Patent Grant
9160067
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Mar. 26, 2012 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial No. 10-2012-0030771, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an antenna of a wireless terminal, and an antenna bushing thereof which improves antenna performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent designs of wireless terminals such as smart phones, laptops and GPS devices, an extractable antenna has been employed to handle transmission/reception at relatively lower frequency bands, e.g., UHF and VHF, and in particular, to receive digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) signals at those bands. This extractable antenna is typically separate and independent from other, built-in antennas used for communication at higher frequencies (e.g., cellular band frequencies). The extractable antenna is typically a monopole, whip type antenna extractable from the housing of the wireless terminal, and retractable back into the housing via manual manipulation. For the extractable antenna of a general purpose or the DMB, a reception type antenna has been broadly used, and the reception type antenna requires an antenna bushing to support the monopole radiator, the antenna bushing being part of an antenna module.
One of the factors that impede antenna performance is the electromagnetic interference (EMI) which is emitted from peripheral electronic components. The EMI disturbs and affects an electronic circuit coupled to the extractable antenna. The disturbance may interrupt or limit the effective performance of the antenna. It is also well known that the EMI causes signal loss along with lowering the antenna performance.
The antenna bushing 7 is composed of an upper, closed collar portion 7a, a lower, partial collar portion 7b, the fastening portion 3 and a signal contact plate 4 which makes electrical contact at a signal contact point 4′ (shaded circle) with a receiver contact point (not shown) of the wireless terminal. An antenna signal beginning point 1 is considered approximately in a central region of the closed collar portion 7a, which is where good electrical contact between the antenna bushing 7 and the antenna radiator is made. The signal contact point 4′ is located at a vertical distance below the antenna signal beginning point 1. The longer this distance is, the higher the signal loss occurring due to the EMI. Particularly, when electronic components such as an ear jack, a motor, and sensors are installed adjacent to the antenna bushing, the amount of the signal loss increases due to the negative impact of the EMI emitted from such peripheral electronic components. Accordingly, there exists a need for an antenna bushing that improves the antenna performance while reducing the signal loss and enhancing the durability of the antenna.
The present disclosure provides an antenna with a bushing that improves an antenna performance by extending the length of an antenna radiator portion externally exposed outside of a device when the antenna is extracted from the device.
The present disclosure further provides an antenna with a bushing that reduces the amount of signal loss and improves the antenna performance by shortening a distance between an antenna signal beginning point and a signal contact point of the antenna bushing.
An antenna for a wireless terminal is disclosed with an antenna bushing configured to provide enhanced antenna performance. The antenna bushing includes an antenna guide portion having an upper tubular portion supporting a radiator at substantially a point of extraction from the wireless terminal. A bushing fastening portion is disposed adjacent the upper tubular portion. A signal contact point of the antenna bushing transfers an antenna signal to/from an RF circuit point of the wireless terminal. At least a portion of the signal contact point is adjacent the upper tubular portion.
The configuration may reduce deleterious effects of EMI from other circuit components of the wireless terminal. The configuration may also enable an extraction distance of an antenna radiator to be longer than in the related art, for a wireless terminal with a given form factor, thereby improving antenna performance.
Aspects, features and advantages of the presently disclosed technology will be more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. The views in the drawings are schematic views only, and are not intended to be to scale or correctly proportioned. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and structures incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention.
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.
An antenna mounted in an antenna bushing according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be substituted for various types of antennas including a reception type antenna. For conciseness of explanation, a reception type DMB antenna is described hereinafter; however, it is understood that embodiments applicable to other types of antennas are available. Antennas of the present disclosure can be employed in fixed as well as portable wireless terminals.
Electronic components are mounted at a circuit board (e.g., PCB) 23. The antenna bushing 100 performs a function of supporting the radiator 18 and of transferring the broadcasting signal received through the radiator 18 to the circuit board 23. The rear cover 22 includes a plurality of bosses (with centralized holes) to be fastened to the front cover 21. One of the bosses (hereinafter, a rear cover boss 20) is fastened to the antenna bushing 100 by a fastening member 17 inserted through the boss hole and a bushing hole 10. The bushing hole 10 is aligned with the hole of rear cover boss 20 in the fastened state, to secure the antenna bushing 100 to the rear cover 22. The fastening member 17 in the exemplary embodiment is a screw; however, other fastening members such as pins or compression posts can be alternatively employed. Further, the rear cover 22, the antenna bushing 100, the front cover 21, and other electronic components may be fastened together by the fastening member 17.
Referring to
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The antenna bushing hole 10 is aligned with the hole of the rear cover boss 20 to be fastened by the fastening member 17. Thus, the antenna bushing 100 does not need a separate boss as required in the related art antenna bushing (i.e., boss 8 of
As described earlier, the longer the distance between the antenna signal beginning point and the signal contact point, the worse the antenna performance becomes. Antenna performance degradation due to a long distance between points 4 and 1 as in
To minimize the EMI disturbance and improve the antenna performance, in the present embodiment, the signal contact point 11′ is formed as close to the antenna signal beginning point 15 as possible while being separated away from peripheral electronic components. The amount of the signal loss is reduced compared to the related art as the distance between the signal contact point 11′ and the signal beginning point 15 is shorter.
View (a) illustrates a length D1 of an antenna portion exposed outside of the related art device 5 when the antenna radiator 18 is fully extracted in the related art antenna bushing 7 (with all telescopic tubes of a radiator 18 fully drawn out). View (b) illustrates the same fully extracted condition with the same radiator 18 when the antenna bushing 100 in accordance with the invention is employed within a device 200, which can be the same form factor as device 5.
Comparing the views (b) and (a), the length D4 of the radiator exposed outside of the device 200 is longer than the length D1 when the radiator is extracted from the related art device 5. Since the antenna portion exposed outside of the device is increased as much as the length D3, the antenna performance is improved in device 200. Comparing the arrangement of view (a), the antenna signal contact point 11′ is formed adjacent to the antenna signal beginning point 15 (the two points 11′ and 15 are at substantially the same distance below the top of device 200). Moreover, the bushing hole 10 is positioned over the rear cover boss hole located at the upper end portion of the device 200. Further, as the distance between the antenna signal beginning point 15 and the signal contact point 11′ is closer than the corresponding distance in view (a), the EMI disturbance is reduced. The overall antenna performance, therefore, is improved.
Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it should be clearly understood that many variations and modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein described, which may appear to those skilled in the art, will still fall within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, while the bushing fastening portion 13 is exemplified above the signal contact portion 11, it is conceivable that their positions could be reversed such that portion 11 would be disposed above portion 13 in an alternative configuration.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2012-0030771 | Mar 2012 | KR | national |
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| 5933330 | Beutler et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
| 6064341 | Hassemer | May 2000 | A |
| 6078291 | Paulick et al. | Jun 2000 | A |
| 7259728 | Ostervall et al. | Aug 2007 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130249745 A1 | Sep 2013 | US |
