Patents by Inventor Douglas E. CATHER

Douglas E. CATHER 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).

  • Patent number: 9540122
    Abstract: A computing device may detect that a space object has undergone a maneuver and may attempt to calculate a solution to that maneuver based in part on start and stop times and thrust uncertainties associated with the detected maneuver. However, the computing device may sometimes be unable to calculate an acceptable solution for a detected maneuver given these initial start and stop times and thrust uncertainties. Thus, the various embodiments provide for a computing device and methods implemented by a processor executing on the device for identifying and calculating a recovery maneuver of a space object when an acceptable solution for a detected maneuver cannot be determined. In the various embodiments, a computing device processor may generate a recovery maneuver based on the detected maneuver, and the processor may adjust the start and stop times and the uncertainty values of the recovery maneuver until an acceptable solution is found.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: ANALYTICAL GRAPHICS INC.
    Inventors: Matthew M. Berry, Douglas E. Cather
  • Publication number: 20150149001
    Abstract: A computing device may detect that a space object has undergone a maneuver and may attempt to calculate a solution to that maneuver based in part on start and stop times and thrust uncertainties associated with the detected maneuver. However, the computing device may sometimes be unable to calculate an acceptable solution for a detected maneuver given these initial start and stop times and thrust uncertainties. Thus, the various embodiments provide for a computing device and methods implemented by a processor executing on the device for identifying and calculating a recovery maneuver of a space object when an acceptable solution for a detected maneuver cannot be determined. In the various embodiments, a computing device processor may generate a recovery maneuver based on the detected maneuver, and the processor may adjust the start and stop times and the uncertainty values of the recovery maneuver until an acceptable solution is found.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Publication date: May 28, 2015
    Inventors: Matthew M. BERRY, Douglas E. CATHER