WO2016173490A1

WO2016173490A1 - Antenna and mobile terminal having same

Info

Publication number: WO2016173490A1
Application number: PCT/CN2016/080239
Authority: WO
Inventors: Qinyang CAI; Wensong WANG; Faping WANG
Original assignee: Byd Company Limited
Priority date: 2015-04-28
Filing date: 2016-04-26
Publication date: 2016-11-03
Also published as: CN106159445A

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an antenna and a mobile terminal. The antenna includes a seamless metal housing, having at least two permanent ground communication parts: a seamless metal ring, having a plurality of switchable ground communication parts and being in communication with the seamless metal housing at the at least two permanent ground communication parts; a gap, formed between the seamless metal ring and the seamless metal housing; a dielectric, filled in the gap; and a control unit, being in communication with the plurality of switchable ground communication parts, and being configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring.

Description

ANTENNA AND MOBILE TERMINAL HAVING SAME

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a communication technology field, more particularly to an antenna and a mobile terminal having the same.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, the antenna is usually formed by cutting a metal rear housing or a side-edge metal ring and then an adjustable matching circuit is added so as to enlarge the bandwidth of the antenna. However, the antenna with such structure may cause a gap in the metal ring or the metal rear housing of the antenna, which affects the structural strength. Further, a switch or an adjustable device is disposed in the adjustable matching circuit, which may bring an insertion loss, and thus affect the performance of the antenna. In addition, there is a high clearance requirement for the circuit board and a great influence from the surrounding environment, thus resulting in a poor applicability.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure seek to solve at least one of the problems existing in the related art to at least some extent.

Accordingly, embodiments of a first aspect of the present disclosure provide an antenna. The antenna includes a seamless metal housing, having at least two permanent ground communication parts； a seamless metal ring, having a plurality of switchable ground communication parts and being in communication with the seamless metal housing at the at least two permanent ground communication parts； a gap, formed between the seamless metal ring and the seamless metal housing； a dielectric, filled in the gap； and a control unit, being in communication with the plurality of switchable ground communication parts, and configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring.

The antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure has a high structural strength and a strong applicability, and has no insertion loss.

Embodiments of a second aspect of the present disclosure provide a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal includes the antenna provided by the above embodiments of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

The mobile terminal according to embodiments of the present disclosure has advantages of a stable structure and a reliable performance, by using the antenna in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing a seamless metal ring and a seamless metal housing of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing a seamless metal ring and a seamless metal housing of an antenna according to another embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 4 is a partially schematic view of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure； and

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a frequency band of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will be described in detail herein, and examples thereof are illustrated in accompanying drawings. Throughout figures referred by the following description, the same reference number in different figures indicates the same or similar elements unless otherwise stated. Implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all the implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Instead, they are only examples of the device and method consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure detailed in the appended claims.

An antenna and a mobile terminal having the same according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to drawings. An upper and lower direction is represented by arrow A as shown in the drawings, a left and right direction is represented by arrow B as shown in the drawings, and a front and rear direction is represented by arrow C as shown in the drawings.

In addition, it should be noted that, “connect/connected/connection” refers to a physical contact, and “communicate/communicating/communication” refers to an electrical communication.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in Fig. 1, the antenna 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a seamless metal housing 10, a seamless metal ring 20, a dielectric 30 and a control unit 40.

The seamless metal housing 10 has at least two permanent ground communication parts. The at least two permanent ground communication parts are arranged along a circumferential direction of the seamless metal housing 10 and spaced from one another. The seamless metal ring 20 has a plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 and is in communication with the seamless metal housing 10 at the at least two permanent ground communication parts. A gap 21 is formed between the seamless metal ring 20 and the seamless metal housing 10. The dielectric is filled in the gap 21. The control unit 40 is in communication with the plurality of switchable ground communication parts, and is configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20.

In other words, the permanent ground communication part always communicates the seamless metal ring 20 with the seamless metal housing 10. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the seamless metal housing 10 may be directly connected with the seamless metal ring 20 at the permanent ground communication part without leaving gaps therebetween. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, at the permanent ground communication part, the seamless metal housing 10 may indirectly communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 via the control unit 40. The seamless metal ring 20 has the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 and the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 selectively communicate the seamless metal ring 20 with the control unit 40 under control of the control unit 40. By controlling any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20, a section of the gap 21 between the seamless metal housing 10 and the seamless metal ring 20 is configured as a gap antenna and another section of the gap 21 is configured as a useless gap. At the useless gap, the seamless metal housing 10 may be directly connected with the seamless metal ring 20, and also, the dielectric 30 may be filled in the useless gap.

In should be noted that, the number of the permanent ground communication parts is determined according to the number of the gap antennas, and each gap antenna requires two permanent ground communication parts to isolate the gap antenna from the whole gap 21, i.e. the two permanent ground communication parts are disposed at a beginning of the gap antenna and at an end of the gap antenna respectively.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 are disposed along a circumferential direction of the seamless metal ring 20 and spaced from one another. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 are disposed at an inner surface of the seamless metal ring 20.

With the antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure, by using the seamless metal housing 10 and the seamless metal ring 20 to form the gap antenna, the antenna signal can be prevented from being shielded, thus improving the use space of the antenna.

Further, by forming the gap 21 between the seamless metal housing 10 and the seamless metal ring 20, there is no need to form a gap in the seamless metal housing 10 or the seamless metal ring 20, thus ensuring the structural strength of the seamless metal housing 10 and the seamless metal ring 20.

In addition, by using the control unit 40 to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20, the length of the gap antenna can be changed. By this way, the antenna resonance can be changed so as to cover the full frequency band, and the insertion loss of the switch can be eliminated, thus improving the performance of the antenna 1. Moreover, the antenna 1 has a low clearance requirement, suffers little effect from the environment, and is suitable for various mobile terminals.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a frequency band of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, by testing the frequency band of the gap antenna, the antenna can achieve the full frequency band coverage, and has excellent performances in respective aspects.

Fig. 4 is a partially schematic view of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, the control unit 40 includes a circuit board 41, and a switch circuit (not shown) . The circuit board 41 is connected with (the physical contact) the permanent ground communication parts and the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22, and also communicates with (the electrical communication) the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 and with the permanent ground communication parts. The switch circuit is integrated in the circuit board 41 and configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20. In other words, the switch circuit controls each of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 or not. On the contrary, the permanent ground communication parts communicate the seamless metal ring 20 with the seamless metal housing 10 all the time.

In some embodiments, the control unit 40 is in communication with the seamless metal ring 20 at at least one antenna feeding part.

In a specific embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, the control unit 40 further includes a plurality of transmission lines 42 and a plurality of communication ships (not shown) . The plurality of communication ships are in communication with the seamless metal ring 20 via the plurality of transmission lines 42 to form a plurality of antenna feeding parts, respectively, and thus the control unit 40 is in communication with the seamless metal ring 20 at the plurality of antenna feeding parts. Specifically, the communication ship may communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 to transmit signals via the transmission line 42 by means of a flat spring 43.

It should be noted that the number of the transmission lines 42 and the number of the communication ships are not limited herein and respectively correspond to the number of the antenna feeding parts. That is, when the control unit 40 is in communication with the seamless metal ring 20 at one antenna feeding part, one transmission line 42 and one communication ship are provided to form the antenna feeding part.

In an embodiment, the antenna 1 further includes a first flat spring 43, a second flat spring and a third flat spring. Each transmission line 42 is in communication with the seamless metal ring 20 via the first flat spring 43, the circuit board 41 is connected with the seamless metal ring 20 at each switchable ground communication part 22 via the second flat spring and the circuit board 41 is kept in electrical communication with the switchable ground communication part 22. The switch circuit can switch a communication state of the switchable ground communication part 22 so as to change a communication state between the circuit board 41 and the seamless metal ring 20, and thus the length of the gap antenna can be adjusted due to different position arrangements of the switchable ground communication parts 22 in the seamless metal ring 20. The seamless metal ring 20 is in communication with the seamless metal housing 10 at each permanent ground communication part via the third flat spring. That is, at each permanent ground communication part, the circuit board 41 communicates with the seamless metal ring 20 via the third flat spring and also communicates with the seamless metal housing 10, so that the seamless metal ring 20 can communicate with the seamless metal housing 10.

In other words, a plurality of flat springs abut against the seamless metal ring 20, the third flat spring at the permanent ground communication part is kept in the electrical communication with the seamless metal ring 20, the first flat spring 43 connected with the transmission line 42 is kept in the electrical communication with the seamless metal ring 20 to form the antenna feeding part, and the second flat spring at the switchable ground communication part 22 is controlled by the switch circuit to communicate with the seamless metal ring 20 or not, so that the communication state of the switchable ground communication part 22 can be controlled by the switch circuit.

Optionally, the above flat spring may be replaced by any similar means known in the related art.

In an embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, the plurality of permanent ground communication parts include a first permanent ground communication part 11, a second permanent ground communication part 12, a third permanent ground communication part 13, and a fourth permanent ground communication part 14. One part of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 are disposed between the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the second permanent ground communication part 12, and the other part of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts 22 are disposed between the third permanent ground communication part 13 and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14. As shown in Fig. 1, there are twelve switchable ground communication parts 22 between the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the second permanent ground communication part 12, the switchable ground communication parts 22 between the third permanent ground communication part 13 and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14 are not shown, and thus two gap antennas are formed, i.e. a first gap antenna 2 and a second antenna 3, and accordingly, there are two antenna feeding parts, i.e. a first antenna feeding part 4 and a second antenna feeding part 5. The first gap antenna 2 is used as a main antenna, and the second gap antenna 3 may be set according to the need of the mobile terminal, thus satisfying requirements of various mobile terminals.

In an embodiment, a portion of the gap 21 between the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the second permanent ground communication part 12 forms the first gap antenna 2 together with the first antenna feeding part 4, the control unit 40 controls the communication state of the seamless metal ring 20 and the switchable ground communication parts 22 between the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the second permanent ground communication part 12, thus achieving a change of the length of the first gap antenna 2, and then enlarging the bandwidth of the first gap antenna 2. A portion of the gap 21 between the third permanent ground communication part 13 and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14 forms the second gap antenna 3 together with the second antenna feeding part 5, and the second gap antenna 3 is used for a GPS (Global Positioning System) /BT (Bluetooth) /WIFI (wireless network) /MIMO (MIMO technology) .

A portion of the gap 21 between the third permanent ground communication part 13 and the second permanent ground communication part 12 and a portion of the gap 21 between the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14 are configured as the useless gaps 23.

It should be noted that, when designing one gap antenna, there will be two permanent ground communication parts to isolate the gap antenna from the whole gap 21, a portion of the gap 21 between the two permanent ground communication parts is configured as the gap antenna, and the whole gap 21 except the portion between the two permanent ground communication parts is the useless gap. The useless gap is relative, and the useless gap herein refers to an intersection set of relatively useless gaps corresponding to all the gap antennas.

In an embodiment, the first permanent ground communication part 11 is adjacent to a left side edge and a lower side edge of the seamless metal housing 10, the second permanent ground communication part 12 and the third permanent ground communication part 13 are adjacent to a right side edge of the seamless metal housing 10 and the third permanent ground communication part 13 is located above the second permanent ground communication part 12, and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14 is adjacent to the left side edge and a upper side edge of the seamless metal housing 10.

In an embodiment, a distance from each of the first permanent ground communication part 11 and the third permanent ground communication part 13 to an antenna feeding part nearest thereto is 5mm, a distance from each of the second permanent ground communication part 12 and the fourth permanent ground communication part 14 to a switchable ground communication part 22 nearest thereto is 2.5mm, and a distance from the second permanent ground communication part 12 to the third permanent ground communication part 13 is 2.5mm.

Specifically, a distance from the first permanent ground communication part 11 to the first antenna feeding part 4 is 5mm, and a distance from the third permanent ground communication part 13 to the second antenna feeding part 5 is 5mm.

It should be noted that, the number of the permanent ground communication parts and the number of the switchable ground communication parts 22 can be adjusted according to the number of the gap antennas and the operation frequency band. The distance from each permanent ground communication part to the switchable ground communication part 22 and the distance between the permanent ground communication parts can be adjusted according the actual application and the actual requirement. The position of the switchable ground communication parts 22 can be also adjusted according to the position of the antenna feeding part.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing a seamless metal ring and a seamless metal housing of an antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 2, the gap 21 is formed between a front surface of the seamless metal housing 10 and a rear surface of the seamless metal ring 20.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing a seamless metal ring and a seamless metal housing of an antenna according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the gap 21 is formed between an outer circumferential surface of the seamless metal housing 10 and an inner circumferential surface of the seamless metal ring 20. The outer circumferential surface of the seamless metal housing 10 refers to a circumferential surface toward exterior of the seamless metal housing 10, and the inner circumferential surface of the seamless metal ring 20 refers to a circumferential surface toward interior of the seamless metal ring 20.

In the following, a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. The mobile terminal includes the antenna 1 according to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

The mobile terminal according to embodiments of the present disclosure has advantages of a stable structure and a reliable performance, by using the above antenna 1 according to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the mobile terminal may be a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet and the like.

Other structures and operations of the mobile terminal according to the present embodiment of the disclosure are well known to those ordinary skilled in the related art, and will not be described in detail herein.

In the specification, it is to be understood that terms such as “central, ” “longitudinal, ” “lateral, ” “length, ” “width, ” “thickness, ” “upper, ” “lower, ” “front, ” “rear, ” “left, ” “right, ” “vertical, ” “horizontal, ” “top, ” “bottom, ” “inner, ” “outer, ” “clockwise, ” and “counterclockwise” should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the present disclosure be constructed or operated in a particular orientation.

In addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second” may comprise one or more of this feature. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two, unless specified otherwise.

In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted, ” “connected, ” “coupled, ” “fixed” and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections； may also be mechanical or electrical connections； may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures； may also be inner communications of two elements, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, a structure in which a first feature is “on” or “below” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, and may also include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contact with each other, but are contacted via an additional feature formed therebetween. Furthermore, a first feature “on, ” “above, ” or “on top of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “on, ” “above, ” or “on top of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height higher than that of the second feature； while a first feature “below, ” “under, ” or “on bottom of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “below, ” “under, ” or “on bottom of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height lower than that of the second feature.

Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment, ” “some embodiments, ” “one embodiment” , “another example, ” “an example, ” “a specific example, ” or “some examples, ” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as “in some embodiments, ” “in one embodiment” , “in an embodiment” , “in another example, ” “in an example, ” “in a specific example, ” or “in some examples, ” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

An antenna, comprising:

a seamless metal housing, provided with at least two permanent ground communication parts；

a seamless metal ring, provided with a plurality of switchable ground communication parts and being in communication with the seamless metal housing at the at least two permanent ground communication parts；

a gap, formed between the seamless metal ring and the seamless metal housing；

a dielectric, filled in the gap； and

a control unit, being in communication with the plurality of switchable ground communication parts, and being configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring.
The antenna according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of switchable ground communication parts are disposed along a circumferential direction of the seamless metal ring and spaced apart from one another.
The antenna according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the plurality of switchable ground communication parts are disposed at an inner surface of the seamless metal ring.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the control unit comprises:

a circuit board, communicating with the plurality of switchable ground communication parts； and

a switch circuit, integrated in the circuit board and configured to switch any one of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts to communicate with the seamless metal ring or not to communicate with the seamless metal ring.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the control unit is in communication with the seamless metal ring at at least one antenna feeding part.
The antenna according to claim 5, wherein the control unit is in communication with the seamless metal ring at a plurality of antenna feeding parts.
The antenna according to claim 6, wherein the control unit further comprises:

a plurality of transmission lines； and

a plurality of communication ships, being in communication with the seamless metal ring via the plurality of transmission lines to form the plurality of antenna feeding parts respectively.
The antenna according to claim 7, further comprising:

a first flat spring, each transmission line being in communication with the seamless metal ring via the first flat spring；

a second flat spring, the circuit board being connected with the seamless metal ring at each switchable ground communication part via the second flat spring； and

a third flat spring, the seamless metal ring being in communication with the seamless metal housing at each permanent ground communication part via the third flat spring.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the at least two permanent ground communication parts comprises: a first permanent ground communication part, a second permanent ground communication part, a third permanent ground communication part, and a fourth permanent ground communication part, one part of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts are disposed between the first permanent ground communication part and the second permanent ground communication part, and the other part of the plurality of switchable ground communication parts are disposed between the third permanent ground communication part and the fourth permanent ground communication part.
The antenna according to claim 9, wherein the first permanent ground communication part is adjacent to a left side edge and a lower side edge of the seamless metal housing, the second permanent ground communication part and the third permanent ground communication part are adjacent to a right side edge of the seamless metal housing and the third permanent ground communication part is located above the second permanent ground communication part, and the fourth permanent ground communication part is adjacent to the left side edge and a upper side edge of the seamless metal housing.
The antenna according to claim 9, wherein a distance from each of the first permanent ground communication part and the third permanent ground communication part to an antenna feeding part nearest thereto is 5mm, a distance from each of the second permanent ground communication part and the fourth permanent ground communication part to a switchable ground communication part nearest thereto is 2.5mm, and a distance from the second permanent ground communication part to the third permanent ground communication part is 2.5mm.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein the gap is formed between a front surface of the seamless metal housing and a rear surface of the seamless metal ring.
The antenna according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein the gap is formed between an outer circumferential surface of the seamless metal housing and an inner circumferential surface of the seamless metal ring.
A mobile terminal, comprising the antenna according to any one of claims 1-13.