JP3138652B2 - Handheld mobile phone - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a configuration of an antenna deployment portion of a hand-held mobile phone in mobile satellite communication, and a configuration of a dual-mode hand-held mobile phone usable in both a satellite system and a terrestrial cellular system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the configuration of an antenna unit of a terrestrial cellular mobile phone is as follows. A whip antenna having a length of about 1/4 wavelength is housed inside the portable device from the top, and when used for communication, the antenna is stretched and used. In this case, the effect on the antenna gain of the human head is large, but the radio field intensity from the base station can be increased to a short distance as compared to the satellite, so that the link margin can be as large as about 20 dB, and a great deal of communication interruption or the like can be taken. Does not lead to a problem. Although fading due to multiple waves is a major problem, it has been overcome by installing a plate-shaped inverted-F antenna at a position different from the installation position of the whip antenna to provide a diversity antenna.

Further, the configuration of the antenna portion of the hand-held portable telephone in the conventional mobile satellite communication system is as follows. Due to the limitations of the satellite scale, the intensity of radio waves arriving from the satellite to the ground in satellite communication is weak. Therefore, the gain of the ground antenna is required to be large,
In this case, a major problem is that the antenna gain and the axial ratio are deteriorated particularly by the influence of the user's head.

[0004] As a conventional technology, a document "JE Caballe"
ro, et al, "Hand-held Terminal Antennas for Person
al Satellite communications ". International Mobile
Satellite Conference, Ottawa, IMSC'95 pp.351-356.
"Shows two construction methods. In one configuration method, as shown in FIG. 1, a four-wire helical antenna 1 is attached to the tip of a rod-shaped deployment member 5 of a mobile phone, and is rotated in the plane of the side surface of the mobile phone housing 2 so that the mobile phone is held in a hand. When holding it, fix the rod-shaped deployment member so that it is almost perpendicular to the ground, and project the antenna above the user's head to reduce the influence of the human head. By doing so, it is stored on the side surface of the mobile phone housing 2. Another configuration method is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, two plate-like rods 7 extend from both sides of the mobile phone housing 8 by rotating by 180 degrees, and a plate 6 with a patch antenna is attached near the tip thereof, and the mobile phone is held in hand. Sometimes, the antenna plate is developed by 90 degrees in consideration of the rotation axis so as to be substantially horizontal to the ground. The antenna plate is tilted in advance so that the patch antenna faces the ceiling when used. This is also a configuration in which the antenna is projected above the human head.

[0005] As a method for storing a mobile phone antenna assumed by a mobile satellite communication system (Iridium system) currently being planned, as shown in FIG. It was folded on the side of the housing.

[0006]

Normally, the antenna of a hand-held type portable telephone is used close to the head of a human body, so that the gain and the axial ratio of the antenna are greatly deteriorated by the influence of the head of the human body. This leads to poor communication quality,
Use near the human head is disadvantageous in radio wave protection for human safety.

In mobile satellite communications, the electric field strength arriving from the satellite to the ground is smaller than that of the terrestrial cellular system due to limitations on the scale of the satellite due to rocket launch capability, the price of the satellite, or the long propagation distance between the satellite and the ground. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the satellite antenna gain of the mobile phone, and at the same time, in order to minimize the effect on the antenna pattern of the human head, make the rod-shaped antenna large and expose it above the head. As a result, the antenna tended to be large. Storing a large antenna has the disadvantage that the entire mobile phone eventually becomes large. In addition, although the mobile phone is used while being supported by a hand, the weight of the mobile device itself tends to cause the mobile device to shift down, which makes it difficult to use.

Further, in mobile satellite communication, a dual-mode mobile phone that can use both a terrestrial cellular system and a satellite system is considered to be frequently used. Many users mainly use the terrestrial cellular system, and the satellite system is used as a complement, that is, they usually use terrestrial cellular telephones, etc., and use the satellite system in special cases going to mountains, remote islands, etc. Is expected.

Accordingly, a dual mode portable device usually uses a heavy portable device because a satellite circuit and an antenna unit are added in addition to a terrestrial cellular circuit even when a terrestrial cellular system is used. There must be.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a handheld portable telephone for satellite communication having an antenna structure that is light overall, is not affected by the human head, and has no adverse effect on the human head.

[0011]

A satellite communication handheld mobile phone according to the present invention is normally stored on the back of the mobile phone casing, and is used substantially in the rear longitudinal direction of the mobile phone casing when used. Expand to be vertical,
An antenna deployment member having a small antenna attached near the tip is provided, and the antenna deployment member is provided with the mobile phone housing so that the small antenna attached near the tip after deployment is substantially horizontal to the ground. It is characterized by being rotatably supported on the back surface.

[0012]

Further, the handheld portable telephone for satellite communication can also be applied as a dual mode handheld portable telephone which can be used in both a satellite system and a terrestrial cellular system. In this case, the antenna deployment member, battery and The satellite communication circuit is mounted in one package (satellite pack) and removably stored on the back of the mobile phone case. When used in a terrestrial cellular system, the same size as the package (satellite pack) is mounted. It is configured so that it can be replaced with a package (ground pack) that has a surface and only a battery part. Further, the small antenna is a patch antenna, the deploying member has a plate shape, and a thin flat patch antenna is attached to a tip portion thereof.

That is, a thin flat patch antenna is attached to the tip of an antenna plate (deployment member) housed on the back of a satellite pack of a dual-mode portable telephone or the back of a portable telephone of a satellite-only system. First, expand the deployment member about 90 degrees from the storage position, and further consider the inclination angle of the mobile phone with respect to the ground so that the surface of the patch antenna attached to the deployment member is substantially horizontal to the ground. It has a structure that can be rotated and fixed for use.

[0015]

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a basic configuration of a satellite communication handheld mobile phone according to the present invention. The mobile phone 10 has an antenna deploying member 12 with a small antenna attached near the front end on a rear surface 11 of the housing. The deploying member is normally located on the back 1 of the mobile phone housing.
1 and, when in use, is unfolded so as to be substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rear surface of the mobile phone housing as shown by arrow a in FIG. 4 (b). The antenna deployment member 12
Is composed of a plate supporting the antenna, a thin planar patch antenna 13 and a feeder (not shown) as shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 14 denotes a human head, and a mobile phone usually has a case in which the longitudinal direction is about 60 ° from the vertical direction.
It is often used in an inclined state.

Therefore, in order to direct the patch antenna 13 toward the ceiling, the patch antenna 13 is positioned on the back of the housing of the portable telephone as shown in FIG.
It is necessary to rotate as shown by the arrow b in FIG. That is, when satellite communication is started from a state where the deploying member is stored as shown in FIG. 4A, the antenna is deployed as follows.

The unfolding member 12 is unfolded substantially perpendicularly to the back surface 11 of the housing of the portable device in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 4 (b). 5 (b) so as to be substantially horizontal so as to be fixed several times in the direction of arrow b in FIG. This fixation, which is almost horizontal to the ground, is structured so that it is rotated and fixed by pressing the button with the finger of the hand holding the mobile phone, and the mobile device is on the right or left side of the head It is desirable to have a structure that can maintain the horizontal level. The antenna is attached to the vicinity of the tip of the deploying member, and the position of the antenna is properly selected so that the antenna is less affected by the head.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a dual mode hand-held portable telephone in mobile satellite communication. As shown in FIG. 5A, when this mobile phone is used for satellite communication, a mobile phone main body having a function of removing a battery portion from a conventional terrestrial cellular handheld mobile phone, and a removed battery portion It consists of a satellite pack attached to the mark of the. This satellite pack has a mounting surface of the same size as a ground pack that stores only batteries when used for ground use, and both packs are made so that they can be replaced as needed. The deployment member 19 including the satellite pack, the battery, the circuit for the satellite system, and the antenna for the satellite, and attached to the satellite pack,
The structure is the same as that of FIG. 4, and as shown in FIG. 5B, is composed of a deployment member (antenna plate) for supporting the antenna, a thin planar patch antenna 20, and a power supply unit (not shown).

In the deployment operation in this case, similarly to the case of FIG. 4, when satellite communication is started from the state where the deployment member shown in FIG. 5A is stored, the antenna is deployed as follows. The deploying member 19 is deployed substantially perpendicular to the back of the portable device in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 5B, and the deploying member 19 is substantially horizontal with respect to the ground in consideration of the inclination angle of the ground. As shown in FIG. 5B, it is rotated and fixed by several tens of degrees in the direction of the arrow b.

The portable telephone having the antenna structure of the present invention can be used in a system using a geostationary satellite or a system using an orbiting satellite. In particular, in the case of communication using a geostationary satellite, the gain can be increased by using a conical beam as shown in FIG. For example, if the satellite orbital position is 140 degrees east longitude and the Japanese archipelago is the service area, the elevation angle for viewing the satellite is about 36 to 60 degrees, so considering that the antenna can be kept almost horizontal to the ground, Since the directivity having the maximum gain in the direction is disadvantageous, a circularly polarized patch antenna having a directivity called a conical beam can be employed. This allows the zenith direction to have a low gain and directivity such that the gain becomes maximum obliquely upward from the horizontal plane, so that the gain can be further increased. The directivity of the conical beam shown in FIG. 6A can be easily realized by exciting the TM21 mode or TM11 of the circular patch antenna. TM2
An embodiment of excitation in one mode is shown in FIG.

In the case of a handheld portable telephone of a satellite-only system that does not have a communication connection with the terrestrial cellular system, the structure shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the antenna deployment configuration similar to that attached to the back of the satellite pack may be provided on the back of the handheld mobile phone. When the user wants to always use only the terrestrial cellular system, the satellite pack is removed and the original battery part (ground pack) is attached to make the portable device lighter and usable. Also,
The antenna for the terrestrial cellular system may have a conventional structure.

[0022]

The deploying member of the present invention is deployed so as to protrude laterally to the back side of the hand-held portable telephone, and a patch antenna is attached near the tip thereof, so that the antenna can be used close to the human head. Unlike conventional structures that are deployed in the direction away from the human head in the lateral direction, antenna gain and axis ratio deterioration due to the human head can be extremely reduced, and radio wave protection for human safety Can be made more secure.

Further, since the deploying member is a plate-shaped patch antenna and the antenna is a thin flat patch antenna, the size of the portable telephone when stored can be reduced as compared with the rod-shaped antenna, and the hand can be caught at the base of the deploying member. If used, the weight of the mobile phone itself does not cause the mobile phone to shift downward.

Further, when the present invention is applied to a dual mode portable telephone, when only the terrestrial cellular system is used at all times, the "satellite pack" of the present invention is removed and the original battery part (ground pack) is mounted. This eliminates extra satellite circuitry and antenna weight,
Significant weight reduction can be performed as a portable device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an antenna portion of a hand-held mobile phone in a conventional mobile satellite communication system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the antenna portion of the hand-held mobile phone in the conventional mobile satellite communication system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the antenna portion of the hand-held mobile phone in the conventional mobile satellite communication system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration of an antenna deploying portion of the handheld mobile phone of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration of a dual mode handheld mobile phone of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of directivity and excitation of a patch antenna useful for communication using a geostationary satellite.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 antenna deployment member 2 mobile phone housing 3 right-hand usage position of antenna deployment member 4 left-hand usage position of antenna deployment member 5 rod-shaped antenna deployment member 6 antenna plate 7 plate-shaped rod 8 mobile phone housing 9 antenna 10 mobile phone housing Body 11 Back of mobile phone housing 12 Antenna deployment member 13 Patch antenna 14 Head 15 Satellite pack 16 Mobile phone housing 17 Ground antenna 18 Head 19 Antenna deployment member 20 Patch antenna

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yuichi Ototsu 2-12-5 Iwamotocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside the Next Generation Satellite Communication and Broadcasting System Research Laboratories (72) Inventor Naoshi Miyoshi 2-2 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo -1 Within the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (56) References JP-A-6-229172 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01Q 1/24 H01Q 1/08 H04B 1/38 H04M 1/02 H04Q 7/32

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A normally housed on the back of the mobile phone housing,
At the time of use, a single plate-shaped antenna deployment member having a small antenna attached near the tip is provided, which is deployed so as to be substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rear surface of the mobile phone housing. A handheld mobile phone for satellite communication that moves laterally away from the human head
The single plate-like antenna deployment member is located on the back of the mobile phone housing.
After expanding so that it is almost perpendicular to the surface longitudinal direction,
The developing member is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the back surface.
So that it is pivotally supported on the back of the housing,
Note that it is almost perpendicular to the longitudinal
After the deployment, further about 60 degrees around the vertical axis
By rotating, it was attached near its tip
So that the small antenna is almost horizontal to the ground
A handheld mobile phone for satellite communication, characterized in that: 2. A dual mode hand-held portable telephone which can be used in both a satellite system and a terrestrial cellular system, wherein said antenna deploying member, a battery, and a circuit for satellite communication are mounted in one package (satellite pack). To be detachably stored on the back of the phone case and used in a terrestrial cellular system, replace it with a package (ground pack) that has the same size of the package (satellite pack) and has only a battery part. The claim characterized by the above
Item 2. A satellite communication handheld mobile phone according to Item 1 . 3. The handheld portable telephone for satellite communication according to claim 1, wherein said small antenna is a patch antenna.