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:
May. 17, 1999
Applicant:
Inventor:
Eric Krantz, Redwood City, CA (US);
Assignee:
Trimble Navigation Limited, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01Q 1/38 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01Q 1/38 ;
Abstract
An antenna comprises a signal radiator, a ground plane spaced apart from the radiator, and a dielectric separator between the radiator and the ground plane. The separator comprises at least two positions having different dielectric constants. In a preferred embodiment, it comprises a material such as FR-4 that has a dielectric constant and a loss tangent substantially higher than those of air and is formed with at least one void reducing the loss tangent of the separator. The antenna strikes an effective compromise between the dielectric constant and loss tangent and is well suited to transmit and receive GPS signals.