Patent Grant
9024826
The present disclosure generally relates to mobile devices.
Presently, mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) with small form factors and metallic uni-body designs are favored by users. Unfortunately, a small form factor places rather significant limitations on various aspects of product design, such as antenna placement, volume and performance. Notably, either antenna radiation efficiency or operational bandwidth performance is typically sacrificed when antenna placement volume is reduced in a small form factor device. In this regard, a conventional design solution for antenna placement involves forming small size radio frequency (RF) apertures that are typically filled with plastic in a metallic uni-body.
Electronic devices with antennas formed with optically-transparent films and related methods are provided. Briefly described, one embodiment, among others, is an electronic device comprising: a housing defining a cavity; a display disposed within the cavity; a cover disposed over the display and forming a portion of an exterior of the device; an optically transparent, electrically conductive film disposed within the cavity; and an antenna disposed within the cavity, the antenna being at least partially defined by the film, the film being operative as a ground plane for the antenna.
Another embodiment is a method comprising: providing a device housing; and disposing an optically transparent, electrically conductive film within a cavity of the housing to define a slot antenna.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be or may become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present disclosure, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
Many aspects of the disclosure may be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Having summarized various aspects of the present disclosure, reference will now be made in detail to that which is illustrated in the drawings. While the disclosure will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit the scope of legal protection to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. Rather, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
In this regard, electronic devices with antennas formed with optically transparent films and related methods are provided. In some embodiments, an optically transparent, electrically conductive film is positioned between a cover and a display of the device. One or more slot antennas are defined between the film and the housing, with the film functioning as the ground plane. As such, an antenna (e.g., a Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, or NFC antenna) may be provided without the necessity of forming apertures through the housing.
An antenna 112 also is disposed within the cavity. In this embodiment, the antenna is a slot antenna, with portions of the antenna being defined by the film and the housing. Of note, the film functions as a ground plane for the antenna. In some embodiments, the film may be provided as a separate component. In other embodiments, the film may be provided as a constituent of another component, such as a ground layer (shielding) for a touch input sensor. In other embodiments, the film may be integrated in an On-Cell-Touch or an In-Cell-Touch display element, for example.
Because the actual radiation from the antenna propagates from the edge of the transparent film (and a corresponding portion of the housing), the antenna is potentially more efficient than an antenna disposed directly on top of the display. Additionally, since the antenna is disposed beneath the cover, inherent protection against gross mistuning from user contact is provided.
Although various types and configurations of films may be used, one suitable film is an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film that incorporates an optically transparent conductive pattern, such as a printed metal pattern.
The housing defines a cavity 142 in which various components of the device are disposed, such as the display, the film and the touch input sensor, as well as a system board 144, a battery 146 and an antenna feed 148 (other components are omitted for ease of description). The cover, which is supported by support structure of the housing, is disposed over the cavity and forms a portion of an exterior of the device.
Four slits (151, 152, 153 and 154) are defined between the housing and the film: two long slits (151, 153) and two short slits (152, 154). Slits 151, 153 are partially covered with the portion of the housing acting as a supporting structure for the display module and the touch input device. In this embodiment, the support structure includes ledges 156 and 158 that extend inwardly from interior sidewalls of the housing. The cover seats on the ledges.
Slits 152, 154 form an antenna array and are used as radiating slot antennas, with portions of the antennas being defined by corresponding portions of the film and the housing. The film functions as a ground plane for the antennas. Additionally, the support structure functions as capacitive loading for the antennas, thereby facilitating miniaturization of antenna size and tuning. Notably, the length and area of the support structure that is in an overlying relationship with a corresponding portion of the film directly relates to frequency tuning of the associated antenna. In this embodiment, only one of the slits is excited with a voltage gap source 145 via a feed 147, but both may be excited in other embodiments.
In operation, a signal line 148 of the feed may be connected to the electrically conductive pattern of the film. A ground 149 of the feed may be connected to the housing if the housing is made out of a conductive material (e.g. metal), thereby creating a potential difference (voltage difference) between the feed 148 and the housing. This provides a voltage source to excite the antenna. If the housing is made out of a non-conductive material (e.g. plastic), the voltage different between the electrically conductive pattern of the film and the system ground may be the source for the slot antenna.
The radiation pattern of the antenna array may be shaped by varying the electrical length between the antennas, such as by altering the electrical distance between two radiating slots or continuous edge contours. For instance, if the antennas are in phase, the resulting radiation pattern would typically cover a hemi-spherical volume above the cover. Notably, this configuration may be preferred for angular coverage of GPS antennas. If, however, the antennas are not in phase, the resulting radiation pattern may be omni-directional in azimuth, such as may be preferred for WLAN applications.
In order to change the electrical length between the antennas, the physical length of the non-radiating edges of the film may be increased. In some embodiments, this may be accomplished by using a meandered shape for the non-radiating edges, resulting in an effective electrical length change. In such condition, the antenna can operate at 13.56 MHz being as the NFC (Near-Field-Communication) antenna to communicate with other electronic equipment or handheld devices. Alternatively, a passive or an active impedance tuning component may be placed between non-radiating edges of the film and signal ground points for antenna impedance tuning and/or a phase shifting.
In some embodiments, a film may be used to provide a near-field proximity sensor, such as may be useful in determining when a device is in close proximity to a user. For instance, such a sensor may be used to determine when a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) has been placed close to the face of a user during answering of a phone call. As is known, the proximity of a user may impact antenna performance. An embodiment of a device that incorporates such a sensor is described with respect to
As shown in
The processing device 170 may include a custom made or commercially available processor, a central processing unit (CPU) or an auxiliary processor among several processors, a semiconductor based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip), one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), a plurality of suitably configured digital logic gates, and other electrical configurations comprising discrete elements both individually and in various combinations to coordinate the overall operation of the system.
The memory 180 may include any or a combination of volatile memory elements (e.g., random-access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, and SRAM, etc.)) and nonvolatile memory elements. The memory typically comprises native operating system 182, one or more native applications, emulation systems, or emulated applications for any of a variety of operating systems and/or emulated hardware platforms, emulated operating systems, etc. For example, the applications may include application specific software which may comprise some or all the components of the system. In accordance with such embodiments, the components are stored in memory and executed by the processing device.
Touchscreen interface 176 is configured to detect contact within the display area of the display 174 and provides such functionality as on-screen buttons, menus, keyboards, soft keys, etc. that allows users to navigate user interfaces by touch.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the memory may, and typically will, comprise other components which have been omitted for purposes of brevity. Note that in the context of this disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores one or more programs for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
With further reference to
Film 186, which may be a separate layer or a constituent layer of another component, provides electrical inputs to proximity detection system 190 for operating as a near-field proximity sensor. Notably, in order for the film to provide such inputs, switching the film from an antenna mode to a sensor mode is performed. Specifically, in contrast to being connected to transceiver components during operation in the antenna mode, the film is selectively connected to the proximity detection system.
In operation, the proximity detection system monitors one or more of various parameters, such as antenna impedance, power ratio and reflected power, for example, in order to determine whether the antenna is being influenced by a proximity effect.
If it is determined in block 204 that the device is to be operated in the sensor mode, the process proceeds to block 206, in which one or more parameters are monitored. By way of example, antenna impedance, power ratio and/or reflected power may be monitored. In block 208, a determination is made as to whether a proximity effect is detected. If such an effect is detected, such as may be associated with a body part of the user being adjacent the antenna of the device, the process may proceed to block 210. In block 210, the film is once again operated in the antenna mode; however, operation is performed with a modified parameter in order to mitigate degraded antenna performance attributable to the sensed proximity. Then, the process may return to block 208. If, however, the determinations are negative in blocks 204 and 208, the process may return to block 202.
If embodied in software, it should be noted that each block depicted in the flowchart of
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely examples of possible implementations. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. By way of example, the systems described may be implemented in hardware, software or combinations thereof. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5532705 | Hama | Jul 1996 | A |
| 8489162 | Dou et al. | Jul 2013 | B1 |
| 20110273351 | Johnson | Nov 2011 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140240176 A1 | Aug 2014 | US |
