PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8112130-B2
Application Number: US-34290408-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Receiver acoustic system

Abstract:
A mobile communications device has an outer housing with a front wall in which an acoustic opening is formed. A tub is disposed inside the housing, wherein an acoustic opening is formed in a bottom of the tub and is positioned to be aligned with the acoustic opening in the outer housing. A receiver is disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver faces an inside face of the tub and is aligned with the acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub. A plate piece is disposed between an inside face of the housing and the face of the receiver in which the sound port hole is formed. An acoustic opening is formed in the plate piece and positioned to be aligned with the sound port hole of the receiver and the acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub. Other embodiments are also described.

Claims:
1. A mobile communications device comprising:
 an outer housing having a front wall in which an acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed; 
 a tub disposed inside the housing so that an outside face of the tub faces forward, wherein an acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed in a bottom of the tub and is positioned to be aligned with the acoustic opening in the outer housing; 
 a receiver disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver faces an inside face of the tub and is aligned with the acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub; and 
 a plate piece disposed between an inside face of the housing and the face of the receiver in which the sound port hole is formed, wherein an acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed in the plate piece and positioned to be aligned with the sound port hole of the receiver and the acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub. 
 
     
     
       2. The mobile communications device of  claim 1  wherein the plate piece is a metal piece and the tub is made of plastic. 
     
     
       3. The mobile communications device of  claim 2  wherein the plate piece is insert molded in the bottom of the tub. 
     
     
       4. The mobile communications device of  claim 1  wherein the plate piece is embedded in the bottom of the tub. 
     
     
       5. The mobile communications device of  claim 1  wherein an outside face of the tub visually hides the receiver except for the sound port hole. 
     
     
       6. The mobile communications device of  claim 1  further comprising a stack of components for packaging the receiver, wherein the stack includes a gasket, a mesh, and a grille disposed in the following sequence, beginning with the receiver and moving forward: the receiver, the gasket, the bottom of the tub, the mesh, the grill, and the front wall of the outer housing. 
     
     
       7. A mobile communications device comprising:
 an outer housing having a front wall in which a first acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed; 
 a tub disposed inside the outer housing so that an outside face of the tub faces forward, wherein a second acoustic opening and a separate, acoustic control leak opening, both being face-to-face holes, are formed in a bottom of the tub and positioned to be aligned with the acoustic opening in the outer housing; and 
 a receiver disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver faces an inside face of the tub and is aligned with the first and second acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub. 
 
     
     
       8. The mobile communications device of  claim 7  further comprising an acoustic gasket sandwiched between the face of the receiver in which the sound port hole is formed and the inside face of the tub,
 wherein the separate, acoustic control leak opening is located outside the perimeter of the acoustic gasket. 
 
     
     
       9. The mobile communications device of  claim 7  further comprising a stack of components for packaging the receiver, wherein the stack includes a gasket, a mesh, and a grille disposed in the following sequence, beginning with the receiver and moving forward: the receiver, the gasket, the bottom of the tub, the mesh, the grill, and the front wall of the outer housing. 
     
     
       10. A mobile communications device comprising:
 an outer housing having a front wall in which a first acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed; 
 a tub disposed inside the outer housing so that an outside face of the tub faces forward, wherein a second acoustic opening being a face-to-face hole is formed in a bottom of the tub and positioned to be aligned with the first acoustic opening in the outer housing; 
 a receiver disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver faces an inside face of the tub and is aligned with the first and second acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub; and 
 a retention clip having a horizontal middle section between first and second vertical curved sections, the horizontal middle section pushing against and thereby holding the receiver in a fixed position within the tub while the first and second vertical curved sections are hooked onto the tub. 
 
     
     
       11. The mobile communications device of  claim 10  further comprising a printed flexible circuit, PFC, having a conductive pad that provides power to operate the receiver or delivers an input electrical audio signal to the receiver, wherein the pad is in electrical contact with a spring contact of the receiver that is exposed on a rear face of the receiver. 
     
     
       12. The mobile communications device of  claim 11  wherein the spring contact of the receiver is compressed while making contact with the pad, by application of a mechanical force to the PFC applied by the retention clip. 
     
     
       13. A method for manufacturing a mobile communications device, comprising:
 a) producing a design of a tub, the tub to be disposed inside a housing of a mobile communications device so that a first acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole that is formed in a bottom of the tub, is aligned with a second acoustic opening in the housing, wherein a receiver is to be disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver is aligned with the first and second acoustic openings; 
 b) producing a design of a plate piece, the plate piece to be disposed between the housing and the receiver so that a third acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole that is formed in the plate piece, is aligned with the sound port hole of the receiver and the first and second acoustic openings; 
 c) modifying the design of the plate piece to tune the experienced acoustic output from the receiver in the mobile device; 
 d) making a plate piece in accordance with the modified design; 
 e) making a tub in accordance with the tub design; and 
 f) combining the made plate piece and the made tub into the housing of the mobile device. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13  wherein in e), the tub is molded, and in f), the made plate piece is insert molded with the tub. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14  further comprising:
 installing the receiver into the made tub, after the made plate piece has been inserted molded with the tub.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of the earlier filing dates of U.S. provisional application Nos. 61/041,522 filed Apr. 1, 2008 and 61/044,347 filed Apr. 11, 2008. 
    
    
     An embodiment of the invention is directed to an arrangement for packaging or housing a receiver or earpiece, and providing an acoustic path to it, in a portable handheld electronic communications device such as a cellular telephone handset. Other embodiments are also described. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Cellular telephone and smart phone handsets have within them an electro-acoustic transducer called a receiver (earpiece) that converts an input electrical audio signal into sound pressure waves that are heard by the user who is holding the handset to her ear. The receiver thus lets the user hear conversation by the other side during a wireless telephone call. Although the sensitivity of the receiver is of course a factor in how well the other side of the conversation can be heard, the manner in which the receiver is packaged inside the relatively tight confines of the handset also plays a big role. 
     SUMMARY 
     Several arrangements for packaging or housing a receiver (earpiece) in a portable or mobile communications device are described. 
     In one embodiment, the mobile device has an outer housing having a front wall in which an acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed. A tub or frame is disposed inside the housing so that an outside face of the tub faces forward. The tub may be made of a relatively thin plastic. An acoustic opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed in a bottom of the tub and is positioned to be aligned horizontally and vertically with the acoustic opening in the outer housing. A receiver is disposed within the tub so that a sound port hole of the receiver faces an inside face of the tub and is aligned with the acoustic openings in the outer housing and in the tub. A plate piece is disposed between an inside face of the housing and the face of the receiver in which the sound port hole is formed, to improve the quality of the receiver&#39;s output sound. The plate piece may be a metal piece. The plate piece may be insert molded in the bottom of the tub. 
     In one embodiment, the plate piece may be acoustically tuned for different versions of the design of a mobile device (or updates to the design), without impacting the tub&#39;s insert molding process or the tub mold itself. For instance, in a process for high volume manufacturing of mobile devices, a molded tub (that houses the device&#39;s receiver) is manufactured by modifying the design of the plate piece and producing the modified plate piece essentially in parallel with the existing molding process for the tub. The plate piece is then combined with the tub and the receiver into the housing of the device (e.g., insert molded with the tub), without impacting current tooling cavities or plastic volumes for making the tub. 
     In another embodiment, a separate, acoustic control leak opening, being a face-to-face hole, is formed in a bottom of the tub and positioned to be aligned with the acoustic opening in the outer housing. This further opening acoustically communicates a fixed volume inside the outer housing with the volume of the user&#39;s ear (when the device is pressed against the user&#39;s ear during handset mode of operation), so as improve sound quality of the receiver. 
     In yet another embodiment, a retention clip is provided to hold the receiver in a fixed position. The clip may have a horizontal middle section between first and second vertical curved sections. The horizontal middle section pushes against and thereby holds the receiver in its fixed position within the tub, while the first and second vertical curved sections are hooked onto the tub. 
     The above summary does not include an exhaustive list of all aspects of the invention. It is contemplated that the invention includes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitable combinations of the various aspects summarized above, as well as those disclosed in the Detailed Description below and particularly pointed out in the claims. Such combinations may have particular advantages not specifically recited in the above summary. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an example, portable handheld electronic communications device. 
         FIG. 2  shows an exploded view of a stack of mechanical components that make up the arrangement for packaging a receiver in the device. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross section view of an example arrangement for packaging the receiver. 
         FIGS. 4A-4B  show top and bottom views of a molded frame or tub containing a receiver plate piece. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the components that make up the wireless electronic device of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Several embodiments of the invention with reference to the appended drawings are now explained. Whenever the shapes, relative positions and other aspects of the parts described in the embodiments are not clearly defined, the scope of the invention is not limited only to the parts shown, which are meant merely for the purpose of illustration. Also, while numerous details are set forth, it is understood that some embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of this description. 
       FIG. 1  shows a portable handheld or mobile electronic communications device  100  (also referred to as a mobile device or a wireless device), such as an iPhone™ device by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., that has an improved acoustic arrangement for housing a receiver therein. Further details of the device  100  are given below in connection with the description of  FIG. 5 . For now, it should be appreciated that the device  100  has an outer housing or case  12  that includes at least a front portion  96  and a mating rear portion  98  that when fitted to each other in large part define or close off a chamber in which the constituent electronic components of the device  100  are housed. The housing also has an earphone port (not shown) to receive an earphone plug, a touch sensitive display screen  16 , and a speaker acoustic case opening  22 . In the example version shown in  FIG. 1 , the earphone port may be located in a top side of the housing  12  that is opposite a bottom side in which the opening  22  is formed. Alternatively, it could be located elsewhere in the housing  12 , such as in the left side or the right side or the bottom side. The speaker acoustic opening  22  may consist of multiple holes clustered together, in the bottom side of the housing as shown or alternatively in the top face or rear face of the housing  12 . As an alternative, the speaker acoustic opening  22  may consist of a single, large hole on the bottom side, as shown. 
     To enable its use as a cellular telephone handset, the device  100  has a receiver location acoustic opening  23  for its receiver, located in its top portion (here, in the front face of the front portion  96  of the housing  12 ), and a microphone location acoustic opening  24  located in its bottom portion (below the screen  16 ). In the embodiment shown, the touch sensitive display screen  16  forms essentially the front face of the housing  12 . A user-interactive region  17  of the screen  16  lies between the receiver opening  23  and the microphone opening  24 , similar to that of an iPhone™ device. In this embodiment, the opening  23  consists of a single larger opening, as compared to a cluster of smaller openings, in the top face of the housing  12 . Similarly, the opening  24  for the microphone may consist of a single larger opening in either a top face of the housing  12  or, as shown in  FIG. 1 , in the bottom side of the housing. The device  100  also has within its housing the needed combination of electronic circuitry and stored software that operate the various input and output components (e.g., touch sensitive display, receiver, microphone, and antenna), to provide the user with mobile telephony functionality. 
       FIG. 2  shows an exploded view of a stack of mechanical components that make up the arrangement for packaging of a receiver  102  in the device  100 . The stack, in addition to physically holding the case of the receiver, provides an engineered sound path for the sound pressure waves generated by the receiver to travel to the user&#39;s ear. The layers of the stack have the following sequence, beginning with the receiver  120  and moving forward to the front of the device  100 . 
     The receiver  102  has a case or housing in which are formed two or more, separate sound port holes  103 ,  105 . These may be engineered, in this case acoustically tuned, to allow the desired level and/or distribution of sound pressure waves, produced by an internal driver, to emanate from the front face of the case into the receiver sound path created by the stack. The holes  103 ,  105  in this example are positioned, as a whole, substantially at the center of the front face of the case of the receiver  102  as shown, though they may alternatively be offset from the center. Although not shown, the receiver  102  also has a pair of electrical terminals to which wires (e.g., as a flexible printed circuit) that will conduct the input electrical audio signal may be soldered. 
     A frame or tub  108  holds the receiver  102 . The outside face of the tub  108  looks forward (facing upward in the drawing). The receiver  102  fits into the tub  108  in the region depicted in dotted lines, against the inside face. The tub  108  may be shaped and sized to firmly grip the periphery or sides of the receiver  102  to keep the receiver in a fixed position. See also  FIG. 3 . Although not shown in  FIG. 3 , a receiver gasket  112  (e.g., a strip of compliant, pressure sensitive adhesive, or a separate piece of acoustically insulating foam) may be pressed or sandwiched between the receiver  102  and the inside face of the tub  108 . This may help insulate against any unwanted sound (inside the device  100 ) making its way into the user&#39;s ear through the sound path of the receiver. The gasket  112  in effect has a face-to-face opening that is at least as large as an area that covers the sound output port holes of the receiver  102  plus the entire area separating the port holes (as shown in  FIG. 2 ). The area of the gasket&#39;s opening may be smaller than the full front surface of the receiver  102 . The far outside perimeter of the gasket  112  may be coextensive with that of the receiver  102 . 
     The tub  108  has at least two, acoustic tub openings  114 ,  116 , each being a face-to-face hole in the “bottom” of the tub. The shape of the tub and the position of the openings  114 ,  116  therein are such that the latter may be substantially centered on the front face of the receiver  102 , lining up with their respective sound port holes  103 ,  105  in the receiver case. The openings  114 ,  116  may be acoustically tuned for passing sound pressure waves emanating from the respective sound port holes of the receiver case. In one embodiment, each of the acoustic tub openings  114 ,  116  is about the same size as or larger than its respective, receiver case sound port hole, and the outside face of the tub  108  is otherwise essentially flat and smooth so as to visually hide the rest of the receiver case as viewed from the front. 
     The tub  108  also has a further acoustic controlled leak opening  115  in its bottom, located outside the perimeter of the receiver gasket  112  but inside the area of the acoustic device case opening  23  for the receiver (see  FIG. 1 ). This controlled leak opening  115  effectuates a controlled air or sound leak, between a fixed air volume inside the device  100  and a variable air pocket that is created outside device  100  by virtue of the user pressing the region around the device case opening  116  to her ear. The air pocket is said to be variable, because its volume depends on the size of the user&#39;s ear and perhaps how firmly the device  100  is pressed against the ear. The controlled leak helps maintain a more consistent sound from the receiver, despite widely varying air pockets.  FIG. 2  also shows a top view of the top portion of the device  100 , looking down at the opening  23  through which the acoustic tub openings  114 ,  116  (at about the center of the opening  23 ), and the acoustic controlled leak opening  115  (near a left or right edge of the opening  23 ), can be seen. 
     Next in the stack is a mesh  123  (e.g., a piece of acoustically engineered material that provides a defined and intentional acoustic resistance or filtering effect). The mesh  123  may be pressed or sandwiched between a rear face of a grill  120  and the outside face of the tub  108  as shown. The mesh  123 , in addition to improving the receiver sound path created by the stack, acts as a dust cover for the underlying acoustic tub openings  114 ,  116  and acoustic controlled leak opening  115 . The mesh  123  may be a single piece that has an area large enough to cover all of the openings  114 ,  115 ,  116  including the regions between those openings. The mesh  123  may be bonded to the outside face of the tub  108 , e.g. by a strip of pressure sensitive adhesive film that surrounds and does not cover the tub openings  114 ,  115 ,  116 . 
     Next in the stack is the grill  120 . The grill  120  may have been woven or otherwise fabricated to have regularly spaced openings between the chords of a net-like structure. The chord material may be metal (e.g., brass) or other suitable material for fabricating such a structure. The grill  120  serves to protect against objects being inserted into the device  100  that might otherwise damage the underlying mesh  123  or tub openings  114 ,  115 ,  116 . The openings in the grill  120  should be selected to provide the needed strength to withstand entry of foreign objects into the case of the device  100 , while at the same time being acoustically transparent to allow an essentially fully open passage for the receiver&#39;s output sound pressure waves to reach the user&#39;s ear. The grill  120  may be a single piece that has an area large enough to cover all of the tub openings  114 ,  115 ,  116  including the regions between those openings. The grill  123  may be bonded to the mesh  123  and/or the outside face of the tub  108 , e.g. by a strip of pressure sensitive adhesive film that surrounds and does not cover the tub openings  114 - 116 . 
     At the front most portion of the stack is an outer wall, which may be that of the front portion  96  of the external housing or case of the device  100 . In this example, such portion of the outer wall is actually part of the top end of the screen  16 , above the user-interactive region  17 . The outer surface of the wall may define part of the front face of the device  100 , above the user-interactive region  17  of the screen  16  (see  FIG. 1 ). The outer wall also has, at a location that lines up with the user&#39;s ear (when the device  100  is held by the user to her ear for use as a telephone handset), the acoustic device case opening  23  through which sound pressure waves from the receiver  102  of the device  100  are emitted out of the device  100 . This opening  23  is at least as large as an area that covers the tub openings  114 ,  115 ,  116 , plus the entire area separating those openings. The area of the opening  23  may be smaller than the face area of the grill  120  and/or mesh  123 . The outer wall may be made of a plastic, glass or other suitably strong material that can avoid flexing, breakage and/or scratching to a certain extent (e.g., when the device  100  is dropped by its user on a concrete floor). 
     The components in  FIG. 2  may be assembled as follows, in no particular order unless specified): the front face of the gasket  112  may be bonded to otherwise held against the inside surface of the tub  108 ; the front face of the receiver  102  may be bonded to or otherwise held against the rear face of the gasket  112 ; the receiver  102  and the gasket  112  are fitted into place inside the tub  108 , with tub holes  114 ,  116  lined up with receiver case holes  103 ,  105 , respectively; the mesh  123  and the grill  120  may be bonded to the outside or front face of the tub, centered with respect to the tub holes  114 ,  116  and covering the further tub hole  115 ; and the entire assembly including the tub  108  together with the fitted receiver  102  and attached mesh  123  and grill  120  is fixed against the wall with the opening  23  covering the tub openings  114 - 116 . The two portions  96 ,  98  may then be joined to each other to close off the inside of the device  100 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a cross section view of another example arrangement for packaging the receiver  102  is shown. This is similar to the embodiment of  FIG. 2  in that the sandwich combination of the grill  120  and the mesh  123  is bonded to the front face of the tub or frame  108 , aligned so that output sound pressure waves from the receiver  102  can be emitted through the tub openings  114 ,  116 , then through the grill  120  and mesh  123 , and then through the opening  23  in the outer wall of the device  100 . The combination of the grill  120  and mesh  123  may be pre-formed as a separate piece, referred to as a guard, that is then bonded to the front face of the frame  108  as shown. To obtain an acoustic seal that prevents outside sound from leaking past the frame  108  and then entering the receiver sound path to the user&#39;s ear, a further strip of pressure sensitive adhesive  510  that acts as an acoustic sealing gasket may be applied to either the front face of the frame  108  or the rear face of the outer wall as shown. An alignment mechanism (not shown) may be built into the frame  108 , to ensure that the tub openings  114 ,  116  line up both horizontally and vertically squarely within the opening  23 . Either before or after that operation, the receiver  102  can be placed into the tub or frame  108  as shown, with the tub openings  114 ,  116  lining up with their corresponding receiver case port holes  103 ,  105  (see  FIG. 2 ), and its front face abutting the bottom of the tub as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     Next, a printed flexible circuit, PFC,  512  is installed. The PFC  512  has one or more conductive pads that provide power to operate the receiver  102  and/or deliver an input electrical audio signal to the receiver  102 . These pads are put in electrical contact with one or more respective spring contacts of the receiver  102 . The latter contacts are exposed on the rear face of the receiver. They are compressed when they make contact with their pads, by application of a mechanical force to the PFC. This force is applied by installing a receiver clip  514  as shown. The clip  514  has a generally U-shaped cross-section. Its horizontal portion is pushed against the rear face of the PFC  512  until the spring contacts of the receiver  102  have been compressed. It is then held in that position by hooking the opposing, vertical curved ends or hooks  623 ,  624  of the clip around respective ledges or corners of the frame. See also the view shown in  FIG. 4D  which is discussed below. The clip  514  may be made of a single metal piece. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a receiver plate piece  612 , such as one made of metal, may be added to the stack, between the front face of the receiver  102  and front face of the frame  108 . See  FIGS. 4A-4B , where  FIG. 4A  shows a perspective top view of the frame  108  with the plate piece  612  inserted into the back side of the frame, and where  FIG. 4B  shows a perspective bottom view of the frame  108  with the plate piece inserted therein (see also  FIG. 1 ). The plate piece  612  has one or more openings  614  that may be located and acoustically tuned to pass sound that is emitted from the receiver port holes  114 ,  116  (see  FIG. 3 ) that are aligned horizontally and vertically with the plate openings  614 . The plate piece  612  may be embedded, e.g. insert molded, into the bottom of the frame  108 , so that it is located directly in front of the front face of the installed receiver  102 . Note that the tub or frame  108  may have relatively thin plastic walls, e.g. of IXEF polyarylamide. Adding the metal plate may provide improved acoustic characteristics for the receiver or acoustic module, over just the simple and thin plastic walls of the tub. It may help avoid the effect of a drum membrane between the receiver and the user&#39;s ear (that might be due to the relatively thin plastic wall of the frame). 
     In one embodiment, the plate piece  612  may be acoustically tuned for the particular acoustic arrangement surrounding the receiver in different mass produced, mobile devices (or in different versions or updates to a mobile device). For example, the size or arrangement of one or more of the holes  114 ,  116  can be modified, and/or the thickness, shape, and choice of material may be selected, to promote the desired acoustic characteristics for the receiver. This can be done advantageously, without impacting the process used for making the frame or tub  108  (or the tub mold itself) in which the receiver is housed. For example, in a process for high volume manufacturing of acoustic modules for mobile devices, the acoustic module&#39;s molded tub  108  is manufactured by modifying and producing the plate piece  612  essentially in parallel with the existing molding process for making the tub  108 , without having to change the latter process. The plate piece  612  is then insert molded with the tub, without impacting for example current tooling cavities or plastic volumes used for making the tub. The following is an example of a method for manufacturing a mobile communications device using such a technique. 
     A design of the tub  108  is produced; a design of the plate piece  612  is produced; the design of the plate piece is modified so as to tune the experienced, acoustic output produced by the receiver in the mobile device  100 ; a plate piece is made in accordance with the modified design; a tub is made in accordance with the tub design; and the made plate piece and the made tub are combined into the housing of the mobile device. This may be followed by installing the receiver (into the combination of the made tub and plate piece). Also, as explained earlier, the tub may be molded, and the made plate piece may be insert molded with the tub. Finally, it should be noted that the actual order of these operations is not limited to the order in which they are described here, e.g. the making of the tub and plate piece may occur in parallel. 
     Returning to  FIG. 3 , the receiver  102  is shown as being fitted into a space formed out of walls of the tub  108 . To maintain the receiver  102  in its fixed position, the hooks  623 ,  624  of the clip  514  may be inserted into respective gaps of the tub  108  beside the receiver  102 . The latter is kept in position by a flat and horizontal body portion of the clip  514  pushing against its back face. 
     Additional Details of an Example Mobile Device 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , further details of a wireless electronic device  100  that may have the receiver acoustic arrangement described above are now described. The device  100  may be, for example, a cellular telephone, a media player with wireless communications capabilities, or a hybrid device (such as a smart phone device) that combines several functions, including cellular and/or wireless VOIP telephony, web browsing, digital media player, and global positioning system, into the same handset unit. Examples of hybrid portable electronic devices include a cellular telephone that includes media player functionality, a gaming device that includes a wireless communications capability, a cellular telephone that includes game and email functions, and a portable device that receives email, supports mobile telephone calls, has music player functionality and supports web browsing. These are merely illustrative examples. 
     The housing  12  may be formed of any suitable materials including, plastic, glass, ceramics, metal, or other suitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In some situations, the entire housing  12  or portions of the housing  12  may be formed from a dielectric or other low-conductivity material, so that the operation of conductive antenna elements of the device  100  that are located within or in proximity to housing  12  is not disrupted. Housing  12  or portions of housing  12  may also be formed from conductive materials such as metal. An illustrative housing material that may be used is anodized aluminum. Aluminum is relatively light in weight and, when anodized, has an attractive insulating and scratch-resistant surface. If desired, other metals can be used for the housing of device  100 , such as stainless steel, magnesium, titanium, alloys of these metals and other metals, etc. In scenarios in which housing  12  is formed from metal elements, one or more of the metal elements may be used as part of the antennas in device  10 . For example, metal portions of housing  12  may be shorted to an internal ground plane in device  10  to create a larger ground plane element for that device  100 . 
     Housing  12  may have a bezel  14 . The bezel  14  may be formed from a conductive material and may serve to hold a display or other device with a planar surface in place on device  100 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, bezel  14  may be used to hold display screen  16  in place by attaching the screen  16  to the upper or front portion  96  of the housing  12 . 
     The screen  16  may be a liquid crystal diode (LCD) display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, or any other suitable display. The outermost surface of screen  16  may be formed from one or more plastic or glass layers. If desired, touch screen functionality may be integrated into display  16  or may be provided using a separate touch pad device. An advantage of integrating a touch screen into screen  16  is that this type of arrangement can save space and reduce visual clutter. 
     Adding touch sensitivity to the display screen  16  is merely one example of an input-output subsystem that may be integrated into the device  100 . If desired, electronic device  100  may have other input-output devices. For example, electronic device  100  may have other user input control devices such as button  19 , and input-output components such as port or opening  20  and one or more input-output jacks (e.g., for audio and/or video). Button  19  may be, for example, a menu button. Port  20  may contain a 30-pin data connector (as an example). Openings  24  and  22  may, if desired, form microphone and speaker ports. Speaker port or opening  22  may be used when operating device  100  in speakerphone mode. Opening  23  may also form a speaker port. For example, speaker port or opening  23  may serve as a telephone receiver port that is placed adjacent to a user&#39;s ear during operation. In the example of  FIG. 1 , display screen  16  is shown as being mounted on the front face of handheld electronic device  100 , but display screen  16  may, if desired, be mounted on the rear face of handheld electronic device  100 , on a side of device  100 , on a flip-up portion of device  100  that is attached to a main body portion of device  100  by a hinge (for example), or using any other suitable mounting arrangement. 
     A user of electronic device  100  may supply input commands using user input interface devices such as button  19  and display screen  16 . Suitable user input interface devices for electronic device  100  include buttons (e.g., alphanumeric keys, power on-off, power-on, power-off, and other specialized buttons, etc.), a touch pad, pointing stick, or other cursor control device, a microphone for supplying voice commands, or any other suitable interface for controlling device  100 . Although shown schematically as being formed on the top face of electronic device  100  in the example of  FIG. 1 , buttons such as button  19  and other user input interface devices may generally be formed on any suitable portion of electronic device  100 . For example, a button such as button  19  or other user interface control may be formed on the side of electronic device  100 . Buttons and other user interface controls can also be located on the top face, rear face, or other portion of device  100 . If desired, device  100  can be controlled remotely (e.g., using an infrared remote control, a radio-frequency remote control such as a Bluetooth® remote control, etc.). 
     Electronic device  100  may have ports such as port  20 . Port  20 , which may sometimes be referred to as a dock connector, 30-pin data port connector, input-output port, or bus connector, may be used as an input-output port (e.g., when connecting device  100  to a mating dock connected to a computer or other electronic device). Port  20  may contain pins for receiving data and power signals. Device  100  may also have audio and video jacks that allow device  100  to interface with external components. Typical ports include power jacks to recharge a battery within device  100  or to operate device  100  from a direct current (DC) power supply, data ports to exchange data with external components such as a personal computer or peripheral, audio-visual jacks to drive headphones, a monitor, or other external audio-video equipment, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card port to authorize cellular telephone service, a memory card slot, etc. The functions of some or all of these devices and the internal circuitry of electronic device  100  can be controlled using input interface devices such as display screen  16 . 
     Components such as display screen  16  and other user input interface devices may cover most of the available surface area on the front face of device  100  (as shown in the example of  FIG. 1 ) or may occupy only a small portion of the front face of device  100 . Because electronic components such as display  16  often contain large amounts of metal (e.g., as radio-frequency shielding), the location of these components relative to the antenna elements in device  100  should generally be taken into consideration. Suitably chosen locations for the antenna elements and electronic components of the device will allow the antennas of electronic device  100  to function properly without being disrupted by the electronic components. 
     Examples of locations in which antenna structures may be located in device  100  include region  18  and region  21 . These are merely illustrative examples. Any suitable portion of device  100  may be used to house antenna structures for device  100  if desired. 
     A schematic diagram of an embodiment of an illustrative portable electronic device such as a handheld electronic device is shown in  FIG. 5 . Portable device  100  may be a mobile telephone, a mobile telephone with media player capabilities, a handheld computer, a remote control, a game player, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, an ultra-portable computer, a combination of such devices, or any other suitable portable electronic device. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , device  100  may include storage  34 . Storage  34  may include one or more different types of storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory), volatile memory (e.g., battery-based static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. 
     Processing circuitry  36  may be used to control the operation of device  100 . Processing circuitry  36  may be based on a processor such as a microprocessor and other suitable integrated circuits. With one suitable arrangement, processing circuitry  36  and storage  34  are used to run software on device  100 , such as internet browsing applications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, etc. Processing circuitry  36  and storage  34  may be used in implementing suitable communications protocols such as internet protocols, wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol, protocols for handling 3G communications services (e.g., using wide band code division multiple access techniques), 2G cellular telephone communications protocols, etc. 
     To minimize power consumption, processing circuitry  36  may include power management circuitry to implement power management functions. For example, processing circuitry  36  may be used to adjust the gain settings of amplifiers (e.g., radio-frequency power amplifier circuitry) on device  100 . Processing circuitry  36  may also be used to adjust the power supply voltages that are provided to portions of the circuitry on device  100 . For example, higher direct-current (DC) power supply voltages may be supplied to active circuits and lower DC power supply voltages may be supplied to circuits that are less active or that are inactive. If desired, processing circuitry  36  may be used to implement a control scheme in which the power amplifier circuitry is adjusted to accommodate transmission power level requests received from a wireless network. 
     Input-output devices  38  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  100  and to allow data to be provided from device  100  to external devices. Display screen  16 , button  19 , microphone port  24 , speaker port  22 , and dock connector port  20  are examples of input-output devices  38 . 
     Input-output devices  38  can include user input-output devices  40  such as buttons, touch screens, joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, etc. A user can control the operation of device  100  by supplying commands through user input devices  40 . Display and audio devices  42  may include liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens or other screens, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and other components that present visual information and status data. Display and audio devices  42  may also include audio equipment such as speakers and other devices for creating sound. Display and audio devices  42  may contain audio-video interface equipment such as jacks and other connectors for external headphones and monitors. 
     Wireless communications devices  44  may include communications circuitry such as radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuitry, passive RF components, antennas, and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., using infrared communications). 
     Device  100  can communicate with external devices such as accessories  46 , computing equipment  48 , and wireless network  49  as shown by paths  50  and  51 . Paths  50  may include wired and wireless paths. Path  51  may be a wireless path. Accessories  46  may include headphones (e.g., a wireless cellular headset or audio headphones) and audio-video equipment (e.g., wireless speakers, a game controller, or other equipment that receives and plays audio and video content), a peripheral such as a wireless printer or camera, etc. 
     Computing equipment  48  may be any suitable computer. With one suitable arrangement, computing equipment  48  is a computer that has an associated wireless access point (router) or an internal or external wireless card that establishes a wireless connection with device  100 . The computer may be a server (e.g., an internet server), a local area network computer with or without Internet access, a user&#39;s own personal computer, a peer device (e.g., another portable electronic device  100 ), or any other suitable computing equipment. 
     Wireless network  49  may include any suitable network equipment, such as cellular telephone base stations, cellular towers, wireless data networks, computers associated with wireless networks, etc. For example, wireless network  49  may include network management equipment that monitors the wireless signal strength of the wireless handsets (cellular telephones, handheld computing devices, etc.) that are in communication with network  49 . 
     While certain embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that the invention is not limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, although the receiver case depicted in  FIG. 2  is rectangular, the receiver case may alternatively have a different shape (e.g., circular). The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20081223
Publication Date: 20120207
Grant Date: 20120207
Priority Date: 20080401
Inventors: MITTLEMAN ADAM D.
JENKS KENNETH A.
HOWARTH RICHARD P.
SEGUIN CHAD G.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04M1/035", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/035", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 41118043