Patents by Inventor Stephen J. Shellhammer

Stephen J. Shellhammer 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: 10069591
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for determining if a signal of interest, for example, a licensed signal having or exceeding a predetermined field strength, is present in a wireless spectrum and/or which facilitates such a determination are described. The signal of interest maybe, e.g., a television signal or a wireless microphone signal using licensed television spectrum. The predetermined field strength may be specified or by a government regulation or rule.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventor: Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Patent number: 10051626
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for operating in a television white space (TVWS) network. One example method generally includes receiving, at an apparatus, a message with a field indicating a current version of an unused frequency spectrum map (e.g., a white space map (WSM)), the unused frequency spectrum map indicating channels usable for wireless communications; determining whether the current version of the unused frequency spectrum map is different than a previous version of the unused frequency spectrum map; and using a channel for wireless communications based on the determination. Another example method generally includes accessing a database of available channels for a current location of an apparatus via a neighboring portable or fixed enabling apparatus and enabling one or more portable dependent apparatuses for the wireless communications via one or more of the available channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Avinash Jain, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Hemanth Sampath
  • Patent number: 9813994
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for managing transmit power in a television white space (TVWS) network. One example method generally includes transmitting a sequence of request-to-send (RTS) messages at different transmit power levels to an apparatus and determining if a clear-to-send (CTS) message was received in response to at least one of the RTS messages corresponding to a particular one of the transmit power levels. Another example method generally includes receiving, at a first apparatus from a second apparatus, a packet that cannot be decoded by the first apparatus; determining at least one of a time or a duration corresponding to the packet; transmitting a query with an indication of the at least one of the time or the duration; and receiving a message from the second apparatus in response to the query, the message identifying the second apparatus as a source of the packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM, Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Sameer Vermani, Hemanth Sampath, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Rahul Tandra
  • Patent number: 9609520
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for supporting television white space (TVWS) communication. In an aspect of the present disclosure, a low-rate TVWS enabler (Mode II wireless communication device) may provide initial enablement for all Mode I devices (e.g., access points and user terminals), as well as it may transmit a contact verification signal (CVS) on a regular basis to keep the Mode I devices enabled for the TVWS communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Cong Shen, Rahul Tandra, Santosh Paul Abraham, Sameer Vermani, Hemanth Sampath
  • Patent number: 9585025
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for managing transmit power in a television white space (TVWS) network. By managing transmit power as described herein, medium re-use may be improved in such a network, and unfair usage problems may be alleviated. One example method generally includes receiving, from an apparatus, a message with an indication of a highest transmit power used by the apparatus for transmitting data frames; and determining that the apparatus is a dominant interferer based, at least in part, on the highest transmit power. Another example method generally includes receiving, from an apparatus, a control or management message with a first indication of a first transmit power used by the apparatus for transmitting data frames; and determining that the apparatus is a dominant interferer based, at least in part, on the first transmit power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Sameer Vermani, Hemanth Sampath, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Rahul Tandra
  • Patent number: 9300404
    Abstract: A network device includes a plurality of physical-media entities (PMEs), each corresponding to a distinct channel, to generate transmit signals based on transmit packets received over a media-independent interface. The network device also includes a channel-bonding sublayer to direct the transmit packets from the media-independent interface to respective PMEs of the plurality of PMEs. The channel-bonding sublayer has a substantially fixed delay between the media-independent interface and the plurality of PMEs for the transmit packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Patrick Stupar, Nicola Varanese, Andrea Garavaglia, Juan Montojo, Christian Pietsch
  • Patent number: 9281924
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique for generating 40+40 MHz and 40+40+40+40 MHz transmission modes for IEEE 802.11 wireless communications systems using Very High Throughput (VHT) waveforms with application to Television White Space (TVWS) spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Vincent Knowles Jones, IV, Hemanth Sampath, Didier Johannes Richard Van Nee, Sameer Vermani, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Publication number: 20150326405
    Abstract: A fiber-coax unit (FCU) is coupled to an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of coax network units (CNUs). The FCU receives a multicast frame from the OLT. The multicast frame includes a first multicast logical link identifier (LLID) dedicated for multicast traffic directed to CNUs. The FCU replaces the first multicast LLID in the multicast frame with a second multicast LLID corresponding to one or more multicast groups that include at least one CNU of the plurality of CNUs. The FCU transmits the multicast frame to the plurality of CNUs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2012
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Tienchuan Ko, Honger Nie, Xinyu Hu, Andrea J. Garavaglia, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Xuguang Li, Patrick Stupar
  • Patent number: 9173218
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for operating in a television white space (TVWS) network. One example method generally includes receiving, at an apparatus, a message with a field indicating a current version of an unused frequency spectrum map (e.g., a white space map (WSM)), the unused frequency spectrum map indicating channels usable for wireless communications; determining whether the current version of the unused frequency spectrum map is different than a previous version of the unused frequency spectrum map; and using a channel for wireless communications based on the determination. Another example method generally includes accessing a database of available channels for a current location of an apparatus via a neighboring portable or fixed enabling apparatus and enabling one or more portable dependent apparatuses for the wireless communications via one or more of the available channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Avinash Jain, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Hemanth Sampath
  • Patent number: 9124347
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices to communicate in a white space are described herein. In some aspects, wireless communication transmitted in the white space authorizes an initial transmission by a device. The wireless communication may include power information for determining a power at which to transmit the initial transmission. The initial transmission may be used to request information identifying one or more channels in the white space available for transmitting data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Patent number: 9107078
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for supporting television white space (TVWS) communication. In an aspect of the present disclosure, a low-rate TVWS enabler (Mode II wireless communication device) may provide initial enablement for all Mode I devices (e.g., access points and user terminals), as well as it may transmit a contact verification signal (CVS) on a regular basis to keep the Mode I devices enabled for the TVWS communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM, Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Cong Shen, Rahul Tandra, Santosh Paul Abraham, Sameer Vermani, Hemanth Sampath
  • Patent number: 9071380
    Abstract: A method of registering a coax network unit (CNU) in a network is performed at an optical-coax unit (OCU). In the method, a first discovery message is broadcasted to a plurality of CNUs. In response, a first registration request is received from a first CNU of the plurality of CNUs. In response to the first registration request, a proxy entity corresponding to the first CNU is implemented in the OCU. A second discovery message is received from an optical line terminal (OLT). In response to the second discovery message, a second registration request is transmitted to the OLT requesting registration of the proxy entity with the OLT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Andrea Garavaglia, Juan Montojo, Christian Pietsch, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Nicola Varanese, Patrick Stupar, Tienchuan Ko
  • Patent number: 9065688
    Abstract: A method includes determining, at an electronic device, information associated with a location of the first electronic device. An initial set of television white space channels is filtered based on the information to generate a search set of television white space channels. A passive scan of the search set of television white space channels is performed at the electronic device to identify a television white space access point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Inventors: Vincent K. Jones, Hemanth Sampath, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Tevfik Yucek, Santosh Paul Abraham
  • Patent number: 9055588
    Abstract: A decentralized approach to peer discovery channel selection is used in some embodiments. In some such embodiments, a mobile wireless terminal supporting a peer to peer signaling protocol, independently determines what channels to use for peer discovery without a central controller indicating the channel or channels to be used. Assuming channels are of a suitable quality, the channels having the best quality need not be identified, with channel selection being made on a predetermined channel ordering basis from those with suitable quality. Different wireless communications devices in the system use the same peer discovery channel selection process making it likely that the same channel or channels will tend to be picked to be used for peer discovery. Other embodiments are directed to implementing a centralized approach to peer discovery channel selection in which a central controller or base station selects channels to be used for peer discovery signaling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Sreeram Kannan, Ahmed K. Sadek, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Saurabh Tavildar, Nilesh Khude
  • Patent number: 8997165
    Abstract: A media converter is to be coupled to an optical line terminal via an optical link and to a plurality of coax network units via coax links in a cable plant. The media converter includes an optical physical-layer device to receive and transmit optical signals via the optical link and a coax physical-layer device to receive and transmit electrical signals via the coax links. The media converter also includes an implementation of an optical-coax convergence layer to schedule transmissions of electrical signals from the plurality of coax network units by allocating coax resources among the plurality of coax network units in accordance with resource allocation for the optical link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Andrea Garavaglia, Juan Montojo, Christian Pietsch, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Nicola Varanese
  • Patent number: 8964692
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for detecting presence of a Bluetooth device in the vicinity of a WiFi device by sensing the spectrum of the Bluetooth device using a sequence of energy detection measurements, generating a test statistic based on the measurements and comparing the test statistic to a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Richard Van Nee
  • Patent number: 8929293
    Abstract: A method includes sending, from a wireless device, an information element including at least one transmitter characteristic field. The at least one transmitter characteristic field includes information regarding a spectral mask associated with the wireless device and information regarding an antenna gain associated with the wireless device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J Shellhammer, Santosh P Abraham, Vincent K Jones
  • Patent number: 8892050
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for sensing wireless communications in television frequency bands, which may be implemented by a sensing device comprising a sensing unit, a power spectral density (PSD) estimation unit, a filter unit, a candidate selection unit, an analysis unit and a decision unit. The sensing unit senses a signal in the television frequencies bands. The PSD estimation unit calculates an estimate of a PSD for the sensed signal. The filter unit filters the estimated PSD. The candidate selection unit analyzes the filtered PSD to identify a candidate frequency representative of a potentially in use frequency. The analysis unit computes a test statistic for the candidate frequency. The decision unit compares the test statistic to a threshold to identify whether the candidate frequencies is actively in use by wireless communication devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Ahmed K. Sadek, Wenyi Zhang
  • Patent number: 8879984
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for verification signaling, for example, in wireless communications in a television white space (TVWS) network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Maarten Menzo Wentink, Santosh Paul Abraham, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Patent number: 8867638
    Abstract: A coax network unit (CNU) is coupled to a coax line terminal (CLT) by a cable plant. In a discovery mode of operation, the CNU receives from the CLT one or more message packets that include one or more orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols with cyclic prefixes of a first length. In a normal mode of operation subsequent to the discovery mode, the CNU receives data packets comprising OFDM symbols from the CLT. The OFDM symbols of the received data packets have cyclic prefixes of a second length that is less than the first length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventor: Stephen J. Shellhammer