Method of and system for determining the delay of digital signals
First Claim
1. A method of determining the time required for a digital bit or bit stream to traverse a round-trip path from a source transceiver to at least one destination transceiver and back, the method comprising:
- comparing the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration so as to provide in substantially real-time one or more measurements related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of and system for determining the time required for a digital bit or bit stream to traverse a round-trip path from a source transceiver to at least one destination transceiver and back is disclosed. The relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream is compared to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration so as to provide in substantially real-time various measurements related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path, including distance measurement in indoor positioning, real-time locating, adaptive cruise control, intelligent transportation systems, robotics, collision avoidance, personnel accountability, emergency location, search and rescue, loss and theft prevention, logistics, marine safety, network analysis, communication channel characterization, and other high-speed measurement tasks. In addition, a method of and system for determining the distance between a source transceiver and a destination transceiver, and a method of and system for determining the angular position of a transceiver with respect to at least two other transceivers, are disclosed.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method of determining the time required for a digital bit or bit stream to traverse a round-trip path from a source transceiver to at least one destination transceiver and back, the method comprising:
comparing the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration so as to provide in substantially real-time one or more measurements related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of determining the angular position of a transceiver with respect to at least two other transceivers, the method comprising:
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obtaining a distance measurement between a first and second transceiver as a function of a comparison of the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration at one of the first and second transceivers so as to provide in substantially real-time a measurement related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path, obtaining the distance measurement between at least a third transceiver and the one transceiver as a function of a comparison of the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration at the one transceiver so as to provide in substantially real-time a measurement related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path, and determining the angular position of the one transceiver with respect to other transceivers as a function of the distance measurements.
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18. A method of determining the delay between the transmission of a transmitted digital signal by a first transceiver to a second transceiver and the reception of a return digital signal transmitted by the second transceiver to the first transceiver in response to receiving the transmitted digital signal, the method comprising:
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oversampling the return digital signal at an oversampling rate S so as to provide an oversampled return signal, wherein the oversampling rate S is a multiple of the clock rate of the transmitted digital signal;
comparing the transmitted digital signal to the oversampled return digital signal and generating at least two bytes of bits at the oversampled rate, one of the bytes corresponding to the differential time period during which the leading edge of the transmitted digital signal is transmitted and the leading edge of the return digital signal is received by the first transceiver, and the other of the bytes corresponding to the differential time period during which the trailing edge of the transmitted digital signal is transmitted and the trailing edge of the returned signal is received by the first transceiver; and
assigning a value to each of the bytes as a function of the arrangement of the bits of each of the bytes, wherein the sequence of the least significant bit to most significant bit of one byte is temporally reversed;
determining the delay as a function of the assigned values of the two bytes. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for determining the time required for a digital bit or bit stream to traverse a round-trip path from a source transceiver to at least one destination transceiver and back, the system comprising:
a high speed logical comparison configuration configured and arranged so as to determine the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream and so as to provide in substantially real-time various measurements related to or derived from the time required to traverse the round trip path. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A system for determining the angular position of a transceiver with respect to at least two other transceivers, the system comprising:
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first and second transceivers including a high speed logical comparison configuration configured and arranged at one or both of the transceivers so as to obtain a distance measurement between the first and second transceivers as a function of a comparison of the relative timing of a transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream at the one transceiver so as to provide in substantially real-time a measurement of the time required to traverse the round trip path, a distance measurement component configured and arranged so as to obtain the distance measurement between at least a third transceiver and the one transceiver as a function of a comparison of the relative timing of the transmitted bit or bit stream to the return bit or bit stream using a high speed comparison configuration at the one transceiver so as to provide in substantially real-time a measurement of the time required to traverse the round trip path, and an angular position determination component configured and arranged so as to determine the angular position of the one transceiver with respect to other transceivers as a function of the distance measurements.
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39. A system for determining the delay between the transmission of a transmitted digital signal by a source transceiver to a destination transceiver and the reception of a return digital signal transmitted by the destination transceiver to the source transceiver in response to receiving the transmitted digital signal, the system comprising:
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the source and destination transceivers configured and arranged so as to define at least in part the round trip transmission path of the transmitted digital signal and the return digital signal;
the source transceiver including an oversampling component configured and arranged so as to oversample the return digital signal at an oversampling rate S so as to provide an oversampled return signal, wherein the oversampling rate S is a multiple of the clock rate of the transmitted digital signal;
a high speed comparison configuration configured and arranged so as to compare the transmitted digital signal to the oversampled return digital signal and generating at least two bytes of bits at the oversampled rate, one of the bytes corresponding to the differential time period during which the leading edge of the transmitted digital signal is transmitted and the leading edge of the return digital signal is received by the first transceiver, and the other of the bytes corresponding to the differential time period during which the trailing edge of the transmitted digital signal is transmitted and the trailing edge of the returned signal is received by the first transceiver; and
a value assignment component configured and arranged so as to assign a value to each of the bytes as a function of the arrangement of the bits of each of the bytes, wherein the sequence of the least significant bit to most significant bit of one byte is temporally reversed;
a delay determination component configured and arranged so as to determine the delay as a function of the assigned values of the two bytes. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification