The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 18, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 19, 1994
Glenn C Steiner, Los Altos, CA (US);
Lloyd H Banta, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Matthew M Trask, San Jose, CA (US);
Trimble Navigation, Ltd., Menlo Park, CA (US);
Abstract
A Personal Digital Location Apparatus for displaying a geographical location as an icon on a map. The apparatus includes a GPS Smart Antenna for determining the geographical location, a personal computing device including a display, a processing system including a standard software operating system such as DOS, Windows, Macintosh, or Geoworks, and a map application program capable of running in the operating system. The GPS Smart Antenna includes an internal battery and a power sensor for sensing the connection of an external power source. The GPS Smart Antenna receives power from the external power source when the power sensor senses that the external power source is connected and receives power from the internal battery when the power sensor senses that the external power source is not connected. An input select switch controlled by a Request to Send signal from the personal computing device enables the GPS Smart Antenna to use a single UART chip for receiving a command/control signal from the personal computing device and a differential GPS (DGPS) signal from a DGPS radiowave receiver.