Shared antenna structures for near-field communications and non-near-field communications circuitry

• US 9,793,616 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2012
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ouyang, Yuehui, Schlub, Robert W., Jin, Nanbo, Pascolini, Mattia
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, GRAHAM P
• Application Number:
  US13/681,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,793 Days
• Field of Search: 343702
• 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 21/30 Combinations of separate antenna units operating in different wavebands and connected to a common feeder system
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/20 characterised by the operating wavebands
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/314 using frequency dependent circuits or components, e.g. trap circuits or capacitors
• 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

Abstract

Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may include conductive housing structures such as a peripheral conductive housing member. The antenna structures may be based on an inverted-F antenna resonating element or other types of antenna resonating element. An electronic device may have near field communications circuitry and non-near-field communications circuitry such as cellular telephone, satellite navigation system, or wireless local area network transceiver circuitry. Antenna structures may be configured to handle signals associated with the non-near-field communications circuitry. The antenna structures may also have portions that form a near field communications loop antenna for handling signals associated with the near field communications circuitry.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

an inverted-F antenna resonating element;

an antenna ground that is separated from the inverted-F antenna resonating element by an opening;

a first path that is coupled between the antenna ground and the inverted-F antenna resonating element and that spans the opening;

a second path that is coupled between the antenna ground and the inverted-F antenna resonating element and that spans the opening;

an antenna feed path that is coupled to the inverted-F antenna resonating element;

non-near-field communications circuitry coupled to the antenna feed path that transmits and receives signals in a non-near-field communications signal band in which the second path forms a short circuit across the opening and serves as a return path for the inverted-F antenna resonating element and in which the first path forms an open circuit; and

near field communications circuitry coupled to the antenna feed path that transmits and receives near field communications in a near field communications band in which the first path forms a short circuit across the opening and serves as a portion of a near field communications loop antenna and in which the second path forms an open circuit.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a conductive peripheral housing member that surrounds a peripheral edge of the electronic device, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from a segment of the conductive peripheral housing member.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein an inductor is interposed on the first path.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the first path has a first end that is coupled to the inverted-F antenna resonating element and a second end that is coupled to the antenna ground.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element includes a portion of a conductive peripheral housing member that surrounds a peripheral edge of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a capacitor interposed on the second path.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 4 further comprising a duplexer, wherein the duplexer has a feed port coupled to the antenna feed path, a near field communications port coupled to the near field communications circuitry, and a non-near-field communications port coupled to the non-near-field communications circuitry.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 wherein the non-near-field communications circuitry comprises cellular telephone transceiver circuitry and the non-near-field communications signal band comprises a cellular telephone band above 700 MHz.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the near field communications circuitry is configured to operate in a near field communications band at 13.56 MHz.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 7 wherein the duplexer has a first path that is coupled between the antenna feed path and the near field communications circuitry and has a second path that is coupled between the antenna feed path and the non-near-field communications circuitry, and the duplexer comprises an inductor in the first path and a capacitor in the second path.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the segment of the conductive peripheral housing member forms at least one exterior surface of the electronic device.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13, wherein the electronic device has a length, a width that is less than the length, and a height that is less than the width, and the segment of the conductive peripheral housing member extends across the width and the height of the electronic device.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14, wherein the segment of the conductive peripheral housing member comprises first, second, and third portions, the first portion extends across the width of the electronic device, and the second and third portions extend parallel to the length of the electronic device.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15, wherein the second portion is separated from the antenna ground structures by a first dielectric gap in the conductive peripheral housing member and the third portion is separated from the antenna ground structures by a second dielectric gap in the conductive peripheral housing member.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the electronic device has a length, a width that is less than the length, and a height that is less than the width, the inverted-F antenna resonating element includes a portion of a conductive peripheral housing member that runs along a periphery of the electronic device, the portion of the conductive peripheral housing member extends across the width and the height of the electronic device, and the antenna ground extends across the width of the electronic device.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 10, further comprising:

a first impedance matching circuit coupled between the inductor and the near field communications circuitry; and

a second impedance matching circuit that is separate from the first impedance matching circuit coupled between the capacitor and the non-near-field communications circuitry.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the second path is interposed between the antenna feed path and the first path.

21. The electronic device defined in claim 20 further comprising a conductive peripheral housing member that surrounds a peripheral edge of the electronic device, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from a segment of the conductive peripheral housing member.

11. Antenna structures in an electronic device having a length, a width, and a height, the antenna structures comprising:

an inverted-F antenna resonating element formed from metal structures, wherein the metal structures extend across the width and the height of the electronic device;

an antenna ground that is separated from the metal structures by an opening;

an antenna feed path that is coupled to the inverted-F antenna resonating element, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element and antenna ground are configured to exhibit an antenna resonance in a communications band above 700 MHz and at least part of the metal structures form a near field communications loop antenna that is configured to transmit near field communications signals in a near field communications band;

a first path coupled between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground across the opening; and

a second path coupled between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground across the opening, wherein the first path forms a short circuit across the opening that forms a portion of the near field communications loop antenna and the second path forms an open circuit in the near field communications band, and the second path forms a short circuit across the opening that forms a return path for the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the first path forms an open circuit in the communications band above 700 MHz.

12. The antenna structures defined in claim 11 wherein the near field communications band comprises a 13.56 MHz band and wherein the metal structures comprise metal electronic device housing structures.

19. The antenna structures defined in claim 11, wherein an inductor is interposed in the first path and a capacitor is interposed in the second path.