Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080240272 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR N-DIMENSIONAL LEAF-NODE PREDICTION FOR MIMO DETECTION - Embodiments achieve favorable performance-complexity trade-offs in MIMO detection for three or more channel inputs. Some embodiments describe systems and methods comprising a leaf node predictor for receiving a processed communications stream, determining at least one channel metric corresponding to the communications stream for a given channel realization, and generating at least three instructions to output, which at least one instruction corresponds to at least one predicted best leaf node candidate for the given channel realization. Further embodiments alternatively describe systems and methods which enumerate N | 10-02-2008 |
20110071759 | Performance of a Navigation Receiver Operating in a Power-Save Mode with the Aid of Sensors - A system and method for controlling a navigation receiver is disclosed. A current position is determined using the navigation receiver and then the navigation receiver is placed in a power-save mode. The current position is updated using information from position sensors. The navigation receiver is temporarily placed in an active mode at intervals to determine an intermediate position. The current position is also updated using the intermediate position. The navigation receiver may be a GNSS receiver, a cellular receiver, a WiFi receiver, or another position-fixing device. The position sensors may be accelerometers, gyroscopes, electronic compasses or mapping data. A power-save controller controls the power-save or active mode of the navigation receiver. A sensor conditioning circuit pre-processes the data from the position sensors before providing the data to the power-save controller. During the power-save mode, an RF subsystem and/or a baseband subsystem of the navigation receiver may be turned off. | 03-24-2011 |
20110250931 | Static Heading Detection in Personal Navigation Device - A personal navigation device configured to determine heading readings continuously using data from a sensor in the personal navigation device. Heading readings are selected corresponding to a periodic event. A representative heading is determined from the selected heading readings. When a portion of the selected heading readings has a value within a range of the representative heading, a static heading indicator is asserted to indicate the personal navigation device is moving in a static heading. The static heading indicator may be used to smooth an estimated trajectory of the personal navigation device. | 10-13-2011 |
20130051255 | DYNAMIC CHANNEL ESTIMATION APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Apparatus, systems, and methods disclosed herein operate to calibrate path loss parameters corresponding to a communication channel between wireless stations, including a path loss exponent. A time-of-flight (TOF) associated with packet transmissions traversing a path between a first wireless station and a second wireless station is measured. A path length D | 02-28-2013 |
20130170587 | Systems and Methods for N-Dimensional Leaf-Node Prediction for MIMO Detection - Systems comprising a leaf node predictor for receiving a processed communications stream, determining at least one channel metric corresponding to the communications stream for a given channel realization, and generating at least three instructions to output, which at least one instruction corresponds to at least one predicted best leaf node candidate for the given channel realization. | 07-04-2013 |
20140208134 | HOST CONTROLLER INTERFACE FOR UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) POWER DELIVERY - An apparatus, comprising a system management bus configured to communicate with a USB PDC, and a processor coupled to the system management bus and configured to send a power delivery configuration to the PDC, wherein the power delivery configuration comprises voltage and current settings, and receive a power delivery status from the PDC. Also disclosed is an apparatus comprising a power bus interface configured to communicate with a USB port partner, a system management bus interface configured to communicate with a host, and a processor coupled to the power bus interface and the system management bus interface, wherein the processor is configured to receive, via the system management bus interface, a power delivery configuration from the host, generate a power capability message based on the power delivery configuration, and send, via the power bus interface, the power capability message to the USB port partner. | 07-24-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090168843 | POWER-SAVING RECEIVER CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES - An electronic circuit includes a receiver circuit (BSP) operable to perform coherent summations having a coherent summations time interval, and a power control circuit ( | 07-02-2009 |
20100171659 | POSITION ENGINE (PE) FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE GNSS RECEIVER PERFORMANCE - Embodiments of the invention provide a method for making information in the position engine (PE) available to the measurement engine (ME). With the right information the ME can reduce its power consumption, and improve its performance. Other circuits, devices, systems, methods of operation and processes of manufacture are also disclosed. | 07-08-2010 |
20100271261 | Antenna Selection for GNSS Receivers - Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to improve the performance of a GNSS receiver using antenna switching. The system has a plurality of antennas and at least one radio frequency RF chain. There are fewer RF chain(s) than antennas. A receiver processes a plurality of signals sent by a plurality of transmitters. The system also includes antenna switches and switch controller. The method includes processing signals from a plurality of satellite vehicles SVs using an antenna selected from a plurality of antennas. | 10-28-2010 |
20110156954 | Position and Velocity Uncertainty Metrics in GNSS Receivers - A GNSS navigation system and navigation method for determining user position, user velocity, and improved uncertainty metrics for position and velocity. A measurement engine in an applications processor of the system determines pseudorange and delta range values over each time period for each received satellite signal, and also determines measurement noise variances for both pseudorange and delta range for the individual signals. The satellite-specific pseudorange and delta range measurement variances are used to determine the position and velocity uncertainties by a position engine, either by way of a least-squares linearization or by way of an enhanced Kalman filter. The uncertainties may be communicated to the system user, or used in generating an integrated position and velocity result from both the GNSS navigation function and an inertial navigation system result. | 06-30-2011 |
20120106418 | CLIENT' DEVICE POWER REDUCTION IN WIRELESS NETWORKS HAVING NETWORK-COMPUTED CLIENT' LOCATION - A method of reducing client power consumption in a wireless network including a network server which provides computed client' locations, at least one access point (AP), and a plurality of wireless stations (STAs) including a first wireless station (STA1). The AP periodically sends beacon frames that span a beacon period, wherein at least a first beacon frame is sent during the beacon period. The STA1 sends a location request frame to the AP requesting a STA1 location. During the beacon period the STA1 wakes up from a powersave (PS) mode or a sleep mode and sends a PSPoll frame to the AP. Responsive to the PSPoll frame, the AP replies with a priority response being a data frame including a location response packet including the STA1 location or a Null frame if the STA1 location is not available. | 05-03-2012 |
20120163261 | TIMING MEASUREMENTS BETWEEN WIRELESS STATIONS WITH REDUCED POWER CONSUMPTION - A method of obtaining timing parameters between wireless station peers using reduced power. A timing measurement protocol is executed a including a plurality of Timing Measurement Action (TMA) frames between a first wireless station (STA | 06-28-2012 |
20120229334 | FINE TIME ASSISTANCE FOR GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS - Apparatus and method for providing fine timing assistance to global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) via wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, a method for synchronizing a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver includes receiving, by a wireless device, via a wireless local area network (WLAN), fine time assistance information transmitted by an assisting device connected to the WLAN. A time value of a GNSS clock of the wireless device is adjusted based on the fine time assistance information. Based on the adjusted time value, GNSS codes of a GNSS positioning signal are acquired by the wireless device. | 09-13-2012 |
20120282948 | WIRELESS-BASED POSITIONING WITHOUT ASSOCIATION - A wireless location assist device (WLAD) comprises control logic and a wireless radio coupled to the control logic. The control logic causes the radio to perform at least one of wireless local area network (WLAN) beacon transmission and WLAN probe request receipt and response. The control logic never permits the WLAD to associate with a wireless station. | 11-08-2012 |
20130041610 | NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE BASED ON VISUAL CODES - Visual codes are scanned to assist navigation. The visual code may be a Quick Response (QR) code that contains information useful to calibrating a variety of navigation-based sensors such as gyroscopes, e-compasses, and barometric pressure sensors. | 02-14-2013 |
20130093496 | POWER-SAVING RECEIVER CIRCUITS, SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES - An electronic circuit includes a receiver circuit (BSP) operable to perform coherent summations having a coherent summations time interval, and a power control circuit ( | 04-18-2013 |
20130124129 | Magnetormeter Calibration for Navigation Assistance - Visual codes are scanned to assist navigation. The visual code may be a Quick Response (QR) code that contains information useful to calibrating a variety of navigation-based sensors such as gyroscopes, e-compasses, and barometric pressure sensors. Embodiments describe methods for magnetometer calibration and computing sensor orientation relative to users' local frame of reference. The embodiments use an initial yaw estimate, accelerometer, and gyroscope measurements along with other readily available information (the earth's magnetic field intensity, inclination angle, and declination angle). | 05-16-2013 |
20130131983 | Low-Complexity Tightly-Coupled Integration Filter for Step Detection in a Sensor-Assisted GNSS Receiver - Embodiments of the invention provide a step detection. An accelerometer measurement in the form of a multi-dimensional acceleration vector is obtained. The magnitude of the accelerometer measurement is filtered using a low pass filter. A threshold for a down-crossing is provided as is a threshold for an up-crossing. A step detection is triggered if the magnitude of the accelerometer measurement is greater than or equal to the threshold for an up-crossing. | 05-23-2013 |
20130162477 | Antenna Selection for GNSS Receivers - Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to improve the performance of a GNSS receiver using antenna switching. The system has a plurality of antennas and at least one radio frequency RF chain. There are fewer RF chain(s) than antennas. A receiver processes a plurality of signals sent by a plurality of transmitters. The system also includes antenna switches and switch controller. The method includes processing signals from a plurality of satellite vehicles SVs using an antenna selected from a plurality of antennas. | 06-27-2013 |
20130339769 | POLICY ENGINE STARTUP PROCEDURE FOR A DEFAULT PROVIDER IN USB POWER DELIVERY - An electronic device including a universal serial bus power delivery (USB-PD) port for at least the delivery of power, and a USB-PD controller to control a state of power delivery by the USB-PD port out of a plurality of states, wherein the USB-PD controller transitions the USB-PD port from an unpowered state to a check internal power state when the USB-PD port is ready to power the USB cable. | 12-19-2013 |
20140020445 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF POWER-SAVING IN MEMS SENSOR APPLICATIONS - At least some of the embodiments are methods including detecting low user dynamics by a first MEMS sensor, determining a first sensor sampling rate value corresponding to the low user dynamics wherein the first sensor sampling rate value is less than a second sensor sampling rate value corresponding to high user dynamics, and adjusting a sampling rate of a second MEMS sensor to the first sensor sampling rate value. | 01-23-2014 |
20140121962 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NAVIGATING USING CORRECTED YAW BIAS VALUES - A method for navigating using a speed sensor and a yaw rate sensor includes computing, for each of a plurality of error parameter values, a distance traveled for each of a plurality of directions of travel. The method also includes selecting the error parameter value that maximizes the distance traveled in one or more of the directions of travel, applying the selected error parameter value to data from the yaw rate sensor, and navigating using dead reckoning based on data from the speed sensor and data from the yaw rate sensor with the applied error parameter value. | 05-01-2014 |
20140171108 | DYNAMIC ACCESS POINT BASED POSITIONING - A wireless device that includes an access point (AP) scanner, a transceiver, and a controller coupled to the AP scanner and transceiver. The AP scanner is configured to scan wireless network channels utilized by one or more APs to transmit data packets, probe responses, and beacons. The transceiver is configured to transmit one or more probe requests to the one or more APs and receive one or more probe responses and beacons from the one or more APs. The controller is configured to determine a proximate geographic position of the wireless device based on signal strength of the one or more probe responses and beacons received from the one or more APs. The controller also dynamically adapts a parameter utilized in determining the proximate geographic position of the wireless device. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173141 | ROBUST CABLE-TYPE DETECTION FOR USB POWER DELIVERY - A system and method for detecting a USB cable-type. A USB PD device configured at a near end of a USB cable is configured to (i) receive and process a signal from a device at a far end of the USB cable to determine a power rating of the USB cable and (ii) adjustably establish power delivered by the first device to the USB cable as a function of the determined USB cable power rating. | 06-19-2014 |
20140185472 | METHOD FOR INCORPORATING INVISIBLE ACCESS POINTS FOR RSSI-BASED INDOOR POSITIONING APPLICATIONS - A method for incorporating invisible APs for RSSI based indoor positioning is presented. An empirical estimate of the probability of invisible APs versus distance is computed. An estimated position of the receiver can be computed using any statistical estimator based on the probability. In one embodiment, an estimate of the probability is computed by combining the probability over a set of visible APs and the probability over a set of invisible APs with the probability of individual contribution. In one embodiment a dynamic procedure is used to update the invisible probability that is computed using an AP dictionary built on the fly as new APs are detected. Incorporating invisible APs for estimating user position from the RSSI measurements for indoor positioning provides a better positioning accuracy as compared to typical estimators which rely only on the visible APs. | 07-03-2014 |
20140185518 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WiFi POSITIONING - An aspect of the invention provides instantaneous Wi-Fi positioning that is robust to outliar APs using a recursive centroid method. It estimates user position and uncertainty based on the current list of scanned APs. Another aspect of the invention provides a Wi-Fi navigation solution that estimates good Wi-Fi positions even in the areas of low AP density and further improves robustness to outliar APs. Wi-Fi navigation solution improves the estimate of instantaneous Wi-Fi positioning by using a 4-state Kalman filter, which models user dynamics. As a result, the uncertainty estimate of the Wi-Fi positions is accurately estimated, thereby, making it suitable for blending with GNSS. | 07-03-2014 |
20150017939 | POSITION ENGINE (PE) FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE GNSS RECEIVER PERFORMANCE - Embodiments of the invention provide a method for detecting false peaks in a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) having a power control circuit, a measurement engine, and position engine. An estimated pseudorange is filtered over time. A false peak is declared if the filtered pseudorange error is greater than a threshold. | 01-15-2015 |
20150142994 | ROBUST CABLE-TYPE DETECTION FOR USB POWER DELIVERY - A system and method for detecting a USB cable-type. A USB PD device configured at a near end of a USB cable is configured to (i) receive and process a signal from a device at a far end of the USB cable to determine a power rating of the USB cable and (ii) adjustably establish power delivered by the first device to the USB cable as a function of the determined USB cable power rating. | 05-21-2015 |
20150160350 | Antenna Selection for GNSS Receivers - Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to improve the performance of a GNSS receiver using antenna switching. The system has a plurality of antennas and at least one radio frequency RF chain. There are fewer RF chain(s) than antennas. A receiver processes a plurality of signals sent by a plurality of transmitters. The system also includes antenna switches and switch controller. The method includes processing signals from a plurality of satellite vehicles SVs using an antenna selected from a plurality of antennas. | 06-11-2015 |
20150198694 | Positioning Server - A positioning server has a positioning database. The positioning database is configured to store information relating wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) signal measurements to points of a geographic positioning grid. motion information provided by dead-reckoning systems of a plurality of wireless devices and reference location information provided by at least one of a satellite positioning system and a wireless local area network (WLAN) positioning system of each wireless device is also stored. WLAN access point (AP) signal measurements acquired by each wireless device in correspondence with the motion information is stored as are non-causally determine positions of the wireless devices based on the motion information and reference locations. Positioning server is also configured to generate a geographic positioning grid that relates the AP signal measurements to points of the positioning grid based on the determined positions. | 07-16-2015 |
20150198695 | Wireless Device for Indoor Positioning - A wireless device for indoor positioning has a satellite positioning system, a transceiver, a motion measurement system, and a position estimation system. The satellite positioning system is configured to determine a location of the device based on received satellite positioning signals. The wireless local area network transceiver is configured to measure while in the areas of non-reception, signals transmitted by wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs). The motion measurement system is configured to measure movement of the wireless device. The position estimation system is configured to determine a reference location, and record measurements of movement. The reference location and the recorded measurements are to be provided to a positioning database that generates a positioning grid. | 07-16-2015 |
20150198721 | System for Crowd-Sourced Fingerprinting - A system for crowd-sourced fingerprinting has a positioning database and a mobile wireless device. The positioning database is configured to store information relating wireless local area network access point (AP) signal measurements to points of a geographic positioning grid. The mobile wireless device has a satellite positioning system, a transceiver, a motion measurement system, and position estimation logic. The position estimation logic is configured to determine a reference location as the device passes between areas of satellite positioning signal reception and satellite positioning signal non-reception. The device further configured to record measurements of movements provided by the motion measurement system and measurements of signals provided by the transceiver within areas of non-reception and to provide results to the positioning database. | 07-16-2015 |
20150207521 | USB POWER DELIVERY MULTIPLE DROP USING CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK - Methods and apparatus for operating a communication system comprising three or more communication transceivers. In illustrative embodiments, multiple different cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generation schemes are maintained. Each CRC generation scheme corresponds to a unique CRC residual value. A CRC value generated using one of the CRC generation schemes is placed in a data packet to be transmitted. The chosen CRC generation scheme reflects which one or more transceivers are intended recipients of the data packet. When a data packet is received by a transceiver, a CRC residual value is calculated based on the CRC value contained in the received data packet. The calculated CRC residual value is compared against a list of one or more valid CRC residual values for that particular transceiver. If the calculated CRC value matches one of the listed valid CRC residual values, the data packet is accepted, otherwise it is rejected. | 07-23-2015 |
20150247728 | SYSTEMS FOR NAVIGATING USING CORRECTED YAW BIAS VALUES - An automobile has a system for navigating using a vehicle speed sensor reading rotation data from a wheel and a gyroscopic sensor. For each of a plurality of error parameter values, a distance traveled for each of a plurality of directions of travel. The system also includes selecting the error parameter value that maximizes the distance traveled in one or more of the directions of travel, applying the selected error parameter value to data from the gyroscopic sensor, and navigating using dead reckoning based on data from the vehicle speed sensor and data from the gyroscopic sensor with the applied error parameter value. | 09-03-2015 |
20150247928 | COOPERATIVE LOCATION SENSOR APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR LOW COMPLEXITY GEOLOCATION - A location or position sensor apparatus and sensor systems are presented, in which individual location sensors store and wirelessly exchange orbital information, soft demodulation information, position and time of day information, and the sensors share decoding and computation tasks related to acquiring and tracking navigation satellites to conserve power and to facilitate determination of sensor positions. | 09-03-2015 |
20150286605 | Message Recipient Discrimination Using Start-Of-Packet Delimiters - Methods and apparatus for operating a communication system comprising three or more communication transceivers. In illustrative embodiments, multiple unique start-of-packet delimiters are maintained. A data packet to be transmitted is constructed using a specified one of the plurality of start-of-packet delimiters to demarcate the start of said data packet. The chosen start-of-packet delimiter reflects one or more transceivers that are intended recipients of said data packet. When a data packet is received by a transceiver, the start-of-packet delimiter of the received data packet is compared to one or more valid start-of-packet delimiters for the receiving transceiver. If the start-of-packet delimiter of the received data packet matches a valid start-of-packet delimiter for the receiving transceiver, the data packet is accepted, otherwise it is rejected. | 10-08-2015 |
20150362984 | POWER-SAVING MODE FOR USB POWER DELIVERY SOURCING DEVICE - Methods of reducing power consumption in a USB power-delivery source device. In one such method, one or more source capabilities messages are sent by the USB power-delivery source device. If, after sending a source capabilities message, a response to said source capabilities message is not received within a predetermined time period, the device sends another source capabilities message. If, after sending a predetermined number of source capabilities messages, no response is received, the device waits an extended period of time before sending another source capabilities message. Receiving functionality of the USB power-delivery source device is turned off during some or all of said extended period of time. | 12-17-2015 |
20150370299 | TUNNELING IN USB POWER DELIVERY - An electronic system includes a computer and a power adapter. The computer includes an embedded controller (EC) coupled to a computer power delivery (PD) controller. The power adapter includes a power adapter PD controller connected to a slave device and is configured to communicate with the computer over a communication link. The computer PD controller is configured to receive a command from the EC and, to transmit a universal serial bus (USB) vendor defined message (VDM) header and one or more vendor defined objects (VDOs) including the information of the payload of the transmit command. The power adapter PD controller responds to the one or more VDOs either by changing an output signal to the slave device connected to the power adapter PD controller, reports a state of a general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin of the power adapter PD controller, or changes the state of the GPIO pin. | 12-24-2015 |
20160041013 | METHOD OF POWER-SAVING IN MEMS SENSOR APPLICATIONS - Method including detecting low user dynamics by a first MEMS sensor is provided. A first sensor determines sampling rate value corresponding to the low user dynamics. The first sensor sampling rate value is less than a second sensor sampling rate value corresponding to high user dynamics. A sampling rate of a second MEMS sensor is adjusted to the first sensor sampling rate value. | 02-11-2016 |
20160054146 | SYSTEM OF POWER-SAVING IN MEMS SENSOR APPLICATIONS - A system comprises a plurality of sensors, a sensor processor, and a sampling rate engine. The sensor processor is coupled to an output of each sensor of the plurality of sensors. The sensor processor estimates user dynamics in response to a first output signal of a first sensor of the plurality of sensors. The sampling rate engine is coupled to an output of the sensor processor./ The sampling rate engine determines a sampling rate value of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors in response to a user dynamics value from the sensor processor. The second sensor comprises a selectable sampling rate. The selectable sampling rate is configured in response to the sampling rate value determined by the sampling rate engine. | 02-25-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090189072 | TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETRY OF SURFACES - The present invent provides a particle detector for counting and measuring the flight time of secondary electrons and scattered ions and neutrals and to correlate coincidences between these and backscattered ions/and neutrals while maintaining a continuous unpulsed microfocused primary ion beam for impinging a surface. Intensities of the primary particle scattering and secondary particle emissions are correlated with the position of impact of the focused beam onto a materials surface so that a spatially resolved surface elemental and electronic structural mapping is obtained by scanning the focused beam across the surface. | 07-30-2009 |
20100200742 | POST-IONIZATION OF NEUTRALS FOR ION MOBILITY OTOFMS IDENTIFICATION OF MOLECULES AND ELEMENTS DESORBED FROM SURFACES - The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for ionizing a neutral MALDI desorption plume, and in particular, for efficiently measuring the ionized MALDI desorption plume when post-ionization techniques are combined with a medium pressure MALDI-IM-oTOFMS instrument. Additionally, the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus that simultaneously separates tissue-sample MALDI ions by IM-oTOFMS according to their chemical family. After separation, the MALDI ions are directly compared to the ions created by post-ionizing the co-desorbed neutral molecules with a second laser wherein the second laser is delayed by a few hundred microseconds. The present disclosure further provides novel approaches that enhance the analysis of ions, including the use of giant fullerene internal standards to enhance mass accuracy, and ultraviolet (UV) declustering lasers to generate intact peptides and proteins, either of which may be followed by VUV post-ionization which generates identifiable structural fragments. | 08-12-2010 |
20110147578 | TIME-OF-FLIGHT SPECTROMETRY AND SPECTROSCOPY OF SURFACES - Described is an analytical method and apparatus for counting and measuring the flight time of secondary electrons, secondary ions and neutrals, scattered ions and/or neutrals and for correlating coincidences between these while maintaining a continuous un-pulsed, micro-focused, primary particle beam for impinging a surface for purposes of microprobe imaging and microanalysis. | 06-23-2011 |
20120018630 | Nonoparticulate Assisted Nanoscale Molecular Imaging by Mass Spectrometery - Methods and devices for mass spectrometry are described, specifically the use of nanoparticulate implantation as a matrix for secondary ion and more generally secondary particles. A photon beam source or a nanoparticulate beam source can be used a desorption source or a primary ion/primary particle source. | 01-26-2012 |
20120085898 | TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETRY OF SURFACE - The present invent provides a particle detector for counting and measuring the flight time of secondary electrons and scattered ions and neutrals and to correlate coincidences between these and backscattered ions/and neutrals while maintaining a continuous unpulsed microfocused primary ion beam for impinging a surface. Intensities of the primary particle scattering and secondary particle emissions are correlated with the position of impact of the focused beam onto a materials surface so that a spatially resolved surface elemental and electronic structural mapping is obtained by scanning the focused beam across the surface. | 04-12-2012 |
20130134305 | POST-IONIZATION OF NEUTRALS FOR ION MOBILITY oTOFMS IDENTIFICATION OF MOLECULES AND ELEMENTS DESORBED FROM SURFACES - The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for ionizing a neutral MALDI desorption plume, and in particular, for efficiently measuring the ionized MALDI desorption plume when post-ionization techniques are combined with a medium pressure MALDI-IM-oTOFMS instrument. Additionally, the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus that simultaneously separates tissue-sample MALDI ions by IM-oTOFMS according to their chemical family. After separation, the MALDI ions are directly compared to the ions created by post-ionizing the co-desorbed neutral molecules with a second laser wherein the second laser is delayed by a few hundred microseconds. The present disclosure further provides novel approaches that enhance the analysis of ions, including the use of giant fullerene internal standards to enhance mass accuracy, and ultraviolet (UV) declustering lasers to generate intact peptides and proteins, either of which may be followed by VUV post-ionization which generates identifiable structural fragments. | 05-30-2013 |
20140084153 | Nanoparticulate Assisted Nanoscale Molecular Imaging by Mass Spectrometery - Methods and devices for mass spectrometry are described, specifically the use of nanoparticulate implantation as a matrix for secondary ion and more generally secondary particles. A photon beam source or a nanoparticulate beam source can be used a desorption source or a primary ion/primary particle source. | 03-27-2014 |