Localization of shaped directional transmitting and transmitting/receiving antenna array

• US 6,173,191 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Mdivesity Incorporated
• Inventors: Jennings, Earle Willis III
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunter, Daniel S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Application Number:
  US09/001,370
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 455/550, 455/561, 455/562, 455/575, 455/90, 455/277.1, 455/277.2, 343/702, 342/371
• US Class Current: 455/562.1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/13 the primary radiating source being a single radiating element, e.g. a dipole, a slot, a waveguide termination H01Q19/15 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/205 providing an omnidirectional coverage turnstile aerials H01Q21/26

Abstract

A micro-diverse directional transmitting antenna array positioned proximately upon the boundary of a convex shape whereby the primary attenuation lobes of neighboring antennae overlap. Distinct transmissions by distinct directional antenna components utilize the same channel resources using transmitting directional antenna components that are not adjacent. Further, a micro-diverse directional antenna array comprising both transmitting and receiving directional antenna components positioned proximately upon the boundary of a convex shape whereby the primary attenuation lobes of nearest neighbor transmitting directional antenna components overlap and the primary attenuation lobes of nearest neighbor receiving directional antenna components overlap. This creates a situation in which the reception of signals by said array from the user (uplink) space-time-delay domain of transmission is effectively modeled as a banded linear transformation upon discretized space-time-delay domain of transmission yielding the antenna reception at discrete time steps.

Claims

1. An device comprising

a. two or more transmitting directional antennae whereby

i. each antenna has a defined

(1) base location vector,

(2) orientation direction vector

(3) attenuation function

(4) interface circuitry

ii. each antenna orientation direction vector lines in the major axis of the contour map of said antenna'"'"'s said attenuation function

iii. said antenna base location vectors are proximate to said boundary of a convex shape in 2 or more dimensions

iv. for each said antenna, there exists at least one other antenna whereby the main attenuation lobes overlap

v. one or more of said antenna interface circuits receive one transmission data streams from said information processor for each said antenna

vi. each said antenna transmits a signal based upon that received transmission data stream from said transmission information processor

b. said antennae possess a shared center wherein

i. the base location vector of each antenna is a distance from said antenna collection center which is a small fraction of the distance traveled by a signal propagating in the communications medium within the time step of antenna interface sampling circuitry

ii. associated with the antenna shared center is an angular measure or one or more dimensions so that the user transmission/reception domain can be mapped in

c. transmission information processor whereby

i. said information processor receives external data streams for more than one channel of communication

ii. said transmission data stream is generated by linear combination of elements of said external data streams for more than one communication channel.

2. A communications device as in claim 1 additionally comprised of

a. two or more receiving directional antennae whereby

i. each antenna has a defined

(1) base location vector,

(2) orientation direction vector

(3) attenuation function

(4) interface circuitry

ii. each antenna orientation direction vector lines in the major axis of the contour map of said antenna'"'"'s said attenuation function

iii. said antenna base location vectors are proximate to said boundary of a convex shape in 2 or more dimensions

iv. for each said receiver antenna, there exists at least one other receiver antenna whereby the main attenuation lobes overlap

v. each said receiver antenna interface circuit generates one or more quantities over time intervals based upon the physical state of the receiver antenna

b. said receiver antenna collection possesses a shared center wherein

i. the base location vector is a distance from said receiver antenna shared center which is a small fraction of the distance travel by a signal propagating in the communications medium within the time step of antenna interface sampling circuitry

ii. associated with the receiver antenna shared center is an angular measure or one or more dimensions so that the user transmission/reception domain can be mapped in

c. one or more receiver information processors whereby

i. said receiver antenna generated quantities are received by said information processors

ii. said received antenna generated quantities are related by linear combination of user area transmission strengths

iii. said user area transmission strengths at a given time step at a each discrete time-propagation-displacement step and each discrete angular-dimensional displacement step can be reasonably approximated by a linear combination of antenna generated quantities received by said information processor at said given time step and a finite number of time steps thereafter.

3. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein said convex shape is 2-dimensional.

4. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein said convex shape is 3-dimensional.

5. A device as in claim 3 wherein the shape is proximately a circle.

6. A device as in claim 4 wherein the shape is proximately a whole or partial sphere.

7. A device as in claim 4 wherein the shape is proximately a whole or partial ellipsoid.

8. A device as in claim 4 wherein the shape is proximately a whole or partial cylinder with convex ends.

9. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein all said antenna orientation vectors possess the same sign dot product with respect to the normal of the convex shape local to the base location vectors.

10. A device as in claim 9 wherein each said antenna orientation vector is normal to said proximate convex shape local to said antenna'"'"'s base location vector.

11. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein the polarization of each antenna is effectively identical.

12. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein the said user area transmission strengths are evaluated at non-uniform discrete steps in at least one dimension.

13. A device as in claim 1 or 2 wherein each said directional antenna possesses a reflective surface.

14. A device as in claim 13 wherein all said directional antenna reflective surfaces collectively form a single connected surface when in operation.

15. A device as in claim 14 wherein said single connected surface during operation is comprised of two or more surfaces which when assembled provide the operational surface.

16. A device as in one of claims 1 through 15 additionally comprising an encapsulating shell of material wherein said shell material is approximately transparent to the electromagnetic signals being received by said antennae.

17. A device as in one of claims 1 through 15 including,

a. one or more additional receiving antennas with the necessary circuitry

b. whereby a collection of one or more signals fed from the additional antennas can be demodulated and amplified for reception.

18. A device as in one of claims 1 through 15 comprising,

a. additionally one or more transmitting antennas with the necessary circuitry

b. whereby a collection of one or more signals can be modulated and amplified for transmission by said additional transmitting antennas.

19. A device as in claim 18 including,

a. first additional circuitry connecting the transmitting and receiving circuitry to one or more telephone or telecommunications network systems plus

b. second additional circuitry controlling the communication processes of this device.

20. A device as in claim 19 performing the functions of a cellular base station.

21. A device as in claim 20 wherein said device functions as a base station in the Collectors patent.

22. A communications device for transmitting to users in a communication medium with device signals comprising,

one or more information processors for transforming, for each of a number of time steps, the device signals into quantities collectively forming a linear combination of discrete time-propagation displacements and discrete location displacements as a function of a user location relative to a location of the communications device,

an antenna collection including two or more directional transmitting antennae where each antenna is defined by a base location vector, an attenuation function having a contour map and an antenna orientation direction vector lying in the contour map and where each antenna connects to an antenna interface circuit having time steps for receiving ones of said quantities, and wherein the contour map for one of the directional antennae overlaps the contour map of another one of the directional antennae,

said antenna collection having said two or more directional antennae with base location vectors proximate to a common boundary of a shape in two or more dimensions,

said antenna collection having a collection center wherein the base location vector for each of said antenna is a distance from said collection center which is small compared with the distance traveled by user transmissions propagating in the communications medium within the time step of the antenna interface sampling circuitry and wherein the antenna orientation direction vector for each of said antenna has a location measure in one or more dimensions relative to the antenna collection center,

said antenna collection having means for selecting ones of said quantities for connection to ones of said directional transmitting antennae for transmission to a particular user.