Patent ID: 12230900

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the present invention is hereby intended and such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated devices are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art. The descriptions, embodiments and figures used are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the claims.

Where the specification describes advantages of an embodiment or limitations of other prior art, the applicant does not intend to disclaim or disavow any potential embodiments covered by the appended claims unless the applicant specifically states that it is “hereby disclaiming or disavowing” potential claim scope. Moreover, the terms “embodiments of the invention”, “embodiments” or “invention” do not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation, nor that it does not incorporate aspects of the prior art which are sub-optimal or disadvantageous.

As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” The embodiments described herein are not limiting, but rather are exemplary only. It should be understood that the described embodiments are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Additionally, any examples or illustrations given herein are not to be regarded in any way as restrictions on, limits to, or express definitions of, any term or terms with which they are utilized. Instead, these examples or illustrations are to be regarded as illustrative only.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Additionally, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning “having the potential to”), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning “must”). Further, it should also be understood that throughout this disclosure, unless logically required to be otherwise, where a process or method is shown or described, the steps of the method may be performed in any order (i.e., repetitively, iteratively, or simultaneously) and selected steps may be omitted. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The communication elements of the present invention as discussed below may include a wide variety of signal or data transmitting and receiving circuits, such as antennas, amplifiers, filters, mixers, oscillators, digital signal processors (DSPs), and the like whether illustrated or omitted.

Referring now toFIGS.1-9, aspects of an exemplary capacitively fed inverted-L multiband VHF antenna system in accordance with the present invention shall now be discussed. As should be understood, the systems disclosed inFIGS.1-9are exemplary systems onto which the features of the present invention may be integrated. Accordingly, the figures are intended to be illustrative and any of a variety of systems may be used with the present invention without limitation.

Referring now toFIGS.1and2, first and second perspective views of an antenna assembly100according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention shall now be discussed. As shown inFIGS.1and2, the first exemplary antenna assembly100may preferably be formed as a capacitively coupled array of two or more inverted-L antennas. In the example shown, these may include at least one receive resonator102and at least one transmit resonator104. As shown, each resonator102,104may preferably be capacitively fed by at least one capacitively coupled element such as the capacitively coupled bar106shown. According to a further preferred embodiment, the resonators102,104may preferably be formed as inverted-L antennas. As shown, each resonator102,104may preferably be attached to an inductor element108,110which may preferably be controlled to tune each resonator to a desired frequency or frequency range as discussed further herein. As shown inFIG.2, the capacitively coupled bar106may include a variety of thickness and/or heights to control the amount of voltage capacitively applied to each respective resonator102,104by the capacitively coupled bar106. In the example shown, the capacitively coupled bar106includes one thicker, raised section109and a thinner, lower section111.

With reference now toFIG.3, a cross-section of the antenna assembly100shown inFIG.1(cut along the line A-A) is provided. As shown, the capacitively coupled bar106is preferably attached to a feed pin112to provide the charging inputs. Further, a ground plane113is shown which preferably may be formed from or within a printed circuit board (PCB).

Referring now toFIGS.4and5, an antenna assembly according to a second embodiment114of the present invention shall now be discussed. As shown, according to the second preferred embodiment, the antenna assembly114may include multiple resonators116,118,120for transmitting and/or receiving electro-magnetic signals. For example, one band may use two resonators and a second band may be supported by a single resonator. In the example shown, the antenna assembly114(attached to ground plane/PCB124) may include first and second transmission resonators118,120and a third resonator116for receiving signals. As shown, each of the resonators116,118and120may preferably receive tuning inputs via at least one capacitively coupled bar122. Additionally, one or more of the resonators116,118and120may preferably also include transducer elements/circuits117,119,121which preferably are controlled to further tune each resonator within a desired frequency range.

With reference now toFIG.6, a schematic view of an antenna assembly125in accordance with a third preferred embodiment is provided. As shown, the antenna assembly125may include multiple resonators for both transmitting and receiving EM signals. In the example shown inFIG.6, low frequency array ground bars126128may preferably be provided as receiving resonators. Additionally, high frequency array ground bars130,132may preferably be provided as transmission resonators. Each element may preferably be formed on a common PCB and may preferably each receive EM inputs from at least one capacitive feed bar134connected to at least one feed pin136. According to alternative embodiments, each resonator126-132may preferably further be selectively attached to one or more inductive elements/loads138. Additionally, as shown inFIG.7, grounding strips140,142,144(or other dielectric material, walls or spacing elements) may selectively run between resonating elements.

With reference now toFIGS.8and9, according to alternative preferred embodiments, each capacitively coupled bar for use with the present invention may be segmented and/or multiple independently controllable capacitively coupled bars (CCB) or bar segments may be used to influence different resonators. As shown inFIGS.8and9, two CCB segments146,148may be used, or three or more CCB segments may be used150,152,154. Custom inductor (LRXand LTX) values for different applications may preferably be selectively applied and/or adjusted for one or more resonators as well. According to further preferred embodiments, the tuning elements of the present invention may further be actively tuned based on a variety of sensor inputs such as a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) or the like.

According to further alternative embodiments, one or more resonators may be dedicated to further bands such as L-band satellite to make the antenna array dual mode. Still further, a resonator may be dedicated to an AIS (Automatic Identification System) frequency to make the array tri-mode.

The present invention has been disclosed above with reference to several examples. These examples are not intended to be limiting. Instead, the scope of the present invention should be determined purely by the terms of the appended claims and their legal equivalents.