Patents Examined by Harry Liu
  • Patent number: 9804267
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for determining a distribution of a position error of a receiver of localization signals, the signals being sent by at least one satellite. The system includes the receiver, one position of which is known as first position and is affected by an error, known as first error, having a distribution, known as first distribution, a first device for determining positions of the satellite(s), known as second positions, a device for transmitting the second position of the first determination device to the receiver, and the first distribution is defined by at least one first cumulant, of higher-than-second order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: THALES
    Inventor: Mathias Van Den Bossche
  • Patent number: 9798017
    Abstract: A first plurality of differences (first differences or second differences) of carrier phase measurements of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals corresponding to a first measurement epoch is received. A plurality of differences of carrier phase ambiguities of the first plurality of differences of carrier phase measurements is resolved. A first fixed position of the rover is computed. A first plurality of sub-corrections is computed based at least in part on the first fixed position of the rover, a position of the base, a position of each specific GNSS satellite, and the first plurality of differences of carrier phase measurements. The first plurality of sub-corrections is then used to reduce the processing time for ambiguity resolution of carrier phase measurements in subsequent measurement epochs. The sub-corrections can be smoothed, aged, or smoothed and aged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark Isaakovich Zhodzishsky, Roman Anatolyevich Nevzorov, Sergey Vladislavovich Averin, Andrey Valerievich Plenkin, Viktor Abramovich Veitsel
  • Patent number: 9799955
    Abstract: A ferrite controller includes a single array of two or more ferrite control elements. The ferrite control elements each include a radio frequency (RF) path assembly that includes a RF path ferrite element and a RF path dielectric element. The ferrite control elements also include a magnetizing ferrite assembly that includes a magnetizing ferrite element; one or more structural dielectric elements; and a flexible insulated waveguide wall. The magnetizing ferrite element is attached to the one or more structural dielectric elements, wherein the flexible insulated waveguide wall surrounds the magnetizing ferrite element and the structural dielectric elements, wherein the RF path ferrite element and the magnetizing ferrite element are attached to form a ferrite toroid. The ferrite control elements also include two tapered impedance matching transformers attached to the RF path assembly and the magnetizing ferrite assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Koster
  • Patent number: 9797982
    Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for sending positional information from transmitters/beacons. In one implementation a transmitter generates a range block including a ranging signal and a hybrid block including positioning data, and sends the range block and hybrid block at different times. A user device may receive signals from a plurality of transmitters and generates position/location information using trilateration and measured altitude information in comparison with transmitter altitude information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: NextNav, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Sendonaris, Arun Raghupathy, Norman F. Krasner
  • Patent number: 9797998
    Abstract: A method for determining a position of a receiver is provided. The method includes the emission of at least one electromagnetic field by a respective transmitter, an amplitude of the at least one electromagnetic field rotating respectively with respect to the respective transmitter. The method includes the measurement of the at least one electromagnetic field by the receiver and the determination of a differential phase. The method further includes the determination of the position based on the at least one differential phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Bernd Ette, Bernhard Holldack
  • Patent number: 9801153
    Abstract: Embodiments describe determining position by selecting a set of digital pseudorandom sequences. The magnitudes of the cross-correlation between any two sequences of the chosen set are below a specified threshold. A subset of digital pseudorandom sequences are selected from the set such that the magnitudes of the autocorrelation function of each member of the subset, within a specified region adjacent to the peak of the autocorrelation function, are equal to or less than a prescribed value. Each transmitter transmits a positioning signal, and at least a portion of the positioning signal is modulated with at least one member of the subset. At least two transmitters of the plurality of transmitters modulate respective positioning signals with different members of the subset of digital pseudorandom sequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: NextNav, LLC
    Inventors: Arun Raghupathy, Norman F. Krasner
  • Patent number: 9784815
    Abstract: Systems and methods for generating and transmitting ranging signals and data signals from transmitters in a wireless positioning system, and also for receiving and processing those signals at a mobile device. Different approaches are used, including separately transmitting the ranging signals and the data signals based on time, frequency, code, phase, or any combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: NextNav, LLC
    Inventor: Andrew Sendonaris
  • Patent number: 9786985
    Abstract: Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, devices, systems and methods of beamforming training. For example, an apparatus may include a transmitter, a receiver, and a controller to repeat a beamforming training sequence including a transmit (Tx) mode and a receive (Rx) mode, at the Tx mode the transmitter is to transmit a directional Tx training signal to a wireless communication device, and at the Rx mode the receiver is to be at an omnidirectional Rx state, wherein subsequent to successful receipt of a directional Rx training signal from the wireless communication device at the receiver, the transmitter is to transmit the directional Tx training signal including an Rx beam indication to indicate a beam direction of the Rx training signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: INTEL IP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Joongheon Kim, Carlos Cordeiro, Ali S. Sadri
  • Patent number: 9787339
    Abstract: An antenna RSSI meter includes a microcontroller unit for digitizing an antenna receiver voltage signal, converting the digitized antenna receiver voltage signal into a receiver signal level in accordance with a predefined antenna specification, and converting the receiver signal level into the antenna tuning signal in accordance with the predefined antenna specification. The antenna RSSI meter includes an input communication port for receiving the antenna receiver voltage signal from an antenna and providing the antenna receiver voltage signal to the microcontroller unit, The antenna RSSI meter also includes an output communication port for receiving the antenna tuning signal from the microcontroller unit and providing the antenna tuning signal to an antenna auto-aligning mechanism for adjusting position and orientation of the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: ZTE (USA) INC.
    Inventors: Ying Shen, Aleksandr Semenyshev, Ed Nealis, Shawn Walsh
  • Patent number: 9778370
    Abstract: A method for determining a spatially resolved extent of error for position finding with a global navigation satellite system for a target area of interest using field data from a plurality of field apparatuses, particularly motor vehicles, each having a receiver for the global navigation satellite system and which are at least intermittently situated in the target area, comprising the following steps: ascertainment by the field apparatuses of at least one field data record comprising a current GNSS position in the target area and an error value associated with said position, transmission of the field data records to a central computation device, updating of an error map containing the extents of error for various positions and/or subareas of the target area by statistical evaluation of the field data records in the central computation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Audi AG
    Inventors: Jan Buchholz, Sebastian Engel
  • Patent number: 9773392
    Abstract: A portable device, for example an offender monitor, can utilize a location detector, such as a GPS receiver, to provide location information for the device. The portable device can utilize geofences in connection with managing device location and can communicate over a cellular network, for example using a radio to transmit location readings over the network. The location detector and the radio can draw power from an onboard battery. To conserve battery life, the rate of acquiring location readings can be adjusted according to distance between the device and a geofence of interest. For example, a GPS data acquisition rate can increase as the device approaches a geofence and decrease as the device moves away from the geofence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Numerex Corp.
    Inventor: Yoganand Rajala
  • Patent number: 9774098
    Abstract: A node in a wireless communication network, includes a 4TX/4RX triple band antenna arrangement with at least three antenna columns, each antenna column includes two sets of subarrays. Each set of subarrays has at least two subarrays with at least one antenna element each. Each set of subarrays includes antenna elements having one of a first polarization and a mutually orthogonal second polarization. For each subarray, the antenna elements are connected to a combined port of a corresponding filter device. Each filter device has a first filter port and a second filter port. For each set of subarrays, the first filter ports of each pair of filter devices that are connected to said set of subarrays are pair-wise connected to a corresponding phase altering device. The second filter ports of each pair of filter devices connected to the set of subarrays are pair-wise connected to another corresponding phase altering device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventor: Henrik Jidhage
  • Patent number: 9766339
    Abstract: A global positioning system (GPS) and Doppler augmentation (GDAUG) end receiver (GDER) can include a GDAUG module. The GDAUG module can generate a GDER position using a time of flight (TOF) of a transponded GPS signal and a Doppler shift in a GDAUG satellite (GSAT) signal. The transponded GPS signal sent from a GSAT to the GDER can include a frequency shifted copy of a GPS signal from a GPS satellite to the GSAT. The GSAT signal can include a signal generated by the GSAT to the GDER.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Ian S. Robinson, Mark R. Skidmore
  • Patent number: 9766349
    Abstract: A localization server improves position estimates of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) using probabilistic shadow matching and pseudorange matching is disclosed herein. The localization server may utilize one or more of the following information: the locations of the satellites, the GNSS receiver's location estimate and associated estimated uncertainty, the reported pseudoranges of the satellites, the GNSS estimated clock bias, the SNRs of the satellites, and 3D environment information regarding the location of the receiver. The localization server utilizes a Bayesian framework to calculate an improved location estimate using the GNSS location fixes, pseudorange information, and satellite SNRs thereby improving localization and tracking for a user device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Upamanyu Madhow, Andrew Irish
  • Patent number: 9766342
    Abstract: A handheld electronic device, such as a GPS-enabled wireless communications device with an embedded camera, a GPS-enabled camera-phone or a GPS-enabled digital camera, determines whether ephemeris data needs to be obtained for geotagging digital photos taken with the device. By monitoring user activity with respect to the camera, such as activation of the camera, the device can begin pre-acquisition of a GPS position fix by obtaining needed ephemeris data before the photograph is actually taken. This GPS pre-acquisition improves the likelihood that a position fix (GPS lock) is achieved by the time the photo is taken (to enable immediate geotagging). Alternatively, the photo can be geotagged retroactively by appending the current location to the metadata tag associated with the digital photo. An optional acquisition status indicator can be displayed on a user interface of the device to indicate that a position fix is being obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Piotr Konrad Tysowski, Ngoc Bich Ngo, David Noel Vanden Heuvel
  • Patent number: 9766347
    Abstract: A receiver is arranged to receive a plurality of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals from up to four different satellite navigation systems including a GLONASS system, a BeiDou system, a GPS system, and a Galileo system. Received GNSS signals are mixed with a first local frequency signal to generate a plurality of mixed signals. The mixed signals are processed in up to three parallel branches. In a first branch, a first portion of the mixed signals are transformed by passing the first portion through a band-pass filter having a bandwidth between about 0 MHz and 46 MHz and by amplifying the filtered signals with an AGC circuit. In a second branch, a second portion of the mixed signals are transformed by rejecting image signals of the second portion with an image rejection filter and mixing image rejection filter output signals with a second local frequency signal to derive first remixed signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventors: Daniele Grasso, Giuseppe Avellone
  • Patent number: 9768519
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a wireless communication device includes a first antenna. The wireless communication device includes a second antenna which performs at least one of transmission and reception of an electromagnetic wave to and from the first antenna while rotating at a predetermined position or revolving along a predetermined orbit. The first antenna is arranged such that an element of the first antenna is not to be parallel to a plane perpendicular to a polarization plane of the electromagnetic wave which is transmitted from one antenna toward the other antenna while the second antenna rotates or revolves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Takayoshi Ito, Koji Akita
  • Patent number: 9759815
    Abstract: Implementations described herein contemplate measuring the carrier phase (CP) of carrier signals transmitted by constituent satellites of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to provide highly accurate calculations of a gradient of a road segment between different points at which the vehicle received carrier signals (from which CP measurements were made). The methods described herein are able to calculate the road grade with only an approximate estimate of the absolute altitude of the receiver. Similarly, the methods described herein are able to provide a precise estimate of road grade with only an approximate estimate of the absolute value of latitude or longitude. Furthermore, implementations described herein provide highly accurate calculations of road grade information with standard GNSS vehicle hardware and are thereby able to achieve a substantial increase in accuracy without increasing cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: General Motors LLC
    Inventor: Chaminda Basnayake
  • Patent number: 9759816
    Abstract: The present application discloses detecting manipulation of GNSS signals using a second time source. If two or more GNSS constellation signals are being detected, the phase error between the GNSS constellation signals may be monitored. When the phase error drifts, then manipulation is determined. The integrity of a GNSS constellation signal may be monitored using an internal time source such as a crystal oscillator by monitoring a slope of the free running counter at the detected rising edges of a pulse-per-second signal from the GNSS constellation. If more than two GNSS constellations are monitored, a voting scheme may be used to determine the manipulated GNSS constellation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Shankar V. Achanta
  • Patent number: 9753116
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus capable of detecting an emergency signal includes a first obtainment unit configured to obtain positional information representing a current position of the information processing apparatus; a selection unit configured to select one of a plurality of broadcast stations using the positional information obtained by the first obtainment unit; a reception unit configured to receive a radio wave signal at a frequency of the broadcast station selected by the selection unit; and a first output unit configured to output an audio signal obtained by demodulating the radio wave signal received by the reception unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Takeshi Ejima