Electronic device including antenna device

• US 10,474,282 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2017
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Jung-Sik, Shin, Jae-Young, Jeon, Seunggil, Chung, Chongyoon, Ha, Dohyung, Yoon, Byoung-Uk, Hong, Hyun-Ju
• Primary Examiner(s): Flores, Roberto W
• Application Number:
  US15/458,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20170285844A1
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1692 the I/O peripheral being a secondary touch screen used as control interface, e.g. virtual buttons or sliders
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0447 Position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/243 with built-in antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/40 Radiating elements coated with or embedded in protective material
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/30 Arrangements for providing operation on different wavebands
• 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: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a housing having a first face, a second face that faces a direction opposite to the first face, and a side face that encloses at least a portion of a space between the first face and the second face, a touch sensing circuit disposed within the housing, a communication circuit disposed within the housing, a transparent substrate that forms at least a portion of the first face, the second face, and the side face of the housing, at least one display disposed within the housing along at least a portion of the transparent substrate, a first conductive pattern disposed between the transparent substrate and the at least one display or inside the at least one display, and electrically connected with the touch sensing circuit, and a second conductive pattern disposed between the transparent substrate and the first conductive pattern, and electrically connected with the wireless communication circuit.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a housing comprising a front surface, a rear surface facing away the front surface, and a side surface between the front surface and the rear surface, wherein the side surface comprises a first planar portion extended from a first portion of the front surface and a first portion of the rear surface, a second planar portion extended from a second portion of the front surface and a second portion of the rear surface, and a curved portion extended from a remaining portion of the front surface and a remaining portion of the rear surface;

a communication circuit within the housing;

a transparent substrate that forms at least a portion of the front surface and at least a portion of the side surface;

a display comprising a first display area viewed through a partial area of the front surface and a second display area viewed through an entire area of the curved portion, wherein the display is viewable through the transparent substrate; and

a first conductive pattern, disposed between the transparent substrate and the display, electrically connected with the communication circuit,

wherein the first conductive pattern comprises a plurality of first mesh patterns formed along the first display area and a plurality of second mesh patterns formed along the second display area,

wherein each of the plurality of second mesh patterns comprises a first periphery, a second periphery substantially parallel to the first periphery, a third periphery extended from an end of the first periphery to an end of the second periphery, and a fourth periphery extended from the other end of the first periphery to the other end of the second periphery,

wherein the second periphery and the third periphery are closer to the curved portion of the housing than the first periphery and the fourth periphery, and

wherein a thickness of the second periphery and a thickness of the third periphery are respectively thinner than a thickness of the first periphery and a thickness of the fourth periphery.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a second conductive pattern disposed inside the display or between the transparent substrate and the display; and

a touch sensing circuit within the housing and electrically connected with the second conductive pattern,

wherein the first conductive pattern is disposed between the second conductive pattern and the transparent substrate.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, further comprising:

a pressure sensor at least partially disposed between the second display area and the transparent substrate, or on a face of the second display area, which faces opposite to the transparent substrate.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the pressure sensor is electrically connected to the touch sensing circuit.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the first conductive pattern or the second conductive pattern at least partially includes aluminum, copper, silver, graphene, indium-tin-oxide (ITO), or indium-zinc-oxide (IZO).

6. The electronic device of claim 5,

wherein the first conductive pattern at least partially includes silver, ITO, or IZO, and

wherein the second conductive pattern at least partially includes aluminum or copper.

7. The electronic device of claim 2, further comprising:

a first non-conductive layer disposed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern.

8. The electronic device of claim 7,

wherein the second conductive pattern is disposed on the display, and

wherein the electronic device further comprises a second non-conductive layer disposed between the display and the second conductive pattern.

9. The electronic device of claim 2, further comprising:

a first non-conductive layer disposed between the second conductive pattern and the transparent substrate,

wherein the first conductive pattern is disposed on both sides of the first non-conductive layer.

10. The electronic device of claim 2, further comprising a control circuit operatively coupled with the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern, the control circuit is configured to:

detect a region of a user touch via the second conductive pattern, and

reduce intensity of a signal to be transmitted to an external device via at least a portion of the first conductive pattern that is disposed in the detected region.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the control circuit is configured to increase intensity of a signal to be transmitted to the external device via at least another portion of the first conductive pattern disposed outside of the detected region.

12. The electronic device of claim 2, further comprising:

a control circuit electrically connected to the touch sensing circuit, the communication circuit, the first conductive pattern, and the second conductive pattern,

wherein the control circuit is configured to

determine a position of a user'"'"'s touch or gesture input based on a signal acquired via the second conductive pattern using the touch sensing circuit, and

transmit and receive a signal to/from an external device via the first conductive pattern using the communication circuit.

13. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first conductive pattern is at least partially disposed between the second display area and the transparent substrate.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the display comprises a first portion on which a screen is displayed and a second portion on which no screen is displayed.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the first conductive pattern is at least partially disposed on the second portion.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, further comprising:

a pressure sensor at least partially disposed between the second portion and the transparent substrate, or on a face of the second portion, which faces opposite to the transparent substrate.

17. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the display comprises a single display disposed along at least a portion of the front surface, at least a portion of the rear surface, and at least a portion of the side surface of the housing.

18. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the display comprises:

a first display disposed along at least a portion of the front surface of the housing and at least a portion of the side surface of the housing, and

a second display disposed along at least a portion of the rear surface of the housing and another portion of the side surface of the housing.

19. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the display comprises:

a first display disposed along at least a portion of the front surface of the housing,

a second display disposed along at least a portion of the rear surface of the housing, and

a third display disposed along at least a portion of the side surface of the housing.

20. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first conductive pattern is disposed such that at least a part of a plurality of mesh patterns are opened.