Including A Steerable Array Patents (Class 342/368)
  • Patent number: 9629000
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for elevation beam design. Characteristics, such as number, distribution, and geographical location of elements subject to interference by elevation beams of a base station are analyzed, and a configuration for an antenna array is determined so as to create a set of elevation beams directed so as to avoid interference with the elements subject to interference by the base station. Configuration may, for example, include configuration of the antenna array so as to create a set of elevation beams exhibiting nulls and sidelobes in appropriate locations and at appropriate angles so as to avoid interference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
    Inventors: Timothy Thomas, Frederick Vook, Eugene Visotsky
  • Patent number: 9620864
    Abstract: A method of designing a reflectarray including a substrate having a surface perpendicular to a predetermined axis, wherein elements are disposed on the substrate. The method obtains a reflection phase of the elements as a function of a design parameter such as element spacing, when a radio wave enters the arranged elements, and stores a relationship between the reflection phase and the design parameter in a memory. Here, the design parameter is equally set for the elements. The method repeatedly determines, for each of the elements, the design parameter of a specific element in accordance with the relationship. The function of the design parameter has a range of almost 360 degrees with respect to a range of the design parameter. The reflection phase is the continuous function of the element spacing such that two resonant points occur at which the reflection phase becomes zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: NTT DOCOMO, INC.
    Inventors: Tamami Maruyama, Yasuhiro Oda, Hidetoshi Kayama, Ngoc Hao Tran, Jiyun Shen
  • Patent number: 9614593
    Abstract: In a first aspect the present invention relates to a method of compensating for propagation delay in a wireless communication system. A first base station is in communication with a first plurality of antenna units which are adapted to be in wireless communication with a first terminal. The first terminal having a terminal antenna. The first plurality of antenna units is spatially separated. The method according to the first aspect comprises the steps of determining relative propagation delay from each of the first plurality of antenna units to the terminal antenna and using the determined propagation delay to establish a delay profile to compensate for propagation delay from each of the antenna units to the first terminal and applying the delay profile to a transmission between the base station and the terminal. In a second aspect the present invention further relates to a system implementing the method according to the first aspect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventors: David Hammarwall, George Jongren
  • Patent number: 9595757
    Abstract: An integral phased array module may include a substrate and a radio frequency (RF) element provided in relation to the substrate. The RF element being configured to at least one of transmit and receive RF signals. The RF element includes a footprint of a particular size and shape with respect to the substrate and the substrate is sized to accommodate the footprint of the RF element. The integral phased array module may also include an optical function element configured to perform an optical function. The optical function element is located relative to the RF element on the substrate for integrating multi-band functionality into a single aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Jonathan Martin Saint Clair, Julio A. Navarro
  • Patent number: 9590312
    Abstract: An antenna includes a higher order Floquet mode proximity coupled radiating element. The higher order Floquet mode scattering allows good polarization and the radiating element and feed layer can be combined. A vertical probe connects the metal layers of the radiating element for ease of manufacture. The radiating element utilizes higher order dielectric constant materials and a compact Wilkinson power divider allows for a smaller footprint and superior isolation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael J. Buckley, Jeremiah D. Wolf
  • Patent number: 9531079
    Abstract: A reflectarray reflects an incident wave in a desired direction. The reflectarray includes a substrate including a surface which is perpendicular to a predetermined axis; and at least first and second element groups, wherein the first and second element groups are disposed on the substrate, and include elements that reflect a radio wave. The first element group and the second element group reflect the radio wave with corresponding reflection phases which are different from each other. The radio wave enters while forming an angle other than 0 degrees with respect to the predetermined axis. The elements included in the first element group reflect the radio wave with a first reflection phase, and the elements included in the second element group reflect the radio wave with a second reflection phase, wherein the second reflection phase is different from the first reflection phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: NTT DOCOMO, INC.
    Inventors: Tamami Maruyama, Yasuhiro Oda, Hidetoshi Kayama, Ngoc Hao Tran, Jiyun Shen
  • Patent number: 9525489
    Abstract: A method of RF signal processing comprises receiving an incoming RF signal at each of a plurality of antenna elements that are arranged in a first pattern. The received RF signals from each of the plurality of antenna elements are modulated onto an optical carrier to generate a plurality of modulated signals that each have at least one sideband. The modulated signals are directed along a corresponding plurality of optical channels with outputs arranged in a second pattern corresponding to the first pattern. A composite optical signal is formed using light emanating from the outputs of the plurality of optical channels. Non-spatial information contained in at least one of the received RF signals is extracted from the composite signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Phase Sensitive Innovations, Inc.
    Inventors: Chris Schuetz, Janusz Murakowski, Garrett Schneider, Shouyuan Shi, Dennis Prather
  • Patent number: 9520654
    Abstract: The invention relates to a source (S) for a parabolic antenna, comprising: •—a sigma radiating assembly (1S, 1C, 1L) suitable for generating the sigma channel including a sigma radiating element (11) positioned on a main transmission/reception axis (A) of the source (S), and a sigma supply circuit (12) to supply the sigma radiating element (11), and •—a delta radiating assembly (2S, 2C, 2L) suitable for generating the delta channel including eight delta radiating elements (21S, 21C, 21L), arranged around the main transmission/reception axis (S) of the source (S), and a delta supply circuit (22S, 22C, 22L).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: ZODIAC DATA SYSTEMS
    Inventors: Christophe Melle, David Chaimbault, Fabien Peleau
  • Patent number: 9497714
    Abstract: A power calibration scheme adjusts power levels of network of femtocells based on macro signals seen at different points in and around a coverage area and based on the mutual positions of the femtocells (e.g., based on femtocell signals seen at these points). The power calibration scheme thus facilitates a good balance between providing a desired level of coverage and mitigation of interference to nearby macrocells and femtocells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Sumeeth Nagaraja, Farhad Meshkati, Mehmet Yavuz, Suhas Mitra, Varun Khaitan, Vansh Pal Singh Makh, Chirag Sureshbhai Patel, Yeliz Tokgoz, Cong Shen
  • Patent number: 9497495
    Abstract: A venue-cast system and method for providing and receiving venue level transmissions and services, including discovery of a venue specific transmission by receiving an overhead signal from a non-venue network, extracting information for receiving the venue specific transmission from the overhead signal, and tuning to receive the venue specific transmission based on the extracted information. The venue level transmission may be provided and received in a manner that does not prevent an access terminal from receiving a local area or wide area transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Raghuraman Krishnamoorthi, Pankaj V. Rahate, Pankaj Jain, Devarshi P. Shah, Pavel A. Seliverstov, George A. Rothrock, Nilabh Khare, Anil K. Wadhwani, Jiming Guo, Sanjiv Nanda, Fuyun Ling, Murali R. Chari, Avneesh Agrawal, Rinat Burdo, Prasanna Kannan, Krishna K. Mukkavilli, Reynaldo W. Newman, Michael M. Fan, Manoj M. Deshpande, Ranjith S. Jayaram
  • Patent number: 9496948
    Abstract: A millimeter-wave radio frequency (RF) system, and method thereof for transferring multiple signals over a single transmission line connected between modules of a millimeter-wave RF system. The system comprises a single transmission line for connecting a first part of the RF system and a second part of the RF system, the single transmission line transfers a multiplexed signal between the first part and second part, wherein the multiplexed signal includes intermediate frequency (IF) signal, a local oscillator (LO) signal, a control signal, and a power signal; the first part includes a baseband module and a chip-to-line interface module for interfacing between the baseband module and the single transmission line; and the second part includes a RF module and a line-to-chip interface module for interfacing between the RF module and the single transmission line, wherein the first part and the second part are located away from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Alon Yehezkely, Ori Sasson
  • Patent number: 9444577
    Abstract: A bi-directionally calibrated beamforming technique for use in a MIMO wireless communication system includes a transmitter communicating a calibration initiation signal to a receiver requesting the receiver send a non-sounding packet containing an estimated description of the forward channel. The receiver also sends a sounding packet to the transmitter. The transmitter determining a partial or full estimated description of a reverse channel based on the received non-sounding packet and/or the receiving sounding packet. The transmitter further determines one or more transmitter correction matrices from receiving estimated description of the forward channel and the partial or full estimated description of the reverse channel. The transmitter sending the partial or full estimated description of the reverse channel to the receiver, which determines one or more receiver correction matrices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: MARVELL INTERNATIONAL LTD.
    Inventors: Hongyuan Zhang, Rohit U. Nabar, Sudhir Srinivasa
  • Patent number: 9445237
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed that may provide an accurate estimate of the angle of arrival (AoA) of a wireless signal received by a device. The received wireless signal may include a plurality of signal components associated with a number of different arrival paths. The device may generate a weighted signal, including a plurality of weighted signal components, by multiplying the plurality of signal components of the received wireless signal with a set of weighting values. The device may identify one or more of the weighted signal components associated with a first arrival path to the device, determine phase information of the one or more identified weighted signal components, and then determine the angle of arrival based, at least in part, on the determined phase information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Venkatesan Nallampatti Ekambaram, Vasuki Narasimha Swamy, Jubin Jose, Xinzhou Wu
  • Patent number: 9432768
    Abstract: A wearable computer is configured to use beamforming techniques to isolate a user's speech from extraneous audio signals occurring within a physical environment. A microphone array of the wearable computer may generate audio signal data from an utterance from a user's mouth. A motion sensor(s) of the wearable computer may generate motion data from movement of the wearable computer. This motion data may be used to determine a direction vector pointing from the wearable computer to the user's mouth, and a beampattern may be defined that has a beampattern direction in substantial alignment with the determined direction vector to focus the microphone array on the user's mouth for speech isolation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Cornelius O'Neill, Amit Singh Chhetri, Philip Ryan Hilmes, Ramya Gopalan
  • Patent number: 9414257
    Abstract: A radio communication device includes: a controller, provided in a cell belonging to a first base station at a position, configured to obtain a start time of transfer of a file from a file server based on a first delay time that is based on a physical cell identity of the cell and a second delay time that is based on reception power measured at the position in the cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Kouya Fukagawa, Masahiro Oosugi
  • Patent number: 9397795
    Abstract: A simultaneous transmit and receive technology is described. A downlink transmission and an uplink receive beam are formed at a base station (BS) having a beam pattern with predetermined nulls. The predetermined nulls are formed over predetermined elevation angles to reduce interference with a proximate BS. Transmission and reception occur simultaneously using the beam pattern from the BS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yang-Seok Choi
  • Patent number: 9389305
    Abstract: Signals received by an array of sensing elements are processed by first positioning the sensing elements in a uniform grid of L locations, wherein each location to include or not to include a sensing element is selected during a design phase. The sensing elements are selected and grouped into subsets, wherein each subset contains one or more sensing elements, and each sensing element is a member of one or more subsets. The signals in each subset are linearly combined to produce a combined signal, which is then sampled to form an output channel, which can detect objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES, INC.
    Inventor: Petros T Boufounos
  • Patent number: 9391562
    Abstract: A local oscillation generator includes a multi-phase circuit and a multiplexer. The multi-phase oscillator provides a plurality of multi-phase oscillation signals of a same frequency and different phases. The multiplexer conducts one of the multi-phase oscillation signals to an output end in different time slots to provide an output oscillation signal. The frequency of the multi-phase oscillation signals is the same as a fundamental frequency, and the frequency of the output oscillation signal is different from the fundamental frequency. Thus, the local oscillation generator provides a local oscillation signal according to the output oscillation signal such that the fundamental frequency is different from the frequency of the local oscillation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: MSTAR SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
    Inventors: Chih-Ming Hung, Keng-Meng Chang, Yao-Chi Wang, Chih-Wei Chang
  • Patent number: 9357516
    Abstract: Networks, network devices and methods of synchronization using transfer of synchronization packets are provided. Some network devices are configured to use either a timing reference extracted based on GPS signals or an imported timing reference, as an operative time reference. A network device from which to import the time reference is selected and may be updated to meet a selection rule related to the quality of receiving the transfer of synchronization packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
    Inventor: Garry Irvine
  • Patent number: 9344313
    Abstract: A reception method and apparatus for use in a multi-cell orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless system. In a unicast receive mode during a first receive time period, a first group of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols is received by a mobile device from multiple of a plurality of antennas at a serving base station. In a single-frequency-network (SFN) receive mode during a second receive time period, a second group of OFDM symbols is received by the mobile device from one of a plurality of antennas at the serving base station. The transition between the first receive time period and the second receive time period occurs during a cyclic prefix or a cyclic postfix between OFDM symbols, and the plurality of antennas produce a first beam pattern during the unicast receive mode and a second beam pattern during the SFN receive mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Neocific, Inc.
    Inventors: Titus Lo, Xiaodong Li
  • Patent number: 9319737
    Abstract: White space devices are operable to communicate information over white space and, more specifically, to quiet a transmitter to enable sensing signals in the white space. A method for inconspicuous quieting of a transmitter in a white space communication device modifies a transport stream for transmission by the transmitter of the white space device to provide a null window of time. The null window does not contain essential information. At least a portion of the modified transport stream is transmitted by the transmitter of the white space device. The transmitter is quieted during the null window, and white space sensing is performed during the null window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Vijayalakshmi R. Raveendran, PhaniKumar K. Bhamidipati, James T. Determan
  • Patent number: 9311798
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining the position of an object which can be a passive or an active tag (140). The system comprises a plurality of anchor nodes (111,112) and a plurality of non-regenerative relays (121,122,123) of known positions. In case of an active tag, a UWB pulse signal is emitted by the tag and received by the anchor nodes either directly or via a relay. In case of a passive tag, UWB pulse signals are sent by the anchors nodes and reflected back, either way being either a LOS path or a relayed path. A processing node (130) collects the signals received by the anchor nodes (111,112) to estimate the position of the tag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignees: Commissariat à l'énergie et aux énergies alternatives, CONSORZIO NAZI INTERUNIV PER LE TELECOMUNICAZIONI (CNIT)
    Inventors: Raffaele Derrico, Andrea Conti, Davide Dardari, Alain Sibille
  • Patent number: 9281878
    Abstract: The present application discloses an array antenna, a method and a device for transmitting and receiving a signal. The array antenna includes at least two active antennas, wherein each active antenna is surrounded by at least two different parasitic antennas, respective parasitic antennas are respectively coupled to controllable loads, and the controllable loads are respectively coupled to a control circuit. With the arrangement of at least two active antennas, when a channel is in a good state, channel capacity can be adjusted by adjusting the controllable loads coupled to the parasitic antennas; and when the channel is not in the good state, the bit error ratio can be reduced by both adjusting the controllable loads coupled to the parasitic antennas and adjusting transmitting directional diagrams of the active antennas according to an adjustment vector, meanwhile, miniaturization can also be realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tao Wu, Weishan Lu
  • Patent number: 9277410
    Abstract: A method and a device for optimizing the assignation of network activity of a cellular communications network to land areas in a simple and accurate way. This technique allows representing the activity of a cellular network on a set of tiles in a grid covering a certain land area, instead of representing it associated to antenna cells that might or might not overlap. The activity dispersed and assigned to non-overlapping grid tiles is much simpler and clearer to understand and allows visualizing how the network activity is distributed over the space and how it varies along time allowing therefore an efficient network design and management optimization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: TELEFONICA DIGITAL ESPANA, S.L.U.
    Inventors: Miguel Angel Rodriguez Crespo, David Diaz Vico, Rocio Martinez Lopez
  • Patent number: 9270006
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a central control unit and a waveguide device. The waveguide device includes a communication module having a communication function, and an attachment/detachment unit capable of attaching/detaching a high-frequency signal waveguide so that coupling between the module and the high-frequency signal is possible. The communication module includes a communication device, and a transfer structure configured to cause a high-frequency signal emitted from the communication device to be coupled to the high-frequency signal waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sho Ohashi, Kenji Komori, Takahiro Takeda
  • Patent number: 9270004
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a central control unit and a waveguide device. The waveguide device includes a high-frequency signal waveguide for transmitting a high-frequency signal emitted from a communication module having a communication function, and an attachment/detachment unit capable of attaching/detaching the communication module so that coupling between the high-frequency signal waveguide and the high-frequency signal is possible. The communication module includes a communication device and a transfer structure configured to cause the high-frequency signal emitted from the communication device to be transferred to the high-frequency signal waveguide of the waveguide device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sho Ohashi, Kenji Komori, Takahiro Takeda
  • Patent number: 9270022
    Abstract: A method (40) of antenna array dynamic configuration for 3-Dimension beamforming in wireless network is provided, comprising: determining (41) dynamically a mapping pattern for transforming a physical antenna array into a virtual antenna array based on time-varying downlink or uplink baseband channel statistics, from a set of candidate mapping patterns; and configuring (42) the physical antenna array as different virtual antenna arrays according to the dynamically determined mapping pattern. The corresponding apparatus, antenna array and wireless base station system are also provided. These are used to improve radio transmission bandwidth communication efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON
    Inventors: Zhan Zhang, Yu Qian, Xinghua Song, Sven Petersson
  • Patent number: 9264913
    Abstract: A wireless communication device of the present disclosure has: a transmitter having a plurality of transmission circuit branches; a receiver having a plurality of reception circuit branches; a transmission phase switch; a reception phase switch; and a phase/transmission-reception controller, and has a beam-forming function. When phase switching is performed during a plurality of training packets for setting directivity, the phase/transmission-reception controller controls the transmission phase switch and the reception phase switch by setting a same phase for each of m (m being an integer of 2 or more) number of continuous training packets. In addition, the phase/transmission-reception controller performs control such that the transmission of the transmitter and the reception of the receiver are set to an OFF state in at least one or more training packets from the beginning of the m number of continuous training packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Tsukizawa, Noriaki Saito, Kenji Miyanaga
  • Patent number: 9257745
    Abstract: This invention discloses a photonic system to beamform the electric field yield by a phased array antenna. The system function relies on a photonic tunable delay line, which consists on an optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a predefined time delay difference between arms. The time delay is tuned by adjusting the coupling ratio between the power applied to each one of the interferometer's delay lines. Three embodiments are proposed, wherein one of them just uses a single delay line and a single monochromatic light source, independently of the quantity of the array elementary antennas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: INSTITUTO DE TELECOMUNICACOES
    Inventors: Miguel Vidal Drummond, Rogério Nunes Nogueira
  • Patent number: 9236939
    Abstract: A system and method involve detecting a modulated optical signal from an atmospheric propagation channel, wherein the modulated optical signal comprises an optical signal from an optical source modulated with a periodic signal at a modulation frequency greater than the bandwidth of the turbulence within the atmospheric propagation channel, and converting the detected modulated optical signal into a digitized electrical signal. The method also includes determining the root mean square signal power of an AC component of the digitized electrical signal at the modulation frequency. The method further includes determining the power spectral density of the digitized electrical signal, determining the magnitude of the peak component at the modulation frequency, and determining the effective optical depth of the atmospheric propagation channel using the magnitude of the peak component at the modulation frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
    Inventors: David T. Wayne, Colin N. Reinhardt
  • Patent number: 9231730
    Abstract: A radio communication device includes a first antenna, a second antenna, a phase varying section that varies a phase of a first RF signal received by or transmitted from the first antenna, and a phase control section that causes the phase varying section to vary a phase amount, which is a varied amount of the phase of the first RF signal received by or transmitted from the first antenna. Thus, it is possible to prevent the size of a device configuration from increasing and avoid the lowering of a reception electric field level in a localized area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshishige Yoshikawa, Koichi Ogawa
  • Patent number: 9219317
    Abstract: A planar monopulse radar apparatus includes a planar distribution matrix coupled to a planar antenna array having a linear configuration of antenna elements. The planar distribution matrix is responsive to first and second pluralities of weights applied thereto for providing both sum and difference beam distributions across the antenna array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventor: Bernd H. Strassner, II
  • Patent number: 9214726
    Abstract: Aspects of the invention provide for an architecture and method for testing high frequency phase shifter arrays. In one embodiment, an architecture for testing a phase shifter array, includes: a plurality of power dividers, each power divider configured to receive an output from a phase shifter within the phase shifter array and split the output into a first signal and a second signal; a plurality of power clippers, each power clipper configured to receive the second signal and modify the second signal by limiting an amplitude of the second signal; a first power combiner configured to receive the first signal from each of the plurality of power dividers to generate a first output; and a second power combiner configured to receive the modified second signal from each of the plurality of power clippers to generate a second output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Adem G. Aydin, Hanyi Ding
  • Patent number: 9203147
    Abstract: Beamforming system and method which includes an inverse beamformer with first ports and second ports, a beamformer with beam ports and antenna ports, and antennas. The inverse beamformer may receive transmit signals provided to first ports, generates intermediate signals based on the transmit signals, and output the intermediate signals from the second ports. The beamformer's beam ports may couple to the second ports and the antenna ports, and may receive the intermediate signals at the beam ports, generate antenna signals based on the intermediate signals, and output the antenna signals at the antenna ports. The antennas may each receive an antenna signal from an antenna port, and transmit the antenna signal into space. The inverse beamformer may generate the intermediate signals in a manner that is mathematically inverse to the beamformer's generation of the antenna signals so that the antenna signals approximate the transmit signals up to respective phase shifts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: David Neil Adams, Peter Deane, Steven Raymond Hall
  • Patent number: 9197156
    Abstract: An oscillation element includes an antenna for oscillation configured to oscillate electromagnetic waves, and multiple negative resistance elements electrically connected to the antenna in parallel, and the multiple negative resistance elements are disposed in only a place where the phases of electromagnetic waves oscillated therefrom are the common phase or opposite phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryota Sekiguchi, Masahiro Okuda
  • Patent number: 9184824
    Abstract: A first amplifier is configured to provide a first variable gain. A selecting module is configured to (i) connect a first antenna to the first amplifier when a selection signal is in a first state, and (ii) connect a second antenna to the first amplifier when the selection signal is in a second state. A second amplifier is in communication with an output of the first amplifier and is configured to provide a second variable gain. An automatic gain control (AGC) module is configured to control each of the first and second variable gains. An antenna selection module is configured to selectively change the selection signal in response to the first variable gain or the second variable gain after a preamble of a data packet and before a payload of the data packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell International LTD.
    Inventor: Songping Wu
  • Patent number: 9160062
    Abstract: The invention relates to an improved method for operating a phase-controlled group antenna as well as an associated phase shifter assembly and a phase-controlled group antenna, characterized by, inter alia, the following features: the phase shifter assembly is designed such that at least one of the following two conditions is met: RN: R1?n+k ud/or PhN: Ph1?n+k, where RN is the largest radius, and R1 is the smallest radius of a conductor segment (11) relative to the phase shifter assembly (7), where k is a value of 0.2 and particularly 0.25, 0.30, or preferably 0.40.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignee: KATHREIN-WERKE KG
    Inventors: Maximilian Goettl, Michael Boss
  • Patent number: 9160072
    Abstract: An antenna system includes a main array and a guard array. The main array has an antenna pattern that includes a main beam and multiple side lobes that are concentrated in distinct side lobe regions. The guard array includes an antenna pattern that encompasses both the main beam and the side lobe regions of the main array. In addition, an outer boundary of the antenna pattern of the guard array roughly tracks an outer boundary of the distinct side lobe regions of the main array. In at least one embodiment, the main array is a rectangular or quasi-rectangular array having side lobes concentrated within two orthogonal ridges and the guard array comprises one of a cross-guard array, an L-guard array, and a T-guard array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Joel C. Roper
  • Patent number: 9144082
    Abstract: In embodiments of the present disclosure improved capabilities are described for increasing the bandwidth in a large area broadband network, where a scheduler facility, in association with a cellular LTE base transceiver station utilizing an agile beam forming antenna system, schedules communications between the LTE base transceiver station and mobile transceiver devices, wherein the scheduler facility schedules communications with a target mobile transceiver device to take place in one of the m times N RF beams of the agile beam forming antenna system based on a location determination of the target mobile transceiver device within the cell coverage area determined through a location determination algorithm that utilizes at least one of a channel quality indicator (CQI) measurement and a sounding reference signal (SRS) measurement collected through a communicative interaction between the cellular LTE base transceiver station and the target mobile transceiver device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: ALL PURPOSE NETWORKS LLC
    Inventors: Harvey Rubin, James Keith Brewington, Anil S. Sawkar, David M. Poticny
  • Patent number: 9136607
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of, and corresponding apparatus for, electronically steering an antenna beam. Beam steering is accomplished by altering the electric-field distribution at the open-end of one or more overmoded waveguides through the controlled mixing of multiple modes. An example method includes propagating a signal in multiple modes in a waveguide, and controlling the relative phase and amplitude of the respective modes, relative to each other, to steer the beam. A further example includes a common waveguide enabling the propagation of multiple modes, first and second waveguides enabling the propagation of respective first and second modes, a splitter/combiner coupling the first and second waveguides to the common waveguide, and a controller for controlling a propagation characteristic of the modes relative to each other in a least one path to steer the beam. Electronically steering a beam is useful for fine-tuned angle adjustments and tight beam scanning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventor: James P. Anderson
  • Patent number: 9136930
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and, more particularly, to a method and device for compressing and feeding back channel information in a wireless communication system supporting a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) scheme. A method for feeding back channel information by a terminal in a wireless communication system supporting a MINO scheme, according to one embodiment of the present invention, can comprise the steps of: calculating a channel matrix on the basis of a reference signal received from a base station; calculating a first valid channel vector by using a reception weight vector and the channel matrix; and calculating a second valid channel vector by setting a coefficient corresponding to each basis vector included in a basis matrix as 0 if the coefficient is equal to or less than a threshold when the first valid channel vector is factored by the basis matrix.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Hyukmin Son, Jinmin Kim, Jaehoon Chung, Sunam Kim
  • Patent number: 9130639
    Abstract: A frequency resolver and a method for using the resolver. The resolver includes an oscillator circuit, a mixer circuit, and a controller circuit. The oscillator circuit is configured to provide at least two oscillated signals. The mixer circuit is coupled to the oscillator circuit and includes a first frequency mixer and a second frequency mixer for mixing an incoming RF transmission with the two oscillated signals. The mixer circuit further is configured to provide a first output signal from the first mixer and a second output signal from the second mixer. The controller circuit is coupled to the mixer circuit and configured to determine whether at least one of the first or second output signals are associated with an upper sideband (USB) frequency or a lower sideband (LSB) frequency of the RF transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
    Inventor: Bret Almoney
  • Patent number: 9128189
    Abstract: A device and method is disclosed for a hybrid multi-mode airborne and rotary wing radar Electronically Scanned Antenna (ESA). Pulsed Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) Transmit and Receive Modules (TRM) are nested with Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) transmit elements within the aperture of an ESA. FMCW elements only transmit while the pulsed TRM receive both the pulsed return and the FMCW return. During the hybrid configuration, both the pulsed and FMCW performance is limited to less than the full ESA aperture. In an alternate configuration, individual TRM are configured for transmit and receive of both FMCW and pulsed signals are coupled within the aperture of the ESA. The individual elements offer full aperture performance in both pulsed and FMCW operation. A diplexer controls channel deconfliction between the pulsed and the FMCW transmissions/receptions while a switching network directs the individual elements to hop between the pulsed and FMCW modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: James B. West, Daniel L. Woodell, Lee M. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9125070
    Abstract: A millimeter radio wave communication system. In a method for operating a base station (BS) in an analog/digital mixed BF system, an analog BF direction is determined. A digital BF precoder is determined for the determined analog BF direction. Digital BF precoding is performed using the digital BF precoder with respect to the determined analog BF direction. A DownLink Reference Signal (DL RS) is transmitted in the analog BF direction on which the digital BF precoding has been performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tae-Young Kim, Shuangfeng Han, Jeong-Ho Park
  • Patent number: 9116950
    Abstract: Matches between search queries and potential targets of such search queries are automatically brokered by (i) comparing search criteria specified in the search queries with profile criteria describing the potential targets, and (ii) reporting instances of acceptable correspondence between the search criteria and the profile criteria, provided that access controls associated with the profile criteria of the targets permit such reporting in light of access levels assigned to the search inquiries. Initiators, using client applications at various remote locations, may formulate the search queries and the brokering may be performed at one or more server locations communicatively coupled (e.g., via the Internet) thereto. The profile criteria may include portions of rich descriptive profiles of the potential targets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Inventor: James Duncan Work
  • Patent number: 9102406
    Abstract: A system for flock-based control of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The system includes UAVs each including a processor executing a local control module and memory accessible by the processor for use by the local control module. The system includes a ground station system with a processor executing a fleet manager module and with memory storing a different flight plan for each of the UAVs. The flight plans are stored on the UAVs, and, during flight operations, each of the local control modules independently controls the corresponding UAV to execute its flight plan without ongoing control from the fleet manager module. The fleet manager module is operable to initiate flight operations by concurrently triggering initiation of the flight plans by the multiple UAVs. Further, the local control modules monitor front and back and communication channels and, when a channel is lost, operate the UAV in a safe mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
    Inventors: James Alexander Stark, Clifford Wong, Robert Scott Trowbridge
  • Patent number: 9100068
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods for beamforming that achieve beamforming optimality criterions. Some proposed beamforming techniques are based on antenna directions with multiple resolutions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM, Incorporated
    Inventor: Ismail Lakkis
  • Patent number: 9075129
    Abstract: A system and method for generating enhanced images of a target area using projection data obtained using an electromagnetic radiation source, the method comprising forming an initial aperture of data points containing positional information of the transmitter and receiver of the electromagnetic radiation; and an associated data record; randomly removing data points from the initial aperture to form subapertures with randomly missing data points; creating a subset of data points from each of the plurality of subapertures; the subsets containing data points containing image data for portions of the target area which are the same or overlapping; comparing the subsets of data points to determine variations in the data points indicative of transient data; based upon the comparison between overlapping subsets of image data, determining whether the subsets of data points comprise image data relating to physical objects or noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: Lam H Nguyen, Thong T. Do
  • Patent number: 9062850
    Abstract: A reflecting member made from a tube-shaped member has an inner peripheral surface that structures a reflecting surface on an axis of the tube-shaped member. A slope, relative to the axis, of a tangent line of the inner peripheral surface in a cross-sectional plane containing the axis changes monotonically along the axis. In relation to a target facing a smaller opening of the tube-shaped member, at a specific distance therefrom, and having a flat region perpendicular to the axis and axially symmetrical relative to the axis, of an electromagnetic radiation incident along the axis from a larger opening of the tube-shaped member, that radiation reflected at a specific location on the larger opening side is incident on one end side of the flat region, and that radiation reflected at a specific location on the smaller opening side is incident on the other end side of the flat region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Azbil Corporation
    Inventor: Raita Mori
  • Patent number: 9059878
    Abstract: A method of operating an array of antennas in a wireless communication system to provide user-specific azimuth and elevation beamforming is described. The method includes providing a product codebook structure consisting of both an azimuth and elevation portion. A receiver receives reference signals from a transmitter corresponding to both the azimuth and elevation portions of the array of antennas. The method also includes determining the index of the azimuth codebook portion of the product codebook from the azimuth portion of the received reference signals and determining the index of the elevation codebook portion of the product codebook from the elevation portion of the received reference signals. Apparatus and computer readable media are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
    Inventors: Timothy A. Thomas, Bishwarup Mondal, Eugene Visotsky, Frederick W. Vook