Electronic device with dual clutch barrel cavity antennas

摘要

An electronic device has antennas formed from cavity antenna structures. The electronic device may have a metal housing. The metal housing may have an upper housing in which a component such as a display is mounted and a lower housing in which a component such as a keyboard is mounted. Hinges may be used to mount the upper housing to the lower housing for rotation about a rotational axis. Cavity antennas may be formed in a clutch barrel region located between the hinges and running along the rotational axis. A flexible printed circuit may be formed between the cavity antennas. Each cavity antenna may have a first end that is adjacent to one of the hinges and a second end that is adjacent to the flexible printed circuit. Cavity walls for the cavity antennas may be formed from metal housing structures such as metal portions of the lower housing.

主权项

1. A portable computer, comprising:
a metal housing having an upper metal housing portion that contains a display and having a lower metal housing portion that contains a keyboard; hinges that connect the upper metal housing portion to the lower metal housing portion, wherein the upper metal housing portion rotates relative to the lower metal housing portion about a rotational axis between a closed position and an open position, and there is a gap between opposing metal portions of the upper and lower metal housing portions when the upper metal housing portion is in the closed position through which antenna signals pass; first and second antennas in the lower housing portion between the hinges that transmit and receive the antenna signals; control circuitry in the lower housing portion; and a flexible printed circuit that is coupled between the control circuitry and the display and that runs across the gap between the first and second antennas, wherein the flexible printed circuit includes metal traces that are shorted to the upper metal housing portion and the lower metal housing portion, the metal traces are interposed between the first and second antennas, the metal traces divide the gap into a first portion and a second portion, the first antenna transmits and receives the antenna signals through the first portion of the gap, and the second antenna transmits and receives the antenna signals through the second portion of the gap.