PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10686252-B2
Application Number: US-201414306024-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with patch antenna

Abstract:
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes a radio-frequency transceiver circuit and an antenna. The antenna may be a patch antenna formed from a patch antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. The patch antenna resonating element may be formed from a metal patch on a printed circuit board. The antenna ground may be formed from a metal housing having a planar rear wall that lies in a plane parallel to the metal patch. The radio-frequency transceiver circuit may be coupled to the metal patch through traces on the printed circuit and may be coupled to rear wall of the housing through a screw and a screw boss in the housing. Buttons and other electrical components may be mounted on the printed circuit board and may be coupled to control circuitry on the printed circuit board through the metal patch.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing having a metal wall that serves as an antenna ground for a patch antenna; 
 a printed circuit mounted in the housing; 
 a wireless transceiver coupled to the patch antenna; 
 a button mounted on the printed circuit; and 
 control circuitry coupled to the button, the printed circuit having a metal layer that forms an antenna resonating element for the patch antenna, the antenna resonating element forming a ground electrode for the button and the control circuitry, and the button having an additional electrode separated from the ground electrode and connected to the control circuitry. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the additional electrode comprises a central electrode on the printed circuit, the central electrode being surrounded by the ground electrode. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  further comprising a screw that forms a signal path between the printed circuit and the housing, wherein the housing comprises a screw boss that receives the screw. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 filter circuitry interposed between the additional electrode and the control circuitry. 
 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the metal layer is configured to form a metal patch for the antenna resonating element, the electronic device further comprising:
 an additional button coupled to the control circuitry, the antenna resonating element forming a ground electrode for the additional button. 
 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the ground electrode and the additional electrode are formed on a same surface of the printed circuit and are separated from each other by a gap. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the button includes a switch coupled between the ground electrode and the additional electrode. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 7 , wherein the control circuitry is connected to the ground electrode through the switch. 
     
     
       9. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing having a metal portion that serves as an antenna ground for an antenna; 
 a printed circuit board having a metal layer; 
 wireless transceiver circuitry mounted to the printed circuit board; 
 a control circuit mounted to the printed circuit board; and 
 a plurality of buttons mounted to the printed circuit board, wherein each button has an electrode, a compressible dome member formed over the electrode, and a metal coating on the inner surface of the compressible dome member, each metal coating is electrically connected to the metal layer, the metal layer and the metal coating of each button form an antenna resonating element for the antenna, the metal layer has an extended portion that carries signals to the control circuit, and the metal coating of a respective button is configured to directly contact the electrode of that button when that button is pressed. 
 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the metal layer forms a ground electrode shared by each of the plurality of buttons. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 10  wherein the metal portion of the housing includes a rear housing wall, the electronic device further comprising a screw that carries signals between the wireless transceiver circuitry and the rear housing wall. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  further comprising filtering circuitry interposed in respective signal paths between the control circuit and each of the plurality of buttons. 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  further comprising a touch pad that provides touch input from a user to the control circuit. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 9 , wherein each of metal coating is electrically connected to the metal layer with solder that directly contacts both the metal layer and the corresponding metal coating. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device defined in  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a first filtering circuit that is disposed along the extend portion of the metal layer; and 
 a second filtering circuit that is interposed between the electrode of the respective button and the control circuit. 
 
     
     
       16. An electronic device, comprising:
 a metal housing that forms an antenna ground in a patch antenna; 
 a printed circuit board; 
 a metal patch formed from a metal layer on the printed circuit board, wherein the metal patch forms an antenna resonating element in the patch antenna; 
 a button mounted to the printed circuit board; and 
 a control circuit mounted to the printed circuit board, wherein the metal patch is configured to convey a button signal between the button and the control circuit. 
 
     
     
       17. The electronic device defined in  claim 16  further comprising:
 wireless transceiver circuitry on the printed circuit board that is coupled to the antenna ground through a housing boss in the metal housing and that is coupled to the metal patch through a signal path in the printed circuit board; and 
 a screw that screws into the housing boss and that shorts a metal trace on the printed circuit board to the metal housing. 
 
     
     
       18. The electronic device defined in  claim 16 , wherein the control circuit is electrically connected to the button through the metal patch. 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 16 , further comprising:
 filtering circuitry interposed between the button and the control circuit, wherein the button signal conveyed between the button and the control circuit is configured to pass through the filtering circuitry. 
 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 16 , wherein the button signal is indicative of when two electrodes for the button are in contact with each other.

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. Radio-frequency transceivers are coupled to antennas to support communications with external equipment. During operation, a radio-frequency transceiver uses an antenna to transmit and receive wireless signals. 
     It can be challenging to incorporate wireless components such as antenna structures within an electronic device. If care is not taken, an antenna may consume more space within a device than desired, may exhibit unsatisfactory wireless performance, or may interfere with the operation of control circuitry in a device. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved antennas for electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The electronic device may be a remote control or other device that uses wireless communications to interact with external electronic equipment. Buttons, a touch pad, and other input-output devices in the remote control may be used to gather input from a user. 
     The wireless circuitry may include a radio-frequency transceiver circuit and an antenna. The antenna may be a patch antenna formed from a patch antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. The patch antenna resonating element may be formed from a metal patch on a printed circuit board. The metal patch may be a rectangular patch formed from a patterned metal trace on the printed circuit board. 
     The antenna ground may be formed from a metal housing such as a metal housing having a planar rear wall that lies in a plane parallel to the metal patch. Components for the remote control or other device may be mounted in the housing. For example, the touch pad may be mounted in the housing, the printed circuit may be mounted in the housing, buttons may be mounted in the housing, a battery may be mounted in the housing, and other circuitry may be mounted in the housing. 
     The radio-frequency transceiver circuit may be coupled to the metal patch through traces on the printed circuit and may be coupled to rear wall of the housing through a screw and a screw boss in the housing. Buttons and other electrical components may be mounted on the printed circuit board and may be coupled to control circuitry on the printed circuit board through the metal patch. Inductors may be interposed in signal paths between the control circuitry and the buttons to block radio-frequency signals from the radio-frequency transceiver circuit. 
    
    
     
       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 antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of an electronic device of the type shown in  FIG. 1  showing how an antenna may be incorporated into the device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an illustrative dome switch mounted to a printed circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional side view of the illustrative dome switch of  FIG. 5  in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device of the type shown in  FIG. 1  showing how internal components of the electronic device may be arranged within the device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a diagram showing how radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and control circuits in an electronic device may be coupled to metal structures in an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a top view of an illustrative printed circuit having metal traces that are being used as part of an antenna and as part of a button ground in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an electronic device having metal traces that are being used as part of an antenna and as part of a button ground in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  may contain wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may be used to wirelessly communicate with external equipment such as a computer, a television, a set-top box, a media player, a display, a wearable device, a cellular telephone, or other electronic equipment. Electronic device  10  may be a remote control or other electronic device (e.g., a portable device, a computing device, an accessory for controlling a computer such as a wireless trackpad or wireless mouse, etc.). Illustrative configurations for device  10  in which device  10  includes components that allow device  10  to serve as a remote control for controlling external equipment are sometimes described herein as an example. This is, however, merely illustrative. Device  10  may be any suitable electronic equipment. 
     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, light-based wireless communications (e.g., infrared light communications and/or visible light communications), satellite navigation system communications, or other wireless communications. Illustrative configurations for the wireless circuitry of device  10  in which wireless communications are performed over a 2.4 GHz communications band (e.g., a Bluetooth® or WiFi® link) are sometimes described herein as an example. 
     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.). With one illustrative configuration, housing  12  may include a rear portion such as portion  12 B and a front portion such as front portion  12 A. Rear portion  12 B may include a rear wall (e.g., a planar wall) and four sidewalls that run along each of the four edges of the rear wall. The sidewalls may be curved, may be planar, or may have other suitable shapes. The sidewalls of the rear portion of housing  12  may, if desired, form smooth continuously extending portions of rear housing  12 B. Configurations for device  10  in which the sidewalls for housing  12  extend vertically upwards (dimension Z in the diagram of  FIG. 1 ) may also be used. Front housing portion  12 A may extend over some or all of the front surface of housing  12 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . Housing portion  12 A may be formed from plastic or other suitable materials (e.g., one or more different plastics, a single plastic, plastic and metal, etc.). The use of dielectric materials to cover the front of housing  12  allows wireless signals to be transmitted and received through the front of housing  12 . 
     Device  10  may include buttons such as buttons  14 . There may be any suitable number of buttons  14  in device  10  (e.g., a single button  14 , more than one button  14 , two or more buttons  14 , five or more buttons  14 , six or more buttons  14 , etc.). Buttons  14  may be formed from dome switches or other switches mounted in housing  12 . If desired, some or all of housing  12 A may be formed from an elastomeric polymer material to allow buttons  14  to be depressed by a user. Buttons  14  may be organized to form a directional pad (D-pad) or other control pad, may include up and down buttons, may be arranged to allow control of functions such as media volume, channel selection, page up and down, menu back/forward, playback reverse, pause, stop, and forward, fast forwards and fast reverse, time period skip, cancel, enter, etc., may include number keys and/or letter keys, may be associated with dedicated functions for a set-top box, television, or other equipment, may include a power button for turning off and turning on remote equipment, or may have other suitable functions. The six-button layout of  FIG. 1  is merely illustrative. 
     If desired, device  10  may include one or more input-output devices such as input-output device  16 . Input-output device  16  may include a display such as a liquid crystal display, organic light-emitting diode display, electrophoretic display, or other visual output component. Alternatively, or in combination with a visual output component, input-output device  16  may include a touch sensor. For example, input-output device  16  may be a touch pad or other component that incorporates a touch sensor array to gather touch input from a user. A user may, for example, supply touch input using one or more fingers. Touch input may include single-finger commands and/or multi-finger gestures (e.g., swipes, pinch to zoom commands, etc.). The touch sensor array of device  16  may include a capacitive touch sensor array or may include touch sensor components based on other touch technologies (e.g., resistive touch, acoustic touch, force-based touch, light-based touch, etc.). 
     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 control circuitry such as storage and processing circuitry  30 . Storage and processing 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 storage and processing 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. 
     Storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used to run software on device  10 . For example, software running on device  10  may be used to process input commands from a user that are supplied using input-output components such as buttons  14 , touch pad (track pad)  16 , and other input-output circuitry. To support interactions with external equipment, storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using storage and processing circuitry  30  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, etc. 
     Device  10  may include input-output circuitry  44 . Input-output circuitry  44  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 (e.g., buttons  14 ), joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, touch pads (e.g., touch pad  16 ), key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, buttons, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, motion sensors (accelerometers), capacitance sensors, proximity sensors (e.g., a capacitive proximity sensor and/or an infrared proximity sensor), magnetic sensors, and other sensors and input-output components. 
     Input-output circuitry  44  may include wireless communications circuitry  34  for communicating wirelessly with external equipment. 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, transmission lines, and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., using infrared communications). 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  for handling various radio-frequency communications bands. For example, circuitry  34  may include wireless local area network transceiver circuitry that may handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) communications, wireless transceiver circuitry that may handle the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® communications band, cellular telephone transceiver circuitry for handling wireless communications in communications bands between 700 MHz and 2700 MHz or other suitable frequencies (as examples), or other wireless communications circuits. If desired, wireless communications circuitry  34  can include circuitry for other short-range and long-range wireless links if desired. For example, wireless communications circuitry  34  may include 60 GHz transceiver circuitry, circuitry for receiving television and radio signals, paging system transceivers, near field communications (NFC) circuitry, satellite navigation system receiver circuitry, 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. To conserve power, it may be desirable in some embodiments to configure wireless communications circuitry  34  so that transceiver  90  handles exclusively short-range wireless links such as 2.4 GHz links (e.g., Bluetooth® and/or WiFi® links). Other configurations may be used for wireless circuitry  34  if desired (e.g., configurations with coverage in additional communications bands). 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include one or more antennas such as antenna  40 . Antenna  40  may be formed using any suitable antenna type. For example, antenna  40  may be an antenna with a resonating element that is formed from loop antenna structures, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antenna structures, slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, helical antenna structures, hybrids of these designs, etc. If desired, antenna  40  may be a cavity-backed antenna (e.g., an antenna in which the ground plane has the shape of a cavity). Patch antenna structures may be configured to exhibit lateral antenna currents that help enhance polarization insensitivity and help reduce directional sensitivity. 
     Transmission line paths such as transmission line  92  may be used to couple antenna  40  to transceiver circuitry  90 . Transmission line  92  may be coupled to antenna feed structures associated with antenna structures  40 . As an example, antenna structures  40  may form a patch antenna or other type of antenna having an antenna feed 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  92 . Other types of antenna feed arrangements may be used if desired. The illustrative feeding configuration of  FIG. 2  is merely illustrative. 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. Filter circuitry, switching circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, and other circuitry may be interposed within the transmission lines, if desired. Circuits for impedance matching circuitry may be formed from discrete components (e.g., surface mount technology components) or may be formed from housing structures, printed circuit board structures, traces on plastic supports, etc. Components such as these may also be used in forming filter circuitry. 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram of illustrative patch antenna structures that may be used in implementing antenna  40  for device  10 . Patch antenna  40  of  FIG. 3  has an antenna resonating element such as patch antenna resonating element  106  and antenna ground (ground plane)  104 . Resonating element  106  may be formed from metal traces on a printed circuit, metal foil, or other conductive structures. Resonating element  106  may lie in a plane that is parallel to ground plane  104 . Ground plane  104  may be formed using metal traces on a printed circuit, metal device housing structures such as a metal rear housing wall in a housing that is partly or completely formed from metal, or may be formed from other antenna ground structures. For example, ground plane  104  may be formed from a metal rear housing wall that lies in a plane that is parallel to a plane containing patch antenna resonating element  106 . 
     Antenna resonating element  106  may have a rectangular shape or other planar (patch) shape and may lie in the horizontal (X-Y) plane of  FIG. 3 . Resonating element  106  may have lateral dimensions W 1  and W 2 . The values of dimensions W 1  and W 2  may be selected to be a half of a wavelength at an operating frequency of interest (to help enhance antenna efficiency) or may be less than a half of a wavelength in length (to help minimize the size of device  10 ). A half of a wavelength at 2.4 GHz is about 2.5 inches. With one arrangement, W 1  and/or W 2  are less than 2.5 inches. 
     Axis Y of  FIG. 3  may form the longitudinal axis of resonating element  106  and may also serve as the longitudinal axis of device  10  and housing  12  (see, e.g.,  FIG. 1 ). The size of patch resonating element  106  of  FIG. 3  in dimension X (e.g., width W 1 ) may be substantially equal to the width of device  10 . The size of element  106  in dimension Y (e.g., dimension W 2 ) may be equal to the length of housing  12  or may be less than the length of housing  12  (e.g., 70% or less, 50% or less, etc.). A vertical distance such as height H may separate resonating element patch  106  from antenna ground  104  in vertical dimension Z. The magnitude of H may be 2-3 mm, 1-5 mm, or other suitable size. 
     With one suitable arrangement, antenna resonating element patch  106  may be formed from traces on a printed circuit. The traces may form a direct-current (DC) ground for integrated circuits and electrical components on the printed circuit (i.e., a DC ground). The same traces (i.e., the DC ground) may form antenna resonating element patch  106 . Antenna  40  may have an antenna feed formed from positive antenna feed terminal  98  and ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Positive antenna feed terminal  98  may be coupled to resonating element patch  106 . Ground antenna feed terminal  100  may be coupled to antenna ground  104 . 
     A cross-sectional view of device  10  taken along line  120  and viewed in direction  122  of  FIG. 1  is shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , patch antenna  40  may be formed from antenna resonating element  106  and antenna ground  104 . Antenna resonating element  106  may be formed from metal trace(s)  136 . Metal traces  136  may be formed from one or more metal layers on a printed circuit substrate. As shown in  FIG. 4 , for example, metal traces  136  may be formed on the uppermost layer of printed circuit substrate  134  in printed circuit  154 . Printed circuit  154  may be a rigid printed circuit board (e.g., printed circuit substrate  134  may be formed from a rigid printed circuit board material such as fiberglass-filled epoxy) or may be a flexible printed circuit (e.g., printed circuit substrate  134  may be formed from a sheet of polyimide or other flexible polymer layer). 
     Antenna ground  104  may be formed from metal device structures such as a metal housing (e.g., a metal housing  12  having metal rear housing wall  12 R). Dielectric-filled cavity  155  (e.g., a space filled with air, plastic, foam, or other dielectric materials) may separate resonating element  106  from metal rear housing wall  12 R. During operation of antenna  40 , antenna signals may establish electric field lines  128  extending between antenna ground  104  and resonating element  106 . 
     Antenna resonating element  106  may be formed from metal or other conductive material. In configurations of the type shown in  FIG. 4  in which antenna resonating element  106  is formed from metal traces  136  in a printed circuit such as printed circuit  154 , metal traces  136  may serve both to form antenna resonating element  106  and to form a direct-current (DC) ground for non-radio-frequency circuitry in device  10 . As an example, metal traces  136  may serve to carry DC button signals associated with buttons  14  to control circuitry  30  in device  10 . Each button  14  may have an associated switch  132  that is electrically coupled to metal layer  136 . Switches  132  may be dome switches or other switches that are covered with a protective layer such as a layer of plastic. As shown in  FIG. 4 , for example, elastomeric plastic layer  130  may serve as a cover layer that overlaps dome switches  132  of buttons  14 . 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an illustrative configuration that may be used for dome switch  132 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , dome switch  132  may be mounted on printed circuit  154 . Printed circuit  154  may include substrate  134  and metal layer  136 . Metal layer  136  may serve as a signal path for DC button signals for one or more buttons  14  (e.g., a DC ground). With this type of arrangement, multiple buttons  132  may be coupled to a common ground (DC ground plane  136 ). Each button may also be associated with a respective button signal trace such as illustrative trace  138  of  FIG. 5 . Trace  138  may be coupled to a central button electrode such as electrode  182 . 
     Each button  14  may have a respective dome switch  132  and each dome switch may have a pair of electrodes. The pair of electrodes for each dome switch may include ground layer  136 , which may form a common button electrode that is shared between multiple buttons) and a button-specific electrode such as illustrative electrode  182  of switch  132  in  FIG. 5 . 
     A cross-sectional side view of dome switch  132  and printed circuit  154  of  FIG. 5  is shown in  FIG. 6 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , dome switch  132  may have a compressible dome member such as member  144 . Member  144  may be formed from a material such as plastic. During operation, a user may press downwards in direction −Z so that the member  144  collapses against the upper surface of printed circuit  154 . A metal sheet or coating such as metal coating  146  may be formed on the inner surface of dome member  144 . The metal coating may be shorted to metal layer  136  on printed circuit substrate  134  in printed circuit  154  using solder  180  or other electrical coupling mechanism (i.e., in the open state for button  14 , metal coating layer  146  may be shorted to the outer electrode of switch  132 ). When compressed downwards, coating  146  may short central dome switch electrode  182  to the outer electrode formed from layer  136 . Central electrode  182  may be coupled to metal via  184  and horizontal signal trace  138 . Trace  138  and metal layer  136  may be coupled to button controller circuitry in storage and processing circuitry  30  ( FIG. 2 ). 
       FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of device  10  of  FIG. 1  taken along line  124  and viewed in direction  126  of  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , components such as buttons  14  and touch pad  16  or other input-output devices that are operated by a user of device  10  may be mounted in housing  12  along the front of device  10  (i.e., the upper surface of device  10  in the orientation of  FIG. 7 ). Elastomeric covering member  130  may cover dome switches  132  and, if desired, other portions of the front of device  10 . Battery  150  may be located within housing  12 . Flexible printed circuit cable  152  or other signal paths may be used to couple battery  150  and other components in device  10  to printed circuit board  154 . Flexible printed circuit cable  152  may be coupled to metal traces in printed circuit substrate  134  using board-to-board connector  166  or other coupling mechanism. 
     Integrated circuits and other components (see, e.g., components  160 , which may form control circuitry  30  and input-output circuitry  44 ) may be mounted on printed circuit board  134  using solder. Dielectric carrier  162  (e.g., a foam support structure or a support structure formed from hollow molded plastic or other dielectric materials) may be mounted to housing  12  and may be used to support printed circuit  154  under buttons  14 . 
     Control circuitry  30  and wireless transceiver circuitry  90  may be coupled to metal traces  136  using circuitry of the type shown in  FIG. 8 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , control circuitry  30  may be coupled to buttons  14  (e.g., buttons B 1  . . . BN) using respective inductors L 1  . . . LN. Inductor  170  may be coupled directly to metal layer  136 . When a given switch is depressed, the switch will be closed and will form a short circuit through the inductor associated with the given switch, through the given switch, through metal layer  136 , and through the path containing inductor  170 . Inductors L 1  . . . LN and inductor  170  may serve as low pass filters that prevent high-frequency signals such as radio-frequency signals associated with operation of transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna  40  from interfering with the operation of control circuitry  30 . Metal layer  136  may have the shape of patch antenna resonating element  106  of  FIG. 3  (e.g., a rectangular patch shape that fits within housing  12 ) or may have other suitable shapes. Layer  136  may serve both as antenna resonating element  106  and as DC ground (DCG) for control circuitry  30  and buttons  14 . 
     Wireless radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  may be coupled to antenna  40  using transmission line  92 . Transmission line  92  may have a positive signal path such as path  94  that is coupled to positive antenna feed terminal  98  of antenna  40 . Transmission line  92  may also have a ground signal path such as path  96  that is coupled to ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Terminal  98  may be coupled to antenna resonating element  106 , which is formed from metal layer  136 . Terminal  100  may be coupled to antenna ground (ANTG), which is formed from metal housing  12  or other structure for forming antenna ground plane  104 . 
       FIG. 9  is a top view of printed circuit  154  showing how control circuitry  30  and wireless transceiver circuitry  90  may be interconnected with metal patch  136  and other structures on printed circuit  154 . A single dome switch  132  is shown in  FIG. 9 , but multiple dome switches  132  may be mounted on printed circuit  154  if desired. 
     As shown in  FIG. 9 , control circuitry  30  (e.g., one or more integrated circuits) and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  may be mounted to printed circuit board  154  (e.g., using solder). Metal layer  136  may form a metal patch in region P. Path  136 ′ may be formed from an extended portion of layer  136 . Path  136 ′ may be coupled to control circuitry  30 . Buried metal trace  138  may form a path that couples center electrode  182  of dome switch  132  to control circuitry  30 . Inductors  240  (e.g., inductors such as inductors L 1  . . . LN and inductor  170  of  FIG. 8 ) may be interposed in paths  136 ′ and  138  between buttons  132  and control circuitry  30  as described in connection with  FIG. 8 . 
     Transceiver circuitry  90  may be coupled to metal layer  136  (e.g., the patch in region P) using buried metal trace  176  and via  178 . A portion of layer  136  such as signal trace  174  may couple transceiver circuitry  90  to screw  172 . 
     Metal trace  174  may be used to convey antenna signals to a ground antenna feed terminal. Metal trace  176  may be used to convey antenna signals to a positive antenna feed terminal. A cross-sectional side view of printed circuit  154  and other device structures taken along line  210  of  FIG. 9  and viewed in direction  212  of  FIG. 9  is shown in  FIG. 10 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , screw  172  may form a vertical signal path through device  10 . Ground antenna signals for antenna  40  may be provided to antenna feed terminal  100  on housing  12 , which serves as antenna ground  104 . These signals from transceiver circuitry  90  may be routed to ground feed terminal  100  via solder joint  190 , metal trace  174  in printed circuit  154 , screw  172 , and metal housing portion  12 ′ or other conductive structure in device  10  that is coupled to housing  12 . Metal housing portion  12 ′ may be configured to form a screw boss having a threaded opening that receives threaded shaft  260  of screw  172 . Positive antenna signals for antenna  40  may be provided to positive antenna feed terminal  98  on metal layer  136  of antenna resonating element  106  via solder joint  192 , via  206 , buried metal trace  176 , and via  178  or through other traces in printed circuit  154 . 
     If desired, other signal paths can be used to route signals between transceiver  90  and antenna  40 . The use of screw  172  and screw boss  12 ′ to route signals vertically to antenna ground  104  while using horizontal printed circuit board signal paths to route signals to antenna resonating element  106  (i.e., the patch formed from metal layer  136 ) 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: 20140616
Publication Date: 20200616
Grant Date: 20200616
Priority Date: 20140616
Inventors: YONG, Siwen
LI, QINGXIANG
JIANG, YI
SCHLUB, ROBERT W.
AZAD, Umar
GOMEZ ANGULO, RODNEY A.
AYALA VAZQUEZ, ENRIQUE
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0407", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0407", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/44", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0407", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 54836940