With Frequency Modulation Patents (Class 342/128)
  • Patent number: 11933876
    Abstract: Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a radar device may transmit a combined frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar signal, wherein the combined FMCW radar signal comprises: a first FMCW radar chirp generated based at least in part on a first set of transmission parameter values; and a second FMCW radar chirp generated based at least in part on a second set of transmission parameter values, wherein a transmission parameter value of the second set of transmission parameter values is different than a corresponding transmission parameter value of the first set of transmission parameter values. The radar device may detect a radar target based at least in part on a received signal corresponding to the combined FMCW radar signal and perform an action based at least in part on detecting the radar target. Numerous other aspects are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Dan Zhang, Kapil Gulati, Junyi Li
  • Patent number: 11874392
    Abstract: A non-transitory computer-readable storage device stores machine instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to determine a chirp period Tc for radar chirps in a radar frame. The chirp period Tc comprises a rising period Trise and a falling period Tfall. The processor determines, for each radar chirp in the radar frame, a corresponding randomized frequency characteristic during Tfall, and causes a radar sensor circuit to generate the radar chirps in the radar frame based on Tc, Trise, Tfall, and the corresponding randomized frequency characteristics. In some implementations, the machine instructions to determine the corresponding randomized frequency characteristic comprise machine instructions to determine a frequency step having a frequency f_step and a period Tstep. At least one of the frequency f_step and the period Tstep is dithered across radar chirps in the radar frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Shankar Ram Narayana Moorthy, Karthik Subburaj, Shailesh Joshi, Piyush Soni
  • Patent number: 11796630
    Abstract: Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems are equipped with channel extenders to further increase the number of receive and/or transmit antennas that can be supported by a given radar transceiver. One illustrative radar system includes: a radar transceiver to generate a transmit signal and to downconvert at least one receive signal; and a receive-side extender that couples to a set of multiple receive antennas to obtain a set of multiple input signals, that adjustably phase-shifts each of the multiple input signals to produce a set of phase-shifted signals, and that couples to the radar transceiver to provide the at least one receive signal, the at least one receive signal being a sum of the phase-shifted signals. An illustrative receive-side extender includes: multiple phase shifters each providing an adjustable phase shift to a respective input signal; a power combiner that forms a receive signal by combining outputs of the multiple phase shifters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Ay Dee Kay LLC
    Inventors: Danny Elad, Dan Corcos
  • Patent number: 11777509
    Abstract: A radar system includes: a plurality of first receiving devices for generating a plurality of first digital signals according to a plurality of first incoming signals, respectively; and a plurality of second receiving devices for generating a plurality of second digital signals according to a plurality of second incoming signals, respectively. A processing device is arranged to perform a first beamforming operation to generate a plurality of first beamforming signals according to the plurality of first digital signals and a first gain matrix, and to perform a second beamforming operation to generate a plurality of second beamforming signals according to the plurality of second digital signals and a second gain matrix; and to determine an altitude angle of a first object and a second object, and to determine a first azimuth angle of the first object and a second azimuth angle of the second object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: TRON FUTURE TECH INC.
    Inventors: Yu-Jiu Wang, Bor-Ching Su
  • Patent number: 11740345
    Abstract: A method for a radar system includes transmitting, by a transmit channel of the radar system, a frame comprising first, second, and third chirps. Each chirp has a chirp start frequency, and the chirp start frequency of the transmitted chirps is dithered. The method also includes receiving, by a receive channel of the radar system, a frame of reflected chirps based on the transmitted frame, and generating a digital intermediate frequency (IF) signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Shankar Ram Narayana Moorthy, Karthik Subburaj, Anil KV Kumar
  • Patent number: 11693106
    Abstract: Methods for detecting radar targets are provided. According to one exemplary embodiment, the method includes providing a digital radar signal having a sequence of signal segments. Each signal segment of the sequence is respectively associated with a chirp of a transmitted RF radar signal. The method further includes detecting one or more radar targets based on a first subsequence of successive signal segments of the sequence. For each detected radar target, a distance value and a velocity value are determined. If a group of radar targets having overlapping signal components has been detected, a respective spectral value is calculated for each radar target of the group of radar targets based on a second subsequence of the sequence of signal segments and further based on the velocity values ascertained for the group of radar targets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Oliver Lang, Michael Gerstmair, Alexander Melzer, Christian Schmid
  • Patent number: 11675080
    Abstract: An apparatus for determining at least one spatial position and orientation of at least one object with at least three retroreflectors is provided. The apparatus has at least one LIDAR unit with at least three measurement channels. The LIDAR unit has at least one illumination device, which is configured to produce at least one frequency modulated input light beam. The LIDAR unit has at least one first beam splitter, wherein the first beam splitter is configured to divide the input light beam among the measurement channels in parallel and/or in sequence. The measurement channels are each configured to produce at least one measurement signal. The LIDAR unit is configured to produce at least one LIDAR signal for the measurement signals. The apparatus has at least one evaluation unit, which is configured to determine the spatial position and orientation of the object from the LIDAR signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Industrielle Messtechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Hoegele, Volker Rasenberger, Florian Rettich, Thomas Mayer
  • Patent number: 11662430
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a method for testing a millimeter-wave radar module includes: providing power to the millimeter-wave radar module; performing a plurality of tests indicative of a performance level of the millimeter-wave radar module; comparing respective results from the plurality of tests with corresponding test limits; and generating a flag when a result from a test of the plurality of test is outside the corresponding test limits, where performing the plurality of tests includes: transmitting a signal with a transmitting antenna coupled to a millimeter-wave radar sensor, modulating the transmitted signal with a test signal, and capturing first data from a first receiving antenna using an analog-to-digital converter of the millimeter-wave radar sensor, where generating the flag includes generating the flag based on the captured first data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Reinhard-Wolfgang Jungmaier, Saverio Trotta, Dennis Noppeney
  • Patent number: 11614538
    Abstract: A radar sensing system including transmit antennas and receive antennas, transmitters, receivers, and a controller. The system further includes a transmit antenna switch selectively coupling each of the transmitters to a respective transmit antenna, and a receive antenna switch selectively coupling at least one receiver of the receivers to respective receive antennas. A quantity of receivers is different from a quantity of the receive antennas. The controller is operable to select a quantity of receivers to be coupled to receive antennas to realize a desired quantity of virtual receivers. The controller is operable to select an antenna pattern as defined by the selected quantity of receivers coupled to receive antennas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Inventors: Curtis Davis, Monier Maher, Jean P. Bordes, Manju Hegde, Otto A. Schmid, Raghunath K. Rao, Marius Goldenberg, Aria Eshraghi, Vito Giannini, David S. Trager, Nikhilesh Bhagat, Srikanth Gollapudi, Sundar Govindarajan, Steve Borho, Jonathan Preussner, Paul W. Dent, Paul Bassett, Stephen W. Alland, Fred Harris, Wayne E. Stark, Murtaza Ali
  • Patent number: 11588567
    Abstract: A method for synchronizing devices in a vehicle may make use of the Controller Area Network (CAN) communication bus. A bus interface of each of two or more devices coupled to the bus may be configured to accept a same message broadcast via the communication bus, in which the message has a specific message identification (ID) header. A message may be received from the communication bus that has the specific message ID simultaneously by each of the two or more devices. Operation of the two or more devices may be synchronized by triggering a task on each of the two or more devices in response to receiving the message having the specific message ID.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Jasbir Singh Nayyar, Brian Paul Ginsburg
  • Patent number: 11500060
    Abstract: Implementations of the present disclosure relate to a radar receiver for a real-valued analog RF radar signal. The radar receiver comprises a quadrature mixer circuit configured to generate, from the real-valued analog RF radar signal, a complex-valued analog signal comprising an inphase (I) signal component and a quadrature (Q) signal component, an analog polyphase filter configured to filter the I- and Q-signal components of the complex-valued analog signal to generate filtered I- and Q-signal components, and an analog-to-digital converter coupled to an output of the analog polyphase filter. The radar receiver is configured to convert only one of the filtered I- and Q-signal components from the analog to the digital signal domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Stefan Herzinger
  • Patent number: 11496141
    Abstract: A radar system includes: a processing device arranged to generate a plurality of phase shifting digital signals; a plurality of transmitting devices for generating an RF beam according to the plurality of phase shifting digital signals during a first mode; a plurality of first receiving devices for generating a plurality of first digital signals according to a plurality of first incoming signals, respectively, during a second mode; and a plurality of second receiving devices for generating a plurality of second digital signals according to a plurality of second incoming signals, respectively, during the second mode. The processing device is further arranged to distinguish a first object and a second object when the RF beam hits the first object and the second object, and the first object and the second object have a same radial speed and are located at a same range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: TRON FUTURE TECH INC.
    Inventors: Yu-Jiu Wang, Bor-Ching Su
  • Patent number: 11378649
    Abstract: In accordance with described examples, a method determines if a velocity of an object detected by a radar is greater than a maximum velocity by receiving on a plurality of receivers at least one frame of chirps transmitted by at least two transmitters and reflected off of the object. A velocity induced phase shift (?d) in a virtual array vector S of signals received by each receiver corresponding to a sequence of chirps (frame) transmitted by each transmitter is estimated. Phases of each element of virtual array vector S are corrected using ?d to generate a corrected virtual array vector Sc. A first Fourier transform is performed on the corrected virtual array vector Sc to generate a corrected virtual array spectrum to detect a signature that indicates that the object has an absolute velocity greater than a maximum velocity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Sandeep Rao, Karthik Subburaj, Dan Wang, Adeel Ahmad
  • Patent number: 11366196
    Abstract: The radar device is provided with a transmission array antenna, phase shifters, a reception array antenna, a transmission control unit and a signal processing unit. The transmission control unit transmits transmission waves in either a directivity control mode or a MIMO mode. The directivity control mode controls directivity of the transmission array antenna by controlling the phase shifters. The MIMO mode transmits transmission waves so as not to interfere with each other from the selected at least two transmission antenna elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Kondo, Yusuke Akamine, Yasuyuki Miyake
  • Patent number: 11275172
    Abstract: A target detection device includes an analysis section, a direction estimating section, a received waveform forming section, and a distance calculating section. The received waveform forming section forms a received waveform for each of the frequencies of the continuous waves by weighting beat signals corresponding to received waves received by each of receiving antennas, so as to have directivity in one of arrival directions estimated by the direction estimating section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takayuki Kitamura
  • Patent number: 11262441
    Abstract: An object detection apparatus 1 includes: an emitting unit 101 for emitting an RF transmission signal; a receiving unit 201 for receiving, if the RF transmission signal is reflected off an object, the reflected RF transmission signal as an RF reception signal; an IF signal generating unit 202 for generating, in every period, a complex IF signal based on a signal obtained by mixing the RF transmission signal with the RF reception signal; a position detecting unit 203 for detecting the position of the object based on an evaluation function generated based on the complex IF signal generated in every period; and a displacement detecting unit 204 for detecting a displacement of the object based on the position of the object and the phase of complex reflectance of the object calculated based on the complex IF signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shingo Yamanouchi
  • Patent number: 11215694
    Abstract: A radar unit (100, 300) is described that comprises: a frequency generation circuit (103, 106, 303, 306) configured to generate a millimetre wave, mmW, frequency modulated continuous wave, FMCW, transmit signal comprising a plurality of chirps; a transmitter circuit (108, 102, 308, 302) configured to transmit the generated mmW FMCW transmit signal: a receiver circuit (104, 110, 304, 310) configured to receive an echo of the mmW FMCW transmit signal; and a built-in self-test, BIST, circuit (140, 340) coupled to the receiver circuit (104, 110, 304, 310) and configured to process the echo of the mmW FMCW transmit signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Jan-Peter Schat, Abdellatif Zanati
  • Patent number: 11086004
    Abstract: Radar frequency range signals (e.g., 1 to 100 gigahertz) are often generated by upconverting a reference frequency to a transmission frequency, and a received signal may be downconverted to analyze information encoded on the transmission via modulation. Modulation may be achieved via a fractional frequency divider in a phase-locked loop, but fractional spurs may reduce the signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, the ramp slope may vary due to phase-locked loop momentum. Instead, a clock generator may generate clock signals for a digital front end comprising a digital signal modulator that generates modulated digital values comprising quadrature representations of a radar modulation signal, which are encoded by a radiofrequency digital-to-analog converter (RF-DAC). The RF-DAC analog signal may be upconverted to a radar frequency and transmitted. A receiver may receive, downconvert, and analyze a reflection of the radar transmission, e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Niels Christoffers, Sanaz Hadipour Abkenar, Soumya Krishnapuram Sireesh, Christoph Wagner
  • Patent number: 11079471
    Abstract: A transceiver for a detection and ranging apparatus comprising: a transmitter chain comprising a first sequence generator configured to generate a first signal based on a digital sequence; an interference cancellation block comprising a second sequence generator configured to generate a second signal based on the same digital sequence used to generate the first signal, the second signal having a predetermined time delay relative to the first signal; and the receiver chain configured to receive a received signal for detection and ranging, the received signal having components comprising at least none, one, or more reflections of the transmission signal and a component comprising an interference signal, the receiver chain comprising a first analog signal mixer configured to provide an output signal by mixing the received signal and the second signal thereby cancelling the interference signal in the received signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: NXP USA, INC.
    Inventors: Gustavo Guarin Aristizabal, Ralf Reuter, Maik Brett
  • Patent number: 11047952
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed for determining, on a small form factor 5G communication device, the range of a target object include receiving, at a receiving antenna of the small form factor communication device, a composite signal where the composite signal includes a target reflection signal and a mutual coupling (MC) leakage signal, generating a composite beat waveform by mixing the composite signal with an original signal, where the composite beat includes target beat and MC leakage beat waveform components, isolating the target beat waveform by subtracting from the composite beat waveform a weighted, k-delayed composite beat waveform, where for a configured k the target beat waveforms are uncorrelated and the MC leakage beat waveforms are correlated, and determining, using the target beat waveform, a range of the target object from the small form factor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Nan Zhang, Roberto Rimini, Xinjie Yang, Vijay Varadarajan, Bo Wang
  • Patent number: 10976431
    Abstract: A radar sensing system for a vehicle includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is configured for installation and use on a vehicle. The transmitter is configured to transmit radio signals. The receiver is configured for installation and use on the vehicle. The receiver is configured to receive radio signals that include (i) the transmitted radio signals transmitted by the transmitter and reflected from objects in an environment, and (ii) other radio signals that include radio signals transmitted by at least one other radar sensing system. The receiver is configured to filter frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radio signals from the received radio signals to produce filtered radio signals. The receiver is further configured to select between (i) the filtered radio signals, and (ii) the received radio signals before filtering. The filtered radio signals are selected when the other radio signals include FMCW radio signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Uhnder, Inc.
    Inventors: Fred Harris, David Trager, Curtis Davis, Raghunath K. Rao
  • Patent number: 10768289
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for operating a pulsed radar system, wherein the pulsed radar system comprises a transmitting antenna, configured to transmit transmission signals, a receiving antenna, configured to receive reflected signals and a signal generating means, configured to generate transmission signals. The method comprises the steps of generating a first transmission signal at a first centre frequency, generating a second transmission signal at a second centre frequency and transmitting the first and the second transmission signals during a predefined transmission time window. The first transmission signal is significantly longer than the second transmission signal. The transmission of the second transmission signal starts during or at the end of the transmission of the first transmission signal and ends essentially at the end of the transmission time window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: SAAB AB
    Inventor: Anders Silander
  • Patent number: 10725165
    Abstract: A distance measuring device includes one or more processors configured to: detect a wave formed by synthesizing a frequency-swept electromagnetic wave transmitted to an object with a wave reflected on the object; measure, based on the synthesized wave, a distance to the object; calculate a displacement-caused inclination, caused by the displacement of the object, of a power spectrum of the synthesized wave; and measure the distance based on a signal in which the displacement-caused inclination has been removed from the power spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Yoshio Kikuchi, Osamu Tsuboi
  • Patent number: 10670699
    Abstract: Embodiments are provided for a radar device and a method for operating a radar device, the radar device having a transmitter and a receiver, the method including: generating a noise signal; mixing the noise signal with a transmitter output radio frequency (RF) signal to produce an intermediate signal, wherein the transmitter output RF signal is a version of a local oscillator (LO) signal having linearly increasing frequency; attenuating the intermediate signal to produce a test signal; adding the test signal to a receiver input RF signal to produce a combined receiver input RF signal; downmixing an amplified version of the combined receiver input RF signal with the LO signal to produce a combined low frequency signal; and correlating the combined low frequency signal with the noise signal to produce an error detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Jan-Peter Schat, Abdellatif Zanati
  • Patent number: 10641882
    Abstract: A radar apparatus includes a radar transmitter that transmits a radar signal in a predetermined transmission cycle and a radar receiver that receives a reflection wave signal being a reflection of the radar signal on a target. The radar transmitter includes a phase rotation controller that randomly varies a pattern of a phase rotation every period corresponding to a plurality of transmission cycles, the pattern being to be applied to the radar signal within a period, and a transmission phase rotator that assigns a first phase rotation to the radar signal in accordance with the pattern. The radar receiver includes a reception phase rotator that assigns a second phase rotation in a direction opposite to a direction of the first phase rotation to the reflection wave signal in accordance with the pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takaaki Kishigami
  • Patent number: 10613188
    Abstract: A system includes a locatable glove and a pose determination device. The locatable glove includes a glove body worn over a hand of a user, and a plurality of positioning transponders. The positioning transponders are coupled to the glove body at various positions on the glove body, and each re-radiates a received signal, the re-radiated signal unique to the positioning transponder. The pose determination device includes a plurality of antennas and a controller. The antennas are each configured to receive the unique signals re-radiated by the positioning transponders. The antennas are physically separated from each other. The controller is communicatively coupled to the plurality of antennas, and is configured to determine, for each of the received unique signals, a location of the position on the locatable glove of the positioning transponder corresponding to the unique signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Giuseppe Castaldi, Andrea Cusano, Vincenzo Galdi, Paolo Mattera, Roberto Parente, Joseph Minh Tien, Dustin Jeffery Gordon Krogstad, Riccardo DeSalvo, Yi Zhao
  • Patent number: 10520585
    Abstract: There is provided a radar device. An estimating unit estimates peak signals corresponding to a target in the latest periods of each of UP and DOWN beat sections of a beat signal on the basis of histories of peak signals corresponding to the target in past periods of the UP and DOWN beat sections. A pairing unit extracts peak signals within predetermined ranges defined with reference to the estimate peak signals on the basis of the histories, and pairs the extracted peak signals. In a case where a distance to the target is equal to or shorter than a predetermined value, the pairing unit extracts peak signals corresponding to the target, from a first range which is a predetermined angular range defined with reference to the estimate peak signals, or a second range which is a predetermined transverse position range defined with reference to the estimate peak signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: FUJITSU TEN Limited
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Ishimori, Daisuke Nishio
  • Patent number: 10514441
    Abstract: A detector for detecting continuous wave police radar that includes an antenna configured to receive an input signal, a diplexer in communication with the antenna to separate the input signal into a high-band signal and a low-band signal, a local oscillator configured to sweep through a range of frequencies to produce FLO, and a frequency multiplier to generate a first mixing signal that is an integer multiple of FLO. The detector also includes a high-band intermediate-frequency signal and a low-band intermediate-frequency signal with a switch configured to select one of them as an output intermediate-frequency signal. A second-stage mixes the output intermediate-frequency signal with FLO to generate an output signal, and a determination is made whether the input signal includes a police radar signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Valentine Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael D. Valentine, Stephen R. Scholl, Richard L. Dickerson, Michael Negussu
  • Patent number: 10481248
    Abstract: A Continuous Transmission Frequency Modulated (CTFM) detection apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a projector, a sensor, and a hardware processor. The projector is configured to transmit a frequency modulated transmission wave at a given transmission period. The sensor is configured to receive a reflected wave, the reflected wave comprising a reflection of the transmission wave on a target object. The hardware processor is programmed to at least generate a beat signal based at least in part on the transmission wave and the reflected wave, extract asynchronously from the transmission period a processing signal from the beat signal, and generate information related to the target object based on the processing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kohei Kozuki, Kohei Iwata
  • Patent number: 10451707
    Abstract: A system includes a locatable glove and a pose determination device. The locatable glove includes a glove body worn over a hand of a user, and a plurality of positioning transponders. The positioning transponders are coupled to the glove body at various positions on the glove body, and each re-radiates a received signal, the re-radiated signal unique to the positioning transponder. The pose determination device includes a plurality of antennas and a controller. The antennas are each configured to receive the unique signals re-radiated by the positioning transponders. The antennas are physically separated from each other. The controller is communicatively coupled to the plurality of antennas, and is configured to determine, for each of the received unique signals, a location of the position on the locatable glove of the positioning transponder corresponding to the unique signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Giuseppe Castaldi, Andrea Cusano, Vincenzo Galdi, Paolo Mattera, Roberto Parente, Joseph Minh Tien, Dustin Jeffery Gordon Krogstad, Riccardo DeSalvo, Yi Zhao
  • Patent number: 10444331
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system including: a beam projector module comprising a light source and an optical device configured to diffuse light output from the light source to reduce an intensity of the light; an image sensor configured to receive reflected light formed by the light reflected from an object; and a signal processing device configured to measure a distance from the object by analyzing a characteristic of the reflected light, wherein the signal processing device operates the beam projector module in an eye-safety mode when the characteristic of the reflected light corresponds to a crack characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: NAMUGA CO., LTD
    Inventors: Jun Youb Lee, Ji Soo Won, Jung Ho Lee, Young Gyu Kang, Jeong Hwa Seo
  • Patent number: 10422683
    Abstract: An apparatus for determining the fill level of a fill substance in a container, comprising at least one antenna element. The at least one antenna element has a hollow conductor, wherein there is arranged at a first end region of the hollow conductor a coupling element for the out-coupling of transmission signals and for the in-coupling of received signals, wherein there is arranged at a second end region of the hollow conductor a radiating element directed toward the fill substance, a transmitting/receiving unit having a signal generator for producing the transmission signals. The transmitting/receiving unit determines the fill level of the fill substance in the container based on the travel time of the transmission- and received signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: ENDRESS+HAUSER SE+CO.KG
    Inventors: Thomas Blodt, Winfried Mayer, Christian Seiler
  • Patent number: 10416284
    Abstract: An example relates to a method for processing radar signals, wherein said radar signals comprise digitized data received by at least one radar antenna, the method comprising (i) determining FFT results based on the digitized data received; and (ii) storing a first group of the FFT results without a second group of the FFT results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: David Addison, Dian Tresna Nugraha, Andre Roger, Romain Ygnace
  • Patent number: 10379210
    Abstract: A radar system comprising a transmitter controller, configured to control an oscillator such that the oscillator provides a transmit-radar-signal a transmit-first-overlapping-portion and a transmit-second-overlapping-portion that corresponds to the instantaneous frequency of the transmit-first-frequency-overlapping-portion. The transmitter controller is configured to reconfigure the oscillator from a first-operating-mode to a second-operating-mode between a transmit-first-ramp-frequency-portion and a transmit-second-ramp rising-frequency-portion. The radar system also includes a receiver controller configured to receive a received-radar-signal that represents a reflected version of the transmit-radar-signal, and provide a combined-overlapping-portion based on a combination of the transmit-first-overlapping-portion, the transmit-second-overlapping-portion, a received-first-overlapping-portion, and a received-second-overlapping-portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Feike Guus Jansen
  • Patent number: 10267897
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for detection of blocking of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave, FMCW, radar device. A first signal being a first transmission signal including an object detection signal is transmitted. A second signal being a frequency offset signal relative the first signal is transmitted. A reception signal including at least a received version of the second signal is received. Blocking of the FMCW radar device is determined by identifying a blocking pattern in the received version of the second reception signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: VEONEER SWEDEN AB
    Inventor: Alan Jenkins
  • Patent number: 10215842
    Abstract: Various implementations described herein are directed to frequency correction for pulse compression radar. In one implementation, a method may include generating a first transmission signal using a pulse compression radar system based on an ideal waveform signal. The method may also include measuring a frequency of the first transmission signal at an output of a transmitter module. The method may further include comparing the measured frequency of the first transmission signal and a frequency of the ideal waveform signal. The method may additionally include generating pre-distortion coefficients based on the comparison, where the pre-distortion coefficients are configured to compensate for a difference between the measured frequency of the first transmission signal and the frequency of the ideal waveform signal. In addition, the method may include generating a compensated transmission signal using the pulse compression radar system based on the pre-distortion coefficients and the ideal waveform signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Navico Holding AS
    Inventors: Roger Phillips, Graeme Bell, Gregor Storz, Lindsay Lilburn
  • Patent number: 10109910
    Abstract: An antenna device includes a plurality of conductive pads that are conductively coupled to each other. A first one of the pads is connected with a first conductive strip. The first conductive strip is not connected to an adjacent second pad. A second conductive strip and a third conductive strip connect the first pad to the second pad. A slot is aligned with the first conductive strip to direct energy from a transceiver at the first conductive strip. The first pad and others in series with it radiate energy based on the energy received by the first conductive strip. The second and third conductive strips conduct energy from the first pad to the second pad. The second pad and others in series with it radiate energy based on the energy received by the second pad. One example use of the antenna device is on an automated vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Shawn Shi
  • Patent number: 10054670
    Abstract: Various implementations described herein are directed to adaptive frequency correction for pulse compression radar. In one implementation, a method may include generating a first transmission signal using a first direct digital synthesizer of a pulse compression radar system based on frequency sweep coefficients. The method may also include comparing a frequency of the first transmission signal at a feedback loop of a phase locked loop circuit and a frequency of an ideal waveform signal. The method may further include generating adaptive frequency coefficients based on the comparison, where the adaptive frequency coefficients are configured to compensate for a difference between the frequency of the first transmission signal at the feedback loop and the frequency of the ideal waveform signal. The method may additionally include generating a compensated transmission signal using the pulse compression radar system based on the adaptive frequency coefficients and the frequency sweep coefficients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: NAVICO HOLDING AS
    Inventors: Roger Phillips, Gregor Storz, Lindsay Lilburn
  • Patent number: 10001550
    Abstract: Classification of radar objects involves processing a received radar signal in an input channel within a number of successive coherent integration intervals (bursts), detecting an object using Doppler filter amplitudes, and producing range reports. A number of range reports are combined using a cluster algorithm to form a plot, and adding Doppler filter amplitudes of the two azimuthally adjacent bursts from the same range cell each range report. As subset of the range reports is formed by, starting with the range report at the position of a plot centroid, arranging range reports from a defined number of bursts sorted according to azimuthal position in a matrix of the dimension azimuth x range with the plot centroid in the center. Doppler filter amplitudes from the region plot centroid +? a defined number of bursts associated with the range reports are arranged according to the burst sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: AIRBUS DS ELECTRONICS AND BORDER SECURITY GMBH
    Inventors: Christoph Neumann, Hermine Senkowski
  • Patent number: 9983294
    Abstract: A stationary object decision processing unit 14 decides whether range R and Doppler frequency fd corresponding to peaks detected by the peak detection processing unit 13 satisfy geometric positional relationships between a radar and a stationary object. If they satisfy the geometric positional relationships, it recognizes that the object associated with the peaks is a stationary object. Thus, even if the number of peaks detected by the peak detection processing unit 13 increases, it can accurately decide whether the object associated with the peaks is a stationary object or not with a small amount of calculation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tadashi Oshima, Teruyuki Hara, Kentarou Isoda, Masashi Mitsumoto
  • Patent number: 9958534
    Abstract: A method for determining an indicator for a blindness of a radar sensor, includes: controlling the radar sensor to transmit a transmission signal in the form of at least two successive frequency ramps having the same ramp slope and in the same frequency range, and to receive detection signals associated with the frequency ramps; examining, for multiple frequencies, whether a ratio between the received powers in the frequency spectra of the received signals, at a respective frequency, corresponds to a ratio between the transmission powers of the associated frequency ramps; and determining an indicator for a blindness of the radar sensor based on the result of the examinations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Maija Chabaud, Goetz Kuehnle
  • Patent number: 9689978
    Abstract: An in-vehicle radar apparatus includes a transmission and reception means which transmits a radar wave ahead of an own vehicle and receives a reflected wave corresponding to the radar wave from a target; a reception strength detection means which repeatedly detects reception strength of the reflected wave; a distance detection means which repeatedly detects a distance from the own vehicle to the target; an approximate expression calculation means which calculates an approximation expression expressing the reception strength using the distance as a variable from the reception strength repeatedly detected by the reception strength detection means and the distance repeatedly detected by the distance detection means; and a determination means which determines a height of the target from a road surface based on values of coefficients of the approximation expression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kouichi Satou
  • Patent number: 9685960
    Abstract: An automotive radar apparatus includes a bit stream modulation circuit configured to generate a bit stream signal at an output thereof and a driver circuit having an input coupled to the output of said bit stream modulation circuit and configured to generate a corresponding driver bit stream signal having a reduced output swing at the driver circuit output. Also included is a filter circuit having an input coupled to the output of said driver circuit and configured to generate a filtered bit stream signal at the filter circuit output. Additionally included is a VCO having an input coupled to the output of said filter circuit and configured to generate an RF output signal at the VCO output. A corresponding method is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Valeo Radar Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey Millar
  • Patent number: 9666191
    Abstract: Laser-based system and optical microphone having increased bandwidth. The system includes a laser microphone to transmit a laser beam towards a human speaker; to receive an optical feedback signal reflected back from the human speaker; and to perform self-mixing interferometry. An optical feedback signal bandwidth enhancer improves the bandwidth of the optical feedback signal, to improve the quality of remote speech detection that is based on the optical feedback signal. The bandwidth enhancement utilizes takes into account one or more of: the identity of the face-region hit by the laser beam; the skin color or shade; obstruction of the skin by hair or by accessories; ability to allocate increased processing resources for processing of the optical feedback signal; ability to modify modulation frequency of the optical feedback signal; Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) estimation; bandwidth estimation; acoustic-optical transmission channel estimation; or other suitable parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: VOCALZOOM SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventor: Tal Bakish
  • Patent number: 9664786
    Abstract: A method for measuring distance includes transmitting a first pair of RF pulses from an airborne interrogator, where the first pair of RF pulses are temporally separated from each other by a first time interval and each of the RF pulses in the first pair of RF pulses has a first pulse waveform. The method also includes receiving a second pair of RF pulses transmitted by a ground transponder. The RF pulses in the second pair of RF pulses have a second pulse waveform characterized by a filtered asymmetric Gaussian function or a smoothed trapezoidal function. The method further includes determining an elapsed time between transmitting the first pair of RF pulses and receiving the second pair of RF pulses and determining a distance between the airborne interrogator and the ground transponder based on at least the elapsed time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: SELEX ES INC.
    Inventor: Euiho Kim
  • Patent number: 9645227
    Abstract: The various technologies presented herein relate to incorporating one or more notches into a radar spectrum, whereby the notches relate to one or more frequencies for which no radar transmission is to occur. An instantaneous frequency is monitored and if the frequency is determined to be of a restricted frequency, then a radar signal can be modified. Modification can include replacing the signal with a signal having a different instantaneous amplitude, a different instantaneous phase, etc. The modification can occur in a WFS prior to a DAC, as well as prior to a sin ROM component and/or a cos ROM component. Further, the notch can be dithered to enable formation of a deep notch. The notch can also undergo signal transitioning to enable formation of a deep notch. The restricted frequencies can be stored in a LUT against which an instantaneous frequency can be compared.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Armin W. Doerry, John Andrews
  • Patent number: 9602807
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for determining a depth map using TOF with low power consumption. In order to disambiguate, or de-alias, the returned distance(s) for a given phase shift, the system may emit n different frequencies of light over n successive image frames. After n frames of data are collected, the distances may be correlated by a variety of methodologies to determine a single distance to the object as measured over n image frames. As one frequency may be emitted per image frame, the depth map may be developed while consuming low power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Randall T. Crane, Rod G. Fleck, Jedd Perry
  • Patent number: 9602268
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention discloses a full-duplex communication apparatus, including at least one transmit antenna and at least one signal synthesizing apparatus, where the signal synthesizing apparatus is connected to at least two receive antennas, the at least one transmit antenna is configured to transmit a first transmit signal, the at least two receive antennas are configured to separately receive the first transmit signal, and the signal synthesizing apparatus is configured to receive the first transmit signal from the at least two receive antennas, where a phase difference exists between the received first transmit signals, and synthesize the received first transmit signals, where strength of the synthesized first transmit signal is lower than strength of at least one of the first transmit signals received by the signal synthesizing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hao Long
  • Patent number: 9541640
    Abstract: An object detection system may be capable of sensing a buried object and providing an estimate of the object's depth. The object detection system may comprise a signal generator transmitting one or more signals. At least one of the signals may be directed toward the buried object and reflected off of the object back to the system. At least one of the signals may be transmitted along a variable length path. A correlator may then receive the signals and determine an offset between their arrival times at the correlator. The variable length path may then be adjusted over a range which includes a minimum offset indicating a distance to the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Inventor: David R. Hall
  • Patent number: RE49920
    Abstract: A radar apparatus includes a radar transmitter that transmits a radar signal in a predetermined transmission cycle and a radar receiver that receives a reflection wave signal being a reflection of the radar signal on a target. The radar transmitter includes a phase rotation controller that randomly varies a pattern of a phase rotation every period corresponding to a plurality of transmission cycles, the pattern being to be applied to the radar signal within a period, and a transmission phase rotator that assigns a first phase rotation to the radar signal in accordance with the pattern. The radar receiver includes a reception phase rotator that assigns a second phase rotation in a direction opposite to a direction of the first phase rotation to the reflection wave signal in accordance with the pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: PANASONIC HOLDINGS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takaaki Kishigami