Patent Grant
11069988
This application claims priority to and the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 2020103703837 filed Apr. 30, 2020, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to the field of antenna technology, and in particular to a diverse integration module system of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas and an electronic apparatus.
With the arrival of the 5G age, due to the requirements for higher-order multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communications, the requirements for coverage of more new frequency bands, and even the addition of millimeter-wave bands, a greater number of antennas (comprising millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas) are required. Nevertheless, it results in higher difficulty in antenna design in the case where the space of a whole device cannot be significantly increased. Furthermore, the size of the whole device will be even increased due to the insufficiently compact antenna arrangement or design, resulting in a decline in product competitiveness. The 5G frequency bands are divided into millimeter-wave bands and non-millimeter-wave bands. At present, the mainstream antenna design scheme for non-millimeter-wave bands is to have separate antennas, and the mainstream implementation types comprise stamped iron sheet, flexible printed circuit (FPC), laser direct structuring (LDS), printed direct structuring (PDS), etc.; and the current mainstream antenna design scheme for millimeter-wave bands is the integrated antenna-in-package (AiP), that is, an antenna (or antennas) and a chip, especially a radio frequency chip, i.e., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), are integrated into a packaged antenna module. As mentioned above, the number of antennas has been increased significantly in the 5G age, and thus a 5G device requires multiple separate 5G non-millimeter-wave antennas and several 5G millimeter-wave antenna modules (if the device can support millimeter-wave band communications).
Therefore, in view of this, a Chinese patent CN201910760335.6 proposes a scheme of an integration module of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas; however, the independent claims of the patent are based on the following: 1) millimeter-wave antennas are dipole antennas; and 2) a substrate comprises a floor, a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer, and the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer are respectively located on two sides of the floor; a radio frequency integrated circuit is provided on the first dielectric layer, and the radio frequency integrated circuit is connected to a feeding structure of N dipole antenna units; and a non-millimeter-wave antenna is provided on the second dielectric layer. Therefore, what is protected by this patent is that the radio frequency integrated circuit and the non-millimeter-wave antenna are parallel and provided on different layers.
In view of the above, it results in higher difficulty in antenna design or higher cost in the case where the space of a whole device cannot be significantly increased but there are requirements for communications which result in the need to accommodate more 5G (millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave) antennas. Furthermore, the size of the whole device will be even increased due to the insufficiently compact antenna arrangement or design, resulting in a decline in product competitiveness. The Chinese patent CN201910760335.6 proposes adding non-millimeter-wave antenna traces to a module so that millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas are integrated on one module, but this design will occupy a larger area in a horizontal plane.
The present invention is exactly aimed at the above existing problems, and the present invention provides a diverse integration module system of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas and an electronic apparatus.
To achieve the above object, the specific technical solution of the present invention is as follows:
A diverse integration module system of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas comprises an integration module of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas and a non-millimeter-wave environment, the integration module of millimeter-wave and non-millimeter-wave antennas comprising a millimeter-wave antenna module provided with one or more first non-millimeter-wave antennas, the millimeter-wave antenna module being further provided thereon with a first communication part that is communicatively connected to the non-millimeter-wave environment, both the first non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) and the first communication part forming a communication connection with the non-millimeter-wave environment for realizing hybrid reusing of the millimeter-wave antenna module to achieve a function of diverse non-millimeter-wave antenna(s).
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the millimeter-wave antenna module further comprises a module carrier, one or more millimeter-wave antennas, and a millimeter-wave radio frequency chip, and the millimeter-wave radio frequency chip is electrically connected to the millimeter-wave antenna(s).
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the millimeter-wave radio frequency chip and the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) are set in the same plane at the module carrier or in non-parallel space at the module carrier. Such an arrangement, especially the arrangement in non-parallel space, can make full use of the height space on sides of a mobile phone, and will not occupy a larger area in a horizontal plane, achieving a more compact antenna design without resulting in an increase in size and cost of the whole device, and improving the product competitiveness.
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the non-millimeter-wave environment comprises feeding line(s) for one or more non-millimeter-wave antennas and feeding source(s) for non-millimeter-wave antenna(s), and the feeding source(s) for non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) forms a communication connection with the millimeter-wave antenna module via the feeding line(s) for the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) for realizing reusing of the millimeter-wave antenna module to achieve the function of non-millimeter-wave antenna(s).
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the communication connection is an electrical connection, or a coupling connection, or an inductive connection.
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the first communication part is configured as a conductive region on the module carrier, which conductive region makes an electrical connection, or a coupling connection, or an inductive connection with the feeding line(s) for the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s); and this conductive region is electrically conductive to a conductive ground or a conductive mechanism in the millimeter-wave antenna module.
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the feeding line(s) for the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) is further provided thereon with a matching network and/or a frequency tuning network for non-millimeter-wave antenna(s).
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the system is further provided with a thermally conductive or electrically conductive material for conducting heat from a high-heat region of the system to the outside.
As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the system further comprises other chips which, together with the millimeter-wave radio frequency chip, is the high-heat region, and the other chips are selected from any one or more of a power management chip, an operation processing chip, and a data storage chip.
The millimeter-wave antenna module of the present invention comprises millimeter-wave antenna(s) or an array constituted by the millimeter-wave antenna(s) (which may be a linear array, a square array, a rectangular array, a triangular array, a circular array, or a non-equidistant arbitrarily shaped array, etc.), and more than one antenna array may also be constituted, and thus the number of the millimeter-wave antenna(s) may be one or more, and the millimeter-wave antenna(s) may be in various forms of a single linearly-polarized antenna, a dual linearly-polarized antenna, a single circularly-polarized antenna, or a dual circularly-polarized antenna, etc. working in a single band or multiple bands, e.g., a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, a patch antenna, a stacked patch antenna, an inverted F antenna (IFA), a planar inverted F antenna (PIFA), a Yagi-Uda antenna, a slot antenna, a magnetic-electric dipole antenna, a horn antenna, a loop antenna, a grid antenna, a cavity-backed antenna, etc. More than two (including two) millimeter-wave antennas may be different from each other as to antenna form, and more than three (including three) millimeter-wave antennas may be unequal as to spacing thereof, and the millimeter-wave antennas may be distributed on various surfaces of the module (that is, the millimeter-wave antennas are not limited to being distributed on a single surface of the module).
The number of the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) whose function is achieved by reusing the millimeter-wave antenna module may be one or more. The non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) may also be in the form of a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, a patch antenna, a stacked patch antenna, an inverted F antenna (IFA), a planar inverted F antenna (PIFA), a Yagi-Uda antenna, a slot antenna, a magnetic-electric dipole antenna, a horn antenna, a loop antenna, a grid antenna, and a cavity-backed antenna, the reused module can achieve more than one non-millimeter-wave antenna, and these multiple non-millimeter-wave antennas do not necessarily need to be in the same form. The shape of this millimeter-wave antenna module may be any shape such as square, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, L-shape, T-shape, V-shape, U-shape, “concave” shape, “convex” shape, “mouth” shape, circle, ellipse, arc, etc. The material of the antenna module of the present invention comprises, but is not limited to, ceramic (e.g., ceramic types like low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), or high-temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC), etc.), a printed circuit board (PCB), a flexible circuit board (FPC) (comprising liquid crystal polymer (LCP) or modified PI (MPI), etc.).
The present invention further provides an electronic apparatus employing the above diverse integration module system of antennas, the millimeter-wave antenna module being provided thereon with a connecting base, the connecting base being connected to a mainboard of the electronic apparatus, wherein the non-millimeter-wave environment is provided on the mainboard of the electronic apparatus.
The present invention proposes designing non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) on a millimeter-wave antenna module and simultaneously further directly reusing the millimeter-wave antenna module, which is designed so that this module also has an equivalent function of non-millimeter-wave antenna(s), that is, the present invention directly reuses the millimeter-wave antenna module and equivalently reuses the millimeter-wave antenna module simultaneously in a hybrid manner, so as to achieve a function of more complete and diverse non-millimeter-wave antenna(s); also, the system design of a whole device can be more compact and have a more ultimate size, making it possible to improve the comprehensive competitiveness of the whole product.
In order to enable those ordinarily skilled in the art to be able to understand and implement the present invention, examples of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference made to
As shown in Example One of
The millimeter-wave antennas may be in various antenna forms described above, and a size of each millimeter-wave antenna is preferably not greater than 2 equivalent guided wavelengths at its lowest operating frequency, and a spacing of the millimeter-wave antennas is preferably not greater than 2 free-space wavelengths at its lowest operating frequency. First non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) 113 carried on the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 in this example is electrically connected by feeding source(s) 21 for non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) via feeding line(s) 22 for the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) (with matching network(s) 23, and/or frequency tuning network(s)). Besides, the back face (or a part thereof) of the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 is a conductive wall or conductive region 112a, non-millimeter-wave feeding source(s) 21 can be fed into the back face of the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 through an electrical connection via antenna feeding line(s) 22 (with matching network(s) 23, and/or frequency tuning network(s)), and this conductive wall or conductive region 112a is electrically conductive to a conductive ground or a conductive structure (preferably a metal ground or a metal structure) in a module carrier 112. In this way, the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 can have the function of a plurality of (four) non-millimeter antennas, achieving a more complete and diverse antenna design with a more compact space, i.e., achieving an integration module scheme that can cover millimeter-wave bands and (multiple) non-millimeter-wave bands of 5G. In addition, in order to strengthen heat dissipation, an electrically conductive or thermally conductive material 3 may be added to be connected to the shielding cover or shielding layer 112b of a chip region to conduct and remove heat from the chip region to the outside. The system setting diagrams of this diverse integration module are shown as
In the example of the present invention, the non-millimeter-wave environment 2 comprising the non-millimeter-wave feeding source 21, the feeding line(s) 22 for the non-millimeter-wave antenna(s), and matching network(s) 23 (and/or frequency tuning network(s)) for non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) is preferably configured on a mainboard 24 of PCB, and through a combination of the mainboard 24 of PCB, the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 and the non-millimeter-wave environment 2, an electronic apparatus that reuses the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 to achieve the function of non-millimeter-wave antenna(s) can be provided. At this time, a coverage region of the module carrier 112 of the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 and its extension region on the mainboard 24 of PCB are set as a clearance region 24a of the millimeter-wave antenna module 11 without copper plating, and the module carrier 112 is provided thereon with a connecting base 112c, which is electrically connected to the mainboard 24 of PCB, of the electronic apparatus.
As shown in Example Two of
As shown in Example Three of
As shown in Example Four of
As shown in Example Five of
As shown in Example Six of
As shown in Example Seven of
As shown in Example Eight of
The examples described above only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is relatively specific and detailed, but it cannot thus be understood as a limitation to the scope of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for those ordinarily skilled in the art, without departing from the concept of the present invention, several variants and improvements can be further made, which all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010370383.7 | Apr 2020 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140145883 | Baks | May 2014 | A1 |
| 20170062953 | Teshima | Mar 2017 | A1 |
| 20170201014 | Lee | Jul 2017 | A1 |
| 20180248250 | Hsu | Aug 2018 | A1 |
| 20190027838 | Paulotto | Jan 2019 | A1 |
| 20200036083 | Kim | Jan 2020 | A1 |
| 20200203836 | Park | Jun 2020 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 110534924 | Dec 2019 | CN |
