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US 7,403,172 B2Granted
Reconfigurable patch antenna apparatus, systems, and methods
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorDajun Cheng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of a beam-reconfigurable patch antenna are described generally herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
Claims23
An apparatus, including:
- a ground plane;
- a substrate layer adjacent the ground plane;
- a plurality of patch elements adjacent the substrate layer and insulated by the substrate layer from the ground plane;
- a plurality of impedance elements to ground, each impedance element associated with a patch element selected from the plurality of patch elements;
- and
- a switch coupled to a radio-frequency (RF) transceiver to selectively connect the RF transceiver to at least one of the patch element or to the impedance element such that a substantially constant impedance is presented to the RF transceiver as the patch element is connected to the RE transceiver and is disconnected therefrom.
3 more elements
A patch antenna system, including:
- a flash memory associated with a beam-forming control module;
- a ground plane;
- a substrate layer adjacent the ground plane;
- and
- a plurality of patch elements operatively coupled to the beam-forming control module, the plurality of patch elements adjacent the substrate layer and insulated by the substrate layer from the ground plane, wherein each patch element of the plurality of patch elements is capable of being selectively energized to control at least one of a shape of a principal electromagnetic energy lobe associated with a patch antenna or a direction of a principal axis of the principal electromagnetic energy lobe.
2 more elements
A method, including:
- switching a radio-frequency (RF) transceiver between an impedance-matching element to ground and at least one patch element selected from a plurality of patch elements associated with a patch antenna such as to maintain a substantially constant impedance;
- and
- selectively energizing the at least one patch element to control at least one of a shape of a principal electromagnetic energy lobe associated with the patch antenna or a direction of a principal axis of the principal electromagnetic energy lobe, wherein the plurality of patch elements are not located in a single plane that is coplanar with each of a plurality of planes associated with the plurality of patch elements.
An article including a machine-accessible medium having associated information, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:
- switching a radio-frequency (RF) transceiver between an impedance-matching element to ground and at least one patch element selected from a plurality of patch elements associated with a patch antenna;
- and
- selectively energizing the at least one patch element to control at least one of a shape of a principal electromagnetic energy lobe associated with the patch antenna or a direction of a principal axis of the principal electromagnetic energy lobe, wherein the plurality of patch elements are not located in a single plane that is coplanar with each of a plurality of planes associated with the plurality of patch elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.