Personal electronic device with a micro-impulse radar

• US 20120274502A1
• Filed: 04/29/2011
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,000,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/175
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/0209 Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/50 Systems of measurement based on relative movement of target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/56 for presence detection presence detection using near field arrangements G01V3/00, e.g. G01V3/08, G01V3/12; burglar, theft or intruder alarms with electrical actuation G08B13/22 - G08B13/26
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/887 for detection of concealed objects, e.g. contraband or weapons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/412 based on a comparison between measured values and known or stored values

Abstract

A personal electronic device such as a smart phone can include a micro-impulse radar (MIR).

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a personal electronic device; and

at least one micro-impulse radar operatively coupled to the personal electronic device and configured to probe one or more regions near the personal electronic device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device includes a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a pager, or a tablet computer.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the micro-impulse radar is operatively coupled to the personal electronic device via an exposed interface.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the exposed interface includes a USB interface, a SIM card interface, a WiFi interface, a BlueTooth interface, a ZigBee interface, an infrared interface, or a proprietary interface.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the micro-impulse radar is located inside the personal electronic device.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device includes at least one circuit board;

and

wherein at least a portion of the micro-impulse radar is integrated with the at least one circuit board.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the micro-impulse radar includes one or more antennas configured as electrical traces on the at least one circuit board.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the micro-impulse radar includes a pulse generator and a range delay embodied as operations of a microcontroller or microprocessor on the at least one circuit board.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the micro-impulse radar includes at least one receiver embodied as one or more capture-and-hold capacitors on the at least one circuit board operatively coupled to one or more antennas.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the one or more capture-and-hold capacitors are integrated into a microcontroller or microprocessor on the at least one circuit board.

11. The device of claim 6, wherein the micro-impulse radar includes a signal processor embodied as software or firmware running on a microcontroller or microprocessor on the at least one circuit board.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device includes at least one component of the micro-impulse radar.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the personal electronic device includes at least one component of a monostatic micro-impulse radar.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the personal electronic device includes at least one component of a bistatic micro-impulse radar.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one micro-impulse radar further comprises:

a first micro-impulse radar portion physically associated with the personal electronic device; and

a second micro-impulse radar portion that is not physically associated with the personal electronic device.

24. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises a user interface.

27. The device of claim 24, wherein the user interface includes a display.

28. The device of claim 24, wherein the user interface includes one or more of a haptic or audio output device.

32. The device of claim 1, wherein the entire micro-impulse radar is located inside the personal electronic device.

33. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

a network communication interface configured to output micro-impulse radar data to a network resource.

34. The device of claim 33, wherein the network communication interface is further configured to receive data from the network resource, wherein the data is determined responsive to micro-impulse radar data from the micro-impulse radar.

35. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises logic circuitry operatively coupled to the micro-impulse radar and configured to analyze micro-impulse radar data from the micro-impulse radar.

36. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

logic circuitry operatively coupled to the micro-impulse radar; and

a user interface operatively coupled to the logic circuitry;

wherein the logic circuitry is configured to receive, from the user interface, user commands corresponding to one or more interactions between the micro-impulse radar and the logic circuitry.

42. The device of claim 36, wherein the user commands include selection of one or more operation modes.

43. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

one or more second sensors.

44. The device of claim 43, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

logic circuitry operatively coupled to the micro-impulse radar and the one or more second sensors;

wherein the logic circuitry is configured to select one or more operating parameters for the personal electronic device responsive to data or signals from the one or more second sensors and data from the micro-impulse radar.

45. The device of claim 43, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

logic circuitry operatively coupled to the micro-impulse radar and the one or more second sensors; and

a user interface operatively coupled to the logic circuitry;

wherein the logic circuitry is configured to output data via the user interface responsive to data or signals from the one or more second sensors and data from the micro-impulse radar.

46. The device of claim 43, wherein the one or more second sensors includes one or more of a microphone, a camera, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a magnetic field sensor, an electronic compass, a gyroscope, a gravitational field sensor, a global positioning system receiver, a capacitive sensor, a microswitch, a light sensor, an infrared sensor, a radio frequency sensor, a millimeter wave sensor, or a vibration sensor.

13. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

18-23. -23. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

29-31. -31. (canceled)

37-41. -41. (canceled)

47. A method, comprising:

operating a micro-impulse radar operatively coupled to a personal electronic device to produce micro-impulse radar data; and

at least conditionally performing one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein operating the personal electronic device includes operating a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a pager, or a tablet computer.

49. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

transmitting the micro-impulse radar data to the personal electronic device via an exposed interface.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the exposed interface includes a USB interface, a SIM card interface, a WiFi interface, a BlueTooth interface, a ZigBee interface, an infrared interface, or a proprietary interface.

51. The method of claim 47, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar includes operating at least a portion of the micro-impulse radar located inside the personal electronic device.

52. The method of claim 47, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar includes operating a micro-impulse radar that is integrated with at least one circuit board in the personal electronic device.

53. The method of claim 47, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar includes probing one or more regions located peripheral to the personal electronic device.

54. The method of claim 47, wherein the personal electronic device includes at least one component of the micro-impulse radar.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar includes operating at least one component of a monostatic micro-impulse radar included in the personal electronic device.

58. The method of claim 54, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar includes operating at least one component of a bistatic micro-impulse radar included in the personal electronic device.

66. The method of claim 58, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar further comprises:

generating one or more pulses;

outputting the one or more probe pulses to the at least one region;

receiving the probe pulses; and

detecting the probe pulses at times corresponding to the probe pulse generation and output.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar further comprises:

performing signal processing on the detected probe pulses to extract the micro-impulse data.

68. The method of claim 67, further comprising:

analyzing the micro-impulse radar data to extract information corresponding to the one or more logic functions.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the micro-impulse radar data includes information related to one or more of range, strength-of-response, direction, spectral characteristics, polarization, or Doppler characteristics.

70. The method of claim 68, wherein the information corresponding to the one or more logic functions includes one or more of body size, body mass, height, body shape, posture, body permittivity, carried articles, detectable body ornamentation, a characteristic movement, a heart rate, an intracyclic heartbeat characteristic, breathing rate, a rate or magnitude of inhalation, a rate or magnitude of exhalation, a tremor of all or part of a body, an intracyclic breathing characteristic, a location of a user relative to the personal electronic device, a location of a plurality of persons relative to the personal electronic device, a position of the user relative to one or more regions peripheral to the personal electronic device, a position of a plurality of persons relative to one or more regions peripheral to the personal electronic device, a speed of the personal electronic device, a location of a motor vehicle operating position relative to the personal electronic device, or a location of the motor vehicle operating position relative to the user.

71. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

receiving user input via a user interface of the personal electronic device.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein receiving user input includes receiving a command to operate the micro-impulse radar.

73. The method of claim 71, wherein receiving user input includes receiving a selection of one or more operating parameters of the micro-impulse radar or of one or more responses of the personal electronic device to micro-impulse radar data.

74. The method of claim 73, wherein the one or more responses include one or more automatic interactions with the micro-impulse radar.

75. The method of claim 74, wherein the one or more automatic interactions include one or more of a schedule of probes, coupling to a computer program-driven control, or coupling to received external commands.

78. The method of claim 71, wherein receiving the one or more user commands include receiving selection of one or more operation modes.

79. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

outputting data or information corresponding to the micro-impulse radar data to a user via a user interface.

85. The method of claim 47, wherein at least conditionally performing one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data includes analyzing the micro-impulse radar data from the micro-impulse radar.

87. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

transmitting data corresponding to the micro-impulse radar data to a remote resource; and

receiving, from the remote resource, one or more personal electronic device operating parameters or data for output to the user.

88. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

operating one or more second sensors to receive second sensor data or signals.

89. The method of claim 88, wherein at least conditionally performing one or more logic functions includes selecting one or more operating parameters for the personal electronic device responsive to the second sensor data or signals and from the micro-impulse radar data.

91. The method of claim 88, wherein operating the micro-impulse radar is performed responsive to the second sensor data or signal.

92. The method of claim 88, wherein operating the one or more second sensors is performed responsive to the micro-impulse radar data.

93. The method of claim 88, wherein the one or more second sensors includes one or more of a microphone, a camera, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a magnetic field sensor, an electronic compass, a gyroscope, a gravitational field sensor, a global positioning system receiver, a capacitive sensor, a microswitch, a light sensor, an infrared sensor, a radio frequency sensor, a millimeter wave sensor, or a vibration sensor.

55. (canceled)

56. (canceled)

59-65. -65. (canceled)

76. (canceled)

77. (canceled)

80-84. -84. (canceled)

86. (canceled)

90. (canceled)

94. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying computer instructions configured to cause a personal electronic device to execute steps comprising:

operating a micro-impulse radar operatively coupled to a personal electronic device to produce micro-impulse radar data; and

at least conditionally performing one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data.

95-140. -140. (canceled)

141. A method, comprising:

performing one or more logic functions; and

responsive to results of the one or more logic functions, operating a micro-impulse radar operatively coupled to a personal electronic device to produce micro-impulse radar data.

142-228. -228. (canceled)