Patent Application
20160164188
This application claims the benefit under 35 USC 119(a) of Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2014-0173505 and 10-2015-0056485 filed on Dec. 5, 2014 and Apr. 22, 2015, respectively, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
1. Field
The following description relates to a near-field antenna apparatus and an electronic device including the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a near-field antenna may perform near-field communication (NFC) and power transmission using a magnetic field. For example, the near-field antenna apparatus may perform radio frequency identification (RFID), NFC, and wireless power transfer (WPT), which are contactless wireless communication schemes.
An existing near-field antenna has a thin planar shape with a loop printed on a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) thereof, and is attached to a battery or a cover of a mobile phone. To this end, however, an FPCB antenna having a special structure for attachment to the battery is required, and manual operations need to be performed to attach the manufactured FPCB to the vicinity of a battery pack.
In order to overcome these shortcomings, a surface-mounted device type chip antenna may be used instead of the FPCB antenna. An existing chip antenna structured to have a conductive loop with a ferrite core which generates a magnetic field aligned in a Z direction. The existing chip antenna needs to be manufactured in such a manner that a conductive coil, wound around a ferrite core having an H shape, is dense or is overlapped two or three times. Also, in such an antenna, a loss is generated due to a proximity effect of an alternating current (AC) signal corresponding to a low frequency (for example, a few MHz to hundreds of MHz). In order to avoid this problem a thickness in the Z direction is increased. In addition, in order for the existing chip antenna to be applied to mobile equipment (for example, a smartphone, or the like) manufactured to have a structure of a small thin plate, the antenna needs to be deformed. In addition, components applied to the mobile equipment need to be reduced to enhance a degree of freedom in terms of design.
Due to the shortcomings of the Z axis direction chip antenna, an X axis or Y axis chip type antenna forming a magnetic field aligned in an X axis direction or Y axis direction may be used, but the X axis or Y axis directional chip type antenna has a drawback in that strength of a magnetic field in the Z axis direction is low, and thus, a solution thereto is required.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In one general aspect, a near-field antenna apparatus using an eddy current, and an electronic device having the same includes: an antenna element around which a coil is wound to input or output magnetic flux in a curl up direction of the coil; and a conductive material member disposed in a path of the magnetic field and generating an eddy current induced by a magnetic flux to a predetermined region.
In another general aspect, near-field antenna apparatus includes an antenna element around which a coil is wound configured to create a magnetic field; and a conductive material member, disposed in a path of the magnetic field, configured to generate an eddy current from a magnetic flux in a predetermined region.
In another general aspect, an electronic device includes an antenna element around which a coil is wound configured to generate a magnetic field; and a conductive material member, disposed in a path of the magnetic field, configured to generate an eddy current and a magnetic flux in a predetermined region.
Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims.
Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements. The drawings may not be to scale, and the relative size, proportions, and depiction of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience.
The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described herein. However, various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. The sequences of operations described herein are merely examples, and are not limited to those set forth herein, but may be changed as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, with the exception of operations necessarily occurring in a certain order. Also, descriptions of functions and constructions that are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art may be omitted for increased clarity and conciseness.
The features described herein may be embodied in different forms, and are not to be construed as being limited to the examples described herein. Rather, the examples described herein have been provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will convey the full scope of the disclosure to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Referring to
For example, the antenna element 100 may be a chip antenna formed by winding a coil around a ferrite core 102. The antenna element 100 may be an X-directed or Y-directed chip type antenna, and is not particularly limited in structure and shape as long as the antenna element 100 is an X-directed or Y-directed chip type antenna. Details of the antenna element 100 will be described in detail with reference to
A magnetic field of the antenna element 100 varies depending on a direction of a current flowing in the coil wound around the antenna element 100 according to Ampere's Law.
The conductive material member 150 is disposed in a path of the magnetic field output from the antenna element 100 inducing an eddy current in a predetermined region of the conductive material 150. Here, the eddy current is induced by a magnetic flux passing through the conductive material member 150, and flows around the magnetic flux. In relation to the cylindrical coordinate system, the magnetic flux passes through the Z direction, and the eddy current flows in a φ direction tangent to the eddy current.
Here, the eddy current flows in such a manner that a magnetic flux is formed in a direction opposite to a direction in which the magnetic field is transmitted. That is, the conductive material member 150 serves as a mirror with respect to the magnetic field. Thus, a target of magnetic field output from the conductive material member 150 may be adjusted by adjusting a position or a disposition direction of the conductive material member 150. For example, the target may be adjusted to a predetermined region. The magnetic field toward the conductor, −Z-directed, create a eddy current on conductor and this currents create +Z-directed magnetic Fields. So, Total fields to +Z-Directed are magnified.
For example, the conductive material member 150 is positioned at one side of an upper portion of the antenna element 100 and/or at the other side of a lower portion of the antenna element 100. That is, the conductive material member 150 may be disposed in an upper portion of a direction in which magnetic field is input in the antenna element 100, (for example a south pole) and in a lower portion of a direction in which magnetic field is output in the antenna element 100 (e.g. a north pole). For example, the conductive material member 150 is disposed at diagonal positions of upper and lower surfaces of the antenna element 100 to perform a function of increasing magnetic field formed by the antenna element 100 in the Z axis direction.
For example, the conductive material member 150 may be formed of a conductive material such as a metal able to form an eddy current. The conductive material member 150 may be a printed circuit board (PCB) of a mobile device, a component (a display, a camera, a speaker, a USIM, an earphone jack, etc.) mounted on a PCB, or may be an outer case of a mobile device. Details of implementation of the conductive material member 150 will be described with reference to
Referring to
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The antenna apparatus illustrated in
Referring to
As the conductive material member is disposed in the magnetic field of the antenna element 100, magnetic field around the antenna element becomes asymmetrical in the X direction in relation to the center of chip. Thus, a magnitude of the magnetic field in the +Z direction in a region spaced apart from the center of the chip may be different from a magnitude of magnetic field in the −Z direction. That is, the magnetic flux in the Z axis direction is enhanced.
Hereinafter, examples of a first conductive material member 200 and a second conductive material member 300 will be described.
Referring to
A second coil is wound around the second antenna element 110, and thus, the second antenna element 110 has an input or output magnetic field in a curling direction of the winding direction of the second coil. In other words, the antenna element 110 generates a magnetic field which extends from a north pole to a south pole. For example, the second antenna element 110 may input or output magnetic field independently from the antenna element 100. For example, the second antenna element 110 is associated with the antenna element 100 to be configurable as a multi-input multi-output technique.
The second antenna element 110 inputs or outputs magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the antenna element 100 outputs magnetic field. That is, a direction in which the second antenna element outputs a magnetic field, a direction in which the antenna element 100 outputs magnetic field, and a direction in which magnetic flux travels through the conductive material member are perpendicular to each other. Thus, a magnetic field formation region of the antenna apparatus is evenly distributed three-dimensionally.
The nth antenna element 120 is parallel to the antenna element 100 and input or output a magnetic field. For example, a maximum magnitude of the magnetic field output from the antenna device 100 is small, and the antenna apparatus further includes a plurality of nth antenna elements 120 to increase the magnitude of the output magnetic field.
The nth antenna element 120 share the ferrite core with the antenna element 100. That is, a plurality of coils are disposed in the single ferrite core. The first conductive material member 200 is disposed at one side of an upper portion of the antenna element 100 and a magnetic flux travels through the first conductive material member 200 in a first direction. The second conductive material member 300 is disposed at the other side of a lower portion of the antenna element 100 and a second magnetic flux travels through the second conductive material in a second direction.
For example, the first conductive material member 200 and the second conductive material member 300 may cover all the respective paths of the magnetic fields output from the antenna element 100, the second antenna element 110, and the nth antenna element 120. Thus, the area of the first conductive material member and/or the area of the second conductive material member 300 is increased. As the area of the first conductive material member 200 and/or the area of the second conductive material member 300 is increased, an eddy current is formed to be wider and greater. Thus, the magnetic flux in the Z axis direction may be further enhanced. That is, the antenna element 100, the second antenna element 110, and the nth antenna element 120 have a synergistic effect due to the medium of the first conductive material member 200 and the second conductive material member 300.
In the near-field antenna apparatus for use in an electronic device (for example, a smartphone, or the like) the first conductive material member 200 is a printed circuit board (PCB), and the second conductive material member 300 is a metal display case supported by a bracket 130. Here, the electronic device is a device requiring a near-field antenna, without being limited to a specific device.
Referring to
Referring to
As illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
As the first and second conductive material members 200 and 300, various metal surfaces, distributed spatially in the vicinity thereof, may be utilized as described above with reference to
Referring to
Also, referring to
In a case in which the conductive material member is applied, the magnitude of the magnetic field is increased, and a direction of the magnetic field in the Z-axis direction is uniformly maintained, as compared to a case in which only a single chip antenna is applied as in the related art. The magnitude of magnetic field directed +z direction is increased in upper conductive material area.
Since the conductive material member is disposed in the magnetic field path of the antenna element, magnetic field around the antenna element is asymmetrical in the X direction in relation to the center of the chip. Thus, a magnitude of magnetic field in the +Z direction is different from a magnitude of the magnetic field in the −Z direction in a region spaced apart from the center of the chip in the Z direction. That is, magnetic field in the Z axis direction is enhanced.
Table 1 shows a distance in the Z-axis direction when it is assumed that a magnetic field (H) in the Z-axis direction is uniform, in which it can be seen that the magnetic field extends farther by about 10 mm when an asymmetrical conductive material member is present. As set forth above, magnetic flux in the Z-axis direction is enhanced, while maintaining a minimized mounting area having reduced thickness as an advantage of a small antenna. Also, the antenna apparatus integrally outputs magnetic fields in the Z direction resulting from magnetic fields output from each of a plurality of antenna elements by utilizing various metals distributed spatially in the vicinity thereof. In addition, the electronic device outputs magnetic field with respect to X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions.
As a non-exhaustive example only, a device as described herein may be a mobile device, such as a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wearable smart device (such as a ring, a watch, a pair of glasses, a bracelet, an ankle bracelet, a belt, a necklace, an earring, a headband, a helmet, or a device embedded in clothing), a portable personal computer (PC) (such as a laptop, a notebook, a subnotebook, a netbook, or an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC), a tablet PC (tablet), a phablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera, a portable game console, an MP3 player, a portable/personal multimedia player (PMP), a handheld e-book, a global positioning system (GPS) navigation device, or a sensor, or a stationary device, such as a desktop PC, a high-definition television (HDTV), a DVD player, a Blu-ray player, a set-top box, or a home appliance, or any other mobile or stationary device capable of wireless or network communication. In one example, a wearable device is a device that is designed to be mountable directly on the body of the user, such as a pair of glasses or a bracelet. In another example, a wearable device is any device that is mounted on the body of the user using an attaching device, such as a smart phone or a tablet attached to the arm of a user using an armband, or hung around the neck of the user using a lanyard.
While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made in these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents. The examples described herein are to be considered in a descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in each example are to be considered as being applicable to similar features or aspects in other examples. Suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner, and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the disclosure is defined not by the detailed description, but by the claims and their equivalents, and all variations within the scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included in the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2014-0173505 | Dec 2014 | KR | national |
| 10-2015-0056485 | Apr 2015 | KR | national |
