Patents by Inventor Karl F. Nieman

Karl F. Nieman 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: 9577729
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronization of radios in a large antenna count (LAC) system. In some embodiments, a LAC system includes a plurality of slave radios, a clock and trigger distribution system, and a master device. In these embodiments, the plurality of slave radios are configured to establish a fixed relationship between a reference clock and their respective local clocks. In these embodiments, the master device and plurality of slave radios are configured to generate and align respective common periodic time reference (CPTR) signals, at a lower frequency than the local clocks. In these embodiments, the master device is configured to transmit a trigger signal based on its CPTR and the plurality of slave radios are configured to perform an action based on the trigger at a subsequent edge of their CPTRs. This may allow synchronization of sampling for antennas in a massive MIMO base station, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ian C. Wong, Karl F. Nieman, Nikhil U. Kundargi, Brooks C. Prumo
  • Publication number: 20160142175
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) communication system for communication in the presence of cyclostationary noise is provided. A receiver receives from a medium a channel measurement packet of a communication channel. The channel measurement packet has a measured transmission characteristic. The measured transmission characteristic of the received channel measurement packet is compared to a defined transmission characteristic to provide a comparison. A modulation coding scheme (MCS) map referenced to a phase of a cyclostationary noise period of the medium is generated based upon the comparison. The MCS map is sent to a transmitter via the medium. Signals including packets that have been mapped to subcarriers based on the MCS map are received from the medium. Subcarriers of the signals received from the medium are demapped using the MCS map referenced to the phase of the cyclostationary noise period of the medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2014
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
    Inventors: Khurram Waheed, Karl F. Nieman
  • Publication number: 20150326291
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to signaling and frame structure for massive MIMO communication systems. In some embodiments, an apparatus is configured to receive an uplink pilot symbol from a mobile device over a first channel and receive uplink data from the mobile device over the first channel, where the uplink data is included in one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols at a symbol rate. In these embodiments, the apparatus is configured to, determine channel information based on the pilot symbol, precode downlink data based on the channel information, and transmit the precoded downlink data to the mobile device. In these embodiments, a transition interval between receiving the uplink pilot symbol and beginning to transmit the precoded downlink data corresponds to less than five OFDM symbols at the symbol rate. This may facilitate reciprocity-based precoding for fast-moving mobile devices, in some embodiments.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Ian C. Wong, Karl F. Nieman, Nikhil U. Kundargi
  • Publication number: 20150326383
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to synchronization of radios in a large antenna count (LAC) system. In some embodiments, a LAC system includes a plurality of slave radios, a clock and trigger distribution system, and a master device. In these embodiments, the plurality of slave radios are configured to establish a fixed relationship between a reference clock and their respective local clocks. In these embodiments, the master device and plurality of slave radios are configured to generate and align respective common periodic time reference (CPTR) signals, at a lower frequency than the local clocks. In these embodiments, the master device is configured to transmit a trigger signal based on its CPTR and the plurality of slave radios are configured to perform an action based on the trigger at a subsequent edge of their CPTRs. This may allow synchronization of sampling for antennas in a massive MIMO base station, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Ian C. Wong, Karl F. Nieman, Nikhil U. Kundargi, Brooks C. Prumo
  • Publication number: 20150326286
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed relating to a massive MIMO base station architecture. In some embodiments, a base station is configured to combine signals received by multiple antennas and, for at least a subset of processing elements included in the base station, each processing element is configured to operate on a different portion of the combined signals. In these embodiments, each portion includes signals from multiple antennas. In some embodiments, the portions are different time and/or frequency portions of the combined signals. In some embodiments, this distributed processing may allow the number of antennas of the base station to scale dramatically, provide dynamic re-configurability, facilitate real-time reciprocity-based precoding, etc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Ian C. Wong, Karl F. Nieman, Nikhil U. Kundargi