CN117293527A - Electronic device with integrated housing and display antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices having integrated housings and display antennas. An electronic device may have a conductive sidewall, a conductive turntable, and a conductive bridge. The turntable may be separated from the side walls by slots. A display may be mounted to the turntable and may include a conductive display structure and a conductive ring coupling the display to the turntable. The antenna in the device may have radiating elements formed by the conductive display structures, the ring and the turntable. The conductive bridge may form a short path across the slot to the sidewalls. The slot may define a radiating edge of the radiating element. Integrating the antenna into the device in this manner can maximize the bandwidth of the antenna by expanding the antenna area to include the entire lateral area of the electronic device. This can also be used to maximize the effective area of the display.

Description

Electronic device with integrated housing and display antenna

The present application claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/324,827, filed 5/26, 2023, and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/355,026, filed 23, 2022, 6, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Background

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to electronic devices having wireless circuitry.

Electronic devices often have wireless communication capabilities. Manufacturers are constantly striving to implement wireless circuits, such as antenna components, that use compact structures in order to meet consumer demand for low profile electronic devices.

At the same time, the larger antenna volume generally allows the antenna to exhibit a higher efficiency bandwidth. Further, because the antennas may interfere with each other and with other components in the wireless device, care must be taken when incorporating the antennas into the electronic device to ensure that the antennas and wireless circuitry exhibit satisfactory performance over a wide range of operating frequencies.

It is therefore desirable to be able to provide improved radio circuits for electronic devices.

Disclosure of Invention

An electronic device such as a wristwatch may be provided with a housing. The housing may include a conductive sidewall, a conductive turntable, and a conductive bridge. The conductive turntable may be vertically separated from the conductive sidewall by an elongated slot. A conductive bridge may couple the conductive turntable to the conductive sidewall across the elongated slot.

The display may be mounted to a conductive turntable. The display may include a conductive display structure and a display cover layer overlapping the conductive display structure. The conductive display structure may include a conductive material on the display panel. The display may include a conductive ring coupling the display panel to the conductive turntable. The conductive turntable may laterally surround the display overlay. A dielectric gasket may be vertically interposed between the display cover layer and the conductive ring.

The electronic device may include a wireless circuit. The wireless circuit may include an antenna. The antenna may transmit radio frequency signals through the front face of the device. The antenna may have a radiating element and an antenna ground. The antenna ground may include conductive sidewalls. The radiating element may be a short patch element. The shorting patch element may comprise a patch element formed from a conductive display structure, a conductive ring, and a conductive turntable. The shorting patch element may be shorted to the conductive sidewall by a conductive bridge. The slot may define a radiating edge of the shorting patch element. Integrating the antenna into the device in this manner can maximize the bandwidth of the antenna by expanding the antenna area to include the entire lateral area of the electronic device. This can also be used to maximize the effective area of the display.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary electronic device with wireless circuitry according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary electronic device with wireless circuitry, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary radio circuit in an electronic device, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an exemplary antenna with a shorted patch element, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing how a shorting patch element of an antenna may be formed from a conductive housing structure and a display structure within an electronic device, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary electronic device having an antenna with a shorting patch element formed from a conductive housing structure and a display structure, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a graph of antenna performance (antenna efficiency) as a function of frequency for an exemplary antenna of the type shown in fig. 2-6, according to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

An electronic device, such as electronic device 10 of fig. 1, may be provided with wireless circuitry (sometimes referred to herein as wireless communication circuitry). The wireless circuitry may be used to support wireless communications in a plurality of wireless communications bands. The communication bands (sometimes referred to herein as bands) handled by the radio circuitry may include satellite navigation system communication bands, cellular telephone communication bands, wireless local area network communication bands, wireless personal area network communication bands, near field communication bands, ultra-wideband communication bands, or other wireless communication bands.

The wireless circuit may include one or more antennas. Antennas of wireless circuits may include patch antennas (e.g., shorted patch antennas), loop antennas, inverted-F antennas, strip antennas, planar inverted-F antennas, slot antennas, hybrid antennas that include more than one type of antenna structure, or other suitable antennas.

The electronic device 10 may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitor including 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 hanging device, a headset or earpiece device, a device embedded in glasses or other equipment worn on the head of a user, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display not including an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system (such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is installed in a kiosk or automobile), equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. In the exemplary configuration of fig. 1, the device 10 is a portable device such as a wristwatch (e.g., a smartwatch). Other configurations may be used for the device 10 if desired. The example of fig. 1 is merely illustrative.

In the example of fig. 1, device 10 includes a display, such as display 14. The display 14 may be mounted in a housing, such as housing 12. The outer shell 12, which may sometimes be referred to as a housing or case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramic, fiber composite, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of these materials. The housing 12 may be formed using a unitary configuration in which a portion or all of the housing 12 is machined or molded into a single structure, or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internal frame structure, one or more structures forming an external housing surface, etc.). The housing 12 may have metal sidewalls, such as sidewalls 12W or sidewalls formed of other materials. Examples of metallic materials that may be used to form sidewall 12W include stainless steel, aluminum, silver, gold, metal alloys, or any other desired conductive material. The sidewall 12W may sometimes be referred to herein as a housing sidewall 12W or a conductive housing sidewall 12W.

The display 14 may be formed on (e.g., mounted on) the front side (face) of the device 10. The housing 12 may have a rear housing wall, such as rear housing wall 12R, on a rear side (rear) of the device 10 opposite the front face of the device 10. The conductive housing sidewall 12W may extend around the perimeter of the device 10 (e.g., the conductive housing sidewall 12W may extend around the perimeter edge of the device 10). The rear housing wall 12R may be formed of a conductive material and/or an insulating material. Examples of dielectric materials that may be used to form the rear housing wall 12R include plastic, glass, sapphire, ceramic, wood, polymers, combinations of these materials, or any other desired dielectric.

Rear housing wall 12R and/or display 14 may extend across some or all of the length (e.g., parallel to the X-axis of fig. 1) and width (e.g., parallel to the Y-axis) of device 10. The conductive housing sidewall 12W may extend across some or all of the height of the device 10 (e.g., parallel to the Z-axis). The conductive housing sidewall 12W and/or the rear housing wall 12R may form one or more exterior surfaces of the device 10 (e.g., surfaces visible to a user of the device 10) and/or may be implemented using internal structures that do not form the exterior surfaces of the device 10 (e.g., conductive housing structures or dielectric housing structures not visible to a user of the device 10, such as conductive structures covered with a layer, such as a thin cosmetic layer, protective coating, and/or other coating that may include a dielectric material, such as glass, ceramic, plastic, or other structures that form the exterior surfaces of the device 10 and/or are used to conceal the housing wall 12R and/or 12W from the user's perspective).

The housing 12 may include one or more dielectric filled slots, if desired. The dielectric filled slots (sometimes referred to herein as gaps, openings, or breaks) may separate the conductive material in the housing 12 into different conductive housing portions. The slots may be filled with a dielectric material such as plastic, polymer, sapphire, glass, rubber, or ceramic. In one embodiment described herein as an example, the housing 12 may include slots that extend along three of the four peripheral edges of the device 10 and separate the conductive housing sidewall 12W from the conductive upper portion of the housing 12 (sometimes referred to herein as the conductive turntable, conductive top portion, conductive ring, or conductive bezel of the housing 12) along three sides of the device 10. The slot may be used to separate a radiating element in the antenna of the device 10 from a ground structure in the antenna. This may allow the radiating element to conduct antenna current along its edges (e.g., at the slot), thereby generating an electric field associated with the transmission and/or reception of radio frequency signals.

The display 14 may be a touch screen display that incorporates a conductive capacitive touch sensor electrode layer or other touch sensor component (e.g., a resistive touch sensor component, an acoustic touch sensor component, a force-based touch sensor component, a light-based touch sensor component, etc.), or may be a non-touch sensitive display. The capacitive touch screen electrode may be formed from an array of indium tin oxide pads or other transparent conductive structures. The display 14 may also be force sensitive and may collect force input data associated with the force with which a user or object is pressing the display 14.

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 (OLED) display pixels, an array of electrowetting display pixels, or display pixels based on other display technologies. The display 14 may be protected using a display overlay. The display cover layer may be formed of a transparent material such as glass, plastic, sapphire or other crystalline insulating material, ceramic or other transparent material. For example, the display overlay may extend across substantially the entire length and width of the device 10.

The device 10 may include a button such as button 18. There may be any suitable number of buttons in the device 10 (e.g., a single button, more than one button, two or more buttons, five or more buttons, etc.). The buttons may be located in openings in the housing 12 (e.g., in openings in the conductive housing side wall 12W or the rear housing wall 12R) or in openings in the display 14 (as examples). The button may be a rotary button, a slide button, a button actuated by pressing a movable button member, or the like. The button member for a button such as button 18 may be formed of metal, glass, plastic, or other material. In the case where the device 10 is a wristwatch device, the button 18 may sometimes be referred to as a crown.

If desired, the apparatus 10 may be coupled to a belt, such as belt 16. Strap 16 may be used to hold device 10 on a user's wrist (as an example). The strap 16 may sometimes be referred to herein as a wristband 16. In the example of fig. 1, wristband 16 is attached to opposite sides of the device 10. The conductive housing sidewall 12W may include an attachment structure (e.g., a tab or other attachment mechanism that configures the housing 12 to receive the wristband 16) for securing the wristband 16 to the housing 12. The wristband 16 may be removable if desired. Configurations that do not include straps may also be used with the device 10.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary components that may be used in the device 10. As shown in fig. 2, the device 10 may include a control circuit 28. The control circuit 28 may include a memory device such as the memory circuit 24. The storage circuitry 24 may include hard drive storage, non-volatile 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), and the like.

The control circuit 28 may include processing circuitry such as processing circuit 26. The processing circuitry 26 may be used to control the operation of the device 10. The processing circuitry 26 may include one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, host processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, central Processing Units (CPUs), graphics processing units, and the like. Control circuitry 28 may be configured to perform operations in device 10 using hardware (e.g., dedicated hardware or circuitry), firmware, and/or software. Software code for performing operations in device 10 may be stored on storage circuitry 24 (e.g., storage circuitry 24 may include a non-transitory (tangible) computer-readable storage medium storing the software code). The software code may sometimes be referred to as program instructions, software, data, instructions, or code. Software code stored on the memory circuit 24 may be executed by the processing circuit 26.

Control circuitry 28 may be used to run software on device 10 such as external node location applications, satellite navigation applications, internet browsing applications, voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, and the like. To support interaction with external equipment, control circuitry 28 may be used to implement a communication protocol. Communication protocols that may be implemented using control circuitry 28 include Internet protocols, wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols-sometimes referred to as) Protocols for other short-range wireless communication links such asProtocols or other Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) protocols, IEEE 802.11ad protocols, cellular telephone protocols, MIMO protocols, antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system protocols (e.g., global Positioning System (GPS) protocols, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) protocols, etc.), IEEE 802.15.4 ultra wideband communication protocols or other ultra wideband communication protocols, etc. Each communication protocol may be associated with a corresponding Radio Access Technology (RAT) that specifies a physical connection method used to implement the protocol.

The device 10 may include an input-output circuit 20. The input-output circuit 20 may include an input-output device 22. The input-output device 22 may be used to allow data to be supplied to the device 10 and to allow data to be provided from the device 10 to an external device. The input-output devices 22 may include user interface devices, data port devices, and other input-output components. For example, the input-output devices 22 may include a touch screen, a display without touch sensor capability, buttons, scroll wheels, a touch pad, a keypad, a keyboard, a microphone, a camera, buttons, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, vibrators or other haptic feedback engines, digital data port devices, light sensors (e.g., infrared light sensors, visible light sensors, etc.), light emitting diodes, motion sensors (accelerometers), capacitive sensors, proximity sensors, magnetic sensors, force sensors (e.g., force sensors coupled to the display to detect pressure exerted on the display), and the like.

The input-output circuit 22 may include a wireless circuit 34. The wireless circuit 34 may include a wireless power receiving coil structure, such as coil structure 44, and a wireless power receiver circuit, such as wireless power receiver circuit 42. The device 10 may use a wireless power receiver circuit 42 and a coil structure 44 to receive wirelessly transmitted power (e.g., a wireless charging signal) from a wireless power adapter (e.g., a wireless power transmitting device such as a wireless charging pad or other device). The coil structure 44 may include one or more induction coils using resonant inductive coupling (near field electromagnetic coupling) with a wireless power transmitting coil on the wireless power adapter.

The wireless power adapter may pass an AC current through the wireless power transmitting coil to generate a time-varying electromagnetic (e.g., magnetic) field that is received as wireless power (wireless charging signal) by the coil structure 44 in the device 10. An exemplary frequency of the wireless charging signal is 200kHz. Other frequencies (e.g., frequencies in the kHz range, MHz range, or GHz range, 1kHz to 1MHz, 1kHz to 100MHz, less than 1MHz, etc.) may be used if desired. When the time-varying electromagnetic field is received by the coil structures 44, a corresponding Alternating Current (AC) current is induced in the coil structures. The wireless power receiver circuit 42 may include a converter circuit, such as a rectifier circuit. The rectifier circuit may include rectifying components, such as synchronous rectifying metal oxide semiconductor transistors arranged in a bridge network, and may convert these currents from the coil structure 44 into a DC voltage for powering the device 10. The DC voltage generated by the rectifier circuit in the wireless power receiver circuit 42 may be used to power an energy storage device, such as the battery 46, and/or may be used to power other components in the device 10.

To support wireless communications, the radio circuit 34 may include baseband circuitry (e.g., one or more baseband processors or other circuits operating on baseband signals), RF transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuits, low noise input amplifiers, passive Radio Frequency (RF) components, mixer circuits, synthesizers, modulators, demodulators, up-converters, down-converters, and the like. The wireless circuitry 34 may also include one or more antennas such as an antenna 40, transmission lines, and other circuitry for processing RF wireless signals. If desired, one or more radio frequency front end modules may be provided along the transmission line. Wireless signals may also be transmitted using light (e.g., using infrared communications).

The wireless circuitry 34 may include radio frequency transceiver circuitry for processing the transmission and/or reception of radio frequency signals within a corresponding band of radio frequencies (sometimes referred to herein as a communication band or simply "band"). For example, the wireless circuitry 34 may include a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and a wireless personal area network (WLAN)A Network (WPAN) transceiver circuit 32. Transceiver circuitry 32 may handle the 2.4GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 2400MHz to 2480 MHz), the 5GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 5180MHz to 5825 MHz), the, 6E band (e.g. from 5925MHz to 7125 MHz) and/or other +.>Frequency bands (e.g., from 1875MHz to 5160 MHz). The transceiver circuitry 32 may sometimes be referred to herein as WLAN/WPAN transceiver circuitry 32.

The wireless circuitry 34 may use the cellular telephone transceiver circuitry 36 for processing wireless communications within a frequency range (communications band), such as a cellular low-band (LB) from 600MHz to 960MHz, a cellular low-mid-band (LMB) from 1410MHz to 1510MHz, a cellular mid-band (MB) from 1710MHz to 2170MHz, a cellular high-band (HB) from 2300MHz to 2700MHz, a cellular ultra-high-band (UHB) from 3300MHz to 5000MHz, or other communications band between 600MHz and 5000MHz or other suitable frequencies, a 2G band, a 3G band, a 4G LTE band, a 3gpp 5G new air range 1 (FR 1) band below 10GHz, a 3gpp 5G new air (NR) frequency range 2 (FR 2) band between 20GHz and 60GHz, or other centimeters or millimeter wave bands between 10GHz and 300GHz (as examples). The cellular telephone transceiver circuitry 36 may process voice data and non-voice data.

The wireless circuitry 34 may include satellite navigation system circuitry, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver circuitry 30. The GPS receiver circuitry 30 may receive GPS signals in a satellite navigation band, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 band (e.g., at 1575 MHz), L2 band (e.g., at 1228 MHz), L3 band (e.g., at 1381 MHz), L4 band (e.g., at 1380 MHz), and/or L5 band (e.g., at 1176 MHz), a Global navigation satellite System (GLONASS) band, a Beidou navigation satellite System (BDS) band, or other bands. Satellite navigation system signals for the receiver circuit 30 are received from a set of satellites orbiting the earth. The wireless circuitry 34 can include circuitry for other short-range and long-range wireless links, if desired. For example, the wireless circuitry 34 may include circuitry for receiving television and radio signals, paging system transceivers, near Field Communication (NFC) transceiver circuitry 38 (e.g., an NFC transceiver operating at 13.56MHz or another suitable frequency), ultra-wideband transceiver circuitry (e.g., transceiver circuitry operating at an IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and/or other ultra-wideband communication protocol (e.g., a first UWB communication band at 6.5GHz and/or a second UWB communication band at 8.0 GHz), transceiver circuitry operating using a communication band under the 3GPP wireless communication standard family, transceiver circuitry operating using a communication band under the IEEE 802.Xx standard family, transceiver circuitry operating using an industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band (such as an ISM band between approximately 900MHz and 950MHz or other ISM band below or above 1 GHz), transceiver circuitry operating using one or more unlicensed bands reserved for emergency and/or public service, and/or any other frequency band of interest. The wireless circuitry 34 may also be used to perform spatial ranging operations, if desired.

In NFC links, wireless signals typically carry at most a few inches. In satellite navigation system links, cellular telephone links, and other remote links, wireless signals are typically used to transmit data in the thousands of feet or miles. In WLAN and WPAN links and other short-range wireless links at 2.4GHz and 5GHz, wireless signals are commonly used to transport data in the tens or hundreds of feet range. Since the operating environment of the device 10 can be switched to not use and use higher performing antennas in their place, an antenna diversity scheme can be used to ensure that antennas have begun to be blocked or otherwise degraded, if desired. Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) schemes and/or Carrier Aggregation (CA) schemes may be used to improve data rates and wireless performance.

The wireless circuit 34 may include an antenna 40. Any suitable antenna type may be used to form antenna 40. For example, the antenna 40 may include an antenna having resonating elements formed from patch antenna structures (e.g., shorted patch antenna structures), slot antenna structures, loop antenna structures, stacked patch antenna structures, antenna structures with parasitic elements, inverted-F antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, helical antenna structures, monopole antennas, dipole antenna structures, yagi (yagi-uda) antenna structures, surface integrated waveguide structures, hybrids of these designs, and the like. One or more of the antennas 40 may be a cavity backed antenna, if desired. If desired, the two or more antennas 40 may be arranged in a phased antenna array (e.g., for transmitting centimeter and/or millimeter wave signals within a signal beam that is formed in a desired beam pointing direction that may be steered/adjusted over time).

Different types of antennas may be used for different frequency bands and combinations of frequency bands. For example, one type of antenna may be used when forming a local wireless link antenna and another type of antenna may be used when forming a remote wireless link antenna. Space within the device 10 may be saved by using a single antenna to handle two or more different communication bands, if desired. If desired, a combination of antennas for covering multiple frequency bands and dedicated antennas for covering a single frequency band may be used. For example, the first antenna 40 in the device 10 may be used to process 2.4GHzOr->Communication in a communication band, a 1575MHz GPS L1 band, a 1176MHz GPS L5 band, and one or more cellular telephone communication bands such as a cellular mid-band (MB) from 1710MHz to 2170MHz, a cellular high-band (HB) from 2300MHz to 2700MHz, while the second antenna 40 in the device 10 is used to handle communication in a cellular low-band (LB) and cellular HB.

It may be desirable to implement at least some of the antennas in device 10 using portions of the electronics that would otherwise not function as antennas and support additional device functionality. As an example, it may be desirable to generate antenna currents in a component such as display 14 (fig. 1) such that display 14 and/or other electronic components (e.g., touch sensors, near field communication loop antennas, conductive display assemblies or housings, conductive shielding structures, etc.) may act as part of an antenna for Wi-Fi, bluetooth, GPS, cellular frequencies, and/or other frequencies without the need to incorporate separate cumbersome antenna structures in device 10. The conductive portion of the housing 12 (fig. 1) may be used to form part of an antenna ground for one or more antennas 40.

Although the control circuit 28 is shown separate from the wireless circuit 34 in the example of fig. 1 for clarity, the wireless circuit 34 may include processing circuitry (e.g., one or more processors) that forms part of the processing circuit 26 and/or memory circuitry that forms part of the memory circuit 24 of the control circuit 28 (e.g., part of the control circuit 28 that may be implemented on the wireless circuit 34). As an example, the control circuitry 28 may include baseband circuitry (e.g., one or more baseband processors), digital control circuits, analog control circuits, and/or other control circuits forming a portion of the radio wireless circuitry 34. The baseband circuitry may, for example, access a communication protocol stack on the control circuitry 28 (e.g., the storage circuitry 24) to: executing user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and/or PDU layer; and/or performing control plane functions at a PHY layer, a MAC layer, an RLC layer, a PDCP layer, an RRC layer, and/or a non-access layer. The PHY layer operations may additionally or alternatively be performed by Radio Frequency (RF) interface circuitry in the wireless circuitry 34, if desired.

A schematic diagram of the radio circuit 34 is shown in fig. 3. As shown in fig. 3, the wireless circuitry 34 may include transceiver circuitry 48 (e.g., the cellular telephone transceiver circuitry 36, the WLAN/WPAN transceiver circuitry 32, etc. of fig. 2) that is coupled to the given antenna 40 using a radio frequency transmission line path, such as the radio frequency transmission line path 50.

To provide an antenna structure such as antenna 40 with the ability to cover different frequencies of interest, antenna 40 may be provided with circuitry such as filter circuitry (e.g., one or more passive filters and/or one or more tunable filter circuits). Discrete components such as capacitors, inductors, and resistors may be incorporated into the filter circuit. The capacitive, inductive, and resistive structures may also be formed from patterned metal structures (e.g., a portion of an antenna). If desired, the antenna 40 may be provided with adjustable circuitry such as a tunable component that tunes the antenna over the communication (frequency) band of interest. The tunable component may be part of a tunable filter or a tunable impedance matching network, may be part of an antenna resonating element, may span a gap between the antenna resonating element and an antenna ground, or the like.

The radio frequency transmission line path 50 may include one or more radio frequency transmission lines (sometimes referred to herein simply as transmission lines). The radio frequency transmission line path 50 (e.g., a transmission line in the radio frequency transmission line path 50) may include a positive signal conductor such as a signal conductor 52 and a ground signal conductor such as a ground conductor 54.

The transmission lines in the radio frequency transmission line path 50 may, for example, include coaxial cable transmission lines (e.g., ground conductor 54 may be implemented as a grounded conductive braid surrounding signal conductor 52 along its length), stripline transmission lines (e.g., where ground conductor 54 extends along both sides of signal conductor 52), microstrip transmission lines (e.g., where ground conductor 54 extends along one side of signal conductor 52), coaxial probes implemented by metallized vias, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, coaxial probes implemented by waveguide structures (e.g., coplanar waveguides or grounded coplanar waveguides), combinations of these types of transmission lines and/or other transmission line structures, and so forth.

The transmission lines of the radio frequency transmission line path 50 may be integrated into rigid and/or flexible printed circuit boards. In one suitable arrangement, the radio frequency transmission line path 50 may include transmission line conductors (e.g., signal conductor 52 and ground conductor 54) integrated within a multi-layer laminate structure (e.g., layers of conductive material (such as copper) and dielectric material (such as resin) laminated together without intervening adhesive). If desired, the multi-layer laminate structure may be folded or bent in multiple dimensions (e.g., two or three dimensions) and may remain bent or folded after bending (e.g., the multi-layer laminate structure may be folded into a particular three-dimensional structural shape to be routed around other equipment components and may be sufficiently rigid to remain in its shape after folding without the stiffener or other structure remaining in place). All of the multiple layers of the laminate structure may be laminated together in batches without adhesive (e.g., in a single pressing process) (e.g., as opposed to performing multiple pressing processes to laminate the multiple layers together with adhesive).

The matching network may include components such as inductors, resistors, and capacitors for matching the impedance of the antenna 40 to the impedance of the radio frequency transmission line path 50. The matching network component may be provided as a discrete component (e.g., a surface mount technology component) or may be formed from a housing structure, a printed circuit board structure, traces on a plastic carrier, or the like. Components such as these may also be used to form filter circuits in antenna 40 and may be tunable components and/or fixed components.

The radio frequency transmission line path 50 may be coupled to an antenna feed structure associated with the antenna 40. For example, the antenna 40 may form an inverted-F antenna, a planar inverted-F antenna, a patch antenna, a loop antenna, or other antenna having an antenna feed 56 with a positive antenna feed terminal such as terminal 58 and a ground antenna feed terminal such as terminal 60. The positive antenna feed terminal 58 may be coupled to an antenna resonating (radiating) element within the antenna 40. The ground antenna feed terminal 60 may be coupled to an antenna ground in the antenna 40. The signal conductor 52 may be coupled to a positive antenna feed terminal 58 and the ground conductor 54 may be coupled to a ground antenna feed terminal 60.

Other types of antenna feed arrangements may be used if desired. For example, the antenna 40 may be fed using a plurality of feeds, each coupled to a respective port of the transceiver circuitry 48 by a corresponding transmission line. If desired, the signal conductor 52 may be coupled to multiple locations on the antenna 40 (e.g., the antenna 40 may include multiple positive antenna feed terminals coupled to the signal conductor 52 of the same radio frequency transmission line path 50). If desired, a switch may be interposed on the signal conductor between transceiver circuitry 48 and the positive antenna feed terminals (e.g., to selectively activate one or more of the positive antenna feed terminals at any given time). The exemplary feed configuration of fig. 3 is merely illustrative.

As used herein, the term "transmit radio frequency signal" means transmission and/or reception of a radio frequency signal (e.g., for performing unidirectional and/or bidirectional wireless communications with external wireless communication equipment). The antenna 40 may transmit radio frequency signals by radiating radio frequency signals into free space (or through intervening device structures such as dielectric covers). Additionally or alternatively, antenna 40 may receive radio frequency signals from free space (e.g., through an intervening device structure such as a dielectric cover layer). The transmission and reception of radio frequency signals by the antenna 40 each involves the excitation or resonance of antenna currents on antenna resonating elements in the antenna by radio frequency signals within the operating band of the antenna.

The device 10 may include multiple antennas that transmit radio frequency signals through different sides of the device 10. For example, the device 10 may include at least a first antenna 40 that transmits radio frequency signals through a front side of the device 10 (e.g., the display 14 of fig. 1) and a second antenna 40 that transmits radio frequency signals through a back side of the device 10 (e.g., the back housing wall 12R of fig. 1).

Any desired antenna configuration may be used to implement antenna 40 that transmits radio frequency signals through the front side of device 10. In one suitable arrangement, sometimes described herein as an example, a shorted patch antenna structure may be used to implement the antenna 40 that transmits radio frequency signals through the front side of the device 10. Antennas implemented using patch antenna structures may sometimes be referred to herein as patch antennas. Patch antennas implemented using a shorted patch antenna structure may sometimes be referred to herein as shorted patch antennas. An exemplary shorted patch antenna that may be used to transmit radio frequency signals through the front side of the device 10 is shown in fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 4, the antenna 40 may have a radiating patch element, such as patch element 66, that is separate and parallel to an antenna ground, such as antenna ground 62 (sometimes referred to herein as ground plane 62 or ground structure 62). The patch element 66 may lie in a plane such as the X-Y plane of fig. 4 (e.g., the lateral surface area of the patch element 66 may lie in the X-Y plane). The patch element 66 may sometimes be referred to herein as a patch antenna resonating element 66, a patch resonator 66, a short-circuited patch antenna resonating element 66, a patch radiating element 66, a patch antenna radiating element 66, a short-circuited patch antenna radiating element 66, a patch radiator 66, an antenna resonating element 66, or an antenna radiating element 66.

The antenna ground 62 may lie in a plane parallel to the plane of the patch element 66. The patch element 66 and the antenna ground 62 may thus lie in separate parallel planes separated by a distance (height) H. The antenna ground 62 may be formed from conductive traces patterned on a dielectric substrate such as a rigid or flexible printed circuit board substrate, a metal foil, a stamped metal sheet, an electronic device housing structure, or any other desired conductive structure (e.g., a ground structure). As one example, the patch element 66 may be formed from an electronic device housing structure, a conductive display structure, and a conductive ring.

The length of the sides of the patch element 66 may be selected such that the antenna 40 resonates (radiates) at a desired operating frequency. For example, the sides of the patch element 66 may each have a length approximately equal to half the wavelength of the signal transmitted by the antenna 40 (e.g., the effective wavelength given the dielectric properties of the material surrounding the patch element 66). The positive antenna feed terminal 58 may be coupled to the patch element 66 (e.g., at a feed edge of the patch element 66). One or more ground structures, such as ground structure 64, may couple patch element 66 to antenna ground 62. The ground structure 64 may, for example, couple the ground edge GE of the patch element 66 to the antenna ground 62. For example, the ground edge GE may be an edge opposite the feed edge of the patch element 66. The ground structure 64 may include an integral portion of the patch element 66 that is bent or folded toward the antenna ground 62, conductive traces, metal sheets, solder, welds, conductive adhesives, conductive foam, metal foil, conductive portions of the housing of the device 10, conductive springs, conductive washers, conductive brackets, conductive clips, conductive prongs, conductive pins, and/or any other desired conductive structure for coupling (e.g., electrically connecting) the patch element 66 to the antenna ground 62.

The ground structure 64 may be used to electrically short the patch element 66 to the antenna ground 62 at the operating frequency of the antenna 40. The ground structure 64 may therefore sometimes be referred to as a short path or return path for the patch element 66. This may configure the antenna 40 to form a type of patch antenna sometimes referred to as a shorted patch antenna. The ground structure 64 may configure the antenna current to flow along the perimeter of the patch element 66, as indicated by arrows 68. The length may be selected to configure the antenna 40 to transmit radio frequency signals within a corresponding frequency band. The antenna current may be generated by the positive antenna feed terminal 58 (e.g., during signal transmission) or by an incident radio frequency signal received by the antenna 40. During signal reception, antenna current may pass radio frequency signals to transceiver circuitry on device 10 via positive antenna feed terminal 58.

The example of fig. 4 is merely illustrative. The patch element 66 may have a square shape, wherein all sides of the patch element 66 have the same length or may have different rectangular shapes. The patch element 66 may be formed in other shapes (e.g., circular, oval, polygonal, etc.) having any desired number of straight edges and/or curved edges. The patch element 66 of the antenna 40 may be formed from a plurality of conductive structures in the device 10 in a manner for integrating the patch element 66 into the device 10 in a manner that allows the antenna 40 to transmit radio frequency signals through the front face of the device 10. Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing how patch element 66 may be formed from a plurality of conductive structures and integrated into device 10 for transmitting radio frequency signals through the front face of device 10.

In the exploded view of fig. 5, display 14 has been removed from housing 12 to better illustrate its integration into device 10. As shown in fig. 5, the housing of the device 10 (e.g., the housing 12 of fig. 1) may include a conductive housing structure surrounding the interior cavity 76 of the device 10. The conductive housing structure may include conductive housing sidewalls 12W. The conductive housing sidewall 12W may extend around a lateral perimeter of the device 10 (e.g., around the interior cavity 76). The conductive housing structure may also include a conductive upper portion such as a conductive turntable 12T. The conductive turntable 12T also extends around the lateral periphery of the apparatus 10. The conductive turntable 12T may sometimes be referred to herein as a conductive upper portion 12T of the housing 12, a conductive top portion 12T of the housing 12, a conductive ring 12T, or a conductive bezel 12T.

The housing may include a dielectric filled slot such as slot 74 that vertically separates the conductive turntable 12T from the conductive housing sidewall 12W (e.g., dividing the conductive material in the housing 12 to separate the conductive housing sidewall 12W from the conductive turntable 12T). The slot 74 may be filled with injection molded plastic, ceramic, and/or any other desired dielectric material. The slot 74 may be an elongated slot extending along one or more of the edges or sides of the device 10. In other words, the slot 74 may have a longitudinal axis extending along one or more edges of the device 10. In the example of fig. 5, the slot 74 is a C-shaped or U-shaped slot that extends along three of the four sides of the device 10 (e.g., has a longitudinal axis extending therealong) and along a portion of the fourth side of the device 10 (e.g., in implementations where the device 10 has a rectangular housing). More generally (e.g., for implementations where the device 10 has a circular or oval housing), the slot 74 may extend around at least 210, 270, 300, 330, 345, 350, or 210 to 350 degrees of the housing (e.g., when measured around the Z-axis), as examples.

The conductive structures in the housing 12 may also include conductive bridging portions such as conductive bridges 12B. Conductive bridge 12B couples conductive turntable 12T to conductive housing sidewall 12W at a portion of housing 12 that is not divided by slot 74. In other words, the slot 74 extends from a first edge of the conductive bridge 12B around the perimeter of the apparatus 10 to an opposite second edge of the conductive bridge 12B (e.g., the conductive bridge 12B bridges the slot 74) while vertically separating the conductive turntable 12T from the conductive housing sidewall 12W. The conductive housing sidewall 12W and the conductive turntable 12T may define opposing first and second edges of the slot 74, respectively, that extend along the length of the slot 74. Conductive bridge 12B may couple conductive turntable 12T to conductive housing sidewall 12W, for example, at a fourth side/edge of device 10 having button 18 and/or vent 71 (e.g., speaker vent, air pressure vent, drain hole, etc.). The conductive bridge 12B may extend across some or all of the fourth edge of the device 10 (e.g., 5% of the fourth edge, 10% to 50% of the fourth edge, 25% to 75% of the fourth edge, more than 50% of the fourth edge, 50% to 90% of the fourth edge, 100% of the fourth edge, etc.). If desired, the conductive turntable 12T, conductive bridge 12B, and conductive housing sidewall 12W may be formed from an integral portion of a single piece of machined metal to maximize the mechanical strength and aesthetic characteristics of the apparatus 10 (e.g., in a unitary configuration).

As shown in fig. 5, the display 14 may include a conductive display structure 70. The conductive display structure 70 may include conductive material used in a display panel (sometimes referred to herein as a display module) of the display 14. The display panel may include a Main Logic Board (MLB) for the display. The display panel may have control electronics (e.g., display drivers), control lines (traces), power lines (traces), ground lines (traces), and other conductive structures located on a dielectric substrate (e.g., a rigid or flexible printed circuit substrate). The conductive display structure 70 may additionally or alternatively include a conductive display frame (e.g., a frame for a display panel), a conductive shielding structure (e.g., a shield for one or more components on a display panel), a conductive adhesive, conductive pixel circuitry for the display 14, touch sensor electrodes for the display 14, embedded near field communication antennas located within or on or in the display 14, etc., if desired.

Display 14 may also include conductive rings such as conductive ring 78. The conductive ring 78 may be mounted to the conductive display structure 70 (below). The conductive ring 78 may extend around some or all of the lateral perimeter of the conductive display structure 70. The conductive ring 78 may be formed of a metal such as stainless steel (e.g., a stamped sheet metal member). The conductive ring 78 may be soldered to the conductive display structure 70, and/or coupled to the conductive display structure 70 using a conductive adhesive. In this manner, the conductive ring 78 and the conductive display structure 70 may electrically form a single unitary conductive structure. The conductive ring 78 may sometimes be referred to herein as a wave ring 78.

When the device 10 is assembled, the display 14 may be mounted to the conductive turntable 12T, as indicated by arrow 72. The conductive ring 78 may be electrically and mechanically coupled to the conductive turntable 12T (e.g., along a peripheral edge of the conductive ring 78). Conductive adhesive, solder, and/or any other desired conductive interconnect structure may be used to mechanically and electrically couple the conductive ring 78 to the conductive turntable 12T. The conductive ring 78 may be used to electrically connect the perimeter (e.g., the entire perimeter) of the conductive display structure 70 to the conductive turntable 12T. In this manner, when the device 10 is fully assembled, the conductive ring 78, the conductive display structure 70, and the conductive turntable 12T may collectively form a single electrical structure (e.g., a unitary conductive structure) that forms the patch element 66 of the antenna 40.

The positive antenna feed terminal 58 may be coupled to the conductive display structure 70 and/or the conductive loop 78. The dielectric material in the slot 74 may be used to electrically separate the conductive patch element 66 (e.g., the conductive ring 78, the conductive display structure 70, and the conductive turntable 12T) from an antenna ground in the antenna 40 (e.g., the antenna ground 62 of fig. 4). The antenna ground may be formed by conductive housing side walls 12W, conductive portions of rear housing wall 12R, and/or ground structures within interior cavity 76 (e.g., ground traces, conductive housing structures, conductive portions of one or more components disposed within interior cavity 76, etc.). Conductive bridge 12B may couple patch element 66 (e.g., conductive ring 78, conductive display structure 70, and conductive turntable 12T) to an antenna ground (e.g., to conductive housing sidewall 12W). The conductive bridge 12B may thus form a ground structure 64 for the patch element 66 and the antenna 40. The positive antenna feed terminal 58 may be coupled to the patch element 66, for example, on a side of the device 10 opposite the conductive bridge 12B. When the antenna 40 transmits radio frequency signals, the antenna current extends along the perimeter of the patch element 66 (e.g., along the conductive turntable 12T).

Integrating the antenna 40 into the display 14 and the device 10 in this manner may allow the antenna 40 to transmit radio frequency signals through the front of the device 10 while expanding the radiating area (volume) of the antenna 40 to include substantially all of the lateral area available within the device 10. This may be used to maximize the bandwidth of the antenna 40 for covering multiple frequency bands of interest (e.g., including both GPS L1 and GPS L5 bands in addition to cellular HB).

In other implementations, the radiating edge of the patch element is defined by a slot located in the planar front face of the display 14 (e.g., in the X-Y plane). In these implementations, the display 14 needs to include inactive areas around its perimeter that overlap the slots to allow the antenna to radiate properly. The presence of the inactive area limits both the antenna volume and the size of the active area of the display 14 available for pixel circuitry (which displays images to a user), thereby limiting the size of the image viewable by the user. By moving the slot, and thus the radiating edge of the patch element 74, into the peripheral side of the device 10 (e.g., by forming the slot 74 within the periphery of the device 10, rather than in the plane of the front face of the device 10), inactive areas for the display 14 may be reduced or eliminated, thereby maximizing the size of the active area on the display 14 available for pixel circuitry (which displays images), and thus maximizing the size of the image viewable by the user.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional side view that illustrates how the antenna 40 may be integrated into the device 10 when fully assembled (e.g., taken along line AA' of fig. 5). As shown in fig. 6, the conductive housing sidewall 12W of the device 10 may extend from the back side of the device 10 (rear housing wall 12R) toward the front side of the device 10. The rear housing wall 12R may include a conductive portion and may include a dielectric portion 82. If desired, the conductive portions of the rear housing wall 12R and the conductive housing side wall 12W may be formed from an integral portion of a single unitary piece of metal. Dielectric portion 82 may include glass, sapphire, ceramic, or other dielectric material that forms an antenna window for an additional antenna in device 10 that transmits radio frequency signals through the back side of device 10 and/or allows sensor signals through the back side of device 10.

The conductive housing sidewall 12W may be coupled to the conductive turntable 12T by a conductive bridge 12B. The display 14 may include a display cover layer 80 laminated over the conductive display structure 70. The conductive display structure 70 may be mounted to a conductive ring 78 (e.g., the conductive ring 78 may be laminated under the conductive display structure 70). Conductive adhesive, solder, and/or any other desired conductive interconnect structure may couple conductive ring 78 to conductive display structure 70.

When the display 14 is mounted to the apparatus 10 (as shown in fig. 6), the conductive ring 78 is mounted to the conductive turntable 12T. Conductive adhesive, solder, and/or any other desired conductive interconnect structure may couple the conductive ring 78 to the conductive turntable 12T. The conductive turntable 12T may extend around the lateral perimeter of the display cover layer 80 and may help hold the display cover layer 80 in place. The conductive turntable 12T may thus form a conductive bezel for the display 14 and the display overlay 80. In other implementations, if desired, the display overlay 80 may be mounted to the top surface of the conductive turntable 12T (e.g., using an adhesive). In this manner, the conductive display structure 70, the conductive ring 78, and the conductive turntable 12T may form a patch element 66 for the antenna 40.

A dielectric sealant such as dielectric gasket 86 may be interposed laterally between the peripheral edge of the conductive display structure 70 and the conductive turntable 12T. A dielectric gasket 86 may be vertically interposed between the display cover 80 and the conductive ring 78. Dielectric gasket 86 may comprise a polymer, foam, rubber, plastic, or any other dielectric material. Dielectric gasket 86 may extend laterally around the perimeter of conductive display structure 70 (e.g., in the X-Y plane). Dielectric gasket 86 may be used to form a watertight and airtight seal between interior cavity 76 and the exterior of device 10, may help secure display 14 to device 10, and/or may help provide mechanical integrity (e.g., shock absorption) to device 10.

The positive antenna feed terminal 58 may be coupled to the display 14 (e.g., the conductive display structure 70 and/or the conductive loop 78). As one example, the display 14 may include conductive prongs 88 (sometimes referred to herein as conductive tabs 88 or conductive spring fingers 88) that are electrically coupled to the conductive ring 78, the conductive display structure 70, and/or the conductive turntable 12T. The rf transmission line path 50 may be coupled to the conductive prongs 88 using conductive clips 90 to form the positive antenna feed terminal 58 for the antenna 40. This is merely illustrative and, in general, any desired structure may be used to couple the radio frequency transmission line path 50 to the positive antenna feed terminal 58.

The conductive portions of the conductive housing sidewall 12W and the rear housing wall 12R may form an antenna ground 62 for the antenna 40. Conductive material (not shown) within the interior cavity 76 may also form a portion of the antenna ground 62. The slot 74 may vertically separate the conductive turntable 12T and thus the patch element 66 from the conductive housing sidewall 12W and thus from the antenna ground 62 (e.g., along three of the lateral sides of the device 10). The slot 74 may have a height (width) H that is selected to tune the response of the antenna 40. Conductive bridge 12B and thus ground structure 64 may couple conductive turntable 12T to conductive housing sidewall 12W (e.g., on the opposite side of device 10 from positive antenna feed terminal 58). When the antenna 40 transmits radio frequency signals, a corresponding antenna current may flow across the patch element 66 (e.g., the conductive turntable 12T, the conductive ring 78, and the conductive display structure 70), as indicated by arrow 84. When integrated into device 10 in this manner, antenna current flows across all lateral areas of device 10, thereby maximizing antenna performance and allowing display 14 to exhibit as large an effective display area as possible for displaying images through display overlay 80.

Fig. 7 is a graph of antenna efficiency as a function of frequency for the antenna 40 of fig. 2-6. As shown by curve 92 of fig. 7, antenna 40 may exhibit a relatively wide frequency response (e.g., due to its large area integrated into device 10). The antenna 40 may, for example, exhibit satisfactory antenna efficiency (e.g., antenna efficiency exceeding the threshold efficiency value TH) within each of the frequency bands B1, B2, B3, B4, and B5. Band B1 may be, for example, the GPS L5 band. Band B2 may be, for example, the GPS L1 band. Band B3 may be, for example, cellular MB. Band B4 may be, for example, a 2.4GHz WLAN/WPAN band. Band B5 may be, for example, cellular HB. The example of fig. 7 is merely illustrative. Curve 92 may have other shapes in practice and bands B1, B2, B3, B4, and B5 may be at any desired frequency.

The device 10 may collect and/or use personally identifiable information. It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be specified to the user.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an electronic device including: a housing having a conductive sidewall, a conductive turntable, and a conductive bridge; a slot separating the conductive sidewall from the conductive turntable, a conductive bridge coupling the conductive turntable to the conductive sidewall across the slot; a display mounted to the conductive turntable and having a conductive structure; and an antenna having a patch element formed of a conductive turntable and a conductive structure and having an antenna ground including a conductive sidewall.

According to another embodiment, the display includes a display panel and the conductive structure includes a conductive material on the display panel.

According to another embodiment, the display comprises a conductive ring forming part of the patch element, the conductive ring being mounted to the display panel and extending around the periphery of the display panel.

According to another embodiment, the conductive ring couples the display panel to the conductive turntable.

According to another embodiment, the display includes a display cover layer overlapping the display panel, and the conductive turntable extends around a perimeter of the display cover layer.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device comprises a dielectric gasket interposed vertically between the display cover layer and the conductive ring and interposed laterally between the display panel and the conductive turntable.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device includes a positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the display.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device includes a conductive tab coupled to the display, a radio frequency transmission line path, and a conductive clip coupling the radio frequency transmission line path to the conductive tab at the positive antenna feed terminal.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device includes a positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the display at a first side of the electronic device, and the conductive bridge is located at a second side of the electronic device opposite the first side of the electronic device.

According to another embodiment, the slot extends along at least three sides of the electronic device.

According to another embodiment, the conductive turntable, the conductive sidewalls and the conductive bridge are formed from respective integral parts of a single piece of metal.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device includes a wristband attached to a conductive sidewall.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an electronic device including: conductive sidewalls extending around a perimeter of the electronic device; a conductive bezel extending around a perimeter of the electronic device and separated from the conductive sidewall by an elongated slot; a ground structure coupling the conductive side wall to the conductive bezel across the elongated slot; a display mounted to the conductive bezel; and an antenna having a radiating element including a conductive bezel and a display and having an antenna ground including a conductive sidewall.

According to another embodiment, the display comprises a conductive loop mounted to a conductive bezel, the conductive loop forming part of a radiating element of the antenna.

According to another embodiment, the display comprises conductive structures mounted to the conductive loop, the conductive structures forming part of the radiating element of the antenna.

According to another embodiment, the display includes a display cover, a conductive bezel laterally surrounding the display cover, pixels that emit light through the display cover, and a display panel having control electronics for the display, the conductive material on the display panel forming a portion of the radiating elements of the antenna.

According to another embodiment, the elongated slot extends at least 210 degrees around the lateral perimeter of the electronic device.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a wristwatch including: a housing having a conductive sidewall, a first conductive ring separated from the conductive sidewall by an elongated slot, and a conductive portion coupling the first conductive ring to the conductive sidewall; a display having a display panel; a second conductive ring mounted to the display panel, the second conductive ring coupling the display panel to the first conductive ring; and an antenna having a radiating element, an edge of the radiating element being defined by a slot.

According to another embodiment, radio frequency current for the antenna flows on the display panel, the first conductive loop and the second conductive loop.

According to another embodiment, the antenna has an antenna ground that includes a conductive sidewall and has a short path formed by the conductive portion of the housing.

The foregoing is merely exemplary and various modifications may be made to the embodiments described. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented independently or may be implemented in any combination.

Claims (20)

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing having a conductive sidewall, a conductive turntable, and a conductive bridge;

a slot separating the conductive sidewall from the conductive turntable, wherein the conductive bridge couples the conductive turntable to the conductive sidewall across the slot;

a display mounted to the conductive turntable and having a conductive structure; and

an antenna having a patch element formed by the conductive turntable and the conductive structure, and having an antenna ground including the conductive sidewall.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the display comprises a display panel and the conductive structures comprise conductive material on the display panel.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the display includes a conductive ring that forms part of the patch element, the conductive ring being mounted to the display panel and extending around a perimeter of the display panel.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the conductive ring couples the display panel to the conductive turntable.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the display comprises a display cover layer that overlaps the display panel, the conductive turntable extending around a perimeter of the display cover layer.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 further comprising a dielectric gasket that is interposed vertically between the display cover layer and the conductive ring and that is interposed laterally between the display panel and the conductive turntable.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 further comprising a positive antenna feed terminal that is coupled to the display.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 further comprising a conductive tab coupled to the display, a radio-frequency transmission line path, and a conductive clip that couples the radio-frequency transmission line path to the conductive tab at the positive antenna feed terminal.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a positive antenna feed terminal coupled to the display at a first side of the electronic device, wherein the conductive bridge is located at a second side of the electronic device opposite the first side of the electronic device.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 9 wherein the slot extends along at least three sides of the electronic device.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the conductive turntable, conductive sidewalls, and conductive bridge are formed from respective integral portions of a single piece of metal.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising:

a wristband attached to the conductive sidewall.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

a conductive sidewall extending around a perimeter of the electronic device;

a conductive bezel extending around a perimeter of the electronic device and separated from the conductive sidewall by an elongated slot;

a grounding structure coupling the conductive side wall to the conductive bezel frame across the elongated slot;

a display mounted to the conductive bezel; and

An antenna having a radiating element including the conductive bezel and the display, and having an antenna ground including the conductive sidewall.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the display comprises a conductive ring mounted to the conductive bezel, the conductive ring forming part of the radiating element of the antenna.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the display comprises conductive structures mounted to the conductive loop that form part of the radiating element of the antenna.

16. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the display comprises:

a display cover layer, the conductive bezel laterally surrounding the display cover layer;

a pixel that emits light through the display cover layer; and

a display panel having control electronics for the display, wherein conductive material on the display panel forms part of the radiating element of the antenna.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the elongate slot extends at least 210 degrees around a lateral perimeter of the electronic device.

18. A wristwatch, comprising:

a housing having a conductive sidewall, a first conductive ring separated from the conductive sidewall by an elongated slot, and a conductive portion coupling the first conductive ring to the conductive sidewall;

a display having a display panel;

a second conductive ring mounted to the display panel, wherein the second conductive ring couples the display panel to the first conductive ring; and

an antenna having a radiating element, an edge of the radiating element being defined by the slot.

19. The wristwatch of claim 18, wherein radio frequency current for the antenna flows on the display plate, the first conductive ring, and the second conductive ring.

20. The wristwatch of claim 19, wherein the antenna has an antenna ground comprising the conductive sidewall and having a short path formed by the conductive portion of the housing.