Patents by Inventor Joel D. Barrera
Joel D. Barrera 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).
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Publication number: 20250210850Abstract: A laptop computer may have a lower housing with an antenna module. The antenna module may include first and second pieces of sheet metal that form a cavity. The cavity may have an aperture covered by a dielectric layer. The first piece of sheet metal may be bent towards the second piece and may be welded to the second piece at a side of the cavity opposite the aperture. An antenna arm may be disposed within the cavity and mounted to the second piece. The antenna arm may be laterally separated from the dielectric layer by a non-zero distance. A dielectric loading block may be disposed within the cavity and mounted to the second piece. The antenna arm may be mounted to a side of the dielectric loading block facing the aperture and the dielectric layer. The antenna arm may convey radio-frequency signals through the aperture and the dielectric layer.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 20, 2023Publication date: June 26, 2025Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Rhett D. Gentile, Menglou Rao, Jerzy S. Guterman, Daniel D. Hershey
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Publication number: 20250210848Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a conductive housing wall and a handle. The handle may have a leg that extends through an opening in the conductive housing wall. The device may include an antenna having an antenna arm. The antenna arm may be layered onto the leg of the handle and may be wrapped around the leg. The antenna arm may have first and second segments parallel to a longitudinal axis of the leg and may have a third segment orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the leg. The antenna arm may be fed by a conductive screw extending through the conductive housing wall. The antenna may exhibit an omnidirectional radiation pattern over the conductive housing wall that serves to optimize the wireless performance of the device.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 20, 2023Publication date: June 26, 2025Inventors: Menglou Rao, Jerzy S Guterman, Joel D Barrera, Panagiotis Theofanopoulos
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Publication number: 20250210849Abstract: An electronic device such as a laptop computer may have upper and lower housings. The upper housing may be coupled to the lower housing by a hinge having a hinge axis. The lower housing may have an upper metal wall, a lower metal wall, and an angled metal wall that extends from the upper metal wall towards the lower metal wall. The lower housing may include a phased antenna array with a set of antennas aligned along a linear axis. The phased antenna array may be aligned with a dielectric window in the upper metal wall and may be oriented such that the linear axis is orthogonal to the hinge axis, or may be aligned with a dielectric window in the angled metal wall. One or more processors may adjust the phased antenna array based on the position of the upper housing relative to the lower housing.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 20, 2023Publication date: June 26, 2025Inventors: Menglou Rao, Jerzy S. Guterman, Panagiotis Theofanopoulos, Joel D. Barrera
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Publication number: 20250110531Abstract: An electronic device such as a laptop computer may have an upper housing and a lower housing. The lower housing may have a clutch barrel. The upper housing may be coupled to the clutch barrel by a hinge. The lower housing may have an upper metal wall separated from the upper housing by a first gap and a lower metal wall separated from the upper housing by a second gap. The clutch barrel may include a conductor. An antenna may be formed from a radiating slot in the conductor. The radiating slot may have a tunnel extending from a first opening to a second opening in the conductor across a diameter of the conductor. The tunnel may be linear or non-linear. The tunnel may have a uniform or tapered width. The radiating slot may convey radio-frequency signals through both gaps regardless of the orientation of the upper housing.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 28, 2023Publication date: April 3, 2025Inventors: Trevor J Edmonds, Michael J Williams, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Joel D. Barrera, Marc Soriano Baliarda, Ayoub Yari Boroujeni, Jerzy S. Guterman, Mahmoud R. Amini, Kevin M. Robinson
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Publication number: 20250105490Abstract: An electronic device such as a laptop computer may have an upper housing and a lower housing. The lower housing may have a clutch barrel coupled to the upper housing by a hinge. The upper housing may be rotatable relative to the lower housing between an open position and a closed position. The upper housing may have a curved metal surface facing the clutch barrel. The device may have an antenna with a radiating arm on a curved interior surface of a substrate in the clutch barrel. The radiating arm may extend parallel to the curved metal surface. The radiating arm may remain separated from the curved metal surface across its lateral area as the upper housing is rotated from the open position to the closed position. This may ensure that the antenna is provided with a uniform capacitive load from the upper housing at all upper housing positions.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2023Publication date: March 27, 2025Inventors: Nikolaos Chiotellis, Michael J. Williams, Joel D. Barrera, Marc Soriano Baliarda, Ayoub Yari Boroujeni, Trevor J. Edmonds, Jerzy S. Guterman
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Publication number: 20250103109Abstract: An electronic device such as a laptop computer may have an upper housing and a lower housing. The upper housing may be coupled to the lower housing by a hinge. The upper housing may be rotatable relative to the lower housing between an open position and a closed position. The lower housing may have an upper metal wall, a lower metal wall, and a metal sidewall that couples the lower metal wall to the upper metal wall. The lower metal housing may have a finger scoop in the metal sidewall. The finger scoop may have a surface that is oriented at a non-parallel and non-perpendicular angle to a lateral surface of the upper housing when the upper housing is in the closed position. The device may have an antenna with a radiating slot in the surface of the finger scoop.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2023Publication date: March 27, 2025Inventors: Michael J Williams, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Joel D Barrera, Jerzy S Guterman, Trevor J Edmonds, Marc Soriano Baliarda, Mahmoud R Amini, Soroush Kamrava
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Patent number: 12119549Abstract: An electronic device may have an upper housing and a lower housing separated by a slot. An antenna module may be mounted in the lower housing and may include a cavity. An antenna element may be disposed within the cavity. Grounded traces may be patterned onto walls of the module and may be coupled to conductive walls of the lower housing by conductive gaskets. The antenna element may have a high band arm displaced farther into the cavity than a low band arm by a shim. The antenna module may have an acoustic port aligned with a speaker port. The acoustic port may allow sound waves from a speaker to pass into the cavity from the speaker port. The cavity may be configured to optimize an audio response of the speaker while concurrently optimizing radio-frequency performance of the antenna element.Type: GrantFiled: June 3, 2022Date of Patent: October 15, 2024Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Joel D Barrera, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Michael J Williams, Jerzy S Guterman, Trevor J Edmonds, Joshua P Song, Richard D Kosoglow
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Publication number: 20230395984Abstract: An electronic device may have an upper housing and a lower housing separated by a slot. An antenna module may be mounted in the lower housing and may include a cavity. An antenna element may be disposed within the cavity. Grounded traces may be patterned onto walls of the module and may be coupled to conductive walls of the lower housing by conductive gaskets. The antenna element may have a high band arm displaced farther into the cavity than a low band arm by a shim. The antenna module may have an acoustic port aligned with a speaker port. The acoustic port may allow sound waves from a speaker to pass into the cavity from the speaker port. The cavity may be configured to optimize an audio response of the speaker while concurrently optimizing radio-frequency performance of the antenna element.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 3, 2022Publication date: December 7, 2023Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Michael J. Williams, Jerzy S. Guterman, Trevor J. Edmonds, Joshua P. Song, Richard D. Kosoglow
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Publication number: 20230223681Abstract: An electronic device may have an upper housing and a lower housing separated by a slow. A substrate may be mounted in the lower housing and may have an inner surface facing an interior of the lower housing and an outer surface facing the slot. Ventilation port openings may extend from the outer surface to the inner surface. Ribs in the substrate may separate the ventilation port openings. The ribs may include notches at the inner surface. An antenna may include conductive traces within multiple ventilation port openings and extending through the notches. The conductive traces may be offset from the outer surface. The outer surface of the substrate may be free from conductive material from the antenna. This may serve to maximize antenna efficiency while protecting the antenna from external forces and debris or other contaminants that pass through the slot during use of the electronic device over time.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2022Publication date: July 13, 2023Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman, Michael J. Williams, Daniel D. Hershey, Zachary S. Chase, Xuyao Shi
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Patent number: 11567547Abstract: A housing for an electronic device can include a body having an exterior surface and a second surface disposed opposite the exterior surface at least partially defining an interior volume, the body defining a first repeating pattern of apertures extending from the exterior surface to the second surface. The housing can also include a component defining a second repeating pattern of apertures, the component positioned adjacent to the second surface. The first repeating pattern of apertures and the second repeating pattern of apertures can combine to define an open area of at least about 70%.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2019Date of Patent: January 31, 2023Assignee: APPLE INC.Inventors: Bart K. Andre, Joel D. Barrera, Houtan R. Farahani, Jerzy S. Guterman, Richard P. Howarth, Mariel L. Lanas, Son C. Le, Michael D. McBroom, Rodrigo Dutervil Mubarak, Sabrina K. Paseman, Chentian Zhu, James M. Cuseo
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Patent number: 11152708Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing. The housing may include a conductive inner frame, conductive handles coupled to the inner frame, and a conductive outer sleeve over the inner frame. The handles may protrude through openings in the outer sleeve. Conductive plates may be aligned with the openings and attached to the inner frame. The handles may pass through holes in the conductive plates. Slot antennas may be formed in the conductive plates. The slot antennas may each include a high band slot that indirectly feeds a pair of low band slots. The conductive plates and the inner frame may define cavities for the antennas. Multi-band slot antennas may be formed within the handles themselves. The handles may include solid metal with a channel or may include hollow metal structures to accommodate transmission lines for the antennas.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2019Date of Patent: October 19, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman, Mattia Pascolini
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Patent number: 11108130Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing with a conductive housing wall and a display mounted to the housing opposite the conductive housing wall. A conductive tongue may extend through an opening in the housing wall to secure the housing to a hinge barrel on a desktop stand. A slot antenna may be formed from a slot element in the conductive tongue. The antenna may be fed by a flexible printed circuit coupled across the slot element or by a feed printed circuit in the housing that is coupled to the conductive tongue by a conductive screw. A conductive sleeve may be placed over the conductive tongue. The stand may be replaced with a mounting bracket.Type: GrantFiled: February 25, 2020Date of Patent: August 31, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Paul X. Wang, Bradley J. Hamel, Jerzy S. Guterman, Joel D. Barrera, Nicholas A. Rundle, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Simon S. Lee
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Publication number: 20210265719Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing with a conductive housing wall and a display mounted to the housing opposite the conductive housing wall. A conductive tongue may extend through an opening in the housing wall to secure the housing to a hinge barrel on a desktop stand. A slot antenna may be formed from a slot element in the conductive tongue. The antenna may be fed by a flexible printed circuit coupled across the slot element or by a feed printed circuit in the housing that is coupled to the conductive tongue by a conductive screw. A conductive sleeve may be placed over the conductive tongue. The stand may be replaced with a mounting bracket.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 25, 2020Publication date: August 26, 2021Inventors: Paul X. Wang, Bradley J. Hamel, Jerzy S. Guterman, Joel D. Barrera, Nicholas A. Rundle, Nikolaos Chiotellis, Simon S. Lee
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Patent number: 10938111Abstract: An electronic device may have metal structures such as metal electronic device housing structures and other conductive structures. The conductive structures may have a slot or other opening. An antenna may be formed from the conductive structures. Control circuitry in the electronic device may receive input from input-output devices and may use the input-output devices to provide a user with output. The control circuitry may be coupled to a radio-frequency transceiver that is used to transmit and receive wireless communications. The radio-frequency transceiver may be coupled to the antenna using a transmission line. The transmission line may have a radio-frequency connector that is coupled to a radio-frequency connector on an antenna feed bolt. The antenna feed bolt may have a shaft that spans the opening in the conductive structures and may be coupled to antenna feed terminals on opposing sides of the opening. The antenna may have a tuning bolt.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 2019Date of Patent: March 2, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: James M. Cuseo, David C. Parell, Jerzy S. Guterman, Joel D. Barrera
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Publication number: 20200379522Abstract: A housing for an electronic device can include a body having an exterior surface and a second surface disposed opposite the exterior surface at least partially defining an interior volume, the body defining a first repeating pattern of apertures extending from the exterior surface to the second surface. The housing can also include a component defining a second repeating pattern of apertures, the component positioned adjacent to the second surface. The first repeating pattern of apertures and the second repeating pattern of apertures can combine to define an open area of at least about 70%.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2019Publication date: December 3, 2020Inventors: Bart K. Andre, Joel D. Barrera, Houtan R. Farahani, Jerzy S. Guterman, Richard P. Howarth, Mariel L. Lanas, Son C. Le, Michael D. McBroom, Rodrigo Dutervil Mubarak, Sabrina K. Paseman, Chentian Zhu, James M. Cuseo
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Publication number: 20200303824Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing. The housing may include a conductive inner frame, conductive handles coupled to the inner frame, and a conductive outer sleeve over the inner frame. The handles may protrude through openings in the outer sleeve. Conductive plates may be aligned with the openings and attached to the inner frame. The handles may pass through holes in the conductive plates. Slot antennas may be formed in the conductive plates. The slot antennas may each include a high band slot that indirectly feeds a pair of low band slots. The conductive plates and the inner frame may define cavities for the antennas. Multi-band slot antennas may be formed within the handles themselves. The handles may include solid metal with a channel or may include hollow metal structures to accommodate transmission lines for the antennas.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 18, 2019Publication date: September 24, 2020Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman, Mattia Pascolini
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Patent number: 10784572Abstract: An electronic device may have a speaker mounted in a housing. The housing may have a top face and a longitudinal axis that passes through the top face. A printed circuit may lie parallel to the top face. Input-output circuitry such as a touch sensor and other components may be mounted on the top face overlapping the printed circuit. First and second antennas may be formed on the printed circuit. A speaker may be mounted in the housing facing along the longitudinal axis. A metal layer on a movable portion of the speaker may be patterned to form a slot antenna isolation element or other antenna isolation element. The antenna isolation element may be configured to exhibit a resonance at a frequency of operation of the first and second antennas and may therefore enhance isolation between the first and second antennas.Type: GrantFiled: July 20, 2017Date of Patent: September 22, 2020Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Erin A. McAuliffe, Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman, Mattia Pascolini
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Patent number: 10741925Abstract: An electronic device such as a desktop computer may have a housing. The housing may have conductive portions such as metal walls and metal support structures that support the housing. The walls may be assembled to form a box-shaped housing having corners. The support structures may form legs at the corners of the housing. Antennas may be formed in the housing to support communications such as wireless local area network communications. The antennas may be slot antennas formed from openings in the legs. Radio-frequency transceiver circuitry in the housing may be used to transmit and receive radio-frequency communications. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may be coupled to the antenna using a transmission line. Threaded radio-frequency connectors or other connectors may be used in coupling the transmission line to a slot antenna.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2018Date of Patent: August 11, 2020Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, James M. Cuseo, Jerzy S. Guterman
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Patent number: 10727590Abstract: An electronic device may have an upper housing with a display and a lower housing with a keyboard. The upper housing may rotate between open and closed positions. The lower housing may include a first conductive wall separated from the upper housing by an upper slot and a second conductive wall separated from the upper housing by a lower slot. An antenna resonating element may be mounted within the lower housing and may convey signals in low and high frequency bands through the lower slot when the upper housing closed. The resonating element may be grounded to the second conductive wall and may be separated from a conductive cavity wall by at least one-sixteenth of a wavelength in the low frequency band. A parasitic element may be used to redirect signals in the low frequency band towards and through the upper slot when the upper housing open.Type: GrantFiled: May 15, 2018Date of Patent: July 28, 2020Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman
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Publication number: 20190356051Abstract: An electronic device may have an upper housing with a display and a lower housing with a keyboard. The upper housing may rotate between open and closed positions. The lower housing may include a first conductive wall separated from the upper housing by an upper slot and a second conductive wall separated from the upper housing by a lower slot. An antenna resonating element may be mounted within the lower housing and may convey signals in low and high frequency bands through the lower slot when the upper housing closed. The resonating element may be grounded to the second conductive wall and may be separated from a conductive cavity wall by at least one-sixteenth of a wavelength in the low frequency band. A parasitic element may be used to redirect signals in the low frequency band towards and through the upper slot when the upper housing open.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 15, 2018Publication date: November 21, 2019Inventors: Joel D. Barrera, Jerzy S. Guterman