Electronic device and method for managing specific absorption rate using multiple antennas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9900894-B2
Application number	US-201715416539-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2017
Priority date	Mar 15, 2016
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed are an electronic device and a method for managing a specific absorption rate (SAR). In the present disclosure, even if an antenna for second communication is activated while the electronic device transmits/receives wireless signals of a plurality of frequency bands for first communication, an increase in an SAR value by frequency overlapping can be reduced or suppressed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a housing that includes a first face that faces in a first direction, a second face that faces in a second direction that is opposite to, or different from, the first direction, and a third face that encloses at least a portion of a space between the first face and the second face;
a first antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a first portion of the housing;
a second antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a second portion of the housing;
a third antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a third portion of the housing, a first distance between the first portion and the third portion being shorter than a distance between the second portion and the third portion;
a first wireless communication circuit that is configured to transmit, through one of the first antenna element and the second antenna element, a first wireless signal of a first frequency band, and transmit, through another one of the first antenna element and the second antenna element, a second wireless signal of a second frequency band which is lower than the first frequency band, the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal being used together and providing carrier aggregation (CA);
a second wireless communication circuit that is configured to transmit, through the third antenna element, a third wireless signal of a third frequency band, which at least partially overlap with the first frequency band;
a processor that is electrically connected to the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit; and
a storage device that is electrically connected to the processor,
wherein the storage device stores instructions that, when being executed, cause the processor to control the first wireless communication circuit such that:
when the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit are at least partially simultaneously used, the first wireless signal is provided through the second antenna element, and the second wireless signal is provided through the first antenna element; and
when the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit are not simultaneously used, the first wireless signal is provided through any one of the first antenna element and the second antenna element, and the second wireless signal is provided through another one of the first antenna element and the second antenna element.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion and the second portion of the housing are formed by portions of the third face.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the third antenna element is set to be positioned to be adjacent to the third portion of the housing within the space.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first face has a quadrilateral cross section when viewed from above the first face, and
the quadrilateral cross section includes:
a first peripheral portion that has a first length;
a second peripheral portion that has a second length which is longer than the first length, and vertically extends from the first peripheral portion;
a third peripheral portion that has the first length, and vertically extends from the second peripheral portion; and
a fourth peripheral portion that has the second length, and vertically extends from the third peripheral portion, and
the first portion of the housing is formed in at least a portion of the first peripheral portion, and the second portion of the housing is formed in at least a portion of the third peripheral portion.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the third portion of the housing is formed in at least a portion of the first peripheral portion.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless communication circuit is configured to support a long term evolution (LTE) protocol of a version that supports the CA.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the second wireless communication circuit is configured to support a wireless fidelity (WiFi) protocol that supports 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) frequency communication.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency band is in a range of 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) to 2.7 GHz, the second frequency band is in a range of 1.7 GHz to 2.1 GHz, and the third frequency band is 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a fourth antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a fourth portion of the housing,
wherein the first wireless communication circuit transmits a fourth wireless signal of a fourth frequency band through another one of the first antenna element, the second antenna element, and the fourth antenna element, and
the processor is configured to control the first wireless communication circuit such that:
when the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit are at least partially simultaneously used, the first wireless signal is provided through the fourth antenna element, and the fourth wireless signal is provided through the first antenna element, and
when the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit are not simultaneously used, the first wireless signal is provided through any one of the first antenna element, the second antenna element, and the third antenna element, the second wireless signal is provided through another one of the first antenna element, the second antenna element, and the third antenna element, and the fourth wireless signal is provided through still another one of the first antenna element, the second antenna element, and the third antenna element.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the second frequency band and the fourth frequency band are lower than the first frequency band, and
the first wireless signal, the second wireless signal, and the fourth wireless signal are set to be used together so as to provide the CA.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the first portion, the second portion, or the third portion of the housing are formed in portions of the third face.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the third antenna element is set to be positioned to be adjacent to the fourth portion of the housing within the space.

13. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the third portion of the housing is formed in at least a portion of the third peripheral portion.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein the forth portion of the housing is formed in at least a portion of the first peripheral portion.

15. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the fourth frequency band is 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.

16. A method for managing a specific absorption rate (SAR) in an electronic device that includes a housing that includes a first face that faces in a first direction, a second face that faces in a second direction that is opposite to, or different from, the first direction, and a third face that encloses at least a portion of a space between the first face and the second face, a first antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a first portion of the housing, a second antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a second portion of the housing, a third antenna element that is adjacent to, or is positioned in, a third portion of the housing, a first distance between the first portion and the third portion being shorter than a distance between the second portion and the third portion, a first wireless communication circuit tha

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Hyun Tae
• Ryu Jae Ahn
• Choi Hyun Suk

Classifications

• H04W72/53 Primary

  based on regulatory allocation policies · CPC title

• H04W72/0493 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B7/0404

  the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04M1/026 Primary

  Details of the structure or mounting of specific components · CPC title