Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne area residents.
Ranging between radios using pseudo time-of- arrival sequence
•U.S. Patent No. 7,889,085
•Invented by Charles A. Simmons, Fort Wayne
•Assigned to ITT Manufacturing Enterprises Inc., Wilmington, Del.
GPS has become a part of everyday life. Navigation systems in our automobiles and even our cell phones are almost standard.
Those of us with navigation systems in our cars know the problems that occur when in a parking garage or building. These navigation systems receive information from a satellite. If the systems lose their line of sight with the satellite, they lose the GPS signal as well.
In military combat environments, this is especially problematic. GPS has become invaluable for tracking personnel and increasing situational awareness for commanders.
One way to address this problem was to include radio transceivers that receive signals from known locations. The length of time needed to receive the signal helps determine location despite having no access to the GPS satellite. A problem with this is that it ends up requiring a lot of bandwidth to transmit all the signals needed for positioning. Bandwidth is necessary to carry audio, video and data signals. The less bandwidth needed for a function like positioning is valuable.
This patent addresses the problem by describing a new GPS system where the location information is modulated when sent and then remodulated when received. The remodulated signal is used to create a time-of-arrival reference pattern. That pattern is correlated with the received signal to determine the actual time of arrival. With this information, position can be determined while using less bandwidth.
Electrical connector with slide-mounted adaptor
•U.S. Patent No. 7,896,687
•Invented by Troy Wesley Schweitzer, Fort Wayne; John Richard Taller, Huntertown
•Assigned to Excellon Technologies Inc., Fort Wayne
Electrical connectors, particularly wall outlets or even cigarette lighters in cars, have been around seemingly forever.
The electrical connectors in this patent are different, however. They are specially used on military vehicles.
Such connectors of the past apparently worked well, but posed manufacturing challenges.
This patent describes new, low-profile, electrical connectors that are easier and more cost-effective to make.
The preceding are lay descriptions of patents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records and are provided for general information purposes only.
Nothing contained herein is a legal description of any claimed invention, identification of novelty, or offer of legal advice. Because issued patents are based on applications often filed years earlier, the subject matter of some patents may have been available on the market for some time prior to the issuance of the patent. Additional information on these patents is available at www.uspto.gov.
