Patent Publication Number: US-8970434-B2

Title: Compact broadband antenna

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     1. Field of the Disclosure 
     The present disclosure is directed in general to communication systems and methods for operating same. More particularly, embodiments of the disclosure provide an improved compact broadband antenna. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As many wireless devices evolve toward slimmer form factors, there will a need for more compact antennas. Also users often would like to place their mobile phone on a desk charger and connect it to their computers. These needs become a challenge problem for antenna designers for the wireless device designs. Usually the antenna is placed at the bottom of the mobile phone and requires a predetermined clearance space. However when the USB port is placed on the bottom, it requires that the antenna volume be split into two portions. Also the USB port may introduce electromagnetic signals that interfere with the antenna&#39;s performance. Therefore, the antenna needs to be carefully designed to address these problems. 
     In some wireless devices, the solution to this problem is to use one of the two parts of a disconnected metal ring surrounding the mobile phone housing as the antenna. However this approach might cause signal mitigation when people hold their phone in a certain way. This is mainly because the hand is a good conductor and therefore it will change the antenna&#39;s performance when the hand connects the two separated metal rings. 
     Folded inverted F antennas have been used in many wireless applications to provide a very compact, effective antenna. However, the placement of a USB port, or other port, in the bottom of the wireless device still creates the problems listed above. Thus, despite the advances in the art as described above, there is a need for an improved compact broadband antenna for use in wireless communication devices, especially those comprising a USB port, or other port, in close proximity to the antenna. Such an improved compact broadband antenna is provided by the embodiments of the disclosure as described in greater detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present disclosure may be understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages obtained, when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an illustration of a communication system in which the present disclosure may be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  shows a wireless-enabled communications environment including an embodiment of a client node; 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary client node comprising a digital signal processor (DSP); 
         FIG. 4  is a simplified block diagram of a software environment that may be implemented by a DSP; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram of a prior art planar (i.e., non-folded) inverted-F antenna; 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of an embodiment of the compact broadband antenna of the present disclosure, wherein the antenna comprises a folded PIFA implementation; 
         FIG. 7  is an illustration of a plurality of dimensional parameters, a-h, for the various elements of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 8  is an illustration of the S parameters of the embodiment of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘a’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 10  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘b’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 11  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘c’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 12  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘d’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 13  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘e’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 14  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘f’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 15  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘g’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 16  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘h’; 
         FIG. 17  is an illustration of an alternative embodiment of the compact broadband antenna of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 18  is an illustration of the S-parameters of the embodiment of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 17 ; 
         FIG. 19  is an illustration of another alternative embodiment of a compact broadband antenna in accordance with the disclosure; 
         FIG. 20  is an illustration of the S-parameters of the embodiment of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 19 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the disclosure provide a high band antenna solution for the design of slim mobile phones with a USB port at the bottom. The embodiments disclosed herein are particularly useful for wireless devices in which the main antenna is split into two radiators, with each of the radiators covering a specific band, e.g., one for a low band, e.g., 824-960 MHz, and another for a high band, e.g., 1710-2170 MHz, with the presence of bottom USB port. In particular, the embodiments disclosed herein are especially effective for implementing a high band radiator. 
     Various illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. While various details are set forth in the following description, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details, and that numerous implementation-specific decisions may be made to the disclosure described herein to achieve the inventor&#39;s specific goals, such as compliance with process technology or design-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. While such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, it would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. For example, selected aspects are shown in block diagram and flowchart form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid limiting or obscuring the present disclosure. In addition, some portions of the detailed descriptions provided herein are presented in terms of algorithms or operations on data within a computer memory. Such descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the art to describe and convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. 
     As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, software, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a processor, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computer and the computer itself can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer or distributed between two or more computers. 
     As likewise used herein, the term “node” broadly refers to a connection point, such as a redistribution point or a communication endpoint, of a communication environment, such as a network. Accordingly, such nodes refer to an active electronic device capable of sending, receiving, or forwarding information over a communications channel. Examples of such nodes include data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE), such as a modem, hub, bridge or switch, and data terminal equipment (DTE), such as a handset, a printer or a host computer (e.g., a router, workstation or server). Examples of local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) nodes include computers, packet switches, cable modems, Data Subscriber Line (DSL) modems, and wireless LAN (WLAN) access points. Examples of Internet or Intranet nodes include host computers identified by an Internet Protocol (IP) address, bridges and WLAN access points. Likewise, examples of nodes in cellular communication include base stations, relays, base station controllers, radio network controllers, home location registers, Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN), Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSN), Serving Gateways (S-GW), and Packet Data Network Gateways (PDN-GW). 
     Other examples of nodes include client nodes, server nodes, peer nodes and access nodes. As used herein, a client node may refer to wireless devices such as mobile telephones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices, portable computers, tablet computers, and similar devices or other user equipment (UE) that has telecommunications capabilities. Such client nodes may likewise refer to a mobile, wireless device, or conversely, to devices that have similar capabilities that are not generally transportable, such as desktop computers, set-top boxes, or sensors. Likewise, a server node, as used herein, refers to an information processing device (e.g., a host computer), or series of information processing devices, that perform information processing requests submitted by other nodes. As likewise used herein, a peer node may sometimes serve as client node, and at other times, a server node. In a peer-to-peer or overlay network, a node that actively routes data for other networked devices as well as itself may be referred to as a supernode. 
     An access node, as used herein, refers to a node that provides a client node access to a communication environment. Examples of access nodes include cellular network base stations and wireless broadband (e.g., WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, etc) access points, which provide corresponding cell and WLAN coverage areas. As used herein, a macrocell is used to generally describe a traditional cellular network cell coverage area. Such macrocells are typically found in rural areas, along highways, or in less populated areas. As likewise used herein, a microcell refers to a cellular network cell with a smaller coverage area than that of a macrocell. Such micro cells are typically used in a densely populated urban area. Likewise, as used herein, a picocell refers to a cellular network coverage area that is less than that of a microcell. An example of the coverage area of a picocell may be a large office, a shopping mall, or a train station. A femtocell, as used herein, currently refers to the smallest commonly accepted area of cellular network coverage. As an example, the coverage area of a femtocell is sufficient for homes or small offices. 
     In general, a coverage area of less than two kilometers typically corresponds to a microcell, 200 meters or less for a picocell, and on the order of 10 meters for a femtocell. As likewise used herein, a client node communicating with an access node associated with a macrocell is referred to as a “macrocell client.” Likewise, a client node communicating with an access node associated with a microcell, picocell, or femtocell is respectively referred to as a “microcell client,” “picocell client,” or “femtocell client.” 
     The term “article of manufacture” (or alternatively, “computer program product”) as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or media. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks such as a compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, etc.). 
     The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Those of skill in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope, spirit or intent of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer or processor-based device to implement aspects detailed herein. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a system  100  suitable for implementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein. In various embodiments, the system  100  comprises a processor  110 , which may be referred to as a central processor unit (CPU) or digital signal processor (DSP), network connectivity interfaces  120 , random access memory (RAM)  130 , read only memory (ROM)  140 , secondary storage  150 , and input/output (I/O) devices  160 . In some embodiments, some of these components may not be present or may be combined in various combinations with one another or with other components not shown. These components may be located in a single physical entity or in more than one physical entity. Any actions described herein as being taken by the processor  110  might be taken by the processor  110  alone or by the processor  110  in conjunction with one or more components shown or not shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     The processor  110  executes instructions, codes, computer programs, or scripts that it might access from the network connectivity interfaces  120 , RAM  130 , or ROM  140 . While only one processor  110  is shown, multiple processors may be present. Thus, while instructions may be discussed as being executed by a processor  110 , the instructions may be executed simultaneously, serially, or otherwise by one or multiple processors  110  implemented as one or more CPU chips. 
     In various embodiments, the network connectivity interfaces  120  may take the form of modems, modem banks, Ethernet devices, universal serial bus (USB) interface devices, serial interfaces, token ring devices, fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) devices, wireless local area network (WLAN) devices, radio transceiver devices such as code division multiple access (CDMA) devices, global system for mobile communications (GSM) radio transceiver devices, long term evolution (LTE) radio transceiver devices, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) devices, and/or other well-known interfaces for connecting to networks, including Personal Area Networks (PANs) such as Bluetooth. These network connectivity interfaces  120  may enable the processor  110  to communicate with the Internet or one or more telecommunications networks or other networks from which the processor  110  might receive information or to which the processor  110  might output information. 
     The network connectivity interfaces  120  may also be capable of transmitting or receiving data wirelessly in the form of electromagnetic waves, such as radio frequency signals or microwave frequency signals. Information transmitted or received by the network connectivity interfaces  120  may include data that has been processed by the processor  110  or instructions that are to be executed by processor  110 . The data may be ordered according to different sequences as may be desirable for either processing or generating the data or transmitting or receiving the data. 
     In various embodiments, the RAM  130  may be used to store volatile data and instructions that are executed by the processor  110 . The ROM  140  shown in  FIG. 1  may likewise be used to store instructions and data that is read during execution of the instructions. The secondary storage  150  is typically comprised of one or more disk drives or tape drives and may be used for non-volatile storage of data or as an overflow data storage device if RAM  130  is not large enough to hold all working data. Secondary storage  150  may likewise be used to store programs that are loaded into RAM  130  when such programs are selected for execution. The I/O devices  160  may include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays, projectors, televisions, touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches, dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tape readers, printers, video monitors, or other well-known input/output devices. 
       FIG. 2  shows a wireless-enabled communications environment including an embodiment of a client node as implemented in an embodiment of the disclosure. Though illustrated as a mobile phone, the client node  202  may take various forms including a wireless handset, a pager, a smart phone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). In various embodiments, the client node  202  may also comprise a portable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or any computing device operable to perform data communication operations. Many suitable devices combine some or all of these functions. In some embodiments, the client node  202  is not a general purpose computing device like a portable, laptop, or tablet computer, but rather is a special-purpose communications device such as a telecommunications device installed in a vehicle. The client node  202  may likewise be a device, include a device, or be included in a device that has similar capabilities but that is not transportable, such as a desktop computer, a set-top box, or a network node. In these and other embodiments, the client node  202  may support specialized activities such as gaming, inventory control, job control, task management functions, and so forth. 
     In various embodiments, the client node  202  includes a display  204 . In these and other embodiments, the client node  202  may likewise include a touch-sensitive surface, a keyboard or other input keys  206  generally used for input by a user. The input keys  206  may likewise be a full or reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY, and sequential keyboard types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabet letters associated with a telephone keypad. The input keys  206  may likewise include a trackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other navigational or functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to provide further input function. The client node  202  may likewise present options for the user to select, controls for the user to actuate, and cursors or other indicators for the user to direct. 
     The client node  202  may further accept data entry from the user, including numbers to dial or various parameter values for configuring the operation of the client node  202 . The client node  202  may further execute one or more software or firmware applications in response to user commands. These applications may configure the client node  202  to perform various customized functions in response to user interaction. Additionally, the client node  202  may be programmed or configured over-the-air (OTA), for example from a wireless network access node ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216  (e.g., a base station), a server node  224  (e.g., a host computer), or a peer client node  202 . 
     Among the various applications executable by the client node  202  are a web browser, which enables the display  204  to display a web page. The web page may be obtained from a server node  224  through a wireless connection with a wireless network  220 . As used herein, a wireless network  220  broadly refers to any network using at least one wireless connection between two of its nodes. The various applications may likewise be obtained from a peer client node  202  or other system over a connection to the wireless network  220  or any other wirelessly-enabled communication network or system. 
     In various embodiments, the wireless network  220  comprises a plurality of wireless sub-networks (e.g., cells with corresponding coverage areas) ‘A’  212  through ‘n’  218 . As used herein, the wireless sub-networks ‘A’  212  through ‘n’  218  may variously comprise a mobile wireless access network or a fixed wireless access network. In these and other embodiments, the client node  202  transmits and receives communication signals, which are respectively communicated to and from the wireless network nodes ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216  by wireless network antennas ‘A’  208  through ‘n’  214  (e.g., cell towers). In various embodiments described hereinbelow, an access node may use multiple antennas simultaneously to transmit data to a client node that uses multiple antennas simultaneously to receive the data. In turn, the communication signals are used by the wireless network access nodes ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216  to establish a wireless communication session with the client node  202 . As used herein, the network access nodes ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216  broadly refer to any access node of a wireless network. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the wireless network access nodes ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216  are respectively coupled to wireless sub-networks ‘A’  212  through ‘n’  218 , which are in turn connected to the wireless network  220 . 
     In various embodiments, the wireless network  220  is coupled to a physical network  222 , such as the Internet. Via the wireless network  220  and the physical network  222 , the client node  202  has access to information on various hosts, such as the server node  224 . In these and other embodiments, the server node  224  may provide content that may be shown on the display  204  or used by the client node processor  110  for its operations. Alternatively, the client node  202  may access the wireless network  220  through a peer client node  202  acting as an intermediary, in a relay type or hop type of connection. As another alternative, the client node  202  may be tethered and obtain its data from a linked device that is connected to the wireless network  220 . Skilled practitioners of the art will recognize that many such embodiments are possible and the foregoing is not intended to limit the spirit, scope, or intention of the disclosure. 
       FIG. 3  depicts a block diagram of an exemplary client node as implemented with a digital signal processor (DSP) in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. While various components of a client node  202  are depicted, various embodiments of the client node  202  may include a subset of the listed components or additional components not listed. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the client node  202  includes a DSP  302  and a memory  304 . As shown, the client node  202  may further include an antenna and front end unit  306 , a radio frequency (RF) transceiver  308 , an analog baseband processing unit  310 , a microphone  312 , an earpiece speaker  314 , a headset port  316 , a bus  318 , such as a system bus or an input/output (I/O) interface bus, a removable memory card  320 , a universal serial bus (USB) port  322 , a short range wireless communication sub-system  324 , an alert  326 , a keypad  328 , a liquid crystal display (LCD)  330 , which may include a touch sensitive surface, an LCD controller  332 , a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera  334 , a camera controller  336 , and a global positioning system (GPS) sensor  338 , and a power management module  340  operably coupled to a power storage unit, such as a battery  342 . In various embodiments, the client node  202  may include another kind of display that does not provide a touch sensitive screen. In one embodiment, the DSP  302  communicates directly with the memory  304  without passing through the input/output interface  318 . 
     In various embodiments, the DSP  302  or some other form of controller or central processing unit (CPU) operates to control the various components of the client node  202  in accordance with embedded software or firmware stored in memory  304  or stored in memory contained within the DSP  302  itself. In addition to the embedded software or firmware, the DSP  302  may execute other applications stored in the memory  304  or made available via information carrier media such as portable data storage media like the removable memory card  320  or via wired or wireless network communications. The application software may comprise a compiled set of machine-readable instructions that configure the DSP  302  to provide the desired functionality, or the application software may be high-level software instructions to be processed by an interpreter or compiler to indirectly configure the DSP  302 . 
     The antenna and front end unit  306  may be provided to convert between wireless signals and electrical signals, enabling the client node  202  to send and receive information from a cellular network or some other available wireless communications network or from a peer client node  202 . In an embodiment, the antenna and front end unit  106  may include multiple antennas to support beam forming and/or multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operations. As is known to those skilled in the art, MIMO operations may provide spatial diversity which can be used to overcome difficult channel conditions or to increase channel throughput. Likewise, the antenna and front end unit  306  may include antenna tuning or impedance matching components, RF power amplifiers, or low noise amplifiers. 
     In various embodiments, the RF transceiver  308  provides frequency shifting, converting received RF signals to baseband and converting baseband transmit signals to RF. In some descriptions a radio transceiver or RF transceiver may be understood to include other signal processing functionality such as modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix appending/removal, and other signal processing functions. For the purposes of clarity, the description here separates the description of this signal processing from the RF and/or radio stage and conceptually allocates that signal processing to the analog baseband processing unit  310  or the DSP  302  or other central processing unit. In some embodiments, the RF Transceiver  308 , portions of the Antenna and Front End  306 , and the analog base band processing unit  310  may be combined in one or more processing units and/or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). 
     The analog baseband processing unit  310  may provide various analog processing of inputs and outputs, for example analog processing of inputs from the microphone  312  and the headset  316  and outputs to the earpiece  314  and the headset  316 . To that end, the analog baseband processing unit  310  may have ports for connecting to the built-in microphone  312  and the earpiece speaker  314  that enable the client node  202  to be used as a cell phone. The analog baseband processing unit  310  may further include a port for connecting to a headset or other hands-free microphone and speaker configuration. The analog baseband processing unit  310  may provide digital-to-analog conversion in one signal direction and analog-to-digital conversion in the opposing signal direction. In various embodiments, at least some of the functionality of the analog baseband processing unit  310  may be provided by digital processing components, for example by the DSP  302  or by other central processing units. 
     The DSP  302  may perform modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix appending/removal, and other signal processing functions associated with wireless communications. In an embodiment, for example in a code division multiple access (CDMA) technology application, for a transmitter function the DSP  302  may perform modulation, coding, interleaving, and spreading, and for a receiver function the DSP  302  may perform despreading, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. In another embodiment, for example in an orthogonal frequency division multiplex access (OFDMA) technology application, for the transmitter function the DSP  302  may perform modulation, coding, interleaving, inverse fast Fourier transforming, and cyclic prefix appending, and for a receiver function the DSP  302  may perform cyclic prefix removal, fast Fourier transforming, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. In other wireless technology applications, yet other signal processing functions and combinations of signal processing functions may be performed by the DSP  302 . 
     The DSP  302  may communicate with a wireless network via the analog baseband processing unit  310 . In some embodiments, the communication may provide Internet connectivity, enabling a user to gain access to content on the Internet and to send and receive e-mail or text messages. The input/output interface  318  interconnects the DSP  302  and various memories and interfaces. The memory  304  and the removable memory card  320  may provide software and data to configure the operation of the DSP  302 . Among the interfaces may be the USB interface  322  and the short range wireless communication sub-system  324 . The USB interface  322  may be used to charge the client node  202  and may also enable the client node  202  to function as a peripheral device to exchange information with a personal computer or other computer system. The short range wireless communication sub-system  324  may include an infrared port, a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless interface, or any other short range wireless communication sub-system, which may enable the client node  202  to communicate wirelessly with other nearby client nodes and access nodes. 
     The input/output interface  318  may further connect the DSP  302  to the alert  326  that, when triggered, causes the client node  202  to provide a notice to the user, for example, by ringing, playing a melody, or vibrating. The alert  326  may serve as a mechanism for alerting the user to any of various events such as an incoming call, a new text message, and an appointment reminder by silently vibrating, or by playing a specific pre-assigned melody for a particular caller. 
     The keypad  328  couples to the DSP  302  via the I/O interface  318  to provide one mechanism for the user to make selections, enter information, and otherwise provide input to the client node  202 . The keyboard  328  may be a full or reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY and sequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabet letters associated with a telephone keypad. The input keys may likewise include a trackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other navigational or functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to provide further input function. Another input mechanism may be the LCD  330 , which may include touch screen capability and also display text and/or graphics to the user. The LCD controller  332  couples the DSP  302  to the LCD  330 . 
     The CCD camera  334 , if equipped, enables the client node  202  to take digital pictures. The DSP  302  communicates with the CCD camera  334  via the camera controller  336 . In another embodiment, a camera operating according to a technology other than Charge Coupled Device cameras may be employed. The GPS sensor  338  is coupled to the DSP  302  to decode global positioning system signals or other navigational signals, thereby enabling the client node  202  to determine its position. Various other peripherals may also be included to provide additional functions, such as radio and television reception. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a software environment  402  that may be implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP). In this embodiment, the DSP  302  shown in  FIG. 3  executes an operating system  404 , which provides a platform from which the rest of the software operates. The operating system  404  likewise provides the client node  202  hardware with standardized interfaces (e.g., drivers) that are accessible to application software. The operating system  404  likewise comprises application management services (AMS)  406  that transfer control between applications running on the client node  202 . Also shown in  FIG. 4  are a web browser application  408 , a media player application  410 , and Java applets  412 . The web browser application  408  configures the client node  202  to operate as a web browser, allowing a user to enter information into forms and select links to retrieve and view web pages. The media player application  410  configures the client node  202  to retrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The Java applets  412  configure the client node  202  to provide games, utilities, and other functionality. A component  414  may provide functionality described herein. In various embodiments, the client node  202 , the wireless network nodes ‘A’  210  through ‘n’  216 , and the server node  224  shown in  FIG. 2  may likewise include a processing component that is capable of executing instructions related to the actions described above. 
       FIG. 5  shows the schematic diagram of a prior art planar (i.e., non-folded) inverted-F antenna. The planar inverted-F antenna  500  mainly comprises a radiating unit  502 , a ground plane  508 , a dielectric material (not shown), a shorting element  504  and a feeding element  506 . The radiating unit  502  is coupled to the ground plane  508  through the shorting element  504 . The feeding element  506  is arranged on the ground plane  508  and is coupled to the radiating unit  502  for signal transmission. The radiating unit  502  and the ground plane  508  can be implemented with metallic material. The radiating unit  502  is designed with specific pattern for achieving desired operating wavelength and radiation performance. 
       FIG. 6  is an illustration of an embodiment of the compact broadband antenna  600  of the present disclosure, wherein the antenna comprises a folded inverted F antenna implementation disposed on a circuit board  602  comprising a ground plane  604 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 6 , the antenna  600  is disposed in close proximity to a port  606 , which may be a USB port. The antenna  600  is broadly comprised of an L-shaped radiator  608  comprising an elongated rectangular arm portion  610  having a longitudinal axis  611  and a rectangular portion  612  having a longitudinal axis  613   a  that is parallel to axis  611  and a transverse axis  613   b  that is perpendicular to axis  613   a . The operational parameters of the L-shaped radiator  608  can be modified by changing the dimensions of the rectangular portion  612  along axes  613   a  and  613   b , as discussed in greater detail below. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 6 , a first end of the L-shaped radiator, that is proximate to the shorting element  618  and the feed element  614 , has a first width W 1 , while the opposite end of the L-shaped radiator has a second width W 2  that is larger than W 1 . The additional width of W 2  compared to W 1  is determined by the width of the rectangular radiator  612  along axis  613   b.    
     The first end of the L-shaped arm  608  is proximate to, and operably coupled to, a feed element  614  that is further coupled to a feed conductor  616 , connected to a feed source, and also is proximate to, and operably coupled to, a shorting element  618  that is coupled to a shorting conductor  620  that is further coupled to ground. The feed conductor  616  is an elongated rectangular conductor having a longitudinal axis  617 . Likewise, the shorting conductor  620  is an elongated rectangular conductor having a longitudinal axis  621 . The feed conductor  616  and the shorting conductor  620  are in a parallel spaced apart configuration along their respective longitudinal axes. As discussed below, this configuration provides capacitive coupling between the feed conductor and the shorting conductor  620 . 
     The embodiment of the antenna shown in  FIG. 6  further comprises a second L-shaped arm  622  disposed on the printed circuit board  602 , comprising a first elongated rectangular conductor element  624  having a longitudinal axis  625  and a second elongated rectangular element  626  having a longitudinal axis  627 , first and second conductor elements  624  and  626 , respectively. The L-shaped arm  622  provides an additional current path that enhances performance of the antenna  600 . 
     As will be understood by those of skill in the art, there is capacitive coupling between the feed conductor  616  and the shorting conductor  620 , thereby defining a “capacitor” between those two conductors. Likewise, there is capacitive coupling between the feed conductor  616  and element  626  of the second L-shaped arm  622 , thereby defining a second “capacitor” between those two elements. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 6 , a conductive element  628  is disposed adjacent a portion of shorting conductor  620 , thereby decreasing the distance between feed conductor  616  and shorting conductor  620 . In this region, the capacitive coupling is increased and, therefore, the effective capacitor formed between the two conductors represents a “tapered” capacitor. Likewise, a conductive element  629  is disposed adjacent a portion of element  626  and feed conductor  616 , thereby decreasing the distance between feed conductor  616  and element  626 . In this region, the capacitive coupling is increased and, therefore, the effective capacitor formed between the two conductors also represents a “tapered” capacitor. 
     The embodiment of the antenna shown in  FIG. 6  also comprises a capacitive coupling patch  630  in an inverted L-shaped configuration comprising a first rectangular radiator  632  and a second rectangular radiator  634 . The rectangular conductor  632  comprises an axis  636  that is substantially parallel with the axis  613   a  of rectangular portion  612 . An axial edge  638  of rectangular radiator  632  is spaced apart from, and substantially parallel with, an axial edge  640  of rectangular radiator element  612 . This configuration provides an additional source of capacitive coupling for the antenna  600 . 
       FIG. 7  is an illustration of a plurality of dimensional parameters, a-h, for the various respective elements of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 6 . These dimensional parameters can be varied to obtain optimized performance for the compact broadband antenna. The variation in the S-parameters for the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7  will be discussed below in connection with  FIGS. 8-16 . 
       FIG. 8  is an illustration of the composite S parameters of the embodiment of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 7 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , almost −10 dB was achieved between 1.71 GHz and 2.17 GHz.  FIG. 9  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘a’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 6 to 10 millimeters. As can be seen from the graph, increasing ‘a’ shifts the match toward the lower frequencies. This is because the electrical size of the antenna increases as ‘a’ is increased.  FIG. 10  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘b’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 2 to 6 millimeters. Increasing ‘b’ shifts the match downward as it increases the capacitive coupling to ground.  FIG. 11  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘c’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 3 to 4 millimeters. As can be seen in  FIG. 11 , increasing the parameter ‘c’ has a similar effect as increasing the parameter ‘b’.  FIG. 12  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘d’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 3 to 3.5 millimeters. Increasing the length of the parameter ‘d’ shifts the antenna match upward.  FIG. 13  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘e’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 3 to 5.5 millimeters. As can be seen in the graph increasing the length of ‘e’ has only a slight impact on antenna performance.  FIG. 14  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘f’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 0.3 to 0.6 millimeters. As can be seen in this graph, the impact of changing the parameter ‘f’ is similar to the impact of changing parameter ‘e.’  FIG. 15  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘g’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 0.6 to 0.6 millimeters. As can be seen in the graph, changing the parameter ‘g’ has a strong impact on the performance of the antenna. In the band of interest, increasing ‘g’ shifts the match toward lower frequencies.  FIG. 16  is an illustration impact on the S-parameters obtained by changing parameter ‘h’ of the antenna  600  shown in  FIG. 7 , over an example range of 6 to 10 millimeters. As can be seen in the graph, increasing parameter ‘h’ shifts the match toward higher frequencies. 
       FIG. 17  is an illustration of an alternative embodiment of the compact broadband antenna of the present disclosure. This embodiment of the antenna comprises the elements discussed above in connection with  FIG. 7 ; however, the entire antenna is printed on a carrier  648 . Elements  614   a  and  618   a  correspond to elements  614  and  618  in  FIG. 6 , but are located on the opposite end of conductors  616  and  620  respectively. A portion  626   a  of radiator element  626  is coupled to ground. In this embodiment, the L-shaped radiator  622  is coupled to a second L-shaped radiator comprising radiator elements  640  and  642  attached to the distal end of element  624 . The longitudinal axis  641  of radiator element  640  is substantially parallel to the axis  627  of radiator element  626 . Likewise the longitudinal axis  643  of radiator element  642  is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis  625  of radiator element  624 .  FIG. 18  is an illustration of the S-parameters of the embodiment of the compact broadband antenna shown in  FIG. 17 . 
       FIG. 19  is an illustration of another alternative embodiment of a compact broadband antenna in accordance with the disclosure. This embodiment also comprises essentially all of the elements discussed above in connection with  FIG. 7 . Again, the entire element is printed on the carrier, similar to the embodiment in  FIG. 17 . In this embodiment, however, the L-shaped radiator comprises only radiator elements  624  and  626 .  FIG. 20  is a graphical illustration of the S-parameters for the embodiment of the antenna shown in  FIG. 19 . 
     Although the described exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are described with reference to compact broadband antennas, the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to the example embodiments which illustrate inventive aspects of the present disclosure. Thus, the particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only and should not be taken as limitations upon the present disclosure, as the disclosure may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Accordingly, the foregoing description is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims so that those skilled in the art should understand that they can make various changes, substitutions and alterations without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure in its broadest form.