Patent Grant
10224615
This application claims the priority benefits of Taiwan Patent Application No. 105137306, filed on Nov. 15, 2016. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by references herein and made a part of specification.
The disclosure relates to a wireless communication device and, more particularly, to a wireless communication device capable of accommodating multiple antenna units and the antenna units thereof.
As Cloud technology has been developing, Internet of Things (IoT) will become one of the important research interests. Currently, IoT products, such as access points (APs), routers, and Hubs support only certain wireless protocols, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. If it is desired for the IoT products to be equipped with an antenna supporting a low frequency wireless network protocol (e.g. LTE or Z-Wave), how multiple antennas are all deployed in one single wireless communication device might encounter some difficulty due to a larger size of the antenna supporting the low frequency wireless network protocol. In addition, the antenna capable of supporting low frequency usually has its longer side disposed in parallel to a system ground to ensure the ground loop is complete, and thereby the antenna efficiency can be enhanced. However, arranging the multiple antennas with their long sides connected to the system ground inside the single housing not only increases the volume of the housing, also restricts the flexibility of the appearance design for the device.
Therefore, the present invention aims to design an antenna having a short side in parallel to the system ground and supporting low frequency, thereby accommodating more sets of antennas inside the housing of the wireless communication device.
According to one aspect of the invention, the invention provides a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device includes a housing and a plurality of antenna units. The housing includes a system ground. The antenna units surround the housing and stand on the system ground. Each antenna unit includes a first radiation part, a second radiation part and a conductive component. The first radiation part has a signal feed point. The signal feed point is used for receiving a feeding signal. The second radiation part surrounds the first radiation part and has a first side, a second side, a first ground point and a second ground point. The first side is parallel to the system ground while the second side is perpendicular to the system ground. The first side is perpendicular to the second side and shorter than the second side. The first ground point and the second ground point are individually connected to the system ground. The conductive component is disposed between the first side and the system ground and connected to the first side and the system ground.
According to one aspect of the invention, the invention provides an antenna unit. The antenna unit stands on a system ground of a wireless communication device. The antenna unit includes a first radiation part, a second radiation part and a conductive component. The first radiation part has a signal feed point. The signal feed point is used for receiving a feeding signal. The second radiation part surrounds the first radiation part and has a first side, a second side, a first ground point and a second ground point. The first side is parallel to the system ground while the second side is perpendicular to the system ground. The first ground point and the second ground point are individually connected to the system ground. The conductive component is disposed between the first side and the system ground and connected to the first side and the system ground.
Upon the teachings of the present invention, the antenna unit supporting a low frequency wireless network protocol has its short side coupled to the system ground, which allows multiple antenna units to stand on the system ground. This not only decreases the size of the wireless communication device, also enhance the spatial usage rate of the housing.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.
The following detailed descriptions are elaborated by embodiments in cooperation with drawings, but the specific embodiments described below are intended for explaining the present invention, not limitations of the present invention. The structural descriptions should not limit the order in which they are performed. Devices that are reassembled from any elements and have equal efficacy are all within the scope of the present disclosure.
In addition, the drawings are only illustrative and not drawn in accordance with their true dimensions. Regarding the “electrically connected” or “electrically coupled” used herein, it may refer to two or more element entities that are physically in an electrical contact or indirectly in an electrical contact.
Please refer to
The housing 110 consists of a top surface 116, a system ground 140, and a curved side surface. The curved side surface of the housing 110 includes an upper part 112 and a lower part 114. The upper part 112 and the lower part 114 are divided by a cross section 122. It is understood that the upper part 112 and the lower part 114 may be integratedly formed (one-piece), or the curved side surface may be assembled by two independent parts. The housing 110 includes multiple antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C and multiple antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C. The antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C surround the surface of the upper part 112 and the cross section 122; herein, the surface can be referred to as an inner surface or an outer surface. Since the housing 110 is dielectric, there is no impact on the antenna efficiency even if the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C are partially or entirely disposed on the inner surface of the upper part 112. In the following descriptions of this disclosure, the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C disposed on the outer surface of the upper part 112 are taken for an example.
In one embodiment, the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C can be antennas supporting high frequency wireless network protocols, such as a primary Wi-Fi antenna, an auxiliary Wi-Fi antenna and a ZigBee antenna, respectively. The antenna modules 120A, 120B and 12C are individually connected to a wireless transceiver (not shown herein) and the system ground 140 via respective coaxial cables. The antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C all stand on the cross section 122, like the way the first side 124, the short side, of the antenna module 120A is connected with the cross section 122 in
As seen in
Back to
In one embodiment, the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C are a primary LTE antenna, an auxiliary LTE antenna and a Z-wave antenna, respectively, supporting low frequency wireless network protocols and high frequency wireless network protocols. The antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C are connected to the system ground 140 by the first side 134, the short side, as shown in
As seen in
Besides, in order to achieve the best isolation between the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C in the upper part and the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C in the lower part in the vertical direction, the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C and the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C may have a staggered arrangement. For example, the orientations V1, V3 and V5 corresponding to the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C are different than the orientations V2, V4 and V6 corresponding the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C.
Preferably, the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C and the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C could be equiangularly disposed with respect to the central axis L1, which allows each orientation (V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 and V6) form an angle of 60 degrees with adjacent ones. It is understood that the present invention takes three antenna modules and three antenna units as an example, but in practical the number of those antenna components can be increased or decreased according to the requirements.
As mentioned above, the hollow inside part the housing 110, additionally, may include an electronic component 150, such as a camera lens, a microphone module and a speaker, etc. It is noted that the position and the shape of the electronic component 150 shown in
Please refer to
The first radiation part R1 has a signal feed point F1 for receiving a feeding signal. In this embodiment, the antenna unit further includes a coaxial cable W1, which has one positive signal terminal and two negative signal terminals. The two negative signal terminals are connected to the system ground 140. The signal feed point F1 is connected to the positive signal terminal of the coaxial cable W1, and the wireless transceiver feeds the feeding signal to the signal feed point F1 of the first radiation part R1 through the positive signal terminal of the coaxial cable W1. The second radiation part R2 surrounds the first radiation part R1 without any contact. The second radiation part R2 has a first side 134, a second side 136, a first ground point G1 and a second ground point G2. The first side 134 is parallel to the system ground 140 while the second side 136 is perpendicular to the system ground 140. Moreover, the first side 134 is perpendicular to the second side 136 and shorter than the second side 136. The conductive component E1 is disposed between the first side 134 and the system ground 140, and coupled to the first side 134 and the system ground 140. The conductive component E1 is conductive material, for example, copper foil. To prevent the coaxial cable W1 from generating unnecessary electrons and interfering antenna's operations, the two negative signal terminals of the coaxial cable W1 are connected to the first ground point G1 and the second ground point G2 individually. It allows the unnecessary electrons generated by the coaxial cable W1 to be transmitted to the system ground 140 through the first ground point G1, the second ground point G2 and the conductive component E1.
In
The second radiation part R2 includes a first metal part M1, a second metal part M2 and the third metal part M3. One end of the first metal part M1 is connected with one end of the second metal part M2. The other end of the second metal part M2 is connected with one end of the third metal part M3. The first ground point G1 is disposed at the second metal part M2, and the second ground point G2 is disposed at the third metal part M3.
To be more specific, the first metal part M1 consists of areas b1, b2, b3 and b4. The areas b1 and b4 are located at two ends of the metal part M1. The first metal part M1 is bent between the areas b1 and b4 to form the areas b2 and b3, and the area b4 is connected with the area b3. The areas b1, b2 and b3 are L-shaped and surround part of the first radiation part R1, but without any contact with the first radiation part R1. The area b1 is near the areas a1 and a3 while the areas b2 and b3 are near the area b2.
The second metal part M2 consists of the areas b5, b6, and b7 and the areas b8 and b9. The area b5 of the second metal part M2 is connected with the area b4 of the first metal part M1. The areas b5 and b9 are located at two ends of the second metal part M2. The area b6 branches out into the areas b7 and b8. The areas b5, b6 and b7 form nearly a line while the areas b6, b8 and b9 form an L shaped. The areas b5 and b6 of the second metal part M2 are parallel to the areas b1 and b2 of the first metal part M1, and the first metal part M1 is between the second metal part M2 and the first radiation part R1. The area b8 is near the area a3 of the first radiation part R1; the area b9 is near the area a1 of the first radiation R1; the areas b8 and b9 surround another part of the first radiation R1, but without any directly contact with the first radiation R1. As seen in
The third metal part M3 consists of the area b10. The area b10 of the third metal part M3 branches out of the area b8 of the second metal part M2, opposite the area b9. The area b10 is rectangular and near the area b7, but without any directly contact. As seen in
As mentioned above, the areas b1, b2 and b3 surround a part of the first radiation part R1, and between the first radiation part R1 and the areas b1, b2 and b3 of the first metal part M1 exists a first slot s1, which is L-shaped. The first radiation part R1 and the second radiation part R2 resonate with the first slot s1 to generate a first antenna resonant frequency band and a second antenna resonant frequency band. The first antenna resonant frequency is located, for example, at 704 MHz˜960 MHz, and the second antenna resonant frequency is located, for example, at 2300 MHz˜2700 MHz.
The area b5 of the second metal part M2 and the areas b3 and b4 of the first metal part M1 form a bend. The areas b1, b2, b3 and b4 of the first metal part M1 and the areas b5 and b6 of the second metal part M2 surround and form a first gap g1. The first gap g1 and the slot s1 are connected, and the area of the first gap g1 is associated with frequency ranges of the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band. Therefore, the frequency ranges of the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band can be adjusted by modifying the area, the total length and the total width of the first gap g1. For example, by increasing the area of the first gap g1 near the areas b4 and b5 the frequency ranges of the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band can be adjusted.
Please refer to
Between the area b9 of the second metal part M2 and the area a1 of the first radiation part R1 exists a second slot s2, which is connected with the first gap g1. The first radiation part R1 and the second radiation part R2 resonate with the second slot s2 to generate a third antenna resonant frequency band. The third antenna resonant frequency band is located above, for example, 2700 MHz, higher than the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band.
The third metal part M3 and the second metal part M2 are bent to from a second gap g2, which is L-shaped. To be more specific, the area b8 of the second metal part M2, and the area b10 of the third metal part M3 have a bend. The areas b6, b7 and b8 of the second metal part M2 and the area b10 of the third metal part M3 form the second gap g2. The first radiation part R1 and the second radiation part R2 resonate with the second gap g2 to generate a fourth antenna resonant frequency band, which is located in 1710 MHz˜2170 MHz and between the first antenna resonant frequency band the second antenna resonant frequency band.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a schematic diagram of the antenna unit 130A can be as shown in
The second metal part M2 consists of the areas b5˜b9 and the area b5 of the second metal part M2 is connected with the area b4 of the first metal part M1. The areas b5 and b9 are located at two ends of the second metal part M2. The areas b5, b6, b7. B8 and b9 of the second metal part M2 form a U shape; the areas b6 and b7 have a bend in between. In addition, the area b5 is parallel to the areas b1 and b2 of the first metal part M1 without a contact, and the first metal part M1 is located between the first radiation part R1 and the second metal part M2. The areas b6, b7 and b8 of the second metal part M2 is near the area a3 of the first radiation part R1; the area b9 is near the area a1 of the first radiation part R1. The areas b6˜b9 surround another part of the first radiation part R1 without any contact with the first radiation part R1. As seen in
The third metal part M3 consists of the areas b10 and b11, and the area b10 of the third metal part M3 is extended, opposite the area b9, from the area b8 of the second metal part M2. The areas b10 and b11 is located at two ends of the third metal part M3. One end of the area b10 is connected to the area b8 while the other end of the area b10 is connected to the area b11. The area b11 is near the area b5 but without a contact with the area b5. The third metal part M3 is connected with the second metal part M2 at the area b8. The first side 134 of conductive element E1 is coupled to the area b10 of the third metal part M3 of the second radiation part R2.
As mentioned above, the areas b1, b2 and b3 surround a part of the first radiation part R1, and among the areas b1, b2 and b3 of the first metal part R1 exists the first slot s1, which is U-shaped. The first radiation part R1 and the second radiation part R2 resonate with the first slot s1 to generate the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band. The first antenna resonant frequency band is located in, for example, 704 MHz˜960 MHz, and the second antenna resonant frequency is located in, for example, 2300 MHz˜2700 MHz.
Compared to the embodiments regarding
The areas b2 and b4 of the first metal part M1 and the area b5 of the second metal part M2 form bends. The areas b1, b2 and b4 of the first metal part M1 and the areas b5 and b6 of the second metal part M2 form the first gap g1. The first gap g1 is connected with the first slot s1, and the area of the first gap g1 is associated with the ranges of the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band. Therefore, by modifying the area, the total length or the width of the first gap g1 the frequency ranges of the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band can be adjusted. For example, by extending the length of the area b3 surrounding the first radiation part R1 (as shown in
The area b9 of the second metal part M2 and the first radiation R1 form a second slot s2, which is connected with the first gap g1. The first radiation R1 and the second radiation R2 resonate with the second slot s2 to generate the third antenna resonant frequency band. The third antenna resonant frequency band is above 2700 MHz.
The third metal part M3 and the second metal part M2 are bent to form a second gap g2, which is L-shaped. To be more specific, the second gap g2 is formed and surrounded by the areas b6, b7 and b8 of the second metal part M2 and the areas b10 and b11 of the third metal part M3. The bend of the second gap g2 is between the areas b7 and b9 of the second metal part M2 and the area b10 of the third metal part M3. The first radiation part R1 and the second radiation part R2 resonate with the second gap g2 to generate the forth antenna resonant frequency band, which is located in 1710 MHz˜2170 MHz as well as between the first antenna resonant frequency band and the second antenna resonant frequency band.
According to the embodiments regarding
In
In
In
In
Table 1 below shows isolation between one and another among the antenna modules 120A˜120C and the antenna units 130A˜130C. The isolation is defined as a ratio between the power loss from one antenna module/antenna unit to another antenna module/antenna unit and the original input power, expressed in term of dB.
As known from Table 1, the isolation between one and another among the antenna modules 120A˜120C and the antenna units 130A˜130C has all the values below −10 dB in the low frequency band and below −15 dB in the high frequency band, which shows excellent isolation.
Table 2 and Table 3 below show envelop correlation coefficients (ECCs) between one and another among the antenna modules 120A, 120B and 120C.
Table 4 below shows ECCs between one and another among the antenna units 130A, 130B and 130C.
As known from the Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4, the ECCs between one and another among the antenna modules 120A˜120C and the antenna units 130A˜130C of the wireless communication device 100 are all less than 0.1, except for low frequency band.
Although the present invention has been described in the considerable details with reference to the certain preferred embodiments thereof, the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosure. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be as defined in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 105137306 A | Nov 2016 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20100103069 | Wang et al. | Apr 2010 | A1 |
| 20140049431 | Tai | Feb 2014 | A1 |
| 20140253398 | Hsieh | Sep 2014 | A1 |
| 20150022402 | Gavilan et al. | Jan 2015 | A1 |
| 20150200448 | Tsai | Jul 2015 | A1 |
| 20160380336 | Wu et al. | Dec 2016 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 201505263 | Feb 2015 | TW |
| I517500 | Jan 2016 | TW |
| I545837 | Aug 2016 | TW |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180138582 A1 | May 2018 | US |
