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:
May. 27, 1997
Filed:
Aug. 12, 1994
William O Dussell, Pescadero, CA (US);
Trimble Navigation Limited, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus for determining the present location of, or time of observation by, an observer in the vicinity of the Earth's surface. The apparatus provides a Satellite Positioning System (SATPS), such as GPS or GLONASS, in a portable device or card that is built to the I.E.E.E. PC/104 Standard, which is a variation of the I.E.E.E. P996 Standard for personal computer buses. The PC/104/SATPS Card includes an SATPS antenna to receive (and frequency downconvert, if necessary) SATPS signals from one or more SATPS satellites, a microprocessor programmed to receive the SATPS signals from the antenna and to perform calculations to determine the spatial location of the antenna and/or the time of observation by the antenna. The PC/104/SATPS Card has a buffer and a format translator to compensate for SATPS signal latency and for differences in SATPS signal arrival rate and PC/104 signal processing rate and/or to translate signals from SATPS format to whatever format the microprocessor uses. The PC/104/SATPS Card optionally has a keyboard, pen-and-tablet or other information entry means, optionally includes an information transfer module for transferring information from the PC/104/SATPS Card to another electronic apparatus for further signal processing or for display of the location of, or time of observation by, the antenna, and optionally includes a display module for displaying the location of, or time of observation by, the antenna in a visually perceptible manner on the card itself.