PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10141631-B2
Application Number: US-201514966446-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with antenna

Abstract:
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include an antenna. The electronic device may have a housing in which control circuitry and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is mounted. The transceiver circuitry may be used to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals with the antenna. The housing may have a housing wall with a locally thinned portion aligned with the antenna. The antenna may have a sheet metal layer attached to a plastic cavity with a layer of adhesive. Recesses in a printed circuit may receive prongs formed from a sheet metal layer. The plastic carrier may have cavities separated by ribs. The sheet metal layer may form a planar inverted-F antenna resonating element, a ground plane, a return path between the resonating element and ground plane, and a feed path that extends along one of the ribs and into an opening in the printed circuit.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device having a front face and an opposing rear face, comprising:
 a housing having first and second parallel metal speaker grills that respectively form the front and rear faces and a housing wall that extends between and is perpendicular to the first and second metal speaker grills; 
 an antenna mounted under the housing wall and interposed between the first and second metal speaker grills that transmits and receives antenna signals through the housing wall, wherein the antenna has a sheet metal layer that forms a planar inverted-F antenna resonating element, that forms a ground, that forms a return path that extends between the planar inverted-F antenna resonating element and the ground, and that forms a feed path extending from the planar inverted-F antenna resonating element; and 
 a printed circuit to which the antenna is mounted, wherein the printed circuit has an opening, the feed path formed from the sheet metal layer passes at least partway through the opening, the antenna has an outer side facing outwardly towards the first metal speaker grill and an opposing inner side, and the antenna has a feed that includes the feed path and that is formed adjacent to the inner side. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the printed circuit has recesses that receive mating protruding portions of the sheet metal layer. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the printed circuit has an array of solder pads to which the ground is soldered. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the housing wall has a locally thinned portion that is aligned with the antenna. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the printed circuit has an upper surface to which the antenna is mounted and has an opposing lower surface to which the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is mounted. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the antenna are configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals at 2.4 GHz. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the antenna are further configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals at 5 GHz. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a speaker mounted in the housing. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the antenna comprises a dielectric carrier. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the dielectric carrier has cavities separated by ribs and the feed path extends along one of the ribs. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 10  wherein the antenna includes at least one layer of adhesive between the sheet metal layer and the dielectric carrier. 
     
     
       12. A wireless speaker, comprising:
 a housing; 
 a speaker mounted within the housing; 
 control circuitry coupled to the speaker; 
 radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to the control circuitry; 
 a dielectric support structure having an upper wall, an opposing lower wall, a gap between the upper wall and the lower wall, and a plurality of ribs that extend across the gap from the upper wall to the lower wall to divide the gap into a plurality of air-filled cavities; 
 an antenna coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry that transmits and receives wireless signals, wherein the antenna has a sheet metal layer, the sheet metal layer has a first portion on the upper wall of the dielectric support structure configured to form an inverted-F antenna resonating element, and the sheet metal layer has a second portion that is configured to form a feed path, that is bent relative to the first portion, and that extends along and parallel to a selected rib of the plurality of ribs; and 
 a printed circuit to which the antenna is mounted, wherein the printed circuit has recesses and the feed path extends into one of the recesses. 
 
     
     
       13. The wireless speaker defined in  claim 12  wherein the sheet metal layer comprises stainless steel. 
     
     
       14. The wireless speaker defined in  claim 12  wherein the sheet metal layer is soldered to an array of solder pads on the printed circuit. 
     
     
       15. The wireless speaker defined in  claim 12  wherein the sheet metal layer is configured to form a ground plane portion that that is soldered to at least one solder pad on the printed circuit and a return path that is connected between the ground plane portion and the inverted-F antenna resonating element. 
     
     
       16. The wireless speaker defined in  claim 12  wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna are configured to operate at 2.4 GHz. 
     
     
       17. An antenna, comprising:
 a plastic carrier having a plurality of air-filled cavities separated by ribs; and 
 a sheet metal layer attached to the plastic carrier with at least one layer of adhesive, wherein the sheet metal layer is configured to form a planar inverted-F antenna resonating element, a ground plane portion, a return path that is connected between the ground plane portion and the inverted-F antenna resonating element, and a feed path that extends along an entire one of the ribs from the planar inverted-F antenna resonating element towards the ground plane portion. 
 
     
     
       18. The antenna defined in  claim 17  further comprising a printed circuit having solder pads to which the ground plane portion is soldered, wherein the feed path has a portion that extends at least partly through an opening in the printed circuit and the plastic carrier is formed from a material that withstands temperatures of at least 250° C. when soldering the ground plane portion to the solder pads. 
     
     
       19. The antenna defined in  claim 17 , wherein the plastic carrier has an upper wall and an opposing lower wall and a gap formed between the upper wall and the lower wall and the ribs of the plastic carrier extend across the gap from the upper wall to the lower wall to divide the gap into the plurality of air-filled cavities. 
     
     
       20. The antenna defined in  claim 19 , wherein the feed path extends along and parallel to the entire one of the ribs from the upper wall of the plastic carrier to the opposing lower wall of the plastic carrier.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry. 
     Electronic devices often include wireless communications circuitry. For example, cellular telephones, computers, wireless speakers, and other devices often contain antennas and wireless transceivers for supporting wireless communications. 
     It can be challenging to form electronic device antenna structures with desired attributes. In some wireless devices, structures such as housing walls can interfere with antenna operation. Some antenna designs may not be sufficiently robust to withstand vibrations produced during device operation. Challenges with ensuring satisfactory antenna alignment, ease of manufacturing, and desired antenna performance can also impact the effectiveness of an antenna design. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved wireless circuitry for electronic devices such as improved antennas for electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include an antenna and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry. The electronic device may have a housing in which the wireless circuitry is mounted. The transceiver circuitry may be used to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals using the antenna. 
     The housing may have a dielectric housing wall with a locally thinned portion aligned with the antenna. The antenna may be used to transmit and receive signals through the locally thinned portion. 
     The antenna may have a sheet metal layer attached to a plastic cavity with a layer of adhesive. Recesses in a printed circuit may receive prongs formed from the sheet metal layer. 
     The plastic carrier may have cavities separated by ribs. The sheet metal layer may form a planar inverted-F antenna resonating element, a ground plane, a return path extending between the resonating element and ground plane, and a feed path that extends along one of the ribs from the resonating element into an opening in the printed circuit. 
     The electronic device may include speakers mounted behind metal speaker grills. An antenna feed for the antenna may be formed on a side of the antenna that faces inwardly away from an adjacent speaker grill. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device with wireless communications circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device with wireless communications circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an illustrative planar inverted-F antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional top view of a portion of the electronic device of  FIG. 1  showing an illustrative antenna feed arrangement for an antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an illustrative planar inverted-F antenna mounted on a dielectric carrier on a printed circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an antenna feed in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative antenna showing how the antenna may have alignment features such as metal prongs that mate with corresponding alignment features on a printed circuit board such as alignment holes in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a top view of an illustrative set of printed circuit solder pads that may be used in mounting an antenna to a printed circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an illustrative electronic device housing wall having a locally thinned area that is aligned with an antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Wireless electronic devices may be provided with one or more antennas. A wireless electronic device with an antenna may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, a wireless speaker with our without an embedded computer, equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 1 , electronic device  10  is a wireless speaker. Other configurations may be used for device  10  if desired. The example of  FIG. 1  is merely illustrative. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12 , which may sometimes be referred to as an enclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of these materials. Housing  12  may be formed using a unibody configuration in which some or all of housing  12  is machined or molded as a single structure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internal frame structure, one or more structures that form exterior housing surfaces, etc.). Housing  12  may have openings to accommodate connector ports, windows for light-based components, buttons such as buttons  18 , and other components. 
     Electrical components may be mounted in housing  12 . These components may include a battery, integrated circuits, speakers, and other electrical components. To allow sound from speakers in housing  12  to pass to the exterior of device  10 , device  10  may include housing wall structures such as front speaker grill  14 F and rear speaker grill  14 R. Speaker grills  14 R and  14 F may be formed form metal, plastic, or other suitable materials. An array of openings  16  may be formed on each speaker grill to allow sound to pass through the speaker grill. 
     An antenna for device  10  may be mounted under the upper surface of housing  12  (e.g., under a dielectric housing wall or a dielectric portion of a housing wall that serves as an antenna window in a metal housing wall) or may be mounted elsewhere within device  10 . In some configurations, device  10  may have multiple antennas. Arrangements in which device  10  includes a single antenna may sometimes be described herein as an example. The antenna in device  10  may be used to receive wirelessly streamed music or other audio that is played for a user through the speakers of device  10  or may handle other wireless communications for device  10 . 
     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  30 . Circuitry  30  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  30  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  30  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  30  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using circuitry  30  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  30  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, a wireless base station, 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. 
     Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna  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  40  may handle communications in other bands (e.g., cellular telephone bands, near field communications bands, bands at millimeter wave frequencies, etc.). 
     Antenna  40  in wireless communications circuitry  34  may be formed using any suitable type of antenna. For example, antenna  40  may be an antenna with 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, antenna  40  may be a cavity-backed antenna. Circuitry  30 , 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 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  for antenna  40 . Antenna  40  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 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  30  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  30  may use wireless circuitry  34  to transmit and receive wireless signals. As an example, circuitry  30  may use wireless circuitry  34  to receive wireless audio information and may use or more speakers in devices  32  to play corresponding audio for a user of device  10 . 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an illustrative antenna for device  10 . In the example of  FIG. 3 , antenna  40  is a planar inverted-F antenna having a planar inverted-F antenna resonating element  106  that is separated by vertical gap G from parallel ground plane  104 . If desired, antenna resonating element  106  may have a meandering shape, a shape with multiple branches, or other suitable planar shape that lies parallel to ground  104 . Return path  110  may have a planar shape that lies in a vertical plane or may be formed from other metal structures that couple resonating element  106  to ground plane  104 . Feed path  112 ′ may be formed from a narrow metal strip that extends from resonating element  106  to antenna feed terminal  98  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 a planar layer of metal or other suitable ground structures. Portions of ground  104  may be formed from ground traces in a printed circuit. 
     A cross-sectional top view of a portion of device  10  of  FIG. 1  is shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , Antenna  40  may be mounted on a substrate such as printed circuit  122 . Printed circuit  122  may be a rigid printed circuit board or may be a flexible printed circuit. With one illustrative configuration, printed circuit  122  may have an elongated rectangular shape that runs along the length of device  10  parallel to longitudinal axis  124  of device  10  and that extends laterally between rear grill (housing wall)  14 R and front grill (housing wall)  14 F. 
     Metal traces in printed circuit  122  may be used to form transmission line  92  and may couple transceiver circuitry  90  to antenna feed  112  of antenna  40 . Antenna  40  may be mounted to the upper surface of printed circuit  112  under an upper wall of housing  12  and may transmit and receive wireless signals through the upper wall of housing  12 . Transceiver circuitry  90  may be mounted on an opposing lower surface of printed circuit  112  (e.g., above a set of speakers and other electrical components in device  10 ). If desired, radio-frequency impedance matching circuit components and other electrical components  120  may be coupled to metal traces in printed circuit  122  (e.g., components  120  may be coupled within transmission line  92 , etc.). 
     Antenna  40  may have an elongated shape (e.g., a shape with rectangular footprint that extends along a longitudinal axis parallel to axis  124 ) or other suitable shape. Antenna  40  may, for example, have a shape with first and second opposing vertical sides, one of which faces rear grill  14 R and one of which faces in the opposite direction (i.e., inwardly and away from rear grill  14 R). Antenna  40  may be a planar inverted-F antenna of the type shown in  FIG. 3 . Electromagnetic signals associated with the operation of this type of antenna may be more concentrated on the side of the antenna that includes antenna feed  112  than on the opposing side of the antenna. To minimize disruption to the operation of antenna  40  that might arise from placing antenna feed  112  too close to metal structures in device  10  such as rear grill  14 R, it may be desirable to feed antenna  40  from the inner side of antenna  40  (i.e., between longitudinal axis  124  and the speaker grill adjacent to antenna  40 ). As shown in  FIG. 4 , for example, feed  112  may be located on inward side  40 - 1  of antenna  40  (which faces inwardly towards the longitudinal axis  124  of device  10  that is bisecting printed circuit  122 ) rather than on outward side  40 - 2  of antenna  40  (which faces outwardly away from axis  124  and towards adjacent metal grill  14 R). Other configurations may be used for ensuring that antenna  40  operates satisfactorily in the vicinity of metal structures in device  10 . The arrangement of  FIG. 4  in which antenna feed  112  is on the inwardly facing side of antenna  40  rather than the outwardly facing side of antenna  40  is merely illustrative. 
     Antenna  40  may be formed from metal or other conductive material and may be supported using a dielectric support structure. Examples of metal structures that may be used in forming antenna  40  include metal housing wall structures, metal traces on printed circuits and other substrates, metal foil, wires, internal metal structures (e.g., brackets, etc.), or other suitable conductive structures in device  10 . In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 5 , antenna  40  has been formed from a patterned layer of metal (metal layer  142 ) that extends around a hollow dielectric carrier (carrier  130 ). 
     Metal layer  142  may be formed from a patterned sheet of metal such as a layer of nickel-plated stainless steel sheet metal. The thickness of layer  142  may be 0.05 to 0.5 mm, may be 0.05 to 0.3 mm, may be 0.1 to 0.3 mm, may be less than 0.4 mm, may be less than 1 mm, may be more than 0.1 mm, or may be any other suitable thickness. Hollow dielectric carrier  130  may have openings such as cavity openings  132  that provide the body of carrier  130  with a substantially hollow (air-filled) configuration. Support structures such as ribs  134  may extend across the gap formed between the upper wall of carrier  130  and the opposing lower wall of carrier  130 . Ribs  134  may be formed at different respective locations along the length of carrier  130 . The presence of air-filled openings in carrier  130  such as cavities  132  may help reduce dielectric losses when operating antenna  40 . The inclusion of ribs  134  may help prevent the walls of carrier  130  from vibrating when sound is being played by the speakers within housing  12 . 
     Metal  142  may be formed around carrier  130  and may be patterned to form antenna resonating element  106  (on the upper surface of carrier  130 ), return path  110  (on the rear surface of carrier  130 ), and ground plane  104  (on the bottom of carrier  130 ). A bent prong of protruding metal  142  may be used to form feed path  112 ′. With one suitable arrangement, metal  142  may be patterned and bent into a desired antenna structure before carrier  130  is inserted into the antenna structure to form antenna  40 . Antenna  40  may then be mounted to printed circuit board  122  using solder or other conductive material. Other arrangements such as arrangements in which a sheet of metal  142  is patterned before or after wrapping metal  142  around carrier  130 , arrangements in which metal traces are formed on carrier  130  using laser direct structuring, molded interconnect device schemes based on selective electroplating of metal onto a plastic carrier structure formed from multiple shots of plastic, and arrangements in which a flexible printed circuit with antenna traces is attached to a carrier may also be used, if desired. 
     As shown in the cross-sectional side view of antenna  40  in  FIG. 6 , metal  142  may be attached to carrier  130  using adhesive  140 . Adhesive  140  may be formed in one or more layers on some or all of the surfaces of carrier  130 . Adhesive  140  may, for example, form a first layer that is interposed between the portion of metal  142  that forms resonating element  106  and a second layer that is interposed between the portion of metal  142  that forms ground  104  and carrier  130 . Adhesive  140  may also be formed on the sides of carrier  130  to help mount metal  142  securely to carrier  130  (if desired). Adhesive  140  may be formed from a polymer that is cured at room temperature or at elevated temperatures (as examples). The presence of adhesive  140  helps ensure that the structures of antenna  40  such as metal  142  will not rattle when antenna  40  is exposed to vibrations during the use of speakers in device  10  to produce sound. Solder  144  may be used to solder ground  104  of antenna  40  to solder pads formed from ground traces  170  on printed circuit  122 . Carrier  130  may be formed from a plastic that is compatible with soldering temperatures (e.g., carrier  130  may be formed from a material such as polyetheretherketone or other suitable plastic that withstands temperatures of at least 250° C. or at least 260° C. or other elevated temperatures when soldering the ground plane portion  104  to solder pads  170 ). Traces  170  may be coupled to ground traces on the underside of printed circuit  122  using one or more vias that pass through printed circuit  122 . 
     As shown in the cross-sectional view of antenna  40  of  FIG. 7 , feed path  112 ′ may have a bent end portion such as bent end portion  112 ″ that extends under the lower surface of carrier  130  (i.e., between the upper surface of printed circuit  122  and the lower surface of carrier  130  that faces the upper surface of printed circuit  122 ). Bent end portion  112 ″ extends under a surface of carrier  130  opposing the surface of carrier  130  that supports resonating element  106  and helps to secure metal  142  to carrier  130  and thereby prevent vibration of antenna  40 . Portion  112 ′″ of path  112 ′ may extend into opening  150  of printed circuit  122 . The inner surfaces of opening  150  may be coated with metal such as plated metal  152 . Solder  154  may be used to secure portion  112 ′″ within opening  150 . Metal traces on the lower surface of printed circuit  122  such as traces  156  may form conductive path  94  in transmission line  92  and other circuit paths. 
     As shown in the cross-sectional side view of antenna  40  of  FIG. 8 , metal  142  may have alignment features such as protruding portions  142 P that mate with corresponding alignment features such as openings  160  in printed circuit  122 . Protrusions  142 P may be formed from bent metal portions of metal  142  (i.e., protrusions  142 P may be metal prongs extending from the metal of antenna  40 ). Openings  160  may be free of metal or may be plated or otherwise coated with metal. Solder, adhesive, or other material may be placed in openings  160  to help secure prongs  142 P and thereby secure antenna  40  to printed circuit  122 . If desired, other types of mating alignment structures may be provided on antenna  40  and printed circuit  122 . The use of protrusions on antenna  40  and mating recesses in printed circuit  122  that receive the protrusions is merely illustrative. 
     If desired, printed circuit  122  may have an array of solder pads or other contacts for mating with ground portion  104  of metal  142 . This type of arrangement is shown in the top view of  FIG. 9 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , printed circuit  122  may have an array of solder pads  170 . There may be any suitable number of solder pads in the portion of printed circuit  122  to which antenna  40  is mounted (e.g., 5 or more, 10-30, more than 15, less than 40, etc.). The use of an array of multiple smaller pads rather than a single larger pad helps reduce the amount of heat transferred to printed circuit  122  during soldering, thereby avoiding potential overheating of printed circuit  122 . 
     To reduce signal losses as antenna signals pass through housing  12 , housing  12  may have a locally thinned portion such as portion  172  of  FIG. 10 . The wall of housing  12  that is shown in  FIG. 10  may, for example have a relatively large thickness T 1  in regions  174  that do not overlap antenna  40  and may have a relatively thin thickness T 2  in region  172  overlapping antenna  40 . This allows antenna signals for antenna  40  to traverse less of the material of the housing wall (i.e., less of the plastic or other dielectric forming the housing wall), thereby improving wireless performance. Thickness T 1  may be 0.1 mm to 3 mm, more than 0.5 mm, more than 1 mm, less than 4 mm, or other suitable thickness. Thickness T 2  may be 0.1 to 0.4 mm, less than 5 mm, less than 3 mm, less than 2 mm, less than 1 mm, less than 0.5 mm, more than 0.2 mm, or other suitable thickness. If desired, an antenna window may be formed above antenna  40  (e.g., a logo-shaped plastic window inset into a surrounding metal housing wall or a dielectric antenna window of other suitable shapes, etc.). The configuration of  FIG. 10  in which the housing wall for device  10  is formed from plastic or other dielectric with a locally thinned region aligned with antenna  40  is merely illustrative. 
     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: 20151211
Publication Date: 20181127
Grant Date: 20181127
Priority Date: 20151211
Inventors: MERLI, FRANCESCO
JIANG, YI
SHIU, Boon W.
DI NALLO, CARLO
GOMEZ TAGLE, JAVIER
PASCOLINI, MATTIA
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q9/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0457", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0421", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R1/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0457", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0421", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R1/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 58224345