ANTENNA SYSTEM WITH ANTENNA SWAPPING AND ANTENNA TUNING

• US 20120112970A1
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Published: 05/10/2012
• 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.
• Granted Patent: US 8,947,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/702
• 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:

first and second antennas;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry having first and second ports; and

switching circuitry that is operable in a first mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the first port and the second antenna is coupled to the second port and that is operable in a second mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the second port and the second antenna is coupled to the first port.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the first port comprises a transmit-receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a transmitter that transmits signals through the transmit-receive port.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the second port comprises a receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a first receiver that is coupled to the transmit-receive port and a second receiver that is coupled to the receive port.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 further comprising a housing having upper and lower ends, wherein the first antenna comprises an upper cellular telephone antenna that is located at the upper end and wherein the second antenna comprises a lower cellular telephone antenna that is located at the lower end.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the electronic device comprises a cellular telephone and wherein the housing has four edges, the electronic device further comprising a peripheral conductive member that runs along the four edges of the housing.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the peripheral conductive member has at least two dielectric-filled gaps that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least first and second segments, wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna is formed from at least part of the first segment and wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna is formed from at least part of the lower segment.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 7 wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna comprises a two-branch inverted-F antenna.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 further comprising a tunable matching circuit interposed between the switching circuitry and the two-branch inverted-F antenna.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having an upper end and a lower end;

a peripheral conductive member that runs around the housing;

an upper cellular telephone antenna that is formed at least partly from the peripheral conductive member and that is located at the upper end of the housing;

a lower cellular telephone antenna that is formed at least partly from the peripheral conductive member and that is located at the lower end of the housing;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry including a transmitter and first and second receivers; and

switching circuitry that has first, second, third, and fourth ports, wherein the first port receives signals from the transmitter and provides signals to the first receiver, wherein the third port provides signals to the second receiver, wherein the second port is coupled to the lower cellular telephone antenna, and wherein the fourth port is coupled to the upper cellular telephone, wherein the switching circuitry is operable in a first state in which the first port is connected to the second port and the third port is connected to the fourth port and is operable in a second state in which the first port is connected to the fourth port and the third port is connected to the second port.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna is configured to receive signals in at least five cellular telephone communications bands including an 850 MHz band, a 900 MHz band, an 1800 MHz band, a 1900 MHz band, and a 2100 MHz band.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna is configured to cover fewer than five cellular telephone communications bands.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 further comprising an adjustable matching circuit connected to the upper cellular telephone antenna.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 9 further comprising a fixed matching circuit coupled between the second port and the lower cellular telephone antenna and an adjustable matching circuit coupled between the fourth port and the upper cellular telephone antenna.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 9 further comprising control circuitry that is configured to operate the switching circuitry in a selected one of the first and second states based on received antenna signal.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna comprises an inverted-F antenna.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the peripheral conductive member comprises dielectric-filled gaps that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least one segment, wherein the inverted-F antenna has first and second branches that are formed from the segment and that are associated with respective first and second communications band antenna resonances.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna is configured to cover more cellular telephone communications bands than the upper cellular telephone antenna.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having opposing first and second ends and four edges;

a display mounted within the housing;

a peripheral conductive member that runs along the four edges of the housing;

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

a first antenna that is formed from at least a first segment of the peripheral conductive member and the antenna ground;

a second antenna that is formed from at least a second segment of the peripheral conductive member and the antenna ground;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry having first and second ports; and

switching circuitry that is operable in a first mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the first port and the second antenna is coupled to the second port and that is operable in a second mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the second port and the second antenna is coupled to the first port.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18 wherein the first port comprises a transmit-receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a transmitter that transmits signals through the transmit-receive port.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 19 wherein the second port comprises a receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a first receiver that is coupled to the transmit-receive port and a second receiver that is coupled to the receive port.