Communication system and method utilizing an antenna having adaptive characteristics
First Claim
1. In a radio communication system having a first communication station and at least a second communication station, an improvement of an apparatus coupled to the first communication station for facilitating transmission of communication signals upon a radio communication channel between the first communication station and the second communication station, said apparatus comprising:
- a propagation characteristic determiner for determining propagation characteristics of the radio communication channel upon which the communication signals are transmitted between the first communication station and the second communication station; and
an antenna assembly coupled to receive indications of the propagation characteristics determined by said propagation characteristic determiner, said antenna assembly forming an antenna beam pattern at least alternately exhibiting at least a first lobe geometry and a second lobe geometry, selection of the antenna beam pattern exhibited by said antenna assembly determined by said propagation characteristic determiner.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, and an associated method, for facilitating reception and transmission of signals in a communication system, such as a cellular communication system. An antenna having an antenna pattern adaptively responsive to propagation characteristics extending between communication stations of the communication system. The antenna pattern of the antenna is selected responsive to the propagation characteristics. When the propagation characteristics are indicative of a channel exhibiting only insignificant multipath components, the antenna pattern is selected to be highly directional, and when the propagation characteristics are indicative of a channel exhibiting significant multipath components, the antenna pattern is altered to become less directional.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. In a radio communication system having a first communication station and at least a second communication station, an improvement of an apparatus coupled to the first communication station for facilitating transmission of communication signals upon a radio communication channel between the first communication station and the second communication station, said apparatus comprising:
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a propagation characteristic determiner for determining propagation characteristics of the radio communication channel upon which the communication signals are transmitted between the first communication station and the second communication station; and an antenna assembly coupled to receive indications of the propagation characteristics determined by said propagation characteristic determiner, said antenna assembly forming an antenna beam pattern at least alternately exhibiting at least a first lobe geometry and a second lobe geometry, selection of the antenna beam pattern exhibited by said antenna assembly determined by said propagation characteristic determiner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. In a method for communicating in a radio communication system having a first communication station and at least a second communication station and a radio communication channel upon which radio communication signals are transmitted between the first and second communication stations, respectively, an improvement of a method for at least receiving communication signals generated by the second communication station, said method comprising the steps of:
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determining propagation characteristics of a communication signal transmitted between the first communication station and the second communication station upon the radio communication channel; and adaptively selecting an antenna beam pattern to be exhibited by an antenna assembly responsive to the propagation characteristics determined during said step of determining, the antenna beam pattern selected to be at least alternately of a first lobe geometry and of a second lobe geometry.
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23. A radio base station for transmitting downlink signals to, and receiving uplink signals from, at least one subscriber unit, said radio base station comprising:
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transceiver circuitry for generating the downlink signals and for processing the uplink signals; a propagation characteristic determiner operative responsive to selected uplink signals processed by said transceiver circuitry, said propagation characteristic determiner for determining a value representative of the propagation characteristics of a radio communication channel upon which a communication signal is transmitted between the subscriber unit and the transceiver circuitry; and an antenna assembly coupled to said transceiver circuitry, said antenna assembly exhibiting an antenna beam pattern at least alternately exhibiting at least a first lobe geometry and a second lobe geometry, selection of the antenna beam pattern exhibited by said antenna assembly responsive to the value determined by said propagation characteristic determiner.
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Specification