Patent ID: 7061431

Claim:
A patch antenna, comprising: a dielectric material substrate; a plurality of primary electrically conductive segments consecutively disposed over the dielectric material substrate and spaced apart so that a portion of the dielectric material substrate is exposed between any pair of adjacent primary electrically conductive, wherein each primary segment has a predetermined width and wherein the primary segments are spaced apart by a distance that is substantially the same as the predetermined width; a layer of dielectric material disposed over the plurality of primary electrically conductive segments; a plurality of secondary electrically conductive segments having a width greater than the predetermined width of each primary electrically conductive segment disposed over the layer of dielectric material such that each secondary electrically conductive segment corresponds to a pair of adjacent primary electrically conductive segments, each secondary electrically conductive segment being positioned over the exposed portion of the dielectric material substrate that is located between the pair of adjacent primary electrically conductive segments to which that secondary electrically conductive segment corresponds and overlaps a portion of each primary electrically conductive segment in the pair of adjacent primary electrically conductive segments; and whereby the overlap of each secondary electrically conductive segment with a portion of each primary electrically conductive segment in the pair of adjacent electrically conductive segments to which that secondary electrically conductive segment corresponds produces a plurality of capacitive gaps that capacitively couple the primary and secondary electrically conductive segments together to define a patch antenna; and a feedline electrically connected to a first one of the plurality of primary electrically conductive segments.