(19)
(11) EP 0 911 906 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
06.12.2000 Bulletin 2000/49

(43) Date of publication A2:
28.04.1999 Bulletin 1999/17

(21) Application number: 98119520.9

(22) Date of filing: 15.10.1998
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)7: H01Q 9/04, H01Q 1/22, H01Q 5/00
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE
Designated Extension States:
AL LT LV MK RO SI

(30) Priority: 17.10.1997 US 953251

(71) Applicants:
  • Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Osaka-shi, Osaka 545-8522 (JP)
  • SHARP MICROELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Camas, WA 98607 (US)

(72) Inventor:
  • Uetake, Tatsuya
    Tokyo 124-0006 (JP)

(74) Representative: MÜLLER & HOFFMANN Patentanwälte 
Innere Wiener Strasse 17
81667 München
81667 München (DE)

   


(54) Transparent planar antenna structure


(57) A transparent planar antenna for use over the LCD of a wireless communications unit is provided. The transparent planar antenna is fabricated from a thin film of metal mounted on a transparent insulator. The metal film is etched into either a grid or mesh structure. By proper choice of line widths and the spacing between lines, the conductive surface is made both transparent, and resonant to the opening frequency of the wireless unit. Because of the low resistance of the conductive surfaces, the resulting transparent antenna has substantially the same performance characteristics as traditional patch type antennas.






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