Patents by Inventor Alexander Melzer

Alexander Melzer has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20260036674
    Abstract: A radar device may identify a peak in an integrated range-velocity map. The peak may indicate one or more targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being associated with a range-velocity bin index. The radar device may extract, based on the range-velocity bin index associated with the peak, an actual signal vector from a plurality of range-velocity maps. Each range-velocity map in the plurality of range-velocity maps may correspond to a respective radar channel from a plurality of radar channels. The radar device may determine an estimated target signal vector based on the actual signal vector and a first estimated imbalance vector. The radar device may determine a second estimated imbalance vector based on the actual signal vector, the estimated target signal vector, and an error vector. The radar device may perform an action, associated with the plurality of radar channels, based on the second estimated imbalance vector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2024
    Publication date: February 5, 2026
    Inventors: Esmaeil KAVOUSI GHAFI, Alexander MELZER, Matthias WAGNER, Oliver LANG
  • Patent number: 12474444
    Abstract: A radar device may generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from a plurality of range-velocity maps. Each range-velocity map may be associated with a respective radar channel from a plurality of radar channels. The radar device may identify a first peak in the integrated range-velocity map. The first peak may indicate one or more radar targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a first bin having a first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may determine a first data set by extracting, from each range-velocity map, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may process the first data set to determine a first set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2025
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Esmaeil Kavousi Ghafi, Alexander Melzer, Matthias Wagner, Oliver Lang
  • Patent number: 12442894
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a radar device, including a transmitter circuit configured to generate an RF oscillator signal and to transmit an RF fault detection signal based on the RF oscillator signal, a receiver circuit configured to receive an RF reception signal based on the RF fault detection signal and to mix the RF reception signal with the RF oscillator signal in order to obtain a down-converted reception signal, and a fault detection circuit configured to detect a hardware fault of the radar device based on a phase of the down-converted reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2025
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Matthias Wagner, Alexander Melzer
  • Patent number: 12210116
    Abstract: A radar system includes a first integrated radar circuit having a plurality of first transmission paths and a local oscillator configured to generate a local oscillator signal. The first integrated radar circuit has a first terminal configured to output an oscillation signal based on the local oscillator signal. The radar system includes a second integrated radar circuit having a second transmission path and a second terminal. The radar system includes a partially reflective element coupled to the first terminal via a first line section and to the second terminal via a second line section. The partially reflective element is configured to reflect back a first portion of the oscillation signal as a reflected signal via the first line section to the first terminal and to pass on a second portion of the oscillation signal as a forward signal via the second line section to the second terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Philipp Schmidt, Alexander Melzer, Andreas Och
  • Patent number: 12072435
    Abstract: A cascaded RF system includes a first MMIC and at least a second MMIC. During a first mode of operation: using an LO generation circuit of the first MMIC to generate a first LO signal based on a system clock signal; outputting the first LO signal from an LO output port of the first MMIC; receiving the first LO signal via a first LO input port of the first MMIC; and receiving the first LO signal via a second LO input port of the second MMIC. During a second mode of operation: using an LO generation circuit of the second MMIC to generate a second LO signal based on the system clock signal; and outputting the second LO signal from an LO output port of the second MMIC to a first LO input port of the second MMIC and to a second LO input port of the first MMIC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Melzer, Francesco Lombardo
  • Publication number: 20240230836
    Abstract: A radar device may generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from a plurality of range-velocity maps. Each range-velocity map may be associated with a respective radar channel from a plurality of radar channels. The radar device may identify a first peak in the integrated range-velocity map. The first peak may indicate one or more radar targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a first bin having a first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may determine a first data set by extracting, from each range-velocity map, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may process the first data set to determine a first set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2022
    Publication date: July 11, 2024
    Inventors: Esmaeil KAVOUSI GHAFI, Alexander MELZER, Matthias WAGNER, Oliver LANG
  • Publication number: 20240134002
    Abstract: A radar device may generate an integrated range-velocity map by combining data from a plurality of range-velocity maps. Each range-velocity map may be associated with a respective radar channel from a plurality of radar channels. The radar device may identify a first peak in the integrated range-velocity map. The first peak may indicate one or more radar targets in the integrated range-velocity map and being identified by a first bin having a first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may determine a first data set by extracting, from each range-velocity map, data that is included in a respective bin associated with the first range-velocity bin index. The radar device may process the first data set to determine a first set of phase imbalances associated with the plurality of radar channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2022
    Publication date: April 25, 2024
    Inventors: Esmaeil KAVOUSI GHAFI, Alexander MELZER, Matthias WAGNER, Oliver LANG
  • Patent number: 11899125
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) circuit includes an input terminal configured to receive a reception signal from an antenna; an output terminal configured to output a digital output signal; a receive path including a mixer and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), wherein the receive path is coupled to and between the input and output terminals, wherein the receive path includes an analog portion and a digital portion, and wherein the ADC generates a digital signal based on an analog signal received from the analog portion; a test signal generator configured to generate an analog test signal injected into the analog portion of the receive path; and a digital processor configured to receive a digital test signal from the digital portion, the digital test signal being derived from the analog test signal, analyze a frequency spectrum of the digital test signal, and determine a quality of the digital test signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Melzer, Rainer Findenig
  • Patent number: 11837797
    Abstract: A circuit includes a radio frequency (RF) channel including an input node and an output node and being configured to receive an RF oscillator signal at the input node and to provide an RF output signal at the output node; a mixer configured to mix an RF reference signal and an RF test signal representative of the RF output signal to generate a mixer output signal; an analog-to-digital converter configured to sample the mixer output signal in order to provide a sequence of sampled values; and a control circuit configured to provide a sequence of phase offsets by phase-shifting at least one of the RF test signal and the RF reference signal using one or more phase shifters, calculate a spectral value from the sequence of sampled values; and calculate estimated phase information indicating a phase of the RF output signal based on the spectral value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Jochen O. Schrattenecker, Niels Christoffers, Vincenzo Fiore, Bernhard Gstoettenbauer, Helmut Kollmann, Alexander Melzer, Alexander Onic, Rainer Stuhlberger, Mathias Zinnoecker
  • Patent number: 11754667
    Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a radar system includes activating a transmitter to transmit a radar signal during a first time period, receiving a reflection of the radar signal from a radar antenna, downconverting the reflected radar signal, and digitally processing the downconverted reflected radar signal within a first frequency bandwidth using a first signal path. The method also includes deactivating the transmitter during a second time period, receiving a second signal from the radar antenna during the second time period, downconverting the second signal, measuring a power of the downconverted second signal within a second frequency bandwidth using a second signal path different from the first signal path, and determining an interference metric based on measuring the power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Melzer, Paul Meissner, Mate Andras Toth
  • Patent number: 11719802
    Abstract: A radar method is described. According to one exemplary embodiment, the method includes generating a first RF oscillator signal in a first chip and supplying the first RF oscillator signal to a transmission (TX) channel of the first chip and transmitting the first RF oscillator signal from the TX channel of the first chip to the second chip via a transmission line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Florian Starzer, Helmut Kollmann, Alexander Melzer, Rainer Stuhlberger, Roland Vuketich, Mathias Zinnoecker
  • Patent number: 11693085
    Abstract: A method is described that can be used in a radar system. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the method includes calculating a first spectrum, which represents a spectrum of a segment of a complex baseband signal. The segment is assignable to a specific chirp of a chirp sequence contained in a first RF radar signal. The method further includes estimating a second spectrum, which represents a spectrum of an interference signal contained in the complex baseband signal, based on a portion of the first spectrum that is assigned to negative frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Paul Meissner, Alexander Melzer, Mate Andras Toth
  • Patent number: 11693106
    Abstract: Methods for detecting radar targets are provided. According to one exemplary embodiment, the method includes providing a digital radar signal having a sequence of signal segments. Each signal segment of the sequence is respectively associated with a chirp of a transmitted RF radar signal. The method further includes detecting one or more radar targets based on a first subsequence of successive signal segments of the sequence. For each detected radar target, a distance value and a velocity value are determined. If a group of radar targets having overlapping signal components has been detected, a respective spectral value is calculated for each radar target of the group of radar targets based on a second subsequence of the sequence of signal segments and further based on the velocity values ascertained for the group of radar targets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Oliver Lang, Michael Gerstmair, Alexander Melzer, Christian Schmid
  • Patent number: 11681013
    Abstract: A radar system and a method for a radar system are described. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the method includes generating a local oscillator signal in a first radar chip, generating a frequency-divided signal from the local oscillator signal by means of a frequency divider arranged in the first radar chip, transmitting the frequency-divided signal to a second radar chip, and transmitting the local oscillator signal to the second radar chip. The local oscillator signal received in the second radar chip is fed to an output channel of the second radar chip, which generates an output signal on the basis thereof. The method further includes generating—on the basis of the output signal of the output channel and the frequency-divided signal received by the second radar chip—a signal indicating a phase angle of the output signal relative to the received frequency-divided signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Melzer, Clemens Pfeffer
  • Patent number: 11644530
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) circuit includes an input terminal configured to receive a reception signal from an antenna; an output terminal configured to output a digital output signal; a receive path including a mixer and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), wherein the receive path is coupled to and between the input and output terminals, wherein the receive path includes an analog portion and a digital portion, and wherein the ADC generates a digital signal based on an analog signal received from the analog portion; a test signal generator configured to generate an analog test signal injected into the analog portion of the receive path; and a digital processor configured to receive a digital test signal from the digital portion, the digital test signal being derived from the analog test signal, analyze a frequency spectrum of the digital test signal, and determine a quality of the digital test signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Melzer, Francesco Lombardo
  • Patent number: 11635489
    Abstract: A method for the use in a radar system is described herein. In accordance with one embodiment, the method includes providing a local oscillator signal to an RF output channel of a radar system. The RF output channel is configured to generate, in an enabled state, an RF output signal based on the local oscillator signal. The method further includes determining a first measurement signal based on the local oscillator signal and a first representation of the RF output signal, while the RF output channel is disabled, and thus the first measurement signal represents crosstalk. Further, the method includes determining a second measurement signal based on the local oscillator signal and a second representation of the RF output signal while the RF output channel is enabled. A phase value associated with the RF output channel is determined based on the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Vincenzo Fiore, Werner Arriola, Rene Kobler, Oliver Lang, Alexander Melzer
  • Publication number: 20230118317
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) circuit includes an input terminal configured to receive a reception signal from an antenna; an output terminal configured to output a digital output signal; a receive path including a mixer and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), wherein the receive path is coupled to and between the input and output terminals, wherein the receive path includes an analog portion and a digital portion, and wherein the ADC generates a digital signal based on an analog signal received from the analog portion; a test signal generator configured to generate an analog test signal injected into the analog portion of the receive path; and a digital processor configured to receive a digital test signal from the digital portion, the digital test signal being derived from the analog test signal, analyze a frequency spectrum of the digital test signal, and determine a quality of the digital test signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander MELZER, Rainer FINDENIG
  • Patent number: 11592520
    Abstract: A method is described below which can be used in a radar system. According to one example implementation, the method comprises providing a digital baseband signal using a radar receiver. The baseband signal comprises a plurality of segments, wherein each segment is assigned to a chirp of an emitted chirp sequence and each segment comprises a specific number of samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Paul Meissner, Alexander Melzer, Christian Schmid, Mate Andras Toth
  • Patent number: 11567169
    Abstract: A radar system is provided that includes a radar monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC). The radar MMIC includes a plurality of radar signal channels; and at least one sensor configured to measure a physical parameter related to a temperature of the radar MMIC, and to generate sensor data corresponding to measured values of the physical parameter; and a controller configured to receive the sensor data from the at least one sensor, and to determine a channel operation of the plurality of radar signal channels, including selectively disabling at least a first radar signal channel of the plurality of radar signal channels and selectively enabling at least a second radar signal channel of the plurality of radar signal channels based on the measured values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Francesco Lombardo, George Efthivoulidis, Rainer Findenig, Alexander Melzer
  • Publication number: 20230014179
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a radar device, including a transmitter circuit configured to generate an RF oscillator signal and to transmit an RF fault detection signal based on the RF oscillator signal, a receiver circuit configured to receive an RF reception signal based on the RF fault detection signal and to mix the RF reception signal with the RF oscillator signal in order to obtain a down-converted reception signal, and a fault detection circuit configured to detect a hardware fault of the radar device based on a phase of the down-converted reception signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2022
    Publication date: January 19, 2023
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Matthias WAGNER, Alexander MELZER