Directional antenna apparatus and mobile communication system using the same

A directional antenna apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of antenna elements which transmit and receive a radio signal to and from a mobile station;
• weighting means for weighting the amplitude and phase of the transmission or reception signal of each of the individual antenna elements;
• adding means for adding the reception signals from said individual antenna elements weighted by the weighting means and outputting the resulting signal to a reception unit;
• dividing means for dividing a transmission signal from a transmission unit to said weighting means corresponds to the individual antenna elements;
• storage means for storing weighting coefficients suitable for communication with the mobile station for each of a plurality of directions set between the direction of the move starting position and move end position of said mobile station;
• timing generating means for determining the timing with which the weighting coefficients suitable for the direction of the mobile station are read from said storage means sequentially as the mobile station moves from the move starting position to the move end position;
• and
• control means for reading the weighting coefficients for the corresponding direction of said mobile station from said storage means with the timing determined by the timing generating means and setting the weighting coefficients in said weighting means.

A base station used in a mobile communication system comprising:

• a plurality of antenna elements which transmit and receive a radio signal to and from a mobile station;
• weighting means for weighting the amplitude and phase of the transmission or reception signal of each of the individual antenna elements;
• adding means for adding the reception signals of said individual antenna elements weighted by the weighting means and outputting the resulting signal to a reception unit;
• dividing means for dividing a transmission signal from a transmission unit to said weighting means corresponds to the individual antenna elements;
• storage means for storing weighting coefficients suitable for communication with the mobile station for each of a plurality of directions set between the direction of the move starting position and move end position of said mobile station;
• timing generating means for determining the timing with which the weighting coefficients suitable for the direction of the mobile station are read from said storage means sequentially as the mobile station moves from the move starting position to the move end position;
• and
• control means for reading the weighting coefficients for the corresponding direction of said mobile station from said storage means with the timing determined by the timing generating means and setting the weighting coefficients in said weighting means.