Communications: radio wave antennas – Antennas – Wave guide type
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-29
2004-02-17
Ho, Tan (Department: 2821)
Communications: radio wave antennas
Antennas
Wave guide type
C343S715000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06693600
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to antennas for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic radiation, and more particularly, to a monocone antenna combined with one or more other antennas and all are fed from a single RF feed point. This antenna effects highly efficient transmission and reception of electromagnetic radiation over a very wide range of frequencies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Antennas for transmitting and receiving radiation in the form of a monocone, also known as a conical monocone or a conical monopole or a unipole is known.
Also known is a discone antenna which is a combination of a disk and a cone antenna, as differentiated from a monocone. A conical skirt monopole is also very similar to a discone.
The
Antenna Engineering Handbook
(1984), Section 26-4, by Johnson and Jasik describe a conical monocone and an inverted cone as broadband monopole antennas, and in Section 27-4 describe discone antennas. Rudge, et. al., in the
Handbook of Antenna Design
(1986) on pages 1378-9 describes a conical monopole and a double-cone monopole, and on pages 1427 and 1432 describe discone antennas. These two handbooks also describe thin monopole “whip” antennas, and inverted-L antennas.
Balanis in Antenna Theory and Analysis
(1982) on page 330 describes a Unipole, which is the same as a monocone, and on pages 330-332 describes Triangular Sheet, Bow-Tie, and Wire Simulation antennas, and on page 346 describes Discone and Conical Skirt Monopoles. C. M. Knop and R. Frazer also disclose and study a monocone in “
A Study of Small
-
Height HF Jarriming Antennas for Vehicular Use”
, pages 267-274 of
Microwave and Optical Technology Letters
, Vol. 13, No. 5, December 1996.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,454 issued to Sharp teaches direction finding antennas using monocones and bicones. Claims 1-7 of Sharp only claim a single antenna (monocone or bicone), there is no second or additional radiators in claims 1-7. In claims 1-12 Sharp never claims a full 360 degree monocone or bicone, only sectors of a cone, or flat antennas, only in claim 13 does Sharp claim a full 360 structure but gives no specifics regarding the structure, only describing it by it's performance.
In claims 8 thru 13 and FIGS. 6 & 7 Sharp U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,454 describes a direction finding array antenna. Sharp describes that different signals are received at a receiver from different antennas of the Sharp array, so that these signals may be compared. This would not be possible if the signals from all the antennas in the array were combined at one RF feed port into one feed transmission line.
See Sharp col. 1 lines 36-40 which states “Direction finding antenna arrays determine direction by comparing the phase or strength of signals received at different antennas.”
Also see column 8 lines 20-26 which states “direction finding arrays generally operate by comparing the phase of the signals received by antennas arranged in an array. Information about direction may also be derived from the amplitude of the signals received from antennas facing in different directions in an array”.
Also see column 2 lines 52-53 “measuring the phase of the signals from the plurality of direction finding antennas.”
It is clear from these statements that Sharp separately measures the phase and/or amplitude of more than one antenna in his array so they can be compared. This is not possible with only one feed transmission feed line used simultaneously for the entire array antenna. Multiple feed transmission lines are used, each to a different part of the array. These may be all connected to a switch, but the RF signals are not combined simultaneously when receiver needs to make a comparison.
Therefore, in Sharp FIGS. 6 and 7 and claims 8 thru 13, multiple antennas are used with multiple feed transmission lines to different parts of the antenna. The lines drawn in FIGS. 6 & 7 connecting the different antennas simply represent the feed transmission lines as they are each connected to each antenna. Those lines do not represent that the feed transmission lines or the antennas are all electrically connected to each other. Each portion or each antenna of the Sharp array has a separate RF port with separate feed transmission line from each antenna to the receiver.
Unlike Sharp U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,454 our antenna has one single feed transmission line from the receiver/transmitter to the entire antenna. Our single feed transmission line from the receiver/transmitter feeds our monocone, the signals from our entire structure, including all antennas, is received simultaneously at this single RF feed port at all times. Our additional radiators are always connected to the first radiator (our first radiator being the monocone).
A last consideration regarding Sharp U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,454: our provisional patent Application No. 60/156,948 filed on Sep. 30, 1999 describes our antenna, the date of this report is Jul. 5, 1999 which pre-dates the Sharp application date of Jul. 16, 1999.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,845 issued earlier to Sharp recites, in claims 1 through 16 and claims 19 through 23, a single partial cone fan antenna, there is no second antenna or plurality of antennas in these claims. Claim 17 and 18 of Sharp U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,845 does claim a second partial cone which is a reflection of the first partial cone, to form a single bicone which is a well known type of antenna consisting of two monocones arranged with apexes close together. These two monocones comprising the bicone are not electrically connected to each other, and this antenna is not fed from the apex of a single monocone since it is fed using the apex of both monocones, and there is no additional antenna connected to this bicone. Moreover, all the claims of Sharp U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,845 explicitly claim a partial cone shape, ie cone sweep angle less than 360 degrees. None of the claims claim a full 360 degree monocone or bicone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,152 issued to Wong describes a dielectric rod antenna. In the field of the invention Wong states that: “More specifically, this invention relates to dielectric rod antennas”. Claim 1 of Wong specifically refers to a tapered dielectric rod extending through said aperture”. The primary radiator in Wong is a dielectric rod and the dielectric rod is the first antenna fed from Wong's feed aperture, the monocone is not the, primary radiator. In our invention the monocone is the primary radiator and is the first antenna fed. In Wong the other radiators (Wong's parasitic elements 32, 34, 36, and 64) are not electrically connected to the monocone, they are connected to a mast which is connected to the dielectric rod, the mast is not connected to the monocone (claims 1,2,3,4). In Wong the monocone is not inverted, in our invention the cone is inverted with the apex fed at the ground plane. Wong does not use a ground plane. The feed structure and feed operation in Wong is completely different. Wong's invention is fed from a circular waveguide (claim 1), which is well known to be a hollow waveguide type of transmission line with no center conductor. Energy is coupled from the circular waveguide to Wong's dielectric rod. Wong's cone is connected to rim or to the outside of the circular waveguide. This is not how a monopole or monocone is typically fed. Our monocone is fed from the center conductor of a coaxial type of transmission line, in the manner in which a monopole antenna is typically fed. Our monocone is not connected to the rim or outside of the coaxial feed line. In Wong, the monocone is located below the feed aperture point, with the other radiators (the tapered dielectric rod and the parasitic elements) located above the feed aperture point. In our antenna the monocone and all other antennas are located above the feed point. The monocone in Wong is therefore more similar to the cone used in a discone antenna than to the monocone in our invention. In Wong the monocone functions to redirect the electrical energy, it is electrically more similar to a ground plan
Hamill Jr. Tom
Ho Tan
LandOfFree
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