Patents Examined by Peter Bythrow
  • Patent number: 9958310
    Abstract: A method for determining frequency components of a discrete time signal, comprising steps as follows: transforming the discrete time signal into the frequency domain by means of a fast Fourier transformation, wherein a frequency spectrum is obtained as a sequence of frequency sample values, detecting peaks in the frequency spectrum, introducing at least one additional frequency support point in the vicinity of a detected peak, determining a frequency amplitude at the at least one additional frequency support point by means of the Goertzel algorithm, and determining the position of the peak maximum of the detected peak by applying both the frequency sample values delivered by the fast Fourier transformation as well as also the frequency amplitude at the at least one additional frequency support point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Endress + Hauser GmbH + Co. KG
    Inventors: Harald Faber, Winfried Mayer, Alexey Malinovskiy
  • Patent number: 9952310
    Abstract: In one example, this disclosure is directed to a system configured to receive weather data from one or more weather data sources. The system is further configured to receive, from a requesting weather radar system, a request for supplemental weather data covering an identified region, wherein the requesting weather radar system is associated with a specific weather radar data format. The system is further configured to identify a set of supplemental weather data for the identified region, based on the received weather data from the one or more weather data sources, wherein the supplemental weather data is in the specific weather radar data format associated with the requesting weather radar system and comprises weather forecast information for the identified region. The system is further configured to transmit the supplemental weather data for the identified region to the requesting weather radar system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Guoqing Wang, Haifeng Wang, Kenneth R. Jongsma
  • Patent number: 9897701
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for a receiver of signals from one or more satellite navigational systems to detect and/or eliminate impaired satellites from the set of estimated/acquired satellites in view are described. One method includes acquiring coarse position, time, and frequency values for each of a plurality of satellites from one or more satellite navigational systems, the plurality of satellites being those currently estimated to be in view of the receiver; determining whether one or more of the acquired coarse values are within a minimum range; and if it is determined that the one or more acquired coarse values are within the minimum range: determining a pseudo-true peak of a position domain correlogram comprising Line of Sight (LOS) vectors of each of the plurality of satellites; and identifying any satellite whose cross-correlation peak is beyond a maximum distance from the pseudo-true peak as an impaired satellite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Phanikrishna Sagiraju
  • Patent number: 9874627
    Abstract: In a radar apparatus, whether or not a second target candidate associated with second target information satisfying a first condition in relation to a first target candidate is present is determined. When determined that the second target candidate is present, the first target information corresponding to the first target candidate is compared with the second target information corresponding to the second target candidate. The “first condition” is that distances and relative speeds match. As a result of the comparison, when a difference between the power at a frequency peak corresponding to the subject target candidate and the power at a frequency peak corresponding to the comparison target candidate is greater than a prescribed threshold, the subject target candidate is determined to be a false image. Meanwhile, when determined that the difference is the prescribed threshold or less, the subject target candidate is determined to be a real image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 9869766
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling a weather radar system are provided. A system for controlling a weather radar system includes a communications system including a transmitter-receiver and a processor. The transmitter-receiver is configured to receive first weather data from an external location. The first weather data includes a first weather condition, a location of the first weather condition, and a time of sensing the first weather condition. The processor includes a control module coupled with the communications system and configured to determine a point of interest based on the first weather data; acquire, by controlling an onboard weather radar system, second weather data at the point of interest; provide data representative of weather near the point of interest based at least in part on the second weather data; and transmit, by the transmitter-receiver, the data representative of weather near the point of interest to an external weather radar system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Arlen E. Breiholz, Kevin M. Kronfeld, Venkata A. Sishtla
  • Patent number: 9864046
    Abstract: The mathematical majorize-minimize principle is applied in various ways to process the image data to provide a more reliable image from the backscatter data using a reduced amount of memory and processing resources. A processing device processes the data set by creating an estimated image value for each voxel in the image by iteratively deriving the estimated image value through application of a majorize-minimize principle to solve a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation problem associated with a mathematical model of image data from the data. A prior probability density function for the unknown reflection coefficients is used to apply an assumption that a majority of the reflection coefficients are small. The described prior probability density functions promote sparse solutions automatically estimated from the observed data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Howard University
    Inventors: John M. M. Anderson, Mandoye Ndoye, Oludotun Ode, Henry C. Ogworonjo
  • Patent number: 9846223
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods efficiently calculate optimal flight paths for protected entities given terrain data, aircraft position, flight characteristics, and positions of known threat emitters. The systems and methods execute within the mission planning timeline, and the developed processes allow users to retrieve data from the calculations to effectively place an electronic attack platform at the right place and at the right time to be effective. The calculated optimal flight paths are displayed or otherwise visualized in the mission space. Electronic attack jamming capabilities are combined with projected threat emitter performance information in order to obtain optimal geometrical positioning of the electronic attack relative to the threat emitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: CHESAPEAKE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dustan Christopher Hellwig, Matthew Gene Goldsbury, Thomas Marshall Tucker
  • Patent number: 9817110
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for detecting objects within a sweep range, comprising at least two switchable transmitting antennas, a plurality of receiving antennas, the transmitting antennas and receiving antennas respectively extending longitudinally, parallel to one another, in a first direction, and the receiving antennas being arranged in a row and the row extending in a second direction, the receiving antennas and the transmitting antennas being arranged such that they produce a synthetic receiving antenna array for the beam sweep by means of the sequential activation of the transmitting antennas and the positions of the transmitting and receiving antennas, the resulting distance corresponding to the positions of the receiving antennas in the synthetic receiving antenna array in the second direction d, the adjacent receiving antennas in the device being spaced apart by a distance of d2 or greater and d2 being twice as great as distance d.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: ASTYX GmbH
    Inventors: Richard Koerber, Andre Giere
  • Patent number: 9810568
    Abstract: A guided wave radar level measurement device includes a process connection composed of an outer conductor and a central conductor. The central conductor is surrounded at least in part by a dielectric material. One or more resilient metal seals can be employed to form a hermetic seal around a portion of the probe. The metal seal protects the dielectric material such that the hermetic seal is isolated from process and temperature shock. The metal seal(s) can be further mated with one or more insulators and one or more gaskets, the metal seal(s) to provide a thermal and mechanical barrier as well as offering chemical resistance to the guided wave radar level measurement apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Stuart James Heath
  • Patent number: 9810768
    Abstract: An angle-resolving radar sensor, e.g., for motor vehicles, includes; an antenna having multiple antenna elements which are each switchable to one of multiple evaluation channels; and an evaluation device for determining the angle of incidence of a received signal based on the amplitudes measured in the evaluation channels. The number of antenna elements is greater than the number of evaluation channels and a switching device is provided to connect the evaluation channels alternatingly to different selections of antenna elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Volker Gross, Michael Schoor
  • Patent number: 9810770
    Abstract: A method of selectively displaying an image representative of a weather condition in relation to an aircraft includes selecting, on a display screen, a display area to display weather data based on the location of the aircraft, selecting a weather condition to display from among a plurality of weather conditions, determining if any weather conditions are available to be displayed outside the selected display area and if the weather conditions should be displayed outside the selected display area based on the location of the aircraft and the severity of the non-selected weather conditions, receiving, from a weather data source, weather data representative of the selected weather condition with respect to the selected display area, and receiving weather data representative of weather conditions that should be displayed outside the selected display area, the weather data including location data for the weather conditions, and displaying the image representative of the selected weather condition within the select
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC.
    Inventors: Shimon Weichbrod, David Graves
  • Patent number: 9810773
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of mitigating the effects of anomalous propagation in a Radar system, comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of returns from a plurality of transmit pulses; calculating a difference in magnitude between each of the plurality of returns and its successor; if one of the calculated differences indicates a first step change greater than a first predetermined threshold, calculating a first average magnitude of the returns received after the first step change, and replacing the returns received before the first step change with synthesised returns having a magnitude equal to the first calculated average magnitude.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: BAE SYSTEMS plc
    Inventors: Bryan Robinson, Noel Turner, Philip Trevelyan Edwards
  • Patent number: 9798001
    Abstract: A radar apparatus is provided to receive a transmission wave reflected by a target object by antennas. The radar apparatus includes a signal analysis unit to analyze reception waves, and to obtain amplitudes and phases of the reception waves, at a frequency with which reception strength shows a peak. The radar apparatus also includes a direction detection unit to detect a direction of the target object based on the phases of the reception waves, and an estimated amplitude and phase output unit to output estimated amplitudes and estimated phases of reception waves to be received, assuming that the target object exists in the detected direction. The radar apparatus further includes a comparison unit to compare the amplitude or phase obtained by the signal analysis unit with that output by the estimated amplitude and phase output unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ichiro Aizawa
  • Patent number: 9791560
    Abstract: A radar signal processor includes a baseband signal generator, which generates a baseband signal based on information from a received radar signal and a Lead-Lag filter, which filters the baseband signal to generate a filtered signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Christoph Wagner
  • Patent number: 9791552
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to an antenna system and a method that is configured to compute calibration element voltage gain patterns as functions of a digital antenna model and a plurality of complex beamformer voltages, determine calibration through path transfer functions from the plurality of complex voltages, and remove the calibration element voltage gain patterns from the calibration through path transfer functions to determine a beamforming network transfer function. The beamforming network transfer function and the far-field element voltage gain patterns are combined to obtain a system transfer function used to revise a calibration table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: SRC, INC.
    Inventor: Harvey K. Schuman
  • Patent number: 9784820
    Abstract: A radar system includes a plurality of antennas and a controller. The plurality of antennas is configured to detect a reflected radar signal reflected by an object in a field-of-view of the system. Each antenna of the plurality of antennas is configured to output a detected signal indicative of the reflected radar signal detected by the antenna. The controller is configured to receive detected signals from the plurality of antennas, and determine if a target is present in the field-of-view based on the detected signals. The controller is also configured to determine if the target includes more than one object based on an analysis of phases of the detected signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: DELPHI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventor: Alebel Hassen Arage
  • Patent number: 9778351
    Abstract: Described is system for surveillance that integrates radar with a panoramic staring sensor. The system captures image frames of a field-of-view of a scene using a multi-camera panoramic staring sensor. The field-of-view is scanned with a radar sensor to detect an object of interest. A radar detection is received when the radar sensor detects the object of interest. A radar message indicating the presence of the object of interest is generated. Each image frame is marked with a timestamp. The image frames are stored in a frame storage database. The set of radar-based coordinates from the radar message is converted into a set of multi-camera panoramic sensor coordinates. A video clip comprising a sequence of image frames corresponding in time to the radar message is created. Finally, the video clip is displayed, showing the object of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: HRL Laboratories, LLC
    Inventors: Deepak Khosla, David J. Huber, Yang Chen, Darrel J. VanBuer, Kevin R. Martin
  • Patent number: 9778350
    Abstract: An angularly resolving radar sensor having multiple antenna elements that, in a direction in which the radar sensor is angularly resolving, are disposed in different positions, and having a control and evaluation device that is designed for an operating mode in which several of the antenna elements transmit signals that are respectively received by several of the antenna elements, and the angle (?) of a located object is identified on the basis of amplitudes and/or phase relationships between signals which correspond to different configurations of transmitting and receiving antenna elements, wherein the control and evaluation device is embodied to supply several of the transmitting antenna elements simultaneously with identical-frequency signals (f1-f4) in such a way that the common phase center of said signals is located between the positions of two adjacent antenna elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventor: Michael Schoor
  • Patent number: 9772401
    Abstract: This disclosure provides apparatuses and methods for detecting foreign objects. An apparatus for detecting a presence of an object comprises at least one radar antenna attached to a wirelessly chargeable vehicle. The at least one radar antenna is configured to transmit a radar signal into a space between a wireless power receiver of the vehicle and a wireless charger as the vehicle moves in a primary direction of movement of the vehicle and receive the radar signal. The apparatus further comprises a radar processing circuit configured to determine a presence of the object in the space based on at least one characteristic of the received radar signal. The radar processing circuit is further configured to provide an indication to receive power from the wireless charger based at least in part on the determining the presence of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Hanspeter Widmer, Lukas Sieber, Andreas Daetwyler, Markus Bittner
  • Patent number: 9766333
    Abstract: In an example method, a vehicle configured to operate in an autonomous mode could have a radar system used to aid in vehicle guidance. The method could include a plurality of antennas configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic signals. The method may also include a one or more sensors configured to measure a movement of the vehicle. A portion of the method may be performed by a processor configured to: i) determine adjustments based on the movement of the vehicle; ii) calculate distance and direction information for received electromagnetic signals; and iii) recover distance and direction information for received electromagnetic signals with the adjustments applied. The processor may be further configured to adjust the movement of the autonomous vehicle based on the distance and direction information with adjustments applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventor: Adam Brown