Abstract: Systems and methods can analyze a present channel estimation and a previous channel estimation and/or two or more prior channel estimations to improve communication performance, sense environmental conditions, and make location and velocity determinations. The methods can include: (a) sending, by a transmitter, a first sounding frame and a second sounding frame to a receiver; (b) receiving, by the transmitter, a first channel estimation response from a receiver responsive to the first sounding frame, and a second channel estimation response from the receiver responsive to the second sounding frame; and (c) detecting, by the transmitter, based at least on the first channel estimation response and the second channel estimation response, if a change in characteristics of a channel between the transmitter and the receiver occurred between the first sounding frame and the second sounding frame.

Abstract: In some aspects, the disclosure is directed to methods and systems for transmitting to static and non-static devices. An access point having a plurality of antennas can send a plurality of sounding frames from the plurality of antennas to a plurality of devices. The access point can identify, based on responses to the plurality of sounding frames, at least one static device from the plurality of devices. The access point can assign, based on the responses to the plurality of sounding frames, to each of the at least one static device, a corresponding one of the plurality of antennas for operation in a directional mode for transmissions to the corresponding static device, and the remaining antennas from the plurality of antennas for operation in an omnidirectional mode.

Abstract: A broadband gateway may provision services requested in a home network managed and/or serviced by the broadband gateway by a user associated with the broadband gateway, based on determination of criteria related to the requested service. The requested service may comprise obtaining and/or delivering content for consumption by one or more of a plurality of devices serviced by the broadband gateway in the home network. The criteria may comprise device related data, user preference related information, service performance related parameters, payment related information, and/or energy use related information. The broadband gateway may store information associated with the determined criteria. Provisioning requested services may comprise negotiating with at least one remote resource that may support at least a portion of the requested service. The negotiation may comprise brokering and/or arbitrating a plurality of options of remote resources utilized for providing the at least a portion of the requested service.

Abstract: A mobile device may be operable to receive historical location trail information of a building. A location of the mobile device within the building may be determined by placing, moving or snapping a reference location of the mobile device onto a trail according to the received historical location trail information. The historical location trail information may be acquired from a location server. The historical location trail information stored in the location server may be generated using a plurality of location samples that are provided by one or more other mobile devices that have been within the building. The historical location trail information may also be acquired from an indoor map of the building that is used by the mobile device for navigation within the building. The determined location of the mobile device may then be utilized by the mobile device to navigate within the building for location-based services.

Abstract: A broadband gateway, which enables communication with a plurality of devices, handles at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider. The broadband gateway determines network channel conditions for a requested service and identifies a user profile for a requesting device. The broadband gateway negotiates a service profile for the requested service with the at least one network access service provider based on the determined network conditions and the identified user profile. Content may be acquired and received for the requested service from the at least one network access service provider utilizing the negotiated service profile. The broadband gateway aggregates and assembles the received content. The resulting assembled content is communicated to the requesting device for the requested service. The broadband gateway may relay content among peer devices.

Abstract: A broadband gateway may provide energy efficient management of services delivered to a home network. The energy efficient service management may enable reducing and/or enhancing energy consumption within access networks utilized during the managed services. The energy management service may comprise determining energy-related costs associated with providing services, based on use of external physical layer connections. The services may then be provisioned based on energy-related costs associated with the services. The service provisioning may comprise controlling and/or adjusting bitrate selection, physical (PHY) layer selection, and/or service level agreement (SLA) parameters. The broadband gateway may negotiate with the network access service providers during the provisioning of the services. This may comprise negotiating and/or configuring micro-leases for use in providing the services.

Abstract: Aspects of a method and system for customized acquisition of content by a broadband gateway are provided. A broadband gateway may be operable to determine options for acquiring particular content. The broadband gateway may be operable to rank the determined options. The ranking may be based on one or more characteristics of the options and based on user-specified criteria. The broadband gateway may be operable to select one of the options for acquiring the content based on results of the ranking. One or more of the options may be available via a first physical layer connection and one or more of the options may be available via a second physical layer connection. The gateway may rank the determined options based on attributes of one or more devices via which the particular content will be consumed.

Abstract: A mobile device may communicate with a location server during location based services (LBS) operations using a secure identifier. The secure identifier abstracts identification information of the mobile device and/or identification information of a user of the mobile device in instances that the mobile device and/or user identification information are deemed protectable from the location server. The location server may be operable to store location data corresponding to the mobile device and/or the user in a location reference database based on the secure identifier. The secure identifier may comprise a unique value, which may be randomly generated. The secure identifier may also be generated based on the mobile device and/or user identification information, by applying, for example, encryption algorithms to the mobile device and/or user identification information.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for performing digital up-conversion of a signal to a desired RF carrier frequency. The system and method efficiently perform digital up-conversion of the signal, in one example, by controlling a sample clock that is used by a DAC to sample and convert the up-converted signal from the digital domain to the analog domain to have a frequency that is four or eight times the desired RF carrier frequency. By controlling the sample clock of the DAC to have a frequency that is four or eight times the desired RF carrier frequency, the system and method can be implemented using currently available IC process geometries such that the implementation consumes much less area and/or power than an analog up-converter configured to have equivalent up-conversion functionality.

Abstract: A broadband gateway may provision services requested in a home network managed and/or serviced by the broadband gateway by a user associated with the broadband gateway, based on determination of criteria related to the requested service. The requested service may comprise obtaining and/or delivering content for consumption by one or more of a plurality of devices serviced by the broadband gateway in the home network. The criteria may comprise device related data, user preference related information, service performance related parameters, payment related information, and/or energy use related information. The broadband gateway may store information associated with the determined criteria. Provisioning requested services may comprise negotiating with at least one remote resource that may support at least a portion of the requested service. The negotiation may comprise brokering and/or arbitrating a plurality of options of remote resources utilized for providing the at least a portion of the requested service.

Abstract: A well pump assembly has an upper plunger and a lower plunger. A working fluid conduit extends between the upper and lower plunger. An upper piston in the working fluid conduit is connected with the upper plunger. A lower piston in the working fluid conduit is connected with the lower plunger. A downstroke working fluid is located between the upper and lower pistons in the working fluid conduit. An upstroke conduit extends between an upper port in the working fluid conduit above the upper piston. and a lower port in working fluid conduit below the lower piston. An upstroke working fluid fills the upstroke conduit and the working fluid conduit above the upper piston and below the lower piston.

Abstract: A transmitting communication device may iteratively adjust its transmit power, and may estimate, based on iterative transmit power adjustment, relative location of a receiving communication device. The transmit power may be initialized to a maximum value, and the transmit power may be iteratively reduced until connectivity with the receiving communication device is lost. The loss of connectivity may be determined based on reception of responses to ping messages transmitted by the transmitting communication device. The transmitting communication device may authenticate the receiving communication device and/or a user of the receiving communication device. The authentication may comprises utilizing transmit power adjustment and/or relative location estimation therefrom to ensure that a separation between the devices does not exceed a maximum value.

Abstract: A mobile device may be operable to collect location data for a RF node and cache the collected location data in the mobile device. Resources that may be utilized for improving the uploading of the cached location data to a location server may be determined by the mobile device. The cached location data may be communicated, to the location server for updating a location database, by the mobile device utilizing the determined resources. The mobile device may determine and utilize an opportunistic transport based on a data usage and/or an access. The mobile device may store a subset of the location database locally for comparing with the cached location data for redundancy. The compared location data may be transmitted by the mobile device to the location server for updating the location database if the compared location data are not redundant data.

Abstract: A method and system are provided in which a broadband gateway may receive different content from different sources, may combine the content to produce a combined content, and may communicate the combined content to a device connected to the broadband gateway. The content may be automatically and/or manually synchronized. The synchronization may be based on a clock signal received from the device, a clock signal from another device connected to the broadband gateway, and/or a clock signal received through one or more network access service providers. The content may be video image data and/or audio data. Moreover, user-generated content may be received and combined by the broadband gateway when in a peer-to-peer communication configuration with the source of the content. When more than two different content are received, the broadband gateway may be utilized to select which contents to combine.

Abstract: A method and system that allows a host system application to securely communicate with a legacy device is provided. A redirector software module receives data that is destined for a host system serial COM port. Data is secured and re-directed to a legacy device via a network port instead of the serial COM port. Conversely, data destined for the host system is provided to a device server via a server COM port by the legacy serial device. The data can be encrypted and sent to the host system via the network. The redirector software module decrypts the encrypted data and presents it to the consumer application as if the data had arrived via the local COM port.

Abstract: A broadband gateway may be used to authorize transactions associated with one or more accounts, which may be associated with a user of the broadband gateway. The transaction may be handled by the broadband gateway. The authorizations may be performed based on information associated with the accounts, whose storage may be controlled by the broadband gateway. The broadband gateway may block and/or terminate transactions failing authentication and/or validation, which may be performed based on the stored information. The transactions may be initiated within a network serviced by the broadband gateway. The transactions may also be initiated outside the serviced network. The stored information may comprise a user profile, which may comprise a plurality of settings for controlling and/or managing authorization performed by the broadband gateway. The user profiles may be configurable by users, wherein configuration may comprise initializing and/or modifying one or more of the transaction related settings.

Abstract: A digital transmitter with sample rate digital predistortion is disclosed. The transmitter includes a digital radio frequency (RF) signal generator configured to receive a baseband digital signal and transform the baseband digital signal to a digital RF signal. The digital transmitter further includes a sample rate predistorter configured to predistort the digital RF signal so as to compensate for distortion associated with the transmitter that is generated subsequent to an output of the sample rate predistorter, and resulting in a digital predistorted RF signal. The digital transmitter further includes a digital to analog converter configured to convert the digital predistorted RF signal to analog, resulting in an analog predistorted RF signal.

Abstract: Aspects of a method and system for managing power consumption utilizing inter-gateway communication are provided. In this regard, a first broadband gateway residing in a first location may determine past, present, and/or expected power consumption of the first location. The gateway may receive, from one or more other broadband gateways residing in one or more other locations, information that enables determining past, present, and/or expected power consumption of the other location(s). The gateway may control power consumption of the first location by controlling a state of operation of devices residing in the first location. The gateway may determine aggregate power consumption of the first location and the other location(s). The gateway may control power consumption of the first location by enabling operation of one or more devices during periods of lower aggregate power consumption and disabling operation the devices during periods of higher aggregate power consumption.

Abstract: A transmitting communication device may iteratively adjust its transmit power, and may estimate, based on iterative transmit power adjustment, relative location of a receiving communication device. The transmit power may be initialized to a maximum value, and the transmit power may be iteratively reduced until connectivity with the receiving communication device is lost. The loss of connectivity may be determined based on reception of responses to ping messages transmitted by the transmitting communication device. The transmitting communication device may authenticate the receiving communication device and/or a user of the receiving communication device. The authentication may comprises utilizing transmit power adjustment and/or relative location estimation therefrom to ensure that a separation between the devices does not exceed a maximum value.

Abstract: A broadband gateway, which that enables communication with a plurality of devices, handles at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider. The broadband gateway may identify video layer information required for a layered video service based on video decoding capabilities and/or power profiles for the devices. The identified video layer information, comprising number of required layers and corresponding video formats such as 720P60, 1080i60 and/or 1080P60, may be communicated to the at least one network access service provider. A base layer video and one or more enhancement layer videos, generated via scalable coding based on the communicated identified video layer information, may be received from the at least one corresponding network access service provider.