WO2024184053A1

WO2024184053A1 - An antenna glazing comprising multiple antennas

Info

Publication number: WO2024184053A1
Application number: PCT/EP2024/054175
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kazuhiro Nakano; Xavier Dardenne; Kevin COZZARI
Original assignee: Agc Glass Europe
Priority date: 2023-03-03
Filing date: 2024-02-19
Publication date: 2024-09-12

Abstract

The present invention relates to an antenna glazing (1) comprising at least one substrate sheet (111, 112) forming a glazing (11) and more than one antenna (12) provided on the glazing (11) and signal transmission lines (14) for each antenna (12) provided on the glazing (11).

Description

AN ANTENNA GLAZING COMPRISING MULTIPLE ANTENNAS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an antenna glazing comprising at least one substrate sheet and more than one antenna. More specifically the present invention relates to antennas working in the same frequency range to achieve antenna diversity. Furthermore, specifically the present invention relates to providing more than one antenna on the glazing. Additionally, more specifically the present invention relates to a laminated glazing comprising more than one antenna. Even more specifically the present invention relates to a curved laminated glazing comprising more than one antenna. In addition, the present invention also relates to curved laminated glazing having a conductive coating for thermal/aesthetic purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Nowadays there is a request from vehicle manufacturers to mount an increasing number of antennas in vehicles to achieve the so called the connected car. Vehicles of today require many antennas even for the same communication protocol to increase bandwidth and improve 360 degree coverage. Such antennas aim to render possible connected services (3G/4G/5G telecom, GNSS, RKE, V2X, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UWB, SDARS) or to allow broadcasting services (AM, FM, DAB, TV). The trend is to deploy those antennas on window glasses of the vehicle. Furthermore, manufacturers require antenna designs that not disturbing the view of the driver and the aesthetics of the vehicle. Although placing some of these antennas on the windshield or backlite of vehicles is the common practice, it is not practical to deploy all required antennas on windshield or backlite of the vehicle, i.e., simply not enough space for all those antennas. Since the antennas are deployed behind the black band on the edges of the glazing and which is close to the metallic body of the vehicle, the antennas are prone to signal attenuation. Another issue is the cabling problem, cables need to go around the edges of the glazing not to block the view, therefore long cabling creates extra attenuation. On top of that, antennas working in the same frequency range are needed to be separated enough to avoid single antenna behavior, i.e., coupling between similar antennas. Moreover, the antennas on glazing like the windshield are needed to be tuned for optimal performance since the installation angle of windshields differ from vehicle to vehicle.

[0003] These issues solved in the technique by providing shark-fin type antennas deployed on the metallic roof of the vehicles. The advantage of shark-fin type antennas is that its position is ideal for antennas without any obstruction due to the metal body of the vehicle and need of less tuning. Locating an antenna on the roof of the vehicle in the conventional manner requires a shark-fin type enclosure in order to effectively protect and hide from view of the driver. The antennas can also benefit from the roof of the car as a ground plane for these antennas. However, such enclosures inevitably have a detrimental effect on the aerodynamics of the vehicle. Installing multiple shark- fin type antennas has the undesirable effect of further degrading the aerodynamic performance of the vehicle. Moreover, it is not just the aerodynamics, but also the environmental effect since aerodynamics plays a huge role in CO2 emissions caused by the vehicles. Meaning, the use of shark-fin type antennas has not only advantages but also brings a huge challenge to the production and processing technology in order to deploy plurality of antennas. Such, the interference between the antennas as they are closely spaced can impact the performance of the antenna systems.

[0004] Apart from the disadvantages of the shark-fin type antennas, there is a trend in automotive industry to use more glazing like glass surfaces for the vehicles, typical examples are the full glass roofs or also called panoramic roofs for vehicles and to provide the best panoramic view, manufacturers try to utilize whole glazing surface, i.e. , minimizing the black band width on the edges. Usage of roof glazing makes it almost impossible to deploy shark-fin type antennas. Moreover, roof glazings usually have conductive coatings all over their surfaces for thermal/aesthetic purposes, such as low-E coatings, IR reflecting coatings and so on which make deploying antennas on glazing like the windshield or backlite, even harder since the conductive coatings behave like the metallic body of the vehicle and cause signal attenuation. In addition, antenna modules in plastic boxes fixed on the glazing are not welcome due to aesthetic or ergonomic reasons even if they are very small since at least one TCU module is already needed to be deployed.

[0005] With rapid growth in the demand for vehicle electronics, more and more antennas are being integrated to vehicles. Even though traditional mast or whip antennas have provided satisfactory performance in the past, often they are no longer preferred because they are considered to detract from vehicle aesthetics. Therefore, greater number of antennas or wideband antennas being integrated into glazing, and there was a need in the prior art for an antenna glazing to provide better performance in the limited space for the antennas. Such an antenna glazing would be advantageous in comparison to a standard antenna solutions.

[0006] International patent applications WO2019185924 and WO2021032655 disclose an antenna provided in the laminated glazing with cable connection to the antenna. For example, United Stated patent application US20210175628 discloses a patch antenna laminated into the glazing and fed by coupling wirelessly. For example, International patent applications W02020007746 and W02020260508 disclose a WiFi antenna in the glazing, which connected to a co-axial connector. For example, International patent application WO2021172411 discloses a wideband antenna provided on the glazing. For example, International patent applications W02015091016 and W02020165222 and European patent application EP2906417 disclose a de-coated region design for a glazing having conductive coating to allow antenna transmission. For example, United Stated patent application US20230010144 discloses a communication unit comprising 5G antennas, which can be attached to the glazing surface.

[0007] Although the problem of providing antennas on the glazing seems to be solved in cited prior art, the performance optimization of the antenna operation requires precise craftmanship or machinery work. Generally, the manufacturing antennas on/in the windshield or backlite glazing is described in the prior art, the prior art mainly focused on transmission windows for RF transmission and achieving cable connection to the antenna laminated inside the glazing. Moreover, the antenna solutions in the prior art relates to costly solutions with manufacturing difficulties. There is still a need for an antenna glazing with multiple antennas with high performance for less costs and practical manufacturing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] The present invention provides an antenna glazing, especially a glazing with multiple antennas provided on the glazing and a vehicle including the antenna glazing. The present invention also provides a laminated glazing with multiple antennas, more specifically a curved laminated glazing with multiple antennas, even more specifically a curved laminated glazing with conductive coatings and with multiple antennas. The present invention also relates, in another aspect, to utilization of a such glazing in automotive or architecture industry for broadcasting purposes.

[0009] The antenna glazing may be produced as a pre-fabricated module with the antennas and placed in the vehicle like a plug&play solution. Such configuration of the present invention eliminates the optimization of the antennas according to car body or etc. and ensures the optimum performance for the antennas.

[0010] Deploying multiple antennas on a single glazing provides antenna diversity scheme in the case of the antennas working in the same frequency range. Thereby, the required bandwidth and spatial coverage is achieved. Especially for large glazing, the antennas may be placed spaced apart to eliminate coupling.

[0011] The plurality of antennas may be any combinations of satellite antennas, telematics antennas including cellular antennas like 4G, 5G and V2X antennas and UWB antennas and the Wi-Fi antennas arranged to co-exist in the antenna glazing while keeping their better performances, i.e., without compromising the functioning and efficiency required by the common standards. The antennas are placed on/inside a glazing and therefore, the antenna glazing comprising multiple antennas is a one- piece solution for car manufacturers. Such arrangement provides a simple integration solution for mostly required antennas by the vehicle manufacturers, as well as allows the optimum usage of the glazing for antenna integration.

[0012] The present invention provides those listed benefits with a practical and less costly manner by reducing manufacturing steps. Apparently, the glazing manufacturing steps are not so compatible with antenna manufacturing processes so theoretically possible solutions could not be achieved with a reasonable cost. Advantageously, in different embodiments, the antenna glazing may comprise a laminated glazing and the antennas are laminated inside the glazing. Moreover, the glazing may be a curved glazing and/or has a conductive coating for thermal/aesthetic purposes. The present invention aims to benefit/utilize such features to improve the performance of the antennas which become clear in the embodiments described below.

[0013] One another advantage of the antenna glazing as proposed in the present invention, is that it allows the co-existence of all described above antennas with the radio broadcast antennas, including AM/FM/DAB/TV, as such these antenna can be made of wire or foil.

[0014] The present invention further concerns a vehicle comprising such an antenna glazing. Thanks to the solution proposed by the present invention, an antenna glazing with antennas operating in different wide frequency bands can be realized with an uncomplicated design of an antenna in glazing, provided good performance of the antenna.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The invention will now be described further, byway of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements in the various figures. These examples are provided by way of illustration and not of limitation. The drawings are a schematic representation and not true to scale. The drawings do not restrict the invention in any way. More advantages will be explained with examples.

[0016] Fig.1 illustrates the top view of a vehicle, and Fig.2, 3 and 4 illustrates different embodiments of the antenna glazing. Fig.5 illustrates a schematic view of the antenna glazing, while Fig.6 illustrates the antenna glazing installed in a vehicle.

[0017] The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:

I . Antenna glazing

I I . Glazing

I I I . First substrate sheet

112. Second substrate sheet

113. Interlayer

114. Conductive coating

115. De-coated region

12. Antenna

121. Element

13. Further antenna

14. Signal transmission line DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0018] The present invention will be described with respect to embodiments and with reference to certain drawings, but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims.

[0019] While some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0020] As used herein, spatial or directional terms, such as "inner", "outer", "above", "below", "top", "bottom", and the like, relate to the invention as it is shown in the drawing figures. However, it is to be understood that the invention can assume various alternative orientations and, accordingly, such terms are not to be considered as limiting. Further, all numbers expressing dimensions, physical characteristics, processing parameters, quantities of ingredients, reaction conditions, and the like, used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term "about". Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical values set forth in the following specification and claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention.

[0021] Moreover, all ranges disclosed herein are to be understood to be inclusive of the beginning and ending range values and to encompass all subranges subsumed therein. For example, a stated range of "1 to 10" should be considered to include all subranges between (and inclusive of) the minimum value of 1 and the maximum value of 10; that is, all subranges beginning with a minimum value of 1 or more, e.g., 1 to 6.1 , and ending with a maximum value of 10 or less, e.g., 5.5 to 10. Further, as used herein, the terms "deposited over" or "provided over" mean deposited or provided on but not necessarily in surface contact with. For example, a coating "deposited over" a substrate does not preclude the presence of one or more other coating films of the same or different composition located between the deposited coating and the substrate.

[0022] Where the term “comprising” is used in the present description and claims, it does not exclude other elements or steps. Where an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g., "a" or "an", "the", this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated. In this document, "configured to (or set to)" may be interchangeably used in hardware and software with, for example, "appropriate to", "having a capability to", "changed to", "made to", "capable of", or "designed to" according to a situation. In any situation, an expression "device configured to do" may mean that the device "can do" together with another device or component.

[0023] Furthermore, the terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein. When it is described that a constituent element (e.g., a first constituent element) is "(functionally or communicatively) coupled to" or is "connected to" another constituent element (e.g., a second constituent element), the constituent element may be directly connected to another constituent element or may be connected to another constituent element through another constituent element (e.g., a third constituent element).

[0024] In the following description, unless otherwise specified, expression “substantially” or “around” or “proximity” or “close to” preferably mean to within 10%, preferably to within 5% i.e. , in this context the terms should be understood as in the range of ± 10%, even more ± 5%. Tolerance may be selected depending on the nature of the intended applications.

[0025] “Connector” and “flat connector” and “electrical flat connector” are used interchangeably throughout the text, “pane” and “window pane” and “glass pane” and “glazing” and “laminated glazing” are used interchangeably throughout the text, “exterior vehicle electronics” and “exterior electronics” and “vehicle electronics” and “electrical device” and “electronic device” and “amplifier” and “TCU” are used interchangeably throughout the text, “overlapping region” and “overlapped region” are used interchangeably throughout the text, “antenna”, “antenna element” and “antenna structure” are used interchangeably throughout the text. [0026] A vehicle (V) should be understood as any conveyor that transfers anything from point a to point b which includes any land, air or sea vehicles like car, van, lorry, motorbike, bus, tram, train, drone, airplane, helicopter and the like.

[0027] An electronic device (E) should be understood as any electronic device (E) used in vehicles (V) which requires an antenna such as radio unit, amplifier, electronic control unit (ECU) or telematics control unit (TCU) etc. The electronic device (E) can be installed on the glazing (11 ) or into the car body, the electronics device (E) is generally not a part of the antenna glazing (1 ), however, in some embodiments the antenna glazing (1 ) may also comprise an electronics device (E). Within the concept of the present invention, the electronic device (E) mainly refers to the TCU, which is, by definition, an embedded device onboard a car that wirelessly links the vehicle to cloud storage, communication networks, mobile devices or other vehicles through V2X standards over a mobile network. The Telematics Control Unit (TCU) collects telematics data from the car, such as location, speed, engine data, connection quality, and so on, by connecting with various subsystems in the vehicle via data and control buses. It may also offer in-vehicle networking via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as the e-Call capability in certain areas. The term “electrical communication” should be understood that the elements mentioned are connected in such a way that electric current or RF signal can flow through.

[0028] Referring the figures, wherein like numerals indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, a glazing (11 ) is generally shown per se, and it can be utilized on a vehicle (V) or on a building or alike. More preferably, the substrate of glazing is further defined as a substrate used in automotive field but not limited to. In Figure 2, 3 and 4 it is illustrated that how the antennas (12, 13) deployed on the glazing surface and in Figure 5, it is illustrated that the antennas (12) are provided on the comers of the glazing (11 ) and in a de-coated region (115) and so on. It should be understood that in the figures, only some of the embodiments are shown, the number of embodiments the present invention is not limited just with the figures. Before going into the details of the present invention, infrastructure of a glazing according to multiple embodiments of the present invention will be described down below.

[0029] The glazing (11 ) comprising at least one substrate sheet for forming the glazing (11 ). The substrate may be a glass sheet or a plastic sheet (polycarbonate, acrylic or another material). The glazing (11 ), throughout the text, should be understood as any “viewing window” for vehicles or buildings, a medium that separates the environment into the interior and the exterior. The advantage of having a glazing made of plastic sheets is light weight and costs, it is more and more preferred for the automotive industry.

[0030] In different embodiments of the present invention, the glazing (11 ) is made of glass sheets and glass of the glazing (11 ) is further defined as soda lime silica glass, which is well known for use in window glazing (11 ) of vehicles (V). However, it is to be appreciated that the glass may be any type of glass composition that is known in the art like the borosilicate, quartz, flat or float or etc. It may be also tempered glass. For the sake of the present invention, the material composition of the glazing (11 ) is not utmost important as long as it allows RF signal transmission.

[0031] In different embodiments of the present invention, independently of one another in case of multiple substrate sheets (111 , 112) used, the substrate sheets (111 , 112) preferably have a thickness of 0.1 to 20 mm, preferably of 1 to 4 mm, particularly preferably of 1.6 mm to about 2.1 mm. For the sake of the present invention, the thickness of the substrate sheet (111 , 112) is not utmost important, which should be understood as the present invention is applicable to any glazing (11 ) independent of the substrate thickness.

[0032] In different embodiments of the present invention, a laminated glazing (11 ) refers to at least two sheets of substrate (111 , 112), namely an inner or second substrate sheet (112) and an outer or first substrate sheet (111 ) being laminated with an interlayer (113). The interlayer (113) acts as a bonding layer between the substrate sheets (111 , 112). The substrate sheets (111 , 112) can be made of (mineral) glass, more specifically a silica-based glass, such as soda-lime-silica, alumino-silicate or boro-silicate type glass or any type of glass composition as mentioned above or from plastic material as described above. The process of lamination is a very well-known process for the skilled person in the art. The interlayer (113) is usually made of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) but not limited to, the interlayer (113), in different embodiments can also be a resin in the form of film or in liquid form. The glazing (11 ), laminated or not, is placed onto the vehicle (V) with the help of an adhesive (A). For the sake of the present invention, whether the glazing (11 ) is laminated is not utmost important. [0033] In different embodiments of the present invention, the interlayer (113) as individual polymer films, in particular the PVB films, preferably have a thickness of about 0.2 mm to 1 mm, for example, 0.38 mm or 0.76 mm. Other properties of the composite glazing (11 ) can be influenced by the thickness of the films (113). For example, thicker PVB films provide improved sound damping, in particular when they contain an acoustically active core, increased break-in resistance of the composite glazing, and also increased protection against ultraviolet radiation (UV protection). For the sake of the present invention, the thickness or the material of the interlayer (113) is not utmost important.

[0034] In different embodiments of the present invention, the glazing (11 ) is an automotive glazing which is used in the vehicles (V). The glazing (11 ) can be used as windshield, backlite, sidelite or as quarterlite or also as roof glazing. In the case of the roof glazing case, it should be understood that the roof glazing may be a sunroof glazing which cover at least a portion of the roof of the vehicle (V) or a panoramic roof glazing which cover almost the whole roof of the vehicle (V). In the examples and the embodiments below, roof glazing will be described, but it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to roof glazings. In another embodiment, the antenna glazing (1 ) is a glazing (11 ) used in facades of a building facilitating multiple antennas (12, 13) for the building thanks to the antenna diversity provided.

[0035] For simplicity, the numbering of the substrate sheets (111 , 112) in the continuation of the description refers to the numbering nomenclature conventionally used for glazing. Thus, the face of the laminated glazing which is in contact with the environment external to the vehicle (V) is known as being the face 1 (P1 ) and the surface in contact with the internal medium, that is to say the passenger compartment of the vehicle (V), is known as face 4 (P4), the functional assembly according to the embodiments of the present invention being positioned between the faces 2 (P2) and 3 (P3), where it can be protected from damage or also on face 4 (P4), all which will be explained in the embodiments below.

[0036] In order to avoid any doubt, the terms “external” and “internal” refer to the orientation of the glazing (11 ) during the installation as glazing in a vehicle. Anyhow, in the description below, these terms are used interchangeably, i.e., the inner substrate sheet (111 ) can be the first substrate sheet (111 ) or the second substrate sheet (112) and therefore the first substrate sheet (111 ) may have face 1 and face 2 or face 3 and face 4 of the glazing, in the meantime the second substrate sheet (112) may have face 3 and face 4 or face 1 and face 2, respectively which means first substrate sheet (111 ) may be used as external side of the glazing (11 ) or the internal side of the glazing (11 ). To avoid any confusion in between the inner/outer or first/second substrate sheet (111 , 112), face numbers (P1 , P2, P3, P4) will be used to define the features located on those surfaces.

[0037] In different embodiments of the present invention, the glazing (11 ) is curved and the curved glazing (11 ) has at least 20% of the total surface area of the substrate sheet for a single glazing or the outer face of the first substrate sheet (111 ) and the inner face of the second substrate sheet (112) in the case of the laminated glazing, having a minimum radius of curvature (R min) comprised between 75 - 10000 mm, i.e., the substrate sheets (111 , 112) have a curvature that after the glazing is fabricated, the glazing (11 ) has at least 20% of its total surface area having a minimum radius of curvature (R min) comprised between 75 and 10000 mm.

[0038] According to the present invention, the term “curved” is defined by the following criteria: “the curved glazing has at least 20% of its total surface area having a minimum radius of curvature (R min) comprised between 75 and 10000 mm”. Thus, considering as example, a standard automotive glazing (11 ), surfaces of the substrate sheets (111 , 112) have preferably before assembly very similar shapes, i.e., similar curvature values. In the scope of the present invention, the outer surface of the first substrate sheet (111 ) and the inner surface of the second substrate sheet (112) have at least 20% of its surface area having a minimum radius of curvature comprised between 75 and 10000 mm after lamination or the surface of the glass sheet have at least 20% of its surface area having a minimum radius of curvature comprised between 75 and 10000 mm after fabrication/assembly. As reminder, at each point of a surface, an infinity of curvature radii can be evaluated (one for each direction). Among those radii, a minimum value “Rmin” and a maximum value “Rmax” value can be identified (as well as their associated directions). Of course, from one point to another on the surface, “Rmin” and “Rmax” (and their associated directions) will change. Therefore, as understood from the definition of curved surface, the curvature of the substrate may be in only one direction or in at least two direction in terms of the orientation as long as the definition of curvature described above satisfied.

[0039] In different embodiments of the present invention, the glazing (11 ) comprises a conductive coating (114) for thermal purposes. Such coatings (114) are widely known in automotive industry that to keep the interior of the vehicle (V) in the desired temperature and/or to be used as defrosting/de-icing of the glazing (11 ) with the help of busbars, thus usage for thermal purposes should be understood broadly. The coating (114) may be all over the glazing (11 ) surface or on at least a portion of it. Such coatings (114) are usually transparent in visible wavelengths but can also be colored. The conductive coating (114) may be constituted by, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), fluorinated tin oxide (FTC)), indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium tin oxide including silicon oxide (ITSO), zinc oxide (ZnO), or a conductive material with translucency, such as Si compounds containing phosphorous (P) and boron (B) or thin film Ag coatings. Such conductive materials are suitable for reflecting particular wavelengths from/out of glazing (11 ) or conducting electricity for defrosting/deicing purposes. The coating (114) is usually applied by CVD or similar techniques on the glazing (11 ) surface. Common practice is to have the coating (114) on the interior side of the glazing (11 ) like P4 for laminated glazing (11 ) or P2 for single glazing (11 ), but it is also possible to apply such coatings (114) on P2 or P3 for the laminated glazing (11 ), or even P1 , i.e, the uppermost exterior surface of the glazing (11 ). Especially the premium vehicles have many layers of such coatings (114) on their P2, P3 and P4 surfaces of the glazing (11 ).

[0040] It is widely known that in the case of glazing (11 ) with conductive coating (114), it is required to have a RF transmission free window (will be mentioned as de-coated region from now on) on the glazing (11 ) for enabling antennas (12, 13) to send/receive signals, especially for selected frequencies. Such RF transmission free windows (115) may be windows with full de-coated or clear glass in the coated glazing (11 ) or partially de-coated windows, preferably with a design to allow transmission in the selected frequency range, such frequency selective designs (low-pass or high-pass grids, FSS, wavy or rectangular structures or alike) are widely known in the art. Moreover, such de-coated windows/regions (115) can be achieved by laser de-coating or by masking those regions in the coating process and so on. In different embodiments, especially the location of the antenna (12, 13) overlaps on the glazing (11 ) with the coated region, such de-coated windows/regions (115) are provided so that the antenna (12, 13) is aligned with the de-coated region (115) in the perpendicular axis according to the glazing (11 ) surface, which is the common practice in the field. The de-coated region (115) should be understood as a region/window on the glazing (11 ), which allows RF signals to be transmitted, thus as described fully de-coated or partially de-coated regions/windows with specific designs are de-coated region (115) in terms of the present invention. By definition, de-coated region (115) should also be understood as a non-coated region on the glazing (11 ), as in the example of masking the glazing (11 ) in the coating process. Moreover, different designs for the de-coated region (115) allows signal boosting at least for selected frequencies, usage of such de-coated region (115) in the present invention provides antenna performance improvement.

[0041] The present invention proposes an antenna glazing (1 ) preferably formed from glass for to be utilized in a vehicle (V), preferably on the laminated glazing (11 ) but not limited to. As described above, the antenna glazing (1 ) may comprise a glazing (1 1 ) made of plastic sheets.

[0042] When the RF signals travel in a different medium like the glass panes (11 ), the wavelength in/inside the glazing (11 ) changes due to properties of the medium, especially the wavelength shortens because the speed of signals is slower in a medium having higher permittivity different than air/vacuum. The wavelength inside the medium and the wavelength in air can be compared by the wave shortening ratio. Wave shortening ratio (a) for the vehicle glass depends on the configuration of the glazing (11 ), and it is usually around in the range of 0.3 to 0.8. Thanks to the higher permittivity of glass, smaller/shorter antenna designs are possible.

[0043] An antenna glazing (1 ) comprising at least one substrate sheet (111 , 112) forming the glazing (11 ) as described above, and more than one antenna (12) provided on at least a portion of the glazing (11 ), a signal transmission line (14) provided for each antenna (12) on the glazing (11 ), and the antennas are working in the 50 - 72000 MHz frequency range. The antenna glazing (1 ) should be understood as the combination of the antennas (12 ,13) and the glazing (11 ).

[0044] The antenna (12, 13) is applied across a region of the glazing (11 ) such that the antenna (12, 13) is on at least a portion of the glazing (11 ), generally and preferably close to the edges/corners of the glazing (11 ), in some embodiments the antenna (12, 13) is hidden under the black band (enamel) used on the edges of the glazing (11 ), but not limited to. Preferably, the antenna (12, 13) is laminated inside the glazing (11 ), i.e., on P2 or P3 or both but not limited to. Generally in the automotive antenna field, the antennas (12, 13) are preferred to be deployed on the P4 face of the glazing (11 ) since it is simple and cheap, in the case of the antennas (12, 13) needed to extend into the visible zone, i.e., outside of the black band, then it is preferred to laminate the antennas (12, 13) into the glazing (11 ) to protect them from the environmental effects. The antenna (12, 13) of the present invention can be deployed on any surface of the glazing (11 ) like P1 , P2, P3, P4 or combinations of those, for the sake of the present invention it is not utmost important, different application examples will be given below. In some embodiments, at least one part of the antenna (12, 13) is laminated between the glazing (11 ), i.e., a part of the antenna (12) provided on P2 or P3. In such cases, antenna (12) may comprise an element (121 ) provided on P4 surface of the glazing (11 ) (it should be understood that for a single glazing with antenna provided on P1 surface, the element is provided on P2) for the wireless coupling or to excite the antenna (12) provided inside the lamination. The distinction of antennas (12, 13) provided on which glazing (11 ) surface (P1 , P2, P3, P4) depends on the available area, i.e., antennas (12, 13) only on P4 surface is preferred if enough area is available in the hidden part (in black band) of the glazing (11 ) and instead of providing antennas (12, 13) visible to the customer, it is preferred to have antennas (12, 13) laminated inside the glazing (11 ), and in the case of antennas (12, 13) laminated inside the glazing (11 ), wireless coupling to the antennas (12, 13) are preferred since cabling through the lamination affects the performance of the antenna (12, 13) especially in high frequencies.

[0045] Preferably, the antenna (12, 13) includes silver or copper, however, it is to be appreciated that other conductive metals may also be suitable for the antenna (12, 13). In automotive industry, it is common to print antennas (12, 13) on glazing (11 ) or usage of copper foils or copper mesh, the production/fabrication of the antenna (12, 13) can be achieved by any method, for example, in the case of glazing (11 ) with conductive coating (114), the antenna (12, 13) may be fabricated from conductive coating (114) itself by de-coating. By forming the antenna (12, 13) from the coating (114) by a de-coating process, such as fabricating the whole antenna (12, 13) or some part of it out of the coating (114), utilization of the coating (114) is provided, and the coating (114) serves multiple functions. In one embodiment, the antenna (12, 13) is a wire-like antenna, meaning an antenna (12, 13) in the form of a wire, as commonly used in the automotive field. The wire-like antenna (12, 13) is intended to be deposited near an edge of a glazing (11 ) and preferably laminated inside the glazing (11 ), i.e., embedded on the interlayer (113). However, the present invention is not limited to wire-like antennas (12, 13). In different embodiments of the present invention, an antenna (12, 13) can be formed by printing and baking paste containing conductive metal particles such as a silver paste, on an inner surface of a pane (11 ) of substrate sheet. However, the invention is not limited to this forming method as mentioned above, the antenna (12, 13) can also be laminated inside the glazing (11 ). A linear element or a foil element made of a conductive material such as copper may be formed on an inner or outer surface of a pane (11 ) of glass or may be affixed to a pane of glass with an adhesive or may be provided between two or more panes of glass (laminated glazing). Additionally, the antenna (12, 13) may be formed by forming a conductor layer given synthetic resin film in which a conductor layer of an antenna conductor is provided, of a synthetic resin film. Further, the antenna (12, 13) may be formed by forming a flexible circuit board on which an antenna conductor is formed. In a different embodiment, the antenna (12, 13) is formed on a surface of the glass sheet by sintering a silver paste containing a silver powder and a glass frit and which can also be deposited or painted or printed on the pane (11 ) surface or by any method as long as providing an antenna (12, 13) on the surface of the glazing (11 ). In another embodiment of the present invention, the antenna (12, 13) may be screen printed or deposited by physical or chemical vapor deposition techniques or simply painted on the surface(s) of the glazing (11 ). The antenna (12, 13) may comprise one or more of the following materials such as but not limited to C, Graphene, Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, Al, Ti, Cr, Fe, V or W.

[0046] The antenna (12, 13) may be visible on the glazing (11 ) and typically comprises lines that extend horizontally across the glazing (11 ) but also it can be a transparent antenna (12, 13) which can be made of typical transparent conductive coating for the automotive glazing, visibility of the antenna is not utmost important for the sake of the present invention. The antenna (12, 13) can operate in a broad range of frequencies like 50 to 72000 MHz or any other narrow range in between thereof. The antenna (12, 13) can serve to the electronic device (E) in the vehicle (V). However, the antenna (12, 13) may serve any function known in the art for such antennas (12, 13) on glazing, for example in building glazings. The antennas (12) on the glazing (11 ) are provided to be apart from each other by at least 10 cm, more preferably by at least 30 cm, even more preferably by at least 50 cm, even more preferably by at least 70 cm to improve the decoupling between the antennas (12) and achieve spatial diversity. The distances mentioned hereby should be understood as the distance of the straight line between two antenna (12), and it is enough to have only two antennas (12) distanced apart by the mentioned distances, not all antennas (12) provided on the glazing (11 ) are required to be distanced apart by the mentioned distances.

[0047] In different embodiments, the antennas (12, 13) provided on the glazing (11 ) may be cellular antennas like 2G/3G/4G/5G or Wi-Fi antennas or ultra-wide-band antennas or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) antennas or satellite antennas or SDARS antennas or any combinations thereof, 5G antennas should also be understood as 5G NR (New Radio) antennas and covering both frequency range 1 (FR1 ), which is sub- 6 GHz and frequency range 2 (FR2), which is from 24.25 GHz to 71.0 GHz. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antennas (12) are 5G antennas, i.e. , in the preferred embodiment, at least two 5G antennas (12) are provided on the glazing (11 ).

[0048] In different embodiments of the present invention, the antenna (12) is planar with the glazing (11 ). Antennas (12) being planar with the glazing (11 ) does not necessarily mean the antennas (12) are flat, in the case of curved glazing (11 ), the antenna (12) can still be planar with the glazing (11 ). Surprisingly, it is been found out that in the case of planar antennas (12) deployed on or close to the comers of the curved glazing (11 ) or in different regions with different curvature values on the curved glazing (11 ), the total antenna performance is improved. It is been found that when the antennas (12) are deployed on the different regions of the glazing (11 ) with different curvatures values, the normal vectors of the antennas (12) are facing different directions. Therefore normal vectors of the antennas (12) facing different directions should be understood as the antennas (12) are deployed on different regions of the glazing (11 ) with different curvature values and as well as on different regions of the glazing (11 ) with normal vectors of the glazing (11 ) on that regions facing different directions, in both conditions the total antenna performance is improved. The difference in normal vectors is preferably more than 1 degree, more preferably more than 2 degree, even more preferably more than 5 degree. The present invention aims to benefit from such difference of the normal vectors of the multiple antennas (12) by operating them in the same or similar frequency range to improve antenna diversity, spatial radiation characteristics and performance. Such utilization of the curved glazing (11 ) provides better radiation patterns for antennas (12) with less optimization of the antennas (12). In addition, in some embodiments, the antennas (12) provided on the antenna glazing (1 ) are operating/working in the same or similar frequency range independent from whether the glazing (11 ) is curved or laminated or antennas (12) are planar with the glazing. It should be understood that it is enough for at least two antennas (12) to work/operate in same or similar frequency to satisfy the condition of “the antennas provided on the antenna glazing are operating/working in the same or similar frequency range”, not all antennas (12) on the glazing (11 ) are required to work in the same or similar frequency range to satisfy the said condition.

[0049] In different embodiments of the present invention, the antenna glazing (1 ) comprises at least one further antenna (13), preferably operating in a different frequency range than the multiple antennas (12). The further antenna (13) may be a Wi-Fi antenna, or a UWB (Ultra-Wide-Band) antenna, or a V2X antenna or a satellite antenna when the multiple antennas (12) are 5G antennas. However, it is not limited to as such, the combination options are limitless, such as the further antenna (13) may also be a 5G antenna in the case of the multiple antennas (12) are V2X antennas, for example. The further antenna (13) should be understood as the further antenna (13) differs from the antenna (12) only in the working/operating frequency, all the other features, such as formation, location in/on the glazing (11 ), connections and etc. can be in the similar way with the antennas (12), for example the further antenna (13) may be formed like a wire-antenna, silver print antenna or copper foil/mesh antenna like the antenna (12). In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antennas

(12) are deployed in the comers of the glazing (11 ) and one or more further antennas

(13) are deployed along the edges of the glazing (11 ), preferably further away from the antennas (12).

[0050] The connection to the antenna (12) and/or to the further antenna (13) can be realized by the signal transmission line (14) provided on the glazing (11 ). The signal transmission lines (14) are preferably extending parallelly along the edges of the glazing (11 ) and preferably hidden under the black band (enamel). To achieve a better performance for the antennas (12, 13), each signal transmission line (14) is devoted to a single antenna (12, 13), therefore, one signal transmission line (14) for each antenna (12, 13) provided on the glazing (11 ). The transmission lines (14) can be in any form, printed on the glazing (11 ) surface or RF cables attached/fixed to the glazing (11 ). In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the signal transmission lines (14) are coaxial cables, which are attached/fixed to the glazing (11 ) and ends of coaxial cables are soldered to the antennas (12, 13) with or without a dedicated RF connector. The signal transmission lines (14) may be connected to a multiple connector (like a Fakra connector) to eliminate the step of multiple connections to the TCU.

[0051] In a different embodiment of the present invention, the TCU (telematics control unit) also comprises at least one antenna (12, 13). The antenna (12, 13) inside the TCU may be a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, satellite, V2X, SDARS antenna, or combinations thereof. Especially for antennas (12, 13) needed to be placed vertically with respect to ground, can be deployed into the TCU since the TCU already has a thickness and space allocated for it in the vehicle. One another advantage of providing antennas (12, 13) in the TCU is that communication among the other TCUs or any module in the vehicle can be provided wirelessly, i.e. , no need to have connections coming out from TCU to the other parts of the vehicle, such an arrangement allows getting rid of the cable harness throughout the vehicle which provides cost and weight improvements as well as improvements in signal losses.

[0052] In different embodiments, the antenna (12, 13) comprises at least one element (121 ) on the P4 surface of the glazing (11 ), or on P2 in the case of single glazing (11 ). The element (121 ) which is for connection to the signal transmission line (14) in the case of the antenna (12, 13) provided on P1 , P2 or P3. The signal transmission line (14) is designed to be connected to the said element (121 ). It should be understood that the element (121 ) in any case is a part of the antenna (12, 13) and when the antenna (12, 13) is deployed on P4 surface, the element (121 ) is the antenna (12, 13) itself. The connection may be achieved by soldering or any method known in the art. It should be understood that the further antenna (13) may also have such an element (121 ) for connection to the signal transmission line (14) and/or for wireless coupling of the further antenna (13).

[0053] The present invention also proposes the usage of such an antenna glazing (1 ) described above in detail for automotive or architecture or telecommunication applications. Applications of such an antenna glazing (1 ) is not limited to just automotive industry, the antenna glazing (1 ) can be used for internal and external windows of buildings. For example, the antenna (12) can be a 5G or a Wi-Fi antenna on the windows of a building. The present invention also proposes a vehicle (V) comprising at least one antenna glazing (1 ) as described previously. In a preferred embodiment, the antenna glazing (1 ) is used as a roof glazing.

[0054] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the glazing (11 ) is a laminated roof glazing for a vehicle (V) and the glazing (11 ) further comprises in a version of this embodiment at least one conductive coating (114) on at least a portion of its P2 or P3 or P4 surface. The glazing (11 ) further comprises at least one de-coated region/window (115) for the antenna (12, 13) deployment, i.e., de-coated region (115) is aligned with the antenna (12, 13) in the perpendicular axis according to glazing (11 ) surface in the case of coating (114) provided. In a version of this embodiment, the glazing (11 ) is also a curved glazing.

[0055] In a further version of this preferred embodiment, at least two 5G antennas (12) are deployed in the de-coated region(s) (115). In a more preferred version, four 5G antennas (12) are deployed in the de-coated region(s) (115). It should be understood that the antennas (12) may be provided in a single de-coated region (115) or multiple de-coated regions (115) provided on different portions of the glazing (11 ). The antennas (12) are preferably located close to the comers of the glazing (11 ) or along the edges of the glazing (11 ), hidden under the black band but not necessarily, since the roof glazings usually have almost rectangular shape. It should be understood that in the preferred embodiment, the antennas (12) are operating in the same frequency range to achieve antenna diversity.

[0056] In a further version of this embodiment, the antennas (12) are provided on the P4 surface of the glazing (11 ) and connected to individual coaxial cables. In a different version, the antennas (12) are provided on multiple surfaces of the glazing (11 ), like on P2 or P3, and at least one element (121 ) on P4 as described above to wirelessly couple the antenna (12) and for connection to the coaxial cables. The element (121 ) may be just for wireless coupling of the antenna (12) or it may also be a part of the antenna (12), like the ground plane and so on.

[0057] In a further version of this embodiment, the antennas (12) are copper foil antennas laminated inside the glazing (11 ), or fixed to P4 surface. It should be understood that the antennas (12) are not limited to the copper foil antennas, they may be copper mesh antennas or silver print antennas or any type of antenna suitable for glazings (11 ). [0058] In a different version of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antennas (12) are 5G antennas and each antenna (12) is deployed on each corner of the glazing (11 ), and further antennas (13) are V2X and UWB antennas, the V2X antennas (13) are deployed on the front and back edge of the glazing (11 ), the UWB antennas (13) are deployed on the side edges of the glazing (11 ).

[0059] In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antennas (12) are ultra-wide-band (UWB) or V2X antennas. In the V2X case, at least two antennas (12) are provided on the glazing (11 ). In the UWB case, four antennas (12) are preferred because UWB antennas needs to have line of sight for precise ranging/locating applications. In a more combined preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antenna (12) is actually two antenna provided closely each other and working/operating in different frequency ranges, like 5G antenna and UWB antenna combination. In such configuration, combination of 5G and UWB antennas (12) are provided on the four corners of the glazing (11 ), and distance between the 5G and UWB antennas are at least 5 cm, more preferably at least 10 cm, even more preferably at least 20 cm.

[0060] In another version of this embodiment, the antenna glazing (1 ) further comprises the further antenna (13) and the further antenna (13) may be at least one of Wi-Fi antenna, V2X antenna, UWB antenna or satellite antenna or SDARS antenna, or combinations thereof. It should be understood that the further antenna (13) may also be provided by the same fabrication methods described for the antenna (12), but not necessarily the same method per se, i.e. , the antenna (12) may be a copper foil antenna and the further antenna (13) may be a silver print antenna or etc. Thus, in the preferred embodiment, the antenna glazing (1 ) comprises at least two antenna (12) preferably working in the same frequency range and optionally a further antenna (13) operating in another frequency range, the at least two antenna (12) preferably deployed such that their normal vectors facing into different directions.

[0061] With such preferred embodiment, the antenna glazing (1 ) of the present invention provides an antenna diversity scheme for a better radiation coverage and also a better performance like improved S/N ratio, less fading, higher data throughput or increased bandwidth for MIMO applications. Thanks to the large surface area of the glazing (11 ), the antennas (12, 13) can be spaced apart from each other, provided on the corners or along the edge of the glazing (11 ). Such an arrangement provides a low coupling between the antennas (12, 13), tuning respective radiation patterns to achieve complementary and uncorrelated radiation patterns. In addition, by having the signal transmission lines (14) on the glazing (1 1 ), and directly connected to the TCU in a short distance than the state-of-the-art solutions, less RF losses are achieved between the antennas (12, 13) and the TCU providing better S/N ratio and high throughput. Therefore, the present invention provides higher link reliability and performance comparing to single (SISO or SIMO) antenna systems or MIMO systems where antennas are close to each other.

[0062] While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. The foregoing description details certain embodiments of the invention. It will be appreciated, however, that no matter how detailed the foregoing appears in text, the invention may be practiced in many ways. The invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.

Claims

1 . An antenna glazing (1 ) comprising

- at least one substrate sheet (111 , 112) forming a glazing (11 ),

- more than one antenna (12) provided on the glazing (11)

- a signal transmission line (14) provided on the glazing (11 ) for each antenna (12) characterized in that the antennas (12) are configured to operate in 50 - 72000 MHz frequency range.

2. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna glazing (1 ) is a laminated glazing (11 ).

3. An antenna glazing (1) according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the antenna glazing (1 ) is a curved glazing (11 ).

4. An antenna glazing (1) according to claim 3, wherein the normal vectors of the antennas (12) are facing different directions.

5. An antenna glazing (1) according to according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antenna glazing (1) has at least one conductive coating (114) layer over at least a portion of the glazing (11 ).

6. An antenna glazing (1) according to claim 5, wherein the antenna glazing (1 ) having at least one de-coated region (115) where the antenna (12) is provided.

7. An antenna glazing (1) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antenna glazing (1 ) is a roof glazing (11 ) for a vehicle (V).

8. An antenna glazing (1) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antenna (12) is a 5G antenna.

9. An antenna glazing (1) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antennas (12) are planar with the glazing (11 ) surface.

10. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antennas (12) are operating in the same frequency range.

11. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antennas (12) are provided apart from each other by at least 10 cm.

12. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein at least one further antenna (13) is provided on the antenna glazing (1 ).

13. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the signal transmission lines (14) are coaxial cables.

14. An antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the signal transmission lines (14) extends parallel to the edge of the antenna glazing (1 ).

15. A vehicle (V) comprising an antenna glazing (1 ) according to any of the previous claims, wherein the antenna glazing (1 ) is a curved laminated roof glazing (11 ) with at least partially covered by a conductive coating (114), and at least two 5G antenna (12) provided inside a de-coated region (115), the antennas (12) are apart from each other by at least 30 cm, the signal transmission lines (114) are coaxial cables.