Motorola Corporation

Acr Electronics, Inc.

Chung T Tong

Naveed Mirza

Gene A Santana

Paul Morningstar

Claudio Cassina

Arthur R Ahrens

Francis M Jaruszewski

Kerry L Greer

Anthony Jackson-Pownall

Kaiyu Wu

An Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) comprising an integrated wireless receiver, a graphical display device, capability to utilize both internal and external GPS coordinate sources, an infrared background lighting adjustment algorithm, and a multi-LED strobe light array. The receiver provides a return communications path back to the beacon, which is used to acknowledge the receipt of the beacon's outgoing emergency signal by Search and Rescue satellites. The display is used to visually display various operational status information as well as any received messages coming back into the receiver. The GPS receiver system switches between internally derived and/or externally supplied GPS coordinates. The present invention also incorporates an Automatic Background Light Adjustment (ABLA) algorithm to compensate for the maximum range of light intensity encountered by infrared communications LEDs during daytime and nighttime operation. Additionally, a multi-LED array is used to flash a signaling strobe in a universal hemispherical pattern.

GPS enabled EPIRB with integrated receiver

A dual input mobile communication device. The mobile communication device can include a housing having an exterior, the exterior including a first face side and a second face side, the second face side located on an opposite side of the housing from the first face side, a first display disposed on the first face side, a numeric keypad disposed on the first face side, a second display disposed on the second face side, and a text keypad disposed on the second face side. The numeric keypad can be a telephone keypad such as a dual-tone multiple-frequency (DTMF) keypad and text keypad can be a QWERTY keypad, such as a keypad having a layout similar to a typical typewriter-style keyboard. The housing can be a candy bar phone style housing.

Dual input mobile communication device

A battery powered, portable, wireless communications transceiver device (), has a housing () including a first portion () and a second portion (). The device has a controller and a transmitter coupled to the controller. Using a digital, time-division multiple access protocol, the transmitter transmits messages comprised of packets. The first portion and the second portion are connected by a hinge () allowing the device to be put into an opened position or a closed position. The device has a sensor for detecting whether the housing is in an opened or in a closed position. The controller of the device receives a signal from the sensor regarding the position of the housing. The controller is programmable to respond to the position of the housing and to advantageously spread the transmission of packets of the message over a longer period than prior art methods, when the housing is in the closed position.

Controlling transmit duty cycle by position of cover

An antenna (10) is set forth which may be used in, among other devices, a communications device, particularly a portable communications device. The antenna (10) includes a dielectric substrate (25) having first and second opposed sides. A ground plane (20) is disposed at the second side of the dielectric substrate and is in electrical contact therewith. An electrically conductive patch element (30) is supported by the first side of the dielectric substrate (25). The patch element (30) includes a feed point (40) at which RF energy is supplied to or received from the patch element (30). A plated aperture (70) is disposed through and electrically connected to the patch element (30) and extends into the dielectric substrate (25). The plated aperture (70) is electrically insulated from the ground plane (20) and offset from the feed point (40). The addition of the plated aperture (70) to the antenna (10) increases the electrical length of the antenna through reactive loading. The antenna thus resonates at a frequency that is lower than the same antenna configuration without the plated aperture.

Patch antenna including reactive loading

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Boynton Beach, FL, United States of America

Chung T Tong