WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TERMINAL
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A wireless communications terminal, comprising:
- an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements, each of which is configured to apply a phase shift to a signal transmitted by the antenna element; and
a beam steering controller configured to;
steer a main beam of the antenna by controlling the phase shifts applied by the antenna elements,detect a failure of an antenna element, andin response to detecting the failure of the antenna element;
disable the failed antenna element, andmodify the phase shifts applied by remaining ones of the antenna elements.
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Abstract
In one implementation, an antenna array has a plurality of antenna element, each of which is configured to apply a phase shift to a signal. A beam steering controller is configured to steer a main beam of the antenna by controlling the phase shifts applied by the antenna elements. In addition, the beam steering controller also is configured to detect a failure of an antenna element and, in response to detecting the failure, disable the failed antenna element and modify the phase shifts applied by remaining ones of the antenna elements.
28 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A wireless communications terminal, comprising:
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an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements, each of which is configured to apply a phase shift to a signal transmitted by the antenna element; and a beam steering controller configured to; steer a main beam of the antenna by controlling the phase shifts applied by the antenna elements, detect a failure of an antenna element, and in response to detecting the failure of the antenna element; disable the failed antenna element, and modify the phase shifts applied by remaining ones of the antenna elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operating a phased array antenna that includes multiple antenna elements, the method comprising:
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controlling phase shifts applied by individual ones of the antenna elements to steer a main beam of the antenna in a direction; determining that one of the antenna elements has failed; and in response to determining that the antenna element has failed; disabling the failed antenna element, and modifying the phase shifts applied by remaining ones of the antenna elements to steer the main beam of the antenna effectively in the same direction. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A wireless communication terminal, comprising:
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a phased array antenna having multiple antenna elements; memory storing multiple different beam pointing data structures, each beam pointing data structure; corresponding to a particular combination of enabled and disabled antenna elements of the antenna, and storing values representing phase shifts to be applied by individual ones of the enabled antenna elements for the particular combination to steer the main beam of the antenna in a number of different predetermined directions; and a beam steering controller configured to; determine a current combination of enabled and disabled antenna elements, select a beam pointing data structure from among the multiple different beam pointing data structures that corresponds to the current combination of enabled and disabled antenna elements, and control phase shifts applied by the currently enabled antenna elements to steer the main beam of the antenna using phase shifts represented in the selected beam pointing data structure. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification