Recently, the US Patent & Trademark Office (the US Patent & Trademark Office) announced a patent application from Apple. This patent is related to the iPhone. It will be implemented on the iPhone 11 first. The dipole antenna can be used to improve the communication circuit and achieve Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication. Ultra-wideband is traditionally used for non-cooperative radar imaging, and recently it has also used sensor data collection, precise positioning and tracking applications.
For Apple, UWB technology can be used in the Car Keys function jointly developed by Apple and NXP to unlock the doors of BMW cars. Counterpoint Research analyst Neil Shah believes that Apple can use ultra-wideband technology in financial transactions for ATMs, point-of-sale terminals and other equipment in the future.
It is very likely that the ultra-wideband technology used in the iPhone can be used to provide indoor navigation in shopping malls and airports. In addition to car doors, it may also be used in smart homes and future office door systems.
Apple patent figure 1 shows an iPhone, and patent figure 9 shows an iPad. Dipole antennas can be installed on both sides of this type of device, allowing the antenna’s dipoles to cover all the surrounding areas, creating a complete Cover the sphere.
Figure 10 of the Apple patent shows how to install the dipole antenna in the corresponding area of the device. In Figure 10 of the patent, the outer conductive housing structure may include an insulated antenna window that overlaps one pole of a given antenna. The insulated antenna window can also be filled with insulating materials such as plastic, ceramic, glass, or other insulators to protect the antenna from damage, and it can also hide the antenna from being seen by people.
Apple also pointed out that in the conductive structure, each pole of the antenna can contain a corresponding slot, such as covering the 6.5 GHz UWB band and the 8.0 GHz UWB band.