Patent Grant
10936931
The present invention relates to an antenna device incorporated in an electronic apparatus and communicating with an external device such as a transmitter via an electromagnetic field signal. The present application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-144700 filed in Japan on Jul. 22, 2015, which is incorporated by reference herein.
In electronic apparatuses such as portable telephone, an antenna module for RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has been used to mount a function of Near Field Communication. This antenna module communicates with an antenna coil mounted on a transmitter such as a reader/writer by using inductive coupling. That is, in this antenna module, a magnetic field from the reader/writer is received by an antenna coil and thereby converted into electric power, which can drive an IC which functions as a communication processing unit.
To reliably perform communication, the antenna module is required to receive, at the antenna coil, magnetic flux equal to or more than a certain value from the reader/writer. For this reason, in an antenna module according to a conventional example, a loop coil is provided in a housing of a portable telephone or the like, and this coil receives magnetic flux from the reader/writer. In the antenna module incorporated in an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone, magnetic flux from the reader/writer are caused to bounce back by eddy current occurring because the metal of a substrate, a battery pack, or the like inside the apparatus receives a magnetic field from the reader/writer. For example, when considering with a housing surface of the portable telephone, the magnetic field coming from the reader/writer tends to be strong at an outer circumferential portion of the housing surface and weak at a portion near the center of the housing surface.
For an antenna using a normal loop coil, the loop coil has an opening which is positioned at a center portion of the portable telephone where a magnetic field passing through the above-described outer circumferential portion of the housing surface is not much received. Thus, in the antenna using the normal loop coil, efficiency of receiving magnetic field is poor.
For example, in Patent Literature 1, a portable equipment incorporating an antenna coil inside a housing, in which the antenna coil communicates by receiving electromagnetic wave of certain wavelength emitted from an external antenna, wherein failure of communication when the external antenna and the antenna coil inside the housing are adjacent to each other is inhibited, by providing a metallic layer at incident side of electromagnetic wave from communication face of the antenna coil, is described.
In addition, in Patent Literature 2, an antenna device incorporated in an electronic apparatus and communicating with an external device via an electromagnetic field signal, comprising an antenna coil positioned at an end of an opening provided at a cover, which is having a magnetic shield function of the electronic apparatus, to be disposed on an inner wall surface of the cover, is described.
In addition, in Patent Literature 3, an antenna device comprising a coil conductor in a shape of loop or spiral having coil opening at a center of winding, and a conductor layer arranged at a side proximate to an antenna of communication partner from the coil conductor, wherein the conductor layer comprises a conductor opening, and a slit connecting between the conductor opening and an outer edge, wherein the coil conductor and the conductor layer are overlapped in planar view of the coil conductor, is described.
Patent Literature 1: JP 2006-270681 A
Patent Literature 2: JP 2015-95707 A
Patent Literature 3: JP 4687832 B
For example, it was necessary to provide an opening at a metallic cover, in order to operate NFC antenna under the metallic cover, which bounces back magnetic flux from a reader/writer. However, by providing the opening at the metallic cover, there were problems such as decrease of strength of the metallic cover and limitation in design.
In Patent Literature 1, the portable equipment, in which the antenna coil and the metallic layer are partially overlapped, is described, but it is not described about the portable equipment in which whole antenna coil is overlapped with the metallic layer.
In Patent Literature 2, it is described that the antenna coil is positioned at the end of the opening provided at the cover, which is having a magnetic shield function, but it is not described about an embodiment without an opening.
In Patent Literature 3, the antenna device, in which a coil opening and a conductor opening are at least partially overlapped, is described, but it is not described about an embodiment without an opening.
The present invention is proposed considering these circumstances, and the present invention provides an antenna device having excellent communication characteristics even when no opening is provided in a conductor.
One embodiment of the present invention is an antenna device incorporated in an electronic apparatus and communicating with an external device via an electromagnetic field signal, comprising: an antenna coil inductively coupled to the external device and provided by winding around a conducting wire two dimensionally via an opening; and a conductor provided to be overlapped with the antenna coil at a surface of the antenna coil opposing to the external device, wherein the conductor comprises a first slit formed from a region overlapped with the opening of the antenna coil to an end of the conductor, and a second slit connected to the first slit and formed in the region overlapped with the opening of the antenna coil.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, by comprising the second slit in the region of the conductor overlapped with the opening of the antenna coil, magnetic flux passes through in the slit, and it is having excellent communication characteristics even when no opening is provided in the conductor.
At this time, in one embodiment of the present invention, the second slit may be formed from a plurality of slits.
By forming the second slit with a plurality of slits, a number of magnetic flux, which passes through, increases and communication characteristics will be improved.
In addition, at this time, in one embodiment of the present invention, the second slit may be formed along inner shape of the antenna coil.
By forming the second slit along inner shape of the antenna coil, magnetic flux passes through the slit formed along the opening, so it will be having excellent communication characteristics.
In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, the opening of the antenna coil is rectangular shape, and the second slit may be formed along three sides of inner shape of the antenna coil.
By forming the second slit along three sides of inner shape of rectangular antenna coil, it is possible to obtain communication characteristics almost same as communication characteristics when the opening is provided in the conductor.
In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, the opening of the antenna coil is rectangular shape, and the second slit may be formed along four sides of inner shape of the antenna coil.
By forming the second slit along four sides of inner shape of rectangular antenna coil, it is possible to obtain more excellent communication characteristics than communication characteristics when the opening is provided in the conductor.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide the antenna device having excellent communication characteristics same as or more than communication characteristics when the opening is formed, even when no opening is provided in the conductor, by providing the second slit at a region of the conductor overlapped with the opening of the antenna coil.
Hereinafter, explaining in detail about preferred embodiments of the present invention. In addition, the embodiments explained in below will not unjustly limit the content of the present invention described in claims, and it is not limited that all the structures explained in the embodiments are necessary as means for solving the problem of the present invention.
At first, explaining about a structure of an antenna device relating to one embodiment of the present invention, using the drawings.
An antenna device 1 relating to this embodiment is a device incorporated in an electronic apparatus 30 and communicating with an external device via electromagnetic field signal, and for example, it is used by incorporated in a wireless communication system 100 for RFID as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The reader/writer 40 functions as a transmitter for transmitting magnetic field in Z axis direction with respect to the antenna device 1 opposing to each other in XY plane, concretely, the reader/writer 40 comprises: an antenna 41 for transmitting magnetic field to the antenna device 1; and a control board 42 for communicating with the antenna device 1 inductively coupled via the antenna 41.
In other words, in the reader/writer 40, the control board 42 electrically connected to the antenna 41 is arranged. In this control board 42, a control circuit 43 consisting of electronic components such as one or plurality of integrated circuit chips is mounted. This control circuit 43 performs various processing based on data received from the antenna device 1.
For example, when transmitting data to the antenna device 1, the control circuit 43 encodes data, modulates carrier wave of a predetermined frequency (for example, 13.56 MHz) based on encoded data, amplifies modulated modulation signal, and drives the antenna 41 by amplified modulation signal. In addition, when reading out data from the antenna device 1, the control circuit 43 amplifies modulation signal of data received by the antenna 41, demodulates amplified modulation signal of data, and decodes demodulated data.
In addition, in the control circuit 43, an encoding system and a modulating system used in general reader/writer are used, and for example, Manchester encoding system and ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying) modulating system are used. In addition, it is explained about the antenna device or the like in a contactless communication system in below, but same applies to a contactless charging system such as Qi.
For example, the antenna device 1 is incorporated inside of a housing of the electronic apparatus 30 such as portable telephone arranged to be opposed to the reader/writer 40 in XY plane. In this embodiment, the antenna device 1 comprises: an antenna module 2 having an antenna substrate 3 mounted with an antenna coil 12 capable of communicating with inductively coupled reader/writer 40; a communication processing unit 13 driven by current flowing in the antenna coil 12 for communicating with the reader/writer 40; and a conductor, for example consisting of metal or the like as the housing.
The antenna module 2 is arranged inside of the housing (conductor) of the electronic apparatus 30, and communicates with inductively coupled reader/writer 40. As illustrated in
In the antenna substrate 3, for example, the antenna coil 12 formed by patterning processing a flexible conducting wire 12a such as a flexible printed circuit, and a terminal area 14 for electrically connecting the antenna coil 12 and the communication processing unit 13, are mounted.
The antenna coil 12 will be magnetically coupled with the reader/writer 40 by inductive coupling when receiving magnetic field transmitted from the reader/writer 40, and the antenna coil 12 is having a function to receive modulated electromagnetic wave and to supply received signal to the communication processing unit 13 via the terminal area 14. The antenna coil 12 is, for example in approximately rectangular shape as illustrated in
The communication processing unit 13 is driven by current flowing in the antenna coil 12 and communicates with the reader/writer 40. Concretely, the communication processing unit 13 demodulates received modulation signal, decodes demodulated data, and writes decoded data into internal memory incorporated in the communication processing unit 13. In addition, the communication processing unit 13 reads out data to be transmitted to the reader/writer 40 from the internal memory, encodes read out data, modulates carrier wave based on encoded data, and transmits modulated electric wave to the reader/writer 40 via the antenna coil 12 magnetically coupled by inductive coupling. In addition, the communication processing unit 13 may be driven by electric power supplied from power supplying means such as external power supply or battery pack incorporated in the electronic apparatus, instead of electric power flowing in the antenna coil 12.
The conductor 11 is provided, for example as a metallic cover, which is the housing of the electronic apparatus 30, and becomes a first conductor opposing to the reader/writer 40, which is the external device. The other conductor is provided, for example as the battery pack 15, in the housing of the electronic apparatus such as portable telephone or smart phone, or tablet PC, and configures a second conductor opposing to the reader/writer 40 at the time of communication of the antenna module 2. As such, the conductor is used, for example as a metallic cover attached to inner surface of housing of smart phone, a metal housing of battery pack contained in smart phone, a metal plate arranged at back surface of liquid crystal module of tablet PC, or the like.
The conductor 11 flows electricity relatively well, so eddy current occurs when AC magnetic field is applied from outside and magnetic field will be bounced back. There are prior arts to improve communication characteristics by arranging an antenna device at an end of second conductor such as the battery pack 15 provided inside of housing.
However, when providing the conductor 11 as a metallic cover to the housing of the electronic apparatus 30, there are conventional examples to provide an opening in the conductor 11 (metallic cover), but by providing the opening in the conductor 11 (metallic cover), problems arose such as decrease of strength of the conductor 11 (metallic cover) and limitation in design.
Here, as illustrated in
As such, magnetic flux passes through the second slit 19, by having the second slit 19 in the region of the conductor 11 overlapped with the opening 12b of the antenna coil 12, and it is possible to obtain the antenna device 10 having excellent communication characteristics even when no opening is provided in the conductor 11.
For example, the conductor 11 is a metallic cover of a portable terminal or the like. In a case of metal, type of metal is not limited particularly. The conductor 11 is provided to be overlapped with the antenna coil 12 at a surface of the antenna coil 12 opposing to the external device 40.
The first slit 18 is a slit formed to be reached to the end of the conductor 11 from the region overlapped with the opening 12b of the antenna coil 12. By providing the first slit 18, it is possible to prevent occurrence of eddy current, by cutting off a loop of eddy current flowing in the conductor 11 at the time of communication, and it is possible to inhibit a loss of magnetic flux passing through. It is fine as long as it is possible to prevent occurrence of eddy current, so a width of the first slit 18 is not limited particularly.
The second slit 19 is connected to the first slit 18 and formed in the region overlapped with the opening 12b of the antenna coil 12. In this way, it is possible to communicate with the external device 40, even when the antenna coil 12 is arranged to be overlapped with the conductor 11 such as the metallic cover. A width of the second slit 19 is also not limited particularly as long as it is a width capable of communicating with the external device 40. In below, explaining about a form and structure of the second slit 19 by citing few embodiments.
As illustrated in
Further, as illustrated in
When forming the second slit 69 along four sides of inner shape of the opening 62h of the antenna coil 62 as in
As such, in the antenna device relating to one embodiment of the present invention, it is particularly preferable to form the second slit along inner shape of the antenna coil. Here, inner shape of the antenna coil means a boundary portion between the antenna coil and the opening of the antenna coil. By forming the second slit along inner shape of the antenna coil, magnetic flux passes through the slit formed along the opening of the antenna coil, so communication characteristics will be excellent. In addition, it is possible to increase a freedom of designing of the metallic cover or the like, as there is no need to make large opening in the conductor.
In the above, it was explained about preferred shapes of the second slit, but in the antenna device relating to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to configure as various shapes other than the above preferred shapes. In below, explaining about the other possible embodiments in
In an antenna device 110, 120, 130 relating to one embodiment of the present invention, for example in
In addition, in an antenna device 140 relating to one embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in
A function and effect of forming a first slit and a second slit with some configurations to a conductor 11 overlapped with an antenna coil 12 in an antenna device 1 relating to one embodiment of the present invention have been verified using the following examples 1 to 3 and comparative examples 1 to 4.
As example 1, the antenna device 60 illustrated in
In addition, as comparative example 1, an antenna device which does not have a conductor (metallic cover) was used. As comparative example 2, an antenna device 200 illustrated in
In examples 1 to 3 and comparative examples 1 to 4, four-winding antenna coil measuring 40 mm×30 mm×0.3 mm was used. In addition, a thickness of a conductor (metallic cover) was 0.3 mm, a width of each slit was 0.5 mm, and a diameter of the circular opening in comparative example 4 was 10 mm. In example 1, among the slit along four sides, there is a region without a slit in a width of 1 mm at one side (refer to
A concrete evaluation conditions were set as follow. In other words, an antenna 301 of a reader/writer was a double-winding coil 321a with 70 mm of an outer diameter defined by x and y axis directions. The antenna 301 of reader/writer was opposed to each antenna device of examples 1 to 3 and comparative examples 1 to 4, and as illustrated in
In example 1, the second slit was formed along four sides of inner shape of the antenna coil, and it was having most excellent communication characteristics among examples 1 to 3 and comparative examples 1 to 4. Therefore, the antenna device relating to one embodiment of the present invention can achieve excellent communication characteristics even when large opening is not provided in a conductor.
In addition, about example 2 in which the second slit was formed along three sides of inner shape of the antenna coil and example 3 in which the second slit was formed along one side of inner shape of the antenna coil, they were also having more excellent communication characteristics than comparative example 4, or they were having communication characteristics equal to comparative example 4. In addition, in example 3, a peak was deviated to positive direction of x axis, as the second slit was formed along a lower side of the antenna coil. In this way, the antenna device relating to one embodiment of the present invention is also excellent in strength, as it is not necessary to provide an opening in a conductor, and also, it is possible to achieve the antenna device having excellent communication characteristics and with little limitation in design.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2015-144700 | Jul 2015 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2016/069101 | 6/28/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/014009 | 1/26/2017 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110050164 | Partovi | Mar 2011 | A1 |
| 20130307746 | Nakano | Nov 2013 | A1 |
| 20140091758 | Hidaka | Apr 2014 | A1 |
| 20150076922 | Kato | Mar 2015 | A1 |
| 20150256228 | Goma et al. | Sep 2015 | A1 |
| 20160315373 | Azad | Oct 2016 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 104638342 | May 2015 | CN |
| 204315730 | May 2015 | CN |
| 2006-270681 | Oct 2006 | JP |
| 2008-131115 | Jun 2008 | JP |
| 4687832 | Feb 2011 | JP |
| 2014075775 | Apr 2014 | JP |
| 2015-95707 | May 2015 | JP |
| 2014112150 | Jul 2014 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| Aug. 9, 2016 Search Report issued in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2016/069101. |
| May 21, 2019 Office Action issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201680040626.2. |
| Oct. 21, 2019 Office Action issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201680040626.2. |
| Jan. 22, 2020 Office Action issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201680040626.2. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180211148 A1 | Jul 2018 | US |
