Patent Application
20160172744
A communication device or mobile computer such as a laptop personal computer (PC), a tablet computing device, a smart phone, etc., has included therewith a radio communication antenna. Much the same is found with other devices used for communications, e.g., radio or wireless communication devices included in vehicles, aircraft and the like.
A radio communication antenna is located for example in a clam shell style laptop PC on an upper surface or a side surface of a liquid crystal display so that the antenna exhibits the optimum sensitivity when users use the laptop PC. In order to cope with recent demands such as broad and multiple frequency bands, a high data transfer rate, or a diversity communication, the number or size of antennas mounted on a display-side casing of the laptop PC has been increased. Again, much the same has happened with other device formats (e.g., tablets, smart phones, vehicle communication devices, aircraft communication systems, etc.).
In communication device covers, strength and conductivity are conventionally thought of as competing with one another. That is, a material such as metal is strong and thus desirable to use in a device cover enclosing or supporting an antenna. However, metal interferes with the antenna's communication capability, thus counseling use of a non-conductive material such as a resin or other non-interfering material.
Conventionally such materials (i.e., strong/rigid versus non-conductive) are applied in areas with care. For example, in a metallic display casing, cutout portions for securing the antenna sensitivity are provided in the metal structure, even though they introduce weak points in terms of strength.
In summary, one aspect provides a device, comprising: an antenna; a main memory storing code; a processor operatively coupled to the antenna and which executes the code stored in the main memory, wherein the code stored in the main memory comprises code which is executed to communicate via the antenna; and a device cover that includes a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers.
Another aspect provides a device, comprising: an antenna; a processor operatively coupled to the antenna; and a device cover that includes a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers.
A further aspect provides a device cover, comprising: a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers.
A still further aspect provides a method, comprising: setting at least one antenna area of a cover; setting a pattern for fibers of the cover, wherein the pattern in at least one antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers; and producing the cover using material incorporating the non-conductive fibers and the conductive fibers according to the pattern.
The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.
For a better understanding of the embodiments, together with other and further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.
It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations in addition to the described example embodiments. Thus, the following more detailed description of the example embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments, as claimed, but is merely representative of example embodiments.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” (or the like) means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or the like in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, et cetera. In other instances, well known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obfuscation.
Conventional approaches to antenna covers include an approach that attempts to form separate areas, i.e., strong conducting/interfering material areas and weaker, non-conductive/non-interfering areas, such that the overall cover is strong but exhibits acceptable interference levels and thus communication capabilities. This process has lead to many different designs in which areas (interfering and non-interfering) are joined together, e.g., in a corrugated fashion.
For example, a conventional approach to design fabrication may be as follows. A carbon fiber area is formed (which is opaque to or interferes with radio frequency (RF) communications) with a cut away of the carbon area. Replacement material (e.g., glass fiber, etc.) is cut to fit into this cut away zone (in order to reduce the interference with RF communications). The replacement material is then inserted into the cutouts. This is followed by finish processing that among other things addresses cosmetic concerns given the introduction of joints and/or seams to the cover at the material area interfaces. This process thus requires formation of and handling of additional components as well as finish processing to conceal the cosmetic artifacts of the differential materials (e.g., joints/seams are subjected to finishing to ensure cosmetic/aesthetic appearance quality).
Rather than requiring a modification of the cover to include multiple subparts and subsequent finishing operations (and associated increase in cost), an embodiment provides a custom weave pattern of conductive fibers (e.g., carbon fibers or other interfering type fiber of choice necessary for strength) with a limited ratio of alternative non-conductive/non-interfering fibers, such as glass fiber or KEVLAR fiber. KEVLAR is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the United States and other countries.
An embodiment provides a weaving pattern that is a sufficiently open mesh with respect to the carbon content in specific zones to allow RF signals to permeate the cover material. While the fabric becomes a unique material for each implementation, the weaving is automated and will not suffer the manual molding cycle time impact of handling additional parts. Nor will this approach suffer the joint(s) and/or seam(s) required between two dissimilar materials, i.e., that need to be managed for cosmetic effects.
The illustrated example embodiments will be best understood by reference to the figures. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain example embodiments.
While various other circuits, circuitry or components may be utilized in information handling devices, with regard to smart phone and/or tablet circuitry 100, an example illustrated in
There are power management chip(s) 130, e.g., a battery management unit, BMU, which manage power as supplied, for example, via a rechargeable battery 140, which may be recharged by a connection to a power source (not shown). In at least one design, a single chip, such as 110, is used to supply BIOS like functionality and DRAM memory.
System 100 typically includes one or more of a WWAN transceiver 150 and a WLAN transceiver 160 and associated antennas for connecting to various networks, such as telecommunications networks and wireless Internet devices, e.g., access points. Additionally, devices 120 are commonly included, e.g., cameras, external input devices, short range wireless and/or near field communication devices, and the like. System 100 often includes a touch screen 170 for data input and display/rendering. System 100 also typically includes various memory devices, for example flash memory 180 and SDRAM 190.
The example of
In
In
The system, upon power on, may be configured to execute boot code 290 for the BIOS 268, as stored within the SPI Flash 266, and thereafter processes data under the control of one or more operating systems and application software (for example, stored in system memory 240). An operating system may be stored in any of a variety of locations and accessed, for example, according to instructions of the BIOS 268. As described herein, a device may include fewer or more features than shown in the system of
Information handling device circuitry, as for example outlined in
The display casing 323 is a structure for protecting internal components of, for example, the display module 325 from an external pressing force. For this reason, the display casing 323 has usually been formed of a thick glass fiber reinforced plastic. Increasingly, in order to achieve a thin size and a light weight while maintaining strength of the casing, light metals such as aluminum alloys or magnesium alloys are often used instead of glass fiber reinforced plastic.
When antennas mounted on the antenna mounting portions 327a and 327b are disposed inside the display casing 323 formed of a conductive material such as metal, the sensitivity may be lowered. For this reason, in the case of the display casing 323 formed of metal, a structure is typically used in which cutouts 333a and 333b are formed in parts of a side portion thereof corresponding to the antennas, and caps 335a and 335b configured by nonconductive members such as rubber or plastics are packed into the cutouts 333a and 333b.
However, when the cutouts 333a and 333b are formed in the display casing 323, the strength at these portions is inevitably lowered undesirably. For this reason, it is necessary to decide the structure of the display casing 323 with the presumption that the strength will be lowered by the cutouts 333a and 333b so that sufficient strength can be ensured. Particularly, when a plurality of antennas is mounted on one casing, the cutouts are required by the number of antennas mounted, so that it leads to a limit in achieving a thin size and lightweight in a metallic casing. Much the same difficulty is faced in device coverings for circuitry such as outlined in
Referring to
As illustrated in
The weaving pattern is a sufficiently open mesh with respect to the conductive fiber content in specific zones, e.g., Antenna A and Antenna B areas in
In an embodiment, the weave pattern is designed to fit the antenna layout of the particular device. In production, the cover material is woven with specific fiber inclusion/exclusion in the particular areas according to the weave pattern. While the fabric or cover material is a custom pattern unique to each implementation, the weave is automated and therefore will proceed quickly once the weave pattern has been set. Additionally, the use of a custom weave pattern does not suffer the manual molding cycle time impact of handling additional parts. Moreover, the areas having differential fiber content, e.g., Antenna A and Antenna B areas of
As will be appreciated, depending on the type of fibers chosen for the weave pattern, some or all conductive fibers may be excluded from the antenna areas. In the illustrated example, Antenna A and Antenna B areas of the weave pattern are completely devoid of any conductive fibers. This is not a strict requirement, however, and may be modified to suit the particular fibers chosen, the type and sensitivity of the antenna, etc. For example, the conductive/non-conductive fiber ratio may vary in the antenna area depending on factors such as fiber material, antenna sensitivity, proximity to the antenna in question, surrounding materials, strength/rigidity requirements of the cover, etc.
An embodiment therefore represents a shift in the production process of antenna covers, particularly for personal/mobile communication devices. Referring to
Once antenna area(s) have been determined for the implementation, a weave pattern is set at 502. By this it is meant that the weave pattern for conductive and non-conductive fibers is set such that in the antenna area(s), non-conductive fibers predominate or are used to the exclusion of conductive, e.g., carbon, fibers. The weave pattern is then sent to direct an automated weaving process at 503 such that the chosen fibers are included in the pattern set at 502. This may include a process whereby cover material such as fabric is weaved in a pattern that repeats, i.e., individual cover pieces may be cut at 504 from the weaved pattern for use in individual device covers.
Example embodiments are described herein with reference to the figures, which illustrate example methods, devices and products according to various examples. It will be understood that the illustrated examples are non-limiting and merely presented to illustrate certain aspects that guide the understanding of the disclosure. For example, as used herein, the singular “a” and “an” may be construed as including the plural “one or more” unless clearly indicated otherwise.
This disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The example embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain principles and practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
Thus, although illustrative example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying figures, it is to be understood that this description is not limiting and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure.
