Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090162975 | Method of forming a wafer level package - A method is provided for forming a microelectronic package at a wafer level. Such method can include providing a semiconductor wafer having a surface with a pattern of electrical contacts thereon. An interposer component can be provided which has a compliant dielectric layer bonded to a conductive layer. A pattern of holes can be formed through the compliant dielectric layer and the conductive layer which corresponds to the pattern of electrical contacts. The compliant dielectric layer can be contacted with the semiconductor wafer surface so that the pattern of holes is in an aligned position with the pattern of contacts and the compliant dielectric layer and the semiconductor wafer surface then bonded in the aligned position to unite the semiconductor wafer and the interposer component to form a wafer level semiconductor package. The wafer level semiconductor package can be diced to form individual semiconductor chip packages. | 06-25-2009 |
20100230812 | Microelectronic Assemblies Having Compliancy and Methods Therefor - A microelectronic assembly is disclosed that includes a semiconductor wafer with contacts, compliant bumps of dielectric material overlying the first surface of the semiconductor wafer, and a dielectric layer overlying the first surface of the semiconductor wafer and edges of the compliant bumps. The compliant bumps have planar top surfaces which are accessible through the dielectric layer. Conductive traces may be electrically connected with contacts and extend therefrom to overlie the planar top surfaces of the compliant bumps. Conductive elements may overlie the planar top surfaces in contact with the conductive traces. | 09-16-2010 |
20110265832 | ELECTRODE CONDITIONING IN AN ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC FLUID ACCELERATOR DEVICE - Conditioning an electrode is performed with a cleaning device for removing detrimental material from forming electrode surfaces of an electrohydrodynamic device or other ion flow generating device. A conditioning material is deposited on the electrode to at least partially mitigate erosion, corrosion, oxidations, dendrite formation on the electrode or ozone production. The conditioning material can be deposited by a wearable portion of one or more cleaning blocks or wipers. The cleaning blocks may have a composition selected to be hard enough to remove detrimental material under a selected pressure, while soft enough to be wearable to deposit a conditioning layer on the electrode surface. The conditioning material can be applied as a solid or liquid. The applied conditioning material can include at least one of silver, palladium, platinum, manganese, nickel, zirconium, titanium, tungsten, aluminum, oxides or alloys thereof, carbon, and organometallic materials that decompose under plasma conditions. | 11-03-2011 |
20110308773 | GRANULAR ABRASIVE CLEANING OF AN EMITTER WIRE - An apparatus for cleaning an emitter electrode in electrohydrodynamic fluid accelerator and precipitator devices via movement of a cleaning device including granular abrasives positioned to frictionally engage the emitter electrode. The cleaning device causes the granular abrasives to travel along a longitudinal extent of the emitter electrode to remove detrimental material accumulated on the electrode. The granular abrasives can be retained in housing, on opposed cleaning surfaces, and can be compressed by the housing or an applied force to abrade detrimental material from the electrode surface. | 12-22-2011 |
20120000486 | EMITTER WIRE CLEANING DEVICE WITH WEAR-TOLERANT PROFILE - An apparatus for cleaning an emitter electrode in electrohydrodynamic fluid accelerator and precipitator devices via movement of a cleaning device including complementary contoured cleaning surfaces positioned to frictionally engage and elastically deform the emitter electrode. The opposing cleaning surfaces laterally distort an otherwise linear longitudinal extent of the electrode under tension. The opposing cleaning surfaces are subject to wear, but maintain frictional engagement despite wear depths that exceed a radius of the electrode due at least in part to the at least partially complementary surface contours engaging the electrode under tension. The cleaning device causes respective cleaning surfaces to travel along a longitudinal extent of the emitter electrode to remove detrimental material and optionally to condition the electrode to at least partially mitigate ozone, erosion, corrosion, oxidation, or dendrite formation on the electrode. | 01-05-2012 |
20120091582 | MICROELECTRONIC ASSEMBLIES HAVING COMPLIANCY AND METHODS THEREFOR - A microelectronic assembly is disclosed that includes a semiconductor wafer with contacts, compliant bumps of dielectric material overlying the first surface of the semiconductor wafer, and a dielectric layer overlying the first surface of the semiconductor wafer and edges of the compliant bumps. The compliant bumps have planar top surfaces which are accessible through the dielectric layer. Conductive traces may be electrically connected with contacts and extend therefrom to overlie the planar top surfaces of the compliant bumps. Conductive elements may overlie the planar top surfaces in contact with the conductive traces. | 04-19-2012 |
20120103568 | Layered Emitter Coating Structure for Crack Resistance with PDAG Coatings - A thermal management apparatus includes an electrohydrodynamic fluid accelerator in which an emitter electrode and another electrode are energizable to motivate fluid flow. The emitter electrode is a layered structure including an electrode core material and an outermost coating that is susceptible to micro-cracking or corona erosion. A barrier material is provided in a sublayer to protect the underlying electrode core material. An adhesion promoting layer may be used between the barrier material and the electrode core material or between other layers of the structure. solid solution. A method of making an EHD product includes positioning the layered electrode relative to another electrode to motivate fluid flow when energized. | 05-03-2012 |
20120113590 | ELECTRONIC SYSTEM WITH EHD AIR MOVER VENTILATION PATH ISOLATED FROM INTERNAL AIR PLENUM - An electronic system including an enclosure and an internal air plenum within the enclosure. At least one component of the electronic system within the enclosure evolves heat and has a surface exposed to the internal air plenum. The enclosure has inlet and outlet ventilation boundaries together with an EHD air mover disposed therein to motivate airflow along a flow path between the inlet and outlet ventilation boundaries, wherein the flow path is substantially excluded from the internal air plenum by a barrier. | 05-10-2012 |
20120126407 | WAFER LEVEL CHIP PACKAGE AND A METHOD OF FABRICATING THEREOF - Wafer level chip packages including risers having sloped sidewalls and methods of fabricating such chip packages are disclosed. The inventive wafer level chip packages may advantageously be used in various microelectronic assemblies. | 05-24-2012 |
20130021715 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IN-SITU CONDITIONING OF EMITTER ELECTRODE WITH SILVER - Cleaning and/or conditioning electrode surfaces can provide significant performance and operational benefits in EHD devices. In particular, conditioning of emitter electrode surfaces with silver (Ag), silver compositions or silver preparations applied in situ at successive times throughout the operating lifetime of an EHD air mover has been found to significantly reduce ozone production. Structures and techniques are described for in situ conditioning electrode surfaces and, in particular, emitter electrode surfaces of an EHD device such as an air mover or precipitator, with a conditioning material that includes silver. | 01-24-2013 |
20130056241 | EMITTER WIRE WITH LAYERED CROSS-SECTION - By selecting different materials for each layer, a multi-layered electrode structure can be made with superior performance characteristics. For example, a multilayered electrode can include a high tensile strength tungsten core, a conductive intermediate palladium, palladium-nickel, or other platinum group metal layer for generating a corona discharge, and a hardened layer comprising rhodium or other platinum group metal or alloy of the same to resist frictional abrasion during removal of silica dendrites that accumulate on the electrode surface during operation. | 03-07-2013 |
20140003964 | ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC (EHD) FLUID MOVER WITH FIELD BLUNTING STRUCTURES IN FLOW CHANNEL FOR SPATIALLY SELECTIVE SUPPRESSION OF ION GENERATION | 01-02-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110221044 | TUNGSTEN BARRIER AND SEED FOR COPPER FILLED TSV - Apparatus and methods for filling through silicon vias (TSV's) with copper having an intervening tungsten layer between the copper plug and the silicon are disclosed. Methods are useful for Damascene processing, with or without a TSV feature. The tungsten layer serves as a diffusion barrier, a seed layer for copper electrofill and a means of reducing CTE-induced stresses between copper and silicon. Adhesion of the tungsten layer to the silicon and of the copper layer to the tungsten is described. | 09-15-2011 |
20120077342 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTIVE TUNGSTEN DEPOSITION IN VIAS - A method for processing a substrate includes providing a substrate including a metal layer, a dielectric layer arranged on the metal layer, and at least one of a via and a trench formed in the dielectric layer; depositing a metal using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) during a first deposition period, wherein the first deposition period is longer than a first nucleation period that is required to deposit the metal on the metal layer; stopping the first deposition period prior to a second nucleation delay period, wherein the second nucleation period is required to deposit the metal on the dielectric layer; performing the depositing and the stopping N times, where N is an integer greater than or equal to one; and after the performing, depositing the metal using CVD during a second deposition period that is longer than the second nucleation delay period. | 03-29-2012 |
20120080793 | SUBTRACTIVE PATTERNING TO DEFINE CIRCUIT COMPONENTS - Certain embodiments pertain to local interconnects formed by subtractive patterning of blanket layer of tungsten or other conductive material. The grain sizes of tungsten or other deposited metal can be grown to relatively large dimensions, which results in increased electrical conductivity due to, e.g., reduced electron scattering at grain boundaries as electrons travel from one grain to the next during conduction. | 04-05-2012 |
20130171822 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL WITH NUCLEATION INHIBITION - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten, and related systems and apparatus, involving inhibition of tungsten nucleation. In some embodiments, the methods involve selective inhibition along a feature profile. Methods of selectively inhibiting tungsten nucleation can include exposing the feature to a direct or remote plasma. In certain embodiments, the substrate can be biased during selective inhibition. Process parameters including bias power, exposure time, plasma power, process pressure and plasma chemistry can be used to tune the inhibition profile. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) wordlines. The methods may be used for both conformal fill and bottom-up/inside-out fill. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried wordline fill, vertically integrated memory gate/wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias. | 07-04-2013 |
20130302980 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs). | 11-14-2013 |
20140027664 | TERNARY TUNGSTEN BORIDE NITRIDE FILMS AND METHODS FOR FORMING SAME - Ternary tungsten boride nitride (WBN) thin films and related methods of formation are provided. The films are have excellent thermal stability, tunable resistivity and good adhesion to oxides. Methods of forming the films can involve thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes in which boron-containing, nitrogen-containing and tungsten-containing reactants are sequentially pulsed into a reaction chamber to deposit the WBN films. In some embodiments, the processes include multiple cycles of boron-containing, nitrogen-containing and tungsten-containing reactant pulses, with each cycle including multiple boron-containing pulses. | 01-30-2014 |
20140030889 | METHODS OF IMPROVING TUNGSTEN CONTACT RESISTANCE IN SMALL CRITICAL DIMENSION FEATURES - Methods of filling features with low-resistivity tungsten layers having good fill without use of a nucleation layer are provided. In certain embodiments, the methods involve an optional treatment process prior to chemical vapor deposition of tungsten in the presence of a high partial pressure of hydrogen. According to various embodiments, the treatment process can involve a soaking step or a plasma treatment step. The resulting tungsten layer reduces overall contact resistance in advanced tungsten technology due to elimination of the conventional tungsten nucleation layer. | 01-30-2014 |
20150037972 | METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR ATOMIC LAYER CLEANING OF CONTACTS AND VIAS - Described are cleaning methods for removing contaminants from an electrical contact interface of a partially fabricated semiconductor substrate. The methods may include introducing a halogen-containing species into a processing chamber, and forming an adsorption-limited layer, which includes halogen from the halogen-containing species, atop the electrical contact interface and/or the contaminants thereon. The methods may further include thereafter removing un-adsorbed halogen-containing species from the processing chamber and activating a reaction between the halogen of the adsorption-limited layer and the contaminants present on the electrical contact interface. The reaction may then result in the removal of at least a portion of the contaminants from the electrical contact interface. In some embodiments, the halogen adsorbed onto the surface and reacted may be fluorine. Also described herein are apparatuses having controllers for implementing such electrical contact interface cleaning techniques. | 02-05-2015 |
20150056803 | TUNGSTEN FEATURE FILL - Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten and related systems and apparatus. The methods include inside-out fill techniques as well as conformal deposition in features. Inside-out fill techniques can include selective deposition on etched tungsten layers in features. Conformal and non-conformal etch techniques can be used according to various implementations. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) word lines. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried word line fill, vertically integrated memory gate/word line fill, and 3-D integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs). | 02-26-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100326955 | Multi-Layer Optical Filter Designs And Associated Systems - A method for designing a first optical filter, exhibiting a first filter performance satisfying a first preset criterion, and a second optical filter, exhibiting a second filter performance satisfying a second preset criterion, includes providing initial first and second filter designs for the first and second optical filters, respectively, as first and second ordered stacks of layers, respectively. A pair of layers, including a first layer, characterized by a first thickness, and a second layer, characterized by a second thickness, is selected from the first and second ordered stacks of layers. The first thickness is constrained to a first constrained thickness that is a positive integer multiple of the second thickness to yield a constrained first filter design. A predicted performance of the constrained first filter design is determined and compared with the first preset criterion for one of accepting and rejecting the constrained first filter design. | 12-30-2010 |
20120014591 | Cross-Color Image Processing Systems And Methods For Sharpness Enhancement - Systems and methods for processing a detected composite color image to form a processed composite color image includes the following, for each of a plurality of pixels in the image: (1) identifying a window of pixels in the image that surrounds the pixel, (2) calculating a weight factor coefficient for each detected color from detected color intensity values of the pixels that surround the pixel, (3) calculating raw color contributions corresponding to each nonselected color, (4) multiplying each of the detected color values of a selected color and the raw color contributions corresponding to the nonselected colors, with corresponding weight factor coefficients, to form weighted color contributions, and (5) summing the weighted color contributions to form a processed color intensity value for the pixel. | 01-19-2012 |
20120086949 | Tunable And Switchable Multilayer Optical Devices - A multilayer optical device includes an arrangement, on a substrate, of a first layer, a second layer, and a space therebetween. The second layer is a thin-film. The arrangement of the first and second layers and the space therebetween produces transmitted, reflected, or dispersed spectrally modified electromagnetic energy from electromagnetic energy incident upon the arrangement. An optical function of the device is dependent at least in part on interference effects. An optical detector system includes a similar multilayer optical device. The space within the device is in fluid communication with structures for receiving a fluid such that the device operates in a first or second mode depending on absence or presence of the fluid within the space. The system includes a detector for receiving the modified electromagnetic energy, and a controller in fluid communication with the space that establishes the absence or presence of the fluid in the space. | 04-12-2012 |
20120200671 | Apparatus And Method For Three-Dimensional Image Capture With Extended Depth Of Field - An optical system for capturing three-dimensional images of a three-dimensional object is provided. The optical system includes a projector for structured illumination of the object. The projector includes a light source, a grid mask positioned between the light source and the object for structured illumination of the object, and a first Wavefront Coding (WFC) element having a phase modulating mask positioned between the grid mask and the object to receive patterned light from the light source through the grid mask. The first WFC element is constructed and arranged such that a point spread function of the projector is substantially invariant over a wider range of depth of field of the grid mask than a point spread function of the projector without the first WFC element. | 08-09-2012 |
20120307133 | System And Method For Extending Depth Of Field In A Lens System By Use Of Color-Dependent Wavefront Coding - An optical system for generating an image having extended depth of field. The system includes a phase mask and a chromatic wavefront coding lens. The chromatic wavefront coding lens provides axial color separation of light by generating specified chromatic aberration in an image created by the lens. The phase mask causes the optical transfer function of the optical system to remain substantially constant within a specified range away from the image plane, and the optical transfer function of the system contains no zeroes within at least one spectral passband of interest. Digital processing may be performed on the image to generate a final image by reversing a decrease in modulation transfer function generated by the phase mask. | 12-06-2012 |
20130147965 | IR-CUT FILTER HAVING RED ABSORBING LAYER FOR DIGITAL CAMERA - An infrared cut filter may be used with an image sensor to remove infrared light components from image light received from a first side of the infrared cut filter prior to the image light reaching the image sensor to be disposed on a second side of the infrared cut filter. The infrared cut filter includes at least one red absorbing layer and an infrared reflector. The at least one red absorbing layer partially absorbs red light components within the image light. The infrared reflector reflects the infrared light components. The infrared reflector is disposed between the red absorbing layer and the first side of the infrared cut filter while the at least one red absorbing layer is disposed between the infrared reflector and the second side of the infrared cut filter. | 06-13-2013 |
20130147994 | Imaging System And Method Having Extended Depth of Field - An imaging system and method having a selected depth of field include an imaging lens for forming images of an object, the imaging lens having chromatic aberration and a color image sensor for receiving the images of the object. The color image sensor has a selected spectral response, the selected spectral response of the color image sensor defining a selected first center wavelength, a selected second center wavelength and a selected third center wavelength, wherein the selected first center wavelength is larger than the selected second center wavelength and the selected second center wavelength is larger than the selected third center wavelength. The selected spectral response defines the depth of field of the imaging system. A difference between the selected first center wavelength and the selected third center wavelength is greater than 150 nm. | 06-13-2013 |
20140132731 | Apparatus And Method For Three-Dimensional Image Capture With Extended Depth Of Field - An optical system for capturing three-dimensional images of a three-dimensional object is provided. The optical system includes a projector for structured illumination of the object. The projector includes a light source, a grid mask positioned between the light source and the object for structured illumination of the object, and a first Wavefront Coding (WFC) element having a phase modulating mask positioned between the grid mask and the object to receive patterned light from the light source through the grid mask. The first WFC element is constructed and arranged such that a point spread function of the projector is substantially invariant over a wider range of depth of field of the grid mask than a point spread function of the projector without the first WFC element. | 05-15-2014 |
20150085135 | WIDE ANGLE LENS ASSEMBLY - A camera system includes an image sensor, a stop aperture, an infrared cut filter disposed between the image sensor and the stop aperture, and a lens assembly. The lens assembly has a field of view ranging between 80 degrees and 110 degrees and is disposed between the infrared cut filter on an image side of the lens assembly and the stop aperture on an object side of the lens assembly. The lens assembly includes six lenses. Four of the six lenses have positive optical power and two of the six lenses have negative optical power. The six lenses include first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth lenses having first inline, second inline, third inline, fourth inline, fifth inline, and sixth inline relative positions, respectively, along an optical path through the lens assembly. | 03-26-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130321210 | Positioning LTE wireless base stations using aggregated OTDOA assistance data - An apparatus and method for building a base station almanac at a non-carrier location server is shown. A mobile device cooperates by informing the non-carrier location server of observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) assistance data it receives. The non-carrier location server collects enough OTDOA assistance data through crowd souring or spoofing to generate an OTDOA library. The non-carrier location server using the OTDOA library to generate a base station almanac. Once created, non-carrier location server uses the base station almanac to provide assistance data to mobile devices without assistance from the carrier. Also, a mobile device may use the base station almanac to determine transmission timing between itself and neighboring and distant base stations. | 12-05-2013 |
20130324163 | Obtaining timing of LTE wireless base stations using aggregated OTDOA assistance data - An apparatus and method for calculating time offsets for imperceptible base stations, which include base stations that have limited or no communication with a mobile station are presented. Time offsets for the imperceptible base stations are computed using transmit time offset information for a plurality of base station pairs received from a non-carrier base station almanac. A time offset between the mobile device at a first location and a serving base station at a second location is also computed. The time offsets for the imperceptible base stations may then be computed using the received transmit time offsets of the plurality of base station pairs and the time offset between the mobile device and the serving base station. The non-carrier base station almanac is built using a mobile device that informs a non-carrier location server of observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) assistance data it receives from a carrier's location server. | 12-05-2013 |
20140029468 | Adaptive Access Point Database Management - Method and system for providing information of an access point database are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of providing information of an access point database comprises receiving a request to access an access point database from a mobile client, generating a segment of the access point database in accordance with at least an application requirement of the mobile client, and providing the segment of the access point database to the mobile client. The application requirement of the mobile client comprises precision level requested by the mobile client, and cache level of the mobile client. The method of generating a segment of the access point database comprises at least one of: generating the segment of the access point database in real-time, and providing the segment of the access point database previously generated and stored in the access point database. | 01-30-2014 |
20140031055 | WIRELESS NETWORK COVERAGE ESTIMATION USING DOWN-SAMPLED CROWD-SOURCED DATA - A method of estimating wireless network coverage includes receiving location data from a plurality of mobile devices located within range of an antenna in a wireless network. The location data is mapped onto a grid of districts and down-sampled for respective districts of the grid. An approximate coverage region of the antenna is calculated based at least in part on the down-sampled location data. | 01-30-2014 |
20140036701 | Mobile Access Point Detection - Methods and devices for detecting mobile access points are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of detecting mobile access points comprises collecting crowdsourcing data associated with one or more access point devices, quantizing the crowdsourcing data to generate a quantized crowdsourcing data, for each access point device, determining an interfracile range of the access point device using the quantized crowdsourcing data, where the interfracile range is a measure of statistical dispersion of the quantized crowdsourcing data with respect to the access point device, identifying the access point device as a mobile access point device in response to the interfracile range exceeds a first predetermined range. The method of collecting crowdsourcing data comprises collecting the crowdsourcing data within a predetermined sliding time window. | 02-06-2014 |
20140036768 | Processing of Access Point Crowdsourcing Data - Method and apparatus for processing access point (AP) crowdsourcing data are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions, consolidating the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions based at least in part on a set of selection criteria to generate a WiFi AP record, and uploading the WiFi AP record to a crowdsourcing server. The method consolidating the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions comprises quantizing data received in accordance with time segment of the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions. The set of selection criteria comprises a maximum number of scan lists to be uploaded in a predetermined period of time, a maximum number of scan lists to be uploaded in a single upload, ratio of MNoO to remaining unprocessed observations, similarity between scan lists, and comparison of HEPE values between similar scan lists. | 02-06-2014 |
20140087763 | NON-GEOTAGGED ACCESS POINT POSITIONING - A method for locating a target transceiver in a wireless communication system includes: obtaining at least one scan list indicating a set of transceivers including the target transceiver; identifying, from stored geotagging data, locations of at least some previously located transceivers represented in the at least one scan list that are distinct from the target transceiver; generating a list of neighbor transceivers corresponding to the target transceiver based on the at least one scan list; and calculating an estimated location of the target transceiver using the list of neighbor transceivers and the locations of the previously located transceivers represented in the at least one scan list. | 03-27-2014 |
20140140227 | Method for corroboration and transferring trust between network databases for enhanced positioning accuracy - Techniques for transferring trust between networks are described herein. An example of a method of using a mobile device to transfer trust between networks described herein includes receiving WAN base station information including a WAN base station trustworthiness value, determining a WAN position estimate for the mobile device based on the WAN base station information, receiving access point information including an access point trustworthiness value, determining an access point position estimate for the mobile device based on the access point information, determining if the WAN position estimate and the access point position estimate are corroborated, and increasing the access point trustworthiness value if the WAN position estimate and the access point position estimate are corroborated and the WAN base station trustworthiness value is higher than the access point trustworthiness value. | 05-22-2014 |
20140179237 | Adaptive Crowdsourcing Using Mobile Device Generated Parameters - Method and apparatus for performing crowdsourcing are disclosed. The method may include monitoring environment of a mobile device, determining a level of crowdsourcing in accordance with one or more mobile device generated parameters corresponding to the environment, and performing crowdsourcing in accordance with the level of crowdsourcing determined. The level of crowdsourcing comprises one or more of quantity of crowdsourcing data to be collected by the mobile device, frequency of crowdsourcing operations to be performed by the mobile device, and type of quantization to be applied to the crowdsourcing data collected. | 06-26-2014 |
20140185520 | PROCESSING DELAY ESTIMATE BASED ON CROWDSOURCING DATA - Techniques are provided for providing a processing delay estimate of an access point, or turnaround calibration function (TCF), associated with round trip time (RTT) measurements. Mobile devices, access points, and/or other systems can utilize these techniques to derive processing delay from the RTT measurements. Crowdsourcing can also be used to help increase the accuracy of the processing delay estimate, which can be propagated to multiple devices. | 07-03-2014 |
20140187257 | INTER-AP DISTANCE ESTIMATION USING CROWD SOURCING - Techniques are provided for utilizing one or more mobile devices to estimate distances between wireless access points (APs). Embodiments can, for example, enable mobile devices, wireless APs, and/or other systems to estimate a distance between two wireless APs using Round-Trip Time (RTT) measurements obtained by one or more mobile devices. The RTT measurements can be utilized based on whether one or more related Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurements exceed a threshold value. Embodiments can also utilize crowdsourcing to obtain distance estimation data (e.g., distance estimates, RTT and/or RSSI measurements, etc.) from one or more mobile devices and/or propagate a determined distance, based on the distance estimation data, to multiple devices. | 07-03-2014 |
20140192658 | Dynamic selection of positioning system and display map - Systems, apparatus and methods for determining whether to use an indoor map or an outdoor map based on local area network (LAN) signals from access points (APs) are disclosed. If only weak AP signals belonging to a location content identifier (LCI) are received, prior art systems display an indoor map associated with the LCI. An improvement herein further determines a quality of AP signals and/or wide area network (WAN) signals before determining whether to display the indoor map or an outdoor map. | 07-10-2014 |
20140194145 | Method, System and/or Device for Adjusting Expected Received Signal Strength Signature Values - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for application of determining position information for mobile devices. In specific implementations, measurement of a signal travel time and a signal's strength may be combined to characterize a transmission power of the signal's transmitter. The characterized transmission power may be applied to affect expected signal strength signature values for use of the signal's transmitter may be updated in order to enhance a location based service where location may be effected by accuracy of a transmitter's power. | 07-10-2014 |
20140222562 | LOCATION BASED DYNAMIC COUPONS - Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for location based dynamic coupons are presented. In some embodiments, location information for a plurality of users in an area associated with the network based positioning system is determined. The location information may be analyzed using a set of rules associated with the area to create an offer associated with a location within the area. The offer may then be communicated to one or more users. In alternate embodiments, user density may be used to create offers for users, and the offers may be directed toward influencing users to move from a high user density location to a low user density location. | 08-07-2014 |
20140232553 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING LOCATION USING A SMART METER AS A LOCATION REFERENCE - Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for using a signal transmitted by a smart meter as a location reference are presented. In one embodiment, a mobile device may receive a first signal transmitted by a smart meter and a second signal transmitted by a wireless access point. The information received may be provided to a server which may use a smart meter location to determine a location of the access point. In further embodiments, multiple measurements as well as distance measurements between a mobile device, the smart meter, and/or the access point may further be used to improve location information for the smart meter and access point. | 08-21-2014 |
20140253384 | Tiered Positioning Assistance Data for Mobile Devices Within an Indoor Environment - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented in one or more electronic devices supporting mobile device positioning within an indoor environment. Tiered positioning assistance data (tiered-PAD) corresponding to an indoor environment may be generated and/or distributed. Mobile device positioning and/or navigation capabilities may be based, at least in part, on tiered-PAD corresponding to the indoor environment. Tiered-PAD may be provided to a plurality of mobile devices. A given mobile device may, for example, select applicable portion(s) of tiered-PAD to affect one or more positioning functions and/or the like which may be performed, at least in part, by the mobile device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253386 | DEVICES, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES FOR COMPUTING ROUND-TRIP TIME OF A MESSAGE - Methods, apparatuses, and/or articles of manufacture are disclosed, which may be employed in a mobile device communicating with a transponder via a near field communications channel. In one example, round trip time of a message may be computed to estimate processing latency contributed by processes occurring within the mobile device and/or the transponder. | 09-11-2014 |
20140254575 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PEER-2-PEER WI-FI RANGING USING NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION - According to some aspects, a method includes communicating a request from a first device to a second device using near field communication (NFC). The request includes a preferred mode of wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) operation and state information of the first device. The method further includes receiving a reply at the first device, sent from the second device, including acceptance of the preferred mode of Wi-Fi operation. The method further includes communicating wireless information to establish the Wi-Fi communication link from the first device to the second device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140254888 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING ASSISTANCE DATA IN LOCATION TECHNOLOGIES - Systems, apparatus, and methods according to one or more embodiments are provided for encoding assistance data in locations technologies. In an embodiment, a method includes reading, by a processor, tile data of a database in a specific order, wherein the tile data comprises one or more reference data points and/or one or more empty spaces. The method also includes compressing, by the processor, the tile data based on the specific order using encoding. And the method further includes generating relative positions for each individual reference data point with respect to each other in the compressed tile data without specific location identification information for each reference data point. | 09-11-2014 |
20140256346 | ADAPTIVE ASSISTANCE DATA FOR TIERED SERVICE AND EFFICIENCY IN INDOOR POSITIONING - A method for providing tiered indoor positioning service includes: receiving a request for assistance data from a mobile device; receiving expected quality of service information from the mobile device; generating an adaptive assistance data file comprising heat map data based at least in part on the received expected quality of service information; and transmitting the adaptive assistance data file to the mobile device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140266697 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL ANOMALIES IN ELECTRONIC FILES SUPPORTIVE OF MOBILE DEVICE POSITIONING - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to identify potential anomalies in one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are also provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to alter one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274040 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING SCAN OPERATIONS - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by a mobile device to alter a scan operation. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by one or more electronic devices to determine one or more scan factors for use by a mobile device in altering a scan operation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274108 | Mobile device positioning responsive to externally generated regional candidate position fix mode selection - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by a mobile device to affect at least one positioning function based, at least in part, on a recommended candidate position fix mode received from another electronic device for use in a particular region of an environment. For example, a mobile device may obtain assistance data indicative of a candidate position fix mode for a partial region of an environment navigable by the mobile device, and in response to a determination that the mobile device is estimated to be located within a threshold proximity of the partial region, affect a wireless signal-based positioning function based, at least in part, on the candidate position fix mode. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274113 | CROWDSOURCING BASED ON BASE STATION ALMANAC QUALITY - Systems, apparatus and methods for a mobile device and a base station almanac server to throttle crowdsourcing information are presented. The crowdsourcing information is used to improve a location of a base station in a base station almanac. A portion of the base station almanac is provided to a mobile device. For example, the mobile device may identify its current cell and request the base station almanac. The mobile device records crowdsourcing information to identify, for each particular base station of at least one base station, a cellular identifier for the particular base station, optional ranging information between the particular base station and the mobile device, and an independent position of the mobile device. The independent position of the mobile device may be formed from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) or station signals independent of the at least one base station. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274119 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INDOOR POSITIONING BASED ON WIRELESS LANDMARKS - Embodiments include using a wireless access point (AP) as a landmark to aid precise wireless indoor positioning of a mobile device. The AP transmits a wireless indoor positioning signal with a predetermined or known frequency and power that is typically only able to be detected and decoded by any of various types of mobile devices that are within a predetermined “close” range of the AP. Based on positioning the mobile device within the predetermined range, the device may calibrate one or more physical sensors of the mobile device for indoor positioning. Such wireless landmarks provide more accurate, efficient, automated and reliable wireless indoor positioning and sensor calibration. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274130 | Server-based mobile device regional candidate position fix mode selection - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided for use by an electronic device to generate a recommended candidate position fix mode to a mobile device for use in a particular region of an environment. Such a candidate position fix mode may, for example, be selected from a plurality of wireless signal-based positioning modes comprising at least: a first wireless signal-based positioning mode based on first wireless signals transmitted by a terrestrial-based transmitting device, a second wireless signal-based positioning mode based on second wireless signals transmitted a satellite-based transmitting device, and a third wireless signal-based positioning mode based on a combination of the first wireless signals and the second wireless signals. In certain example implementations, assistance data indicative of at least the candidate position fix mode may be transmitted to the mobile device. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274161 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GEOTAGGING - Methods and apparatuses for performing geotagging referencing in both indoor and outdoor environments are presented. In some embodiments, a mobile device may record a digital media object comprising at least one digitally recorded event of a surrounding environment of the mobile device. The mobile device may obtain at least one geotagging datum, the at least one geotagging datum comprising at least one timing measurement from at least one reference source. The mobile device may determine a location of the digital media object using the at least one geotagging datum. The mobile device may then label the digital media object with the location of the digital media object. | 09-18-2014 |
20140295881 | DETERMINATION OF DIFFERENTIAL FORWARD LINK CALIBRATION IN LTE NETWORKS FOR POSITIONING - Techniques are provided which may be implemented using various methods and/or apparatuses to determine time difference of arrival of signals from two base stations as received at a mobile device, to use the time difference of arrival to determine differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, and also to determine location using the differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, determined using the time difference of arrival of signals from at least two base stations as received by a mobile device. | 10-02-2014 |
20140342662 | Method for Adapting to Venue Positioning Capabilities - Particular embodiments disclosed herein are directed to methods, systems and/or devices for mobile assisted positioning. A mobile station may receive positioning assistance data from a server enabling or supporting one or more positioning operations in a venue. In a particular implementation, the mobile device may alter execution of one or more applications based, at least in part, on an indication of particular positioning services or operations enabled or supported by positioning assistance data available at the server. | 11-20-2014 |
20140364101 | FINE GRAIN POSITION DATA COLLECTION - Method, mobile device, computer program product, and apparatus for performing Fine Grain Position Data Collection are described. In one embodiment, a server can receive position data collected by a mobile device with a first positioning configuration. In one embodiment, the server can determine, from the position data received at the server, a mobile device position and create a second positioning configuration according to at least the mobile device position. In one embodiment, the server can send the second positioning configuration to the mobile device. In one embodiment, a mobile device can collect position data according to a first positioning configuration and send the position data to a server. In one embodiment, the mobile device can receive a second positioning configuration from the server created according to at least the mobile device position. | 12-11-2014 |
20150019121 | INTELLIGENT MAP COMBINATION FOR VENUES ENABLING INDOOR POSITIONING - Methods and devices are described for merging maps. In one potential embodiment a method may comprise receiving an indication of at least one plurality of geographically proximate points, where each of the at least one plurality of geographically proximate points are determined by at least one access point in communication with one or more mobile devices. A first and second map may then be received, where the first map and the second map each cover a first area such that the first area is in both the first map and the second map. The first map and the second map may then be merged by matching a mapping of a first portion of an indication of the at least one plurality of geographically proximate points on the first map and a second portion of an indication of an at least one plurality of geographically proximate points on the second map. | 01-15-2015 |
20150029945 | Communications between a Mobile Device and an Access Point Device - Method, device, and computer program product that may improve communications between a mobile device and an access point device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of communicating between a mobile device and an access point device comprises control a plurality of beacons in the access point device, establishing a communication between the access point device with the mobile device using a first beacon in the plurality of beacons, broadcasting availability of the plurality of beacons in the access point device via the first beacon, and establishing the communication with the mobile device using a second beacon in the plurality of beacons. | 01-29-2015 |
20150031307 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN DETECTING CHANGES WITHIN WIRELESS SIGNAL ENVIRONMENT - Various methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture are provided for use by one or more electronic devices to detect and/or respond to certain changes (anomalies) within a wireless signaling environment. For example, a first electronic device may receive a report of a threshold anomaly detected by a monitoring device deployed at a fixed predetermined position within a coverage area of a network service device, and may initiate an investigation by requesting that a second electronic device attempt to monitor certain transmissions of and/or actively communicate with a network service device. In response to a determination based, at least in part, on the investigation that the threshold anomaly represents a threshold change in status within the wireless signaling environment, the first electronic device may transmit a status report regarding the wireless signaling environment to another electronic device. | 01-29-2015 |
20150045054 | Systems and Methods for Floor Determination of Access Points in Indoor Positioning Systems - Systems and methods are disclosed for determining the floors on which APs are located for WiFi-based indoor positioning systems. A data collection phase is followed by a data analysis phase. During data collection, measurement data to observed APs may be collected from various locations on different floors. The measurements data may include received signal strength indication (RSSI), optional round-trip-time (RTT) data to the APs, and floor information of the measurement locations. Measurement data may also be collected from crowd sourced data without floor information of the measurement locations. In data analysis, the collected measurement data are analyzed using various algorithms to determine if APs belong to the same floor and to assign APs on the same floor to the same cluster. APs on different floors may thus be assigned to different clusters. If the floor information of the measurement locations is known, each cluster may be assigned a floor number. | 02-12-2015 |
20150065150 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTIMATING A REGION OF COVERAGE FOR A SPARSE NETWORK ALMANAC - A level 3 (L3) sparse network almanac (SNA) is generated using data from a base station almanac with information for a plurality of base stations. The information for base stations includes cell identifiers that include an L3 region code that is one layer above a cell tower identification level. Cell boundaries are determined from the base station information. The cell boundaries are used to estimate a region of coverage for the L3 SNA, which may be stored in a database. For example, region points may be generated from the cell boundaries, and used to estimate the region of coverage for the L3 SNA. The region of coverage may be determined, e.g., as a minimum enclosing circle or other similar techniques. The larger of an estimated region size parameter, e.g., a radius of a circle, and a default size may be used for the region of coverage. | 03-05-2015 |
20150080013 | Using broadcast position and transmit power from access points to form assistance data - Systems, apparatus and methods for preparing assistance data in a location server from coverage report messages of one or more access points from a plurality of mobile devices are presented. Several mobile devices each collect information from and about one or more access points. This crowd-sourced information is sent from a mobile device to a location server and may include ranging information (such as RSSI or RTT) and/or broadcast information (such as broadcast position and/or transmit power level) and/or computed information (such as path loss). Using this crowd-sourced information, the location server may form assistance data for an assistance data database, which may later be tailored for and send to a specific mobile device. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081239 | METHOD, SYSTEMS AND/OR DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING EXPECTED RECEIVED SIGNAL STRENGTH SIGNATURE VALUES - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for application of determining position information for mobile devices. In specific implementations, measurement of a signal travel time and a signal's strength may be combined to characterize a transmission power of the signal's transmitter. The characterized transmission power may be applied to affect expected signal strength signature values for use of the signal's transmitter may be updated in order to enhance a location based service where location may be effected by accuracy of a transmitter's power. | 03-19-2015 |