PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10741925-B2
Application Number: US-201815933162-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with support structure antennas

Abstract:
An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing. The housing may have conductive portions such as metal walls and metal support structures that support the housing. The walls may be assembled to form a box-shaped housing having corners. The support structures may form legs at the corners of the housing. Antennas may be formed in the housing to support communications such as wireless local area network communications. The antennas may be slot antennas formed from openings in the legs. Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry in the housing may be used to transmit and receive radio-frequency communications. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may be coupled to the antenna using a transmission line. Threaded radio-frequency connectors or other connectors may be used in coupling the transmission line to a slot antenna.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 an electronic device housing supported by at least one leg; 
 a slot antenna formed from an opening that passes through the leg; 
 radio-frequency transceiver circuitry within the electronic device housing that is configured to transmit and receive wireless communications; and 
 a transmission line coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the slot antenna. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic device housing has a box shape with corners and the leg is coupled to a given one of the corners. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the leg comprises an elongated metal member that runs along an edge of the electronic device housing at the given one of the corners. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  wherein the elongated metal member is a metal rod and the opening is a through hole with a rectangular outline. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the slot antenna has first and second antenna feed terminals coupled to first and second portions of the metal rod that are respectively on opposing first and second sides of the opening. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the metal rod comprises a cylindrical rod. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the leg has an additional opening and the electronic device further comprises an additional slot antenna formed from the additional opening. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 7  wherein the slot antenna is configured to operate in a 2.4 GHz communications band and wherein the additional slot antenna is configured to operate in a 5 GHz communications band. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the transmission line comprises a coaxial cable with a threaded radio-frequency connector and wherein the slot antenna has a feed structure with a mating threaded radio-frequency connector. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic device housing has at least first and second planar walls having respective surface normals that are perpendicular to each other and wherein the opening passes through the leg at an angle of 45° with respect to each of the surface normals. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 10  wherein the leg comprises a cylindrical rod. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  wherein the slot antenna is configured to operate in at least one wireless local area network band. 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  further comprising at least one dielectric cover that covers the opening and has a curved surface that lies flush with an outer surface of the leg. 
     
     
       14. A desktop computer, comprising:
 a box-shaped housing having metal walls and metal legs; 
 input-output circuitry in the box-shaped housing; 
 control circuitry coupled to the input-output circuitry; 
 radio-frequency transceiver circuitry coupled to the control circuitry that the control circuitry is configured to use to transmit and receive wireless communications; 
 a slot antenna formed from a through hole in a given one of the metal legs; and 
 a transmission line coupled between the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and the slot antenna. 
 
     
     
       15. The desktop computer defined in  claim 14  wherein the given one of the metal legs runs along a corner of the box-shaped housing and the transmission line comprises a coaxial cable, the slot antenna comprising a feed structure with a threaded radio-frequency connector to which the transmission line is coupled. 
     
     
       16. The desktop computer defined in  claim 14  wherein the metal leg is a cylindrical rod at a corner of the box-shaped housing. 
     
     
       17. The desktop computer defined in  claim 16  further comprising a solid dielectric cover that overlaps the through hole. 
     
     
       18. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing with first and second metal walls having first and second edges that are joined along a corner of the housing; 
 an elongated conductive housing support structure that runs along at least part of the first and second edges at the corner; and 
 an antenna in the elongated conductive housing support structure. 
 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein the antenna comprises a slot antenna formed from a slot in the elongated conductive housing support structure wherein the slot overlaps the corner. 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 19  wherein the elongated conductive housing support structure comprises a metal leg that supports the housing and wherein the antenna is configured to transmit and receive wireless signals in a wireless local area network communications band. 
     
     
       21. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic device housing has opposing upper and lower surfaces, the radio-frequency transceiver circuitry is interposed between the upper and lower surfaces, and the at least one leg protrudes below the lower surface. 
     
     
       22. The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the given one of the metal legs has a curved surface.

Description:
FIELD 
     This relates to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices are often provided with wireless communications capabilities. An electronic device with wireless communications capabilities has wireless communications circuitry with one or more antennas. Wireless transceiver circuitry in the wireless communications circuitry uses the antennas to transmit and receive radio-frequency signals. 
     It can be challenging to form a satisfactory antenna for an electronic device. If care is not taken, the antenna may not perform satisfactorily, may be overly complex to manufacture, or may be difficult to integrated into a device. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing. The housing may have conductive portions such as metal walls. The metal walls may be planar walls that form a box-shaped housing. Metal supports for a housing such as housing legs may be coupled to the corners of the housing. The metal legs may run vertically along each of four corners of a box-shaped housing or may otherwise be used in supporting the electronic device. 
     The electronic device may have wireless circuitry for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. The wireless circuitry may include antennas and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry. 
     The antennas may be formed in conductive portions of the housing. In an illustrative configuration, the antennas may be slot antennas formed from through holes in the legs. Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry in the housing that is used in transmitting and receiving radio-frequency communications may be coupled to each antenna using a corresponding transmission line. Threaded radio-frequency connectors or other connectors may be used in coupling each transmission line to a corresponding slot antenna. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of an illustrative electronic device slot antenna in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of a pair of illustrative electronic device slot antennas in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of a corner portion of an illustrative electronic device of the type shown in  FIG. 2  in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional top view of an illustrative slot antenna formed from a through hole that passes through a support structure such as a leg at a corner of an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include antennas such as wireless local area network antennas or other antennas. Electronic device  10  may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a desktop 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, a wireless internet-connected voice-controlled speaker, equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may include storage and processing circuitry such as control circuitry  28 . 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 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, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     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, reminder list applications, calendar applications, shopping applications, home automation applications, applications for setting alarms and timers, operating system functions, etc. To support interactions with external equipment, circuitry  28  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using circuitry  28  include internet protocols, wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as WiFi®—and protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol), cellular telephone protocols, antenna diversity protocols, etc. 
     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  32  may include touch sensors, displays, light-emitting components such as displays without touch sensor capabilities, buttons (mechanical, capacitive, optical, etc.), scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, buttons, speakers, status indicators, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, motion sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or compasses that detect motion), capacitance sensors, proximity sensors, magnetic sensors, force sensors (e.g., force sensors coupled to a display to detect pressure applied to the display), etc. In some configurations, keyboards, headphones, displays, pointing devices such as trackpads, mice, and joysticks, and other input-output devices may be coupled to device  10  using wired or wireless connections (e.g., some of input-output devices  32  may be peripherals that are coupled to a main processing unit or other portion of device  10  via a wired or wireless link). 
     Input-output circuitry  44  may include wireless circuitry  34  to support wireless communications. Wireless circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry  90  formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RF components, one or more antennas such as antenna  40 , transmission lines such as transmission line  92 , and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., using infrared communications). 
     Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  may include wireless local area network transceiver circuitry to handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) wireless local area network communications and may include Bluetooth® circuitry to handle the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® communications band. If desired, circuitry  90  may handle other bands such as cellular telephone bands, near-field communications bands (e.g., 13.56 MHz), millimeter wave bands (e.g., communications at 60 GHz), and/or other communications bands. Configurations in which radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  handles wireless local area network bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) may sometimes be described herein as an example. In general, however, circuitry  90  may be configured to cover any suitable communications bands of interest. 
     Wireless circuitry  34  may include one or more antennas such as antenna  40 . Antennas such as antenna  40  may be formed using any suitable antenna types. For example, antennas in device  10  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, monopole antennas, dipoles, hybrids of these designs, etc. Parasitic elements may be included in antennas  40  to adjust antenna performance. In some configurations, device  10  may have isolation elements between respective antennas  40  to help avoid antenna-to-antenna cross-talk. 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. In some configurations, different antennas may be used in handling different bands for transceiver circuitry  90 . Each antenna  40  may cover one or more bands. For example, antennas  40  may be single band wireless local area network antennas or dual band wireless local area network antennas. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , 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 from metal traces on a printed circuit, cables, 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 transmission line  92  may be used to route antenna signals within device  10 . Transmission lines in device  10  may include coaxial cables, 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 paths formed using transmission lines such as 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.). During operation, control circuitry  28  may use transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna(s)  40  to transmit and receive data wirelessly. Control circuitry  28  may, for example, receive wireless local area network communications wirelessly using transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna(s)  40  and may transmit wireless local area network communications wirelessly using transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna(s)  40 . 
     A perspective view of an illustrative electronic device such as device  10  of  FIG. 1  is shown in  FIG. 2 . In the example of  FIG. 2 , device  10  has a housing such as housing  12  with a rectangular box shape. In general, device  10  may have a housing with any suitable shape (e.g., a box shape with a different numbers of sides, pyramidal, cylindrical, conical, spherical, a shape with a combination of curved sides and planar sides, etc.). The box-shaped housing of  FIG. 2  is illustrative. 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, copper, brass, etc.), fabric, 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 covered with one or more outer housing layers). Configurations for housing  12  in which housing  12  includes support structures (a stand, leg(s), handles, etc.) may also be used. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , housing  12  may be characterized by a width W, a height H, and a length L. The values of W, H, and L may be at least 1 mm, at least 10 mm, at least 100 mm, at least 300 mm, may be less than 1000 mm, less than 750 mm, may be less than 500 mm, may be less than 250 mm, or may be any other suitable value. In some configurations, housing  12  is low and wide (e.g., H may be less than W and less than L). In other configurations, housing  12  may be thinner and taller. For example, H may be at least two times W, at least 3 times W, or other suitably large value. If desired, L may be larger than W (e.g., L may be at least 1.5 times W, 2 times W, at least three times W, etc.). Other shapes and sizes may be used for housing  12  if desired. The example of  FIG. 2  is illustrative. 
     Housing  12  may have edges such as edges that extend along the four corners  14  of housing  12  of  FIG. 2  (e.g., the four corners of housing  12  when an outline of housing  12  is viewed from above). Each corner  14  may, for example, have an edge that extends vertically along vertical dimension Z. Housing walls such as planar housing walls  16  of  FIG. 2  may be formed on the top and bottom of housing  12  (walls that lie parallel to the XY plane), the left and right sides of housing  12  (walls that lie parallel to the YZ plane), and/or on the front and rear sides of housing  12  (walls that lie parallel to the XZ plane). In this type of arrangement, walls  16  form an enclosure for device  10  that is a six-sided box. 
     Walls  16  may be formed from conductive material such as metal (e.g., aluminum, steel, etc.), other conductive materials, and/or insulating material (e.g., polymer, etc.). In some configurations, walls  16  or portions of walls  16  may have areas such as areas  18  to accommodate buttons and other input-output devices  32 , ports for coupling to removable storage media, ports that facilitate coupling to peripherals (e.g., data ports), audio ports, etc. Areas  18  may be located on one or more of walls  16  (as an example). For example, an area  18  that contains a power port and data and display ports and may be located on the rear wall of housing  12 . 
     One or more antennas such as antenna  40  of  FIG. 1  may be formed in device  10  to handle wireless communications. In some configurations, antennas or parts of antenna may be formed from internal device components (e.g., antenna traces on printed circuit boards mounted within the interior of housing  12 ). In other configurations, antennas or parts of antennas may be formed from conductive housing structures. For example, conductive structures in housing  12  such as conductive walls  16  and/or conductive support structures for supporting walls  16  may be used in forming one or more antennas  40 . These conductive electronic device housing structures may be provided with one or more openings to form slot antennas, inverted-F antennas, other antennas, hybrid antennas that include resonating elements of more than one type, etc. 
     An illustrative slot antenna configuration for antenna  40  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , conductive structures  104  may have one or more openings such as opening  114  that are fully and/or partially filled with a gaseous dielectric such as air and/or a solid dielectric such as polymer, glass, ceramic, and/or other solid insulating material. Positive signal line  94  in transmission line  92  ( FIG. 1 ) may be coupled to positive antenna feed terminal  98  and ground signal line  96  of transmission line  92  ( FIG. 1 ) may be coupled to ground antenna feed terminal  100 . Radio-frequency connectors and other components may be used in coupling transmission line  92  to the antenna feed formed by terminals  98  and  100 . Antenna feed terminals  98  and  100  may be coupled to respective portions of conductive structures  104  on opposing sides of opening  114  (e.g., on opposing sides of a slot or other gap in structures  104  that is filled with gaseous and/or solid dielectric). 
     In some configurations, conductive structures  104  may have an elongated shape (e.g., the shape of a rectangular bar or cylindrical rod having a diameter of at least 0.5 cm, at least 1 cm, at least 2 cm, less than 10 cm, less than 5 cm, etc.). As an example, conductive structures  104  may form elongated support structures for device  10  such as legs or other housing support structures in housing  12 . In these configurations and other configurations for conductive structures  104 , multiple openings  114  (e.g., elongated through holes such as rectangular slots, oval slots, rectangular slots with rounded corners, etc.) may be formed at two or more respective positions along the length of the conductive structures (e.g., at multiple locations along the length of a metal bar or rod). 
     Optional tuning components may be coupled to antenna  40 . As an example, one or more antenna tuning components such as illustrative component  115  of  FIG. 3  may bridge opening  114 . Component  115  may be, for example, a tunable capacitor, a tunable inductor, a tunable component formed from a series of discrete components that can be selectively switched into or out of use with corresponding switching circuitry (e.g., a multiplexer coupled to a set of capacitors or a set of inductors to form, respectively, a tunable capacitor or tunable inductor), etc. Component  115  may have a first terminal coupled to conductive structures  104  on a first side of opening  114  and a second terminal coupled to conductive structures  104  on an opposing second side of opening  114  or may otherwise be coupled to conductive portions of antenna  40  and/or the circuitry associated with antenna  40  (e.g., matching circuits, etc.). In some configurations, component  115  may be formed in an elongated threaded member (sometimes referred to as an antenna tuning circuit bolt). Transmission line  92  may also be coupled to the feed for antenna  40  using an elongated threaded member such as a bolt (sometimes referred to as an antenna feed bolt). An antenna feed bolt may have positive and ground portions (terminals) that couple to conductive structures  104  on opposing sides of opening  114  and/or that are otherwise mounted to structures  104 . The antenna feed bolt may be coupled to transmission line  92  using threaded radio-frequency connectors. If desired, other types of structures may be used in coupling transmission line  92  to the feed of antenna  40  (e.g., brackets, screws, soldered terminals, etc.). The use of an elongated threaded member illustrative. 
       FIG. 4  is a side view of illustrative elongated conductive structures  104  (e.g., a portion of housing  12  such as a leg or other support structure formed from metal or other conductive material). In the example of  FIG. 4 , there are two antennas  40 . A first of antennas  40  may have a slot resonating element with a longer length (e.g., 61 mm, at least 30 mm, less than 90 mm, or other suitable length) and may be used to transmit and receive wireless local area network communications in a first band such as a 2.4 GHz wireless local area network communications band and a second of antennas  40  may have a slot resonating element formed from an opening  114  with a shorter length (e.g., 35 mm, at least 13 mm, at least 20 mm, less than 60 mm, less than 45 mm, etc.) and may be used to transmit and receive wireless local area network communications in a second band such as a 5 GHz wireless local area network communications band. 
     In each antenna  40 , conductive structures  104  may have portions on opposing sides of a respective opening  114  (e.g., a through-hole opening with a rectangular outline or other suitable shape). A threaded antenna feed member with threads that engage threads in a hole in conductive structures  104  or other feed structure may be used to couple transmission line to feed terminals  98  and  100  in each antenna  40 . Antennas  40  may be any suitable type of antenna (e.g., each antenna  40  may be a slot antenna, an inverted-F antenna, a hybrid slot-inverted-F antenna, and/or other suitable antenna). In the example of  FIG. 4 , each antenna  40  is a slot antenna having a slot antenna resonating element formed from an elongated opening  114  in conductive structures  104 . A cover that is formed from insulating material (e.g., polymer, etc.) and/or a pair of separate covers may be used to cover antennas  40 , as shown by illustrative cover  222 . There may be separate covers for each antenna  40  on opposing entrance and exit sides of opening  114 . 
       FIG. 5  is a front view of a corner portion of device  10 . In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 5 , conductive structures  104  form a housing support structure such as a vertical leg (leg LG). Each leg of housing  12  such as illustrative leg LG of  FIG. 5  may run vertically along a respective corner  14  of housing  12 , parallel to the Z axis. A horizontal housing member such as member HD may be coupled to an upper portion of leg LG and may serve as a handle (e.g., a handle attached to a pair of legs LG on the top front of housing  12 , as an example). 
     Antennas  40  may be located at one or more locations along the length of leg LG, as shown by illustrative antenna locations  40 L. Housing  12  may have four legs LG located, respectively at each of the four corners  14  of housing  12 . One or more of these legs, two or more of these legs, three or more of these legs, or four or more of these legs may each be configured to form one or more antennas  40 . Configurations for device  10  with more than four legs or fewer than four legs or with housing support structures of other shapes (e.g., housing stands having L-shaped stands or T-shaped stands formed from conductive structures  104 ) may also be used. 
     A top view of an illustrative slot antenna formed from conductive structures  104  in a housing leg such as leg LG located at one of the four corners  14  of device housing  12  in device  10  is shown in  FIG. 6 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , conductive structures  104  of leg LG may have a circular outline (leg LG may be a cylindrical rod). Configurations in which leg LG has other outlines (square, hexagonal, oval, triangular, other shapes with straight and/or curved edges, etc.) may also be used. Opening  114  may form a through hole that has a rectangular outline or other suitable shape when viewed in direction  224  (as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). Through-hole opening  114  passes from one side of leg LG to the other. As a result, radio-frequency signals  220  can be transmitted and received efficiently without being blocked by housing walls  16 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , radio-frequency signals  220  can be transmitted outwardly in opposing directions  226  and incoming radio-frequency signals  220  can be received inwardly in opposing directions  228 . This provides antenna  30  with wide coverage (e.g., high antenna efficiency over a wide range of angles), particularly when through-hole axis  230  for opening  114  is oriented at a 45° angle with respect to the X axis and Y axis (and at 45° with respect to the surface normals n of the vertical sidewalls  16  of device  10 , such as the sidewalls  16  with perpendicular surface normal n that are shown in  FIG. 6 ). The X axis and Y axis of  FIG. 6  lie parallel respectively to the front and side walls  16  of housing  12 . When oriented in this way, through-hole axis  230  is oriented at a 45° angle (within 5°, 10°, 15°, or other suitable alignment tolerance) with respect to surface normal n of the front, rear, left, and right walls  16  of housing  12 . 
     Leg LG may be attached to housing walls  16  using coupling structures  218  (e.g., welds, fasteners, solder, adhesive, interlocking engagement structures, and/or other attachment mechanisms). The housing walls  16  that are attached to legs LG of housing  12  in this way may extend over the entire sides of device  12  and/or walls  16  may be configured to form small protruding plates  16  near legs LG that are mounted to additional overlapping housing panels (e.g., housing walls  16 ′ that extend over the sides of device  12 ). Other arrangements for coupling housing walls of housing  12  to legs LG may be used, if desired. 
     Antenna  40  of  FIG. 6  may be fed using an elongated antenna feed member such as member  202  that extends across opening  114  or other suitable antenna feed structure. In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 6 , member  202  has a first portion (first shaft portion  202 ) that extends through a through hole in a first portion of conductive structures  104 . A second portion of conductive structures  104  that lies on an opposing side of opening  114  may have a recess or other opening (e.g., a through hole) that receives tip portion  200  of the elongated antenna feed member. 
     Portion  204  may be threaded and may engage threads on the through hole in the first portion of structures  104  or portion  200  can be threaded and may engage threads on the second portion of conductive structures  104 . Configurations in which both ends of elongated antenna feed member  202  are threaded or in which both ends of elongated antenna feed member  202  are unthreaded may also be used. Elongated antenna feed member  202  may have a head with a hexagonal shape or other shape configured to be tightened with a wrench or other tool and may therefore sometimes be referred to as an antenna feed bolt. 
     Antenna feed terminal  100  may be formed by shorting portion  204  of member  202  to a first portion of conductive structures  104  and antenna feed terminal  98  may be formed by shorting tip  200  of elongated member  202  to a second portion of conductive structures  104  on an opposing side of opening  114 . Member  202  may bridge opening  114  and may have a coaxial signal path configuration. With this arrangement, a central conductive core member may serve as a positive signal path and may be shorted to tip  200  while a surrounding outer cylindrical shell formed from metal or other conductive material may serve as a ground signal path and may be shorted to portion  204  of member  202 . Dielectric may be used to separate the conductive core from the surrounding shell. The central core of member  202  may be shorted to a positive signal conductor in connector  208  of member  202 . The outer ground shell of member  202  may be shorted to a ground signal conductor in connector  208 . 
     Transmission line  92  may be used to couple the antenna feed formed from member  202  and terminals  98  and  100  to radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  ( FIG. 1 ). As shown in  FIG. 6 , transceiver circuitry  90  and other circuitry (e.g., control circuitry  20 , input-output circuitry  44 , etc.) may be implemented using electrical components  216  (e.g., integrated circuits, etc.) on one or more printed circuits  214 . Radio-frequency connectors or other coupling mechanisms may be used in coupling transmission line  92  between antenna  40  and printed circuit  214 . 
     If desired, antenna feed member  202  may be pigtailed to transmission line  92  (e.g., a coaxial cable). Alternatively, member  202  may have a radio-frequency connector such as connector  208  of  FIG. 6  that mates with connector  206  on transmission line  92  (e.g., using mating threads). Printed circuit  214  and the circuitry of printed circuit  214  such as components  216  and radio-frequency connector  212  may be mounted in interior portion  232  of housing  12 . 
     Printed circuit  214  may be a rigid printed circuit board (e.g., a printed circuit formed from rigid substrate material such as fiberglass-filled epoxy) or may be a flexible printed circuit (e.g., a flex circuit formed from a sheet of polyimide or a layer of other flexible polymer). Components  216  may include, for example, integrated circuits and other circuitry for transceiver circuitry  90  and other circuitry in device  10 . 
     Transmission line  92  may be a coaxial cable or other suitable transmission line for coupling the circuitry of printed circuit  214  (e.g., transceiver circuitry  90 ) to antenna  40 . Transmission line  92  may have opposing first and second ends. The first end of the cable may have a first radio-frequency cable connector such as first connector  210 . The opposing second end of the cable may have a second radio-frequency cable connector such as second connector  206 . First connector  210  may be configured to mate with a radio-frequency connector such as printed circuit connector  212  on printed circuit  214  (e.g., a connector that is soldered to metal traces in the circuitry of printed circuit  214 ). Second connector  206  may be configured to mate with a corresponding radio-frequency connector that is coupled to and/or forms a part of elongated member  202  such as connector  208 . Connectors such as connector  212 ,  210 ,  206 , and  208  may be any suitable radio-frequency connectors such as MCX (micro coaxial connector) connectors, other coaxial connectors such as connectors that attach with clips, stab-in connectors, SMA (subminiature version A) connectors, etc. The use of threaded radio-frequency cable connectors such as MCX connectors for forming connectors  212 ,  210 ,  206 , and  208  is illustrative. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , connector  212  mates with connector  210  to couple transmission line  92  to printed circuit  214  and transceiver circuitry  90  and other electrical components  216  on printed circuit  214 . Connector  206  mates with connector  208  of antenna feed member  202  to couple transmission line  92  to antenna  40 . If desired, circuitry in components  216  and/or circuitry associated with structures  104  may include antenna tuning circuits, impedance matching circuitry, switches, impedance monitoring circuits, filters, and/or other radio-frequency circuitry. This circuitry may, if desired, be interposed between transceiver circuitry  90  and transmission line  92  and/or between transmission line  92  and antenna  40 . Configurations in which transmission line  92  is formed from one or more linked transmission line segments with intervening blocks of tuning circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, switches, impedance monitoring circuitry, filters, and/or other radio-frequency circuitry may also be used. 
     Antennas  40  in device  10  may be formed using any suitable type of antenna (e.g., slot antennas, inverted-F antennas, patch antennas, monopole antennas, dipole antennas, Yagi antennas, planar inverted-F antennas, loop antennas, other antennas, hybrid antennas that are formed from antenna resonating elements of different types, etc.). These antennas may include, for example, one or more antennas such as single-band or dual-band antennas for supporting wireless local area network (WiFi®) communications and/or other wireless communications. 
     In the example of  FIG. 6 , antenna  40  is a slot antenna formed from a through hole (opening  114 ) that passes through leg LG formed from conductive structures  104 . Other types of antenna may be used, if desired. There may be multiple antennas  40  in each of one or more legs LG. For example, a given leg LG in device  10  may include a first antenna  40  for handling 2.4 GHz wireless local area network communications and a second antenna  40  for handling 5 GHz wireless local area network communications. 
     To block internal components such as feed member  202  from view, one or more antennas  40  may be covered with a cosmetic insulating layer. For example, opening  114  may be covered with a cosmetic dielectric cover such as cover  222 . Cover  222  may be formed from polymer, glass, ceramic, or other solid dielectric. The interior of opening  114  may be filled with a gaseous dielectric and/or solid dielectric. In configurations for leg LG in which leg LG is cylindrical, cover  222  may have a matching cylindrical shape (e.g., so that the outer surfaces of cover  222  and leg LG match and so that the external surface of cover  222  lies flush with the surrounding portions of the external surface of leg LG). 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , cover  222  may include a single cover member (e.g., a curved plastic member or other insulating structure) that spans multiple antennas  40 . If desired, separate covers  222  may be provided for each antenna  40  (e.g., four covers  222  may be used to cover the respective front and rear sides of the two openings  114  in a pair of antennas  40 ). The use of a single cover member (for each side of leg LG) that overlaps multiple openings  114  in conductive structures  104  and thereby serves as a shared cover for multiple slot antennas is illustrative. 
     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: 20180322
Publication Date: 20200811
Grant Date: 20200811
Priority Date: 20180322
Inventors: Barrera, Joel D.
CUSEO, JAMES M.
GUTERMAN, Jerzy S.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04B1/3888", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q13/103", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q13/10", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B15/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/0064", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q13/10", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/0064", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2291", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/2266", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 67985680