Personal electronic device with a micro-impulse radar

• US 9,164,167 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Wood, JR., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): BYTHROW, PETER M
• Application Number:
  US14/656,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20150185315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 222 Days
• Field of Search: 342 52- 58, 342 89- 97, 342/175, 342/189, 342/197, 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/573.5, 340/573.7, 382/103, 382/115, 600/453, 600/454, 600/455, 600/457, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/414.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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:

at least one micro-impulse radar including;

a pulse generator configured to emit a pulse;

a receiver configured to receive return signal in response to an emitted pulse from the pulse generator;

a signal processor operatively coupled to the receiver and configured to receive a data signal from the receiver, the data signal corresponding to the received return signal, the signal processor being further configured to output micro-impulse radar data that includes information about spatial location of an object; and

a personal electronic device coupled to the at least one micro-impulse radar and configured to receive the micro-impulse radar data therefrom, including the information about spatial location of the object, the personal electronic device including a logic circuitry configured to perform one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data.

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 signal processor is 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 micro-impulse radar includes a monostatic micro-impulse radar.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the micro-impulse radar includes a bistatic micro-impulse radar.

14. 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.

15. The device of claim 14, further comprising:

a time synchronization transmission circuit configured to output probe pulse timing information to the second micro-impulse radar portion; and

a pulse data receiving circuit configured to receive data corresponding to received probe pulses from the second micro-impulse radar portion.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the first portion of the micro-impulse radar further comprises:

at least one output antenna operatively coupled to the pulse generator and configured to output probe pulses to the one or more regions.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the first micro-impulse radar portion further comprises:

at least one antenna configured to receive probe pulses from the one or more regions; and

at least one receiving circuit operatively coupled to the time synchronization receiving circuit and the at least one antenna, and configured to detect the probe pulses at a time synchronized with probe pulse output.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises a user interface, and the personal electronic device is configured to output user perceptible data corresponding to micro-impulse radar data from the micro-impulse radar.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the personal electronic device includes a display and the user perceptible data includes indicating the location of objects imaged by the micro-impulse radar in association with a map.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the user interface includes one or more of a haptic or audio output device.

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

22. 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.

23. The device of claim 22, 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.

24. The device of claim 18, wherein:

the user interface is operatively coupled to the logic circuitry; and

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.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the one or more interactions include a manual micro-impulse radar probe.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein the one or more interactions include one or more automatic interactions.

27. The device of claim 26, 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.

28. The device of claim 24, wherein the one or more interactions include selection of a micro-impulse probe direction or a subset of the one or more regions.

29. The device of claim 24, wherein the user commands include selection of one or more operation modes.

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

one or more second sensors.

31. The device of claim 30,

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.

32. The device of claim 30, wherein the personal electronic device further comprises:

a user interface operatively coupled to the logic circuitry; and

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.

33. The device of claim 30, 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.

34. The device of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is further configured to analyze the micro-impulse radar data to extract information corresponding to one or more of a heart rate of a person, breathing rate of a person, articles carried by a person, or tremor of all or part of a body of a person, wherein the personal electronic device includes a display, and wherein the personal electronic device is configured to display the spatial location of the object in association with a map.

35. A device, comprising:

at least one micro-impulse radar including;

a pulse generator configured to emit a pulse;

a receiver configured to receive return signal in response to an emitted pulse from the pulse generator;

a signal processor operatively coupled to the receiver and configured to receive a data signal from the receiver, the data signal corresponding to the received return signal, the processor being further configured to output micro-impulse radar data that includes information about spatial location of an object; and

a personal electronic device coupled to the at least one micro-impulse radar and configured to receive the micro-impulse radar data therefrom, including the information about spatial location of the object, the personal electronic device being configured to,

perform one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data; and

responsive to at least conditionally performing the one or more logic functions, analyze the micro-impulse radar data to extract information corresponding to one or more of a heart rate of a person, breathing rate of a person, articles carried by a person, or tremor of all or part of a body of a person,

wherein the personal electronic device includes a display; and

wherein the personal electronic device is configured to display the spatial location of the object in association with a map.

36. A device, comprising:

at least one micro-impulse radar including a first micro-impulse radar portion and a second micro-impulse radar portion, the at least one micro-impulse radar including;

a pulse generator configured to emit a pulse;

a receiver configured to receive return signal in response to an emitted pulse from the pulse generator;

a signal processor operatively coupled to the receiver and configured to receive a data signal from the receiver, the data signal corresponding to the received return signal, the processor being further configured to output micro-impulse radar data that includes information about spatial location of an object;

a personal electronic device coupled to the at least one micro-impulse radar and configured to receive the micro-impulse radar data therefrom, including the information about a spatial location of the object, the personal electronic device being configured to perform one or more logic functions responsive to the micro-impulse radar data; and

wherein the first micro-impulse radar portion is physically associated with the personal electronic device, and the second micro-impulse radar portion that is not physically associated with the personal electronic device.