Patent ID: 6982670
Filing Date: 2006-01-03
Classification: H01Q

Abstract:
1. A beam-forming system, comprising a plurality of integrated antenna circuits, each integrated antenna circuit including a phase-locked loop and a corresponding antenna and mixer, each phase-locked loop operable to receive a reference signal and provide a frequency-shifted output signal that is synchronous with the reference signal, wherein if an integrated antenna circuit is configured for transmission, the output signal is upconverted in the circuit's mixer and the upconverted signal transmitted by the corresponding antenna, and wherein if an integrated antenna unit is configured for reception, a received signal from the circuit's antenna is downconverted in the mixer responsive to the output signal, wherein a first integrated antenna circuit in the plurality is configured as a reference antenna circuit such that the reference signal received by the reference antenna unit is a reference clock, the reference antenna circuit including a programmable phase sequencer operable to provide phase-shifted versions of the reference clock, and wherein remaining integrated antenna circuits in the plurality are configured to use selected ones from the phase-shifted versions as their reference signal.