Communications: radio wave antennas – Antennas – With vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-28
2002-05-28
Wong, Don (Department: 2821)
Communications: radio wave antennas
Antennas
With vehicle
C343S7000MS
Reexamination Certificate
active
06396446
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle and to microwave antenna constructions.
Vehicle position identification systems are known and commonly used in vehicles for purposes relating to vehicle navigation and tracking systems. Currently, two such position identification systems that are in use are GPS and GLONASS, both of which utilize a constellation of satellites that transmit microwave signals towards the earth that, in turn, are received by a ground-based microwave receiver and used to determine the position of the receiver on the earth's surface. Such systems are capable of a very high degree of accuracy. As a result, a great deal of research has been conducted to construct navigation systems that may be readily incorporated into a vehicle.
Position identification systems have also been used in vehicles with respect to communication systems, particularly emergency communication systems, whereby a vehicle occupant making an emergency call using a cellular telephone need not actually know the vehicle's exact location in order to have emergency vehicles dispatch to that location. An example of such a system is the ONSTAR® system from General Motors Corporation. Other uses of position identification systems in vehicles include the use of position information to identify the time zone that the vehicle is currently in, and the use of such position data to determine which zone of magnetic variance the vehicle is in for purposes of calibrating an in-vehicle electronic compass. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,724,316 and 5,761,094, respectively.
Related U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,166,698 and 5,971,552 disclose the mounting of the microwave antenna in a rearview mirror assembly of a vehicle. As disclosed in related U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,698, it is desirable to mount the microwave antenna to the mounting bracket of an inside rearview mirror assembly so that the antenna has a clear view through the sloped front windshield of much of the sky above and in front of the vehicle. Additionally, the front windshield of the vehicle protects the antenna from dirt, moisture, snow, and humid air that may readily reach the microwave antenna and adversely affect its performance if it is mounted in a component on the exterior of the vehicle.
An inside rearview mirror assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,698 is shown in
FIGS. 1-5
.
FIG. 1
shows the general mounting of rearview mirror assembly
10
to the inside surface of a front windshield
20
of a vehicle
25
.
FIGS. 2A and 2B
show two different exemplary rearview mirror assembly constructions in which the microwave antenna may be mounted. More specifically, rearview mirror assembly
10
a
shown in
FIG. 2A
is designed to be mounted directly to windshield
20
, whereas rearview mirror assembly
10
b
shown in
FIG. 2B
is mounted to the roof of the vehicle.
In general, rearview mirror assemblies include a mirror housing
30
that may have a wide variety of the possible designs, such as, for example, the mirror housing taught and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,397. Rearview mirror assemblies also include a mirror
40
(
FIG. 5
) mounted in mirror housing
30
, and a mounting bracket
35
that attaches mirror housing
30
to the vehicle. Such mounting brackets typically include a mounting foot
36
that is directly mounted to the vehicle and to a mirror stem
38
that extends between mounting foot
36
and mirror housing
30
. As apparent from a comparison of
FIGS. 2A and 2B
, the structure of mounting foot
36
and mirror stem
38
may vary considerably from one rearview mirror assembly to the next. For example, mirror stem
38
may be pivotally mounted to mounting foot
36
as shown in
FIG. 2A
or fixedly attached to mounting foot
36
as shown in FIG.
2
B. Additionally, mirror housing
30
is typically pivotally attached to mirror stem
38
. Such pivotal attachments allow the driver to move and position the mirror so as to allow the driver to have a clear field of view towards the rear of the vehicle. The disclosed rearview mirror assembly also includes a display
45
(
FIG. 5
) housed within mirror housing
30
or housed within mounting foot
36
.
As shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, a microwave antenna
50
is mounted within mounting foot
36
of mounting bracket
35
of rearview mirror assembly
10
. As shown in
FIG. 3
, mounting foot
36
includes a mounting portion
52
and an antenna housing portion
54
. The structure of mounting portion
52
is shown as being configured to attach to a mounting puck or button
56
that is attached to the inside surface of windshield
20
using an adhesive. Puck
56
includes an inclined edge surface
57
and a threaded aperture
58
formed in the surface of puck
56
opposite that which is adhered to windshield
20
. Mounting portion
52
thus has an aperture
60
for engaging puck
56
. One edge
62
of aperture
60
is a sloped profile so as to engage incline edge surface
57
of puck
56
. In this manner, the size of aperture
60
is slightly smaller than the area of the surface of puck
56
that is opposite that which is secured to windshield
20
. To then secure mounting portion
52
to puck
56
, a set screw
66
is slid into an aperture
64
formed in mounting portion
52
and turned so as to thread into threaded aperture
58
on puck
56
.
Antenna housing portion
54
of mounting foot
36
may be integrally formed with mounting portion
52
or formed as a separate component that may be attached to mounting portion
52
. Antenna housing portion
54
includes an aperture
70
having a generally square, rectangular, or round shape or any other shape for accommodating the particular shape of antenna
50
. Aperture
70
is provided so as to open towards windshield
20
through which microwave signals from satellites may pass to reach microwave antenna
50
. Antenna
50
is preferably mounted in aperture
70
so as to be substantially parallel to, and slightly spaced apart from, the inner surface of windshield
20
. The structure of antenna
50
is discussed further below.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, a foam pad
72
or other non-conductive substrate is placed within antenna housing portion
54
between antenna
50
and the inside surface of windshield
20
. As shown in
FIG. 4
, antenna mounting portion
54
also includes a gasket
74
provided about the periphery of aperture
70
, so as to provide for additional protection against moisture or debris coming between windshield
20
and antenna
50
.
In addition to providing space for accommodating antenna
50
, mounting foot
36
is configured to provide sufficient space for a receiver circuit
80
printed on a circuit board
82
. Circuit board
82
is thus mounted directly behind antenna
50
in antenna mounting portion
54
, so as to minimize the length of antenna connector
84
that extends between antenna
50
and printed circuit board
82
.
Because receiver circuit
80
converts the signals received by antenna
50
into signals that may be transmitted over conventional wires, the information obtained from the satellite signals may be transmitted to other components in the vehicle via the vehicle bus or by discrete connections. More specifically, if a display
45
or additional circuitry, such as a control circuit for an electrochromic mirror or electronic compass, is mounted in mirror housing
30
, receiver circuit
80
may be coupled to such circuitry via a connector line
85
that may be run between mounting foot
36
and mirror housing
30
outside of mirror stem
38
or internally through mirror stem
38
as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,482. Additionally, data processed by receiver circuit
80
may be transmitted via line
86
to other electrical systems within the vehicle. Mirror assembly
10
may include a shroud
88
that extends from mounting foot
36
to the vehicle headliner, so as to provide a covert channel for running cabling
86
between rearview mirror assembly
10
and the remainder of the vehicle.
As shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, microwav
Turnbull Robert R.
Walstra Eric J.
Gentex Corporation
Nguyen Hoang
Price Heneveld Cooper DeWitt & Litton
Wong Don
LandOfFree
Microwave antenna for use in a vehicle does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Microwave antenna for use in a vehicle, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Microwave antenna for use in a vehicle will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2911730