公开(公告)号：US10727580B2

公开(公告)日：2020-07-28

申请号：US16036770

申请日：2018-07-16

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Harish Rajagopalan ,  Jennifer M. Edwards ,  Simone Paulotto ,  Bilgehan Avser ,  Hao Xu ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Travis A. Barbieri ,  Georgios Atmatzakis ,  Matthew A. Mow

IPC: H01Q21/00 ,  H01Q1/52 ,  H01Q9/04

Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with antenna structures that convey radio-frequency signals greater than 10 GHz. The antenna structures may include overlapping first and second patches. The first patch may include a hole. A transmission line for the second patch may include a conductive via extending through the hole. The via may be coupled to a first end of a trace. A second end of the trace may be coupled to a feed terminal on the second patch over an additional via. The hole may be located within a central region of the first patch to allow the via to pass through the hole without electromagnetically coupling to the first patch. If desired, adjustable impedance matching circuits may be used to couple selected impedances to the antenna feeds that help ensure that the first and second patch antennas are sufficiently isolated from each other.

公开(公告)号：US20200178261A1

公开(公告)日：2020-06-04

申请号：US16701045

申请日：2019-12-02

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Anatoliy S. Ioffe ,  Ehsan Haghani ,  Yakun Sun ,  Rohit U. Nabar ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo

IPC: H04W72/08 ,  H04W72/04 ,  H04W24/10 ,  H04L1/18

Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry and control circuitry. The wireless circuitry may communicate using a 5G New Radio (NR) protocol. The wireless circuitry may have multiple bandwidth part configurations. The control circuitry may place the wireless circuitry in a first bandwidth part configuration where a first bandwidth part of a first component carrier is active and a second bandwidth part of a second component carrier is inactive. The control circuitry may switch the wireless circuitry from the first bandwidth part configuration to a second bandwidth part configuration in which the first bandwidth part is inactive and the second bandwidth part is active. The first and second component carriers may be intra-band contiguous, intra-band non-contiguous, or inter-band. The control circuitry may switch the wireless circuitry into other configurations for covering other bandwidth parts of any desired component carriers in any desired bands.

公开(公告)号：US10658744B2

公开(公告)日：2020-05-19

申请号：US15263022

申请日：2016-09-12

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Erik A. Uttermann ,  Jeremy C. Franklin ,  Stephen C. McClure ,  Sean S. Corbin ,  Qingxiang Li ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo

IPC: H01Q1/22 ,  H01Q1/52 ,  H01Q1/24

Abstract: A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and no on. The portable computing device can include a single piece housing formed from a radio opaque material with a cover formed from a radio transparent material. To implement a wireless interface, an antenna stack-up can be provided that allows an antenna to be mounted to a bottom of the cover. Methods and apparatus are provided for improving wireless performance. For instance, in one embodiment, a metal housing can be thinned to improve antenna performance. As another example, a faraday cage can be formed around speaker drivers to improve antenna performance.

公开(公告)号：US20190260112A1

公开(公告)日：2019-08-22

申请号：US15900610

申请日：2018-02-20

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Umar Azad ,  Harish Rajagopalan ,  David Garrido Lopez ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Mattia Pascolini

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q21/06 ,  H01Q1/52

Abstract: An electronic device may include first, second, and third antennas and conductive housing structures. The first, second, and third antennas may each include slots having open ends defined by gaps in the conductive housing structures. The second antenna may be interposed between the first and third antennas. The first and second antennas may convey signals at the same frequencies. The third antenna may convey signals at a lower frequency than the first and second antennas. A switch may be coupled across the third slot and may have a first state at which the switch forms a closed end of the third slot and a second state at which the third slot has two opposing open ends. Control circuitry may selectively activate one of two feeds for the third antenna and may adjust the switch so that the third antenna exhibits satisfactory antenna efficiency regardless of environmental conditions for the device.

公开(公告)号：US20190097306A1

公开(公告)日：2019-03-28

申请号：US15717821

申请日：2017-09-27

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Pietro Romano ,  Umar Azad ,  Harish Rajagopalan ,  David Garrido Lopez ,  Lu Zhang ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Mattia Pascolini

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H04B1/3827 ,  H01Q13/10 ,  H01Q1/52 ,  H01Q21/06

Abstract: An electronic device may include a peripheral conductive housing sidewall with an integral ledge extending towards the device interior. A display cover layer may be supported by the integral ledge. A slot antenna may be formed from a slot in the integral ledge. The integral ledge may be mounted to a surface of a substrate and coupled to a conductive rear housing wall by a conductive layer extending over an additional surface of the substrate. The sidewall may include a vertical portion extending from the ledge to the rear wall. The slot antenna may be fed via near-field coupling using a conductive patch that is located within the slot at the surface of the substrate. The conductive layer, rear housing wall, and vertical portion may form a cavity for the slot antenna. The conductive layer may isolate the slot from interference with a battery, display circuitry, or other components.

公开(公告)号：US10224602B2

公开(公告)日：2019-03-05

申请号：US14693274

申请日：2015-04-22

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Umar Azad ,  Harish Rajagopalan ,  Mattia Pascolini ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q1/48 ,  H01Q7/00 ,  H01Q9/42 ,  H01Q13/10

Abstract: An electronic device housing may have a rear housing wall that forms a metal ground plane. A slot may be formed in the metal ground plane. The slot may have one or more open ends along an edge of the ground plane. A near-field communications loop antenna may overlap the slot. The near-field communications loop antenna may have one or more turns. A current path through the metal ground plane may form one of the turns in the near-field communications loop antenna. The slot may form portions of non-near-field-communications antennas in addition to the near-field communications loop antenna. The slot in the non-near-field-communications antennas may be fed using an indirect antenna feed structure. Components such as a capacitor and inductor may help allow non-near-field communications antenna and the near-field communications antenna to be formed from common portions of the metal ground plane.

公开(公告)号：US10218052B2

公开(公告)日：2019-02-26

申请号：US14710377

申请日：2015-05-12

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Mattia Pascolini ,  Umar Azad ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Erdinc Irci ,  Qingxiang Li ,  Matthew A. Mow ,  Harish Rajagopalan ,  Miroslav Samardzija ,  Ming-Ju Tsai

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q9/04 ,  H01Q13/10 ,  H01Q21/30 ,  H01Q5/328

Abstract: An electronic device may have hybrid antennas that include slot antenna resonating elements formed from slots in a ground plane and planar inverted-F antenna resonating elements. The planar inverted-F antenna resonating elements may each have a planar metal member that overlaps one of the slots. The slot of each slot antenna resonating element may divide the ground plane into first and second portions. A return path and feed may be coupled in parallel between the planar metal member and the first portion of the ground plane. Tunable components such as tunable inductors may be used to tune the hybrid antennas. A tunable inductor may bridge the slot in hybrid antenna, may be coupled between the planar metal member of the planar inverted-F antenna resonating element and the ground plane, or multiple tunable inductors may bridge the slot on opposing sides of the planar inverted-F antenna resonating element.

公开(公告)号：US20170264001A1

公开(公告)日：2017-09-14

申请号：US15066419

申请日：2016-03-10

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Umar Azad ,  Harish Rajagopalan ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Pietro Romano ,  Mattia Pascolini

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q9/04

CPC classification number: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q1/243 ,  H01Q1/48 ,  H01Q5/328 ,  H01Q9/0421 ,  H01Q9/0442 ,  H01Q13/10 ,  H01Q21/28

Abstract: An electronic device may have hybrid antennas that include slot antenna resonating elements formed from slots in a ground plane and planar inverted-F antenna resonating elements. The planar inverted-F antenna resonating elements may each have a planar metal member that overlaps one of the slots. A return path and feed may be coupled in parallel between the planar metal member and the ground plane. Adjustable circuits such as tunable inductors may be used to tune the hybrid antennas. Adjustable circuits may bridge the slots in hybrid antennas and may be included in return paths that are coupled between the planar metal members of the planar inverted-F antenna resonating elements and the ground plane. A slot may be selectively divided to from two slots using switching circuitry.

公开(公告)号：US09559425B2

公开(公告)日：2017-01-31

申请号：US14221133

申请日：2014-03-20

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Jiang Zhu ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo ,  Qingxiang Li

IPC: H01Q13/10 ,  G01V3/00 ,  H01Q1/22 ,  H01Q1/24 ,  G06F1/16

CPC classification number: H01Q13/10 ,  G01V3/00 ,  G06F1/1613 ,  H01Q1/2266 ,  H01Q1/243

Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with slot antennas. A slot antenna may be formed from metal structures that have a dielectric gap defining an antenna slot. The metal structures may include multiple metal layers that overlap a plastic antenna window and that serve as capacitive electrodes in a capacitive proximity sensor. The metal structures may also include a metal electronic device housing. The metal electronic device housing and the metal layers may be formed on opposing sides of the antenna slot. The metal layers may have a notch that locally widens the antenna slot at an open end of the antenna slot. One of the metal layers may be shorted to the metal electronic device housing at an opposing closed end of the antenna slot. The antenna slot may be indirectly fed using a near-field-coupled antenna feed structure such as a metal patch that overlaps the antenna slot.

Abstract translation: 电子设备可以设置有缝隙天线。 缝隙天线可以由具有限定天线槽的电介质间隙的金属结构形成。 金属结构可以包括与塑料天线窗重叠并且用作电容式接近传感器中的电容电极的多个金属层。 金属结构还可以包括金属电子器件壳体。 金属电子器件壳体和金属层可以形成在天线槽的相对侧上。 金属层可以具有在天线槽的开放端局部加宽天线槽的陷波。 金属层之一可能在天线槽的相对的封闭端与金属电子器件外壳短路。 可以使用与天线槽重叠的诸如金属贴片的近场耦合天线馈送结构间接馈送天线槽。

公开(公告)号：US09444131B2

公开(公告)日：2016-09-13

申请号：US14195974

申请日：2014-03-04

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Erik A. Uttermann ,  Jeremy C. Franklin ,  Stephen C. McClure ,  Sean S. Corbin ,  Qingxiang Li ,  Rodney A. Gomez Angulo

IPC: H01Q1/24 ,  H01Q1/42 ,  H04R1/02

CPC classification number: H01Q1/2266 ,  H01Q1/243 ,  H01Q1/42 ,  H01Q1/48 ,  H01Q1/50 ,  H04R1/028 ,  Y10T29/49016 ,  Y10T156/1089

Abstract: A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and so on. The portable computing device can include a single piece housing formed from a radio opaque material with a cover formed from a radio transparent material. To implement a wireless interface, an antenna stack-up can be provided that allows an antenna to be mounted to a bottom of the cover. Methods and apparatus are provided for improving wireless performance. For instance, in one embodiment, a metal housing can be thinned to improve antenna performance. As another example, a faraday cage can be formed around speaker drivers to improve antenna performance.

Abstract translation: 公开了一种便携式计算设备。 便携式计算设备可以采用许多形式，例如膝上型计算机，平板计算机等。 便携式计算设备可以包括由无线电不透明材料形成的单件壳体，其具有由无线电透明材料形成的盖。 为了实现无线接口，可以提供允许将天线安装到盖的底部的天线叠加。 提供了用于改善无线性能的方法和装置。 例如，在一个实施例中，金属外壳可以变薄以改善天线性能。 作为另一示例，可以围绕扬声器驱动器形成法拉第笼，以改善天线性能。