Point-to-multipoint communications system and method
First Claim
1. A point-to-multipoint communications system comprising;
- an electromagnetic wave antenna system for generating at least a pair of independently steerable lobes from a single beam, said lobes being used to communicate independently with a plurality of remotely located terminals; and
the lobes being controllable by the system so that one of the pair may be faded out while the other of the pair is increased in strength, so that an existing first communication link with a first one of the remote terminals may be interrupted while a second communication link with a second one of the remote terminals is established.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A point-to-multipoint communications system. The system uses an antenna to generate a single beam having independently steerable, narrow lobes. The phase array and amplitude array distributions used to form the lobes are controlled so that the lobes track and provide full duplex communication links with two or more RF terminals in two or more remote locations. In certain embodiments the dual lobe beam is generated from a fixed, ground-based location, and in other embodiments the single beam is generated from an airborne mobile platform, a mobile land vehicle, or a marine vessel. The various embodiments all enable one, two or more full duplex communication links to be established and maintained with a single beam.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A point-to-multipoint communications system comprising;
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an electromagnetic wave antenna system for generating at least a pair of independently steerable lobes from a single beam, said lobes being used to communicate independently with a plurality of remotely located terminals; and the lobes being controllable by the system so that one of the pair may be faded out while the other of the pair is increased in strength, so that an existing first communication link with a first one of the remote terminals may be interrupted while a second communication link with a second one of the remote terminals is established. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A point-to-multipoint electromagnetic wave communications system, comprising:
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an antenna aperture having a plurality of independent antenna elements; a beam former for controlling said elements to form a single beam having a plurality of independently steerable lobes to communicate with a plurality of independent, remotely located terminals; and one of the lobes further being controlled so as to be faded out to interrupt an existing communication link with a first one of the remotely located terminals, while a second one of the lobes is increased in strength to establish a new communications link with a second one of the remotely located terminals. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for point-to-multipoint communications comprising:
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generating a single beam having at least a pair of distinct, independently steerable lobes; using an antenna to at least one of radiate and receive electromagnetic wave signals via said independently steerable lobes; and using the independently steerable lobes to fade out an existing communication link provided by a first one of the steerable lobes with a first remotely located terminal, while increasing the strength of a second one of the lobes to establish a new communication link with a second remotely located terminal remote from the first remotely located terminal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification