Patent Publication Number: US-2007105418-A1

Title: Wireless signal transmission apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 94139225, filed on Nov. 9, 2005. All disclosure of the Taiwan application is incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      The present invention relates to a signal transmission apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless signal transmission apparatus.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      In recent years, the cathode ray tube (CRT) projection apparatus with large volume and heavy weight has been gradually replaced with products, such as the liquid crystal projection apparatus or digital light processing (DLP) projection apparatus. The products are light, thin, and also portable, and are directly connected with other digital apparatus for projecting images. Under the situation that manufacturers continuously provide new and competitive products with low price and more additional functions, the products are not only used in company, school, or public area for presentations, but also be used at home.  
      As the great and prompt development in production, now, the projection apparatus has to have many functions, and the outer appearance of the projection apparatus has to be satisfy the requirements of being light, thin, and small. In addition, the manufacturers are continuously looking for high efficiency and more convenience in operation. Further, the projection apparatus in current development has the capability with wireless signal transmission, so as to improve the convenience for a user, and reduce the bothering issue of many wire connections. However, the wireless projection apparatus uses the antenna on the wireless network card to receive and transmit wireless signal. In this manner, when the wireless projection apparatus has the situation in poor signal receiving, the position of the whole wireless projection apparatus has to be adjusted, so as to solve the situation in poor signal receiving. It is inconvenient to the user.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless signal transmission apparatus having an antenna module, the antenna module has more degrees of freedom in rotation directions. As a result, the signal receiving quality of the wireless signal transmission apparatus is improved.  
      To achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a wireless signal transmission apparatus including a signal input/output (I/O) port and an antenna module. The antenna module is used for receiving and transmitting wireless signal and the wireless signal satisfies the transmission standard of IEEE 802.11. Particularly, the antenna module is electrically connected to the signal I/O port, and relatively rotates with respect to the signal I/O port. The foregoing antenna module is, for example, an image signal transceiver module or a video signal transceiver module, and the signal I/O port is the signal I/O port of the video graphic array (VGA) interface, or digital visual interface (DVI).  
      In an embodiment, the foregoing wireless signal transmission apparatus, for example, further includes a first pivotal coupling member and a second pivotal coupling member, which are coupled between the antenna module and the signal I/O port. The rotation directions for the first pivotal coupling member and the second pivotal coupling member are different and the antenna module rotates with respect to the signal I/O port by the rotations about the rotation axes of the first pivotal coupling member and the second pivotal coupling member respectively. The rotation axes of the first pivotal coupling member and the second pivotal coupling member are, for example, perpendicular to each other.  
      In an embodiment, the foregoing wireless signal transmission apparatus, for example, further includes a signal processing module electrically coupled between the antenna module and the signal I/O port. The signal processing module includes, for example, a microprocessing unit and an encoding/decoding unit.  
      The antenna module of the invention has two degrees of freedom in the rotation directions, so that it is easily adjusted to a proper position. The wireless signal transmission apparatus of the invention has good signal receiving quality. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view schematically illustrating a wireless signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a bottom view schematically illustrating a wireless signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram schematically illustrating the circuit of the wireless signal transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  includes a signal I/O port  116  and an antenna module  120 . The antenna module  120  is used for receiving and transmitting wireless signal. Particularly, the antenna module  120  is rotatably coupled to the signal I/O port  116 . In addition, the power of the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  is, for example, an independent external-connection power source. For example, the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  is, for example, connected to the external electric power source via a power input terminal  130 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the antenna module  120  of the embodiment is, for example, coupled to the signal I/O port  116  via a first pivotal coupling member  102  and a second pivotal coupling member  104 , and the rotation axes of the first pivotal coupling member  102  and the second pivotal coupling member  104  are perpendicular to each other. In this manner, the antenna module  120  rotates with respect to the signal I/O port  116  about the rotation axes of the first pivotal coupling member  102  and the second pivotal coupling member  104 , so that it is convenient to adjust the signal receiving quality. In  FIG. 2 , the rotation axis of the first pivotal coupling member  102  is, for example, parallel to the X axis, the rotation axis of the second pivotal coupling member  104  is, for example, parallel to the Z axis. The antenna module  120 , for example, takes the X axis and the Z axis as the rotation center and rotates with respect to the signal I/O port. In other words, the antenna module  120  has two degrees of freedom in rotation directions.  
      Remarkably, the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  is, for example, using the wireless transmission standard IEEE 802.11 for transmitting wireless signal. In other words, the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  receives the wireless signals from the Ethernet and transmits the wireless signals to the Ethernet. The one skilled in the art knows that the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  transmits wireless signals, satisfying the transmission standards of IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, and so on.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , according to another embodiment of the invention, the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  further includes a signal processing module  110 , which is electrically coupled between the antenna module  120  and the signal I/O port  116 . The signal processing module  110  includes, for example, a microprocessing unit  112  and an encoding/decoding unit  114 . After the antenna module  120  sends the received wireless signals to the signal processing unit  110 , the encoding/decoding unit  114  performs the encoding/decoding process and the results are exported via the signal I/O port  116 . In addition, when the wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  transmits the signals to the Ethernet, the output signals from the encoding/decoding unit  114  are processed by the microprocessing unit  112  and then are transmitted to the Ethernet via the antenna module  120 .  
      In addition, the signal processing module  110  is, for example, relatively affixed to the antenna module  120 . In other words, the signal processing module  110  and the antenna module  120  are disposed on the same side of the first pivotal coupling member  102  and the second pivotal coupling member  104 , so that the signal processing module  110  and the antenna module  120  are rotated with respect to the signal I/O port  116 .  
      In addition, the signal I/O port  116  is, for example, the signal I/O port of the video graphic array (VGA) interface. Certainly, in another embodiment, the signal I/O port  116  can be, for example, the signal I/O port of the digital visual interface (DVI). The wireless signal transmission apparatus  100  is used for transmitting image signals or audio signals to an image output apparatus. The image output apparatus is, for example, a projecting apparatus or a common display screen.  
      In summary, the invention has at least several advantages as follows:  
      1. Since the antenna module can be rotated with respect to the signal I/O port, by adjusting the antenna module, it allows the electronic apparatus use the wireless signal transmission apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention to receive the signals with sufficiently good receiving quality. In addition, the antenna module has two degrees of freedom in the rotation directions, which further increase the signal receiving quality of the wireless signal transmission apparatus of the invention.  
      2. In operation, the wireless signal transmission apparatus of the invention can be easily assembled and disassembled without occupying space. In addition, the invention needs no addition interface for communication with the connected electronic apparatus.  
      3. The wireless signal transmission apparatus independently connected to the external power source without sharing the power with the connected electronic apparatus.  
      It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing descriptions, it is intended that the present invention covers modifications and variations of this invention if they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.