KR20070120717A - Antenna for portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

An antenna for a portable terminal is provided to reduce a volume of the portable terminal by arranging antenna elements between components of a keypad assembly. A portable terminal includes a keypad assembly having plural key buttons. The keypad assembly includes a main board, a metal dome, a keypad rubber(213), an EL(Electro-Luminescent) layer(214), an antenna radiator(230), and a keypad sheet. The metal domes are arranged with a constant space on the main board corresponding to the key button. The keypad rubber is laminated on the main board and includes contact bumps corresponding to the respective metal domes. The EL layer is applied between the keypad rubber and the main board. The antenna radiator is applied on the EL layer and electrically connected to the main board. The keypad sheet is laminated on the keypad rubber and includes key buttons corresponding to the respective bumps.

Description

Antenna device for portable terminal {ANTENNA FOR PORTABLE TERMINAL}

1 is a perspective view of a portable terminal to which the antenna device according to the present invention is applied;

2 is an exploded perspective view of a keypad assembly to which an antenna device according to the present invention is applied;

3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating main parts of the keypad assembly according to the present invention in a combined state; And

4 is a block diagram of a keypad rubber including the antenna device according to the present invention.

The present invention relates to an antenna device used in a portable terminal, and more particularly, to an antenna device of a portable terminal configured to efficiently install an antenna device using a relatively large space for near field communication without increasing the volume of the terminal.

In recent years, as portable terminals are rapidly spreading by individual, terminal manufacturers have more various functions, but are racing to satisfy user's purchase needs by reducing the size of the devices. For example, it has a variety of functions, such as the function to shoot a desired subject by mounting a small camera module, the ability to listen to high quality music by the user equipped with an MP3 player. These functions are accompanied by an increase in the volume of the terminal according to the mounting of the device, and terminal manufacturers are trying to implement various additional functions while overcoming these disadvantages.

Recently, a short range wireless communication function has been commercialized among the additional functions of the terminal. As the short-range wireless communication means described above, a terminal equipped with the Bluetooth function of the 2.4 GHz band has emerged. As the Bluetooth function, for example, data communication between terminals or wireless communication between the ear microphone and the terminal may be used. In order to perform the above-described Bluetooth function, a predetermined Bluetooth chip (element) must be mounted inside the terminal, and includes a radiator for performing the Bluetooth function.

The above-mentioned Bluetooth radiator should be provided separately from the RF radiator used for the transmission and reception of the terminal, conventionally mounted as a SMD type on the RF board. As the radiator for Bluetooth, a separate chip antenna and a plate type monopole antenna were mainly used.

In addition, a terminal having a NFC (Near Field Communication) function for performing an electronic payment, a P2P, a card reader function among the above-mentioned short-range communication functions is being released. The above-described NFC function should use a separate device, and the RF communication with the corresponding payment device is performed using an antenna device separate from the antenna radiator for communication of the terminal. In order to use the above-described NFC function, various elements are required on the main board of the terminal, and a low frequency (about 13.56 MHz) antenna radiator for NFC is required. The low frequency radiator described above has been generally used in a battery pack of a terminal because of its large volume (about 30 × 50 mm). In addition, the NFC antenna device is installed using the entire rear surface of the battery pack, which is generally a power supply means of the terminal, due to its volume, and an expensive ferrite layer is used to avoid interference with conductor battery cells. Should be used.

That is, the Bluetooth antenna radiator or NFC antenna radiator used as the above-mentioned short-range communication means should be provided with a separate antenna device from the existing antenna device for communication, which causes an increase in the volume of the terminal, which has recently been reduced in weight and shortness. It has caused a problem to reverse the development trend of the terminal to implement the.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device of a portable terminal configured to install an antenna device for a short range communication means without a separate mounting space.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device of a portable terminal which is installed to have a corresponding function without increasing the volume of the terminal.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device of a portable terminal, which is configured to contribute to light and small size of the terminal by interposing the existing component installation space.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an antenna device of a portable radio terminal, which is configured such that an expensive radiator antenna for short distance communication and means for avoiding interference due to its installation are not required.

In order to solve the above object, the present invention provides a portable terminal having a keypad assembly including a plurality of key buttons, the keypad assembly is a main board installed in the terminal, and the key on the main board A metal dome installed at a predetermined interval at a position corresponding to a button, and stacked on the main board, the keypad rubber having a contact protrusion corresponding to each metal dome, and interposed between the keypad rubber and the main board. Electro-Luminescence (EL) layer used as a light emitting means of the key button, and an antenna radiator which is applied to the EL layer in a predetermined shape and installed or formed so as to be electrically connected to the main board, and stacked on top of the keypad rubber, And a keypad sheet on which key buttons corresponding to the respective contact protrusions are formed. do.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the case where it is determined that the gist of the present invention may be unnecessarily obscured, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a perspective view of a portable terminal 10 to which a keypad assembly according to the present invention is applied, and illustrates a folder type terminal, and describes components thereof. However, it would also be applicable to other wireless terminals to which a keypad assembly having a plurality of key buttons that requires manipulation by a user is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, the folder type terminal 10 has a main body 20 and a folder 30 that is opened at an angle with the axis A as the rotation axis in the main body 20. The main body 20 includes a keypad assembly 21 including a plurality of key buttons. Typically, a 3 × 4 numeric keypad assembly 21a and a navigation keypad assembly 22b may be configured. The 3 × 4 numeric keypad assembly 21a may be used as a call means according to a user's numeric key input, and the navigation keypad assembly 21b uses various additional contents such as a camera module, music listening, and the Internet. Will be manipulated. Under the keypad assembly 21, a microphone device 24 for transmitting voice to the other party during a call may be installed.

The display device 31 may be installed on the front of the folder 30. The display device 31 may be a high definition color LCD module. A speaker device 32 capable of listening to the other party's voice may be installed above the display device 31.

Although not shown, the main antenna device may be installed in the terminal. In the terminal, an internal antenna mounted on a main board rear of the main body is applied, but is not limited thereto. The antenna device according to the present invention includes a retractable antenna device protruding from an internal antenna device or a terminal. Relates to a separate additional antenna device. Furthermore, since the antenna device according to the present invention is interposed in an EL (Electro-Luminescence) layer which is a light emitting means of the keypad assembly, the interference with the above-described main antenna device is avoided. Moreover, the antenna device according to the invention will of course be electrically connected to the feeder of the near field communication module of the main board.

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the keypad assembly 21 according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a sectional view showing the main portion of the keypad assembly in accordance with the present invention, the components of the 3 × 4 numeric keypad assembly and applied thereto Although the keypad rubber 213 is illustrated and described, the present invention is not limited thereto, and in the case of a keypad assembly in which a 3 × 4 numeric keypad assembly and a navigation keypad assembly are integrally formed, a keypad rubber ( 213) may be expanded.

The keypad assembly 21 according to the present invention includes a main board 211 installed on the main body of the terminal, a keypad rubber 213 and a plurality of key buttons 217 sequentially stacked on the main board 211. A keypad sheet 216.

The main board 211 is provided with metal domes 212 at positions corresponding to the key buttons 217 of the terminal, respectively. The metal dome 212 performs a switching role of recognizing button manipulation of the terminal by electrically connecting the carbon contacts spaced apart from each other on the main board 211.

The keypad rubber 213 is preferably formed of a silicon material, and the contact protrusion 213-1 is formed at a position corresponding to the metal domes 212. The periphery of the contact protrusion 213-1 may be configured to form a space S in a skirt manner so that the metal dome 212 is smoothly pressed by the protrusion 213-1.

Thereafter, an antenna radiator (230 of FIG. 4) according to the present invention will be interposed between the Electro-Luminescence (EL) layers 214 installed or applied under the keypad rubber 213. The EL layer 214 is, as is known, a back electrode, a luminescence layer, a conductive film and a color coating layer between upper and lower protective covers. It is constructed in such a way that they are sequentially stacked. The EL layer is attached or installed on the rear surface of the keypad rubber, but can be designed to avoid the contact projection 213-1. Moreover, electrical connection between the EL layers is possible by the conductive film, and may be possible by applying silver paint thereon. Here, the antenna radiator according to the present invention may be formed on the conductive film layer of the EL layer.

As the antenna radiator 230 formed on the EL layer 214, any one or two or more of a Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna radiator, a Bluetooth antenna radiator, and a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) antenna radiator are spaced at a predetermined interval. And may be formed together.

In addition, the main board 211 may use a hard type general printed circuit board (PCB) or a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) as a configuration of the terminal.

4 is a configuration diagram of a keypad rubber including an antenna device according to the present invention, and shows a rear surface of the keypad rubber in more detail.

Reference numeral 220 in the drawing denotes a rubber portion of the keypad rubber, and 214, which is a hatched portion, may be an EL layer. Reference numeral 215 may be a conductive film or silver paint electrically connecting each EL layer, or a line to which the conductive film and silver paint are applied together.

On one side of the line 215, a pattern used as a near field communication radiator according to the present invention having a predetermined shape is formed along the line. Although the pattern is formed in a straight line on the drawing, it is possible to form in various shapes along the portion where the EL line or EL layer is applied. Therefore, the power feeding portion 219 to which the antenna radiator pattern 230 is supplied can be formed together or in common on the keypad rubber 213 in addition to the line 218 to which the EL layer is electrically connected. Although not shown, the feeder 219 may be configured of a flexible printed circuit and electrically connected to the main board 211.

Apparently, there are many ways to modify these embodiments while remaining within the scope of the claims. In other words, there may be many other ways in which the invention may be practiced without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Since the antenna device for short-range communication according to the present invention is interposed between components of the key button assembly, a separate antenna radiator mounting space is not required on the main board, thereby contributing to terminal volume reduction, and corresponding to the entire surface of the keypad assembly. Because of the installation area, there is an effect that can be used to install the antenna device of two or more different bands.

Claims (5)

In a portable terminal having a keypad assembly including a plurality of key buttons, The keypad assembly, A main board installed in the terminal; A metal dome installed at a predetermined interval at a position corresponding to the key button on the main board; A keypad rubber stacked on the main board, the keypad rubber having a contact protrusion corresponding to each metal dome; An EL (Electro-Luminescence) layer interposed between the keypad rubber and the main board and used as a light emitting means of the key button; An antenna radiator which is applied to the EL layer in a predetermined shape and installed or formed to be electrically connected to the main board; And Stacked on top of the keypad rubber, the antenna device of the portable terminal, characterized in that it comprises a keypad sheet formed with a key button corresponding to each contact projection. The method of claim 1, And the EL layer is installed in such a manner as to be attached or coated on the rear surface of the keypad rubber. The method of claim 2, And the antenna radiator is formed on a conductive film of the components of the EL layer. The method of claim 1, The main board is an antenna device of a portable terminal, characterized in that any one of a general hard printed circuit board (PCB), a flexible printed circuit (FPCB). The method of claim 1, wherein The pattern formed on the EL layer is characterized in that any one or two or more of a NFC (Near Field Communication) antenna radiator, a Bluetooth (Bluetooth) antenna radiator, a WLAN (Wireless Local Access Network) antenna radiator are formed together at a predetermined interval. Antenna device of the portable terminal.

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