Patents by Inventor Emily B. McMilin

Emily B. McMilin has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9318793
    Abstract: A display cover layer may be mounted in an electronic device housing using housing structures such as corner brackets. A slot antenna may be formed from a corner bracket opening, metal traces on a hollow plastic support structure, or other conductive structures. The slot antenna may have a main portion with opposing ends. An antenna feed may be located at one of the ends. The slot antenna may have a slot with one or more bends. The bends may provide the slot antenna with a C-shaped outline. A side branch slot may extend from the main portion of the slot at a location between the two bends. The presence of the side branch slot may enhance antenna bandwidth. A hollow enclosure may serve as an antenna support structure and as a speaker box enclosing a speaker driver. The antenna feed may be positioned so as to overlap the speaker driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jiang Zhu, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Miroslav Samardzija, Gordon Coutts, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Yi Jiang, Boon W. Shiu, Salih Yarga, Emily B. McMilin, Ruben Caballero
  • Patent number: 9041619
    Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided with antennas. An antenna may be formed from conductive antenna structures that include a frequency-dependent distributed capacitor. The antenna may include an antenna ground and an antenna resonating element that are separated by a gap. A low pass filter circuit may bridge the gap. The antenna resonating element may have antenna resonating element conductive structures that serve as first and second electrodes for the distributed capacitor. The second electrode may have first and second conductive elements coupled by a filter. The filter may be a low pass filter implemented using an inductor. The inductor may have a first terminal coupled to the first conductive element and a second terminal coupled to the second conductive element. A first antenna feed terminal may be coupled to the first conductive element and a second antenna feed terminal may be coupled to the antenna ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Emily B. McMilin, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub
  • Publication number: 20130293424
    Abstract: A display cover layer may be mounted in an electronic device housing using housing structures such as corner brackets. A slot antenna may be formed from a corner bracket opening, metal traces on a hollow plastic support structure, or other conductive structures. The slot antenna may have a main portion with opposing ends. An antenna feed may be located at one of the ends. The slot antenna may have a slot with one or more bends. The bends may provide the slot antenna with a C-shaped outline. A side branch slot may extend from the main portion of the slot at a location between the two bends. The presence of the side branch slot may enhance antenna bandwidth. A hollow enclosure may serve as an antenna support structure and as a speaker box enclosing a speaker driver. The antenna feed may be positioned so as to overlap the speaker driver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2012
    Publication date: November 7, 2013
    Inventors: Jiang Zhu, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Miroslav Samardzija, Gordon Coutts, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Yi Jiang, Boon W. Shiu, Salih Yarga, Emily B. McMilin, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20130278480
    Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided with antennas. An antenna may be formed from conductive antenna structures that include a frequency-dependent distributed capacitor. The antenna may include an antenna ground and an antenna resonating element that are separated by a gap. A low pass filter circuit may bridge the gap. The antenna resonating element may have antenna resonating element conductive structures that serve as first and second electrodes for the distributed capacitor. The second electrode may have first and second conductive elements coupled by a filter. The filter may be a low pass filter implemented using an inductor. The inductor may have a first terminal coupled to the first conductive element and a second terminal coupled to the second conductive element. A first antenna feed terminal may be coupled to the first conductive element and a second antenna feed terminal may be coupled to the antenna ground.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2012
    Publication date: October 24, 2013
    Inventors: Emily B. McMilin, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub
  • Publication number: 20130241800
    Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antennas. The antennas may include a non-tunable antenna and a tunable antenna. The non-tunable antenna may serve as the primary antenna in the electronic device and the tunable antenna may serve as a secondary antenna in the electronic device. The non-tunable antenna may be configured to operate in at least one communications band. The tunable antenna may contain adjustable circuitry. The adjustable circuitry may be used to tune the tunable antenna to cover the same communications band used by the non-tunable antenna. The tunable antenna may have a resonating element and an antenna ground. The adjustable circuit may be coupled between the resonating element and the antenna ground. The adjustable circuit may include electrical components such as inductors and capacitors and a radio-frequency switch for antenna tuning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Robert W. Schlub, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Qingxiang Li, Emily B. McMilin, Salih Yarga, Yi Jiang
  • Publication number: 20130214979
    Abstract: An electronic device may have an antenna that includes conductive antenna structures forming an antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. A band-stop filter may be coupled between first and second portions of the conductive structures. The band-stop filter may be formed from multiple series-connected resonant circuits. The band-stop filter and an impedance matching circuit may be coupled in series between the antenna resonating element and the antenna ground. The band-stop filter may be characterized by a stop band. The antenna may be configured to operate in a first communications band that is outside of the stop band and a second communications band that is covered by the stop band. The impedance matching circuit may be an adjustable circuit that is used to tune the antenna. The adjustable circuit may be a switch-based adjustable capacitor that is adjusted to tune the response of the antenna in the first communications band.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2012
    Publication date: August 22, 2013
    Inventors: Emily B. McMilin, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub