Flexible printed circuit structures for electronic device antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11114748-B2
Application number	US-201916563760-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2019
Priority date	Sep 6, 2019
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

An electronic device may have peripheral conductive housing structures divided into first and second segments. First and second antennas may be formed from the segments and may be fed using a flexible printed circuit structure. The structure may include a first substrate attached to the first segment, a second substrate soldered to the first substrate and attached to the second segment, and a third substrate soldered to the second substrate. Third and fourth antennas may be formed on the first substrate whereas fifth and sixth antennas are be formed on the second substrate. The second substrate may be folded and may have a lateral area oriented perpendicular to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth antennas. Modularly forming the structure in this way may maximize the flexibility with which the structure can accommodate other components, thereby minimizing the space consumption associated with mounting and feeding the antennas without sacrificing wireless performance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
peripheral conductive housing structures;
a first antenna having a resonating element arm formed from a segment of the peripheral conductive structures and having an antenna feed coupled to the resonating element arm;
a flexible printed circuit substrate coupled to the peripheral conductive housing structures;
a radio-frequency transmission line on the flexible printed circuit substrate and coupled to the antenna feed, the radio-frequency transmission line being configured to convey radio-frequency signals for the first antenna;
a second antenna on the flexible printed circuit substrate, wherein the second antenna is configured to radiate in a cellular ultra-high band; and
a third antenna on the flexible printed circuit substrate, wherein the third antenna is configured to radiate in an ultra-wideband communications band.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising a first additional flexible printed circuit substrate soldered to the flexible printed circuit substrate.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , further comprising:
a fourth antenna having an additional resonating element arm formed from an additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures, the additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures being separated from the segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures by a dielectric-filled gap, and the fourth antenna having an additional antenna feed coupled to the additional resonating element arm; and
an additional radio-frequency transmission line on the first additional flexible printed circuit substrate and coupled to the additional antenna feed, wherein the additional radio-frequency transmission line is configured to convey radio-frequency signals for the fourth antenna.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , further comprising:
a second additional flexible printed circuit substrate soldered to the first additional flexible printed circuit substrate;
a fifth antenna on the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to radiate in the ultra-wideband communications band; and
a sixth antenna on the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to radiate in the ultra-wideband communications band.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , further comprising:
a second additional flexible printed circuit substrate soldered to the first additional flexible printed circuit substrate.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , further comprising:
a fourth antenna on the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to radiate in the ultra-wideband communications band; and
a fifth antenna on the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to radiate in the ultra-wideband communications band.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a bend about a first axis, the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a bend about a second axis, and the first additional flexible printed circuit comprises a bend about a third axis that is perpendicular to the first and second axes.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the flexible printed circuit substrate comprises at least three bends, the first additional flexible printed circuit substrate comprises at least two bends, and the second additional flexible printed circuit substrate comprises at least one bend.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a tunable component surface-mounted to the flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to tune the first antenna; and
impedance matching circuitry surface-mounted to the flexible printed circuit substrate and configured to tune the second antenna.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the ultra-wideband communications band comprises a frequency between 6250 MHz and 8250 MHz, the cellular ultra-high band comprising a frequency between 3400 MHz and 3700 MHz.

11. A flexible printed circuit structure configured to convey radio-frequency signals for an antenna external to the flexible printed circuit structure, the flexible printed circuit structure comprising:
a first flexible printed circuit substrate having first and second antennas;
a second flexible printed circuit substrate surface-mounted to the first flexible printed circuit substrate;
a radio-frequency transmission line path on the first and second flexible printed circuit substrates that is configured to convey radio-frequency signals for the antenna external to the flexible printed circuit substrate;
a third flexible printed circuit substrate surface-mounted to the second flexible printed circuit substrate; and
a third antenna on the third flexible printed circuit substrate.

12. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 11 , wherein the first flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a first thinner portion and a first thicker portion that is thicker than the first thinner portion by a first step size and the second flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a second thinner portion and a second thicker portion that is thicker than the second thinner portion by a second step size, the second step size being different from the first step size.

13. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 11 , further comprising a fourth antenna on the third flexible printed circuit substrate, wherein the first and second flexible printed circuit substrates have first additional radio-frequency transmission line paths that convey radio-frequency signals for the first and second antennas, and the second and third flexible printed circuit substrates have second additional radio-frequency transmission line paths that convey radio-frequency signals for the third and fourth antennas.

14. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 13 , wherein the second, third, and fourth antennas are configured to form a triplet of antennas that radiate in an ultra-wideband communications band.

15. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 14 , wherein the first antenna is configured to receive radio-frequency signals in the ultra-wideband communications band and is configured to transmit radio-frequency signals in a non-ultra-wideband communications band.

16. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 11 , wherein the first flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a first thinner portion and a first thicker portion that is thicker than the first thinner portion by a first step size, the second flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a second thinner portion and a second thicker portion that is thicker than the second thinner portion by a second step size, the third flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a third thinner portion and a third thicker portion that is thicker than the third thinner portion by a third step size, the second step size is different from the first step size, and the third step size is different from the first and second step sizes.

17. The flexible printed circuit structure defined in claim 11 , wherein the first flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a first bend about a first axis and a second bend about a second axis non-parallel to the first axis, the second flexible printed circuit substrate comprises a third bend about a third axis orthogonal to the first and second axes and a fourth bend about a fourth axis parallel to the third axis, and the third flexible p

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Yarga Salih
• Akbarzadeh Soroush
• Lee Jonathan M
• Rose Gareth L
• Gomez Tagle Javier
• Nickel Joshua G
• Pascolini Mattia
• Spraggs Ian A
• Jarvis Daniel W
• Seshadri Sunitha

Classifications

• H01Q5/25

  Ultra-wideband [UWB] systems, e.g. multiple resonance systems; Pulse systems · CPC title

• H01Q1/085

  Flexible aerials; Whip aerials with a resilient base · CPC title

• H01Q1/243 Primary

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q1/38

  formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support {(patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface  H01Q15/142)} · CPC title

• H01Q5/30

  Arrangements for providing operation on different wavebands · CPC title