PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10998616-B2
Application Number: US-201916272932-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with millimeter wave antenna arrays

Abstract:
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. The antennas may include millimeter wave antenna arrays formed from arrays of patch antennas, dipole antennas or other millimeter wave antennas on millimeter wave antenna array substrates. Circuitry such as upconverter and downconverter circuitry may be mounted on the substrates. The upconverter and downconverter may be coupled to wireless communications circuitry such as a baseband processor circuit using an intermediate frequency signal path. The electronic device may have opposing front and rear faces. A display may cover the front face. A rear housing wall may cover the rear face. A metal midplate may be interposed between the display and rear housing wall. Millimeter wave antenna arrays may transmit and receive antenna signals through the rear housing wall.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An antenna array, comprising:
 a substrate having a central portion and a periphery around the central portion; 
 a plurality of dipole antennas formed around the periphery of the substrate; 
 a plurality of patch antennas formed in the central portion of the substrate; 
 an electrical device configured to control the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas, the electrical device being disposed in the central portion of the substrate between a portion of the plurality of dipole antennas and a portion of the plurality of patch antennas; and 
 millimeter wave transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and receive signals at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz using the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas. 
 
     
     
       2. The antenna array defined in  claim 1 , wherein each dipole antenna of the plurality of dipole antennas comprises first and second arms. 
     
     
       3. The antenna array defined in  claim 1 , wherein each patch antenna comprises a respective patch antenna resonating element. 
     
     
       4. The antenna array defined in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas are formed from patterned metal traces on the substrate. 
     
     
       5. The antenna array defined in  claim 4 , further comprising:
 signal paths formed from additional patterned metal traces on the substrate. 
 
     
     
       6. The antenna array defined in  claim 5 , wherein the electrical device comprises upconverter circuitry and downconverter circuitry, and the signal paths couple the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas to the electrical device. 
     
     
       7. The antenna array defined in  claim 5 , wherein the electrical device implements a portion of the millimeter wave transceiver circuitry, and the signal paths couple the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas to the electrical device. 
     
     
       8. The antenna array defined in  claim 5 , wherein the electrical device comprises beam steering circuitry, and the signal paths couple the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas to the electrical device. 
     
     
       9. The antenna array defined in  claim 5 , wherein the signal paths couple the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas to the millimeter wave transceiver circuitry. 
     
     
       10. An antenna array, comprising:
 a substrate having first and second opposing surfaces; 
 a plurality of millimeter wave patch antennas formed on the substrate at the first surface; 
 a plurality of millimeter wave dipole antennas formed on the substrate, wherein the plurality of millimeter wave dipole antennas is formed around a periphery of the substrate and surrounds the plurality of millimeter wave patch antennas; and 
 an integrated circuit mounted on the first surface of the substrate, wherein the integrated circuit comprises transceiver circuitry configured to convey millimeter wave signals using the plurality of millimeter wave patch antennas and the plurality of millimeter wave dipole antennas. 
 
     
     
       11. The antenna array defined in  claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of millimeter wave patch antennas comprises a patch antenna resonating element that is separated from and parallel to a ground plane. 
     
     
       12. The antenna array defined in  claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of millimeter wave dipole antennas comprises a first arm that is coupled to a positive antenna feed terminal and a second arm that is coupled to a ground antenna feed terminal. 
     
     
       13. The antenna array defined in  claim 10 , wherein the millimeter wave signals comprise signals at 60 GHz. 
     
     
       14. The antenna array defined in  claim 10 , wherein the millimeter wave signals comprise signals between 10 GHz and 400 GHz. 
     
     
       15. An antenna array comprising:
 a substrate; 
 an array of millimeter wave antennas disposed on a surface of the substrate, wherein the millimeter wave antenna array is configured to transmit and receive millimeter wave antenna signals, the array of millimeter wave antennas includes a plurality of dipole antennas formed from first and second arms and a plurality of patch antennas formed from patch antenna resonating elements, the plurality of dipole antennas are formed around a periphery of the substrate, and the plurality of patch antennas are formed in a center portion of the substrate and surrounded by the plurality of dipole antennas; 
 an electrical device disposed on the surface of the substrate, in the center portion of the substrate, and surrounded by the plurality of dipole antennas; and 
 a signal path that couples the electrical device to the array of millimeter wave antennas. 
 
     
     
       16. The antenna array defined in  claim 15 , further comprising:
 millimeter wave transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and receive signals at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz using the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas. 
 
     
     
       17. The antenna array defined in  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of dipole antennas and the plurality of patch antennas are formed from patterned metal traces on the substrate. 
     
     
       18. The antenna array defined in  claim 15 , wherein the electrical device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of: an integrated circuit, a discrete component, upconverter circuitry, downconverter circuitry, and beam steering circuitry. 
     
     
       19. The antenna array defined in  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of dipole antennas, the plurality of patch antennas, and the electrical device are disposed at a same surface of the substrate.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/275,183, filed on Sep. 23, 2016 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry. 
     Electronic devices often include wireless communications circuitry. For example, cellular telephones, computers, and other devices often contain antennas and wireless transceivers for supporting wireless communications. 
     It may be desirable to support wireless communications in millimeter wave communications bands. Millimeter wave communications, which are sometimes referred to as extremely high frequency (EHF) communications, involve communications at frequencies of about 10-400 GHz. Operation at these frequencies may support high bandwidths, but may raise significant challenges. For example, it can be difficult to incorporate millimeter wave communications circuitry into electronic devices that include other types of communications circuitry and that include metal housing structures. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. The antennas may include millimeter wave antenna arrays formed from arrays of millimeter wave antennas on millimeter wave antenna array substrates. The antennas may also include wireless local area network antennas, satellite navigation system antennas, cellular telephone antennas, and other antennas. 
     Circuitry such as upconverter and downconverter circuitry may be mounted on the substrate of a millimeter wave antenna array. The upconverter and downconverter circuitry may be coupled to wireless communications circuitry such as a baseband processor circuit using an intermediate frequency signal path. 
     The electronic device may have opposing front and rear faces. A display may cover the front face. A rear housing wall may cover the rear face. A metal midplate may be interposed between the display and rear housing wall. The rear housing wall may be formed from a dielectric such as glass (e.g., a layer of glass), plastic, etc. Millimeter wave antenna arrays may transmit and receive antenna signals through the rear housing wall. 
     A millimeter wave antenna array may be interposed between the midplate and the rear housing wall, may be mounted to a printed circuit that is interposed between the midplate and the display so that the substrate of the millimeter wave antenna array protrudes through an opening in the midplate, and/or may be located between the midplate and the display so that millimeter wave antenna signals may be transmitted and received through an opening in the midplate and through the rear housing wall. 
    
    
     
       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 diagram of an illustrative transceiver circuit and antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of an illustrative dipole antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an illustrative patch antenna that may be used in an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram of an illustrative antenna such as a cellular telephone antenna that includes an inverted-F antenna resonating element in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an illustrative array of millimeter wave antennas on a millimeter wave antenna array substrate in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIGS. 9 and 10  are top interior views of illustrative electronic devices with antennas in accordance with embodiments. 
         FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with antennas 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 include one or more antennas. The antennas may include cellular telephone antennas, wireless local area network antennas (e.g., WiFi® antennas at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and other suitable wireless local area network antennas), satellite navigation system signals, and near-field communications antennas. The antennas may also include antennas for handling millimeter wave communications. For example, the antennas may include millimeter wave phased antenna arrays. Millimeter wave communications, which are sometimes referred to as extremely high frequency (EHF) communications, involve signals at 60 GHz or other frequencies between about 10 GHz and 400 GHz. 
     Electronic device  10  may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wristwatch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 1 , device  10  is a portable device such as a cellular telephone, media player, tablet computer, or other portable computing device. Other configurations may be used for device  10  if desired. The example of  FIG. 1  is merely illustrative. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may include a display such as display  14 . Display  14  may be mounted in a housing such as housing  12 . For example, device  10  may have opposing front and rear faces and display  14  may be mounted in housing  12  so that display  14  covers the front face of device  10  as shown in  FIG. 1 . 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.). If desired, different portions of housing  12  may be formed from different materials. For example, housing sidewalls may be formed from metal and some or all of the rear wall of housing  12  may be formed from a dielectric such as plastic, glass, ceramic, sapphire, etc. Dielectric rear housing wall materials such as these may, if desired, by laminated with metal plates and/or other metal structures to enhance the strength of the rear housing wall (as an example). 
     Display  14  may be a touch screen display that incorporates a layer of conductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes or other touch sensor components (e.g., resistive touch sensor components, acoustic touch sensor components, force-based touch sensor components, light-based touch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that is not touch-sensitive. Capacitive touch screen electrodes may be formed from an array of indium tin oxide pads or other transparent conductive structures. 
     Display  14  may include an array of pixels formed from liquid crystal display (LCD) components, an array of electrophoretic pixels, an array of plasma pixels, an array of organic light-emitting diode pixels, an array of electrowetting pixels, or pixels based on other display technologies. 
     Display  14  may be protected using a display cover layer such as a layer of transparent glass, clear plastic, sapphire, or other transparent dielectric. Openings may be formed in the display cover layer. For example, an opening may be formed in the display cover layer to accommodate a button such as button  16 . Buttons such as button  16  may also be formed from capacitive touch sensors, light-based touch sensors, or other structures that can operate through the display cover layer without forming an opening. 
     If desired, an opening may be formed in the display cover layer to accommodate a port such as speaker port  18 . Openings may be formed in housing  12  to form communications ports (e.g., an audio jack port, a digital data port, etc.). Openings in housing  12  may also be formed for audio components such as a speaker and/or a microphone. Dielectric-filled openings  20  such as plastic-filled openings may be formed in metal portions of housing  12  such as in metal sidewall structures (e.g., to serve as antenna windows and/or to serve as gaps that separate portions of antennas from each other). 
     Antennas may be mounted in housing  12 . If desired, some of the antennas (e.g., antenna arrays that may implement beam steering, etc.) may be mounted under dielectric portions of device  10  (e.g., portions of the display cover layer, portions of a plastic antenna window in a metal housing sidewall portion of housing  12 , etc.). With one illustrative configuration, some or all of rear face of device  10  may be formed from a dielectric. For example, the rear wall of housing  12  may be formed from glass plastic, ceramic, other dielectric. In this type of arrangement, antennas may be mounted within the interior of device  10  in a location that allows the antennas to transmit and receive antenna signals through the rear wall of device  10  (and, if desired, through optional dielectric sidewall portions in housing  12 ). Antennas may also be formed from metal sidewall structures in housing  12  and may be located in peripheral portions of device  10 . 
     To avoid disrupting communications when an external object such as a human hand or other body part of a user blocks one or more antennas, antennas may be mounted at multiple locations in housing  12 . Sensor data such as proximity sensor data, real-time antenna impedance measurements, signal quality measurements such as received signal strength information, and other data may be used in determining when one or more antennas is being adversely affected due to the orientation of housing  12 , blockage by a user&#39;s hand or other external object, or other environmental factors. Device  10  can then switch one or more replacement antennas into use in place of the antennas that are being adversely affected. 
     Antennas may be mounted at the corners of housing, along the peripheral edges of housing  12 , on the rear of housing  12 , under the display cover layer that is used in covering and protecting display  14  on the front of device  10  (e.g., a glass cover layer, a sapphire cover layer, a plastic cover layer, other dielectric cover layer structures, etc.), under a dielectric window on a rear face of housing  12  or the edge of housing  12 , under a dielectric rear wall of housing  12 , or elsewhere in device  10 . As an example, antennas may be mounted at one or both ends  50  of device  10  (e.g., along the upper and lower edges of housing  12 , at the corners of housing  12 , etc.). 
     A schematic diagram of illustrative components that may be used in device  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , device  10  may include storage and processing circuitry such as control circuitry  28 . Control 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 control circuitry  28  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. 
     Control 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, control circuitry  28  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using control 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, cellular telephone protocols, MIMO protocols, antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system protocols, millimeter wave communications protocols, 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, joysticks, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, accelerometers or other components that can detect motion and device orientation relative to the Earth, 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  40 , 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 transceiver circuitry  36 ,  38 ,  42 , and  46 . 
     Transceiver circuitry  36  may be wireless local area network transceiver circuitry. 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 frequency ranges such as a communications band from 700 to 960 MHz, a band from 1710 to 2170 MHz, a band from 2300 to 2700 MHz, other bands between 700 and 2700 MHz, higher bands such as LTE bands  42  and  43  (3.4-3.6 GHz), or other cellular telephone communications bands. Circuitry  38  may handle voice data and non-voice data. 
     Millimeter wave transceiver circuitry  46  (sometimes referred to as extremely high frequency transceiver circuitry) may support communications at extremely high frequencies (e.g., millimeter wave frequencies such as extremely high frequencies of 10 GHz to 400 GHz or other millimeter wave frequencies). For example, circuitry  46  may support IEEE 802.11ad communications at 60 GHz. Circuitry  46  may be formed from one or more integrated circuits (e.g., multiple integrated circuits mounted on a common printed circuit in a system-in-package device, one or more integrated circuits mounted on different substrates, etc.). 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include satellite navigation system circuitry such as Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver circuitry  42  for receiving GPS signals at 1575 MHz or for handling other satellite positioning data (e.g., GLONASS signals at 1609 MHz). Satellite navigation system signals for receiver  42  are received from a constellation of satellites orbiting the earth. 
     In satellite navigation system links, cellular telephone links, and other long-range links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over thousands of feet or miles. In WiFi® and Bluetooth® links at 2.4 and 5 GHz and other short-range wireless links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over tens or hundreds of feet. Extremely high frequency (EHF) wireless transceiver circuitry  46  may convey signals over these short distances that travel between transmitter and receiver over a line-of-sight path. To enhance signal reception for millimeter wave communications, phased antenna arrays and beam steering techniques may be used (e.g., schemes in which antenna signal phase and/or magnitude for each antenna in an array is adjusted to perform beam steering). Antenna diversity schemes may also be used to ensure that the antennas that have become blocked or that are otherwise degraded due to the operating environment of device  10  can be switched out of use and higher-performing antennas used in their place. 
     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 circuitry for receiving television and radio signals, paging system transceivers, near field communications (NFC) circuitry, etc. 
     Antennas  40  in wireless communications circuitry  34  may be formed using any suitable antenna types. For example, antennas  40  may include antennas with resonating elements that are formed from loop antenna structures, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antenna structures, slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, monopoles, dipoles, helical antenna structures, Yagi (Yagi-Uda) antenna structures, hybrids of these designs, etc. If desired, one or more of antennas  40  may be cavity-backed antennas. 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 and another type of antenna may be used in forming a remote wireless link antenna. Dedicated antennas may be used for receiving satellite navigation system signals or, if desired, antennas  40  can be configured to receive both satellite navigation system signals and signals for other communications bands (e.g., wireless local area network signals and/or cellular telephone signals). Antennas  40  can include phased antenna arrays for handling millimeter wave communications. 
     In configurations for device  10  in which housing  12  has portions formed from metal, openings may be formed in the metal portions to accommodate antennas  40 . For example, openings in a metal housing wall may be used in forming splits (gaps) between resonating element structures and ground structures in cellular telephone antennas. These openings may be filled with a dielectric such as plastic. As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, a portion of plastic-filled opening  20  may run up one or more of the sidewalls of housing  12 . 
     A schematic diagram of a millimeter wave antenna or other antenna  40  coupled to transceiver circuitry  90  (e.g., millimeter wave transceiver circuitry  46  and/or other transceiver circuitry  90 ) is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  may be coupled to antenna feed  102  of antenna  40  using transmission line  92 . Antenna feed  102  may include a positive antenna feed terminal such as positive antenna feed terminal  98  and may have a ground antenna feed terminal such as ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Transmission line  92  may be formed form metal traces on a printed circuit or other conductive structures and may have a positive transmission line signal path such as path  94  that is coupled to terminal  98  and a ground transmission line signal path such as path  96  that is coupled to terminal  100 . Transmission line paths such as path  92  may be used to route antenna signals within device  10 . For example, transmission line paths may be used to couple antenna structures such as one or more antennas in an array of antennas to transceiver circuitry  90 . Transmission lines in device  10  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 transmission line  92  and/or circuits such as these may be incorporated into antenna  40  (e.g., to support antenna tuning, to support operation in desired frequency bands, etc.). 
     If desired, signals for millimeter wave antennas may be distributed within device  10  using intermediate frequencies (e.g., frequencies of about 5-15 GHz rather than 60 Hz). The intermediate frequency signals may, for example, be distributed from a baseband processor or other wireless communications circuit located near the middle of device  10  to one or more arrays of millimeter wave antennas at the corners of device  10 . At each corner, upconverter and downconverter circuitry may be coupled to the intermediate frequency path. The upconverter circuitry may convert received intermediate frequency signals from the baseband processor to millimeter wave signals (e.g., signals at 60 GHz) for transmission by a millimeter wave antenna array. The downconverter circuitry may downconvert millimeter wave antenna signals from the millimeter wave antenna array to intermediate frequency signals that are then conveyed to the baseband processor over the intermediate frequency path. 
     Device  10  may contain multiple antennas  40 . The antennas may be used together or one of the antennas may be switched into use while other antenna(s) are switched out of use. If desired, control circuitry  28  may be used to select an optimum antenna to use in device  10  in real time and/or to select an optimum setting for adjustable wireless circuitry associated with one or more of antennas  40 . Antenna adjustments may be made to tune antennas to perform in desired frequency ranges, to perform beam steering with a phased antenna array, and to otherwise optimize antenna performance. Sensors may be incorporated into antennas  40  to gather sensor data in real time that is used in adjusting antennas  40 . 
     In some configurations, antennas  40  may include antenna arrays (e.g., phased antenna arrays to implement beam steering functions). For example, the antennas that are used in handling millimeter wave signals for extremely high frequency wireless transceiver circuits  46  may be implemented as phased antenna arrays. The radiating elements in a phased antenna array for supporting millimeter wave communications may be patch antennas, dipole antennas, dipole antennas with directors and reflectors in addition to dipole antenna resonating elements (sometimes referred to as Yagi antennas or beam antennas), or other suitable antenna elements. Transceiver circuitry can be integrated with the phased antenna arrays to form integrated phased antenna array and transceiver circuit modules. 
     An illustrative dipole antenna is shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , dipole antenna  40  may have first and second arms such as arms  40 - 1  and  40 - 2  and may be fed at antenna feed  102 . If desired, a dipole antenna such as dipole antenna  40  of  FIG. 4  may be incorporated into a Yagi antenna (e.g., by incorporating a reflector and directors into dipole antenna  40  of  FIG. 4 ). 
     An illustrative patch antenna is shown in  FIG. 5 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , patch antenna  40  may have a patch antenna resonating element  40 P that is separated from and parallel to a ground plane such as antenna ground plane  40 G. Arm  41  may be coupled between patch antenna resonating element  40 P and positive antenna feed terminal  98  of antenna feed  102 . Ground antenna feed terminal  100  of feed  102  may be coupled to ground plane  40 G. 
     Antennas of the types shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5  and/or other antennas  40  may be used in forming millimeter wave antennas. The examples of  FIGS. 4 and 5  are merely illustrative. 
       FIG. 6  is a diagram of an illustrative antenna  40  based on an inverted-F antenna resonating element. Antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  may be, for example, an inverted-F antenna or a hybrid inverted-F slot antenna. Antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  may be used in forming cellular telephone antennas, wireless local network antennas, satellite navigation system antennas, and/or other antennas in device  10 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , antenna  40  may include an antenna resonating element such as antenna resonating element  110  and an antenna ground such as antenna ground  112 . Antenna resonating element  110  may have one or more branches such as low-frequency arm  116  and high frequency arm  114 . Arms of different lengths in element  110  may provide element  110  with the ability to resonate at multiple frequency bands of interest. Return path  118  (sometimes referred to as a short circuit path) may be coupled between resonating element  110  and ground  112 . Antenna feed  102  may include positive antenna feed terminal  98  and ground antenna feed terminal  100  and may be coupled between element  110  and ground  112  in parallel with return path  118 . One or more components  120  (switches, tunable circuits such as tunable capacitors, tunable inductors, etc.) may be coupled between antenna ground  112  and resonating element arms  114  and  116 . Components  120  may be adjusted to tune antenna  40 . 
     If desired, antenna resonating element arms  114  and  116  may be separated from ground  112  by a dielectric gap that serves as a slot antenna resonating element (e.g., slot  122  of  FIG. 6 ). In this type of arrangement, antenna  40  may be a hybrid inverted-F slot antenna and may receive resonant contributions from both the inverted-F antenna resonating element arm(s)  114  and  116  and from the slot antenna formed from slot  122 . In other illustrative configurations, slot  122  does not contribute any slot resonances to antenna  40  (e.g., antenna  40  may operate as an inverted-F antenna). Antennas such as antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  (e.g., inverted-F antennas, slot antennas, hybrid inverted-F slot antennas, etc.) and/or other types of antenna (e.g., patch antennas, loop antennas, etc.) may be used in supporting cellular telephone communications, wireless local area network communications (e.g., communications at 2.4 and 5 GHz, etc.) and/or other wireless communications. 
     Antennas  40  may be formed from sheet metal parts (e.g., strips of sheet metal embedded in molded plastic or attached to dielectric supports using adhesive, etc.), may be formed from wires, may be formed from portions of conductive housing structures (e.g., metal walls in housing  12 ), and/or may be formed from conductive structures such as metal traces on a printed circuit or other substrate. Printed circuits in device  10  may be rigid printed circuit boards formed from rigid printed circuit board substrate material (e.g., fiberglass-filled epoxy) and/or may be flexible printed circuit boards (e.g., printed circuits formed from sheets of polyimide or other flexible polymer layers). In some configurations, antenna substrates may be formed from other dielectrics (e.g., ceramics, glass, etc.). 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an illustrative millimeter wave antenna array  40 A formed from antenna resonating elements on millimeter wave antenna array substrate  124 . Array  40 A may include an array of millimeter wave antennas such as patch antennas  40  formed from patch antenna resonating elements  40 P and dipole antennas  40  formed from arms  40 - 1  and  40 - 2 . With one illustrative configuration, dipole antennas  40  may be formed around the periphery of substrate  124  and patch antennas  40  may form an array on the central surface of substrate  124 . There may be any suitable number of millimeter wave antennas  40  in array  40 A. For example, there may be 10-40, 32, more than 5, more than 10, more than 20, more than 30, fewer than 50, or other suitable number of millimeter wave antennas (patch antennas and/or dipole antennas, etc.). Substrate  124  may be formed from one or more layers of dielectric (polymer, ceramic, etc.) and may include patterned metal traces for forming millimeter wave antennas and signal paths. The signals paths may couple the millimeter wave antennas to circuitry such as one or more electrical devices  126  mounted on substrate  124 . Device(s)  126  may include one or more integrated circuits, discrete components, upconverter circuitry, downconverter circuitry, (e.g., upconverter and downconverter circuitry that forms part of a transceiver), circuitry for adjusting signal amplitude and/or phase to perform beam steering, and/or other circuitry for operating antenna array  40 A. 
     A cross-sectional side view of device  10  in an illustrative configuration in which device  10  includes a display covering the front face of device  10  and has a rear housing wall on the rear face of device  10  through which antennas may operate is shown in  FIG. 8 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , device  10  may have housing sidewalls such as housing sidewalls  12 W. Housing sidewalls  12 W may have flat shapes that extend vertically (along dimension Z) or may have curved cross-sectional shapes that extend upwardly from rear wall  12 R toward display  14 . Housing sidewalls  12 W may be formed from metal or other suitable material. Display  14  may include a transparent display cover layer such as display cover layer  150 . Display cover layer  150  may be formed from transparent glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, clear plastic, or other suitable material. Display cover layer  150  may overlap display module (display)  152 . Display  152  may be an organic light-emitting diode display, a liquid crystal display, or other suitable display and may overlap some, nearly all, or all of the front face of device  10  (e.g., display  152  may cover 80% or more of the front of device  10 , 90% or more of the front of device  10 , 95% or more of the front of device  10 , or 99% or more of the front of device  10 ). Display  152  may be attached to the underside of display cover layer  150  using adhesive or may be separated from display cover layer  150  by an air gap. If desired, a touch sensor layer (e.g., a layer of polymer covered on one side or two opposing sides with capacitive touch sensor electrodes) may be interposed between display  152  and display cover layer  150 . Touch sensor electrodes may also be formed within display  152 . 
     Device  10  may have structural support members such as internal housing frame structures and/or other structures that help ensure that device  10  is sufficiently robust. Device  10  may, for example, have one or more internal sheet metal parts (e.g., stamped sheet metal parts) such as midplate  154 . Midplate  154  may, for example, be coupled to metal housing sidewalls  12 W by welds. Midplate  154  may be interposed between display  152  and rear housing wall  12 R. Air gaps adjacent to midplate  154  such as air gaps  156  may be filled with batteries, integrated circuits, printed circuit boards, and/or other device components (see, e.g., control circuitry  28  and input-output circuitry  44  of  FIG. 2 ). 
     Rear housing wall  12 R may be formed from any suitable material. With one illustrative arrangement, some, nearly all, or all of rear housing wall  12 R (e.g., the outer layer of housing wall  12 R) may be formed from a dielectric such as glass, plastic, sapphire or other crystalline dielectric, etc. An optional inner housing wall portion for rear housing wall  12 R may have portions formed from different materials (e.g., different dielectric materials, metal, etc.). Dielectric material for rear housing wall  12 R may, for example, cover 80% or more of the rear of device  10 , 90% or more of the rear of device  10 , 95% or more of the rear of device  10 , or 99% or more of the rear of device  10 ). With this type of arrangement, the outer surface of the rear face of device  10  may be covered with glass or plastic. 
     Due to the presence of dielectric in rear housing wall  12 R, antennas  40  may transmit and receive antenna signals through at least this portion of wall  12 R. For example, antennas  40  may transmit and/or receive cellular telephone signals, wireless local area network signals, satellite navigation system signals, near-field communications signals, and millimeter wave signals and/or other antenna signals through glass or plastic portions of wall  12 R. 
       FIGS. 9 and 10  are top interior views of an illustrative end portion (at an end  50 ) of device  10 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , metal housing sidewall  12 W may have gaps  20  that are filled with plastic or other dielectric. The segment of metal housing sidewall  12 W that extends between gaps  20  along the peripheral edge of device  10  may form an inverted-F antenna resonating element (see, e.g., arms  114  and  116  of  FIG. 6 ) and may be fed using an antenna feed such as antenna feed  102  that extend between the inverted-F antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. The antenna ground may be formed from printed circuit board ground traces, internal metal structures in device  10 , and/or ground plane structures such as metal midplate member  154 . Gap  208  may be filled with air, plastic, and/or other dielectric. Protruding portion  154 P of midplate  154  may lie between the main portion of gap  208  and end  210  of gap  208 , which may extend between midplate portion  154 P and the rest of midplate  154 . 
     Millimeter wave antenna array  40 A may be mounted on protruding portion  154 P. In the example of  FIG. 9 , antenna array  40 A is mounted in the upper right corner of device  10 . This is merely illustrative. Antenna arrays  40 A may be mounted in some or all of the four corners of device  10  and/or elsewhere in device  10 . 
     Upconverter and downconverter circuitry  204  and other circuitry (see, e.g., circuitry  126  of  FIG. 7 ) may be coupled to baseband processor  200  via intermediate frequency (IF) path  202 . Antenna array  40 A may include an array of millimeter wave antenna elements such as patch elements and/or dipoles, etc. (see, e.g., antennas  40  of  FIG. 7 ). Substrate  124  of antenna array  40 A may have an edge that is aligned with edge  214  of midplate  154  or may be recessed by a distance W (e.g., a distance less than 1 mm, less than 0.5 mm, more than 0.1 mm, etc.) from edge  214 . Gap  208  may have a width G of 0.1-4 mm, more than 0.3 mm, more than 0.6 mm, more than 0.9 mm, less than 2.4 mm, less than 2.0 mm, less than 1.6 mm, less than 1.2 mm, or less than 0.8 mm. 
     In the configuration of  FIG. 9 , the ends of slot  208  such as slot (gap) end portion  210  extend inwardly from sidewalls  12 W (parallel to the X dimension) and may separate portions of midplate  154  such as midplate protrusion  154 P and millimeter wave antenna  40 A from more central portions of midplate  154 .  FIG. 10  shows an illustrative configuration for device  10  in which the ends  210  of slot  208  do not extend inwardly from sidewall  12 W. In this arrangement, millimeter wave antenna array  40 A may be located adjacent to slot end  210 , so that slot end  210  separates array  40 A from wall  12 W. Other locations for antenna  40 A may be used, if desired. The configurations of device  10  that are shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10  are merely illustrative. 
     As shown in the illustrative cross-sectional side view of device  10  of  FIG. 11 , millimeter wave antenna arrays such as array  40 A of  FIG. 7  may be mounted below midplate  154  (see, e.g., illustrative array  40 A- 1 ), may be mounted above midplate  154  (see, e.g., illustrative array  40 A- 2 ), or may be mounted so that substrate  124  protrudes through an opening in midplate  154  (see, e.g., illustrative antenna array  40 A- 3 ). 
     Substrates  124  may include ground plane traces such as ground plane trace  160  of array  40 A- 1 . Conductive paths may short ground plane trace  160  to metal midplate  154 . For example, one or more metal screws or other fasteners such as screw  162  may be used to electrically couple ground plane trace  160  to midplate  154  while mounting substrate  124  of array  40 A- 1  to rear surface  308  of midplate  154 . Components such as circuit  126  may be mounted to substrate  124  and may face the inner surface of rear housing wall  12 R. Rear housing wall  12 R may be formed from dielectric (e.g., glass, sapphire, or other material of thickness T between 0.1 and 5 mm, between 0.4 and 1.2 mm, between 0.5 and 0.9 mm, less than 1 mm, etc.) and/or other layers of material (e.g., portions of wall  12 R may be supported by a layer of sheet metal in regions that do not block antenna signals, etc.). If desired, substrate  124  may be coupled to a printed circuit board (e.g., a printed circuit interposed between midplate  154  and substrate  124 . The configuration of  FIG. 11  is illustrative. 
     Illustrative millimeter wave antenna arrays such as antenna array  40 A- 2  and antenna array  40 A- 3  may be mounted on substrates such as printed circuits  306  and  304 , respectively. Midplate  154  may have openings such as openings  302  and  300 . Antenna array  40 A- 2  may be positioned between display  152  and midplate  154  so that array  40 A- 2  and the antennas  40  on array  40 A- 2  may operate through opening  302 . Opening  302  may have a diameter (lateral size) D of about 0.5-2 mm, more than 0.2 mm, more than 0.8 mm, more than 1.4 mm, more than 1.8 mm, less than 3 mm, less than 2.6 mm, less than 2.2 mm, etc. that is sufficiently large to allow antennas  40  to transmit and/or receive millimeter wave antenna signals through opening  302  (and through overlapping portions of rear wall  12 R). Opening  300  in midplate  154  may have a size that accommodates substrate  124  of antenna array  40 A- 3 . In particular, opening  300  may be sufficiently large to allow at least a portion of substrate  124  to protrude up and into (and, if desired, through) opening  300  so that antennas  40  of array  40 A- 3  may transmit and receive signals through the overlapping portion of rear wall  12 R. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20190211
Publication Date: 20210504
Grant Date: 20210504
Priority Date: 20160923
Inventors: MOW, MATTHEW A.
NOORI, BASIM H.
PASCOLINI, MATTIA
HAN, XU
Lee, Victor C.
TSAI, MING-JU
PAULOTTO, Simone
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q1/22", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0421", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/062", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/062", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/065", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/22", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/48", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2283", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/065", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/242", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0421", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2283", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/22", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/065", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/242", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/48", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/062", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 60580411