US-12620715-B2 - Display shield with integrated antenna

US12620715B2US 12620715 B2US12620715 B2US 12620715B2US-12620715-B2

Abstract

An electronic device is provided having an antenna that also functions as a display shield for a display of the device. The display shield can separate components for a display module from other electrical components of the electronic device. The display shield can be grounded to an enclosure of the device at least partially by one or more shield grounding clips, and configured to receive and/or transmit radio frequency waves.

Inventors

Pei Li
Zheyu Wang
Sung Hoon Oh
Jiang Zhu

Assignees

GOOGLE LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210312

Claims (18)

1 . An multiband antenna, comprising: an antenna tuning circuit; an enclosure; a main logic board; and a display shield configured to receive and/or transmit radio frequency waves and separate display components of a display module from other electrical components, wherein the display shield is further configured to be grounded to the enclosure at least partially by one or more shield grounding clips, wherein the display shield is electrically coupled to an antenna shorting pin that is coupled to the antenna tuning circuit on the main logic board, and wherein the antenna tuning circuit is configured to tune the display shield to one of a plurality of frequency bands.
2 . The multiband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the display shield is conductively coupled to an antenna feed conductively coupled to the main logic board.
3 . The multiband antenna of claim 2 , wherein the antenna shorting pin and the antenna feed are implemented as antenna blades.
4 . The multiband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the antenna tuning circuit is one of a plurality of tuning circuits electrically connected to the display shield.
5 . The multiband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the display shield is configured to encloses electrical components of a device, and wherein the display shield is a same size and shape along a first plane as a display.
6 . The multiband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the display shield extends beyond a display along a first plane.
7 . The multiband antenna of claim 1 , wherein the display shield defines an aperture extending partially along the surface of the display shield, and wherein the display shield is grounded by a flexible printed circuit tail passing through the aperture and coupling the display module with at least one other electrical component of a device.
8 . An electronic device, comprising: a display module comprising a display; and a multiband antenna, comprising: an enclosure; an antenna tuning circuit; a main logic board; and a display shield, for the display, configured to receive and/or transmit radio frequency waves and separate display components for the display module from other electrical components of the electronic device, wherein the display shield is further configured to be grounded to the enclosure at least partially by one or more grounding clips, wherein the display shield is conductively coupled to an antenna shorting pin that is coupled to the antenna tuning circuit on the main logic board for the electronic device, and wherein the antenna tuning circuit is configured to tune the display shield to one of a plurality of frequency bands.
9 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display shield is conductively coupled to an antenna feed electrically coupled to the main logic board.
10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the antenna shorting pin and the antenna feed are implemented as antenna blades.
11 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the antenna tuning circuit is one of a plurality of tuning circuits conductively coupled to the display shield.
12 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display shield is configured to enclose electrical components of the electronic device, and wherein the display shield is a same size and shape as the display along a first plane.
13 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the display module is enclosed between a cover and the display shield, and wherein the display module comprises a display panel laminated to the cover.
14 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display shield extends beyond the display along a first plane.
15 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display shield defines an aperture extended partially along the surface of the display shield, and wherein the display shield is grounded by a flexible printed circuit tail coupling the display module with at least one other electrical component of the electronic device.
16 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the components for the display module comprise a near-field communication (NFC) module configured for processing radio frequency waves.
17 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the electronic device is a wearable electronic device intended to be worn by a user, and wherein the display shield is physically and electrically isolated from the body of the user when worn by the user.
18 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display is a liquid crystal display, a light-emitting diode display, an organic light-emitting diode display, a plastic organic light- emitting diode display, or an electronic ink display.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/US2021/022103 filed Mar. 12, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Electronic devices can include one or more antennas for transmitting and receiving signals in various communication bands. Antenna design for small electronic devices, such as wearable devices, can be challenging because of the constrained form factors of such devices. For example, while a smartphone may have limited space for housing antennas, wearable devices with a compact form factor have even less space. This limited space impacts antenna performance, which may be measured by radiation efficiency and bandwidth. For example, antennas having a bigger size typically have a higher efficiency. Antenna performance for wearable devices may also be severely impacted by body effects due to the close proximity to the wearer, which may cause detuning, attenuation, and/or shadowing of the antenna. In addition, these issues are exacerbated when multiple antennas are implemented in a device and used to support a variety of different common communication standards. Some electronic devices have display modules that include a display and circuitry for causing information to appear on the display. Some of those electronic devices also have a display shield, which is a physical component that separates (or shields) components of the display module. BRIEF SUMMARY The present disclosure provides for integrating an antenna into a display shield for devices having displays. For example, the antenna may be shaped as a display shield and function as a radiating element and as an antenna. The display shield can separate components, such as a printed circuit board or a battery for a device, from other components. An antenna system including the display shield and one or more tuning circuits can be configured for tuning the display shield for multiband frequency transmission, and the display shield can be electrically isolated from the display module and electrically grounded to an enclosure for the device. At the same time, the display shield can be positioned in a device so as to not come in direct contact with the body of a user, for example when the device is a wearable device, such as a smartwatch. This physical separation between the display shield and the user can mitigate interference from the body of the user, which can potentially arise from interfering body effects and/or the user's body physically blocking incoming and outgoing signals transmitted by the antenna. Examples of body effects can include shadowing, such as blocking the antenna from receiving signals, detuning, such as causing the frequency of the antenna to change, and attenuation, such as reducing the amplitude of incoming and/or outgoing signals. The present disclosure provides for an antenna, the antenna including: a display shield for a display of a device, the display shield separating display components for a display module from other electrical components of the device, wherein the display shield is grounded at least partially by the one or more shield grounding clips, and wherein the display shield is configured to receive and/or transmit radio frequency waves. The antenna can be conductively coupled to an antenna feed conductively coupled to a main logic board for the device, and the main logic board can be positioned between the display shield and the enclosure of the device. The antenna can be a multiband antenna, and the display shield can be electrically coupled to an antenna shorting pin that is coupled to an antenna tuning circuit on the main logic board for the device, and the antenna tuning circuit can be configured to tune the antenna to one of a plurality of frequency bands. The antenna shorting pin and the antenna feed can be implemented as antenna blades. The antenna tuning circuit can be one of a plurality of tuning circuits electrically connected to the antenna. The display shield can completely enclose the other electrical components of the device in the enclosure, and the display shield can be the same size and shape along a first plane as the display. The display shield can define an aperture extending partially along the surface of the display shield, and the antenna can be grounded by a flexible printed circuit tail passing through the aperture and coupling the display module with at least one other electrical component of the device. The present disclosure also provides for an electronic device, the electronic device including a display module including a display; and an antenna, wherein the antenna includes: a display shield for the display of the device, the display shield separating display components for the display module from other electrical components of the device, wherein the display shield grounded to an enclosure of the device by one or more shield grounding clips, and wherein the di