APPARATUS FOR REDUCING NOISE IN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

An electronic device with a reduced noise may include a printed circuit board and a signal creating unit mounted on the printed circuit board and configured to create at least one signal. The electronic device may also include at least one power via configured to connect a power terminal of the signal creating unit with a main power line disposed in the printed circuit board. The electronic device further includes at least one ground via configured to connect a ground terminal of the signal creating unit with a main ground disposed in the printed circuit board. In this electronic device, the ground via is disposed in parallel with the power via.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of Korean patent application filed on Feb. 23, 2015 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial number 10-2015-0025269, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to an apparatus for reducing noise created in an electronic device.

BACKGROUND

Mobile electronic devices, such as mobile communication terminals (e.g., smartphones), are widely used. Normally such electronic devices offer various functions needed by users. For example, the mobile communication terminal offers, inherently or optionally, a call function, a camera function, a broadcast receiving function, an internet access function, a voice recording function, and the like.

In order to offer such a variety of functions, the electronic device may have many electronic components equipped therein. These electronic components may generate signals of a specific frequency during operation.

Unfortunately, these signals may act as a noise and interfere with other electronic components. In this case, due to such interference, frequently other electronic components may operate improperly. Especially, if other electronic components are associated with audio functions (e.g., a call function, a music play function, etc.), the quality of audio may be deteriorated due to the interference.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of people suffer from some degree of hearing impairment. For example, it has been reported that 10% of Americans have hearing trouble and 80% of those wears a hearing aid. Also, it is known that about 0.5 billion people have hearing difficulties all over the world.

If a hearing-impaired person who uses a hearing aid places the electronic device (e.g., a smart phone) to the ear to talk over the phone, undesired phenomena such as howling often occur in the hearing aid. For this reason, recent electronic devices are required to meet Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) requirements.

The HAC requirements contain some items such as magnetic signal intensity, Signal-plus-Noise to Noise Ratio (SNNR), and frequency response. An electronic device is considered hearing-aid compatible if it meets specific conditions with regard to such items. For example, four ratings from T1 to T4 are used for electronic devices, based on magnetic signal intensity and SNNR.

According to the HAC requirements, the magnetic signal intensity of −18 dBA/m or more and the SNNR of 20 dB or more should be satisfied to obtain T3 or more rating. Here, for example, the SNNR is defined as a magnetic signal to noise ratio at 1 kHz band.

An electronic device that supports HAC uses in general a receiver having tele-coil (also referred to as T-coil). This receiver (hereinafter referred to as an HAC receiver) has an advantage in amplifying the magnetic signal intensity but has disadvantages in other features. For example, in comparison with a normal receiver having no tele-coil, the HAC receiver has a lower audio volume by about 10 dB and some problems such as a larger size and increased manufacturing cost because of having to embed the tele-coil in the receiver.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, in order to obviate the above-discussed issues, one aspect of the present disclosure is provide means, such as methods and devices, to effectively reduce undesired noise or interference created in an electronic device that may otherwise disturb the operation of various components of the electronic device.

Additionally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may improve SNNR by mutually offsetting magnetic fields created by the flow of electric currents. For example, embodiments of this disclosure may mutually offset magnetic fields in each of three-dimensional directions (i.e., X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis directions). Through this, embodiments of this disclosure may provide an electronic device that satisfies HAC requirements.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an electronic device may include: a printed circuit board; a signal creating unit mounted on the printed circuit board and configured to create at least one signal; at least one power via configured to connect a power terminal of the signal creating unit with a main power line disposed in the printed circuit board; and at least one ground via configured to connect a ground terminal of the signal creating unit with a main ground disposed in the printed circuit board, the ground via being disposed in parallel with the power via.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Specific embodiments are shown in the drawings and the relevant detailed descriptions are given in corresponding sections, but there is no intention to limit various embodiments of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed herein. For example, the present disclosure may have various embodiments while modifications and changes may be made therein. Various embodiments of the present disclosure should be construed to cover all modifications, equivalents, and/or alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In the description of the drawings, identical or similar reference numerals are used to designate identical or similar elements.

As used in various embodiments of the present disclosure, the expressions “have”, “may have”, “include”, or “may include” and other conjugates are intended merely to denote existence of a certain feature (e.g., numeral, function, operation, or component, or a combination thereof), and should not be construed to initially exclude the existence of addition of one or more other features.

The expression “A or B”, “at least one of A and/or B”, or “one or mor of A or/and B” used in the present disclosure includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression “A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, or “at least one of A or B” may include (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) both at least one A and at least one B.

The expressions such as “first”, “second”, or the like used in various embodiments of the present disclosure may modify various component elements in the various embodiments regardless of the sequence and/or importance but are merely used to differentiate the elements and may not limit corresponding component elements. For example, a first user device and a second user device indicate different user devices, regardless of the sequence or importance. For example, a first element may be termed a second element, and likewise a second element may also be termed a first element without departing from the scope of various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the case where an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to” or “connected” to another element (e.g., a second element), it should be understood that not only the element is directly connected to the other element, but also another element (e.g., a third element) may exist between them. Contrarily, when an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “directly coupled” or “directly connected” to another element (e.g., a second element), it should be understood that no element (e.g., a third element) is interposed therebetween.

The phrase “configured to” in the present disclosure can, for example, be changed to “suitable for,” “having the capacity to,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of” The term “configured to” does not always refer to elements specifically designed in their hardware. In other situations, the term “configured to” can refer that the device is capable of an operation with another device or other components. For example, the phrase “a processor configured to execute A, B, and C” can refer to a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor) that executes the operations or a generic-purpose processor (e.g., a CPU or an application processor) that executes the operations by executing at least one software program stored in a memory device.

The terms as used in embodiments of the present disclosure are used to describe a specific embodiment, and are not intended to limit the scope of another embodiment. As used herein, the singular forms are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of the art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the present disclosure. According to certain conditions, terms defined in the present disclosure cannot be interpreted to exclude the embodiments of the present disclosure.

For example, the electronic device in various embodiments of the present disclosure may include at least one of a smartphone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), a mobile phone, a video phone, an electronic book (e-book) reader, a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a workstation, a server, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), an MP3 player, a mobile medical appliance, a camera, or a wearable device. According to various embodiments, wearable devices may include, for example, at least one of an accessory type (e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, a necklace, glasses, contact lenses, a Head-Mounted Device (HMD)), a fabric or clothes type (e.g., electronic clothes), a skin adhesive type (e.g., a skin pad, a tattoo), or a body transplant type (e.g., an implantable circuit).

The electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be a combination of one or more of the aforementioned various devices. Further, the electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be a flexible device. Further, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to the aforementioned devices.

Hereinafter, an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The term “user” of the present disclosure may refer to a person who uses an electronic device or a device (e.g., an artificial intelligence electronic device) that uses an electronic device.

Furthermore, well known or widely used techniques, elements, structures, and processes may not be described or illustrated in detail to avoid obscuring the essence of the present disclosure. Although the drawings represent exemplary embodiments, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated or omitted in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. Through the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote corresponding features consistently.

In the following embodiments, noises created in an electronic device may be removed (or reduced or offset) effectively. For example, various embodiments of this disclosure may effectively remove a noise induced by at least one signal (e.g., a flow of electric currents) created at a signal creating unit (e.g., a battery coupling unit). For this, in various embodiments, a power via which connects a power terminal of the signal creating unit with a main power line may be disposed in parallel with a ground via which connects a ground terminal of the signal creating unit with a main ground. In this case, the direction of electric currents which flow through the power via is opposite to the direction of electric currents which flow through the ground via. Therefore, magnetic fields created by electric currents flowing through the power via and the ground via may be offset by each other. Namely, a noise induced at the signal creating unit may be removed (or reduced). This method for removing a noise may be favorably applied to electronic devices configured to support Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC). Hereinafter, it is supposed that an electronic device supports HAC and also the signal creating unit is a battery coupling unit.

FIG. 1is a perspective view illustrating an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.FIG. 2is a schematic diagram illustrating a partial internal structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosures.

Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2, an electronic device100according to an embodiment of this disclosure may be formed of a rectangular bar type mobile terminal. The electronic device100is merely an exemplary embodiment and is not intended to limit the present disclosure thereto. Alternatively, for example, the electronic device100may be variously configured and may be of a slide type, a folder type, a flip type, or the like or may be configured as a flexible type.

The electronic device100may have a display unit130on the front side thereof. Also, a speaker or receiver110may be located at an upper part on the front side. The receiver110may offer a function to output an audio signal (e.g., a ringtone, a music sound, etc.). The receiver110may be a Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) receiver having a tele-coil or a normal receiver having no tele-coil.

The electronic device100may further have a plurality of keys located, e.g., at a lower part on the front side. For example, the plurality of keys may include a menu key141, a home key142, and a cancel key143. Such keys may be formed as a button-type mechanical key or a touch key, or soft key.

The electronic device100may also have a camera150and a light or flash160at an upper part on the rear side thereof. The camera150may offer a function to capture an image or record a video. The flash160may emit light for photography for a short time (e.g., 0.3 sec).

The electronic device100may have a concave space configured to receive a battery (not shown) on the rear side thereof. The battery inserted in and mounted on the concave space may be connected with a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)120through a battery coupling unit170. The PCB120is formed in the electronic device100as shown inFIG. 2, and the battery may supply electric power to a plurality of electronic components mounted on or embedded in the PCB120.

Referring toFIG. 2, the PCB120may include, for example, at least one of the battery coupling unit170, a power supply unit180, and a power amplifying module190. Although not shown, the PCB120may also have passive components, such as a resistor, a capacitor, and an inductor, and/or Integrated Circuit (IC) chips such as a Wi-Fi module, a processor, and a memory.

Meanwhile, the electronic device100may support an HAC. In order to support the HAC, the electronic device100should meet requirements of the HAC T-coil standard. The HAC T-coil standard requires magnetic signal intensity and Signal-plus-Noise to Noise Ratio (SNNR) with regard to the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis, which correspond to a longitudinal direction, a widthwise direction, and a thickness direction of the electronic device100, respectively. Namely, the electronic device100that supports HAC should satisfy requirements about magnetic signal intensity and SNNR in a three-dimensional space.

The electronic device100according to an embodiment of this disclosure may reduce a noise (e.g., an audio band magnetic noise) induced at the receiver110, thus meeting the HAC requirements, i.e., at least a T3 rating.

Noises or interference may be produced by impulse-type power consumption of a power amplifier module in the electronic device that adopts a GSM communication system, namely, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) modulation system. Similarly, noises or interference may be produced by impulse-type power consumption of a processor, a power management integrated circuit, a buck, a low drop output, and the like.

Specifically, in the TDMA modulation system, one frame is formed of eight time slots, and a data transmission/reception period (T) may be about 4.615 ms which corresponds to a frequency of 217 Hz. The maximum power obtained by the TDMA modulation system is 33 dBm, which corresponds to high power output of about 2 W. In this case, the power amplifying module190may require high electric currents (e.g., 2 A). Namely, the power amplifying module190may incur impulse-type power consumption. At this time, a high electric current may flow along a power line of the battery coupling unit170while creating a magnetic field. This magnetic field created at the battery coupling unit170may affect, as a noise, other electronic components (e.g., the receiver). Namely, the battery coupling unit170may act as a noise source to other electronic components.

Specifically, when the power amplifying module190is operating, the electric power of the battery may be supplied to the power supply unit180through the first line181and returned to the battery through the second line182. Also, the electric power of the power supply unit180may be supplied to the power amplifying module190through the third line191and returned to the power supply unit180through the fourth line192.

When electric currents are flowing through lines181,182,191, and192, the magnetic field is created in the direction of fingers of right hand wound around each line according to Ampere's law. This magnetic field may act as a noise. For example, the magnetic field may create a noise (e.g., an audio band magnetic noise) to the electronic device100that supports the HAC, resulting in a reduction in the SNNR of the electronic device100.

Meanwhile, if the battery coupling unit170is disposed at an upper part of the electronic device100and thereby located near the receiver110, the noise may have a greater effect on the receiver110due to such proximity. In this case, the SNNR of the electronic device100may rapidly deteriorate. However, the noise may be minimized or reduced because electric currents flow in opposite directions along the first and second lines181and182disposed in parallel, the magnetic fields created from the first and second lines181and182may be offset (or reduced) by each other. Similarly, the magnetic fields created from the third and fourth lines191and192may be offset (or reduced) by each other. This may enhance the SNNR of the electronic device100according to an embodiment of this disclosure.

As discussed above, the parallel arrangement of the first line181and second line182may improve SNNR in the X-axis direction, and also the parallel arrangement of the third line191and fourth line192may improve SNNR in the Y-axis direction. This particular configuration is merely exemplary and is not to be considered as being limited thereto. Alternatively, the first line181and second line182may be arranged in parallel in the Y-axis direction, and also the third line191and fourth line192may be arranged in parallel in the X-axis direction.

Further, in order to improve SNNR in the Z-axis direction, the electronic device100according to an embodiment of this disclosure may have a power wiring through-hole or via and a ground wiring through-hole or via which are disposed in parallel. Hereinafter, a related description will be made with reference toFIGS. 3A and 3B.

FIG. 3Ais an exploded perspective view illustrating a printed circuit board of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.FIG. 3Bis a cross-sectional view illustrating a printed circuit board of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring toFIGS. 3A and 3B, a printed circuit board (PCB)120according to an embodiment of this disclosure may be formed of two or more layers, i.e., multi-layer. The first layer121of the PCB120may have a power terminal including power vias171a,171band a ground terminal including172a,172bformed therein.

The power terminal171may be connected with a main power line through a plurality of power vias. For example, as shown inFIG. 3B, the PCB120may have an electric connection between the first and second layers121and122through the first power via171aand also have an electric connection among the second, third and fourth layers122,123and124through the second power via171bwhich may be disposed apart from the first power via171ain the Y-axis direction. Each of the first and second power vias171aand171bmay include a plurality of vias.

Similarly, the ground terminal172may be connected with a main ground through a plurality of ground vias. For example, as shown inFIG. 3B, the PCB120may have an electric connection between the first and second layers121and122through the first ground via172aand also have an electric connection among the second, third and fourth layers122,123and124through the second ground via172bwhich is disposed apart from the first ground via172ain the Y-axis direction. Each of the first and second ground vias172aand172bmay include a plurality of vias.

The first power via171aand the first ground via172amay be disposed in parallel in the Z-axis direction, and also the second power via171band the second ground via172bmay be disposed in parallel in the Z-axis direction. The power via171aor171band the adjacent ground via172aor172bmay be located within a short distance (e.g., 3 cm) for allowing the magnetic fields to be offset. A long distance may fail to cause the magnetic fields created from the power via171aor171band the adjacent ground via172aor172bto be offset.

Like the above, the parallel arrangement of the power via and the ground via may improve SNNR in the Z-axis direction.

AlthoughFIGS. 3A and 3Billustrate two power vias and two ground vias used for connections from the first layer121to the fourth layer124, a greater or lesser number of vias may be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Alternatively, such layers may be connected through a single power via and a single ground via.

Further, althoughFIGS. 3A and 3Billustrate the power vias171aand171bor the ground vias172aand172bdisposed apart from each other in the Y-axis direction, this is also exemplary and not limiting. Alternatively, the power vias171aand171bor the ground vias172aand172bmay be disposed apart from each other in the X-axis direction or in the X-axis and Y-axis directions.

FIGS. 4 to 7are plan views illustrating a printed circuit board of an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring toFIGS. 4 to 7, the first layer121of the PCB120may have the first power via171aand the first ground via172awhich are formed in a specific area onto which the battery coupling unit (not shown) is mounted. Each of the first power via171aand the first ground via172amay include a plurality of vias.

The second layer122may have the first power via171a, the first ground via172a, the second power via171b, and the second ground via172b. Each of the first power via171a, the first ground via172a, the second power via171b, and the second ground via172bmay be formed of a plurality of vias.

The third layer123may have the second power via171band the second ground via172b. The second ground via172bmay be separated from a neighboring ground175so as to form a separate path for removing an audio band magnetic noise.

The fourth layer124may have a main ground176, the second power via171b, and the second ground via172b. The main ground176may have a ground line172cdisposed in parallel with a main power line171cat some length. The second power via171bmay be connected with the main power line171c, and the second ground via172bmay be connected with the ground line172c. Therefore, as discussed above, audio band magnetic noises created in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions near the battery coupling unit may be offset by each other, and thereby SNNR may be improved in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions.

FIG. 8is a table illustrating HAC measurement results of an electronic device with regard to the Z-axis according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring toFIG. 8, in a conventional electronic device in which a power via and a ground via are not disposed in parallel with each other, the audio band magnetic signal, the audio band magnetic noise, and the SNNR were measured as 2.74 dB, −14.09 dB, and 16.83 dB, respectively. This result, for example, would fail to obtain a T3 rating according to the HAC requirements.

On the other hand, in the electronic device100having parallel arrangements between the power via and the ground via according to this disclosure, the audio band magnetic signal, the audio band magnetic noise, and the SNNR were measured as 5.36 dB, −19.43 dB, and 24.79 dB, respectively. This, for example, would obtain T3 rating according to the HAC requirements. Namely, the electronic device100according to this disclosure has an improved SNNR through the improvement of the audio band magnetic noise with regard to the Z-axis direction.

FIGS. 9 and 10are exploded perspective views illustrating a printed circuit board of an electronic device according to other embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring toFIGS. 9 and 10, the power vias and the ground vias may be disposed in some rows and in some columns.

According to a certain embodiment, a plurality of power vias may be disposed in a row, and also a plurality of ground vias may be disposed in a row. For example, as shown inFIG. 9, the power vias may be arranged to form the first row and the third row, and the ground vias may be arranged to form the second row and the fourth row. Alternatively, the power vias may be disposed in a single row, and similarly the ground vias may be disposed in a single row.

According to a certain embodiment, the power vias and the ground vias may be disposed by turns in rows and/or columns. For example, as shown inFIG. 10, the power vias may be disposed at points (1, 1), (1, 3), (2, 2), (2, 4), (3, 1), (3, 3), etc., and the ground vias may be disposed at points (1, 2), (1, 4), (2, 1), (2, 3), (3, 2), (3, 4), etc. wherein a point (i, j) means the i-th row and the j-th column.

In the above-discussed embodiments, the power via for connecting the power terminal of the battery coupling unit with the main power line is disposed in the Z-axis direction and in parallel with the ground via for connecting the ground terminal of the battery coupling unit with the main ground. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, this may be applied to any part, creating a magnetic field by means of an electric current, other than the battery coupling unit. For example, it is possible to prevent at least one signal, created at any signal creating unit, from acting as a noise to other electronic components. This signal may be created at any line for connecting the signal creating unit with other electronic components. In such cases, at least one power via for connecting a power terminal of the signal creating unit with a main power line in the printed circuit board may be disposed in parallel with at least one ground via for connecting a ground terminal of the signal creating unit with a main ground in the printed circuit board.

As fully discussed hereinbefore, various embodiments of this disclosure may effectively reduce a noise created in the electronic device. For example, some embodiments of this disclosure may mutually offset (or reduce) an audio band magnetic noise. Therefore, the electronic device according to this disclosure may obtain the HAC certification of higher rating (e.g., T3 or more) without using an HAC receiver. Also, the electronic device of this disclosure may offer an audio signal of improved quality to hearing-aid users.

Furthermore, according to embodiments of this disclosure, it is possible to freely determine the position of a signal creating unit (e.g., a battery coupling unit) since a noise induced at the signal creating unit can be effectively removed. This may also improve the degree of freedom in design of the electronic device.