Patents by Inventor Robert W. Schlub

Robert W. Schlub 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: 9728858
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with hybrid planar inverted-F slot antennas and indirectly fed slot antennas. A hybrid antenna may be used to form a dual band wireless local area network antenna. An indirectly fed slot antenna may be use to form a cellular telephone antenna. Antenna slots may be formed in a metal electronic device housing wall. The housing wall may have a planar rear portion and sidewall portions that extend upwards from the planar rear portion. The slots may have one or more bends. A hybrid antenna may have a slot antenna portion and a planar inverted-F antenna portion. The planar inverted-F antenna portion may have a metal resonating element patch that is supported by a support structure. The support structure may be a plastic speaker box containing a speaker driver that is not overlapped by the metal resonating element patch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jiang Zhu, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Hongfei Hu
  • Publication number: 20170179988
    Abstract: An electronic device may include wireless circuitry that is configured to transmit wireless signals during operation. A maximum transmit power level may be established that serves as a cap on how much power is transmitted from the electronic device. Adjustments may be made to the maximum transmit power level in real time based on sensor signals and other information on the operating state of the electronic device. The sensor signals may include motion signals from an accelerometer. The sensor signals may also include ultrasonic sound detected by a microphone. Device orientation data may be used by the device to select whether to measure the ultrasonic sound using a front facing or rear facing microphone. Maximum transmit power level may also be adjusted based on whether or not sound is playing through an ear speaker in the device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2017
    Publication date: June 22, 2017
    Inventors: Ruben Caballero, Michael DiVincent, Indranil S. Sen, Robert W. Schlub, Mohit Narang, Ricardo R. Velasco, Christopher B. Crowe, Scott Vernon
  • Patent number: 9685690
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display. A display cover layer and a transparent inner display member may overlap a display pixel layer. The display pixel layer may have an array of display pixels for displaying images for a user. A touch sensor layer may be interposed between the display pixel layer and the transparent display member. A ferromagnetic shielding layer may be mounted below the display pixel layer. A flexible printed circuit containing coils of metal signal lines that form a near-field communications loop antenna may be interposed between the ferromagnetic shielding layer and the display pixel layer. A non-near-field antenna such as an inverted-F antenna may have a resonating element mounted on an inner surface of the display cover layer. The resonating element may be interposed between the transparent display member and the display cover layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Miroslav Samardzija, Yiren Wang, Yuehui Ouyang, Joseph Hakim, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Ruben Caballero, Siwen Yong, Erik G. de Jong
  • Publication number: 20170170857
    Abstract: A handheld electronic device may be provided that contains a conductive housing and other conductive elements. Transceiver circuitry, such as radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and receive RF signals, may be connected to the resonating elements by transmission lines such as coaxial cables. The electronic device may have an integrated touch screen display in which a user can control the device by interacting directly with the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip Michael Hobson, Erik L. Wang, Kenneth A. Jenks, Robert J. Hill, Robert W. Schlub, Richard Hung Minh Dinh, Tang Yew Tan, Adam D. Mittleman, Bartley K. Andre, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele de Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Steven P. Jobs, Duncan Robert Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Douglas B. Satzger, Calvin Q. Seid, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico L. Zörkendörfer
  • Publication number: 20170168637
    Abstract: A handheld electronic device may be provided that contains a conductive housing and other conductive elements. Circuitry configured to transmit and receive signals may be connected to the resonating elements by transmission lines such as coaxial cables. The electronic device may have an integrated touch screen display in which a user can control the device by interacting directly with the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip Michael Hobson, Erik L. Wang, Kenneth A. Jenks, Robert J. Hill, Robert W. Schlub, Richard Hung Minh Dinh, Tang Yew Tan, Adam D. Mittleman, Bartley K. Andre, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele de Iuliis, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Steven P. Jobs, Duncan Robert Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Douglas B. Satzger, Calvin Q. Seid, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico L. Zörkendörfer
  • Patent number: 9680202
    Abstract: An electronic device housing may have a base unit and a lid. Aligned antenna windows may be formed on opposing upper and lower surfaces of the base unit along a hinge. Antenna structures that are located between respective upper and lower antenna windows on the upper and lower surfaces may be based on a pair of antennas that are coupled to switching circuitry that can select which antenna to switch into use or may be based on an antenna having a position that may be adjusted relative to the upper and lower antenna windows using a mechanical coupling to the lid or using a positioner. A sensor such as a lid position sensor may monitor how the lid is positioned relative to the base unit. Information from the lid position sensor may be used in adjusting the antenna structures to optimize performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Erdinc Irci, Jerzy Guterman, Mattia Pascolini, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9680205
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with electrical components mounted in a housing. The electronic device may include wireless transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. A display may be mounted in the housing. The display may have a transparent layer such as display cover layer. The display cover layer may have an inner surface with a recess. The recess may be a groove that runs along a peripheral edge of the display cover layer. An antenna structure such as an inverted-F antenna resonating element may be formed from a metal trace on a plastic support structure. The metal trace and support structure may be mounted in the groove with adhesive. The housing may be a metal housing that forms an antenna ground. Springs may be used in forming an antenna feed and an antenna return path that couples the antenna resonating element to ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Erik G. de Jong, Yuehui Ouyang, Siwen Yong, Miroslav Samardzija, Yiren Wang, Jiang Zhu
  • Publication number: 20170149127
    Abstract: Electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may include antennas such as inverted-F antennas that contain antenna resonating elements and antenna ground elements. Antenna resonating elements may be formed from patterned conductive traces on substrates such as flex circuit substrates. Antenna ground elements may be formed from conductive device structures such as metal housing walls. Support and biasing structures such as dielectric support members and layer of foam may be used to support and bias antenna resonating elements against planar device structures. The planar device structures against which the antenna resonating elements are biased may be planar dielectric members such as transparent layers of display cover glass or other planar structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2017
    Publication date: May 25, 2017
    Inventors: Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Adam D. Mittleman, Yi Jiang, Emily McMilin, Li-jun Zhang
  • Patent number: 9653783
    Abstract: Electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. An inverted-F antenna may have first and second short circuit legs and a feed leg. The first and second short circuit legs and the feed leg may be connected to a folded antenna resonating element arm. The antenna resonating element arm and the first short circuit leg may be formed from portions of a conductive electronic device bezel. The folded antenna resonating element arm may have a bend. The bezel may have a gap that is located at the bend. Part of the folded resonating element arm may be formed from a conductive trace on a dielectric member. A spring may be used in connecting the conductive trace to the electronic device bezel portion of the antenna resonating element arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Nickel, Juan Zavala, Yijun Zhou, Mattia Pascolini, Robert W. Schlub, Ruben Caballero
  • Patent number: 9647332
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with an antenna. The antenna may have an antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. The antenna resonating element may be formed from peripheral conductive housing structures. An audio jack or other connector may be mounted in an opening in the peripheral conductive housing structures. The audio jack may overlap the antenna ground. Contacts in the audio jack may be coupled to an interference mitigation circuit. The interference mitigation circuit may include capacitors coupled to the ground and inductors coupled between the contacts and the capacitors. Radio-frequency signal blocking inductors may be coupled between the interference mitigation circuit and respective ports in an audio circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Matthew A. Mow, Yijun Zhou, Mattia Pascolini, Salih Yarga, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Xu Han, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9602919
    Abstract: An electronic device may include wireless circuitry that is configured to transmit wireless signals during operation. A maximum transmit power level may be established that serves as a cap on how much power is transmitted from the electronic device. Adjustments may be made to the maximum transmit power level in real time based on sensor signals and other information on the operating state of the electronic device. The sensor signals may include motion signals from an accelerometer. The sensor signals may also include ultrasonic sound detected by a microphone. Device orientation data may be used by the device to select whether to measure the ultrasonic sound using a front facing or rear facing microphone. Maximum transmit power level may also be adjusted based on whether or not sound is playing through an ear speaker in the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ruben Caballero, Michael DiVincent, Indranil S. Sen, Robert W. Schlub, Mohit Narang, Ricardo R. Velasco, Christopher B. Crowe, Scott Vernon
  • Patent number: 9594147
    Abstract: An electronic device may have control circuitry that uses a reflectometer to measure antenna impedance during operation. The reflectometer may have a directional coupler that is coupled between radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and an antenna. A calibration circuit may be coupled between the directional coupler and the antenna. The calibration circuit may have a first port coupled to the antenna, a second port coupled to the directional coupler, and a third port that is coupled to a calibration resistance. The reflectometer may have terminations of identical impedance that are coupled to ground. Switching circuitry in the reflectometer may be used to route signals from the directional coupler to a feedback receiver for measurement by the control circuitry or to ground through the terminations. Calibrated antenna reflection coefficient measurements may be used in dynamically adjusting the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Victor Lee, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9596330
    Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. An electronic device may include a display mounted within a housing. A peripheral conductive member may run around the edges of the display and housing. Dielectric-filled gaps may divide the peripheral conductive member into individual segments. A ground plane may be formed within the housing from conductive housing structures, printed circuit boards, and other conductive elements. The ground plane and the segments of the peripheral conductive member may form antennas in upper and lower portions of the housing. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may implement receiver diversity using both the upper and lower antennas. The lower antenna may be used in transmitting signals. The upper antenna may be tuned using a tunable matching circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ruben Caballero, Mattia Pascolini, Mohit Narang, Matthew A. Mow, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9583838
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with antennas. Antennas for the electronic device may be formed from slot antenna structures. A slot antenna structure may be formed from portions of a metal housing for an electronic device. The slots of the slot antenna structures may be indirectly fed to form first and second indirectly fed slot antennas. The first and second indirectly fed slot antennas may be formed from slots in a rear surface of an electronic device and a sidewall of the electronic device. The slots may have open ends along an edge of the sidewall and may have closed ends that face each other. A hybrid antenna may also be formed in the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jiang Zhu, Harish Rajagopalan, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, John Raff
  • Patent number: 9577315
    Abstract: Electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may include antennas such as inverted-F antennas that contain antenna resonating elements and antenna ground elements. Antenna resonating elements may be formed from patterned conductive traces on substrates such as flex circuit substrates. Antenna ground elements may be formed from conductive device structures such as metal housing walls. Support and biasing structures such as dielectric support members and layer of foam may be used to support and bias antenna resonating elements against planar device structures. The planar device structures against which the antenna resonating elements are biased may be planar dielectric members such as transparent layers of display cover glass or other planar structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Adam D. Mittleman, Yi Jiang, Emily McMilin, Li-jun Zhang
  • Patent number: 9559433
    Abstract: Electronic devices may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may form a dual arm inverted-F antenna and a monopole antenna sharing a common antenna ground. The antenna structures may have three ports. A first antenna port may be coupled to an inverted-F antenna resonating element at a first location and a second antenna port may be coupled to the inverted-F antenna resonating element at a second location. A third antenna port may be coupled to the monopole antenna. Tunable circuitry can be used to tune the antenna structures. An adjustable capacitor may be coupled to the first port to tune the inverted-F antenna. An additional adjustable capacitor may be coupled to the third port to tune the monopole antenna. Transceiver circuitry for supporting wireless local area network communications, satellite navigation system communications, and cellular communications may be coupled to the first, second, and third antenna ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yijun Zhou, Nanbo Jin, Yuehui Ouyang, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Anand Lakshmanan, Robert W. Schlub, Mattia Pascolini, Matthew A. Mow
  • Patent number: 9543660
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include cavity antennas. A cavity antenna may be formed from a metal antenna cavity and resonating element structures. The metal antenna cavity may be formed from metal traces on a dielectric carrier. The resonating element structures may include directly fed and indirectly fed slot antenna resonating elements and monopole antenna resonating elements. The metal antenna cavity may exhibit a resonance that is tuned using a transmission line tuning stub. Filters and duplexer circuits may be used in routing signals at different frequency bands among the antenna resonating elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Harish Rajagopalan, Huan-Chu Huang, Ke Sun, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub, Rodney A. Gomez Angulo, Umar Azad
  • Publication number: 20170005397
    Abstract: An electronic device may have an antenna for providing coverage in wireless communications bands of interest such as a low frequency communications band and a high frequency communications band. The antenna may have an antenna ground and an antenna resonating element. The antenna resonating element may have a high band arm that contributes to a first high band resonance in the high band and may have a low band arm that exhibits a low band resonance in the low band. A passive filter that is coupled between first and second portions of the antenna resonating element may be configured to exhibit a short circuit impedance associated with a bypass path that allows the antenna resonating element to contribute to a second high band resonance in the high band. A tunable inductor coupled to the antenna resonating element may be used to tune the low band resonance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Inventors: Yi Jiang, Siwen Yong, Gordon Coutts, Lijun Zhang, Qingxiang Li, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9531061
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with an antenna. The antenna may have an antenna resonating element and an antenna ground. An adjustable inductor may be coupled between the antenna resonating element and the antenna ground. An antenna feed may have a positive feed terminal coupled to the antenna resonating element and a ground antenna feed coupled to the antenna ground. The adjustable inductor may have first and second inductors coupled to respective first and second ports of a switch. The switch may have a third port coupled to the antenna ground. A capacitor may have a first terminal coupled to ground and a second terminal coupled to the first inductor at the first port of the switch. An inductor may be coupled between the antenna resonating element and antenna ground at a location between the adjustable inductor and the antenna feed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Ming-Ju Tsai, Yijun Zhou, Hongfei Hu, Salih Yarga, Mattia Pascolini, Yuehui Ouyang, Erdinc Irci, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9531071
    Abstract: Electronic devices may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry and antenna structures. The antenna structures may include antenna resonating elements such as dual-band antenna resonating elements that resonate in first and second communications bands. The antenna structures may also contain parasitic antenna elements such as elements that are operative in only the first or second communications band and elements that are operative in both the first and second communications bands. The antenna resonating elements and parasitic elements may be mounted on a common dielectric carrier. The dielectric carrier may be mounted within a slot or other opening in a conductive element. The conductive element may be formed from conductive housing structures in an electronic device such as a portable computer. The portable computer may have a clutch barrel with a dielectric cover. The dielectric cover may overlap and cover the slot and the dielectric carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jerzy S. Guterman, Hao Xu, Douglas Blake Kough, Eduardo Lopez Camacho, Mattia Pascolini, Robert W. Schlub, Ruben Caballero