English:
[0001] 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.
[0002] The connector 10 in Fig. 1 has a first, right circular and cylindrically- shaped portion 12, which extends away from a substantially cubic-shaped circuit board mounting portion 14, 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 12 has a detent or latch 13, 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 16, two of which are visible in Fig. 1.
[0003] Fig. 2 is a right side elevation view of the connector 10 shown in Fig. 1. The first, cylindrically-shaped portion 12 and the cubic-shaped connector mounting portion 14 are configured so that the connector mounting portion 12 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 16 depicted in Fig. 2 extend downwardly and orthogonal to the substantially planar bottom face 15 of the cubic-shaped circuit board mounting portion 14. A signal lead 18 is depicted in Fig. 2 as between the two mounting posts shown in Fig. 2. The signal lead 18 also extends orthogonally down from the circuit board mounting portion 14.
[0004] 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 16 and the center-located signal lead 18. The geometry of the mounting posts 16 relative to each other and the placement of the signal lead 18 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.
[0005] The Fakra connector depicted in Fig. 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.
[0006] 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.
[0007] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art Fakra-compliant connector;
[0008] Fig. 2 is a right-side view of the connector shown in Fig. 1;
[0009] Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the connector shown in Fig. 1;
[0011] Fig. 5 is a right-side view of the antenna shown in Fig. 4;
[0012] Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the antenna shown in Fig. 4;
[0013] Fig. 7 illustrates the use of a Fakra-compliant connector or the Fakra- compliant antenna with a circuit board of an electronic communications device;
[0014] Fig. 8 shows an alternate embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna, mountable on a circuit board;
[0015] Fig. 9 shows another alternate embodiment of a Fakra-compliant antenna; and
[0016] Fig. 10 is a block diagram of a wireless communications device using a Fakra-compliant antenna, such as those depicted in Figs. 4, 8 or 9.
[0017] 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 Fig. 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.
[0018] 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.
[0019] 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.
[0020] 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.
[0022] 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).
[0023] 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.
[0024] Figs. 8 and 9 show two alternate embodiments of Fakra-compliant antennas. The antenna 80 depicted in Fig. 8 is also a circuiit-board mountable Fakra- compliant antenna 80 and is shown used with the circuit board 70 shown in Fig. 7, and therefore with the same tpes 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.
[0025] Fig. 9 shows another embodiment of a Fakra-compliant connector 90 having a coil of wire 92 formed on a cylindrical but upright portion 94. As with the antennae 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.
[0026] 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.
[0027] 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.
[0028] It should be noted that the antennaes 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.

中文:
[0001]IPC/JEDEC J-STD_0202C和IEC-norm标准60068指定了在汽车电子领域公知为“FAKRA”或“Fakra”的印刷电路板(PCB)安装连接器的间距和管脚配置。图1为典型的现有技术Fakra连接器10的透视图。连接器10优选地通过将电介质(例如塑料、陶瓷或玻璃)铸造为图1示出的形状而成型。
[0002]在图1中,连接器10具有第一正圆柱形部分12,其远离基本为立方体形状的电路板安装部分14延伸,在它的中心是信号承载导体(图1中未示出)。设计圆柱部分的尺寸、形状和配置以接收在配对阴插孔连接器中(同样未示出)。圆柱部分12具有掣子或闩锁13,其将配对插孔连接器锁定到图1中示出的连接器10上。电路板安装部分设置有四个位于角落的安装柱16,其中两个在图1中可见。
[0003]图2为图1中示出的连接器10的右侧视图。第一圆柱形部分12和立方体形状的连接器安装部分14如此配置使得连接器安装部分12可以从电路板边缘向外且远离电路板边缘延伸,未在图1或图2中示出。图2中示出的两个位于角落的安装柱16垂直于立方体形状的电路板安装部分14的基本上平面的底面15向下延伸。图2中示出信号引线18位于图2中示出的两个安装柱之间。信号引线18也从电路板安装部分14垂直向下延伸。
[0004]图3为图1和2中示出的连接器的仰视图。图3示出四个位于角落的安装柱16和位于中心的信号引线18。安装柱16相互之间的几何构型和信号引线18的布置在前述Fakra标准中指定。它们的结构,即它们的数量和相互之间的间距,决定了连接器10是否与前述Fakra标准兼容。它们因此决定了连接器10是否为Fakra连接器。
[0005]对本领域普通技术人员而言,图1、2和3示出的Fakra连接器是公知的汽车电子行业标准连接器。其常用于将安装于车辆上的无线通信设备(如蜂窝电话)和全球定位系统(GPS)接收器之间的同轴电缆连接到位于车窗上或车窗内或位于车辆外表面上的天线。
[0006]将天线安装到车辆表面或车窗内的一个问题在于这样的天线容易被盗窃和破坏。如果设备的外部天线被破坏或盗窃,任何类型的通信设备或GPS接收器因此将会无效。将这样的设备所需的天线隐藏或重新定位在不可见或不易于被破坏的位置,将防止或降低设备无效的可能性。不易于或免于盗窃或损坏的天线相对于现有技术而言是一个进步,尤其当其用于车辆上时。
[0007]图1为现有技术Fakra兼容连接器的透视图;
[0008]图2为图1示出的连接器的右侧视图;
[0009]图3为图1示出的连接器的仰视图;
[0011]图5为图4示出天线的右侧视图;
[0012]图6为图4示出天线的仰视图;
[0013]图7示出Fakra兼容连接器或Fakra兼容天线用于电子通信设备的电路板上;
[0014]图8示出安装于电路板上的Fakra兼容天线的一个替换实施例;
[0015]图9示出Fakra兼容天线的另一替换实施例;且
[0016]图10为使用例如图4、8或9示出的Fakra兼容天线的无线通信设备的框图。
[0017]图4示出Fakra兼容天线50的一个实施例的透视图。正如图1-3示出的连接器10,图4示出的天线50具有基本上为立方体形状的电路板安装部分14,其设置有从电路板安装部分14的底面15垂直延伸的一个或多个定位柱16。信号引线(图4未示出)也垂直于电路板安装部分14的底面15向下延伸,与上述图2和3示出的信号引线类似。与图1-3示出的连接器10不同,图1-3示出的掣子13从圆柱部分12移开。
[0018]电路板安装部分14和圆柱部分12优选地成型为单块电介质材料块,例如塑料、玻璃或陶瓷。电路板安装部分14和圆柱部分12支撑以下描述的天线,天线由预定长度的导线54围绕圆柱部分12的外表面缠绕以形成在无线电通信设备(图4未示出)的至少一个工作频段谐振的电感器而构成。由于电路板安装部分14和圆柱部分12支撑导线围绕圆柱部分12缠绕而形成的天线,它们在此被认为是射频转换天线54的支撑结构或基底。术语导线、天线和线圈在以下可互换地使用,且总的用附图标记54表示。
[0019]除了导线54相对端的相对较短部分,缠绕圆柱部分12的导线被绝缘材料涂敷。在一个实施例中,导线线圈54的一端的未涂敷部分被电连接到位于中心的信号引线18,引线18从电路板安装部分14的底表面延伸,而导线线圈54相对的第二端悬置或漂浮。在另一实施例中,线圈第二端的未涂敷部分被连接到基底(12和14)表面的导电材料(未示出)或延伸到在电路板安装部分14的底表面15上形成或附连至电路板安装部分14的底表面15的接地面。线圈54的两端在图4中都不可见。
[0020]图5为图4示出的天线50的侧视图。该视图示出线圈54的第一端53延伸到底表面15上且电连接到前述信号引线18。图6为图4和图5示出的天线50的仰视图,示出了线圈54的第一端53连接到前述位于中心的信号引线18。线圈/天线54的第二端56可漂浮或连接到在形成基底的材料上的前述导电层,但是在图中未示出。
[0022]如图6中可见,电路板安装部分14设置有四个定位销16,每个都位于立方体形状的电路板安装部分14的相应角落处。信号引线18位于电路板安装部分14的中心处。可替换的实施例使用一个、两个或三个安装销16,其中至少一个形成用于底表面15上的前述接地面或用于基底(12和14)外表面上的导电涂层的接地管脚连接。
[0023]现在参考图7,示出了电路板70,电路板70附连到包括或形成通信设备(例如全球定位系统(GPS)接收器、蓝牙收发器和/或蜂窝电话,例如GSM或CDMA电话)的操作部件的多个电子部件72。电路板70具有正方形的区域或带74,其定义了前述Fakra ISO标准安装孔图案76在电路板70上的位置。由于安装孔图案76与前述Fakra标准兼容,它当然将接收前述Fakra天线50的一个或多个定位销16和信号引线18。安装孔图案76还可以接收Fakra连接器,例如图1、2和3描述的连接器10。电路板70因此能够使得安装在电路板70上的一个或多个通信设备通过外部天线(使用前述连接器10)或图4-6描述的电路板安装Fakra兼容天线50接收和/或发射RF信号。如图7示于本领域普通技术人员,Fakra兼容连接器10或电路板安装Fakra兼容天线50的使用或选择,可在电路板70的装配时做出,该选择为设计选择。
[0024]图8和9示出Fakra兼容天线的两个替换实施例。图8中描述的天线80也为电路板安装Fakra兼容天线80,示为与图7示出的电路板70一起使用,且因此与由相同类型的通信设备所需的各种电子部件72形成的这种通信设备一起使用,所有这些对于本领域技术人员而言是公知的。图8示出的Fakra兼容天线80具有的占地面积(即其占据的面积)比Fakra ISO兼容孔图案76的区域或占地面积更大。
[0025]图9示出Fakra兼容连接器90的另一实施例,其具有形成在圆柱形但直立的部分94上的导线线圈92。如图4-8描述的天线,图9的天线90也具有电路板安装部分93上的Fakra兼容定位销16和Fakra兼容信号引线18,使得天线90能够安装到任何电路板上的Fakra兼容孔图案中。不同于图4-8的实施例,图9示出的Fakra兼容天线90完全装配在Fakra兼容安装孔图案的占地面积内。
[0026]最后,为了完整,图10示出包括无线电收发器102的通信设备100的示意图,其功能必需部件对通信领域普通技术人员而言是公知的。收发器102可操作地联接至控制器104,且由控制器104所控制,例如微控制器或微处理器,其自身也联接至用户接口106,例如键盘和液晶显示设备。联接至收发器的扬声器108和麦克风110使得音频信号在收发器和设备100的用户之间传送。在一个实施例中,通信设备100实施为蜂窝电话。在另一个实施例中,通信设备100为用于跟踪和/或定位被盗车辆的蓝牙收发器、GPS接收器或RF定位设备。
[0027]图10描述的通信设备100的部件优选地安装在一个或多个电路板上。每个人都知道这样的电路板自身安装在适合的壳体中,为清楚起见未示出。图10中的附图标记50描述图中所示的任一Fakra兼容天线。图10因此描述了无线通信设备,例如蜂窝电话、GPS接收器或蓝牙设备,通过使用电路板安装Fakra天线或经由电路板安装Fakra连接器(如图1-3描述的连接器10)联接至设备的外部天线而使得设备可操作。
[0028]应当注意到图4-9描述的天线为单波段射频转换器,意味着天线在一个波段(例如蜂窝电话通常使用的800MHz波段)谐振。此处公开的天线的可替换实施例包括多波段天线,其在多个不同的波段(包括但不限于800、900、1200和1800MHz波段)谐振。这样的天线可通过在图中示出的那些上缠绕另外的线圈,或选择性地选择线圈54的电长度以具有位于其谐波频率处的多个驻频而构成。