Handheld electronic device with cable grounding

• US 10,313,497 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hobson, Phillip Michael, Wang, Erik L., Jenks, Kenneth A., Hill, Robert J., Schlub, Robert W., Dinh, Richard H., Tan, Tang Yew, Mittleman, Adam D., Andre, Bartley K., Coster, Daniel J., De Iullis, Daniele, Howarth, Richard P., Ive, Jonathan P., Jobs, Steven P., Kerr, Duncan Robert, Nishibori, Shin, Rohrbach, Matthew Dean, Satzger, Douglas B., Seid, Calvin Q., Stringer, Christopher J., Whang, Eugene Antony, Zorkendorfer, Rico
• Primary Examiner(s): Mancuso, Huedung X
• Application Number:
  US14/158,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20140132463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,964 Days
• Field of Search: 343702, 343846, 343905, 343906, 174 50, 174 17 CT, 3614793, 4555757
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0421 with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element H01Q9/0414 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/0247 Electrical details of casings, e.g. terminals, passages for cables or wiring

Abstract

A handheld electronic device may be provided that contains a conductive housing and other conductive elements. The conductive elements may form an antenna ground plane. One or more antennas for the handheld electronic device may be formed from the ground plane and one or more associated antenna resonating elements. Transceiver circuitry may be connected to the resonating elements by transmission lines such as coaxial cables. Ferrules may be crimped to the coaxial cables. A bracket with extending members may be crimped over the ferrules to ground the coaxial cables to the housing and other conductive elements in the ground plane. The ground plane may contain an antenna slot. A dock connector and flex circuit may overlap the slot in a way that does not affect the resonant frequency of the slot. Electrical components may be isolated from the antenna using isolation elements such as inductors and resistors.

Claims

1. A handheld electronic device, comprising:

a radio-frequency transceiver;

an antenna ground plane;

an antenna resonating element that forms an antenna with the antenna ground plane;

a coaxial cable connected between the radio-frequency transceiver and the antenna, wherein the coaxial cable has an outer ground conductor;

a conductive fastener that is connected to the outer ground conductor;

a metal housing that forms part of the antenna ground plane, the antenna ground plane including two or more side walls of the metal housing;

a metal tab that is electrically connected to the metal housing and configured to ground the antenna resonating element to the metal housing that forms part of the antenna ground plane; and

a biasing member that presses the conductive fastener against the metal tab.

2. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the biasing member comprises a resilient material.

3. The handheld electronic device of claim 2, wherein the resilient material comprises urethane.

4. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the conductive fastener comprises a ferrule.

5. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein the conductive fastener comprises a ferrule that is crimped over the outer ground conductor.

6. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of additional conductive fasteners that are crimped to the outer ground conductor.

7. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, further comprising:

a conductive housing frame that forms a part of the antenna ground plane, wherein at least some of the plurality of additional conductive fasteners are electrically shorted to the conductive housing frame.

8. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 7, further comprising a metal bracket that has a plurality of extensions each of which is crimped over a respective conductive fastener of the plurality of additional conductive fasteners.

9. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 8, wherein the conductive housing frame comprises a planar sheet of metal that is welded to the metal bracket.

10. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising a button that allows a user to supply an input command to the handheld electronic device, wherein the button is round and has a concave exterior surface.

11. A handheld electronic device, comprising:

a radio-frequency transceiver;

a conductive housing frame;

an antenna having an antenna ground plane formed at least partly from the conductive housing frame, the antenna ground plane including two or more sides of the conductive housing frame;

a coaxial cable coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver and the antenna, wherein the coaxial cable has an outer ground conductor;

a conductive fastener connected to the outer ground conductor of the coaxial cable; and

a conductive member that mechanically and electrically connects the conductive fastener to the conductive housing frame and configured to ground the antenna to the conductive housing frame that forms part of the antenna ground plane.

12. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the conductive member is welded to the conductive housing frame.

13. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the conductive member is crimped to the conductive fastener.

14. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the coaxial cable has a first coaxial cable connector that is connected to the radio-frequency transceiver and a second coaxial cable connector that is connected to the antenna.

15. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the conductive fastener comprises a ferrule that is crimped to the outer ground conductor.

16. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 11, further comprising a plurality of additional conductive fasteners connected to the outer ground conductor of the coaxial cable.

17. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the conductive fasteners comprise ferrules that are crimped to the outer ground conductor.

18. The handheld electronic device defined in claim 17, wherein the conductive member comprises a metal bracket having fingers that are bent over the ferrules.

19. Apparatus, comprising:

a coaxial cable having a ground conductor;

a conductive electronic device housing structure that forms part of an antenna ground plane, the antenna ground plane including two or more side walls of the conductive electronic device housing structure;

a plurality of ferrules crimped over the coaxial cable that are electrically connected to the ground conductor; and

a metal member connected to the conductive electronic device housing structure and having extensions that are connected to the ferrules, the metal member configured to ground an antenna to the conductive electronic device housing structure that forms part of the antenna ground plane.

20. The apparatus defined in claim 19, wherein the metal member is welded to the conductive electronic device housing structure.

21. The apparatus defined in claim 19, wherein the metal member has extensions that are crimped over the ferrules.