Apple Inc.

Other

Mattia Pascolini

Matthew A Mow

Robert W Schlub

Ruben Caballero

Nanbo Jin

Yi Jiang

Hongfei Hu

Enrique Ayala Vazquez

Hao Xu

Ming-Ju Tsai

Jayesh Nath

Siwen Yong

Yuehui Ouyang

Liang Han

Erdinc Irci

Jiangfeng Wu

Jennifer M Edwards

Yijun Zhou

Harish Rajagopalan

Carlo Di Nallo

Lijun Zhang

Jerzy S Guterman

Rodney Andres Gomez Angulo

Simone Paulotto

Mario Martinis

Basim H Noori

Bilgehan Avser

Eduardo Jorge Da Costa Bras Lima

Salih Yarga

Thomas E Biedka

Xu Han

Erica J Tong

Joshua G Nickel

Yiren Wang

Andrea Ruaro

Victor C Lee

Dean F Darnell

Zheyu Wang

Han Wang

Scott A Myers

Robert J Hill

Peter I Bevelacqua

Umar Azad

Tang Yew Tan

Qingxiang Li

Boon Wai Shiu

Richard Hung Minh Dinh

Trent Weber

Lu Zhang

Rex Tyler Ehman

Ming Chen

Mohit Narang

Jiang Zhu

Daniel William Jarvis

Erik G De Jong

Trevor J Ness

Jason C Sauers

Christopher T Cheng

Juan Zavala

James G Horiuchi

Matthew D Hill

Jared Mitchell Kole

Douglas Blake Kough

Makiko K Brzezinski

David W Pratt

Benjamin Shane Bustle

Miguel C Christophy

Richard Hung Dinh

Huan-Chu Huang

William Jean Noellert

James R Wilson

Anthony Sagala Montevirgen

Martin Melcher

Daniel C Wagman

Arun Dhyaneshwar Chawan

Sameer Pandya

Jr-Yi Shen

Lee M Panecki

Tyler B Cater

Eric N Nyland

Kevin M Froese

Robert Scritzky

Fletcher R Rothkopf

Jing Zhu

Colin M Ely

Benjamin J Pope

Madhusudan Chaudhary

Bing Chiang

Ian A Spraggs

Gregory Allen Springer

Ethan Larry Huwe

Victor W Lee

Joachim S Hammerschmidt

Steven P Cardinali

Joseph Hakim

Ryan C Perkins

Miroslav Samardzija

Benjamin A Cousins

Michael D Quinones

Nicholas G L Merz

An electronic device may be provided with an antenna module having a substrate. A phased antenna array of dielectric resonator antennas and a radio-frequency integrated circuit for the array may be mounted to one or more surfaces of the substrate. The dielectric resonator antennas may include dielectric columns excited by feed probes. The feed probes may be printed onto sidewalls of the dielectric columns or may be pressed against the sidewalls by biasing structures. A plastic substrate may be molded over each dielectric column and each of the feed probes in the array. The feed probes may cover multiple polarizations. The array may include elements for covering multiple frequency bands. The dielectric columns may be aligned a longitudinal axis and may be rotated at a non-zero and non-perpendicular angle with respect to the longitudinal axis.

Dielectric resonator antenna modules

An electronic device may be provided with peripheral conductive housing structures having first and second segments. A flexible printed circuit may have a first tail that extends along the first and second segments and a second tail that extends along the first segment. A conductive trace on the first tail may be coupled to an antenna feed terminal on the second segment. A conductive trace on the second tail may couple the conductive trace on the first tail to the first segment. A tuner and filters may be disposed on the flexible printed circuit and may be coupled to the conductive traces. The conductive trace on the second tail may have a tapered width. An antenna in the device may have a resonating element that includes both the first and second segments, thereby allowing the antenna to exhibit a wide bandwidth from 1.1-5 GHz.

Wideband antenna structures in corner of electronic device

An electronic device may be provided with peripheral conductive housing structures having a first segment and a second segment. First and second antenna feeds may be coupled between the first segment and the ground structures. The first feed may convey signals in a first band and the second feed may convey signals in a second band. The first segment may be near-field coupled to a slot between the second segment and the ground structures. A first tuner may be coupled between the second segment and the ground structures and may adjust a resonance of the first segment in the first and second bands. A second tuner coupled to the first feed may perform impedance matching in the first band and aperture tuning in the second band. A third tuner coupled to the second feed may perform impedance matching in the second band and aperture tuning in the first band.

Electronic device with multi-feed antenna structures

An electronic device may be provided with sidewalls and a conductive plate. A segment of the sidewalls may form a radiating arm of an antenna. A display may be mounted to the sidewalls. The display may include a conductive frame and a flexible printed circuit. The flexible circuit may have a bend. Conductive foam may short a conductive trace on the flexible circuit to the conductive frame near the bend. Low injection pressure overmolding (LIPO) may be molded over the flexible circuit, the foam, and the frame. A conductive spring may short the frame to the conductive plate. The spring may include a wider and/or thinner portion that optionally includes one or more notches for reducing its inductance. The conductive plate, the spring, the frame, the foam, and the conductive trace may form part of the antenna ground for the antenna.

Electronic device antennas with narrow border display

A radio frequency device has a multifunctional tuner that stores measurements of reflection coefficient parameter in a register. The radio frequency device also has a transceiver that has a transmitter. The transceiver may detect a transmitter signal from the transmitter to an antenna in an initial tuning state and then determine whether the transmitter signal is stable. In response to the transmitter signal being stable, the transceiver may measuring the reflection coefficient parameters at the multifunctional tuner. Furthermore, the radio frequency device has a baseband controller that has a memory to store instructions and a processor to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to determine an antenna impedance based on the reflection coefficient parameters, and in response to determining that the antenna impedance is greater than or less than a threshold antenna impedance, iteratively tune the antenna using the multifunctional tuner.

Adaptive antenna tuning system

An electronic device may have a phased antenna array. An antenna in the array may include a rectangular patch element with diagonal axes. The antenna may have first and second antenna feeds coupled to the patch element along the diagonal axes. The antenna may be rotated at a forty-five degree angle relative to other antennas in the array. The antenna may have one or two layers of parasitic elements overlapping the patch element. For example, the antenna may have a layer of coplanar parasitic patches separated by a gap. The antenna may also have an additional parasitic patch that is located farther from the patch element than the layer of coplanar parasitic patches. The additional parasitic patch may overlap the patch element and the gap in the coplanar parasitic patches. The antenna may exhibit a relatively small footprint and minimal mutual coupling with other antennas in the array.

Electronic devices having multilayer millimeter wave antennas

An electronic device may include first and second antennas formed from respective first and second segments of a housing. The first antenna may have a first feed coupled to the first segment by a first switch and coupled to the first segment by a first conductive trace. The second antenna may have a second feed coupled to the second segment by a second switch and coupled to the second segment by a second conductive trace. The first segment may be separated from the second segment by a single gap, a data connector may pass through the second segment, and the antennas may selectively cover a low band. Alternatively, the first segment may be separated from the second segment by a third segment and two gaps, the data connector may pass through the third segment, and the first and second antennas may concurrently cover the low band.

Electronic devices with multiple low band antennas

An electronic device may be provided with wireless communications circuitry and control circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include centimeter and millimeter wave transceiver circuitry and a phased antenna array. A dielectric cover may be formed over the phased antenna array. The phased antenna array may transmit and receive wireless radio-frequency signals through the dielectric cover. The dielectric cover may have first and second opposing surfaces. The second surface may face the phased antenna array and may have a curvature. The curvature of the second surface may include one or more recessed regions of the dielectric cover. The one or more recessed regions of the second surface may serve to maximize and broaden the coverage area for the phased antenna array. The first surface may be conformal to other structures in the electronic device.

Dielectric covers for antennas

An electronic device may have a cover layer and an antenna. A dielectric adapter may have a first surface coupled to the antenna and a second surface pressed against the cover layer. The cover layer may have a three-dimensional curvature. The second surface may have a curvature that matches the curvature of the cover layer. Biasing structures may exert a biasing force that presses the antenna against the dielectric adapter and that presses the dielectric adapter against the cover layer. The biasing force may be oriented in a direction normal to the cover layer at each point across dielectric adapter. This may serve to ensure that a uniform and reliable impedance transition is provided between the antenna and free space through the cover layer over time, thereby maximizing the efficiency of the antenna.

Electronic devices having antennas that radiate through three-dimensionally curved cover layers

An electronic device may be provided with peripheral conductive housing structures having first and second segments. The device may include an antenna having a resonating arm formed from the first segment, an antenna ground, and a tuning element. The tuning element may have first, second, and third terminals. The first terminal may be coupled to the second segment. The antenna may have a switchable loop path that includes a first path from the second terminal to the first segment, a second path from first segment to a first point on the antenna ground, a portion of the antenna ground from the first point to a second point, and a third path from the second point to the third terminal. The tuning element may selectively activate the switchable loop path to boost performance of the antenna in a frequency band between 3300 MHz and 5000 MHz when needed.

Electronic device with switchable antenna loop path

A head-mounted device may have a head-mounted housing. The head-mounted housing may have rear-facing displays that display images for a user. The images are viewable from eye boxes while the head-mounted device is being worn by the user. A peripheral conductive member may run along a peripheral edge of the front face of the housing. Dielectric-filled gaps may divide the peripheral conductive member into elongated conductive segments. The conductive segments may form antenna resonating elements for antennas on the front face. Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephone transceiver circuitry may be coupled to the antennas.

Systems with wireless communications

This is directed to connecting two or more elements using an intermediate element constructed from a material that changes between states. An electronic device can include one or more components constructed by connecting several elements. To provide a connection having a reduced or small size or cross-section and construct a component having high tolerances, a material can be provided in a first state in which it flows between the elements before changing to a second state in which it adheres to the elements and provides a structurally sound connection. For example, a plastic can be molded between the elements. As another example, a composite material can be brazed between the elements. In some cases, internal surfaces of the elements can include one or more features for enhancing a bond between the elements and the material providing the interface between the elements.

High tolerance connection between elements

An electronic device may include an antenna disposed on a substrate. The antenna may include a ring of conductive traces, a fed arm, and an unfed arm. The fed arm and the unfed arm may extend from opposing segments of the ring. The ring may be coupled to ground by fences of conductive vias extending through the substrate. The first arm may have a first radiating edge. The second arm may have a second radiating edge. The first radiating edge may be separated from the second radiating edge by a gap. The first arm may indirectly feed the second arm via near-field electromagnetic coupling across the gap. The first and second arms may collectively radiate in an ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency band.

Ultra-wideband antenna having fed and unfed arms

An electronic device may include first and second phased antenna arrays and a triplet of first, second, and third ultra-wideband antennas. An antenna module in the device may include a dielectric substrate. The first and second arrays and the triplet may be formed on the dielectric substrate. The third and second ultra-wideband antennas may be separated by a gap. The first array may be laterally interposed between the third and second ultra-wideband antennas within the gap. The third ultra-wideband antenna may be laterally interposed between the first phased antenna array and at least some of the second array. An integrated circuit may be mounted to the dielectric substrate using an interposer. The antenna module may occupy a minimal amount of space within the device and may be less expensive to manufacture relative to scenarios where the arrays and the ultra-wideband antennas are formed on separate substrates.

Electronic devices having millimeter wave and ultra-wideband antenna modules

An electronic device may be provided with a phased antenna array that radiates at a frequency greater than 10 GHz through a display. The array may include a dielectric resonator antenna having a dielectric column. The dielectric column may have a first surface mounted to a circuit board and a second surface that faces the display. A conductive cap may be formed on the second surface. The conductive cap may allow the dimensions of dielectric column to be reduced while still allowing the dielectric resonator antenna to cover a frequency band of interest. If desired, the phased antenna array may include multiple sets of dielectric resonator antennas for covering different frequency bands. The sets may have different dielectric column heights and/or different conductive cap sizes.

Electronic devices having compact dielectric resonator antennas

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Mattia Pascolini