Antenna system having two antennas and three ports

• US 9,559,433 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zhou, Yijun, Jin, Nanbo, Ouyang, Yuehui, Vazquez, Enrique Ayala, Lakshmanan, Anand, Schlub, Robert W., Pascolini, Mattia, Mow, Matthew A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Levi, Dameon E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis, Walter
• Application Number:
  US13/846,481
• Publication Number:
  US 20140266923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 343/702, 343/700.MS
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/24 with receiving set
• 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 5/35 using two or more simultaneously fed points
• 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 9/06 Details

Abstract

Electronic devices may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may form a dual arm inverted-F antenna and a monopole antenna sharing a common antenna ground. The antenna structures may have three ports. A first antenna port may be coupled to an inverted-F antenna resonating element at a first location and a second antenna port may be coupled to the inverted-F antenna resonating element at a second location. A third antenna port may be coupled to the monopole antenna. Tunable circuitry can be used to tune the antenna structures. An adjustable capacitor may be coupled to the first port to tune the inverted-F antenna. An additional adjustable capacitor may be coupled to the third port to tune the monopole antenna. Transceiver circuitry for supporting wireless local area network communications, satellite navigation system communications, and cellular communications may be coupled to the first, second, and third antenna ports.

Claims

1. Electronic device antenna structures, comprising:

an antenna ground;

a first antenna resonating element that forms a first antenna with the antenna ground, wherein the first antenna has first and second ports;

a second antenna resonating element that forms a second antenna with the antenna ground that is separate from the first antenna and that has a third port;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry that receives radio-frequency signals in a first frequency band over the first port and that receives radio frequency signals in a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band over the third port; and

band pass filter circuitry coupled to the second port, wherein the band pass filter circuitry is configured to pass satellite navigation signals in a satellite navigation frequency band from the second port to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the first and second frequency bands are different from the satellite navigation frequency band.

2. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 1 wherein the first antenna resonating element comprises an inverted-F antenna resonating element.

3. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 2 further comprising an adjustable capacitor coupled to the first port, wherein the adjustable capacitor is configured to tune the first antenna.

4. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 1 wherein the first antenna resonating element comprises a portion of a peripheral conductive housing structure.

5. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 4 wherein the portion of the peripheral conductive housing structure is configured to form a dual arm inverted-F antenna resonating element.

6. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 5 wherein the second antenna resonating element comprises a monopole antenna resonating element.

7. The electronic device antenna structures defined in claim 6 further comprising an adjustable capacitor that is configured to tune the second antenna.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the second antenna resonating element comprises a monopole resonating element that forms a monopole antenna with the antenna ground, and the monopole resonating element is formed in a gap between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground.

21. The electronic device defined in claim 20, wherein the monopole resonating element has a first branch that covers a first wireless local area network frequency band and a second branch that covers a second wireless local area network frequency band, and the inverted-F antenna resonating element is coupled to the antenna ground by a short circuit path that spans the gap and that overlaps a portion of the monopole resonating element in the gap.

8. An electronic device, comprising:

antenna structures having first, second, and third antenna ports, wherein the antenna structures include an antenna ground, an inverted-F antenna resonating element that forms an inverted-F antenna with the antenna ground, and a monopole antenna resonating element that forms a monopole antenna with the antenna ground, the first and second antenna ports are coupled to different locations on the inverted-F antenna resonating element, and the third antenna port is coupled to the monopole antenna resonating element;

a duplexer;

a first wireless transceiver that transmits radio-frequency signals to the third antenna port through the duplexer; and

a second wireless transceiver that transmits radio-frequency signals to the third antenna port through the duplexer and to the first antenna port.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the second wireless transceiver has a first transceiver port coupled to the duplexer and has a second transceiver port coupled to the first antenna port.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the second wireless transceiver is configured to handle cellular telephone communications frequencies in a communications band from 700 MHz to 960 MHz over the second transceiver port and is configured to handle Long Term Evolution band 38 and 40 communications over the first transceiver port.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the first wireless transceiver comprises a wireless local area network transceiver configured to handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless local area network communications bands over the third antenna port.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 further comprising:

a first adjustable circuit interposed between the duplexer and the monopole antenna resonating element that is configured to tune the monopole antenna; and

a second adjustable circuit interposed between the second transceiver port and the first antenna port that is configured to tune the inverted-F antenna.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the first adjustable circuit comprises a first adjustable capacitor and wherein the second adjustable circuit comprises a second adjustable capacitor.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 further comprising a satellite navigation system receiver coupled to the second antenna port.

22. The electronic device defined in claim 8, wherein the first wireless transceiver receives radio-frequency signals from the third antenna port through the duplexer and the second wireless transceiver receives radio-frequency signals from the third antenna port through the duplexer and from the first antenna port.

15. Apparatus, comprising:

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry configured to handle wireless local area network signals, satellite navigation system signals, and cellular telephone signals;

an inverted-F antenna;

a first adjustable capacitor coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the inverted-F antenna, wherein the first adjustable capacitor is configured to tune the inverted-F antenna to handle at least some of the cellular telephone signals;

a monopole antenna that transmits the wireless local area network signals; and

a second adjustable capacitor coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the monopole antenna, wherein the second adjustable capacitor is configured to tune the monopole antenna to handle at least some of the cellular telephone signals.

16. The apparatus defined in claim 15 wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises a first transceiver and a second transceiver, the apparatus further comprising a duplexer coupled to the second adjustable capacitor, the first transceiver, and the second transceiver.

17. The apparatus defined in claim 16 wherein the inverted-F antenna includes a segment of a peripheral conductive electronic device housing structure.

18. The apparatus defined in claim 17 further comprising:

a first signal line with which the first adjustable capacitor is coupled to the segment at a first location; and

a second signal line that is coupled to the segment at a second location, wherein the satellite navigation system signals are conveyed to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry using the second signal line.

19. The apparatus defined in claim 18 further comprising a conductive structure that serves as antenna ground for the inverted-F antenna and the monopole antenna.