COMMUNICATION DEVICE

Abstract

 The invention provides a communication device (100) including a substrate (108) and an antenna (104). The substrate has a first corner (C1) formed by a first side and a second side, wherein a first clearance region (110) is at least located on the first side of the substrate and a second clearance region (112) is at least located on the second side of the substrate. An extended ground region (106) extends from a main ground region (102) to be located between and adjacent to the first clearance region and the second clearance region. The antenna is disposed in the first clearance region (110) and located by the first corner (C1). A first end of a radiation arm (104-1) of the antenna is closer to the first corner (C1) than a second end, and a position where a feeding element (104-2) is connected to the radiation arm is close to the first end of the radiation arm.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[Field of the Invention]

[0001] The disclosure relates to a communication device and more particularly relates to a communication device that has an omni-directional field pattern and is capable of generating multipolarization effects.

[Description of Related Art]

[0002] In recent years, the progress in integrated circuit technology has made it possible to make wireless communication devices lighter and smaller, but it also poses a huge challenge regarding how to design a built-in antenna with the circuit board. The radiation field pattern of a built-in antenna is easily limited by the circuit size and ground structure, which may affect the communication quality. In the common antenna structures, the resonance modes of planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) and monopole antenna are generated by the resonance mechanism based on a quarter wavelength, and the currents generated on the ground plane greatly affect the field pattern and polarization characteristics of the antennas. Hence, how to change the ground current to optimize the antenna communication quality remains a very important issue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The disclosure provides a communication device, which effectively improves the field pattern and polarization characteristics of an antenna, so as to significantly improve communication quality of the communication device.

[0004] The communication device of the disclosure includes a substrate and an antenna. The substrate has a first side and a second side that form a first corner. The substrate includes a main ground region, a first clearance region, a second clearance region, and an extended ground region. The first clearance region is at least located on the first side. The second clearance region is at least located on the second side. The extended ground region extends from the main ground region to be located between and adjacent to the first clearance region and the second clearance region. The antenna is located by the first corner, and a projection of the antenna on a plane where the first clearance region is located is in the first clearance region. The antenna includes a feeding element and a radiation arm. A first end of the feeding element includes a feeding point. The radiation arm has a first end and a second end. The first end of the radiation arm is closer to the first corner than the second end of the radiation arm is, and a position where a second end of the feeding element is connected to the radiation arm is close to the first end of the radiation arm.

[0005] The currents generated on the main ground region have two dimensional directions for the antenna to generate multiple polarization effects, thereby effectively improving the field pattern and polarization characteristics of the antenna and significantly enhancing the communication quality of the communication device.

[0006] In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the disclosure more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1A is a schematic view of the communication device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 1B is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the antenna field pattern of the antenna along the extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B.

FIG. 4A is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4B is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the antenna field pattern of the antenna along the extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the antenna field pattern of the antenna along the extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0008] FIG. 1A is a schematic view of a communication device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 1B is a schematic plan view of a substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 1A. Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, a communication device 100 includes an antenna 104 and a substrate 108. The substrate 108 has a side SD1 and a side SD2 that form a corner C1. The substrate 108 further includes a main ground region 102, an extended ground region 106, a clearance region 110, and a clearance region 112. The clearance region 110 and the clearance region 112 do not include a ground element. The clearance region 110 is at least located on the side SD1. The clearance region 112 is at least located on the side SD2. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the clearance region 110 and the clearance region 112 are the hatched portions. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the clearance region 110 is located on the side SD1 and extends to another side adjacent to the side SD1. In some other embodiments, the clearance region 110 may be located only on the side SD1 and not extend to another side. The main ground region 102 has a side SD3 and a side SD4 that form a corner C2. The side SD3 is parallel to the side SD1 and adjacent to the clearance region 110, and the side SD4 is parallel to the side SD2 and adjacent to the clearance region 112. The extended ground region 106 extends from the main ground region 102 to be located between and adjacent to the clearance region 110 and the clearance region 112. The extended ground region 106 may be located by the corner C2, as shown in FIG. 1A, for example. The main ground region 102 and the extended ground region 106 may include a conductor layer (e.g., copper, iron, but not limited thereto). The conductor layer may be disposed on a surface of the substrate 108 (as shown in FIG. 1A) or inside the substrate 108, for example. For example, the substrate 108 may be a printed circuit board, and the main ground region 102 and the extended ground region 106 may be a conductor layer disposed on a surface of the printed circuit board or inside the printed circuit board by a printing process. Nevertheless, the disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0009] Moreover, the antenna 104 is disposed by the corner C1, and a projection of the antenna 104 on a plane where the clearance region 110 is located is in the clearance region 110, so as to serve as an antenna window of the antenna 104, wherein the clearance region 110 includes a boundary of the clearance region 110. The antenna 104 may be attached to the substrate 108, and may be printed on the printed circuit board by the printing process, for example. In other embodiments, the antenna 104 may be implemented by an iron antenna or a chip antenna, for example, and is not necessarily a printed antenna. The antenna 104 generates a resonance mode based on a resonance mechanism of a quarter wavelength. The antenna 104 may be a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) or a monopole antenna, for example. In this embodiment, the antenna 104 is a PIFA, for example, and a center frequency thereof may be 2.4G Hz or 5G Hz, for example, to be applied to different communication systems, such as WiFi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, DECT, Z-Wave, and LTE, but not limited thereto.

[0010] In the embodiment of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the communication device 100 is configured to be fixed to a non-horizontal plane (e.g., a wall surface) to be upright on a carrying plane or upright relative to a horizontal plane for transmitting and receiving RF signals to facilitate communication. For example, the carrying plane F1 may be a horizontal table surface, and the communication device 100 is configured to be disposed upright on the carrying plane F1, and the substrate 108 is perpendicular to the carrying plane F1. Further, FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure, for example. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the communication device 100 may be fixed to a non-horizontal plane F3 to be upright relative to an imaginary horizontal plane F2. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the non-horizontal plane F3 (e.g., a wall surface) is perpendicular to the horizontal plane F2, and the substrate 108 is perpendicular to the horizontal plane F2. It should be noted that, in some other embodiments, the non-horizontal plane F3 may not be completely perpendicular to the horizontal plane F2. The non-horizontal plane F3 may be a curved plane or have an angle not equal to 90 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane F2, for example. In that case, the communication device 100 is also fixed to the wall surface F3 to be upright relative to the imaginary horizontal plane F2 (the communication device 100 may be perpendicular to the horizontal plane F2 or substantially perpendicular to the horizontal plane F2). To facilitate the explanation, the following example is illustrated mainly based on the communication device 100 disposed upright on the carrying plane F1 in the embodiment of FIG. 1A.

[0011] The main ground region 102 is perpendicular to the carrying plane F1 (or the horizontal plane F2 in the embodiment of FIG. 2). The corner C1 of the substrate 108 is away from the carrying plane F1 (the horizontal plane F2 in the embodiment of FIG. 2). The antenna 104 is disposed by the corner C1, for example, above the corner C2. More specifically, the antenna 104 includes a radiation arm 104-1, a feeding element 104-2, and a short circuit member 104-3, wherein a resonance path formed by the feeding element 104-2 and the radiation arm 104-1 is an integer multiple of the quarter wavelength of a RF (radio frequency) signal transmitted or received by the antenna 104. The radiation arm 104-1 has a first end and a second end. The first end of the radiation arm 104-1 is closer to the corner C1 than the second end is, and a first end of the feeding element 104-2 has a feeding point FD1 for receiving a feeding signal. A first end of the short circuit member 104-3 is connected to the main ground region 102. Moreover, the second ends of the feeding element 104-2 and the short circuit member 104-3 are connected to the radiation arm 104-1, and the short circuit member 104-3 is close to the first end of the radiation arm 104-1. That is, the short circuit member 104-3 is connected to the side of the radiation arm 104-1 that is close to the corner C1. More specifically, the radiation arm 104-1 may be parallel to the side SD1, for example, and the first end of the short circuit member 104-3 is connected to the side SD3. The extended ground region 106 may have a rectangular structure, for example, and be located at the corner C1. A corner C3 of the extended ground region 106 is connected to the corner C2 of the main ground region 102. Specifically, the corner C3 of the extended ground region 106 has a side S1 and a side S2, wherein a portion of the side S1 overlaps a portion of the side SD4, and a portion where the side S1 does not overlap the side SD4 is larger than a portion where the side S1 overlaps the side SD4. It should be noted that although the extended ground region 106 of this embodiment is formed in a rectangular shape, the disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the extended ground region 106 may be formed in other shapes.

[0012] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an antenna field pattern of the antenna along an extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 3, by disposing the extended ground region 106 at the corner C1 of the substrate 108 and arranging the antenna 104 in the clearance region 110 at the position close to the corner C1 of the substrate 108 in the manner described above, the currents generated on the main ground region 102 have two dimensional directions (as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the direction of one current is parallel to the normal direction of the carrying plane F1 while the direction of the other current is parallel to the carrying plane F1), so as to improve field pattern uniformity of the antenna 104 and achieve the omni-directional antenna field pattern as well as generate multiple polarization effects (e.g., horizontal polarization, vertical polarization, and circular polarization) to effectively transmit and receive multipath signals and significantly improve the communication quality of the communication device 100.

[0013] FIG. 4A is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 4B is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 4A. Referring to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, a difference between the embodiment of FIG. 4A and the embodiment of FIG. 1A is that, in a communication device 400 of the embodiment of FIG. 4A, a corner C3' of an extended ground region 402 is formed by a side SD5 and a side SD6, wherein the side SD5 partially overlaps the side SD4 of the main ground region 102, and the side SD6 forms an angle with the side SD4. In this embodiment, the angle formed by the side SD6 and the side SD4 is 45 degrees, for example. As shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, by arranging the extended ground region 402 in the manner described in this embodiment and disposing the antenna 104 by the corner C2, a current flowing in a direction toward the carrying plane F1 and a current parallel to the carrying plane F1 may be generated on the main ground region 102. In other words, in this embodiment, the currents generated on the main ground region 102 also have two dimensional directions, so as to improve the field pattern uniformity of the antenna 104 and achieve an omni-directional antenna field pattern as well as generate multiple polarization effects to significantly improve the communication quality of the communication device 100.

[0014] Likewise, the extended ground region 402 of this embodiment may be implemented by using components of different geometric shapes, but the side SD6 that forms an angle with the side SD4 is required, so as to generate the current flowing in the direction toward the carrying plane F1. In addition, the communication device 400 of the embodiment of FIG. 4A may have the configuration described in the embodiment of FIG. 2 to be fixed to the non-horizontal plane (e.g., a wall surface) to be upright relative to the horizontal plane F2, so as to transmit and receive RF signals for communication. The other components of the communication device 400 may be implemented as described in the embodiment of FIG. 2 and thus are not repeated hereinafter.

[0015] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 5, in this embodiment, a communication device 500 is configured to be placed on the carrying plane F1 in parallel to the horizontal plane (e.g., the horizontal plane F2 in the embodiment of FIG. 2; and the substrate 108 is parallel to the horizontal plane F2), so as to transmit and receive RF signals for communication. Since the communication device 500 of this embodiment has a structure similar to the structure of the communication device 100 of FIG. 1A, to simplify the figure, only the main components are marked in FIG. 5, and the reference numerals of the components that are not marked in FIG. 5 may be found in FIG. 1A. A difference between this embodiment and the embodiment of FIG. 1A is that the antenna 104 of this embodiment is disposed to be perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the substrate 108. More specifically, in this embodiment, the plane where the radiation arm and the feeding element of the antenna 104 are located is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the substrate 108, instead of being attached to the substrate 108 in parallel to the substrate 108 as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1A. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to the embodiment of FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 6, the antenna 104 is disposed at the boundary between the main ground region 120 and the clearance region 110. FIG. 6 is a schematic view in which the substrate 108 is viewed from above the communication device 500. Thus, in FIG. 6, the antenna 104 has a stripe pattern. It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the antenna 104 may be disposed closer to the inside of the clearance region 110. For example, FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the substrate of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the main ground region 102 may include an extended portion 702 that extends and protrudes toward the clearance region 110, and the antenna 104 may be disposed at the boundary between the clearance region 110 and the extended portion 702, wherein the short circuit member of the antenna 104 may be grounded via connection between the extended portion 702 and the main ground region 102.

[0016] FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the antenna field pattern of the antenna along the extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 8, since the currents generated on the main ground region 102 have two dimensional directions, the field pattern uniformity of the antenna 104 is improved to achieve an omni-directional antenna field pattern as well as generate multiple polarization effects to effectively transmit and receive multipath signals and significantly improve the communication quality of the communication device 500 placed horizontally.

[0017] FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the communication device according to another embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 9, in this embodiment, a communication device 900 is similar to the communication device 500 and is configured to be placed on the carrying plane F1 in parallel to the horizontal plane, so as to transmit and receive RF signals for communication. Since the communication device 900 of this embodiment has a structure similar to the structure of the communication device 400 of FIG. 4A, to simplify the figure, only the main components are marked in FIG. 9, and reference numerals of the components that are not marked in FIG. 9 may be found in FIG. 4A. A difference between this embodiment and the embodiment of FIG. 4A is that the antenna 104 of this embodiment is disposed to be perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the substrate 108, instead of being attached to the substrate 108 in parallel to the substrate 108 as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4A. Moreover, the antenna 104 of this embodiment may be disposed at the boundary between the clearance region 110 and the main ground region 120, as in the embodiments of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the antenna field pattern of the antenna along the extension direction of the carrying plane according to the embodiment of FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 10, since the currents generated on the main ground region 102 have two dimensional directions, the field pattern uniformity of the antenna 104 is improved to achieve an omni-directional antenna field pattern as well as generate multiple polarization effects to significantly improve the communication quality of the communication device 900 placed horizontally.

[0018] The communication device of the above embodiments can generate currents having two dimensional directions on the main ground region as well as generate multiple polarization effects, thereby effectively improving the field pattern and polarization characteristics of the antenna to significantly enhance the communication quality of the communication device.

Claims

1. A communication device (100, 400, 500, 900), comprising:

a substrate (108) having a first side (SD1) and a second side (SD2), wherein the first side (SD1) and the second side (SD2) form a first corner (C1), and the substrate (108) comprises:

a main ground region (102);

a first clearance region (110) at least located on the first side (SD1);

a second clearance region (112) at least located on the second side (SD2); and

an extended ground region (106, 402) extending from the main ground region (102) to be located between and adjacent to the first clearance region (110) and the second clearance region (112); and

an antenna (104) located by the first corner (C1), wherein a projection of the antenna (104) on a plane where the first clearance region (110) is located is in the first clearance region (110), and the antenna (104) comprises:

a feeding element (104-2), a first end of which comprises a feeding point (FD1); and

a radiation arm (104-1) comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the radiation arm (104-1) is closer to the first corner (C1) than the second end of the radiation arm (104-1) is, and a position where a second end of the feeding element (104-2) is connected to the radiation arm (104-1) is close to the first end of the radiation arm (104-1).

2. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to claim 1, wherein the extended ground region (106, 402) has a rectangular shape and is located at the first corner (C1).

3. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the radiation arm (104-1) is parallel to the first side (SD1).

4. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the main ground region (102) has a third side (SD3) and a fourth side (SD4) that form a second corner (C2), wherein the third side (SD3) is parallel to the first side (SD1) and adjacent to the first clearance region (110), the fourth side (SD4) is parallel to the second side (SD2) and adjacent to the second clearance region (112), the extended ground region (106, 402) is located by the second corner (C2), and the antenna (104) is located by the second corner (C2).

5. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to claim 4, wherein the extended ground region (106, 402) has a fifth side (SD5) and a sixth side (SD6) adjacent to each other, wherein the fifth side (SD5) is adjacent to the fourth side (SD4), and the sixth side (SD6) and the fifth side (SD5) form an angle.

6. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a plane where the feeding element (104-2) and the radiation arm (104-1) are located is perpendicular to the substrate (108).

7. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to claim 6, wherein the communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) is configured to be placed on a carrying plane in parallel to a horizontal plane, and the substrate (108) is parallel to the horizontal plane.

8. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the main ground region (102) and the extended ground region (106, 402) comprise a conductor layer that is attached to a surface of the substrate (108) or embedded in the substrate (108).

9. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the antenna (104) is a planar inverted-F antenna or a monopole antenna.

10. The communication device (100, 400, 500, 900) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a resonance path formed by the feeding element (104-2) and the radiation arm (104-1) is an integer multiple of a quarter wavelength of a RF (radio frequency) signal transmitted or received by the antenna (104).

Drawing