Patents by Inventor Jefferson M. Willey
Jefferson M. Willey 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).
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Patent number: 11380944Abstract: Improved battery systems, apparatuses, and methods for use in electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances and devices are provided. The systems employ acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits including dendrites on or proximate lithium and other anodes. This invention may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and current modulation to 1) minimize deposit, e.g., dendrite, initiation and formation by acoustic stirring, 2) acoustically image dendritic growths to monitor changes in dendrite growths, 3) cue dendrite cleaning and battery shutdown to avoid short circuit, 4) induce failure in dendritic structure and shearing of at least a portion of the dendrite from the anode, and 5) transport sheared dendrites and other dead metal to a graveyard.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2021Date of Patent: July 5, 2022Assignee: RFNAV Inc.Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek, James H. Schoenduve
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Publication number: 20220021041Abstract: Improved battery systems, apparatuses, and methods for use in electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances and devices are provided. The systems employ acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits including dendrites on or proximate lithium and other anodes. This invention may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and current modulation to 1) minimize deposit, e.g., dendrite, initiation and formation by acoustic stirring, 2) acoustically image dendritic growths to monitor changes in dendrite growths, 3) cue dendrite cleaning and battery shutdown to avoid short circuit, 4) induce failure in dendritic structure and shearing of at least a portion of the dendrite from the anode, and 5) transport sheared dendrites and other dead metal to a graveyard.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 24, 2021Publication date: January 20, 2022Applicant: RFNAV Inc.Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek, James H. Schoenduve
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Patent number: 11158889Abstract: Improved battery systems, apparatuses, and methods for use in electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances and devices are provided. The systems employ acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits including dendrites on or proximate lithium and other anodes. This invention may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and current modulation to 1) minimize deposit, e.g., dendrite, initiation and formation by acoustic stirring, 2) acoustically image dendritic growths to monitor changes in dendrite growths, 3) cue dendrite cleaning and battery shutdown to avoid short circuit, 4) induce failure in dendritic structure and shearing of at least a portion of the dendrite from the anode, and 5) transport sheared dendrites and other dead metal to a graveyard.Type: GrantFiled: October 1, 2020Date of Patent: October 26, 2021Assignee: RFNAV Inc.Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek, James H. Schoenduve
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Publication number: 20210104785Abstract: Improved battery systems, apparatuses, and methods for use in electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances and devices are provided. The systems employ acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits including dendrites on or proximate lithium and other anodes. This invention may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and current modulation to 1) minimize deposit, e.g., dendrite, initiation and formation by acoustic stirring, 2) acoustically image dendritic growths to monitor changes in dendrite growths, 3) cue dendrite cleaning and battery shutdown to avoid short circuit, 4) induce failure in dendritic structure and shearing of at least a portion of the dendrite from the anode, and 5) transport sheared dendrites and other dead metal to a graveyard.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 1, 2020Publication date: April 8, 2021Applicant: RFNAV Inc.Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek, James H. Schoenduve
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Patent number: 9983305Abstract: A low cost, all weather, high definition imaging system for an autonomous vehicle is described. The imaging system generates true target object data suitable for imaging, scene understanding, and all weather navigation of the autonomous vehicle. Data from multiple arrays is fed to a processor that performs data association to form true target detections and target positions. A Boolean associator uses an association method for determining true target detections and target positions to reduce many of the ghosts or incorrect detections that can produce image artifacts. The imaging system provides near optimal imaging in any dense scene for autonomous vehicle navigation, including during visually obscured weather conditions such as fog. The system and method can be applied to variety of imaging technologies, including an RF system, a Lidar system, a sonar system, an ultrasound system, and/or an optical system.Type: GrantFiled: July 14, 2017Date of Patent: May 29, 2018Inventors: Richard E. Pavek, Jefferson M. Willey
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Apparatus and method for single look main lobe and sidelobe discrimination in spectral domain images
Patent number: 9953244Abstract: A system performs operations including receiving multi-dimensional single-look data from a sensor, applying multi-dimensional complex weighting functions including apodizations from among a general class of such functions to the complex data, so as to induce nonlinear variations in the amplitude and phase of the multi-dimensional spectral image responses, forming a number of features per voxel across a number of multi-dimensional spectral image responses, and using a multi-dimensional non-parametric classifier to form features to discriminate main lobe from sidelobe imaged voxels with the weighting function applied to received data. The operations include identifying each voxel by processing a set of transforms from the multi-dimensional complex weighting functions and outputting a multi-dimensional main lobe binary image, representing main lobe versus sidelobe locations.Type: GrantFiled: August 15, 2017Date of Patent: April 24, 2018Assignee: RFNAV, INC.Inventors: Richard E. Pavek, Jefferson M. Willey -
Patent number: 9903946Abstract: A system performs operations including receiving pairs of sensor signals indicative of imaging of an environment, each pair of sensor signals including (i) a first sensor signal received from a first sensor and including first spatial coordinates and a first signal characteristic and (ii) a second sensor signal including second spatial coordinates and a second signal characteristic. The operations include identifying valid pairs of sensor signals, including determining that an address including the first coordinates of the first sensor signal of a given pair and the second coordinates of the second sensor signal of the given pair corresponds to an admissible address in a set of admissible addresses stored in a data storage.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2017Date of Patent: February 27, 2018Assignee: RFNAV, INC.Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek
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APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SINGLE LOOK MAIN LOBE AND SIDELOBE DISCRIMINATION IN SPECTRAL DOMAIN IMAGES
Publication number: 20180053070Abstract: A system performs operations including receiving multi-dimensional single-look data from a sensor, applying multi-dimensional complex weighting functions including apodizations from among a general class of such functions to the complex data, so as to induce nonlinear variations in the amplitude and phase of the multi-dimensional spectral image responses, forming a number of features per voxel across a number of multi-dimensional spectral image responses, and using a multi-dimensional non-parametric classifier to form features to discriminate main lobe from sidelobe imaged voxels with the weighting function applied to received data. The operations include identifying each voxel by processing a set of transforms from the multi-dimensional complex weighting functions and outputting a multi-dimensional main lobe binary image, representing main lobe versus sidelobe locations.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 15, 2017Publication date: February 22, 2018Inventors: Richard E. Pavek, Jefferson M. Willey -
Publication number: 20170343665Abstract: A system performs operations including receiving pairs of sensor signals indicative of imaging of an environment, each pair of sensor signals including (i) a first sensor signal received from a first sensor and including first spatial coordinates and a first signal characteristic and (ii) a second sensor signal including second spatial coordinates and a second signal characteristic. The operations include identifying valid pairs of sensor signals, including determining that an address including the first coordinates of the first sensor signal of a given pair and the second coordinates of the second sensor signal of the given pair corresponds to an admissible address in a set of admissible addresses stored in a data storage.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 26, 2017Publication date: November 30, 2017Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Richard E. Pavek
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Publication number: 20170315229Abstract: A low cost, all weather, high definition imaging system for an autonomous vehicle is described. The imaging system generates true target object data suitable for imaging, scene understanding, and all weather navigation of the autonomous vehicle. Data from multiple arrays is fed to a processor that performs data association to form true target detections and target positions. A Boolean associator uses an association method for determining true target detections and target positions to reduce many of the ghosts or incorrect detections that can produce image artifacts. The imaging system provides near optimal imaging in any dense scene for autonomous vehicle navigation, including during visually obscured weather conditions such as fog. The system and method can be applied to variety of imaging technologies, including an RF system, a Lidar system, a sonar system, an ultrasound system, and/or an optical system.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 14, 2017Publication date: November 2, 2017Inventors: Richard E. Pavek, Jefferson M. Willey
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Patent number: 9739881Abstract: A low cost, all weather, high definition RF radar system for an autonomous vehicle is described. The high definition RF radar system generates true target object data suitable for imaging, scene understanding, and all weather navigation of the autonomous vehicle. The high definition RF radar system includes a pair of independent orthogonal linear arrays. Data from both linear arrays is fed to a processor that performs data association to form true target detections and target positions. A Boolean association method for determining true target detections and target positions reduces many of the ghosts or incorrect detections that can produce image artifacts. The high definition RF radar system provides near optimal imaging in any dense scene for autonomous vehicle navigation, including during visually obscured weather conditions such as fog.Type: GrantFiled: March 23, 2017Date of Patent: August 22, 2017Assignee: RFNAV, Inc.Inventors: Richard E. Pavek, Jefferson M. Willey
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Patent number: 8924214Abstract: A method for detecting and recognizing speech is provided that remotely detects body motions from a speaker during vocalization with one or more radar sensors. Specifically, the radar sensors include a transmit aperture that transmits one or more waveforms towards the speaker, and each of the waveforms has a distinct wavelength. A receiver aperture is configured to receive the scattered radio frequency energy from the speaker. Doppler signals correlated with the speaker vocalization are extracted with a receiver. Digital signal processors are configured to develop feature vectors utilizing the vocalization Doppler signals, and words associated with the feature vectors are recognized with a word classifier.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 2011Date of Patent: December 30, 2014Assignee: The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the NavyInventors: Jefferson M Willey, Todd Stephenson, Hugh Faust, James P. Hansen, George J Linde, Carol Chang, Justin Nevitt, James A Ballas, Thomas Herne Crystal, Vincent Michael Stanford, Jean W. De Graaf
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Publication number: 20120059657Abstract: A method for detecting and recognizing speech is provided that remotely detects body motions from a speaker during vocalization with one or more radar sensors. Specifically, the radar sensors include a transmit aperture that transmits one or more waveforms towards the speaker, and each of the waveforms has a distinct wavelength. A receiver aperture is configured to receive the scattered radio frequency energy from the speaker. Doppler signals correlated with the speaker vocalization are extracted with a receiver. Digital signal processors are configured to develop feature vectors utilizing the vocalization Doppler signals, and words associated with the feature vectors are recognized with a word classifier.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 7, 2011Publication date: March 8, 2012Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, Todd Stephenson, Hugh Faust, James P. Hansen, George J. Linde, Carol Chang, Justin Nevitt, James A. Ballas, Thomas Herne Crystal, Vincent Michael Stanford, Jean W. de Graaf
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Patent number: 7511655Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining three dimensional sub-voxel positions using synthetic aperture radar. The apparatus includes at least four non-coplanar, phase-coherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) platforms comprising a plurality of phase-synchronized local oscillators cohered to a common reference clock, a first SAR platform of the SAR platforms operable to transmit a radar waveform, and the SAR platforms operable to receive scattered energy waveforms resulting from the radar waveform and operable to generate two-dimensional (2-D) SAR images based on the received scattered energy waveforms. The apparatus also includes a synchronizing processor operable to communicate with the SAR platforms and operable to synchronize a plurality of SAR transmission and receiving intervals for the SAR platforms.Type: GrantFiled: September 25, 2006Date of Patent: March 31, 2009Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the NavyInventors: Jefferson M. Willey, William A. Barnwell, James R. Buss, Harold H. Szu
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Publication number: 20080074313Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining three dimensional sub-voxel positions using synthetic aperture radar. The apparatus includes at least four non-coplanar, phase-coherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) platforms comprising a plurality of phase-synchronized local oscillators cohered to a common reference clock, a first SAR platform of the SAR platforms operable to transmit a radar waveform, and the SAR platforms operable to receive scattered energy waveforms resulting from the radar waveform and operable to generate two-dimensional (2-D) SAR images based on the received scattered energy waveforms. The apparatus also includes a synchronizing processor operable to communicate with the SAR platforms and operable to synchronize a plurality of SAR transmission and receiving intervals for the SAR platforms.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 25, 2006Publication date: March 27, 2008Inventors: Jefferson M. Willey, William A. Barnwell, James R. Buss, Harold H. Szu
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Patent number: 5008680Abstract: A programmable beam transform system is disclosed for performing both beam steering and beam shaping operations in a phased array antenna. A programmable beam transform control circuit is responsive to a plurality of input signals for selectively generating and applying a plurality of control signals to each intelligent phase shift control circuit in an array of phase shift control circuits/phase shifters/antenna elements. Each phase shift control circuit simultaneously modifies the plurality of control signals applied thereto as a function of its internally-stored data to develop its own phase shift command signal which is used by its associated phase shifter to phase shift that portion of the total energy applied thereto. On transmit, the phase-shifted energy outputs from the phase shifters in the array are then respectively transmitted by the associated antenna elements in the array to form the desired beam pattern at the desired beam position; and on receive the complementary function occurs.Type: GrantFiled: April 29, 1988Date of Patent: April 16, 1991Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the NavyInventors: Jefferson M. Willey, James J. Alter, Jules P. Letellier
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Patent number: H1033Abstract: A radar ECCM system for degrading the effect that a standoff noise jammer has on a radar receiving site that is tracking an incoming aerial target. The system effectively removes from the mainlobe of the beam emanating from the site the component of random noise contained in the jamming signal.Type: GrantFiled: December 31, 1990Date of Patent: March 3, 1992Assignee: United States of AmericaInventors: Jefferson M. Willey, James P. Hansen, Edward E. Maine, Jr.