COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND ANTENNA APPARATUS

• US 20090273418A1
• Filed: 04/21/2009
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ishii, Katsunori, Shimizu, Tatsuo, Ooshima, Satoru, Fujii, Takeyuki, Kakioka, Hidenobu
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,544 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 333/24.R
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 13/10 Resonant slot antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 13/206 Microstrip transmission line antennas

Abstract

An antenna apparatus for use in a transmitter or a receiver in a communication system. The antenna apparatus includes: a dielectric substrate having a conductor layer on one of surfaces; and a slot antenna including an antenna electrode formed on the one surface and disposed substantially at the center, a grounded conductive surface surrounding the antenna electrode, and a slot transmission line made by a gap between the antenna electrode and the grounded conductive surface.

Claims

1. An antenna apparatus for use in a transmitter or a receiver in a communication system, the antenna apparatus comprising:

a dielectric substrate having a conductor layer on one of surfaces; and

a slot antenna including an antenna electrode formed on the one surface and disposed substantially at the center, a grounded conductive surface surrounding the antenna electrode, and a slot transmission line made by a gap between the antenna electrode and the grounded conductive surface.

2. The antenna apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the antenna electrode surrounded by the grounded conductive surface has the shape of a circle, or a regular polygon, such as a regular octagon, a regular hexagon, or the like.

3. The antenna apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein two feed points are disposed so as to sandwich the center of the ring-shaped slot transmission line.

4. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the slot transmission line extends to the other of the surfaces of the dielectric substrate through a through hole at each of the feed points, and is connected to a microstrip line connected to a transmission circuit chip or a receiving circuit chip mounted on the other surface.

5. The antenna apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein an impedance mismatch is set small at the time of connecting the slot transmission line and the microstrip transmission line through the through hole.

6. The antenna apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein a ratio of a characteristic impedance of the two slot transmission lines connected in parallel between the two feed points to a characteristic impedance of the microstrip transmission line is set to about 2:

1.

7. The antenna apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the characteristic impedance of the slot transmission lines is matched in the vicinity of a center frequency of a use frequency bands.

8. The antenna apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein the antenna apparatus is used for a transmission antenna of the transmitter, and

the transmission circuit directly supplies a high-speed digital baseband signal to one of the feed points as a transmission signal.

9. The antenna apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein the antenna apparatus is used for a receiving antenna of the receiver, and

when receiving a transmission signal from a transmitter including the antenna apparatus, the receiving circuit extracts a receiving signal flowing in the opposite direction to a traveling direction of a progressive wave input into the slot transmission line of the transmission antenna.

10. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the slot antenna includes a three-layer substrate or a four-layer substrate.

11. The antenna apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein an internal layer pattern of a second layer or a third layer is a grounded conductor surface, and an overlapped part of the antenna electrode and the microstrip transmission line is widely cut way.

12. The antenna apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein an internal layer pattern of a second layer or a third layer is a grounded conductor surface, and a sufficiently larger opening than the antenna electrode is formed at an overlapped part with the antenna electrode.

13. The antenna apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the antenna apparatus is used for a transmission antenna of the transmitter,

the antenna electrode is divided into two substantially along a line perpendicular to a line connecting the two feed points, and each antenna electrode is terminated at two points of both end parts of a divided gap, and a differential signal is supplied to the individual two feed points.

14. The antenna apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein the antenna apparatus is used for a receiving antenna of the receiver, and a differential signal is taken out from the two feed points disposed on the antenna electrode.

15. A communication system comprising:

a transmission slot antenna having a ring-shaped slot transmission line between an antenna electrode and a grounded conductor surface at a transmitter side; and

a receiving slot antenna having a ring-shaped slot transmission line between an antenna electrode and a grounded conductor surface at a receiver side,

wherein the transmission antenna and the receiving antenna are disposed with being opposed in proximity, and data transmission is performed using near-field electromagnetic coupling effect produced between the slot transmission lines of the transmission antenna and the receiving antenna.

16. The communication system according to claim 15,

wherein data transmission is performed by coupling a near electric field component or a near magnetic field component of a TE₁₀ wave traveling along the slot transmission line of the transmission antenna and the slot transmission line of the receiving antenna.