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United States Patent 7,633,442
Chiang , et al. December 15, 2009

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Satellite communication subscriber device with a smart antenna and associated method


Abstract
A satellite communication subscriber device includes a smart antenna for generating antenna beams for receiving signals from at least one satellite, and a receiver. The receiver includes a quality metric module for calculating a quality metric on the signals received by each antenna beam. A beam selector is coupled to the smart antenna for selecting the antenna beams. An antenna steering algorithm module runs an antenna steering algorithm for operating the beam selector for scanning the antenna beams, receiving the calculated quality metrics from the receiver for each scanned antenna beam, and comparing the calculated quality metrics. The algorithm selects one of the scanned antenna beams based upon the comparing for continuing to receive signals from the at least one satellite.


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Inventors: Chiang; Bing A. (Melbourne, FL), Cha; Inhyok (Melbourne, FL), Lynch; Michael J. (Merritt Island, FL), Gorsuch; Thomas E. (Merritt Island, FL)
Assignee: InterDigital Technology Corporation (Wilmington, DE)

Appl. No.: 11/143,182
Filed: June 2, 2005

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Related U.S. Patent Documents

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Application Number Filing Date Patent Number Issue Date
60576641 Jun., 2004


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Current U.S. Class: 342/432 ; 455/277.2
Current International Class: G01S 3/16 (20060101); H04B 7/04 (20060101)
Field of Search: 342/374,432 455/277.1,277,277.2