Abstract:
The present invention provides an antenna device comprising: a contact substrate with a plurality of electrical contacts, an antenna substrate, and a connecting member connected between said contact substrate and said antenna substrate. Said connecting member is flexible and foldable and is provided with at least one corner portion. Said corner portion defines at least one horizontal section and at least one vertical section to render the antenna device better adaptability.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 98217051 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Sep. 16, 2009, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to an antenna device, and more particularly, to an antenna device with flexible and foldable connecting member. Through the use of the flexible and foldable connecting member, adaptability of said antenna device to the installation in mobile communication devices can be increased. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Cell phones, or any other types of mobile communication devices, have become daily-life equipment that everyone would carry along. Formerly, a mobile communication device was generally limited to certain uses such as making phone calls, using short message services (SMS) or wireless internet connections, etc. Because cell phones are portable and nearly every person owns one, these advantages have inspired industries to integrate some particular functions into cell phones, such as the application of contactless smart cards that is gaining popularity. A so-called contactless smart card is an electronic card enabling the functions of a chip disposed therein by way of short-ranged induction. Contactless smart cards are widely used in our daily life; examples include the contactless credit card such as PayPass™ and VISA WAVE, the EasyCard for mass transit system, the access card or membership card with identification function, etc. The aforementioned smart cards may provide users with many convenient services in their daily life, and thus developers in the industry are eager to integrate the functions of various smart cards into a cell phone that nearly everyone would carry along, so that a cell phone, which has ordinarily been used to receive and make phone calls only, can also have the functionality of a credit card or an electronic wallet, or can be used for taking mass transportation or identification. 
         [0006]    Nowadays, devices or electronic cards equipped with the contactless smart card functionality usually adopt the RFID (radio frequency identification) or the advanced NFC (near field communication) technology. Chips supporting these technologies are mounted into the contactless communication devices or electronic cards to perform their functions. In one conventional design, the contactless communication chip with the abovementioned functionality is integrated into the SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module card) installed in the cell phone and performs the induction step via the antenna element disposed inherently in the cell phone. Undoubtedly, such design can integrate various known functions of smart cards into one single cell phone device; however, this design is subject to many restrictions. First, because the chip with contactless communication module is integrated into the original SIM card, the mobile phone user has to purchase or obtain another new, customized SIM card in order to add or expand the cell phone functionalities. Second, even if a new SIM card with those functions is available, not all the cell phones in the market can support the functions of the contactless communication module embedded in those customized SIM cards. 
         [0007]    To address the above issue, a SIM card sticker provided with an antenna element has been developed. As shown in  FIG. 1 , in the practice of this design, a chip  100  including a contactless communication module is configured to be disposed on a SIM card sticker  101 . The SIM card sticker  101  is provided with contacts  103  to be connected with the contacts of a SIM card. The SIM card sticker  103  is later attached to the SIM card and then they are installed together into a SIM card receiving portion in a cell phone. The SIM card sticker  103  is electrically coupled to the cell phone via the contacts  103  of the SIM card sticker. Also, the SIM card sticker  101  is electrically coupled to an antenna  107  via a connecting member  105  in order to achieve signal transmissions by electromagnetic induction of the antenna  107 . In most cell phone designs, the receiving or input/out portion for a SIM card is often configured to be covered or blocked by a cell phone battery. Thus, it is generally designed that, after installation, the SIM card, SIM card sticker and the antenna are covered by the cell phone battery. In the condition that the cell phone battery is not large enough to cover the SIM card sticker and the antenna  107 , (i.e. the area of the battery and the battery slot is smaller than that of the SIM card sticker and the antenna element), the antenna  107  may still be disposed within the cell phone by folding or bending the connecting member  105  along the surface of the cell phone battery to make the antenna  107  attach onto the other side of the cell phone battery. 
         [0008]    Undoubtedly, the use of the aforementioned SIM card sticker and antenna device may substitute the conventional process of integrating the contactless communication module into the SIM card to expand the functionality of cell phones. However, in practice, as shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , a SIM card base  203  may have various predetermined positions in a cell phone slot  201 , as well as different installation methods, such as the slot-embedded type, socket-inserted type or using an additional SIM card connector. Thus, it is not possible to accommodate the aforementioned SIM card sticker and antenna devices into all kinds of cell phones and SIM card configurations. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop an improved design with better adaptability so that a SIM card sticker and antenna device can be applied to all kinds of cell phone designs. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    To improve the abovementioned design of the prior art, the present invention provides an antenna device comprising: a contact substrate with a plurality of electrical contacts, an antenna substrate, and a connecting member connected between said contact substrate and said antenna substrate. Said connecting member is flexible and foldable and is provided with at least one corner portion; said corner portion defines at least one horizontal section and at least one vertical section to render said antenna device better adaptability. 
         [0010]    In one aspect of the present invention, both sides of the contact substrate of the antenna device are provided with corresponding contacts. The contacts on one side of the contact substrate are attached to a SIM card to establish an electrical connection; the contacts on the other side of the contact substrate are electrically connected to the SIM card contacts on the cell phone. 
         [0011]    In another aspect of the present invention, the connecting member of the antenna device is provided with at least one corner portion defining a horizontal section and a vertical section which are perpendicular to each other. The design of the corner portion provides the antenna device of the present invention with more folding patterns. 
         [0012]    In yet another aspect of the present invention, the connecting member of the antenna device may be folded for multiple times along the long axis and short axis directions to locate the contact substrate and the antenna substrate of the antenna device at arbitrary positions on a plane. 
         [0013]    In still another aspect of the present invention, the connecting member of the antenna device is folded along the surface of a cell phone battery. The contact substrate and the antenna substrate of the antenna device are respectively attached to the front side and the back side of said cell phone battery after folding. 
         [0014]    One object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device comprising a connecting member which has a horizontal section and a vertical section, so that said antenna device can be installed in and used for communication devices utilizing a SIM card configuration. 
         [0015]    Many other aspects may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]    The system and method may be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described with reference to the following drawings. 
           [0017]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing a SIM card sticker and an antenna device in prior art; 
           [0018]      FIGS. 2A and 2B  are schematic views of various SIM card base configurations in most cell phones available on the market; 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an antenna device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of an antenna device in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of an antenna device in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6A  is a schematic view showing the relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate before the connecting member of the antenna device is folded in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 6B  is a schematic view showing the change of relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate after the connecting member of the antenna device is folded in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 7A  is a schematic view showing the relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate before the connecting member of the antenna device is folded in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 7B  is a schematic view illustrating the change of relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate after both the horizontal section and the vertical section of the connecting member of the antenna device are folded in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 8  is a schematic view illustrating the flexible area of the connection member in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 9A  is a front view of an antenna device and a cell phone battery after folding in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0028]      FIG. 9B  is a side view of an antenna device and a cell phone battery after folding in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0029]      FIG. 9C  is a rear view of an antenna device and a cell phone battery after folding in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]    The following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings is contemplated to illustrate various perspectives and embodiments of the antenna device in accordance with the present invention. It is not intended in this disclosure to specify or encompass all available and exhaustive methods and features in the aspect of the present invention. The embodiment disclosed herein may be provided with numerous specific details which are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. 
         [0031]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an antenna device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , an antenna device  300  includes a contact substrate  301 . One side of the contact substrate  301  is a first contact interface with a plurality of electrical contacts  305  arranged thereon to electrically couple to corresponding contacts, such as the contacts on a SIM card or the contacts on a cell phone to for SIM card connection. For example, in one embodiment, the contact substrate  301  is attached to a SIM card via the first contact interface  303 . For this purpose, a layer of adhesive is applied to the surface of the first contact interface  303  so that it can attach to the active surface of the SIM card. Optionally, a peelable layer (not shown) may be further provided on the contact substrate  301  which can be peeled off from the first contact interface  303  to facilitate the process of adhesion between the contact substrate  301  and the SIM card. The contact substrate  301  is electrically connected to the SIM card by connecting the multiple electrical contacts on the contact substrate  301  to the corresponding contacts on the SIM card. For this purpose, the contact substrate  301  in the antenna device  300  is dimensioned to have an area substantially the same to or no larger than the area of the SIM card. Furthermore, after adhesion, the contact substrate  301  and the SIM card may be mounted together into a SIM card receiving portion in the cell phone, such as a base, slot, socket or connector for receiving a SIM card. 
         [0032]    The antenna device  300  of the present invention further comprises an antenna substrate  307  with an antenna  309  (as the coil shown in  FIG. 3 ) disposed thereon. The antenna device  300  of the present invention may be communicatively coupled to an external device via the antenna  309  (e.g. by wireless RF induction) to transmit or receive signals. In addition, a connecting member  311  is provided which connects between the contact substrate  301  and the antenna substrate  307 . The connecting member  311  includes a first end  313 , a second end  315 , and an intermediate section  317  between the first end  313  and the second end  315 . The first end  313  is integrally connected to the contact substrate  301 , and the second end  315  is integrally connected to the antenna substrate  307 . With the connection of the connecting member  311 , the antenna substrate  307  can transmit data received by the antenna  309  to the contact substrate  307 , and data generated by the contact substrate  301  can also be transmitted to the antenna substrate  307  and further to the external device via the antenna  309 . Furthermore, the contact substrate  301  and/or the antenna substrate  309  may be provided with an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC, such as a chip or functional module), as the components  321  and  323  shown in  FIG. 3 , which are electrically connected to the first contact interface and the antenna respectively. The incorporation of such IC and antenna enables the antenna device to perform various functions, such as to top up the electronic wallet, or to be used in a wireless RFID system. 
         [0033]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the connecting member may provide only the function of connecting the contact substrate and the antenna substrate without communicating signals therebetween. It should be noted that in the present invention, the first end  313  the of connecting member  311  may be connected to any outer edge portion of the contact substrate  301  in addition to the corner portion, so that the antenna device can be accommodated to various SIM card configurations in a cell phone. For example, four different mounting positions of the SIM card are shown in  FIG. 2 . Similarly, the second end  315  of the connecting member  311  may be connected to any outer edge portion of the antenna substrate  307  in addition to the portion shown in  FIG. 3 . In this embodiment, the intermediate section  317  of the connecting member  311  has a corner portion  325 . The corner portion  325  divides the intermediate section  317  into a horizontal section  327  and a vertical section  329  which are perpendicular to each other. However, in other embodiments, the connecting member may have a plurality of corner portions  325  defining at least one horizontal section and at least one vertical section, as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . Preferably, the length and number of the horizontal sections and the vertical sections, the size of the antenna substrate, and the configuration of the corner portion  325  are configured in a manner that the entire antenna device, including the contact substrate  301 , the antenna substrate  307  and the connecting member  311 , are encompassed inside a rectangular area, as the dotted box  331  shown in the drawings. This design may facilitate the manufacture of the antenna device and improve the adaptability of the entire device. 
         [0034]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  are schematic views illustrating the change of relative positions of the contact substrate  601  and the antenna substrate  607  before and after folding the connecting member  611 . The antenna device of the present invention is configured such that the relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate and the lengths of the connecting member in every direction may be changed and adjusted by folding the connecting member. When the connecting member is folded, there may or may not be a folding line formed thereon. That is, the connecting member may be folded over completely or only bent slightly. In the present invention, the connecting member of the antenna device may be made of flexible or foldable materials, such as flexible flat cables (FFC) made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The relative positions of the contact substrate  601  and the antenna substrate  607  may be changed by folding the intermediate section of the connecting member without damaging the electrical connection therebetween. This design may facilitate the installation of the antenna device and also improve its adaptability to various situations. For example, in the embodiment shown in  FIG. 6A , the connecting member  611  may be folded along the dotted line A and dotted line B on the horizontal section. The relative positions of the contact substrate  601  and the antenna substrate  607  after folding the connecting member  611  are shown in  FIG. 6B . It can be seen that the length of the folded connecting member  611  between the contact substrate  601  and the antenna substrate  607  in the direction of the long axis X is extended. The extended length between the contact substrate  601  and the antenna substrate  607  may enable the antenna device to be placed within a cell phone in a folded or bent manner. For example, the connecting member  611  may be folded in a way that the contact substrate  601  and antenna substrate  607  are disposed respectively on the opposite sides of a cell phone battery. Detailed descriptions will be given below. 
         [0035]    The aforementioned embodiment describes a folding pattern in the direction of the long axis X. In an alternative embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 7A , the connecting member  711  may be folded in the direction of the long axis X and the direction perpendicular to the long axis X (i.e. the short axis Y) both. In  FIG. 7A , the connecting member of the antenna device shown in  FIG. 6B  is folded once more along the horizontal dotted line C. The relative positions of the contact substrate and the antenna substrate after folding the connecting member  711  are shown in  FIG. 7B . It can be seen that the relative distance between the contact substrate  701  and the antenna substrate  707  in the direction of the short axis Y is changed too. The relative distance and positions with respect to the contact substrate and the antenna substrate may be determined by changing the length of the folded connecting member in both directions of the long axis X and the short axis Y. This design can improve the adaptability of the antenna device to different configurations. 
         [0036]    The folding patterns shown in  FIGS. 6A ,  6 B and  FIGS. 7A ,  7 B are merely exemplary. In an alternative embodiment, the connecting member may be further folded and extended. As shown in  FIG. 8 , the connecting member of the antenna device has four corner portions defining a total of five shaded areas that are foldable. By folding along the folding lines in the shaded areas, the contact substrate and the antenna substrate may be located freely at any relative positions with predetermined horizontal and vertical distances. In brief, folding the horizontal sections of the connecting member determines the distance between the contact substrate and the antenna substrate in the direction of the long axis X, while folding the vertical sections of the connecting member determines the distance between the contact substrate and the antenna substrate in the direction of the short axis Y. 
         [0037]    The fundamental components and various folding patterns of the antenna device of the present invention are described in the foregoing embodiments. An exemplary embodiment will be described hereinafter to illustrate the condition where the antenna device is to be installed in a cell phone device. In this embodiment, after folding the connecting member to obtain the desired horizontal and vertical lengths of the connecting member between the contact substrate and the antenna substrate, their relative positions in the antenna device are determined; then, the contact substrate may be attached to a SIM card such that electrical connection is established therebetween by coupling the plurality of electrical contacts. The antenna device and the SIM card are then mounted together into a SIM card receiving portion in a cell phone.  FIGS. 9A to 9C  are schematic views illustrating the antenna device installed a cell phone in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. A contact substrate  901  and an antenna substrate  907  of the antenna device are attached respectively to the opposite surfaces of a cell phone battery  941  by folding the connecting member, as shown in  FIGS. 9A and 9C . It is shown in  FIG. 9B  that a SIM card  943  is sandwiched between the cell phone battery  941  and the contact substrate  901  when the antenna device is installed within the cell phone  940 . The first contact interface of the contact substrate  901  is electrically connected to the SIM card, while the surface opposite to the first contact interface is electrical connected to the contacts on the cell phone  901 . The antenna substrate  907  of the antenna device is attached to the other side of the cell phone battery (i.e. the side facing the battery slot opening) by bending or folding the connecting member  911  along the surface of the cell phone battery  941 . In this case, the contact substrate is used to interface the SIM card and the cell phone. In the present invention, the contact substrate used as an interface may function independently in the cell phone. For example, the contact substrate may be configured to enable only electrical connection between the SIM card and the cell phone circuit and not involved in the operation of the cell phone and the chips disposed thereon; that is, the contact substrate is not involved in the operation of the smart card functionality (ex. electronic wallet or wireless RFID). In an alternative embodiment, the chip disposed on the antenna device may incorporate with the circuit of the cell phone to expand the functionality of the cell phone or achieve other desirous uses. 
         [0038]    In the original design of the cell phone in this embodiment, the SIM card is configured to be mounted in a predetermined receiving position or structure, such as a slot or socket formed compactly within the housing of the cell phone. There is no remaining space for the antenna part to be installed in. To solve this problem, the antenna part of the present invention is folded over onto the other side of battery and attached thereto, enabling the entire antenna device to be received within the cell phone. The adjustable length and relative positions of the two substrates may also enable the structure of the present invention to be accommodated in all kinds of cell phone designs with different SIM card configurations, such as the configuration with different sizes of the mounting plane for SIM cards, different mounting positions and orientations for SIM cards, and different mounting methods for SIM cards (e.g. slot-embedded type, socket-inserted type, and SIM card connector, etc). 
         [0039]    When the contact substrate  901  of the antenna device and the SIM card  943  are placed in the card receiving portion of the cell phone, the antenna substrate  907  of the antenna device will be exposed outside. The connecting member  911  is then folded along the surface of the battery  941  such that the antenna substrate  907  will be attached to the surface of the battery  941  opposite to the contact substrate  901 . In this way, the antenna device can be accommodated completely inside the cell phone without affecting the appearance and functions of the cell phone. In a specific embodiment, the antenna substrate is dimensioned to be in a square shape in order to obtain most favorable lengths in vertical and horizontal directions in any folding patterns. 
         [0040]    The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.