Patent Publication Number: US-10333206-B2

Title: Vehicles, methods, and systems using internal capacity band antennas

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The technical field generally relates to vehicles with internal cellular antennas, and more particularly relates to vehicle, methods, and systems that use internal capacity band antennas. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Vehicles are receiving an increasing number of wireless services, such as cellular phone service, satellite radio, terrestrial radio, and Global Positioning System (GPS) service. As additional wireless services become available, a vehicle must be equipped to accommodate the different types of signals. Many of these services require separate antennas to receive different radio frequencies. When designing antennas and antenna enclosures, designers focus on cost, aesthetics, and aerodynamics. 
     Conventional antennas typically have a single module that includes multiple antenna receiving elements. Each antenna element receives a different service or connection at a given frequency. With the expanding number of supported cellular telephone frequency bands, cellular antennas are becoming larger, more complex, and costlier. Furthermore, recent LTE performance enhancements can only be realized by introducing two or more additional antennas. As the size increases, the aerodynamic drag increases, which may cause wind noise and/or reduce fuel economy. 
     Accordingly, it is desirable to provide vehicles and systems that can reduce the size and cost of antenna modules. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background. 
     SUMMARY 
     Vehicles, systems, and methods are provided for electronic communication in a vehicle. 
     In one non-limiting example, a vehicle includes, but is not limited to, a vehicle body, a first antenna cluster, and a second antenna cluster. The vehicle body defines a boundary between an inside of the vehicle and an outside of the vehicle. The first antenna cluster is mounted on the outside of the vehicle and is configured to operate at coverage band cellular telephone frequencies using coverage band signals. A second antenna cluster is disposed in the inside of the vehicle and is configured to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies using capacity band signals. 
     In another non-limiting example, a method is provided for electronic communication in a vehicle. The method includes, but is not limited to, receiving and transmitting coverage band signals with a first antenna cluster mounted on an outside of the vehicle and configured to operate at coverage band cellular telephone frequencies. The method further includes receiving and transmitting capacity band signals with a second antenna cluster disposed in the inside of the vehicle and configured to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies. 
     In another non-limiting example, a vehicle communications system includes, but is not limited to, a first antenna cluster and a second antenna cluster. The first antenna cluster is configured to mount on the outside of the vehicle and to operate at coverage band cellular telephone frequencies using coverage band signals. The second antenna cluster is configured to be disposed in the inside of the vehicle and to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies using capacity band signals. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosed examples will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of a communication system; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of a system for cellular communications in a vehicle made in accordance with the teachings disclosed herein; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of a vehicle made in accordance with the teachings herein; 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating a non-limiting example of a coverage map for a cellular radio system according to an embodiment; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a non-limiting example of a method of electronic communication in a vehicle in accordance with the teachings herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the application and uses. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description. As used herein, the term module refers to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a non-limiting example of a communication system  10  that may be used together with examples of the apparatus/system disclosed herein or to implement examples of the methods disclosed herein. Communication system  10  generally includes a vehicle  12 , a wireless carrier system  14 , a land network  16  and a call center  18 . It should be appreciated that the overall architecture, setup and operation, as well as the individual components of the illustrated system are merely exemplary and that differently configured communication systems may also be utilized to implement the examples of the method disclosed herein. Thus, the following paragraphs, which provide a brief overview of the illustrated communication system  10 , are not intended to be limiting. 
     Vehicle  12  may be any type of mobile vehicle such as a motorcycle, car, truck, recreational vehicle (RV), boat, plane, etc., and is equipped with suitable hardware and software that enables it to communicate over communication system  10 . Some of the vehicle hardware  20  is shown generally in  FIG. 1  including a telematics unit  24 , a microphone  26 , a speaker  28 , and buttons and/or controls  30  connected to the telematics unit  24 . Operatively coupled to the telematics unit  24  is a network connection or vehicle bus  32 . Examples of suitable network connections include a controller area network (CAN), a media oriented system transfer (MOST), a local interconnection network (LIN), an Ethernet, and other appropriate connections such as those that conform with known ISO (International Organization for Standardization), SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), and/or IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standards and specifications, to name a few. 
     The telematics unit  24  is an onboard device that provides a variety of services through its communication with the call center  18 , and generally includes an electronic processing device  38 , one or more types of electronic memory  40 , a cellular chipset/component  34 , a wireless modem  36 , a dual mode antenna  70 , and a navigation unit containing a GNSS chipset/component  42 . In one example, the wireless modem  36  includes a computer program and/or set of software routines adapted to be executed within electronic processing device  38 . 
     The telematics unit  24  may provide various services including: turn-by-turn directions and other navigation-related services provided in conjunction with the GNSS chipset/component  42 ; airbag deployment notification and other emergency or roadside assistance-related services provided in connection with various crash and/or collision sensor interface modules  66  and collision sensors  68  located throughout the vehicle; and/or infotainment-related services where music, internet web pages, movies, television programs, videogames, and/or other content are downloaded by an infotainment center  46  operatively connected to the telematics unit  24  via vehicle bus  32  and audio bus  22 . In one example, downloaded content is stored for current or later playback. The above-listed services are by no means an exhaustive list of all the capabilities of telematics unit  24 , but are simply an illustration of some of the services that the telematics unit may be capable of offering. It is anticipated that telematics unit  24  may include a number of additional components in addition to and/or different components from those listed above. 
     Vehicle communications may use radio transmissions to establish a voice channel with wireless carrier system  14  so that both voice and data transmissions can be sent and received over the voice channel. Vehicle communications are enabled via the cellular chipset/component  34  for voice communications and the wireless modem  36  for data transmission. Any suitable encoding or modulation technique may be used with the present examples, including digital transmission technologies, such as TDMA (time division multiple access), CDMA (code division multiple access), W-CDMA (wideband CDMA), FDMA (frequency division multiple access), OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access), etc. 
     Dual mode antenna  70  services the GNSS chipset/component  42  and the cellular chipset/component  34 . 
     Microphone  26  provides the driver or other vehicle occupant with a means for inputting verbal or other auditory commands, and can be equipped with an embedded voice processing unit utilizing a human/machine interface (HMI) technology known in the art. Conversely, speaker  28  provides audible output to the vehicle occupants and can be either a stand-alone speaker specifically dedicated for use with the telematics unit  24  or can be part of a vehicle audio component  64 . In either event, microphone  26  and speaker  28  enable vehicle hardware  20  and call center  18  to communicate with the occupants through audible speech. The vehicle hardware also includes one or more buttons and/or controls  30  for enabling a vehicle occupant to activate or engage one or more of the vehicle hardware components  20 . For example, one of the buttons and/or controls  30  can be an electronic pushbutton used to initiate voice communication with call center  18  (whether it be a human such as advisor  58  or an automated call response system). In another example, one of the buttons and/or controls  30  can be used to initiate emergency services. 
     The audio component  64  is operatively connected to the vehicle bus  32  and the audio bus  22 . The audio component  64  receives analog information, rendering it as sound, via the audio bus  22 . Digital information is received via the vehicle bus  32 . The audio component  64  provides amplitude modulated (AM) and frequency modulated (FM) radio, compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), and multimedia functionality independent of the infotainment center  46 . Audio component  64  may contain a speaker system, or may utilize speaker  28  via arbitration on vehicle bus  32  and/or audio bus  22 . 
     The vehicle crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  66  is operatively connected to the vehicle bus  32 . The collision sensors  68  provide information to the telematics unit via the crash and/or collision detection sensor interface  66  regarding the severity of a vehicle collision, such as the angle of impact and the amount of force sustained. 
     Vehicle sensors  72 , connected to various sensor interface modules  44  are operatively connected to the vehicle bus  32 . Example vehicle sensors include but are not limited to gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, emission detection, and/or control sensors, and the like. Example sensor interface modules  44  include powertrain control, climate control, and body control, to name but a few. 
     Wireless carrier system  14  may be a cellular telephone system or any other suitable wireless system that transmits signals between the vehicle hardware  20  and land network  16 . According to an example, wireless carrier system  14  includes one or more cell towers  48   
     Land network  16  can be a conventional land-based telecommunications network that is connected to one or more landline telephones, and that connects wireless carrier system  14  to call center  18 . For example, land network  16  can include a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or an Internet protocol (IP) network, as is appreciated by those skilled in the art. Of course, one or more segments of the land network  16  can be implemented in the form of a standard wired network, a fiber or other optical network, a cable network, other wireless networks such as wireless local networks (WLANs) or networks providing broadband wireless access (BWA), or any combination thereof. 
     Call center  18  is designed to provide the vehicle hardware  20  with a number of different system back-end functions and, according to the example shown here, generally includes one or more switches  52 , servers  54 , databases  56 , advisors  58 , as well as a variety of other telecommunication/computer equipment  60 . These various call center components are suitably coupled to one another via a network connection or bus  62 , such as the one previously described in connection with the vehicle hardware  20 . Switch  52 , which can be a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, routes incoming signals so that voice transmissions are usually sent to either advisor  58  or an automated response system, and data transmissions are passed on to a modem or other piece of telecommunication/computer equipment  60  for demodulation and further signal processing. The modem or other telecommunication/computer equipment  60  may include an encoder, as previously explained, and can be connected to various devices such as a server  54  and database  56 . For example, database  56  could be designed to store subscriber profile records, subscriber behavioral patterns, or any other pertinent subscriber information. Although the illustrated example has been described as it would be used in conjunction with a call center  18  that is manned, it will be appreciated that the call center  18  can be any central or remote facility, manned or unmanned, mobile or fixed, to or from which it is desirable to exchange voice and data. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , and with continued reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a non-limiting example of a system  100  for cellular communications in a vehicle. It should be appreciated that the overall architecture, setup and operation, as well as the individual components of the illustrated system  100  are merely exemplary and that differently configured systems may also be utilized to implement the examples of the system  100  disclosed herein. Thus, the following paragraphs, which provide a brief overview of the illustrated system  100 , are not intended to be limiting. 
     Compared with conventional systems, system  100  generally provides a smaller and less expensive external antenna cluster that only covers bands likely to exist at the edge of cellular telephone service coverage (e.g., coverage bands). Lower gain internal antennas cover the remaining bands (e.g., capacity bands), which are less sensitive to antenna gain in capacity band areas, as will be described below. A telematics unit is configured to demodulate the capacity band signals and the coverage band signals, where the telematics unit is communicatively coupled with the external antenna cluster and the internal antenna cluster. 
     System  100  includes components of wireless carrier system  14 , where like numbers refer to like components. In the example provided, system  100  includes telematics unit  24 , a first antenna cluster  70 A, a second antenna cluster  70 B, a third antenna cluster  70 C, a waterproof housing  110 , and a transmission cable  112 . 
     First antenna cluster  70 A is configured to be mounted on the outside of vehicle  12  and is configured to operate at coverage band cellular telephone frequencies using coverage band signals. Second antenna cluster  70 B is disposed in the inside of vehicle  12  and is configured to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies using capacity band signals. Third antenna cluster  70 C is disposed in the inside of the vehicle and is configured to receive the coverage band signals. In some embodiments, third antenna cluster  70 C is omitted. In the example provided, second and third antenna clusters  70 B-C are secured directly to a circuit board within telematics unit  24 . 
     In the example provided, first antenna cluster  70 A composes the entirety of external cellular antennas of the vehicle. For example, no other external cellular antennas are present on vehicle  12 . In embodiments where first antenna cluster  70 A composes an entirety of external cellular antennas of vehicle  12 , no antennas configured to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies are disposed on the outside of vehicle  12 . 
     As used herein, the term “configured to operate at” refers to the physical design of the antenna such that the antenna is principally operable to receive and transmit radio frequency signals at the stated frequencies, as will be readily appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art. Conventional cellular technology is supported by frequency bands ranging from 450 MHz to 4 GHz. As will be appreciated by those with ordinary skill in the art, radio wave propagation degrades as the frequency of a radio wave increases. Accordingly, high frequency signals do not travel as far as low frequency signals. Because the low frequency signals travel farther, the low frequency signals are often used in rural areas where a large coverage area is desirable. In contrast, high frequency bands are often used to increase capacity in urban and suburban areas. As used herein, the term “coverage band cellular telephone frequencies” refers to radio wave cellular telephone frequencies at or below about 2 GHz. As used herein, the term “capacity band cellular telephone frequencies” refers to radio wave cellular telephone frequencies above about 2 GHz. 
     Waterproof housing  110  may be any suitable weather resistant antenna housing for use on an exterior of vehicle  12 . For example, waterproof housing  110  may be a sealed plastic housing enclosing multiple antennas covering multiple wireless services. Housing  110  may support a variety of services using a variety of antennas, such as cellular antennas, a personal communications service (PCS) antenna, a global positioning system (GPS) antenna, and a satellite radio antenna, and other antennas. In the example provided, first antenna cluster  70 A is disposed in waterproof housing  110  mounted to a vehicle body on the outside of vehicle  12 . 
     Transmission cable  112  communicates coverage band signals from first antenna cluster  70 A to telematics unit  24 . In the example provided, transmission cable  112  is a coaxial cable having a center conductor surrounded by an insulating layer and a tubular conductor, as will be appreciated by those with ordinary skill in the art. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , and with continued reference to  FIGS. 1-2 , vehicle  12  is illustrated in accordance with teachings of the present disclosure. Vehicle  12  includes a vehicle body  118  with a dashboard  120 , a roof  122 , a rear trunk lid  124 , and a side mirror housing  126 . Vehicle body  118  defines a boundary between an inside of the vehicle and an outside of the vehicle. In the example provided, telematics unit  24  is disposed behind dashboard  120  and waterproof housing  110  may be disposed on roof  122 , on rear trunk lid  124 , or in side mirror housing  126 . In some embodiments, waterproof housing  110  is disposed on only one of roof  122 , trunk lid  124 , and side mirror housing  126 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , and with continued reference to  FIGS. 1-3 , a coverage map  130  for a cellular radio system is illustrated in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure. Coverage map  130  is composed of coverage band cells  132  and capacity band cells  134 . Cells  132  and  134  represent the areas of coverage map  130  that are serviced by different antennas on cell towers  48 . The locations and number of cell towers  48  may vary without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In the example provided, a cell tower  48  is located in the center of each cell  132  and  134 . 
     Coverage band cells  132  provide cellular telephone service to vehicle  12  using coverage band cellular telephone frequencies. As described above, coverage band cellular telephone frequencies have frequencies below about 2 GHz. The low frequencies used in coverage band cells  132  permit large coverage areas to provide cellular telephone service across large areas. For example, coverage band cells  132  may be located in rural areas where there are no dense populations. 
     In contrast, capacity band cells  134  provide cellular telephone service to vehicle  12  using both capacity and coverage band cellular telephone frequencies. As described above, capacity band cellular telephone frequencies have frequencies above about 2 GHz. Capacity band cells  134  represent areas where many cellular service customers are typically operating at any given time, such as in urban and suburban areas. In order to increase the capacity of the overall wireless carrier system  14 , capacity band cells  134  are sized smaller than the usable range of the capacity band cellular telephone signals, as will be appreciated by those with ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, signal availability at both capacity and coverage band cellular telephone frequencies is high even at edges of each capacity band cell  134 . Therefore, the gain of internal second antenna cluster  70 B is sufficient to operate effectively on all cellular telephone frequencies used in capacity band cells  134 . Furthermore, capacity band cellular telephone signals are typically not used in coverage band cells  132 . Therefore, external capacity band antennas may be omitted to reduce the size, complexity, and cost of the external antennas on vehicle  12 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , and with continued reference to  FIGS. 2-4 , a flow chart illustrates a method  200  of electronic communication in a vehicle. In the example provided, method  200  is performed with use of system  100 . It should be understood, however, that method  200  is not limited to use with system  100  and may be employed with other cellular systems that dispose coverage band antennas on an external surface of a vehicle and that dispose capacity band antennas on an internal surface of a vehicle. As can be appreciated in light of the disclosure, the order of operation within method  200  is not limited to the sequential execution as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , but may be performed in one or more varying orders as applicable and in accordance with the requirements of a given application. 
     A vehicle is operated in a location in operation  210 . For example, vehicle  12  may be operated at a location within coverage band cells  132  or within capacity band cells  134  in operation  210 . A first antenna cluster receives a coverage band signal at an outside of the vehicle in operation  214  and the first antenna cluster transmits the coverage band signal at the outside of the vehicle in operation  216 . For example, first antenna cluster  70 A may receive and transmit the coverage band signal between telematics unit  24  and cell tower  48 . In other words, method  200  includes receiving and transmitting coverage band signals with a first antenna cluster mounted on an outside of the vehicle and configured to operate at coverage band cellular telephone frequencies. 
     A second antenna cluster receives a capacity band signal at an inside of the vehicle in operation  220  and receives the coverage band signal at an inside of the vehicle in operation  222 . The second antenna cluster transmits the capacity and coverage band signals at the inside of the vehicle in operation  224 . For example, second antenna cluster  70 B may receive and transmit the capacity and coverage band signals at the inside of the vehicle in operations  220 ,  222 , and  224  when vehicle  12  is in a capacity band cell  134 . In other words, method  200  includes receiving and transmitting capacity band signals with a second antenna cluster disposed in the inside of the vehicle and configured to operate at capacity band cellular telephone frequencies. It should be appreciated that coverage band signals may also be received at first antenna cluster  70 A when vehicle  12  is in a capacity band cell  134 . 
     A controller modulates and demodulates the capacity and coverage band signals in operation  226 . For example, telematics unit  24  may modulate and demodulate the capacity and coverage band signals. 
     While various exemplary embodiments have been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof.