Provision of SPS timing signals

Claim 1

A method for providing a sequence of timing signals for a network of M microprocessors or other timing-controlled electronic instruments, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M, (M≧2), the method comprising the steps of: providing a network containing a plurality of M timing-controlled electronic instruments, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2); providing each of the M electronic instruments with an internal clock that generates and issues internal tinning signals for use in operations by that instrument; providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor, to receive and process GPS signals from two or more GPS satellites, to use these GPS signals to determine the times of receipt of these signals at the GPS antenna, to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors of at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second; and causing each of the M instruments to receive this sequence of time measurement signals from the GPS receiver/processor and to adjust its internal timing signals to be synchronized with this sequence of time measurement signals, whereby the timing of operations performed by each of the M instruments is synchronized with the sequence of timing signals.

Claim 2

A method for providing a sequence of timing signals for a network of M microprocessors or other timing-controlled electronic instruments, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M, (M≧2), the method comprising the steps of: providing a network containing a plurality of M timing-controlled electronic instruments, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2); providing each of the M electronic instruments with an internal clock that generates and issues internal tinning signals for use in operations by that instrument; providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor, to receive and process GPS signals from two or more GPS satellites, to use these GPS signals to determine the times of receipt of these signals at the GPS antenna, to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors of at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second; and causing each of the M instruments to receive this sequence of time measurement signals from the GPS receiver/processor and to adjust its internal timing signals to be synchronized with this sequence of time measurement signals, whereby the timing of operations performed by each of the M instruments is synchronized with the sequence of timing signals.

Claim 5

A method for synchronizing communications between two or more users in a code division multiple access (CDMA) communications system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of M electronic communications means, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2), for transmitting electromagnetic signals to, and receiving electromagnetic signals from, each other, where each communications means has an internal clock that generates and issues internal timing signals for use by that communications means, and where, if communications means number m transmits one or more signals during a selected time interval T m ,n ={t|t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N;N≧1)}, communications means number m uses a selected transmission code C m ,n for encoding this transmission during the time interval T m ,n ; for two distinct numbers m1 and m2 (m1≠m2), drawn from the set of numbers m=1, 2, . . . , M, providing communications means number m1 with a transmission code C m1 ,n1 for a first selected sequence of time intervals T m1 ,n1 and with a transmission code C m2 ,n2 for a second selected sequence of time intervals T m2 ,n2, where n1 and n2 are drawn from the set of numbers n=1, . . . , N; providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor, to receive and process GPS signals from two or more GPS satellites, to use these GPS signals to determine the times of receipt of these signals at the GPS antenna, to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors of at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second, to provide this sequence of time measurement signals for communications means numbers m1 and m2; causing each of the instruments number m1 and m2 to receive this sequence of time measurement signals from the GPS receiver/processor and to adjust its internal timing signals to be synchronized with this sequence of time measurement signals, causing the communications means number m1 to generate and issue the following sequences: a first sequence of one or more pairs of timing signals at times t=t m1 ,m1 and t=t m1 ,n1+1, corresponding to the beginning time and the ending time of the selected time intervals T m1 ,n1 ; and a second sequence of one or more pairs of timing signals at times t=t m2 ,n2 and t= m2 ,n2+1, corresponding to the beginning time and the ending time of the selected time intervals T m2 ,n2 ; causing the communications means number m1 to transmit a signal that is encoded using the communication code C m1 ,n1 during at least one of the selected time intervals T m1 ,n1 ; and causing the communications means number m1 to receive a signal transmitted by communication means number m2 during at least one of the selected time intervals T m2 ,n2 and to use the transmission code C m2 ,n2 to decode this received signal.

Claim 6

A method for synchronizing communications between two or more users in a code division multiple access (CDMA) communications system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of M electronic communications means, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2), for transmitting electromagnetic signals to, and receiving electromagnetic signals from, each other, where each communications means has an internal clock that generates and issues internal timing signals for use by that communications means, and where, if communications means number m transmits one or more signals during a selected time interval T m ,n ={t|t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N;N≧1)}, communications means number m uses a selected transmission code C m ,n for encoding this transmission during the time interval T m ,n ; for two distinct numbers m1 and m2 (m1≠m2), drawn from the set of numbers m=1, 2, . . . , M, providing communications means number m1 with a transmission code C m1 ,n1 for a first selected sequence of time intervals T m1 ,n1 and with a transmission code C m2 ,n2 for a second selected sequence of time intervals T m2 ,n2, where n1 and n2 are drawn from the set of numbers n=1, . . . , N; providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor, to receive and process GPS signals from two or more GPS satellites, to use these GPS signals to determine the times of receipt of these signals at the GPS antenna, to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors of at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second, to provide this sequence of time measurement signals for communications means numbers m1 and m2; causing each of the instruments number m1 and m2 to receive this sequence of time measurement signals from the GPS receiver/processor and to adjust its internal timing signals to be synchronized with this sequence of time measurement signals, causing the communications means number m1 to generate and issue the following sequences: a first sequence of one or more pairs of timing signals at times t=t m1 ,m1 and t=t m1 ,n1+1, corresponding to the beginning time and the ending time of the selected time intervals T m1 ,n1 ; and a second sequence of one or more pairs of timing signals at times t=t m2 ,n2 and t= m2 ,n2+1, corresponding to the beginning time and the ending time of the selected time intervals T m2 ,n2 ; causing the communications means number m1 to transmit a signal that is encoded using the communication code C m1 ,n1 during at least one of the selected time intervals T m1 ,n1 ; and causing the communications means number m1 to receive a signal transmitted by communication means number m2 during at least one of the selected time intervals T m2 ,n2 and to use the transmission code C m2 ,n2 to decode this received signal.

Claim 8

A method for communicating information from a first location to a second location by means of spread spectrum communications, the method comprising the steps of: providing an electronic communications means transmitter at a first location that transmits, at least once per second, an arbitrary signal using any of a selected set of carrier frequencies {f n } n (n=1, 2, . . . , N; N≧2), with at least two carrier frequencies f n being distinct from each other; providing an electronic communications means receiver at a second location, spaced apart from the first location, that is capable of receiving and interpreting an arbitrary signal using any of the selected set of frequencies {f n } n ; providing each of the transmitter and the receiver with a sequence of time measurement signals from a GPS signal receiver/processor, which time measurement signals have associated timing errors that are at most about one microsecond and which are received at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second, at a selected set of times {t n } n , where t n <t n+1 (n=1, 2, . . . , N-1); causing the electronic communications means transmitter to transmit a message and the electronic communications means receiver to receive this message, where the transmitter uses the carrier frequency f n during the time interval given by t n <t<t n+1 , and uses at least two distinct carrier frequencies;; transmitting at least one message, containing information other than a time measurement signal, from said transmitter to said receiver; and attaching to this message a time stamp indicating the time, determined by the transmitter, that this message is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver.

Claim 9

A method for communicating information from a first location to a second location by means of spread spectrum communications, the method comprising the steps of: providing an electronic communications means transmitter at a first location that transmits, at least once per second, an arbitrary signal using any of a selected set of carrier frequencies {f n } n (n=1, 2, . . . , N; N≧2), with at least two carrier frequencies f n being distinct from each other; providing an electronic communications means receiver at a second location, spaced apart from the first location, that is capable of receiving and interpreting an arbitrary signal using any of the selected set of frequencies {f n } n ; providing each of the transmitter and the receiver with a sequence of time measurement signals from a GPS signal receiver/processor, which time measurement signals have associated timing errors that are at most about one microsecond and which are received at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second, at a selected set of times {t n } n , where t n <t n+1 (n=1, 2, . . . , N-1); causing the electronic communications means transmitter to transmit a message and the electronic communications means receiver to receive this message, where the transmitter uses the carrier frequency f n during the time interval given by t n <t<t n+1 , and uses at least two distinct carrier frequencies;; transmitting at least one message, containing information other than a time measurement signal, from said transmitter to said receiver; and attaching to this message a time stamp indicating the time, determined by the transmitter, that this message is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver.

Claim 10

A method for synchronizing communications between a plurality of users in a time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of M electronic communications means, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2) for transmitting signals to, and receiving signals from, each other, where each communications means has an internal clock that generates and issues internal timing signals for use by that communications means; providing each communications means number m (1≦m≦M) with a sequence of one or more selected time intervals T m ,n ={t|t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N-1; N≧2)}, during which communications means number m may transmit signals, where any two time intervals T m1 ,n1 and T m2 ,n2 have no overlapping time values if m1≠m2, or n1≠n2, or both m1≠m2 and n1≠n2 (m1 and m2=1, 2, . . . , M; n1 and n2=1, . . . , N); providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor to receive and process GPS signals from a plurality of two or more GPS satellites, and to use these GPS signals to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors that are at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second; causing each of communications means number m (m=1, 2, . . . , M) to receive the sequence of time measurement signals issued by the GPS receiver/processor and to synchronize the internal clock of communications means number m to these timing signals; and causing at least one of the communications means number m to transmit a signal during at least one of the time intervals for which t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N).

Claim 11

A method for synchronizing communications between a plurality of users in a time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of M electronic communications means, numbered m=1, 2, . . . , M (M≧2) for transmitting signals to, and receiving signals from, each other, where each communications means has an internal clock that generates and issues internal timing signals for use by that communications means; providing each communications means number m (1≦m≦M) with a sequence of one or more selected time intervals T m ,n ={t|t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N-1; N≧2)}, during which communications means number m may transmit signals, where any two time intervals T m1 ,n1 and T m2 ,n2 have no overlapping time values if m1≠m2, or n1≠n2, or both m1≠m2 and n1≠n2 (m1 and m2=1, 2, . . . , M; n1 and n2=1, . . . , N); providing a GPS signal antenna and GPS signal receiver/processor to receive and process GPS signals from a plurality of two or more GPS satellites, and to use these GPS signals to continually compute and transmit a sequence of time measurement signals, which have associated timing errors that are at most about one microsecond and which are transmitted at least once in every time interval of length at most about one second; causing each of communications means number m (m=1, 2, . . . , M) to receive the sequence of time measurement signals issued by the GPS receiver/processor and to synchronize the internal clock of communications means number m to these timing signals; and causing at least one of the communications means number m to transmit a signal during at least one of the time intervals for which t m ,n ≦t<t m ,n+1 (n=1, . . . , N).