Patents Examined by Sue A. Purvis
  • Patent number: 9276318
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a coupler apparatus includes a coupling element, a ground plane, and at least one connecting element. The coupling element which is made of a tabular electrical conducting material and in which power feeding is performed to a reference point. The ground plane which is made of a tabular electrical conducting material and partially faces a part of the coupling element. The connecting element which is made of an electrical conducting material, disposed to the ground plane, contact to a metal member provided to a communication apparatus to face the ground plane, and electrically connects the ground plane to the metal member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Hiroshi Shimasaki
  • Patent number: 9276322
    Abstract: There is provided an antenna device that includes a substrate, a slot provided in the substrate so that the slot includes a cut opening that is close to an edge of the substrate and the slot includes a crooked portion, a conductor section configured to include a slit in an area of the substrate, the area being sandwiched by the slot in the crooked portion, and an antenna that is placed close to the conductor section and is side by side with a surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Yasumitsu Ban, Takashi Yamagajo, Kouji Soekawa
  • Patent number: 9252480
    Abstract: A two-shaft hinge antenna comprises a major conductor, a first rotating element and a second rotating element. The stretching arms on both sides of the major conductor are assembled to the first rotating element and the second rotating element, respectively. The first rotating element further comprises a torque device and a first vice conductor, and the second rotating element further comprises a signal feeding line, a connection device, and a second vice conductor. The signal feeding line is electrically connected to the connection device and the second vice conductor, by which a high frequency signal can be passed to the major conductor, and then passed to the torque device on the other side and the first vice conductor. The aforementioned configuration is utilized to form an antenna loop. In addition, the configuration of this antenna can be applied to a foldable electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: ADVANCED-CONNETEK INC.
    Inventors: Tsung-Wen Chiu, Fu-Ren Hsiao, Chih-Fan Chen, Pei-Feng Wu
  • Patent number: 9246234
    Abstract: An exemplary embodiment of an antenna in accordance with the present invention utilizes a sub-reflector and a main reflector with each of them having its own focal-ring type geometry. The antenna cooperates with a signal transmission feed disposed at the center of the antenna axis between the first and main reflectors to emit radio signals towards the sub-reflector. The sub-reflector reflects radio waves towards a main reflector which in turn reflects the radio waves to form the beam pattern emitted by the antenna. The reflecting surface of the sub-reflector is formed by a portion of an axially-displaced ellipse rotated about the antenna axis. The reflecting surface of the main reflector is defined by a section of a parabola rotated about the antenna axis to form a reflecting surface that concavely slopes away from the antenna axis. An embodiment of the antenna provides a wide coverage conical beam with selectable beam peaks that operate over a 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Sudhakar K. Rao, Sebong Chun
  • Patent number: 9246223
    Abstract: A system and process that includes a multiband antenna as may be used in mobile communications devices. The multiband antenna includes a feed port coupled to each of a first radiating portion and a second radiating portion. Each of the first and second radiating portions defines a respective resonant bandwidth. The multiband antenna also includes at least one adjustable tuning circuit disposed between separate and displaced radiating segments of a respective one of the first and second radiating portions. Adjustment of the tuning circuit alters a corresponding resonant bandwidth allowing the corresponding resonant bandwidth to be tuned independently of the other resonant bandwidth and without affecting performance of the other resonant bandwidth. Other embodiments are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: BLACKBERRY LIMITED
    Inventors: Firass Mirza Badaruzzaman, Randy Alan Wiessner, Marshall Joseph Katz
  • Patent number: 9236658
    Abstract: An antenna circuit for near-field communications includes a planar active winding, connected between a first and a second access terminal; an auxiliary winding coplanar with the active winding and connected by a first end to the first access terminal; and a tuning capacitor connected to the second end of the auxiliary winding. The turns of the active and auxiliary windings are interleaved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: INSIDE SECURE
    Inventor: Bruno Charrat
  • Patent number: 9232591
    Abstract: A dimming controller can operate in a first mode or a second mode to control dimming of a light-emitting diode (LED) light source. The dimming controller can include a voltage control terminal and a current control terminal. The voltage control terminal provides a pulse signal when the dimming controller operates in the first mode to operate a control switch in either a first state or a second state. A first current flowing through the LED light source increases when the control switch is in the first state and decreases when the control switch is in the second state. The voltage control terminal provides a control signal to the control switch to cut off the first current when the dimming controller operates in the second mode. The current control terminal conducts a second current through the LED light source when the dimming controller operates in the second mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: O2Micro Inc.
    Inventors: Ching-Chuan Kuo, Yung Lin Lin
  • Patent number: 9225060
    Abstract: A system for use with a transmitter and an antenna includes a radio frequency power detection portion, a tunable matching network, and a phase lock loop. The tunable matching network has a modifiable impedance to account for impedance mismatch between the transmitter and the antenna. The phase lock loop tunes the tunable matching network to modify the modifiable impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: The Johns Hopkins University
    Inventors: Chun-Huei Bair, Paul A. Vichot
  • Patent number: 9225065
    Abstract: A cheaper to produce, smaller and easy to drive adaptive antenna module is presented. The module comprises a signal path, an antenna, and a tuning circuit with two variable impedance elements. The tuning circuit operates over a restricted range of impedances and maintains the series resonance characteristic of the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin R. Boyle, Maurice de Jongh, Adrianus van Bezooijen
  • Patent number: 9219311
    Abstract: An antenna device includes an antenna element to be fed with electric power from an external power supply and a ground element to be coupled to the antenna element. The antenna element and the ground element are formed of a conductive film and arranged to define a rectangular region in a plan view with at least one gap between the antenna element and the ground element. The antenna element has a shape of one of a polygon, a circle, and a part of the polygon or the circle. The antenna element includes a feeding part in its portion close to the ground element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: FUJITSU COMPONENT LIMITED
    Inventors: Masahiro Yanagi, Shigemi Kurashima, Hideaki Yoda
  • Patent number: 9219301
    Abstract: A battery pack having a main surface and a side surface, and the external appearance thereof is an approximately rectangular parallelepiped shape. An antenna coil is provided on the main surface. The antenna coil is obtained by forming a coil conductor pattern on a flexible substrate. A substantially slit-shaped aperture is formed on the flexible substrate, and a magnetic material core is inserted into the aperture. In the antenna coil, the center of the coil aperture portion is offset from the center of the main surface of the battery pack in the outside edge portion direction of the main surface. A first end in the magnetic path direction of the magnetic material core is stretched along the side surface of the battery pack, and the second end of the magnetic material core is opened toward the center of the main surface of the battery pack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kubo, Katsumi Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 9214735
    Abstract: An impedance matching component is disclosed. The impedance matching component is disposed on and closely attached to a first side surface of a function dielectric sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignees: KUANG-CHI INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY LTD., KUANG-CHI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Ruopeng Liu, Chunlin Ji, Yutao Yue
  • Patent number: 9203157
    Abstract: In antenna device, a coil conductor of an antenna coil module and a conductor layer at least partially overlap. A current flows in the conductor layer to block a magnetic field generated by a current flowing in the coil conductor. A current flows along the periphery of a slit and around the periphery of the conductor layer due to a cut-edge effect. Since magnetic flux does not pass through the conductor layer, magnetic flux attempts to bypass the conductor layer along a path in which the conductor opening of the conductor layer is on the inside and the outer edge of the conductor layer is on the outside. As a result, the magnetic flux generates large loops that link the inside and the outside of a coil conductor of an antenna on a reader/writer side to couple an antenna device and the antenna on the reader/writer side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Noboru Kato, Katsumi Taniguchi, Jun Sasaki, Naoki Gochi
  • Patent number: 9184496
    Abstract: In various embodiments, an inductance of an inductor is tuned by adjusting a position of a conductor and/or a magnetic material with respect to a conducting wire of the inductor, thereby changing the electro-magnetic characteristics of the conducting wire. The conductor and/or magnetic material can be disposed in a microfluidic channel and can be moved within the microfluidic channel using a suitable actuator mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventors: Amy E. Duwel, Jason O. Fiering, Douglas W. White, Brian R. Smith
  • Patent number: 9178272
    Abstract: A multiband shark fin antenna for a vehicle may include at least one transmitting and one receiving antenna element from the group consisting of AM/FM antennas, telephone and RKE antennas, GPS antenna, SDARS antenna, stacked patch antenna, DAP antenna, WLAN antenna, WIMAX antenna or DRM antenna. The antenna elements are disposed beneath a joint shark fin-shaped outer cover on the exterior of the vehicle. On the inside, the shark fin-shaped outer cover includes an antenna circuit board having the antenna elements disposed thereon. Electronic adjustment or amplifier circuits including a transceiver, tuner or receiver are disposed on both the upper and lower faces of the antenna circuit board. Shielding plates, which shield the adjustment or amplifier circuits with respect to the antenna elements, are disposed on the upper side of the antenna circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE GMBH
    Inventors: Guy-Aymar Chakam, Martin Schürmeier, Florian Butscher, Frank Mierke
  • Patent number: 9178284
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an electromagnetically transparent metamaterial, which comprises a substrate and a plurality of man-made metal microstructures arranged periodically inside the substrate. When an electromagnetic wave propagates through the metamaterial, each of the man-made metal microstructures is equivalent to two identical two-dimensional (2D) circuits, which are placed respectively in a direction perpendicular to an incident direction of the electromagnetic wave and in a direction parallel to the incident direction of the electromagnetic wave, and each of which comprises an inductor branch and two identical capacitor branches that are symmetrically connected in parallel with the inductor branch. The 2D circuits are associated with a waveband of the electromagnetic wave so that both a dielectric constant and a magnetic permeability of the metamaterial are substantially 1 when the electromagnetic wave propagates through the metamaterial.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignees: KUSNG-CHI INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY LTD., KUANG-CHI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Ruopeng Liu, Zhen Liao, Lin Luan, Zhiya Zhao
  • Patent number: 9172139
    Abstract: Electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. A parallel-fed loop antenna may be formed from portions of an electronic device bezel and a ground plane. The antenna may operate in multiple communications bands. An impedance matching circuit for the antenna may be formed from a parallel-connected inductive element and a series-connected capacitive element. The bezel may surround a peripheral portion of a display that is mounted to the front of an electronic device. The bezel may contain a gap. Antenna feed terminals for the antenna may be located on opposing sides of the gap. The inductive element may bridge the gap and the antenna feed terminals. The capacitive element may be connected in series between one of the antenna feed terminals and a conductor in a transmission line located between the transceiver circuitry and the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mattia Pascolini, Robert J. Hill, Juan Zavala, Nanbo Jin, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Ruben Caballero
  • Patent number: 9166293
    Abstract: A method for adjusting an operation bandwidth of an antenna is provided. The antenna includes a radiation element, and the radiation element includes a first adjusting portion having a first width and a second adjusting portion having a second width. The method includes steps of seeking an operation frequency of the antenna; and adjusting the operation bandwidth of the antenna by adjusting the second width based on the operation frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Arcadyan Technolgy Corporation
    Inventors: Chih-Yung Huang, Kuo-Chang Lo
  • Patent number: 9166644
    Abstract: A dongle transceiver a substrate, a transceiver circuit, a transmit/receive switch, a MIMO antenna structure, and a decoupling module. The transceiver circuit is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate and is coupled to the transmit/receive switch. The MIMO antenna structure is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate. The decoupling module is on at least one of the first and second sides of the substrate, couples the MIMO antenna structure to the transmit/receive switch, and electrically isolates antennas of the MIMO antenna structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Seunghwan Yoon, Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, Jesus Castaneda
  • Patent number: 9160077
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an antenna based on a metamaterial and a method for generating an operating wavelength of a metamaterial panel. The antenna comprises a radiation source, and a metamaterial panel capable of converging an electromagnetic wave and operating at a first wavelength. The metamaterial panel is adapted to convert the electromagnetic wave radiated from the radiation source into a plane wave and to enable the antenna to simultaneously operate at a second wavelength and a third wavelength which are smaller than the first wavelength and are different multiples of the first wavelength. The present invention further provides a method for generating an operating wavelength of a metamaterial panel for use in the aforesaid antenna. These improve the convergence performance and reduce the volume and size of the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2015
    Assignees: KUANG-CHI INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY LTD., KUANG-CHI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Ruopeng Liu, Chunlin Ji, Yutao Yue