Abstract:
A circuit-board mountable antenna ( 50, 80, 90 ) has a substrate ( 12,14 ) compliant with the IPC/JEDEC J-STD_0202C and IEC-norm standard 60068, which specifies the spacing and pin arrangements for a printed circuit board (PCB) mountable connector commonly known in the automotive electronic art as a “FAKRA” or “Fakra.” A radio frequency (RF) energy transducer or antenna ( 54 ) is applied to or formed over the substrate ( 12, 14 ) which is provided with at least one mounting pin ( 16 ) and a signal lead ( 18 ), the spacing and locations of which are compliant with the Fakra ISO-compliant hole pattern. The antennae ( 50, 80, 90 ) thus provide a circuit board ( 70 ) mountable antenna, compliant with the Fakra standard. The Fakra-compliant antenna or a Fakra-compliant connector can be attached to the circuit board ( 70 ) for a communications device ( 100 ) at the time of assembly to enable the communications device to use either a concealed or concealable antenna or an external antenna.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The IPC/JEDEC J-STD — 0202C and IEC-norm standard 60068 specify spacing and pin arrangements for a printed circuit board (PCB) mountable connector commonly known in the automotive electronic art as a “FAKRA” or “Fakra.”  FIG. 1  is a prospective view of a typical prior art Fakra connector  10 . The connector  10  is preferably formed by molding a dielectric, such as plastic, ceramic or glass in the shape depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
     The connector  10  in  FIG. 1  has a first, right circular and cylindrically-shaped portion  2 , which extends away from a substantially cubic-shaped circuit board mounting portion  4 , at the center of which is a signal-carrying conductor, not shown in  FIG. 1 . The cylindrical portion is sized, shaped and arranged to be received into a mating female receptacle connector, also not shown. The cylindrical portion  2  has a detent or latch  3 , which locks a mating receptacle connector to the connector  10  depicted in  FIG. 1 . The circuit board mounting portion is provided with four corner-located mounting posts  6 , two of which are visible in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 2  is a right side elevation view of the connector  10  shown in  FIG. 1 . The first, cylindrically-shaped portion  2  and the cubic-shaped connector mounting portion  4  are configured so that the connector mounting portion  2  can extend outward and away from the edge of a circuit board, not shown in  FIG. 1  or  2 . The two, corner-located mounting posts  6  depicted in  FIG. 2  extend downwardly and orthogonal to the substantially planar bottom face  5  of the cubic-shaped circuit board mounting portion  4 . A signal lead  8  is depicted in  FIG. 2  as between the two mounting posts shown in  FIG. 2 . The signal lead  8  also extends orthogonally down from the circuit board mounting portion  4 . 
       FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the connector shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 3  shows the four corner-located mounting posts  6  and the center-located signal lead  8 . The geometry of the mounting posts  6  relative to each other and the placement of the signal lead  8  are specified in the aforementioned Fakra standards. Their configuration, i.e., their number and spacing, relative to each other, determines whether the connector  10  is compliant with the aforementioned Fakra standards. They therefore determine whether the connector  10  is, or is not a Fakra connector. 
     The Fakra connector depicted in FIGS.  1 , 2  and  3  is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art as an automotive electronics industry-standard connector. It is often used to connect a coaxial cable between a vehicle-mounted wireless communications device like a cellular telephone and global positioning system (GPS) receiver, to an antenna located on or in a vehicle window, or on an exterior vehicle surface. 
     A problem with mounting antennae on a vehicle surface or in a vehicle window is that such antennae are susceptible to theft and vandalism. Any sort of communications device or GPS receiver will therefore be rendered useless, if the external antenna for the device is either damaged or stolen. Concealing or re-locating the antennae that such devices require where they would not be visible or susceptible to vandalism would prevent or reduce the likelihood that the device would be rendered inoperative. An antenna that is less susceptible, or immune to theft or damage would be an improvement over the prior art, especially when used with vehicles. 
    
    
     
       SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a prior art Fakra-compliant connector; 
         FIG. 2  is a right-side view of the connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of one embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna; 
         FIG. 5  is a right-side view of the antenna shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the antenna shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 7  illustrates the use of a Fakra-compliant connector or the Fakra-compliant antenna with a circuit board of an electronic communications device; 
         FIG. 8  shows an alternate embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna, mountable on a circuit board; 
         FIG. 9  shows another alternate embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna; and 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram of a wireless communications device using a Fakra-compliant antenna, such as those depicted in  FIG. 4 ,  8  or  9 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 4  shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna  50 . As with the connector  10  shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the antenna  50  depicted in  FIG. 4  has a substantially cube-shaped circuit board mounting portion  14  that is provided with one or more locating posts  16  that extend orthogonally from the bottom face  15  of the circuit board mounting portion  1 . A signal lead, not shown in  FIG. 4 , also extends downward from and orthogonal to the bottom face  15  of the circuit board mounting portion  14  similar to the signal lead depicted in  FIGS. 2 and 3  above. Unlike the connector  10  depicted in  FIGS. 1-3 , the detent  13  depicted in  FIGS. 1-3  is removed from the cylindrical portion  12 . 
     The circuit board mounting portion  14  and the cylindrical portion  12  are preferably formed as a monolithic block of dielectric material, such as plastic, glass or ceramic. The circuit board mounting portion  14  and the cylindrical portion  12 , support an antenna described below, which is comprised of a predetermined length of wire  54 , wound around the exterior surface of the cylindrical portion  12  to form an inductor that is resonant in at least one frequency band of operation for a radio communications device, not shown in  FIG. 4 . Since the circuit board mounting portion  14  and cylindrical portion  12  support the antenna formed from the wire wound around the cylindrical portion  12 , they are considered herein to be a support structure or substrate for the radio frequency-transducing antenna  54 . The terms, wire, antenna and coil are used interchangeably hereinafter and identified collectively by reference numeral  54 . 
     Except for relatively short portions at opposite ends of the wire  54 , the wire wound around the cylindrical portion  12  is coated with an insulative material. In one embodiment, the uncoated portion of one end of the wire coil  54  is electrically connected to the center-located signal lead  18  that extends from the bottom surface of the circuit board mounting portion  14  while the opposite, second end of the wire coil  54  is left open or floating. In another embodiment, the uncoated portion of the second end of the coil is connected to either a conductive material (not shown) on the surface of the substrate ( 12  and  14 ) or it is extended to a ground plane that is formed on or attached to, the bottom surface  15  of the circuit board mounting portion  14 . Neither end of the coil  54  is visible in  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 5  is a side elevation view of the antenna  50  shown in  FIG. 4 . This view shows that the first end  53  of the coil  54  extends over the bottom surface  15  and is electrically connected to the aforementioned signal lead  18 .  FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the antenna  50  shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  showing the connection of the first end  53  of the coil  54  is connected to the aforementioned center-located signal lead  18 . The second end  56  of the coil/antenna  54  can either be floating, or connected to the aforementioned conductive layer over the material from which the substrate is formed, but which is not shown in the figures. 
     The wire used to form the coil  54  has a physical length, selected such that when the length of wire is wound around the cylindrical portion  52 , the number of turns and the diameter of the winding imbues the coil  54  with electrical characteristics (inductance and capacitance) which make the coil  54  resonant in at least one operating frequency band used by a communications device coupled to the antenna  50 . 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 6 , the circuit board mounting portion  14  is provided with four alignment pins  16 , each of which is located at a corresponding corner of the cube-shaped circuit board mounting portion  14 . The signal lead  18  is located at the center of the circuit board mounting portion  14 . Alternate embodiments use one, two or three mounting pins  18 , at least one of which forms a ground pin connection for the aforementioned ground plane on the bottom surface  15 , or for a conductive coating on the exterior surfaces of the substrate ( 12  and  14 ). 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , there is shown a circuit board  70  attached to which are several electronic components  72  that comprise or form operational components of a communications device, such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a Bluetooth transceiver and/or a cellular telephone, such as a GSM or CDMA phone. The circuit board  70  has a square-shaped area or land  74 , which defines the locations of the aforementioned Fakra ISO-standard mounting hole pattern  76  on the circuit board  70 . Since the mounting hole pattern  76  is compliant with the aforementioned Fakra standard, it will of course accept one or more of the alignment pins  16  and the signal lead  18  in the aforementioned Fakra antenna  50 . The mounting hole pattern  76  will also accept a Fakra connector, such as the connector  10  depicted in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 . The circuit board  70  thus enables one or more communications devices mounted on the circuit board  70  to receive and/or transmit RF signals through either an external antenna (using the aforementioned connector  10 ) or a circuit-board mounted Fakra-compliant antenna  50  depicted in  FIGS. 4-6 . As  FIG. 7  shows to those of ordinary skill in the art, the selection and use of either Fakra-compliant connector  10 , or the circuit board-mounted Fakra-compliant antenna  50 , can be made at the time of assembly of the circuit board  70 , the selection being a design choice. 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  show two alternate embodiments of Fakra-compliant antennas. The antenna  80  depicted in  FIG. 8  is also a circuit-board mountable Fakra-compliant antenna  80  and is shown used with the circuit board  70  shown in  FIG. 7 , and therefore with the same types of communications devices formed from the various electronic components  72  required by such devices, all of which are known to those of ordinary skill. The Fakra compliant antenna  80  shown in  FIG. 8  has a foot print, i.e., the area it occupies, larger than the area or footprint of the Fakra ISO-compliant hole pattern  76 . The Fakra-compliant antenna  80  also includes Fakra-compliant alignment pins  82  for aligning the antenna  80  with the Fakra ISO-compliant hole pattern  76  on circuit-board  70 . 
       FIG. 9  shows another embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna  90  having a coil of wire  92  formed on a cylindrical but upright portion  94 . As with the antennas depicted in  FIGS. 4-8 , the antenna  90  of  FIG. 9  also has Fakra-compliant alignment pins  16  and a Fakra-compliant signal lead  18  on a circuit board mounting portion  93  that enable the antenna  90  to be mounted into a Fakra-compliant hole pattern on any circuit board. Unlike the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 4-8 , the Fakra-compliant antenna  90  shown in  FIG. 9  fits entirely within the footprint of a Fakra-compliant mounting hole pattern. 
     Finally, and for the sake of completeness,  FIG. 10  shows a schematic diagram of a communications device  100  comprised of radio transceiver  102 , the functionally-necessary components of which are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the communications art. The transceiver  102  is operatively coupled to, and controlled by a controller  104 , such as a microcontroller or microprocessor, which is itself coupled to a user interface  106 , such as a keyboard and liquid crystal display device. A speaker  108  and microphone  110  coupled to the transceiver enable audio signals to be carried between the transceiver and a user of the device  100 . In one embodiment, the communications device  100  is embodied as a cellular telephone. In another embodiment, the communications device  100  is either a Bluetooth transceiver, GPS receiver or a RF location device for tracking and/or locating stolen vehicles. 
     The components of the communications device  100  depicted in  FIG. 10  are preferably mounted on one or more circuit boards. Everyone knows that such circuit boards are themselves mounted in an appropriate housing, not shown for purposes of clarity. Reference numeral  50  in  FIG. 10  depicts any one of the Fakra-compliant antennae shown in Figs.  FIG. 10  thus depicts a wireless communications device, such as a cell phone, GPS receiver or Bluetooth device, the operation of which is enabled through the use of either a circuit board-mounted Fakra antenna or an external antenna that is coupled to the device through a circuit board mounted Fakra connector, such as the connector  10  depicted in  FIGS. 1-3 . 
     It should be noted that the antennas depicted in  FIGS. 4-9  are single band radio frequency transducers, by which is meant that the antennae are resonant in one band, such as the 800 Mhz. band commonly used by cellular telephones. Alternate embodiments of the antenna disclosed herein include multiband antennas which, resonate in multiple different bands that include, but which are not limited to, the 800, 900, 1200 and 1800 Mhz bands. Such antennae can be constructed from winding additional coils over those shown in the figures, or selectively choosing the electrical lengths of the coil  54  to have multiple resident frequencies at harmonic frequencies thereof. 
     The embodiments described above are for purposes of explanation and illustration. They should not be construed to be limiting the invention or as defining the invention. The invention is defined by the scope of the appurtenant claims.