Patents by Inventor Erica J. Tong

Erica J. Tong 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: 9966667
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from conductive housing structures running along the edges of a device. The antenna may have a pair of switchable return paths that bridge a slot between the antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. An adjustable component and a feed may be coupled in parallel across the slot. The adjustable component may switch a capacitor into use or out of use and the return paths may be selectively opened and closed to compensate for antenna loading due to the presence of external objects near the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Nanbo Jin, Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Erica J. Tong, Erdinc Irci, Salih Yarga, Mattia Pascolini, Benjamin Shane Bustle, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20180069297
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. The antennas may include cellular telephone antennas, wireless local area network antennas, antenna structures for receiving satellite navigation system signals, and other antennas. An antenna may have an antenna resonating element such as an inverted-F antenna resonating element. The inverted-F antenna resonating element may have an inverted-F antenna resonating element arm formed from metal traces on a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may be soldered to an antenna grounding clip. A screw may attach the clip, a speaker tab, a connector bracket, and other metal structures to a metal device housing that serves as ground for the antenna. The screw may be isolated from the antenna grounding clip and the other metal structures by an insulating structure such as an insulating gasket.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2016
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Nanbo Jin, Anand Lakshmanan, Christopher T. Cheng, Erica J. Tong, Han Wang, Mattia Pascolini, Scott A. Myers, Xu Gao, Richard H. Dinh, Tang Yew Tan
  • Publication number: 20180069317
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from conductive housing structures running along the edges of a device. The antenna may have a pair of switchable return paths that bridge a slot between the antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. An adjustable component and a feed may be coupled in parallel across the slot. The adjustable component may switch a capacitor into use or out of use and the return paths may be selectively opened and closed to compensate for antenna loading due to the presence of external objects near the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Nanbo Jin, Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Erica J. Tong, Erdinc Irci, Salih Yarga, Mattia Pascolini, Benjamin Shane Bustle, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20180069308
    Abstract: A consumer electronic product includes a switchable inductor array coupled to the RF antenna, the switchable inductor array comprising inductive elements and a switch circuit coupled to the inductor array to select at least one of the inductive elements and couple the selected inductive element with the RF antenna. The product can further include an assembly having a mesh that is strengthened by a stiffener. A multi-layer adhesive have a conductive layer that can be used to shield the RF antenna and adhesive layers that can provide adhesion between the stiffener and the housing of the product. The assembly can be covered by a cowling that is made of metal to provide further shielding. To reduce potential coupling between the RF antenna and the cowling, the cowling can have a portion that is formed of plastic to distance its metal portion from the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Christopher J. DURNING, Hongfei HU, Erdinc IRCI, Salih YARGA, Christopher T. CHENG, Enrique AYALA VAZQUEZ, Nanbo JIN, Erica J. TONG, Mattia PASCOLINI, Denis J. LIN, Salome BAVETTA, Sherry LEE
  • Publication number: 20180048052
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from peripheral conductive structures running along the edges of a device housing. Elongated conductive members may longitudinally divide openings between the peripheral conductive housing structures and the ground. The elongated conductive members may extend from an internal ground to outer ends of the elongated conductive members that are located adjacent to the gaps. Transmission lines may extend along the elongated conductive members to antenna feeds at the outer ends. The elongated conductive members may form open slots that serve as slot antenna resonating elements for the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Inventors: Nanbo Jin, Anand Lakshmanan, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai
  • Patent number: 9768491
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from peripheral conductive structures running along the edges of a device housing. Elongated conductive members may longitudinally divide openings between the peripheral conductive housing structures and the ground. The elongated conductive members may extend from an internal ground to outer ends of the elongated conductive members that are located adjacent to the gaps. Transmission lines may extend along the elongated conductive members to antenna feeds at the outer ends. The elongated conductive members may form open slots that serve as slot antenna resonating elements for the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Nanbo Jin, Anand Lakshmanan, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai
  • Publication number: 20170033460
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from conductive housing structures running along the edges of a device. The antenna may have a pair of switchable return paths that bridge a slot between the antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. An adjustable component and a feed may be coupled in parallel across the slot. The adjustable component may switch a capacitor into use or out of use and the return paths may be selectively opened and closed to compensate for antenna loading due to the presence of external objects near the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Nanbo Jin, Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Erica J. Tong, Erdinc Irci, Salih Yarga, Mattia Pascolini, Benjamin Shane Bustle, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20160308271
    Abstract: An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna resonating element arm for an antenna may be formed from peripheral conductive structures running along the edges of a device housing. Elongated conductive members may longitudinally divide openings between the peripheral conductive housing structures and the ground. The elongated conductive members may extend from an internal ground to outer ends of the elongated conductive members that are located adjacent to the gaps. Transmission lines may extend along the elongated conductive members to antenna feeds at the outer ends. The elongated conductive members may form open slots that serve as slot antenna resonating elements for the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventors: Nanbo Jin, Anand Lakshmanan, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai
  • Patent number: 9404842
    Abstract: Damage to conductive material that serves as bridging connections between conductive structures within an electronic device may result in deficiencies in radio-frequency (RF) and other wireless communications. A test system for testing device structures under test is provided. Device structures under test may include substrates and a conductive material between the substrates. The test system may include a test fixture for increasing tensile or compressive stress on the device structures under test to evaluate the resilience of the conductive material. The test system may also include a test unit for transmitting RF test signals and receiving test data from the device structures under test. The received test data may include scattered parameter measurements from the device structures under test that may be used to determine if the device structures under test meet desired RF performance criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Nickel, Chun-Lung Chen, Tseng-Mau Yang, Nicholas G. Merz, Robert W. Schlub, Boon W. Shiu, Erica J. Tong
  • Patent number: 9404965
    Abstract: A test system is provided for performing radio-frequency tests on an electronic device under test (DUT) having multiple antennas. The test system may include a test unit for generating radio-frequency test signals, a test enclosure, and a test antenna fixture. The test fixture may include tunable antenna circuitry, antenna tuning elements, a test sensor, a microcontroller, a battery, and a solar cell that charges the battery, each of which is mounted on a test fixture within the test enclosure. The test sensor may be used to detect stimuli issued by the DUT. In response to detecting the stimuli, the microcontroller may send control signals to the antenna tuning elements to configure the antenna circuitry in different modes. Each of the different modes may be optimized to test a selected one of the multiple antennas in the DUT when operating using different radio access technologies and at different frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Nickel, Erica J. Tong, Vishwanath Venkataraman
  • Publication number: 20160197401
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with shared antenna structures that can be used to form both a near-field-communications antenna such as a loop antenna and a non-near-field communications antenna such as an inverted-F antenna. The antenna structures may include conductive structures such as metal traces on printed circuits or other dielectric substrates, internal metal housing structures, or other conductive electronic device housing structures. A main resonating element arm may be separated from an antenna ground by an opening. A non-near-field communications antenna return path and antenna feed path may span the opening. A balun may have first and second electromagnetically coupled inductors. The second inductor may have terminals coupled across differential signal terminals in a near-field communications transceiver. The first inductor may form part of the near-field communications loop antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2016
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Inventors: Yuehui Ouyang, Dean F. Darnell, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Nanbo Jin, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9325080
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with shared antenna structures that can be used to form both a near-field-communications antenna such as a loop antenna and a non-near-field communications antenna such as an inverted-F antenna. The antenna structures may include conductive structures such as metal traces on printed circuits or other dielectric substrates, internal metal housing structures, or other conductive electronic device housing structures. A main resonating element arm may be separated from an antenna ground by an opening. A non-near-field communications antenna return path and antenna feed path may span the opening. A balun may have first and second electromagnetically coupled inductors. The second inductor may have terminals coupled across differential signal terminals in a near-field communications transceiver. The first inductor may form part of the near-field communications loop antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yuehui Ouyang, Dean F. Darnell, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Nanbo Jin, Robert W. Schlub
  • Publication number: 20150249292
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with shared antenna structures that can be used to form both a near-field-communications antenna such as a loop antenna and a non-near-field communications antenna such as an inverted-F antenna. The antenna structures may include conductive structures such as metal traces on printed circuits or other dielectric substrates, internal metal housing structures, or other conductive electronic device housing structures. A main resonating element arm may be separated from an antenna ground by an opening. A non-near-field communications antenna return path and antenna feed path may span the opening. A balun may have first and second electromagnetically coupled inductors. The second inductor may have terminals coupled across differential signal terminals in a near-field communications transceiver. The first inductor may form part of the near-field communications loop antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2014
    Publication date: September 3, 2015
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yuehui Ouyang, Dean F. Darnell, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Erica J. Tong, Hongfei Hu, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Nanbo Jin, Robert W. Schlub
  • Publication number: 20150177277
    Abstract: A test system is provided for performing radio-frequency tests on an electronic device under test (DUT) having multiple antennas. The test system may include a test unit for generating radio-frequency test signals, a test enclosure, and a test antenna fixture. The test fixture may include tunable antenna circuitry, antenna tuning elements, a test sensor, a microcontroller, a battery, and a solar cell that charges the battery, each of which is mounted on a test fixture within the test enclosure. The test sensor may be used to detect stimuli issued by the DUT. In response to detecting the stimuli, the microcontroller may send control signals to the antenna tuning elements to configure the antenna circuitry in different modes. Each of the different modes may be optimized to test a selected one of the multiple antennas in the DUT when operating using different radio access technologies and at different frequencies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Nickel, Erica J. Tong, Vishwanath Venkataraman
  • Publication number: 20150050893
    Abstract: Damage to conductive material that serves as bridging connections between conductive structures within an electronic device may result in deficiencies in radio-frequency (RF) and other wireless communications. A test system for testing device structures under test is provided. Device structures under test may include substrates and a conductive material between the substrates. The test system may include a test fixture for increasing tensile or compressive stress on the device structures under test to evaluate the resilience of the conductive material. The test system may also include a test unit for transmitting RF test signals and receiving test data from the device structures under test. The received test data may include scattered parameter measurements from the device structures under test that may be used to determine if the device structures under test meet desired RF performance criteria.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2013
    Publication date: February 19, 2015
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Nickel, Chun-Lung Chen, Tseng-Mau Yang, Nicholas G. Merz, Robert W. Schlub, Boon W. Shiu, Erica J. Tong