Short-distance communication antenna and methods of manufacturing and using the short-distance communication antenna

• US 5,694,139 A
• Filed: 06/22/1995
• Issued: 12/02/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fujimoto, Masahiro, Orihara, Katsuhisa, Yanagibori, Susumu, Saito, Shoshichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Hoanganh T.
• Application Number:
  US08/493,818
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 343/788, 343/787, 343/741, 343/742, 343/866, 343/867, 235/492, 235/382, 235/384
• US Class Current: 343/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07779 the inductive antenna being a coil
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07781 the coil being fabricated in a winding process
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10336 the antenna being of the near field type, inductive coil
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/04 Screened antennas H01Q7/02, H01Q7/06 take precedence

Abstract

A short-distance communication antenna can satisfactorily transmit and receive an information signal within a regulation range of the radio law. Also, the short-distance communication antenna provided on a card reader/writer enables the card reader/writer to communicate with a non-contacting information card without being limited by the direction of the non-contacting information card upon reception. This short-distance communication antenna includes a plurality of magnetic poles disposed on a magnetic member and to and from which a magnetic flux is transmitted and received, and a coil for transmitting or transmitting and receiving the information signal mounted on at least one of the magnetic poles. Further, the short-distance communication antenna includes a housing having an aperture to and from which a magnetic flux is transmitted and received, and a coil for transmitting or transmitting and receiving the information signal mounted on said housing. Furthermore, there are also provided methods of manufacturing and of using the above short-distance communication antenna. In this case, the most specific feature of this invention is that a magnetic flux of the communication antenna is closed and a communication area is limited.

Claims

1. A communication antenna provided on a card reader/writer to transmit and receive an information signal from said card reader/writer to and from a non-contacting information card by electromagnetic induction, comprising:

a substrate insulating material;

a first antenna conductor;

a second antenna conductor; and

a plurality of adjustment strips, wherein

said first and second antenna conductors and said plurality of adjustment strips are respectively formed on an upper surface and a lower surface of said substrate insulating material to form a plurality of conductor patterns in the form of a plurality of loops, said plurality of conductor patterns formed on said upper surface and said lower surface of said substrate insulating material being connected through a through-hole such that currents in adjacent loops flow in opposite directions.