US3766552A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Unified area surveillance, communication and mobile station guidance system
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1970-12-14
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Granted: 1973-10-16
•
Expires: 1990-12-14
Abstract
Abstract A unified area surveillance, communication and mobile station guidance system comprising a traffic control (TC) center having a plurality of reference stations associated therewith, the mobile station including means for transmitting calling pulses having a predetermined repetition period which pulses arrive and are received by said reference stations which information is then fed to said TC center to compute the position of and track said mobile station with respect thereto and to continuously track said calling pulses, said TC center thereafter causing the generation of an interrogation signal to said mobile station via transmissions generated from three of said reference stations at such times that said transmissions arrive only in the vicinity of said selected mobile station in an established interrogating pattern having an established time relationship with the aboard generated calling pulses to provide reliable mobile station selectivity, the reception of said interrogation signal enabling direct communication between said TC center and the aboard mobile station equipment to provide time-multiplexed voice communication and collision avoidance and mobile station guidance data which may be used for automatic operation of said mobile station, communication between the mobile station and the TC center is in digital form and in particular in binary coded decimal form to thereby provide said selected mobile station with collision avoidance, enroute navigation and approach data which data may be directly displayed on a digital display aboard said mobile station without any conversion of the data.
Inventors
- 👤 M Hajduk
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 16:15
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S5/00; G01S5/0009; G01S13/00; G01S13/74; G01S13/76; G01S5/02; G01S5/10
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 52
Claim 1
Independent Claim
252 words
An area surveillance system comprising a traffic control center, a plurality of reference stations in excess of two, a mobile station, and calling signal generation means disposed aboard said mobile station, said calling signal generation means being operable to repetitiously generate a predetermined calling signal. each of said reference stations receiving said calling signal, and each of reference stations being connected to said traffic control center, said traffic control center including computing means, each of said reference stations relaying the time of arrival of said received calling signal thereat to said computing means, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the position of said reference stations in dependence upon the difference in the time of arrival of said calling signal at said reference stations as provided by said tracked calling signal, said computing means after computation of the position of said mobile station being operative to produce and feed an interrogation trigger signal to selected ones of said reference stations, said reference stations upon reception of said interrogation trigger signal being operable to transmit interrogating pulses to said mobile station which arrive thereat in an alignment so as to form a predetermined interrogation signal only in the vicinity of said mobile station as computed by said computing means, said mobile station including means for detecting and identifying said interrogation signal, and said means for detecting and identifying said interrogation signal being responsive to said interrogation signal to transmit an identification signal assigned to said mobile station.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
252 words
An area surveillance system comprising a traffic control center, a plurality of reference stations in excess of two, a mobile station, and calling signal generation means disposed aboard said mobile station, said calling signal generation means being operable to repetitiously generate a predetermined calling signal. each of said reference stations receiving said calling signal, and each of reference stations being connected to said traffic control center, said traffic control center including computing means, each of said reference stations relaying the time of arrival of said received calling signal thereat to said computing means, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the position of said reference stations in dependence upon the difference in the time of arrival of said calling signal at said reference stations as provided by said tracked calling signal, said computing means after computation of the position of said mobile station being operative to produce and feed an interrogation trigger signal to selected ones of said reference stations, said reference stations upon reception of said interrogation trigger signal being operable to transmit interrogating pulses to said mobile station which arrive thereat in an alignment so as to form a predetermined interrogation signal only in the vicinity of said mobile station as computed by said computing means, said mobile station including means for detecting and identifying said interrogation signal, and said means for detecting and identifying said interrogation signal being responsive to said interrogation signal to transmit an identification signal assigned to said mobile station.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 1, including a communication station, said communication station including means for receiving said identification signal, means for connecting said communication station to said traffic control center, and means for relaying said received identification signal from said communication station to said computing means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
87 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 2, wherein said computing means is operable upon deriving the position of said mobile station to provide guidance data for said mobile station, said guidance data being relayed to said communication station and transmitted therefrom to said mobile station, said mobile station including receiving means which are operable to receive said transmitted guidance data, and output means disposed aboard said mobile station and connected to said receiving means of said mobile staTion for accepting said guidance data relayed thereto.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said output means comprises display means for providing a visual display of said guidance data.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
38 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said output means comprises operational control means, said operational control means being responsive upon receiving said guidance data to control the direction of movement of said mobile station.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 5, wherein said output means also comprises display means for providing a visual display of said guidance data.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said computing means provides said guidance data in predetermined time relationship with said calling signal.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
39 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said receiving means includes means for retransmitting said received guidance data to said communication station and thereby to said traffic control center for verification of said received guidance data
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
75 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said traffic control center transmits voice communications to said mobile station, and receives voice communications from said mobile station, said mobile station receiving means being operable to receive said voice communications from said traffic control center, and with the addition of means for reproducing said received voice communications connected to said mobile station receiving means, and voice communication transmitting means disposed aboard said mobile station.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
30 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 9, including means disposed aboard said mobile station for requesting permission of said traffic control center to engage in voice communication therewith.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
31 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 10, wherein said voice communication transmitting means includes means to prevent transmission therefrom until permission therefor is transmitted by said traffic control center.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
40 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 9, wherein said voice communication transmitting means at said traffic control center and aboard said mobile station are operable to transmit pulse samples of the voice communications which are to be transmitted.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
23 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 12, wherein said voice pulse samples are transmitted in groups within predetermined periods of time.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
26 words
an area surveillance system in accordance with claim 13, wherein said guidance data and said voice communication are transmitted in predetermined time relationship with one another.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
30 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 14, wherein said guidance data and said voice communications are transmitted on a common frequency channel by means of time multiplex communication.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
47 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 9, wherein said voice communication to said mobile station from said traffic control center are relayed by said communication station, and said voice communication from said mobile station to said traffic control center are relayed by said communication station.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
83 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 16, including at least one central telephone center, and a plurality of individual telephone users connected to said central telephone center, said central telephone center being connected to said traffic control center, said traffic control center enabling said telephone users to communicate with said mobile station through said communication station, whereby said telephone users may dial a number assigned to said mobile station sand have voice communication with a selected person aboard said mobile station.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
64 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 17, including a second ceNtral telephone center, means for connecting said second telephone center to said first telephone center, a second traffic control center located remotely of said first traffic control center, a second communication station connected to said second traffic control center, and means for connecting said second telephone center to said second communication station.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
24 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 18, including means for connecting said first traffic control center to said second traffic control center.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
89 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 17, including a second traffic control center located remotely of said first traffic control center, a second communication station connected to said second traffic control center, and means for connecting said first traffic control center to said second traffic control center, whereby said telephone users may dial a number assigned to said mobile station and be connected to said first traffic control center and have voice communication with said mobile station via said second traffic control center said second communication station.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
84 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 9, including at least one central telephone center, a plurality of individual telephone users connected to said central telephone center, means for connecting said central telephone center to said traffic control center, and means at said traffic control center to enable said individual telephone users to communicate with said mobile station, whereby said telephone users may dial a number assigned to said mobile station and have voice communication with a selected person aboard said mobile station.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
135 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, including means connecting said calling signal generation to said mobile station receiving means, said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as would be received by said communication station, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as would be received by said communication station, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein said communication station and one of said reference s tations are positioned at the same geographical location.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
134 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 23, including means connecting said calling signal generation means to said mobile station receiving means said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as received at the communication station location, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as received at said communication station location, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
19 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 3, wherein one of said reference station is said communication station.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
134 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 25, including means connecting said calling signal generation means to said mobile station receiving means, said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as received at the communication station location, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as received at said communication station location, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
81 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 2, wherein said mobile station includes receiving means disposed thereaboard, said traffic control center transmits voice communications to said mobile station and receives voice communications from said mobile station, and said mobile station receiving means receives said voice communications from said traffic control center, and with the addition of means for reproducing said received voice communications connected to said mobile station receiving means, and voice communication transmitting means disposed aboard said mobile station.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
30 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 27, including means disposed aboard said mobile station for requesting permission of said traffic control center to engage in voice communication therewith.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
31 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 28, wherein said voice communication transmitting means includes means to prevent transmission therefrom until permission therefor is transmitted by said traffic control center.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
40 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 27, wherein said voice communication transmitting means at said traffic control center and aboard said mobile station are operable to transmit pulse samples of the voice communication which are to be transmitted.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
23 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 30, wherein said voice pulse samples are transmitted in groups within predetermined periods of time.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
22 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 31, wherein said voice communications are transmitted in predetermined time relationship with one another.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
26 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 32, wherein said voice communications are transmitted on a common frequency channel by means of time multiplex communication.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
136 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 27, including means connecting said calling signal generation means to said mobile station receiving means, said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as would be received by said communication station, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as would be received by said communication station, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
26 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 27, wherein said communication station and one of said reference stations are positioned at the same geographical location.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
134 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 35, including means connecting said calling signal generation means to said mobile station receiving means, said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as received at the communication station location, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as received at said communication station location, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
19 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 27, wherein one of said reference stations is said communication station.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
134 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 37, including means connecting said calling signal generation means to said mobile station receiving means, said mobile station receiving means including means for correlating the rf frequency of said receiving means with the frequency of said calling signal, said computing means being operable to track said calling signal and to compute the frequency of said calling signal as received at the communication station location, said communication station including transmitting means, said computing means being operable to correlate the carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means with that of the frequency of said calling signal as received at said communication station location, and said correlated carrier frequency of said communication station transmitting means being in synchronization with said rf frequency of said mobile station receiving means.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
57 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mobile station includes timing means disposed thereaboard, means for connecting said timing means to the calling signal generation means, and said calling signal generation means producing pulses having a carrier frequency and a pulse repitition rate which is controlled by the output of said timing means.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
63 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mobile station is a flying mobile station including altitude encoding means disposed thereaboard, and said altitude encoding means being connected to said calling signal generation means and being operable to produce pulses representative of the altitude of said flying mobile station in predetermined time relationship with regard to said generated calling pulses.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
65 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mobile station is a flying mobile station including altitude encoding means disposed thereaboard, and said altitude encoding means being connected to said identification signal transmission means and being operable to produce encoded altitude pulses representative of the altitude of said flying mobile station in predetermined time relationship with regard to said identification signal transmission.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
48 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 41, wherein said altitude encoding means being connected to said calling pulse generation means and being operable to produce pulses representative of the altitude of said flying mobile station in predetermined time relationship with regard to said generated calling pulses.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
31 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said computer means comprises a computer, a plurality of computer terminals, a plurality of computer interfaces, and a central timing unit.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
18 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 43, wherein said computer is a general purpose digital computer.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
59 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 43, wherein said computer interface comprises means for differentiating said calling pulses received by said computer means, means for time correlating said differentiated calling pulses with said tracked calling pulses, and means for feeding the differential correlation information to said computer to enable the same to properly track said calling pulses.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
20 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 45, wherein said reference stations are selectively connected to said computer interfaces.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
39 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 43, wherein said computer interface includes means for causing said computer to discontinue tracking of said calling pulses when the magnitude of the received calling pulses is below a predetermined magnitude.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
35 words
An area surveillance system in accordance with claim 47, wherein said tracking discontinuance means is operative when the magnitude of said received calling pulses is below a predetermined magnitude over a predetermined period of time.
Claim 50
Independent Claim
243 words
The method of surveillance of the traffic flow of mobile stations from a traffic control center comprising the steps of: a. generating calling signals on the mobile stations with the calling signals having a plurality of pulses with a common carrier frequency, with the same repetition rate, and of substantially the same shape, b. providing computing means at the traffic control center connected to at least three spaced apart reference stations, c. receiving the calling signals from the mobile stations at the reference stations, d. relaying the time of arrival of each received calling signal from the reference stations to the computing means, e. computing the position of each mobile station with the computing means for using the differences in times of arrival of each calling signal at the reference stations, f. generating an interrogation trigger signal with the computing means and feeding the interrogation trigger signal to selected reference stations, g. transmitting interrogation pulses from the selected reference stations according to the receptions of the interrogation trigger signal so that the interrogation pulses arrive in alignment in the computed position of each mobile station to form a predetermined interrogation signal for each mobile station only in the vicinity of each mobile station, h. detecting and identifying interrogation signals on each mobile station, and i. transmitting an identification signal assigned to each mobile station from each mobile station in response to the detection and identification of an interrogation signal on each mobile station.
Claim 51
Independent Claim
243 words
The method of surveillance of the traffic flow of mobile stations from a traffic control center comprising the steps of: a. generating calling signals on the mobile stations with the calling signals having a plurality of pulses with a common carrier frequency, with the same repetition rate, and of substantially the same shape, b. providing computing means at the traffic control center connected to at least three spaced apart reference stations, c. receiving the calling signals from the mobile stations at the reference stations, d. relaying the time of arrival of each received calling signal from the reference stations to the computing means, e. computing the position of each mobile station with the computing means for using the differences in times of arrival of each calling signal at the reference stations, f. generating an interrogation trigger signal with the computing means and feeding the interrogation trigger signal to selected reference stations, g. transmitting interrogation pulses from the selected reference stations according to the receptions of the interrogation trigger signal so that the interrogation pulses arrive in alignment in the computed position of each mobile station to form a predetermined interrogation signal for each mobile station only in the vicinity of each mobile station, h. detecting and identifying interrogation signals on each mobile station, and i. transmitting an identification signal assigned to each mobile station from each mobile station in response to the detection and identification of an interrogation signal on each mobile station.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 49 wherein, in step (f), the interrogation trigger signal is fed to selected reference stations in a predetermined time relationship with regard to the calling pulses generated on each mobile station.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1976-10-15 | 1977-04-16 | 1977-10-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-10-15 | 1981-04-16 | 1981-10-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-10-15 | 1985-04-16 | 1985-10-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |