Navigation wristwear

• US 5,781,155 A
• Filed: 04/08/1997
• Issued: 07/14/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft (Sanofi )
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Woo, Arthur N., Mura-Smith, Kiyoko M., Janky, Gregory T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, DAO LINDA
• Application Number:
  US08/833,680
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• Field of Search: 342/352, 342/356, 342/357, 455/12.1
• US Class Current: 342/357.57
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/36 relating to the receiver frond end
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/04 using radio waves radio-controlled time-pieces G04R
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 20/02 the radio signal being sent by a satellite, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 20/08 the radio signal being broadcast from a long-wave call sign, e.g. DCF77, JJY40, JJY60, MSF60 or WWVB
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 20/14 the radio signal being a telecommunication standard signal, e.g. GSM
• CPC Class Codes: G04R 60/06 Antennas attached to or integrated in clock or watch bodies
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/273 Adaptation for carrying or wearing by persons or animals
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 23/00 Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them

Abstract

A navigation wristwear device comprises a GPS receiver fully disposed in a wrist watch type housing. A transparent microwave patch antenna is patterned of indium-tin-oxide on sapphire in front of an LCD time, position and velocity display. A bezel provides a protective window. A low-noise amplifier, downconversion, code processing and navigation processing are all provided on a single integrated circuit. Photovoltaic solar cells to each side of the LCD help keep a battery charged.

Claims

1. A navigation wristwear device, comprising a wrist watch type housing comprising a navigation processor configured to receive corrected ranging and timing information and to compute position information from said received corrected ranging and timing information, said housing further comprising a display that displays the position information.

2. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said device is configured to receive corrected ranging and timing information from an external antenna/processor configured to receive positioning signals, generate corrected ranging and timing information, and broadcast the corrected ranging and timing information for receipt by the device.

3. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the device is one of a plurality of devices configured to receive the corrected ranging and timing information broadcasted by the external antenna/processor.

4. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said device further comprises radio receiver circuitry configured to receive the corrected ranging and timing information via radio signals and to provide the corrected ranging and timing information to the processor.

5. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an antenna disposed within the wrist watch housing, said antenna configured to receive positioning signals and logic configured to generate corrected ranging and timing information and to provide the corrected ranging and timing information to the processor.

6. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 5, wherein said logic comprises code executed by the processor.

7. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an output port configured to output position information to an external device for storage.

8. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an output port configured to output position information to a computer system.

9. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further configured to generate time information from the corrected ranging and timing information.

10. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 9, wherein said display displays said timing information.

11. The navigation wristwear device as set forth in claim 9, wherein said timing information comprises a local time.

15. The method as set forth in claim 11, further comprising the step of outputting the position information to an external device.

16. The method as set forth in claim 11, further comprising the step of generating time information from said corrected ranging and timing information.

17. The method as set forth in claim 16, further comprising the step of displaying said time information on the display.

12. A method for providing position information using a wristwear device, comprising the steps of:

providing a wrist watch type of housing comprising a display on a face of the housing;

receiving corrected ranging and timing information;

determining position information from said corrected ranging and timing information; and

displaying the position information on the display.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving positioning signals using an antenna;

generating the corrected ranging and timing information; and

transmitting the corrected ranging and timing information to the wristwear device for determining position information and displaying the position information on the display.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising receiving positioning signals using an antenna disposed on the wrist watch housing;

and

generating the corrected ranging and timing information for determining position information and displaying the position information on the display.