Patents by Inventor Robert W. Boyd
Robert W. Boyd 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: 11874365Abstract: An example system for locating passive RFID tags includes a narrowband RFID reader configured to transmit a narrowband RF signal to energize a passive RFID tag, thereby causing the passive RFID tag to create a backscatter reflection target; a first wideband transceiver configured to transmit a wideband RF signal; a second wideband transceiver configured to: receive the wideband RF signal reflected from the backscatter reflection target; and record time-of-arrival data for the reflected wideband signal; and processing circuitry configured to determine a location measurement of the passive tag based on the time-of-arrival data.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 2018Date of Patent: January 16, 2024Assignee: Zebra Technologies CorporationInventors: David S. Wisherd, Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 11709097Abstract: An apparatus measures the transverse profile of vectorial optical field beams, including both the phase and the polarization spatial profile. The apparatus contains a polarization separation module, a weak perturbation module, and a detection module. Characterizing the transverse profile of vector fields provides an optical metrology tool for both fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and a wide spectrum of applications, including microscopy, surveillance, imaging, communication, material processing, and laser trapping.Type: GrantFiled: July 19, 2021Date of Patent: July 25, 2023Assignee: University of South FloridaInventors: Zhimin Shi, Darrick Hay, Ziyi Zhu, Yiyu Zhou, Robert W. Boyd
-
Publication number: 20220011163Abstract: An apparatus measures the transverse profile of vectorial optical field beams, including both the phase and the polarization spatial profile. The apparatus contains a polarization separation module, a weak perturbation module, and a detection module. Characterizing the transverse profile of vector fields provides an optical metrology tool for both fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and a wide spectrum of applications, including microscopy, surveillance, imaging, communication, material processing, and laser trapping.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 19, 2021Publication date: January 13, 2022Applicants: The University of Rochester, University of South FloridaInventors: Zhimin Shi, Darrick Hay, Ziyi Zhu, Yiyu Zhou, Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 11067450Abstract: An apparatus measures the transverse profile of vectorial optical field beams, including both the phase and the polarization spatial profile. The apparatus contains a polarization separation module, a weak perturbation module, and a detection module. Characterizing the transverse profile of vector fields provides an optical metrology tool for both fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and a wide spectrum of applications, including microscopy, surveillance, imaging, communication, material processing, and laser trapping.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2019Date of Patent: July 20, 2021Assignee: University of South FloridaInventors: Zhimin Shi, Darrick Hay, Ziyi Zhu, Yiyu Zhou, Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 10677652Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for implementing a parametric down-conversion (PDC)-based calibration comprising calibrating a measuring instrument; disposing a pinhole at a position of a light-emitting sample for which the measuring instrument needs to be calibrated; irradiating a nonlinear crystal with a light source; setting the nonlinear crystal by ensuring a phase-matching wavelength of the nonlinear crystal is set at one boundary of a desired bandwidth; acquiring one or more PDC spectrums by the measuring instrument; obtaining peak values and their corresponding wavelengths from each acquired spectrum; and obtaining a response function based on the peak values and corresponding wavelengths.Type: GrantFiled: October 17, 2017Date of Patent: June 9, 2020Assignees: University of Ottawa, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Wissenschaften E.V., Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-NuernbergInventors: Samuel Lemieux, Mathieu Manceau, Robert W. Boyd, Gerd Leuchs, Maria V. Chekhova
-
Publication number: 20200011737Abstract: An apparatus measures the transverse profile of vectorial optical field beams, including both the phase and the polarization spatial profile. The apparatus contains a polarization separation module, a weak perturbation module, and a detection module. Characterizing the transverse profile of vector fields provides an optical metrology tool for both fundamental studies of vectorial optical fields and a wide spectrum of applications, including microscopy, surveillance, imaging, communication, material processing, and laser trapping.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 6, 2019Publication date: January 9, 2020Applicants: The University of Rochester, University of South FloridaInventors: Zhimin Shi, Darrick Hay, Ziyi Zhu, Yiyu Zhou, Robert W. Boyd
-
Publication number: 20190339126Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for implementing a parametric down-conversion (PDC)-based calibration comprising calibrating a measuring instrument; disposing a pinhole at a position of a light-emitting sample for which the measuring instrument needs to be calibrated; irradiating a nonlinear crystal with a light source; setting the nonlinear crystal by ensuring a phase-matching wavelength of the nonlinear crystal is set at one boundary of a desired bandwidth; acquiring one or more PDC spectrums by the measuring instrument; obtaining peak values and their corresponding wavelengths from each acquired spectrum; and obtaining a response function based on the peak values and corresponding wavelengths.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 17, 2017Publication date: November 7, 2019Inventors: Samuel LEMIEUX, Mathieu MANCEAU, Robert W. BOYD, Gerd LEUCHS, Maria V. CHEKHOVA
-
Publication number: 20180246201Abstract: An example system for locating passive RFID tags includes a narrowband RFID reader configured to transmit a narrowband RF signal to energize a passive RFID tag, thereby causing the passive RFID tag to create a backscatter reflection target; a first wideband transceiver configured to transmit a wideband RF signal; a second wideband transceiver configured to: receive the wideband RF signal reflected from the backscatter reflection target; and record time-of-arrival data for the reflected wideband signal; and processing circuitry configured to determine a location measurement of the passive tag based on the time-of-arrival data.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 30, 2018Publication date: August 30, 2018Inventors: David S. Wisherd, Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 9983303Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media are disclosed for providing timing-based distance measurement to a passive radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag using one or more wideband RF signals synchronized with the standard narrowband RF signal. In some embodiments, the narrowband RF signal activates a passive RFID tag creating a backscatter reflection target which returns a modulated narrowband signal and a wideband signal from the passive RFID tag. The one or more wideband receivers determine time-of-flight and/or time-of-arrival measurements for the returned wideband signal. A location measurement is then calculated for the passive RFID tag using the tag data, the known location of the wideband transceivers, and the time-of-flight/time-of-arrival data.Type: GrantFiled: July 11, 2014Date of Patent: May 29, 2018Assignee: ZIH Corp.Inventors: David S. Wisherd, Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 9810766Abstract: An example method includes identifying a link that is one of a plurality of links of a wireless locating system, the link being defined by at least a reference signal source, a first receiver unit, and a second receiver unit; determining a reliability metric for signal transmission via a link based on first link data, the link data describing first reference signal events for the link; and modifying the reliability metric based on second link data describing second reference signal events for the link, wherein modifying the reliability metric includes: determining whether the second link data is consistent with the first link data; adjusting the reliability metric using a first function when the second link data is consistent with the first link data; and adjusting the reliability metric using a second function different than the first function when the second link data is inconsistent with the second link data.Type: GrantFiled: June 17, 2016Date of Patent: November 7, 2017Assignee: ZIH Corp.Inventor: Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 9519046Abstract: Systems and methods for determining signal source location in wireless local area networks are disclosed. An example method includes receiving, from a first signal reader, a first time-of-arrival measurement for a first radio frequency (RF) signal generated by a first wireless local area network (WLAN) signal source located at a first known location, the first time-of-arrival measurement being relative to a first clock of the first signal reader; receiving, from a second signal reader, a second time-of-arrival measurement for the RF signal, the second time-of-arrival measurement being relative to a second clock of the second signal reader, wherein the first clock is not synchronized with the second clock; defining a first time relationship between the first clock and a system time based on the first time-of-arrival measurement; and defining a second time relationship between the second clock and the system time based on the second time-of-arrival measurement.Type: GrantFiled: January 6, 2016Date of Patent: December 13, 2016Assignee: ZIH Corp.Inventor: Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 9500531Abstract: A wavefront sensing technique using Polarization Rotation INTerferometry (PRINT) provides a self-referencing, high-resolution, direct measurement of the spatially dependent phase profile of a given optical beam. A self-referencing technique is used to create a reference beam in the orthogonal polarization and a polarization measurement to measure the spatial-dependent polarization parameters to directly determine the absolute phase profile of the beam under test. A high-resolution direct measurement of the spatially-resolved phase profile of one or more optical beams is realized.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 2014Date of Patent: November 22, 2016Assignee: University of RochesterInventors: Zhimin Shi, Robert W. Boyd, Mohammad Mirhosseini, Mehul Malik
-
Publication number: 20160291126Abstract: An example method includes identifying a link that is one of a plurality of links of a wireless locating system, the link being defined by at least a reference signal source, a first receiver unit, and a second receiver unit; determining a reliability metric for signal transmission via a link based on first link data, the link data describing first reference signal events for the link; and modifying the reliability metric based on second link data describing second reference signal events for the link, wherein modifying the reliability metric includes: determining whether the second link data is consistent with the first link data; adjusting the reliability metric using a first function when the second link data is consistent with the first link data; and adjusting the reliability metric using a second function different than the first function when the second link data is inconsistent with the second link data.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 17, 2016Publication date: October 6, 2016Inventor: Robert W. Boyd
-
Patent number: 9395432Abstract: Various methods for modeling timing relationships between clocks are provided. One example method includes identifying a link that is one of a plurality of links within a wireless locating system and receiving link data describing a reference signal event for the link. The example method may also include determining a reliability metric for the link based on the link data and comparing the reliability metric to a threshold reliability metric to determine whether the link is a reliable link. Further, the example method may include adding the link to a collection of reliable links for the wireless locating system, and generating a model describing a timing relationship between respective clocks of each of a plurality of receiver units in the wireless locating system based on link data for each of the reliable links. Related systems and apparatuses are also provided.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2012Date of Patent: July 19, 2016Assignee: ZIH CORP.Inventor: Robert W. Boyd
-
Publication number: 20160116566Abstract: Systems and methods for determining signal source location in wireless local area networks are disclosed. An example method includes receiving, from a first signal reader, a first time-of-arrival measurement for a first radio frequency (RF) signal generated by a first wireless local area network (WLAN) signal source located at a first known location, the first time-of-arrival measurement being relative to a first clock of the first signal reader; receiving, from a second signal reader, a second time-of-arrival measurement for the RF signal, the second time-of-arrival measurement being relative to a second clock of the second signal reader, wherein the first clock is not synchronized with the second clock; defining a first time relationship between the first clock and a system time based on the first time-of-arrival measurement; and defining a second time relationship between the second clock and the system time based on the second time-of-arrival measurement.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 6, 2016Publication date: April 28, 2016Inventor: ROBERT W. BOYD
-
Patent number: 9285454Abstract: Example embodiments are directed to various aspects of processing received signals for determining a location of a source of the signals. An example method may include generating signal timing information, and determining times for a plurality of window periods for the signal of interest based on the signal timing information. The example method may also include retrieving, from a memory device that stores the signal stream, symbols of the signal of interest based on the window periods, and formatting the symbols of the signal of interest in preparation for determining a location of a source of the signal of interest. Additional and alternative methods and apparatuses are also provided.Type: GrantFiled: March 2, 2012Date of Patent: March 15, 2016Assignee: ZIH Corp.Inventors: Robert W. Boyd, Jerald W. English, Thomas L. Richardson, Michael A. Wohl
-
Patent number: 9274207Abstract: A system and method locates a wireless local area network (WLAN) signal source. A wireless LAN signal as an RF signal is propagated from a WLAN signal source at a fixed, known location to a plurality of receivers having unsynchronized clocks. The time-of-arrival is measured at each receiver and the timing relationship from the fixed, known location of the signal source is used to relate time-of-arrival measurements from a signal arriving from an unknown location.Type: GrantFiled: January 30, 2007Date of Patent: March 1, 2016Assignee: ZIH CORP.Inventor: Robert W. Boyd
-
Publication number: 20150097716Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media are disclosed for providing timing-based distance measurement to a passive radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag using one or more wideband RF signals synchronized with the standard narrowband RF signal. In some embodiments, the narrowband RF signal activates a passive RFID tag creating a backscatter reflection target which returns a modulated narrowband signal and a wideband signal from the passive RFID tag. The one or more wideband receivers determine time-of-flight and/or time-of-arrival measurements for the returned wideband signal. A location measurement is then calculated for the passive RFID tag using the tag data, the known location of the wideband transceivers, and the time-of-flight/time-of-arrival data.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 11, 2014Publication date: April 9, 2015Inventors: David S. Wisherd, Robert W. Boyd
-
Publication number: 20140285813Abstract: A wavefront sensing technique using Polarization Rotation INTerferometry (PRINT) provides a self-referencing, high-resolution, direct measurement of the spatially dependent phase profile of a given optical beam. A self-referencing technique is used to create a reference beam in the orthogonal polarization and a polarization measurement to measure the spatial-dependent polarization parameters to directly determine the absolute phase profile of the beam under test. A high-resolution direct measurement of the spatially-resolved phase profile of one or more optical beams is realized.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2014Publication date: September 25, 2014Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTERInventors: Zhimin Shi, Robert W. Boyd, Mohammad Mirhosseini, Mehul Malik
-
Publication number: 20130051262Abstract: Various methods for modeling timing relationships between clocks are provided. One example method includes identifying a link that is one of a plurality of links within a wireless locating system and receiving link data describing a reference signal event for the link. The example method may also include determining a reliability metric for the link based on the link data and comparing the reliability metric to a threshold reliability metric to determine whether the link is a reliable link. Further, the example method may include adding the link to a collection of reliable links for the wireless locating system, and generating a model describing a timing relationship between respective clocks of each of a plurality of receiver units in the wireless locating system based on link data for each of the reliable links. Related systems and apparatuses are also provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 17, 2012Publication date: February 28, 2013Applicant: ZIH CORP.Inventor: Robert W. Boyd