Electronic device with hybrid inverted-F slot antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9236659-B2
Application number	US-201314096417-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2013
Priority date	Dec 4, 2013
Publication date	Jan 12, 2016
Grant date	Jan 12, 2016

Abstract

An electronic device may be provided with a housing. The housing may have a periphery that is surrounded by peripheral conductive structures such as a segmented peripheral metal member. A segment of the peripheral metal member may be separated from a ground by a slot. An antenna feed may have a positive antenna terminal coupled to the peripheral metal member and a ground terminal coupled to the ground and may feed both an inverted-F antenna structure that is formed from the peripheral metal member and the ground and a slot antenna structure that is formed from the slot. Control circuitry may tune the antenna by controlling adjustable components that are coupled to the peripheral metal member. The adjustable components may include adjustable inductors and adjustable capacitors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing having peripheral conductive structures; and
a hybrid inverted-F slot antenna, wherein the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna has an inverted-F antenna portion formed from an inverted-F antenna resonating element and an antenna ground, wherein the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from the peripheral conductive structures, wherein the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna has a slot antenna portion formed from an opening between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and the antenna ground, and wherein the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna has an antenna feed that feeds both the inverted-F antenna portion and the slot antenna portion.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising an adjustable component coupled to the peripheral conductive structures.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 further comprising control circuitry that controls the adjustable component to tune the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the adjustable component comprises an adjustable inductor that bridges the opening.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the adjustable component comprises an adjustable capacitor that bridges the opening.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna is configured to operate in low, medium, and high communications bands and wherein the adjustable component comprises an adjustable inductor that is controlled by the control circuitry to tune the low communications band.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the inverted-F antenna portion is configured to exhibit respective resonances in at least the low and medium communications bands and wherein the slot antenna portion is configured to exhibit a resonance in the high communications band.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 6 further comprising an additional adjustable inductor bridging the opening that is controlled by the control circuitry to tune the middle communications band.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna is configured to operate in low, medium, and high communications bands and wherein the adjustable component comprises a capacitor with which the high communications band is pulled to a lower frequency.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the inverted-F antenna portion is configured to exhibit resonances in at least the low and medium communications bands and wherein the slot antenna portion is configured to exhibit a resonance in the high communications band.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a display with an active area, wherein the antenna ground has a first portion that is overlapped by the active area and a second portion that extends from the first portion and wherein the second portion is separated from the peripheral conductive structure by the opening.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a tunable inductor coupled to the peripheral conductive structures and a tunable capacitor coupled to the peripheral conductive structures.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 further comprising a rectangular housing, wherein the peripheral conductive structures are portions of a metal housing sidewall that runs around the housing and that includes gaps to create a metal segment and wherein the metal segment forms short and long branches of an arm in the inverted-F antenna resonating element.

14. A hybrid inverted-F slot antenna, comprising:
a peripheral conductive member of an electronic device housing;
a ground with an extended portion adjacent to the peripheral conductive member so that the extended portion of the ground and the peripheral conductive member are separated by a slot; and
an antenna feed having a positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the peripheral conductive member and a ground antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground plane, wherein the antenna feed feeds an inverted-F antenna portion of the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna formed from the peripheral conductive member and the ground and feeds a slot antenna portion of the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna formed from the slot.

15. The hybrid inverted-F slot antenna defined in claim 14 wherein the electronic device housing comprises a handheld electronic device housing, wherein the peripheral conductive member includes a metal segment of a peripheral housing sidewall structure of the electronic device housing, and wherein the inverted-F antenna portion of the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna comprises a first branch and a second branch of a resonating element arm that is formed from the metal segment.

16. The hybrid inverted-F slot antenna defined in claim 15 wherein the inverted-F antenna portion and the slot antenna portion are configured so that the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna resonates in a low band, a middle band, and a high band.

17. The hybrid inverted-F slot antenna defined in claim 16 further comprising an adjustable component that bridges that slot to tune the low band.

18. A hybrid inverted-F slot antenna comprising:
a peripheral conductive member that runs along at least part of an electronic device housing periphery;
a ground that is separated from the peripheral conductive member by a slot;
an adjustable component coupled to the peripheral conductive member; and
an antenna feed having a positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the peripheral conductive member and a ground antenna feed terminal coupled to the ground, wherein the antenna feed feeds an inverted-F antenna structure formed from the peripheral conductive member and the ground and feeds a slot antenna structure formed from the slot.

19. The hybrid inverted-F antenna defined in claim 18 wherein the inverted-F antenna structure is configured to resonate in a first communications band and wherein the adjustable component comprises an adjustable inductor that bridges the slot.

20. The hybrid inverted-F antenna defined in claim 19 wherein the inverted-F antenna structure is configured to resonate in a second communications band and wherein the slot is configured to resonate in a third communications band, wherein the second communications band covers higher frequencies than the first communications band, and wherein the third communications band covers higher frequencies than the second communications band.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Vazquez Enrique Ayala
• Hu Hongfei
• Pascolini Mattia
• Ouyang Yuehui
• Zhou Yijun
• Mow Matthew A
• Schlub Robert W
• Irci Erdinc
• Yarga Salih
• Tsai Ming-Ju
• Han Liang
• Biedka Thomas E
• Reimnitz Nicholas S

Classifications

• H01Q9/42

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

• H01Q1/243

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q5/357

  using a single feed point · CPC title

• H01Q9/145

  by varying the electrical length · CPC title

• H01Q13/103 Primary

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