Position locating rescue transceiver
First Claim
1. A radio comprising:
- receiver means responsive to GPS satellites for receiving therefrom information permitting said radio to determine local position information describing a location of said radio;
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 including said 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 and transceiver means and supporting said one or more antennas.
2 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.
134 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A radio comprising:
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receiver means responsive to GPS satellites for receiving therefrom information permitting said radio to determine local position information describing a location of said radio; 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 including said 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 and transceiver means and supporting said one or more antennas.
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2. A device comprising:
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a geolocation receiver for providing, from geolocation means, local position information describing a location of said device; a transceiver coupled to said geolocation receiver for sending a message including said local position information and one or more symbols indicative of user status to a communication system; input means for remotely receiving user status information from said transceiver; 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; a common housing containing said geolocation receiver, transceiver, input means and processor means and coupled to said at least one antenna; and said message including a user identification portion, a transceiver position data portion, a user status portion, and an error detection portion, wherein said user status portion carries multiple codewords.
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3. A portable transceiver comprising:
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a first radio receiver for receiving at least one signal from a geolocation satellite system and for generating location information describing a location of said portable transceiver using said at least one signal; a radio transmitter for use in delivering a distress message to a remote basestation via a satellite communications system when a user of said portable transceiver is in need of assistance, said distress message including said location information and a user status message; and a second radio receiver for receiving a communications signal from said remote basestation; wherein said user status message is selected from a plurality of predefined, fixed-length, alpha-numeric codewords. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A communicator comprising:
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a geolocation receiver for receiving information from at least one geolocation satellite, said information permitting said receiver to determine local position information describing a location of said communicator; a transceiver for communicating with at least one remote station via a transceiver satellite, said transceiver including a transmitter and a receiver, said transmitter for sending a burst signal including said local position information to said at least one remote station and said receiver for receiving an acknowledgment signal from said at least one remote station indicating that said burst signal has been received by said at least one remote station; one or more antennas coupled to said geolocation receiver and said transceiver; and a common hand-portable housing containing said geolocation receiver and said transceiver, said common hand-portable housing supporting said one or more antennas. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A communicator comprising:
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a geolocation receiver for providing, from geolocation satellite means, local position information describing a location of said communicator; a transceiver coupled to said geolocation receiver for sending a message including said local position information and user status information to a satellite communication system; input means for receiving user status information from a user of said communicator describing a present condition of said user; 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 said user status information to said transceiver for inclusion in said message; at least one antenna coupled to said geolocation receiver and said transceiver; and a common housing containing said geolocation receiver, transceiver, input means, and processor means, said common housing being coupled to said at least one antenna. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method for use during a search and rescue operation, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a distress signal from a satellite communications system, said distress signal originating from a ground based communicator and including location information describing a location of said ground based communicator; first transmitting, after said step of receiving, an acknowledgment signal to said communications satellite for delivery to said ground based communicator, said acknowledgment signal confirming receipt of said distress signal; and second transmitting, after said step of receiving, said location information to a rescue unit for use in locating a user of said ground based communicator. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification