PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8532697-B2
Application Number: US-201113117050-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with passively combined antennas

Abstract:
Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to multiple antennas though a passive coupler. When transmitting signals, the passive coupler can divide transmitted signals between each of the multiple antennas. When using the antennas to receive signals, the received signals can be combined using the passive coupler. The combined signals may be provided to a receiver in the transceiver circuitry. A tap may be interposed in a path between the passive coupler and one of the antennas to monitor radio-frequency signal power. Phase-shift elements may be interposed in the paths between the antennas and the passive coupler to adjust the relative phase between signals associated with the first and second antennas.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 at least first and second antennas; 
 radio-frequency transceiver circuitry; and 
 a passive coupler having a first port coupled to the first antenna, a second port coupled to the second antenna, and a third port coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals via the passive coupler, and wherein the first and second antennas are configured to exhibit a gain ratio of greater than 50/50 when not being contacted by external objects. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the first port of the passive coupler is coupled to the first antenna without any intervening electrically controlled switches and wherein second port of the passive coupler is coupled to the second antenna without any intervening electrically controlled switches. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry comprises cellular telephone transceiver circuitry. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  further comprising a substantially rectangular housing, wherein the first antenna and second antenna are located at opposing ends of the substantially rectangular housing. 
     
     
       5. An electronic device, comprising:
 at least first and second antennas; 
 radio-frequency transceiver circuitry; 
 a passive coupler having a first port coupled to the first antenna, a second port coupled to the second antenna, and a third port coupled to the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals via the passive coupler, and wherein radio-frequency signals from the first and second antennas are received at the first and second ports with a relative phase; 
 a transmission line path between the second port and the second antenna; and 
 a phase shift element interposed in the transmission line path between the second port and the second antenna that adjusts the relative phase to be about 180° . 
 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the first and second antennas are configured to exhibit a gain ratio of greater than 70/30 when not being contacted by external objects. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a radio-frequency tap interposed in a path between the second port and the second antenna. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 7  further comprising a power detector that measures radio-frequency signals that are tapped from the path by the radio-frequency tap. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the passive coupler comprises a circuit selected from the group consisting of: a Wilkinson divider, a balun circuit, a directional coupler, and a split transmission line. 
     
     
       10. A method for receiving wireless signals in a portable electronic device, comprising:
 with a first antenna in the portable electronic device, receiving first radio-frequency signals; 
 with a second antenna in the portable electronic device, receiving second radio-frequency signals; 
 routing the first and second radio-frequency signals from the first and second antennas to respective first and second ports of a passive coupler without passing through any electrically controlled switching circuitry; 
 combining the first and second radio-frequency signals with the passive coupler to produce a corresponding passively combined radio-frequency signal at an output of the passive coupler; 
 receiving the combined radio-frequency signal with a radio-frequency transceiver in the portable electronic device; 
 transmitting radio-frequency signals with the radio-frequency transceiver; with the passive coupler, dividing the transmitted radio-frequency signals into respective first and second radio-frequency signal portions; and 
 in response to contact with the portable electronic device by an external object in the vicinity of the first antenna, receiving an increased amount of the second radio-frequency signals relative to the first radio-frequency signals. 
 
     
     
       11. The method defined in  claim 10  further comprising:
 routing the first radio-frequency signal portion from the first port of the passive coupler to the first antenna without passing through any electrically controlled switches; and 
 routing the second radio-frequency signal portion from the second port of the passive coupler to the second antenna without passing through any electrically switches. 
 
     
     
       12. The method defined in  claim 11  wherein the portable electronic device comprises a cellular telephone, wherein the radio-frequency transceiver comprises a cellular telephone transceiver, and wherein transmitting the radio-frequency signals from the radio-frequency transceiver comprises transmitting cellular telephone signals. 
     
     
       13. The method defined in  claim 10  wherein receiving the increased amount of the second radio-frequency signals relative to the first radio-frequency signals comprises receiving the increased amount of the second radio-frequency signals relative to the first radio-frequency signals without adjusting any switches in the portable electronic device. 
     
     
       14. The method defined in  claim 10  further comprising:
 making signal power measurements using a tap that is interposed in a path between the second port and the second antenna. 
 
     
     
       15. A wireless electronic device, comprising:
 a passive radio-frequency signal coupler; 
 a first antenna coupled to a first port of the passive radio-frequency signal coupler; 
 a second antenna coupled to a second port of the passive radio-frequency signal coupler; and 
 a radio-frequency transceiver coupled to a third port of the passive radio-frequency signal coupler, wherein transmitted signals from the radio-frequency transceiver are divided by the passive radio-frequency signal so that a first portion of the transmitted signals is provided to the first antenna through the first port and so that a second portion of the transmitted signals is simultaneously provided to the second antenna through the second port, wherein signals received by the first and second antennas are combined using the passive radio-frequency signal coupler and are received by the radio-frequency transceiver, wherein the received signals exhibit a given frequency, wherein the first and second antennas are tuned to the given frequency when no object is in contact with the wireless electronic device in the vicinity of the first antenna, and wherein the first antenna is automatically detuned from the given frequency when an external object is in contact with the wireless electronic device in the vicinity of the first antenna. 
 
     
     
       16. The wireless electronic device defined in  claim 15  further comprising a radio-frequency tap interposed between the second port and the second antenna. 
     
     
       17. The wireless electronic device defined in  claim 16  further comprising a power detector coupled to the radio-frequency tap to make power measurements on radio-frequency signals from the tap. 
     
     
       18. The wireless electronic device defined in  claim 17  wherein the radio-frequency transceiver comprises a cellular telephone transceiver.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to wireless communications, and, more particularly, to electronic devices that have multiple antennas for supporting wireless communications. 
     Electronic devices such as portable computers and cellular telephones are often provided with wireless communications capabilities. For example, electronic devices may use long-range wireless communications circuitry such as cellular telephone circuitry and WiMax (IEEE 802.16) circuitry. Electronic devices may also use short-range wireless communications circuitry such as WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) circuitry and Bluetooth® circuitry. 
     Wireless electronic devices often have more than one antenna. For example, cellular telephones often use one antenna for handling one type of traffic such as cellular telephone traffic and use a separate antenna for handling a different type of traffic such as local area network traffic. 
     In some wireless devices, multiple antennas are used in parallel for handling the same type of data traffic. For example, a portable computer may use an array of multiple-input multiple-output antennas to handle IEEE 802.11n wireless local area network traffic. This type of arrangement may enhance throughput relative to arrangements that use only a single antenna, but requires the use of multiple parallel radio-frequency transceiver circuits. This can lead to increases in power consumption and device complexity. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved antenna arrangements for electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to antennas using a passive coupler. When transmitting signals, the passive coupler may serve as a divider that routes transmitted radio-frequency signals to respective antennas. When receiving signals, the passive coupler may serve as a signal combiner. 
     A tap may be interposed in one of the paths between the passive coupler and the antennas. A power detector may be coupled to the tap to make radio-frequency signal power measurements. 
     The performance of the wireless communications circuitry may be adjusted by forming one or more phase-shift elements in the paths between the passive coupler and the antennas. 
     The antennas may be formed at opposing ends of an electronic device housing. The electronic device housing may be associated with a portable electronic device such as a cellular telephone or other suitable electronic equipment that transmits and receives wireless signals. 
     Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device with wireless communications circuitry with passively coupled antennas in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system that includes an electronic device of the type that may be provided with passively combined antennas in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a circuit diagram showing how wireless circuitry in an electronic device may include multiple antennas that are coupled to radio-frequency transceiver circuitry through a passive coupler in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a circuit diagram of an illustrative passive coupler based on a balun in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a graph in which standing wave ratio has been plotted for a pair of antennas as a function of frequency to show how antenna performance for one of the antennas may vary as that antenna is contacted by an external object in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a table showing how a pair of antennas may perform under various external object contact scenarios in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram showing how antenna performance may be tuned using phase shifting elements that are interposed between a passive coupler and respective antennas in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a Smith chart showing how the performance of an antenna formed by passively combining a pair of antennas may be adjusted using a phase shift element of the type shown in  FIG. 7  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a graph showing how first and second antennas may perform as a function of frequency in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a graph showing how the first and second antennas of  FIG. 9  may perform as a combined pair when coupled together using a passive coupler arrangement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative circuit that may be used in monitoring radio-frequency signals associated with an antenna having multiple antennas that are combined using a passive coupler in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Electronic devices may be provided with wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may be used in a portable electronic device or other electronic equipment. The wireless communications circuitry may have multiple antennas. For example, the wireless communications circuitry may have two antennas, three antennas, four antennas, or more than four antennas. The antennas may be combined using a passive coupler. Arrangements in which an electronic device is provided with two antennas that are combined with a passive coupler are sometimes described herein as an example. This is, however, merely illustrative. Any suitable number of antennas may be combined with a passive coupler to form the antenna structures in the wireless circuitry of an electronic device. 
     An illustrative electronic device of the type that may be provided with an antenna that is formed from two or more antennas that have been combined with a passive coupler is shown in  FIG. 1 . Electronic device  10  may be a portable electronic device or other suitable electronic device. For example, electronic device  10  may be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a somewhat smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, pendant device, headphone device, earpiece device, or other wearable or miniature device, a cellular telephone, a media player, etc. 
     Device  10  may include a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12 , which may sometimes be referred to as a case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In some situations, parts of housing  12  may be formed from dielectric or other low-conductivity material. In other situations, housing  12  or at least some of the structures that make up housing  12  may be formed from metal elements. 
     Device  10  may, if desired, have a display such as display  14 . Display  14  may, for example, be a touch screen that incorporates capacitive touch electrodes or other types of touch sensor. Display  14  may include image pixels formed from light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), plasma cells, electronic ink elements, liquid crystal display (LCD) components, or other suitable image pixel structures. A cover glass layer may cover the surface of display  14 . Portions of display  14  such as peripheral regions  201  may be inactive and may be devoid of image pixel structures. Portions of display  14  such as rectangular central portion  20 A (bounded by dashed line  20 ) may correspond to the active part of display  14 . In active display region  20 A, an array of image pixels may be used to display images for a user. 
     The cover glass layer that covers display  14  may have openings such as a circular opening for button  16  and a speaker port opening such as speaker port opening  18  (e.g., for an ear speaker for a user). Device  10  may also have other openings (e.g., openings in display  14  and/or housing  12  for accommodating volume buttons, ringer buttons, sleep buttons, and other buttons, openings for an audio jack, data port connectors, removable media slots, etc.). 
     Housing  12  may include a peripheral conductive member such as a bezel or band of metal that runs around the rectangular outline of display  14  and device  10  (as an example). The peripheral conductive member may be used in forming the antennas of device  10  if desired. 
     Antennas may be located along the edges of device  10 , on the rear or front of device  10 , as extending elements or attachable structures, or elsewhere in device  10 . With one suitable arrangement, which is sometimes described herein as an example, device  10  may be provided with one or more antennas at lower end  24  of housing  12  and one or more antennas at upper end  22  of housing  12 . Locating antennas at opposing ends of device  10  (i.e., at the narrower end regions of display  14  and device  10  when device  10  has an elongated rectangular shape of the type shown in  FIG. 1 ) may allow these antennas to be formed at an appropriate distance from ground structures that are associated with the conductive portions of display  14  (e.g., the pixel array and driver circuits in active region  20 A of display  14 ). 
     If desired, a first cellular telephone antenna may be located in region  24  and a second cellular telephone antenna may be located in region  22 . Antenna structures for handling satellite navigation signals such as Global Positioning System signals or wireless local area network signals such as IEEE 802.11 (WiFi®) signals or Bluetooth® signals may also be provided in regions  22  and/or  24  (either as separate additional antennas or as parts of the first and second cellular telephone antennas). Antenna structures may also be provided in regions  22  and/or  24  to handle WiMax (IEEE 802.16) signals. 
     In regions  22  and  24 , openings may be formed between conductive housing structures and printed circuit boards and other conductive electrical components that make up device  10 . These openings may be filled with air, plastic, or other dielectrics. Conductive housing structures and other conductive structures may serve as a ground plane for the antennas in device  10 . The openings in regions  22  and  24  may serve as slots in open or closed slot antennas, may serve as a central dielectric region that is surrounded by a conductive path of materials in a loop antenna, may serve as a space that separates an antenna resonating element such as a strip antenna resonating element or an inverted-F antenna resonating element such as an inverted-F antenna resonating element formed from part of a conductive peripheral housing structure in device  10  from the ground plane, or may otherwise serve as part of antenna structures formed in regions  22  and  24 . 
     Antennas may be formed in regions  22  and  24  that are identical (i.e., antennas may be formed in regions  22  and  24  that each cover the same set of cellular telephone bands or other communications bands of interest). Due to layout constraints or other design constraints, it may not be desirable to use identical antennas. Rather, it may be desirable to implement the antennas in regions  22  and  24  using different designs. For example, the antennas in regions  22  and  24  may be implemented using different antennas types, may be implemented using designs that exhibit different gains, and/or may be implemented using designs that cover different frequency ranges. 
     Device  10  may use any suitable number of antennas. For example, device  10  may have two or more antennas, three or more antennas, four or more antennas, or five or more antennas. Two or more of these antennas may be coupled together using a passive coupler arrangement. Arrangements in which two antennas such as antennas in regions  22  and  24  of device  10  are combined in this way are sometimes described herein as an example, but additional antennas may be combined using passive coupler arrangements if desired. Device configurations in which two antennas are passively combined are merely illustrative. 
     The passively combined antennas can be used as a unitary antenna and are therefore sometimes collectively referred to as an “antenna” or “passively combined antenna structure or structures.” Because the antennas are passively combined, the amount of switching circuitry that is used in device  10  (i.e., switching circuitry that might otherwise be used in actively switching a particular antenna or antennas in to use in real time) may be reduced. Components such as electrically controlled switches (i.e., switches whose states are controlled during device operation by control signals from device control circuitry) can exhibit non-linear behavior, which can lead to the production of undesired signal harmonics during operation. The presence of switches can also introduce signal losses. The ability to minimize or eliminate switches from an antenna signal path may therefore improve device performance by reducing harmonic noise and/or by extending battery life by reducing the need to transmit at elevated powers to compensate for insertion losses associated with one or more switches in the signal path. 
     A schematic diagram of a system in which electronic device  10  may operate is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , system  11  may include wireless network equipment such as base station  21 . Base stations such as base station  21  may be associated with a cellular telephone network or other wireless networking equipment. Device  10  may communicate with base station  21  over wireless link  23  (e.g., a cellular telephone link or other wireless communications link). 
     Device  10  may include control circuitry such as storage and processing circuitry  28 . Storage and processing circuitry  28  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 storage and processing circuitry  28  and other control circuits such as control circuits in wireless communications circuitry  34  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 processors, power management units, audio codec chips, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     Storage and processing circuitry  28  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 such as base station  21 , storage and processing circuitry  28  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using storage and processing circuitry  28  include internet protocols, 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, IEEE 802.16 (WiMax) protocols, cellular telephone protocols such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) protocol, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, etc. 
     Circuitry  28  may be configured to implement control algorithms for device  10 . The control algorithm may be used to control radio-frequency switching circuitry, transceiver circuitry, and other device resources. The control algorithm may also be used to activate and deactivate transmitters and receivers, to tune transmitters and receivers to desired frequencies, to compare measured device operating parameters to predetermined criteria, etc. 
     In some scenarios, circuitry  28  may be used in gathering sensor signals and signals that reflect the quality of received signals (e.g., received pilot signals, received paging signals, received voice call traffic, received control channel signals, received data traffic, etc.). Examples of signal quality measurements that may be made in device  10  include bit error rate measurements, signal-to-noise ratio measurements, measurements on the amount of power associated with incoming wireless signals, channel quality measurements based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information (RSSI measurements), channel quality measurements based on received signal code power (RSCP) information (RSCP measurements), reference symbol received power (RSRP measurements), channel quality measurements based on signal-to-interference ratio (SINR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) information (SINR and SNR measurements), channel quality measurements based on signal quality data such as Ec/lo or Ec/No data (Ec/lo and Ec/No measurements), etc. This information and other data may be used in controlling how the wireless circuitry of device  10  is configured and may be used in otherwise controlling and configuring device  10 . 
     Input-output circuitry  30  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 circuitry  30  may include input-output devices  32 . Input-output devices  32  may include touch screens, buttons, joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, speakers, tone generators, vibrators, cameras, sensors, light-emitting diodes and other status indicators, data ports, etc. A user can control the operation of device  10  by supplying commands through input-output devices  32  and may receive status information and other output from device  10  using the output resources of input-output devices  32 . 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RF components, one or more antennas, and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include satellite navigation system receiver circuitry such as Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver circuitry  35  (e.g., for receiving satellite navigation system signals at 1575 MHz). Transceiver circuitry  36  may handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) communications and may handle the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® communications band. Circuitry  34  may use cellular telephone transceiver circuitry  38  for handling wireless communications in cellular telephone bands such as bands at 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, and other cellular telephone bands of interest. Wireless communications circuitry  34  can include circuitry for other short-range and long-range wireless links if desired (e.g., WiMax circuitry, etc.). Wireless communications circuitry  34  may, for example, include, wireless circuitry for receiving radio and television signals, paging signals, etc. In WiFi® and Bluetooth® links and other short-range wireless links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over tens or hundreds of feet. In cellular telephone links and other long-range links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over thousands of feet or miles. 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include antennas  40 . Antennas  40  may be formed using any suitable types of antenna. For example, antennas  40  may include antennas with resonating elements that are formed from loop antenna structures, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antenna structures, closed and open slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, helical antenna structures, strip antennas, monopoles, dipoles, hybrids of these designs, etc. Different types of antennas may be used for different bands and combinations of bands. For example, one type of antenna may be used in forming a local wireless link antenna (e.g., for handling WiFi® traffic or other wireless local area network traffic) and antennas of one or more other types may be used in forming a remote wireless link antenna (e.g., for handling cellular network traffic such as voice calls and data sessions). As described in connection with  FIG. 1 , there may be one cellular telephone antenna in region  24  of device  10  and another cellular telephone antenna in region  22  of device  10 . These antennas may be fixed or may be tunable. 
     Device  10  can be controlled by control circuitry that is configured to store and execute control code for implementing control algorithms. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the control circuitry of device  10  may include storage and processing circuitry  28  (e.g., a microprocessor, memory circuits, etc.). Control operations may also be performed using processing circuitry such as baseband processor  44  in radio (wireless) circuitry  42 . Baseband processor  58  may include memory and processing circuits (i.e., baseband processor  58  may be considered to form part of the storage and processing circuitry of device  10 ). During operation of device  10 , baseband processor  58  may provide data to storage and processing circuitry  28  (e.g., a microprocessor, nonvolatile memory, volatile memory, other control circuits, etc.). 
     Wireless circuitry  42  may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46 . Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46  may include one or more radio-frequency transmitters and one or more radio-frequency receivers. Filter and switching circuitry (e.g., duplexers, diplexers, switches, matching circuits, etc.) may be interposed between antennas  40  and the transmitter and receiver circuitry of transceiver circuitry  46  (e.g., to route incoming signals to desired receivers, to route transmitted signals from one or more transmitter circuits to antennas  40 , to ensure impedance matching between antennas  40  and the transceiver and transmission line circuitry of wireless circuitry  42 , etc.). In some embodiments, some or all of the paths between antenna elements and the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may be free of switching circuitry and may use only passive elements (e.g., passive coupling circuitry). 
     During operation, baseband processor  44  may receive digital data that is to be wirelessly transmitted from storage and processing circuitry  28  and may use a transmitter (TX) in radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46  and path  48  to transmit corresponding radio-frequency signals. Path  48  may be coupled between wireless circuitry (e.g., radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46 ) and antennas  40  and may be used to convey the radio-frequency signals that are produced by radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46  to antennas  40 . When receiving antenna signals from antennas  40 , path  48  may provide received antenna signals to a receiver (RX) in radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  46 . 
     Passive coupler  50  may be used to combine antennas  40  such as antennas  40 A and  40 B to form a unitary passively combined antenna structure (antenna) for device  10 . Path  52  may, for example, be coupled between a first port of passive coupler  50  and a first antenna in device  10  such as antenna  40 A, whereas path  54  may be coupled between a second port of passive coupler  50  and a second antenna in device  10  such as antenna  40 B. Path  48  may be coupled between transceiver  46  and a third port of passive coupler  50 . Passive coupler  50  may also have a fourth port (e.g., a grounded port). 
     Paths  48 ,  52 , and  54  may be based on transmission lines (e.g., one or more coaxial cables, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, or other transmission line structures), impedance matching circuits, filters, and other circuitry. 
     Incoming radio-frequency signals that are received by antennas  40  may be provided to baseband processor  44  via paths  52  and  54 , passive coupler  50 , and path  48 . When receiving signals, passive coupler  50  serves as a radio-frequency combiner that combines radio-frequency antenna signals from antenna  40 A and path  52  with radio-frequency antenna signals from antenna  40 B and path  54  and that provides corresponding combined radio-frequency signals to receiver RX in transceiver circuitry  46  on path  48 . When transmitting signals from transmitter TX in transceiver circuitry  46  over path  48 , passive coupler  50  serves as a radio-frequency splitter that divides the transmitted signals on path  48  and provides corresponding divided versions of the transmitted signals on respective paths  52  and  54 . The portion of the transmitted signals that is supplied by passive coupler  50  to path  52  may be transmitted using antenna  40 A. The portion of the transmitted signals that is supplied by passive coupler  50  to path  54  may be transmitted using antenna  40 B. 
     By performing its combining and splitting functions, passive coupler  50  may be used to effectively combine discrete antenna elements such as antennas  40 A and  40 B into a unitary antenna (i.e., an antenna that is made up of a first antenna such as antenna  40 A that is located at one end of device  10  and a second antenna such as antenna  40 B that is located at an opposing end of device  10 ). In device configurations with more antennas to be combined, passive coupler  50  (e.g., a network of cascaded passive coupling circuits) may be provided with additional ports. The arrangement of  FIG. 3  in which passive coupler has a first port coupled to path  52 , a second port coupled to path  54 , and a third port coupled to path  48  is merely illustrative. 
     Passive coupler  50  may perform its signal routing functions without using switch elements (i.e., passive coupler  50  and paths  52  and  54  can be free of any electrically controlled switching circuitry). Examples of passive coupler designs that may be used in implementing passive coupler  50  include designs based on Wilkinson dividers (sometimes referred to as Wilkinson splitters), designs based on a network of passive elements such as inductors, capacitors, resistors, and transmission line structures, designs based on a balun circuit, designs based on a spilt transmission line, other designs, or circuit arrangements that include one or more portions of one or more of these designs. 
       FIG. 4  is circuit diagram showing how passive coupler  50  may be based on a balun. Illustrative balun  50  has a first terminal such as terminal  62  that is coupled to path  52 , a second terminal such as terminal  64  that is coupled to path  54 , and a third terminal such as terminal  60  that is coupled to path  48 . Components such as inductors  71  and  68  and capacitors  66  and  70  may be configured to form a splitting/combining circuit. Terminal  56  and capacitor  70  (in the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 4 ) may be grounded to ground terminal  58 . During operation, balun  50  of  FIG. 4  (or other suitable passive coupler for device  10 ) may divide transmitted signals from path  48  into corresponding divided signals on paths  52  and  54  and may combine received signals on paths  52  and  54  into a combined signal on path  48 . The illustrative passive coupler design of  FIG. 4  is based on a balun, but, in general, passive coupler  50  may be formed from any suitable passive coupling circuitry. The example of  FIG. 4  is merely illustrative. 
     If desired, device  10  may be implemented using a design for housing  12  and antennas  40  that tends to isolate antennas  40  from environmental effects. For example, device  10  may be implemented using an arrangement in which antennas  40  are substantially decoupled from housing  12  (e.g., using a design in which the antennas are housed away from the accessible surfaces of device  10  and housing  12 ) and are therefore relatively uninfluenced from contact between housing  12  and external objects such as a user&#39;s hand or other parts of a user&#39;s body. In other arrangements such as arrangements in which device  10  is implemented using a design that incorporates conductive portions of housing  12  into one or more of antennas  40  or a design in which antenna resonating elements for one or more of antennas  40  are implemented using structures that are otherwise located in the vicinity of the outer surfaces of device  10 , the performance of antennas  40  may potentially be influenced by the presence (absence) of external objects. In configurations for the passively combined antenna of device  10  that are potentially influenced by the location of external objects relative to antenna structures  40 , each portion of the combined antenna may potentially be individually affected by the presence of an external object. 
     Antenna element performance (e.g., gain as a function of frequency) may be influenced by contact with an external object (e.g., direct contact of the object with a portion of antennas  40  or device  10  or contact of the external object by virtue of the presence of the object within a given distance of antennas  40 ).  FIG. 5  is a graph showing how antenna performance may be influenced by contact with an external object in a scenario in which a first of the antenna elements that make up the combined antenna is contacted, but a second antenna element in the combined antenna is not contacted (or at least is contacted by an external object in a way that influences the second antenna element less than the first antenna element). 
     In the graph of  FIG. 5 , standing wave ratio (SWR) has been plotted as a function of antenna operating frequency f. Curve  72  in the graph of  FIG. 5  and curve  74  in the graph of  FIG. 5  may correspond, respectively, to antennas  40 A and  40 B in device  10  (as an example). Initially, when both antennas  40 A and  40 B in the combined antenna are not being contacted by an external object, antenna  40 A may be characterized by response curve  72  and antenna  40 B may be characterized by response curve  74 . In this type of scenario, the performance of the antenna formed by passively combining antennas  40 A and  40 B using passive coupler  50  may be characterized by two overlapping curves peaking centered on a common resonant frequency (e.g., frequency f 1  in the present example). When an external object contacts antenna  40 A (in this example), the antenna response for antenna  40 A is influenced by the external object. For example, the response of antenna  40 A may shift from frequency f 1  to frequency f 2 , as illustrated by line  76  and shifted antenna response curve  78  for antenna  40 A. 
     As the example of  FIG. 5  illustrates, the passively combined antenna may automatically adjust itself so that the contacted antenna element (e.g., antenna  40 A in the  FIG. 5  example) is detuned from the desired operating frequency of the antenna (frequency f 1 ). The contacted antenna therefore tends to contribute relatively less to the performance of the passively combined antenna and the uncontacted antenna tends to contribute relatively more to the performance of the passively combined antenna at the operating frequency f 1  that is being use by transceiver circuitry  46 . Even though switching circuitry is not used to select between antennas  40 A and  40 B in this example, the detuning behavior exhibited by the contacted antenna will tend to automatically remove that antenna from use in the combined antenna during a contact event. When the affected antenna is no longer being contacted by an external object, performance may return to its nominal state. For example, when the external object is removed from antenna  40 A, the performance of antenna  40 A will shift back from curve  78  to curve  72  of  FIG. 5 , thereby restoring the passively combined antenna to its initial (untouched) configuration. The passively combined antenna may reconfigure itself in this way dynamically without the need to generate active switching commands using the processing circuitry of device  10  and without the need to interpose switching circuitry in antenna paths such as paths  52  and  54 . 
       FIG. 6  is a table illustrating how a device that contains two antennas  40 A and  40 B that have been passively combined using coupler  50  may respond to a variety of contact conditions. In the  FIG. 6  example, one of antennas  40 A and  40 B is located at upper end  22  of device  10  and is therefore referred to as an upper antenna (UAT). The other of antennas  40 A and  40 B in the  FIG. 6  example is located at lower end  24  of device  10  and is therefore referred to as a lower antenna (LAT). 
     The table of  FIG. 6  has three columns. Each column corresponds to a different set of environmental conditions. The first column of the table of  FIG. 6  corresponds to a situation in which neither of the antennas is being contacted by an external object (i.e., both upper antenna UAT and lower antenna LAT are untouched by the user&#39;s body or other external objects). The second column of the table of  FIG. 6  corresponds to a situation in which an external object such as a user&#39;s hand or other body part has been placed into contact with the lower antenna and has disrupted its normal performance. The third column of the table of  FIG. 6  corresponds to a situation in which an external object such as a user&#39;s hand or other body part has been placed into contact with the upper antenna, so that the normal operation of the upper antenna has been blocked. The entries in the  FIG. 6  table indicate the fraction of the antenna signal power that is being handle by each antenna. 
     In the  FIG. 6  example, the upper and lower antennas have been configured so that when both the first and the second antennas are not contacted, the gains of the lower and upper antennas are such that the lower antenna handles 90% of the signal power transmitted (and received) by transceiver  46  and the upper antenna handles 10% of the signal power transmitted (and received) by transceiver  46 . During typical use, the lower antenna LAT may be located farther from the user&#39;s head than the upper antenna, so using the lower antenna to handle most of the transmitted radio-frequency signal power may be desirable to ensure that device  10  satisfies government regulations for emitted radiation levels (i.e., specific absorption rate limits). In environmental conditions such as the conditions of the type illustrated by the second column of the table of  FIG. 6 , use of the lower antenna is not possible, because the lower antenna is blocked. As the “100%” entry in the second row of the second column of  FIG. 6  indicates, however, when the lower antenna is blocked, the lower antenna may be detuned (as illustrated in connection with the detuning process of curves  72  and  78  of  FIG. 5 ), so that substantially all transmitted and received radio-frequency signals are handled by the uncovered upper antenna. In the scenario of the third column of  FIG. 6 , the upper antenna is blocked by the external object. This detunes the upper antenna, so that the lower antenna in the passively combined antenna is automatically used in handling transmitted and received signals. 
     If desired, other types of configurations may be used for the upper and lower antennas. In the  FIG. 6  example, the nominal gain ratio of the upper and lower antennas is 90/10. This is merely illustrative. The nominal (uncontacted) gain ratio may be less than 90/10 (e.g., 70/30 or less, 50/50 or less, etc.) or may be more than 90/10 (e.g., 95/5), more than 50/50, more than 70/30, etc. 
     If desired, one or more phase-shifting elements may be interposed within paths such as paths  52  and  54  of wireless circuitry  34  ( FIG. 3 ) to adjust the overall performance of the passively combined antennas. An illustrative configuration of this type that may be used for wireless circuitry  34  of device  10  is shown in  FIG. 7 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , path  52  may contain one or more optional phase-shifting components such as phase shift element  80  and path  54  may contain one or more optional phase-shifting components such as phase shift element  82 . Phase shift elements such as elements  80  and  82  may be formed from lengths of transmission line, passive circuits formed from components such as inductors, capacitors, and resistors, or other suitable phase-shifting circuitry that adjusts the relative phase between the signals received at coupler  50  from antenna  40 A and the signals received at coupler  50  from antenna  40 B. 
     The impact of phase shifting elements in the paths between passive coupler  50  and antennas  40  is illustrated in the example of  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 8  is a Smith chart in which complex impedance has been plotted as a function of frequency for various antenna configurations. Solid line  84  corresponds to the impedance of a first antenna such as antenna  40 A of  FIG. 7  in the absence of phase shift element  80  in path  52  and ranges from first point  86  to second point  88 , as operating frequency f changes from 700 MHz to 960 MHz (in this example). Dashed line  90  corresponds to the impedance of a second antenna such as antenna  40 B of  FIG. 7  in the absence of phase shift element  82  in path  54  and ranges from first point  92  to second point  94  as operating frequency f ranges from 700 MHz to 960 MHz. (The upper and lower frequency limits of 700 MHz and 960 MHz are merely illustrative.). 
     A suitable impedance for the combined antenna that is formed by combining antennas  40 A and  40 B is represented by fixed impedance point  96 . An antenna with a fixed impedance (e.g., 50 Ohms, 100 Ohms, or other suitable impedance value) across a range of operating frequencies can be satisfactorily impedance matched to transmission lines such as transmission line paths  52  and  54  across that range of frequencies. In the absence of phase shifting elements  80  and  82  (in the present example), the impedance of the combined antennas  40 A and  40 B would be close to the values represented by lines  84  and  90 , and would not closely match desired fixed impedance  96 . By incorporating an appropriate 180° phase shifting element such as phase-shift element  82  into path  54 , however, the impedance of antenna  40 B (and the phase-shift element) may be transformed into that of line  102 , starting at point  98  (at 700 MHz) and ranging to point  100  (at 960 MHz). When the impedance of path  52  and antenna  40 A (line  84 ) is combined with the impedance of path  54  (including 180° phase-shift element  82 ) and antenna  40 B (line  102 ), the resulting impedance is represented by a curve such as curve  104 . Endpoint  106  of curve  104  is associated with operation at 700 MHz. Endpoint  108  of curve  104  is associated with operation at 960 MHz. Even across is entire operating range (frequencies from 700 MHz to 960 MHz in the present example), the combined impedance represented by curve  104  never varies significantly from desired impedance value  96 , ensuring that the antenna formed by passively combined antennas  40 A and  40 B will be well impedance matched to path  48  and other circuitry within wireless circuitry  34  and will perform satisfactorily in device  10 . 
       FIG. 9  is a graph showing how the performance of antennas  40 A (line  110 ) and  40 B (line  112 ) may be configured to overlap. When it is desired to broaden the bandwidth of the frequency range that is covered by the combined antenna structures, antennas  40 A and  40 B may be configured to have resonant peaks at different frequencies. As shown in  FIG. 10 , for example, antenna  40 A may be configured to cover a frequency band that is centered at frequency fa, whereas antenna  40 B may be configured to cover a frequency band that is centered at frequency fb. The resulting frequency response of the antenna for device  10  that is formed by combining antennas  40 A and  40 B using passive coupler  50  (line  114 ) may cover a broadened range of frequencies. When the performance of antenna  40 B is degraded due to contact with an external object, the overall performance of the passively combined antenna may be represented by line  118 . When the performance of antenna  40 A is degraded due to contact with an external object, the overall performance of the passively combined antenna may be represented by line  116 . 
     Because antennas  40 A and  40 B may be subject to detuning effects of the type described in connection with curves  72  and  78  of  FIG. 5 , it may be desirable to provide device  10  with circuitry for monitoring the state of one or both antennas. As shown in  FIG. 11 , for example, wireless circuitry  34  may be provided with a tap such as radio-frequency tap  124 . Taps such as tap  124  may be interposed in path  52 , path  54 , or both path  52  and  54  (as examples). 
     As shown in  FIG. 11 , path  54  ( FIG. 7 ) may be formed from path segment  54 - 1  and path segment  54 - 2 . Radio-frequency tap  124  may be interposed in the path formed from paths  54 - 1  and  54 - 2  to monitor the power of radio-frequency signals being conveyed between passive coupler  50  and antenna  40 B (e.g., to monitor transmitted radio-frequency signal power when transmitting signals using the radio-frequency transmitter in radio  42 ). Radio-frequency tap  124  may have a first port such as port P 1  that is coupled by path  54 - 1  to passive coupler  50 , a second port such as port P 2  that is coupled by path  124  to power detector  120 , a third port such as port P 3  that is coupled by path  54 - 2  to antenna  40 B, and a fourth port such as port P 4  (e.g., a grounded port). During operation, radio  42  may transmit radio-frequency signals through antenna  40 B. Tap  124  may divert a fraction (e.g., 1-10%, less than 2%, more than 2%, or other suitable fraction) of the radio-frequency signal power that is being provided to antenna  40 B for transmission to power detector  120 . Power detector  120  may measure the magnitude of the tapped signal and, based on this feedback measurement, may provide control circuitry in device  10  such as baseband processor  44  and/or storage and processing circuitry  28  with power measurement feedback data on output path  126 . The control circuitry may use the measured transmit power information to adjust the transmitted power to a desired level. The tapping scheme of  FIG. 11  avoids potential uncertainties that might otherwise result when transmitting radio-frequency signals through antenna structures such as the antenna formed by passively combining antennas  40 A and  40 B that have the potential to be detuned when contacted by an external object. If desired, taps may be provided in both paths  52  and  54 , so that the control circuitry can monitor the ratio of signal powers between antennas  40 A and  40 B. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20110526
Publication Date: 20130910
Grant Date: 20130910
Priority Date: 20110526
Inventors: PASCOLINI MATTIA
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q1/22", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/22", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03H7/38", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03H7/38", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 47219560