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: 8830815
    Abstract: A method for generating a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol Packet Data Unit (PPDU) having a preamble and a payload for television white space transmission (TVWS) is provided. The symbols of the PPDU each include 128 total (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) OFDM tones or 256 total OFDM tones. The preamble includes a signal (SIG) field symbol having 108 OFDM data tones if the symbols of the PPDU include 128 total OFDM tones or having 234 OFDM data tones if the symbols of the PPDU include 256 total OFDM tones. The SIG field symbol indicates at least one of an amount of data in the payload or a length of time that the PPDU will occupy the television broadcast frequency spectrum. The PPDU is generated by down-clocking an 802.11ac signal by a factor so that the bandwidth of the PPDU decreases down to one appropriate for use in a TVWS channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Sameer Vermani, Santosh Paul Abraham, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Albert van Zelst, Didier Johannes Richard van Nee, Vincent Knowles Jones, IV
  • Patent number: 8774209
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for spectrum sharing using listen before talk (LBT) and quiet periods are disclosed. This includes assessing using LBT to determine if a shared spectrum channel is being used by at least one other network, and transmitting transmission frames over the shared spectrum channel in at least one of an uplink or a downlink when the channel is determined as not being used. The accumulated time of transmission use of the spectrum channel is counted based on predetermined conditions, and a determination made when the accumulated time exceeds a maximum allotted time. Transmission of frames by a network is allowed to continue if the maximum time has not been exceeded and the spectrum remains available. A quiet period is then executed once the maximum time period is exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Ahmed K. Sadek, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Publication number: 20140186041
    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: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Publication date: July 3, 2014
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Patrick Stupar, Nicola Varanese, Andrea Garavaglia, Juan Montojo, Christian Pietsch
  • Patent number: 8749714
    Abstract: White space signals are differentiated from licensed ATSC signals through modification of a waveform of the white space signal. White space signals may be modified by shifting the ATSC-compatible waveform so that the pilot frequency of the white space signal is at a location outside of the frequency range associated with the pilot frequency in a licensed ATSC signal or embedding a watermark signal into said ATSC-like white space signals. White space device transmitters generate the signals with these modifications and white space receivers are equipped to detect whether a pilot exists in the standard licensed pilot frequencies. Based on these differences, white space devices can better operate without interfering with licensed ATSC transmission. Additionally, the modification techniques may be used to embed data in the white space signal that may be used to communicate connection data or networking data to other white space devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Ahmed K. Sadek, Wenyi Zhang, Babak Aryan, Vijayalakshimi Raveendran, Avinash Jain, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Charles A. Bergan
  • Patent number: 8750804
    Abstract: The use of white space devices in unused portions of the television channel spectrum is facilitated by spectrum sensing techniques that combine interference rejection techniques with feature extraction techniques to detect presence or absence of incumbent users in the spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Wenyi Zhang, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Patent number: 8750281
    Abstract: A coaxial physical layer device operates in at least two different modes: a discovery mode and a normal mode. In the discovery mode, a first orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a plurality of first training fields and at least one second training field. Each first training field is shorter than each second training field. In the normal mode, a second OFDM coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a single training field. The single training field is shorter than an OFDM symbol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Juan Montojo
  • Patent number: 8675623
    Abstract: Techniques for use in contending for a portion of a television channel spectrum are disclosed. In some instances, a back-off value is used to decide whether a contender's contention number will be transmitted when the contention channel is free, and the back-off value is determined based on the contention number. In some instances, a contender monitors the contention channel and withdraws from contention if it detects from the contention channel that a higher priority contender is in contention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Ahmed K. Sadek, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Publication number: 20140050133
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices for wireless communication. In one aspect an apparatus for wirelessly communicating with a wireless station is provided. The apparatus comprises a first transceiver configured to receive a backoff signal from the wireless station during a first time period, the backoff signal configured to indicate a second time period. The apparatus further comprises a processor operationally coupled to the first transceiver and configured to refrain the first transceiver from transmitting a wireless signal during the second time period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Amin Jafarian, Simone Merlin, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Vincent Knowles Jones, Alfred Asterjadhi, Hemanth Sampath
  • Patent number: 8626056
    Abstract: Transmitting devices facilitate privacy protection of content broadcasted from the transmitting device to a receiving device without the need to modify the receiving device. A transmitting device may be adapted to acquire content, such as audio and/or video data, to be broadcasted by the transmitter for reception and use by a receiving device. A transmission range is selected to define a distance for broadcasting the content from the transmission device for reception and use by a receiving device. A frequency is also selected to be used for broadcasting the content. With the transmission range and frequency selected, the transmitting device may broadcast the content according to the selected transmission range and frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Yong Jin Kim, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Vijayalakshmi R. Raveendran, Wenyi Zhang, Ahmed K. Sadek, Yu A. Wang
  • Publication number: 20130343754
    Abstract: A coaxial physical layer device operates in at least two different modes: a discovery mode and a normal mode. In the discovery mode, a first orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a plurality of first training fields and at least one second training field. Each first training field is shorter than each second training field. In the normal mode, a second OFDM coaxial signal is received that has a preamble including a single training field. The single training field is shorter than an OFDM symbol.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Publication date: December 26, 2013
    Applicant: Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen J. SHELLHAMMER, Juan MONTOJO
  • Patent number: 8600312
    Abstract: An apparatus for wireless communication includes a processing system. The processing system is configured to estimate a power spectral density of a first signal. In addition, the processing system is configured to determine a normalized correlation detector between the estimated power spectral density and a known power spectral density of a second signal. Furthermore, the processing system is configured to determine whether the first signal contains the second signal based on the normalized correlation detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Zhi Quan, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Wenyi Zhang
  • Patent number: 8577377
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for providing a wireless expansion network. In an aspect, an apparatus includes an expansion circuit configured to identify at least one of a selected uplink (UL) channel and a selected downlink (DL) channel that are provided by one of a primary network and an expansion network, and a processing circuit configured to switch to the at least one of the selected UL and DL channels. An apparatus includes means for obtaining link parameters associated with a primary network and an expansion network, means for identifying clients that are assigned transmission channels on both the primary network and the expansion network based on the link parameters, and means for transmitting messages to the clients to indicate the assigned transmission channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stephen J. Shellhammer, Ahmed K. Sadek, Cong T. Nguyen
  • Publication number: 20130272435
    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: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Applicant: Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen J. SHELLHAMMER
  • Publication number: 20130239165
    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: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: Qualcomm Atheros, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrea GARAVAGLIA, Juan MONTOJO, Christian PIETSCH, Stephen J. SHELLHAMMER, Nicola VARANESE
  • Publication number: 20130236178
    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: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Andrea Garavaglia, Juan Montojo, Christian Pietsch, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Nicola Varanese, Patrick Stupar, Tienchuan Ko
  • Publication number: 20130223357
    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: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2012
    Publication date: August 29, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Vincent K. Jones, Hemanth Sampath, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Tevfik Yucek, Santosh Paul Abraham
  • Publication number: 20130195089
    Abstract: A method includes generating, at a low rate enabler (LRE) device, a packet including a preamble having a legacy portion and a super long range (SLR) portion. The legacy portion includes at least one bit to indicate a presence of the SLR portion to at least one SLR-compatible device. The method also includes transmitting the packet to a plurality of devices includes the at least one SLR-compatible device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2012
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rahul Tandra, Santosh P. Abraham, Stephen J. Shellhammer
  • Patent number: 8494513
    Abstract: A spatio-temporal random voting scheme is provided that incorporates location distribution, spatial randomness, and temporal randomness in the collection of information from a plurality of sensing devices within the cognitive network. The region is divided into a plurality of sectors, where each sector is a portion of the region. A subset of sectors is selected from the plurality of sectors in the region to provide spatial randomness. A device is randomly selected from each sector in the subset of sectors to provide additional spatial randomness to the information collection process. Temporal randomness may be introduced by randomly selecting a timeslot within a sensing window period in which devices are to scan a frequency spectrum band to determine if a signal energy above a threshold is detected. Sensing reports are then collected from the selected sensing devices and used to determine whether the frequency spectrum band is available or in use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Yong Jin Kim, Lakshminath R. Dondeti, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Wenyi Zhang
  • Publication number: 20130148517
    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: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Publication date: June 13, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Santosh Paul Abraham, Sameer Vermani, Hemanth Sampath, Stephen J. Shellhammer, Rahul Tandra
  • Patent number: 8463195
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for sensing features of a signal in a wireless communication system are disclosed. The disclosed methods and apparatus sense signal features by determining a number of spectral density estimates, where each estimate is derived based on reception of the signal by a respective antenna in a system with multiple sensing antennas. The spectral density estimates are then combined, and the signal features are sensed based on the combination of the spectral density estimates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventor: Stephen J. Shellhammer