Communications: radio wave antennas – Antennas – With radio cabinet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-22
2002-01-29
Ho, Tan (Department: 2821)
Communications: radio wave antennas
Antennas
With radio cabinet
C343S873000, C343S895000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06342858
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable terminal devices, and more specifically, the invention relates to portable terminal devices such as note-type personal computers and electronic pocketbooks used as the nodes of wireless LAN systems, in which the covers of the devices are opened when used.
2. Description of the Related Art
Local Area Networks (LANs) have a structure in which the system is located in specified areas, for example, on the sites or premises of users in such a manner that communications are performed by mutually connecting various individual devices such as personal computers, servers, facsimiles, and the like. This system is used for various purposes such as gaining access to the database of servers via personal computers or gaining access to devices of other LAN systems via a communication network connected to the LAN system.
The connections between devices in LAN systems are very often made by wire communication channels. However, there are wireless LAN systems in which parts of the connections are make by wireless communication channels. In the wireless LAN systems, it is not necessary to mechanically connect individual devices to the LAN communication networks. Alternatively, the wireless LAN system can be used by registration, regardless of locations, as long as the devices are located in areas to which wireless radio waves can reach. Accordingly, this is a significantly useful system.
FIGS. 8A and 8B
show the front view of a prior art portable terminal device and the side view thereof, respectively. A portable terminal device
50
has a main body
52
including a data entry keyboard
51
and the like, a cover
53
openably and closably attached to the main body
52
, a liquid crystal display
54
disposed on the inner side of the cover
53
, and a monopole antenna
55
for a wireless LAN system. In addition, a board having a ground, on which a calculation processing unit, a memory unit, and the like are mounted, is disposed inside the main body
52
, although the board is not shown in the figure. When the portable terminal device
50
is used, the cover
53
attached to the main body
52
is opened and the monopole antenna
55
is set up. When carried with a user, the cover
53
is closed in such a manner that the cover
53
and the main body
52
are put together, and the monopole antenna
55
is collapsed along the main body
53
.
Since a beam
56
in a horizontal direction can be obtained by the monopole antenna
55
in the above portable terminal device
50
, the monopole antenna
55
can sufficiently satisfy requirements as the directional characteristics of an antenna. Meanwhile, when carried with a user, the monopole antenna
55
is collapsed and the portable terminal device
50
is placed in a bag, or a pocket. As a result, since the monopole antenna
55
collapsed alongside of the main body
52
exists as a protruding item, the antenna is a nuisance to the user, and it also tends to be easily broken. To solve these problems, another prior art portable terminal device has been developed as shown in
FIGS. 9A and 9B
.
FIGS. 9A and 9B
show the front view of another prior art portable terminal device and the side view thereof, respectively. When compared with the portable terminal device
50
(shown in FIGS.
8
A and
8
B), in a portable terminal device
60
, instead of disposing a monopole antenna, a wireless card
62
having a monopole antenna
61
is connected to a PCMCIA slot (not shown) of the main body
52
, by which a wireless communication function is given to the portable terminal device
60
.
In each of the above conventional portable terminal devices, however, since the portable terminal device and the wireless card are separated, there is a problem in that it is inconvenient for a user to carry such a type of portable terminal device with him.
In addition, since the wireless card is directly connected to the main body having the ground, there is a problem in that the directivity of the monopole antenna toward the main body side deteriorates significantly. Furthermore, there is a problem in that the directivity of the monopole antenna is influenced by digital noise from the main body.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the above described problems, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a portable terminal device having the directivity of an antenna in a desired direction without increasing the size and weight of the portable terminal device.
One preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a portable terminal device comprising: a main body including a data entry keyboard; a cover openably and closably attached to the main body and establishing a connecting portion between the main body and the cover; a display disposed on the inner side of the cover; a chip antenna disposed on the cover at a place other than the display and opposed to the connecting portion; and the chip antenna comprising a ceramic base body, a conductor disposed at least either inside the base body or on a surface thereof, and a feeding terminal disposed on a surface of the base body and connected to one end of the conductor.
According to the above described structure and arrangement, the chip antenna is disposed on the cover at a place other than the display and opposed to the connecting portion. When the cover is opened to use the portable terminal device, the chip antenna is thereby positioned as far as possible from the main body having a ground. As a result, the gain of the chip antenna can be substantially uniform in the range of 360°. Therefore, a wireless communication channel in which a portable terminal device is stabilized in the range of 360° can be provided.
In addition, since the chip antenna includes the ceramic base body and the conductor formed at least either inside the base body or a surface thereof, the chip antenna can be miniaturized by a wavelength-shortening effect. As a result, the cover of the portable terminal device and the chip antenna can be integrated by disposing the antenna on the inner side of the cover of the portable terminal device. Accordingly, this arrangement contributes to miniaturization of the portable terminal device and weight reduction thereof.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5909198 (1999-06-01), Mandai et al.
patent: 6181284 (1999-06-01), Madsen et al.
patent: 5943021 (1999-08-01), Hayes et al.
patent: 5966098 (1999-10-01), Qi et al.
patent: 5995052 (1999-11-01), Sadler et al.
patent: 0790662 (1997-02-01), None
patent: 0762536 (1997-03-01), None
patent: 0825669 (1998-02-01), None
patent: WO 9744946 (1997-11-01), None
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin—“Antenna Array and Housing For Notebook Computers” vol. 39, n. 1, Jan. 1996 pp. 313-314.
Dakeya Yujiro
Mandai Harufumi
Tsuru Teruhisa
Watanabe Kunihiro
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen, LLP
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