This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Korean Application Serial No. 10-2012-0028547, which was filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Mar. 21, 2012, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a wireless communication terminal, and more particularly, to an antenna device of a wireless terminal for transmitting/receiving a wireless signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless communication terminal (“wireless terminal”) is generally any electronic device capable of wirelessly receiving and/or transmitting an information signal or communication signal. Wireless terminals include mobile terminals such as cell phones and smart phones, traditionally used as a medium for simple communication, such as voice communication or short message transmission. Recently, owing to the development of communication technologies, a user may quickly obtain a large variety of information through a wireless terminal In addition, it becomes possible to receive satellite broadcasting or terrestrial broadcasting. Furthermore, for example, a credit card function is incorporated in a wireless terminal The development of electronic communication technologies has made it possible to incorporate, for example, a multimedia function, an entertainment function, a digital organizer function, a banking function, and a security function in a single mobile terminal based on a communication function.
Since a wireless terminal is used while it is hand carried, lightweight and miniaturized designs are preferable. A circuit of, e.g., a processing device that executes various functions may be miniaturized by increasing the integration degree of an integrated circuit chip. However, some elements have a limit in miniaturization. For example, a battery pack is capable of supplying power for a predetermined length of time which is in proportion to the volume and capacitance of the battery pack. In addition, at today's cell phone frequency bands, it is practically impossible to physically incorporate antenna devices in a single module or chip. Therefore, in relation to the elements such as the battery pack and the antenna pack of which the sizes are difficult to physically reduce, efforts are continually made to reduce the size of a terminal by optimizing the arrangement of the elements inside the terminal.
Meanwhile, as described above, as the functions of wireless terminals have diversified, the number of antenna devices within a terminal has also increased. Early terminals were only equipped with an antenna required for a mobile communication function. However, three or four types of antennas are now commonly provided within a single terminal, including an antenna for short-range wireless communication, such as wireless LAN and Blue-tooth, and a broadcasting receiving antenna.
Because the mobile communication or short-range wireless communication usually uses frequencies in a band of several GHz, an antenna device having a relatively short electric length is used. Therefore, an antenna for these applications is easy to physically miniaturize and thus, is suitable to be accommodated in a terminal. In contrast, an antenna device for a frequency band of tens to hundreds of MHz (VHF) or a band of several hundred MHz (UHF) like terrestrial broadcasting has a considerable electric and physical length and thus, has a limit to be accommodated inside a small wireless terminal. Therefore, a broadcasting antenna provided in a wireless terminal is generally provided in a removable structure based on an earphone cable or whip antenna structure, or is accommodated in the terminal in a multi-stage whip antenna structure.
A removable antenna is mounted on a terminal during use of the terminal. Therefore, the removable antenna is advantageous in miniaturizing and lightening the terminal However, a disadvantage is the need to separately carry the broadcasting antenna when it is removed. Accommodating a whip antenna of a multi-stage structure in a terminal is advantageous in that the terminal is easy to carry although it is somewhat unsuitable for miniaturizing and lightening the terminal However, an antenna of a frequency band of tens to hundreds of MHz usually has a length of at least about 20 cm and up to about 40 cm when it is fully drawn out from the terminal and thus, the antenna is disadvantageously inconvenient to use while the user is moving during practical use.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an antenna device for a wireless terminal rendering it easy to carry, and which is miniaturized so that the terminal is convenient to use in a state where the antenna is drawn out from the terminal.
Another aspect is to provide an antenna device for a wireless terminal in which the antenna device has a broadband characteristic according to a structure of a radiator thereof.
Various embodiments of an antenna device for a wireless terminal are disclosed herein. The antenna device includes a radiator configured to be extracted from/retracted into the wireless terminal, a L-C lumped circuit, and a noise removing coil coupled between the radiator and the L-C lumped circuit, to attenuate noise introduced through the radiator.
The radiator may be configured as a helical coil or at least one meandering printed pattern so as to reduce its overall length while maintaining a desired electrical length.
In embodiments, the antenna device is useful for UHF/VHF frequency bands.
Multi-band configurations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a conductive (e.g. stainless steel) tube member substantially surrounds the radiator embodied as a helical coil. The tube member operates at a lower frequency band than that of the helical coil.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted to avoid obscuring the inventive subject matter of the present disclosure.
As used in this document, including the Claims section, the words “a” or “an” mean one or more than one. The term “plurality” means two or more than two. The term “another” is defined as a second or more. The words “comprising”, “including”, “having” and the like are open ended. Reference herein to “one embodiment”, “embodiments”, “an embodiment”, “first embodiment” or similar term means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of such phrases in various places throughout this disclosure are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner on one or more embodiments without limitation. The terms “may” or “can” are used herein to refer to at least an optional element, feature, function, characteristic, advantage, etc., of a described embodiment. Terms such as “substantially” or “generally” signify equality or an approximation with respect to a parameter.
As illustrated in
The radiator 111 performs practical reception/transmission of radio wave signals, and may be configured by, for example, a helical coil or a radiating pattern formed by printing a conductive material in a predetermined meandering pattern. Configuring the radiator 111 in a helical pattern allows the extended length of the radiator to be made shorter while achieving a desired electrical length. The noise removing coil 121 serves to remove noise introduced through the radiator 111 and is serially connected with the radiator 111. Thus radiator 111 is coupled to the L-C lumped circuit 131 through the noise removing coil 121.
The L-C lumped circuit 131 is configured by combining a capacitive element (capacitors C1 and C2) and an inductive element L, and forms a low pass filter or a band pass filter by being coupled with the noise removing coil 121.
Configurations other than the illustrated C1-L-C2 configuration are alternatively available for L-C lumped circuit 131.
The L-C lumped circuit 131 is disposed inside the terminal 10, e.g., on the main circuit board 17. The user may draw out (i.e., extract) the antenna device 100 as desired. In the state where the antenna device is drawn out from the housing 11, the noise removing coil 121 and the radiator 111 are connected with the L-C lumped circuit 131. That is, the antenna device 100 practically operates in the state where it is extracted from the terminal 10.
It is exemplified that the radiator 111 is configured by winding a helical coil. As the radiator 111 is formed in the helical coil shape, a sufficient electric length may be secured while keeping the length in shape short. For instance, although a broadcasting service provided in a frequency band of tens to hundreds of MHz requires a radiator having an electrical length of 20 cm to 40 cm for optimized antenna performance, the linear length from base to tip may be reduced to about 5 cm to 25 cm while securing the electric length of 20-40 cm when the radiator 111 is implemented in the helical coil shape.
Because the radiator 111 and the bushing 102 are hinged to each other, the user may freely adjust the position of the radiator 111 in the state where the radiator 111 is drawn out. The bushing 102 is disposed inside the terminal 10 to be linearly movable, and even when the radiator 111 is fully drawn out, the bushing 102 is positioned inside the terminal 10. The bushing 102 has an external appearance of a cylinder, and may be freely rotated within the inside of the terminal 10. Accordingly, the radiator 111 may be positioned to be inclined freely at a predetermined range of angles in relation to the retracting/extracting direction in the state where the radiator 111 is fully extracted from the terminal 10. Further, because the bushing 102 is rotatable within the terminal 10, the radiator 111 may be rotated around the bushing 102.
A radiating unit 101 may be provided with a tube member 113 configured to enclose (substantially surround) the radiator 111. The tube member 113 may be composed of a non-conductive material in this embodiment, e.g., rubber or plastic, and does not act as a radiator. Alternatively, tube member 113 can be a conductive material in this embodiment, as long as a separation cap 117 is non-conductive, and as long as tube member 113 is electrically isolated from radiator 111 and is also isolated from components at the base of radiator 111, such as noise removing coil 121. If tube member 113 is conductive, an insulation tube 115 between the radiator 111 and the tube member 113 as illustrated in
As the tube member 113 is provided to enclose the radiator 111, the bushing 102 is pivotally hinged to an end of the tube member 113 due to the external shape thereof In other embodiments, if the radiator 111 is configured in a shape other than the helical coil shape, the tube member 113 can be omitted. That is, the helical coil itself can be formed by winding a conducting wire and when the helical coil is exposed to the outside, the coil may be damaged or the shape of the coil may be changed. Accordingly, it is desirable to protect the helical coil with the tube member 113. However, when the radiator 111 is not a helical coil but e.g. a radiator pattern formed by printing a conductive material, another type of protection means may be provided.
In addition, the separate cap 117 may be coupled to an end of the radiating unit 101. The cap 117 may be handled by the user when the antenna device 100 is drawn out, and the cap 117 may be formed in various shapes. That is, although the cap 117 is illustrated in a cylindrical shape in
The noise removing coil 121 can be disposed on any one of the main circuit board 17, the bushing 102, and the radiating unit 101. In any of these locations, noise removing coil 121 can also be disposed together with the L-C lumped circuit 131. When disposed on the radiating unit 101, the noise removing coil 121 is positioned between the radiator 111 and the hinge member 104. Noise removing coil 121 may be formed by winding a conducting wire.
In
In an alternative implementation, the noise removing coil 121 may be formed in the bushing 102 without practically cutting out the bushing 102. For example, the noise removing coil 121 may be formed by winding a separate conducting wire and inserting the wound conducting wire into the bushing 102 or fabricating a part of the bushing 102 in a straight line shape and then processing the noise removing coil as a separate part.
The tube member 113′ is fabricated from a non-corrosive conductive material, e.g. stainless steel (“SS”) material. Accordingly, in order to ensure that the radiator 111 operates stably, it is desirable that the end of the radiator 111 at least partially protrudes from the tube member 113′ as illustrated in
That is, when the radiator 111 is completely accommodated in the tube member 113′ of the SS material, the tube member 113′ becomes a barrier to the operation of the radiator 111. The portion of the radiator 111 protruding from the end of the tube member 113′ is enclosed and protected by the cap 117. The cap 117 is composed of a non-conductive material e.g. rubber or plastic, such that end-fire radiation can still be achieved from the radiator 111. In other implementations, an input section of tube member 113′ closer to the terminal housing 11 is composed of SS material, and an output section that interfaces with cap 117 is composed of non-conductive material, in order to modify performance of radiator 111 enclosed within tube 113′ as desired.
In addition, because both the radiator 111 and the tube member 113′ serve to receive/transmit radio wave signals, the insulation tube 115 is preferably arranged between the radiator 111 and the tube member 113′ in the same configuration as illustrated in
As described above, the electric length of the radiator 111 is set to be considerably longer than the linear length (overall length) because the radiator 111 is formed by a helical coil. In contrast, the tube member 113′ has a linear length that substantially corresponds to the electric length. Accordingly, the radiator 111 will be optimized for operation (e.g., resonates) in a frequency band lower than that for which the tube member 113′ is optimized. For example, when the antenna device 100 is used as a broadcasting antenna, it is desirable that the radiator 111 is set to operate in the VHF band and the second radiator formed by the tube member 113′ is set to operate in the UHF band.
Meanwhile, when the radiator pattern or the coating layer 153 is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the tube member 113, the radiator pattern or the coating layer 153 may be damaged by the extracting/retracting action of the radiating unit 101. In order to prevent this, the antenna device 100′ may be preferably further provided with a guide member 151. The guide member 151 is coupled to enclose the outer circumferential surface of the tube member 113 at opposite ends of the radiating unit 101. More specifically, guide member 151 has first and second portions at opposite ends of the tube member 113. Now, the guide member 151 is fabricated to have a diameter larger than that of tube member 113. When the radiating unit 101 is extracted from/retracted into the housing 11 of the terminal 10, the guide member 151 is in sliding contact with a surface inside the guide tube 13 inside of the terminal 10. Because of this guide member's contact within guide tube 13, the tube member 113 with the smaller diameter is not contacted with any other part when it is extracted/retracted. Accordingly, the coating layer 153 and hence the radiator pattern printed on the outer circumferential surface of the tube member 113 may be prevented from being damaged.
The substrate 215 is formed to have a circular, elliptical or polygonal transverse cross-section and to extend along the direction in which the substrate 215 is extracted from/retracted into the wireless communication terminal, and the radiator patterns 211a, 211b, 211c, and 211d are individually formed on the outer circumferential surface of the substrate 215 to be independent from each other. When the substrate 215 has a polyhedral structure, of which the cross-section is a polygonal transverse cross-section, one radiator pattern may be formed on each face of the substrate 215. Each of the radiator patterns 211a, 211b, 211c, and 211d is serially connected to the noise removing circuit 221 and operates via electrical coupling to a receiver/transmitting unit within wireless terminal 10.
An antenna device configured in any of the ways described above is installed in a wireless communication terminal in a manner capable of being extracted from/retracted into the wireless communication terminal Thereby, it exhibits advantages of enabling a user to draw out and use the antenna device with the wireless terminal as desired, and the antenna device is easy to carry and convenient to use. Furthermore, when the noise removing coil is applied, the antenna performance is stabilized so that the antenna device is easy to miniaturize. When the radiator is configured by a helical coil, the antenna device may be reduced to have a length of about 5 cm to about 25 cm to receive signals at today's commercially available frequencies while having a whip antenna shape. In addition, when the radiator is configured by a helical coil, there is an advantage in that the external color of the terminal and the external color of the antenna device may be harmonized by forming the antenna in a signal stage structure with the same color paint as on the terminal on the outer circumferential surface of the radiator. Moreover, yet another advantage is that the tube member can be configured capable of enclosing the radiator and capable of being used as an additional radiator; therefore, it is possible to configure a multi-band/broadband antenna device.
While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2012-0028547 | Mar 2012 | KR | national |