Position locating rescue transceiver
First Claim
1. A transceiver, said transceiver being a portable radio transceiver, said transceiver comprising:
- first radio receiver and a second radio receiver, a radio transmitter and an antenna supported by a common housing, wherein said first radio receiver receives first signals from a first geolocation means for determining location information and high accuracy clocking information, wherein said location information describes a location of said transceiver;
clock means, supported by said common housing and coupled to said first radio receiver, said clock means for providing timing and frequency control signals, said clock means slaved to said high accuracy clocking information;
message encryption means, supported by said common housing and coupled to said first radio receiver, for encrypting said location information using an alterable private encryption key to provide an encrypted transceiver location information prior to transmission to a communication system, wherein said radio transmitter is coupled to said antenna and said message encryption means and receives timing and frequency control signals from said clock means, said radio transmitter for sending another signal containing said encrypted transceiver location information to said communication system, and wherein said second radio receiver receives second signals from said communication system.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A secure, portable position locating radio has a geolocation receiver providing local position and timing information from geolocation means (e.g. GPS satellites) and a local transceiver for sending local position information to a communication system (e.g., an airborne or orbiting transceiver). A crypto unit is provided between the receiver and local transceiver for encrypting the local position information prior to transmission. A data processor coupled to the local transceiver, receiver and crypto unit controls operation of the device, including storing local position information and separating signals broadcast by the communication system into those intended or not intended for the device. An external interface and display and a real-time clock (e.g., slaved to the GPS receiver) are also coupled to the data processor. Encryption keys and message abbreviation codes are conveniently loaded into the device from a demountable accessory unit at the interface, and stored therein.
156 Citations
58 Claims
-
1. A transceiver, said transceiver being a portable radio transceiver, said transceiver comprising:
-
first radio receiver and a second radio receiver, a radio transmitter and an antenna supported by a common housing, wherein said first radio receiver receives first signals from a first geolocation means for determining location information and high accuracy clocking information, wherein said location information describes a location of said transceiver; clock means, supported by said common housing and coupled to said first radio receiver, said clock means for providing timing and frequency control signals, said clock means slaved to said high accuracy clocking information; message encryption means, supported by said common housing and coupled to said first radio receiver, for encrypting said location information using an alterable private encryption key to provide an encrypted transceiver location information prior to transmission to a communication system, wherein said radio transmitter is coupled to said antenna and said message encryption means and receives timing and frequency control signals from said clock means, said radio transmitter for sending another signal containing said encrypted transceiver location information to said communication system, and wherein said second radio receiver receives second signals from said communication system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A radio, said radio being a hand-portable radio and comprising:
-
receiver means responsive to GPS satellites for receiving therefrom information permitting said hand-portable radio to determine (i) local position information describing a location of said radio and (ii) an accurate frequency or time or both; encryption means for encrypting said local position information prior to transmission to a remote station, using an alterable secret key stored within said radio, to provide encrypted local position information; transceiver means for communicating with at least one remote station via a transceiver satellite, by sending a burst signal of less than one second duration containing said encrypted local position information to said at least one remote station via said transceiver satellite and receiving therefrom an acknowledgment that said local position information has been received from said at least one remote station; one or more antennas coupled to said receiver means and said transceiver means; and a common hand-portable housing containing said receiver means, encryption means, and transceiver means and supporting said one or more antennas. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A device, said device being a secure hand-portable position locating radio communication device and comprising:
-
a geolocation receiver for providing, from geolocation means, local position information describing a location of said radio; an encryption means coupled to said geolocation receiver for encrypting said local position information using an alterable secret key stored in said radio to provide encrypted local position information; a transceiver coupled to said encryption means for sending a message containing said encrypted local position information and one or more symbols indicative of user status to a communication system; input means for receiving user status information; processor means coupled to said input means and said transceiver, said processor means for receiving said user status information from said input means and providing to said transceiver means for inclusion in said message, said one or more symbols which correspond to said user status information; at least one antenna coupled to said geolocation receiver and said transceiver; and a common housing containing said geolocation receiver, encryption means, transceiver, input means and processor means and coupled to said at least one antenna. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A radio, said radio being a position locating radio and comprising:
-
a receiver for providing local position information and high accuracy time or frequency information; a clock coupled to said receiver and and! having an output corrected by said high accuracy time or frequency information from said receiver; a transceiver for communicating with at least one remote station through a communication system, said transceiver coupled to said clock and receiving high accuracy clocking signals therefrom; input means for receiving from a user of said radio, user status information describing a status of said user; processing means coupled to said transceiver and said input means, said processing means for receiving said user status information from said input means, selecting one or more symbols having a predetermined meaning most closely corresponding to said user status information from a predetermined list, and providing said selected symbols to said transceiver; encryption means employing an enciphering algorithm and an alterable secret enciphering key stored in said radio, said encryption means coupled to said receiver and transceiver, for enciphering said local position information prior to transmission by said transceiver to said at least one remote station to provide enciphered local position information; and wherein said receiver, clock, transceiver, input means, processing means and encryption means are carried by a common man-portable housing supporting one or more antennas coupled to said receiver and said transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
-
21. A transceiver comprising:
-
a first radio receiver for receiving first signals from a first geolocation means for determining therefrom transceiver location information and high accuracy time and frequency information; a clock circuit coupled to said first radio receiver, said clock circuit for providing timing and frequency control signals, said clock circuit slaved to said high accuracy time and frequency information from said first radio receiver; private key encryption means coupled to said first radio receiver for encrypting said transceiver location information using an alterable private encryption key to provide encrypted transceiver location information prior to transmission to a communication system; a transmitter coupled to said private key encryption means and said clock circuit, said transmitter sending another signal containing said encrypted transceiver location information to said communication system in a manner determined at least in part by said high accuracy time and frequency information; and a second radio receiver for receiving second signals from said communication system, wherein said first and second radio receivers, said transmitter, said private key encryption means and said clock circuit are located in a common hand-holdable housing and coupled to one or more antennas supported by said common hand-holdable housing. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
-
28. A radio, said radio being hand-portable and comprising:
-
receiver means responsive to GPS satellites for receiving therefrom information permitting said hand-portable radio to determine its local position and an accurate time and providing local position information; private key encryption means for encrypting said local position information to provide encrypted local position information prior to transmission to a remote station; transceiver means for communicating with at least one remote station via a transceiver satellite, by sending a burst signal of less than about one second duration containing said encrypted local position information to said at least one remote station via said transceiver satellite and receiving therefrom an acknowledgment that said encrypted local position information has been received from said at least one remote station; an antenna coupled to said transceiver; and a hand-portable common housing containing said receiver means, private key encryption means and transceiver means and from which said antenna extends. - View Dependent Claims (29)
-
-
30. A radio, said radio being a position locating radio and comprising:
-
a receiver for providing local position information and high accuracy frequency or time information, said local position information describing a location of said position locating radio; a clock coupled to said receiver and slaved to said high accuracy frequency or time information; a transceiver for communicating with at least one remote station through a communication system, said transceiver coupled to said clock and receiving high accuracy clocking signals therefrom; input means for receiving from a user of said radio, user status information; processing means coupled to said transceiver and said input means, said processing means for receiving said user status information from said input means, selecting one or more symbols having a predetermined meaning most closely corresponding to said user status information from a predetermined list, and providing selected symbols to said transceiver; encryption means employing an enciphering algorithm and an alterable enciphering key, said encryption means coupled to said receiver and said transceiver, for enciphering said local position information prior to transmission by said transceiver to said remote station; one or more antennas electrically coupled to said transceiver and receiver; and a hand-holdable common housing supporting said encryption means, said processing means, said input means, said transceiver, said clock, said receiver and said one or more antennas.
-
-
31. A radio, said radio being a portable rescue radio having therein identifying data, said radio comprising:
-
a receiver for determining local position information describing a location of said radio; an encryptor coupled to said receiver for encrypting using an alterable private key, said local position information received by said receiver to provide encrypted local position information; a memory for storing a radio identifier and a unique word; and a transceiver coupled to said encryptor and said memory, said transceiver for transmitting a burst signal to a monitoring system, wherein said burst signal contains said radio identifier, said encrypted local position information and said unique word, wherein one or both of said radio identifier and said encrypted local position information precede said unique word in said burst signal. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
-
-
46. A radio, said radio being a hand-held rescue radio and comprising:
-
a memory for storing a radio identifier, an alterable encryption key and one or more predetermined user selectable messages; a receiver for determining from multiple geolocation satellites local position information describing a location of said radio and time data; an encryptor coupled to said receiver and said memory for encrypting said local position information, said radio identifier and any user selected messages, using said stored alterable encryption key; and a transceiver coupled to said encryptor, said receiver and said memory, for transmitting a burst signal to a monitoring system, wherein said burst signal contains in encrypted form (a) said radio identifier, (b) said local position information and (c) a user selected message, and in un-encrypted form, a unique word. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. A method of operating a rescue radio system comprising a hand-held transceiver and a base station transceiver with a communication channel therebetween, comprising:
-
operating said hand-held transceiver to determine local position information of the! describing a position of said hand-held transceiver from geolocation signals received from a remote transmitter; operating said hand-held transceiver to determine a transmission interval when said base station transceiver is likely to be listening for a signal from said hand-held transceiver; operating said hand-held transceiver to encrypt said local position information and send a burst signal to said base station transceiver through said communication channel, wherein said burst signal contains at least a transceiver identifier, a unique word and encrypted local radio position information; and operating said base station transceiver to receive said burst signal, temporarily store information contained in said burst signal, recognize said unique word, thereafter recall said temporarily stored information, and then decrypt said encrypted local position information contained therein. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
-
Specification