Cordless Patents which I contributed to
A number of useful patents were developed by resolving real life problems in the cordless telephone industry. This is in addition to the industrial design patents which became routine as a result of changes in model appearances and styles; some of the ideas below are at times applicable to a number of different fields. See my other patents in the Satellite Radio Patents section.
Hereis a list of patents, with links to the USPTO site:
|
Title |
Abstract |
Comments on value |
| 6,363,146 March 26, 2002 Aranovich; Eugene Muth; Edwin A. |
Reset device | A reset device is disclosed which may be used in electrical devices such as portable telephones. The reset device includes a source, such as a rechargeable battery, which provides an input voltage and a threshold voltage. The reset device also has a comparator with a first input which receives the input voltage and a second input which receives the threshold voltage. A voltage changing device varies the threshold voltage in response to the output level of the comparator and a rate of increase of the input voltage. The voltage changing device includes a capacitor which delays an increase of the threshold voltage when the input voltage increases. Further, the voltage changing device includes a positive feedback resistor for increasing the threshold voltage when the output level increases. Thus, the positive feedback resistor allows switching the threshold voltage from a first threshold level to a second threshold level when the output level switches from a low level to a high level. The reset device further includes a regulator which regulates the input voltage to provide the threshold voltage. In addition, a switch is connected to an output of the comparator for providing a reset signal to a load. Illustratively, a controller receives the reset signal and resets the load, e.g., the portable phone. In response to the reset signal, the controller switches the portable phone between a dormant mode and an active mode. In addition, the controller allows trickle charging of the rechargeable battery in the dormant mode and rapid charging in the active mode. |
A battery charging scheme used for portable electronics, allowing the phone to remain dormant until the battery charges, and then compensating the charging current for the idle current of the phone. |
| 6,272,327 August 7, 2001 Kurchuk; Boris A Muth; Edwin A. |
High power wireless telephone with over-voltage protection. | A transceiver is disclosed for use in a wireless handset. The transceiver includes a switch for connecting an antenna, one at a time, to a receiver or to a transmitter. In a reception sub-frame, a limiting circuit switches the switch to an attenuated mode when an output signal of the receiver, such as a logarithmic RSSI signal, exceeds a predetermined value. The limiting circuit includes a comparator for comparing the logarithmic RSSI signal with the predetermined value. In addition, the limiting circuit also includes a transistor which shunts to ground a first control input of the switch when the RSSI signal exceeds the predetermined value. The limiting circuit further includes a shunt circuit to maintain the attenuated mode during a transmission sub-frame to reduce the level of a signal from the transmitter. The shunt circuit includes a trigger circuit for latching the output of the comparator to turn on another transistor which shunts to ground a second control input of the switch when the RSSI signal exceeds the predetermined value in the reception sub-frame, which is immediately prior to a current transmission sub-frame. | This was a very useful patent to reduce gain of a receiver to prevent overload into the adjacent receiver. With powers of one watt out of a transmitter, the receiver cannot deal with the overload and the communication between two devices in the near field ceases. This is the solution. |
| 6,259,417 July 10, 2001 Kim; Brian S., Muth; Edwin A Suprunov; Peter |
Collinear antenna for portable radio and methods for making same | An antenna for use with portable radio and telephone equipment includes a main radiator and a shield plate. One end of the shield plate is attached to the outer conductor of a coaxial cable abutting the shield plate. The main radiator is attached to the inner conductor of the coaxial cable a predetermined distance away from the shield plate. The main radiator and shield plate are mounted inside an antenna housing. The shield plate includes a head section having a pair of deformable tabs forming a positioning clip for holding the outer conductor of the coaxial cable. The inner conductor of the coaxial cable extends beyond the positioning clip for attachment to the main radiator. |
The best antenna for a cordless phone, or a WiFi router, is a coaxial antenna I found it has the least variability in radiation pattern relative to other solutions when placed in an inconsistent environment. |
| 6,111,389 August 29, 2000 Aranovich; Gene Nall; David C. Spinelli; Claudio Muth; Edwin A. |
Rapidly charging a battery without overcharging | In the rapid charging of a Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) battery, the rapid charging is terminated and trickle charging is initiated when any of three conditions is satisfied: a first condition determined by comparing a sensed instantaneous battery voltage with a target voltage; a second condition which is determined by comparing the instantaneous battery temperature with minimum and maximum values; and a third condition determined by comparing an elapsed time of rapid charging with a maximum value. Because battery voltage versus rapid charging time is a function of ambient temperature, the target voltage is determined from an initial measurement of battery temperature, which is assumed to equal the ambient temperature. The target voltage, which is approximately a linearly declining function of ambient temperature, is determined by reading a stored lookup table using the sensed temperature as an index or address. | We were surprised that such a fundamental patent was awarded, but the state machine, programmable approach had apparently not been addressed prior. |
| 5,388,149 February 7, 1995 Lynn; Dale E Muth; Edwin A |
Method and apparatus for determining availability of a public base unit for communicating with a cordless telephone in a public cordless telephone system |
A public cordless telephone system includes an arrangement for informing a public handset unit when it is within the reception range of a public base unit even though all communication channels are then occupied or all public base units in the reception area are then busy communicating with other handset units. In operation, each public base unit while communicating with any public handset unit inserts in the communication channel it is then occupying spectrum energy such as is provided either by a pilot signal or a frequency shift keying (FSK) signal. By providing this additional spectrum energy along with normal voice signal energy in the communication channel, a public handset unit while searching for an available channel and interrogating this channel will be able to determine, even though the channel is occupied, that there is a public base unit within its reception range. If no available communication channel is found and a signal from one or more public base units is detected, the handset unit generates a first alerting signal for its user thereby informing the user of the one or more public base units in the area even though a telephone call may not be initiated due to all of the communication channels then being occupied. If an available communication channel is found, an attempt to establish communication with a public base unit is initiated by the handset unit over this available channel. If no response is received from a public base unit and if a signal from one or more public base units is detected, the handset unit generates a second alerting signal which thereby informs the user of the one or more public base units in the area even though a telephone call may not be initiated due to all of these public base units then being busy. |
Cordless Telephone Public Service was to be a CT-2 Deployment. In the heyday of cordless, we envisioned a number of base stations in the field which replaced the payphones. We quickly concluded, after initiial experiements and prototypes field trials, that the cell phone service would make this concept a dud. Hindsight makes this completely obvious, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. THree marketing people, and the payphone business in Bell Atlantic, all bought into the concept. The rest of the wireless story is history. |
| 5,386,457 January 31, 1995 Cotsonas; George PKasiske; Kenneth Lynn; Dale E. Muth; Edwin A |
Method and apparatus for resolving contention between multiple base units during a call setup in a public cordless telephone system |
A cordless telephone public base unit employed in a public telephone system in close proximity with other public base units effectively avoids contention with these other base units for access to a cordless telephone handset unit generating a service request. Contention between the public base unit and the other public base units is resolved by assigning a specific one of a plurality of times during which the base unit may respond to the service request from the handset unit. The time in which the base unit responds to the service request may advantageously be determined by a randomly generated number, the received signal strength of the service request or a combination of these two parameters. Once access to the handset unit is acquired by a base unit and communications between these two units is established on a communications channel, all other handset units and base units are prevented from interfering with the communications between these two units. |
Public Cordless Again. |
| 5,371,782 December 6, 1994 Casey, III; William J Cotsonas; George P Lynn; Dale E Muth; Edwin A |
Method and apparatus for selecting a preferred service provider during a call setup in a public cordless telephone system | In a public cordless telephone system, a cordless telephone handset unit requests and establishes a communications link with a public base unit served by a desired local service provider whenever possible. By generating a service request containing a specific carrier request code, the handset unit selectively identifies an available public base unit served by the desired local service provider and then establishes a communications link with this base unit. In response to receiving the service request from the handset unit, all public base units operated by the chosen service provider respond by providing a first acknowledgment signal. All other public base units respond by providing a second acknowledgment signal. When both such signals are received, the handset unit responds only to the first acknowledgment signal and establishes a communications link with the first base unit providing this signal. When only the second acknowledgment signal is received, the handset unit responds by establishing a communications link with the first base unit providing this second acknowledgment signal. When communications is established with a base unit providing the second acknowledgment signal, an alerting signal is generated at the handset unit thereby informing the user that even though he or she is able to make a telephone call, the desired local service provider was not reached. Collision avoidance between public base units while supporting this operation may be provided by assigning a specific one of a plurality of times during which each public base unit may respond to the service request from the handset unit. | Public Cordless Again |