Source: https://insight.rpxcorp.com/pat/US20090237235A1
Timestamp: 2019-06-17 10:56:08
Document Index: 673487826

Matched Legal Cases: ['application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60']

Patent US 20090237235A1
Relative positioning system method
US 20090237235A1
control electronics operatively coupling the spaced apart receivers, the control electronics configured to determine a direction of the emitter based on the signal interference.
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2. The relative positioning system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the spaced apart receivers of the adjoining pair has shielding that increases the signal interference.
3. The relative positioning system of claim 1, wherein a portion of the object is a material that interferes with the radio frequency signal.
4. A relative positioning system for determining a heading of an object emitting a signal having a signal strength, the system comprising:
control electronics operatively coupling the plurality of receivers, the control electronics being configured to produce a directional cue corresponding to the heading of the object based on the strength of the signal received by each of the plurality of receivers.
5. The relative positioning system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of receivers are positioned around a body causing a signal interference with the signal.
6. The relative positioning system of claim 5, wherein the directional cue is determined by a trigger algorithm based on a differential degradation in the strength of the signal detected by the plurality of receivers, the differential degradation caused by the signal interference.
7. The relative positioning system of claim 6, wherein the signal is a radio frequency signal and the differential degradation is enhanced by shielding proximal to at least one of the receivers of the plurality of receivers.
8. The relative positioning system of claim 4, wherein the signal is a radio frequency signal emitted by an electronic tag attached to the object, at least one receiver of the plurality of receivers is configured to interrogate the electronic tag, and the signal is emitted in response to the interrogation.
9. The relative positioning system of claim 5, wherein the heading is determined relative to the body, and the system further comprises:
a plurality of stimulus generators supported by the article, each stimulus generator able to generate a stimulus perceptible to an operator, wherein the plurality of receivers are supported by the article; and
10. The relative positioning system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of receivers and the plurality of stimulus generators are uniformly spaced with a separate stimulus generator of the plurality of stimulus generators positioned between each adjoining pair of receivers of the plurality of receivers.
11. The relative positioning system of claim 4, wherein the object is a casualty having vital signs, the signal encodes information representing the vital signs, the control electronics further comprises an operator interface including a visible display and is configured to provide a visible heading indicator and a visible vital sign indicator.
12. The relative positioning system of claim 11, wherein the control electronics are further configured to determine a medical status of the casualty and to provide a visible medical status indicator.
13. The relative positioning system of claim 12, wherein the casualty is one casualty of a plurality of casualties, and the control electronics is configured to communicate the heading and medical status of each casualty of the plurality of casualties.
14. The relative positioning system of claim 9, wherein the article is a belt.
15. A method for determining a relative position comprising the steps of:
positioning an adjoining pair of spaced apart receivers proximal to an object causing a signal interference with a radio frequency signal detectable by each receiver of the adjoining pair, the radio frequency signal associated with an emitter, the spaced apart receivers operatively coupled by control electronics; and
16. A method for determining a heading of an object emitting a signal having a signal strength, the method comprising the steps of:
forming a two-dimensional, body-centered coordinate system with a plurality of receivers, each receiver able to receive the signal from the object, the plurality of receivers being operatively coupled by control electronics; and
producing with the control electronics a directional cue corresponding to the heading of the object based on the strength of the signal received by each of the plurality of receivers.
17. The relative positioning system of claim 1 wherein:
the emitter is an electronic tag attached to an object of interest;
the adjoining pair of receivers is provided by two of a plurality of radio frequency receivers, each radio frequency receiver being able to receive the radio frequency signal from the electronic tag attached to the object of interest; and
the control electronics operatively couple the plurality of receivers and are configured to produce a directional cue corresponding to the heading of the object of interest based on the strength of the radio frequency signal received by each of the plurality of receivers.
18. The relative positioning system of claim 17 wherein the directional cue is determined by a trigger algorithm based on a differential degradation in the strength of the signal detected by the plurality of receivers, the differential degradation caused by the signal interference.
19. The relative positioning system of claim 18 wherein the differential degradation is enhanced by shielding proximal to at least one of the receivers of the plurality of receivers.
20. The relative positioning system of claim 17 wherein at least one receiver of the plurality of receivers is further configured to interrogate the electronic tag, and the radio frequency signal is emitted by the electronic tag in response to the interrogation.
FIGS. 4(a), (b) and (c) are graphic representations of the differential degradation in the strength of the signal detected by three pairs S1, S2, S3 of the plurality of receivers in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2;
FIG. 7a and 7b are a schematic diagrams (front and side) of a preferred embodiment of a receiver with shielding in accordance with the present invention; and
The RPS 10 comprises a plurality of receivers 16 and a plurality of stimulus generators 18 operatively coupled by control electronics 20. Each receiver of the plurality of receivers 16 and each stimulus generator of the plurality of stimulus generators 18 is preferably supported by the wearable article 14. Each receiver .16 is able to receive the signal 12 from the object. Preferably the signal 12 is a radio frequency (RF) signal and at least three RF receivers 16a, 16b, 16c are provided. The receivers 16 may be any of a wide variety of conventional radio frequency (RF) receivers adapted to the desired form factor and configured to receive an RF signal. Preferably, the RF signal emanates from an electronic tag (also “Etag” or “E-Tag”) 22 attached to the object of interest, which for the major accident example could be a casualty. The electronic tag 22 may be any of a wide variety of emitters able to transmit an RF signal receivable and decodable by the receivers 16 and their associated control electronics 20. At least one receiver of the plurality of receivers 16 may be configured to interrogate the electronic tag 22 and in response to the interrogation, the signal 12 emitted from the electronic tag 22. The electronic tags 22 may also be operatively coupled to status sensors (not shown) on the object which in the case of a casualty may provide the status of vital signs. Typically the RF signal encodes and communicates information representing the identification and status of the object in a form the control electronics 20 can process.
Referring to FIG. 2, a two-dimensional, body-centered coordinate system indicated generally at 26 is formed by the plurality of receivers 16. Preferably, the plurality of receivers 16 and a plurality of stimulus generators 18 are arranged such that they are uniformly spaced with a separate stimulus generator of the plurality of stimulus generators 18 positioned between each adjoining pair of receivers of the plurality of receivers 16. The two-dimensional, body-centered coordinate system 26 comprises a plurality of sectors 28. Each sector 28a, 28b, 28c, respectively is defined by an adjoining pair S1, S2, S3 of spaced apart receivers 16a, 16b, 16c of the plurality of receivers 16. A separate stimulus generator 18a, 18b, 18c of the plurality of stimulus generators 18 is positioned in each sector 28a, 28b, 28c, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 2, in a preferred embodiment, the plurality of receivers 16 comprises a first receiver 16a, a second receiver 16b and a third receiver 16c and the plurality of stimulus generators 18 comprises a first tractor 18a, a second tractor 18b, and a third tractor 18c. The plurality of receivers 16 and the plurality of stimulus generators 18 are uniformly spaced with a tractor 18a, 18b, 18c positioned between each adjoining pair 16a: 16b, 16b: 16c, 16c: 16a of receivers. As shown in FIG. 2, the arrangement of the adjoining pairs of receivers provides three sectors or sections (left 28a, right 28b and front 28c) for directional cueing. Receivers 16a and 16b, acting as a pair S1, form signal strength collector (Set 1) for the left sector 28a; receivers 16b and 16c, acting as a pair S2, form a signal strength collector (Set 2) for the right sector 28b; and receivers 16c and 16a, acting as a pair S3, form a signal strength collector (Set 3) for the front sector 28c. For each sector, the sum of the signals received by the corresponding pair (or Set S) of receivers provides the basis for determining whether a signal is arriving from that sector. Additional receivers and tractors may be provided to increase the number of sectors, the number depending on the desired resolution for the directional cueing.
FIG. 2 schematically shows a radio signal source in the form of an electronic tag 22 in the focus of the front sector 28c. The bars in FIG. 4 show the combined strength of the signal 12 for each of the receiver pairs (sets): S1 (16a:16b); S2 (16b:16c); S3 (16c:16a), due to the presence of electronic tag 22. Pair set S3 in this example receives the strongest signal. Directional cueing is provided by actuating the stimulus generator (or tractor) 18c associated with the front sector 28c and pair set S3 in response to a trigger algorithm employing the simple logic for analyzing relative signal strength.
In FIG. 2, the receivers 16a, 16b, 16c and the stimulus generators (or tractors) 18a, 18b, 18c are uniformly spaced from one another. The presence of the emitter 22 in the sector defined by the receiver pair 16a, 16c causes the tractor 18c to fire as the sum R1+R3 of the strength of the signals received by the set 3 receiver pair 16a, 16c (FIG. 4(c)) is greater than the sum R1+R2 of the strength of the signals received by the set 1 receiver pair 16a, 16b (FIG. 4(a)) and also is greater than the sum R2+R3 of the strength of the signals received by the set 2 receiver pair 16b, 16c (FIG. 4(b)). The activation (firing) of tractor 18c provides the directional cue for the heading (or relative position) of electronic tag 22, as the signal strength of Set 3 is greater than the strength of the signal received by both Set 1 and Set 2. As stated above the trigger logic may be executed by a central processor or by logic circuits associated with each receiver and/or tractor.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, in environments where multiple independently identifiable electronic tags 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d, each associated with a different object, are present in the mission environment, a preferred embodiment of the invention may be configured to provide situation awareness of not only the heading of each of the objects but also the status. The individual possible status codes for such casualty are defined in FIG. 6. They can be employed on a visual operator display using shape or color codes or both, if provided. FIG. 5 schematically represents such a situation in the major accident example above. Depicted in FIG. 5 are the electronic tags 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d associated with four different casualties (or patients). The casualty corresponding to electronic tag 22b is in stable condition (green/circle). The casualties corresponding to electronic tag 22a and electronic tag 22d are not well but also are not in critical condition (yellow/squares). The casualty corresponding to electronic tag 22c is in critical condition and requires attention (red/triangle).
PCT/US2007/020473 filed September 21, 2007, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Non-invasive Thoracic Radio Interrogation”; U.S. patent application Nos. 60/846,403 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Non-Invasive Bio Impedance Determination”, filed Sep. 21, 2006; U.S. Provisional application No. 60/846,402 entitled “Method for Conditioning Radio Signal Returns from Thoracic Components for Extractions of Cardiopulmonary Data”, filed Sep. 21, 2006; U.S. Provisional application No. 60/973,985, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Non-Invasive Thoracic Radio Interrogation”, filed Sep. 20, 2007; PCT/US2007/020487 filed Sep. 21, 2007 entitled “Method for Processing Thoracic Reflected Radio Interrogation Signals”; U.S. Patent Application No. 60/846,404 entitled “Method of Processing Thoracic Reflected Radio Interrogation Signals”, filed Sep. 21, 2006; U.S. Patent Application No. 60/973,988 entitled “Method of Processing Thoracic Reflected Radio Interrogation Signals”, filed Sep. 20, 2007; PCT/US2007/020492 filed Sep. 21, 2007, entitled “Antenna for Thoracic Radio Interrogation”; U.S. Provisional application No. 60/846,408 entitled “Transducer-antenna-probe for Thoracic Radio Interrogation”, filed Sep. 21, 2006, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/910,394, entitled “Antenna for Thoracic Radio Interrogation”, filed Apr. 5, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/973,970, entitled “Antenna for Thoracic Radio Interrogation”, filed Sep. 20, 2007, are also all incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
McCaughan, Ann K., Pal, Andrew, Mcgrath, Brad
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G01S3/46 : using antennas spaced apart...
Relative Positioning System And Method
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Current Assignee: NONINVASIVE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Sponsoring Entity: NONINVASIVE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.