Electronic device with fingerprint sensor and tunable hybrid antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9577318-B2
Application number	US-201414463299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2014
Priority date	Aug 19, 2014
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

An electronic device may have wireless circuitry and components such as sensors. The electronic device may have a metal housing having first and second planar rear wall portions separated by a gap. Conductive structures may bridge the gap to electrically couple the first and second rear wall portions. The wireless circuitry may include a hybrid slot inverted-F antenna. The antenna may have an inverted-F antenna resonating element formed from peripheral housing structures that are separated from the second rear wall portion by an opening. The opening may form a C-shaped slot antenna resonating element for the antenna. The sensors may include a fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor may be coupled to a button member in a button. The fingerprint sensor and other portions of the button may overlap the second planar rear wall portion to minimize interference with antenna operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing having peripheral conductive structures;
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, the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed from the peripheral conductive structures, 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 the antenna ground has an extended portion adjacent to the slot;
an antenna feed that feeds both the inverted-F antenna portion and the slot antenna portion; and
a fingerprint sensor overlapping the extended portion of the antenna ground.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a flexible printed circuit, wherein the fingerprint sensor is mounted to the flexible printed circuit and a portion of the flexible printed circuit on which the fingerprint sensor is mounted overlaps the extended portion of the antenna ground.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the housing has a metal rear wall and wherein the antenna ground is formed from the metal rear wall.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the extended portion of the antenna ground is formed from the metal rear wall.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 further comprising:
a button that has a switch.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the button overlaps the extended portion of the antenna ground.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the fingerprint sensor is mounted within the button.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 wherein the metal rear wall has a first planar portion and a second planar portion that are separated by a gap filled with plastic and that are electrically coupled by conductive structures, the first portion forms at least part of the antenna ground, and the second portion forms the extended portion of the antenna ground.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 further comprising:
a connector receptacle, wherein the button overlaps the connector receptacle.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the opening is a C-shaped slot having a portion that runs along the peripheral conductive structures.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 further comprising:
a display having a display module that overlaps the antenna ground without overlapping the extended portion of the antenna ground and having a display cover layer that overlaps the display module and the extended portion of the antenna ground.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the button comprises a dielectric button member surrounded by a metal trim.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 5 further comprising a display having a display module and a display cover layer formed over the display module, wherein the display cover layer has an opening that overlaps the button.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the slot is a C-shaped slot that runs along peripheral edges of the housing and the antenna feed has first and second feed terminals on opposing sides of the C-shaped slot.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 further comprising:
an inductor and a switch that are connected in series and that are coupled to the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna, wherein the switch is configured to switch the inductor into use and out of use to compensate for detuning of the antenna due to presence of an external object adjacent to the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a display having a display module that overlaps the antenna ground without overlapping the extended portion of the antenna ground and having a display cover layer that overlaps the display module and the extended portion of the antenna ground.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a transmission line coupled to the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna and a tunable impedance matching circuit interposed in the transmission line.

18. An electronic device, comprising:
a hybrid inverted-F slot antenna having an inverted-F antenna resonating element, a slot antenna resonating element, and an antenna ground; and
a switch and an inductor coupled to the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna, wherein the switch is configured to switch the inductor out of use in response to detecting a user's hand adjacent to the antenna.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18 further comprising a fingerprint sensor that overlaps a portion of the antenna ground.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 19 wherein the slot antenna resonating element is formed from a C-shaped slot that separates the inverted-F antenna resonating element from the portion of the antenna ground.

21. The electronic device defined in claim 20 further comprising an adjustable inductor that is coupled across the slot antenna resonating element and that tunes a low communications band for the hybrid inverted-F slot antenna.

22. The electronic device defined in claim 20 , wherein the C-shaped slot has first, second, and third portions that separate the inverted-F antenna resonating element from the portion of the antenna ground, the first portion extends substantially perpendicular from a first end of the second portion, and the third portion extends substantially perpendicular form a second end of the second portion.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Pascolini Mattia
• Jin Nanbo

Classifications

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• G06F21/32

  using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints · CPC title

• H01Q13/10

  Resonant slot antennas · CPC title

• H01Q9/0421

  with a shorting wall or a shorting pin at one end of the element (H01Q9/0414 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01Q1/243 Primary

  with built-in antennas · CPC title