US Patent:
20030020662, Jan 30, 2003
Inventors:
Brian St. Hillaire - San Jose CA, US
Doug Kough - San Jose CA, US
Bryan Kretsch - Aptos CA, US
Peter Fine - Santa Cruz CA, US
International Classification:
H01Q013/10
Abstract:
Disclosed is a high performance, low cost antenna for wireless communication applications such as those using the 802.11 wireless communication protocol, or other such wireless protocols, which benefit from a dual feed diversity antenna. The antenna device can be fabricated from a single layer of conductive material, thus allowing easy, low cost manufacture of a high gain antenna. In one embodiment of the present invention, the diversity slot antenna can be formed using a single piece of stamped metal connected to a feed system, such as a coaxial feed line. In a first embodiment an antenna with spatial diversity is disclosed. In a second embodiment, an antenna having both spatial and polarization diversity is provided. In other embodiments, the antenna need not be planar, but rather may be bent or formed, such as to provide an antenna which is conformal with the shape of a wireless communication device. Furthermore, other embodiments of the present invention may be made of thin film, conductive foil, vapor deposition, or could be made of a flexible conductive material, such as metallized MYLAR. The antenna may be stamped or otherwise formed to desired dimensions. Multi-band response antennas can also be produced within the scope of the invention. Each of the slot elements may be linear or may be formed in a meander shape or other shape to reduce size. The slot elements may be provided within an antenna array useful for beam scanning applications.