Band-type electronic device and antenna module included therein

• US 10,020,565 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warp Solution, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Center For Integrated Smart Sensors Foundation (Center for Integrated Smart Sensors)
• Inventors: Lee, Kyung Hak, Han, Min Seok, Kim, Young Ki
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Robbins, Jerry D
• Application Number:
  US14/876,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20170054201A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/273 Adaptation for carrying or wearing by persons or animals
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/266 One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A band-type electronic device and an antenna module included therein are provided. The band-type electronic device includes a band configured to be worn on a body of a user, a metal housing configured to connect to the band, and a frequency control module configured to operate such that the metal housing is used as a wireless charging antenna.

Claims

1. A band-type electronic device, comprising:

a band configured to be worn on a body of a user;

a metal housing configured to connect to the band; and

a frequency control module configured to operate such that the metal housing is used as a wireless charging antenna or a wireless communication antenna,

wherein the frequency control module comprises;

a wireless charging impedance matching unit configured to perform impedance matching such that the metal housing resonates in a wireless charging frequency band;

a wireless communication impedance matching unit configured to perform impedance matching such that the metal housing resonates in a wireless communication frequency band;

a first switching unit configured to selectively drive one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit; and

a power feeder configured to connect with one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit according to an operation of the first switching unit,

wherein the power feeder is a separate component distinguished from a battery module that receives power received through the metal housing used as the wireless charging antenna.

2. The band-type electronic device of claim 1, wherein the metal housing is used as one of the wireless charging antenna and the wireless communication antenna as one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit is selectively driven according to an operation of the first switching unit.

3. The band-type electronic device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication frequency band comprises at least one of a near field communication (NFC) frequency band, a Bluetooth (BT) frequency band, a radio frequency identification (RFID) frequency band, an infrared data association (IrDA) communication frequency band, an ultra wideband (UWB) frequency band, a wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency band, a wireless broadband (Wibro) frequency band, a world interoperability for microwave access (Wimax) frequency band, or a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) frequency band.

4. The band-type electronic device of claim 3, wherein the wireless charging frequency band comprises at least a part of the remaining bands except for the wireless communication frequency band.

5. The band-type electronic device of claim 1, wherein the frequency control module further comprises:

a direct current (DC) block capacitor configured to connect with at least one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit or the wireless communication impedance matching unit and the metal housing and to remove DC components from outputs of the at least one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit or the wireless communication impedance matching unit and the metal housing.

6. The band-type electronic device of claim 5, wherein the frequency control module further comprises:

when the DC block capacitor includes one DC block capacitor, a second switching unit configured to selectively connect the one DC block capacitor with one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit.

7. The band-type electronic device of claim 1, wherein the frequency control module transmits power received through the metal housing used as the wireless charging antenna to the battery module included in the band-type electronic device.

8. An antenna module included in a band-type electronic device, comprising:

a metal housing configured to be included in the band-type electronic device; and

a frequency control module configured to operate such that the metal housing is used as a wireless charging antenna or a wireless communication antenna,

wherein the frequency control module comprises;

a wireless charging impedance matching unit configured to perform impedance matching such that the metal housing resonates in a wireless charging frequency band;

a wireless communication impedance matching unit configured to perform impedance matching such that the metal housing resonates in a wireless communication frequency band;

a first switching unit configured to selectively drive one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit; and

a power feeder configured to connect with one of the wireless charging impedance matching unit and the wireless communication impedance matching unit according to an operation of the first switching unit,

wherein the power feeder is a separate component distinguished from a battery module that receives power received through the metal housing used as the wireless charging antenna.