CN1549391A - electronic product with hidden antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic product comprises a metal shell, a sheet antenna attached on the surface of the metal shell, a host board connected with the sheet antenna via a cable penetrating through the metal shell, and a protective sheet attached on the surface of the metal shell, wherein the protective sheet just covers the sheet antenna. Wherein the thin plate antenna transmits and receives signals through the opening, and the protection sheet covers the thin plate antenna and the opening.

Description

Electronics with hidden antennas

(1) Technical field

The present invention relates to an electronic product with a hidden antenna, in particular to a design for attaching a protective sheet such as a sign or a sticker to the antenna.

(2) Background technology

With the continuous development and progress of the technology industry, the design of the new generation of electronic products often has the characteristics of user-friendly operation interface, portability, and practical functions. Especially in order to be closer to the needs of life in modern society, more and more electronic products are being designed and manufactured towards design trends such as light and thin, functional integration, and processing speed improvement. Among them, with the breakthrough and progress of communication technology, as well as the relaxation of communication laws and restrictions, the penetration rate of mobile phones has almost reached the point where everyone owns a mobile phone. Moreover, due to the mature development of integrated circuits and the integration of various chip functions, the mobile phones made by various manufacturers not only have a bright and streamlined dazzling shape, but also have an extremely light volume and weight. Coupled with the fast and convenient information circulation function it provides, it has become an electronic product that is generally loved and widely used by the public.

Especially for users who are engaged in business trips or are on the go because of official business needs, the mobile phone can help them communicate with other users in the first time, so as to avoid delaying business opportunities or delaying important matters. Furthermore, because the memory element in the current mobile phone has a relatively large storage capacity, it can even be used to record important trips and affairs in addition to storing a large number of important people's names and phone numbers. Recently, due to the vigorous development of the telecommunication network, many operators have provided mobile phones with the function of surfing the Internet, making the way of obtaining information more rapid, convenient, and far-reaching. It also makes the use of mobile phones, in addition to traditional contact and communication, also can be used to receive instant information and data. In addition, the new generation of mobile phones often have central processing devices with powerful computing and processing capabilities, so digital data such as various audio effects, images, and graphics can be easily processed. Together, the new generation of mobile phones has the function of multimedia playback.

As far as the traditional mobile phone design is concerned, there is often an exposed antenna protruding outward on the appearance of the casing, so the overall length of the mobile phone will be long and inconvenient to carry. Especially when the user wants to take out the mobile phone from a clothes pocket or handbag, it is often hindered by the protruding antenna and cannot be taken out smoothly and directly. In order to solve this problem and further beautify the appearance of mobile phones, current mobile phones tend to develop towards the design trend of hidden antennas. Especially with the maturity of thin-plate antenna manufacturing technologies such as printed circuit board antenna (PCB) and ceramic antenna (ceramic), the antenna of the new generation of mobile phones is often fabricated inside the casing. Therefore, in the appearance of the mobile phone, the traditional exposed and protruding columnar antenna will not be seen at all.

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B , which respectively show the front and back appearances of the hidden antenna mobile phone 10 currently on the market. Viewed from the front of the mobile phone 10, as shown in FIG. 1A, there is a listening speaker 12 on the upper side of the front panel of the casing, which is convenient for users to listen to voice information. On the lower side of the listening speaker 12, approximately in the center of the front panel, there is a display screen 14 for displaying the operating status of the mobile phone or the information and image data transmitted. On the panel on the lower side of the display screen 14, an input keyboard 16 is provided to provide the user with numbers and data input.

It is worth noting that, in order to make the appearance more textured, today's mobile phones often choose to use metal materials to make the mobile phone shell, or use electroplating to coat a metal outer layer on the plastic shell. However, this will hinder the signal reception effect of the hidden antenna inside the mobile phone due to the metal's shielding effect on electromagnetic waves. In order to solve this problem, in the known mobile phone design, a non-metallic area is often formed on the metal shell of the mobile phone near the antenna to avoid the shielding effect of metal or conductive materials on electromagnetic waves, for example, an opening is formed on the metal shell of the mobile phone, Then a non-conductive material is embedded in the opening.

Please refer to FIG. 1B , as viewed from the back of the mobile phone 10, the casing on the back includes a detachable shell 18 located at the lower side of the mobile phone 10 to provide the user with a SIM card and battery for implanting or replacing the mobile phone. Moreover, on the back casing of the mobile phone, an area will be divided for attaching logos (logos) 20 such as brand names and names. As for the vicinity of the position where the mobile phone 10 accommodates the hidden antenna, an additional independent antenna shell 22 needs to be made, which is made of non-metallic or non-conductive material, so as to prevent the antenna signal inside the mobile phone from being blocked. But in this way, since the material of the antenna shell 22 is different from that of the mobile phone 10, in addition to reducing the consistency of the overall texture of the mobile phone 10, it also seriously damages the aesthetic feeling of the overall mobile phone.

Although the manufacturer tries to make the color of the antenna case 22 consistent with the metal case of the mobile phone 10 by painting, there is still a problem of color difference, which damages the appearance of the mobile phone. In addition, since the manufacturer still needs to design an additional mold to manufacture the antenna shell 22 made of non-metallic material, it is not economical in terms of production cost.

In addition to the above-mentioned mobile phones, for other small consumer 3C electronic products, such as personal digital assistants, handheld computers, digital cameras, etc., when adding wireless communication functions, especially after adopting the design of hidden antennas , will also encounter the problem of metal casing blocking signal reception. Therefore, how to effectively solve the receiving problem of the hidden antenna and maintain the consistency of the material and texture of the shell of the electronic product has become a very important issue in the current industry.

(3) Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a consumer electronic product with a hidden antenna and provide a 3C electronic product in which the overall casing can be made of metal materials.

The invention discloses an electronic product with a wireless communication function, which at least includes the following components: a casing for accommodating internal components of the electronic product, a recessed area on the casing, and a small hole at the bottom of the recessed area. holes, through the inside and outside sides of the casing; a motherboard, installed inside the casing, and located below the recessed area; an antenna, installed on the outer surface of the casing, and is located in the recessed area; a coaxial cable, passing through the small hole at the bottom of the recessed area to electrically connect the motherboard and the antenna; and a logo panel attached to the surface of the casing to completely cover the recessed area.

(4) Description of drawings

Through the following detailed description combined with the accompanying drawings, the above contents and many advantages of the present invention can be easily understood, wherein:

Figure 1A and Figure 1B respectively show the front and back appearances of mobile phones with hidden antennas currently on the market;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the components of the personal digital assistant with hidden antenna of the present invention;

Fig. 3A and Fig. 3B have respectively shown its rear view and structural cross-sectional view of personal digital assistant of the present invention; And

FIG. 3C shows a cross-sectional view of a personal digital assistant in another embodiment of the present invention.

(5) specific implementation

The invention provides a design for installing a hidden antenna on consumer electronic products. This antenna configuration can be applied to electronic products with wireless communication functions such as personal digital assistants, mobile phones, wireless phones, etc., especially to electronic products with metal shells or metal-plated outer layers. For the convenience of understanding, the personal digital assistant is taken as an example for description here. However, in actual application, the design of the present invention is not limited to the personal digital assistant, and can be applied to other electronic products with hidden antennas as required.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is an exploded perspective view showing components of the personal digital assistant provided by the present invention. The PDA 30 includes a case 32 , a main board 34 , an opening 35 , a thin plate antenna 36 , a coaxial cable 38 and a protective sheet 39 . Wherein, the casing 32, as shown in the figure, is divided into a front casing 32a and a rear casing 32b, which can be assembled together front and back to accommodate the internal parts of the personal digital assistant 30. Generally speaking, on the front casing 32a, there will be a substantially rectangular large window for installing the liquid crystal display screen 321 . As for the position near the lower edge of the front casing 32a, many smaller openings are provided for assembling the control buttons 322 required for the manipulation of the PDA 30 . In addition, in this embodiment, the casing 32 is made of metal material, or is made of plastic material but coated with a metal surface on the outer layer.

The main board 34 can be fixed inside the case 32 by means of screws. As shown in the figure, the motherboard 34 is locked on the inner side of the rear case 32b. As for, on the outer surface of the rear casing 32, a thin plate antenna 36 is installed in an attached manner. In a preferred embodiment, the thin plate antenna 36 can be selected from a printed circuit board (PCB) antenna, a ceramic antenna (ceramic), or a flexible flat cable (FPC) antenna . . . And, in order to make the thin-plate antenna 36 and the main board 34 produce electrical connection, so that transmit and receive signal, can drill an opening 35 through the inner and outer sides on the back casing 32b, and pass through this opening 35 at the same time The axial cable 38 connects the connection sheet antenna 36 to the main board 34 .

In order to prevent the thin plate antenna 36 from being exposed on the surface of the casing 32 and being easily damaged, a protective sheet 39 can be pasted on the outer surface of the thin plate antenna 36 and the rear casing 32b. Moreover, in order to avoid shielding from hindering the signal receiving effect of the sheet antenna 36, the material of the protective sheet 39 is selected to be made of non-metallic materials such as plastic and paper. In addition, it should be particularly emphasized that because today's general small consumer electronics products are often attached with product brands, company logos (logo) and other identification sheets, or stickers such as relevant precautions and product specifications are posted. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment, these identification sheets or label stickers can be directly used as the protective sheet 39 to cover and protect the thin plate antenna 36 on the outer surface of the rear casing 32b.

Next, please refer to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B , which respectively show a rear view and a structural cross-sectional view of the personal digital assistant 30 in this embodiment. In FIG. 3A , the back casing 32b of the personal digital assistant 30 is shown, and the protective sheet 39 attached to the back casing 32b and composed of an identification sheet or a label sticker is shown. As for Fig. 3B, it is a cross-sectional view along the line B-B' in Fig. 3A. In a preferred embodiment, a recessed area is designed on the back case 32b for accommodating and placing the thin plate antenna 36, and the above-mentioned small holes passing through the inner and outer sides of the back case 32b are made at the bottom of the recessed area. Generally speaking, since the position of the recessed area is selected near the center of the rear case 32b, the motherboard 34 installed inside the case 32 is located just below the recessed area, as shown in FIG. 3B .

As for the sheet antenna 36, it is directly attached to the recessed area on the outer surface of the rear casing 32b. In a preferred embodiment, the recessed area formed on the casing 32 has a depth of about 2-4 cm, and the thickness of the thin plate antenna 36 is about 1 cm. Therefore, when placed in the recessed area, the sheet antenna 36 does not protrude from the surface of the rear case 32b. Still referring to FIG. 3B , it can be clearly seen from the figure that the motherboard 34 and the thin plate antenna 36 can be connected together by a coaxial cable 38 passing through the small hole at the bottom of the recessed area. After the thin plate antenna 36 is assembled, the above-mentioned identification sheet or label sticker, that is, the protective sheet 39 in the figure, can be pasted on the outer surface of the rear casing 32b to completely cover the entire recessed area.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3C , the PDA 30 includes a casing 32 , a main board 34 , an opening 35 , a thin plate antenna 36 , a coaxial cable 38 , and a protective sheet 39 . Wherein the main board 34 can be screwed and locked inside the casing 32 . As shown in the figure, the motherboard 34 is locked on the inner side of the rear case 32b. In addition, a thin plate antenna 36 is installed in the casing 32 , the thin plate antenna 36 is formed on the main board 34 , and the thin plate antenna 36 can transmit and receive signals through the opening 35 . In a preferred embodiment, the thin plate antenna 36 can be selected from a printed circuit board (PCB) antenna, a ceramic antenna (ceramic), or a flexible flat cable (FPC) antenna . . . As for the protective sheet 39, it is pasted on the casing 32 from above the opening 35, so as to achieve the purpose of protecting and hiding the thin plate antenna.

Using the design of the present invention, there are considerable advantages. First of all, since the thin-plate antenna is attached to the outer surface of the casing of the electronic product, even if the electronic product uses a metal casing or an electroplating casing, it will not hinder the receiving situation of the antenna. In this case, the design of the relevant case will not need to additionally cut out the metal case in the antenna area, and specially insert a non-metallic antenna case. In addition to reducing the number of mechanical parts and components, while reducing mold production costs, parts costs, and reducing inventory pressure, it can also maintain the consistency of the appearance and texture of the overall product casing.

In addition, since there is no need to use different materials to form the casing of the product, in the traditional design, problems such as seam gaps and unevenness caused by the combination of additional parts of the casing can be effectively solved. What's more, since the existing identification sheet or label paper can be directly attached to the surface of the case to cover the thin plate antenna, in addition to providing the protective function related to the thin plate antenna, it can also beautify the overall appearance of the electronic product.

Although the present invention is described by taking a personal digital assistant as an example, it is not intended to limit the spirit and scope of the present invention. People familiar with this technology can also easily understand that the design of the present invention can be arbitrarily applied to various 3C products with communication functions to produce the same effect. Therefore, modifications made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention should be included in the scope defined by the following claims.

Claims (12)

1. An electronic product with a concealed antenna, characterized in that it has a metal case, and a thin plate antenna is attached on the surface of the metal case, and the thin plate antenna is connected to the motherboard via a cable penetrating through the metal case, A protective sheet is attached on the surface of the metal casing, wherein the protective sheet just covers the thin plate antenna. 2. The electronic product according to claim 1, characterized in that, the protective sheet is composed of an identification sheet or a label sticker. 3. The electronic product according to claim 1, wherein the thin-plate antenna is composed of a printed circuit board antenna, a ceramic antenna or a flexible flat-wire antenna. 4. The electronic product according to claim 1, characterized in that there is a recessed area with a depth of about 2-4 cm on the metal casing, and the thin plate antenna is placed in the recessed area, and the bottom of the recessed area On the metal shell, there is a small hole through the metal shell, so as to provide the cable to pass through the metal shell, and respectively connect the thin plate antenna and the main board. 5. An electronic product, characterized in that it comprises at least: The case is used to accommodate the internal components of the electronic product, and has a recessed area on the case, and a small hole at the bottom of the recessed area, passing through the inside and outside sides of the case; a motherboard installed inside the casing and located under the recessed area; An antenna mounted on the outer surface of the housing and located right in the recessed area; a coaxial cable passing through the small hole at the bottom of the recessed area to electrically connect the motherboard and the antenna; and The protective sheet is attached to the surface of the casing and completely covers the recessed area and the antenna. 6. The electronic product according to claim 5, wherein the casing has a metal outer layer. 7. The electronic product according to claim 5, characterized in that, the protective sheet can optionally be formed of an identification sheet or a label sticker. 8. The electronic product according to claim 5, wherein the recessed area has a depth of about 2-4 cm. 9. An electronic product, characterized in that it comprises at least: A case is made of metal, and the case has an opening; an antenna for transmitting and receiving signals through the opening; and A protective sheet covers the opening and the antenna. 10. The electronic product according to claim 9, wherein the protective sheet is an identification sheet or a label sticker. 11. The electronic product according to claim 9, wherein the protective sheet is non-conductive. 12 . The electronic product according to claim 9 , wherein the antenna is a thin-plate antenna and is composed of a printed circuit board antenna, a ceramic antenna or a flexible flat-wire antenna. 13 .

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