Including Onboard Switching Patents (Class 370/323)
  • Patent number: 11411305
    Abstract: A multiple-antenna positioning system with a single drive element, providing reduced weight and complexity over systems that have a drive element for each antenna. In certain examples, each antenna can be coupled with a rotating spindle, with each antenna spindle being coupled with a pair of link arms. By driving a single drive spindle, each of the antenna spindles in the system can be rotated by the associated pair of link arms. The link arms can have an adjustable length, such as through a turnbuckle mechanism, to reduce backlash in the system, and in some examples can apply a preload to the system. By reducing backlash, the multiple antenna positioning system can have improved responsiveness to a rotation of the single drive element, as well as improved stability of the positioning of each antenna when the drive element is held in a fixed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Viasat, Inc.
    Inventors: Jack C. Newkirk, B. Wayne Holt, Bradley H. Smith, Kevin M. Skinner, E. Mitchell Blalock
  • Patent number: 11240254
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and software described herein provide enhancements for managing data storage in a satellite platform. In one implementation, a satellite platform includes a plurality of satellites, wherein a first satellite of the platform is configured to identify a request for a ledger entry for a blockchain maintained by the satellite platform and, in response to the request, distribute the ledger entry to one or more other satellites of the satellite platform, wherein the one or more other satellites comprise full nodes for the blockchain. Once distributed, the one or more other satellites each determine whether the ledger entry is verified and, when the ledger entry is verified, enters the ledger entry in a ledger for the satellite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: John Metzger, Shaun Coleman
  • Patent number: 11171682
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, an RF frontend IC device includes a first array of transceivers to transmit and receive RF signals of a first polarization associated with a first set of RF channels. The device includes a second array of transceivers to transmit and receive RF signals of a second polarization associated with a second set of RF channels. The device includes a first converter coupled to each transceiver of the first array of transceivers and a second converter coupled to each transceiver of the second array of transceivers. The first converter is to up-convert or down-convert a signal of the first polarization based on a LO signal. The second converter is to up-convert or down-convert a signal of the second polarization based on the LO signal. The first and second array of transceivers, and the first and second converters may be implemented within a single IC chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignees: SWIFTLINK TECHNOLOGIES INC., SWIFTLINK TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Taiyun Chi, Thomas Chen
  • Patent number: 11165142
    Abstract: Techniques for antenna positioning system having a drive element shared by multiple antennas for positioning about a positioning degree of freedom are described. In some examples, each antenna can be coupled with a rotating spindle, with each antenna spindle being coupled with the shared drive element. By driving a shared drive element, each of the antenna spindles in the system can be rotated via the associated coupling. In some examples, such a coupling may include link arms with an adjustable length to reduce backlash or to apply a preload to the system. In some examples, such a coupling may be configured to position multiple antennas over different orientation ranges in response to the drive element driving over an actuation range, which may include one antenna being idled or otherwise maintained at an orientation while another antenna is driven, or may include different antennas being driven according to different actuation ratios.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: ViaSat, Inc.
    Inventors: Kurt A. Zimmerman, Kevin M. Skinner
  • Patent number: 11088757
    Abstract: Embodiments provide high-throughput, hub-and-spoke satellite communications with geographically non-overlapping user beams and full frequency reuse. For example, a coverage area of a satellite is segmented into multiple candidate coverage zones, and an associated consumption demand is determined for each candidate coverage zone. Fixed spot beams are assigned to a subset of the candidate coverage zones according to highest associated consumption demands, such that each fixed spot beam corresponds to at least one candidate coverage zone to service an associated beam coverage area that is geographically non-overlapping with beam coverage areas of all other fixed spot beams, and each fixed spot beam is allocated full use of a same spectrum. One or more steerable beams selectively cover lower consumption demand zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Viasat, Inc.
    Inventors: Anil Agarwal, Remberto Martin, Erwin Hudson, Clifford Burdick
  • Patent number: 10985449
    Abstract: A multiple-antenna positioning system with a single drive element, providing reduced weight and complexity over systems that have a drive element for each antenna. In certain examples, each antenna can be coupled with a rotating spindle, with each antenna spindle being coupled with a pair of link arms. By driving a single drive spindle, each of the antenna spindles in the system can be rotated by the associated pair of link arms. The link arms can have an adjustable length, such as through a turnbuckle mechanism, to reduce backlash in the system, and in some examples can apply a preload to the system. By reducing backlash, the multiple antenna positioning system can have improved responsiveness to a rotation of the single drive element, as well as improved stability of the positioning of each antenna when the drive element is held in a fixed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Viasat, Inc.
    Inventors: Jack C. Newkirk, B. Wayne Holt, Bradley H. Smith, Kevin M. Skinner, E. Mitchell Blalock
  • Patent number: 10938603
    Abstract: A system is disclosed that includes a base station having a plurality of antennas a control unit which analyses pilot signals received from the terminal device at the plurality of antennas to obtain information about a wireless channel property of the wireless channel between the terminal device and the plurality of antennas. According to a method, a plurality of pilot signals is transmitted from the terminal device to the base station, and information about the wireless channel property of the wireless channel between the terminal device and the plurality of antennas of the base station is determined based on a predefined number of last recently transmitted pilot signals of the plurality of pilot signals from the terminal device. Based on the information about the wireless channel property, at least one parameter of the plurality of antennas is configured by the base station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Erik Bengtsson, Olof Zander, Basuki Priyanto
  • Patent number: 10848236
    Abstract: Methods and systems are described for providing end-to-end beamforming. For example, end-to-end beamforming systems include end-to-end relays and ground networks to provide communications to user terminals located in user beam coverage areas. The ground segment can include geographically distributed access nodes and a central processing system. Return uplink signals, transmitted from the user terminals, have multipath induced by a plurality of receive/transmit signal paths in the end to end relay and are relayed to the ground network. The ground network, using beamformers, recovers user data streams transmitted by the user terminals from return downlink signals. The ground network, using beamformers generates forward uplink signals from appropriately weighted combinations of user data streams that, after relay by the end-end-end relay, produce forward downlink signals that combine to form user beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: VIASAT, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth V. Buer, Mark J. Miller
  • Patent number: 10651836
    Abstract: A clock generator circuit includes a clock divider circuit, a clock pulse control circuit, a phase shifter circuit, and a clock multiplexer circuit. The clock divider circuit is configured to generate a divided clock having a frequency that is a programmable fraction of a frequency of an input clock. The clock pulse control circuit is coupled to the clock divider circuit, and is configured to generate a pulse shaped clock that includes a clock burst comprising a programmable number of adjacent cycles of the divided clock. The phase shifter circuit is coupled to the clock control circuit, and is configured to generate a plurality of phase shifted clocks. Each of phase shifted clocks is a differently delayed version of the pulse shaped clock. The clock multiplexer circuit is coupled to the phase shifter circuit, and is configured to selectively route each of the phase shifted clocks to an output terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Gautam Sanjay Kale, Sundarrajan Rangachari, Nagalinga Swamy Basayya Aremallapur
  • Patent number: 10649949
    Abstract: The invention is a microcircuit configured as a compact, radiation hardened, low-power general purpose I/O expander. The expander may be controlled by an external microcontroller or central processing unit through a serial interface. The expander provides a simple solution to miniaturize static parallel I/O signals using a simplified serial interface such as I2C or SPI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA
    Inventors: George Suarez, Jeffrey J. Dumonthier
  • Patent number: 10637554
    Abstract: A wireless communication method and a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device includes: one or more processors, configured to generate multiple data flows, the multiple data flows being transmitted to one or more receivers through the first quantity of radio frequency links; and to configure an antenna control parameter, the antenna control parameter being used for dynamically allocating the second quantity of antennas to the first quantity of radio frequency links. The one or more processors configure the antenna control parameter for transmission to be performed, and any one of the second quantity of antennas can be allocated to any one of the first quantity of radio frequency links in a configurable manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Xudong Zhu, Zhaocheng Wang, Jinhui Chen
  • Patent number: 10631290
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention disclose a correction signal transmission method, including: acquiring, by a base station of a first network, a transmit timeslot position that is in a guard period GP used for transmitting a correction signal, where the transmit timeslot position is a timeslot position that is determined based on a timeslot configuration of a second network and/or a signal transmitted by the second network, and interference suffered from a signal transmitted by the second network at the transmit timeslot position is less than a preset interference threshold; and the first network and the second network are comprised in hybrid networks; and transmitting, by the base station, a correction signal at the transmit timeslot position. Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present invention further disclose a base station. Interference to a correction signal in hybrid networks can be reduced in the embodiments of the present invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Xiongshu Yi
  • Patent number: 10574355
    Abstract: A method for transmitting a binary data signal to or from a satellite via an optical feeder link, wherein an optical transmitting interface carries out the following steps multiplexing binary physical layer frames which are associated with a plurality of carriers or a plurality of beams in a satellite communication system into a single bit stream, inserting a binary physical layer frame identification sequence upstream of each physical layer frame, wherein the physical layer frame identification sequence comprises: a unique binary synchronization sequence, a binary beam index sequence, a binary carrier frequency index sequence, a binary baud rate index sequence, a binary roll-off factor index sequence, a binary modulation index sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
    Inventor: Svilen Dimitrov
  • Patent number: 10567393
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and software described herein provide enhancements for managing data storage in a satellite platform. In one implementation, a satellite platform includes a plurality of satellites, wherein a first satellite of the platform is configured to identify a request for a ledger entry for a blockchain maintained by the satellite platform and, in response to the request, distribute the ledger entry to one or more other satellites of the satellite platform, wherein the one or more other satellites comprise full nodes for the blockchain. Once distributed, the one or more other satellites each determine whether the ledger entry is verified and, when the ledger entry is verified, enters the ledger entry in a ledger for the satellite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Vector Launch Inc.
    Inventors: John Metzger, Shaun Coleman
  • Patent number: 10559875
    Abstract: A multiple-antenna positioning system with a single drive element, providing reduced weight and complexity over systems that have a drive element for each antenna. In certain examples, each antenna can be coupled with a rotating spindle, with each antenna spindle being coupled with a pair of link arms. By driving a single drive spindle, each of the antenna spindles in the system can be rotated by the associated pair of link arms. The link arms can have an adjustable length, such as through a turnbuckle mechanism, to reduce backlash in the system, and in some examples can apply a preload to the system. By reducing backlash, the multiple antenna positioning system can have improved responsiveness to a rotation of the single drive element, as well as improved stability of the positioning of each antenna when the drive element is held in a fixed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Viasat, Inc.
    Inventors: Jack C. Newkirk, B. Wayne Holt, Bradley H. Smith, Kevin M. Skinner, E. Mitchell Blalock
  • Patent number: 10491288
    Abstract: A wireless communication method and a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device includes: one or more processors, configured to generate multiple data flows, the multiple data flows being transmitted to one or more receivers through the first quantity of radio frequency links; and to configure an antenna control parameter, the antenna control parameter being used for dynamically allocating the second quantity of antennas to the first quantity of radio frequency links. The one or more processors configure the antenna control parameter for transmission to be performed, and any one of the second quantity of antennas can be allocated to any one of the first quantity of radio frequency links in a configurable manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Xudong Zhu, Zhaocheng Wang, Jinhui Chen
  • Patent number: 10340567
    Abstract: A microwave switching device comprises: a switching matrix with M inputs and N outputs comprising at least one surface-mount microwave switch with ohmic contacts with at least one input and at least one output position; a control bus for the one or more microwave switches of the switching matrix; a telemetry bus for the M inputs; a telemetry bus for the N outputs; a bias tee positioned on each input of the switching matrix; and a bias tee positioned on each output of the switching matrix.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: THALES
    Inventors: Olivier Vendier, Raoul Rodriguez, Pierre-Yves Chabaud, Dominique Potuaud, Jérôme Battut, Johann Bornet, Thierry Adam, Jean-François Villemazet, François Grojean
  • Patent number: 10342014
    Abstract: A method, and associated equipment, for dynamically allocating resources in a satellite network comprising at least one satellite configured to form a plurality of satellite beams and terminals, comprises the steps of: clustering the beams into groups of beams, allocating frequency resources to each of the groups of beams, determining geographical zones in which these frequency resources can be used simultaneously, determining a hop frame comprising first timeslots, in which the frequency resources are allocated to the whole set of terminals of one of the beams of the group, and second timeslots, in which the frequency resources are allocated to a subset of terminals of at least one beam of the group, identifying the subset of terminals and allocating to the terminals of the frequency resources, and uploading of information relating to the overall loading of each of the beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: THALES
    Inventors: Erwan Corbel, Bernard Charrat
  • Patent number: 10187142
    Abstract: Architecture is described for implementing digital signal processors, defined by a plurality of physically distinct processing modules connected by high speed digital interconnections in which a first plurality of first modules have a plurality of analog or digital signal inputs and arranged to perform a first set of digital processing functions and produce a first plurality of digital interconnection outputs, a second plurality of second modules are arranged to receive the first plurality of digital interconnection outputs and perform a second set of digital processing functions and produce a second plurality of digital interconnection outputs, and a third plurality of third modules are arranged to receive the second plurality of digital interconnection outputs and perform a third set of digital processing functions and produce a plurality of analog or digital signal outputs, wherein the architecture is scalable by selection of the number of first modules, the number of second modules and the number of third
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE LIMITED
    Inventors: Robert Hughes, Stephen Brown
  • Patent number: 10111141
    Abstract: A mobile communication device including a wireless transceiver and a controller is provided. The wireless transceiver performs wireless transmission and reception to and from an advanced network and a legacy network. The controller receives a message from the advanced network via the wireless transceiver for redirecting the mobile communication device from the advanced network to the legacy network in response to a request for a call, searches for a suitable cell in the legacy network via the wireless transceiver in response to receiving the message, and camps on the suitable cell for making the call via the wireless transceiver regardless of the suitable cell being of a low priority and whether there is another suitable cell of a normal priority or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventors: Ming Lee, Feng-Mao Chan
  • Patent number: 9900062
    Abstract: A system includes a vehicle and logic that performs predictive pairing of multiple antenna of the vehicle with multiple fixed antenna of a port the vehicle is approaching, the predictive pairing performed using data obtained about the multiple fixed antenna obtained via a satellite, the predictive pairing prioritizing maximum spatial diversity in the pairings of the antenna of the vehicle with the fixed antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: GLOBAL EAGLE ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventor: Robert M Wise
  • Patent number: 9787392
    Abstract: A method of operating a satellite communication network is disclosed. The network includes a plurality of satellites interconnected by a plurality of satellite-to-satellite communication links. Each of the plurality of satellites is configured to communicate with at least one ground station using respective ground-satellite communication links. The method includes transmitting a routing table to each of the satellites. Each routing table has a list of destination satellites, and defines at least two possible routes leading to it. An alert message identifying a problem communication link is transmitted to a subset of the plurality of satellites. In response to receiving the alert message, subsequent data packets are routed through the communication network by the satellites using their respective routing table to avoid the problem communication link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: IRIDIUM SATELLITE LLC
    Inventors: Cedric Baudoin, Jean-Francois Boutillon
  • Patent number: 9642025
    Abstract: A measuring device for testing mobile-radio relay stations provides at least one antenna and a processing unit. A base station or a mobile station transmits a first signal to a relay station. The relay station generates a second signal derived from the first signal and transmits it. The antenna of the measuring device receives the first signal and the second signal. The processing unit of the measuring device compares the received signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: ROHDE & SCHWARZ GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Christina Gessner, Juergen Schlienz
  • Patent number: 9258240
    Abstract: An available bandwidth estimating device 300 is equipped with: a transmission rate acquiring part 301 configured to acquire a transmission rate, which is the amount of data transmitted by a transmitting device per unit time to a receiving device connected so as to be capable of communicating via a communication network; and an available bandwidth estimating part 302 configured to estimate the available bandwidth based on a mathematical model constructed by representing a relation between an available bandwidth, which is a communication bandwidth available in a communication path between the transmitting device and the receiving device, and the transmission rate by a dynamic model including a mobile body movable in a preset moving direction and an elastic body transforming in the moving direction by a movement amount of the mobile body having moved in the moving direction, and based on the acquired transmission rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroshi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 9026434
    Abstract: An audio coding terminal and method is provided. The terminal includes a coding mode setting unit to set an operation mode, from plural operation modes, for input audio coding by a codec configured to code the input audio based on the set operation mode such that when the set operation mode is a high frame erasure rate (FER) mode the codec codes a current frame of the input audio according to a select frame erasure concealment (FEC) mode of one or more FEC modes. Upon the setting of the operation mode to be the High FER mode the one FEC mode is selected, from the one or more FEC modes predetermined for the High FER mode, to control the codec by incorporating of redundancy within a coding of the input audio or as separate redundancy information separate from the coded input audio according to the selected one FEC mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Steven Craig Greer, Hosang Sung
  • Patent number: 9008662
    Abstract: A user equipment (UE) is provided that includes one or more processors configured to perform one of an attach procedure, Routing Area Update (RAU), or Tracking Area Update (TAU), and then cause the UE to provide an indication to a network, wherein the indication indicates whether the UE has determined a voice solution in an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Chen Ho Chin, Stefano M. Faccin
  • Patent number: 9001642
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for a satellite system. A satellite system is comprised of a communications system in a satellite and a number of computers associated with the satellite. The communications system is configured to receive first information and transmit second information from the satellite to a remote platform over a number of communications links. The number of computers is configured to identify a block of information for encryption from instructions in the first information. The number of computers is further configured to generate a key from a portion of the block of information based on the instructions. The number of computers is further configured to perform an exclusive OR operation on the block of information using the key to form a block of encrypted information. The number of computers is further configured to transmit the block of encrypted information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Duane L. Blanchard, Angelia Mae Corbett
  • Patent number: 8995993
    Abstract: The Aircraft Mobile IP Address System provides wireless communication services to passengers who are located onboard an aircraft by storing data indicative of the individually identified wireless devices located onboard the aircraft. The System assigns a single IP address to each Point-to-Point Protocol link which connects the aircraft network to the ground-based communication network but also creates an IP subnet onboard the aircraft. The IP subnet utilizes a plurality of IP addresses for each Point-to-Point link thereby to enable each passenger wireless device to be uniquely identified with their own IP address. This is enabled since both Point-to-Point Protocol IPCP endpoints have pre-defined IP address pools and/or topology configured; each Point-to-Point Protocol endpoint can utilize a greater number of IP addresses than one per link. Such an approach does not change IPCP or other EVDO protocols/messaging but does allow this address to be directly visible to the ground-based communication network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Gogo LLC
    Inventors: Bryan A. Lauer, Jerry Stamatopoulos, Anjum Rashid, Joseph Alan Tobin, Patrick J. Walsh, Steven J. Arntzen
  • Patent number: 8989083
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed to restrict the delivery of video, audio, and/or data to unauthorized end users in a satellite communications system. The satellite communications system includes one or more satellite receiving antennas, commonly referred to as a satellite dish, to receive downlink communications signals from one or more satellites. The transmission received by the one or more satellite receiving antennas is converted by an outdoor unit (ODU) for transmission to one or more indoor units (IDUs). The ODU receives control information from one or more satellites from the downlink communications signals, commonly referred to as in-band, and/or from out-of-band communications signals. The ODU may use the control information to restrict access to one or more communications channels embedded within the downlink communications signals to the unauthorized end users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen Edward Krafft, Leonard Dauphinee, Ramon Alejandro Gomez
  • Patent number: 8989579
    Abstract: Optical downlink system (10) and method of optical data transmission between a remote terminal (20) having a number of n optical communication terminals (OT1-OTn), and a ground terminal (30) comprising a cluster of n optical ground stations (OGS1-OGSn) connected by n optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) respectively n optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn) characterised by a spatial separation of the optical downlink channels (DL1-DLn) and a temporal separation of the optical uplink channels (UC1-UCn).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: RUAG Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Felix Andreas Arnold, Thomas Dreischer
  • Patent number: 8971236
    Abstract: System and a method for timely interconnecting elements of a wide spread remote measurement, monitoring or data collection system through multiplexing in a satellite system. The invention provides multiplexing features of a satellite system using on-board processing features to gather data from a plurality of remote monitoring stations (4) on any global navigation reference time and multiplex them into a single stream towards one or more computation centers. Each of said computation centers (3) has a down-link adapter (7) capable of extracting a channel from a down-link transmission of a satellite. The data from each of said remote monitoring stations (4) is also passed through an up-link adapter (5) so as to make it suitable for uplink transmission towards a DDBS satellite. Up-link and down-link adapters can be interconnected together to enable loop-back of information such as timing data to monitor transit times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Etienne Dunas, Philippe Roghi
  • Patent number: 8908669
    Abstract: Time division multiplexed input signals (i.e., separated into time slots) are spread in each time slot with a destination code. This spreading is applied for destination identification as opposed to signal information modulation. Each spreading signal is associated with a particular destination for a particular time slot. These spread signals are then combined on a code division bus. Output signals for retransmission to the destinations are recovered from the bus by application of despreading codes. Each despread signal has a destination code which appears in its individual time slot. In a variant code division multiplexed signals are directed to a destination by use of time slot interchanger to achieve time division switching to route the CDMA multiplexed channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
    Inventor: Diakoumis Parissis Gerakoulis
  • Patent number: 8843059
    Abstract: A system for gateway RF diversity using a configurable spot beam satellite including a satellite, a first gateway connected to a first VSAT population through the satellite by a first gateway spot beam and a first user spot beam set, a diversity gateway located outside of the first gateway spot beam for the first gateway, and a diversity control function to command the satellite to connect the first user spot beam set for the first gateway to a diversity gateway spot beam when the first gateway experiences service interruption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Hughes Network Systems, LLC
    Inventors: Dave Roos, Adrian Morris, Stanley Kay, George Choquette
  • Patent number: 8804602
    Abstract: Provided are a method and an apparatus for transmitting a frame in a wireless communication system including a relay station. A base station sets a frame including a downlink (DL) access zone for transmitting a signal to the relay station and a DL relay zone for transmitting the signal to the relay station or a terminal, and transmits the frame. The DL access zone comprises a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) midamble for the terminal and the DL relay zone comprises an R-amble as an additional MIMO midamble.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Jin Young Chun, Han Gyu Cho, Jin Sam Kwak, Dong Guk Lim, Bin Chul Ihm, Young Soo Yuk
  • Patent number: 8787248
    Abstract: An echo cancellation wireless repeater with first and second antenna arrays having vertical and horizontal feed antenna elements selects a combination of antenna elements for reception and transmission to reduce interference and improve the quality of signal reception. In one embodiment, the antenna elements are switchably connected to transceiver circuits and a combination of antenna elements is selected based on the best desired performance result. In another embodiment, the antenna elements are each connected to its own transceiver circuit and the echo cancellation repeater performs beamforming in baseband to select a combination of antenna elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: James Arthur Proctor, Jr., Kenneth M. Gainey, Steven J. Howard, Hakan Inanoglu
  • Patent number: 8693387
    Abstract: A transceiver station is provided for forming a telecommunications network node. The station includes at least two transceiver radio modules and a control module. Each transceiver module is adapted to operate alternatingly as a subscriber station and as a base station, as a function of commands from the control module. The control module is adapted to determine a modification of the state of the network and to dynamically control at least one change in the operation of at least one transceiver module, from subscriber station to base station or vice versa, as a function of at least the determined modification. The control module is adapted so that the number of subscriber stations connected to a base station is at most equal to 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Thales
    Inventors: Serge Hethuin, Isabelle Bucaille, Cyril Lantz
  • Patent number: 8688155
    Abstract: What is described is a circuit arrangement and a method for synchronizing the communication signals between a repeater station (S) of a single-frequency simulcast radio communication network (N) and user terminals (T) with respect to a universal reference signal sent by a central station (M) of the network (N) communicating with the repeater station (S). A frequency offset is determined between a universal frequency reference signal received from the central station (M) and a local frequency reference signal of the repeater station (S), and in the repeater station (S) there are provided a first feedback control loop for supplying a signal for controlling a local oscillator of the repeater station (S) on the basis of the said determined frequency offset, and a second direct control loop for supplying a signal for compensating the residual synchronization difference of the local oscillator (16) to which the transmitter device of the station (S) is tuned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Selex Communications S.p.A.
    Inventor: Francesco Residori
  • Patent number: 8665777
    Abstract: A satellite communication network includes one or more satellites and multiple ground stations, or ground stations. An originating ground station receives an Internet communication, determines when a satellite will be within range, and transmits a stream of data packets including part or all of the communication to the satellite when in communication range. The satellite either forwards the data packets to another satellite, or determines when a destination ground station will be in sight and transmits the data packets to the destination ground station when in range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: DNA Global Solutions
    Inventors: David Marshack, Stewart Nozette, Andrew Fellows, Geoffrey Tudor, Amy Mehlman
  • Patent number: 8594074
    Abstract: A wireless terminal (30) is capable of communicating with a first network (22-1) and a second network (22-1, 22-3), the first network (22-1) being an LTE network. A wireless terminal method comprises (prior to making a request to participate in a circuit switched call with the second network) the wireless terminal (30) camping on a respective selected cell (of each of the first network and the second network and thereby having tuned to both the selected cell for the first network and the selected cell for the second network. In view of already camping on the selected cell of the second network, the wireless terminal (30) does not make a measurement with respect to a cell of the second network in a time period between the making of the request to participate in the circuit switch call and actual establishment of the circuit switched call with the second network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Magnus Olsson, Göran Rune, Per Synnergren, Erik Westerberg
  • Patent number: 8560028
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to an antenna system. The antenna system may include a first antenna and a second antenna. The antenna system may further include a first LRU connected to the first antenna, and a second LRU connected to the second antenna. The antenna system may further include a router, said router being connected to the first LRU, the second LRU and a communication system, the communication system being remotely located from the antenna system. The router may be configured for receiving a plurality of concurrent (ex.—simultaneous) communication control inputs from the communication system and may selectively route the received communication control inputs to the LRUs. The LRUs may, based upon the received communication control inputs establish LRU settings for causing the antennas to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with said communication control inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Mark A. Mulbrook
  • Patent number: 8543388
    Abstract: Speech frames of a first speech coding scheme are utilized as speech frames of a second speech coding scheme, where the speech coding schemes use similar core compression schemes for the speech frames, preferably bit stream compatible. An occurrence of a state mismatch in an energy parameter between the first speech coding scheme and the second speech coding scheme is identified, preferably either by determining an occurrence of a predetermined speech evolution, such as a speech type transition, e.g. an onset of speech following a period of speech inactivity, or by tentative decoding of the energy parameter in the two encoding schemes followed by a comparison. Subsequently, the energy parameter in at least one frame of the second speech coding scheme following the occurrence of the state mismatch is adjusted. The present invention also presents transcoders and communications systems providing such transcoding functionality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventors: Nicklas Sandgren, Jonas Svedberg
  • Patent number: 8446857
    Abstract: A low-cost, low-power, low-complexity, small, high-reliability, robust, seamless satellite communication network is described. The network performs encoding of a user signal at the customer premises to enable routing of the user signal to an appropriate destination beam at the satellite requiring low power user signal processing. Routing information is embedded at the periphery of the network CPE's rather than at the satellite. Embedding the routing information in this way greatly reduces on-board switching complexity and increases signal to interference ratio for the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, LP
    Inventor: Ashok N. Rudrapatna
  • Patent number: 8374120
    Abstract: A base station (BS) apparatus in a broadband wireless communication system is provided. The base station apparatus includes at least one function board for processing a baseband digital signal; at least one processor board for controlling the at least one function board; and at least one switch for routing a signal between the at least one function board and the at least one processor board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chang-Won Kim
  • Patent number: 8359022
    Abstract: Techniques for coordinating transmissions in wireless communications are disclosed. For instance, an apparatus includes a first transceiver, a second transceiver, and a control module. The first transceiver communicates across a wireless link of a first type, and the second transceiver communicates across a wireless link of a second type. Examples of such first and second types include cellular links and data networking links. The control module authorizes the second transceiver to send wireless transmission upon the occurrence of a compressed mode transmission gap allocated to the first transceiver. Moreover, during this transmission gap, the first transceiver refrains from sending wireless transmissions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jerome C. Tu, Olivier Boireau
  • Patent number: 8238816
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods, systems, and satellites that employ an off-set pattern of spot-beams to transmit signals or television signals over a desired area of the earth. In one example, a heavily populated metropolitan area in the continental United States is covered by at least two patterns of spot-beams, where the patterns are off-set to one another by a lateral or translational displacement, rotation, or both. The off-set patterns can be used in conjunction with existing satellites and systems and incorporated into new satellites and systems. The methods reduce problems associated with the straddling of subscriber areas caused by local-into-local requirements, and advantageously allow increased spot-beam capacity, and the reduction in earth uplink stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Spectrum Five LLC
    Inventor: John D. Kiesling
  • Patent number: 8218741
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a first telephone number is associated with a second telephone number, and a web-based advertisement is served for an advertiser that includes the first telephone number. A call placed to the first telephone number is received, and the call is routed to the second telephone number based on the association of the second telephone number with the first telephone number. A determination as to whether a call-through event in response to receiving the call placed to the first telephone number has occurred, and an advertiser associated with the second telephone number is charged a cost-per-call amount if the call-through event is determined to have occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Vinay Goel
  • Patent number: 8185045
    Abstract: Methods to improve the efficiency of satellite transmission by coordinating the use of corresponding channels on adjacent satellites. Improvements over the current state of the art range from 130% to 1000%, yielding in the best case full utilization of potential bandwidth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Avionics Corporation
    Inventor: David Mansour
  • Patent number: 8150313
    Abstract: A device (D) is dedicated to transmitting and/or receiving signals representative of data in a communication satellite (SAT) having a fixed frequency bandwidth. This device (D) comprises transmission and/or reception means (MER) responsible for sending and/or receiving signals in multiple beams, and control means (MC) responsible for defining a chosen number of cells of chosen dimensions and positions, and configuring the transmission and/or reception means (MER) so as to define beams each associated with at least one of the defined cells, with a chosen carrier frequency based on the requirements of each of the cells and taking into account the frequency bandwidth available on the satellite (SAT).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Thales
    Inventors: Jean-Didier Gayrard, Eric Belis
  • Patent number: 8041319
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a method involves determining whether a wireless connection between a first access point and a wireless station has failed. If so, a partial scanning process is conducted only on a subset of communication channels over which data is transmitted by access points neighboring the first access point. The subset of communication channels, inclusive of zero, is determined by analysis of a scanning history database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Avaya Inc.
    Inventors: Haixiang He, Darwin A. Engwer
  • Patent number: 8023888
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for acquiring and demodulating a data stream transmitted in a communication system. A method in accordance with the present invention comprises finding a boundary of a physical layer frame (PLFrame) in the data stream, finding a first 26 bits of a Unique Word (UW) associated with the data stream, finding a scrambling code utilizing the UW, and using a decoding procedure to determine a modulation type and code rate used for desired signals within the data stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Santoru, Guangcai Zhou, Ernest C. Chen, Dennis Lai, Shamik Maitra