Electronic devices with frame antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12560813-B2
Application number	US-202318171067-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2023
Priority date	Sep 8, 2020
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

A head-mounted device such as a pair of glasses may have display systems. The display systems may present images to eye boxes for viewing by a user. The glasses may have clear lenses through which real-world objects may be viewed from the eye boxes. The glasses may have a metal frame that surrounds the lenses and may have temples that are coupled to the frame using hinges. Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephone transceiver circuitry may be coupled to one or more antennas in the head-mounted device. The antennas may have antenna resonating elements formed by placing dielectric-filled gaps in the metal frame to divide the frame into segments. Antenna resonating elements formed from segments of the metal frame may be coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry using transmission lines.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A pair of glasses, comprising:
a frame having lens openings; lenses in the lens openings that are aligned with eye boxes, wherein the frame comprises ring-shaped metal structures that extend around the lenses; left and right temples; left and right hinges that respectively couple the left and right temples to corresponding left and right edges of the frame; displays configured to supply images to the eye boxes; and an antenna having an antenna resonating element formed from a segment of the frame between dielectric-filled gaps in the frame, wherein the dielectric-filled gaps and the segment of the frame are formed along an upper edge of the frame above one of the lenses.

2 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 1 further comprising:
waveguides and output couplers on the lenses that receive images from the displays and supply the received images to the eye boxes; and
cellular telephone transceiver circuitry coupled to the antenna at an antenna feed.

3 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 1 further comprising an additional antenna having an additional antenna resonating element formed from an additional segment of the frame between additional dielectric gaps in the frame, wherein the additional dielectric gaps and the additional segment of the frame are formed along a lower edge of the frame below one of the lenses.

4 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 3 wherein left and right sides of the frame are joined at a nose bridge portion of the frame and wherein one end of the additional segment is adjacent to the nose bridge portion.

5 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 3 wherein left and right sides of the frame are joined at a nose bridge portion of the frame and wherein one end of the additional segment is adjacent to an outer side edge of the frame that is not adjacent to the nose bridge portion.

6 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 1 further comprising an additional antenna having an additional antenna resonating element formed from an additional segment of the frame between a first additional dielectric-filled gap in the frame above a given one of the lenses and a second dielectric-filled gap in the frame below the given one of the lenses, wherein the additional segment of the frame extends past a nose-bridge portion of the frame.

7 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 1 further comprising radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to the antenna resonating element at an antenna feed.

8 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 7 wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises cellular telephone transceiver circuitry configured to operate at a frequency between 500 MHz and 6 GHZ.

9 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 8 wherein the antenna comprises a tunable component.

10 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 1 further comprising an additional antenna having an additional antenna resonating element formed from an additional segment of the frame between additional dielectric-filled gaps in the frame, wherein the additional dielectric-filled gaps and the additional segment of the frame are formed along an upper edge of the frame above another one of the lenses.

11 . A head-mounted device, comprising:
a frame having left and right halves coupled at a nose bridge portion; left and right elongated side members coupled by respective left and right hinges to the left and right halves; a left display system coupled to the left half that is configured to produce a left image for a left eye box, wherein the left display system is configured to allow a real-world object to be viewed through the left display system from the left eye box; and a right display system coupled to the right half that is configured to produce a right image for a right eye box, wherein the right display system is configured to allow the real-world object to be viewed through the right display system from the right eye box; and dielectric gaps in the frame that form a segment of the frame that serves as an antenna, wherein the frame comprises a metal member that surrounds left and right lenses and wherein the segment comprises a metal segment of the metal member that forms an antenna resonating element for the antenna.

12 . The head-mounted device defined in claim 11 wherein the antenna comprises a cellular telephone antenna.

13 . The head-mounted device defined in claim 12 wherein the left display system comprises a left output coupler that overlaps the left lens and wherein the right display system comprises a right output coupler that overlaps the right lens.

14 . The head-mounted device defined in claim 13 wherein the metal segment is formed along an upper edge of the frame.

15 . The head-mounted device defined in claim 14 wherein the metal segment is formed along a lower edge of the frame.

16 . A pair of glasses, comprising:
clear lenses through which real-world objects are viewable from eye boxes; display systems configured to present images in the eye boxes; a metal frame that extends around peripheral portions of the clear lenses; left and right temples; left and right hinges that respectively couple the left and right temples to corresponding left and right edges of the metal frame; radio-frequency transceiver circuitry; and dielectric gaps in the metal frame that form a metal frame segment that serves as an antenna resonating element in an antenna that is coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the dielectric gaps and the metal frame segment are formed along a lower edge of the metal frame below one of the clear lenses.

17 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 16 wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises cellular telephone transceiver circuitry.

18 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 17 further comprising a tunable component coupled to the antenna resonating element.

19 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 18 wherein the antenna comprises an antenna selected from the group consisting of: a monopole antenna and an inverted-F antenna.

20 . The pair of glasses defined in claim 16 further comprising additional dielectric gaps in the metal frame that form an additional metal frame segment that serves as an additional resonating element in an additional antenna, wherein the additional dielectric gaps and the additional metal frame segment are formed along a lower edge of the metal frame below another one of the clear lenses.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Lijun
• Wu Jiangfeng
• Zhang Lu
• Pascolini Mattia
• Yong Siwen
• Jiang Yi

Classifications

• G02C11/10

  Electronic devices other than hearing aids · CPC title

• G02C5/14

  Side-members · CPC title

• G02C5/008

  Spectacles frames characterized by their material, material structure and material properties · CPC title

• G02C1/06

  Bridge or browbar secured to or integral with closed rigid rims for the lenses · CPC title

• G02B2027/0178

  Eyeglass type (eyeglass details G02C) · CPC title