Mobile telephone antenna system for a satellite and mobile telephone including this antenna system
First Claim
1. An antenna system for a mobile telephone for operating via a radio channel between said mobile telephone and at least one of a group of stations revolving in non-geosynchronous orbit around the earth, said antenna system comprising a conical antenna having an even number of at least four spiral strands angularly spaced apart by an equi-angular spacing according to a rotation around the axis of a supporting conical body having a large diameter end and an apex or small diameter end, said supporting conical body being adapted to be fixed by its large diameter end to an upper end of a mobile telephone, and switch mode function (SMF) means including phase shifter means for selectively feeding radio frequency signals to or from said strands via one end of said conical body which, in a first mode of operation, are phase shifted between each pair of adjacent strands by said equi-angular spacing and, in a second mode of operation, are phase-shifted by Π
- between each pair of adjacent strands, and control means for automatically controlling the SWF means to effect selection between the first and second modes of operation according to an a priori or a posteriori selection criterion.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An antenna system for a mobile telephone operates by radio channel between the mobile telephone (1) and at least one at a time of a group of satellites (2) revolving in polar orbit or quasi polar orbit around the earth. The antenna system includes a cone-shaped antenna (3) for transmission and reception with at least four equi-angularly spaced apart spiral strands. Radio frequency signal is fed to or from the strands at the apex or small diameter end of the cone with relative phases to selectively produce for circularly polarized radiation, in a first mode of operation (m1), an antenna pattern of substantially hemispherical form, and in a second mode of operation (m2), an antenna pattern of substantially toriodal form. A switch mode function (SWF) block (11) is controlled by a control block (16) to automatically effect selection of the mode of operation in accordance with a priori or a posteriori selection criteria. These criteria may be communication mode responsive, telephone orientation responsive, or test and connection responsive.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. An antenna system for a mobile telephone for operating via a radio channel between said mobile telephone and at least one of a group of stations revolving in non-geosynchronous orbit around the earth, said antenna system comprising a conical antenna having an even number of at least four spiral strands angularly spaced apart by an equi-angular spacing according to a rotation around the axis of a supporting conical body having a large diameter end and an apex or small diameter end, said supporting conical body being adapted to be fixed by its large diameter end to an upper end of a mobile telephone, and switch mode function (SMF) means including phase shifter means for selectively feeding radio frequency signals to or from said strands via one end of said conical body which, in a first mode of operation, are phase shifted between each pair of adjacent strands by said equi-angular spacing and, in a second mode of operation, are phase-shifted by Π
- between each pair of adjacent strands, and control means for automatically controlling the SWF means to effect selection between the first and second modes of operation according to an a priori or a posteriori selection criterion.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An antenna system for a mobile telephone for operating via a radio channel between said mobile telephone and at least one of a group of stations revolving in non-geosynchronous orbit around the earth, said antenna system comprising a conical antenna having a plurality of spiral strands angularly spaced apart according to a rotation around the axis of a supporting conical body having a large diameter end and an apex or small diameter end, said supporting conical body being adapted to be fixed by its large diameter end to an upper end of a mobile telephone, and switch mode function (SMF) means including phase shifter means for selectively feeding radio frequency signals to or from said strands via one end of said conical body having relative phases to produce for circularly polarized radiation, in a first mode of operation, an antenna pattern having a substantially hemispherical form and, in a second mode of operation, an antenna pattern having a substantially toroidal form, and control means for automatically controlling the SWF means to effect selection between the first and second modes of operation, said control means including an orientation sensor for effecting said first mode of operation when the antenna is in an essentially upright orientation, and for effecting said second mode of operation when the antenna is in an essentially horizontal orientation.
Specification