Wireless charging and communications systems with dual-frequency patch antennas

• US 10,263,340 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Noori, Basim H., Salam, Khan M., Han, Liang, Mow, Matthew A., Pascolini, Mattia, Caballero, Ruben, Biedka, Thomas E., Jiang, Yi, Ouyang, Yuehui
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US15/848,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20180115071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411, 455 412, 4555621
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/35 using two or more simultaneously fed points
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0407 Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40
• 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

An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more dual-frequency dual-polarization patch antennas. Each patch antenna may have a patch antenna resonating element that lies in a plane and a ground that lies in a different parallel plane. The patch antenna resonating element may have a first feed located along a first central axis and a second feed located along a second central axis that is perpendicular to the first central axis. The patch antenna resonating element may be rectangular, may be oval, or may have other shapes. A shorting pin may be located at an intersecting point between the first and second axes. The patch antennas may be used in beam steering arrays. The patch antennas may be used for wireless power transfer at microwave frequencies or other frequencies and may be used to support millimeter wave communications.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

wireless circuitry configured to handle wireless signals at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz;

an antenna coupled to the wireless circuitry and configured to convey the wireless signals for the wireless circuitry, wherein the antenna comprises an antenna resonating element, an antenna ground, a first antenna feed having a first feed terminal coupled to the antenna resonating element, and a second antenna feed having a second feed terminal coupled to the antenna resonating element; and

phase and magnitude adjustment circuitry coupled to the first and second feed terminals.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the antenna resonating element and the antenna ground lie in separate parallel planes.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the antenna resonating element has first and second perpendicular central axes, the first feed terminal lies along the first central axis, and the second feed terminal lies along the second central axis.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, wherein the frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz is a first frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the wireless circuitry is configured to handle wireless signals at second, third, and fourth frequencies between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the antenna has a first resonance peak that covers the first and second frequencies, and the antenna has a second resonance peak that covers the third and fourth frequencies.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the first and second central axes intersect at an intersection point and the antenna comprises a shorting pin that shorts the antenna resonating element to the antenna ground at the intersection point.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises one of an array of antennas and each antenna in the array of antennas is coupled to corresponding phase and magnitude adjustment circuitry.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6, wherein the array of antennas is configured to perform beam steering.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the antenna is a dual-polarization dual-frequency antenna.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the antenna is a dual-polarization antenna and the antenna resonating element is a patch antenna resonating element.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz is a first frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the wireless circuitry is configured to transmit signals at the first frequency, the wireless circuitry is configured to transmit signals at second, third, and fourth frequencies between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the antenna has a first resonance peak that covers the first and second frequencies, and the antenna has a second resonance peak that covers the third and fourth frequencies.

11. An electronic device comprising:

wireless circuitry that is configured to transmit signals at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz; and

an antenna that is coupled to the wireless circuitry and that comprises an antenna resonating element and a ground, wherein the antenna resonating element has first and second perpendicular central axes, the antenna has a first feed that lies along the first central axis, the antenna has a second feed that lies along the second central axis, the first and second central axes intersect at an intersection point, and the antenna comprises a shorting pin that shorts the antenna resonating element to the ground at the intersection point.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the antenna resonating element and the ground lie in separate parallel planes.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz is a first frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the wireless circuitry is configured to transmit signals at second, third, and fourth frequencies between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, the antenna has a first resonance peak that covers the first and second frequencies, and the antenna has a second resonance peak that covers the third and fourth frequencies.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the first and second feeds are coupled to phase and magnitude adjustment circuitry.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the antenna comprises one of an array of antennas and the array of antennas is configured to perform beam steering.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the antenna is a dual-polarization antenna.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the antenna is a dual-polarization dual-frequency antenna.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

wireless circuitry; and

an array of patch antennas coupled to the wireless circuitry, wherein each patch antenna in the array is a dual-polarization patch antenna that comprises an antenna resonating element and first and second feed terminals coupled to the antenna resonating element and the wireless circuitry includes adjustable circuitry that performs beam steering with the array of patch antennas.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18, wherein the wireless circuitry comprises millimeter wave wireless communications circuitry configured to handle wireless signals at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 18, wherein the wireless circuitry comprises wireless power transfer circuitry configured to transfer power wirelessly at a wireless charging frequency using the array of patch antennas.

21. The electronic device defined in claim 18, wherein each patch antenna in the array of patch antennas is a dual-polarization dual-frequency patch antenna.

22. The electronic device defined in claim 21, wherein each of the dual-polarization dual-frequency patch antennas has a ground, wherein the antenna resonating element and the ground lie in separate parallel planes, and wherein the patch antenna resonating element has first and second perpendicular central axes and first and second respective different dimensions along the first and second central axes.

23. The electronic device defined in claim 22 wherein the first feed terminal of each of the dual-polarization dual-frequency patch antennas lies along the first central axis of that antenna and the second feed terminal of each of the dual-polarization dual-frequency patch antennas lies along the second central axis of that antenna.

24. The electronic device defined in claim 23 further comprising a display, wherein the wireless circuitry comprises millimeter wave wireless communications circuitry.

25. The electronic device defined in claim 18, wherein the electronic device is a portable electronic device selected from the group consisting of:

a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and a cellular telephone.