Method and system for forming an antenna pattern
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsWolfdietrich Georg Kasperkovitz, Lukas Leyten, Nunziatina Mezzasalma, Cicero Silveira Vaucher
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Abstract
In an electronic circuit for forming an antenna pattern, the antenna signals having the required phase shift are generated by means of two phase-locked loops which have a common reference signal. A control current, which is added at the output node of the charge pump 26 and/or 27, is used to control the phase shift of the antenna signals. This allows the implementation of the phase shift operation in the analog domain, which decreases the cost of a corresponding consumer device, such as a car-radio or a mobile communication system.
Claims13
An electronic circuit for forming an antenna pattern, the circuit comprising:
- a first signal generator for generating a first signal of a first frequency and of a first phase angle, said first signal generator having a first control loop;
- a second signal generator for generating a second signal of a second frequency and of a second phase angle, the second frequency being substantially equal to the first frequency, said second signal generator having a second control loop;
- a control circuit coupled to said first and second signal generators for controlling a phase difference between the first phase angle and the second phase angle, the control circuit having an input for receiving a control signal for determining the phase difference, at least one of said first and second control loops having an additional input for receiving a control current from said control circuit proportional to said control signal;
- a first analog mixer for mixing a first antenna signal and the first signal and a second analog mixer for mixing a second antenna signal and the second signal and
- a combiner for adding respective output signals of the first and the second mixers.
A method for forming an antenna pattern comprising the steps:
- generating a first signal of a first frequency and of a first phase angle, by using a first control loop;
- generating of a second signal of a second frequency and of a second phase angle by using a second control loop, the second frequency being substantially equal to the first frequency,
- selecting a phase difference between the first phase angle and the second phase angle by inputting a control current proportional to said phase difference in at least one of said first and second control loops;
- mixing a first antenna signal with the first signal and mixing a second antenna signal with the second signal in the analog domain;
- and
- adding the mixed signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.