The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 23, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 07, 2000
Joel Lloyd Gross, Chandler, AZ (US);
Jonathan Henry Gross, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Robert Anthony Peters, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Daniel Francis DiFonzo, Rockville, MD (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for operating a phased-array antenna (,) on a satellite-based communications node (,) in more than one mode by controlling the number of beam-forming elements and by applying appropriate phase-control and/or amplitude-control coefficients to the selected elements. The antenna can be operated as a diffused-beam antenna at a relatively low data rate, enabling the satellite-communications node (,) to communicate with a first terrestrial communications node (,). The antenna can also be operated to generate multiple focused-beam antenna patterns each communicating at a relatively high data rate, enabling the satellite-communications node (,) to communicate with a different terrestrial communications node (,) by changing the amplitude and/or the phase coefficients as well as the number of beam-forming elements.