SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING ITEMS AND PLACES
First Claim
1. A system for locating items and places, the system comprising:
- a. a base unit including a first transceiver and a first set of printed circuit antennas; and
b. a handheld unit including a second transceiver, a second set of printed circuit antennas, and a mechanism to calculate bearing to the base unit and to display the bearing on the handheld unit.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A locator includes a base unit and a handheld unit. The base unit, which is typically stationary, includes an FSK transceiver and printed circuit antennas. The handheld unit, which is typically mobile, also includes an FSK transceiver and printed circuit antennas. The handheld unit computes at least one bearing to the base unit over multiple frequencies and transmitting antennas, processes statistics of bearing results, determines a cyclic average of the bearing results, calculates an overall variance, assesses quality of a computed bearing result based on the overall variance, and upon assessing, either displays the computed bearing result or disqualifies the computed bearing. The handheld unit computes a height difference between the base unit and the handheld unit. The height difference is calculated using altimeters within the units. Alternatively, the height difference is calculated using GPS.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A system for locating items and places, the system comprising:
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a. a base unit including a first transceiver and a first set of printed circuit antennas; and b. a handheld unit including a second transceiver, a second set of printed circuit antennas, and a mechanism to calculate bearing to the base unit and to display the bearing on the handheld unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of using a locator, the method comprising:
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a. transmitting a first set of information from a first unit to a second unit by using a narrow band transmission protocol; b. receiving the first unit transmission at the second unit; c. transmitting a second set of information from the second unit to the first unit upon a first ID match; d. receiving the second unit transmission at the first unit; and e. presenting data at the first unit to a user upon a second ID match, the data comprising directional information to the second unit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of overcoming multipath effects, the method comprising:
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a. computing at least one bearing to a first unit over multiple frequencies and transmitting antennas; b. processing statistics of bearing results; c. determining a cyclic average of the bearing results; d. calculating an overall variance; e. assessing quality of a computed bearing result based on the overall variance; and f. upon assessing, either displaying the computed bearing result on a second unit or disqualifying the computed bearing. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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- 34. A handheld unit comprising an FSK transceiver, a set of printed circuit antennas, and a feedback module configured to provide directional information from the handheld unit to a reference point.
Specification