Portable device for determining horizontal and vertical positions and method for operating the same
First Claim
1. A portable device for determining horizontal and vertical positions, said device including a pressure sensor altimeter calibrated to a predetermined initial altitude, a GPS signal receiver arranged to receive signals originating from several satellites in order to calculate position data of the device, a processing unit receiving the position data from the receiver and an altitude value from the altimeter based on pressure measurements of the pressure sensor with respect to the predetermined altitude, and display means for the horizontal and vertical positions of the device processed and provided by the processing unit, said device being powered by a battery or accumulator of reduced size, wherein the processing unit sends, into a low power consuming micro-controller of the GPS receiver a signal corresponding to the altitude value of the calibrated altimeter to enable the calculating time of the micro-controller of the receiver to be reduced by reducing the number of iterations of the device position data calculating operations to prevent the limit cycle phenomenon.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The portable device (10) is used for determining horizontal and vertical positions. It includes a pressure sensor altimeter (15) calibrated to a predetermined initial altitude, a GPS signal receiver (12) arranged to receive, via an antenna (11), signals originating from several satellites (20) in order to calculate position data of the device, a processing unit (14) receiving the position data from the receiver (12) and an altitude value from the altimeter (15), and display means (16) for the horizontal and vertical positions of the device processed and provided by the processing unit. The processing unit sends the GPS receiver a signal corresponding to the altitude value of the calibrated altimeter to enable the receiver to determine, using the altitude value, the position data of the device. A memory (13) including cartographic data and associated with the GPS receiver (12) can provide the precise data to the processing unit (14) in particular for calibrating the altimeter.
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Citations
16 Claims
- 1. A portable device for determining horizontal and vertical positions, said device including a pressure sensor altimeter calibrated to a predetermined initial altitude, a GPS signal receiver arranged to receive signals originating from several satellites in order to calculate position data of the device, a processing unit receiving the position data from the receiver and an altitude value from the altimeter based on pressure measurements of the pressure sensor with respect to the predetermined altitude, and display means for the horizontal and vertical positions of the device processed and provided by the processing unit, said device being powered by a battery or accumulator of reduced size, wherein the processing unit sends, into a low power consuming micro-controller of the GPS receiver a signal corresponding to the altitude value of the calibrated altimeter to enable the calculating time of the micro-controller of the receiver to be reduced by reducing the number of iterations of the device position data calculating operations to prevent the limit cycle phenomenon.
Specification