PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10268236-B2
Application Number: US-201615008139-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic devices having ventilation systems with antennas

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a metal housing. The metal housing may have an upper housing in which a component such as a display is mounted and a lower housing in which a component such as a keyboard is mounted. Hinges may be used to mount the upper housing to the lower housing for rotation about a rotational axis. A slot-shaped opening may separate the upper and lower housing. Flexible printed circuits with ground traces may bisect the slot-shaped opening to form three electrically isolated slots each of which is aligned with a respective cavity antenna. The antennas may have antenna grounds formed from portions of the metal housing and other conductive structures. Resonating elements for the antennas may be supported by an elongated ventilation port structure along the rear edge of the lower housing.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. Apparatus, comprising:
 a housing having walls separating an interior from an exterior, wherein at least one of the walls has an opening; 
 a plastic structure mounted in the interior of the housing having at least one ventilation port opening, wherein the at least one ventilation port opening is defined by at least one wall that surrounds the opening and the at least one ventilation port opening at least partially overlaps the opening in the housing; 
 a fan that directs air through the ventilation port opening; and 
 an antenna resonating element on the plastic structure, wherein the antenna resonating element includes a metal trace on the plastic structure, wherein the metal trace has a portion that extends into the ventilation port opening, and wherein the metal trace is coupled to the at least one wall. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus defined in  claim 1  wherein the ventilation port opening comprises one of a plurality of ventilation port openings and wherein the metal trace comprises an arm that extends between the ventilation port openings. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus defined in  claim 1  wherein the walls are metal housing walls, the apparatus further comprising:
 an additional housing; 
 a display in the additional housing; 
 a metal member having fingers that short the metal trace to at least one of the metal housing walls; and 
 first and second flexible printed circuits that extend across an opening between the housing and the additional housing to form first, second, and third slot-shaped openings between the housing and the additional housing. 
 
     
     
       4. The apparatus defined in  claim 1  further comprising a metal-filled via that passes through the at least one wall and that is coupled to the metal trace. 
     
     
       5. An electronic device, comprising:
 a metal housing; 
 electrical components in the metal housing; 
 a plastic ventilation port structure having a plurality of ventilation port openings; 
 a fan in the metal housing that directs air through the ventilation port openings; 
 an inverted-F antenna resonating element for a first antenna formed from a metal trace on the plastic ventilation port structure; and 
 a second antenna resonating element for a second antenna on the ventilation port structure. 
 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein a portion of the metal trace extends into at least one of the ventilation port openings. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  further comprising a metal-filled via that passes through a portion of the plastic ventilation port structure and that is coupled to the metal trace. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  further comprising a conductive gasket that extends between the metal housing and the metal trace. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  further comprising additional metal traces that form a third antenna resonating element on the ventilation port structure for a third antenna. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein at least a portion of the inverted-F antenna resonating element is formed between the ventilation port openings. 
     
     
       11. An electronic device, comprising:
 a metal housing; 
 electrical components in the metal housing; 
 a plastic ventilation port structure having a plurality of ventilation port openings; 
 a fan in the metal housing that directs air through the ventilation port openings; 
 an antenna resonating element formed from a metal trace on the plastic ventilation port structure, wherein the metal trace forms a first antenna resonating element for a first antenna; 
 additional metal traces that form second and third antenna resonating elements on the ventilation port structure for respective second and third antennas; 
 a first flexible printed circuit between the first and second antennas; and 
 a second flexible printed circuit between the second and third antennas. 
 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  further comprising:
 a display, wherein the first and second flexible printed circuits include signal lines and wherein at least one of the signal lines carries signals for the display.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to wireless electronic devices with antennas. 
     Electronic devices often include antennas. For example, cellular telephones, computers, and other devices often contain antennas for supporting wireless communications. 
     It can be challenging to form electronic device antenna structures with desired attributes. In some wireless devices, the presence of conductive housing structures can influence antenna performance. Antenna performance may not be satisfactory if the housing structures are not configured properly and interfere with antenna operation. Device size can also affect performance. It can be difficult to achieve desired performance levels in a compact device, particularly when the compact device has conductive housing structures. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved wireless circuitry for electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may have a metal housing. The metal housing may have an upper housing in which a component such as a display is mounted and a lower housing in which a component such as a keyboard is mounted. Hinges may be used to mount the upper housing to the lower housing for rotation about a rotational axis. 
     A slot-shaped opening that extends parallel to the rotational axis may separate the upper and lower housing. Flexible printed circuits with ground traces may bisect the slot-shaped opening to form three electrically isolated slots each of which is aligned with a respective cavity antenna. 
     The antennas may have antenna grounds formed from portions of the metal housing and other conductive structures. Resonating elements for the antennas may be supported by an elongated ventilation port structure along the rear edge of the lower housing. 
     The elongated ventilation port may have ventilation port openings that permit air to flow into and out of the lower housing. Fans may be used to circulate air and thereby cool components in the electronic device. 
     The ventilation port structure may be formed from a dielectric such as plastic. The antenna resonating elements may be formed from metal traces on the ventilation port structure. Some of the antenna resonating element structures may run between ventilation port openings. Other antenna resonating element structures may penetrate into the ventilation port openings. 
     Vias may couple antenna resonating element traces on the walls of ventilation port openings and other portions of the ventilation port structure to transmission lines such as coaxial cables. Metal brackets, conductive gaskets, sheet metal members with spring fingers, and other conductive structures may be used in grounding antennas to metal portions of the electronic device housing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device such as a laptop computer in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device with wireless circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram of an illustrative inverted-F antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram showing hinge and flexible printed circuit structures bridging a gap between upper and lower housings in a laptop computer of the type shown in  FIG. 1  in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a rear view of a lower laptop computer housing having a ventilation system in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an illustrative antenna structure having a sheet metal member with spring fingers for grounding an antenna to a metal housing wall in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an illustrative antenna structure showing how a sheet metal ground structure may be coupled to metal traces on a plastic carrier using a ring of solder in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of an illustrative ventilation port structure that may serve as an antenna carrier for an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a rear view of an illustrative lower housing in a laptop computer that has a ventilation port structure that serves as an antenna carrier in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional side view of a rear portion of an illustrative lower laptop computer housing showing how a bracket may be used in grounding antenna structures to the housing in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of an illustrative ventilation port structure having antenna resonating element traces that penetrate at least partly into a ventilation port opening in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 12  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative laptop computer with antennas supported on a ventilation port structure in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 13  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative rear portion of the lower housing of a laptop computer with antenna structures mounted on a ventilation port structure in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 14  is a side view of a ventilation port structure that is supporting an antenna resonating element in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 15  is a cross-sectional side view of a ventilation port structure that is supporting an antenna resonating element in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  may contain wireless circuitry. For example, electronic device  10  may contain wireless communications circuitry that operates in long-range communications bands such as cellular telephone bands and wireless circuitry that operates in short-range communications bands such as the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® band and the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi® wireless local area network bands (sometimes referred to as IEEE 802.11 bands or wireless local area network communications bands). Device  10  may also contain wireless communications circuitry for implementing near-field communications, communications at 60 GHz, light-based wireless communications, satellite navigation system communications, or other wireless communications. 
     Device  10  may be a handheld electronic device such as a cellular telephone, media player, gaming device, or other device, may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, or other portable computer, may be a desktop computer, may be a computer display, may be a display containing an embedded computer, may be a television or set top box, or may be other electronic equipment. Configurations in which device  10  has a rotatable lid as in a portable computer are sometimes described herein as an example. This is, however, merely illustrative. Device  10  may be any suitable electronic equipment. 
     As shown in the example of  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12  may be formed from plastic, metal (e.g., aluminum), fiber composites such as carbon fiber, glass, ceramic, other materials, and combinations of these materials. Housing  12  or parts of housing  12  may be formed using a unibody construction in which housing structures are formed from an integrated piece of material. Multipart housing constructions may also be used in which housing  12  or parts of housing  12  are formed from frame structures, housing walls, and other components that are attached to each other using fasteners, adhesive, and other attachment mechanisms. 
     Some of the structures in housing  12  may be conductive. For example, metal parts of housing  12  such as metal housing walls may be conductive. Other parts of housing  12  may be formed from dielectric material such as plastic, glass, ceramic, non-conducting composites, etc. To ensure that antenna structures in device  10  function properly, care should be taken when placing the antenna structures relative to the conductive portions of housing  12 . If desired, portions of housing  12  may form part of the antenna structures for device  10 . For example, conductive housing sidewalls may form all or part of an antenna ground. The antenna ground may include planar portions and/or portions that form one or more cavities for cavity-backed antennas. In addition to portions of housing  12 , the cavities in the cavity-backed antennas may be formed from metal brackets, sheet metal members, and other internal metal structures, and/or metal traces on dielectric structures (e.g., plastic structures) in device  10 . Metal traces may be formed on dielectric structures using molded interconnect device techniques (e.g., techniques for selectively plating metal traces onto regions of a plastic part that contains multiple shots of plastic with different affinities for metal), using laser direct structuring techniques (e.g., techniques in which laser light exposure is used to activate selective portions of a plastic structure for subsequent electroplating metal deposition operations), or using other metal trace deposition and patterning techniques. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have input-output devices such as track pad  18  and keyboard  16 . Device  10  may also have components such as cameras, microphones, speakers, buttons, status indicator lights, buzzers, sensors, and other input-output devices. These devices may be used to gather input for device  10  and may be used to supply a user of device  10  with output. Connector ports in device  10  may receive mating connectors (e.g., an audio plug, a connector associated with a data cable such as a Universal Serial Bus cable, a data cable that handles video and audio data such as a cable that connects device  10  to a computer display, television, or other monitor, etc.). 
     Device  10  may include a display such a display  14 . Display  14  may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, an electrophoretic display, or a display implemented using other display technologies. A touch sensor may be incorporated into display  14  (i.e., display  14  may be a touch screen display) or display  14  may be insensitive to touch. Touch sensors for display  14  may be resistive touch sensors, capacitive touch sensors, acoustic touch sensors, light-based touch sensors, force sensors, or touch sensors implemented using other touch technologies. 
     Device  10  may have a one-piece housing or a multi-piece housing. As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, electronic device  10  may be a device such as a portable computer or other device that has a two-part housing formed from an upper housing portion such as upper housing  12 A and lower housing portion such as lower housing  12 B. Upper housing  12 A may include display  14  and may sometimes be referred to as a display housing or lid. Lower housing  12 B may sometimes be referred to as a base housing or main housing. 
     Housings  12 A and  12 B may be connected to each other using hinge structures located along the upper edge of lower housing  12 B and the lower edge of upper housing  12 A. For example, housings  12 A and  12 B may be coupled by hinges  26 A and  26 B that are located at opposing left and right sides of housing  12  along hinge axis  22 . A slot-shaped opening such as opening  30  may be formed between upper housing  12 A and lower housing  12 B and may be bordered on either end by hinges  26 A and  26 B. Hinges  26 , which may be formed from conductive structures such as metal structures, may allow upper housing  12 A to rotate about axis  22  in directions  24  relative to lower housing  12 B. Slot  30  extends along the rear edge of housing  12 B parallel to axis  22 . The plane of lid (upper housing)  12 A and the plane of lower housing  12 B may be separated by an angle that varies between 0° when the lid is closed to 90°, 140°, or more when the lid is fully opened. 
     A schematic diagram showing illustrative components that may be used in device  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , device  10  may include storage and processing circuitry such as control circuitry  31 . Circuitry  31  may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in circuitry  31  may be used to control the operation of device  10 . This processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     Circuitry  31  may be used to run software on device  10 , such as internet browsing applications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, etc. To support interactions with external equipment, circuitry  31  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using circuitry  31  include wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as WiFi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol, and other wireless communications protocols. 
     Device  10  may include input-output devices  32 . Input-output devices  32  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  10  and to allow data to be provided from device  10  to external devices. Input-output devices  32  may include user interface devices, data port devices, and other input-output components. For example, input-output devices may include touch screens, displays without touch sensor capabilities, buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, accelerometers, proximity sensors, and other sensors and input-output components. 
     Device  10  may include wireless communications circuitry  34  that allows control circuitry  31  of device  10  to communicate wirelessly with external equipment. The external equipment with which device  10  communicates wirelessly may be a computer, a cellular telephone, a watch, a router or other wireless local area network equipment, a wireless base station in a cellular telephone network, a display, or other electronic equipment. Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry  90  and one or more antennas such as antenna  40 . Configurations in which device  10  contains a single antenna may sometimes be described herein as an example. 
     If desired, device  10  may be supplied with a battery such as battery  50 . Control circuitry  31 , input-output devices  32 , wireless circuitry  34 , and power management circuitry associated with battery  50  may produce heat during operation. To ensure that these components are cooled satisfactorily, device  10  may be provided with a cooling system such as cooling system  52 . Cooling system  52 , which may sometimes be referred to as a ventilation system, may include one or more fans and other equipment for removing heat from the components of device  10 . Cooling system  52  may include structures that form airflow ports (e.g., openings in ventilation port structures located along slot  30  or other portions of device  10  through which cool air may be drawn by one or more cooling fans and through which air that has been warmed from heat produced by internal components may be expelled). Airflow ports, which may sometimes be referred to as cooling ports, ventilation ports, air exhaust and entrance ports, etc., may be formed from arrays of openings in plastic ventilation port structures or other structures associated with cooling system  52 . 
     Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna(s)  40  may be used to handle one or more radio-frequency communications bands. For example, circuitry  90  may include wireless local area network transceiver circuitry that may handle a 2.4 GHz band for WiFi® and/or Bluetooth® communications and, if desired, may include 5 GHz transceiver circuitry (e.g., for WiFi®). If desired, circuitry  90  and antenna(s)  40  may handle communications in other bands (e.g., cellular telephone bands, near field communications bands, bands at millimeter wave frequencies, etc.). 
     Antenna(s)  40  in wireless communications circuitry  34  may be formed using any suitable types of antenna. For example, an antenna for device  10  may include a resonating element that is formed from a loop antenna structure, a patch antenna structure, an inverted-F antenna structure, a slot antenna structure, a planar inverted-F antenna structure, a helical antenna structure, a hybrid of these structures, etc. If desired, device  10  may include cavity-backed antennas. Circuitry  31 , input-output devices  32 , wireless circuitry  34 , and other components of device  10  may be mounted in device housing  12 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , transceiver circuitry  90  in wireless circuitry  34  may be coupled to antennas such as antenna  40  using paths such as transmission line path  92 . Transmission line paths in device  10  such as transmission line  92  may include coaxial cable paths, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, transmission lines formed from combinations of transmission lines of these types, etc. Transmission line  92  may be coupled to antenna feed  112 . Antenna  40  of  FIG. 2  may, for example, form a planar inverted-F antenna, a slot antenna, a hybrid inverted-F slot antenna or other antenna having an antenna feed such as feed  112  with a positive antenna feed terminal such as terminal  98  and a ground antenna feed terminal such as ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Positive transmission line conductor  94  may be coupled to positive antenna feed terminal  98  and ground transmission line conductor  96  may be coupled to ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Other types of antenna feed arrangements may be used and multiple antennas  40  may be provided in device  10 , if desired. The illustrative feeding configuration of  FIG. 2  is merely illustrative. 
     Filter circuitry, switching circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, and other circuitry may be interposed within transmission line  92  or other portions of wireless circuitry  34 , if desired. Control circuitry  31  may be coupled to transceiver circuitry  90  and input-output devices  32 . During operation, input-output devices  32  may supply output from device  10  and may receive input from sources that are external to device  10 . Control circuitry  31  may use wireless circuitry  34  to transmit and receive wireless signals. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative antenna for device  10 . In the example of  FIG. 3 , antenna  40  is an inverted-F antenna having inverted-F antenna resonating element  106  and antenna ground  104 . Resonating element  106  may have a main resonating element arm such as arm  108 . If desired, element  106  may have multiple branches (e.g., a first branch formed from arm  108 , a second arm formed from branch  108 ′, etc.). The lengths of each of the branches of element  106  may be selected to support communications band resonances at desired frequencies (e.g., a high band resonance may be supported using a shorter branch and a low band resonance may be supported using a longer branch). Antenna resonances may also be produced from resonating element harmonics and/or from using parasitic antenna resonating elements. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , antenna resonating element  106  (e.g., arm  108 ) may be coupled to ground by return path  110 . Antenna feed  112  may be coupled between antenna resonating element arm  108  and ground  104  in parallel with return path  110 . Antenna feed  112  may be formed from antenna feed terminals  98  and  100 . Antenna feed terminal  100  may be coupled to antenna ground  104 . Ground  104  may be formed from metal portions of housing  12  (e.g., portions of housing  12 B), metal traces on a printed circuit or other carrier, internal metal bracket members, sheet metal members, and other conductive structures in device  10 . 
     Metal traces on one or more flexible printed circuits may bisect slot  30 . Consider, for example, the illustrative configuration of device  10  that is shown in  FIG. 4 . In the example of  FIG. 4 , housing  12 A is separated from housing  12 B by air-filled gap (slot)  30 . Hinges  26 A and  26 B may be coupled between housings  12 A and  12 B along the respective left and right edges of device  10 . Flexible printed circuits  120 - 1  and  120 - 2  may bisect slot  30  at two different locations along the length of slot  30  (i.e., at two different positions along axis  22 ), thereby creating three slots (i.e., three separate slot-shaped portions of slot  30 ) such as slots  30 - 1 ,  30 - 2 , and  30 - 3 . 
     Flexible printed circuits  120 - 1  and  120 - 2  may include signal lines  126  for routing display signals (i.e., data signals associated with displaying images on display  14 ) and other signals between upper housing  12 A and lower housing  12 B. Ground traces  122  may be provided on the outer edges of each flexible printed circuit (i.e., in each flexible printed circuit, signal lines  126  may be flanked on opposing sides by ground traces  122 ). Ground traces  122  may be formed from copper or other metal and may have any suitable widths (e.g., 1 mm to 3 mm, less than 1 mm, more than 1 mm, etc.). Ground traces  122  may be shorted to metal housing  12 A and  12 B using screws, other fasteners, welds, conductive adhesive, solder, or other conductive coupling mechanism (see, e.g., conductive ground connections  124 ). 
     With this type of arrangement, slots (openings)  30 - 1 ,  30 - 2 , and  30 - 3  may be surrounded by metal. For example, slots  30 - 1 ,  30 - 2 , and  30 - 3  may be surrounded by metal portions of housing  12 A and  12 B on their top and bottom edges. Hinges  26 A and  26 B and traces  122  may also be formed from metal and may help define the shapes of slots  30 - 1 ,  30 - 2 , and  30 - 3 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , slot  30 - 1  may have a left edge formed by hinge  26 A and an opposing right edge formed from the ground traces on flexible printed circuit  120 - 1 . Slot  30 - 2  may have a left edge formed from flexible printed circuit  120 - 1  and an opposing right edge formed from flexible printed circuit  120 - 2 . Slot  30 - 3  may have a left edge formed from flexible printed circuit  120 - 2  (e.g., traces  122  on printed circuit  120 - 2 ) and a right edge formed from hinge  26 -B. 
     During wireless operation of device  10 , slots  30 - 1 ,  30 - 2 , and  30 - 3  may serve as antenna apertures for respective electrically isolated antennas  40  in device  10 . The conductive structures surrounding these slots may form cavity structures for each of the antennas  40  (e.g., cavity-shaped ground structures or other ground structures that form antenna ground  104  of  FIG. 3 ). By forming antennas  40  using separate slots in device  10 , the antennas may exhibit sufficient electrical isolation from each other to be used to form a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array (e.g., at 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz and/or other suitable frequencies for wireless local area network communications, etc.). 
     Device  10  may have ventilation port structures mounted along the rear edge of housing  12 B or elsewhere in device  10 . The ventilation port structures may have arrays of openings that form ventilation ports. Fans in ventilation system  52  ( FIG. 2 ) may be used to draw air into housing  12 B through the openings and may be used to exhaust air that has been warmed by the circuitry in housing  12 B through the openings. 
     An illustrative ventilation port structure of the type that may be formed along the rear edge of housing  12 B is shown in the rear view of housing  12 B of  FIG. 5 . In the example of  FIG. 5 , lower housing  12 B has upper metal housing wall  12 B- 1  and lower metal housing wall  12 B- 2 . Ventilation port structure  130  is mounted along the rear edge of housing  12 B between upper metal housing wall  12 B- 1  and lower metal housing wall  12 B- 2 . 
     Ventilation port structure  130  may have ventilation port openings  132 . Openings  132  may be used to allow air to enter and exit the interior of housing  12 B. There may be one or more openings  132  associated with each airflow entrance location and each airflow exit location in structure  130 . Openings  132  may, if desired, be arranged in arrays (e.g., arrays of 6-20 openings, more than 4 openings, fewer than 30 openings, etc.). Each array of openings  132  may form a different respective ventilation port in device  10 . For example, a first array of openings  132  may form ventilation port  134 - 1 , a second array of openings  132  may form ventilation port  134 - 2 , and a third set of openings  132  may form ventilation port  134 - 3 . Flexible printed circuits  120 - 1  and  120 - 2  may be interposed between the opening(s) that form the ports (see, e.g., illustrative flexible printed circuit locations  120 ′ of  FIG. 5 ). 
     Antenna structures may be supported by one or more dielectric support structures in device  10 . For example, metal traces, metal foil, sheet metal structures, or other conductive structures for antenna(s)  40  may be supported on plastic structures or other dielectric structures. With one illustrative arrangement, which may sometimes be described herein as an example, some or all of the conductive structures that form antenna(s)  40  (e.g., portions of antenna resonating element  106  and/or ground  104 , feed and return path structures, etc.) may be formed on a plastic structure such as ventilation port structure  130  of  FIG. 5  that is also used for forming some or all of a ventilation system (e.g., system  52  of  FIG. 2 ) for device  10 . 
     Components such as keyboard  16  and trackpad  18  may operate through openings in upper metal housing wall  12 B- 1 . Lower metal housing wall  12 B- 2 , which may be joined to upper wall  12 B- 1  around the periphery of lower housing  12 B may have feet or other support structures that allow device  10  to rest on a table top or other support structure during operation. When device  10  is being used in this way, air may flow in and out of the ventilation port openings in ventilation port structure  130  of  FIG. 5 . 
     Antenna structures for one or more of antennas  40  in device  10  may be formed from conductive structures such as metal portions of housing  12 B, metal traces on a plastic carrier such as ventilation port structure  130 , and metal members such as brackets and sheet metal members. Consider, as an example, antenna  40  of  FIG. 6 . An antenna with a configuration of the type shown by antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  may mounted within housing  12 B in alignment with slot  30 - 1  and/or slot  30 - 3  (as examples). 
     As shown in the exploded perspective view of  FIG. 6 , antenna  40  may have metal traces  140  and  142 . Metal traces  140  may be patterned to form an antenna resonating element arm (see, e.g., inverted-F antenna resonating element arm  108  of  FIG. 3 ). Metal traces  142  may be used in forming antenna ground  104 . In the example of  FIG. 6 , metal traces  140  are formed on a surface of a portion of ventilation port structure  130  and metal traces  142  are formed on an opposing surface of structure  130 . Sheet metal member  144  may be mounted to metal traces  142 . Solder joints  146  or other conductive attachment structures may be used in electrically coupling sheet metal member  144  to metal traces  142 . Sheet metal member  144  may have fingers  147  that form spring structures (springs). These spring structures may bear against an inner portion of housing  12 B to short metal member  144  and therefore traces  142  to housing  12 B (e.g., to form antenna ground  104 ). 
     Antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  may be fed using a coaxial cable or other transmission line  92  that is coupled to antenna  40  at feed  112 . Return path  110  may be formed from metal traces that extend along the surface of structure  130  between metal traces  140  and  142 . Portions of the feed path for feed  112  and portions of return path  110  may be formed using vias that pass through structure  130  (see, e.g., vias  112 ′ and  110 ′). If desired, solder  146  may be formed in a ring shape that helps attach the periphery of metal member  144  to metal traces  142  on the surface of support  130 , as shown in the illustrative cross-sectional side view of  FIG. 7 . 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a portion of ventilation port structure  130  showing how openings  132  may be provided in structure  130  to allow air to flow into and out of device  10 . In the example of  FIG. 8 , openings  132  have rectangular outlines. This is merely illustrative. Any suitable shapes (circular, oval, triangular, etc.) may be used in forming openings  132 . 
       FIG. 9  is a side view of the rear of housing  12 B showing how ventilation port structure  130  may be mounted between walls  12 B- 1  and  12 B- 2  of lower housing  12 B along the rear edge of housing  12 B. Metal traces may be patterned on ventilation port structure to form portions of antenna  40  (e.g., to form antenna structures such as some or all of antenna resonating element arm  108 , feed  112 , return path  110 , and antenna ground  104 ). In the example of  FIG. 9 , openings  132  form an array with rows and columns and one of openings  132  has been omitted to provide additional area on the exterior surface of ventilation port structure. Some of antenna  40  (e.g., feed path  112 P for feed  112  and return path  110 ) may extend into the area that would otherwise be occupied by the omitted opening. Other portions of antenna  40  (e.g., arm  108 ) may extend along the wall portions of ventilation port structure  130  that separate respective openings  132  from each other. 
       FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional end view of an antenna such as antenna  40  of  FIG. 9 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , openings such as illustrative opening  132  may pass through ventilation port structure  130  from interior ventilation port structure surface  130 - 1  to exterior ventilation port structure surface  130 - 2 . Metal traces for antenna resonating element arm  108  and return path  110  may be formed on surface  130 - 2 . Return path  110  may extend under structure  130  and may contact a ground path in a coaxial cable or other transmission line  92  at terminal  100 . Metal bracket  143  may have a wavy portion that runs parallel to axis  22  within a groove  145  in housing wall  12 B- 1  that extends parallel to axis  22 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , wavy bracket portion  141  may be compressed within groove  145  of housing wall  12 B- 1  to short bracket  143  to housing  12 B- 1 . Portion  140 B of bracket  143  may be shorted to housing wall  12 B- 2  by conductive material  147  (e.g., solder, welds, conductive adhesive, a conductive fastener, a conductive gasket formed from conductive foam, solid conductive elastomeric material, and/or conductive fabric, etc.). Housing  12 B- 1 , housing  12 B- 2 , and metal bracket  143  may be used in forming antenna ground  104 . Antenna such as antenna  40  of  FIGS. 9 and 10  may be mounted in the portion of device  10  associated with slot  30 - 2  or other portions of device  10 . 
     Another illustrative arrangement for forming antenna  40  from metal traces on support structure  130  is shown in  FIG. 11 . With the arrangement of  FIG. 11 , some metal traces such as metal trace  150  are formed on the inner wall surfaces of one or more of openings  132 . Vias such as via  152  may, if desired, be formed through walls in structure  130  (e.g., to couple trace  150  to other portions of antenna  40 ). Vias such as via  152  may, in general, be used to couple together metal traces in resonating element  106  (e.g., in arm  108 ), in feed  112 , in return path  110 , in ground  104 , or in other portions of antenna  40 . 
     In the example of  FIG. 11 , resonating element  106  has a main arm (arm  108 ) that extends along the surface of structure  130  between rows of openings  132 . Metal traces such as portion  154  of arm  108  may be provided to tune the performance of antenna  40  (e.g., to adjust antenna bandwidth, resonance frequency, etc.). For example, portion  154  may be increased in length to increase the length of arm  108  and/or to increase capacitive coupling between the tip of portion  154  and ground (housing wall  12 B- 2 ), thereby decreasing the resonant frequency of antenna  40 . If desired, metal traces such as trace  154  of  FIG. 11  may be used in forming feed structures, return path structures, and/or antenna ground structures. Metal trace  154  may, if desired, be coupled to other structures in antenna  40  using one or more vias that pass through structure  130 . 
     By using metal traces on the inner surfaces of openings  132  such as trace  150 , the amount surface area used for the traces of antenna resonating element  106  can be increased without omitting any of openings  132  (e.g., to adjust antenna performance by providing an antenna resonating element arm of sufficient length, to enhance antenna bandwidth, etc.). Configurations in which metal antenna traces penetrate into openings  132  and in which one or more openings  132  are omitted from structure  130  to provide additional area for antenna  40  may also be used. The configuration of  FIG. 11  is merely illustrative. 
     A cross-sectional side view of device  10  in the vicinity of the rear edge of housing  12 B is shown in  FIG. 12 . As shown in  FIG. 12 , fans and other cooling system structures (ventilation system structures  52 ) may be mounted within the interior of lower housing  12 B. Portion  12 B′ of upper wall  12 B- 1  may be electrically coupled to lower housing wall  12 B- 2  using conductive structure  162 . Conductive structures  162  may be a conductive gasket formed from conductive foam, conductive fabric, a solid elastomeric conductive material, or other conductive material. Opening  132 ′ may be provided in portion  12 B′ to form an air passageway (ventilation opening) that is aligned with openings  132  in ventilation port structure  130 . 
     Antenna structures such as antenna resonating element  106  may be formed from metal traces on the exterior surface of ventilation port structure  130 . Ventilation port structure  130  may have a recessed portion (e.g., a step-shaped recess that creates an inward bend in the outermost surface of port structure  130 ) so that portion  106 ′ of antenna resonating element  106  is relatively far away from adjacent metal structures such as metal portion  12 ′ of upper housing  12 A, thereby enhancing antenna bandwidth. When upper housing  12 A is in a closed position, antenna signals can be transmitted and received through lower slot portion  30 L of slot  30 . When upper housing  12 A is in an open position (as shown in  FIG. 12 ), antenna signals can be transmitted and received both through upper slot portion  30 T and through lower slot portion  30 L. 
     A cross-sectional side view of device  10  when lid (upper housing)  12 A is in a closed position is shown in  FIG. 13 . As shown in  FIG. 13 , antenna resonating element  106  may be fed at an upper feed location such as location  112 T (e.g., using a transmission line such as transmission line  92 T) or may be fed at a lower feed location such as location  112 L (e.g., using a transmission line such as transmission line  92 L). The location of the feed for antenna  40  may be selected to help enhance antenna efficiency. In some configurations, placement of the feed for antenna  40  in location  112 L may help enhance antenna signal transmission and reception through lower slot portion  30 T between housings  12 A and  12 B and may minimize undesired antenna signal leakage along path  170 . In general, however, the feed for antenna  40  may be located at any suitable portion of antenna  40 . The configurations of  FIG. 13  are merely illustrative. 
       FIG. 14  is a side view of antenna  40  in an illustrative configuration in which antenna resonating element  106  has an arm  108  formed from metal traces that are supported by the portions of ventilation port support  130  between respective ventilation port openings  132 . Metal trace  150  is formed on the inner surface of one of openings  132  and is coupled to via  152 . Via  152  electrically connects trace  150  (which serves as return path  110  in the example of  FIG. 14 ) to metal trace portion  174 ′ of metal trace  174 . Metal trace  174  serves as part of antenna ground  104  and may be formed on surface  172  of ventilation port structure  130 . A coaxial cable or other transmission line  92  may have a positive signal line coupled to positive antenna feed terminal (e.g., through a via coupled to a portion of a trace extending from arm  108 ) and may have a ground signal line coupled to ground antenna feed terminal  100  on trace portion  174 ′. 
     A cross-sectional view of an antenna such as antenna  40  of  FIG. 14  taken along line  176  and viewed in direction  178  is shown in  FIG. 15 . In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 15 , metal bracket  143 B is attached to portion  12 B′ of housing wall  12 B- 1  and is shorted to housing wall  12 B- 1  using screw  192 . Bracket  143 B may be coupled to trace  174  at node  190  (e.g., by direct contact, using conductive material such as solder or conductive adhesive, using welds, fasteners, or using other conductive structures). Conductive gasket  162  may be used to short metal trace  174  to the inner surface of housing wall  12 B- 2 . Antenna  40  may have metal traces that protrude into one or more ventilation port openings  132  (see, e.g., portion  106 P of antenna resonating element  106 ). 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20160127
Publication Date: 20190423
Grant Date: 20190423
Priority Date: 20160127
Inventors: GUTERMAN, Jerzy S.
Barrera, Joel D.
ROBINSON, KEVIN M.
HERSHEY, DANIEL D.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0407", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1616", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1698", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1681", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/203", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q13/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0407", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1698", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1616", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1681", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q13/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/203", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 58745585