenna and generates a first sensing signal according to a detecting result. The signal processing module generates a first control signal according to the first sensing signal. The antenna control module switches the function of transmitting the wireless signal from the first antenna to the second antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Compal Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Chieh-Tsao Hwang
  • Patent number: 8766847
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for acquiring information about a base station antenna, and the base station antenna. The apparatus includes at least two receiving antenna units that are configured to receive satellite signals sent by a satellite in a satellite positioning system. The receiving antenna units and the base station antenna accord with a preset position relationship. A processing unit is configured to obtain position information of the receiving antenna units according to the satellite signals and to obtain position information of the base station antenna according to the position information of the receiving antenna units and the preset position relationship between the receiving antenna units and the base station antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hu Zhao, Lichang Wu
  • Patent number: 8766851
    Abstract: A butler matrix and a multi-port amplifier having the same, capable of splitting a single input signal into N-signals or combining N-signals into a single output are provided. The hybrids are provided in a predetermined disposition, the input port and the output port of the hybrids are provided in a predetermined direction and the waveguides are provided in a bended structure such that paths for connecting the hybrids have no crossing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Hong-Yeol Lee, Man-Seok Uhm, So-Hyeun Yun, In-Bok Yom
  • Patent number: 8766850
    Abstract: A horizontal beam adjusting method and apparatus for an omni-directional antenna are provided. The horizontal beam adjusting apparatus may generate a switch control signal according to an inclination of the omni-directional antenna, and adjust a radiation direction of the omni-directional antenna according to the switch control signal. Accordingly, the adjusted radiation direction may have horizontal omni-directionality with respect to a ground surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
    Inventors: Ju Derk Park, Sang Gi Hong
  • Patent number: 8766848
    Abstract: A method and system for estimating the position comprises measuring a first carrier phase of a first carrier signal and a second carrier phase of a second carrier signal received by a location-determining receiver. A primary real time kinematic (RTK) engine or receiver data processing system estimates a primary integer ambiguity set associated with at least one of the measured first carrier phase and the measured second carder phase. A quality evaluator determines if a primary integer ambiguity set is resolved correctly to the predefined reliability rate during an earlier evaluation period. A secondary real time kinematic (RTK) engine or receiver data processing system estimates a secondary integer ambiguity set associated with at least one of the measured first carrier phase and the measured second carrier phase during a later period following the earlier evaluation period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Navcom Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Liwen Dai, Chaochao Wang, Daniel Eslinger
  • Patent number: 8754805
    Abstract: Method and apparatus are provided for image based positioning comprising capturing a first image with an image capturing device. Wherein said first image includes at least one object. Moving the platform and capturing a second image with the image capturing device. The second image including the at least one object. Capturing in the first image an image of a surface; capturing in the second image a second image of the surface. Processing the plurality of images of the object and the surface using a combined feature based process and surface tracking process to track the location of the surface. Finally, determining the location of the platform by processing the combined feature based process and surface based process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Sy Bor Wang, Hongbo Teng, Omar P. Soubra, Bruno M. Scherzinger, Peter G. France, James M. Janky, Gregory C. Best
  • Patent number: 8754808
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for globally referenced positioning in a shielded environment includes integrating and correlating information from a UWB receiver, a GPS receiver, and a bent-path GPS receiver adapted to extract a GPS radio frequency wave from a heterodyned GPS signal. The method, apparatus, and system is resistant to interference and can be used in a shielded environment such as indoors or behind a line-of-sight barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Lightwaves Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce D. Melick, David M. Snyder, Leslie D. Baych, Philip T. Kennedy
  • Patent number: 8749431
    Abstract: A system for estimating a spacecraft (6) position is disclosed. It includes receiving stations (4) for receiving signals transmitted from the spacecraft (6) and a processing station (2) for receiving data from the receiving stations (4). Each receiving station (4) records, during a recording window (8), the signals transmitted from the spacecraft (6) and transmits, to the processing station (2), data representing the recorded signals during the recording window (8). The recording windows (8) associated with each of the receiving stations (4) are offset and/or of different size with respect to each other. The processing station (2) correlates the recorded signals to estimate the distance difference between the spacecraft (6) and each of a plurality of receiving stations and to estimate the spacecraft (6) position. A method, a receiving station (4), a processing station (2) and a computer program are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: SES Astra S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Thill, Guy Harles, Markus Gross, Jos Wouters, Georges Krier