Radar integration with handheld electronic devices

• US 9,945,934 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2015
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Corcos, Dan, Elad, Danny
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US14/641,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20150226837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• Field of Search: 342 43
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/02 Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/34 using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/0245 Radar with phased array antenna
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/027 Constructional details of housings, e.g. form, type, material or ruggedness
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/35 Details of non-pulse systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4056 specially adapted to FMCW
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/065 Patch antenna array
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/34 by electrical means active lenses or reflecting arrays H01Q3/46

Abstract

A device comprising: a housing mountable on a back surface of a handheld electronic device; a radar coupled with the housing, the radar comprising: (a) a receiver unit comprising at least one receiving antenna element; (b) a transmitter unit comprising at least one transmitting antenna element; an integrated circuit (IC) module; and an interface unit configured to operatively couple the radar with the handheld electronic device.

Claims

1. A handheld electronic device comprising an image sensor, a screen, and a step frequency radar, the step frequency radar comprising:

a receiver unit comprising at least one receiving antenna element;

a transmitter unit comprising at least one transmitting antenna element; and

an integrated circuit (IC) module,

wherein the handheld electronic device is configured to;

display one or more images generated by said image sensor on said screen,

receive a user selection of a desired beam direction of said step frequency radar,

steer the beam of said step frequency radar in accordance with the user selection, by communicating with said IC module of the step frequency radar.

2. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one receiving antenna element is a plurality of receiving antenna elements, and the at least one transmitting antenna element comprises a plurality of transmitting antenna elements, and wherein:

the plurality of transmitting antenna elements is arranged in an array facing at least a first portion of a back surface of the handheld electronic device; and

the plurality of receiving antenna elements is arranged in an array facing at least a second portion of the back surface of the handheld electronic device.

3. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the step frequency radar is configured to measure at least one variable selected from the group consisting of:

distance, speed and acceleration of a target object with respect to the handheld electronic device.

4. The handheld electronic device of claim 3, wherein said handheld electronic device is further configured to:

display the target object in said one or more images, and

instruct the step frequency radar to measure the at least one variable based on the user selection, wherein the user selection is associated with the target object.

5. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the step frequency radar is a phased array step frequency radar.

6. The handheld electronic device of claim 5, wherein a reference object is measured by the phased array step frequency radar and the data obtained by the measurement is compared to data provided by a user, and wherein the phased array step frequency radar is calibrated based on the comparison.

7. The handheld electronic device of claim 5, wherein the handheld electronic device further comprises one or more switches configured to emulate reception of a signal by each of said plurality of receiving antenna elements, and wherein a calibration of the phased array step frequency radar is performed based on sampling of the received signal with respect to each of said plurality of receiving antenna elements.