Antenna system with receiver diversity and tunable matching circuit

• US 9,596,330 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2014
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• 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, Matthew A., Schlub, Robert W.
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, GRAHAM P
• Application Number:
  US14/490,576
• Publication Number:
  US 20150005037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: 343/702, 343/725
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/30 Combinations of separate antenna units operating in different wavebands and connected to a common feeder system
• 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: H04M 1/026 Details of the structure or mounting of specific components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly

Abstract

Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. An electronic device may include a display mounted within a housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the display and housing. Dielectric-filled gaps may divide the peripheral conductive member into individual segments. A ground plane may be formed within the housing from conductive housing structures, printed circuit boards, and other conductive elements. The ground plane and the segments of the peripheral conductive member may form antennas in upper and lower portions of the housing. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may implement receiver diversity using both the upper and lower antennas. The lower antenna may be used in transmitting signals. The upper antenna may be tuned using a tunable matching circuit.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having conductive structures that form an antenna ground and having peripheral conductive housing structures that run around at least some edges of the housing;

radio-frequency receiver circuitry;

an inverted-F antenna that is formed from the antenna ground and an inverted-F antenna resonating element that is separated from the antenna ground by an opening, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from a segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures that is located between first and second gaps in the peripheral conductive housing structures, a first antenna feed terminal is coupled to the segment, and a second antenna feed terminal is coupled to the antenna ground; and

an additional antenna, wherein the additional antenna is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals in a plurality of cellular telephone bands, and wherein the receiver circuitry is configured to only receive radio-frequency signals in a subset of the plurality of cellular telephone bands over the inverted-F antenna.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising an antenna feed line that is coupled to the first and second antenna feed terminals and that carries antenna signals to the segment.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the additional antenna is formed from the antenna ground and an additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, further comprising an additional antenna feed line that carries additional antenna signals to the additional segment.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4, further comprising an impedance matching circuit interposed on the antenna feed line and an adjustable impedance matching circuit interposed on the additional antenna feed line.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second gaps are formed at opposing ends of the segment.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6, wherein the first and second gaps extend from an external rear surface of the electronic device to an external front surface of the electronic device.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures comprise an external surface of the electronic device.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures and the antenna ground surround a dielectric opening, the electronic device further comprising a conductive structure that bridges the dielectric opening and shorts the peripheral conductive housing structures to the ground.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having opposing first and second ends;

a display mounted within the housing, wherein the display has four edges;

peripheral conductive housing structures that run along the four edges of the display;

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

a first antenna that is formed from an antenna resonating element and the antenna ground, wherein the antenna resonating element is formed from a first segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures and is separated from the antenna ground by an opening, a first antenna feed terminal for the first antenna is coupled to the first segment, and a second antenna feed terminal for the first antenna is coupled to the antenna ground;

a second antenna having an antenna resonating element that is formed from a second segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures and the antenna ground, wherein a first antenna feed terminal for the second antenna is coupled to the second segment and a second antenna feed terminal for the second antenna is coupled to the antenna ground;

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry that transmits and receives radio-frequency antenna signals through the second antenna in a plurality of cellular telephone communications bands and that only receives radio-frequency antenna signals through the first antenna in a subset of the cellular telephone communications bands.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to receive the radio-frequency antenna signals in at least five cellular telephone receive bands via the second antenna, is configured to transmit the radio-frequency antenna signals in at least five cellular telephone transmit bands via the second antenna, and is configured to receive the radio-frequency antenna signals in no more than four of the five cellular telephone receive bands via the first antenna.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 further comprising a tunable matching circuit coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the first antenna, wherein the tunable matching circuit is operable in a first mode in which the radio-frequency antenna signals are received by the first antenna in only first and second cellular telephone receive bands among the five cellular telephone receive bands and is operable in a second mode in which the radio-frequency antenna signals are received by the first antenna in only third and fourth cellular telephone receive bands among the five cellular telephone receive bands and wherein the first and second cellular telephone receive bands are different than the third and fourth cellular telephone receive bands.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the first end of the electronic device comprises a lower end of the electronic device, the second end of the electronic device comprises an upper end of the electronic device, and the peripheral conductive housing structures comprise at least three gaps that define at least three separate segments of the peripheral conductive member including the first and second segments, the at least three gaps each extending from a planar rear exterior surface of the electronic device to a planar front exterior surface of the electronic device.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to receive signals through the second antenna and the first antenna and wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit signals through only the second antenna and not the first antenna, so that the electronic device supports receiver diversity and not transmitter diversity.

15. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having opposing upper and lower ends;

a display mounted within the housing, wherein the display has four edges;

peripheral conductive housing structures that run along the four edges of the display;

at least two dielectric-filled gaps in the peripheral conductive housing structures that separate the peripheral conductive member into at least first and second respective segments;

an antenna ground plane within the housing;

a dual-arm inverted-F antenna that is formed from the antenna ground plane and an inverted-F antenna resonating element that is separated from the antenna ground plane by an opening and that has first and second arms that resonate in respective frequency bands, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from the first segment, a first antenna feed terminal is coupled to the first segment, and a second antenna feed terminal is coupled to the antenna ground plane at the upper end of the housing;

a loop antenna having a resonating element that is formed from the second segment and the antenna ground plane at the lower end of the housing, wherein the resonating element of the loop antenna extends between a third antenna feed terminal coupled to the antenna ground plane and a fourth antenna feed terminal coupled to the second segment; and

radio-frequency transceiver circuitry that is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency antenna signals in a plurality of radio-frequency bands through the loop antenna and that is configured to receive radio-frequency antenna signals in only a subset of the plurality of radio-frequency bands through the dual-arm inverted-F antenna without transmitting any radio-frequency signals through the dual-arm inverted-F antenna.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15, wherein the dual-arm inverted-F antenna comprises first and second portions extending from opposing sides of the first feed terminal in a common plane, wherein the first and second portions are configured to cover the respective frequency bands, and wherein the first and second portions each have a respective perpendicular bend.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 15, further comprising:

a fixed matching circuit coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuit and the loop antenna; and

an adjustable matching circuit coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuit and the dual-arm inverted-F antenna.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 17, further comprising:

a power amplifier coupled between a transmitter circuit in the radio-frequency transceiver circuit and the fixed matching circuit; and

a low noise amplifier coupled between a receiver circuit in the radio-frequency transceiver circuit and the fixed matching circuit.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18, further comprising:

a satellite navigation system receiver circuit that is separate from the radio-frequency transceiver circuit and that is coupled to the adjustable matching circuit; and

filtering circuitry coupled between the satellite navigation system receiver circuit and the adjustable matching circuit.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 19, further comprising:

an additional low noise amplifier coupled between the filtering circuitry and an additional receiver circuit in the radio-frequency transceiver circuit; and

control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to provide control signals to the radio-frequency transceiver circuit over a first control path to selectively activate the receiver circuit and the additional receiver circuit, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to provide additional control signals over an additional control path to the adjustable matching circuit to tune the dual-arm inverted-F antenna.