Receiver

• US 20050245224A1
• Filed: 02/03/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Kurioka, Nobuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,636,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/272
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0814 based on current reception conditions, e.g. switching to different antenna when signal level is below threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0874 using subgroups of receive antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection

Abstract

A receiver for receiving a digital signal of a radio wave etc. modulated by the OFDM scheme, provided with a first reception unit having a first antenna set comprising a plurality of directional antennas, a first switching/combining unit for outputting a signal received at one directional antenna of said first antenna set or a combined signal of signals received by at least two directional antennas in the first antenna set; a second reception unit having a second antenna set comprising a plurality of directional antennas, a second switching/combining unit for outputting a signal received at one directional antenna of the second antenna set or a combined signal of signals received by at least two directional antennas in the second antenna set; and a switching/combining control unit for controlling the switching/combining operation of the reception signals of the first switching/combining unit and/or the second switching/combining unit based on the states of reception in the first reception unit and the second reception unit.

Claims

1. A receiver for receiving a radio wave modulated according to a digital signal, the receiver comprising:

a first reception unit having a first switching/combining unit receiving a plurality of reception signals and outputting one of the reception signals or a combined signal of the reception signals;

a second reception unit having a second switching/combining unit receiving a plurality of reception signals which are different from said plurality of reception signals and outputting one of reception signals or a combined signal of the plurality of reception signals; and

a switching/combining control unit controlling said first switching/combining unit and/or said second switching/combining unit in accordance with a receiving condition in said first reception unit and said second reception unit.

2. The receiver according to claim 1, wherein

said first reception unit comprises a first antenna set including a plurality of directional antennas;

and

said second reception unit comprises a second antenna set including a plurality of directional antennas.

3. The receiver according to claim 1, further comprises:

a diversity processing unit for diversity processing output signals from said first reception unit and said second reception unit, wherein

said switching/combining control unit controls the switching/combining operation of reception signals of said first switching/combining unit and/or said second switching/combining unit in accordance with a receiving condition in the diversity processing.

4. The receiver according to claim 2, wherein

said first antenna set comprises a first front directional antenna and a first rear directional antenna, and

said second antenna set comprises a second front directional antenna and a second rear directional antenna.

5. The receiver according to claim 2, wherein

said first antenna set comprises a first front directional antenna, a first side directional antenna and a first rear directional antenna, and

said second antenna set comprises a second front directional antenna, a second side antenna and a second rear directional antenna.

6. A receiver for receiving a radio wave modulated according to a digital signal, the receiver comprising:

a selection unit selecting at least one of a plurality of reception signals; and

a control unit controlling the selection unit in accordance with a receiving condition of the reception signal selected by the selection unit, wherein

said control unit selects the reception signal having a reception level not more than a predetermined reference level when the state of reception is degraded.

7. The receiver according to claim 6, further comprising:

an antenna group having a plurality of antennas, wherein

said control unit selects the at least one reception signal by selecting at least one antenna in the antenna group, and

said control unit selects the reception signal by selecting an antenna providing a reception level of not more than a predetermined reference level when the receiving condition is degraded.

8. The receiver according to claim 7, wherein

said control unit acquires the reception level of the reception signal received at the selected antenna when judging that the reception signal received at the antenna selected by said selection unit is degraded in receiving condition and selects an antenna providing a reception level of not more than the predetermined reference level when the acquired reception level is larger than the predetermined reference level.

9. The receiver according to claim 7, wherein

said antenna group comprises a nondirectional antenna and a plurality of the directional antenna, and

said control unit acquires the reception level of the reception signal received at the nondirectional antenna when judging that the reception signal, received at the time of selection of said nondirectional antenna, is degraded in receiving condition and selects a directional antenna giving a reception level of not more than the predetermined reference level when the acquired reception level is larger than the predetermined reference level.

10. The receiver according to claim 7, wherein

said antenna group comprises a plurality of the directional antennas and configures a nondirectional antenna by combining the plurality of the directional antennas, and

said control unit acquires the reception level of the reception signal received at the nondirectional antenna when judging that the reception signal received at the time of selection of said nondirectional antenna is degraded in receiving condition and selects a directional antenna giving a reception level of not more than the predetermined reference level when the acquired reception level is larger than the predetermined reference level.

11. The receiver according to claim 7, wherein

said control unit acquires the reception level of the reception signal received at the selected antenna when judging that the reception signal received at the antenna selected by said selection unit is degraded in receiving condition and selects an antenna in the reverse direction to the selected antenna when the acquired reception level is larger than the predetermined reference level.

12. A receiver for receiving a radio wave modulated according to a digital signal, the receiver comprising:

a selection unit receiving a plurality of reception signals and selecting at least one of the reception signals; and

an adjustment unit adjusting the selection and switching timing of said reception signals.

13. The receiver according to claim 12, further comprising:

an antenna group having a plurality of directional antennas, wherein

said selection unit selects the at least one of reception signals by selecting at least one antenna of the antenna group, and

said adjustment unit adjusts the selection and switching timing of said reception signals by adjusting the selection and switching timing of said antenna.

14. The receiver according to claim 12, wherein

said adjustment unit offsets a connection timing for switching nonselection to selection and disconnection timing for switching selection to nonselection.

15. The receiver according to claim 14, wherein

said adjustment unit adjusts the amount of offset of said connection timing and said disconnection timing based on broadcast parameters included in the received radio wave.

16. A receiver for receiving a radio wave modulated according to a digital signal, the receiver comprising:

a selection unit receiving a plurality of reception signals and selecting at least one reception signal; and

a control unit controlling the level of the reception signal in the transition between the selection and switching of said reception signal.

17. The receiver according to claim 16, further comprising:

an antenna group having a plurality of directional antennas, wherein

said selection unit selects the at least one reception signals by selecting at least one antenna of the antenna group.

18. The receiver according to claim 17, wherein

said control unit gently or stepwise changes the level of the reception signal of an antenna switched from nonselection to selection and the level of the reception signal of an antenna switched from selection to nonselection.