Antenna system with antenna swapping and antenna tuning

• US 8,947,302 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Caballero, Ruben, Pascolini, Mattia, Narang, Mohit, Mow, Matt A., Schlub, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, GRAHAM P
• Application Number:
  US12/941,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20120112970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,551 Days
• Field of Search: 343/702, 343/725
• US Class Current: 343/702
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• 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 9/0421 with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element H01Q9/0414 takes precedence
• 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: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0602 using antenna switching H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0689 using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0202 Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. of speakers or microphones H04M1/03

Abstract

Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and first and second antennas. An electronic device may include a housing. The first antenna may be located at an upper end of the housing and the second antenna may be located at a lower end of the housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the housing and may be used in forming the first and second antennas. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may have a transmit-receive port and a receive port. Switching circuitry may connect the first antenna to the transmit-receive port and the second antenna to the receiver port or may connect the first antenna to the receive port and the second antenna to the transmit-receive port.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a loop antenna;

a two-branch inverted-F antenna;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry having first and second ports;

switching circuitry that is operable in a first mode in which the loop antenna is coupled to the first port and the inverted-F antenna is coupled to the second port and that is operable in a second mode in which the loop antenna is coupled to the second port and the inverted-F antenna is coupled to the first port, wherein;

the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals through the loop antenna in a plurality of cellular telephone communications bands during the first mode;

the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to only receive radio-frequency signals through the inverted-F antenna in a subset of the plurality of cellular telephone communications bands during the first mode;

the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to only receive radio-frequency signals through the loop antenna in the plurality of cellular telephone communications bands during the second mode; and

the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals through the inverted-F antenna in another subset of the plurality of cellular telephone communications bands during the second mode;

a tunable matching circuit interposed between the first antenna and the switching circuitry;

a housing having upper and lower ends and four edges, wherein the inverted-F antenna is located at the upper end and the loop antenna is located at the lower end; and

a peripheral conductive member that runs along the four edges of the housing, wherein the peripheral conductive member has at least two dielectric-filled gaps that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least first and second segments, the inverted-F antenna is formed from at least part of the first segment and the loop antenna is formed from at least part of the lower segment, the peripheral conductive member runs across at least four exterior surfaces of the electronic device, the electronic device has a length, a width perpendicular to the length, and a height perpendicular to the width and the length, the width is less than the length and the height is less than the width, and the at least two dielectric-filled gaps extend across the height of the electronic device from a rear face of the electronic device to a front face of the electronic device.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the first port comprises a transmit-receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a transmitter that transmits signals through the transmit-receive port.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the second port comprises a receive port and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a first receiver that is coupled to the transmit-receive port and a second receiver that is coupled to the receive port.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, wherein the inverted-F antenna comprises an upper cellular telephone antenna that is located at the upper end and wherein the loop antenna comprises a lower cellular telephone antenna that is located at the lower end.

5. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having an upper end and a lower end;

a peripheral conductive member that runs around the housing;

an upper cellular telephone antenna that is formed at least partly from the peripheral conductive member and that is located at the upper end of the housing;

a lower cellular telephone antenna that is formed at least partly from the peripheral conductive member and that is located at the lower end of the housing;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry including a transmitter and first and second receivers;

switching circuitry that has first, second, third, and fourth ports, wherein;

the first port receives signals from the transmitter and provides signals to the first receiver;

the third port provides signals to the second receiver;

the second port is coupled to the lower cellular telephone antenna;

the fourth port is coupled to the upper cellular telephone antenna;

the switching circuitry is operable in a first state in which the first port is connected to the second port and the third port is connected to the fourth port and is operable in a second state in which the first port is connected to the fourth port and the third port is connected to the second port; and

when the switching circuitry is in the first state, the upper cellular telephone antenna receives signals in some cellular telephone communications band but does not transmit any signals;

a fixed matching circuit coupled between the second port and the lower cellular telephone antenna; and

an adjustable matching circuit coupled between the fourth port and the upper cellular telephone antenna, wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna comprises an inverted-F antenna, the peripheral conductive member runs across at least four exterior surfaces of the electronic device, the peripheral conductive member comprises dielectric-filled gaps that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least one segment, the inverted-F antenna has first and second branches that are formed from the segment and that are associated with respective first and second communications band antenna resonances, the electronic device has a length, a width perpendicular to the length, and a height perpendicular to the width and the length, the width is less than the length and the height is less than the width, and the at least two dielectric-filled gaps extend across the height of the electronic device from a rear face of the electronic device to a front face of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna is configured to receive signals in at least five cellular telephone communications bands including an 850 MHz band, a 900 MHz band, an 1800 MHz band, a 1900 MHz band, and a 2100 MHz band.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the upper cellular telephone antenna is configured to cover fewer than five cellular telephone communications bands.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 5 further comprising control circuitry that is configured to operate the switching circuitry in a selected one of the first and second states based on received antenna signal.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna is configured to cover more cellular telephone communications bands than the upper cellular telephone antenna.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 5, wherein the lower cellular telephone antenna comprises a loop antenna.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having opposing first and second ends and four edges;

a display mounted within the housing;

a peripheral conductive member that runs along the four edges of the housing;

an antenna ground that is formed at least partly from conductive portions of the housing;

a first antenna that is formed from at least a first segment of the peripheral conductive member and the antenna ground;

a second antenna that is formed from at least a second segment of the peripheral conductive member and the antenna ground;

a third antenna that is formed within the peripheral conductive member;

first radio-frequency transceiver circuitry having a transmit-receive port and a receive-only port;

switching circuitry that is operable in a first mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port and the second antenna is coupled to the receive-only port and that is operable in a second mode in which the first antenna is coupled to the receive-only port and the second antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port, wherein the second antenna is connected only to a receiver in the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry that receives signals in some cellular telephone communications band when the switching circuitry is in the first mode; and

second radio-frequency transceiver circuitry having a transmit-receiver port that is coupled to the third antenna without the switching circuitry, wherein the electronic device has a length, a width perpendicular to the length, and a height perpendicular to the width and the length, the width is less than the length and the height is less than the width, the antenna ground comprises a midplate member that extends across the width of the electronic device, wherein the midplate member is separated from the first segment of the peripheral conductive member by a dielectric opening so that the first segment and the midplate member surround the first dielectric opening.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a transmitter that transmits signals through the transmit-receive port.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein the receiver is coupled to the receive-only port, and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises an additional receiver that is coupled to the transmit-receive port.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 10, wherein the midplate member is separated from the second segment of the peripheral conductive member by an additional dielectric opening so that the second segment and the midplate member surround the second dielectric opening, and wherein the electronic device further comprises:

a conductive shorting structure that bridges the dielectric opening to short the first segment of the peripheral conductive member to the midplate member.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 10, wherein the peripheral conductive member has at least two dielectric-filled gaps that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least the first and second segments, the first antenna comprises a loop antenna, the second antenna comprises an inverted-F antenna, the peripheral conductive member runs across at least four exterior surfaces of the electronic device, and the at least two dielectric-filled gaps extend across the height of the electronic device from a rear face of the electronic device to a front face of the electronic device.