Integrated radio frequency or near field communications antenna

• US 9,178,572 B1
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Zhibin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hanidu, Ganiyu A
• Application Number:
  US14/034,556
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/575.1, 455/571, 455/575.7, 455/226.1, 345/174, 345/173, 345/179, 345/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1313 specially adapted for a particular application
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• 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 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: H04B 5/22 Capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

Systems and approaches integrate a radio frequency (RF) or near field communications (NFC) antenna with a display and/or touch component of an electronic device. The device can be incorporated with RF or NFC technology without having to increase the thickness of the device. The RF or NFC antenna can be formed during fabrication of the display and/or touch component, which can result in simpler manufacturing processes. One or more segments of the RF or NFC antenna can each be formed from a single or multiple scan/signal lines of the display component and/or a single or multiple drive/sense lines of the touch component. Additional circuitry can be added during manufacture of the display and/or touch component to enable the device to switch between a mode of operation for display and touch and a mode of operation for RF or NFC.

Claims

1. A touchscreen, comprising:

a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel including a plurality of scan lines that are arranged at least substantially in parallel, a plurality of signal lines that are arranged at least substantially in parallel, and a first insulating layer interposed between the plurality of scan lines and the plurality of signal lines, the plurality of scan lines arranged at least substantially perpendicular to the plurality of signal lines;

a capacitive touch panel including a plurality of drive lines that are arranged at least substantially in parallel, a plurality of sense lines that are arranged at least substantially in parallel, and a second insulating layer disposed between the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines, the plurality of drive lines arranged at least substantially perpendicular to the plurality of sense lines; and

a near field communications (NFC) antenna disposed on at least one of;

(a) a first layer corresponding to the plurality of scan lines and a second layer corresponding to the plurality of signal lines, one or more first segments of the NFC antenna arranged at least substantially in parallel with, and in between, at least a subset of the plurality of scan lines and one or more second segments of the NFC antenna arranged at least substantially in parallel with, and in between, at least a subset of the plurality of signal lines, the one or more first segments of the NFC antenna being electrically connected to the one or more second segments of the NFC antenna using first conductive vias disposed within the first insulating layer;

or (b) a third layer corresponding to the plurality of drive lines and a fourth layer corresponding to the plurality of sense lines, the one or more first segments of the NFC antenna arranged at least substantially in parallel with, and in between, at least a subset of the plurality of drive lines and the one or more second segments of the NFC antenna arranged at least substantially in parallel with, and in between, at least a subset of the plurality of sense lines, the one or more first segments of the NFC antenna being electrically connected to the one or more second segments of the NFC antenna using second conductive vias disposed within the second insulating layer.

2. The touchscreen of claim 1, wherein one or more segments of the NFC antenna are each formed respectively from one or more conductive lines that are distinct from the plurality of scan lines, the plurality of signal lines, the plurality of drive lines, and the plurality of sense lines.

3. The touchscreen of claim 1, wherein one or more segments of the NFC antenna are each formed respectively from at least one of:

(a) one or more scan lines of the plurality of scan lines, (b) one or more signal lines of the plurality of signal lines, (c) one or more drive lines of the plurality of drive lines, or (d) one or more sense lines of the plurality of sense lines.

4. The touchscreen of claim 3, wherein an NFC function is performed during a low V_SYNC state of the LCD panel in a first mode of operation of the touchscreen and a touch function is performed during the low V_SYNC state in a second mode of operation of the touchscreen.

5. A computing device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory device;

a display component including a first plurality of conductive lines, a second plurality of conductive lines, and a first insulating layer interposed between the first plurality of conductive lines and the second plurality of conductive lines;

a touch component including a third plurality of conductive lines, a fourth plurality of conductive lines, and a second insulating layer interposed between the third plurality of conductive lines and the fourth plurality of conductive lines; and

a radio frequency (RF) antenna disposed on at least one of;

(a) a first layer corresponding to the first plurality of conductive lines and a second layer corresponding to the second plurality of conductive lines, one or more first segments of the RF antenna being connected to one or more second segments of the RF antenna through the first insulating layer;

or (b) a third layer corresponding to the third plurality of conductive lines and a fourth layer corresponding to the fourth plurality of conductive lines, the one or more first segments of the RF antenna being connected to the one or more second segments of the RF antenna through the second insulating layer.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein one or more segments of the RF antenna are each respectively formed from one or more of a fifth plurality of conductive lines.

7. The computing device of claim 6, further comprising:

a plurality of conductive vias each respectively connecting the one or more segments of the RF antenna.

8. The computing device of claim 5, wherein one or more segments of the RF antenna are each respectively formed from at least one of:

(a) one or more of the first plurality of conductive lines;

(b) one or more of a the second plurality of conductive lines;

(c) one or more of the third plurality of conductive lines;

or (d) one or more of the fourth plurality of conductive lines.

9. The computing device of claim 8, further comprising:

one or more switches configured to connect at least one conductive line to at least one of the display component or the touch component in a first state and disconnect the at least one conductive line from the at least one of the display component or the touch component in a second state.

10. The computing device of claim 8, further comprising:

one or more switches configured to connect at least one first conductive line to at least one second conductive line of at least one of the display component or the touch component in a first state and disconnect the at least one first conductive line from the at least one second conductive line in a second state.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein at least one segment of the RF antenna comprises at least one of:

(a) a first conductive line of the first plurality of conductive lines;

(b) a second conductive line of the second plurality of conductive lines;

(c) a third conductive line of the third plurality of conductive lines;

or (d) a fourth conductive line of the fourth plurality of conductive lines.

12. The computing device of claim 5, wherein one or more segments of the RF antenna interleave at least one of:

(a) a subset of the first plurality of conductive lines;

(b) a subset of the second plurality of conductive lines;

(c) a subset of the third plurality of conductive lines;

or (d) a subset of the fourth plurality of conductive lines.

13. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the memory device includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:

receive a request to perform an RF function;

deactivate the display component and the touch component; and

activate the RF antenna.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the computing device to:

perform one or more RF functions;

deactivate the RF antenna; and

reactivate the display component and the touch component.

15. The computing device of claim 5, wherein an RF function is performed during a low V_SYNC state of the display component in a first mode of operation of the computing device and a touch function is performed during the low V_SYNC state in a second mode of operation of the computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the computing device is configured to operate in an RF mode during a low power state of the computing device and the display component and the touch component are deactivated in the low power state of the computing device.

17. A method for assembling a computing device, comprising:

disposing a first plurality of conductive lines on a surface, at least a first subset of the first plurality of conductive lines forming a first portion of an RF antenna;

disposing an insulation layer on the first plurality of conductive lines; and

disposing a second plurality of conductive lines on the insulation layer, at least a first subset of the second plurality of conductive lines forming a second portion of the RF antenna, one or more segments of the first portion of the RF antenna being connected to one or more segments of the second portion of the RF antenna through the insulation layer,

wherein at least one of;

(a) at least a second subset of the first plurality of conductive lines and at least a second subset of the second plurality of conductive lines form scan lines and signal lines of a display component, respectively;

or (b) the at least the second subset of the first plurality of conductive lines and the at least the second subset of the second plurality of conductive lines form drive lines and sense lines of a touch component, respectively.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein one or more segments of the RF antenna are each respectively formed from at least one of:

(a) one or more scan lines of a subset of the scan lines of the display component, (b) one or more signal lines of a subset of the signal lines of the display component, (c) one or more drive lines of a subset of the drive lines of the touch component, or (d) one or more sense lines of a subset of the sense lines of the touch component.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

disposing circuitry enabling the one or more segments of the RF antenna to perform an RF function in a first mode of operation and to perform one of a display function or a touch function in a second mode of operation.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one segment of the RF antenna comprises a plurality of:

(a) a subset of the scan lines of the display component, (b) a subset of the signal lines of the display component, (c) a subset of the drive lines of the touch component, or (d) a subset of the sense lines of the touch component.