ANTENNA, SHIELDING AND GROUNDING

• US 20120194393A1
• Filed: 01/31/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Uttermann, Erik A., McClure, Stephen R., Corbin, Sean S., Li, Qingxiang, Franklin, Jeremy C., Gomez Angulo, Rodney A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,665,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/702
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2266 disposed inside the computer
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/42 Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/52 Means for reducing coupling between antennas; Means for reducing coupling between an antenna and another structure absorbing means H01Q17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/526 Electromagnetic shields
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/1089 of discrete laminae to single face of additional lamina
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49016 Antenna or wave energy "plumbing" making

Abstract

A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and so on. The portable computing device can include a single piece housing formed from a radio opaque material with a cover formed from a radio transparent material. To implement a wireless interface, an antenna stack-up can be provided that allows an antenna to be mounted to a bottom of the cover. Methods and apparatus are provided for improving wireless performance. For instance, in one embodiment, a metal housing can be thinned to improve antenna performance. As another example, a faraday cage can be formed around speaker drivers to improve antenna performance.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a housing having a bottom coupled to four adjoining sidewalls, the sidewalls extending above the bottom to form an interior cavity wherein the housing includes a surface for receiving a cover glass;

an antenna system disposed within the interior cavity, the antenna system comprising

an antenna for transmitting or receiving wireless signals,

an adhesive layer for bonding the antenna to a bottom of the cover glass,

a compressible foam layer wherein the compressible foam layer is configured to exert an upward force on the antenna to provide a relatively constant spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the cover glass and to minimize air gaps between the bottom of the cover glass and the antenna.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

an antenna carrier wherein the antenna carrier is disposed between the antenna and the compressible foam layer.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

an adhesive layer for bonding the antenna to the compressible foam layer.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the antenna stack-up is mounted proximate to an edge of one of the sidewalls and wherein one of the sidewalls is thinned proximate to the antenna stack-up to improve antenna performance.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the antenna stack-up is mounted to a speaker assembly including one or more speaker drivers.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the cover glass is formed from a radio transparent material and the housing is formed from a radio opaque material.

7. An antenna system for an electronic device including a housing and a transparent cover glass comprising:

an antenna for transmitting or receiving wireless signals;

an adhesive layer bonding the antenna to a bottom of the transparent cover glass;

a compressible foam layer wherein the compressible foam layer is configured to exert an upward force to the antenna to provide a relatively constant spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the transparent cover glass and to minimize air gaps between the bottom of the cover glass and the antenna.

8. The antenna system of claim 7 wherein the compressible foam layer is compressed when the transparent cover glass is secured to the housing.

9. The antenna system of claim 8, wherein the housing is formed from a metal.

10. The antenna system of claim 9, wherein the antenna is grounded to the metal.

11. The antenna system of claim 7, further comprising an antenna carrier disposed between the antenna and the compressible foam layer.

12. The antenna system of claim 11, wherein the housing includes an RF antenna window for receiving the antenna carrier.

13. The antenna system of claim 7, further comprising:

a proximity sensor for determining whether an object is proximate to the antenna.

14. A system comprising:

a metal housing including a surface for receiving a cover glass;

a speaker assembly including

     1) a speaker housing having a metal portion for enclosing at least one speaker driver;

     2) a connector for grounding the speaker drivers to the metal portion of the speaker housing;

     3) a conductive material wrapped around the speaker housing for forming a faraday cage around the at least one speaker driver the conductive material grounded to the metal portion and the metal housing; and

an antenna system mounted to a bottom of the cover glass and to the speaker assembly and grounded to the metal housing.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein metal housing is an aluminum housing.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a compressible layer of foam coupled to the antenna wherein the compressible foam layer is configured to exert an upward force to the antenna to provide a relatively constant spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the cover glass and to minimize air gaps between the bottom of the cover glass and the antenna.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a display module and a touch panel disposed between the display module and the transparent cover, the display module including one or more EMI generating layers wherein the EMI generating layers are grounded to a metal portion of a display module housing a conductive tape to help to mitigate an effect of the EMI generating layers on the touch panel.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

1) a trim bead disposed between the housing and the transparent cover and

     2) a grounding tab coupled to the antenna wherein a portion of the trim bead is removed surrounding where the grounding tab is coupled to the housing.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the antenna system is configured to support a wireless protocol selected form the group consisting of Wi-Fi, GSM and CDMA.

20. A method of forming an electronic device including a housing and a cover glass, the method comprising:

bonding an adhesive layer to an antenna;

coupling a compressible layer of foam to the antenna; and

bonding the antenna to the bottom of the cover glass wherein the compressible foam layer is configured to exert an upward force to the antenna to provide a relatively constant spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the transparent cover and to minimize air gaps between the bottom of the cover glass and the antenna.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising aligning the antenna with the cover glass.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising bonding the antenna to the compressible layer of foam.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising bonding a proximity sensor and shielding to the compressible layer of foam wherein the shielding is disposed between the proximity sensor and the antenna to prevent the antenna from receiving electromagnetic interference from the proximity sensor.

24. Computer readable medium for tangibly storing a computer program used by a processor for forming a portable computing device, the computer readable medium comprising:

computer code for bonding an adhesive layer to an antenna;

computer code for coupling a compressible layer of foam to the antenna; and

computer code for bonding the antenna to the bottom of the transparent cover wherein the compressible foam layer is configured to exert an upward force to the antenna to provide a relatively constant spacing between the antenna and the bottom of the transparent cover and to minimize air gaps between the bottom of the cover glass and the antenna.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 further comprising computer code for bonding the antenna to the compressible layer of foam.