Antennaless wireless device

• US 8,203,492 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ignion SL
• Original Assignee: Fractus SA
• Inventors: Anguera, Jaume, Andujar, Aurora, Puente, Carles, Mumbru, Josep
• Primary Examiner(s): MANCUSO, HUEDUNG XUAN CAO
• Application Number:
  US12/669,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20100188300A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 343/702, 343/860, 343/853, 343/700.MS, 342/368, 455/562, 455/559
• US Class Current: 343/702
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/48 Earthing means; Earth screens; Counterpoises
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/50 Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/00 Arrangements for simultaneous operation of antennas on two or more different wavebands, e.g. dual-band or multi-band arrangements combinations of separate active antenna units operating in different wavebands and connected to a common feeder system H01Q21/30
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/335 at the feed, e.g. for impedance matching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/35 using two or more simultaneously fed points
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/50 Feeding or matching arrangements for broad-band or multi-band operation
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0407 Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40

Abstract

The invention refer to an antennaless wireless handset or portable device that may include a user interface module, a processing module, a memory module, a communication module, and a power management module. The communication module may include a radiating system capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals in a first frequency region. The radiating system may include a radiating structure comprising or consisting of at least one ground plane layer including a connection point, at least one radiation booster including a connection point, and an internal port wherein the internal port is defined between the connection point of the at least one radiation booster and the connection point of the at least one ground layer.

Claims

1. An antennaless wireless handheld or portable device comprising:

a user interface module,

a processing module,

a memory module,

a communication module and,

a power management module;

the communication module including a radiating system capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals in a first frequency region;

said radiating system comprising a radiating structure comprising at least one ground plane layer including a connection point, at least one radiation booster including a connection point and an internal port, wherein the internal port is defined between the connection point of the at least one radiation booster and the connection point of the at least one ground plane layer;

wherein a ground plane rectangle is defined as being the minimum-sized rectangle that encompasses the at least one ground plane layer, so that the sides of the ground plane rectangle are tangent to at least one point of the at least one ground plane layer,

wherein the ratio between a side of the ground plane rectangle and the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of the first frequency region is larger than 0.1 such that the ground plane layer supports a radiation mode;

wherein the at least one radiation booster couples the electromagnetic energy from the radiofrequency system to the ground plane layer in transmission, and from the ground plane layer to the radiofrequency system in reception;

wherein the at least one radiation booster has a maximum size smaller than 1/30 times the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of the first frequency region;

the radiating system further comprising a radiofrequency system, and an external port;

the radiofrequency system comprising a first port connected to the internal port of the radiating structure and a second port connected to the external port of the radiating system;

wherein the input impedance of the radiating structure at said internal port when disconnected from the radiofrequency system has an imaginary part not equal to zero for any frequency of the first frequency region;

and wherein said radiofrequency system modifies the impedance of the radiating structure, providing impedance matching to the radiating system in the first frequency region of operation of the radiating system.

2. The antennaless wireless device of claim 1, wherein the ratio between a side of the ground plane rectangle and the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of the first frequency region is larger than 0.2.

3. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 2, wherein the ratio between a side of the ground plane rectangle and the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of the first frequency region is smaller than 1.0.

4. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation booster has a maximum size smaller than 1/50 times the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of said first frequency region.

5. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 4, wherein the at least one radiation booster has a maximum size larger than 1/180 times the free-space wavelength corresponding to the lowest frequency of said first frequency region.

6. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiating structure has a first resonance frequency as measured at the internal port of said radiating structure when disconnected from the radiofrequency system, at a frequency higher than the frequencies of the first frequency region, wherein the ratio between the first resonance frequency of the radiating structure at its internal port when disconnected from the radiofrequency system and the highest frequency of said first frequency region is larger than a minimum ratio of 4.2.

7. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein a booster box is defined as being the minimum-sized parallelepiped of square or rectangular faces that completely encloses the radiation booster and wherein each one of the faces of said minimum-sized parallelepiped is tangent to at least a point of said radiation booster and each possible pair of faces of said minimum-size parallelepiped sharing an edge forms an inner angle of 90°

and the smallest dimension of the booster box is smaller than 20% of the largest dimension of the booster box.

8. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein a booster box is defined as being the minimum-sized parallelepiped of square or rectangular faces that completely encloses the radiation booster and wherein each one of the faces of said minimum-sized parallelepiped is tangent to at least a point of said radiation booster and each possible pair of faces of said minimum-size parallelepiped sharing an edge forms an inner angle of 90°

and the smallest dimension of a booster box is not smaller than a 70% of the largest dimension of said booster box, wherein a ratio between the first resonance frequency of the radiating structure at its internal port when disconnected from the radiofrequency system and the highest frequency of the first frequency region above 4.8.

9. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiation booster comprises a conductive part, wherein the conducting part comprises at least one of a strip, a polygonal shape, a circle, an ellipse, a polyhedral shape, a cylinder, and a sphere, wherein the connection point of a radiation booster is located substantially close to at least one of an end and a corner of said conductive part.

10. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 9, wherein the conductive part is connected to the ground plane layer.

11. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiation booster comprises a gap defined in the ground plane layer, wherein the gap is delimited by one or more segments defining a curve and the connection point of the radiation booster is located at a first point along the curve and the connection point of the ground plane layer is located at a second point along the curve, the second point being different from the first point.

12. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 11, wherein the gap intersects the perimeter of the ground plane layer such that the curve defined by the one or more segments delimiting said gap is open.

13. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein at least a 50% of the surface of the at least one radiation booster is placed on one or more planes substantially parallel to the ground plane layer.

14. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiating structure is arranged within the device in such a manner that there is no ground plane in the orthogonal projection of a radiation booster onto the plane containing the ground plane layer.

15. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation booster is located substantially close to an edge of the ground plane layer, said edge being in common with a side of the ground plane rectangle, wherein the at least one radiation booster is located substantially close to one of an end of said edge and the middle point of said edge.

16. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 15, wherein the at least one radiation booster is located substantially close to a short edge of the ground plane rectangle, and substantially close to one of an end of said short edge and the middle point of said short edge, wherein the radiating structure features at its internal port, when the radiofrequency system is disconnected, an input impedance having a capacitive component for the frequencies of the first frequency region.

17. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 15, wherein the at least one radiation booster is located substantially close to a long edge of the ground plane rectangle, and substantially close to one of an end of said long edge and the middle point of said long edge, wherein the radiating structure features at its internal port, when the radiofrequency system is disconnected, an input impedance having an inductive component for the frequencies of said first frequency region.

18. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation booster is located substantially close to a corner of the ground plane layer, said corner being in common with a corner of the ground plane rectangle.

19. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiofrequency system comprises a matching network which comprises a reactance cancellation circuit comprising one or more stages, with one of said one or more stages being connected to the first port of the radiofrequency system.

20. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 19, wherein the radiating structure features at its internal port when the radiofrequency system is disconnected an input impedance having a capacitive component for the frequencies of the first frequency region and the reactance cancellation circuit comprises a first stage having a substantially inductive behavior for all the frequencies of the first frequency region.

21. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 19, wherein the radiating structure features at its internal port when the radiofrequency system is disconnected an input impedance having an inductive component for the frequencies of the first frequency region and the reactance cancellation circuit comprises a first stage and a second stage forming an L-shaped structure, with said first stage being connected in parallel and said second stage being connected in series, wherein each of the first and the second stage has a substantially capacitive behavior for all the frequencies of the first frequency region.

22. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 19, wherein the matching network comprises a broadband matching circuit, with which the impedance bandwidth of the radiating structure is increased, wherein the broadband matching circuit comprises a stage that behaves as a resonant circuit in the first frequency region.

23. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 22, wherein the matching network further comprises in addition to the reactance cancellation circuit and the broadband matching circuit, a third tuning circuit.

24. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiofrequency system includes at least two matching networks and a switching matrix which allows selecting which one of the at least two matching networks is operationally connected to a port of the radiofrequency system, wherein the radiofrequency system further comprises a control circuit to select which matching network of the at least two matching networks is selected at any given time.

25. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation booster is arranged in an integrated circuit package, and wherein said integrated circuit package comprises a semiconductor chip or die arranged inside the package, wherein the radiation booster is arranged in the package but not in said semiconductor chip or die.

26. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 25, wherein, the connection point of the ground plane layer of the radiating structure is connected to at least one terminal of the integrated circuit package, wherein the integrated circuit package includes at least part of the radiofrequency system and wherein the integrated circuit has an adaptive matching network which can be reconfigured to different working environments and conditions, wherein the radiofrequency system further comprises a control circuit included in the semiconductor chip or die to configure such an adaptive matching network.

27. The antennaless wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the radiating structure is arranged within the device in such a manner that there is some overlapping between the projection of a radiation booster and the ground plane layer wherein less than a 50% of the area of the projection of a radiation booster overlaps the ground plane layer.