PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10103424-B2
Application Number: US-201615138684-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with millimeter wave yagi antennas

Abstract:
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. The antennas may include phased antenna arrays each of which includes multiple antenna elements. Phased antenna arrays may be formed from printed circuit board Yagi antennas or other antennas. A millimeter wave transceiver may use the antennas to transmit and receive wireless signals. The antennas may be mounted at the corners of an electronic device housing or elsewhere in an electronic device. An electronic device housing may be formed from metal and may have an opening filled with dielectric. The antennas may be aligned with portions of the dielectric. Printed circuit board antennas may have reflectors, radiators, and directors. The reflectors, radiators, and directors may be arranged to align radiation patterns for the antennas with the plastic-filled slots or other dielectric regions in the metal housing.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a metal housing; 
 a dielectric-filled slot in the metal housing; 
 a printed circuit board antenna having a radiation pattern that is aligned with the dielectric-filled slot, wherein the printed circuit board antenna comprises a Yagi antenna; and 
 millimeter wave transceiver circuitry that transmits and receives millimeter wave signals through the dielectric-filled slot using the printed circuit board antenna. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the Yagi antenna comprises a radiator and at least one director. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the Yagi antenna comprises a reflector. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the Yagi antenna has a reflector, a radiator, and directors. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the printed circuit board antenna has a printed circuit board substrate with a surface and wherein the directors are formed from parallel strips of metal on the surface. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the printed circuit board antenna has a printed circuit board substrate with multiple dielectric layers and wherein the directors are embedded within the multiple dielectric layers. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the radiator has arms, the arms of the radiator and the directors are vertically aligned so that the radiation pattern extends vertically and parallel to a surface normal of the printed circuit board substrate, and the reflector includes a layer of metal on the printed circuit board that overlaps the arms of the radiator. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the radiator has arms, the arms of the radiator and the directors are diagonally aligned so that the radiation pattern extends diagonally with respect to a surface normal of the printed circuit board substrate, and the reflector comprises a layer of metal with a reflector edge that is diagonally aligned with the arms of the radiator and the directors. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the millimeter wave transceiver circuitry is configured to transmit and receive millimeter wave signals at 60 GHz using the printed circuit board antenna and wherein the printed circuit board antenna comprises a Yagi antenna having a reflector, a radiator, and directors. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a director on the dielectric-filled slot. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a director embedded within the dielectric-filled slot. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a director selected from the group consisting of: a director on the dielectric-filled slot and a director embedded within the dielectric-filled slot. 
     
     
       13. Apparatus, comprising:
 a metal structure with a dielectric-filled opening; and 
 at least one phased antenna array having an array of printed circuit board antennas aligned with the dielectric-filled opening that transmit and receive wireless signals through the dielectric-filled opening, wherein each of the printed circuit board antennas is formed from a printed circuit board substrate with metal traces configured to form a reflector, a radiator, and at least one director. 
 
     
     
       14. The apparatus defined in  claim 13  further comprising a display, wherein the metal structure comprises an electronic device housing in which the display is mounted. 
     
     
       15. The apparatus defined in  claim 14  wherein the printed circuit board antennas comprise millimeter wave Yagi antennas, the at least one phased antenna array comprises a plurality of phased antenna arrays each having a respective array of printed circuit board antennas aligned with a respective portion of the dielectric-filled opening in the metal structure, the electronic device housing has four corners, and the plurality of phased antenna arrays comprises a respective phased antenna array at each of the four corners. 
     
     
       16. The apparatus defined in  claim 13 , wherein the dielectric-filled opening is a single dielectric-filled opening and each of the printed circuit board antennas is aligned with the single dielectric-filled opening. 
     
     
       17. An electronic device, comprising:
 a metal housing; 
 a dielectric-filled slot in the metal housing that electrically isolates at least two different portions of the metal housing from each other; 
 wireless transceiver circuitry; and 
 printed circuit board Yagi antennas, wherein the wireless transceiver circuitry transmits wireless signals through the dielectric-filled slot with the printed circuit board Yagi antennas. 
 
     
     
       18. The electronic device defined in  claim 17  wherein the wireless transceiver circuitry comprises millimeter wave transceiver circuitry and wherein the millimeter wave transceiver circuitry receives 60 GHz wireless signals with the printed circuit board Yagi antennas. 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein each of the printed circuit board Yagi antennas includes a printed circuit board substrate with multiple layers and includes directors that are formed from strips of metal embedded between different respective pairs of the layers. 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 17 , wherein the at least two different portions of the metal housing that are electrically isolated from each other by the dielectric-filled slot comprise a first portion of the metal housing that forms a resonating element arm for an inverted-F antenna and a second portion of the metal housing that forms an antenna ground structure.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry. 
     Electronic devices often include wireless communications circuitry. For example, cellular telephones, computers, 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, millimeter wave communications are often line-of-sight communications and can be characterized by substantial attenuation during signal propagation. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide electronic devices with improved wireless communications circuitry such as communications circuitry that supports millimeter wave communications. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. The antennas may include phased antenna arrays each of which includes multiple antenna elements. The phased antenna arrays may be used to handle millimeter wave wireless communications and may perform beam steering operations. 
     Antennas such as antennas in phased antenna arrays may be mounted at the corners of a housing for the electronic device or elsewhere in an electronic device. The antennas may be printed circuit board antennas formed from patterned metal traces on printed circuit board substrates. 
     The printed circuit board antennas may include Yagi antennas. Each Yagi antenna may have a reflector, a radiator, and one or more directors. The electronic device may have a metal housing with dielectric regions. The dielectric regions may be plastic-filled slots in the metal housing or other dielectric areas. The reflector, radiator, and directors may be configured so that each antenna has a radiation pattern that is aligned with a respective portion of the dielectric in the metal housing. In printed circuit boards with multiple substrate layers, different directors in an antenna may be embedded between different respective pairs of the substrate layers to form vertically oriented or diagonally oriented radiation patterns. The directors of an antenna may also be formed along the surface of a printed circuit board so that the antenna exhibits a horizontally oriented radiation pattern. 
    
    
     
       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 rear perspective view of an illustrative electronic device showing illustrative locations at which antenna arrays for millimeter wave communications may be located in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of an illustrative Yagi antenna of the type that may be used in an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a rear view of illustrative electronic device with a metal housing and dielectric such as plastic-filled slots in the housing to accommodate wireless circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a rear view of an illustrative electronic device showing illustrative positions for antennas at the corners of the device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative printed circuit board Yagi antenna with a horizontal set of directors in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative printed circuit board Yagi antenna with a vertical set of directors in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative printed circuit board Yagi antenna with a diagonal set of directors in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device showing how a Yagi antenna may have directors aligned with a dielectric gap in a metal device housing in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device showing how a director for an antenna may be embedded in dielectric in a metal device housing opening 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 phased antenna arrays that are used for handling millimeter wave communications. 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. If desired, device  10  may also contain wireless communications circuitry for handling satellite navigation system signals, cellular telephone signals, local wireless area network signals, near-field communications, light-based wireless communications, or other wireless communications. 
     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 wrist-watch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, 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 . 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.). 
     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 display pixels formed from liquid crystal display (LCD) components, an array of electrophoretic display pixels, an array of plasma display pixels, an array of organic light-emitting diode display pixels, an array of electrowetting display pixels, or display 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 . An opening may also be formed in the display cover layer to accommodate ports such as a speaker port. 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. 
     Antennas may be mounted in housing  12 . 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 place of the antennas that are being adversely affected. 
     Antennas may be mounted at the corners of housing  12 , along the peripheral edges of housing  12 , on the rear of housing  12 , under the display cover glass or other dielectric display cover layer that is used in covering and protecting display  14  on the front of device  10 , under a dielectric window on a rear face of housing  12  or the edge of housing  12 , or elsewhere in device  10 . 
     A schematic diagram showing illustrative components that may be used in device  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , device  10  may include control circuitry such as storage and processing circuitry  30 . Storage and processing circuitry  30  may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used to control the operation of device  10 . This processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     Storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used to run software on device  10 , 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, storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using storage and processing circuitry  30  include internet protocols, wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as WiFi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol, cellular telephone protocols, MIMO protocols, antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system 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, a connector port sensor or other sensor that determines whether device  10  is mounted in a dock, 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 that may handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) communications and that 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 low communications band from 700 to 960 MHz, a midband from 1710 to 2170 MHz, and a high band from 2300 to 2700 MHz or other communications bands between 700 MHz and 2700 MHz or other suitable frequencies (as examples). 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. 
     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. 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, 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. 
     Transmission line paths may be used to route antenna signals within device  10 . For example, transmission line paths may be used to couple antenna structures  40  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 the transmission lines, if desired. 
     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  30  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, Yagi antennas (sometimes referred to as 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. 
     In devices such as handheld devices, the presence of an external object such as the hand of a user or a table or other surface on which a device is resting has a potential to block wireless signals such as millimeter wave signals. Accordingly, it may be desirable to incorporate multiple phased antenna arrays into device  10 , each of which is placed in a different location within device  10 . With this type of arrangement, an unblocked phased antenna array may be switched into use and, once switched into use, the phased antenna array may use beam steering to optimize wireless performance. Configurations in which antennas from one or more different locations in device  10  are operated together may also be used. 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of electronic device showing illustrative locations  50  in which antennas  40  (e.g., single antennas and/or phased antenna arrays for use with wireless circuitry  34  such as millimeter wave wireless transceiver circuitry  46 ) may be mounted in device  10 . Antennas  40  may be mounted at the corners of device  10 , along the edges of housing  12  such as edge  12 E, on upper and lower portions of rear housing portion (wall)  12 R, in the center of rear housing wall  12 R (e.g., under a dielectric window structure or other antenna window in the center of rear housing  12 R), etc. As shown in  FIG. 3 , for example, antennas  40  may be located at the corners of housing  12  (i.e., locations  50  may be formed on the upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, and lower right corner of housing  12  and device  10 ). 
     In configurations in which housing  12  is formed entirely or nearly entirely from a dielectric, antennas  40  may transmit and receive antenna signals through any suitable portion of the dielectric. In configurations in which housing  12  is formed from a conductive material such as metal, regions of the housing such as slots or other openings in the metal may be filled with plastic or other dielectric. Antennas  40  may be mounted in alignment with the dielectric in the openings. These openings, which may sometimes be referred to as dielectric antenna windows, dielectric gaps, dielectric-filled openings, dielectric-filled slots, elongated dielectric opening regions, etc., may allow antenna signals to be transmitted to external equipment from antennas  40  mounted within the interior of device  10  and may allow internal antennas  40  to receive antenna signals from external equipment. 
     In devices with phased antenna arrays, circuitry  90  may include gain and phase adjustment circuitry that is used in adjusting the signals associated with each antenna  40  in an array (e.g., to perform beam steering). Switching circuitry may be used to switch desired antennas  40  into and out of use. Each of locations  50  may include multiple antennas  40  (e.g., a set of three antennas or more than three or fewer than three antennas in a phased antenna array) and, if desired, one or more antennas from one of locations  50  may be used in transmitting and receiving signals while using one or more antennas from another of locations  50  in transmitting and receiving signals. 
     Antennas  40  may have any suitable configuration. In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 4 , for example, antenna  40  is a Yagi antenna. As shown in  FIG. 4 , antenna  40  may be a Yagi printed circuit board antenna formed from printed circuit board  130 . Printed circuit board  130  may have a printed circuit substrate such as substrate  100 . Substrate  100  may be a rigid printed circuit board substrate (e.g., a substrate formed from fiberglass-filled epoxy or other rigid printed circuit board substrate material) or may be a flexible printed circuit substrate (e.g., a substrate formed from a sheet of flexible polymer such as a flexible polyimide layer). Substrate  100  may be form one or more dielectric layers. Other types of substrate may be used as a support structure for antenna  40 , if desired. The configuration of  FIG. 4  in which substrate  100  is a printed circuit board substrate (i.e., in which printed circuit  130  is a rigid printed circuit board) is merely illustrative. 
     Yagi antenna  40  includes reflector  132 , radiator  124 , and one or more directors  126 . Radiator (driven element)  124  may be formed from dipole resonating element arms  102  and may transmit and receive antenna signals during operation of antenna  40 . The presence of reflector  132  and directors  126  enhances the directionality of antenna  40  so that the radiation pattern for antenna  40  is directed in a desired direction, such as direction  128 . 
     Printed circuit board  130  may contain one or more patterned layers of metal traces for forming antenna  40 . For example, directors  126  and dipole arms  102  of radiator  124  may be formed from strip-shaped metal traces (i.e., parallel strips of metal) on substrate  100 . Antenna signals may be conveyed between transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna  40  using a transmission line path such as transmission line  108  that is formed from metal trace  106  and ground plane  104 . In portion  112  of antenna  124 , path  114  is longer than path  116  to impose a 180° phase shift on the signals passing through path  116  for satisfactory Yagi antenna operation. Portion  110  of the signal path feeding antenna  40  may be widened relative to other traces  106  in transmission line  108  to form a transformer impedance that helps match the impedance of transmission line  108  (e.g., 50 ohms) to the impedance of radiator  124  (e.g., 170-180 ohms). 
     Edge  118  of ground plane  104  may run parallel to arms  102  of radiator  124  and may be used in forming reflector  132 . Reflector  132  may also include optional metal traces (e.g., metal traces in another layer of printed circuit  130 ) such as strip-shaped metal traces  120 . Metal traces  120  may be shorted to ground  104  through vias  122  that pass through one or more layers of printed circuit board material in substrate  100 . 
     A rear view of device  10  in an illustrative configuration in which housing  12  (e.g., rear housing wall  12 R and/or housing sidewall  12 E) has been formed from metal is shown in  FIG. 5 . In the example of  FIG. 5 , device  10  includes dielectric-filled slots (gaps)  140  that separate portions of rear housing wall  12 R and/or sidewall housing wall  12 E from each other. There are two elongated slots  140  at one illustrative end of housing  12  in the example of  FIG. 5 , but this is merely illustrative. There may be one elongated strip-shaped opening in metal housing  12 , two elongated strip-shaped openings in metal housing  12 , or three or more strip-shaped openings in metal housing  12 , or other patterns of slots or other openings. These patterns of openings (e.g., the slots of  FIG. 5 ) may be formed at one or both ends of housing  12 . Gaps and other openings in housing  12  may also have non-elongated shapes, may have shapes with combinations of straight and curved edges, may form rectangular areas, may form circular areas, or may form areas with other shapes. These openings in housing  12  may pass entirely through the metal wall structure that forms housing  12  (e.g., these openings may pass from an outer surface of housing wall  12  to an inner surface of housing wall  12 ). If desired, a metal housing in device  10  may also include shallow grooves or other regions that have plastic or other dielectric but that do not pass entirely through the metal housing. 
     Portions of dielectric-filled slots that pass through housing  12  such as illustrative slots  140  of  FIG. 5  may electrically isolate different portions of housing  12  from each other and thereby allow these portions of housing  12  to serve as conductive structures in antennas (e.g., resonating element arms in inverted-F antennas, portions of slot antennas, resonating element structures in hybrid antennas, antenna ground structures, etc.) for cellular telephone bands, wireless local area network bands, satellite navigation system bands, other bands between 700 MH and 2700 MHz, and/or other suitable frequencies. Because slots  140  are filled with dielectric, these slots or other dielectric openings in a metal housing can also serve as antenna windows for antennas  40  such as illustrative Yagi antenna  40  of  FIG. 4 . Yagi antennas such as these may operate at frequencies of 60 GHz, other extremely high frequencies (EHF) such as frequencies of 10-400 GHz (sometimes referred to as millimeter wave frequencies), or other suitable operating frequencies. 
       FIG. 6  is a rear view of device  10  in an illustrative configuration in which each corner  50  of device  10  has been provided with a phased antenna array formed from multiple antennas. In the example of  FIG. 6 , each corner has an array formed from three respective antennas  40  oriented at 0°, 45°, and 90° so that adjacent antennas have radiation patterns that are oriented in directions separated by 45°, but the antenna array at each corner may have any suitable number of antennas (e.g., two or more, three or more, four or more, five or more six or more, two to five, three to five, three to eight, fewer than five, fewer than ten, etc.) and these antennas may be separated by any suitable angular amount (0-45°, 10-30°, more than 5°, less than 25°, less than 75°, etc.). Antennas  40  may be Yagi printed circuit board antennas and/or other suitable antennas. If desired, an array of patch antennas may be used to implement antennas  40  or each corner of device  10  may include both patch antennas and Yagi printed circuit board antennas. Configurations in which other types of antennas (e.g., dipoles, etc.) are used in forming antennas  40  for device  10  may also be used. 
     Dielectric-filled gaps in housing  12  such as dielectric-filled slots  140  of  FIG. 5  may serve as antenna windows for antennas  40  of  FIG. 6 . Depending on operating conditions (e.g., blockage of antennas by external objects, device orientation towards or away from an external transceiver, etc.), control circuitry in device  10  may select appropriate antennas  40  to switch into use. As an example, if one of the three-antenna arrays (or an antenna array with another suitable number of antennas) of  FIG. 6  exhibits good performance, the other three-antenna arrays may be turned off and the antenna array that is exhibiting good performance can be switched into use. Once operating in this way, beam steering operations may be performed with the array to further optimize performance. As another example, it may be determined that wireless performance can be optimized by switching one of antennas  40  into use (e.g., an antenna that is pointed towards external wireless equipment). In another possible configuration, a first antenna  40  from a first corner of device  10  and a second antenna  40  from a second corner of device  10  may be used (e.g., in a MIMO scheme). Other operations may be performed using antennas  40  if desired. 
       FIGS. 7, 8, and 9  are cross-sectional side views of antenna  40  showing illustrative configurations that may be used for directors  126  on printed circuit  130 . 
     In the example of  FIG. 7 , antenna  40  has a reflector formed from ground plane  104  with reflector edge  118  running parallel to arms  102  of radiator  124  (i.e., into the page in the orientation of  FIG. 7 ). Arms  102  may be coupled to the signal path formed from trace  106  using traces such as via  144 . Printed circuit board substrate  100  of printed circuit board  130  may have a surface such as surface  142 . Directors  126  may be mounted on surface  142  at different horizontal distances from radiator  102 . Radiator  102  may be mounted on surface  142  between reflector  132  and directors  126 . Using this type of planar arrangement (i.e., an arrangement in which reflector  132 , radiator  124 , and directors  124  lie in a common plane), the radiation pattern for antenna  40  may be oriented horizontally (e.g., transmitted signals from antenna  40  may propagate in horizontal direction  128  of  FIG. 7  and incoming signals may be received in the reverse horizontal direction). 
       FIG. 8  shows how substrate  100  may have multiple dielectric layers (e.g., multiple layers of printed circuit board substrate material such as multiple layers of fiberglass-filled epoxy). With this type of arrangement, directors  126  may be embedded within the layers of substrate  100  (e.g., different directors  126  may be formed between different respective pairs of substrate layers). Directors  126  of  FIG. 8  are aligned on top of each other and extend vertically through printed circuit  130  in alignment with arms  102  of radiator  124  and reflecting surface  146  of ground layer  104  in reflector  132 ). As a result, the radiation pattern associated with antenna  40  is vertical (see, e.g., direction  128  of  FIG. 8 , which is parallel with lower surface normal n of printed circuit board  130  and substrate  100 ). 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 9 , directors  126  are embedded within multiple dielectric layers in substrate  100  and have a diagonal orientation that is diagonally aligned with edge  118  of reflector  132  and with arms  102  of radiator  124 . With this configuration, antenna  40  exhibits a diagonally oriented radiation pattern (see, e.g., diagonal direction  128 ). 
     In general, antennas  40  can have layouts of the type shown in  FIGS. 7, 8, and 9  and/or may have other suitable layouts. Each antenna  40  may be different in layout or some or all of antennas  40  may have the same layout. Antennas  40  may be formed on one or more common printed circuit boards or each antenna  40  may be formed on a separate printed circuit board. 
     Antennas  40  can be mounted so that they radiate and receive signals through dielectric-filled openings in a metal housing (see, e.g., gaps  140  of  FIG. 5 ) or through other dielectric structures associated with device  10 . As shown in the cross-sectional side view of the end portion of illustrative device  10  of  FIG. 10 , for example, antenna  40  may have a diagonal radiation pattern formed by aligning directors  126 , arms  102  of radiator  124 , and edge  118  of reflector  132  diagonally. An antenna of this type may be mounted at a location within the interior of device  10  in which radiation pattern  128  is aligned with an antenna window structure in housing  12 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , for example, radiation pattern  128  may be aligned with dielectric-filled slot  140  ( FIG. 5 ). During operation, wireless signals  150  may be transmitted and received by antenna  40  through slot  140 . 
     If desired, directors  126  may be embedded within the plastic or other dielectric in a slot or other opening in a metal electronic device housing. Consider, as an example, the arrangement of  FIG. 11 . In the example of  FIG. 11 , antenna  40  is a Yagi antenna having reflector  132 , radiator  124 , and directors  126 . As shown in  FIG. 11 , one or more directors for antenna  40  may be supported by plastic or other dielectric within slot  140  or other dielectric-filled opening in housing  12  (e.g., a metal housing). In the  FIG. 11  example, director  126 ″ is embedded within the dielectric in slot  140 . If desired, a director may be formed from a metal trace on an inner surface of the dielectric in slot  140  (see, e.g., illustrative director  126 ′). Configurations in which multiple directors are embedded within the dielectric in an opening in metal housing  12  and/or in which more than one director is supported on a surface of the dielectric in the opening in metal housing  12  may also be used. The arrangement of  FIG. 11  is merely illustrative. Directors such as directors  126 ′ and  126 ″ may be machined metal members (e.g., machined strips of metal), patterned metal foil, metal traces deposited and patterned using laser patterning or other patterning techniques, wires, or other conductive structures. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20160426
Publication Date: 20181016
Grant Date: 20181016
Priority Date: 20160426
Inventors: NOORI, BASIM
TSAI, MING-JU
SHIU, BOON WAI
MOW, MATTHEW A.
OUYANG, Yuehui
PASCOLINI, MATTIA
CABALLERO, RUBEN
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q5/49", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2258", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q15/14", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/241", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q19/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/242", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q19/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q19/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/242", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/241", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2258", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/42", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q5/49", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q15/14", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/243", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/28", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/42", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 59272785