Electronic device antennas having switchable feed terminals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11205834-B2
Application number	US-201816019322-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2018
Priority date	Jun 26, 2018
Publication date	Dec 21, 2021
Grant date	Dec 21, 2021

Abstract

An electronic device may include a conductive housing and an antenna. The antenna may include an arm formed from a first segment of the housing. A gap may separate the first segment from a second segment. The antenna may include a feed coupled to a transmission line having a signal conductor. The feed may include first and second positive terminals on the first segment and a third positive terminal on the second segment. An adjustable component may be coupled between the first and third terminals. The signal conductor may be coupled to the first terminal. A wide conductive trace may be coupled between the signal conductor and the second terminal. A switch may be interposed on the signal conductor. The second terminal may cover a cellular low band when the switch is open. The first terminal may cover the cellular low band and higher bands when the switch is closed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a housing having peripheral conductive housing structures;
ground structures;
an antenna having a resonating element arm formed from a segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures that is separated from the ground structures by a slot;
a radio-frequency transmission line having a ground conductor coupled to the ground structures and having a signal conductor coupled to the segment; and
an adjustable component that is configured to tune a frequency response of the antenna and that has a first terminal coupled to the signal conductor, a second terminal coupled to the segment, and a third terminal coupled to the ground structures, wherein the adjustable component is configurable to decouple the first terminal from the second terminal and to form a return path between the second terminal and the third terminal.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structures that separates the resonating element arm from an additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , wherein the ground conductor is coupled to the ground structures at a ground antenna feed terminal, the signal conductor is coupled to a first positive antenna feed terminal on the segment, and the electronic device further comprises:
a conductive path coupled between the first positive antenna feed terminal and a second positive antenna feed terminal on the additional segment.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , further comprising:
an additional adjustable component interposed on the conductive path, wherein the additional adjustable component has a first state in which the resonating element arm is configured to indirectly feed radio-frequency signals to the additional segment via near field electromagnetic coupling, and the additional adjustable component has a second state in which the second positive antenna feed terminal conveys antenna currents from the signal conductor to the additional segment.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein the additional adjustable component is configured to tune the frequency response of the antenna by coupling a selected inductance between the signal conductor and the second positive antenna feed terminal.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , further comprising:
radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to the radio-frequency transmission line; and
a switch interposed on the signal conductor, wherein the switch is coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the first terminal of the adjustable component.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 , further comprising:
a third positive antenna feed terminal on the segment; and
a conductive trace over the slot and coupled between a node on the signal conductor and the third positive antenna feed terminal, wherein the node is interposed between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the switch.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the switch has a first state in which the third positive antenna feed terminal is active and the first and second positive antenna feed terminals are inactive and has a second state in which the first positive antenna feed terminal is active and the third positive antenna feed terminal is inactive.

9. An electronic device comprising:
a housing having peripheral conductive housing structures;
ground structures, wherein a segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures is separated from the ground structures by a slot;
an antenna that comprises the ground structures, a resonating element arm formed from the segment, a ground antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground structures, and first and second positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the segment;
radio-frequency transceiver circuitry in the housing;
a radio-frequency transmission line coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the radio-frequency transmission line comprises a ground conductor coupled to the ground antenna feed terminal and a signal conductor coupled to the first positive antenna feed terminal;
a switch interposed on the signal conductor; and
a conductive trace over the slot and coupled between a node on the signal conductor and the second positive antenna feed terminal, the node being interposed on the signal conductor between the switch and the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 , wherein the conductive trace is separated from the ground structures by a first distance and is separated from the segment by a second distance that is less than the first distance.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 9 , wherein the conductive trace has a first end coupled to the node, an opposing second end coupled to the second positive antenna feed terminal, a length extending from the first end to the second end, and a width, the length being between two and ten times the width.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 , further comprising:
an adjustable inductor coupled between the second end of the conductive trace and the ground structures.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 9 , further comprising:
a dielectric-filled gap in the peripheral conductive housing structures that separates the resonating element arm from an additional segment of the peripheral conductive housing structures, wherein the antenna further comprises a third positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the additional segment and a conductive path coupled between the first positive antenna feed terminal and the third positive antenna feed terminal.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 , further comprising:
an adjustable component interposed on the conductive path, wherein a portion of the slot extends between the additional segment and the ground structures, the adjustable component having a first state in which the resonating element arm is configured to indirectly feed radio-frequency signals to the additional segment via near field electromagnetic coupling and a second state in which the third positive antenna feed terminal conveys antenna currents from the signal conductor to the additional segment.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 13 , wherein the switch has an open state and a closed state, the segment and the second positive antenna feed terminal are configured to convey radio-frequency signals in a first frequency band while the switch is in the open state, the segment and the first positive antenna feed terminal are configured to convey radio-frequency signals in the first frequency band and a second frequency band that is higher than the first frequency band while the switch is in the closed state, and the additional segment and the third positive antenna feed terminal are configured to convey radio-frequency signals in a third frequency band that is higher than the second frequency band while the switch is in the closed state.

16. An antenna configured to receive radio-frequency signals from a radio-frequency transmission line having a signal conductor, the antenna comprising:
ground structures;
a resonating element arm separated from the ground structures by a slot, wherein the slot comprises a portion extending between the ground structures and a conductive structure, the conductive structure being separated from the resonating element arm by a dielectric-filled gap; and
an antenna feed configured to convey the radio-frequency signals received from the radio-frequ

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ayala Vazquez Enrique
• Hu Hongfei
• Pascolini Mattia
• Jin Nanbo
• Froese Kevin M
• Tong Erica J
• Han Xu

Classifications

• H01Q1/242 Primary

  specially adapted for hand-held use · CPC title

• H01Q13/103

  with variable reactance for tuning the antenna (tuning resonant circuits H03J) · CPC title

• H01Q5/328

  between a radiating element and ground · CPC title

• H01Q1/243 Primary

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q1/46

  Electric supply lines or communication lines · CPC title