Patent US2532078A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US6031483A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6031483A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
FM radar system
Assignee: Honda Motor Co Ltd
•
Filing: 1998-03-30
•
Granted: 2000-02-29
•
Expires: 2018-03-30
Abstract
Abstract A transmission channel selection controller intermittently energizes transmission amplifiers indicated by transmission channel information, based on a modulation signal supplied from a modulation signal generator, to modulate an FM signal. The modulated FM signal is radiated as a beam from transmission antennas. When the beam is reflected as an echo beam by an object, the echo beam is received by reception antennas which supply a reception signal to reception amplifiers. A first mixer mixes the FM signal with the amplified reception signal, producing a modulated beat signal which is a beat signal representing the distance up to the object and modulated by the frequency of the modulation signal. A second mixer mixes the modulated beat signal with the modulation signal thereby demodulating the modulated beat signal into the beat signal.
Inventors
- 👤 Masanobu Urabe
- 👤 Satoru Komatsu
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 19:07
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01S; G01S13/00; G01S13/02; G01S13/06; G01S13/08; G01S13/32; G01S13/34; G01S13/347; G01S13/345; G01S7/00; G01S7/02; G01S7/35; G01S7/352; G01S7/354; G01S7/356
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
111 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a transmission channel selector for supplying the FM signal selectively to said transmission channels to select the transmission channels and modulating the FM signal; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; and a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
111 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a transmission channel selector for supplying the FM signal selectively to said transmission channels to select the transmission channels and modulating the FM signal; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; and a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
101 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a transmission circuit for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a plurality of reception channels for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a reception channel selector for selecting the reception channels and modulating the reception signal; and a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
101 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a transmission circuit for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a plurality of reception channels for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a reception channel selector for selecting the reception channels and modulating the reception signal; and a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
218 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a transmission channel selector for supplying the FM signal selectively to said transmission channels to select the transmission channels and modulating the FM signal; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; a modulation signal generator for generating a modulation signal to modulate the FM signal; said transmission channel selector comprising means for modulating the FM signal with the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator and leaving the FM signal unmodulated when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator; and said signal processor comprising means for detecting the object in a homodyne detection mode when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
218 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a transmission channel selector for supplying the FM signal selectively to said transmission channels to select the transmission channels and modulating the FM signal; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; a modulation signal generator for generating a modulation signal to modulate the FM signal; said transmission channel selector comprising means for modulating the FM signal with the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator and leaving the FM signal unmodulated when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator; and said signal processor comprising means for detecting the object in a homodyne detection mode when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
208 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a transmission circuit for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a plurality of reception channels for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a reception channel selector for selecting the reception channels and modulating the reception signal; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; a modulation signal generator for generating a modulation signal to modulate the FM signal; said reception channel selector comprising means for modulating the reception signal with the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator and leaving the reception signal unmodulated when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator; and said signal processor comprising means for detecting the object in a homodyne detection mode when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
208 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a transmission circuit for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a plurality of reception channels for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a reception channel selector for selecting the reception channels and modulating the reception signal; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; a modulation signal generator for generating a modulation signal to modulate the FM signal; said reception channel selector comprising means for modulating the reception signal with the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator and leaving the reception signal unmodulated when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator; and said signal processor comprising means for detecting the object in a homodyne detection mode when the modulation signal generated by said modulation signal generator is of a constant voltage or no modulation signal is generated by said modulation signal generator.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
An FM radar system according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising a switch for switching between the heterodyne detection mode and the homodyne detection mode.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
39 words
An FM radar system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said signal processor comprises means for controlling said modulation signal generator to change a frequency of said modulation signal depending on a distance up to the detected object.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
104 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; and a modulation signal generator for changing a frequency of a modulation signal in the heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
104 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal in a heterodyne detection mode; and a modulation signal generator for changing a frequency of a modulation signal in the heterodyne detection mode.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
An FM radar system according to claim 7, wherein said modulation signal generator changes a frequency of the modulation signal depending on a distance up to the detected object.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
98 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal; and a modulation signal generator for switching between a heterodyne detection mode and a homodyne detection mode.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
98 words
An FM radar system comprising: an FM signal generator for generating an FM signal over a sweep frequency range; a plurality of transmission channels for radiating the FM signal as a beam; a reception circuit for receiving an echo beam reflected by an object and generating a reception signal based on the received echo beam; a signal processor for generating a beat signal by mixing said FM signal and said reception signal and detecting the object based on said beat signal; and a modulation signal generator for switching between a heterodyne detection mode and a homodyne detection mode.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US36095A
Cited
US3811774A
Cited
US4666295A
Cited
JPH04109588A
Cited
JPH0540169A
Cited
US5448244A
Cited
US5369409A
Cited
USRE36095E
Cited
US5583511A
Cited
US5731781A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2003-02-28 | 2003-08-30 | 2004-02-29 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2007-02-28 | 2007-08-30 | 2008-02-29 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2011-02-28 | 2011-08-30 | 2012-02-29 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |