EP3255728A1 - Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine - Google Patents

Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3255728A1
EP3255728A1 EP16305694.8A EP16305694A EP3255728A1 EP 3255728 A1 EP3255728 A1 EP 3255728A1 EP 16305694 A EP16305694 A EP 16305694A EP 3255728 A1 EP3255728 A1 EP 3255728A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
antenna
main board
top cover
pad
casing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP16305694.8A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Dominique Lo Hine Tong
Philippe Minard
Pierre-Marie Morin
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Thomson Licensing SAS
Original Assignee
Thomson Licensing SAS
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Thomson Licensing SAS filed Critical Thomson Licensing SAS
Priority to EP16305694.8A priority Critical patent/EP3255728A1/de
Publication of EP3255728A1 publication Critical patent/EP3255728A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/42—Housings not intimately mechanically associated with radiating elements, e.g. radome
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/44—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas using equipment having another main function to serve additionally as an antenna, e.g. means for giving an antenna an aesthetic aspect
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/007—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas specially adapted for indoor communication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
    • H01Q1/2291—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles used in bluetooth or WI-FI devices of Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN]

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to the field of electronic devices comprising at least one antenna.
  • the invention can be integrated into, but not limited to, home-networking electronic devices, such as set-top-boxes, gateways and smart home devices.
  • home-networking devices such as internet gateways and set-top-boxes integrate numerous wireless systems in order to offer multiple services and applications.
  • These include different systems complying with various communication standards such as, for example, RF4CE, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Zwave. Therefore, the electronic devices tend to integrate more and more antennas while at the same time, they become smaller. Consequently, integration and coexistence constraints, as well as manufacturing and assembly costs, are increased sensitively.
  • a first solution consists in directly printing the antenna(s) on the main board of the electronic device. Although this is the most cost-effective solution, it is applicable only if there is enough space on the board, which is not the case when there are a high number of antennas.
  • a second solution is to use off-board antenna(s), to attach it or them to the device casing and to interconnect it or them to the main board with a micro-coaxial cable.
  • the antenna(s) can be printed on a common FR4-based substrate or a flexible polyimide (PI)-based substrate, or fabricated in a stamped metal technology.
  • This solution enables to save space on the main board but is expensive (because of the use of coaxial connectors and cables).
  • a third solution is to use discrete stamped antenna(s) mounted on board.
  • the metallic antennas are mounted substantially perpendicularly to the board and are soldered to feeding points of the antenna. This technology is considered as very low-cost but it does allow neither having complex antenna designs and shapes, nor building up a complete antenna system with multiple feedings.
  • a fourth solution consists in using 3D antenna hosted and carried by a 3D plastic member.
  • the 3D plastic member is fixed by appropriate means to the main board of the device. This technology allows designing sophisticated antenna systems, taking the advantage of the 3-axis integration to deal with space constraints.
  • Such an antenna structure can be realized according 3 main technologies:
  • a subject of the invention is therefore a device comprising at least a main board whereon electronic components are mounted, an antenna assembly comprising at least one antenna to be connected to said main board, and a casing for containing said main board and said antenna assembly, said casing comprising a top cover and a bottom cover, wherein it further comprises at least one antenna holder for holding said at least one antenna, said at least one antenna holder comprising at least one panel whereon one antenna is mounted, and wherein said at least one antenna holder is assembled to said top cover and is arranged to position the panel substantially perpendicularly to the main board and to connect said one antenna to the main board when the top cover of the casing is assembled to the bottom cover.
  • the antenna holder takes up little space onto the main board.
  • the antenna holder is not attached to the main board but to the top cover of the casing such that the antenna is connected to the main board only when the top cover of the casing is assembled to the bottom cover.
  • the antenna comprises conductive traces on a substrate, said substrate being mounted on a face of the panel of the antenna holder. In one embodiment, said substrate is flexible.
  • the antenna comprises conductive strips, said conductive strips being directly mounted on a face of the panel.
  • the antenna holder is made from plastic material.
  • the antenna comprises at least one connection pad, called antenna pad, placed on an edge of the panel of the antenna holder and the main board comprises at least one connection pad, called board pad, said antenna pad and said board pad being arranged to be into electrical contact when the top cover is assembled to the bottom cover.
  • This device structure is not expensive since it does not comprise connectors (like for example coaxial connectors) for connecting the antenna to the main board.
  • the panel comprises at least one flexible leg comprising said antenna pad, said flexible leg being applied against the board pad when the top cover of the casing is assembled to the bottom cover. It enables having a reliable contact between the antenna and the main board.
  • the flexible leg is a bent portion of the panel.
  • the present invention also relates to a method for assembling a device comprising at least a main board whereon electronic components are mounted, at least one antenna to be connected to said main board, at least one antenna holder and a casing for containing said main board, said antenna holder and said antenna assembly, said casing comprising a top cover and a bottom cover, said antenna comprising at least one connection pad, called antenna pad and said main board comprises at least one connection pad, called board pad, the method comprising:
  • Figs.1 to 3 illustrate schematically an embodiment of a device according to the invention.
  • the device 1 comprises a main board 10 whereon electronic components are mounted, an antenna assembly comprising a plurality of antennas (not shown) and a casing for enclosing the main board and the antenna assembly.
  • the casing comprises a top cover 11 and a bottom cover (not shown).
  • the antennas are mounted on three antenna holders 12.
  • the antenna holders 12 comprise one or more panels whereon the antennas are mounted. These panels may be arranged together to form antenna holders of different shapes. In the example of Figures 1-3 , the three antenna holders 12 comprise four vertical side panels assembled to a horizontal top panel. These panels are arranged together differently to form different shapes of antenna holders.
  • the panels and the top cover are for example made of plastic material.
  • the plastic material of the panels can be different from the plastic material of the top cover.
  • the antenna holders 12 are attached to the top cover 11 by appropriate means represented by cylinders in the figures.
  • the antenna holders can be attached to the top cover by a rigid link, for example a plastic cylinder, or by any kind of clipping systems.
  • the antenna holder is part of the top cover and can be molded together with the top cover.
  • the top cover and the antenna holder are separate elements and therefore can be made of different plastic materials.
  • the antennas are mounted on faces of the panels of antenna holders. These antennas are not visible on the figures 1-3 . They are for instance designed using Flexible printed circuit technology based on a Pi, PET or paper substrate. In that case, conductive traces are mounted on a flexible substrate. The substrates of the antennas are assembled on the vertical side panels of the antenna holders, for example by adhesive bonding or sticking.
  • the antennas are disposed relative to each other on the antenna holders in order to meet the requested isolation or radiation diversity requirements.
  • the antenna holders 12 are arranged such that the vertical side panels are substantially perpendicular to the main board 10 when the top cover 11 is assembled to the bottom cover, for example by screwing. Thus the contact areas between the antenna holders 12 and the main board are reduced as shown in Fig.3 . The contact areas are shown by a different level of grey in this figure. This allows to release space on the main board 10 for the integration of other on-board components.
  • each antenna comprises a ground pad 13a and a feeding pad 13b. These pads are visible on the figures. They are arranged to be in contact with a ground pad (or ground plane) and a feeding pad of the main board when the top cover is assembled to the bottom cover.
  • the connection between the antenna holders and the main board is flexible as illustrated by Fig.4 .
  • the antenna holder comprises a flexible leg 14 for electrically connecting the pads of the antenna to dedicated pads of the main board.
  • the flexible leg is a bent portion of the antenna holder.
  • This flexible leg 15 is arranged to be in contact with the main board 10 when the top cover is assembled to the bottom cover. Since no solder is used, the bended portion should feature a degree of flexibility to guarantee a reliable contact. The contact is achieved when the main board is totally enclosed in the casing, with the top and bottom covers assembled together for example by screwing the top cover onto the bottom cover. This enclosing should exert the required pressure of the bended portions on the main board while considering the assembling tolerances.
  • the antennas mounted on the antenna holders have been described as being designed using a flexible printed circuit technology.
  • the antennas can also be signed by using Molded Interconnect Device (MID) technology wherein the antennas are directly metallized on a plastic antenna holder.
  • MID Molded Interconnect Device
  • the antennas may also be made of conductive strips directly mounted on the panels of the antenna holder.
  • the interconnect between the antenna holders and the main board can be realized by using intermediary components, such as metal springs or clips soldered on the main board.
EP16305694.8A 2016-06-10 2016-06-10 Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine Withdrawn EP3255728A1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP16305694.8A EP3255728A1 (de) 2016-06-10 2016-06-10 Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP16305694.8A EP3255728A1 (de) 2016-06-10 2016-06-10 Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3255728A1 true EP3255728A1 (de) 2017-12-13

Family

ID=56263625

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP16305694.8A Withdrawn EP3255728A1 (de) 2016-06-10 2016-06-10 Vorrichtung mit antennenverbindung zur hauptplatine

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP3255728A1 (de)

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1225652A1 (de) * 2001-01-12 2002-07-24 The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. Antennenvorrichtung
US6512491B2 (en) * 2000-02-14 2003-01-28 Sony Corporation Antenna device and its assembly method and wireless communication terminal and their assembly method
US20080252554A1 (en) * 2007-04-16 2008-10-16 Ying-Chieh Chuang Antenna structure
US7830331B2 (en) * 2007-11-29 2010-11-09 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Electronic device
US8068058B2 (en) * 2007-07-06 2011-11-29 Laird Technologies, Inc. Antenna assembly with connectors having an internal conductive channel

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6512491B2 (en) * 2000-02-14 2003-01-28 Sony Corporation Antenna device and its assembly method and wireless communication terminal and their assembly method
EP1225652A1 (de) * 2001-01-12 2002-07-24 The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. Antennenvorrichtung
US20080252554A1 (en) * 2007-04-16 2008-10-16 Ying-Chieh Chuang Antenna structure
US8068058B2 (en) * 2007-07-06 2011-11-29 Laird Technologies, Inc. Antenna assembly with connectors having an internal conductive channel
US7830331B2 (en) * 2007-11-29 2010-11-09 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Electronic device

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