Abstract:
One embodiment provides a device, including: an antenna; a main memory storing code; a processor operatively coupled to the antenna and which executes the code stored in the main memory, wherein the code stored in the main memory includes code which is executed to communicate via the antenna; and a device cover that includes a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    A communication device or mobile computer such as a laptop personal computer (PC), a tablet computing device, a smart phone, etc., has included therewith a radio communication antenna. Much the same is found with other devices used for communications, e.g., radio or wireless communication devices included in vehicles, aircraft and the like. 
         [0002]    A radio communication antenna is located for example in a clam shell style laptop PC on an upper surface or a side surface of a liquid crystal display so that the antenna exhibits the optimum sensitivity when users use the laptop PC. In order to cope with recent demands such as broad and multiple frequency bands, a high data transfer rate, or a diversity communication, the number or size of antennas mounted on a display-side casing of the laptop PC has been increased. Again, much the same has happened with other device formats (e.g., tablets, smart phones, vehicle communication devices, aircraft communication systems, etc.). 
         [0003]    In communication device covers, strength and conductivity are conventionally thought of as competing with one another. That is, a material such as metal is strong and thus desirable to use in a device cover enclosing or supporting an antenna. However, metal interferes with the antenna&#39;s communication capability, thus counseling use of a non-conductive material such as a resin or other non-interfering material. 
         [0004]    Conventionally such materials (i.e., strong/rigid versus non-conductive) are applied in areas with care. For example, in a metallic display casing, cutout portions for securing the antenna sensitivity are provided in the metal structure, even though they introduce weak points in terms of strength. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0005]    In summary, one aspect provides a device, comprising: an antenna; a main memory storing code; a processor operatively coupled to the antenna and which executes the code stored in the main memory, wherein the code stored in the main memory comprises code which is executed to communicate via the antenna; and a device cover that includes a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers. 
         [0006]    Another aspect provides a device, comprising: an antenna; a processor operatively coupled to the antenna; and a device cover that includes a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers. 
         [0007]    A further aspect provides a device cover, comprising: a material having a pattern of conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers; the material including an antenna area; wherein the pattern in the antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers. 
         [0008]    A still further aspect provides a method, comprising: setting at least one antenna area of a cover; setting a pattern for fibers of the cover, wherein the pattern in at least one antenna area includes more non-conductive fibers than conductive fibers; and producing the cover using material incorporating the non-conductive fibers and the conductive fibers according to the pattern. 
         [0009]    The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. 
         [0010]    For a better understanding of the embodiments, together with other and further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of information handling device circuitry. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates another example of information handling device circuitry. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example conventional antenna cover with cut outs. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example antenna cover according to an embodiment. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates an example method of producing an antenna cover according to an embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations in addition to the described example embodiments. Thus, the following more detailed description of the example embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments, as claimed, but is merely representative of example embodiments. 
         [0017]    Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” (or the like) means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or the like in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
         [0018]    Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, et cetera. In other instances, well known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obfuscation. 
         [0019]    Conventional approaches to antenna covers include an approach that attempts to form separate areas, i.e., strong conducting/interfering material areas and weaker, non-conductive/non-interfering areas, such that the overall cover is strong but exhibits acceptable interference levels and thus communication capabilities. This process has lead to many different designs in which areas (interfering and non-interfering) are joined together, e.g., in a corrugated fashion. 
         [0020]    For example, a conventional approach to design fabrication may be as follows. A carbon fiber area is formed (which is opaque to or interferes with radio frequency (RF) communications) with a cut away of the carbon area. Replacement material (e.g., glass fiber, etc.) is cut to fit into this cut away zone (in order to reduce the interference with RF communications). The replacement material is then inserted into the cutouts. This is followed by finish processing that among other things addresses cosmetic concerns given the introduction of joints and/or seams to the cover at the material area interfaces. This process thus requires formation of and handling of additional components as well as finish processing to conceal the cosmetic artifacts of the differential materials (e.g., joints/seams are subjected to finishing to ensure cosmetic/aesthetic appearance quality). 
         [0021]    Rather than requiring a modification of the cover to include multiple subparts and subsequent finishing operations (and associated increase in cost), an embodiment provides a custom weave pattern of conductive fibers (e.g., carbon fibers or other interfering type fiber of choice necessary for strength) with a limited ratio of alternative non-conductive/non-interfering fibers, such as glass fiber or KEVLAR fiber. KEVLAR is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the United States and other countries. 
         [0022]    An embodiment provides a weaving pattern that is a sufficiently open mesh with respect to the carbon content in specific zones to allow RF signals to permeate the cover material. While the fabric becomes a unique material for each implementation, the weaving is automated and will not suffer the manual molding cycle time impact of handling additional parts. Nor will this approach suffer the joint(s) and/or seam(s) required between two dissimilar materials, i.e., that need to be managed for cosmetic effects. 
         [0023]    The illustrated example embodiments will be best understood by reference to the figures. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain example embodiments. 
         [0024]    While various other circuits, circuitry or components may be utilized in information handling devices, with regard to smart phone and/or tablet circuitry  100 , an example illustrated in  FIG. 1  includes a system on a chip design found for example in tablet or other mobile computing platforms. Software and processor(s) are combined in a single chip  110 . Processors comprise internal arithmetic units, registers, cache memory, busses, I/O ports, etc., as is well known in the art. Internal busses and the like depend on different vendors, but essentially all the peripheral devices ( 120 ) may attach to a single chip  110 . The circuitry  100  combines the processor, memory control, and I/O controller hub all into a single chip  110 . Also, systems  100  of this type do not typically use SATA or PCI or LPC. Common interfaces, for example, include SDIO and I2C. 
         [0025]    There are power management chip(s)  130 , e.g., a battery management unit, BMU, which manage power as supplied, for example, via a rechargeable battery  140 , which may be recharged by a connection to a power source (not shown). In at least one design, a single chip, such as  110 , is used to supply BIOS like functionality and DRAM memory. 
         [0026]    System  100  typically includes one or more of a WWAN transceiver  150  and a WLAN transceiver  160  and associated antennas for connecting to various networks, such as telecommunications networks and wireless Internet devices, e.g., access points. Additionally, devices  120  are commonly included, e.g., cameras, external input devices, short range wireless and/or near field communication devices, and the like. System  100  often includes a touch screen  170  for data input and display/rendering. System  100  also typically includes various memory devices, for example flash memory  180  and SDRAM  190 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 2  depicts a block diagram of another example of information handling device circuits, circuitry or components. The example depicted in  FIG. 2  may correspond to computing systems such as the THINKPAD series of personal computers sold by Lenovo (US) Inc. of Morrisville, N.C., or other devices. As is apparent from the description herein, embodiments may include other features or only some of the features of the example illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0028]    The example of  FIG. 2  includes a so-called chipset  210  (a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that work together, chipsets) with an architecture that may vary depending on manufacturer (for example, INTEL, AMD, ARM, etc.). INTEL is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. AMD is a registered trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and other countries. ARM is an unregistered trademark of ARM Holdings plc in the United States and other countries. The architecture of the chipset  210  includes a core and memory control group  220  and an I/O controller hub  250  that exchanges information (for example, data, signals, commands, etc.) via a direct management interface (DMI)  242  or a link controller  244 . In  FIG. 2 , the DMI  242  is a chip-to-chip interface (sometimes referred to as being a link between a “northbridge” and a “southbridge”). The core and memory control group  220  include one or more processors  222  (for example, single or multi-core) and a memory controller hub  226  that exchange information via a front side bus (FSB)  224 ; noting that components of the group  220  may be integrated in a chip that supplants the conventional “northbridge” style architecture. One or more processors  222  comprise internal arithmetic units, registers, cache memory, busses, I/O ports, etc., as is well known in the art. 
         [0029]    In  FIG. 2 , the memory controller hub  226  interfaces with memory  240  (for example, to provide support for a type of RAM that may be referred to as “system memory” or “memory”). The memory controller hub  226  further includes a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface  232  for a display device  292  (for example, a CRT, a flat panel, touch screen, etc.). A block  238  includes some technologies that may be supported via the LVDS interface  232  (for example, serial digital video, HDMI/DVI, display port). The memory controller hub  226  also includes a PCI-express interface (PCI-E)  234  that may support discrete graphics  236 . 
         [0030]    In  FIG. 2 , the I/O hub controller  250  includes a SATA interface  251  (for example, for HDDs, SDDs, etc.,  280 ), a PCI-E interface  252  (for example, for wireless connections  282 ), a USB interface  253  (for example, for devices  284  such as a digitizer, keyboard, mice, cameras, phones, microphones, storage, other connected devices, etc.), a network interface  254  (for example, LAN), a GPIO interface  255 , a LPC interface  270  (for ASICs  271 , a TPM  272 , a super I/O  273 , a firmware hub  274 , BIOS support  275  as well as various types of memory  276  such as ROM  277 , Flash  278 , and NVRAM  279 ), a power management interface  261 , a clock generator interface  262 , an audio interface  263  (for example, for speakers  294 ), a TCO interface  264 , a system management bus interface  265 , and SPI Flash  266 , which can include BIOS  268  and boot code  290 . The I/O hub controller  250  may include gigabit Ethernet support. 
         [0031]    The system, upon power on, may be configured to execute boot code  290  for the BIOS  268 , as stored within the SPI Flash  266 , and thereafter processes data under the control of one or more operating systems and application software (for example, stored in system memory  240 ). An operating system may be stored in any of a variety of locations and accessed, for example, according to instructions of the BIOS  268 . As described herein, a device may include fewer or more features than shown in the system of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0032]    Information handling device circuitry, as for example outlined in  FIG. 1  or  FIG. 2 , may be used in devices such as tablets, smart phones, personal computer devices generally, and/or electronic or communication devices that employ antennas to communicate wirelessly. For example,  FIG. 3  is a schematic perspective view illustrating a structure of a display portion  313  of a conventional laptop PC. The display portion  313  includes a display casing  323 , a display module  325 , antenna mounting portions  327   a  and  327   b,  and a bezel  331 . A variety of types of radio communication antennas may be mounted on the antenna mounting portions  327   a  and  327   b . The display casing  323  has a box-like structure, and the display module  325  is fixedly accommodated therein. The antenna mounting portions  327   a  and  327   b  are disposed between a side portion of the display module  325  and an inner surface of the display casing  323 . The bezel  331  is disposed on a front surface of the display module  325  to be mounted on the display casing  323 . 
         [0033]    The display casing  323  is a structure for protecting internal components of, for example, the display module  325  from an external pressing force. For this reason, the display casing  323  has usually been formed of a thick glass fiber reinforced plastic. Increasingly, in order to achieve a thin size and a light weight while maintaining strength of the casing, light metals such as aluminum alloys or magnesium alloys are often used instead of glass fiber reinforced plastic. 
         [0034]    When antennas mounted on the antenna mounting portions  327   a  and  327   b  are disposed inside the display casing  323  formed of a conductive material such as metal, the sensitivity may be lowered. For this reason, in the case of the display casing  323  formed of metal, a structure is typically used in which cutouts  333   a  and  333   b  are formed in parts of a side portion thereof corresponding to the antennas, and caps  335   a  and  335   b  configured by nonconductive members such as rubber or plastics are packed into the cutouts  333   a  and  333   b.    
         [0035]    However, when the cutouts  333   a  and  333   b  are formed in the display casing  323 , the strength at these portions is inevitably lowered undesirably. For this reason, it is necessary to decide the structure of the display casing  323  with the presumption that the strength will be lowered by the cutouts  333   a  and  333   b  so that sufficient strength can be ensured. Particularly, when a plurality of antennas is mounted on one casing, the cutouts are required by the number of antennas mounted, so that it leads to a limit in achieving a thin size and lightweight in a metallic casing. Much the same difficulty is faced in device coverings for circuitry such as outlined in  FIG. 1 , i.e., mobile computing devices such as tablets, smart phones, etc. Generally then, all communication device coverings encounter a difficulty in achieving a balance between strength and communication functionality with respect to the antenna placement. 
         [0036]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , an embodiment provides a custom weave pattern of fibers (of varying types, as further described herein) for a device cover  401 . The example illustrated in  FIG. 4  is a cover suitable for use with a tablet or smart phone device; however, as is apparent from the description, covers for other devices that include antennas may be suitably designed using the teachings provided herein. 
         [0037]    As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , a weave pattern includes a limited ratio of conductive fibers (e.g., carbon fibers) and non-conductive fibers (e.g., KEVLAR fibers or other non-interfering fibers, such as glass fibers). In some cases the conductive and/or non-conductive fibers may be coated, e.g., with resin, or may take the form of a hybrid material, e.g., a composite of more than one material may be used to form a fiber. 
         [0038]    The weaving pattern is a sufficiently open mesh with respect to the conductive fiber content in specific zones, e.g., Antenna A and Antenna B areas in  FIG. 4 , to allow RF signals to permeate the cover material. Specifically, the weave pattern illustrated in  FIG. 4  highlights that non-conductive fibers are used exclusively in the antenna areas (Antenna A and Antenna B) such that the conductive/interfering fibers are omitted or excluded from the weave pattern to avoid disruption of RF signaling, e.g., via Wi-Fi antenna located at Antenna A and Antenna B areas. 
         [0039]    In an embodiment, the weave pattern is designed to fit the antenna layout of the particular device. In production, the cover material is woven with specific fiber inclusion/exclusion in the particular areas according to the weave pattern. While the fabric or cover material is a custom pattern unique to each implementation, the weave is automated and therefore will proceed quickly once the weave pattern has been set. Additionally, the use of a custom weave pattern does not suffer the manual molding cycle time impact of handling additional parts. Moreover, the areas having differential fiber content, e.g., Antenna A and Antenna B areas of  FIG. 4 , do not include joints or seams. This enhances the strength of the cover material as compared to joined material areas and eliminates the cosmetic effects of joints and seams. 
         [0040]    As will be appreciated, depending on the type of fibers chosen for the weave pattern, some or all conductive fibers may be excluded from the antenna areas. In the illustrated example, Antenna A and Antenna B areas of the weave pattern are completely devoid of any conductive fibers. This is not a strict requirement, however, and may be modified to suit the particular fibers chosen, the type and sensitivity of the antenna, etc. For example, the conductive/non-conductive fiber ratio may vary in the antenna area depending on factors such as fiber material, antenna sensitivity, proximity to the antenna in question, surrounding materials, strength/rigidity requirements of the cover, etc. 
         [0041]    An embodiment therefore represents a shift in the production process of antenna covers, particularly for personal/mobile communication devices. Referring to  FIG. 5 , the area(s) that will overly or be proximate to an antenna are determined at  501 . As described herein, this may be a physical area associated with the physical area occupied by an antenna, more physical area than occupied by an antenna, or less physical area than occupied by an antenna. The antenna area(s) of the cover therefore may be dictated by the fiber material, the antenna type or characteristics, the location of the cover with respect to the antenna or other components, the area of the cover (e.g., curved portion, flat portion, etc) or combinations of the foregoing. 
         [0042]    Once antenna area(s) have been determined for the implementation, a weave pattern is set at  502 . By this it is meant that the weave pattern for conductive and non-conductive fibers is set such that in the antenna area(s), non-conductive fibers predominate or are used to the exclusion of conductive, e.g., carbon, fibers. The weave pattern is then sent to direct an automated weaving process at  503  such that the chosen fibers are included in the pattern set at  502 . This may include a process whereby cover material such as fabric is weaved in a pattern that repeats, i.e., individual cover pieces may be cut at  504  from the weaved pattern for use in individual device covers. 
         [0043]    Example embodiments are described herein with reference to the figures, which illustrate example methods, devices and products according to various examples. It will be understood that the illustrated examples are non-limiting and merely presented to illustrate certain aspects that guide the understanding of the disclosure. For example, as used herein, the singular “a” and “an” may be construed as including the plural “one or more” unless clearly indicated otherwise. 
         [0044]    This disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The example embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain principles and practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
         [0045]    Thus, although illustrative example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying figures, it is to be understood that this description is not limiting and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure.