Antennas encapsulated within plastic display covers of computing devices

• US 7,271,769 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2004
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Asano, Takeshi, Gaucher, Brian Paul, Liu, Duixian, Masuda, Kazuo, Lee, Peter, Yamamoto, Osamu, Usui, Hideyuki, Fujio, Shohhei
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho; Binh Van
• Application Number:
  US10/946,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20060061512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: 343/702
• US Class Current: 343/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2266 disposed inside the computer
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/40 Radiating elements coated with or embedded in protective material
• 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 9/16 with feed intermediate between the extremities of the antenna, e.g. centre-fed dipole H01Q9/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/42 with folded element, the folded parts being spaced apart a small fraction of the operating wavelength

Abstract

Antenna devices are provided comprising antenna structures encapsulated or molded into plastic covers of computing devices to enable wireless communication. For example, one or more antenna structures can be encasulated within, or molded into, a plastic display cover of a portable laptop computer. Embedded antenna designs can include various antenna types that are built using one or more wires or thin metallic strips encapsulated into plastic device covers. Insert/injection molding methods can be used to encapsulate antenna structures in plastic device covers during fabrication of the plastic device covers.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a plastic device cover; and

an antenna having one or more radiator elements fixedly encapsulated within plastic material forming the plastic device cover, and a feed element attached to a feed point of the fixedly encapsulated antenna, wherein a portion of the feed element protrudes from a surface of the plastic device cover.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is a laptop computer comprising a display unit, and wherein the plastic device cover is cover for the display unit.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a feeding cable connected to the protruding portion of the feed element.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the feeding cable comprises a balanced feed line.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein the feeding cable comprises a coaxial cable.

6. The antenna of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a single-band antenna providing a resonant frequency in a frequency band of operation.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises a multiband antenna, wherein the multiband antenna provides a first resonant frequency in a first frequency band of operation and a second resonant frequency in a second band of operation.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the multiband antenna provides a third resonant frequency in the second band of operation.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the first frequency band is about 2.4 GHz to about 2.5 GHz, and wherein the second frequency band is about 5.15 GHz to about 5.85 GHz.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is formed with one or more metal wires.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is formed with one or more metal strips.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a dipole antenna.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the dipole antenna comprises one or more branched elements.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the dipole antenna comprises one or more coupled elements.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a J-type antenna.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a center-fed, end-loaded dipole antenna.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the center-fed, end loaded dipole antenna comprises one or more coupled elements.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a loop antenna.

20. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a groundless antenna.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises a ground element.

22. A device, comprising:

a plastic device cover;

an antenna having one or more radiator elements fixedly encapsulated within plastic material forming the plastic device cover; and

one or more metal plates disposed on the surface of the plastic display cover adjacent a feed point connector of the fixedly encapsulated antenna to provide a capacitive coupled feed mechanism.

23. A portable laptop computer device, comprising:

a display unit comprising a plastic display cover; and

an antenna having one or more radiator elements fixedly encapsulated within plastic material forming the plastic display cover, and a feed element attached to a feed point of the fixedly encapsulated antenna, wherein a portion of the feed element protrudes from a surface of the plastic display cover.

24. The device of claim 23, further comprising a feeding cable connected to the protruding portion of the feed element.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the feeding cable comprises a balanced feed line.

26. The device of claim 24, wherein the feeding cable comprises a coaxial cable.

27. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna has a resonant frequency in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

28. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna has a resonant frequency in the 5 GHz U-NII (unlicensed national information infrastructure) band.

29. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a dipole antenna.

30. The device of claim 29, wherein the dipole antenna comprises one or more coupled elements.

31. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a J-type antenna.

32. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a folded dipole antenna.

33. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a center-fed, end-loaded dipole antenna.

34. The device of claim 33, wherein the center-fed, end loaded dipole antenna comprises one or more coupled elements.

35. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a loop antenna.

36. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna comprises a ground element.

37. The device of claim 23, wherein the antenna is a groundless antenna.