Patents by Inventor Steven D. Thornton

Steven D. Thornton 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: 8588220
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for mitigating port swapping during signal tracking. The method and apparatus generally include acquiring a first signal characteristic corresponding to a signal assigned to a first port, comparing the first signal characteristic to a second previously acquired signal characteristic, and assigning the signal to a second port if the first and second signal characteristics vary. Such a configuration mitigates port swapping without requiring signals to include identification information, thereby enabling assignment of signals corresponding to any format or source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: L-3 Communications Corporation
    Inventors: Steven D. Thornton, John A. Adams, Brian Holden
  • Patent number: 7885688
    Abstract: A signal of interest (SOI) may be selected from among a plurality of cochannel signals based on one or more internal or external structural feature/s of the SOI, e.g., automatically selected based on any one or more internal or external structural features of the SOI that is known a priori. Examples of such internal structural features include, but are not limited to, number, frequency and/or absolute or relative signal strength (signal to noise ratio) of one or more transmitted signal components (e.g., pilot tones, squelch tones, etc.) present in the SOI; absence of a signal component at a given frequency in the SOI (i.e., present as a “dead spot” at a given frequency within the SOI); signal strength versus frequency profile of the SOI, signal strength versus time domain profile of the SOI, transient characteristics, time versus frequency profile, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P.
    Inventors: Steven D. Thornton, Ross A. McClain, Jr., Benjamin A. Collins
  • Publication number: 20090015479
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for all-polarization direction finding. The method and apparatus generally include acquiring measurements at least partially corresponding to an emitted signal and generated utilizing a blind signal extraction algorithm, forming an all-polarization cost function utilizing the acquired measurements, and determining an angle of arrival for the emitted signal utilizing the formed all-polarization cost function. Such a configuration enables angles of arrivals to be easily determined for signals having any polarization without using a multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2008
    Publication date: January 15, 2009
    Applicant: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, L.P.
    Inventors: Steven D. Thornton, Dennis J. Close, Mark L. Kargel, Steven P. Stanners
  • Patent number: 7414582
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for all-polarization direction finding. The method and apparatus generally include acquiring measurements at least partially corresponding to an emitted signal and generated utilizing a blind signal extraction algorithm, forming an all-polarization cost function utilizing the acquired measurements, and determining an angle of arrival for the emitted signal utilizing the formed all-polarization cost function. Such a configuration enables angles of arrivals to be easily determined for signals having any polarization without using a multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2008
    Assignee: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems L.P.
    Inventors: Steven D. Thornton, Dennis J. Close, Mark L. Kargel, Steven P. Stanners
  • Publication number: 20080102764
    Abstract: A signal of interest (SOI) may be selected from among a plurality of cochannel signals based on one or more internal or external structural feature/s of the SOI, e.g., automatically selected based on any one or more internal or external structural features of the SOI that is known a priori. Examples of such internal structural features include, but are not limited to, number, frequency and/or absolute or relative signal strength (signal to noise ratio) of one or more transmitted signal components (e.g., pilot tones, squelch tones, etc.) present in the SOI; absence of a signal component at a given frequency in the SOI (i.e., present as a “dead spot” at a given frequency within the SOI); signal strength versus frequency profile of the SOI, signal strength versus time domain profile of the SOI, transient characteristics, time versus frequency profile, etc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Publication date: May 1, 2008
    Inventors: Steven D. Thornton, Ross A. McClain, Benjamin A. Collins