Electricity: conductors and insulators – Insulators – Multiple insulator assemblies
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-22
2003-03-18
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Insulators
Multiple insulator assemblies
C174S13800J, C343S711000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06534720
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is based on German patent application 100 02 777.6, filed Jan. 22, 2000, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for connecting a window, particularly a window for a motor vehicle, with certain electrical functions.
Document DE-C1 195 36 131 discloses a diversity window antenna with connecting elements, which is preferably used for vehicles. The antenna elements and the antenna conductor structures, are deposited on the surface of a window by screen printing and are baked on when the window is heated before it is toughened. There are a number of antennas on the same window, so that incident transmitters having various directions of reception can be used, and the transmitter with the optimum field intensity is selected automatically each time.
In the configuration disclosed by that document, connection points of the individual antennas are grouped together locally at the edge of the window. A multiple contact element in the form of a length of special flat cable is placed at this point and, for each connection, comprises a mating contact in addition to the corresponding conductor. The electrical signals from the antennas are transmitted along these conductors to the respective amplifiers located remotely from the window.
Simple AM/FM antennas have been made in windscreens, side windows or rear screens for a number of years, either by placing metal wires in the laminated safety glass windscreen or by using conductive structures printed onto single-pane safety glass in the case of the side windows or rear window. It has also been known to use the heating area of rear screens to make an antenna. For connection to the sets (receivers), use is also frequently made of plug-in connectors or spring contacts.
It is also known (DE-GM 75 27 621) for a unit contacting the amplifier to be bonded onto the window glass so as to make a direct connection between an antenna amplifier and antenna conductors placed on a window glass. Two antenna conductors in conducting connection with one another inside the amplifier unit are connected directly to the input terminals of the amplifier and are also bonded to the window glass. On the output side, the amplifier is connected by a flat multicore cable to the on-board network (supply voltage) and the receiver apparatus.
DE-C2-43 04 788 discloses a multilayer conducting structure for connecting functional electric elements arranged on a car window, such as window antennas for example, and which can be connected to the on-board network of the vehicle using a connection element of the push-button type which is soldered onto an opaque edge region of the window.
Future development in vehicle driver information requirements, with the increase in traffic density, has led to the networking of various information systems with a view to intelligently managing the flow of vehicles in such a way that, for example, their position can be exactly determined using a global positioning system (GPS) in conjunction with automatic rotate planning, and stationary installations for measuring traffic flow can allow this objective to be pursued in the optimum way. Furthermore, there has been research into the automatic transmission of messages analyzing accidents and theft, video games in the passenger seat, ranging as far as Internet connections inside the vehicle. The future role of the vehicle driver as an active and passive participant in a broad wireless information and communications network entails the development of corresponding on-board receiver systems which activate the information systems in the vehicle. These receiver systems comprise the built-in antenna systems for the individual communications services including the electronics needed for the amplifiers and impedance matchers, respectively.
The information systems currently used in vehicles are AM and FM radio transmitters, UHF video transmitters, GSM telephones and GPS navigation aids. Hitherto, these have been connected to individual networks partially by separate stick-like, spherical or crescent-shaped antennas.
The fixture may conceivably, in addition to the networking of the systems, see developments in which bulletins giving weather and road conditions, DAB (digital radio), Internet connections, network monitoring in the form of accident or theft analysis or telesurveillance, etc. also communicate via a wireless connection with the occupants and respectively with the equipment of the vehicle.
Such a multitude of installed systems leads to a corresponding multitude of antennas. Installing these externally on the vehicle is undesirable both from an aesthetic point of view and for reasons associated with possible breakdowns due to damage. Development trends are therefore oriented towards invisible installation of antenna systems on electrically insulating regions of the bodywork such as parts made of glass or plastic, for example. The incorporation of complicated antenna structures in vehicle window glass is dictated because of the large expanse of glass or plastic surfaces and because of the ideal dielectric properties of glass or suitable plastics.
For vehicles with the engine at the front, positioning the antenna systems on the rear screen or rear window proves the optimum solution for reasons of electromagnetic compatibility, whereas such systems are preferably installed in the windscreen in vehicles with mid-rear-mounted engines and also those with convertible bodywork.
All the systems have to meet the requirement of panoramic reception with as little disturbance as possible. Using a two-dimensional antenna to secure this can be achieved only through the fact that, in each position of the vehicle, the optimum position of the antenna with the strongest signal is selected using a controller from a diverse multitude of antennas in various positions on the window (diversity system) and introduced into the on-board information systems. The number of individual diversity systems needed depends on the geometric configuration, on the specific electromagnetic compatibility of the vehicle, and on the possibility of obtaining high signal intensities by mixing signals (phase-amplitude sum).
The integration of numerous antenna systems into a car window, if appropriate, in conjunction with heating elements, requires suitable connections between the reception systems and the communication sets which follow. Conventional flat connection systems cannot be used as they are, because many car windows have a highly complex shape in which, in particular, the edges of the windows may be spherically curved and with relatively small radii. Furthermore, the connection systems to be used have to meet strict motor industry standards regarding stability with respect to inclement weather and with respect to temperature and ability to withstand vibration, etc.
The conventional technique of electrical connection by screen printing onto glass cannot be applied in all cases because of the porosity of the conducting structures thus produced, which may lead to the absorption of moisture from the environment of the vehicle and thus to electro-corrosion or even short circuits.
According to another requirement, the antenna amplifier and the impedance matcher ought to be positioned as close as possible to the individual antenna bases in order to guarantee reception which is as good as possible with a broad protection margin. In complicated systems of this type, the antenna bases ought to be located at relatively large distances from one another on the face of the window because, particularly in diversity systems, there is a strong dependency between the intensity of a field detectable on a window antenna and the direction of radiation of the transmitter concerned.
Window antenna systems are also known (DE-A1 39 11 178) in which electric components are placed directly on, in or in proximity to, a vehicle window, and all the antenna signals and supply voltages are supplied by
Alpen Ulrich Von
Dürkop Detlev
Englmeier Martin
Reichard Dean A.
Saint-Gobain Glass France
Walkenhorst W. David
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