Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g. – Return signal controls external device – Radar mounted on and controls land vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-21
2002-07-02
Gregory, Bernarr E. (Department: 3662)
Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g.,
Return signal controls external device
Radar mounted on and controls land vehicle
C342S089000, C342S357490, C342S357490, C342S368000, C342S371000, C342S374000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06414624
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automobile antenna apparatus which is adaptable to an intelligent transportation system (referred to as ITS hereinafter) in its optimum condition.
FIG. 22
is a conceptual illustration of both ITS environment which can be considered to be almost ideal at the present time and the current automotive technologies (e.g., vehicle-mounted information communication technologies) which are arranged so as to be in harmony with the ITS environment.
As illustrated in
FIG. 22
, an automobile
310
running on an expressway
300
in the ITS environment, is required to have as many functions as possible, such as a radio receiving function 001 of receiving broadcast waves from an AM/FM radio broadcast station
301
, a TV receiving function 002 of receiving broadcast waves from a TV broadcast station
302
, a GPS receiving function 003 of receiving GPS waves from a GPS satellite
303
, a transmitting/receiving function 004 of transmitting/receiving satellite communications and broadcast waves relayed by a communications satellite
304
, a mobile communications function 005 for transmitting/receiving waves of a car phone and e-mail via a base station
305
, a digital broadcast receiving function 006 for receiving digital broadcast waves, which mainly provides traffic information service and DGPS (differential global positioning service), from a digital broadcast station
306
, an information exchange function 007 for exchanging information on the use of an electric toll collection (ETC) system with an automatic tollgate
307
, and an anti-collision function 008 using an EHF (extremely high frequency) radar
308
mounted on the automobile
310
.
The automobile
310
has to be equipped with an automobile antenna apparatus in order to fulfill the above functions. It also has to have artificial intelligence 009A including various types of sensors and high-performance microcomputers for recognition and its corresponding automatic control and a basic function 009B for controlling an operation such as running, communications, accident prevention, and car navigation.
FIG. 23
is a sketch of a prior art automobile antenna apparatus having the foregoing functions. As shown in
FIG. 23
, all of an AM/FM receiving antenna
311
, two TV receiving antennas
312
and
312
′, two GPS receiving antennas
313
and
313
′, an automobile phone antenna
315
, and an anti-collision EHF radar antenna
318
(a Mills cross compound antenna) are dispersed on the body of the automobile
310
in order to be adaptable to the media.
FIGS. 24A
to
24
C illustrate a concrete constitution of an anti-collision EHF radar
308
including the above radar antenna
318
.
FIG. 24A
is a partly-broken view of the layout of the EHF radar
308
,
FIG. 24B
is an illustration of the circuit arrangement thereof, and
FIG. 24C
is an illustration of a composite antenna beam
330
emitted from the radar antenna
318
.
In
FIGS. 24A and 24B
, reference numeral
318
a
denotes a transmitting antenna element, and numeral
318
b
does a receiving antenna element. These antenna elements
318
a
and
318
b
constitute the anti-collision EHF radar antenna
318
. Numeral
320
indicates a 60-GHz-EHF-wave generator including a gun oscillator
321
, a circulator
322
, a directional coupler
323
, and a mixer
324
. If the EHF radar
308
is activated, as shown in
FIG. 24C
, the composite antenna beam
330
is emitted from the anti-collision EHF radar antenna
318
.
The direction (antenna directivity) of beams emitted from the antennas
311
to
314
in the prior art automobile antenna apparatus shown in
FIG. 23
, is set in advance to a fixed one in the early stage of use. If, therefore, the antenna directivity is not align with the direction of incoming waves, not only the optimum reception cannot be performed but also noise would be caused by a so-called multipass.
Since usually the emission range of the composite antenna beam
330
emitted from the radar antenna
318
shown in
FIGS. 24A
to
24
C, is fixed, an obstruction can be detected only in a specific range in front of the body of the automobile
310
. For this reason, the conventional anti-collision EHF radar
308
is very low in its obstruction detection capability, for example, at a curve in a road and thus it has been desired that the radar should be improved.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an automobile antenna apparatus having the advantages capable of conforming to the ITS environment in the optimum condition and emitting a beam in the optimum condition based on correct positional information of the automobile to thereby produce good transmitting and receiving results.
In order to attain the above object, an automobile antenna apparatus has the following feature in constitution. The other features will be clarified in the Description of the Invention.
An automobile antenna apparatus according to the present invention comprises an antenna control section for electronically and variably controlling an emitting-beam pattern of each of antennas mounted on an automobile, based on high-precision positional information of the automobile, to optimize a function of using an electric wave for vehicle.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5349360 (1994-09-01), Matsui
patent: 5724042 (1998-03-01), Komatsu et al.
patent: 5767803 (1998-06-01), Yamada
patent: 6008750 (1999-12-01), Cottle et al.
patent: 6271798 (2001-08-01), Endo et al.
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patent: 0 952 674 (1999-10-01), None
Endo Hiroshi
Langley Richard
Gregory Bernarr E.
Harada Industry Co. Ltd.
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
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