Antenna device, particularly for a mobile radio system, having a plurality of associated functional units
View Patent ↗The invention relates to an improved antenna device, characterized by the following additional features:—that each functional unit ( 21 ) can communicate bidirectionally with the remote control unit (RC) by means of the communication bus ( 23 ),—the configuration, the controller, and/or the querying of one or more functional units ( 21 ) of the at least one emitter device takes place over the entire communications bus ( 23 ),—the communication to the remote control unit (RC) is handled by each addressed functional unit ( 21 ), and—an internal communications bus ( 25 ) is provided for exchanging information and/or action states between the functional units ( 21 ) connected in the at least one emitter device.
1. Antenna system comprising:
at least one emitter device,
a plurality of functional units connected in the at least one emitter device, the functional units being configured for monitoring, measuring and controlling parameters of an antenna device, each of said functions being realized by a separate one of the plurality of functional units or by a combination of the functional units,
the functional units being interconnected via a common external bidirectional communication bus providing equal, direct access by a remote control unit to each of said functional units,
said external communication bus being connected directly or via an interface to the external remote control unit,
each functional unit being connected to the remote control unit via the bidirectional external communication bus,
the common external communication bus being configured to carry out the configuration, control and/or querying of one or more of the functional units,
the functional units being configured in such a way that in each case one of the functional units addressed by polling handles the communication with the remote control unit, and
an internal communication bus also provided for the at least one emitter device, configured to exchange information and/or action states between the functional units connected in the at least one emitter device.
2. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein
a required address for communication between the remote control unit and the functional units consists of a base address and of an internal subaddress, and
the antenna system is configured in such a way that an allocation of the base address by the remote control unit is effective for a plurality of or for all the functional units by a single addressing procedure.
3. Antenna system according to claim 2 , wherein the functional units are configured in such a way that a task of accepting an address and a task of confirming the address is allocated to any desired functional unit.
4. Antenna system according to claim 2 , wherein the functional units are constructed in such a way that the allocation of the base address by each functional unit is automatically monitored by the other functional units and is acknowledged by the internal communication bus.
5. Antenna system according to claim 2 , wherein the functional units are configured in such a way that the information of the base address is communicated via the internal communication bus to other functional units.
6. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna system is configured in such a way that a sub, partial or secondary address region is moved via an offset to another address region.
7. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna device is constructed in such a way that a functional unit which handles a communication with the remote control unit signals the communication processing to the other functional units via the internal communication bus.
8. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the internal communication bus comprises a shared memory storage region and connections to the individual functional units.
9. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the internal communication bus comprises 1 to N wired “OR” lines and a function is allocated to each line, with N representing a whole natural number.
10. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the internal communication bus comprises an internal multi-master communication bus which is not visible from outside the plurality of functional units and is separate from the external communication bus.
11. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the external communication bus is guided out of the antenna device and is linked in the form of a pin-and-socket connector with a further antenna device and/or an external functional unit via an interface.
12. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein
the external communication bus is divided into a transmission-path-side external communication bus coming from the remote control unit and an antenna-side external communication bus, and
the antenna system further comprises a switchable interface for connecting or detaching the transmission-path-side external communication bus to or from the antenna-side external communication bus.
13. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of antenna devices and the external communication bus devices thereof, are connected via a radio link.
14. Antenna system according to claim 11 , wherein the antenna system is configured in such a way that, in a defined and/or predetermined time period after the connection of the power supply and/or the activation of the antenna device, one or some of the antenna devices, which are interconnected in respect of their external communication bus, is/are disconnected from the associated remote control device and a detection procedure for ascertaining further disconnected antenna devices is carried out.
15. Antenna device according to claim 14 , wherein the antenna system is configured in such a way that after the detection of a further external antenna device, an offset for the subaddress region in respect of the functional units provided in the further antenna devices is transmitted from a first antenna device to a further antenna device and these functional units which are provided in the further antenna devices are managed via the remote control unit connected to the first antenna device.
16. Antenna system according to claim 15 , wherein the external communication bus is switched on and off depending on the addressed subaddress for the connected functional units of the connected antenna devices.
17. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the required address for the communication between the remote control unit and the functional units consists of a base address and of an internal subaddress, and the base address is permanently allocated by pre-allocation.
18. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein the address for the communication between the remote control unit and the functional units consists of a base address and of an internal subaddress, and DIP switches are configured to set the base address.
19. Antenna system according to claim 2 , wherein an offset o the internal subaddresses is permanently allocated by pre-allocation.
20. Antenna system according to claim 2 , wherein an offset for the internal subaddresses is be set by hardware, by DIP switches.
21. Antenna system according to claim 8 , wherein redundant data allocated to individual functional units is also stored in the shared memory storage region.
22. Antenna system according to claim 1 , wherein functional units which are provided in the antenna device and are not present in another antenna device can also be used by the antenna device or by the external remote control units.
23. Antenna system of claim 1 wherein the external bus and the internal bus are separated and isolated from each other and not linked together.