US4445099A — Digital gyromagnetic phase shifter

Claim 1

Independent Claim 243 words

A digital gyromagnetic waveguide phase shifter comprising: a waveguide; N gyromagnetic toroid elements of substantially binarily related lengths disposed serially along and within said waveguide where N is a positive integer greater than 1; a separate biasing loop passing through each of said toroid elements for, in response to a current applied thereto, controlling the magnetization of the element and hence the phase shift produced by the element; N drivers, one coupled to each biasing loop for controlling the associated element's magnetic field bias to control the phase shift induced by that element; each of said drivers responsive to a first control signal for providing a driver current output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a first direction to provide a 0° phase shift, responsive to a second control signal to provide a driver output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a second direction to provide an X° phase shift and responsive to a third control signal to provide a driver output that places said element in an intermediate magnetic condition to provide a phase shift of (X/2)°, where X for each of the elements is directly related to its length; and means for selectively providing said first, second and third control signals to said drivers including: means to reset said elements to their zero phase shift condition, and control means connected to receive N+1 bit phase selection commands and to provide N separate driver control outputs, one for each driver.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 243 words

A digital gyromagnetic waveguide phase shifter comprising: a waveguide; N gyromagnetic toroid elements of substantially binarily related lengths disposed serially along and within said waveguide where N is a positive integer greater than 1; a separate biasing loop passing through each of said toroid elements for, in response to a current applied thereto, controlling the magnetization of the element and hence the phase shift produced by the element; N drivers, one coupled to each biasing loop for controlling the associated element's magnetic field bias to control the phase shift induced by that element; each of said drivers responsive to a first control signal for providing a driver current output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a first direction to provide a 0° phase shift, responsive to a second control signal to provide a driver output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a second direction to provide an X° phase shift and responsive to a third control signal to provide a driver output that places said element in an intermediate magnetic condition to provide a phase shift of (X/2)°, where X for each of the elements is directly related to its length; and means for selectively providing said first, second and third control signals to said drivers including: means to reset said elements to their zero phase shift condition, and control means connected to receive N+1 bit phase selection commands and to provide N separate driver control outputs, one for each driver.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 132 words

The phase shifter recited in claim 1, wherein: said control means includes an individual control network associated with each driver, each said control network having a specific bit of said phase selection command associated with it; each said control network responsive to all bits of said phase selection command which are less significant than its associated bit being one logic level for providing said third control signal to said driver; and each said control network responsive to at least one of the bits of said phase selection command which is less significant than its associated bit being a second logic level for providing: said first control signal to said driver when said associated bit is a 0; and said second control signal to said driver when said associated bit is a 1.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 233 words

A digital gyromagnetic waveguide phase shifter comprising: a waveguide; a plurality of gyromagnetic toroid elements of substantially binarily related lengths disposed serially along and within said waveguide; a separate biasing loop passing through each of said toroid elements for, in response to a current applied thereto, controlling the magnetization of the element and hence the phase shift produced by the element; a plurality of drivers, one coupled to each biasing loop for controlling the associated element's magnetic field bias to control the phase shift induced by that element; each of said drivers responsive to a first control signal for providing a driver current output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a first direction to provide a 0° phase shift, responsive to a second control signal to provide a driver output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a second direction to provide an X° phase shift and responsive to a third control signal to provide a driver output that places said element in an intermediate magnetic condition to provide a phase shift of (X/2)°, where X for each of the elements is directly related to its length; and means for selectively providing said first, second and third control signals to said drivers including: means for receiving a multi-bit phase selection command, and means for decoding said multi-bit phase command into a plurality of multi-bit control signals, one for each of said drivers.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 233 words

A digital gyromagnetic waveguide phase shifter comprising: a waveguide; a plurality of gyromagnetic toroid elements of substantially binarily related lengths disposed serially along and within said waveguide; a separate biasing loop passing through each of said toroid elements for, in response to a current applied thereto, controlling the magnetization of the element and hence the phase shift produced by the element; a plurality of drivers, one coupled to each biasing loop for controlling the associated element's magnetic field bias to control the phase shift induced by that element; each of said drivers responsive to a first control signal for providing a driver current output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a first direction to provide a 0° phase shift, responsive to a second control signal to provide a driver output that magnetically saturates its associated element in a second direction to provide an X° phase shift and responsive to a third control signal to provide a driver output that places said element in an intermediate magnetic condition to provide a phase shift of (X/2)°, where X for each of the elements is directly related to its length; and means for selectively providing said first, second and third control signals to said drivers including: means for receiving a multi-bit phase selection command, and means for decoding said multi-bit phase command into a plurality of multi-bit control signals, one for each of said drivers.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 22 words

The phase shifter recited in claim 3 wherein: said means for decoding provides a 2-bit control signal to each of said drivers.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 146 words

The phase shifter recited in claim 4 wherein: said drivers are responsive to a reset signal to provide a reset current to said biasing loop to reset said toroid to said first magnetically saturated condition in which said toroid provides a 0° phase shift; and said drivers are responsive to a 2 bit set signal to provide; (a) in response to a first value, no set current to said biasing loop to leave said toroid in a 0° phase shift condition, (b) in response to a second value, a current pulse of a first duration to said biasing loop to set said toroid to a maximum phase shift condition, and (c) in response to a third value, a current pulse of one-half of said first duration to said biasing loop to set said toroid to said intermediate magnetic condition which provides a half maximum phase shift.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 71 words

In a gyromagnetic phase shifter having N phase shifting elements, the improvement comprising: means responsive to N+1 bit phase selection commands and providing N outputs each associated with one of said N elements for controlling the setting of that element to one of three different states, a zero phase shift state, a maximum phase shift state and an intermediate phase shift state whereby the resolution of said phase shifter is increased.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 71 words

In a gyromagnetic phase shifter having N phase shifting elements, the improvement comprising: means responsive to N+1 bit phase selection commands and providing N outputs each associated with one of said N elements for controlling the setting of that element to one of three different states, a zero phase shift state, a maximum phase shift state and an intermediate phase shift state whereby the resolution of said phase shifter is increased.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 17 words

The improvement recited in claim 6 wherein said intermediate phase shift state is a half-maximum phase shift.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1987-04-24	1987-10-24	1988-04-24	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1991-04-24	1991-10-24	1992-04-24	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1995-04-24	1995-10-24	1996-04-24	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Digital gyromagnetic phase shifter

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