Electronic device with multi-feed antenna structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12401116-B2
Application number	US-202318458949-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2023
Priority date	Sep 6, 2022
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with peripheral conductive housing structures having a first segment and a second segment. First and second antenna feeds may be coupled between the first segment and the ground structures. The first feed may convey signals in a first band and the second feed may convey signals in a second band. The first segment may be near-field coupled to a slot between the second segment and the ground structures. A first tuner may be coupled between the second segment and the ground structures and may adjust a resonance of the first segment in the first and second bands. A second tuner coupled to the first feed may perform impedance matching in the first band and aperture tuning in the second band. A third tuner coupled to the second feed may perform impedance matching in the second band and aperture tuning in the first band.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
ground structures;
peripheral conductive housing structures having a dielectric-filled gap that divides the peripheral conductive housing structures into a first segment and a second segment, wherein the first segment is separated from the ground structures by a slot and the second segment is separated from the ground structures by a portion of the slot extending beyond the dielectric-filled gap;
a first antenna feed coupled between the ground structures and a first location on the first segment across the slot, wherein the first antenna feed is configured to convey first radio-frequency signals in a first frequency band, the first segment and the portion of the slot being configured to radiate in the first frequency band; and
a second antenna feed coupled between the ground structures and a second location on the first segment across the slot, wherein the second antenna feed is configured to convey second radio-frequency signals in a second frequency band different than the first frequency band, the first segment and the portion of the slot being configured to radiate in the second frequency band.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first segment is near-field coupled to the portion of the slot in the first frequency band.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the first segment is near-field coupled to the portion of the slot in the second frequency band.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a tuner coupled between the second segment and the ground structures across the portion of the slot.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the tuner is configured to adjust the first frequency band and the second frequency band.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first transmission line path coupled to the first antenna feed;
a first tuner disposed on the first transmission line path;
a second transmission line path coupled to the second antenna feed; and
a second tuner disposed on the second transmission line path.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the first tuner is configured to impedance match the first transmission line path to the first segment in the first frequency band and the second tuner is configured to impedance match the second transmission line path to the first segment in the second frequency band.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the first tuner is further configured to adjust the second frequency band and the second tuner is further configured to adjust the first frequency band.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising a third tuner coupled between the second segment and the ground structures across the portion of the slot.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a return path that couples a third location on the first segment to the ground structures, the second location being interposed on the first segment between the third location and the first location.

11. An electronic device comprising:
ground structures;
peripheral conductive housing structures having a segment extending from a first dielectric-filled gap to a second dielectric-filled gap;
a first antenna feed terminal coupled to a first location on the segment;
a second antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground structures;
a third antenna feed terminal coupled to a second location on the segment;
a fourth antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground structures;
a first transmission line path coupled to the first and second antenna feed terminals;
a second transmission line path coupled to the third and fourth antenna feed terminals;
a first tuner disposed on the first transmission line path, wherein the first tuner is configured to match an impedance of the first transmission line path to an impedance of the segment in a first frequency band; and
a second tuner disposed on the second transmission line path, wherein the second tuner is configured to match an impedance of the second transmission line path to the impedance of the segment in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, the second tuner being further configured to tune a resonance of the segment in the first frequency band.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the first tuner is further configured to tune a resonance of the segment in the second frequency band.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the peripheral conductive housing structures comprise an additional segment separated from the segment by the first dielectric-filled gap, the additional segment is separated from the ground structures by a slot, and the slot is near-field coupled to the segment in the first frequency band and in the second frequency band.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 , further comprising:
a third tuner coupled between the ground structures and the additional segment across the slot, the third tuner being configured to tune the resonance of the segment in the first frequency band and the resonance of the segment in the second frequency band.

15. The electronic device of claim 13 , further comprising:
a fifth antenna feed terminal coupled to the additional segment;
a sixth antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground structures;
a third transmission line path coupled to the fifth and sixth antenna feed terminals; and
a third tuner disposed on the third transmission line path, wherein the third tuner is configured to match an impedance of the third transmission line path to an impedance of the additional segment in a third frequency band different from the first and second frequency bands, the third tuner being further configured to tune the resonance of the segment in the first frequency band and the resonance of the segment in the second frequency band.

16. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the first tuner has a first terminal coupled to the first antenna feed terminal and has a second terminal coupled to the second antenna feed terminal and wherein the second tuner has a third terminal coupled to the third antenna feed terminal and has a fourth terminal coupled to the fourth antenna feed terminal.

17. The electronic device of claim 11 , further comprising:
a return path that couples a third location on the segment to the ground structures, the second location being interposed on the segment between the first location and the third location.

18. An electronic device comprising:
peripheral conductive housing structures having a dielectric-filled gap that divides the peripheral conductive housing structures into a first segment and a second segment;
ground structures separated from the first segment by a first slot and separated from the second segment by a second slot extending from the first slot;
a first antenna feed coupled between the first segment and the ground structures across the first slot;
a second antenna feed coupled between the second segment and the ground structures across the second slot, the second antenna feed being configured to excite a resonance of the second segment in a first frequency band;
a third antenna feed coupled between the second segment and the ground structures across the second slot, the third antenna feed being configured to excite a resonance of the second segment in a second frequency band different than the first frequency band; and
a tuner coupled to the first antenna feed, wherein the tuner is configured to adjust the resonance of the segment in the first frequency band.

19. The electronic device of claim

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Xu Yuancheng
• Ayala Vazquez Enrique
• Kammersgaard Nikolaj P
• Wang Yiren
• Tao Yuan
• Wang Han
• Tian Haozhan
• Xu Hao
• Hu Hongfei
• Pascolini Mattia

Classifications

• H01Q1/50

  Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors · CPC title

• H01Q13/10

  Resonant slot antennas · CPC title

• H01Q5/328

  between a radiating element and ground · CPC title

• H01Q5/335

  at the feed, e.g. for impedance matching · CPC title

• H01Q9/42

  with folded element, the folded parts being spaced apart a small fraction of the operating wavelength · CPC title