10451 results about "Signal intensity" patented technology

A processor provides signal quality based limits to a signal strength operating region of a pulse oximeter. These limits are superimposed on the typical gain dependent signal strength limits. If a sensor signal appears physiologically generated, the pulse oximeter is allowed to operate with minimal signal strength, maximizing low perfusion performance. If a sensor signal is potentially due to a signal induced by a dislodged sensor, signal strength requirements are raised. Thus, signal quality limitations enhance probe off detection without significantly impacting low perfusion performance. One signal quality measure used is pulse rate density, which defines the percentage of time physiologically acceptable pulses are occurring. If the detected signal contains a significant percentage of unacceptable pulses, the minimum required signal strength is raised proportionately. Another signal quality measure used in conjunction with pulse rate density is energy ratio, computed as the percentage of total energy contained in the pulse rate fundamental and associated harmonics.

The invention provides a system and method for recognizing different hand gestures made by touching a touch sensitive surface. The gestures can be made by one finger, two fingers, more than two fingers, one hand and two hands. Multiple users can simultaneously make different gestures. The gestures are used to control computer operations. The system measures an intensity of a signal at each of an mxn array of touch sensitive pads in the touch sensitive surface. From these signal intensities, a number of regions of contiguous pads touched simultaneously by a user is determined. An area of each region is also determined. A particular gesture is selected according to the number of regions and the area of each region.

The wireless power transmission is a system for providing wireless charging and / or primary power to electronic / electrical devices via microwave energy. The microwave energy is focused onto a device to be charged by a power transmitter having one or more adaptively-phased microwave array emitters. Rectennas within the device to be charged receive and rectify the microwave energy and use it for battery charging and / or for primary power. A communications channel is opened between the wireless power source and the device to be charged. The device to be charged reports to the power source via the channel a received beam signal strength at the rectennas. This information is used by the system to adjust the transmitting phases of the microwave array emitters until a maximum microwave energy is reported by the device to be charged. Backscatter is minimized by physically configuring the microwave array emitters in a substantially non-uniform, non-coplanar manner.

Systems, software, and apparatuses that provide wired and wireless telecommunications under conditions where signal strength is poor or intermittent, the coordination and synchronization of data and workflows across various communication links under such conditions, especially intermittent or unreliable communications links, and the management of wireless mobile applications in such environments. The present invention technology herein relates to the fields of computer science, telecommunications, and data management.

A cable television (CATV) entry adapter interfaces to a CATV network and and serves as a hub in a Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) network. MoCA signals are bypassed around the CATV communication paths within the entry adapter to maintain adequate signal strength and to allow a passive port of the entry adapter to be used as part of the MoCA network. MoCA signals are suppressed from exiting the CATV entry adapter onto the CATV network.

A system and method for localizing an in vivo signal source using a wearable antenna array having at least two antenna elements. The signal is received and a signal strength is measured at two or more antenna elements. An estimated coordinate set is derived from the signal strength measurements.

Communication systems and methods are provided allowing a single mode mobile terminal to support mobile assisted signal strength measurement operations in both a fixed frequency reuse based communication network and an adaptive channel allocation based communication network. Candidate base station signal strength measurements are requested by a fixed frequency reuse type network, measured by the mobile terminal and provided to the fixed frequency reuse type network which is seeking to identify a strongest signal for mobile assisted handover operations. In addition, interference signal strength measurements are requested by an adaptive channel allocation type network, measured by the mobile terminal and provided to the adaptive channel allocation type network by the mobile terminal. No redundant circuitry is required in the mobile terminal. Instead, the mobile terminal executes the same operations using the same hardware regardless of whether the requested measurement is of a candidate signal strength or an interference signal.

A base transceiver station operating a sectorized cell of a cellular radio system operates a plurality of narrow uplink main receive beams, and one or a plurality of uplink diversity received beams. A scanning means scans each of the uplink main receive beams to locate a communications channel on the main uplink beams. A diversity receiver receives a diverse beam signal from the diverse beam(s), which is compared with a beam signal received from a main uplink beam, and the main beam signal from the main beam, or a diverse beam signal from the diversity antenna is selected, depending on the comparative signal to noise ratio and signal strength of the main beam signal and diversity beam signal.

Embodiments of the present invention exploit the reciprocity of radio channels in TDD, and longer-term correlation between average uplink and downlink path losses in FDD wireless communication systems to enable distributed schedulers in an enhanced uplink system to allocate uplink transmission resources while preemptively managing intercell interference levels. Each cell's base station transmits a downlink reference signal at a known transmission power level. A mobile station monitors the received signal strength of the downlink reference signals from multiple base stations. The transmitted and received signal strength levels can be used by the mobile station to estimate the amount of intercell interference that the mobile station's uplink transmissions cause, and the mobile station's uplink transmission parameters are adjusted accordingly. In further embodiments, the received reference signal power levels, or values derived therefrom, are transmitted by the mobile station to its serving base station, where a scheduling algorithm uses the information to adjust one or more transmission parameters relating to a grant of uplink transmission resources to the UE, thereby controlling the intercell interference generated by the mobile station's uplink transmissions.

At least one antenna array including three mutually orthogonal antennas each sharing a common center point senses an electromagnetic signal emitted by a buried object such as a utility line, pipe or sonde. A circuit at least partially mounted in a housing is connected to the array and determines a location of the buried object by measuring signal strength and field angles in three dimensions without having to align the antenna array relative to the buried object while eliminating nulls and false peaks. A graphical user interface (GUI) has user-friendly icons, symbols, menus, numbers and graphical and auditory representation of signal strength. A SEARCH view indicates signal strength by showing a rotating strength indicator, a trace mode MAP view in which line location is shown by a line that moves side-to-side, and a sonde mode MAP view in which sonde location is shown by a moving line, pole and equator.

An automated meter reading network system to collect utility usage data from multiple utility meters having utility meter sensors, program product, and associated methods are provided. The system includes multiple meter data collectors each in communication with one or more utility meters to collect utility usage data and forming a wireless communications network. The system also includes a host computer in communication with the meter data collectors either directly or through multiple field host data collectors which can be connected to the host computer through a wide area network. The system also includes a meter data collector program product at least partially stored in the memory of the host computer to manage the communication network. The meter data collector program product is adapted to analyze signal strength between nodes and to dynamically adjust the power level settings of the individual nodes to enhance network performance.

A wireless location system is provided. The system includes network tags that emit a signal containing tag data, network readers that continuously receive data from the tags, a communication motes to receive the tag data from the readers and to calculate a network signal strength of the signal between the reader and the mote, and a server. The server receives the tag data and network signal strength data from the communication mote, performs calculations on the data, and determines the location of the reader that received the tag data based in part on the received network signal strength data.

A mobile device, for determining location in a wireless network, includes a motion detector for detecting motion of the mobile device; a memory for storing wireless signal strength calibration data comprising a list of wireless signal strengths and known locations; a location detection module for measuring a wireless signal strength of any received network radio signals and for determining the location of the mobile device with reference to the wireless signal strength calibration data; and a location correction module, for applying a statistical correction to the measured wireless signal strength determined by the location detection module when the motion detector detects that the mobile device is moving less than a threshold amount. The mobile device may further include an orientation detector for detecting the orientation of the mobile device, which can be compared with orientation data stored in the calibration data.

A point-to-point, wireless, millimeter wave communications link between two stations at least one of which is a mobile station. A millimeter wave transmitter system operating at frequencies higher than 57 GHz with a tracking antenna producing a beam having a half-power beam width of about 2 degrees or less and a millimeter wave receiver also with a tracking antenna having a half-power beam width of about 2 degrees or less. In preferred embodiments each mobile station has a global position system (GPS) and a radio transmitter and both tracking antennas are pointed utilizing GPS information from the mobile station or stations. The GPS information preferably is transmitted via a low frequency, low data rate radio. Each millimeter wave unit is capable of transmitting and / or receiving, through the atmosphere, digital information to / from the other station at rates in excess of 155 million bits per second during normal weather conditions. In preferred embodiments actually built and tested by Applicants digital information has been transmitted at rates of 1.25 gigabits per second. Preferred communication links described here are millimeter wave links operating at frequencies of 71-73 GHz and 74-76 GHz mounted on simple two-axis gimbals. Pointing information of the required accuracy is provided by GPS receivers and standard radio links which send the GPS calculated positions to the millimeter wave systems at the opposite end of the link. In these embodiments there is no need for any complicated closed loop pointing information derived from received signal intensity or phase. On moving platforms locally generated inertial attitude information is combined with the GPS positions to control pointing of the gimbaled transceivers.

This invention extends the range of optical data of mobile device by trading speed for distance as well as integrating a plurality of pulses over time to define a single bit of information. The present invention uses a number of integrated pulses to represent a single bit instead of utilizing a one to one correspondence between pulses and bits. The present invention executes a range extender application which executes on the mobile device without any hardware modification to the mobile device. The range extender application causes the optical transmitter to “stutter” or repetitively emanate the identical pulse representing a bit of information. Sufficient photons are thereby gathered at a receiver to reach a predetermined threshold. A tradeoff of the data transmission frequency in this invention is that a signal intensity drops by a factor of 100 when distance increases by a factor of 10 yielding a distance / intensity ratio of {fraction (1 / 10)}.

Systems and methods are described for determining location of wireless devices using signal strength of signals detected by the wireless devices. The strength of signals received from identifiable sources is typically compared to reference signal strength measurements collected or estimated at known locations. Information identifying the source of the signals is typically obtained from data provided in the signals. Mappers associate combinations of reference signal strengths with geometrically shaped geographical regions such that signal strength measurements can be used as indices to locate a region in which a wireless device can be found. Systems and methods are described for receiving signal strength information from known locations where the information can be used to update and improve mapping system databases.

A method and apparatus for enhancing security in a wireless network using distance measurement techniques provides an additional layer of security and privacy in wireless communications. A distance measurement or location-finding is performed between two devices by transmitting and receiving one or more signals and computing a distance between the two devices or a location of a connecting device. The resulting computed distance or location is used to determine whether or not to permit pairing, secure connection or secure transactions between the two devices. The computed distance or location can be further used in combination with a signal strength measurement to link to locate and measure nearby devices first, reducing the time required to initialize network communications. Management software may be enhanced to facilitate connecting to desired devices by providing an indication of computed distance or location of each device, and a list may be generated in order of proximity, further facilitating connection to the desired devices. Set-up of wireless networks may automated by using a short distance to facilitate connection between nodes.

Described are apparatus and methods for electrically modulating a nerve in a mammal. An electrical signal that includes a signal intensity pattern and a signal frequency pattern is delivered to a nerve. The combination of the signal intensity pattern and the signal frequency pattern is effective to result in weight loss, fat loss, and / or lean-mass gain, in a mammal. In some embodiments the nerve is modulated in response to a physiological parameter. In some embodiments, the physiological parameter is measured by a sensor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a three-dimensional (3-D) energy-based emitter geolocation technique determines the geolocation of a radio frequency (RF) emitter based on energy or received signal strength (RSS) of transmitted signals. The technique may be employed with small unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and obtains reliable geolocation estimates of radio frequency (RF) emitters of interest.

A system produces of an empirical map of wireless communication coverage through a process of combining information from individual clients to produce a map which is then shared by all of the clients. The wireless coverage map aids in maintaining a reliable communications link. The empirical map is generated by combining information from a group of mobile wireless users. The group may consist of a fleet of trucks, taxicabs, government service vehicles, or the customers of a wireless service provider. The mobile vehicles must be equipped with a GPS device or be located by other means such as triangulation. While vehicles are moving, the quality of wireless communication, e.g., signal strength or communication continuity, is recorded for each vehicle as a function of positions. The data from all of the vehicles is combined to produce the empirical map. The empirical map may be maintained at a central site and subsets of the map replicated for individual vehicles. The map may then be used to direct mobile users to sites of superior communications reliability, warn mobile users when they are out of the service area or are about to leave the service area, or to regulate data communications automatically to stop and restart communications as a mobile vehicle passes through a gap in coverage.

A method for locating a user in a wireless network is disclosed. A mobile computer seeking to determine its location within a building detects the signal strength of one or more wireless base stations placed at known locations throughout the building. The mobile computer uses this measured signal strength to determine its location via a signal-strength-to-location table look-up. A table of known locations within the building and the base station signal strength at those locations is searched to find the most similar stored signal strength to the signal strength detected. The location corresponding to the most similar stored signal strength is determined to be the current location of the mobile computer. Alternatively, a number of signal strengths from the table can be used and the corresponding locations can be spatially averaged to determine the location of the mobile computer. The table can be derived empirically, by placing a mobile computer at the known locations and detecting the signal strength of the wireless base stations at those locations, or the table can be derived mathematically by taking into account a reference signal strength, the distance between the reference point and the known location, and the number of walls between the reference point and the known location. As an alternative, the base stations can detect the signal strength of the mobile computer. In such a case, the table would relate a known position of the mobile computer to the signal strength of the mobile computer at that location as detected by the one or more base stations.

An object location tracking system for tracking a movable object includes a plurality of beacons spatially distributed within a building, each beacon transmitting a respective ID signal, at least one transceiver device which receives the transmission of ID signals from the beacons and determines received signal strengths of such transmissions, the transceiver device adapted to be attached to the movable object, a motion detector coupled to the at least one transceiver device configured to provide information relating to a motion of the at least one transceiver device, and a processing module that uses information reflective of the received signal strengths of the transmissions received by the transceiver device, in combination with information reflective of the motion of the at least one transceiver device, to determine a current location of the transceiver device.

Methods, apparatuses, and systems directed to a wireless node location mechanism that uses a signal strength weighting metric to improve the accuracy of estimating the location of a wireless node based on signals detected among a plurality of radio transceivers. In certain implementations, the wireless node location mechanism further incorporates a differential signal strength metric to reduce the errors caused by variations in wireless node transmit power, errors in signal strength detection, and / or direction-dependent path loss. As opposed to using the absolute signal strength or power of an RF signal transmitted by a wireless node, implementations of the present invention compare the differences between signal strength values detected at various pairs of radio receivers to corresponding differences characterized in a model of the RF environment. One implementation of the invention searches for the locations in the model between each pair of radio receivers where their signal strength is different by an observed amount.

A method for improved sector handoff within a sectorized communication cell utilizing a wireless communication systems. A sector handoff of a mobile radio telephone is performed in accordance with a first set of parameters if the mobile radio telephone is not in close proximity to a base antenna. Sector handoff of the mobile radio telephone is performed in accordance with a second different set of parameters when the mobile radio telephone is in close proximity of the base antenna. The second different set of parameters are utilized in close proximity to the base antenna to avoid drops and adverse handoffs in high interference, low signal strength areas and provide improved sector handoff when the mobile radio telephone encounters distorted conditions, such that improved sector handoff can be achieved.

A seamless vertical handoff method allows the network applications and connections on a mobile node to continue without disruption as it moves within a wireless overlay network that comprises multiple possibly overlapping layers of wireless networks (e.g., a WLAN and a WWAN) with different underlying technologies, providing mobile roaming capabilities. The method comprises a WLAN access point signal strength monitor for determining when to switch between WLAN and WWAN, and a network connection migration scheme that can move an active network connection from a wireless link of one technology to another wireless link of a different technology in a way that is transparent to the user, the remote end of the network connection, and the operator of the WWAN carrier.