Patents by Inventor Thomas E. Biedka

Thomas E. Biedka 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).

  • Publication number: 20180069295
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes an antenna. Control circuitry may perform closed loop tuning adjustments on the antenna. For example, the control circuitry may adjust a tunable component to tune the antenna to a first tuning setting. The control circuitry may gather impedance values from the antenna while tuned to the first tuning setting and may process the impedance values to determine whether to tune the antenna to a second tuning setting. If the impedance values lie within a predetermined complex impedance region, the control circuitry may tune the antenna to the second setting. If the impedance values lie outside of the region, the control circuitry may continue to gather impedance values using the first setting. These operations may compensate for detuning of the antenna due to proximity of a user regardless of how the electronic device is held during operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2016
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka
  • Patent number: 9882282
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more dual-frequency dual-polarization patch antennas. Each patch antenna may have a patch antenna resonating element that lies in a plane and a ground that lies in a different parallel plane. The patch antenna resonating element may have a first feed located along a first central axis and a second feed located along a second central axis that is perpendicular to the first central axis. The patch antenna resonating element may be rectangular, may be oval, or may have other shapes. A shorting pin may be located at an intersecting point between the first and second axes. The patch antennas may be used in beam steering arrays. The patch antennas may be used for wireless power transfer at microwave frequencies or other frequencies and may be used to support millimeter wave communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Basim H. Noori, Khan M. Salam, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yi Jiang, Yuehui Ouyang
  • Patent number: 9843091
    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 that are separated from a round by an elongated opening. The electronic device may have a central longitudinal axis that divides the antenna resonating element arm and other antenna structures into symmetrical halves that exhibit mirror symmetry with respect to the central longitudinal axis. The antenna structures may include symmetrical slot antenna resonating elements on opposing sides of the central longitudinal axis. Electrical components such as switches and antenna tuning inductors may be coupled to the antenna structures in a configuration that is symmetrical with respect to the central longitudinal axis. The electrical components may be used to place the antenna structures in an unflipped configuration or in a symmetrical flipped configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Xu Han, James G. Judkins, Liang Han, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Nanbo Jin, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Yuehui Ouyang
  • Publication number: 20170302326
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. An antenna may have an antenna feed that is coupled to a radio-frequency transceiver with a transmission line. An impedance matching circuit may be coupled to the antenna feed to match the impedance of the transmission line and the antenna. The impedance matching circuit and tunable circuitry in the antenna may be formed using integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may include switching circuitry that is used in switching components such as inductors and capacitors into use. Sensors such as temperature sensors, current and voltage sensors, power sensors, and impedance sensors may be integrated into the integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may store settings for the switching circuitry and may include communications and control circuitry for communicating with external circuits and processing sensor data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Publication date: October 19, 2017
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor Lee, James G. Judkins, Mattia Pascolini
  • Patent number: 9698854
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. An antenna may have an antenna feed that is coupled to a radio-frequency transceiver with a transmission line. An impedance matching circuit may be coupled to the antenna feed to match the impedance of the transmission line and the antenna. The impedance matching circuit and tunable circuitry in the antenna may be formed using integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may include switching circuitry that is used in switching components such as inductors and capacitors into use. Sensors such as temperature sensors, current and voltage sensors, power sensors, and impedance sensors may be integrated into the integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may store settings for the switching circuitry and may include communications and control circuitry for communicating with external circuits and processing sensor data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor Lee, James G. Judkins, Mattia Pascolini
  • Publication number: 20170117754
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more dual-frequency dual-polarization patch antennas. Each patch antenna may have a patch antenna resonating element that lies in a plane and a ground that lies in a different parallel plane. The patch antenna resonating element may have a first feed located along a first central axis and a second feed located along a second central axis that is perpendicular to the first central axis. The patch antenna resonating element may be rectangular, may be oval, or may have other shapes. A shorting pin may be located at an intersecting point between the first and second axes. The patch antennas may be used in beam steering arrays. The patch antennas may be used for wireless power transfer at microwave frequencies or other frequencies and may be used to support millimeter wave communications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2015
    Publication date: April 27, 2017
    Inventors: Basim H. Noori, Khan M. Salam, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yi Jiang, Yuehui Ouyang
  • 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: 9523727
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include wireless transceiver circuitry that transmits signals towards an antenna. A signal path may carry the transmitted signals to the antenna. Reflected signals from the antenna may be carried along the signal path towards the transceiver circuitry. Coupler circuitry may include a forward coupler that taps the transmitted signals, a first reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals from the antenna, and a second reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals that have passed through the first reverse coupler. Analog processing circuitry and digital processing circuitry may be used to produce an impedance measurement from the tapped signals from the coupler circuitry. The analog processing circuitry may include analog signal mixers, low pass filters, and analog-to-digital converter circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Mattia Pascolini
  • Publication number: 20160322699
    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 that are separated from a round by an elongated opening. The electronic device may have a central longitudinal axis that divides the antenna resonating element arm and other antenna structures into symmetrical halves that exhibit mirror symmetry with respect to the central longitudinal axis. The antenna structures may include symmetrical slot antenna resonating elements on opposing sides of the central longitudinal axis. Electrical components such as switches and antenna tuning inductors may be coupled to the antenna structures in a configuration that is symmetrical with respect to the central longitudinal axis. The electrical components may be used to place the antenna structures in an unflipped configuration or in a symmetrical flipped configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Publication date: November 3, 2016
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Xu Han, James G. Judkins, Liang Han, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Nanbo Jin, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Yuehui Ouyang
  • Patent number: 9444425
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. Control circuitry may be used to adjust the wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include antennas that are tuned, adjustable impedance matching circuitry, antenna port selection circuitry, and adjustable transceiver circuitry. Wireless circuit adjustments may be made by ascertaining a current usage scenario for the electronic device based on sensor data, information from cellular base station equipment or other external equipment, signal-to-noise ratio information or other signal information, antenna impedance measurements, and other information about the operation of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Jayesh Nath, Hongfei Hu, Nanbo Jin, Hao Xu, Yijun Zhou, Yuehui Ouyang, Victor Lee, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20160204820
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas. An antenna may have an antenna feed that is coupled to a radio-frequency transceiver with a transmission line. An impedance matching circuit may be coupled to the antenna feed to match the impedance of the transmission line and the antenna. The impedance matching circuit and tunable circuitry in the antenna may be formed using integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may include switching circuitry that is used in switching components such as inductors and capacitors into use. Sensors such as temperature sensors, current and voltage sensors, power sensors, and impedance sensors may be integrated into the integrated circuits. Each integrated circuit may store settings for the switching circuitry and may include communications and control circuitry for communicating with external circuits and processing sensor data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 14, 2016
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor Lee, James G. Judkins, Mattia Pascolini
  • Publication number: 20160204821
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include wireless transceiver circuitry that transmits signals towards an antenna. A signal path may carry the transmitted signals to the antenna. Reflected signals from the antenna may be carried along the signal path towards the transceiver circuitry. Coupler circuitry may include a forward coupler that taps the transmitted signals, a first reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals from the antenna, and a second reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals that have passed through the first reverse coupler. Analog processing circuitry and digital processing circuitry may be used to produce an impedance measurement from the tapped signals from the coupler circuitry. The analog processing circuitry may include analog signal mixers, low pass filters, and analog-to-digital converter circuitry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 14, 2016
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Mattia Pascolini
  • Publication number: 20160174293
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. An application processor may generate wireless data that is to be transmitted using the wireless circuitry and may process wireless data that has been received using the wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include multiple baseband processors, multiple associated radios, and front-end module and antenna circuitry. Sensors may be used to provide the application processor with sensor data. During operation, the application processor and the baseband processors may be used to transmit and receive wireless communications traffic. A multiradio controller integrated circuit that does not transmit or receive the wireless communications traffic may be used in controlling the wireless circuitry based on impedance measurements, sensor data, and other information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Thomas E. Biedka, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, Victor Lee, James G. Judkins
  • Publication number: 20160097833
    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: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Publication date: April 7, 2016
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Victor Lee, Robert W. Schlub
  • Patent number: 9236659
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a housing. The housing may have a periphery that is surrounded by peripheral conductive structures such as a segmented peripheral metal member. A segment of the peripheral metal member may be separated from a ground by a slot. An antenna feed may have a positive antenna terminal coupled to the peripheral metal member and a ground terminal coupled to the ground and may feed both an inverted-F antenna structure that is formed from the peripheral metal member and the ground and a slot antenna structure that is formed from the slot. Control circuitry may tune the antenna by controlling adjustable components that are coupled to the peripheral metal member. The adjustable components may include adjustable inductors and adjustable capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Mattia Pascolini, Yuehui Ouyang, Yijun Zhou, Matthew A. Mow, Robert W. Schlub, Erdinc Irci, Salih Yarga, Ming-Ju Tsai, Liang Han, Thomas E. Biedka, Nicholas S. Reimnitz
  • Publication number: 20150372656
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. Control circuitry may be used to adjust the wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include antennas that are tuned, adjustable impedance matching circuitry, antenna port selection circuitry, and adjustable transceiver circuitry. Wireless circuit adjustments may be made by ascertaining a current usage scenario for the electronic device based on sensor data, information from cellular base station equipment or other external equipment, signal-to-noise ratio information or other signal information, antenna impedance measurements, and other information about the operation of the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Publication date: December 24, 2015
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Liang Han, Ming-Ju Tsai, James G. Judkins, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Jayesh Nath, Hongfei Hu, Nanbo Jin, Hao Xu, Yijun Zhou, Yuehui Ouyang, Victor Lee, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero
  • Patent number: 9214718
    Abstract: A wireless electronic device may contain at least one antenna tuning element for use in tuning the operating frequency range of the device. The antenna tuning element may include radio-frequency switches, continuously/semi-continuously adjustable components such as tunable resistors, inductors, and capacitors, and other load circuits that provide desired impedance characteristics. A test station may be used to measure the radio-frequency characteristics associated with the tuning element. The test station may provide adjustable temperature, power, and impedance control to help emulate a true application environment for the tuning element without having to place the tuning element within an actual device during testing. The test system may include at least one signal generator and a tester for measuring harmonic distortion values and may include at least two signal generators and a tester for measuring intermodulation distortion values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka, Liang Han, Rocco V. Dragone, Jr., Hongfei Hu, Dean F. Darnell, Joshua G. Nickel, Robert W. Schlub, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero
  • Publication number: 20150303549
    Abstract: An electronic device may have radio-frequency transceiver circuitry for transmitting and receiving antenna signals using an antenna. The antenna may be formed within a connector port in the electronic device or may be formed on an external cable that is coupled to the connector port. The antenna may have an antenna resonating element that is formed from a signal wire in the external cable or that is formed from a metal structure mounted to the external cable. The radio-frequency transceiver circuitry may be directly coupled to the antenna resonating element using springs or other direct coupling mechanisms or may be coupled to the antenna resonating element using a coupling structure. The coupling structure may include a capacitor electrode, an inductor, or other structures for coupling to the antenna resonating element by electromagnetic near-field coupling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2014
    Publication date: October 22, 2015
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Erdinc Irci, Robert W. Schlub, Mattia Pascolini, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka
  • Patent number: 9166634
    Abstract: Electronic devices may include antenna structures. The antenna structures may form an antenna having first and second feeds at different locations. A first transceiver may be coupled to the first feed using a first circuit. A second transceiver may be coupled to the second feed using a second circuit. The first and second feeds may be isolated from each other using the first and second circuits. The second circuit may have a notch filter that isolates the second feed from the first feed at operating frequencies associated with the first transceiver. The first circuit may include an adjustable component such as an adjustable capacitor. The adjustable component may be placed in different states depending on the mode of operation of the second transceiver to ensure that the first feed is isolated from the second feed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dean F. Darnell, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Hongfei Hu, Yuehui Ouyang, Mattia Pascolini, Robert W. Schlub, Peter Bevelacqua, Hao Xu, Jayesh Nath, Yijun Zhou, Nanbo Jin, David Pratt, Matthew A. Mow, Ming-Ju Tsai, Liang Han, Thomas E. Biedka
  • Patent number: 9070968
    Abstract: A wireless electronic device may contain an antenna tuning element for tuning the device's operating frequency range. The antenna tuning element may include radio-frequency switches, continuously/semi-continuously adjustable components such as tunable resistors, inductors, and capacitors, etc. A test system may be used to measure the radio-frequency characteristics associated with the tuning element assembled with an electronic device. The test system may include a test host, a test chamber, a signal generator, power meters, and radio-frequency testers. The electronic device under test (DUT) may be placed in the test chamber. The signal generator may generate radio-frequency test signals for energizing the antenna tuning element. The power meters and radio-frequency testers may be used to measure conducted and radiated signals emitted from the DUT while the DUT is placed in different desired orientations. A phantom object is optionally placed in the vicinity of the DUT to simulate actual user scenario.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Rocco V. Dragone, Jr., Thomas E. Biedka, Robert W. Schlub, Ruben Caballero