Conductive structure for use as sensor pad and antenna

• US 8,649,833 B1
• Filed: 03/23/2012
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Cheng-Jung, Lee, Michael M., Corbridge, Mark, Jayaraj, Nagendra Bage, Obeidat, Khaled Ahmad, Modro, Joseph C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Sonny
• Application Number:
  US13/429,132
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.7, 343/702, 343/720, 455/19, 455/82, 455/562.1, 455/575.7
• US Class Current: 455/575.7
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/44 using equipment having another main function to serve additionally as an antenna , e.g. means for giving an antenna an aesthetic aspectH01Q1/27 - H01Q1/34 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/335 at the feed, e.g. for impedance matching
• 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 9/42 with folded element, the folded parts being spaced apart a small fraction of the operating wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/026 Details of the structure or mounting of specific components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

A user device includes a conductive structure coupled to a receiver and a sensor. The conductive structure is configured to operate as an antenna for the receiver and as a sensor pad for the sensor.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;

a proximity sensor; and

a conductive structure configured to operate as an antenna for the GPS receiver and as a sensor pad for the proximity sensor, wherein the conductive structure is coupled to the GPS receiver by a capacitor having a capacitance between 0.2 picofarads (pF) and 1.0 pF, and wherein the conductive structure is coupled to the proximity sensor by an inductor having an inductance that is above 22 nanohenries (nH).

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the proximity sensor comprises at least one of a capacitive sensor, an inductive sensor, or a restive sensor.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the conductive structure comprises a first plate and a second plate, and wherein the second plate has a different orientation than the first plate.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the second plate is perpendicular to the first plate.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the conductive structure comprises at least one curved plate that is usable by the proximity sensor to sense the approach of objects from a plurality of directions.

6. A user device comprising:

a receiver;

a sensor;

a capacitor coupled to the sensor, the capacitor having a capacitance that causes the capacitor to pass signals having frequencies in a megahertz (MHz) to gigahertz (GHz) frequency range and to block signals having frequencies in a kilohertz (kHz) frequency range; and

a conductive structure coupled to the receiver via the capacitor and to the sensor, wherein the conductive structure is configured to operate as an antenna for the receiver and as a sensor pad for the sensor.

7. The user device of claim 6, wherein the capacitance of the capacitor is 0.2 picofarads (pF) to 1.0 pF.

8. The user device of claim 6, further comprising a second capacitor that grounds the conductive structure for the signals having frequencies in the MHz to GHz frequency range.

9. The user device of claim 6, further comprising:

an inductor, wherein the conductive structure is coupled to the sensor via the inductor, the inductor having an inductance that causes the inductor to block signals having frequencies in the megahertz (MHz) to gigahertz (GHz) frequency range and to pass signals having frequencies in a kilohertz (kHz) frequency range.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein the inductance of the inductor is above nanohenries (nH).

11. The user device of claim 6, wherein the conductive structure has resonant frequencies of 1.57542 gigahertz (GHz) and 1.2276 GHz.

12. The user device of claim 6, wherein the receiver is at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver or a wireless receiver, and wherein the sensor is at least one of touch sensor or a proximity sensor.

13. The user device of claim 6, wherein the sensor is at least one of a capacitive sensor, an inductive sensor, or a resistive sensor.

14. The user device of claim 6, wherein the conductive structure comprises a first plate and a second plate, and wherein the second plate has a different orientation than the first plate.

15. The user device of claim 14, wherein the second plate is perpendicular to the first plate.

16. The user device of claim 6, wherein the conductive structure comprises at least one curved plate that is usable by the proximity sensor to sense the approach of objects from a plurality of directions.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, by a conductive structure in a user device, a first signal having a first frequency;

receiving, by the conductive structure, a second signal having a second frequency;

propagating, by the conductive structure, the first signal to a first electronic component, wherein the first signal is substantially free from interference from the second signal; and

propagating, by the conductive structure, the second signal to a second electronic component, wherein the second signal is substantially free from interference from the first signal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first signal and the second signal are received concurrently.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first electronic component is a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and the second electronic component is a proximity sensor.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

isolating the first electronic component from the second signal using a capacitor having a capacitance that causes the capacitor to pass the first signal to the first electronic component and to block the second signal from the first electronic component.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

isolating the second electronic component from the first signal using an inductor having an inductance that causes the inductor to block the first signal from the second electronic component and to pass the second signal to the second electronic component.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the first signal has a frequency in a megahertz (MHz) to gigahertz (GHz) frequency range and the second signal has a frequency in a kilohertz (kHz) frequency range.