Antenna system with antenna swapping and antenna tuning

• US 10,511,084 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2018
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Caballero, Ruben, Pascolini, Mattia, Narang, Mohit, Mow, Matt A., Schlub, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Graham P
• Application Number:
  US16/030,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20190013570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• 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: H01Q 9/0421 with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element H01Q9/0414 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/42 with folded element, the folded parts being spaced apart a small fraction of the operating wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0602 using antenna switching H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0689 using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme
• 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

Abstract

Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and first and second antennas. An electronic device may include a housing. The first antenna may be located at an upper end of the housing and the second antenna may be located at a lower end of the housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the housing and may be used in forming the first and second antennas. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may have a transmit-receive port and a receive port. Switching circuitry may connect the first antenna to the transmit-receive port and the second antenna to the receiver port or may connect the first antenna to the receive port and the second antenna to the transmit-receive port.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having peripheral conductive housing structures that run around at least first, second, third, and fourth edges of the housing, wherein the first edge opposes the third edge and the second edge opposes the fourth edge;

an antenna ground, wherein the antenna ground is formed at least partly from conductive portions of the housing;

a first dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structures along the first edge of the housing;

a second dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structure along the third edge of the housing; and

an antenna that includes the antenna ground, an antenna resonating element arm formed from a segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures extending from the first dielectric-filled gap to the second dielectric-filled gap, and an antenna feed coupled to the segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures and the antenna ground.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a third dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structures along the first edge of the housing; and

a fourth dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structures along the third edge of the housing.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein a first additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures extending between the first and third dielectric-filled gaps and a second additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures extending between the second and fourth dielectric-filled gaps form part of the antenna ground.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the electronic device has a length, a width that is less than the length, and a height that is less than the width, and the peripheral conductive housing structures and the first and second dielectric-filled gaps each extend across the height of the electronic device.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4, further comprising:

a display that forms a front face of the electronic device and extends across the length and the width of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5, wherein the housing comprises a rear housing wall that forms a rear face of the electronic device.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6, wherein the rear housing wall comprises a conductive rear housing wall.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 6, wherein the rear housing wall comprises glass and metal.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 5, further comprising:

a planar conductive layer that forms a portion of the antenna ground, that extends from the first edge to the third edge of the housing, and that is separated from the segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures by a slot, wherein the antenna feed is coupled across the slot.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9, further comprising:

a glass structure that forms a rear face of the electronic device and extends between the peripheral conductive housing structures.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the segment of the peripheral conductive structures comprises a first portion that runs along the first edge of the housing and that defines an edge of the first dielectric-filled gap, a second portion that runs along the second edge of the housing, and a third portion that runs along the third edge of the housing and defines an edge of the second dielectric-filled gap.

12. An electronic device having a periphery, comprising:

a housing having peripheral conductive structures that run around the periphery of the electronic device;

a first dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures that separates a first segment of the peripheral conductive structures from a second segment of the peripheral conductive structures;

a second dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures that separates the first segment of the peripheral conductive structures from a third segment of the peripheral conductive structures; and

a conductive layer that extends from the second segment of the peripheral conductive structures to the third segment of the peripheral conductive structures, wherein the first segment of the peripheral conductive structures is separated from the conductive layer by a slot, and the first, second, and third segments of the peripheral conductive structures form antenna structures for an antenna in the electronic device.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12, wherein the first segment of the peripheral conductive structures has a first portion that extends along a first side of the periphery, a second portion that extends along a second side of the periphery, and a third portion that extends along a third side of the periphery.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13, wherein the second segment of the peripheral conductive structures runs along the second side of the periphery and the third segment of the peripheral conductive structures runs along the third side of the periphery.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14, wherein the electronic device has a length, a width that is less than the length, and a height that is less than the width, the first segment of the peripheral conductive structures extends across the width, and the first, second, and third segments of the peripheral conductive structures and the first and second dielectric-filled gaps each extend across the height of the electronic device.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 12, further comprising:

a display that forms a first face of the electronic device and that extends between the first, second, and third segments of the peripheral conductive structures; and

a glass structure that forms a second face of the electronic device opposite the first face and that extends between the first, second, and third segments of the peripheral conductive structures.

17. An electronic device having a periphery and comprising:

a housing having peripheral conductive structures that run around the periphery of the electronic device;

a display that is mounted to the peripheral conductive structures and that forms a front face of the electronic device;

a glass structure that is mounted to the peripheral conductive structures and that forms a rear face of the electronic device;

a first dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures; and

a second dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures, wherein the peripheral conductive structures comprise a segment extending from the first dielectric-filled gap to the second dielectric-filled gap, the segment forming antenna structures for an antenna in the electronic device.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 17, further comprising:

a planar conductive structure extending across a width of the electronic device, wherein the planar conductive structure forms part of the antenna.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 17, further comprising:

a third dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures, wherein the first and third dielectric-filled gaps are formed along a first edge of the periphery; and

a fourth dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive structures, wherein the second and fourth dielectric-filled gaps are formed along a second edge of the periphery opposite the first edge.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 19, wherein an additional segment of the peripheral conductive structures extends from the third dielectric-filled gap to the fourth dielectric-filled gap, the additional segment forming additional antenna structures for an additional antenna in the electronic device.